Okay, so you should know that I really didn't plan on the story working out like it did. This isn't the end. No, far from it, actually. This is more like the real beginning. I feel like a lot of people have done this before: bring in something super complicated and technically impossible, but you must know that when I write, the characters tell me what is supposed to happen next. It doesn't really come from my brain the entire time. Sometimes, something will just pop into my head, and I know that it has to go into the story. Like I said in the beginning, this story was supposed to be a one-shot, but it has turned into something much more complex. I really hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I am enjoying writing it.

It seemed like I had slept minutes, but when I looked at the clock on my bedside table it said that I had slept for eight hours. I wanted to groan, but I didn't want to wake up Stark. So, I very carefully untangled myself from his arms and went to get a bag of blood from the kitchen.

I'd grabbed two bags instead of one and was cutting the first one open when Aphrodite walked into the room.

"Hey." I said, giving her an apologetic smile. "I'm really sorry about earlier. I was just…"

"Stressed? Nervous? Confused?" she asked.

"All of the above." I snorted.

Aphrodite grabbed some cheetohs and sat down across from me at the table. "What are you doing up?"

I finished pouring the blood into a cup - it felt a little less weird that way - and chunked the bag in the trash. I sat down and took a drink of blood. It felt like coffee in the morning, except way better. "Couldn't sleep." I shrugged my shoulders.

Aphrodite didn't look at me when she said, "You dreamt about Kalona, didn't you?"

I think I looked at Aphrodite like she had just picked a lizard up off the ground and ate it whole. "How do you know that? Did you have a vision?" I asked, just a little too quickly.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah. I had a vision. The worst, most painful vision of my life."

Even though I was concerned about what the vision was about, I was more concerned for Aphrodite. I knew how bad her visions were. She would bleed from her eyes and they would give her major headaches. "How bad was the pain?"

She hadn't been looking at me the entire time, but now she did. "Horrible. I wanted to die. And you weren't there to help me."

I looked down this time. "When was it?"

"Right after we got here. I assume you were still talking with Nyx and Stark. Anyway, I told Darius to go get you at dusk. He did, but when he came back he said you were nowhere to be found." She stopped to shrug her shoulders. "I had this vision all night, Zoey. I don't remember all of it, but I do remember the basics."

"Aphrodite, I am really sorry for not being there for your vision. I just…had some things I had to take care of." I'd tried to take her hand, but she pulled it away before I could.

"Look, I've still got a major headache. I don't feel like staying up too much longer talking with you about this, but have to. Z, some major shit is going down, and it seems to be following you." That was the Aphrodite that I knew and - sometimes - loved.

"Okay, so tell me what happened. It's not like I'm not used to poopie following me." I cut open my second bag of blood and started dumping it into the cup.

"You're going to have to let me tell you all of it before you ask questions. I have to concentrate to remember it and if you interrupt something I may not be able to remember everything." she explained.

"Okay, I'll listen. Go on."

She took a deep breath and leaned back in the chair, closing her eyes as she did so. "Okay, so it was kind of blurry at first. I couldn't tell who I was looking at, I just knew that two people were doing the nasty." I blushed at that comment. "When it started coming into focus, the first thing I noticed was that the girl kept changing form. First she would be - I'm guessing, here - a Cherokee woman with weird Indian clothing.

"She would then turn into you, which I thought was really weird until I remembered that part of your soul is A-ya. But the next part threw me off. You turned into Nyx." She stopped, gasping for air.

I ran around the table to her. "Aphrodite, are you okay?"

She waved her hand at me. "Yeah… Sorry." She took a few more deep breaths before continuing. "Well, I couldn't really hear much in the vision, but I could see almost everything. Some of it was going way too fast, so I didn't get parts of it. I remember getting glimpses of Cherokee woman chanting something, but I couldn't hear what it was.

"This is the scary part, Z. Brace yourself." I did as she told me, holding my breath. "You had a baby. It was crazy. Everyone knows that vampyres and fledglings can't have kids. It was really weird. Well, anyways, it's Kalona's, apparently, because he comes flying down from Nyx's kingdom to be with you. When he does, though, he gets his black wings back, and is struggling to be good.

"Something happens. I can't quite grasp it. Anyways, you die and Kalona is heartbroken. He gives in to darkness, and becomes a weapon for Neferet. They destroy the world as we know it together." Aphrodite fought to catch her breath for a few minutes after she finished.

As she did that, I thought about all of this.

Okay, she said that I had a baby. That was impossible. As soon as we are marked, our bodies work differently. They can't care for a baby the way a human's body can. So, we knew that was out of the question.

Something dark in the back of my mind hissed, But what if she's right?

So, yeah, I didn't know if an immortal could knock anyone he wanted up, but what were the chances? As I thought about this, I realized that Nyx hadn't said anything about the possibility of procreating with Kalona. I had just assumed that she would stop him before he could…well, you know.

I ignored it for the time being. How was I supposed to know what the Cherokee woman were up to, if I didn't know what they were saying? I decided to make a mental note to call grandma in a little while and ask her about it.

The rest of it would just never happen because Kalona and I didn't love each other. Although…

"Ohmygoddess!" I almost yelled. I would have yelled it if it weren't for all the sleeping people I would probably wake up.

Aphrodite opened her eyes and started rubbing her temples. "Ugh, what is it?"

I grabbed her by the shoulders and made her look at me. "Aphrodite, you have to promise me that you won't say anything about this to anyone. It will definitely freak them out. It will probably freak you out, too, but you have to listen to me and help me figure this out."

She looked entirely sober and awake now. Maybe even a little afraid. She bit her lower lip and nodded.

So, I launched into what had happened with Kalona and I during the "dirty deed". Aphrodite managed to surprise me and not say anything the entire time. I then told her about the dream I'd had earlier that woke me up. By the time I was through, Aphrodite was grabbing a wine bottle and pouring some into a glass.

She drank a whole glass in two minutes straight, poured herself another glass, and then sipped on it before setting it down. She cleared her throat.

"Okay, so what you're telling me is that my vision may actually have a chance to become true?" she asked.

I simply nodded.

"Shit! What are we gonna do, Z?" she would've yelled if it weren't for my warning to be quiet.

I thought about that for a little while before saying anything. "Kalona told me that he was going to talk to Nyx about what is going on. I say that I go call my grandma, talk to her about the Cherokee woman in your vision, and see if we can figure out anything. Later tonight, or maybe tomorrow when I go back to sleep, Kalona will visit me in my dreams again and tell me what's going on."

"Yeah, and pigs fly."

"Shut up." I snapped. She shrugged, obviously getting buzzed from the wine. "I'm going to go call my grandma. You…do whatever you do."

She raised her glass up to me as I walked away. I ran as fast as I could to my room for my cell, being careful not to wake up Stark, and then into the depot for signal. As soon as I got three bars, I hit number two on my speed dial. She answered on the second ring.

"Grandma!" I shrieked into the phone.

"U-we-tsi-a-ge-ya, what is wrong? I awoke from a horrible dream the other night, and you were in it. I've been waiting to hear from you." she automatically replied.

"It's horrible, grandma. Just horrible!"

"Shush. Calm down, Zoeybird. If you'll just calm down, you'll see that you can make it through anything." Of course, grandma would be the first person to keep me calm in a situation like this.

"Thanks, grandma. I need your help. I can't explain everything right now, but I just need to know something." I said, grateful to hear her voice in all of this mess.

There was a long silence on her end, and I almost said something to see if she was still there. Before I could, she said. "Something bad is coming, Zoey. Be prepared for it."

Okay, my entire life, grandma had always been weird. I say that because it was weird to other people that she always knew when I was going to call, when I was in trouble, and when I was coming for a visit. I never thought of it that way because I had grown up with her doing it all the time. But, in all the years she had done this, she had never sounded like she did this time. She sounded like she really thought the end of the world was coming.

I decided to ignore it and ask her the question I set out to ask. "Grandma, not to be rude or anything, but do you know of any chants that the Cherokee woman would chant? One that would maybe have to do with Kalona?"

"Of course, Zoeybird. The one that they used to trap him in the earth. You know of that one." she reminded me.

I sighed. "Yes, I remember that one. But this time I'm looking for a different chant. Maybe another one they said about Kalona while he was in the earth? I'm not exactly sure of all the details."

"I know of one other chant that our ancestors used against Kalona, and it wasn't just a chant."

"What was it, grandma?" I was afraid that my gut - which was telling me that what she was going to say was bad - was right.

"I do not know the words. I only know what my grandmother told me. She said that once Kalona was trapped in the earth, the Ghigua Women got together and put a spell on Kalona. They did it to make sure that if Kalona ever came back, he wouldn't be able to impregnate another Cherokee woman without facing the consequences."

I swallowed the giant lump in my throat. "What are the consequences?"

"Kalona will be infatuated with the woman. The woman, in return, will be captivated by Kalona, not for herself, but for her child. Why is this so important, U-we-tsi-a-ge-ya?"

"Oh, grandma, I am in so much trouble this time."

I had to explain everything to my grandma so that she could help me. She didn't sound pleased about anything, but she did promise me that she would do her best to track down the spell and find a way to reverse it. We also had the little matter of me being…

"Pregnant." I whispered the word to myself. I'd just hung up with grandma and was sitting in the dark. "How could that even happen?"

For a long time everything seemed perfectly still. I had absolutely no clue what to do. I roamed through the depot, listening to the sounds of birds outside. Sometimes the sunlight would slink its way into a room and I would have to shield my eyes from it. I thought about Stark - my warrior and lover - and how heartbroken he would be when he found out about everything.

You don't have to tell him… The thought came from somewhere deep inside my mind. It almost felt as if it didn't belong. As if it was put there.

No. I couldn't lie to Stark. Truthfully, it wouldn't be like I was outright lying to him about all of this. But, I realized, if I didn't tell him, it would be like lying to him through omission. That's what had gotten me into such a mess before, right? I had lied to my friends about Stevie Rae and Loren, and that had put a wedge between us.

Stark said that he would protect me no matter what, and I knew that he would. If I just sat down and explained to him what was going on, he would understand.

Wouldn't he?

A ray of sunlight hit me, bringing me out of my thoughts. I automatically jumped further into the room I had been going in to get away from it. When I did, I tripped over something I hadn't seen and fell onto my hands and knees.

For a moment, I didn't think about anything. I just fell into the floor and laid there, staring under the crumbling desk and enjoying the softness underneath my head.

Softness?

I looked down to see that I was laying on a blanket and pillow. The very same blanket and pillow that Kalona and I had been on. A small whimpering sound came from my throat, and I closed my eyes really tight to keep from crying. I was in some major bullpoopie.

"Oh, Goddess, help me." I whispered. "This can't be happening. You told me that everything would be okay. That we would be fine…"

I flipped over onto my back and looked down at my stomach. "Could it be true?" I said aloud as my hands slowly made their way to my tummy. It didn't feel any different. It didn't look any different. But how was it supposed to look or feel any different this early if I was pregnant?

Suddenly, I shot up. Maybe there was a way I could figure all of this out.

I ran as fast as I could, all the way back to my room. Stark was sleeping like a baby - and I do mean a baby, fetal position and all - and snoring softly. I grabbed a sweatshirt of mine and some fresh jeans to change into. When that was taken care of, I ran to Aphrodite's room.

When I got there, I peeked into her room to see that she hadn't returned to it yet. I was just about to go to the kitchen when I heard something. Turning to my right, I saw that Aphrodite was at the very end of the hall. She waited there while I walked towards her.

"What's up?" she whispered.

"I have a plan. Neferet isn't at the House of Night at the moment."

"Uh-huh. Already knew about her running off right before we got there last night." she interrupted. I narrowed my eyes at her and she said, "Okay, okay! I'll be quiet."

"Anyways," I started, "Neferet isn't there, so I can easily sneak onto the grounds and into my room for a minute. I'm going to conceal my tattoos and then grab the keys to my bug. I'll go into town and then…" I didn't know a way to put this lightly.

As I searched for what I wanted to say, Aphrodite said something totally out of character for her: "Z, you can tell me anything. You don't have to put it a certain way to try and get me to understand. I know that there are things you have to do that won't make sense to me sometimes. Hell, sometimes I have to do things that don't make sense to me. Whatever it is, I'll understand."

She sounded just like how Stevie Rae sounded before she had died and then un-died. For a moment, I missed those times. Yes, they were crazy because I was trying to get a hold of this totally different world Nyx put me in, but it was a hell of a whole lot better than it was at that moment.

I took a deep breath. "I'm going to go buy a pregnancy test."

Aphrodite gasped. "Uh, are you sure that's going to work? I mean, first of all, it hasn't been that long. From what I remember about those things, you have to wait a while before they pick up on anything. Secondly, you're a fledgling. You're body isn't the same as a human's. What if it can't pick up on that?"

I took what she said into consideration. She was silent as I thought. "Well, I suppose I'll get the kind that has two tests in it. Hell, I might even buy two of those so that I have four tests. For now, I would like to see if it would pick up on it."

Aphrodite looked to the ground. She mumbled something that I couldn't understand and then looked up at me. She must have seen the what-did-you-say look on my face because she took a deep breath and said, "So, you really do think you're…pregnant?"

I thought about what to say next very carefully. I didn't want to come right out and say yes because that would totally freak her out, and saying it out loud would freak me out, too. But, even as I thought that I didn't want to say it out loud, I realized that maybe I could find out if I was pregnant by saying it out loud. I mean, sometimes I got that feeling in my gut that told me I was right about something while I was saying it. It could work for this, too, right? Right?

"Yes. I really do." I said. A chill ran through my body as I did, indeed, get that feeling in my gut that told me I was right. It was getting hard for me to breathe as the chill went through me, and some part of me wondered how Nyx could let something like this happen.

"Zoey?" Aphrodite's voice sounded like it was coming out of a tunnel. "Hey, you don't look so good."

I slowly shook my head back and forth a couple of times, as if denying it would make it not true. Another chill took over my body, forcing me to take deep breaths in order to keep from falling down.

"Ohmygoddess!" Aphrodite's hand whipped out and took hold of my arm. "You really are, aren't you?"

I nodded my head, not trusting my voice. Aphrodite pulled me into a hug, which would've surprised me if I hadn't been preoccupied freaking out. "It's okay. We'll get through this like we get through everything else." she whispered in my ear.

Suddenly, Aphrodite went rigid in my arms. As I started to pull away to ask what was wrong, she said, "Uh, Z?"

I turned around to see a groggy, yet still very determined, Stark coming our way. He looked like he was trying to stay awake, which made sense because the sun was still up. I hastily rubbed my eyes, trying to get the tears that had been forming to go away. Stark looked up then, and when he caught sight of me, he started to run.

He put his hands on my shoulders and said, "Zoey, what's wrong?"

Of course. He'd felt the terror that had racked through me when I realized I was pregnant. I tried to say something, anything, but every time I opened my mouth no sound came out.

Aphrodite stepped forward from behind me. She put her hand on Stark's shoulder to get his attention. When he looked at her, she said, "There's some things we need to discuss."

"Why can't she speak?" Stark nearly screamed.

Aphrodite shushed him. "Seriously, be quiet. We can't have everyone waking up and knowing what's going on. This needs to stay between the three of us for a little while." She looked around and then motioned for us to follow her into a room.

Once inside, I realized that it was one of the rooms the red fledglings used for storage. There were canned foods, sleeping bags, pillows, blankets, water…all sorts of things piled up on the walls. There was just enough room for the three of us to stand together.

"Okay. So, you know how Nyx needed Zoey's help to get to Kalona? Well…"

And with that, Aphrodite launched into my horrible, gut-wrenching story.