*Zoey*

I went the whole day without seeing Stark again. When I entered the lunch room he was at the small circular lunch table Erik, Roxanne, and Damien sat at. Surprisingly Erik, Damien, Shaunee, and Kramisha were already there. They all looked upset as they talked about something in whispers. "Hey what's going on?" I asked as I sat my lunch tray between Damien and Shaunee. Damien slipped me a sheet of paper that was balled up. My guess after reading it was that Erik was responsible for that. Roxanne was planning a concert the same night and time as the opening of our play.

"We'll still be able to put on the show and most of the upper classmen are in it so we'll get a good turnout," I said trying to be optimistic.

"I'm not hungry," Erik said putting down his fork and roughly running his fingers through his hair and pulling at it.

"Roxanne is pulling some of the students out of the play. This is going to count as a project grade which is 65% of our final grade," Stark said filling in the blank.

"Why would Roxanne want to destroy the play? She basically helped make it so great. Her score is amazing," I said dumbfounded.

"That's how you and Erik got so close. She was cleaning up your mess and you were pathetically trying to get Erik to fall in love with you," Erin said from behind me.

"Erin," Shaunee said trying to calm her.

"No this isn't a joke, this is real. Isis is in a lot of danger, and yet again we lost another friend to Neferet all for Zoey to get another guy. One she cheated on twice," Erin huffed.

"Erin I didn't mean for any of this to happen, you have to believe that?" I asked her. I was hurt that she thought I would purposely hurt anyone especially Roxanne.

"I honestly don't know what to believe about anymore, Zoey," Erin said rushing out of the café as the bell rang and Shaunee followed her.

"I think she just needs some time to get over this I think we all do," Damien said.

Just as we reached the door Roxanne came in with Becca, Amber, and their new friend Bridget. "I tried to warn you about Zoey, we all know her reputation speaks volumes," Becca said as she grabbed on to Roxanne's arm and lead her around us. Erik stepped away from us and grabbed Roxanne's other arm. "We need to talk about the play," he said through his teeth.

"I'm busy tutoring this period, maybe after classes," she said with a lot of sass in her voice before she strutted away.

Never once did she glance at me or Erik, but I knew she was hurting. For some reason our link to each other felt stronger. I made a note to ask Nyx about that when I had my free period. I was going to get Roxanne to see that this was a grave mistake, and I was going to help her protect Isis.

*Roxanne*

I regretted telling Erik that I'd talk to him. He was in his office calling to me through our mind link. I was trying really hard to ignore him, but it wasn't working. I rushed down the hall to his office and pushed open the door. "WHAT?! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?!" I yelled at him.

He smiled at me and removed his reading glasses. Somehow he was capable of grading tests while screaming my name through our mind link. "I was hoping you'd stop by," he said nonchalantly. "Have a seat," he said as he came around his desk. He poured us each a glass of blood laced wine.

"What do you want Night?" I asked him. He handed me my glass and sat right next to me with a huge smile plastered on his face.

"Isis is going to Haiti in the morning," he said putting a strand of hair behind my ear.

"I talked to my father, I know," I smiled at him. I sat my glass on his desk and stood. "If that's all," I started turning to the door but he grabbed my arm like he did earlier. He looked into my eyes and I could tell he was reading me. "What?" I asked when he smiled at me as if he knew something I didn't.

"I know your secret," he said turning us so my backside was pressed to his desk and his was facing the door.

"And what might that secret be?" I asked.

His face glen as if he had the sun trapped in his mouth. "You still love me," he said as he gently caressed my face. Already the butterflies started to set up camp in my stomach. They danced around in anticipation of his next move. His lips looked ready to kiss and I swallowed my urge to do so. Neferet could have a minion in here lurking about and I could not risk giving into him.

"I do," I said before I dug into my emotional reserve to make my performance as believable as possible. The look of hope on Erik's face was almost enough to stop me from continuing, but I kept going. "And I probably will always love you," I said and again the hope and love in his eyes made me pause. "I suppose it's a girl thing to fall for the no good piece of shit that stills your innocence," I smiled with tears in my eyes. I could see that he was hurt. "I may love you but I'm not in love with you anymore. Miles was right, you did always have a knack for hurting me. First by sleeping with every girl in school, then by leaving and never once thinking about me, and now with Zoey. I guess that's what I get for not seeing you for what you were. You were just like all the other pretty boys with rich parents at that school," I said with my chest heaving as the anger poured out of me. "I'm through being your door mat. I'm tired of being the in to get to Erik Night. I'm not going to sit back and watch you be happy with someone else while I pine after you. You can't keep doing this to me. I put my life on hold because I wanted you. I said no to Miles because of you. I left my family because of you. I'm a vampire in the middle of a war because of you. And now my daughter could die because of you, and that little whore you can't stay away from.

"I hope you and Zoey get along just find. How does it feel knowing that even when she got you all to herself, she still choose someone else? It must feel nice having her choose Stark, after she choose Heath, and let's not forget Blake, Goddess rest his soul. And here we have poor sad Erik. The dick that lost his friends, family, and still didn't get the girl. You're pathetic," I said and pushed pass him. I guess he was shocked because he didn't follow after me.

Once I turned the corner I raced down the hall. I had to find a way to stop our imprint. It was the only factor I left out of the plan. I needed Erik to hate me. I needed him to keep his distance so he'd be safe. For some reason the concert didn't work. I remembered him saying that breaking the imprint would hurt, and I didn't want to but I had to hurt him again. I drove to Mile's apartment and texted him to let me up. Danny and Davey were on their way to Haiti with my dad and Lucy. My Grandma was more than happy to have everyone going home with her.

I got to his door and he immediately opened it. I quickly wrapped my arms around him and started to cry. I wanted my life to be simple and easy like every other teenager, but here I was nineteen with a two year old, a recently marked vampire, and I had major boy problems. Not to mention the fate of all man and vampire kind resting on my shoulders, but no biggie, right? I looked in to my best friend's eyes. I was going to ask him to do something unbelievable, but I knew without a doubt that he'd say yes. "Will you imprint with me?"

*Zoey*

I stood outside Erik's door with Damien and Stevie Rea. Everyone else was at the tunnels and we couldn't find Shaylin anywhere. She had managed to detach herself form Erik a few weeks after arriving, but she was nowhere in sight. As I went to knock on the door Erik opened it. He was grunting like he was in pain. "Ohmigoddess Erik are you okay?" Stevie Rea asked.

He looked miserable. "She," he looked hurt and confused as he tried to finish his thought. "She broke our imprint," he said quickly.

Damien gasped, Stevie Rea's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head, and I felt empty. I felt like an old Halloween pumpkin on Thanksgiving Day-useless. "Erik I'm"- I tried to apologize but he shook his head and held up his hand.

"I was in control of myself even if you weren't this is just as much my felt, if not more, as it is yours."

"I'm still sorry," I said.

"I know," he shook his head.

"Before you go, we came here looking for Shaylin," Damien said when Erik turned to leave. "Have you heard from her?"

"The last I seen of her she was with Lenobia after Roxanne pulled her out of class. She might still be there," he said. "I really wish I could help but I have to find Roxanne."

*Roxanne*

I paced the floor of my room. I didn't know if the Embassy was a good place to hide out from Erik. I was sure he would either be trying to find me, or trying to forget about me and the imprint. "He always said we shouldn't be imprinted, he really can't get mad at me?" I said turning to Shaylin and Aurox.

"Heath said his feelings about any and everything are totally irrelevant," Aurox said translating for our fourth member. Shaylin was the only other person I trusted to pass on messages between Lenobia and I, because her mind was a blank slate to everyone as of late. It was nice having friends by my side. Miles and Morgan were busy at the club, and I had to figure out how I was going to get Zoey alone. I figured Aurox could do that, but Neferet was still unaware of his connection to Heath and that had to stay that way, at least until one of my problems disappeared.

"We need a plan to get Zoey to the clearing the spell hast to happen in, and we need to get the spell from Kramisha if she has it yet, and we need to figure out how to get Neferet's power to help with the spell," I said as I paced the floor. "Maybe you should get back to the tunnels. That way you can keep an eye on things and see if Kramisha comes up with anything," I offered as Shaylin looked a little worried. "What?"

"I just don't want to leave until Miles or Morgan gets back. I don't want you to be alone. Erik would kill me," she smiled.

"Aurox is here and I'm going to be fine. I'm just nervous. I never saved the world before. How did Zoey do this?" I asked turning my attention to Aurox.

"Lots and lots of Kleenex," Aurox translated. "What is Kleenex?" We found ourselves laughing and soon Shaylin went back to the tunnels and we started on our plan to save the world.