Hey everyone! Thanks for all the reviews! So as promised here is chapter 13. So here's a new deal. Get us to 155 and we'll post the next chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter Thirteen

Lola

Warmth surrounded Zoey when she woke. It took her a moment to remember what had happened last night. Her eyes fluttered open to find Kalona sound asleep beside her. A peaceful smile was draped across his face and so she knew that he was having a very good dream. Lying next to him could only be described as magical. Every breath that he took caused his chest to rise and fall against her head. Their arms and legs were intertwined and he held her as if he were protecting her from the evils of the world. She knew that she would have to get up soon to get ready, but she wanted to linger a bit longer in this moment of perfection. As she lied there, she knew that she was undeniably in love with Kalona. She thought that she knew what love was before she confessed hers to Kalona, but it wasn't until she saw that look in his eyes when he heard her, that she truly knew what love felt like. She had made some many mistakes ever since she was marked, and those mistakes tore at her heart. Kalona made her realize that she can't spend her life punishing herself for things that she did in the past. She had to move on, and now here she was.

In an attempt not to wake him she carefully wiggled out of Kalona's hold. She was sure that he would wake due to her absence but his arms simply went limp and his head lolled to the side.

Let sleeping angels lie. Zoey thought to herself as she padded across the floor to the bathroom.

She took care of her mundane morning routines first and the cover up that Pearl had given her to cover up her tattoos. She knew that going out into public would be risky right now, even if it were on one a protected property. Protected property like the island was privately owned and therefore had protection against the sun because the owner had hired a specialist to create it. She had to go in a disguise because people were looking for her. By now the news of her disappearance had spread across the entire vampyre community. Someone recognizing her while out in public could be risky.

She had to cover the tattoos all over her body except for her empty crescent moon. She then pulled her hair up into a tight bun on top of her head and wrapped it in an off white colored scarf. Next she popped in the brown colored contacts that Pearl had given her to help with the disguise. If anyone recognized her because of her features the lack of tattoos and the wrong eye color might throw them off. She then applied a light shade of pink lipstick, for it was known that Zoey rarely ever wore lipstick and so if anyone that she knew saw her they wouldn't think that it was her. She took the cover up and contact package with her out into the main room and then put them in the purse that she had found at the bottom of the armoire. She then changed into an off white cotton skirt that fell to her mid thigh. She paired it with a brown woven leather belt with a large round buckle. As she stood in front of her closet she wondered what top to wear. She knew that it would be a stupid move to wear her necklace out in public. It was an original and something people would remember if they saw it. She quickly scribbled a note as to why she couldn't wear it so that Kalona wouldn't think that she wasn't wearing it because she didn't like it. She loved that necklace and was sad to leave it behind. After slipping on her Keds and sunglasses she walked over the Kalona's side of the bed. He was still sound asleep.

"Until this evening, my love, I leave my heart here with you. I love you."

She placed a tender kiss upon his temple and then left the room.

In the kitchen she found Pearl, Darla, Tabatha, and Emmeline waiting for her. The five girls all ate breakfast quickly and then hurried out to the dock to get on the yacht to the mainland.

"Who's going to drive?" Zoey asked when they got on the yacht.

Pearl couldn't help but laugh.

"We have a driver. I arranged everything last night. We need to stay inside the dark room until we get to land though. A car will be waiting for us when we get there so we don't have to carry around our bags."

"Oh."

Zoey wasn't use to this sort of luxury even though she was adjusting to the type that she had on the island.

"Don't worry, Zoey. Oh yeah we need to call you by another name while we are on the mainland." Darla paused to think.

"Lola." Tabatha giggled.

"It will have to do." Emmeline said with a smirk.

Zoey sighed; this might be a long day.

"Oh and if we talk about Kalona, because Zoey is going to the party with him and not Lola, if we talk about him we'll just say he or K."

The girls all agreed.

"So Zoey, care to fill us in on what happened between you and Kalona before dinner last night?" Pearl asked as the boat carried them through the water.

"Um. Well, he, uh."

"Spit it out." Darla pleaded as she nearly tackled Zoey.

"I told him that I love him." Her voice was quiet and breathy.

The four girls squealed in unison. They were worse than the twins.

"And what did he say?" Tabatha demanded.

"That he loves me, too." Zoey looked down at her hands, doing her best to avoid the gazes of the girls.

"And I heard he spent the night." Emmeline added.

Luckily before Zoey could respond they reached the mainland and everyone was eager to get off the boat.

Zoey gasped when she saw how beautiful the mainland was. It made her think of the Greek islands because the buildings were all white.

"Come on, Lola." Pearl teased.

The girls ran to a small boutique not too far from the harbor. The store was filled with lovely gowns that before moving to the island she never could have afforded. The girls on the island really did live the good life. They began pulling dresses off the rack not even bothering to look at the prices.

This routine carried on through the next series of stores until noon when they took a break for lunch. Everyone had found a dress for the party except for Zoey so they decided that after some lunch they might strike up some luck. They stopped a cute little café and sat outside.

When Kalona woke he groped for his missing Zoey. No body could be found next to him and when his eyes opened it was confirmed that Zoey had already left. Last night had been his best in quite some time. Sleeping next to Zoey seemed so natural. She fit to his body perfectly, almost as if they were puzzle pieces. He longed to see her again but he knew that he would have to wait until this evening. Reluctantly, he lifted his head from the pillow and stretched. His eyes immediately fell on the necklace on the vanity. He jumped out of bed and scrambled to the vanity. Underneath the necklace was a note that read:

Dear Kalona,

I am sorry that I had to leave before you woke, but the girls wanted to get an early start. You are probably wondering why I left the necklace here after I said I never wanted to take it off. The answer is simple; it's so beautiful and unique that if anyone saw it they wouldn't forget it. Then if I wanted to wear it out in with you and openly being Zoey and then I decided to go back to the mainland in the same disguise wearing the necklace people would put two and two together and realize that I was she. I hate to leave you alone today but I don't think that you coming with us would be a wise idea; after all we are trying to stay on the down low.

I love you so much.

XOXO,

Zoey.

Relief overcame him after he finished the note. He laughed at himself for being worried. Now all he had to do was entertain himself until Zoey returned to him.

His heart nearly stopped when he saw her sitting at the glass-top table with the umbrella across the street. He had been searching for her for days and of all places he found her here. Though she looked quite different for her tattoos were covered, she wore brown contacts, and her hair was up in a scarf. Only someone that really knew Zoey would recognize her. He didn't recognize the other girls that she was with, though she seemed to be having quite a good time with them. They were all laughing. The only thing that confused him was that they called her Lola.

That has to be some sort of cover name so that people don't recognize her in the slightest. He thought to himself as he heard her laugh again.

He loved Zoey's laugh. He then noticed that the girls all had several bags with them. He wondered why Zoey was shopping with them. It actually looked like she had freedom. He had expected her to be ball and chained to Kalona.

"Don't worry, we'll find you the perfect dress for tomorrow night." The pale blonde haired girl reassured Zoey as she put her hand on Zoey's shoulder.

"I hope so. Are you sure that he's ok with us buying other things besides a dress for the ball?" Zoey asked as she looked over her shoulder to see their waiter coming with their food.

After their waiter had brought them their meals a brunette with a headband answered Zoey's question.

"Of course, he wants you to feel more at home and so he'll be ecstatic that you bought some clothes and stuff for your room. After all, you've just been making do with what Pearl and I bought for you beforehand."

The girls talked as they ate and Stark listened to every word that they said.

"Why was he so wary of Charles yesterday?" Zoey asked the blonde haired girl sitting next to her.

"Oh, Charles." The blonde haired girl chuckled. "He's a funny little fellow. As you heard he's British. He always takes an interest in the new girls in our family even if they don't catch his eye. Sometimes Charles just wants to annoy K or sometimes he truly wants the girl. K was probably just afraid that you'd like Charles better or that Charles would pursue you. I hate to say it but K gets very jealous but he's been trying really hard not to be because he knows that you hate that."

"I miss him." Zoey sighed as she used her fork to play with her salad.

"Young love is so cute." The girl with brownish-blackish hair swooned.

"Tabatha, I'm not sure it's young love because he's old even though she's young." The strawberry blonde said to the brownish-blackish haired girl who was named Tabatha.

"Andrew was laughing about how you two were acting at dinner last night." The strawberry blonde piped up.

"Oh was he now. My son should know better." The pale blonde said as she smiled knowingly. "He's not so innocent of love is he Emmeline?"

The strawberry blonde who appeared to be named Emmeline blushed. Stark was very confused. He looked at Zoey and she acted as if this were all normal. He had no other choice but to follow them the rest of the day so that he could understand this enigma.

After lunch the girls went to a fancy boutique on one of the main streets that sold a selection of designer gowns. Stark pulled up his hood and readjusted his sunglasses before nodding his head at his friend across the street.

"Sorry I took so long, Lea needed me to run a few errands for her."

The auburn haired girl ran across the street to meet stark and smiled at him.

"It's all right, Sophie. Is she mad that I bailed so early this morning?"

"Nah, she thinks that you're crazy, though." Her golden eyes laughed as she did.

"I can live with that." Stark chuckled as he held the door open for her.

Stark was currently staying with Sophie and her friend Lea, who were both adult vampyres. They knew that he was looking for Zoey and so they gave him a place to stay while he searched.

He saw Zoey searching for a dress on the rack near the door. He nodded towards her and Sophie went over to the rack. She pretended to look at dresses but really she was making time for stark.

"Oh, you're dress shopping, too. What's the occasion?" Sophie asked Zoey as she pulled a dress off the rack.

"Oh some friends are throwing a party tomorrow night and it's formal and everything." Zoey replied as she looked at Sophie.

"Oh, a party? Who's is it? It is one of the mansion owners here, they throw some of the best parties?"

"Oh, no. I don't really know where the party is. My friends are keeping it a surprise. The guy came to invite us yesterday, but it's not like I would know where the place was if they told me."

"Oh are you new to this part of the globe?"

"You could say that."

"Where are you staying? If you need anyone to show you around I'd be happy to."

"Thanks, that's really sweet of you, but I think my friends have the whole tour of the area thing down for me."

"Oh that's ok. Where did you say you were staying?"

"I didn't. I'm staying with friends."

She definitely sounded like Zoey and was talking like herself too. Stark was still clueless about what was going on. He felt Zoey through his pledge to her. He wanted to tell her that he was here to save her but he couldn't voice it no matter how hard he tried.

"Lola! Come here! I found the perfect dress." Zoey heard Pearl exclaim though she was already holding the one she fell in love with in her hands.

"I guess that's my cue." She laughed and then said her goodbyes to the stranger.

She rushed towards Pearl, happy to be out of that awkward situation. The girl really seemed to press for answers. Pearl hurried Zoey into the dressing room and helped Zoey take out the scarf and contact so she could see what the dress looked like without the disguise. They couldn't say anything because they knew that the strangers in the room were vampyres. Zoey hadn't missed the aura of the boy. It was familiar but she had to put that out of mind.

"Lola! That dress is perfect!" Pearl squealed when she really looked at the dress that Zoey picked out. "Try it on. Don't even bother with the one I got." Pearl didn't have to add that she had only called her over for the dress because she saw Zoey talking to the stranger.

Pearl helped Zoey into the dress that she had picked out and when Zoey looked into

the mirror a gasp escaped her lips.

Upon exiting the store Zoey felt a hand on her wrist.

"Hey, knock it off." She protested.

She turned to see a shockingly familiar face.

"Lola, what's wrong?" Pearl asked after hearing her protest.

"Just give me a second, you guys go ahead. I'll catch up."

She then turned to the boy and glared.

"Stark what on Earth are you doing here?" Zoey scolded as she pulled her wrist away.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Stark barked in surprise.

"I wrote you and everyone a letter explaining my condition and not come after me."

"I ran off once I found out you were gone."

"You shouldn't have."

"I'm your warrior."

Zoey sighed in response. "Stark, look. Things are complicated right now. I'm not going back to Tulsa yet. My relationship with Kalona is phenomenal and you probably think I'm crazy or something but trust me. Aphrodite is filling in for me with Damien's supervision and the council is keeping watch as well. I need time before going back. I haven't had time to just relax and not worry about the world ending or Neferet or my mistakes."

"So you haven't thought about me?" Stark asked sadly.

"Of course, I have Stark. This is hard. I thought I was getting better. I love Kalona. You and I… I'm so sorry for leading you on. I'm so sorry for hurting you. You deserve better than me." She had to get away before her emotions overwhelmed her. "I have to go."

With that she ran after her friends and walked away. Stark stood in front of the store staring after her. In his mind he yelled at his body to move or to do something, but he was frozen in place. The only sound that he could hear was his heart cracking for every word that Zoey had said, he felt was nothing but the ugly truth. He wouldn't have it though. He wasn't convinced. He wasn't giving up. Oh, no, he would win and he would fight. James Stark didn't lose. Ever.

Remember get us to 155 and we give you chapter 14.