P.C. Cast - Burned

“Should I call Dragon in on this?”

“No. I’m not goin’ alone, and I do plan on givin’ them an ultimatum—shape up or ship out—but if I take outsiders down there, I won’t have a chance of any of them deciding to give up Darkness and come with me.” Then Stevie Rae realized what she’d said and stopped like she’d run into the side of a barn. “Ohmygood ness, that’s it! I couldn’t have known it before I met the bulls, but now I understand. Lenobia, whatever it is that gets ahold of us after we die, and then un-die, and we’re all evil and filled with bloodlust and stuff—it’s part of Darkness. That means it isn’t a new thing. It has to be as ancient as the Warrior/bull religion. Neferet is behind what happened to me and the rest of the kids.” She met the Horse Mistress’s gaze and saw the fear she was feeling reflected there. “She’s involved with Darkness. There’s no doubt about that now.”

“I’m afraid there’s been no doubt about that for a long time,” Lenobia said.

“But how the heck did Neferet find out about Darkness? For centuries and centuries, vampyres worshipped Nyx.”

“Just because people stop worshipping, doesn’t mean the deity stops existing. The forces of good and evil move in a timeless dance, regardless of mortal whim or fashion.”

“But Nyx is the Goddess.”

“Nyx is our Goddess. You can’t really believe there is only one deity for a world as complex as ours.”

Stevie Rae sighed. “I guess when you put it like that, I gotta agree with you, but I wish there wasn’t more than one choice for evil.”

“Then there would be only one choice for good. Remember, there must always, eternally, be balance.” They walked in silence for a while before Lenobia said, “You’ll take the red fledglings with you to confront the rogues?”

“Yep.”

“When?”

“The sooner the better.”

“There is only a little over three hours left until dawn,” Lenobia said.

“Well, I’m askin’ them a simple yes-or-no question. That’s not gonna take much time.”

“And if they say no?”

“If they say no, I’ll make sure they can’t use the depot tunnels as their cushy hideout anymore, and I’ll make sure they’re separated. As individuals, I still don’t believe they’re all bad.” Stevie Rae hesitated, and then added, “I don’t want to kill them. I feel like if I do, I’ll be giving in to evil. And I don’t want that Darkness to touch me, ever again.” An image of Rephaim, wings spread, fully healed and powerful, flashed through her memory.

Lenobia nodded. “I understand. I don’t agree with you, Stevie Rae, but I do understand. Your plan has merit, though. If you shake them from their stronghold and force them to scatter, those who are left will have to worry about surviving and won’t have time to ‘play’ with humans.”

“Okay, so let’s split up and spread the word that I need all the red fledglings to meet me at the Hummer in the parking lot—now. I’ll take the dorms.”

“I’ll go to the Field House and the cafeteria. Actually, on my way to meet you, I saw Kramisha going into the cafeteria. I’ll get to her first. She always knows where everyone is.”

Stevie Rae nodded, and Lenobia jogged away, leaving her alone and heading toward the dorms. Alone and able to think. She should be thinking about what the heck she was gonna say to the stupid Nicole and her group of killer fledglings. But she couldn’t get Rephaim out of her mind.

Driving away from him had been one of the hardest things she’d ever done in her life.

So why had she?

“Because he’s well again,” she said aloud, and then closed her mouth and looked guiltily around her. Thankfully, there was no one nearby. Still, she kept her big mouth clamped shut as her mind continued to race.

Okay, Rephaim was healed and all. So? Had she really thought he’d be broken forever?

No! I don’t want him to be broken! The thought came quick and honest. But it wasn’t just that he was well. It was that Darkness had healed him—had made him look . . .

Stevie Rae’s thoughts trailed off because she didn’t want to go there. She didn’t want to admit, even silently to herself, how Rephaim had looked to her standing there, framed by the moonlight, powerful and whole.

Nervously, she twirled a blond curl. And anyway, they were Imprinted. He was supposed to look a certain way to her.

But Aphrodite hadn’t affected her like Rephaim had started to.

“Well, I’m not gay!” she muttered, and then shut her mouth again because the thought had crept through even though she hadn’t wanted it to.

Stevie Rae had liked the way Rephaim looked. He’d been strong and beautiful and, just for a moment, she’d glimpsed beauty inside the beast, and he hadn’t been a monster. He’d been magnificent, and he’d been hers.

She staggered to a halt. It was because of that dang black bull! It had to be. Before he’d totally materialized, he’d asked Stevie Rae: I can chase away Darkness, but if I do so, you will owe a debt to Light, and that debt is that you will be forever tied to the humanity inside that creature over there—the one you called me to save. She’d answered with no hesitation: Yes! I’ll pay your price. So the dang bull had zapped her with some kind of Light bullshit, and that had done something to her insides.

But was that really the truth? Stevie Rae twirled a curl around and around while she thought back. No—it had changed between her and Rephaim before the black bull showed up. It had happened when Rephaim had faced Darkness for her and taken on the pain of her debt.

Rephaim had said she belonged to him.

Today she’d realized he was right, and that scared her worse than Darkness itself.

“Okay, so, we all here?”

Heads nodded and from beside her, Dallas said, “Yep, everyone’s here.”

“Them bad kids killed those folks at the Tribune Lofts, didn’t they?” Kramisha said.

“Yeah,” Stevie Rae said. “I think so.”

“That’s bad,” Kramisha said. “Real bad.”

“You can’t let ’em kill people like that,” Dallas said. “They’re not even street people.”

Stevie Rae blew out a long breath. “Dallas, how many times do I have to tell y’all that it doesn’t matter if someone’s a street person or not—it’s not right to kill anyone .”

“Sorry,” Dallas said. “I know you’re right, but sometimes before gets messed up inside my head, and I kinda forget.”

Before . . . the word seemed to echo around them. Stevie Rae knew exactly what Dallas meant: before her humanity had been saved by Aphrodite’s sacrifice, and they had the ability to choose good over evil. She remembered before, too, but as she got another day farther away from that dark past, it was easier and easier for Stevie Rae to put it out of her mind. As she studied Dallas, she wondered if it was different for him—for the rest of the kids who hadn’t Changed yet, because Dallas did seem to make little slips like he just had kinda often.

“Stevie Rae? You okay?” Dallas asked, obviously uncomfortable with her scrutiny.

“Yeah, fine. Just thinkin’. So, here’s what’s up: I’m goin’ back down to the tunnels under the depot, our tunnels, and I’m givin’ those kids one more chance to decide to act right. If they do, they stay and start back at school with us on Monday. If they don’t, they’re gonna have to find their own way, in their own place, ’cause we’re takin’ the tunnels back, and they’re not welcome anymore.”

Kramisha grinned. “We’re goin’ back to live in the tunnels!”