Tempted (House of Night #6)(52)

I thought I'd never seen anyone so sad. I won't be alone. Shadowfax and Guinevere will be with me, and our Goddess will be with me, he said. His gaze returned to the pyre. I'm not ready to leave Anastasia yet. Lenobia squeezed his shoulder. I will return soon, my friend, she said. I will be here, Dragon said. I'll wait with Dragon. Kramisha doesn't really need me. She already has enough fledglings to boss around, Jack said to me. He and Damien had joined us. Duchess stopped several feet away and was lying on the grass with her nose on her paws. The cats paid no attention to her. I'd like to stay with you, that is, if you don't mind, he finished, speaking to Dragon nervously. Thank you, Jack, Dragon said, his voice catching on a sob. Jack nodded, wiped his eyes and, without saying anything else, sat next to Dragon and began gently petting Shadowfax.

Well done you, I said softly to Jack. I'm proud of you, Damien whispered to Jack and kissed him gently on the cheek, which made Jack smile through his tears. Okay, I said. Let's meet in my room. Lenobia, Zoey has to take a detour through the kitchen, Stark said abruptly. She and I will meet you in the dorm as soon as possible. Lenobia nodded absently, already walking toward the dorms with Damien, Erin, and Aphrodite. Why are--, I started, but Stark cut me off. Just trust me. This is what you need. He took my elbow and guided me toward the center of the school building where the entry hall led to the cafeteria. We were almost to the doors when he said, Go on in to the cafeteria. I gotta grab something and then I'll be right with you. Too tired to question him, I went in. It was weird how deserted everything was. The lobby was lit by half the gaslights that usually blazed at this time of night.

I glanced up at a clock. It was a little past midnight. School should be going on. There should be fledglings and vamp professors all over. I wished the place was packed. I wished I could turn back time and make the past two months disappear so I could go back to worrying about Aphrodite being a mean girl and Erik being an untouchable hottie. I wanted to go back to a time when I didn't know anything about Kalona or A-ya or death and destruction. I wanted normal. I wanted it so bad I felt sick. I walked slowly into the cafeteria, which was also completely empty, and darker than the hallway had been. There were no yummy food smells, no clusters of kids gossiping about other kids, no professors giving dirty looks to kids sneaking Doritos. I stumbled over to the picnic bench?like booth I usually shared with my friends and let my knees give out, sitting heavily on the well-polished wood.

Why had Stark told me to come in here? Was he going to attempt to cook for me? For a second the vision of him with an apron tied around his waist was almost funny. Then I realized why he'd pushed me to come in here. One of the fridges in the massive school kitchen was kept filled with baggies of human blood. At that moment he was probably grabbing several bags o' blood and would bring them for me to drink like thick red juice boxes. Okay, I know it's gross, but the thought made my mouth water. Stark was right. I had to recharge, and a bag o' blood (or two) would be a good way to do that. Zo! There you are! Stark said you'd be in here. I blinked in surprise and turned to see Heath walking into the cafeteria--alone. And I suddenly understood that I'd only been partially right. Stark had gone to get me blood, but instead of it coming from the side-by-side, stainless steel kitchen refrigerators, my blood was coming from the cutie football player Heath.

Ah, hell.

Chapter Twenty-five

Awakening was difficult. Even in the wispy realm that was the boundary between the conscious and unconscious mind, even before he fully felt the pain that wracked his abused body, Rephaim was aware of her scent. At first he thought he was back in the shed and the nightmare had just begun--just after the accident when she'd come, not to kill him, but to bring him water and bind his wounds. Then he realized it was too warm for him to still be in the shed. He shifted slightly and the pain that coursed through his body brought full consciousness with it, and with consciousness came memory. He was belowground, in the tunnels she'd sent him to, and he hated it. It wasn't a hatred that bordered on paranoia, as did his father's. Rephaim simply despised the confined feeling of being beneath the earth. There was no sky above him--no green and growing world beneath him.

He couldn't soar belowground. He couldn't-- The Raven Mocker's thoughts ended abruptly. No. He wouldn't think of his permanently damaged wing and what that meant for the rest of his life. He couldn't think of that. Not yet. Not while his body was still so weak. Rephaim thought of her instead. It was an easy thing to do, surrounded by her scent as he was. He shifted again, this time being more careful of his shattered wing. With his good arm he pulled the blanket over himself and burrowed, nestlike, into the warmth of the bed. Her bed. Even underground there was an odd and illogical sense of security that came to him from being somewhere she'd called her own. He didn't understand why she had this singular effect on him. Rephaim just knew that he'd followed Stevie Rae's directions, stumbling through agony and exhaustion until he realized what he was really following was the scent of the Red One. It had led him through the winding, apparently deserted tunnels. He'd stopped at the kitchen and forced himself to eat and drink. The fledglings had left behind refrigerators filled with food. Refrigerators! That was one of the many miracles of the modern age he'd been observing for the long years he was only spirit. He'd spent what felt like an eternity watching and waiting . . . dreaming of the day he could touch and taste and truly live again.