Declaimer: i do not own anything from the House of Night series.

Deception

"Ah so the prodigal returns" Neferet's voice was melodic and slightly amused.

I quickly reminded my friends of their elements and sent Spirit to Aphrodite. As soon as I did I returned my attention to Neferet. Then the door down the hall from where Neferet stood opened and he stepped out of it.

Darius stopped so abruptly it felt as if he'd suddenly hit the end of a tether.

"Oh!" Shaunee breathed.

"Shiiiiiit!" Erin said on a long sigh.

"Don't look at his eyes!" I heard Aphrodite whisper. "Stare at his chest instead."

"Not a hard thing to do," Damien said softly.

"Stay strong," Darius said.

Then time seemed to suspend.

Neferet intimidated me. She was just so perfect and powerful. And looking at him made me realize how insignificant I was. Looking at him I didn't even know if he was one hundred percent evil. Kalona didn't look evil. He was wearing pants that looked like they were made of the same creamy brown deerskin real moccasins were made of. His feet were bare, and so was his chest. It sounded stupid to say it-- that he was standing there in the hall half-naked—but then it didn't feel stupid at all. It felt right. It's just that he was so incredible! His skin was completely free of any blemish and was the golden tan that white girls try but always fail to get by roasting in tanning beds. His hair was thick and black. It was long but not ridiculously Fabio long. It was kinda shaggy and had a cute wave to it. The more I looked at it, the more I could imagine running my fingers through it.

This reminded me of the plan that I'd been thinking about but kept dismissing. It was just too crazy to work.

I looked up not heeding Aphrodite's warning, I looked directly into his eyes and felt a jolt of electricity sizzle through me as his eyes widened in recognition, and that jolt seemed to zap even more of my already almost nonexistent strength. I sagged in Darius's arms, so weak I could hardly hold my head up.

"She is wounded!" Kalona's voice boomed down the hall. Even Neferet cringed. "Why is she not being tended?"

I heard the sickening sound of huge wings fluttering, and then Rephaim stepped out of the room Kalona had been in. I shivered as I realized the Raven Mocker must have flown up to the window and then crawled in from there. Isn't there any place above ground that the horrid things couldn't get to?

"Father, I ordered the warrior to take the priestess to the infirmary so that she could be properly cared for." Rephaim's unnatural voice sounded even more obscene after hearing the majesty of Kalona's.

"Oh, bullshit!" Completely shocked, I stared openmouthed at Aphrodite, who was giving the Raven Mocker her best bitchy sneer. She tossed back her thick blond hair as she continued, "Bird boy kept us out there in the freezing rain while he yammered about the Red One this and the Red One that. Darius got Zoey in here despite his help." Aphrodite air-quoted over the word "help"

There was utter silence in the hallway, and then Kalona threw his beautiful head back and laughed. "I had forgotten how amusing human women can be." With a graceful movement of his hand he gestured to Darius. "Bring the young priestess here so that she may be tended."

I could feel Darius's reluctance in the tension of his body, but he did as Kalona ordered, with my friends at his side. We reached Neferet and the infirmary door at the same time Kalona did.

"Your duty is done here, Warrior," Kalona told Darius. "Neferet and I shall attend her now." And the fallen angel opened

"My duty is not finished." Darius's voice was as tense as his body. "I have sworn to care for this young priestess, and I must stay by her side."

"Darius—" I started but was cut off by Aphrodite.

"I'm staying, too" Aphrodite said.

"And I stay." Damien sounded small and shaky, but I saw his fists were still clenched firmly by his sides.

"Us, too." Erin said, and Shaunee nodded grimly.

It was Neferet's turn to laugh. "Surely you don't think that you can stay with Zoey through my examination?" The amusement in her voice disappeared. "Stop being ridiculous! Darius take her into that room and leave her on the bed. If you insist, you may wait here in the hall for her, though by look of you, the wiser choice would be for you rest of you to eat and refresh yourself. After all, you have brought Zoey home, where she is safe, so you have completed your charge. The rest of you return to your dorms. The human part of the city might be paralyzed by the storm, but we are not humans. Life goes on for us, which means school goes on." She paused and gave Aphrodite a look so filled with hatred it twisted her face into something that was too hard and cold to keep even a tiny bit of its beauty. "But you are now a human, are you not, Aphrodite?"

"I am," Aphrodite said. Her face was pale, but she lifted her chin and met Neferet's frigid gaze.

"Then you belong out there." Neferet made a vague motion away from us.

"No, she doesn't," I said. Concentrating on Neferet had broken the spell staring at Kalona had cast over me. I barely recognized my own voice. It sounded like a whispery, weak old women, but Neferet didn't have any problem hearing me, and she turned her attention from Aphrodite to me. "Aphrodite still has visions from Nyx. She belongs here," I managed to say, even though I had to blink rapidly because gray spots kept messing up my sight.

"Visions?" Kalona's deep voice cut the air between us. This time I refused to look at him, though he was standing so close that I could feel the weird chill that came from his body. "What type of visions?"

"Warnings of future disasters," Aphrodite spoke up.

"Interesting." He drew the word out. "Neferet, my Queen, you did not tell me you had a prophetess at the House of Night." Before Neferet could speak, he continued, "Most excellent, most excellent. A prophetess a can be quite useful."

"But she is not a fledgling, nor is she a vampire, and thus she does not belong at the House of Night. So I say she should leave." Neferet's voice had an odd tone to it I didn't recognized at first, and then as I blinked more and my vision cleared enough for me to get a good look at her body language—she was all but hanging on Kalona—I realized with a shock that Neferet was actually pouting.

Then mesmerized, I watched Kalona reach out and stroke the side of Neferet's cheek, sweeping his palm along the curve of her long, smooth neck, continuing to caress her shoulder, and finally trailing off down the length of her back. Neferet trembled under his touch and her eyes dilated, as if his caress made her high.

At that my plan so to say popped into my head, I tried to get it out but this time it stayed. I listened up in time to hear Kalona say "My Queen, surely a prophetess will be some use to us." This time the 'My Queen' part made me flinch for some reason, but other than that I was still.

Still staring at him, Neferet nodded.

"You stay, little prophetess," Kalona told Aphrodite.

"Yes," she said firmly. "I do. I stay with Zoey."

Okay I'm admitting that Aphrodite was utterly surprising me. I can blame my altered mental and physical stability on the facts that I was seriously hurt and probably in shock, and hope that some of the weirdly hypnotic affect the fallen angel was having on me was because I very well might be dying. It was kinda obvious that everyone else was being affected by Kalona to at least some degree. Everyone except Aphrodite. She totally sounded like her normal bitchy self. I just didn't get, but I respected it.

"Prophetess," Kalona said. "You say you are given warning of future disasters?"

"Yes," Aphrodite said

"Tell me, what do you see in the future if we were to turn Zoey away at this moment?"

"I haven't had a vision, but I know Zoey needs to be here. She's been hurt badly." Aphrodite said
"Then let me assure you that I, too, have been known to prophesy." Kalona spoke. His voice, which had been so delicious and deep that I honestly wanted nothing more than to curl up and listen to him forever, had started to change. Subtly at first, I felt the shift in timbre. As he continued to speak to Aphrodite, my flesh began to crawl with fear. His obvious displeasure was reflected in his voice, until even Darius took a staggering step away from him. "And on my oath I tell you if you do not do as I command, this priestess will not live another night. Leave us now!"

Kalona's words crackled through my body, causing my already dizzied senses to reel. I clung to Darius's shoulders. "Just do what he says. He's right; I'm not going to last long if I don't get help."
"Give the priestess to me. I shall not ask another time." Said Kalona, spreading his arms for me again.

Aphrodite hesitated for just a moment, then she reached over and grasped my hand. "We'll be here when your better." She squeezed my hand and I suddenly felt the rush of spirit reenter my body.

Each of them did the same I wanted to object but I was too weak.

"Enough sentimentality. I'll take her now." And before I could draw another breath Kalona had taken me from Darius. Pressed against his naked chest I closed my eyes and tried to cling to the strength of the elements as I trembled at the wonderful cold heat of his body.

"I will wait here." I heard Darius say before the door closed with a sickening thud of finality, shutting my friends out and leaving me alone with my enemy, a fallen angel, and the monstrous bird creature his ancient lust had created.

Then I did something I'd only done twice before in my life. I fainted, but could you blame me being in the state I was in.

A/N okay so there it was. i think it sucks basically all it is is a Hunted chapter with a few added words. BTw telling me to post more doesn't usually work with me in fact it usually makes me work slower. i'm open to compliments i wouldn't be human if i wasn't. i think the grammars okay but if you see something i missed feel free to tell me.