Loved (House of Night Other World #1)(65)

20


Zoey


“Okay, Darius and his Warriors are all in place. There’s only fifteen minutes until sunrise. Time for us to go!” Stark shouted at me as he held open the door of the Escalade. I bolted from the warm, dry House of Night through the stinging snowy wind with my head ducked and my eyes half closed. He ran around to the driver’s side and climbed in.

“It’s getting bad. Real bad,” Shaunee said from the back seat.

“Which is the only reason I’m letting Stark come with us at all,” I said.

Stark shot me his cocky, half grin. “Z, I’m driving. It’s you who is coming with me.”

I shook my head at him. “I don’t like this. It’s going to be sunrise in half an hour.”

“I told you that I’ll be fine. There is no way the sun can shine through this mess, and I have this.” He lifted his hoodie and winked at me. “I won’t fry. Promise.”

“I’ll be real pissed if you do,” I said. “Not to mention if I see your skin even starting to look a little red, I’ll drag your butt back to this very heavily tinted SUV, throw you in the back seat, and cover you with blankets while I floor this thing to the school.”

“You driving in a blizzard? Now I am scared,” Stark said.

Shaunee snorted.

“Hey, that’s not funny,” I said.

“It is, Z,” Shaunee said. “Everyone knows you’re a shitty driver.”

“No, everyone knows I can’t parallel park. Hardly anyone can parallel park. That doesn’t make me a bad driver.” I turned to look at Shaunee before we left campus. “Hey, are you sure you don’t want to stay here? This weather is awful.”

“I heard Marx telling you they have flamethrowers ready. No damn way I’m going to miss that.”

“It is a good idea to have fire with us,” Stark said.

“Okay, yeah, I get it. I just haven’t been able to stop worrying since Kalona showed up in my dream and mentioned the N word.”

“Z, get real. You haven’t stopped worrying since you were Marked,” Stark said.

I sighed. “You’re probably right. I just, I dunno. I just keep feeling like something is going to happen. Something really awful.”

“You mean something more awful than the zombie apocalypse?” Shaunee said.

“Sadly, yes,” I said. We’d come to the gate that opened to Utica. I glanced down what I expected to be a totally empty street to see …

“Hey, that’s not Aphrodite staggering down the middle of Utica, is it?” Stark said.

“Ah, hell, it is. Hang on. I’ll get her.”

Stark’s hand on my shoulder stopped me. “Not without me you won’t. You don’t know why she’s staggering.”

“Are you being serious?” Shaunee said. “If Aphrodite’s stumbling we all know why. She’s either drunk or high.”

I sighed and added, “Or both.”

“Normally, I’d agree. But right now we have zombie vampyres loose in Tulsa, so I’m not taking any chances.” He grabbed his bow and notched an arrow. “Shaunee, slide up here. If any of those creatures show up—run them over.”

“Totally doable,” Shaunee said.

Stark and I got out of the SUV, braced ourselves against the wind and snow, and plowed our way to Aphrodite.

“What happened? Are you okay?” I hurried to her side while Stark stood guard, his keen eyes scanning around us looking for danger.

“Zoey! Stark!” Aphrodite stumbled and fell against me. “Two of my fave peoples!”

I caught her and got a huge whiff of her boozy breath as I helped her get upright. “You’re drunk.”

“And super high! Took two, no wait, three Xanax. Xanaxes? Xanaxie? Ah, whatever.” She lifted the sliver flask she was holding loosely and turned it upside down, shaking it. Nothing came out. “Well, shit. And looks like I’m out of single malt. Again.”

“You gotta stop mixing drugs and alcohol,” I said, catching her as she swayed drunkenly. “You’re going to kill yourself someday.”

She snorted. “Again I say, ‘Whatever.’”

“Did you see your mom?” I asked.

“Yes, I abso-fucking-lutely did. Do you know she’s a monster? Literally?” She proceeded to giggle hysterically as she tried to suck nonexistent scotch from her flask.

Something inside me snapped. I grabbed her flask from her and threw it into the ditch.

“Hey! That was expensive!”

“Enough!” I got in her face. “You have to stop this. It’s self-destructive. And it’s not the way adults act, especially adults who are in the service of Nyx.”

“Maybe I don’t want to be in anyone’s service! Maybe I don’t deserve to be in anyone’s service! Maybe that’s what my vision was really about. I’m not human. I’m not vampyre. I’m nothing except an idiot who isn’t even good enough for her mother to love.”

I grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her. Hard. “Snap the hell out of it! Your mom is awful. She’s always been awful. So stop letting her fuck with your head.”

“Ooooo, you said hell and fuck. It really must be the zombie apocalypse.” She giggled some more.