untamed - Weebly

"Can you not use some of your mind control on her and get her to stop once and
for all?" I asked.
"Nope. I've already tried it. There's something about her brain that I can't get
into."
"It's my superior intelligence," Aphrodite said.
"It's more like your superior annoyance," I said. "Go on, Stevie Rae."
"Let's see, what else . . ." She thought for a couple of seconds, then said, "I'm a lot
stronger than I used to be."
"Regular adult vamps are strong," I said. Then I remembered she'd had to stop for
blood. "So, you still have to have blood?"
"Yep, but if I don't get it, I don't think I'd go all crazy like I did before. I wouldn't
like doing without it, but I don't think I'd turn into a bloodsucking monster."
"But she doesn't know for sure," Aphrodite said.
"I hate it when she's right, but she's right," Stevie Rae said. "There's just so much
I don't know about what kind of vampyre I've Changed into that it's more than a little
scary."
"Don't worry. We have plenty of time to figure all of this out."
Stevie Rae smiled and shrugged. "Well, y'all are gonna have to figure this out on
your own 'cause I really do gotta go." Surprising the crap out of me, she started toward
the window.
"Hang on. We have lots more talking to do. And what with the big announcement
that winter break is over, there are going to be fledglings and vamps everywhere again,
not to mention there're the Sons of Erebus and the whole war-against-the-humans thing to
deal with if I try to leave campus to see you, so I don't know when I'll be able to see you."
I was beginning to feel a little short of breath about the multiple issues we had going on.
"Don't worry, Z. I still got that phone you gave me. Just call, and I can sneak back
in here anytime."
"You mean anytime there's no sunlight," Aphrodite said, helping me open the
window for Stevie Rae.
"Yeah, that's what I mean." Stevie Rae looked at Aphrodite. "You know you can
come with me if you don't want to stay here and pretend."
I blinked at my BFF in surprise. It wasn't like she could stand Aphrodite, but here
she was, offering her a place to stay, and using a nice tone of voice about it, too, which
was exactly like the Stevie Rae I knew and loved—and I felt like crap that somewhere in
the back of my mind I'd imagined her acting undead and inhuman again.
"Really, you can come with me," Stevie Rae repeated, and when Aphrodite didn't
say anything, she added something that seemed really odd to me. "I know what it's like to
pretend. You wouldn't have to do that in the tunnels."
I expected Aphrodite to sneer at her and make a crack about the red fledglings and
bad hygiene, but what she actually said surprised me even more than Stevie Rae's offer.
"I have to stay here and pretend I'm still a fledgling. I'm not going to leave Zoey
alone, and I don't trust the gay boy and the Dorkamese Twins to do the buddy thing right
now. But thanks, Stevie Rae."
I smiled at Aphrodite. "See, you can be nice when you try."