"They can control the minds of humans. They cannot bear direct sunlight. Their powers of recovery are excellent. They need to commune with the earth to feel truly comfortable," Darius said. "Am I leaving anything else out?"

"Yeah," Aphrodite said. "They bite."

Chapter Six

"That's it. I'm cutting you off," I told Aphrodite as the red fledglings erupted into laughter.

"Aphrodite--she crazy even when she not drunk and Imprinted," Kramisha said. "We all used to her, though."

"But, yes," I continued, answering Darius through the laughter of the masses. "All of those things are true about the red fledglings."

"And the one red vampyre." Stevie Rae sounded tired but proud. "Oh, and I can also tell you that sunrise was exactly"--she paused, cocking her head like she was listening to crickets-- "sixty-three minutes ago."

"All adult vampyres know when the sun rises," Darius said.

"I'll bet it doesn't make all vamps as sleepy as it makes me." Stevie Rae punctuated her words with a big yawn.

"No, it usually doesn't," Darius said.

"Well, it makes me real sleepy," she said. "Especially today, which I bet has somethin' to do with that stupid arrow that used to be stickin' through me."

Since Stevie Rae had mentioned it, I was feeling majorly exhausted again now that my jolt o' blood had worn off. I looked around at our mixed group of red and blue and saw dark circles under eyes and lots of stifled yawns. Kalona and the problems at the House of Night nagged at my mind, as well as my increasingly strong feeling that everything was not as it seemed with the red fledglings, but I was too tired to deal with all of it.

Wishing I could burst into tears, I cleared my throat, refocused, and said, "How about we all get some sleep? We're fairly safe here, and there's really nothing any of us can do about what's going on upstairs when we're so tired we're all practically asleep on our feet."

"Agreed," Darius said. "But I think we should set watches at the entrances to the tunnels--with your approval, Priestess, just in case."

"Yeah, that's probably smart," I said. "Stevie Rae, are there any other entrances to the tunnels besides the one through the depot?"

"Z, I thought you knew that there're tunnels that connect to a bunch of the old downtown buildings," Stevie Rae said. "This section is part of that system."

"But no one comes down here and uses these particular tunnels except you guys, do they?"

"Well, no, not this part of them, 'cause everyone thinks they're old and nasty and abandoned."

"Could be because they are old and nasty and abandoned," Aphrodite slurred sarcastically. I noticed she'd ignored the fact that I'd cut her off and started on her second bottle of wine.

"That's not right. They ain't nasty and abandoned," Kramisha spoke up, frowning at Aphrodite. "We're here and we been decorating. You should know 'cause we used your got-no-limit gold card to buy the stuff."

"Did you use incorrect grammar at the same time? Like you are now?" Aphrodite said asAYe she peered blurrily at Kramisha from around Darius.

"Look, I know you human and just been awkwardly Imprinted with Stevie Rae, not to mentioned you gettin' totally trashed, so I'd hate to use my superior red fledgling skills to kick your bony ass, but if you talk about me again I'm gonna forget to be nice," Kramisha said.

"Can we not focus on the bad guys who might be trying to eat us instead of bickering with each other?" I said wearily. "Stevie Rae, do the other tunnels connect to these?"

"Yeah, but they're sealed off, or at least that's what it would look like to everyone else."

"Is there only one entrance from this section of tunnels to the public ones?" Darius asked.

"Only one that I know of. And it was blocked by some seriously thick metal doors. How 'bout y'all? Have you found any more?" Stevie Rae said.

"Well, maybe," Ant said.

"Maybe?" Stevie Rae said.

"I was exploring and I found something, but the opening to it was little even for me, so I didn't go into it. I meant to go back and poke around with a shovel or, better yet, with Johnny B's muscles, but I just haven't yet."

Johnny B grinned and flexed for us. I ignored him, but the Twins tittered appreciatively.

"So, basically, what you guys are saying is that besides the depot entrance, there's one we know of for sure that links these tunnels to the other ones?" I said.