Okay, so I know you all must hate me for taking so long, but I have many valid excuses. As much as I'm sure you'd love to hear them all, let's just summarize it and say I was super busy for a while, then I got into a writing funk, then I was super busy again, and I'm still pretty busy, but I was suddenly struck with inspiration so I wrote. It's kinda short, sorry :(

Burned is out! Yaaaay! I haven't read it yet, though. :'(

And once again, FanFiction has screwed me over and not saved some of my changes. Grr. So if anything sounds off, their bad.

And without further ado... Enjoy!


Stevie Rae

"No!" Neferet shrieked for what must have been the thousandth time. Stevie Rae rolled her eyes as the dark-haired woman destroyed yet another piece of furniture—an end table, maybe. Her fury had already shattered any glass that had the misfortune to be placed in that room, and caused any wooden furnishings to distort into indescribable shapes. Now she was smashing anything she could get her hands on while a dark wind with fingers of a black, smoke-like haze woven in it swirled around her; combing through her wild hair and tossing shards of light bulbs, mirrors, chairs, tables, and other debris through the room.

Stevie Rae had taken refuge in the bathroom when Neferet's outburst had began, and now watched her through the doorway that had once had a nice, thick door to block any flying fragments of stufffrom hitting her. Neferet herself was safe—since it was her magic causing all of it, the wind was conveniently avoiding it's creator.

"That abhorrent concubine screwed up everything—again!" she screamed with malice as she knocked over what might have been half of the bureau that had formerly added an air of mysterious antiquity to the once rather elegant room. Her voice shook with power, and Stevie Rae briefly wondered if the whole hotel would be ripped apart—or if they could even feel it at all—before ducking behind the doorframe to avoid an unidentified flying object.

Waiting for the storm to pass, Stevie Rae sat down on the rim of the bathtub and leaned against the wall closest to her, longing for some blood. The thirst, the wanting…it was too much sometimes. She occasionally wondered what had happened to make her crave it so much again, but then the darkness overwhelmed her to the point that she couldn't think straight. She thought about the bags of it in the fridge just out of her reach and glowered. Then she shrugged it off; fresh blood would be so much more…satisfying. Her mouth watered at the thought.

A few minutes later, Stevie Rae suddenly noticed the eerie calm that had come over the room. She crept from the bathroom, carefully avoiding pieces of the room, and froze when she saw a motionless form in front of the window. It was Neferet, still surrounded in the cloud of black that she hid so easily from others, but she was so still it was creepy. Stevie Rae listened for the sound of her breathing, but heard nothing, and shivered.

"Get her."

It was barely a whisper, but Stevie Rae heard it easily. Shifting her stance, Stevie Rae flipped her hair behind her as she asked, "Who?"

Neferet whipped around, and with a catlike grace, was suddenly barely inches from Stevie Rae's face. Red eyes met earthy green ones, and Stevie Rae shivered again when she saw the pure malice and evil in her green depths. Neferet sneered when she saw her reaction, and grabbed one of her hands in her steely grip. She squeezed until it hurt, and then squeezed more. Stevie Rae snarled and yanked her hand away, but couldn't free herself. The black coils of smoke wound their way from Neferet's arm to Stevie Rae's, and Neferet released her.

Red flooded Stevie Rae's vision as her thirst intensified, and Neferet's meaning cascaded into her head. It had actually sort of been Stevie Rae's idea, in a way, but Neferet had altered the persons involved.

"Feed first," Neferet added before Stevie Rae exited through the window and pounced gracefully to the ground.

"With pleasure," Stevie Rae growled as she spotted a young couple sneaking into the garden. She smiled, and crouched behind a bush, waiting.


Zoey

"Hey, I think she's waking up!" I would have to agree.

"Zoey? Can you hear me?" Yeah...

"She's going to be fine, don't worry." Is that Darius?

I felt somebody lift my arm and then a really weird pressure against my wrist, and I yanked it back weakly.

"Leggo me," I demanded drowsily when it had no effect, and tried again. My arm was gently placed back down, and I brought it closer to me defensively. No one could poke at it now.

"Zoey?" I think it was Stark. I was about to answer, and then remembered that the last time I'd thought it was Stark and hadn't checked, things had gotten really awkward. So I cracked open my eyes suspiciously, and let them adjust to the light for a few moments. Everything was a little blurry, and all I could see was what I think was a wall and a pair of pants with a shirt on top. Well, a person, but that's all I could see of them.

"Are you Stark?" I asked suddenly. I heard a couple chuckles, and then a beautiful, "Yeah, I'm Stark."

"Good," I said, and left it at that.

"Zoey?"

"What?" I answered irritably. I was tired and wanted to sleep!

"Are you okay?" he pressed.

"I'm tired, so shut up and let me sleep."

"Yeah, she's okay," he laughed, and I sank back into a fitful sleep.

It seemed like only a few minutes later when I woke up again, this time no longer tired. I opened my eyes, and welcomed the darkness of the room I was in. My wrist was sore, and when I went to rub it gently, I felt the unnecessarily large IV that had been stuck in it. I shuddered when my hand bumped the cylinder and a very awkward feeling shot through my wrist. IVs are nasty.

A light snore brought my attention to the three sleeping forms in several cots around me. The dim light coming from behind closed curtains let me see just enough to know that they were occupied by Shaunee, Erin, and Jack. I sat up in my bed, crying out softly as the IV tugged unpleasantly against my skin. Shaunee stirred briefly, and I froze to keep from making further noise.

When she'd settled down again, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and hopped lightly to the floor. I immediately got a head rush, and grabbed the rail of the bed for a crutch. When the nausea passed, I carefully started rolling the stand holding my IV liquids into the bathroom. I closed the door before fumbling around for the lights, blinking at the sudden brightness.

I hadn't really noticed it before, but I felt like crap. My mouth was dry, and had that gross coating of gunk that comes from not being conscious to brush your teeth. When I looked in the mirror, my skin was unusually pale, and my hair looked like it'd been on twelve too many rides at Cedar Point. I turned the water on and looked around for any sort of cup. I found a nice little Dixie dispenser, and filled one with water and swished it around in my mouth. It helped a little, but I really wished I had a toothbrush.

After I was a little more hydrated and cleanish-looking, I turned off the light and left the bathroom, suddenly tired again. After the brightness in the bathroom, I was almost completely blind in the dim room, and had almost no idea where I was headed.

I felt around aimlessly, cursing under my breath whenever I bumped into something. I heard shifting from one of the cots, and stopped moving. This time, however, the inhabitant of the cot didn't drift back into dreamland, as I'd hoped. I heard more movement, then the soft thumping of bare feet against the tile floor.

"Zoey?" Shaunee whispered, and I felt her hand on my arm.

"Yeah."

"Nice to see you awake again," she continued softly as she helped me back towards my bed.

"Sorry I woke you," I apologized while clambering back into my bed, "I was trying to be quiet."

"It's the thought that counts," she joked with a yawn.

My eyes had finally adjusted to the dark, and I was just about to say goodnight, but then what she said moments before suddenly registered.

"What do you mean, 'again'?" I asked.

"Hmm?" she murmured sleepily.

"You said 'Nice to see you awake again'. I don't remember waking up before. Except for once, but it was only for a few seconds, and nothing...drastic happened."

"Y-you don't?" Shaunee's voice shot up an octave. I shook my head, and her eyes went wide.

"So…what happened?" I asked urgently, somehow knowing I wasn't going to like what had transpired as I slept. Erin let out a little moan in her sleep, and I motioned for Shaunee to be quieter.

"Well," Shaunee began softly with a deep breath, "After Stark brought you back—"

"But how'd we get out?" I interrupted, the memories of being in the room and saving Stark flooding back. How had I forgotten that? But still I didn't remember being awake before.

"Stark said that he made a little opening above you, and you used your affinities to make it bigger and save him from the sun." I nodded—that much I remembered. "Then apparently you let him drink from you, which was really stupid and—"

"Yeah, save it. I know," I stopped her crossly. If I'd wanted to be reprimanded, I would have stayed back in Oklahoma at the step-loser's house.

"But seriously, Zoey. You were so weak already and—don't you roll your eyes at me, girl—anyway, then apparently Stark used his super running powers to get you back here. You were unconscious, of course, but—"

"But how did he get us out?" I asked again.

"He won't talk about it," she said simply. "We've asked, but he said he's only gonna tell you about it. Anyway, when you woke up, Damien and all the nurses were totally flipping out. You were in bad shape, Zo. You shouldn't have let Stark—anyway, then…well," her voice got quiet, "you woke up."

"And…?" I pressed.

"Well, like I said, you were in bad shape. So when you woke up, everyone was all excited and hugged you and stuff, but you were not doing well." She hesitated, and I raised my eyebrows.

"Zoey?" Stark's voice wandered into the room, followed by the warrior himself.

Shaunee looked relieved by his entrance, only making my more questioning as to what had gone down while I…well, I guess I'd been awake. Stark rushed over to me as if to make sure I was still amongst the living, and wrapped me in a bear hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered into my ear, squeezing gently. He suddenly stiffened, and added hastily, "You are okay, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He seemed to relax again at that. Then when he pulled away, he was suddenly very grim.

"Zoey, I have to tell you something…" he started slowly, as if he wasn't sure how to put it lightly. Great. Just what I needed—two horrible pieces of information after just waking up after being out for who knows how long, and in the span of two minutes.

"Okay, okay," I breathed in a rush, "Shaunee finish, then Stark tell me what the problem is."

I turned to Shaunee, and I could almost hear her cursing mentally. She shifted uncomfortably, and looked like she was about to argue her case, then clearly thought better of it. She took a big breath of air.

"You were doing so bad Zoey—we didn't know what else to do!" she cried. "We…we had Kalona come so you could drink from him."

Well, damn, I thought. Because what could I say?

"You weren't' happy about it, but once he's cut himself…"

I nodded quickly-she did not need to finish that sentence. And I wasn't sure if I even wanted to know how I'd acted... That complicated things. Even more than things currently were.

"And now he won't leave us alone," Stark added unnecessarily. I glowered at him. I didn't need his negative feedback.

"Just tell me what you were going to say before," I demanded. I would deal with Kalona and his yummy blood later. Dangit, I was obsessed.

"Stevie Rae is back with Neferet. She was the one who led you right into Neferet's trap, and I had to...confront her to get us out," he said straightforwardly.

I emotionlessly remembered what she'd said to me that had made me run in the first place. But they didn't seem so mad at me.

"She told me everything while we were…escaping." I somehow knew he'd avoided words like 'battling'. Upon closer inspection, I could see the barely healed scars and bruises littering his exposed arms and face. "And we're not mad at you, Zoey."

"I know that now," I said defeatedly, although I noticed how he didn't mention not being disappointed, or something else.

Sheesh. What a load to take on… after just waking up after being out for who knows how long, and in the span of two minutes.


Should I have made Stevie Rae's POV second? I liked it first, but then again, I knew how things were going to happen...

Sorry for the lameness of the last couple chapters. I don't feel like I wrote them in the same style that the rest of this fic is written in, and I didn't really like the situation, and I should have changed it but I didn't, and...just sorry for the lameness :'(

As always, review please!

Your Pal,

SuperOreoMan

PS, I just attended an Adam Lambert concert! It was sweet. They have such cool special effects... XD