Tempted

can’t say anything nice, then just shut the heck up.”
    “Did you want me, Stevie Rae?” Johnny B said, coming up to stand beside her. “I saw Darius carrying that arrow kid into the abbey. He said I should find you.”
    “Yeah,” she said with relief. “I want you and Heath to check out thefront part of the abbey over by Lewis. Make sure those Raven Mockers really are gone.”
    “I’m on it!” Johnny B said, giving Heath a pretend punch on the shoulder. “Come on, quarterback, let’s see what you got.”
    “Just pay attention to the dang trees and shadowy stuff,” Stevie Rae said, shaking her head as Heath ducked and dodged and struck Johnny B’s shoulder with a few quick punches.
    “No problem,” Dallas said, starting to move off with a silent Erik.
    “Make it quick,” Stevie Rae called to both sets of guys. “The sun’ll be up soon. Y’all meet me in front of Mary’s Grotto in half an hour or so. Holler loud if you find anything and we’ll all come runnin’.”
    She watched the four guys to be sure they were really going where she’d sent them, and then Stevie Rae turned and, with a sigh, started on her own mission. Dang, talk about annoying! She loved Z more than white bread, but dealing with her BFF’s boyfriends was making her feel like a toad in a tornado! She used to think Erik was the hottest guy in the world. After spending a couple of days with him, she now thought he was a big ol’ pain in the butt with a super-sized ego. Heath was sweet, but he was just a human, and Z had been right to worry about him. Humans definitely died easier than vamps or even fledglings. She glanced over her shoulder, trying to catch sight of Johnny B and Heath, but the icy darkness and the trees had swallowed her and she couldn’t see anyone.
    Not that Stevie Rae minded being by herself for a change. Johnny B would keep an eye on Heath. The truth was that she was glad to be rid of him and jealous Erik for a little while. The two of them made her appreciate Dallas. He was simple and easy. He was her kinda-sorta boyfriend. The two of them had a
thing,
but it didn’t get in the way of stuff. Dallas knew Stevie Rae had a lot to deal with, so he let her deal. And he was there for the off times. Easy-peasy, cute and breezy! That was Dallas.
    Z could learn a thing or two about handling guys from me
, she thought as she trudged through the grove of old trees that ringed Mary’s Grotto and buffered the abbey’s land from busy Twenty-first Street.
    Well, one thing was for sure—it was definitely a crappy night. Stevie Rae hadn’t gone a dozen paces before her short blond curls were soaked. Dang, water was even drippin’ off her nose! She backhanded her face, wiping off the cold, wet mixture of rain and ice. Everything was so weirdly dark and silent. It was freaky that there were absolutely no streetlights working on Twenty-first. Not one car was on the street—not even a cruising TPD squad car. She slipped and slid down the incline. Her feet met road and only her super-good red vampyre night vision kept her oriented. It seemed like Kalona had run away and taken sound and light with him.
    Feeling skittish, she backhanded the sopping wet hair from her face again and pulled herself together. “You’re actin’ like a chicken, and you know how stupid chickens are!” She spoke aloud and then got double spooked when her words sounded bizarrely magnified by the ice and darkness.
    Why in the world was she so jumpy? “It could be ’cause you’re keepin’ stuff from your BFF,” Stevie Rae muttered, and then clamped her lips shut. Her voice was just too loud in the dark, ice-filled night.
    But she was gonna tell Z about the other stuff. Really she was! There just hadn’t been time. And Z had enough on her mind without more stress. And . . . and . . . it was hard to talk about it, even to Zoey.
    Stevie Rae kicked at a broken, ice-covered branch. She knew it didn’t matter if it was hard. She was 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 sting of the icy rain, Stevie Rae peered up into the branches of the trees. Even with the darkness and the storm her eyesight was good, and she was relieved not to see any big dark bodies lurking above her. Finding it easier to walk on the side of the road, she made her way down Twenty-first Street heading away from the