Revealed

“Not
here.
Outside—out
there.
” He pointed in the general direction of the door to the field house behind them.
    “Outside the field house!” she almost yelled.
    “Zo, sometimes I think you don’t listen so good,” Aurox said. Still frowning at her, he continued speaking slowly, as if trying to get her to understand a foreign language. “Two boys.
Outside
the wall. With the keg. And cups. They. Want. Hot. Vampyre. Chicks.”
    “Okay, I think I get it.” Stark grabbed Aurox’s arm and started to drag him toward the door and away from Z before she went for his throat, although that would have been funny as hell. “You found two kids, with beer, trying to get over the wall, right?”
    “See, you listen better.” Aurox patted him on the back, almost knocking Stark over. “But they’re just looking through the hole for vampyre pussy, not trying to get over the wall.”
    “If you say pussy one more time I’m going to smack the crap out of you,” Zoey said, coming after them.
    “You can’t come!” Aurox stumbled to a stop. “You have legs and tits!”
    “Oh. My. Goddess. I’m going to kill him!”
    Stark stepped between the two of them. He faced Zoey. She’d gone from pale to bright red in zero-point-nothing seconds. “Z, I think this is something that a Warrior needs to handle.”
    Behind him, Aurox belched, sending a wave of beer air wafting over them.
    Zoey narrowed her eyes and pointed at Aurox. “You have never been able to drink!” Then she spun around and stomped back to the basement entrance, slamming the door behind her.
    “She seems mad. Should we bring her a beer?” Aurox said.
    Stark covered his laugh with a cough. “Ur, no. Z doesn’t like beer.”
    “Doesn’t like beer? She should. It would make her head feel bubbly and happy.”
    Stark didn’t bother to cover his laugh a second time. “I wish it worked that way with her, but it doesn’t.”
    “Because she has legs and tits?”
    Stark knew it was wrong, but he couldn’t stop himself. “I’m not sure. Maybe you should ask her next time you see her.”
    Aurox nodded, looking as serious as a drunk could look. “I will.”
    “That should be fun. But until then, show me where these humans are, and while we’re going there, start back at the beginning and tell me exactly what happened before and after you were introduced to the red Solo cup.”
Zoey
    Aurox was Heath. Annoying, stupid, beer-soaked Heath.
Vampyre pussy—who the hell even says something like that?
I knew the answer to that ridiculous question: drunk teenage boys.
    “Well, they look snug as fleas on an old dog,” Stevie Rae said, cutting into my internal dialogue and pulling my attention, thankfully, away from drunk Aurox/Heath and the fact that neither he nor Stark had returned to the basement yet.
    “How long until dawn?” I asked her.
    “Little less than an hour,” Rephaim said.
    “Hey, is Stark back yet?” Aphrodite asked as she, Darius, and Shaylin joined us.
    “No. Not yet,” I said. “But Aurox was pretty messed up. He may be awhile.” Kramisha had told everyone about Aurox being drunk. I’d said that Stark was sobering him up, which I assumed he was doing
after
he messed with the minds of the kids who had gotten Aurox drunk. But I hadn’t mentioned that part to anyone. They’d had enough stress for one day—hell, for one year—and I hadn’t wanted to freak anyone out for no reason. And Stark was usually right—he could handle almost anything, so I was letting him handle it.
    Of course I was going to want to hear every single tiny detail when he got his butt back to me. I also had a few choice words ready for Aurox/Heath,
after
he sobered up. Moron.
    “I gotta agree with Kramisha. Aurox drinkin’ is probably not a good thing,” Stevie Rae was saying.
    “Typical boy behavior,” Aphrodite muttered.
    “Well, Heath was a drinker. Remember when he showed up drunk at that—” Stevie Rae began, but broke off when Aphrodite elbowed her. “Oh, uh. Right.” Then she very obviously changed the subject. “Hey, y’all did a really good job down here!” She hugged Rephaim and smiled at Darius.
    “Yeah,” I chimed in, glad she’d changed the subject. “Everything looks really good—cozy and nice.” Stark, Darius, and Rephaim had done most of the hard work—then Stevie Rae’s red fledglings had quickly and quietly carried sleeping bags and pillows and such down to the basement after the funeral (and while Dallas and his