Hunted

“Ah, so the prodigal returns?” Her voice was melodic and slightly amused.

Instantly I pulled my eyes from her and whispered frantically under my breath, “Your elements!” I only worried for the space of a heartbeat about them not hearing and not understanding, because almost immediately I felt the light brush of a fire-warmed wind and smelled a cool spring rain. Even though Neferet could not read Aphrodite’s mind, I murmured, “Spirit, I need you,” and felt the flutter within me as the element responded. Before I could change my mind and selfishly keep invigorating spirit for myself I commanded, “Go to Aphrodite,” and heard the sharp intake of her breath as the element filled her. Sure that my friends were as protected as they could be, I turned my attention to our tainted High Priestess. I opened my mouth to comment on the irony of her using a Biblical comparison, when a door a few feet down the hall from where Neferet stood opened and he stepped out of it.

Darius stopped so abruptly it felt as if he’d suddenly hit the end of a tether.

“Oh!” Shaunee breathed.

“Shiiiiiit!” Erin said on a long sigh.

“Don’t look at his eyes!” I heard Aphrodite whisper. “Stare at his chest instead.”

“Not a hard thing to do,” Damien said softly.

“Stay strong,” Darius said.

Then time seemed to suspend.

Stay strong, I told myself. Stay strong. But I didn’t feel strong. I felt exhausted and hurt and utterly defeated. Neferet intimidated me. She was just so perfect and powerful. Kalona made me realize my insignificance. The two of them together dwarfed me, and my head swam dizzily with a cacophony of thoughts. I was just a kid. Hell, I wasn’t even a full vampyre yet. How could I hope to stand against these two amazing beings? And did I really want to fight Kalona? Did we know for one hundred percent sure that he was evil? I blinked, clearing my blurring vision and stared at him. He absolutely did not look evil. Kalona was wearing pants that looked like they were made of the same creamy brown deerskin real moccasins were made of. His feet were bare, and so was his chest. It sounds stupid to say it—that he was standing there in the hallway half-naked—but then it didn’t feel stupid at all. It felt right. It’s just that he was so incredible! His skin was completely free of any blemish and was the golden tan that white girls try but always fail to get by roasting in ta

“She is wounded!” Kalona’s voice boomed down the hall. Even Neferet cringed. “Why is she not being tended?”

I heard the sickening sound of huge wings fluttering, and then Rephaim stepped out of the room Kalona had just been in. I shivered as I realized the Raven Mocker must have flown up to the window and then crawled in from there. Isn’t there any place aboveground that the horrid things couldn’t get to?

“Father, I ordered the warrior to take the priestess to the infirmary so that she could be properly cared for.” Rephaim’s u

“Oh, bullshit!” Completely shocked, I stared openmouthed at Aphrodite, who was giving the Raven Mocker her best bitchy sneer. She tossed back her thick blond hair as she continued, “Bird boy kept us out there in the freezing rain while he yammered about the Red One this and the Red One that. Darius got Zoey in here despite his help.” Aphrodite air-quoted over the word “help.”

There was utter silence in the hallway, and then Kalona threw back his beautiful head and laughed. “I had forgotten how amusing human women can be.” With a graceful movement of his hand he gestured to Darius. “Bring the young priestess here so that she may be tended.”

I could feel Darius’s reluctance in the tension of his body, but he did as Kalona ordered, with my friends at his side. We reached Neferet and the infirmary door at the same time Kalona did.

“Your duty is finished here, Warrior,” Kalona told Darius. “Neferet and I shall attend her now.” And the fallen angel opened his arms as if he expected Darius to give me to him. With that movement the enormous raven-feathered wings that had until then been tucked neatly against his back, rustled and half opened.

I wanted to reach out and touch those wings and was glad I was too weak to do more than stare.

“My duty is not finished.” Darius’s voice was as tense as his body. “I have sworn to care for this young priestess, and I must stay by her side.”

“I’m staying, too,” Aphrodite said.

“And I stay.” Damien sounded small and shaky, but I saw that his fists were still clenched firmly by his sides.

“Us, too,” Erin said, and Shaunee nodded grimly.

It was Neferet’s turn to laugh. “Surely you don’t think you can stay with Zoey through my examination?” The amusement in her voice disappeared. “Stop being ridiculous! Darius, take her into that room and leave her on the bed. If you insist, you may wait here in the hall for her, though by the look of you, the wiser choice would be for you to eat and refresh yourself. After all, you have brought Zoey home, where she is safe, so you have completed your charge. The rest of you return to the dorms. The human part of the city might be paralyzed by a simple storm, but we are not humans. Life goes on for us, which means school goes on.” She paused and gave Aphrodite a look so filled with hatred that it twisted her face into something that was too hard and cold to keep even a tiny bit of its beauty. “But you are now a human, are you not, Aphrodite?”

“I am,” Aphrodite said. Her face was pale, but she lifted her chin and met Neferet’s frigid gaze.

“Then you belong out there.” Neferet made a vague motion away from us.

“No, she doesn’t,” I said. Concentrating on Neferet had broken the spell staring at Kalona had cast over me. I barely recognized my own voice. It sounded like a whispery, weak old woman, but Neferet didn’t have any problem hearing me, and she turned her attention from Aphrodite to me. “Aphrodite still has visions from Nyx. She belongs here,” I managed to say, even though I had to blink rapidly because gray spots kept messing up my sight.

“Visions?” Kalona’s deep voice cut the air between us. This time I refused to look at him, though he was standing so close that I could feel the weird chill that came from his body. “What type of visions?”

“Warnings of future disasters,” Aphrodite spoke up.

“Interesting.” He drew the word out. “Neferet, my Queen, you did not tell me you had a prophetess at the House of Night.” Before Neferet could speak, he continued, “Most excellent, most excellent. A prophetess can be quite useful.”

“But she is not a fledgling, nor is she a vampyre, and thus she does not belong at the House of Night. So I say she should leave.” Neferet’s voice had an odd tone to it I didn’t recognize at first, and then as I blinked more and my vision cleared enough for me to get a good look at her body language—she was all but hanging on Kalona—I realized with a little shock that Neferet was actually pouting.

Then, mesmerized, I watched Kalona reach out and stroke the side of Neferet’s cheek, sweeping his palm along the curve of her long, smooth neck, continuing to caress her shoulder, and finally trailing off down the length of her back. Neferet trembled under his touch and her eyes dilated, as if his caress made her high.