P.C. Cast - Hunted

“It is weird, though,” Stevie Rae said.

Darius smiled kindly at her. “There are many types of Imprints.”

“Well, ours is not the drink-your-blood-and-have-sex-with-you type,” Aphrodite said.

“Of course it is not,” Darius kissed her on her forehead.

“Which means you can sleep in here without being freaked out,” Stevie Rae said.

“And again I say hell no. Plus, I’m going with Darius. I’ll be on duty with him,” Aphrodite said decisively, raising her half-empty second bottle of wine in a weird, drunken salute.

“Darius has to guard the entrance to the tunnels. He doesn’t need to be takin’ care of your drunk behind,” Stevie Rae told her.

“I. Am. Going. With. Darius,” Aphrodite repeated slowly and stubbornly.

“She may come with me,” Darius, said, unsuccessfully trying to hide a smile. “I’ll get a sleeping bag for her. I do not believe she will be much trouble, and I like to keep her close to me.”

“Not much trouble?” I said. Stevie Rae and I raised our brows at him. I swear his high, chiseled cheeks blushed just a smidgen of pink.

“He must be thinkin’ of another Aphrodite. One we don’t know,” Stevie Rae said.

“Come on,” Aphrodite said, getting unsteadily to her feet. “I know where they keep the stupid sleeping bags. Just ignore them.” She gave us a hilarious attempt at a scowl, which turned into another manly belch, grabbed Darius’s hand, and staggered from the room while Stevie Rae and I laughed.

Before he ducked under the blanket, Darius spoke over his shoulder to Erik, who I’d almost forgotten was still lingering in the room. Almost.

“Erik, get some sleep. I will wake you for the second shift.”

“Sounds good. I’ll be…” Erik hesitated.

“Dallas’s room is just down the tunnel from here. I’ll bet he wouldn’t mind if you roomed with him,” Stevie Rae said.

“Okay, that’s where I’ll be,” Erik said.

Darius nodded. “Priestess, would you check the bandages on Stevie Rae’s wounds? If they need to be changed—”

“If they need to be changed, I can do it,” I interrupted. Hell, I’d already helped shove an arrow through her chest. I could certainly change a Band-Aid without freaking.

“Well, if you need me, simply have a fledgling—”

The warrior’s sentence was cut off as Aphrodite jerked hard enough on his hand to pull him from the room. Then she stuck her head back through the doorway. “Good night. Don’t bother us.” And she disappeared.

“Better him than me,” I heard Erik mutter as he watched the blanket swing back into place. I made no attempt to hide my smile. I was glad Erik wasn’t still interested in Aphrodite. Erik met my eyes. And slowly he smiled, too.

“No, you two go on. Catch up with the others. I’m just gonna sleep,” Stevie Rae said as she curled onto her side, moving gingerly.

There was a grumpy “mee-uf-ow” and a chubby little orange ball of fur padded into the room and jumped up on Stevie Rae’s bed.

“Nala!” Stevie Rae scratched the top of my cat’s head. “Hey, I’ve missed you.”

Nala sneezed in Stevie Rae’s face and then made three rotations on the pillow beside her head, lay down, and started up her purr engine. Stevie Rae and I grinned at each other.

Okay—SPECIAL NOTE: Duchess, Jack’s yellow Lab, is an anomaly. Stark brought her with him when he transferred to our school from the Chicago House of Night. Then he died. Jack adopted her. Then he un-died, but was obviously not himself, ’cause the first thing he did was shoot an arrow through Stevie Rae. Hence the fact Duchess is still with Jack. Plus I think the kid’s really getting attached to her.

Anyway, when the group of us escaped from the House of Night, our cats, plus Duchess, followed us. So seeing Nala making herself comfortable added a comfy, homelike touch to Stevie Rae’s room for Stevie Rae and me.

“You and Erik go on. Get a shower or whatever,” Stevie Rae repeated sleepily as she cuddled with Nala. “Nal and I’ll take a little nap. Oh, you can catch the rest of them if you go out, turn left, and then keep circling to your right. The entrance to the depot is by the room where we keep the fridges.”

“Hey, Darius said I should check your bandages,” I reminded her.

“Later,” she yawned massively. “They’re fine.”

“Okay, if you say so.” I tried not to show the relief I felt. No way was I ever going to be anything resembling a nurse. “Get some sleep. I’ll be back in a little while,” I said. I swear she was out before Erik and I ducked through the checkered blanket.

We turned to our left and walked without saying anything for a little way. The tunnels were less creepy than when I’d been down here before, but that didn’t make them unclaustrophobic and bright and cheery. Every few yards there were lanterns staked with what looked like railroad spikes into the cement walls at about eye level, but the dampness permeated everything. We hadn’t gone far when something caught at the corner of my eyes and I slowed down, peering into the heavy shadows between the lanterns.

“What is it?” Erik asked softly.

My stomach tightened with fear. “I don’t know, I—” My words broke off as something exploded out of the darkness at me. I’d opened my mouth to shriek, imagining feral red fledglings or, worse, the horror of the Raven Mockers. But Erik’s arm went around me and he pulled me out of the way of half a dozen bats, who fluttered past.

“They’re as scared of you as you are of them,” he said, taking his arm from around me as soon as the creatures were past us.

I shuddered, trying to force my heart to beat regularly again. “Okay, no possible way could they be as scared of me as I am of them. Eesh, bats are rats with wings.”

He chuckled as we started walking again. “I thought pigeons were rats with wings.”

“Bat, pigeons, ravens—I don’t care about distinctions right now. Any fluttery, flappy thing is not cool with me.”

“I see your point,” he said, smiling at me. His smile didn’t do much to help my heartbeat slow down, and as we kept walking, I swear I could still feel the warmth of his arm around my shoulders. In a few more feet we came to a section of the tunnel that was as amazing as it was surprising. Erik and I stopped and stared.

“Wow, that is majorly cool,” I said.

“Yeah, wow,” Erik agreed with me. “This must be the work of that Gerarty girl. Didn’t Stevie Rae introduce her as being an artist who’s been decorating the tunnels?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t expect anything like this.” Forgetting about the bats, I traced my hand over the beautifully complex pattern of flowers and hearts and birds and all sorts of swirls, all entwined to make a brightly painted mosaic that seemed to breathe life and magic into this little section of the dreary, claustrophobic walls.

“People, humans and vamps, would pay a fortune for art like this.” Erik didn’t add, if the world could ever know about the red fledglings and vamps, but the thought hung unspoken in the air between us.

“Hopefully, people will,” I said. “It would be nice if the red fledglings could become known to the rest of the world.” Plus, I added to myself, if they were out in the open, maybe my lingering questions about their powers and their tendencies could be more easily resolved. “Anyway, I think vampyres and humans should have better relationships,” I added.

“Like you and your human boyfriend?” He asked the question quietly, with no hint of sarcasm.

I met his gaze steadily. “I’m not with Heath anymore.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” I said.