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I was sitting on my bed in the tunnels under the train station. Protected by Nyx, we had escaped from House of Night and miraculously made it to safety after Kalona had been freed from his prison underneath the ground by Neferet. We didn’t know what was going on back in the school because the internet and telephone connections did not work. We were completely down on our own luck and deep down we all knew that Neferet probably knew where we were. These tunnels had been her little secret to begin with. She had hid all the red fledglings here until I found out because they had kidnapped Heath and had taken him down here. I had seized the tunnels from her possession and now they were our refuge. However I knew that Neferet would surely send the remaining sons of Erebus to get us if we stayed here too long.
I was worried about the House of Night. If there were fledglings and professors who hadn't knelt before Kalona and Neferet, were they safe? Had they been reasonable and pretended to be on their side, or had Neferet made them suffer? This was one of the reasons why I couldn't sleep. I didn't think everyone had just submitted to Neferet and Kalona and they could be in trouble because Neferet definitely wanted everyone to submit to her. That's why I knew that before long I would have to go back there with my gang and see if we could get them to leave the place. They would just try to brainwash everyone to their side otherwise and I didn't want that to happen.
And the third thing that kept me from sleeping was a feeling inside me that didn't belong to me. It belonged to the vampire I'd been imprinted with a week before all of these crazy events started. Loren Blake was the poetry professor at the House of Night. He had seduced me over the past two months to the point where I ended up having sex with him and getting imprinted to him during the whole ordeal. It's just too bad that I had also been with Heath and Erik then. Heath had been imprinted to me and Erik had been my boyfriend. Erik was furious over the whole thing. I had been sorry for what I had done to them both but deep down I knew I couldn't have prevented it because Loren had been so incredibly good at what he did.
Of course, that also went to hell in the end when I found out that Loren had done all that because Neferet had told him to. I was angry at him because I lost all my friends for a week. Neferet had exposed Stevie Rae to them through a text that she had sent to her using my number and Erik had exposed me and Loren to them.
It was chaotic to say the least.
After that I just hid myself from everyone and everything and didn't talk to anyone but Persephone or my grandmother. I was ashamed and irritated. And if I tried to explain things to my gang, they wouldn't accept anything until I started trying to solve a prophecy poem that warned us of Kalona's return with Aphrodite. They noticed that I was focused on other things and was hang out with Aphrodite made them curious and so they approached me and I told them everything. They didn't want to accept that Neferet was evil but I was sure that after tonight they didn't doubt it anymore. They were shocked when they really realized that Neferet was, indeed , a mean-spirited bastard.
And Loren? Well, he hasn't contacted me after I found out the truth. At first I had wondered why but I suspected that Neferet might have forbid him to do so. But then again I hadn’t even wanted to talk to him at the time because he had betrayed my trust by revealing everything to Neferet I knew about the red fledglings. I shouldn't have done that but I was stupid and had thought he was trustworthy enough.
As time went on, I got angry with myself instead of him because I couldn't stop thinking about him. I wanted to forget him and I knew I should because our relationship was inappropriate because of his position and mine. I was a fledgling he was a professor. But no matter how I tried to reason that this breakup was the right thing to do, I couldn't help but long for him. My heart hadn't let go of him. However, I couldn't drag him into this mess because I couldn't trust him. He had been too close to Neferet and that's why I couldn't let him to know that I knew about Neferet's plans – assuming that Loren knew and supported her beloved – because if Neferet had found out that I was after her, she would have taken action. Maybe even expose me and Loren to the High Council and that wouldn’t have been a good thing. If that had happened, I wouldn't be able to adore Mr. Gorgeous secretly from afar which was honestly one of my favorite things to do. He was lovely to look at because he was such an incredibly handsome man.
My heart skipped a beat when I thought of his dark eyes. “Damn it,” I muttered, rubbing my chest. "Damn you, Loren, you really got under my skin..."
“It really seems so, my sweet,” his voice said in my room quietly. I could hear a smile in it.
“Loren?” I said surprised. When had he taken advantage of our connection and come to me? "How long have you been present?" I continued, allowing myself to enjoy his presence. Damn, I really missed him!
"I had to find out where you are. They noticed that you’re no longer here. Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone about your location,” Loren replied. "Are you sure you're safe?"
"I am. You don't have to worry about me. You’re in far more danger than I am right now,” I said. "We mustn't talk for long."
"You're right, my love, I'm taking a big risk talking to you but I had to."
"I see," I said. I sighed. "I miss you. I miss us, Loren.”
“I miss you too, my sweet. We can talk about it properly when you get back to the House of Night if you want," Loren replied with gentleness in his voice.
"I'll be back eventually, Loren," I replied. “And we will talk then.”
“Great,” Loren said. "I have to go now so I won’t give them any reasons to be suspicious. I will not contact you until we meet again,” he continued.
“Alright, Loren. See you later,” I said to him softly in a way that I'm pretty sure I haven’t spoken before. Maybe it had something to do with our imprint. I loved listening to Loren's voice because it sounded like music that I would never want to stop listening to.
*
When internet and phone connections started working again after the blizzard that had raged outside for the past three days straight, me and my gang were surprised when we were sent a text message saying that we had to return to the House of Night. I knew it wasn't Loren's fault because he hadn’t seemed like he was on Neferet’s team anymore – which is good in my opinion because if he was, she could tell him to use the imprint as a weapon against me one way or another. I was sure that someone must have told Neferet that they saw me leaving the school grounds in the middle of the chaos with my gang, Darius and a very moody Erik with us.
“We have to go there,” I announced to my gang.
"They will send my brothers after us otherwise," agreed Darius.
"Exactly. Raven Mockers won’t go underground but sons of Erebus will. It’s better for us if we do as we're asked," I said. "We will see what the situation is and act based on that."
“Good plan, Z,” Damien said.
"Shouldn't we try to get them out of there as soon as possible?" Erik interrupted, raising his eyebrows.
"How do we kick them out from there when we don't even know what the situation is?" Aphrodite snapped at him.
"I didn't ask you, Aphrodite."
"And I'll answer for Z because we all know you're pissed because you didn't get sex from her."
"That’s not related to this. Leave me alone!"
"Calm down!" I was angry at both. "We mustn't show them that there are cracks in our unity because that's exactly what they want," I continued.
"But if you need comfort, Erik, we can help you," Shaunee added.
"Really, we don't mind you being a professor," Erin said.
I could swear Erik was seriously considering the idea for a while until he cleared his throat. "Thanks, but no thanks, Twins. That would be embarrassing for me.”
“Well, if you change your mind, get in touch,” Erin grinned. "Our offer is always open for you."
Erik actually smiled. "I'll keep that in mind," he said.
Shortly after that conversation, we left the tunnels walking towards the House of Night. There were few Raven Mockers flying outside and they saw us as we walked towards the school. I knew it when I heard a croak from the sky as we walked on. We could no longer turn around and go back because the Raven Mockers who had seen us were already heading towards the school ahead of us.
They were huge .
"Don’t start arguing with the Raven Mockers," I told to my team and especially to Erik who could try something like that.
"Don't boss me around," he announced. "I'm a professor now, and you're a fledgling."
"I'm the High Priestess in training, Erik," I pointed out.
“Not until you become a vampire, Zoey. Until then, you're just a rookie."
"Oh, you're such good company these days, aren’t you, Erik?"
Erik snorted. "You're a hypocrite, Zoey."
"I already apologized for my actions!"
"But you haven't gotten rid of the imprint. I can still smell that asshole on you.”
I decided to stay quiet instead of letting my emotions take over me. If he smelt Loren on me, there was absolutely no reason to try to argue that it was all in his head. I just glared at him in silence and Erik glared right back at me. I almost felt like telling him that I wished it was Loren who had left the House of Night with me instead of him but decided to keep my mouth shut on the matter instead.
"Damn it, is that why you're such a jerk?" Aphrodite mockingly asked him. "Because Zoey is still imprinted to Loren Blake?"
"This is none of your business, Aphrodite," Erik said.
"You're a professor, Erik, act like it!"
Erik snorted and then stomped away, mumbling something about me, Aphrodite and Loren. I watched him go with concern. What if he told someone about the imprint between me and Loren? What if information about it reached the High Council, too? They would tell Neferet to do something about it. I couldn't allow it. I was already thinking about going after Erik to tell him to stay quiet but Aphrodite grabbed my arm and shook her head.
"Erik may be an asshole but he won’t tell anyone about the imprint," she said. "He knows deep down that it's not a good idea."
"I really hope so because I don't want to get in trouble with the High Council," I said.
"She wants to drool over Loren Blake," giggled Erin.
"Yes, Twin, just like anyone who likes men would," Shaunee said.
"I won't deny it," I admitted quietly.
Twins exchanged a couple of coins after I said that and we continued our journey towards the House of Night which soon appeared in front of us. Few Raven Mockers watched us silently from on top of the stone wall when we went through the secret entrance into the courtyard where there was even more of them on guard. I was startled because I hadn't expected that at all.
Or that Kalona and Neferet would both be there waiting for us, too.
“Oh hell,” I said looking at them. My heart froze when James Stark appeared from somewhere too and he pointed his arrow at me.
"Double Hell!" I cursed and hastily raised my hands in the air. I knew Stark would hit me with his arrow if I gave him a reason to shoot. He had told me about his gift before he had died. It was such a shame that he was now on Neferet's team because he had been such a nice guy.
"You shouldn't have left, Zoey," Neferet said with satisfaction. "I'm glad you decided to come back anyway because you belong here."
“I guess so,” I agreed as I watched Stark who however suddenly had a look in his eyes that looked like he was begging me to not to do anything stupid. I felt immense sympathy for him. Of course he wouldn't want to hurt anyone. I knew him that well. He was only in this situation because Neferet had had time to play her tricks on him. I looked into his eyes and shook my head slightly at him. Stark immediately looked relieved. I lowered my hands and then looked at Neferet.
“Alright, we're not running away, Neferet,” I added.
"Good that you acted rationally for once, Zoey," Neferet said calmly but I did notice a slightly undertone in her voice.
"I often act rationally in my own opinion," I said in an equally calm tone. If anyone listened carefully to the exchange of words, we basically told each other to take a hike.
Kalona watched the exchange and looked rather amused. “Rephraim, take them to the dormitory,” the immortal man said to one of his children.
"Yes, father," the biggest one nearby answered and I wanted to gasp in shock. I hadn't expected that even though I knew the Raven Mockers were capable of speaking since they had been singing about Kalona's return in the first place. Raven Mocker took a couple of his brothers with him and they took us to the dormitories.
*
I finally got a chance to meet Lore after class the next day. The classes were incredibly boring for the most part. Of course, Neferet thought it necessary to make it clear to me in her class that I would not be allowed to leave the House of Night because she had put guards on the entrances and on top of that also protective spells that would notify her when someone leaves without her permission.
I realized I was trapped in here with my team.
Oh, hell!
After Neferet's class I had Spanish and Literature. Both of them were boring because Professors Penthesilea and Gurmy were both under Kalona’s spell just like many of the fledglings were, too. I got the assignments done quickly in Spanish class and then drew patterns into my notebook to pass time and try to be like everyone else. In literature class I didn't have to do that because Damien was there with me too so we traded notes throughout the class.
Then we had lunch. Even though there was a lot of people in the hallways and dining hall, everyone was mostly quiet. Of course, among the fledglings and vampires there were also Raven Mockers who occasionally visited the room as we ate. They also walked into the classrooms in the middle of classes but no one cared or noticed it except me.
I also caught a glimpse of Loren once as I was walking to the dining hall. He looked at me and I at him. He smiled at me as he passed me on his, way to vampires’ dining hall. I immediately wanted to run into his, arms but decided to not to. I would have time to go see him later. So I just answered her smile quickly and then kept going forward.
After having lunch with my friends, my school day continued with the fencing, drama and horse riding classes. Fencing class was the same as it always was because Dragon was clearly not under any kind of enchantment just like Loren wasn’t and it made me want to cry. He was himself and even winked at me to show that he was on my side. I immediately typed in a message in my gang’s group chat and told others to see if other professors were on our side, too.
After fencing I had drama classes where nothing special happened. At least not until I entered the class myself. That's when the hostility from other fledglings started to come in my direction. I didn't understand what it was all about at first but when I listened carefully, I realized that they were talking about me and Loren. How the hell did they know about it unless… Neferet had told the whole school about it!?
Damn it , I thought. This would certainly make sneaking around with Loren difficult. Maybe I should try to control myself until I've driven Neferet, Kalona and the Raven Mockers out of here? Then it would be safer to go to Loren.
No, I'll definitely go to him if I want to. I wasn't going to let Neferet stop me, I decided then.
After drama lessons I had riding lessons. I was eager to go there because the drama class that Erik taught had been a nightmare because he was still extremely rude to me. He was actually even worse than before and I figured it was because everyone knew about our breakup and how a more gorgeous male vampire had taken his girl. Erik didn't like that the whole school knew about it and he took it out on me in class because there I wouldn't be able to stand up for myself because he was a professor and I wasn't.
I was a little late from the riding class because when I was walking along the path between the Temple of Nyx and the school building, I was surprised by Loren Blake who just came out of the side door of the temple. He stopped when he noticed me.
“Zoey,” he said and I shivered with pleasure.
"Loren," I said and walked over to him with a smile. He pulled me into his embrace without saying a word and I closed my eyes enjoying every moment. In his embrace I forgot about the pending apocalypse and all the other poo that I didn't want to think about. All I could think of was how good Loren felt against me.
"I'm sorry I betrayed your trust, Zoey," Loren said quietly after we had hugged each other for a while. "Neferet claimed that you are a danger to this school and wanted me to trick you into telling me everything you knew about those red fledglings."
"You knew about them?" I asked.
“Yes, I knew they existed. Neferet never said much about them," Loren revealed. “She wanted you to trust me enough to tell me the details. She was annoyed because you seemed to know everything before she even put her plans in motion."
"Nyx," I told him with a grin. I was actually proud of myself for being able to get on Neferet’s nerves like this.
Loren smiled. "I should’ve known," he said and touched my cheek with his hand. I pressed my cheek against his hand. Oh, how lovely his touch was!
“I want to protect you from them," I told him.
"That’s alright. Neferet had left me before that ritual started and I felt humiliated so it was easy for me to make my choice when that winged immortal came from that hole in the ground," said Loren. “I chose you, Zoey. When she realized I wasn't loyal to her anymore, she decided to tell about us to everyone in the auditorium."
"That’s so rude ," I said. "Can we be together or do we have to wait until this is over?"
"Do you want to wait that long?" Loren asked me and he grinned.
Goddess, he was so gorgeous! I shook my head. "I'd like you to kiss me right now because otherwise I'll be thinking about it through riding lessons," I whispered to him .
"As you wish, my sweet," Loren said and leaned in to kiss me in his familiar passionate way and I returned his kiss like I had done before. It felt heavenly just like back then. I wanted the moment to last longer but the school bell rang. Loren smiled against my lips – he had pressed me against the stone wall of the temple of Nyx.
“Looks like we'll have to leave this for another time, sweetie,” my vampire whispered.
"Call me when you can," I said against his lips and kissed him again. Then we smiled at each other. “Loren, I forgive you. I love you so much”, I added.
“I love you too, my sweet,” Loren said and he pressed a kiss on my forehead.
And then we parted and went on our separate ways, believing that we could make this romance work if we were careful.