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more than white bread, but dealing with her BFF`s boyfriends was makingher feel like atoad in a tornado! She used to think Erik was the hottest guy in the world. Afterspending acouple of days with him, she now thought he was a big ol` pain in the butt with asuper-sizedego. Heath was sweet, but he was just a human, and Z had been right to worryabout him. Humans definitely died easier than vamps or even fledglings. She glanced over hershoulder, trying to catch sight of Johnny B and Heath, but the icy darkness and the trees hadswallowed herand she couldn`t see anyone. Not that Stevie Rae minded being by herself for a change. Johnny B would keepan eye onHeath. The truth was that she was glad to be rid of him and jealous Erik for a littlewhile. Thetwo of them made her appreciate Dallas. He was simple and easy. He was herkinda-sortaboyfriend. The two of them had a thing, but it didn`t get in the way of stuff. Dallasknew StevieRae had a lot to deal with, so he let her deal. And he was there for the off times. Easy-peasy, cuteand breezy! That was Dallas. Z could learn a thing or two about handling guys from me, she thought as shetrudged throughthe grove of old trees that ringed Mary`s Grotto and buffered the abbey`s land frombusyTwenty-first Street. Well, one thing was for sure--it was definitely a crappy night. Stevie Rae hadn`tgone a dozenpaces before her short blond curls were soaked. Dang, water was even drippin` offher nose! Shebackhanded her face, wiping off the cold, wet mixture of rain and ice. Everythingwas so weirdlydark and silent. It was freaky that there were absolutely no streetlights working onTwenty-first. Not one car was on the street--not even a cruising TPD squad car. She slippedand slid down theincline. Her feet met road and only her super-good red vampyre night vision kepther oriented. Itseemed like Kalona had run away and taken sound and light with him. Feeling skittish, she backhanded the sopping wet hair from her face again andpulled herselftogether. You`re actin` like a chicken, and you know how stupid chickens are! Shespokealoud and then got double spooked when her words sounded bizarrely magnifiedby the ice anddarkness. Why in the world was she so jumpy? It could be `cause you`re keepin` stuff fromyour BFF, Stevie Rae muttered, and then clamped her lips shut. Her voice was just too loudin the dark, icefillednight. But she was gonna tell Z about the other stuff. Really she was! There just hadn`tbeen time. AndZ had enough on her mind without more stress. And . . . And . . . It was hard to talkabout it, evento Zoey. Stevie Rae kicked at a broken, ice-covered branch. She knew it didn`t matter if itwas hard. Shewas gonna talk to Zoey. She had to. But later. Maybe a lot later. Better to focus on the present, at least for right now. Squinting and cupping her hand over her eyes to try to shield them from the stingof the icy rain, Stevie Rae peered up into the branches of the trees. Even with the darkness andthe storm hereyesight was good, and she was relieved not to see any big dark bodies lurkingabove her. Finding it easier to walk on the side of the road, she made her way down Twenty-first Streetheading away from the abbey, all the while keeping her eyes up. It wasn`t until she was almost at the fence line that divided the nuns` property fromthe upscalecondo beside it that Stevie Rae smelled it. Blood. A wrong kind of blood. She stopped. Looking almost feral, Stevie Rae sniffed the air. It was filled with thewet, mustyscent of ice as it coated earth, the crisp, cinnamon smell of the winter trees, andthe man-madetang of the asphalt beneath her feet. She ignored those scents and insteadfocused on the blood. Itwasn`t human blood, or even fledgling blood, so it didn`t smell like sunlight andspring--honeyand chocolate--love and life and everything that she`d ever dreamed of. No, thisblood smelledtoo dark. Too thick. There was too much of something in it that wasn`t human. Butit was stillblood, and it drew her, even though she knew the wrongness of it deep in her soul. It was the scent of something strange, something otherworldly, that led her to thefirst splashes ofcrimson. In the stormy darkness of the sunless predawn, even her enhanced visionsaw it only aswet splotches against the ice that sheeted the road and covered the grass besideit. But Stevie Raeknew it was blood. A lot of blood. But there was no animal or human lying there bleeding. Instead there was a trail of liquid darkness thickening in the sheeting ice, movingaway from thestreet and into the densest part of the grove behind the abbey. Her predator`s