"Sorry about that. Aphrodite means well, but like Stevie Rae would say, she's not very nice sometimes."

Erik snorted. "You don't need to tell me that. She and I dated, remember?"

"I remember," I said quietly. Then added, "You and I dated, too."

"Yeah," he said. "I thought I loved you."

"I thought I loved you, too."

He looked at me. "Were we wrong?"

I looked back at him. Really looked back at him. Goddess, he was hot in a seriously Superman/Clark Kent kind of way. Tall and dark and blue eyed and muscly. But there was more to him than that. Yeah, he was controlling and arrogant, but somewhere inside him I knew there was a really, really good guy. I just wasn't the right girl for that guy.

"Yeah, we were wrong, but that's okay. Recently I've been reminded that it's okay not to be perfect, especially if you learn from your mess-ups. So how about we learn from ours? I think we could make better friends anyway."

His gorgeous lips turned up. "I think you might be right."

"Plus," I added, bumping him with my shoulder, "I don't have enough pretty straight guys as my friends." "I'm a pretty straight guy. I mean, a really straight guy who is also, as you say, pretty."

"Yep, you are," I said. Then I held out my hand.

"Friends?"

"Friends." Erik took my hand in his and then, with a rakish smile, he dropped gracefully from the bench to one knee. "My lady, let's always be friends."

"Okie dokie," I said, kinda breathlessly, 'cause, well, no matter how much I loved Stark, Erik was seriously hot and a super good actor. He bowed and kissed my hand. Not in a creepy I'm-trying-to-get-into-your-pants way, but in a real old-school-gentleman way.

Still on his knee, he looked up at me and said, "You have to say something tonight that gives us hope and helps Damien, because right now lots of us are just floating out there wondering what the f**k--and Damien is seriously not doing well."

My heart clenched. "I know."

"Good. No matter what else, I believe in you, Zoey."

I sighed. Again.

He smiled and stood up, pulling me up with him. "So please let me escort you to this funeral." I took Erik's arm and stepped into a future I couldn't have begun to imagine.

***

It was an awesome, sad, incredible sight. Unlike the last time a funeral pyre had burned for a vampyre at the House of Night, the entire school was there. Fledglings and vampyres made a huge circle around a benchlike structure that had been built in the very center of the school grounds. I could still see the charred grass that bore witness to the fact that not long ago Anastasia Lankford's body had been consumed by the Goddess's fire in that very same place. Only the school hadn't come out to witness and show respect for her then. Too many of them had been under the control of Kalona--or just downright scared. Tonight was different. Kalona's control had been broken and Jack was getting a Warrior's sendoff.

My eyes found Dragon Lankford even before I looked at the funeral pyre. He was standing behind Jack in the shadow of the closest oak tree. But the shadows didn't cloak his pain. I could see tears falling silently down his chiseled face. Goddess help Dragon, was my first prayer of the night. He's such a good man. Help him find peace.

Then I looked at Jack.

What I saw made me gasp and smile through my tears. As was traditional for vampyre funerals, he'd been wrapped, head to toe, in the traditional vampyre shroud, but Jack's covering was purple. Super shiny. Super brilliant. Super purple.

"She actually did it." Erik's choked voice came from beside me. "I knew purple was his favorite color, so I went to The Dolphin at Utica Square and bought purple sheets. Lots of them. Then I told Sapphire over in the infirmary to wrap Jack in them, even though I didn't think she really would." I turned to Erik, went up on my tiptoes, and kissed his cheek. "Thank you. Jack would absolutely love that you did that. You were a good friend to him, Erik."

He nodded and smiled but didn't say anything, and I saw that he was crying again. Before I could join him and bawl so hard I couldn't possibly be mistaken for anyone's High Priestess, I looked away from him and my eyes found Damien. He was on his knees at the head of Jack's pyre. Duchess was sitting beside him and his chubby cat, Cammy, was curled up mournfully between his knees. Stark was standing next to Duchess and I could see that he was petting her and murmuring to the dog and Damien at the same time. Stevie Rae was next to Stark, looking super miserable and bawling steadily. Aphrodite stood at Damien's other side, with Darius right behind her. The Twins were to her left. And from each side of my group of best friends, the entire school stretched in a quiet, respectful circle around the pyre. Many of the fledglings and vampyres, including Lenobia and most of the other professors, were holding purple candles. It didn't seem like anyone except Stark was talking, but I could hear lots of sobbing. Neferet was nowhere to be seen.