Well, this is a longer chapter than I usually post. I hope that makes up for last night and the night before that when I couldn't get anything uploaded. I've been feeling like crap the past couple of days, so I wasn't able to write. I got my medicine filled so I'm feeling a little better than I have been. I really hope you like this chapter. There's not a whole lot to it, but I felt I had to have the Aphrodite/Darius scene. Even though she can be - in the words of Damien, the Twins, and Stevie Rae - a hateful hag at times, she's still a good guy deep down. So is Darius, and there just hasn't been enough love between the two of them in my story. Well, let's get to it.

I turned in my bed, keeping my eyes closed. If I didn't open them, I could pretend that I didn't have a big geometry test that I had to do today. Maybe my mom would think I was sick. After all, I always woke up in the morning at a certain time. It had always been that way since I was little, a trait that I'd inherited from my grandma. Sure, Kayla would be pissed if I ditched school and made her take the test by herself, but I was willing to face her wrath-babble in order to get out of this test.

I noticed that my room smelled funny. Damp, kind of. Maybe I had left a couple of my socks under the bed again without realizing it. But no, it wasn't that. It smelled way different than anything my room had ever smelt like.

I opened my eyes. I wasn't in my room. I was in a place I had never seen before. It was dark, only lit by oil lanterns, but I found it strange that I could easily see everything…and everyone.

"Where am I?" I whispered. I noticed right away that I was in a room full of vampyres and fledglings. Had they brought me here to drink my blood? But that couldn't be possible. Everyone knew that vampyres weren't really like they were in books like Dracula. Maybe they had brought me here to drain me, they just told everyone that they weren't like that.

A vampyre stepped toward me. He looked about my age, but I knew that he could be anywhere from my age to about thirty. Vampyres didn't age the way we did. He had short, dark hair, and his tattoo had arrows in it. What was strange about it weren't the arrows, but the fact that it was red instead of blue. Every vampyre I had ever seen had a blue tattoo.

The vampyre sat down on the bed and grabbed my hand. I was in so much shock that I didn't pull away. "You're in the tunnels. You're gonna be alright, Zoey."

When he said my name it seemed like I gained control of my body again. How did he know my name? I jerked my hand away from him and shrieked, "Who are you? How did I get here?"

Another vampyre - this time a girl - who also had a red tattoo stepped toward me. She had short, curly blonde hair that bounced when she moved. She was dressed in cowgirl getup, and she looked really concerned about me, which I thought was weird since I hadn't seen her before. "Z, you don't remember who he is?" She pointed at the guy who had been holding my hand.

I looked back and forth between the two of them, trying to make sense out of all of this. Why was this happening to me? "No! I don't know who any of you are! Where's my mom? What happened?"

They all stood there just looking at me. I took advantage of the moment to look at the other people in the room. Over by the country-girl vampyre was a boy. A human boy. He had golden skin, brown eyes, and long black hair. He looked like he might have some Indian in him, but I couldn't tell for sure.

Behind him was another human. She was really pretty. She had blonde hair and green eyes. Her makeup looked like it had been done by an expert, and she had one hand on her hip, telling me that she probably had a bad attitude. As if to prove it, she said, "Ah, hell."

"This isn't good." yet another vampyre said from the other side of the bed. He was…a mountain. I'm serious, this dude was huge. His tattoo was blue, like all the others I'd seen, but that didn't make me trust him any more than I trusted the rest of them.

The guy sitting on the bed patted my leg to get my attention. "Zoey, I know that this is going to seem a little…strange, but you have to trust us. We're your friends."

"Some of us are more than just a friend." the human girl said, giving the guy who'd just talked a look.

"Not right now." he shot back at her. He looked back to me. "I'm Stark. You may not remember, but we know each other. I'm…your boyfriend."

I gasped. Was this guy delusional? Had he had an accident? Or was I the one who'd had an accident? After all, they were all saying I was the one who didn't remember anything. "No… Heath is. Well, kind of. He's almost my boyfriend."

They all looked at each other, as if they could speak telepathically. Then Stark looked at me again. "Honey, I don't really know how to tell you this, but…"

"Oh for God's sake!" the human girl said. She walked over to me and smacked me on the side of my face. "Zoey, snap out of it! Seriously!"

Suddenly, I remembered who they all were. I remembered lots of things that hadn't been there before, and it scared me that I had forgotten all of it. I remembered that Neferet had hit me and that caused me to pass out. Maybe she'd hit me so hard it messed with my brain a little bit. What I remembered that I really didn't want to remember - especially with Stark right here - was my dream with Kalona.

Darius stepped over and grabbed Aphrodite's arm, hard. I hadn't ever seen him treat her that way before and it kind of shocked me. "Aphrodite! She probably has a concussion. We don't need you making things worse." He let go of her and she stumbled back, almost running into Stevie Rae as she did. Her bottom lip stuck out like she was about to cry, and she turned and ran out of the room.

"Uh, Darius, you really didn't have to do that." I said.

They all turned and looked at me.

"Zoey, you're back?" Stark said, moving closer to me.

I smiled and opened my arms to him. He automatically wrapped himself in them, wrapping his own arms around my waist as he did. "Yeah. I guess Aphrodite knocked my brain back in place. I'm really sorry for worrying you guys. I honestly didn't remember who you were."

Darius sat on the edge of my bed, putting his hand on my foot. "Priestess, I think it best if we take you to a hospital. You've likely suffered head trauma. If we were under normal circumstances, I would just take you to the House of Night infirmary to get taken care of, but…"

I shook my head, which hurt so I stopped. "I don't think that's such a good idea. I mean, Neferet and Darkness are out there trying to kill me, along with the fact that I'm a fledgling. Hospitals don't treat vampyres or fledglings, and they would know that something was up if I showed up there."

Stark pulled himself from my arms and looked me in the eyes. "Z, I agree with Darius. I mean, we have to get your head checked out, but…I think we might want to check out the baby, too." I was going to protest again, but he kept going. "C'mon, we'll cover up all your tattoos and take you in. If you don't want to go to the hospital, we'll get Stevie Rae to do her weird mind-controlling thingy on a regular doctor."

"It's not weird. Okay, maybe a little. But there's a problem with that: I can't go out in the daylight and it's gonna be morning soon." Stevie Rae interjected.

Aphrodite walked into the room then as if on cue. Without looking at Darius once, she told us, "I've got the keys to the car. I called a friend of my dad's. He's a doctor. He said he will keep everything confidential, even from his wife. He's got the papers that Zoey will have to sign to make it official."

We all looked at her, wondering how in the hell she could pull something like this off. She must've gotten tired of it because she suddenly yelled, "Come on! We have to go. Zoey, Stark, and Darius," she sneered his name, "get in the car. Bumpkin and birdboy, you're on your own."

Stevie Rae and Rephaim didn't look upset at the fact that they didn't have to go. In fact, they looked downright happy. Still, Rephaim walked over to the bed.

"Zoey… May I..?" He didn't finish the question, but I knew what he was asking. He wanted to touch my stomach, as most people want to do when they know you're pregnant. It was a little weird because I wasn't showing at all, but I really didn't mind. I nodded my head and he walked over to the bed to put his hand on my stomach.

He jumped back, taking his hand with him and clutching it to his chest. His eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head. Then, out of nowhere, he started laughing. We all just sat there looking at him like he'd gone mad.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The child is fine. You don't need to go to the doctor if that's what you're worried about. I guess I can see him because I'm family, and we're…not exactly normal." Rephaim said with a smile on his face. Out of nowhere, his face fell and he looked at the ground.

Stevie Rae walked over to him, grabbed his hand in hers, and said, "What's wrong?"

He gave her a sweet smile before saying, "Well, nothing is really wrong. It's just strange. The baby is normal. I know you told me that before, but it was a little hard to believe. Now that I've seen it, I believe it. But that isn't the strange part. It's the fact that the baby is so big. I do remember some of the pregnancies of my siblings going by very fast - as you know, I was the first child of Kalona's born. I just don't remember them going by this fast.

"The others usually grew from around four months to six months, not the usual nine months it takes. But Zoey's child will not even take that long. It will only take a month to develop. I predict that it will be here in…about twenty-eight to twenty-nine days."

Aphrodite stepped into the room from where she was in the doorway. "You predict or you know?"

He didn't even look back at her. He looked directly into my eyes as he said, "I know."

"What about your head, Priestess?" Darius asked. "I managed to get some supplies from the nuns when we stayed at the abbey. Luckily, they had some actual stitches that I could apply to you, but I don't know if there is any serious damage."

I thought about it for a minute. I knew that things like that could happen. You could feel fine, go to sleep, and then never wake up again. But I also knew that going to the hospital wasn't a good idea. My gut was telling me that I would be putting myself in danger again, and I always went with my gut. I was going to tell them that I didn't think I needed to go when Aphrodite spoke up again.

"Zoey can't go to a hospital. That vision I had earlier? Yeah, it was about her. If she's goes outside at any time tonight - maybe even at all with that thing inside her - Darkness is going to attack her. And it won't be pretty."

Stevie Rae sharply looked over at her. "Aphrodite, are we talkin' 'bout the same vision you had at the clinic? 'Cause I remember what you told me, and that wasn't it. You said that Z got killed by Darkness if we didn't get her down in the tunnels fast enough tonight."

Aphrodite didn't even look at Stevie Rae as she talked. She was looking at the ground, as if she was reliving the vision again. For all I knew, she probably was. Aphrodite really didn't like her visions. They scared her to death, and always left her feeling like crap. I was surprised she was up and around after a vision. She didn't look like she wanted to talk, so I got up.

Stark tried to make me get back on the bed, but I gave him what I hoped was a look that a High Priestess would give her warrior, telling him that she needed to do this. I must've gotten it right, because Stark nodded his head and let me go. I walked to Aphrodite and stopped right in front of her.

"Aphrodite, let's go to your room. I want to speak with you." I said.

I'd meant for that to come out soft and understanding so that she would be inclined to come with me. Thinking about it now, that probably wouldn't have been the right direction to go with anyways. If I had said it softly, she would probably come back at me with some bitchy comment and then we'd start arguing. Luckily, my voice came out as that of a powerful High Priestess. Her powerful High Priestess.

Aphrodite simply nodded her head before turning around and going back out the door. I turned and made eye contact with every single person in the room for a moment, letting them know that they weren't to follow us. I knew that they understood what I was doing by the small smiles they were giving me.

I didn't think that was all they were telling me with their smiles. I hadn't realized it until I saw Stark's face, but they were proud of me. I really was becoming a High Priestess, and that thought had me smiling all the way to Aphrodite's room. That is, until I got to the curtain that acted as her door.

I wiped the smile off my face and braced myself, trying to think of what I would say to her. I moved the curtain out of the way, only to have Aphrodite do something so out-of-character that I almost fell backward. She launched herself into my arms, crying. You can only imagine how hard it was to stay on my feet; I was super dizzy from my head and had to grab the wall of the tunnel to brace myself.

Even though I wanted to tell her to knock it off because I didn't feel all that great, I pulled one of my arms around her when I got a hold of myself and patted her back, all the while making cooing sounds that you make at a baby when it's crying. I pulled her over to her bed, partly to try and calm her down and partly because I didn't think I could stand any longer.

I let her cry for a few more minutes, letting her get it out of her system. When I figured I'd allowed her enough time to cry, I said, "Aphrodite, calm down. Tell me what this is about."

She pulled out of my arms and wiped her eyes. I got up for only a second to grab her some tissues. She promptly blew her nose and took a deep breath. "I'm really sorry for that. You'd think you'd be the one crying your eyes out, what with all the hormones and stuff."

I gave a little laugh. "Oh, I have a lot more than hormones to worry about. Now, tell me, what's wrong?"

She took another deep, shaky breath before looking at me. "Zoey, you know that I'm a prophetess of Nyx. I don't just get visions… I get feelings, too." I nodded my head to tell her I knew. "Well, Stevie Rae was right about the vision I had earlier. It was sort of like that one I had about Kalona taking over the world. The one with all the people burning."

"You mean the one where you saw him with Neferet in one vision and me in the other?"

She nodded. "It was like that. In one, Darkness came and drank all your blood at the clinic, after Neferet had hit you. I had it right when we all got to you. The other was when we got to the tunnels. The same thing happened, we were just in a different place. There was nothing any of us could do to get it away from you. Even Stevie Rae's earth element wasn't enough."

I hadn't expected the part about an element not being able to save me, but I didn't want to give any of my shock away. Right now I had a part to play, and that was to get Aphrodite feeling better so that she could help us. "Go on. I'm listening."

"Well, basically, I didn't just have a vision. This is the part I didn't tell Stevie Rae - or anybody else. She was the only one who knew about the vision. I got one of my feelings, and it wasn't a good one." she said.

"It never is." I agreed.

She gave me a sad smile. "No, it never is. Well, the feeling I got was that if you came out of the tunnels - or even if you don't have someone with you while you're down here - Darkness will kill you. It doesn't want you to have this child, Z. I think… I think that she's the one we've been waiting for. That Nyx picked you to do her work because she knew that you would be the one to have the real savior.

"I also think that's why Nyx wanted you to go through with this plan she concocted. She knew it had to be Kalona's kid." she finished.

I took a deep breath. That had been a lot of stuff for just one vision, but I wasn't going to tell her that. I wanted to make her feel better, but I also sensed that there was more to it than what she had just told me. "Aphrodite, is this all you want to tell me?"

A tear fell down her cheek and she wiped it away hastily. She gave a little laugh before she said, "I should've known you would feel there was more. But that has to do with me, not you."

I gave her a smile. "Aphrodite, a lot of things don't have to do with me, but they're important, too. Even if it's little things. You can tell me anything you want to, and I will try to help you to the best of my ability."

"It's Darius." she blurted. "He's my warrior, and my boyfriend, but lately it seems that he doesn't want to be either. I mean, you saw what happened earlier. Or do you remember?"

I nodded. "He grabbed your arm. I've never seen him do anything like that before."

She nodded, too. "Yeah, he hasn't. And that's the problem! Things have been getting worse between us. He's all about saving the day - you, mostly - and it seems like he doesn't feel the same about me anymore. I really thought he was mine. That he was the one. I'm starting to rethink that, though."

"Do you want me to talk to him?" I asked.

She didn't say anything for a minute, probably thinking about it. "You don't have to. I mean, on one hand, I want you to, just to see what he'll do. But on the other, I think he'll let me down. Goddess, I really don't want to lose him."

I put my hand on her shoulder, thinking about spirit and how wonderful it felt. "Aphrodite, I think I may know a way I can make things better." She looked up from the floor at me, a huge question mark look on her face. "Spirit, come to me, please."

I automatically felt spirit throughout my body, actually helping me with the pain in my head and some of the dizziness. I wanted to keep it for myself, but I knew that that would be wrong and selfish of me right now. "Go to Aphrodite. Make her feel better. Help her to find the answers she's looking for while I'm gone."

I felt spirit leave me - and felt hollow and awful for a moment, making me want to take it back, but I didn't - and saw the shock go through Aphrodite as it moved throughout her. The tears in her eyes automatically dissolved, and she looked a lot better. Stronger.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to go talk to Darius for you." I said.

"No! You can't go by yourself, Z. Darkness will get you."

I smiled at her. "Aphrodite, one thing I've learned it that you can't let fear keep you from living. I won't go out of the tunnels until I have the baby, that I promise you. But I'm not going to be afraid in my own home, either. I'll call the other elements to me if it will make you feel better."

She nodded and I did as I said I would, calling air first and ending with earth. I couldn't call spirit because I didn't want it to leave her as I left. I knew the only thing holding her together was spirit. I flashed her one more smile as I left her room.

"Fire, help me light the way and chase away any Darkness that's lingering here." I whispered as soon as I was out the door. I was scared, there was no doubt about that, but I knew that what I'd said to Aphrodite was right. I wouldn't stay cooped up in my room for an entire month.

My hands lit up, but they didn't burn. They actually felt a little warmer, as if I had been grabbing handfuls of snow and then put my hands near a fireplace. It was comforting as I walked through the tunnels, making my way back to my room. I thought I'd seen a couple tendrils of Darkness, but it could've just been my mind.

I released the elements just before I walked back in my room. Stark and Darius were the only ones still there. Stark looked up at me and gave me a smile.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Better. My head still hurts, but it's not bad anymore." I assured him. "Where are Stevie Rae and Rephaim?"

Stark got up and walked over to me. "They went to their room. Stevie Rae was right. The sun is coming up in about…" He cocked his head a little bit. "Thirty minutes."

I smiled at him. "In that case, why don't you go get something to eat before bed? You haven't really had anything all day and you need to keep up your strength. That goes for you, too, Darius, but I need to speak with you first."

I'm pretty sure Stark got what I was talking about because he kissed me on my cheek and whispered, "I'll give you two some time to talk. I'll be back soon. I'll bring you some blood."

Even though mentioning blood made me want to go with him to the kitchen right then, I made myself stay back so that I could talk to Darius. "Okay, so-"

Darius cut me off. "My lady is unhappy with me."

I stopped walking toward him and just sighed. "Yeah. How did you know?"

"It is not hard to tell. She has been acting different for days now, and I believe it is because of me." He didn't look happy about what he was saying, so I took that as a bad sign.

"You mean, you don't want to be with her anymore?" I asked, totally shocked. If it was because of him, did that mean that he didn't feel the same about her anymore? He'd seemed so loyal to her that I couldn't imagine that happening.

"No! That is not what I meant at all. I love Aphrodite, with every cell in my body. I can't imagine a world without her."

"Then what are you talking about?" I was seriously confused.

"I think she may have changed her mind about me. She hasn't been spending as much time with me lately. After Nyx showed herself to us, she's been…different. I honestly do not understand what is going on. Maybe she has decided that she doesn't want me anymore." he said, looking as if he was going to cry. The thought made me want to cry. Imagining this man - this giant of a man - crying seemed almost impossible, and definitely heart-breaking.

Instead of crying, I gave a little laugh. "Oh, warrior, is this confusing and ironic or what? Aphrodite said the same thing about you! She thinks you're the one who doesn't want her anymore."

"Really?" he asked, still not looking convinced.

I nodded my head and said, "Yep. Maybe you should go talk to her and tell her how you feel."

"Yes, Priestess." He shot up from the bed, bowed formally to me, and hurried out the door.

I heard fledglings coming into the tunnels - sound really travelled down there. None of them bothered me, even though I could hear Damien and the Twins outside my door, debating on whether they should come in and check on me, or go see Stevie Rae and ask her what was up. I guess they decided on asking Stevie Rae because they never came in. I knew I would have to let them in on everything tomorrow, something I really didn't want to do.

I sighed and got back in bed, closing my eyes. Stark brought me a cup of blood, which I promptly guzzled down, and then we laid together, cuddling until we fell asleep. This time, I didn't have any dreams.

[Okay, I do this in a lot of my stories because my stars don't work on fanfiction to symbolize that it is going from one characters perspective to another's. So, from now on, I will just put BREAK in these brackets. I think you'll get that it's shifting.]

Aphrodite sat on the bed, feeling lonelier by the second. She didn't want to believe that her warrior had fallen out of love with her, but at the time it seemed like that was what was happening. She let out a sigh just as the curtain to her room moved, and Darius walked in.

She gave him a small smile and said, "Hey."

His expression mirrored hers. "Hello."

They stayed like that for a moment. Him standing right inside the door, her sitting on the bed, probably looking like she had just cried her eyes out because she had. She wondered what Zoey had said to him. He didn't look like he had come there to tell her that it was over between the two of them, but she knew better. Even though she told people that she was the one who did most of the breaking-up, she had had guys break up with her before, and she had never seen it coming with most of them.

She was just about to ask him what it was they were doing, and if they should stay together, when he charged forward and wrapped her in his arms, picking her up. His mouth found hers, filling her with sweet delight. He still loved her! Zoey must have told him how she felt, and he must have felt bad about it because he loved her back.

Aphrodite wrapped her own arms around her warrior's neck, loving the feel of him. They'd still yet to have sex, even though they had gotten pretty close a couple of times. It wasn't like she hadn't touched his man-parts before.

He laid her on the bed and got on top of her. He broke apart from her mouth and started leaving a trail of kissed down her neck, all the while saying, "I love you. I love you so much. I love you."

"Oh, I love you, too, Darius! So much!" she whispered back, fiercely. She was a little nervous about her next thought. She wanted Darius, but she was so nervous. She'd never had sex with anyone she actually loved before, and, to her, it was a lot easier to have sex with someone you didn't love. It made things so much more complex with there were feelings involved. Finally, she made her decision.

She reached down and started undoing his belt. He stopped kissing her and looked down at her hands. A small smile was on his face when he looked back up at her. "Are you sure?" he asked, breathlessly.

Aphrodite bit her lip while she nodded.

Darius gave her a sexy smile while he said, "If that is what my lady wants, then that is what she'll get."

They spent most of the day tangled with each other. They laughed and played, but mostly they made love to each other over and over again. Aphrodite knew she would be sore the next evening when she woke up.

Eventually, the decided to go to sleep. They knew they were waking everyone else up with their…escapades. Aphrodite turned over and blew out the oil lamp that sat on a dresser next to their bed. She put her head on Darius's shoulder, loving the feel of their naked flesh together.

She was so tired, she almost passed out as soon as her head was on his shoulder, but not before he whispered, "I love you, Aphrodite," and she whispered, "I love you, too, Darius," back.