by P. C. Cast
“Not dead? You need to explain that,” Stark said. His breathing had leveled off, and even though he still looked pale, he sounded every bit like a dangerous Warrior who was ready to fulfill his oath and protect his High Priestess.
“In her dream Zoey hurled herself off the top of a cliff to get away from Kalona,” Aphrodite said.
“What did he do to you?” Stark’s voice was low and filled with anger.
“Nothing!” I said way too quickly.
“That’s because you jumped off a cliff before he could do anything,” Aphrodite said.
“What was he trying to do?” Stark asked again.
I sighed. “The same old stuff. He wants to control me. That’s not how he puts it, but it’s what he wants, and I’m never going to give him what he wants.”
Stark’s jaw tightened. “I should have known he’d try to get to you through your dreams. I know his tricks! I should have made sure you slept with Heath or Erik.”
Aphrodite snorted. “That’s a new one. Boyfriend number three wants you to sleep with boyfriend one or two.”
“I’m not her boyfriend!” Stark practically roared. “I am her Warrior. I’ve given my oath to protect her. That means more than some bullshit crush or stupid jealousy.”
Aphrodite just stared at him; for once she didn’t seem to know what to say.
“Stark, it was just a dream,” I said with a lot more conviction than I felt. “It doesn’t matter how many times Kalona butts into my dreams, the result is going to be the same. I’m not going to give in to him.”
“You better make sure of that because if you do, the rest of us are in for some serious shit,” Aphrodite said.
“What does she mean?”
“She had another vision, that’s all.”
“That’s all? Talk about being underappreciated.” She gave Stark a long look. “So, Arrow Boy, if you sleep with Zoey, will that keep Kalona out of her dreams?”
“It should,” Stark said.
“Then I think you should sleep with Zoey, and since three is definitely a crowd in situations like this, I’m out of here.”
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Wherever Darius is, and, no, I do not give a shit if it annoys the penguins. Seriously, I do have a massive headache. So I’ll just be sleeping, but I’m going to be with my vamp. And that’s all there is to it.”
She grabbed her clothes and her purse. I figured she was going to duck into a bathroom and change out of her granny nightgown before finding Darius, which made me remember I was standing there in my very own granny nightgown. I sat down on my bed and sighed. Oh, yeah, he’d already seen me blazingly naked, which was way more embarrassing than a white cotton granny nightgown. My shoulders slumped. Goddess, for a girl who had multiple boyfriends, I was seriously impaired in the ooh-look-how-cool-I-am department.
Before Aphrodite made it out the door, I called, “Don’t say anything about your vision until I have a chance to think more. I mean,” I hurried on, “you can tell Darius, but that’s it, okay?”
“I get it. You want to avoid hysteria. Whatever. I’m not much up for listening to the nerd herd and the rest of the masses shriek, either. Get some sleep, Z. I’ll see you at sunset.” She gave Stark a little wave and then shut the door firmly behind her.
Stark came over to the bed, sitting heavily beside me. He flinched a little as the pain in his chest must have finally registered. He set his bow and arrow on the bedside table and gave me a rueful grin. “So, I won’t be needing these?”
“Ya think?”
“Which means my hands are now conveniently free.” He opened his arms to me and shot me a cocky look. “Why don’t you come here, Z?”
“Hang on.” I hurried over to the window, buying time while I wondered how I could move from one man’s arms to another. “I definitely can’t rest until I make sure you’re not going to incinerate,” I babbled. While I was pulling the blinds I couldn’t resist peeking out, and was rewarded with the sight of a day that included very little light. It was a silent gray world filled with ice and gloom. Nothing was moving. It was like life outside the abbey, along with the trees and grass and fallen power lines, had been frozen. “Well, I guess this explains how you made it up here without being fried to a crisp. There is no sun out there.” I kept staring out the window, mesmerized by the world turned to ice.
“I knew I wasn’t in any danger,” Stark said from the bed. “I could feel that the sun was up, but it’s not shining through all that icy stuff and the clouds. It was safe for me to come to you.” Then he added, “Z, would you come over here! My mind is telling me you’re okay, but my gut’s still a little shaky.”
I turned around, surprised that the cocky tone in his voice was gone. I left the window and put my hand in his, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“I am okay—a lot more okay than you’d be right now if you’d come rushing up here in the middle of a sunny morning.”
“When I felt your fear I had to come. Even at the risk of my own life. That’s part of the oath I swore to you.”
“Really?”
He nodded, smiled, and lifted my hand to his lips. “Really. You’re my lady and my High Priestess. I’ll always protect you.”
I cupped his face in my hand and couldn’t stop staring at him, for some reason that suddenly made me cry.
“Hey, don’t do that—don’t cry.” He brushed the tears from my cheek. “Come here to me.”
Wordlessly, I slid in beside him, being careful not to bump his chest. He put his arm around me and I leaned against him, hoping that the warmth of his touch could wipe away the memory of Kalona’s cold passion.
“He does it on purpose, you know?”
I didn’t have to ask. I knew he was talking about Kalona.
Stark kept talking. “It’s not real—the stuff he makes you feel. That’s what he does. He finds a person’s weakness and he uses it.” Stark paused, and I could tell there was more he wanted to say. I didn’t want to hear it. I wanted to curl up, and in the safety of my Warrior’s arms, I wanted to sleep and forget.
But I couldn’t. Not after A-ya’s memory. Not after Aphrodite’s visions.
“Go on,” I said. “What else?”
His arm tightened around me. “Kalona knows your weakness is the connection you have with that Cherokee girl who trapped him.”
“A-ya,” I said.
“Yeah, A-ya. He’ll use her against you.”
“I know.”
I could feel his hesitation, but finally Stark said, “You want him—Kalona, I mean. He makes you want him. You fight against it, but he gets to you.”
My stomach squeezed and I wanted to be sick, but I answered Stark honestly. “I know and it scares me.”
“Zoey, I believe you’ll keep saying no to him, but if you ever give in, you can count on me to be there. I’ll stand between you and Kalona, even if it’s the last thing I do.”
I laid my head on his shoulder, remembering all too well that Aphrodite hadn’t said anything about Stark being in either of her visions.
He turned his head and kissed me softly on the forehead. “Oh, by the way, nice nightgown.”
A little bubble of unexpected laughter escaped me. “If you weren’t hurt I’d smack you.”
He gave me his cocky grin. “Hey, I like it. Makes me think I’m in bed with a bad little Catholic schoolgirl from one of those twisted all-girl prep schools. Want to tell me about the naked pillow fights you and your roommates used to have?”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Uh, maybe later when you haven’t just almost died.”
“Okay, cool. I’m too tired to do any impressive proving anyway.”
“Stark, why don’t you drink from me? Just a little,” I hurried on when he started to protest. “Look, Kalona isn’t here. Actually, from my dream it’s pretty clear that he’s far away, since there aren’t any islands anywhere close to Oklahoma.”
“You don’t know where he is. He could have been making
you see him as being anywhere in your dream.”
“No, he’s on an island.” As I spoke I felt the truth of my guess. “He needed to go to an island to recharge. Do you have a clue where that might be? Did you ever hear him talking about an island with Neferet?”
Stark shook his head. “Nope. He never said anything about it around me, but the fact that it’s an island tells us you hurt him. Bad.”
“Which means I’m safe right now, which also means it’s okay for you to drink from me.”
“No,” he said firmly.
“You don’t want to?”
“Don’t be insane! I want to, but I can’t. We can’t. Not right now.”
“Look, you need my blood and my energy, or spirit, or whatever, to get better.” I lifted my chin so he had a clear view of my jugular. “So, go ahead. Bite me.” I closed my eyes and held my breath.
Stark laughed, which had my eyes popping open to see him chuckling while he clutched painfully at his chest, wheezed, and then laughed some more.
I frowned at him. “What is so funny?”
Stark managed to control himself enough to say, “It’s just that you look like something out of an old Dracula movie. You should be asking if I vant to suck yur blood.” He made a creepy face and bared his teeth.
I felt my cheeks burning and pulled away from him. “Never mind. Forget I even mentioned it. Let’s just go to sleep, ’kay?” I started to roll over, but he caught my shoulder and turned me back to him.
“Hang on, hang on—I’m messing this up.” He was suddenly serious. “Zoey.” Stark touched my cheek. “I’m not drinking from you, because I can’t. Not because I don’t want to.”
“Yeah, I heard you before.” I was still embarrassed and tried to turn my head, but he forced me to meet his gaze.
“Hey, I’m sorry.” His voice had gone deep and sexy. “I shouldn’t have laughed at you. I should have just told you the truth, but I’m new to being a warrior. It’s gonna take me a little while to get it right.” His thumb caressed my cheekbone, following the line of my tattoos. “I should have told you that the only thing I want more than a taste of your blood is to know that you’re safe and strong.” He kissed me. “Plus, I don’t need to drink from you, because I know that I’m going to be okay.” He brushed his lips against mine. “Want to know how I know that?”
“Uh-huh,” I murmured.
“I know because your safety is my strength, Zoey. Go to sleep now. I’m here.” He lay back, settling me against his side.
Just before my eyes fluttered shut I whispered, “If someone tries to wake me up, would you please kill them?”
Stark chuckled. “Anything for you, my lady.”
“Good.” I closed my eyes and fell asleep with my Warrior holding me tightly and keeping me safe from dreams and ghosts of the past.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Aphrodite
“Seriously, gay boys. Just go back to bed—together—eesh. I need my vamp for the rest of the night.” Aphrodite was standing, arms crossed, just inside the door to the room Darius, Damien, Jack, and Duchess were sharing. She noted, with a vague sense of irritation, that Damien and Jack and Duchess were all curled up in one bed together. Sure, they reminded her of puppies, but it wasn’t exactly fair that the penguins were cool with them sleeping together while at the same time they’d banished her to rooming with Zoey. Or at least they’d tried.
“What is it, Aphrodite? What’s wrong?” Darius hurried toward her, pulling a T-shirt over his completely gorgeous chest with one hand and slipping on his shoes with the other.
As usual, Darius had caught on before anyone else was fully functional—yet another reason why she’d fallen for him.
“Everything’s fine. It’s just that Zoey is sleeping with Stark. In our room. And I’m not cool with tagging along for that. So we’re going to do a little roommate trading of our own.”
“All is well with Zoey?” Damien asked.
“My guess is that about now all is more than well with her,” Aphrodite said.
“I didn’t think Stark was up to, well, stuff,” Jack said delicately. He looked sleepy, with tousled hair and puffy eyes; Aphrodite thought he was even more puppyish than usual, and really cute. Of course she’d gouge out her eyes before she admitted that out loud.
“He managed the steps up to our top-floor room, so I’m thinking he’s on the mend.”
“Oooh, Erik’s not gonna like that,” Jack said happily. “There’s gonna be some serious boyfriend drama tomorrow.”
“The drama’s over in that department. Z dumped Erik earlier tonight.”
“She did!” Damien said.
“Yeah, and it’s about time, too. His possessive crap had to go,” Aphrodite said.
“And she’s really okay?” Damien asked.
Aphrodite didn’t like Damien’s typically too-keen gaze. She absolutely was not going into the fact that Kalona had entered Zoey’s dream, and that was why Stark was sleeping with her. She was also not going to talk about her vision—something she was happy to blame on Zoey, and definitely would in the future when Damien got pissed that she’d kept her mouth shut about it. So, to throw off Miss Nosy, she lifted one perfect brow and gave him her standard keep-them-guessing sneer. “Who are you, her gay mom?”
As Aphrodite knew it would, Damien’s fur instantly ruffled. “No, I’m her friend!”
“Please. Yawn. Like we all don’t know that. Zoey. Is. Fine. Goddess, try giving her some breathing room.”
Damien frowned. “I let her breathe. I was just worried about her, that’s all.”
“Where’s Heath? Does he know about her breakup with Erik and that she’s, well, sleeping with Stark?” Jack finished the sentence in a stage whisper.
Aphrodite rolled her eyes. “I could care less where Heath is, and unless Z needs a snack I’m thinking she’s probably not too interested in where he is, either. She’s busy,” she enunciated clearly. Aphrodite really didn’t like hurting Damien and his girl/boyfriend Jack’s feelings, but cutting them short was the only way to keep Damien out of her business, and that didn’t even work 100 percent of the time. She turned to Darius, who was standing near her watching her closely with an expression that was a mixture of amusement and concern. “Ready to go, handsome?”
“Of course.” He looked back at Damien and Jack before he closed the door. “I’ll see you two at sunset.”
“’Kay!” Jack trilled while Damien just looked long and hard at her.
Out in the hall Aphrodite had only taken a couple of steps when Darius took her wrist and pulled her to a stop. Before she could say anything, he put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.
“You’ve had a vision,” he said simply.
Aphrodite felt her eyes fill with tears. She was totally, absolutely crazy about this big hulk of a guy who knew her so well, and who seemed to care so much about her.
“Yeah.”
“Are you all right? You look pale and your eyes are still bloodshot.”
“I’m okay,” she said, although even to her own ears she didn’t sound convincing.
He folded her into his arms and she let him hold her, comforted beyond words by his strength. “Was it as bad as last time?” he asked.
“It was worse.” Face tucked down against his chest she spoke in a voice so soft and sweet that it would have shocked almost everyone who knew her.
“Another death vision of Zoey?”
“No. This time it was an end-of-the-world thing, but Zoey did figure in it.”
“Are we going back to her?”
“No, she really is sleeping with Stark. Seems Kalona’s been getting in her dreams and sleeping with a guy keeps him out.”
“Good,” Darius said. There was a sound at the end of the hall, and Darius pulled her around the corner and deeper into the shadows while a nun passed by, oblivious to their presence.
“Hey, speaking of sleep—I know Z’s the big High Priestess, but she’s not the only one who needs her b
eauty rest,” Aphrodite whispered when they were alone in the hallway again.
Darius gave her a considering look. “You are right. You must be exhausted, especially after having a vision.”
“I wasn’t just talking about me, Mr. Macho. I was thinking about where we could go on the way down here and I came up with an idea—a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself.”
Darius smiled. “And I’m sure you do.”
“Of course. Anyway, I remembered you telling the penguin nurses that Stark shouldn’t be interrupted for at least a solid eight hours. So, he’s not in his very private, very dark, very cozy room. Instead it is tragically empty.” Aphrodite nuzzled the side of his neck, lifted herself on her tiptoes and nipped at his earlobe.
He laughed and tucked his arm around her. “You are brilliant.”
On the walk to Stark’s vacated room, Aphrodite filled him in on her vision, and on Zoey’s dream. He listened to her with the quiet attentiveness that had been the second thing about him that had drawn her to him.
The first being his utter hotness, of course.
Stark’s room was cozy and dark, lit only by a single candle. Darius pulled a chair over to the door and propped it against the handle, effectively barring anyone from busting in on them. Then he rummaged through the dresser in the corner of the room and pulled out fresh sheets and blankets, which he remade the bed with, saying something about not wanting her to sleep on a wounded vampyre’s sheets.
Aphrodite watched him as she pulled off her boots and jeans, and then slid her bra off under her shirt. She thought about what a weird feeling it was to have someone take care of her—someone who actually seemed to like her for herself, which was a total surprise. Guys liked her because she was hot, or because she was rich, popular, and a challenge, or, more often than not, simply because she was a bitch. It always amazed her how many guys just flat-out liked bitches. Guys didn’t like her because she was Aphrodite. Actually, guys usually didn’t take time to find out who she was underneath all the good hair, long legs, and attitude.
But the biggest shock of all about her relationship with Darius, and it was definitely becoming a relationship, was the fact that they hadn’t had sex. Yet. Sure, everyone believed they were doing it like bunnies, and she’d let them believe they were—she’d even encouraged them to believe it. They weren’t, though. And somehow, that didn’t feel weird. They slept together, and had even had some seriously hot make-out sessions, but that’s as far as they’d gone.
