"He will be if he wants to be with a High Priestess. All vampyres know that."

"Well, Dallas isn't a vampyre yet, so it might be a little much to ask of him. And here's the truth - I know it'll hurt his feelings, and I don't want to do that."

Kramisha nodded. "I can tell you don't, but I think you makin' too much of this. Dallas will have to learn to deal. What you need to figure out is if this human guy is worth it."

"I know that, Kramisha. That's what I'm tryin' to do. So, bye. I'll see you at the House of Night in a little while." Stevie Rae started to walk quickly toward the Bug.

"Hey!" Kramisha called after her. "He ain't black, is he?"

Thinking of Rephaim's night-colored wings Stevie Rae paused and looked over her shoulder at Kramisha. "What difference does his color make?"

"It make a lot of difference if you're ashamed of him," she shot back.

"Kramisha, that's just silly. No. He's not black. And, no, I wouldn't be ashamed of him if he was. Jeeze.

Bye. Again."

"Just checkin'."

"Just soundin' crazy," Stevie Rae muttered as she turned back to the parking lot.

"I heard that," Kramisha said.

"Good!" Stevie Rae yelled. She got into Zoey's Bug and headed toward the Gilcrease Museum, talking to herself out loud. "No, Kramisha, he's not black. He's a killer bird with evil for his daddy, and it's not just white folks and black folks who would be pissed at me bein' with him - it's all folks!" And then, completely surprising herself, Stevie Rae started to laugh.

Chapter Eighteen

Rephaim

When Rephaim opened his eyes, he saw Stevie Rae squatting in front of his closet nest, studying him so intently that there was a deep furrow on her brow between her eyes, making her red crescent tattoo look oddly wavy. Her blond curls spilled around her face, and she seemed so girl-like that he was suddenly taken aback by remembering how young she really was. And, no matter the vastness of her elemental powers, how vulnerable her youth made her. The thought of her vulnerability had fear knifing his heart.

"Hey there. You awake?" she said.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked in a purposefully gruff voice, annoyed that just the sight of her could make him worry about her safety.

"Well, I'm tryin' to figure out how close you've come to dyin' this time."

"My father's an immortal. I'm hard to kill." He made himself sit up without grimacing.

"Yeah, I know about your daddy and your immortal blood and all, but Darkness fed from you. A lot.

That can't be good. Plus, to be honest, you look really bad."

"You don't," he said. "And Darkness fed from you, too."

"I'm not as hurt as you because you swooped in like Batman and saved the day before that dang nasty bull could mess me up too much. Then I got a shot in the arm from Light, which was totally cool, by the way. And that immortal blood of yours is like the Energizer Bunny inside me."

"I am not a bat," was all he could think to say, as that was the only thing she'd said he vaguely understood.

"I didn't compare you to a bat, I said you were like Batman. He's a superhero."

"I'm not a hero, either."

"Well, you've been my hero. Twice."

Rephaim didn't know what to say to that. All he knew was that Stevie Rae calling him her hero made something twist deep inside him, and that something suddenly made the pain in his body and his worry for her easier to bear.

"So, come on. Let's see if I can return the favor. Again." She stood and held her hand out to him.

"I don't think I could eat right now. Some water would be good, though. I drank all that we'd brought up here before."

"I'm not takin' you to the kitchen. At least not this second. I'm takin' you outside. To the trees. Well, okay, to that really big tree by the old gazebo in the front yard to be specific."

"Why?"

"I already told you. You helped me. I think I can help you, but I gotta be closer to the earth than we are up here, and I've been thinkin' 'bout it, and I know trees have major power in them. I've kinda used it before. Actually, that may have been part of the reason I was able to call up that thing ." She shuddered, clearly remembering her invocation of Darkness, which Rephaim completely understood. Had his body not ached so badly, he would have shuddered, too.

But his body did ache. More than that. His blood felt too hot. With every beat of his heart, searing pain pumped through him, and at the spot where his wings met his spine, where the bull of Darkness had fed from him, violated him, his back was blazing agony.