bright, but I didn't think he'd run around telling people (especially not detective people) that the chick he had the hots for drank blood. No. Heath wouldn't have said anything, but-- And I knew why they were asking me questions.
"There's something you should know about Kayla Robinson," I said suddenly, interrupting the short cop's boring tirade. "She saw me kiss Heath. Well, actually Heath kissed me. She likes Heath." I looked from one cop to the other. "You know, she really likes Heath, as in wants to date him now that I'm out of the way. So when she saw him kiss me she got pissed and started yelling at me. Okay, I admit I didn't act very mature. I got pissed back at her. I mean, it's just wrong when your best friend goes after your boyfriend. Anyway"--I fidgeted, like I was embarrassed to admit what I was telling them--"I said some mean stuff to Kayla that scared her. She freaked out and left."
"What kind of mean stuff?" Detective Marx asked. I sighed. "Something like if she didn't go away I'd fly off the wall and suck her blood."
"Zoey!" Neferet's voice was sharp. "You know that's inappro priate. We have enough problems with image without you fright ening human teenagers on purpose. Little wonder the poor child spoke to the police."
"I know. I'm really sorry." Even though I understood Neferet was playing along with me, I still had to work at not cringing away from the power in her voice. I glanced up at the detectives. Both of them were staring at Neferet with wide, startled eyes. Huh. So, up until then she'd only shown them her gorgeous public face. They had no idea what kind of power they were dealing with. "And you haven't seen either teenager since then?" the tall cop asked after an uncomfortable pause. "Only once more, and then it was just Heath alone, during our Samhain Ritual."
"Excuse me, your what?"
"Samhain is the ancient name for a night you would probably best know as Halloween," Neferet explained. She was back to stun ningly beautiful and kind, and I could understand why the cops looked confused, but they returned her smile as if they had no choice. Knowing Neferet's powers--they might not. "Go on, Zoey," she told me. "Well, there were a bunch of us and we were having a ritual. Kinda like a church service outside," I explained. Okay, it was nothing like a church service outside, but no way was I going to explain circle-casting and calling the spirits of carnivorous dead vamps to a couple human cops. I glanced at Neferet. She nodded encouragement. I drew a deep breath and mentally edited the past as I talked. I knew it really didn't matter what I said. Heath didn't remember anything about that night--the night he'd al most been killed by the ghosts of ancient vampyres. Neferet had made sure that his memory had been totally and permanently blocked. All he knew was that he'd found me with a bunch of other kids and then passed out. "Anyway, Heath snuck into the ritual. It was really embarrassing, especially since ... well ... he was totally wasted."
"Heath was drunk?" Marx asked. I nodded. "Yes, he was drunk. I don't want to get him in any trouble, though." I'd already decided not to mention Heath's un fortunate, and hopefully temporary, experimentation with pot. "He's not in trouble."
"Good. I mean, he's not my boyfriend but he's basically a good guy."
"Don't worry about it, Miss Redbird, just tell us what hap pened."
"Nothing really. He crashed our ritual, and it was embarrass ing. I told him to go home and not come back, that we were through. He made a fool out of himself and then passed out. We left him there, and that was it."
"You haven't seen him since?"
"No."
"Have you heard from him in any way?"
"Yeah, he calls way too much and leaves annoying messages on my cell. But that's getting better," I added hastily. I really didn't want to get him into trouble. "I think he's finally getting it that we're through." The tall cop finished taking some notes, and then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic bag that had something in it. "And how about this, Miss Redbird? Have you ever seen this before?" He handed me the bag and I realized what was in it. It was a sil ver pendant on a long black velvet ribbon. The pendant was in