Burned

anything they see or hear that might be unusual,” Dragon added.
    “That sounds reasonable,” Penthasilea said.
    “All right, that seems good to me, too,” Stevie Rae said. Then she paused before adding, “Uh, I’m just wonderin’, but am I supposed to go back to the classes I was in before?”
    “Yeah, I’s wondering that, too,” Kramisha said.
    “Me, too,” Dallas said.
    “Fledglings should attend classes, taking up where they left off,” Lenobia said smoothly, smiling at Kramisha and Dallas as if the “left off” part had been unscheduled vacations rather than unwelcome deaths, which somehow made the whole thing sound weirdly normal. Then she turned to Stevie Rae. “Vampyres choose their career paths and the areas they’d like to study—not in class with fledglings but with other vampyres who are experts in their field. Do you know what it is you’d like to study?”
    Even with everyone gawking at her, Stevie Rae had no hesitation inher answer. “Nyx. I want to study to be a High Priestess. I want to be one because I’ve earned it, and not just ’cause I’m the only dang red vamp female in the known universe.”
    “But we have no High Priestess under which you may study—not since Neferet was driven away,” Penthasilea said, giving Lenobia a pointed look.
    “Then I guess I’ll study on my own until we get our High Priestess back.” She met Penthasilea’s eyes, and added, “And I can promise you that High Priestess will not be Neferet.” Stevie Rae stood. “Okay, well, I’m gonna go to the abbey like I said before. When I come back, I’ll go see the rest of the red fledglings and clue them in that classes start tomorrow.”
    Everyone had started to shuffle out of the room when Dragon pulled her aside. “I want you to promise me that you will be cautious,” he said. “You have powers of recovery that border on miraculous, but you are not immortal, Stevie Rae. You must remember that.”
    “I’ll be careful. I promise.”
    “I’m goin’ with her,” Kramisha said. “I’ll keep an eye to the sky for them nasty bird things. And I got me a girl scream that is deadly. If one shows up, I can make sure the whole world knows he there.”
    Dragon nodded but didn’t look convinced, and Stevie Rae was relieved when Lenobia called him over to her and started a conversation with him about making his martial arts classes mandatory for all fledglings. She slipped out of the room and was trying to figure out how she could get rid of Kramisha, who was being way too sticky-boogerish, when Dallas caught up with them.
    “Can I talk to you for a sec before you leave?”
    “I’ll be in Zoey’s Bug,” Kramisha said. “And no, you can’t get outta takin’ me.”
    Stevie Rae watched her march down the hall before she reluctantly turned to Dallas.
    “Can we go in there?” he asked, pointing to the deserted media center.
    “Sure, but I do gotta get goin’.”
    Without saying anything, Dallas opened the door for her, and theystepped into the cool, dim room that smelled like books and lemon furniture polish.
    “You and me, we don’t have to be together anymore,” Dallas said, all in a rush.
    “Huh? Don’t have to be together? What do you mean?”
    Dallas crossed his arms over his chest and looked super uncomfortable. “I mean we were goin’ out. You were my girlfriend. You don’t want to be anymore, and I get it. You were right, I couldn’t do shit to protect you from that bird thing. And I just want you to know I’m not gonna turn into an asshole about you and me. I’ll still be here for you when you need me, girl, ’cause you’re gonna always be my High Priestess.”
    “I don’t want to break up!” she blurted.
    “You don’t?”
    “No,” and she didn’t. At that instant, Dallas was all she could see, and his heart and his goodness were so obvious that Stevie Rae felt like losing him would be like getting punched in her gut. “Dallas, I’m so sorry for what I said before. I was hurt and mad, and I didn’t mean it. I couldn’t even get out of the circle, and I cast the dang thing. There’s no way you, or anyone else, not even a Warrior, could’ve gotten in there to me.”
    Dallas met her gaze. “That Raven Mocker got in there.”
    “Well, like you said yourself, he’s on the side of Darkness,” she said, even though his bringing up Rephaim was like throwing cold water in her face.
    “There’s a lot on the side of Darkness out there,” Dallas said.