Chosen (31 page)

But the tattoos weren't vampyre sapphire. They were the brilliant scarlet of new blood.

“What are y'all lookin' at?” Stevie Rae said.

“H-here,” Erin fumbled with her ever-present purse and pulled out a makeup mirror, handing it to Stevie Rae.

“Ohmygood
ness!
” Stevie Rae drawled. “What does it mean?”

“It means you're healed. You've Changed. But what you've Changed into is a new kind of vampyre,” Aphrodite said, struggling to sit up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Holy shit!” Shaunee squeaked and stumbled back, clutching onto Erin's arm to keep from falling over.

“You were dead!” Erin said.

“I don't think I was,” Aphrodite said, rubbing her forehead with one hand and gingerly touching the bite mark on her neck with the other. “Ouch! Dammit, I hurt all over.”

“I'm really
really
sorry, Aphrodite,” Stevie Rae said. “I mean, I don't like you, but I sure wouldn't bite you. Or at least not now I wouldn't.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Aphrodite said. “Don't worry about it. It was all part of Nyx's plan, as painful and inconvenient as that might be.” She winced again at the pain in her neck. “God, does anyone have a Band-Aid?”

“I have some tissue in here somewhere. Hang on and I'll see if I can find it,” Erin said, digging through her purse again.

“Try to find a clean one for her, Twin. Aphrodite has enough stress to deal with without a nasty infection.”

“Gee, that's so damn nice of you two,” Aphrodite said. She
glanced up at the Twins with a half smile on her face, and I got my first good look at her.

My stomach dropped down somewhere around my ankles.

“It's gone!” I gasped.

“Oh shit! Zoey's right,” Damien said, staring at Aphrodite.

“What?” Aphrodite said. “What's gone?”

“Ah-oh,” Shaunee said.

“Yep, it is gone,” Erin said as she handed Aphrodite some tissue.

“What in the hell are you guys babbling about now?” Aphrodite said.

“Here. Use this.” Stevie Rae passed the mirror to her. “Look at your face.”

Aphrodite sighed, clearly irritated. “Okay, I know I look like complete shit. Hello! Stevie Rae just bit me. Here's a news flash: Not even I can look perfect all the time, especially when—” As soon as she focused on the mirror and got a look at the reflection of her face, Aphrodite's words ended like someone had pushed her
STOP TALKING
button. With a trembling hand she reached up to touch the spot in the middle of her forehead where Nyx's Mark had been. “It's gone.” Her voice was a hoarse whisper. “How can it be gone?”

“I've never, ever heard of anything like this happening. Not in any book—not anywhere,” Damien said. “Once you're Marked you can't just get un-Marked.”

“It's how Stevie Rae was healed.” Aphrodite sounded dazed, and she kept touching the empty spot in the middle of her forehead. “Nyx took it from me and gave it to Stevie Rae.” A horrible shudder passed through Aphrodite's body. “And now I'm nothing
but a human again.” She scrambled to her feet, dropping the mirror. “I have to leave. I don't belong here anymore.” She started backing woodenly toward the open trapdoor, eyes wide and glassy.

“Wait, Aphrodite,” I said, starting after her. “Maybe you're not human again. Maybe this is something weird that will go away in a day or two, and your Mark will come back.”

“No! My Mark is gone. I know it. Just—just leave me alone!” She ran through the door sobbing.

The instant Aphrodite passed through the perimeter of the school wall the air rippled and there was a distinctive cracking noise like something big had been dropped and broken.

Stevie Rae grabbed my arm. “You stay here. I'll go after her.”

“But you—”

“No, I'm okay now.” Stevie Rae smiled her sweet, full-of-life smile at me. “You fixed me, Z. Don't worry. I caused this to happen to Aphrodite. I'll find her and make sure she's okay. Then I'll get back to you.”

I heard noises in the distance, like something big was moving quickly our way.

“It's the warriors. They know the school's been breached.” Damien said.

“Go!” I told Stevie Rae. “I'll call you.” Then I added. “I
won't
text message you. Ever. So if you get a text message it will
not
be from me.”

“Okey-dokey-smokey, I'll remember,” Stevie Rae said and then grinned at the four of us. “See ya'll soon!” She ducked through the door, closing it after her. I noticed that the perimeter warning didn't so much as ripple when she passed and wondered briefly what the hell that meant.

“So what are we doing out here?” Damien asked.

“We're here because Erik dumped Zoey,” Shaunee said.

“Yeah, she's upset,” Erin said.

“Don't tell them about Aphrodite or Stevie Rae,” I said.

My friends looked at me like I'd just said
maybe we shouldn't tell our parents about that little beer-drinking episode.

“No shit?” Shaunee said sarcastically.

“We were just gonna spill our guts,” Erin said.

“Yeah, because we can't be trusted to keep secrets,” Damien said.

Well, crap. They were definitely still mad at me.

“So who do we say broke the barrier?” Damien asked. I noticed he didn't even look at me, but addressed the question only to the Twins.

“Aphrodite, who else?” Erin said.

Before I could protest, Shaunee added, “Yeah, we won't say anything about the disappearing act her Mark played. We'll just say she came out here with us and got annoyed at all of Zoey's blubbering.”

“And self-pity,” Erin added.

“And lies. So she took off. As per typical for Aphrodite,” Damien finished.

“She might get in trouble,” I said.

“Yeah, well, consequence is a bitch,” Shaunee said.

“A bitch who is clearly following some people pretty closely,” Erin said, giving me a sharp look.

Just then several warriors, led by Darius, burst into our clearing. With their weapons drawn they looked scary as hell and ready to kick some serious butt (potentially ours).

“Who broke the perimeter?” Darius practically barked the question.

“Aphrodite!” The four of us said together.

Darius made a quick gesture at two of the warriors. “Find her,” he said. Then back to us, “The High Priestess has called an assembly of the school. You are needed in the auditorium. I will escort you there.”

Meekly, we followed Darius. I tried to catch Damien's eye, but he wouldn't look at me. Neither would the Twins. It was like I was walking with strangers. Worse, actually. Strangers might at least smile and say hi. There was definitely no smiling or hi-ing going on with my friends.

We'd only gone just a couple of steps when the first of the pains hit me. It was like someone was driving an invisible knife into my stomach. I was sure I was going to be sick, and I doubled over, groaning.

“Zoey? What's wrong?” Damien said.

“I don't know. I—” I stopped being able to speak, and at the same time everything around me got ultrafocused. The pain in my stomach seemed to mushroom, and I knew the warriors were surrounding me, even as I reached out and grabbed hold of Damien's hand. Even though I knew he was still pissed, he hung on tight to me, and I could hear him telling me that everything was going to be okay.

Pain speared from my stomach to my heart. Was I dying? I wasn't coughing up blood. Could I be having a heart attack? It was like I had been thrust into someone else's nightmare where I was being tortured by invisible knives and unseen hands.

The searing pain that suddenly spiked through my neck was
too much, and everything started to go black around the edges of my vision. I knew I was falling, but the pain was unbearable. There was nothing I could do . . . I was dying . . .

Strong hands caught and lifted me, and I was vaguely aware that Darius was carrying me.

Then there was a terrible wrenching inside me. I screamed over and over again. It felt like my heart was being ripped from my living body. Just when I knew I couldn't stand any more, it stopped. As abruptly as the pain had started, it went away, leaving me panting and sweating, but perfectly fine.

“Wait. Stop. I'm okay,” I said.

“My lady, you have been in terrible pain and you must be taken to the infirmary,” Darius said.

“Okay. No.” I was glad to hear my voice was completely back to normal. I thumped on Darius's overmuscled shoulder. “Put me down. I mean it. I'm fine.”

Reluctantly, Darius stopped and put me gently on my feet. I felt like a science experiment as the Twins, Damien, and the other warriors all gawked at me.

“I am fine,” I said sternly. “I don't know what happened, but it's over now. Really.”

“You should go to the infirmary. After the High Priestess is finished with her speech she will be there to check you out,” Darius said.

“No. Absolutely not,” I said. “She's busy. She doesn't need to worry about a weird cramp or whatever that made my . . . uh . . . stomach hurt.”

Darius didn't look convinced.

I lifted my chin and swallowed every last bit of my pride. “I have gas. A lot of it. Ask my friends.”

Darius turned to the Twins and Damien.

“Yep, she's one gassy girl,” Shaunee said.

“Miss Smelly, that's what we call her,” Erin said.

“She really is extraordinarily flatulent,” Damien added.

Okay, I realized that the troops hadn't rallied around me because all was forgiven and we were best buds again. They had simply grabbed an excellent opportunity to embarrass me.

God, I had a terrible headache.

“Gas, my lady?” Darius said, his lips twitching.

I shrugged and had no trouble at all blushing. “Gas,” I confirmed. “Can we just go to the auditorium? I'm feeling much better.”

“As you wish, my lady.” Darius saluted me.

We all changed direction and started to the auditorium again.

“What was that all about?” Damien whispered, coming up beside me.

“I have no clue,” I whispered back.

“No clue,” Shaunee said quietly.

“Or you know but won't tell us,” Erin murmured.

I couldn't say anything. I just shook my head sadly. I'd caused this. Yeah, I'd had good reasons, at least for some of it. But the truth was that I'd been lying to my friends for way too long.

Like Shaunee had said, consequence was a bitch, and like Erin had observed, she was definitely following me around. No one spoke to me the rest of the way to the auditorium. As we walked through the front door, Jack joined us. He wouldn't even look at
me. We all sat together, but no one talked to me. No one at all. The Twins chattered with each other as usual, clearly scoping the room for T. J. and Cole, who actually saw them first and rushed over to sit beside them. The flirting that ensued was almost gross enough to make me swear off dating forever. As if I had a choice.

I had been lagging behind everyone, so I was sitting in the last seat in the rear row. Damien was in front of me with the rest of the gang. I could hear him whispering to Jack and catching him up on what had happened with Aphrodite and Stevie Rae. Neither of them said anything to me, or even turned around to look at me.

Everyone was getting really restless, and it seemed like we'd been waiting forever. I wondered what the hell Neferet was up to. I mean, she'd called this big meeting. Practically the whole darn school was there even though I felt incredibly, miserably alone. I looked around to see if Erik was glaring at me from somewhere in the room, but I didn't see him anywhere. I did see poor little Ian Bowser, who was sitting in the front row, red-eyed and looking like he'd just lost his best friend. I definitely knew how he felt.

Finally there was a murmur in the crowd and Neferet entered the auditorium. She was followed by several of the senior professors, including Dragon Lankford and Lenobia; ringed by Sons of Erebus she made her way regally to the stage. Everyone got all silent and attentive.

She didn't waste time, but got right to the point. “We have long lived in peace with humans, though they have insulted and ostracized us for decades. They envy our talent and our beauty—our wealth and our power. And their envy has been steadily growing into hatred. Now that hatred has shifted to violence perpetrated
against us by people who call themselves
religious
and
righteous.
” Her laughter was cold and beautiful. “What an abomination.”

I had to admit that she was incredibly good. She had the crowd mesmerized. Had she not been a High Priestess she could have definitely been one of the lead actresses of the age.

“It is true that there are many more humans than vampyres, and because of our smaller numbers they underestimate us. But I promise you this: If they murder just one more of our sisters or brothers, I will declare a state of war against them.” She had to wait until the warriors' cheers quieted before she could continue, but she didn't seem to mind. “It will not be an outright war, but it will be deadly and—”

The doors to the auditorium were flung open as Darius and two other warriors rushed into the room, interrupting Neferet. With the rest of us, she silently watched the grim-faced vampyre men approach her. I thought Darius looked weird. Not pale, but plastic. Like his face had turned into a living mask.

Neferet stepped away from the microphone and leaned down so that he could whisper to her the news. When he was finished she stood up very straight, almost as if she was holding herself so rigid because she was in terrible pain. Then she swayed and clutched her throat with one hand. Dragon stepped up beside her to steady her, but the priestess shook off his help. Slowly she returned to the microphone and in a voice like death she said, “The body of Loren Blake, our beloved Vampyre Poet Laureate, has just been found nailed to our front gate.”