Awakened (27 page)

“If she stands with Darkness she deserves the same fate as the creature,” Neferet said.

“Oh, please. You just admitted that
you
stood with Darkness, and Zoey forgave you for it,” Aphrodite said. “I’m not saying that I’m cool with this whole birdboy/Stevie Rae weirdness, but how can it be okay for you to get forgiveness, but not okay for those two?”

“Because I no longer am under the influence of Darkness, which was personified by this creature’s father,” Neferet said smoothly. “I am not allied with him anymore. Let’s ask the creature if he can say the same.” She looked at the Raven Mocker. “Rephaim, will you swear that you are no longer your father’s son? That you no longer are allied with him?”

This time Rephaim did answer Neferet directly. “Only my father can free me from his service.”

I could see the smugness in Neferet’s face. “And have you asked Kalona to free you from him?”

“I have not.” Rephaim looked from Neferet to Stevie Rae. “Please understand.”

“I do. I promise you I do,” she told him. Then she shouted at Neferet. “He hasn’t asked Kalona to free him because he doesn’t want to betray his daddy!”

“His reasons for choosing Darkness are not important,” Neferet said.

“Actually, I think they are,” I said. “And another thing, we’re talking about Kalona like he’s here. Isn’t he supposed to have been banished from your side?”

Neferet turned her cold green eyes on me. “The immortal is no longer at my side.”

“But it’s sounding like he’s here in Tulsa. If he’s banished, what is he doing here? Uh, Rephaim,” I tripped over his name. It was super weird to be talking to the scary creature like he was an ordinary guy. “Is your dad in Tulsa?”

“
I-I
cannot speak of my father,” the Raven Mocker said haltingly.

“I’m not asking you to say anything bad or even tell us where exactly he is,” I said.

I was surprised to be able to see the anguish in his red-tinged eyes. “I am sorry. I cannot.”

“See! He will not speak against Kalona; he will not stand against Kalona,” Neferet’s voice shot out. “And because the Raven Mocker is here, we know that Kalona is either in Tulsa already, or on his way. So when he attacks this school, as he surely will, you will, again, be by his side
fighting against us.
”

Rephaim turned his scarlet gaze to Stevie Rae. In a voice filled with despair he said, “I will not harm you, but he is my father and I—”

Neferet cut in, “Dragon Lankford, as High Priestess of this House of Night I command you to protect it. Kill this vile Raven Mocker and
anyone
who would stand with him.”

I saw Neferet raise her hand and flick her wrist toward Stevie Rae. The green glowy bubble that had been surrounding her and the Raven Mocker shivered, and Stevie Rae groaned. Her face went real white, and she put her hand to her stomach like she was going to be sick.

“Stevie Rae?” I started to go to her, but Stark grabbed my hand, holding me back.

“Neferet’s using Darkness,” he said. “You can’t get between her and Stevie Rae—it’ll cut you down.”

“Darkness?” Neferet’s voice sounded swollen with power. “I’m not using Darkness. I’m using the righteous vengeance of a goddess. Only that could let me break this barrier. Now, Dragon! Show this creature the consequence for standing against my House of Night!”

Stevie Rae groaned again, and dropped to her knees. The green glow vanished. Rephaim was bending over Stevie Rae, so his back was completely exposed and vulnerable to Dragon’s sword.

I raised the hand Stark wasn’t clutching, but what was I going to do? Attack Dragon? To save the Raven Mocker who had killed his mate? I was frozen. I wouldn’t let Dragon hurt Stevie Rae, but he wasn’t attacking her—he was attacking our enemy,
an enemy my
BFF
had Imprinted with.
It was like watching one of those slasher movies and waiting for the throat-cutting, dismembering, totally gross carnage to start, only this was for real.

There was a great whooshing sound, like a controlled gale, and Kalona dropped from the sky, landing between his son and Dragon. He had that terrible black spear in his hand, the one he’d materialized in the Otherworld, and with it he deflected the Sword Master’s blow with such force that he knocked Dragon to his knees.

The Sons of Erebus leaped into action. More than a dozen of them rushed to defend their Sword Master. Kalona was a deadly blur, but even he was struggling to handle so many Warriors at once.

“Rephaim! Son!” Kalona called to him. “To me! Defend me!”

“You can’t kill anyone!” Stevie Rae cried as Rephaim picked up a fallen Son of Erebus’s sword.

He looked at her and whispered, “Force Kalona to go against Neferet’s wishes. It is the only way to end this.” Then he ran to do his father’s bidding.

Force Kalona to go against Neferet? What is Rephaim talking about? Isn’t Kalona under her control?
Stevie Rae struggled to stand up, but those terrible black threads had not just sliced through her earth shield, they had also drained her. She felt weak and light-headed and wanted to puke her guts out.

Then Zoey was there, crouching beside her, and Stark was standing guard in front of the two of them, positioning himself between them and the bloody battle between the Sons of Erebus and Kalona and Rephaim. Stevie Rae looked up just in time to see a giant sword materialize in his hand. She grabbed Zoey’s wrist.

“Don’t let Stark hurt Rephaim!” Stevie Rae begged her
BFF
. Zoey met her eyes. “Please,” she told her. “Please trust me.”

Zoey nodded once, then called to her Warrior. “Don’t hurt Rephaim.”

Stark turned his head, though he didn’t take his eyes from the battle. “I’ll damn sure hurt him if he attacks you,” he retorted.

“He won’t,” Stevie Rae said.

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Aphrodite said, running up to the two of them while Darius, his own sword drawn, joined Stark, joining the barrier between danger and their priestesses. “Bumpkin, you have royally fucked up this time.”

“Hate to agree with Aphrodikey,” Erin said.

“
Really
hate to, but she’s right,” Shaunee said.

Damien, looking haggard, knelt on the other side of Stevie Rae. “We can yell at Stevie Rae later. Right now let’s just figure out how to get her out of this mess,” he said.

“You don’t understand,” Stevie Rae told him, her eyes filling up with tears. “I don’t want out of it, and the only thing that’s a mess is that y’all found out like this instead of me tellin’ you ’bout Rephaim.”

Damien stared at her for what seemed like a long time before he replied, “Oh, I see. I do understand because before I lost it, I learned a lot about love.”

Before Stevie Rae could say anything else, a painful cry from one of the Sons of Erebus Warriors drew all of their eyes. Kalona had just stabbed him in the meaty part of his thigh, and the young Warrior had gone down, but as quickly as he’d fallen, another Warrior dragged him out of the way and yet another took his place, closing the break in the deadly circle around the winged beings.

They were fighting back to back. Stevie Rae wanted to curl up and die as she watched the House of Night Warriors press the attack over and over. Perfectly matched, perfectly in tune, Kalona and Rephaim complemented each other’s movements. In one part of her brain, Stevie Rae could acknowledge the beauty of the lethal dance that was going on between the Warriors and the winged beings—there was a grace and a symmetry to the fight that was awe-inspiring. But in most of her brain she just wanted to scream at Rephaim,
Run! Fly away! Get outta here! Save yourself!

A Warrior lunged at Rephaim and at the very last moment he parried the blow. Sick and scared and almost completely defeated by the terrible unknown of what was going to happen to both of them, it took Stevie Rae longer than it should have for her to really see what Rephaim was doing—or rather,
not
doing. And when she did see it, Stevie Rae felt the sweet stirring of hope.

“Zoey,” she clutched her friend’s hand, unwilling to look away from the battle. “Watch Rephaim. He’s not attacking. He’s not hurting anyone. He’s only defending himself.”

Zoey paused, observing, and then said, “You’re right. Stevie Rae, you’re right! He’s not attacking.”

Pride for Rephaim made Stevie Rae’s chest hurt, like her heart was thudding too hard to be held inside her rib cage. The Warriors kept attacking, brutal and deadly in their intent. Kalona kept wounding, maiming, and even killing. Rephaim continued to only defend himself—he blocked blows, he feinted and lunged, but he harmed none of the Warriors who were so obviously trying to kill him.

“She’s correct,” Darius said. “The Raven Mocker is entirely on the defensive.”

“Press them! Kill them!” Neferet shouted. Stevie Rae took her gaze from Rephaim long enough to glance at her. Neferet looked bloated with power, reveling in the violence and destruction that was happening before her. Why didn’t anyone else see the horrible Darkness that pulsed and slithered in excitement around her, wrapping around her legs, caressing her body, feeding from her power as, in turn, Neferet fed from the death and destruction around her?

With an avenging Dragon Lankford leading them, the Sons of Erebus Warriors redoubled their attack.

“I have to stop it,” Stevie Rae spoke more to herself than aloud. “Before it’s gone too far and he can’t help but kill somebody, I have to stop it.”

“There’s no stopping it,” Zoey said quietly. “I think Neferet planned something like this all along. Kalona’s probably here because she told him to be.”

“Kalona may be, but Rephaim isn’t,” Stevie Rae said firmly. “He came here to be sure I’m okay, and I’m not gonna let him go down because of that.”

Still watching the bloody battle, Stevie Rae imagined she was a tree—a giant, strong oak, and her legs were roots going way, way down deep into the earth. So deep that Neferet’s sticky threads of Darkness couldn’t reach her. And then she imagined pulling power from the spirit of the earth—rich and fertile and mighty. The pure essence of the earth surged up into her body. Stevie Rae stood. She waved away Z’s hand, and when she did Stevie Rae caught sight of her own hand. It was glowing with a soft, familiar green. She started walking forward, toward Rephaim.

“Whoa, where do you think you’re going?” Stark asked. Beside him, Darius looked solid and very much in her way.

“To dance with beasts, so I’m gonna penetrate their disguise.” The quote from Kramisha’s poem drifted through her mind, dream-like.

“Okay, crazy much?” Aphrodite said. “You need to stay your butt here and out of that mess over there.”

Stevie Rae ignored Aphrodite and faced down the two Warriors. “I’m Imprinted with him. My decision’s made. If you gotta fight me—fight me, but I’m goin’ over there to Rephaim.”

“No one’s fighting you, Stevie Rae,” Zoey said. “Let her go,” she told Stark and Darius.

“I need your help,” Stevie Rae told Zoey. “If you’ll trust me, come with me and give me a boost with spirit.”

“No! You can’t get mixed up in that,” Stark told Zoey.

Zoey smiled at him. “But we’ve already mixed it up with Kalona and we won, remember?”

Stark snorted. “Yeah, after I died.”

“Don’t worry, Guardian. I’ll save you again if I need to.” Zoey turned back to Stevie Rae. “You said Rephaim saved your life?”

“Twice, and he had to stand up to Darkness to do it. Rephaim has good inside him. You got my promise on that, Z. Please,
please
trust me.”

“I trust you. I’ll always trust you,” Zoey said. “I’m going with Stevie Rae,” she told Stark, who didn’t look happy at all about that news.

“I’m going too,” Damien said, dry-eyed. “If you need air, it’ll be there for you. I still believe in love.”

“I don’t like the birdthing, but air’s not going without fire,” Shaunee said.

“Ditto, Twin,” Erin said.

Stevie Rae met each of their gazes. “Thank y’all. This means more than I can ever tell ya.”

“Oh, for shit’s sake. Let’s go save the unattractive birdboy so the bumpkin can live unhappily ever after,” Aphrodite said.

“Yeah, let’s do that, only take both
un
s outta that sentence,” Stevie Rae said, and with the circle forming around her, flanked by Stark and Darius, Stevie Rae led them forward. Still channeling the earth, she didn’t hesitate, but strode over to the scene of blood and destruction, getting as close to Rephaim as she could.

“No!” he yelled, catching a glimpse of her. “Stay back!”

“Like heck I will!” Stevie Rae looked at Damien. “Time to cowboy up. Call air.”

Damien faced east. “Air, I need you. Come to me!” Wind whirled around him, lifting his and everyone else’s hair.

Stevie Rae raised her brows at Shaunee, who rolled her eyes, but faced south and called, “Fire, come burn for me, baby!” While heat joined air, and without any prompting, Erin faced west and said, “Water, come on and join the circle!” The scent of spring showers touched their faces.

As quickly as water joined them, Stevie Rae looked northward and said, “Earth, you’re already with me. Please join the circle, too.” The root-like connection to the ground that she already had intensified, and Stevie Rae knew she was like a lighthouse shining bright mossy green.

From beside her, Z said, “Spirit, please complete our circle.”

There was a wonderful sense of well-being that Stevie Rae held onto as she stepped out from her group, as if she was their spearhead. Fully empowered by her element, she raised her arms, channeled the timeless, wise strength of trees, said, “Earth, make a barrier to end this fightin’. Please.” She pointed at the men.

“Help her, air,” Damien said.

“Fire her up, fire,” Shaunee added.

“Support her, water,” Erin said.

“Fill her, spirit,” Zoey said.

Stevie Rae felt a shot of adrenaline rush from the circle of earth around her, up through her feet, and into her hand. Vine-like, green tendrils shot from the ground, making a caged barrier all around Rephaim and Kalona, completely halting the fighting.