Hunted

knew something was up with Neferet. If she was into him, I figured I didn’t want anything to do with him. So I just kept myself focused on other things.”

Our eyes met and held. Of course Erik had known it wasn’t all good with Neferet, because he’d witnessed me confronting her. Plus, by then he’d realized I’d only cheated on him and been with the Vamp Poet Laureate, Loren Blake, because Neferet had set him up to seduce me and isolate me from my friends.

“So the red fledglings aren’t affected by Kalona like regular fledglings are,” Darius was saying. “Although it seems regular fledglings can control the effect he has on them if they have to. And what Erik is describing, coupled with my reaction to him, tells me that perhaps vampyres are less susceptible to him than fledglings.” He paused and looked at Jack. “Did you want to stay and worship Kalona?”

Jack shook his head. “Nope. But I didn’t really look at him that much. I mean, I was real worried about Stevie Rae, and then I was just thinking about staying with Damien. Plus, Duchess was upset about S-T-A-R-K.” He spelled the name while he petted Duchess. “And I had to take care of her.”

“Why weren’t you affected by him?” I asked Darius.

I saw his eyes flit to Aphrodite, who was tipsily nibbling on a sandwich.

“I had other things on my mind.” He paused. “Although I did feel his draw. And remember I’m in a slightly different position than my brother warriors. None of them have been as intimate with your group. When a Son of Erebus takes on an assignment of protection, as I did when I began escorting you and Aphrodite, it becomes a strong bond.” He gave me a warm smile. “Often a High Priestess is protected by the same group of warriors for her entire life. It is no accident that we are named after our Goddess’s faithful consort, Erebus.”

I smiled back at him and hoped that Aphrodite wouldn’t be a butt and break his honorable heart.

“What do you think is happening up there right now?” Jack asked suddenly.

Everyone looked at the curved ceiling of the little tunnel room, and I knew I wasn’t the only one glad of the thickness of the earth between us and “up there.”

“I don’t know,” I said, using the truthful answer instead of something meaningless like I’m sure everything’s going to be okay. I thought hard, choosing my words carefully. “We know that an ancient immortal has broken free of the earth’s imprisonment. We know that he brings with him creatures that are like demons, and that the last time he walked the earth he raped women and made men his slaves. We know that our High Priestess and maybe even what’s left of the House of Night have, well, for lack of a better description, gone over to the Dark Side.”

Into the silent pause that followed my words Erik said, “A Star Wars analogy always works.”

I grinned at him, then sobered as I continued. “What we don’t know is how much damage Kalona and the Raven Mockers have done in the community. Erik said there was some kind of electrical storm going on along with the rain and ice, but that might not have been caused by supernatural means. This is Oklahoma, and the weather can be totally bizarre.”

“Ooooooo-klahoma! Home of dustnadoes and ice storms that kick ass,” Aphrodite said.

I stifled a sigh and ignored Imprinted Drunk Vision Girl. “But then again, on the ‘what we do know’ side is the fact that we’re pretty safe down here. We have food and shelter and whatnot.” At least I hoped we were okay down here. I patted the bed I was sitting on, which really did have some cute light green linens on it. “Hey, speaking of the ‘and whatnot.’ How did you guys get this stuff down here?” I asked Stevie Rae. “Not that I’m trying to be mean, but this bed and your table and fridges and other things are a serious improvement over the dirty rags and other grossness I saw down here a month or so ago.”

She gave me her cute Stevie Rae smile and said, “That’s mostly thanks to Aphrodite.”

“Aphrodite?” I asked, lifting my brows and staring at her along with everyone else.

“What can I say? I’ve become the poster child for do-gooders. Thank god I’m attractive,” Aphrodite said and then belched like a guy. “Oops, scusa,” she slurred.

“Scusa?” Jack said.

“Italian, dork,” Aphrodite said. “Broaden your gay horizons.”

“So what does Aphrodite have to do with the stuff you have down here?” I interrupted what was sure to become some serious bickering.

“She bought this stuff. Actually, it was her idea,” Stevie Rae said.

“Scusa?” I said, not even trying to stifle my grin.

“I stayed down here for two days. Did you expect me to live in a hovel? Not hardly. Have credit cards, will decorate. I think that’s on my family crest along with a very dry martini,” she said. “There’s a Pottery Barn in Utica Square right down the street. They deliver. So does Home Depot, which is also not far from here, although I wasn’t aware of that until one of the red freaks enlightened me because I do not shop at appliance stores.”

“They’re not freaks,” Stevie Rae said.

“Oh, bite me,” Aphrodite said.

“She already has,” Venus said.

Aphrodite glared woozily in her direction, but before she could get out a drunken retort, the kid called Dallas said, “I knew the Home Depot was there.” My friends and I looked at him. He shrugged. “I’m good at building things.”

“Home Depot and Pottery Barn delivered down here?” Erik said.

“Well, not technically,” Stevie Rae said. “But they do deliver to the Tribune Lofts which are practically next door. And with a little, uh, friendly persuasion they brought the stuff here and then totally forgot once they left. So, ta-da! New stuff.”

“I still don’t understand. How could the humans have been persuaded to come down here?” Darius said.

I sighed. “Something you should know about red vampyres—”

“And red fledglings, too, only it’s not quite as strong with them,” Stevie Rae interrupted me.

“And red fledglings,” I corrected. “They have a mind-control thing they can do with humans.”

“That sounds a lot meaner than it is,” Stevie Rae assured Darius quickly. “I just tweaked the delivery guys’ memories. I didn’t mind-control them. We don’t go in for using our powers to be all hateful and stuff.” She gave the group of red fledglings a look. “Right?”

The group muttered “Right,” but I noticed Venus didn’t say anything, and Kramisha glanced around the room guiltily.

“They can control the minds of humans. They cannot bear direct sunlight. Their powers of recovery are excellent. They need to commune with the earth to feel truly comfortable,” Darius said. “Am I leaving anything else out?”

“Yeah,” Aphrodite said. “They bite.”

CHAPTER 6

“That’s it. I’m cutting you off,” I told Aphrodite as the red fledglings erupted into laughter.

“Aphrodite—she crazy even when she not drunk and Imprinted,” Kramisha said. “We all used to her, though.”

“But, yes,” I continued, answering Darius through the laughter of the masses. “All of those things are true about the red fledglings.”

“And the one red vampyre.” Stevie Rae sounded tired but proud. “Oh, and I can also tell you that sunrise was exactly”—she paused, cocking her head like she was listening to crickets—“sixty-three minutes ago.”

“All adult vampyres know when the sun rises,” Darius said.

“I’ll bet it doesn’t make all vamps as sleepy as it makes me.” Stevie Rae punctuated her words with a big yawn.

“No, it usually doesn’t,” Darius said.

“Well, it makes me real sleepy,” she said. “Especially today, which I bet has somethin’ to do with that stupid arrow that used to be stickin’ through me.”

Since Stevie Rae had mentioned it, I was feeling majorly exhausted again now that my jolt o’ blood had worn