Awakened

guys! Leave me a message and have an awesome day voice mail,” Aphrodite quoted in an uber-bubbly voice. She drew a breath, waiting for the beep.
    And Stevie Rae grabbed the phone from her hand, speaking quickly into it. “Z, it’s me, not Aphrodite. I need you to call me the second you get this. It’s important.” She hit the end button to hang up and squared off against Aphrodite. “Okay, let’s get somethin’ real straight. Just because I try to be a decent human being, it does not mean I’m too nice. It’s bad enough what happened to Jack. Learnin’ ’bout it in a message is super, super bad. Plus, I don’t think it’s a good idea to freak Zoey out like that, ’specially so soon after her soul being shattered.”
    Aphrodite snatched the iPhone from Stevie Rae. “Look. We do not have time to tiptoe around Zoey’s feelings. She needs to put on her big-girl High Priestess panties and deal.”
    “No, you look.” Stevie Rae stepped forward and into Aphrodite’s personal space, making Darius automatically move closer to her. “Z doesn’t need to put on High Priestess panties. She is one. But she’s been through losin’ someone she loves. That’s somethin’ you obviously just don’t get. Watchin’ out for her feelings right now isn’t about babyin’ her. It’s about bein’ her friend. Sometimes all of us just need a little protection from our friends.” She glanced at Darius, shaking her head. “No, that doesn’t mean you need to protect Aphrodite from me. Jeeze, Darius, what’s wrong with you?”
    Darius caught and held her gaze. “For a moment your eyes flashed red.”
    Stevie Rae made sure her expression didn’t change. “Yeah, well, I’m not surprised. Watchin’ Neferet walk away without paying any consequences for what happened to Jack has been pretty hard for me to take. You’d feel the same way if you’d been here and saw it go down.”
    “I imagine I would, but my eyes would not glow red,” Darius said.
    “Die and un-die and then talk to me ’bout that,” Stevie Rae said. She turned to Aphrodite. “I have stuff I gotta do while Damien is sleepin’. Are you and Darius gonna stay here and keep an eye on him? Not for one hot second do I believe Neferet is really locked away in her room praying to Nyx for the rest of the night like she wants everyone to believe.”
    “Yeah, we’ll stay,” Aphrodite said.
    “If he wakes up, be nice,” Stevie Rae said.
    “Don’t be a jerk. Of course I’ll be nice.”
    “Good. I’ll be back pretty soon, but if you need a break, call the Twins and they’ll relieve you.”
    “Whatever. Goodbye.”
    “Bye.” Stevie Rae hurried down the hallway, feeling Darius’s questioning gaze following her with an intensity that was a physical weight. I have to stop letting Darius make me feel guilty! she told herself roughly. I haven’t done anything wrong. So what if my eyes glow red when I’m pissed? It doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that I’ve Imprinted with Rephaim. I left him. Tonight I ignored him. Yeah, I have to find him and ask what the hell he knows about what happened to Jack, but not because I want to. Because I have to. She told that big ol’ lie silently to herself, and was so distracted by her thoughts that she almost ran smack into Erik.
    “Hey, uh, Stevie Rae. Is Damien okay?”
    “Well, what do you think, Erik? His boyfriend who he loved just died in a real horrible way. No, he’s not okay. But he is sleepin’. Finally.”
    “You know, you don’t have to be like that. I really am worried about him, and I cared about Jack, too.”
    Stevie Rae took a good look at Erik. He did look like crap, which was totally unusual for pretty-boy Erik. And he’d obviously been crying. Then she remembered that he’d been Jack’s roommate, and also had been real sweet about standing up for Jack when that asshole Thor tried to pick on him for being gay. “Sorry,” she said, touching Erik’s arm. “I’m just upset ’bout all this, too. I got no reason to be a B to you. Here, I’ll start over.” She took a breath and smiled sadly. “Damien’s sleepin’ right now, but he’s not okay. He’ll be needin’ friends like you when he wakes up. Thanks for askin’ and thanks for bein’ here for him.”
    Erik nodded and squeezed her hand briefly. “Thanks back at you. I know you don’t like me much, what with the stuff that went down between Zoey and me, but I really am Damien’s friend. Let me know if