Normally, Stevie Rae liked being outside. It seemed like she couldn’t get out enough anymore, and that she was always cooped up inside. Tonight, however, she didn’t like it one bit. There was something that spooked her about being out in the open like she was. She could visualize in her head exactly what she looked like; a small, vulnerable girl wandering in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night where nobody could hear her screams if she did. Stevie Rae cursed herself for not calling somebody to come pick her up somewhere.

Of course, she could always turn around and go back to Rephaim, but by now she’d walked far enough away that if she did turn around it’d take the same amount of time to get back to him as it would to make it the rest of the way to the House of Night. She stopped beneath a tree to think. Did she need to go to the House of Night? Heck, yeah. Did she want to go back to Rephaim? Heck, yeah! Her mind drifted a bit on her beloved Rephaim. His warmth, his smell, the way she fit right into his arms so perfectly…

Stevie Rae shook herself. There was no use thinking these thoughts. She was about to continue walking when something caught her eye. A massive black figure silhouetted by the moon slowly descended from the sky. The small blonde smiled.

“Speak of the Devil-” she began, but Stevie Rae stopped midsentence. That wasn’t him. The Raven Mocker before her wasn’t her Rephaim. It swooped down quickly, its red eyes glowing in the night. Stevie Rae got a small sense of Déjà vu from those eyes. It’d been a long, long time, but once Rephaim had looked at her like that. Like she was prey, and he was the purely evil, inhuman hunter. Fear crept down her spine, and she took a step back.

“Where do you think you are going, Red One?” His voice was etched with a beastly growl. Nothing like Rephaim’s very human voice. Pure, vile hatred just radiated off of him.

“Earth, come to me,” Stevie Rae whispered under her breath. Her element responded silently as well, crawling up her legs and wrapping around her body. It’s enriching warmth was welcomed greatly by the vampyre.

“No, you don’t!” It growled at her, swooping in and snatching her up off the ground. The kisses of her element vanished, and Stevie Rae panicked, small screams bursting through her lips. She was helpless in the Raven Mocker’s deathly grasp. They soared high into the sky, straight up as if to touch the moon. As they got further and further from her element, Stevie Rae increasingly got weaker and weaker. They were so high, she couldn’t help but think.

On her last resort, Stevie Rae began kicking the beast, clawing and biting and spitting. “Let. Me. GO!” She demanded of it. He didn’t reply. Stevie Rae held her breath. They were getting higher faster. She found herself kicking less and less fiercely the farther she got from her precious Earth.

“Put me down!” she tried again, losing her motivation. He was too strong to give in to her small resistance. Where was Rephaim’s weakness? She found herself thinking. A light bulb lit up in her head. Soon, she focused all of her energy into punching the middle of Bird-Boy’s wing while he was in mid-flap. He let out the worst caw she’d ever heard any bird or man screech, and they dropped like a boulder out of the sky. She screamed like the little girl she was.

Stevie Rae heard a nasty crack! As they hit the ground, then excruciating pain all she could think about was her neck. Pins and needles stabbed into her spine, and it felt like her entire body was ‘asleep’. For a minute she wondered if she’d fallen into a huge pit of cactuses AND porcupines. Liquid acid ran all the way through to her fingertips- and then it was all over just as suddenly as everything had just happened. Only seconds later, all the pain was gone

She couldn’t move.

Her vision was blurred and fuzzy, as well as her thoughts. She hadn’t been this scared since she first “died” in Zoey’s arms. But now, there was no Zoey to cry to. Now there was only a fast-approaching Raven Mocker out to kill her. Tears poured down her cheeks.

“I love you Rephaim,” she choked out. The Raven Mocker before her cocked its head to the side, confused by her choice of last words. Suddenly, in that second of pause, something plowed it over like a football player for a hesitant ball-holder. Or like Shawnee wished she could plow over Aphrodite sometimes. As if her words had made him appear into the night, Rephaim, her dark angel, was there. She watched as he hurled himself at his own brother, and they both fell to the ground.

He was there.

She wasn’t alone.

Stevie Rae closed her eyes.

Rephaim


The smell of her was imprinted into him now. Whatever she’d just done… he wished she would do it more often. It made him… happy.

Rephaim sat right in front of the door where she’d left him. He felt like stretching his wings. He felt like sleeping. He felt uneasy about letting her go alone.

He sat.

There was something different about tonight. Something was off. He shouldn’t have let Stevie Rae go. He should’ve kept her here in his arms. At least he could’ve gone with her halfway, even she was getting nervous about being alone; he could feel it. His heart pitter-pattered to a beat that wasn’t his. She should’ve stayed. She should’ve stayed with him forever.

Rephaim’s heart beat quickened suddenly. Fear and adrenaline leaked in through his pores and he could see it. He could see the Darkness all around him. It wasn’t his emotion, and it wasn’t what he saw. She was surrounded by it, and Stevie Rae was in danger.

A crisp, terrible scream pierced the night, followed by a quick, shattering pain. Rephaim’s entire body buckled underneath him. There was no time to waste- Stevie Rae was hurt. Badly. He found himself flinging the door open and hurling himself into the air faster than his own brain could keep up with him.

Stevie Rae was hurt.

The closer he flew, the bigger his anxiety built. There was a terrible feeling bubbling in his stomach. Something was near her… something he had encountered before in a distant past… something… something… then he saw it. His own brother standing over his Stevie Rae. How dare him.

Rephaim landed just above the Priestess’ head. He felt her pain and anguish mingle with his own conflicting thoughts. His brother cocked his head to the side. Stevie Rae spoke, “I love you, Rephaim.” Her words drove a stake through his heart. She loved him? Love? Rephaim’s fellow Raven Mocker looked him over again, and his red eyes got wide. He took another step toward Rephaim, cocking his head a little more to the side.

“Rephaim?” Rephaim did what first came into mind, and attacked his own brother, brining him down easily. “Rephaim! What are you doing, brother?” his astonished brother bantered, wrestling to gain control. “Rephaim! We thought you were dead!”

They had thought he was dead? So they hadn’t just abandoned him? Rephaim’s thoughts swirled. He could just go back with his family, where he belonged, and be welcomed as a warrior returning alive?

No.

“You lie! I called to my father and my brothers when I was hit. Why did you not come for me?” he demanded, pinning his brother.

“We were busy fighting our own battles, brother. Nobody has time for fools who get themselves shot out of the sky!” he hissed. Rephaim didn’t even remember this Raven Mocker. Back when he was in power, he would’ve just slit his throat and leave him to rot like the worthless, good-for-nothing nobody that he was. But now he just needed answers. Why would his family just leave him like that, all alone? Why did Rephaim need a stranger to show him what love was instead of his very own family?

Love.

Stevie Rae had shown him love.

Stevie Rae had just confessed her love for him. Now she lay breathing very slowly and deeply, as if she were dreaming. But she wasn’t dreaming. Her neck was all bent out of shape, and there was blood. Lots of blood. Rephaim stood up to look at his beauty, his brother close behind.

“Look at this! She brought this on herself. She will probably die now, and father will blame me for it!” his brother scoffed, and kicked her. Rephaim whirled around, grabbing the smaller Mocker by his throat.

“How dare you!” he shouted, lifting him off the ground. Pure hatred ran through his veins. He hated the ugly creature before him. He hated that he himself was an ugly creature as well. He hadn’t hated so much in a long, long time.

“What? What?!”

“How. Dare. You. Touch. Her. Like. That!”

“What do you mean?!! She’s worth nothing now! She’s half dead!” it choked.

“She. Is. My. Everything.” That was it. ‘The last straw’ as Stevie Rae would put it. Rephaim threw his brother across the opening and into a large tree, causing the entire thing to shake.

“What the?...” he yelled angrily after shaking himself. “What happened to you?!”

“She saved my life when you all weren’t around to.”

“So you have a life debt. Keep it. Fix her up. Make her better, and then we’ll hand her over to Kalona.” It said.

“No, no. I paid that debt a long time ago. Twice over.”

“So what is the issue, Rephaim?”

“The issue is I love her. She is mine, and you want to take her away from me!” Rephaim found himself screaming at the ignorant child.

“You… what? I am telling father, and we will fix this!”

“Fix what?” Rephaim glared.

“Whatever she did to you!”

“She did nothing! And do you know what I do to rats?” The weaker beast shook it’s head, frightened. “I kill them.”
He immediately took a few steps back, the fear showing in the beast’s eyes. “No, you don’t want to do this, Rephaim.”
“Of course I do.” Rephaim attacked, pinning his brother up against the tree. “You threatened my Priestess!”
“You are not talking sane! Rephaim, I will help you! Our father, he will help. You will be better and the curse this witch has put on you will be lifted. You will reign once again! Just let us help you!”
“I don’t need help now. Not anymore.” The Raven Mocker struggled underneath his grasp. Rephaim vaguely thought about what he was saying: he could go home now. He would be welcomed as a hero. He would sit at the right hand of his father once again, proudly, where he belonged. and all those inevasible, annoying feelings that Stevie Rae made him feel would evaporate.
No.
No. This beast lied to him. He used this trick before. The best just kept trying to get into his mind, make him hear what he wanted to hear. But was that really what he wanted to hear anymore?
Absolutely not, Rephaim concluded, surprising himself. He didn’t want his father or his power or his brothers. He wanted to help Stevie Rae, to make sure she was safe. Absentmindedly, he looked to her crippled form heaped on the ground a few feet away.
“You make me sick. You are no longer a Raven Mocker! You are sick! This girl has made you soft. She has made you feel. Now you are worth nothing!” his brother continued, spitting in his face. Rephaim hissed, and bore his beak deep into its neck. The thing let out a horrible screech before dropping to its knees before him.
“Who is weak now?” he said in satisfaction. “Stevie Rae?” he ran to her side once he was finished with his brother. She was still in the same position, still on her deathbed. He cursed himself for taking so long to get to her. She was his one and only priority. She was his everything.

She will probably die now; his brother’s words rang through his thoughts. He had to save her, no matter what the cost to him. It was his fault she ended up like this. He should have made her stay with him. He should have known what he was feeling; the presence of evil in the air. He should’ve kept her close.

Rephaim carefully lifted her limp body. Where could he go? Where did they know exactly what to do with a dying vampyre? He knew the answer; he just didn’t know exactly how to get her there except the completely insane, but devastatingly inevitable, way.

Rephaim had to fly her to the House of Night.