I'd never seen anyone look as pale as Stevie Rae--anyone who was still alive, that is. Her eyes were squeezed tight shut, but red-tinged tears made horrible tracks down her cheeks, the slight pink in stark contrast to her almost transparent colorless skin.

"Stevie Rae? Are you okay?" I could see her chest rising and falling, but she hadn't opened her eyes and she wasn't making any noise.

"I'm...still...here." She whispered the words with long pauses between them. "But...kinda...floating...above...y'all."

"She's not bleeding," Aphrodite said in a low voice.

"She has nothing left to bleed," Darius said as he taped the gauze to her chest.

"The arrow missed her heart," I said. "Its purpose wasn't to kill her. It was to bleed her."

"We are lucky, indeed, that the fledgling missed his mark," Darius said.

His words still went round and round inside my head because I knew what none of the rest of them did, that it was impossible for Stark to miss his mark. His gift from Nyx had been that his aim was always true, that he always hit what ever it was he aimed at, even if that sometimes had horrible consequences. Our Goddess had told me he 3 rself that once she gave a gift, she never took it back, so even though Stark had died and then come back as a twisted version of himself, he still would have hit her heart and killed Stevie Rae if that had been his intention. So did that mean there was more of Stark's humanity left than there had seemed to be? He'd called my name; he'd recognized me. I'd shivered, reliving the chemistry that had sparked between us right before he died.

"Priestess? Did you not hear me?" Darius and Aphrodite had been staring at me.

"Oh, sorry. Sorry. I was distracted by..." I hadn't wanted to explain that I was thinking about the guy who had almost killed my best friend. I still didn't want to explain that.

"Priestess, I was saying, if Stevie Rae doesn't get blood, this wound, though it missed her heart, could very well be the death of her." The warrior shook his head while he examined Stevie Rae. "Though I cannot tell you for sure that she will heal. She is a new kind of vampyre and I do not know how her body will react, but were she one of my brother warriors, I would be very concerned."

I had drawn a deep breath and readied myself before saying, "Okay. Well. Forget waiting for the Twins and their bloodmobile. Bite me," I told Stevie Rae.

Her eyes fluttered open and she somehow managed the hint of a smile. "Human blood, Z," she said before closing her eyes again.

"She's probably right. Human blood always has a more powerful effect on us than fledgling or even vampyre blood," Darius said.

"Well, then, I'll run and get the Twins," I said, even though I hadn't had any real idea where I would be running to.

"Fresh blood would work better than that bland, refrigerated stuff," Darius said.

He hadn't so much as glanced at Aphrodite, but she definitely got the message. "Oh, for crap's sake! I'm supposed to let her bite me? Again!"

I blinked, not sure what to say. Thankfully, Darius came to the rescue.

"Ask yourself what your Goddess would have you do," he said.

"Well, shit! This being one of the good guys really, really sucks. Literally." She sighed, stood up, and pushed back a sleeve of her black velvet dress. Holding her wrist in front of Stevie Rae's face, she said, "Fine. Go ahead. Bite me. But you owe me big-time. Again. And I do not know why I'm the one who keeps saving your life. I mean, I don't even--" Her words were choked off with a little yip of yikes!

It's still kinda disconcerting to think about what happened next. When Stevie Rae grabbed Aphrodite's arm I saw her entire expression change. She instantly went from my sweet BFF to a feral stranger. Her eyes glowed a nasty dark red, and with a scary hiss she bit the crap out of Aphrodite's wrist.

Then Aphrodite's yikes turned into a disturbingly sensual moan and her eyes closed as Stevie Rae's mouth latched on to her, breaking the skin easily and causing the hot, pulsing blood to flow as my best friend greedily sucked and swallowed like a predator.

Okay, yes. *W IIt was disturbing and nasty, but it was also weirdly erotic. I know it felt good--it had to. That's how vampyres are made. Even being bit by a fledgling will cause the bitee (a human) and the biter (a fledgling) both to experience a very real jolt of intense sexual plea sure. It's how we survive. The old myths about vamps ripping open throats and taking victims by force is pretty much bullpoop--well, unless someone pisses off a vamp pretty badly. And then, even though his or her throat is being ripped out, the bitee would probably like it.