Hunted

by P. C. Cast

Chapter Three

 

  "Seriously, Darius. Can't we do this another way? Some other more hospital-like way. In a hospital. With doctors and waiting rooms for friends to wait in while the. . . the. . . " I'd made a semi-panicky gesture at the arrow sticking through Stevie Rae's body. "While the stuff is fixed. "

  "There may be a better way, but not under these conditions. I have limited supplies down here, and if you took a moment to think about it, Priestess, I do not believe you would want any of us to go aboveground to one of the city hospitals to night," Darius said.

  I chewed my lip silently, thinking that he was right but still trying to come up with a less horrifying alternative.

  "No. I'm not going back up there. Not only is Kalona free, along with his totally gross bird babies, but I can't get caught aboveground when the sun rises, and I can feel that sunrise isn't that far away. I don't think I could survive it already hurting like this. Z, you're just gonna have to do it," said Stevie Rae.

  "You want me to push on the arrow while you hold her still?" Aphrodite asked.

  "No, watching it will probably be worse than helping with it," I said.

  "I'll do my best not to scream too loud," Stevie Rae said.

  She'd been serious, which made my heart squeeze then, just like it did now as I thought back. "Oh, honey! Scream all you want. Hell, I'll scream along with you. " I looked at Darius. "I'm ready whenever you are. "

  "I will cut off the feathered end of the arrow that is still protruding from the front of her chest. When I do that, you take this," he handed me a wad of gauze that was wet with alcohol, "and press it over the cutoff end. When I have a good grip on the front of the arrow I'll tell you to push. Push hard while I pull. It shouldus said q I come out fairly easily. "

  "But it might hurt just a little?" Stevie Rae said, sounding faint.

  "Priestess," Darius rested his big hand on her shoulder. "This will hurt quite a bit more than a little. "

  "That's why I'm here," Aphrodite said. "I'll be holding on to you so you don't flail about as you writhe in pain and mess up Darius's plan. " She hesitated, and then added, "But you need to know if you go all crazy from agony and bite me again, I'm going to knock the shit right out of you. " "Aphrodite. I'm not gonna bite you. Again," Stevie Rae said.

  "Let's just get this over with," I said.

  Before Darius ripped off what remained of Stevie Rae's shirt he said, "Priestess, I must bare your breasts. "

  "Well, I've been thinkin' about that while you've been workin' on my back. You're kinda like a doctor, aren't you?"

  "All of the Sons of Erebus are trained in the medicine field so that we can care for our wounded brothers. " He relaxed his stern expression for a moment and smiled at Stevie Rae. "So, yes, you may think of me as a physician. "

  "Then I'm fine with you seeing my boobies. Doctors are trained not to care about that kind of stuff. "

  "Let's hope his training hasn't been that thorough," Aphrodite muttered.

  Darius gave her a quick wink. I made a gagging sound, which made Stevie Rae giggle and then gasp when the movement caused her pain. She tried to smile reassuringly at me, but she was way too pale and shaky to pull it off.

  It was about then that I really started to worry. Back at the House of Night the undead-dead Stark followed Neferet's pain-in-the-butt orders and shot Stevie Rae, blood had spilled out of her body at an alarming rate, so much so that it had made the ground around her look like it was bleeding, which fulfilled the stupid prophecy to free the stupid fallen angel, Kalona, from his gazillion-year imprisonment in the earth. Stevie Rae looked like all of the blood in her body had been left on the ground and even though she'd done pretty well up until then, and been walking and talking and mostly conscious, she was quickly fading into a ghostly white nothing before our eyes.

  "Ready, Zoey?" Darius asked, making me jump.

  Fear had made my teeth chatter so hard that I barely managed to stutter, "Y-yeah. "

  "Stevie Rae?" he said gently. "Are you prepared?"

  "As I'll ever be, I guess. But I can tell you I really wish stuff like this would quit happenin' to me. "

  "Aphrodite?" He'd looked to her next.

  Aphrodite moved so that she was kneeling on the floor in front of the bed and took both of Stevie Rae's forearms in a strong handhold. "Try not to flail too much," she told Stevie Rae.

  "I'll do myN lX"5% best. "

  "On three," Darius said, with the shears poised to close on the feather end of the arrow. "One. . . two. . . three!"

  Then everything happened fast. He'd clipped off the end of the arrow like he'd just cut through a tiny twig.

  "Cover it!" He barked the command at me, and I'd pressed the gauze against the inch or so of arrow that still stuck out of the front of Stevie Rae's chest squarely between her boobies while he moved around behind her. Stevie Rae's eyes had been squeezed closed. She was breathing in short little panting gasps again, and sweat was beading her face. "Again on three, only this time you push against the end of the arrow," Darius said. I'd wanted to stop everything and scream No, let's just wrap her up and take our chances getting her to a hospital, but Darius had already begun counting. "One. . . two. . . three!" I shoved against the hard, newly sliced end of the arrow as Darius, bracing himself with one hand against Stevie Rae's shoulder, pulled the arrow from her body with one swift, awful- sounding, jerk.

  Stevie Rae did scream. So did I. So did Aphrodite. And then Stevie Rae slumped forward into my arms.

  "Keep the gauze pressed against the wound. " Darius quickly and efficiently cleaned the newly exposed hole in Stevie Rae's back.

  I remembered repeating over and over, "It's okay. It's okay. It's out now. It's all over now. . . "

  Looking back, I remember that Aphrodite and I had both been sobbing. Stevie Rae's head had been pressed against my shoulder, so I couldn't see her face, but I could feel wetness leaking down my shirt. When Darius lifted her gently and laid her back on the bed so that he could dress the entry wound I felt a jolt of pure fear stab through me.

  I'd never seen anyone look as pale as Stevie Rae--anyone who was still alive, that is. Her eyes were squeezed tight shut, but red-tinged tears made horrible tracks down her cheeks, the slight pink in stark contrast to her almost transparent colorless skin.

  "Stevie Rae? Are you okay?" I could see her chest rising and falling, but she hadn't opened her eyes and she wasn't making any noise.

  "I'm. . . still. . . here. " She whispered the words with long pauses between them. "But. . . kinda. . . floating. . . above. . . y'all. "

  "She's not bleeding," Aphrodite said in a low voice.

  "She has nothing left to bleed," Darius said as he taped the gauze to her chest.

  "The arrow missed her heart," I said. "Its purpose wasn't to kill her. It was to bleed her. "

  "We are lucky, indeed, that the fledgling missed his mark," Darius said.

  His words still went round and round inside my head because I knew what none of the rest of them did, that it was impossible for Stark to miss his mark. His gift from Nyx had been that his aim was always true, that he always hit what ever it was he aimed at, even if that sometimes had horrible consequences. Our Goddess had told me he 3 rself that once she gave a gift, she never took it back, so even though Stark had died and then come back as a twisted version of himself, he still would have hit her heart and killed Stevie Rae if that had been his intention. So did that mean there was more of Stark's humanity left than there had seemed to be? He'd called my name; he'd recognized me. I'd shivered, reliving the chemistry that had sparked between us right before he died.

  "Priestess? Did you not hear me?" Darius and Aphrodite had been staring at me.

  "Oh, sorry. Sorry. I was distracted by. . . " I hadn't wanted to explain that I was thinking about the guy who had almost killed my best friend. I still didn't want to explain that.

  "Priestess, I was saying, if Stevie Rae
doesn't get blood, this wound, though it missed her heart, could very well be the death of her. " The warrior shook his head while he examined Stevie Rae. "Though I cannot tell you for sure that she will heal. She is a new kind of vampyre and I do not know how her body will react, but were she one of my brother warriors, I would be very concerned. "

  I had drawn a deep breath and readied myself before saying, "Okay. Well. Forget waiting for the Twins and their bloodmobile. Bite me," I told Stevie Rae.

  Her eyes fluttered open and she somehow managed the hint of a smile. "Human blood, Z," she said before closing her eyes again.

  "She's probably right. Human blood always has a more powerful effect on us than fledgling or even vampyre blood," Darius said.

  "Well, then, I'll run and get the Twins," I said, even though I hadn't had any real idea where I would be running to.

  "Fresh blood would work better than that bland, refrigerated stuff," Darius said.

  He hadn't so much as glanced at Aphrodite, but she definitely got the message. "Oh, for crap's sake! I'm supposed to let her bite me? Again!"

  I blinked, not sure what to say. Thankfully, Darius came to the rescue.

  "Ask yourself what your Goddess would have you do," he said.

  "Well, shit! This being one of the good guys really, really sucks. Literally. " She sighed, stood up, and pushed back a sleeve of her black velvet dress. Holding her wrist in front of Stevie Rae's face, she said, "Fine. Go ahead. Bite me. But you owe me big-time. Again. And I do not know why I'm the one who keeps saving your life. I mean, I don't even--" Her words were choked off with a little yip of yikes!

  It's still kinda disconcerting to think about what happened next. When Stevie Rae grabbed Aphrodite's arm I saw her entire expression change. She instantly went from my sweet BFF to a feral stranger. Her eyes glowed a nasty dark red, and with a scary hiss she bit the crap out of Aphrodite's wrist.

  Then Aphrodite's yikes turned into a disturbingly sensual moan and her eyes closed as Stevie Rae's mouth latched on to her, breaking the skin easily and causing the hot, pulsing blood to flow as my best friend greedily sucked and swallowed like a predator.

  Okay, yes. *W IIt was disturbing and nasty, but it was also weirdly erotic. I know it felt good--it had to. That's how vampyres are made. Even being bit by a fledgling will cause the bitee (a human) and the biter (a fledgling) both to experience a very real jolt of intense sexual plea sure. It's how we survive. The old myths about vamps ripping open throats and taking victims by force is pretty much bullpoop--well, unless someone pisses off a vamp pretty badly. And then, even though his or her throat is being ripped out, the bitee would probably like it.

  Anyway, we are what we are. And from observing what was going on with Stevie Rae and Aphrodite, it was clear that red vampyres definitely had the whole bring-your-human-pleasure phenomenon going. I mean, Aphrodite had even leaned suggestively into Darius, who wrapped an arm around her and bent to kiss her as Stevie Rae continued sucking on her wrist.

  The kiss between the warrior and Aphrodite had so much sizzle to it I swear I could almost see sparks flying. Darius held her carefully so that he didn't cause Stevie Rae to wrench her wrist. Aphrodite wrapped her free arm around him and gave herself to him with an openness that showed exactly how much she trusted him. I felt guilty watching, even though there was an undeniably sexy beauty to what was happening between them.

  "Okay. Awkward. "

  "Seriously. Could have gone my whole life without seeing that. "

  I'd looked away from Stevie Rae and company to see the Twins standing just inside the blanketed door. Erin was holding several packets of what were obviously bags of blood. Shaunee was holding a bottle of some kind of red wine and a glass, as in the typical kitchen variety that Mom pours the iced tea into.

  Duchess pushed past them and came wagging doggily into the room with Jack close behind him.

  "Ohmigod, girl-on-girl action while the guy gets the benefits," Jack said.

  "Interesting. . . to think some guys would really find that a turn-on. " Damien had come into the room behind Jack and was holding a paper bag and peering at Stevie Rae, Aphrodite, and Darius like he was watching a science experiment.

  Darius managed to break the kiss, pulling Aphrodite close to him and holding her tight against his chest. "Priestess, this will humiliate her," he told me in a low, urgent voice. I didn't bother to take time to wonder which her he was referring to, Aphrodite or Stevie Rae. Before he finished the sentence, I was already moving toward the Twins.

  "I'll take that," I said, grabbing a bag o' blood from Erin. Totally perting their attention from the scene on the bed, I used my teeth to tear open the packet like it was a bag of skittles, being sure I got a nice amount of blood on my mouth. "Hold the glass for me," I told Shaunee. She did as I commanded, even though she was giving me an eew look. Paying her no attention, I poured most of the blood into the glass, making a point of licking my lips and catching the spattering of red that hung on them. Deliberately I upended the baggie and slurped out the remaining blood before I tossed the flattened pouch aside. Then I took the glass of blood from her. "Now the wine," I said. The bottle had already been opened, so all Shaunee had to do was pull out the cork. I held up the glass. I'd filled it about three-fourths full with blood, so it took no time to add the wine and fill the cup. "Thfor g of skittanks," I said briskly and turned, marching back to the bed.

  With a business-like movement I'd taken Aphrodite's upper arm and pulled, disengaging her from Stevie Rae's surprisingly gentle hold. I discreetly stepped in front of her, blocking the view of my best friend's mostly naked body from the gawking masses, a. k. a. , the Twins, Damien, and Jack.

  Stevie Rae glared up at me, her eyes glowing and her lips curled back to expose sharp, blood- reddened teeth. Even though I was shocked by how monsterlike she looked, I kept my voice calm and even added a touch of annoyance to it. "Okay, that's enough. Try this now. "

  Stevie Rae snarled at me.

  Weirdly enough, Aphrodite had made a sound that echoed Stevie Rae's snarl. WTF? I'd wanted to turn to Aphrodite to see what was going on with her, but I'd known it was best to stay focused on my best friend--who was growling at me.

  "I said enough!" I'd snapped in a voice low enough that I hoped my words couldn't be overheard by everyone else. "Get it together, Stevie Rae. You've had enough from Aphrodite. Drink. This. Now. " I distinctly separated the words, and then I shoved the blood and wine mixture into her hands.

  A change came over her face and she blinked and looked unfocused. I guided the glass to her lips, and as soon as the scent of it hit her, she started gulping it down. She was drinking greedily, so I'd allowed myself a second to glance over at Aphrodite. Still in Darius's arms, she looked okay, though more than a little dazed, and she was staring wide-eyed at Stevie Rae.

  I'd felt a prickle of unease skitter down my spine at the shocked expression on Aphrodite's face, which turned out to be an accurate premonition of weirdness to come. But then I turned my attention to my gawking friends. "Damien," I made my voice sharp. "Stevie Rae needs a shirt. Can you find her one?"

  "The laundry basket. There're clean shirts in it," Stevie Rae said between gulps. She sounded and looked more like herself again. With a shaky hand she gestured to a pile of stuff. Damien nodded and hurried across the room.

  "Let me see your wrist," Darius said to Aphrodite.

  Without speaking she'd turned her back to the staring Twins and Jack and gave her arm to Darius, so I had been the only one who really saw what he did. The warrior lifted her wrist to his mouth. Without taking his eyes from hers, his tongue snaked out and ran over the ridge of bite marks that were still dripping scarlet. Her breath caught, and I saw that she was trembling, but the moment his tongue touched the wound the bleeding began to clot. I had been watching closely, so I didn't miss the way Darius's eyes had widened suddenly in surprise. "Well, shit," I heard Aphrodite say softly to him. "It's true, i
sn't it?"

  "It is true," he answered her in a low voice meant for her alone.

  "Shit!" Aphrodite repeated, looking upset.

  Darius smiled, and I saw a definite glint of amusement in his eyes. Then he kissed her wrist gently and said, "No matter; it will not affect us. "

  "Promise?" C hI she whispered.

  "I give you my word. You did well, my beauty. Your blood saved her life. "

  For a moment I saw Aphrodite's unguarded expression. She shook her head slightly and her smile was tinged with honest wonder and more than a little sarcasm. "And why the hell I have to keep saving Stevie Rae's country-bumpkin ass I do not know. All I can say is that I used to be really, really bad, so I have an unbelievable amount of shit I have to make up for. " She cleared her throat and ran the back of her hand shakily across her forehead.

  "Do you need something to drink?" I asked, wondering what the hell the two of them were talking about, but not wanting to ask just then because they obviously didn't want the whole room to know.

  "Yes. " Stevie Rae surprised me by answering for her.

  "Here's a shirt," Damien said. He'd approached the bed, saw that Stevie Rae, who had gone from gulping to sipping from the glass, was partially naked, and averted his eyes.

  "Thanks. " I gave him a quick smile, took the shirt from him, and tossed it to Stevie Rae. Then I looked back at the Twins. The swallows of blood had begun to work in my body, and the exhaustion that had pressed down on me since I'd had to call all five of the elements and control them while we escaped from the House of Night finally had lessened enough for me to think again. "Okay, guys, bring the blood and wine over here. Do you have another glass for Aphrodite?"

  Before they could answer Aphrodite spoke up. "Uh, no blood for me. I have one word for that: disgusting. But I will take the booze. "

  "We didn't bring another glass," Erin said. "She'll have to drink out of the bottle like a peasant. "

  "Sorry, kinda," Shaunee said insincerely, handing Aphrodite the bottle. "So, as a human, can you explain to us what it's like to get your blood sucked by a vamp?"

  "Yeah, inquiring minds want to know 'cause you looked like you were liking it, and we didn't know you swung that way," Erin said.

  "Did you brain-sharers not pay any attention in Vamp Soc class?" Aphrodite said before she tipped up the bottle and drank from it.

  "Well, I've read the physiology section of The Fledging Handbook. " Damien said. "Vampyre saliva has coagulants, anticoagulants, and endorphins that act on the plea sure zones of the brain, human and vamp. You know, Aphrodite is right. You two really should pay better attention in class. School's supposed to be more than a social event. " He finished primly while Jack nodded enthusiastically.

  "You know, Twin, what with all the drama going on above--the release of an evil fallen angel and his goons--and the House of Night pretty much in panic mode, there might not be school for a while," Shaunee said.

  "Excellent point, Twin," Erin said. "Which means we won't need Queen Damien and his tutorness for a while. " "So we could, I dunno, hold him down and pull out his hair? What do you think?" Shaunee said.

  "Sounds fun," Erin said.

  "Great. I'm drinking cheap red wine out of a bottle. Miss Teen Country Vamp just bit me-- again. And now I'm going to be witness to a nerd herd rumble. " Sounding much more like her bitchy self, Aphrodite sighed dramatically and plopped down on the end of the bed next to Darius. "Well, at least being human means I can probably get drunk. Maybe I can stay that way for the next ten years or so. "

  "I don't have enough wine for that. " We all looked up as a red fledgling entered the room, followed by several others who clustered behind her in the shadows. "And that isn't cheap red wine. I don't do cheap anything. "

  Everyone else turned their attention to the red fledgling as she spoke, but I'd been watching Aphrodite gripe at the Twins (and was getting ready to step in and tell everyone to shut up), so I saw the brief flash of what looked like a mixture of embarrassment and discomfort cross Aphrodite's face before she got a handle on her expression and said coolly, "Nerd herd, this is Venus. Dorkamese Twins and Damien, you should remember my ex-roommate who died about six months or so ago. "

  "Actually, it seems reports of my death were premature," the pretty blonde said smoothly. Then something totally bizarre happened. Venus paused and sniffed the air. I mean she literally lifted her chin and took several short, sharp sniffs in Aphrodite's general direction. The red fledglings that still clustered together behind her followed her lead, and I watched them sniff, too. Then Venus's blue eyes widened and in a very amused voice she said, "Well. . . well. . . well. . . how interesting. "

  "Venus, do not--" Stevie Rae began, but Aphrodite cut her off.

  "No. It doesn't matter. Everyone might as well know. "

  With a mean smile the blonde continued. "I was just going to say how interesting it is that Stevie Rae and Aphrodite have Imprinted. "