As if he could sense my presence, he stirred in his sleep, turn ing his head and restlessly kicking off the sheet that covered him. He was naked except for a pair of blue boxers that had fat little green frogs all over them. The sight of them made me smile. But the smile froze on my face when I noticed that I could now see the thin pink line that ran down the side of his neck. That was where he'd cut himself with the razor blade and where I'd sucked his blood. I could almost taste it again--the heat and the dark richness of it, like melted chocolate, only a zil lion times better. Unable to stop myself, I moaned, and at the same instant Heath moaned in his sleep. "Zoey ..." he muttered dreamily, and shifted restlessly again. "Oh, Heath," I whispered. "I don't know what to do about us." I knew what I wanted to do all too well. I wanted to ignore my exhaustion, get in my car, drive directly to Heath's house, sneak in the window of his bedroom (it's not like I hadn't done that be fore), open the freshly closed cut in his neck, and let his sweet blood flood my mouth while I pressed my body against his and made love for the first time in my life. "Zoey!" This time Heath's eyes were fluttering open. He moaned again and his hand moved down to the hard lump in his pants and he began to-- My eyes sprang open and I was back in my dorm room with my forehead pressed against the window, breathing entirely too heavily. My cell phone bleeped with the tone that said I had a text mes sage. My hands were shaking as I flipped it open and read: I felt u here. Promise you'll meet me Friday. I took a deep breath and answered Heath with two words that made my stomach flutter with excitement. I promise. I closed the phone and turned it off.

Then, forcing away the image of Heath with the unhealed cut on his neck, warm and de sirable, obviously wanting me as much as I wanted him, I moved from the window and climbed into bed. Incredibly, my clock told me it was now 8:27 A.M. I'd been standing by the window for more than two hours! No wonder my body felt so stiff and crappy. I made a mental note to look up more info about Im printing and the connection between the human and the vamp next time I was in the media center (which had better be soon). Before I turned off the little table lamp I glanced over at Stevie Rae. She was curled up on her side and her back was to me, but her deep breathing told me that she was definitely still asleep. Well, at least my friends didn't know what a bloodlust-filled, hornie freak I was turning into. I wanted Heath. I needed Erik. I was intrigued by Loren. I had no damn idea what I was going to do about the mess that my life had become. I smushed my pillow into a ball. I was so tired I felt like some one had drugged me, but my mind still wouldn't shut itself off. When I woke up I'd see Erik again and probably Loren. I'd have to face Neferet. I'd perform my first ritual in front of a group of kids who would probably be happy to see me fail, or at least em barrass myself miserably, and there was always the possibility that both would happen. Then there was the weirdness of know ing that I'd seen what could only be Elliott's ghost behaving in a very unghostlike way. Not to mention another human teenager was dead and it was looking more and more as if a vamp had something to do with it. I closed my eyes and told my body to relax and my mind to concentrate on something pleasant, like ... like ... how pretty the snow was .. .

Slowly, exhaustion took over and I finally, gratefully, fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter Nineteen

Someone banging on the door pulled me awake from a dream about cat-shaped snowflakes. "Zoey! Stevie Rae! You're gonna be late!" Shaunee's voice sounded muffled but urgent through the door, like an annoying alarm covered up by a towel. "Okay, okay, I'm coming," I called as I tried to struggle out of my covers while Nala complained loudly. I glanced at my alarm clock, which I hadn't bothered to set. I mean, it wasn't like it was a school day and I usually didn't sleep more than eight or nine hours at a time and-- "Hell!" I blinked. Sure enough, the time was 9:59 P.M. I'd slept more than twelve hours? I stumbled to the door, pausing to shake Stevie Rae's leg. "Mumph," she muttered sleepily. I cracked the door. Shaunee was glaring at me. "Please with the sleeping all damn day! You two have got to stop staying up late if you can't get up. Erik's going to be per forming in half an hour."

"Ah, hell!" I rubbed my face, trying to force myself awake. "I forgot all about that." Shaunee rolled her eyes. "You better hurry up and get dressed. And slap some serious makeup on that pale face and do something about your nappy hair. Boyfriend's been looking all over for you."

"Okay, okay. Crap! I'm coming. Will you and Erin--" Shaunee put up her hand, cutting me off. "Please. We've al ready got you covered. Erin's in the auditorium saving front row seats as we speak."