"Twin, really. No blood coughing? You're absolutely not dying!"

"Twin. Seriously. I'm fine."

"No. If you're not dying then what the hell is wrong with you? You gave Kalona your iPhone!"

I rolled my eyes. Erin was freaking out for no reason. It was just a cellphone, it wasn't like Shaunee gave him the house keys.

Skye warbled and tugged my hair. I tickled her stomach and she bit my wrist before licking the bite. I swear, she's so spoiled she can't live without having every iota of my attention. I'm not doing anything either! Why is she so spoiled?!

Everyone was staring at Shaunee with mixed feelings playing across their faces. Zoey had a confused look like she didn't know how to feel about this news. Stevie Rae and Damien looked scared while Darius, Kramisha, and Aphrodite looked borderline pissed and bored.

"Well, Twin." Shaunee said in a calm voice. "Like I just explained to everyone, I was upstairs and Rephaim's dad was there, too 'cause he was trying to wait around and see his kids. He told me to tell Rephaim the stuff I said. I gave him my phone so that I could actually call him and then trade it for the laptop I'm getting for him 'cause he can't go to the Apple store with those wings. Then he flew away, as per usual. That's it. I'm totally okay. The end."

"I'm really grateful I can turn them invisible." I blinked. "Huh."

"What?" Damien asked.

"I bet I could make myself completely invisible if I wanted to." I got a stupid grin on my face. "That's kinda of cool!" This was now on top of my list of things to do. Sorry world saving task, you got bumped down.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "Goddess, you are such a dork."

"And do I care, uh, no."

"He said that he wished me well?" Rephaim asked quietly.

"Yeah." Shaunee smiled.

I sighed. Shaunee had said Kalona had wished me well too. Meh, I wasn't sure how to feel about that, but then again he wasn't my dad dad and hadn't raised me for the last…however long Rephiam and Kalona have been on this Earth I guess. No one knows details, which still begs the question: is Rephaim a pedophile for being with Stevie Rae?

"Kalona also had information about Aurox, or at least he had an idea of where we should begin in finding out his origin." Darius said. "Zoey, I think-"

"My mom could have been the sacrifice. I know."

"Neferet's really starting to piss me off." I said. "Can I please just go ballistic and rip off her head?"

"I don't think that will solve anything." Darius said. "It will bring problems for you."

I blew out a long stream of air. Black spots popped along my vision and I sipped my apple juice. Now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't have allowed Zoey to convince me to cast that circle. I forgot about that whole breath scent sucking thing Damascus did last night and now I was feeling dizzy and weak again. Ugh! I just wanna go to bed! And stop being molested by Immortal pedophiles!

I think pedophile may be my insult of the day.

Sigh, I really am too reckless for my own good. It'll probably kill me one day too.

"I'm really sorry, Z." Shaunee said. "I was too busy thinking about my dad stuff and everything. I'm really sorry."

Zoey gave her a forgiving smile. "That's okay, Shaunee. It's not your fault that what's going on with Rephaim and Kalona has you upset."

"Yeah, Shaunee. We're all trying to do the best that we can. Sometimes that's not so easy." Stevie Rae wound her hand into Rephaim's. "Thanks for standing up for Rephaim and caring. I 'preciate it."

"As do I." Rephaim said.

"Me too." I said smiling at her.

"Oh. Hey. No big thing. Yeah, I just-" Shaunee began, but Eric's sarcastic voice cut in.

"Yeah, I just gotta go put away the loot I go from Miss Jackson's and hang the new bead curtain I got from Pier 1. Later, everyone." Erin scooped up her bags and hurried out of the kitchen.

Okay, that was a bit of a bitch move.

Zoey got up and told Shaunee something I couldn't catch since Damian and Darius were discussing cleansing and funeral rituals, I think, and how they would change to become a murder reveal spell.

"Maybe we can use Raven's powers to help."

"Do you think it'll help?" I asked. "The problem is that no one would believe us even if were able to perform that spell. We're still kids and Neferet is a big bad High Priestess. Maybe we could ask Thanatos to babysit us during the spell surely she's enough of a grown-up to be taken serious when she's says Neferet is wacko."

"Why can't you tell them?" Damien suggested.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm still Kalona's kid. People are going to think that first before the whole voice of Fae/champion of nature bullshit." I rested my head on my crossed arms. Shadow shifted and rested his big head on my feet. "I wonder how the Professors will react to my shadows."

"They finally sucked you in with the rest of us." Aphrodite gave me a nasty smile.

I pulled out the schedule from my back pocket and flattened it on the table. "I'm not sure what arts class to take. I anticipate bad things." I glanced at Skye and Shadow. Wait, Skye, Snap, and Shadow. They're all S's! Boy, I'm so creative.

"Drama might be a good class." Damien said. "Skye and Shadow won't freak out about the music or get distracted by your art creating."

"I was thinking bad things with me." I said. "I'm not that good at acting."

"Not to mention she'll end up with Eric the asshat." Aphrodite said.

"I was thinking of asking Thanatos if I could use that time to harness powers and shit." I said.

"Normally, students don't get class time to practice their powers." Darius said.

"Yeah but since when have I ever fit in the terms of normalacy." I said. "Look, I've got demons and Immortals coming after me because I'm hot shit. I need to control my powers. Even casting that circle and defensive spell wiped me out. I'm damn near fucking useless if doing relatively simple shit like that completes knocks me on my ass even though technically that's because Damascus sucked out some of my breath-"

Um, to say that Rephaim, and Darius a bit only he wasn't as bad as my brother and I wasn't focusing on him, was pissed was a massive understatement.

"What?" Stevie Rae squeaked.

"And you didn't tell us?" Aphrodite said.

Rephaim was turning purple and looked so mad he didn't know what to say or was trying to stop himself from throttling me to death.

"I kinda…sort of forgot." I said slowly watching Rephaim's face fade from purple to red.

"How could you forget him taking your breath?!" Rephaim asked. "Do you even know what that means?"

"Well, he said that he now track me no matter how much my body changes." I mumbled.

Aphrodite's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. "How?"

"Cuz it has a bit of my spirit?"

"That makes no sense." Aphrodite said.

"Well," Damien started in his professor voice. "there is some folklore mentioning-"

"Yeah, we get it." Aphrodite cut in. "There's some bullshit about spirit being sucked from people's mouths." She got a funny look on her face like she suddenly realized what sucking out breath could entail. "Did Damascus kiss you?"

"Uh, I think sucking out breath entails mouthing not kissing."

"What's the difference?" Aphrodite asked.

Rephaim was starting to turn purple again.

"Cuz then it sounds like I was molested by an Immortal pedophile." Yep, pedophile is my insult of the day.

"Who's an Immortal pedophile?" Zoey asked.

"Raven," Aphrodite said. "Didn't mention that Damascus broke into her room last night and took her breath that evidently has her spirit or some shit and he can track her, no matter how much plastic surgery she gets."

Zoey's tired face changed into once of concern.

Exactly why I didn't want anyone to know. Damascus was dealt with and this breath thing wouldn't bit me the ass…soon, at least. Everyone was majorly stressed out and didn't need to worry about my idiot self especially when this matter could have waited for a few weeks or when we finally dealt with the High Priestess of Bitchess.

"It's not a major concern right now." I said a bit more sternly than I met to. I probably came off bitchy.

Aphrodite scoffed. "Goddess, you're an idiot."

"Yay and?" I asked. I stood up. "I'm tired and I'm going to my room and internet. Night." And I left before they could give me more shit again. Shadow shot past me and stuck his nose down branching tunnels before padding back to me and then running forward again. What a dog.

I made my way upstairs and firmly shut the door behind us. Snap slipped through the cat door and hopped onto my bed.

"Don't you start." I said. I put Skye down.

"Did I say anything?" She asked.

"Don't you always?" I mumbled. I grabbed my laptop and curled up on my bed. After walking here, I was suddenly wide awake. Might as well see what the interwebs is up to. While things loaded I changed into a nightshirt.

"Prattling on about how reckless you are has no effect on your behavior, so I no longer wish to waste my breath reminding you about what you already are aware of."

"Smart cat." I muttered. Facebook popped up and I saw that my friend Mimi was online.

I guess after my supposed Change into a vampyre got around the school a bazillion people (okay, I only had like a hundred friends) unfriended me without reason, well I assumed a reason, Mimi wasn't one of those people and actually had sent me a text a few days earlier telling me to text as soon as I was able.

And right now, I needed to talk to her.

You there?

I glanced at status updates when a ba-bing! Noise brought my attention back to the chat box.

Hey! How are you doing?

Okay. How about you?

Fine. Not to bum you out or anything, since you've become majorly bummed lately, but those hoes Tittany and Kay-unt are spreading all kinds of annoying rumors.

I rolled my eyes. It didn't bum me out too much, after all I had major problems of my own. But it was annoying that Brittany and Kayla were being such horrible people it kind of is pointless since no one will remember them after high school or anything like that.

Of course, they have no life of their own so they ruin other people's lives for their own amusement.

God dammit I miss you! Do you know how boring it's been without you here to help me make snide comments about the hoes and man sluts and discuss the decay of human culture and intelligence?

I smiled remembering some of our conversations. I missed her too.

Sorry I haven't communicated with you recently. I've been really busy.

Sexing up hot vampyre guys, right?

Of course. What else would I do with my free time?

Practice your awesome vampyre powers?

I'm a loser vampyre. I don't has vampyre powers.

Suckth. I was hoping you could pillage the school and burn certain people's hair off.

Did they do something else? You're acting more snide-ing than usual.

No, just PMS-ing.

Can I ask some advice?

Uh-oh, what did you do?

I took a deep breath.

So, I am involved with this guy.

I knew it!

I rolled my eyes.

But

Oh boy. What?

He's done some stuff that isn't so great.

Why am I not surprised you fell for the dark, brooding type?

And I haven't told my new vampyre friends.

Mimi is typing was up for a like two minutes before her message finally popped up.

You do realize that this is going to blow up in your face. You really should inform them about your sluttacious ways.

Is sluttacious a word or spelled right?

How the hell should I know? Facebook doesn't have autocorrect or dictionary, which they should probably install because ninety-nine percent of the users can't spell.

I sighed. I kind of expected her to say just tell them, but to tell her some of the details as to why I couldn't tell them would mean I would have to tell her I'm not a human or vampyre and that shit was going to go down soon.

I looked at Snap.

"It is up to you whether or not you tell her."

"If I tell her, will she be in danger?"

"I can't see the future. Your friend Mimi is a smart girl and I doubt she'll run her mouth."

Yeah, Mimi knew when to keep her mouth shut, most of the time. It would be nice to have a friend who knew me a lot longer than these guys did giving me advice and Mimi didn't judge, too badly.

I heard a click and my head snapped over to my window.

Shadow got up, growling with the hairs on the back standing straight, with eyes staring at the window.

I got to go.

I exited out and then slipped over out of sight. I looked around, but my room had no weapons in it. I need to get some.

A leg stuck itself into my room followed by a winged torso.

"Dominic!"

He turned sharply and then grinned at me.

I pushed him. "What are you doing sneaking into my room? A girl's room."

"I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay." He said softly.

"Couldn't you have, you know, called?" I looked around and dug my phone out of my purse. "You had a phone before."

"Calls and texts can be fakes or manipulated." He said. He wrapped his big, warm hands around my shoulders. "You are okay?"

"Yeah. I was just about to go to bed." I mumbled. I hate him. He's way too nice and it's not helping the hopelessly falling in love with him that will only lead to suffering in the end thing.

"I'm glad." He said with a soft smile.

I wanted to kiss him really, really badly. But I mean, this wasn't smart. He shouldn't be in here with me in nightshirt that barely covered my thighs and the fact that room was kind of separate from the other guys rooms and this could only lead to bad things.

Ah fuck consequences!

I got rid of the empty space in between us and kissed him. I felt his shock before he wrapped his arms and wings around me and deepened the kiss.

I curled my fingers around his silky hair and wrapped my own wings around him.

"Raven." He breathed before lifting me up. I wrapped my bare legs around his naked torso, and yes, I was fully aware of our bare and naked-ness and made me almost crazy.

His hands slid under my shirt and I felt like I was going to explode or go mad, one of the two.

I didn't realize we were moving until we were collapsed on the bed.

I had one little spike of fear before it was drowned out under other feelings, really horny feelings.

His hand cupped my breast and he suddenly pulled away.

"No."

I felt like a toddler who got her balloon popped. It just like…poof, gone.

"What?" I gasped.

"We can't do this." He said rubbing his hand over his face.

"Can't we just…damn the consequences?" I asked. "We could never get another chance."

I hated hated hated hated myself for saying that. It was worse than telling him I loved him. I was willing to deal with whatever shit came from us giving the finger towards fate or destiny or just consquence's personification just for this one chance to be with him. This could truly be our only chance and I wanted to be with him because I am a glutton for punishment.

"We'll get another chance Raven." He said holding my hands. "I promise. We will be together in this life or the next."

"That was kinda corny." I mumbled, but I touched anyway. I sighed. Well, I feel like shit now.

He kissed me and I felt him slip something on my ring finger. Gee, I wonder what it could be.

I glanced and saw the gold ring with a purple gem in the middle that was shaped a bit like a flower. The design didn't look human and the energy coming off of it was not human either.

"It has a charm to help keep you safe."

"Functioning jewelry. Nice." I said.

"It makes me feel better." He was blushing and it was adorable.

"I can take care of myself."

"I know." He said. "This will be there when you can't." He leaned over and kissed my forehead. "I'll see you when I can."

"I hope someday we can stop stealing moments like this."

"Me too." I watched him slip out my window and then I flopped against my bed.

"You are Twitterpainted." Snap said.

"Nice Bambi reference." I muttered.

"I knew that the bond between Eternal Mates was strong, but I didn't realize how strong. He would forsake everything to be with you." The look in her eye told me that she wasn't sure this strong bond was such a good idea. After all, what could happen if the situation reverses?

I fingered the promise ring. Should I hide it? I doubt the others would notice and it was nice to have a piece of him to carry with me.

Why does falling in love make you stupid? Logically, I knew this was stupid. Keeping my relationship with him a secret from the others wasn't so smart either. But how could I tell them I was seeing Damascus' heir on the sly?

"Go to bed, Raven." I muttered as I slid under the covers. Skye and Snap curled around my head while Shadow hopped onto my bed and laid his head across my back.

I sighed. "I need a bigger bed." I held my moonstone in my hand, praying to Artemis that I would stay in my head tonight, and quickly slunk into sleep.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXO

Hello? Anyone there?

I am so sorry that this update took so long to finally get posted. It was getting near the end of the semester and some of my professors didn't think that having a final was enough to end the class. And I got the stomach flu or food poisoning something that made me physically ill twice before the semester ended. And Christmas break was busy since I had planned to give you guys this chapter and maybe the next one if I got it finished on Christmas for a little Holiday cheer. But, that didn't work out well either.

This semester might not be so good for updates either since several of classes are writing classes and reading so I am be too burnt out to give you guys a chapter, but I will try my best.

Anyway, if you're still reading more power to you. Please review and happy belated holiday cheer.