I smiled back at him and hoped that Aphrodite wouldn't be a butt and break his honorable heart.

"What do you think is happening up there right now?" Jack asked suddenly.

Everyone looked at the curved ceiling of the little tunnel room, and I knew I wasn't the only one glad of the thickness of the earth between us and "up there."

"I don't know," I said, using the truthful answer instead of something meaningless like I'm sure everything's going to be okay. I thought hard, choosing my words carefully. "We know that an ancient immortal has broken free of the earth's imprisonment. We know that he brings with him creatures that are like demons, and that the last time he walked the earth he raped women and made men his slaves. We know that our High Priestess and maybe even what's left of the House of Night have, well, for lack of a better description, gone over to the Dark Side."

Into the silent pause that followed my words Erik said, "A Star Wars analogy always works."

I grinned at him, then sobered as I continued. "What we don't know is how much damage Kalona and the Raven Mockers have done in the community. Erik said there was some kind of electrical storm going on along with the rain and ice, but that might not have been caused by supernatural means. This is Oklahoma, and the weather can be totally bizarre." "Ooooooo-klahoma! Home of dustnadoes and ice storms that kick ass," Aphrodite said.

I stifled a sigh and ignored Imprinted Drunk Vision Girl. "But then again, on the `what we do know' side is the fact that we're pretty safe down here. We have food and shelter and whatnot." At least I hoped we were okay down here. I patted the bed I was sitting on, which really did have some cute light green linens on it. "Hey, speaking of the `and whatnot.' How did you guys get this stuff down here?" I asked Stevie Rae. "Not that I'm trying to be mean, but this bed and your table and fridges and other things are a serious improvement over the dirty rags and other grossness I saw down here a month or so ago."

She gave me her cute Stevie Rae smile and said, "That's mostly thanks to Aphrodite."

"Aphrodite?" I asked, lifting my brows and staring at her along with everyone else.

"What can I say? I've become the poster child for do-gooders. Thank god I'm attractive," Aphrodite said and then belched like a guy. "Oops, scusa," she slurred.

xw[ "Scusa?" Jack said.

"Italian, dork," Aphrodite said. "Broaden your g*y horizons."

"So what does Aphrodite have to do with the stuff you have down here?" I interrupted what was sure to become some serious bickering.

"She bought this stuff. Actually, it was her idea," Stevie Rae said.

"Scusa?" I said, not even trying to stifle my grin.

"I stayed down here for two days. Did you expect me to live in a hovel? Not hardly. Have credit cards, will decorate. I think that's on my family crest along with a very dry martini," she said. "There's a Pottery Barn in Utica Square right down the street. They deliver. So does Home Depot, which is also not far from here, although I wasn't aware of that until one of the red freaks enlightened me because I do not shop at appliance stores."

"They're not freaks," Stevie Rae said.

"Oh, bite me," Aphrodite said.

"She already has," Venus said.

Aphrodite glared woozily in her direction, but before she could get out a drunken retort, the kid called Dallas said, "I knew the Home Depot was there." My friends and I looked at him. He shrugged. "I'm good at building things."

"Home Depot and Pottery Barn delivered down here?" Erik said.

"Well, not technically," Stevie Rae said. "But they do deliver to the Tribune Lofts which are practically next door. And with a little, uh, friendly persuasion they brought the stuff here and then totally forgot once they left. So, ta-da! New stuff."

"I still don't understand. How could the humans have been persuaded to come down here?" Darius said.

I sighed. "Something you should know about red vampyres--"

"And red fledglings, too, only it's not quite as strong with them," Stevie Rae interrupted me.

"And red fledglings," I corrected. "They have a mind-control thing they can do with humans."

"That sounds a lot meaner than it is," Stevie Rae assured Darius quickly. "I just tweaked the delivery guys' memories. I didn't mind-control them. We don't go in for using our powers to be all hateful and stuff." She gave the group of red fledglings a look. "Right?" The group muttered "Right," but I noticed Venus didn't say anything, and Kramisha glanced around the room guiltily.