Awakened (House of Night #8)(43)

"You know he's inside you, don't you?"

Again, Rephaim nodded, this time slowly and hesitantly.

"That boy inside you is your mama's son. Not Kalona's. Don't forget about her. And don't forget about that boy and what he'd fight for, too. Okay?"

Before Rephaim could reply, Stevie Rae's phone rang with Miranda Lambert's "Only Prettier." She dropped Rephaim's hand and groped in her pocket for it, saying "That's Z's ringtone! I have to talk to her. She doesn't know about Jack yet."

Before she could press the answer button, Rephaim's hand caught hers. "Zoey needs to return to Tulsa. That's one way all of us can fight Neferet. The Tsi Sgili hates Zoey, and her presence here will be a distraction."

"A distraction from what?" Stevie Rae asked just before she hit the answer button and spoke quickly into the phone, saying, "Z, hang on. I gotta tell you something important but I need a sec."

Zoey's voice came through the line sounding like she was talking from the bottom of a well. "No problem, but call me back, 'kay? I'm seriously roaming."

"Will do in two shakes of a dead cat's tail," Stevie Rae said.

"Do you know how gross that sounds?"

Stevie Rae smiled into the phone. "Yep and bye."

"You mean yuck and bye. Talk to you in a sec."

The line disconnected and Stevie Rae looked up at Rephaim. "So explain about Neferet."

"My father wishes to discover a way to sever the bonds that tie him to Neferet. To do so, he'll need her to be distracted. Her obsession with Zoey is an excellent distraction, as is her desire to use the rogue red fledglings in her war with humans."

Stevie Rae's brows went up. "There isn't any war going on between vampyres and humans."

"If Neferet's will is done, there will be."

"Okay, well, we'll have to be sure that doesn't happen. Looks like Z really does need to get home."

"They want to use you, too," Rephaim blurted.

"Huh? Who's they? Me? For what?" Rephaim looked away from her and spoke very quickly. "Neferet and Father. They don't believe you've firmly chosen the way of the Goddess. They think you could be persuaded to move to the side of Darkness."

"Rephaim, there is not even one tiny small chance of that. I'm not perfect. I have my issues. But I chose Nyx and Light when I regained my humanity. I'm never gonna change that choice."

"I have never doubted that, Stevie Rae, but they do not know you as I do."

"And Neferet and Kalona can never find out about us, either, can they?"

"It would be very bad if they did."

"Very bad for you or for me?"

"For both of us." Stevie Rae sighed. "Okay, so I'll be careful." She touched his arm. "You be careful, too."

He nodded. "You should start back. Call Zoey as you drive. Dawn is too close."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she said, but neither of them moved.

"And I must get back," he said, as if trying to convince himself.

"Wait, you aren't staying here anymore?"

"No. The ice storm has passed and there are too many humans about the grounds now."

"Well, where are you?"

"Stevie Rae, I cannot tell you that!"

"Because you're with your daddy, right?" When he didn't speak she continued. "Hey, it's not like I didn't already know it was totally b.s. when Neferet announced the whole hundred-lashes-and-banish- Kalona-for-a- century punishment." "She did have him lashed. The threads of Darkness cut him one hundred times."

Stevie Rae shivered, remembered how awful just the touch of one of those threads had been. "Well, I wouldn't wish that on anyone." She met Rephaim's eyes. "But the part about him being banished from Neferet's side for a century is b.s., right?" Rephaim gave a quick, almost imperceptible nod. "And you won't tell me where you're stayin' because that's where your Kalona's stayin', too?" He gave another slight nod. She sighed again. "So if I need to see you I gotta go lurk around some scary old building somewhere or somethin'?"

"No! You stay safe and in public places. Stevie Rae, if you need me come here and call me as you did tonight. Promise me that you won't go out trying to find me," he said, giving her arm a little shake.

"Okay, okay. I promise. But this worried-about-you thing goes both ways. Rephaim, I know he's your daddy, but he's also into some bad stuff. I just don't want him to take you down with him. So be careful, 'kay?"

"I will be careful," he said. "Stevie Rae, tonight I saw the rogue red fledglings. They are making their nest at Will Rogers High School. Dallas has joined them."

"Rephaim, please don't tell Kalona and Neferet."

"Why, so you can show them kindness and humanity and they can have another opportunity to kill you?" he shouted at her.

"No! Just 'cause I try to be nice doesn't mean I'm stupid or weak. Jeeze, what is it with you and Aphrodite? I wouldn't run off to talk to them all alone. Heck, Rephaim, I wouldn't try to reason with them at all. I already proved that won't work. Whatever I'd do would be with Lenobia and Dragon and Z, at the very least. Basically, I just don't want them joining Neferet, so I don't want her to know 'bout them."