"Seriously, stop it, Z," Aphrodite said. "All of you--don't start the self- blame game. The only one responsible for Jack being dead is Neferet. We know that, even if no one else does."

"I can't deal with that right now," Damien said, and for a second I thought he might actually faint. "Do we have to face down Neferet tonight?"

"No," I said quickly. "I'm not planning anything like that."

"But we can't control what she'll do," Aphrodite said.

"Stark and I will stay close. The rest of you be sure you're near Zoey and Damien. We won't begin anything, but if Neferet attempts to harm any of us, we will be ready."

"I've seen her in front of the Council. I don't think she's gonna do anything as obvious as attackin' Z," Stevie Rae said.

"Whatever she does, we'll be ready," Stark echoed Darius's words.

"I won't be ready," Damien said. "I don't think I'll ever be able to fight anything again."

I took Damien's hand in mine. "Well, tonight you won't have to. If there's a battle to be fought, your friends will do it. Now let's go see to Jack." Damien drew in a long, shaky breath, nodded, and we left my room. Still holding Damien's hand, I led the group down the stairs and out into the common room, which was completely empty. I mentally sent a small prayer up to the Goddess:

Please let everyone already be out there--please let Damien know how much Jack was loved.

We walked down the sidewalk that led around the front part of the school. I knew where we were going. I remembered all too well that Anastasia's pyre had been placed in the center of the school grounds, directly in front of Nyx's Temple.

As we moved along the sidewalk in silence a small sound caught me and I glanced at a bench that rested under a redbud tree near the front of the school. Erik was sitting there, alone. His face was in his hands and the sound I'd heard was his crying.

Chapter Twenty

Zoey

I almost kept walking by, and then I remembered that before he'd gone through the Change, Erik had been Jack's roommate. And because of that I also remembered that it didn't matter just then what had happened between him and me. I was serving the role of High Priestess tonight for Jack, and I knew beyond any doubt Jack wouldn't want me to let Erik sit out there all by himself, crying.

Plus I had a sudden flash though my mind of the time when Erik had found me crying after my first, disastrous, Dark Daughters' Ritual. Back then he'd been sweet and thoughtful and had made me feel like maybe I could really handle the craziness that happened at this school.

I owed him a favor in return.

I squeezed Damien's hand and brought him and my whole group to a halt. "Honey," I said to Damien,

"I want you to go with Stark and everyone else to the pyre. There's something I have to do real quick. Plus, from everything I can find to read on vamp funerals and such, you--'cause Jack really was your Consort-- need to spend time meditating before the pyre is lit." At least I hoped that was what Damien needed to do.

As if she'd materialized in response to my words, a vampyre stepped out of the shadows, coming from the direction of the funeral pyre. "You are absolutely correct, Zoey Redbird," she said. I, along with all of my friends, gave her big question-mark looks.

"Oh, I should introduce myself." She offered me her forearm in the traditional vampyre greeting. "I am Beverly--" She paused, cleared her throat, and started again. "I am Professor Missal. The new Spells and Rituals instructor."

"Oh, uh, nice to meet you." I returned her greeting by grasping her forearm. Yeah, she had a full vamp tattoo--a pretty pattern that reminded me of musical notes--but I swear she looked younger than Stevie Rae. "Um, Professor Missal, would you lead Damien and the rest of the kids to the pyre? There's something I need to do here."

"Of course. Everything will be ready for you." She turned to Damien and said gently, "Please follow me."

Damien said a faint okay, but he looked super glassy eyed. Still, he began following the new professor. Stark hung back. His eyes shifted to the shadows and the bench on which Erik sat. Then they returned to me.

"Please," I said. "I need to talk to him. Trust me, 'kay?"

His face relaxed. "No problem, mo bann ri." Before he started after Damien, he added softly in his excellent Scottish accent, "It's waitin' for you I'll be when yur finished."

"Thank you." I tried to tell him with my eyes how much I loved and appreciated his loyalty and his trust.