I got it! I got it! Just then Jack had burst into the little side-tunnel area that had been made into Stevie Raes room, followed closely by the yellow Lab that rarely let the kid out of her sight. He was flushed and brandishing a white briefcase-looking thing that had a big red cross on it. It was right where you said itd be, Stevie Rae. In that kinda kitchen tunnel place.
And as soon as I get my breath Ill tell you how pleasantly surprised I was when I discovered the working refrigerators and microwaves, Damien said, following Jack into the room, breathing heavily and dramatically holding on to his side. Youll have to explain to me how you managed to get all of that down here, including the electricity to run it. Damien paused, caught sight of Stevie Raes bloody, ripped shirt and the arrow that still protruded from her back, and his pink cheeks blanched white. Youll have to explain after youre fixed up and not en brochette anymore.
EnHuh? Shaunee said.
BroWhat? Erin said.
Its French for something being skewered, usually food, cretins. The world going insane and evil letting slip the birds of warhe raised his brows at the Twins as he deliberately misquoted Shakespeare, obviously expecting them to recognize it, which they just as obviously didntdoes not excuse sloppy vocabulary. Then he turned back to Darius. Oh, I did find these in a not-so-sanitary pile of tools. And lifted what looked like giant scissors.
Bring the wire cutters and the first aid kit here, Darius said in an all-business voice.
What are you going to do with the wire cutters? Jack asked.
Im going to cut the quill end of the arrow off so that I can pull it the rest of the way through the priestesss body. Then she can begin to heal, Darius said simply.
Jack gasped and fell back against Damien, who put an arm around him. Duchess, the yellow Lab who had become completely attached to Jack since her original own er, a fledgling kid named James Stark, had died and then un-died and shot an arrow through Stevie Rae as part of an evil plot to let loose Kalona, a nasty fallen angel (yes, looking back on it I see that its complex and even kinda confusing, but that seems to be typical for evil plots), whined and leaned against his leg.
Oh, Jack and Damien are a couple. Which means theyre gay teenagers. Hello. It happens. More often than youd expect. Wait, scratch that. It happens more often than parents expect.
Damien, maybe you and Jack could, uh, go back to that kitchen you found and see if you can whip up something for us to eat, I said, trying to think up things for them to do that didnt include staring at Stevie Rae. Ill bet wed all feel better if we ate something.
Id probably puke, Stevie Rae said. That is, unless its blood. She tried to shrug apologetically, but broke off the movement with a gasp and turned even whiter than her already totally pale complexion.
Yeah, not really hungry over here, either, Shaunee said, gawking at the arrow that was poking out of Stevie Raes back with the same kind of fascination that made people rubberneck at car wrecks.
Ditto, Twin, Erin said. She was looking everywhere but at Stevie Rae.
I was just opening my mouth to tell them I really didnt care if they were hungry or not, I just wanted to keep them busy and away from Stevie Rae for a while when Erik Night hurried into the room.
Got it! he said. He was holding a really old combo CD-cassette-radio that was humongous. It was one of those things they used to call boom boxes way back in the day. Like the 1980s. Without looking at Stevie Rae, he set it on the table that was close to her and Darius and started fiddling with the ginormic, glaringly silver knobs, muttering that he hoped it could pick up something down here.
Wheres Venus? Stevie Rae asked Erik. It obviously hurt for her to talk, and her voice had gone all shaky.
Erik had glanced back toward the round, blanket-draped entrance to the room that served as a door, which was empty. She was right behind me. I thought shed come in here and Then he did look at Stevie Rae, and his words fell away. Ah, man, that must really hurt, he said softly. You look bad, Stevie Rae.
She tried, and failed, to smile at him. Well, Ive felt better. Im glad Venus helped you out with the boom box. Sometimes we can actually get some of the radio stations down here.
Yeah, thats what Venus said, Erik said vaguely. He was staring at the arrow sticking out of Stevie Raes bare back.
Even through my worry about Stevie Rae Id started to wonder about the absent Venus and tried like hell to remember what she looked like. Last time Id gotten a really good look at the red fledglings, they hadnt been red yet, which means the outline of a crescent moon in the middle of their foreheads had still been sapphire-colored like all fledglings tattoos are when theyre first Marked. But these fledglings died. Then un-died. And they had all been bloodsucking, crazed monsters until Stevie Rae went through a type of Change. Somehow Aphrodites humanity (who knew she had any?) mixed with the power of the five elementsall of which I can controland voilà! Stevie Rae got her humanity back, along with some gorgeous adult vampyre tattoos that look like vines and flowers framing her face. But instead of the tattoo being dark blue, it had turned red. As in the color of fresh blood. When that happened to Stevie Rae, all the undead-dead kids fledgling tattoos had turned red, too. And they got their humanity back. In theory. I really hadnt been around them or Stevie Rae enough since her Change to know for sure that everything was one hundred percent with all of them. Oh, and Aphrodite lost her Marktotally. So shes supposedly human again, even though she still has visions.
All of this explains why the last time Id spent any time with Venus she was more than kinda disgusting looking since she was very nastily undead. But now shed been fixedor at least sort ofand I knew that shed hung with Aphrodite before she died (and un-died), which means she had to have been totally gorgeous because Aphrodite didnt believe in ugly friends.
Okay, before I sound like an über-jealous freak let me explain: Erik Night is to-die-for hot in a SupermanClark Kent kind of way and, to carry through with the superhero analogy, hes also talented and honestly a good guy. Er, vampyre. Recently Changed vampyre at that. He is also my boyfriend. Er, ex-boyfriend. Recently ex-boyfriend at that. Sadly, that means Im going to be ridiculously jealous of anyone, even one of the kinda freaky red fledglings, who might be catching too much of his interest (too much = any).
Dariuss businesslike voice had, thankfully, interrupted my inner babbling.
The radio can wait. Right now, Stevie Rae must be attended to. She will need a clean shirt and blood as soon as I get through with this. Darius spoke as he put the first aid kit on Stevie Raes bedside table, opened it, and busily pulled out gauze and alcohol and some scary stuff.
That had definitely shut everybody up.
You know I love yall like white bread, dont you? Stevie Rae said, giving us a brave smile. My friends and I had nodded woodenly. Okay, so you wont take it the wrong way if I say that all of yall but Zoey need to go find somethin to keep yourselves busy while Darius yanks this arrow outta my chest.
All of them except me? No no no no no. Why do you want me to stay?
I saw humor in Stevie Raes pain-filled eyes. Cause youre our High Priestess, Z. You gotta stay and help Darius. Plus, youve already seen me die once; how much worse could this be than that? Then she paused and her eyes widened as she stared at the palms of my still dorkishly raised hands and blurted, Holy crap, Z, look at your hands!
I turned my hands over so I could see what the hell she was staring at, and felt my own eyes widen. Tattoos spread across my palms, the same beautiful intricate pattern of latticework swirls that decorated my face and neck and stretched down either side of my spine and around my waist. How could I have forgotten? Id felt the familiar burning flash across my palms as we all escaped into the safety of the tunnels. Id realized then what that burning meant. My goddess, Nyx, the personification of Night, had Marked me again as exclusively hers. Had set me apart, again, from all the other fledglings and vampyres in the world. No other fledgling had a filled-in, expanded Mark. That only happened after a kid went through the Change, and then the outline of the crescent moon on the forehead was filled in and expanded to a unique, one-of-a-kind tattoo that framed the face, proclaiming to the world that he or she was a vampyre.
So my face proclaimed that I was a vampyre, but my body said I was still a fledgling. And the rest of my tattoos? Well, that was something that had never happened beforenot to a fledgling and not to a vamp, and even now I wasnt one hundred percent sure what it meant.
Wow, Z, theyre amazing, Damiens voice came from beside me. Hesitantly, he touched my palm.
I looked up from my hands to his friendly brown eyes, searching them for any trace of a change in the way he saw me. I looked for signs of hero worship or nervousness or, even worse, fear. And what I had seen was just Damienmy friendand the warmth of his smile.
I felt it happening before, when we first got down here. II guess I just forgot, I said.
Thats our Z, Jack said. Only she could forget something thats practically a miracle.
More than practically, Shaunee said.
But its a Zoey miracle. They happen pretty much all the time, Erin said matter-of-factly.
I cant keep a tattoo and shes covered in them, Aphrodite said. Figures. But her smile took the bite from her words.
They are the Mark of our Goddesss favor, showing that you are, indeed, traveling the path she would choose for you. You are our High Priestess, Darius spoke solemnly. The one Nyx has Chosen. And, Priestess, I need your aid with Stevie Rae.
Ah, hell, I muttered, chewing my lip nervously and balling my hands into fists, hiding my exotic new tattoos.
Oh, for craps sake! Ill stay and help, Aphrodite marched over to where Stevie Rae was sitting on the edge of her bed. Blood and pain dont bother me at all as long as theyre not mine.
I should take this closer to the entrance to the tunnels. Id probably have more luck getting reception there, Erik said, and without so much as a glance at me, or a word about my new tattoos, he disappeared through the blanket door.
You know, I think food really was a good idea, Damien said, taking Jacks hand and starting to follow Erik out of the room.
Yeah, Damien and I are gay. That means that we are guaranteed to be good cooks, Jack said.
Were with them, Shaunee said.
Yeah, were not as convinced about the genetics of gay good cooking. Wed better supervise, Erin said.
The blood. Dont forget the blood. Laced with wine, if you have it. Shell need it to recover, Darius said.
One of the refrigerators is full of blood. Then find Venus, Steve Rae said, grimacing again as Darius took an alcohol wipe and began to clean the dried blood on her back from the skin around the protruding arrow. She likes wine. Tell her what you need and shell get it for you.
The Twins hesitated, passing a look between each other. Erin spoke for both of them. Stevie Rae, are the red kids really okay? I mean, these are the kids who killed the Union football players and grabbed Zs human boyfriend, arent they?
Ex-boyfriend, I said, but they ignored me.
Venus just helped Erik, Stevie Rae said. And Aphrodite stayed here for two days. Shes still in one piece, Stevie Rae said.
Yeah, but Erik is a big, healthy male vamp. Hed be hard to bite, Shaunee said.
Even though he is definitely yummy, Erin said.
True, Twin. Both of them had given me apologetic shrugs before Shaunee continued. And Aphrodite is so damn nasty that no one would want to bite her.
But were little bits of vanilla and chocolate. Wed tempt even the nicest bloodsucking monster, Erin said.
Your moms a bloodsucking monster, Aphrodite said, smiling sweetly.
If yall dont stop bickering, Im gonna bite you! Stevie Rae yelled, then winced again and made little panting sounds as she tried to breathe through the pain.
Guys, youre making her hurt herself, and youre giving me a headache. I said it quickly, getting more and more worried about how bad Stevie Rae looked by the second. Stevie Rae says the red fledglings are okay. We just escaped from all hell breaking loose at the House of Night with them and they didnt try to eat any of us on the way here. So make nice, and go find Venus, like Stevie Rae said.
Z, thats not a big mark in their favor, Damien said. We were running for our lives. No one had time to eat anyone.
Stevie Rae, once and for allare the red fledglings safe? I asked.
I really wish yall would concentrate on being nicer and accepting them. You know its not their fault they died and then un-died.
See, theyre fine, I said. It was only later that I would remember that Stevie Rae never really answered my question about whether the red fledglings were really safe.
All right, but were holding Stevie Rae responsible, Shaunee said.
Yeah, if one of them tries to chomp on us, were going to have words with her about it after shes better, Erin said.
Blood and wine. Now. Less talking. More doing, Darius said bluntly.
They all scurried out of the room, leaving me with Darius, Aphrodite, and my best friend, currently en brochette.
Hell.
CHAPTER 3
Seriously, Darius. Cant 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 thethe Id made a semi-panicky gesture at the arrow sticking through Stevie Raes 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 tonight, Darius said.
I chewed my lip silently, thinking that he was right but still trying to come up with a less horrifying alternative.