by P. C. Cast
“How is it stuck up there?” she asked.
“Chained. They hooked chains through the edges of the metal and then padlocked them to anything on the roof that couldn’t be pulled up.”
Stevie Rae pushed against the grate again. Again it rattled, but held firm. She was trapped up on a roof and the sun was rising! Gathering all her strength, she pushed and pulled, gripping the metal and trying to slide it to one side so that maybe she could crawl through. With each second the sky got brighter. Stevie Rae’s skin shivered like a horse trying to twitch off a fly.
“Break the metal,” Rephaim said urgently. “Your strength can do it.”
“I might be able to if I was underground, or even standing on the earth,” she said between gasping breaths as she continued to struggle impotently against the caging metal. “But up here, a huge building away from my element, I’m just not strong enough.” She looked from the sky to his scarlet eyes. “You should probably stand back away from me. I’m gonna burn, and I don’t know how big the flames will be, but it could get pretty hot in here.”
She watched Rephaim move away and, with a growing sense of hopelessness, went back to struggling with the immovable metal. Her fingers were starting to sizzle and Stevie Rae was biting her lip to keep from screaming and screaming and screaming . . .
“Over here. The metal is rusted and thinner, weaker.”
Stevie Rae pulled her hands down, automatically clutching them under her armpits and, bent backed, rushed to him. She saw the rusted metal and grabbed ahold of it with both hands, and then pulled with all her might. It gave a little, but her hands had started to smoke, as had her wrists.
“Oh, Goddess!” she gasped. “I’m not gonna make it. Get back, Rephaim, I’m already startin’ to—”
Instead of running from her, he moved as close to her as he could get, spreading his good wing so that it provided some shade. Then he raised his uninjured arm and took hold of the rusted grate. “Think of the earth. Concentrate. Do not think of the sun and the sky. Pull with me. Now!”
In the shadow of his wing, Stevie Rae grabbed the grate on either side of his hand. She closed her eyes and ignored the burning of her fingers and the sensitivity of her skin that was screaming at her to run! Run anywhere, just get out of the sun! Instead she thought about the earth, cool and dark, waiting underneath her like a loving mama. Stevie Rae pulled.
With a metallic snap the grate broke, leaving an opening just big enough for one person at a time to slip out of.
Rephaim stepped back. “Go!” he said. “Quickly.”
The instant Stevie Rae was no longer covered by his wing, her body flushed and, literally, began to smoke. Instinctively, she dropped to the floor and curled into a ball, trying to shield her face with her arms. “I can’t!” she cried, frozen with pain and panic. “I’ll burn up.”
“You will burn if you stay here,” he said.
Then he pulled himself up through the opening and was gone. He’d left her. Stevie Rae knew he was right. She had to get out of there, but she couldn’t push through the paralyzing fear. The pain was too much. It was like her blood was boiling in her body. Just when she thought she couldn’t bear it any longer, a small, cool shadow fell on her.
“Take my hand!”
Squinting against the cruel sun, Stevie Rae looked up. Rephaim was there, crouched on the grate, his good wing spread above her, blocking as much of the sun as possible, his uninjured arm reaching for her.
“Now, Stevie Rae. Do it!”
She followed his voice and the coolness of his dark wing and grabbed his hand. He couldn’t pull her up by himself. She was too heavy and he only had one arm. So she thrust out her other hand, took hold of the metal, and chinned herself up.
“Come to me. I will shield you.” Rephaim opened his wing.
Without any hesitation Stevie Rae stepped into his embrace, burying her head in the feathers of his chest, and wrapping her arms around him. He enfolded her with his wing and lifted her.
“Get me to the tree!”
Then he was running, lurching, and limping, but running across the rooftop. The backs of Stevie Rae’s arms were exposed, as was some of her neck and shoulders, and as he ran she burned. With a detached, out-of-body feeling she wondered what that terrible noise was that rang in her ears, and then she realized it was her voice. She was screaming her pain and terror and anger.
At the edge of the roof he yelled, “Hold on. I’m jumping to the tree.” The Raven Mocker leaped. His body tumbled, spiraling because of his lack of balance, and they crashed into the tree.
Adrenaline helped Stevie Rae keep her hold on him and, feeling thankful his body was so light, she lifted him, putting herself between Rephaim and the tree. With the bark to her back she told him, “Try to hold on to the tree while I slide us down.”
Then they were falling again as the rough bark ripped Stevie Rae’s already blistered and bleeding back. She closed her eyes and felt for the earth, finding it serene and waiting below her.
“Earth, come to me! Open and shield me!”
There was a great ripping sound and the ground at the base of the tree broke open just in time for Stevie Rae and Rephaim to slip within a cool, dark pouch in the earth.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Zoey
When Aphrodite started screaming, Zoey knew only one thing to do. “Spirit, come to me!” she commanded. Spirit instantly filled her with its serene presence. “Help Aphrodite calm down.” She felt the element leave her, and almost immediately Aphrodite’s shrieks quieted to gasps and sobs.
“Darius, I need Lenobia’s cell number. Now!”
Darius was holding Aphrodite in his arms, but he obeyed Zoey, pulling his phone from his jeans pocket and tossing it to her. “It’s in the contacts.”
Willing her hands not to shake, Zoey pulled up the contact list and punched Lenobia’s name. She answered on the first ring.
“Darius?”
“It’s Zoey. We have an emergency. Where’s Stevie Rae?”
“She went to the depot to try to reason with the other red fledglings. I expected her back by now, though, as it is almost dawn.”
“She’s in trouble.”
“Burning!” Aphrodite sobbed. “She’s burning!”
“She’s outside somewhere. Aphrodite says she’s burning.”
“Oh, Goddess! Can she tell anything else?”
I could already hear by the change in Lenobia’s voice that she was on the move. “Aphrodite, can you tell where Stevie Rae is?”
“N-no. Just outside.”
“She doesn’t know where she is, only that she’s outside.”
“I’ll find her,” Lenobia said. “Call me if Aphrodite can tell us anything else.”
“You call me as soon as Stevie Rae’s safe,” I said, not able to consider any other outcome. Lenobia disconnected the line.
“Let’s get Aphrodite inside where we can deal with this better,” Erce said. She led the way out of the boat and into an enclosed building, only this building wasn’t airport hangarlike. It was old and made of stone. I only had time to be relieved that Stark was shielded from the sun as Darius carried Aphrodite from the boat and we all hurried with Erce through an arched breezeway.
Stark stayed at my side as we jogged to keep up with Erce. “Aphrodite is Imprinted with Stevie Rae—she’s the other red vampyre,” I explained.
Erce nodded, holding open a huge wooden door and motioning for Darius to carry Aphrodite within. “Lenobia told me of their Imprint.”
“What can you do to help her?”
We entered a huge hallway. I got the impression of amazing opulence, unbelievably high ceilings, and chandeliers, chandeliers, chandeliers; then Erce hurried us through the hall and into a side parlor. “Put her on the chaise over there.”
We crowded around the chaise, silently watching Aphrodite. Erce turned to me and in a low voice said, “There is nothing that can be done for a human if their Imprinted vampyre is suffering. She will fee
l Stevie Rae’s pain until the crisis is over, or until she is dead.”
“She?” I squeaked. “As in Stevie Rae or Aphrodite?”
“Either or both. Vampyres can survive events that will kill their consorts.”
“Well, shit,” Heath murmured.
“My hands!” Aphrodite sobbed. “They’re burning!”
I couldn’t stand it anymore and went to her. She was still mostly in Darius’s arms. The warrior was sitting on the chaise, holding her tightly and speaking softly to her. His face was pale and grim. His eyes begged me to help her. I took one of Aphrodite’s hands in mine. It felt abnormally warm. “You’re not burning. Look at me, Aphrodite. It’s not happening to you. It’s happening to Stevie Rae.”
“Yeah, I know how you feel.” Heath was there beside me, crouching down on one knee and holding Aphrodite’s other hand. “It sucks to be Imprinted and then have something bad happen to your vampyre. But it’s not you. It feels like it is, but it’s not.”
“This isn’t about Stevie Rae doing the nasty with someone else,” Aphrodite said, her voice all strangely tremble-y and weak.
Heath was unfazed. “What happens doesn’t matter. What matters is that it hurts you, and it does. You have to remember that you’re not really her, even though it feels like you’re so attached that you are a part of her.”
He seemed to get through to Aphrodite, and she stared up at him. “But I didn’t want this.” She hiccupped a little sob. “I didn’t want to be connected to Stevie Rae, and you want the thing with Zoey.”
Heath gripped her hand, and I saw her hold on to him for all she was worth. Everyone was watching them, but I think I was the only one who felt like an outsider.
“Want it or not, it’s too much sometimes. You have to learn to save some stuff inside you for yourself. You have to know you don’t really share a soul with her, no matter what the Imprint says.”
“That’s it!” Aphrodite pulled her hand from mine and covered Heath’s with it. “It feels like I’m sharing my soul. And I can’t stand it.”
“Yes, you can. Just remember it’s a feeling. It’s not real.”
I backed away a few steps.
“Aphrodite, you’re safe. We’re all here with you.” Damien touched her shoulder.
“Yeah, it’s okay. And your hair still looks really good,” Jack said.
I heard Aphrodite laugh—a little escaped bubble of normalcy in the middle of unbelievable turmoil. Then she said, “Wait, it’s better all of a sudden.”
“Good, ’cause you can’t die on us,” Shaunee said.
“Yeah, we need your shopping expertise,” Erin said. The Twins tried to sound all nonchalant and unaffected, but it was obvious they were worried about Aphrodite.
“Aphrodite will be fine. She’ll make it through this,” Stark said. He had moved to my side, as always. He was a steady presence there, a voice of calm in the storm.
“But what’s happening to Stevie Rae?” I whispered to him.
He put his arm around me and squeezed.
A beautiful vampyre with bright red hair entered the room, carrying a tray with an icy pitcher, a glass, and several folded, damp towels. She went straight to Erce, who was standing close to the chaise. Erce motioned for her to put the tray on the nearest coffee table. I noticed the new vamp reached into her pocket, brought out a pill bottle, and handed it to Erce before leaving the room as quietly as she’d entered it.
Erce shook a pill out of the bottle and approached Aphrodite. I’d moved before I realized what I was doing, and found myself grabbing her wrist.
“What are you giving her?”
Erce met my gaze. “Something to calm her, to decrease her anxiety.”
“But what if she loses contact with Stevie Rae because of it?”
“Would you have two dead friends or one? Choose, High Priestess.”
I swallowed down my shriek of primal rage. I didn’t want to lose either of my friends! But my mind understood that my best friend was an ocean and half a continent away, and Aphrodite dying with her was absolutely unnecessary. I let loose of Erce’s wrist.
“Here, child. Take this.” Erce gave Aphrodite the pill and helped Darius hold the glass of ice water to her lips. Aphrodite took the pill and gulped the water like she’d been running a marathon.
“Goddess, I hope it’s Xanax,” she said tremulously.
I thought things were getting better. Aphrodite had quit crying and my gang had dispersed themselves to well-upholstered chairs in the room. Except for Heath and Stark. Stark was by my side. Heath was still holding Aphrodite’s hand. He and Darius were talking quietly to her. Then Aphrodite cried out and pulled away from Heath and out of Darius’s arms, curling herself into a fetal position.
“I’m burning!”
Heath looked back at me. “Can’t you help her?”
“I’m channeling spirit. That’s all I can do. Stevie Rae’s back in Oklahoma: I can’t help her!” I practically screamed at Heath, my frustration spilling over into anger.
Stark put his arm around me. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
“I don’t know how,” I said. “How can both of them make it through this?”
“How can a bad guy become the Warrior of a High Priestess?” he countered, and smiled. “Nyx—she has her hand on both of them. Trust your Goddess.”
So I stood there, channeling spirit, watching Aphrodite’s agony and trusting in my Goddess.
Suddenly Aphrodite screamed, grabbed at her back, cried, “Open and shield me!” And then she collapsed, sobbing with relief in Darius’s arms.
I approached her hesitantly and bent so I could see her face. “Hey, are you okay? Is Stevie Rae alive?”
Aphrodite’s tearstained face lifted so she could meet my eyes. “It’s over. She’s in contact with earth again. She’s alive.”
“Oh, thank the Goddess!” I said. I touched her shoulder lightly. “Are you okay, too?”
“I think so. No. Wait, I don’t know. I feel strange. Like my skin isn’t quite right.”
“Her vampyre has been damaged,” Erce said in a barely audible voice. “Stevie Rae may be safe now, but something is terribly wrong with her.”
“Drink this, love,” Darius said, taking a fresh glass from Erce and lifting it to Aphrodite’s lips. “This will help.”
Aphrodite gulped the water. It was a good thing Darius was helping her hold the glass, because she was shaking so hard there’s no way she could have kept from spilling the water without his help. Then she lay back, resting in his arms, breathing in shallow gulps, like she couldn’t take a deep breath without causing herself too much pain.
“I hurt all over,” I heard her whisper to Darius.
I walked to Erce, took her wrist, and pulled her out of Aphrodite’s hearing range. “Isn’t there a vamp healer you could send for?” I asked.
“She isn’t a vampyre, Priestess,” Erce said gently. “Our healer could not help her.”
“But she’s like this because of a vampyre.”
“That is the chance every consort takes. Their fate is bound to their vampyre. Most often a consort dies long before the vampyre, and that is difficult enough. This situation occurs less often.”
“Stevie Rae isn’t dead,” I whispered severely.
“Not yet she isn’t, but by watching her consort I would say she is in grave danger.”
“She’s a consort by mistake,” I muttered. “Aphrodite didn’t mean for this to happen. Neither did Stevie Rae.”
“Intentional or not, it is still binding,” Erce said.
“Oh my Goddess!” Aphrodite sat straight up, pulling completely away from Darius. Her face was a mask of shock that morphed slowly to reflect first pain and then denial, and then she shivered once, so violently that I could hear her teeth chattering, before covering her face with her hands and dissolving into heart-wrenching tears.
Darius looked beseechingly at me. Steeling myself for hearing that Stevie Rae was dead, I went to Aphrodite
and sat beside her on the chaise.
“Aphrodite?” I tried unsuccessfully to keep the tears from my voice. How could Stevie Rae really be dead? What was I going to do now, a world away from her and completely in over my head? “Is Stevie Rae dead?”
I could hear the Twins crying, and I saw Damien take Jack in his arms. Aphrodite lifted her face from her hands, and I was shocked to see her old, sarcastic grin shine through her tears.
“Dead? Hell no, she’s not dead. She’s just Imprinted with someone else!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Stevie Rae
The earth swallowed her, and for a moment it seemed like everything would be okay. The cool darkness was a relief for her burned skin, and she moaned softly.
“Red One? Stevie Rae?”
It wasn’t until he spoke that she realized she was still locked in Rephaim’s arms. She unwrapped herself from him and moved away, only to cry out in pain as her back touched the earthen wall of the pocket in the ground her element had opened to shield her, and then closed again.
“Are you well? I-I cannot see you,” Rephaim said.
“I’m okay. I think.” Her voice surprised her. It sounded so weak, so outside the norm that it was her first hint that even though she’d escaped the sun, she might not have escaped its effects.
“I cannot see anything,” he said.
“It’s because the earth sealed itself over us to shield me from the sun.”
“We’re trapped here?” His voice wasn’t panicky, but it wasn’t exactly calm either.
“No, I can get us out whenever I want,” she explained. Then, on second thought, she added, “And, well, the earth over us isn’t very deep. If I drop dead you could dig out pretty easily. How are you? That wing must really hurt.”
“Do you feel as if you might die?” he asked, ignoring her question about his wing.
“I don’t think so. Okay, actually, I don’t know. I feel kinda funny.”
