The nun nodded, and in her firm, wise voice said, "Yes, Stevie Rae, to Mary - to the Lady we consider to be mother in spirit of us all. Perhaps she isn't the same deity as your Nyx; perhaps she is. But is that question really important right now? Tell me, High Priestess of the Red Fledglings, do you truly believe asking for help in the name of love to be a mistake, no matter what face that help is wearing?"

Stevie Rae had a flash of Rephaim's face with his human eyes as he stood up to Darkness and took on the debt she owed it, and her mouth suddenly went dry.

"I'm sorry, Sister. I was wrong. Ask for your Mary's help 'cause sometimes love does come from places that we don't expect."

Sister Mary Angela looked into Stevie Rae's eyes for what seemed like a very long time before saying,

"You may join us in prayer, child."

Stevie Rae smiled at her. "Thanks, but I have my own kind of pray-in' to do."

Stevie Rae

"Hell no I ain't gonna lie for you!" Kramisha said.

"I'm not askin' you to lie," Stevie Rae said.

"Yah you is. You want me to say you're all involved in checking out the tunnel with Sister Mary Angela.

Everbody already knows you totally sealed it up last time you was here."

"Not everyone knows that," Stevie Rae said.

"Yeah, they do. Plus, the nuns is all prayin' for Zoey, and it don't seem right at all to use a prayin' nun in your lie."

"Fine. I'll go down to the tunnel and check it out if it makes you feel better." Stevie Rae couldn't believe Kramisha was making such an issue out of telling a little white lie for her that she was costing her time - time away from Rephaim when Goddess only knew how hurt he was from that disgusting white cow. She remembered the agony she'd felt when Darkness had fed from her and knew it had been doubly bad for Rephaim. This time she was gonna have to figure out more to do than just bandaging him and feeding him to make him better. How badly had he been hurt? In her mind's eye, she could still see that creature looming over him, tongue red with his blood while -

With a jolt, Stevie Rae realized Kramisha had just been standing there, staring at her without saying anything.

Stevie Rae mentally shook herself and said the first excuse that came to her mind. "Look, I just don't want to deal with the shitstorm that'll happen if everyone in the House of Night knows I spent like 1.2

seconds alone. That's all."

"You a lie."

"I'm your High Priestess!"

"Then you should act like one," Kramisha told her. "Tell me the truth 'bout what you up to."

"I'm gonna go see the guy, and I don't want anyone to know about it!" Stevie Rae blurted.

Kramisha cocked her head to the side. "That's more like it. He ain't a fledgling or a vamp, is he?"

"No," Stevie Rae said with absolute honesty. "He's someone no one would like."

"He ain't abusing you, is he? 'Cause that's some wrong shit, and I know some females who been caught up in it and can't get their way out."

"Kramisha, I can make earth rise up and kick someone's ass. No guy would ever hit me. Ever."

"So that means he a human and he married."

"I promise he's not married," Stevie Rae evaded.

"Huh," Kramisha snorted through her nose. "Is he an ass**le?"

"I don't think he is."

"Love sucks."

"Yep," Stevie Rae said. "But I'm not sayin' I'm in love with him," she added hastily. "All I'm sayin' is that - "

"He's messin' with your head, and you do not need that right now." Kramisha pursed her lips up, thinking. "Okay, how 'bout this: I get one of the nuns to take me back to the House of Night, and when everbody stresses 'bout you bein' out here all alone, I just tell them you needed to visit a human, so you ain't technically alone - and I ain't lying, either."

Stevie Rae thought about it. "Do you have to tell them it's a human guy?"

"I'll just say human and say they need to mind they own business. I'll only say guy if someone asks me specifically."

"Deal," Stevie Rae said.

"You know you gonna have to come clean about him sooner or later. And if he ain't married, there's really no issue. You're a High Priestess. You can have a human mate and a vamp consort at the same time."

It was Stevie Rae's turn to snort. "And you think Dallas is gonna be okay with that?"