Update! I would like to announce that there will be a sequel to this. The title shall be Toxin and will be rated M for reasons this story does not contain. The rating for this story has changed to T.

Disclaimer: No warrant to House of Night series

Stevie Rae

She stopped running when she met the wall around the House of Night. Stevie Rae sucked in a breath of air as Rephaim's words repeated through her mind.

...what if I told you...

She doubled over, hands on her knees, gasping. Seconds later she was stifling her sounds hoping no one had heard her. That was the absolute last thing she needed after he... he did that. Stevie Rae could still hardly believe it. Rephaim had practically confessed to her! Never had she seen that coming much less expected it. The mere idea wasn't one she had even thought to consider.

What was she even suppose to do? She knew she had to go back to the mansion and at the very least leave something behind for him to do and food of some sort. But...

She slumped against the wall. Why was everything getting so complicated? She supposed part of it was that she was growing up. Of course normal people didn't have to worry about something other than human falling in love with them. She wondered for a moment how that would even work, a Raven Mocker and a human being together. She remembered the story of Kalona's children raping woman and shivered slightly.

He had mentioned desiring her. She bit at her lip going over his confession again and again. What about you? She thought to herself. How do you feel about it?

She wasn't sure how she felt about it but she was aware that she cared for him. Wanted him to get better, for his wing to heal, and absolutely not go back to Kalona.

A smile tugged her lips upwards. He had said he wouldn't go back to his father and... she felt happy.

A crash came from a building and her smile disappeared. Hoping know one had seen her leave she quickly climbed over the wall and dropped to the ground below. Stevie Rae crouched down and skirted around the building till she got to the door. She stood up and glanced around before recognizing it as the library. So what was that crashing sound? She reached out and grabbed the knob, pushing the door open.

Stevie Rae had to stop herself from laughing when she saw Jack on the floor amid a pile of books.

Jack had turned his head upon hearing the door open. He brightened up. "Stevie Rae!" he exclaimed and struggled up quickly to his feet. "You're doing better?"

"Yes." she assured him, stepping into the building and letting the door swing shut behind her.

"So Lenobia had a look at you?" Jack asked, then saw the confusion in her eyes. "She was suppose to stop by at three o'clock."

"Oh." Stevie Rae said as she noticed the time on the wall. "It's not quite three yet." The clock stated in a few minutes it would be though. "What are you doing here?" she asked after realizing she wouldn't get to the room before the horse master.

"Well the poem mentioned a beast so I was looking for something else in these books that might be considered an old creature that was feared by many."

"That's a good idea." Stevie Rae said and walked over to sit down on the floor. Jack sat back down with her as she picked up a book. "Mind if I help?" she asked while thumbing through the pages.

"Not at all." Jack replied smiling.

"Say," Stevie Rae spoke after a second. "would you mind saying that I was here helping you the whole time when Lenobia asks?" she questioned.

Jack glanced up from a novel who's spine was bent from age. "Um, sure." he replied, then his eyes dropped to her feet. Stevie Rae forced herself to relax as he saw her bare feet with dirt, leaves, and other bits of earth sticking to her flesh. He turned away a second later though not asking about it. She turned her attention to the words below her and they read silently.

A few more minutes passed until the doors were opened again. Lenobia walked in and let out a sigh of relief when she spotted Stevie Rae on the floor with Jack a mere foot away. "There you are." As she spoke the twins, Damien, Kramisha, and Dallas walked into the room.

Dallas was the first to reach her, he sat down beside her and gave a huge bear hug. "I thought something bad had happened to you." he told her. "Especially after hearing about that prophecy."

"Yes, don't scare us like that again." Lenobia said while the twins made kissie faces behind her. Stevie Rae felt a blush rise to her cheeks and she was aware that Dallas hadn't fully let her go. His arm was slung around her waist. Her cheeks grew warm as she remembered Rephaim's arms wrapped around her earlier, the way he had pinned her to the wall, his confession... Her skin gave a small tingle where he had touched her. "So where have you been?" Lenobia asked her.

Immediately everyone looked at her and the conflicting thoughts of Dallas and Rephaim disappeared from her mind. "Oh, I've been here helping Jack look for that creature the poem mentions."

Lenobia looked to Jack who gave a nod of his head. "She's been here for the last hour." His lie confirmed.

"Do you feel okay?" Dallas beat Lenobia to the question.

"Yeah, I feel great." she told them in truth.

"Well, that's good to hear but try not to go off by yourself again." The woman told her.

"'Kay." Stevie Rae said as Lenobia left she had to fight back a sigh of relief. Now it would be safe to go. She slipped from Dallas's arm and stood up. "Well, honestly I'm a bit tired. So I'll see you all later?" The moment she stood up she felt all eyes move to her bare feet, the dirt clung to her skin like her own guilt for all this lying. "Bye." she said and moved confidently threw the library and back outside.

When she felt the cool air against her skin and the door clicked shut behind her she breathed out slowly. She stood there for no particular reason as she tried to get over how close she had come to getting caught.

After about three minutes though she heard talking behind her. She scurried away from the door and towards a cracked window.

"Guys does Stevie Rae seem to be acting weird to any of you?" Jack's voice filtered through the window slit.

"Hell." Shaunee began.

"Yes." Erin finished.

"Why do you think so Jack?" Damien asked.

"Well, the thing is. She asked me to lie to Lenobia about her being here when I started. She was really only here a couple minutes before you all came. Plus she looked... I don't know out of the ordinary."

"You mean besides having no shoes or socks on and look like she had gone tramping in a marsh." Erin stated.

"Y-yes. There's that too." Jack said somewhat shakily.

"So what y'all are saying is that you think it's Stevie Rae that's hiding something dark and scary from you?" Dallas questioned, he sounded angry.

"Could the poem mean the creature is what is being hidden?" Jack seemed to have thought aloud.

The room broke into loud voices, arguing that her-Stevie Rae-would never do such a thing. Another agreed with Jack that it could mean that but what about the thirst then?

You.

The words came back to her, haunting. She was his thirst and so far, by his actions he wouldn't hurt his thirst. Atleast not intentionally.

She inched closer to the window as the arguing died down. She should tell them about him, what this thirst was, but he was the enemy, a child of Kalona himself. They wouldn't trust him. Hell, if she told them they may not trust her themselves. It would be thought that dark magic was being used on her to cloud her mind or better judgement. Maybe there was a magic working on her, but not at her mind, rather her heart.

She raised her fist so it laid over where blood used to be pumped continuously through her-it still did now but barely.

"Dallas, we should tell them." Kramisha said as Erin talked about going to find her. The room quieted.

"Tell us what?" Shaunee asked.

"We're not the only red vampyres." Dallas said apparently agreeing with Kramisha that it was time. "There's others in the tunnels. Stevie Rae likes to check on them, make sure they're not getting out of hand."

"You think that's where she went today?" Damien asked.

"Yes." Kramisha answered with a firm voice that said this conversation was over.

Rephaim

He had retreated to the balcony when she left. Rephaim stood there looking up at the sky as he felt her turmoil of emotions run through him. Maybe saying those things had been a mistake. Had he moved to fast? He didn't personally think so. How else did you tell someone you liked them?

You couldn't just wait and miss the chance. You had to go for it no matter if the person said yes or-that heartbreaking-no. He did have a heart to break but he wasn't worrying about it at the moment. Technically she hadn't answered and he was sure it had taken her by surprise hence her reactions. He would get the answer sooner or later. Just wait for it.

But he was somewhat worried. He recognized his feeling as something she had felt before, and it had been directed at another.

Well, I'm better than whatever fool that was, human or vampyre. He made the snide comment in his head as he felt anger boil through him for a second.

It'll be fine. He calmed himself. Just because he looked like a creature from hell didn't mean he was.

If he dared to be honest with himself him and her were essentially the same. Creatures of the night, a Raven Mocker and Red Vampyre. In a way it almost seemed natural that he should like her.

He slowly stretched his unharmed wing as these thoughts filled his head. With his one wing fully extended he started to stretch out his broken wing to try and exercise it a bit. He stopped when the pain was almost to much and folded it back against his feathered body.

A noise below drifted up from the stairs and he tore his gaze from the sky above him with it's winking stars. Was that suppose to be a sign of good luck?

Rephaim moved back into the building pausing to listen. A timid sound of steps landing softly on wood reached him.

He was almost overwhelmed to call out but remained silent not wanting to cause a mess of things.

She appeared at the top of the steps minutes later. Her short hair gave one last bounce before she stopped, presumably to stare at him. In her hand was a plastic bag and he could smell raw meat within. Slung over her should was another bag. His eyes found hers and she looked away, turning to put the bags down on a table.

He moved forward and wrapped an arm around her, pressing her back up against his chest. "Rae?"

She turned her head to look up at him, her hand coming up to rest on his own. When she smiled he gave his own version of the human feature, heart soaring. "Hey, Rephaim." she murmured.

"Did I scare you before?" he asked starting to wrap his other arm around her as well.

She snuggled into him and his feathers, breathing softly. "Shocked is all." she answered softly.

He knew he had to ask, take that dive deeper. He had to know for sure even if all the signs were pointing to it. "And how do you feel about it?"

She stiffened in his arms before relaxing once again. "I..." she turned around to look him in the eye. Her hands rose to catch both sides of his face. "I love you Rephaim." she took a shuddering breath as if she still had more to get off her chest. "I love you," she repeated. "That will never change and I won't let anything come between us. Not friends or family." Her thumb brushed the base of his cruel beak. "We will make this work." she said.

Then as if to confirm everything she had said, Stevie Rae rose up on her tiptoes and kissed his downy cheek. If he could blush he might have. "I promise." her whispered words found a way to his heart and nested there.

Rephaim held her tighter and draped his wing that wasn't damaged over her small body. "I love you Stevie Rae." he told her.

She smiled at him. "I brought you some things."

His gaze drifted to the bags as she held onto his hand, fingers entwining with his claws and led him to the table. The smell of raw and bloody meat filled the air as she opened the plastic bag.

She glanced at him. "I wasn't to sure what to get for you to eat."

Rephaim looked at the flesh now aware of just how hungry he was, but he didn't touch it yet. When Stevie Rae left he would just not while she was here. Eating raw meat even with blood was more disgusting to those not accustomed to it than just blood. Plus ripping it apart with his beak would make it to another level of predatory in the animal sense and he wasn't sure he wanted her to be a witness to that. "This is fine."

She nodded looking more relaxed and her emotions seemed to calm. Apparently she had put a lot of thought into this he concluded rather amused by it.

"Well, here is..." she pulled out a box that rattled from the contents inside when moved stopping in mid explanation. Her face had a red tinge to it, especially on the cheeks making them rosy. "It's a board game for when you get bored. The rules and game pieces are all inside." her voice gave away her nervousness as she spoke.

"It sounds interesting." he said. Rephaim had never played a game before, that is unless you counted kill-this and kill-that. So needless to say it was a bit intriguing for him.

"I have to get back before the sun rises."

He turned his head to look at her, she seemed worried about something. And why can't you stay here? He almost asked but knew the answer. If the chance to stop her from going back to the House of Night appeared he would take it. Instead he leaned toward her and let his beak lie on her soft collarbone. "You're cute."

The blush from before grew deeper when he spoke and Rephaim noted this as he watched her. "I'll be back as soon as I can." she murmured then was going down the stairs.

And I'll wait for you, Rephaim said silently.

The House of Night cast would like reviews so press the button ^.^ Thanks for reading!