A/N

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Chapter Eight: The Mayo Penthouse

Stevie Rae

Stevie Rae's eyes opened, but the scene before her was fuzzy, so she had to blink several times to clear her vision. But what she saw only confused her more.

Rephaim had his head in his hands, and his shoulders were shaking. Actually, his entire body was trembling. Automatically, Stevie Rae tried to sit up and reach over to him, ready to grab his hand and tell him everything would be alright. But a wave of nauseating pain pinned her to the bed in which she lay, and with it, a tide of memories crashed down on her. It was fuzzy and confusing and her head hurt, but she wanted answers. The last thing she remembered…Kalona…Rephaim…

"Rephaim," she croaked, her voice rough from disuse.

At the sound of his name, Rephaim's head shot up, his gaze scrambling to find hers. Their eyes locked, and the tears in his eyes made her own water. He looked so broken. But, slowly, as he realized that her eyes were open and she was finally awake, he became totally alive with excitement. Scooping her up into his arms, Rephaim just held her tightly to him. He had moved so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, and his entire body was trembling. Hugging him back, Stevie Rae was trembling too.

She was scared. She didn't know what was going on, or what had happened. But she did know that he was here, and, as long as they were together, nothing could be that bad. Stevie Rae didn't realize Rephaim had started crying again—this time tears of joy—until they had fallen onto her cheek, and it took her a moment to realize she was crying as well.

It took her another moment to realize she was in pain. It coursed through her entire body like molten lava, scorching her from the inside. She felt her face twist into a wince, and she must have made a sound because Rephaim was suddenly holding her at arm's length and looking like it was he who had caused all this pain inside her.

Maybe it was.

Quickly but carefully, Rephaim laid her back down against the soft pillows, spewing a thousand apologies. She grabbed his hand to silence him, closing her eyes and leaning back against the comfort of the bed to regain her strength and wait for the pain to pass.

Where was she? What had happened? She remembered the fear of being chased, and she remembered Kalona standing victoriously over her with Rephaim kneeling at her side when she slipped into unconsciousness…

No. Please, Goddess, no, she thought. Rephaim had tried to warn her about this. Tried to tell her what Neferet had been planning…

All her thoughts were driven out of her head. Stevie Rae recognized the feeling. She had grown quite acquainted with it back when she had first un-died. Blood lust. The terrible, undeniable thirst. Now, Stevie Rae knew she had been gravely injured; she had never felt so thirsty in her entire life.

No. Not now. She had to find out what was going on first. She needed to know where she was, and, Goddess forbid, if she needed to make an escape.

It occurred to her that he had been saying something. Unfortunately, she had been too distracted fighting back her instincts to really hear him.

"—Oh, gods, Stevie Rae, are you all right? Stevie Rae?" he asked, looking at her with far too much sadness and worry and concern.

"Huh?" she mumbled brilliantly.

"I'm sorry, Stevie Rae. I don't know what I was thinking. I know you are far too hurt—"

She cut him off. Not rudely, of course. She was just worried that if she didn't ask now she would drift off again and forget. "Rephaim, where am I?"

He didn't answer her for a moment. He just stared at her sadly, but that only made her want to shake him. She was confused and scared, and she really needed to know what was going on. She meant to tell him this, too. She really did. But when she tried to sit up, she was knocked down with a wave of pain. Rephaim scrambled to support her and gently lay her back down into the softness of the pillows.

"Rephaim—" she started, but her voice was weak.

"Shhhh," he said. "Rest for a minute. Regain some strength. Then speak."

Too tired to protest, Stevie Rae did as she was told. She closed her eyes, resting back in the comfortable bed with both of Rephaim's hands holding hers. She almost fooled herself into thinking that everything was okay, but a loud noise from another room made Rephaim jump and Stevie Rae open her eyes, wide and startled.

The noise had startled her, but what frightened her most was Rephaim's fear. It didn't take an Imprint for her to see by his wide, worried, guilty eyes and how every muscle in his body had tensed to realize he was nervous. And something—anything—that made Rephaim nervous had Stevie Rae scared to death.

"Rephaim," she whispered, squeezing his hand spasmodically, hardly trusting her voice.

Rephaim seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in. "Stevie Rae, a-qua-da-nv-do," he murmured to her gently.

"Rephaim, what happened?" she asked, but she felt as weak as her voice sounded.

Rephaim seemed to realize just how weak she was, and Stevie Rae knew what he had decided before he even said the words. "Quickly, a-qua-da-nv-do. Drink before they realize you've awakened." His tone was worried and insistent, and from the way his eyes kept darting back between her and the door, she knew he was on the verge of frustration.

After a moment, Stevie Rae asked, "Where am I?" for what felt like the hundredth time.

Rephaim kept his voice low, but there was no mistaking the urgency in his voice. "Please, Stevie Rae, drink first! You must heal! Quickly, before they come in here—"

"Rephaim, where am I?" She couldn't drink, not now. No matter how unbearably thirsty she was, she needed answers, not blood.

"I'll tell you once you're healed!" he said, barely keeping his volume under control. Before Stevie Rae could argue, before she could even manage a squeak of protest, Rephaim brought his wrist up to his mouth and slashed it with his beak.

The room filled with the scent of his blood, as did all of her senses. It was all consuming. Everything—Stevie Rae's entire world at the moment—was suddenly flooded with nothing but him. And Stevie Rae knew that her body did need to heal. She didn't know how exactly, but she had been physically and mentally weakened. She was having trouble focusing, and perhaps that is what saved her from caving into her nearly-undeniable instinct.

Mentally shaking herself, Stevie Rae mustered up all the will-power and strength and focus she had into her question, hoping, praying that this time he would listen to her. "Rephaim, what the hell is going on?"

"Please, Stevie Rae," Rephaim begged, his eyes and his voice rough with emotion. Stevie Rae could tell this was breaking him, but whether or not she was the cause she did not yet know. "Heal before they do you more harm."

He brought his wrist to her lips, and her will-power crumbled. She retreated, letting her instincts take over. She couldn't help but think how this wasn't too different from the first time she'd drank from him. Like the first time, she had been hurt badly. And even though he had her best interests in mind, he also wasn't giving her much choice, like the first time.

But then she felt a surge of power—a surge of energy. She knew Rephaim must have felt something as well from the way he pulled her into his arms, closer to him, cocooning her with his wings as he moved to lie down next to her in the softness of the pillows. But that power, that energy, whatever it was, was what made Stevie Rae realize something was seriously different between now and that time after she almost burned on the roof.

The black bull.

Stevie Rae knew her Imprint with Rephaim was strong, impossibly so. She also knew that she had been bound to his humanity after her deal with the Light bull. And she was more than willing to have this second bond with him, but she hadn't ever known just how strong it was—or how strong it could be.

She could practically feel both their Imprint and the other tie to him strengthening. She knew that, at least in terms of their Imprint, her tie to him was like a metal chain to a rope compared to other imprints. However, as she felt another surge of energy, she felt her ties with him strengthen tenfold, as if her bonds with him before had been the ropes and now they were tethered together by an invisible but unbreakable chain.

And, for some reason, she was frightened.

Quickly, she closed his wound and released her grip on his arm. Still, she was lying in the bed next to him, wrapped in the warmth and comfort of his feathers. But she could not shake the fear. Just as quickly, she unwrapped his other arm from around her and scooted out of the cocoon of his wings, forcing herself into a sitting position and running a shaky hand down her face.

"Rephaim, where am I?" she asked, glad to hear that her voice had regained its strength as well as her body. "What happened?"

"How much do you remember?" he replied.

She thought back, striving to remember. Thankfully, the blood had helped to clear her clouded mind as well as begin repairing her body, so the bits and pieces of the last night she remembered started to drift back to her.

"I-I had been talking to…to Sammy on the phone, and then you…you swooped down and told me to run!" Her voice was hesitant and questioning, but she gained confidence as she continued speaking. "And then…your daddy! He was there and started chasing me…and…and was that one of your brothers? And then you…you told me to run again, but then when I tried to call earth, Sammy started screaming through the phone and—"

"What is it?" Rephaim asked when she dropped the sentence cold. He hadn't tried to move towards her since she had moved away from him, but his body language told her he wouldn't mind having her in his arms again. "What do you remember happening next?" he prompted.

"Sammy…Ohmygoodness, Sammy!" Stevie Rae practically screamed.

"Please, Stevie Rae, keep your voice down," Rephaim said quickly, glancing at the door of the bedroom worriedly. "What about your brother?"

"He-he must be so worried!" she exclaimed, although she did keep her volume to a minimal. "He was screaming crazy through the phone 'cause hadn't hung up when I started runnin'—" Her voice caught of a sob—"and-and what if he does something really stupid now 'cause he thinks I'm in trouble?"

It was a rhetorical question, but Rephaim felt the need to respond to it. "Stevie Rae," he said, "I fear you are in trouble."

"I-I know," she said, trying to get a hold of herself. "I remember…it was like those snake-y thread things the white bull had been usin'." Rephaim nodded. He knew she spoke of the dark tendrils. "And…and I think I passed out."

"That is correct," Rephaim said. "You lost a lot of blood, Stevie Rae. I…"

"What?" she asked softly when his voice trailed off. "You what?"

"I feared that you had lost too much," he said finally. "When I had carried you back here, Father and Neferet said to put you in this room, and—"

"Rephaim?" she asked. "Where is here?"

"We are in one of the bedrooms of the penthouse," he said. With a second thought, he added, "In the Mayo building."

Stevie Rae recognized the name of the building, which she counted as a plus. Yeah, she knew that this meant she really had been kidnapped by Neferet and Kalona and, yes, by Rephaim, but at least she was still in Tulsa.

There was another loud noise coming from outside the room. Stevie Rae thought it could be a voice of some sort, but she couldn't make out any words. Maybe it was the fact that she was trying to hear through the walls, but, to her, it felt like she was trying to listen to someone talk from underwater. She knew the only real reason she could hear Rephaim was because he kept his voice low and his words clear. Well, that and he was close to her.

Shoving the noise aside, she whispered, "Rephaim, is this what you were tryin' to warn me 'bout? Ya know, when ya said that Neferet wanted to try and use me?" She already knew the answer, but she had to be sure. However, she couldn't help but notice how small and scared her voice sounded.

Rephaim nodded, and, wanting to comfort her, reached over to take her hand. She didn't mean to, but she flinched away from his grasp. His hand made a hasty retreat, and, although his expressions were hard to read, she could tell that he felt like she had slapped him. But before either of them could say anything, there was that noise again.

She recognized the sharpness of the voice. She recognized the hatred and fear and anger that swelled inside her at the sound. And, as the seconds passed, she could hear the noise getting louder and louder. And then she knew one thing:

The voice was getting closer.

A/N

Happy Mother's Day! I've been working on this chapter for a while now, and I just so happened to finish it today. Hope you guys enjoyed the update! I have this sort of plan for my future updates, and if I actually stick to them, then you guys will be seeing an update for Freedom's Heart next and then one for Camping and Drama.

~Smiley