The smell hit me then, the utterly familiar scent of Heath's blood. The blood I'd once Imprinted as my own. Nothing can compare to the scent of fresh human blood, not another fledgling's and not even an adult vampyre's blood is as compelling, as hypnotically desirable. I felt myself leaning toward him.

"Yes, babe, yes. Drink from me, Zo. Remember how good it feels?" Heath whispered while his hand on my waist pulled me into him.

Couldn't I just take one little taste? So what if I Imprinted with Heath, again? Hell, of course, we'd Imprint. And that's not so bad. I loved being Imprinted with him. He'd liked it, too, until--

Until I'd broken the Imprint along with his heart and quite possibly irreparably damaged his soul.

I shoved him away and lurched out of the cab of the truck, stepping quickly around Heath. The icy rain actually felt good as it fell on my face, cooling the heat of my bloodlust.

"I have to go back, Heath," I said, trying hard to get my breathing and my racing heart under control. "You have to go back, too, where you belong. And that's not here."

"Zoey, what's wrong?" He took a step toward me, and I moved one more step away from him. "What did I do?"

"Nothing. It's--It's not you, Heath." I pushed my wet hair back from my face. "You're great. You've always been great, and I do love you. That's why this can't happen between us again. Imprinting with me isn't good for you, especially not right now."

"Why don't you let me worry about what's good for me and what's not?"

"Because you don't think straight when it comes to me and you!" I shouted. "Remember how painful it was when our Imprint broke? Remember how you said it made you feel like you wanted to die?"

"Then don't break it again."

"It's not that simple. My life isn't that simple anymore."

"Maybe you're just making it too complicated. There's you. There's me. We love each other, and we have since we were kids, so we should be together. The end," he said.

"Life isn't a book, Heath! There's no guarantee of a happy ending," I said.

"I don't need a guarantee if I have you."

"That's just it. You don't have me, Heath. You can't. Not anymore." I shook my head and held up my hand to stop him when he started to say something else. "No! I can't do this right now. I just want you to get in your truck and go back to B.A. I'm going to go back down there. To my people and my vampyre boyfriend."

"Oh, please! You and that vamp ass**le? No way are you going to put up with his crap, Zo."

"This isn't just about Erik and me. The truth is you and I can't happen, Heath. You need to forget about me and go on with your life. Your human life." I turned my back on him and made myself walk away. When I heard him following me, I didn't look back. I just yelled, "No! I want you to leave, Heath, and I don't want you to come back. Ever."

I held my breath and heard his footsteps stop. I still didn't look at him. I was afraid if I did that, I would turn around, run back to him, and hurl myself into his arms.

I was almost to the old metal grate when I heard the first croaking caw. The sound stopped me like I'd run into a brick wall. I whirled around. Heath was standing in the freezing rain under the tree just a few feet from his truck. I spared hardly a glance for him. My eyes darted up into the dark branches of the ice-bowed tree.

Within the shadows of the naked boughs a darkness stirred. It reminded me of something, and I blinked, staring at it and trying to remember where I'd seen something like it before. Then the image shifted...changed...I gasped as it became more visible. Neferet! She was clinging to a thick, ice-slick branch that leaned against the roof of the depot. Her eyes blazed crimson and her hair whipped around her crazily, like she had been caught in a sudden wind.

Neferet smiled at me. Her expression was so purely evil that I felt frozen in place.

Then, as I stared up in horror, her image shifted again, wavered, and where the image of the tainted High Priestess had been, there was now a huge Raven Mocker. The thing perched on the side of the depot roof wasn't human and it wasn't animal. It was a terrible mutated mixture of both. It was staring at me with eyes the color of blood and the shape of a man's. Its human arms and legs were naked, looking vile and perverted emerging from the body of a gigantic raven. I could see its forked tongue and the glistening sa sape liva that dripped hungrily from that horrible maw.

"Zoey, what's going on?" Heath said. And before I could tell him not to, he followed my gaze, looking up at the icy limbs that rested against the roof of the depot. "What the f**k?" But as I saw the realization of what the creature must be cross his face, the bird thing turned its glowing red eyes from Heath to me.