Stevie Rae

Dallas was half carrying, half dragging Stevie Rae around the corner of the school, arguing with her about going to the infirmary instead of just back to her room, when Kramisha and Lenobia, who were walking toward Nyx's Temple, caught sight of them.

"Sweet weeping baby Jesus, you is messed up!" Kramisha yelled, stumbling to a halt.

"Dallas, let's get her to the infirmary!" Lenobia said. Unlike Kramisha, she didn't freeze at the bloody sight of Stevie Rae; instead, she hurried to her other side and helped Dallas support her weight, automatically angling them toward the infirmary entrance.

"Look, no, y'all. Just take me to my room. I need a phone, not a doctor. And I can't find my dang cell phone."

"You can't find it because that bird thing ripped almost all your clothes off of you, along with your skin.

Your cell's probably back at the park smooshed in the ground that's still soaked with your blood.

You're goin' to the damn infirmary."

"I have a phone. You can use mine," Kramisha said, catching up to them.

"You can use Kramisha's phone, but Dallas is right. You can't even stand by yourself. You're going to the infirmary," Lenobia said firmly.

"Fine. Whatever. Get me to a chair or somethin' so I can make a call. You have Aphrodite's number, don't you?" she asked Kramisha

"Yeah. But don't think that makes us friends or anything," Kramisha muttered.

As they headed into the infirmary, Lenobia's sharp gaze kept returning to Stevie Rae's battered body.

"You're in bad shape. Again," she said. Then Dallas's words seemed to catch up with her, and the Horse Mistress's gray eyes widened in shock. "Did you say a bird did this?"

"Bird thing ," Dallas said at the same time Stevie Rae said, "No!"

"Dallas, I do not have the time or the energy to argue with you 'bout this right now."

"You mean you didn't see what happened to her?" Lenobia asked.

"No. There was too much smoke and darkness; I couldn't see her, and I couldn't get into the circle to help her. And when it all cleared she was like this and a bird thing was crouching over her."

"Dallas, stop talkin' 'bout me like I'm not here! And he wasn't crouched over me. He was lyin' on the ground next to me."

Lenobia started to speak, but they'd reached the infirmary, and Sapphire, the tall, blond nurse who had been promoted to head of the hospital in the absence of a Healer, greeted them with her usual sour expression, which quickly changed to shock. "Put her in there!" she ordered briskly, pointing into a newly emptied hospital-style room.

They laid Stevie Rae on the bed, and Sapphire started to yank stuff out of one of the metal cabinets.

One of the things she grabbed was a baggie of blood she tossed to Lenobia. "Make her drink this immediately."

No one said anything for the few seconds it took for Lenobia to rip open the blood bag and help support Stevie Rae's shaking hands as she held it to her mouth and drank greedily.

"I'm gonna need some more of that," Stevie Rae said. "And, like I said before, a dang phone. Right away."

"I need to see what's sliced up your body like that, made you lose entirely too much blood, which you need to replace right away, and figure out why the blood that's still dripping out of your body smells completely wrong," said Sapphire.

"Raven Mocker! That's the name of that thing," Dallas said.

"A Raven Mocker attacked you?" Lenobia said.

"No. And that's what I've been tryin' to get through Dallas's thick skull. Darkness attacked me and a Raven Mocker."

"And like I said, you're not making no damn sense. I saw that bird thing. I saw your blood. These definitely look like slash wounds from that beak of his. I didn't see anything else!" Dallas practically shouted.

"You didn't see anything because Darkness was covering everything inside the circle, including me and the Raven Mocker while it attacked both of us !" Stevie Rae yelled her frustration at him.

"Why does it sound like you keep standing up for that thing?" Dallas said, throwing up his hands.

"You know what, Dallas, you can just kiss my butt! I'm not standing up for anyone except myself . It's not like you could manage to get inside the circle to help me out - I had to do it myself !"

There was a long silence while Dallas stared at her with hurt clearly visible in his eyes, and then Sapphire spoke in her sharp, shitty bedside voice, "Dallas, you need to leave. I'm going to cut what's left of these clothes off her, and it's not appropriate for you to be in here."

"But I - "

"You've brought your High Priestess home. You did well," Lenobia told him, touching his arm gently.

"Now let us care for her."

"Dallas, uh, why don't you go get somethin' to eat? I'll be fine," Stevie Rae said, already sorry she'd taken out on him the frustration fear and guilt were making her feel.

"Yeah, all right. I'm goin'."

"Hey, Lenobia's right," Stevie Rae called after him as he slouched from the room. "You did good bringin' me home."

He glanced over his shoulder at her just before he closed the door, and she thought she'd never seen his eyes look so sad. "Anything for you, girl."

The door had barely closed behind him when Lenobia's voice shot out. "Explain about the Raven Mocker."

"Yeah, I thought they was all gone," Kramisha said.

"The two of you may stay. Margareta has gone to replenish our supplies from St. John's Hospital, so I can use the extra hands, but you'll have to talk while you help me," Sapphire told them, handing Lenobia another baggie o' blood. "Open this for her. Kramisha, go over there, wash your hands, and then start handing me those alcohol-soaked cotton balls."

Kramisha shot Sapphire a raised-brow look, but she went to the sink. Lenobia ripped open the bag and gave it to Stevie Rae, who drank slowly, buying herself some time.

With a ripping sound that seemed too loud for the room, Sapphire cut away what remained of Stevie Rae's pants and her Don't hate the 918 T-shirt.

Stevie Rae felt everyone's eyes staring at her mostly bare body. She wished she'd worn a better bra, shifted nervously, and said, "Dang, I loved those Cowgirl U jeans. I hate to think about havin' to go back to Thirty-first and Memorial to Drysdales to get me another pair. The traffic always sucks in that part of town."

"Maybe you should expand your fashion sense. Little Black Dress on Cherry Street is closer, and they got them some cute jeans that ain't from the nineties," Kramisha said.

Three pairs of eyes shifted momentarily to her.

"What?" she shrugged. "Everbody knows Stevie Rae needs a make-over."

"Thanks, Kramisha. That makes me feel lots better, seein' as how I just almost died and all ." Stevie Rae rolled her eyes at Kramisha as she stifled a smile. But the truth was that Kramisha had made her feel better - normal better. And then Stevie Rae realized that she was, truly, feeling better. The blood had warmed her, and she didn't feel nearly as weak as she had just minutes before. Actually, she was kinda buzzing inside, like her blood was pumping super strong and surging all throughout her body. It's Rephaim's blood - the part of it that's mixed with mine is feeding off the human blood and giving me power.

"Stevie Rae, you seem to be awake and aware," Lenobia said.

Stevie Rae refocused on her external world to find the Horse Mistress studying her carefully. "Yeah, I'm definitely feelin' better, and I need a phone. Kramisha, let me borrow - "

"I'm cleaning these wounds first, and I promise you that you're not going to be able to chat on the phone while I do that," Sapphire said with what Stevie Rae thought was too much smug satisfaction.

"So wait until after I call Aphrodite to mess with me," Stevie Rae said. "Kramisha, dig in that giant bag of yours and get me your dang phone."

"It can not wait," Sapphire snapped. "Your wounds are severe. You have lacerations from your ankles to your waist. They need to be cleansed. Many of them need stitches. You need to drink more blood.

Actually, it would be preferable if we brought in one of the human volunteers for you to feed from directly - that would help in the healing process."

"Human? Volunteers?" Stevie Rae gulped. Stuff like that went on at the House of Night?

"Don't be na?ve," was all Sapphire said.

"I'm not drinking from some stranger!" Stevie Rae said with more vehemence than she'd meant to show, drawing raised-eyebrow looks from Lenobia and Kramisha. "What I mean is - I'll be fine with blood baggies. It's too weird to think about drinking from someone I don't know, 'specially so soon after, well, you know . . ." She trailed off. The three women would think she was talking about the recent breaking of her Imprint with Aphrodite.

But she wasn't thinking of Aphrodite - that was ridiculous.

Stevie Rae was thinking that the only one she wanted to drink from, needed to drink from, was Rephaim.

"Your blood smells wrong," Lenobia said.

Stevie Rae's thoughts cleared, and her gaze went immediately to the Horse Mistress. "Wrong? What do you mean?"

"There is something strange about it," Sapphire agreed as she began cleaning the deep slashes with the alcohol-drenched cotton balls Kramisha handed her.

Stevie Rae sucked in a breath at the pain. Through gritted teeth, she said, "I'm a red vampyre. My blood's different than yours."

"Nope, they's right. Your blood smells weird," Kramisha said, averting her eyes from Stevie Rae's wounds and wrinkling her nose.

Stevie Rae thought quickly, and said, "It's because he drank from me."

"Who? The Raven Mocker!" Lenobia said.

"No!" Stevie Rae denied, then hurried on. "Like I kept tryin' to tell Dallas, the Raven Mocker didn't do

anything to me. He was a victim, too."

"Stevie Rae, what happened to you?" Lenobia asked.

Stevie Rae drew a deep breath and launched into a mostly true story. "I went to the park 'cause I was tryin' to get info from the earth that would help Zoey because Aphrodite asked me to. There're these really old vamp beliefs, somethin' Warrior-based and not cool anymore, that she thinks can help Stark get himself to Zoey in the Otherworld."

"But Stark can't enter the Otherworld without dying," Lenobia said.

"Yeah, that's what everyone says, but recently Aphrodite and I found out about this really old stuff that might help him get there alive. The religion, or whatever you want to call it, was supposed to be represented by cows - I mean bulls. A white one and a black one." Remembering, Stevie Rae shuddered. "Aphrodite, bein' a total pain in the butt, failed to tell me the dang white bull was bad and the dang black bull was good, so I called up the bad bull accidentally."

Lenobia's face had gone so pale it almost looked transparent. "Oh, Goddess! You evoked Darkness?"

"You know about this stuff?" Stevie Rae asked.

In what seemed like an unconscious movement, one of Lenobia's hands lifted to touch the back of her neck. "I know a little of Darkness, and as Mistress of Horses, I know more than a little about beasts."

Sapphire swabbed at the cut that snaked around Stevie Rae's waist, making her wince. "Ah, crap, that hurts!" She closed her eyes momentarily, trying to focus through the pain. When she opened them, she saw that Lenobia was studying her with an expression she couldn't read, but before she could form the right question, the Horse Mistress asked one of her own.

"What was the Raven Mocker doing there? You said it didn't attack you, but it certainly wouldn't have any reason to attack Darkness."

" 'Cause they on the same side," Kramisha added, nodding thoughtfully.

"I don't know about sides and all, but the bad bull attacked the Raven Mocker." Stevie Rae drew a deep breath, and continued, "Actually, the Raven Mocker showin' up was what saved me. He just kinda fell from the sky and distracted the bull long enough for me to draw power from the earth so I could call up the good bull." Stevie Rae couldn't help smiling as she talked about that amazing beast. "I'd never seen anything like him before. He was so beautiful and kind and so, so wise. He went after the white bull, and both of them disappeared. Then Dallas was able to get inside the circle to me, and the Raven Mocker flew away."

"But what you're saying is that before the Raven Mocker got there, the white bull drank your blood?"

Lenobia said.

Stevie Rae had to suppress another shudder of remembered revulsion. "Yeah. He said I owed him payment because he answered my question. That's probably why my blood smells weird, 'cause you can still smell him on me, and let me tell you, he reeked. And that's also why I need to make that phone call.

The bull did answer my question, and I gotta talk to Aphrodite."

"You might as well let her call. She don't need them stitches anyway. Her cuts are closing up already,"

Kramisha said, pointing to the first slashes Darkness had made around her ankles.

Stevie Rae glanced down, but she knew what she'd see before she looked. She'd already felt it - Rephaim's blood was spreading its warmth and strength throughout her body, causing her torn flesh to begin drawing together and repair itself.

"That's incredibly unusual. And much like the rapid rate at which you healed from your burn wounds,"

Sapphire said.

Stevie Rae made herself meet the vampyre nurse's gaze. "I'm a red vampyre High Priestess. There's never been anyone like me before, so I guess we can say I'm setting the learning curve for all of us. We must heal fast." She flipped the edge of the sheet over her body and then held her hand out to Kramisha.

"I need your phone now."

Without another word, Kramisha walked over to where she'd dropped her purse, dug out her cell phone, and gave it to Stevie Rae. "Aphrodite's listed under the B's."

Stevie Rae punched in the number. Aphrodite picked up on the third ring.

"Yes, it is too damn early to call, and no, I do not care about whatever stupid poem you just wrote, Kramisha."

"It's me."

Aphrodite's sarcastic tone instantly changed. "What happened?"

"Did you know the white bull's bad and the black bull's good?"

"Yeah. Didn't I tell you that part?" Aphrodite said.

"No, which really sucked 'cause I called the white bull to my circle."

"Uh-oh. That's seriously not good. What happened?"

"Not good? Try understatement of the dang decade, Aphrodite. It was bad. Really, really bad." Stevie Rae wanted to tell Lenobia and Sapphire and even Kramisha to go away so she could talk to Aphrodite in private, and then maybe have a really good breakdown and bawl her eyes out; but she knew they needed to hear what she had to say. Sadly, bad stuff didn't go away just because it was ignored.

"Aphrodite, it's evil like nothing I've seen before. It makes Neferet look like a trick-or-treat kid." She ignored Sapphire's indignant snort and kept talking quickly. "And it's powerful beyond belief. I couldn't fight it. I don't think anything can fight it except the other bull."

"So how did you get away from it?" Aphrodite paused for half a heartbeat, and then added, "You are away from it, aren't you? You're not all under its spell so that you're being used like a sock puppet for evil with a bumpkin accent, right?"

"That's just silly, Aphrodite."

"Still, say something to prove you're really you."

"You called me a retard last time we talked. More than once. And said I was asstarded, which is not

even a word. I'm still tellin' you that's not nice."

"Fine. It's you. So how did you get away from the bull?"

"I managed to call up the good bull, and he is as really, really good as the other one is bad. He fought it, and they both disappeared."

"So you didn't learn anything?"

"Yeah, I did." Stevie Rae squinted while she concentrated hard, wanting to be sure she remembered word for word what the white bull had said. "I asked how Stark could get to Zoey so that he can protect her while she gets herself together and comes back here. This is what the bull said: 'The Warrior must look to his blood to discover the bridge to enter the Isle of Women, and then he must defeat himself to enter the arena. Only by acknowledging one before the other will he join his Priestess.

After he joins her, it is her choice and not his whether she returns.' "

"He said Isle of Women? Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah, I'm positive. That's exactly what he said."

"Good. Okay. Uh, hang on, I'm writing this all down so I don't forget any of it."

Stevie Rae could hear Aphrodite scribbling on a piece of paper. When she was done, her voice was filled with excitement. "This means we are on the right track! But how the hell does Stark find a bridge by looking at blood? And what does that stuff about him having to defeat himself mean?"

Stevie Rae sighed. A massive headache had started to throb between her temples. "I don't have a clue, but getting that answer almost killed me, so it has to mean somethin' important."

"Then Stark better figure it out." Aphrodite hesitated before saying, "If the black bull is so super good, why don't you just call it back again and - "

"No!" Stevie Rae spoke with such force she caused everyone in the room to jump. "Never again. And you shouldn't let anyone else conjure either of those bulls. The price is too much."

"What do you mean, the price is too much?" Aphrodite said.

"I mean they're too powerful. They can't be controlled, whether they're good or bad. Aphrodite, there're some things that weren't meant to be messed with, and those bulls are part of those things. Plus, I'm not so sure one can be called up without the other eventually showing up, and believe me, you don't want to ever, ever meet that white bull."

"Okay, okay - relax. I get what you're saying, and I can tell you I have a kinda creepy feeling just talking about those bulls. I think you're right. Don't stress. No one's gonna do anything except try to help Stark find a blood bridge to the Isle of Skye."

"Aphrodite, I don't think it's a blood bridge. That doesn't even sound right." Stevie Rae rubbed her face and was surprised to see that her hand was shaking.

"Enough for now," Lenobia whispered. "You're strong, but you're not immortal."

Stevie Rae's gaze shot to hers, but she saw nothing in the Horse Mistress's gray eyes except concern.

"Hey, uh, I gotta go for now. I'm not feelin' so good."

"Oh, for crap's sake. You're not almost dying again, are you? It's seriously inconvenient when you do that."

"No, I am not almost dyin'. Not anymore. And you are not even almost nice. At all. I'll call you later.

Tell everyone I said hi."

"Yeah, I'll spread the love. Goodbye, bumpkin."

"Bye." Stevie Rae punched theCALL END button, gave Kramisha her phone, and then leaned heavily back on her pillow. "Uh, do y'all mind if maybe I sleep for a while?"

"Drink one more of these." Sapphire gave Stevie Rae another bag of blood. "Then sleep. Both of you need to leave and let her rest." The vampyre nurse swept the bloody alcohol cotton balls into a trash bag, snapped off her latex gloves, went to the doorway, and stood, tapping her foot and giving Lenobia and Kramisha the stank eye.

"I'll come back and check on you after you've rested," Lenobia said.

"Sounds good." Stevie Rae smiled at her.

Lenobia squeezed her hand before leaving. When Kramisha leaned close to her, Stevie Rae thought for one awkward, shocked second the kid was going to hug her - or worse, maybe even kiss her. Instead, Kramisha met her eyes and whispered:

"See with the soul and not your eyes

because to dance with beasts you

must penetrate their disguise."

Stevie Rae suddenly felt cold. "I guess I should have listened to you better. Maybe I would've known I was callin' the wrong cow," she whispered back.

Kramisha's gaze was sharp and knowing. "Maybe you still should. Somethin' inside me says you ain't done dancing with beasts." Then she straightened up, and in a normal voice, said, "Get some sleep. You gonna need all your good sense tomorrow."

When the door closed, leaving her alone, Stevie Rae breathed an exhausted sigh of relief. Methodically, she drank the last baggie of blood and then pulled the hospital blanket up around her neck and curled on her side and, with a sigh, slowly twirled a blond curl around and around one finger. She was utterly exhausted. Apparently all of the power in Rephaim's blood had worn her the heck out while it fixed her.

Rephaim . . .

Stevie Rae would never, ever forget what he looked like when he'd confronted Darkness for her. He'd been so strong and brave and good . It didn't matter that Dallas and Lenobia and the whole dang world believed he was on the side of Darkness. It didn't matter that his daddy was a fallen Warrior of Nyx who had chosen evil centuries ago. None of that mattered. She'd seen the truth. He'd willingly sacrificed himself for her. He might not have chosen Light, but he had definitely rejected Darkness.

She'd been right to save him that day outside the abbey, and she'd also been right to call the white bull and save him today - no matter the cost to her.

Rephaim was worth saving.

Wasn't he?

He had to be. After what had happened today, he had to be .

Her finger stilled, and her eyes started to flutter shut even though she didn't want to think anymore or to dream - didn't want to remember that terrifying Darkness and the pain that had been so unimaginable.

But her eyes did close, and the memory of Darkness and what he'd done to her did come. As she struggled against the unyielding pull of utter exhaustion, from the middle of that circle of terror Stevie Rae heard his voice again: "I'm here because she's here, and she belongs to me." And that simple statement chased her fear away, allowing the memory of Darkness to give way to the rescue of Light.

Just before Stevie Rae fell into a deep, dreamless sleep, she thought of the beautiful black bull and the payment he had exacted from her, and, again, Rephaim's words played through her mind: "I'm here because she's here, and she belongs to me."

With her last waking thought, she wondered if Rephaim would ever know how ironically true his words had suddenly become for them . . .