Chapter 4: Sacrific
"I'll do it." Stevie Rae proudly said. "I'm not scared. Zoey, I'm not like you guys. There has to be a higher reason for me changing since none of the other red fledglings have. I am willing do it to save everyone else."
The whole group was in awe at the story I had just told them and what I had said would be the possibly solution. I didn't expect Stevie Rae to volunteer so easily. But now we knew what it is that we could do, but we didn't know how. If only there was a way to bait the Kalona without losing Stevie Rae.
"So we know that the A-Ya imprisioned the Kalona, but do we know how she did it?" Damien butted in. He was so smart and he really liked getting to the bottom of things.
"According to my Grandma's stories, the Wise Women of all the Cherokee tribes made her. They used their 'affinities' if you want to call it, for the earth and lured the Kalona into a deep cave where they sealed him for all of eternity. Or so they thought."
We all sat around looking at each other. Thinking. What were we going to do. Grandma told me that the A-Ya was of the earth. That the A-Ya was among us. I desperately needed Nyx's advice. We needed to ask for her support and help. But first, we needed to eat and sleep. We were all famished and tired. We were lucky that Damien and Jack had found a tunnel that lead to a 7-11. At least we had food and water. And for the red fledglings, Erik and I, we are least had blood. But where was Aphrodite and Darius? They weren't back yet, though that wasn't a total surprise.
"Starting the nerd herd pow wow without us huh?" Aphrodite exclaimed as she walked into the opening with Darius, who was carrying a few mattresses.
"BEDS!" yelled everyone. Thank the Goddess, we were so tired and I desperately needed to sleep.
"We were only able to get a few, so it looks like we're going to have to share."
"Dibs!" yelled the Twins in unison.
"Jack and I can share a bed."
Of course Aphrodite and Darius were going to share a bed, which only left Erik and I. Stevie Rae already had a mattresses which was dirty and smelled of rotten pizza like everything else down here.
"Come on Zoey, we need to sleep. You look like your about to pass out at any moment." Erik said as he placed a mattress down at the other end of the opening. He grabbed my hand and lead me to the place we'd be 'sharing'. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous to share a bed with him. Granted I knew that things were better between us. He had forgiven me for all the wrongful things I ever did to him. But I couldn't help still feeling guilty and sad. He laid down with his arm propping his head up on the edge of the bed, patting his hand on the mattress as to invite me to lay down. I laid just on the edge of the mattress as he grabbed my waist and pulled me closer to his body Wrapping me tightly in a secure hold. He whispered into my ear, "Please sleep. We're going to need you rested if we are to ever get out of this place. I promise never to leave you here alone." as he brushed my hair from my face.
I turned over and looked at him in the eyes. His beautiful, striking blue eyes. His marks framed his beautiful sculpted face. "Erik, I want you to know that I never meant to hurt you. I will try never to hurt you again."
"Haven't we been over this Zoey. Darling, its ok. Remember, I forgive you. I know you did what you had to do in order to keep us safe. Granted I wasn't expecting what happened with…well, you know who, but I'm over that. Please get past it and we can move on. Like I told you, I love you."
And with those last three words, he kissed me again. His arms holding me tightly around my waist. I could hear everyone oohing and ahhing at what just happened, but at that moment, I didn't notice or care. I wasn't going to mess this up again. I suddenly felt that this was the right path. All memories of Loren, Heath, and Stark floated right out of my mind. If we were stuck here forever, I was glad I was here with Erik. In the pitch dark tunnels under Tulsa we slept a deep slumber.
That night Nyx came to me in my dreams. In my dream, I was walking hand and hand with Erik through a Lavender meadow. This is where I saw Nyx for the first time after I was marked. She came to us. My dear u-we-tsi a-ge-hu-tsa, how wonderful to see you! But I have some grave news, we have a great battle among us. You will learn what you must do in order to give the ultimate sacrific to save not only yourselves, but the whole world. Know that I am always with you.
My dream seemed so real it felt as though Erik's hand was holding mine tighter from each word Nyx said. 'But how Nyx? I don't think I am brave enough for this. I don't know the stories very well to know what to do. Grandma said that Stevie Rae was our A-Ya. But she's my best friend! How am I to lose her again! I just can't!'
'Dear u-we-tsi a-ge-hu-tsa, the strength comes from within. You have your friends and your spiritual partner here to help you'. And as she said "spiritual partner" she looked at Erik. His eyes were wide and full of emotion. 'Deep down, you know what you have to do. Please remember that you are my chosen one. I would not place such a burden on you if I did not believe you could do it.'
And with that, she left. Erik and I were left in the lavender field alone, holding each other.
"Zoey! Zoey! Wake up!" a deep voice commanded as they were shaking me to wake up. It was Erik. He must have had the same dream as well. My eyelids fluttered open and I blinked in order to focus my vision, not like it really helped with the darkness all around us.
"Did I just dream that? Did you dream you were with Nyx and I?" His face full of worry.
"You mean, you had the same dream too?"
"Yes, we were in a field of lavender together and Nyx appeared. Has she come to you in your dreams before?"
"Yes, that's when I first saw her. When I was first marked and I ran to my Grandmothers farm. She owns a lavender farm on the outskirts of Tulsa. I fell and hit my head and Nyx appeared to me. When I woke, my mark was colored in. Its been that way ever sense."
"Well, I think she came to both of us for a reason. Do you see now Zoey? We were meant to be together. Nyx said so herself."
He was so hopeful. Unfortunately, I wasn't as much as he was. I knew what had to happen next. We had to sacrifice Stevie Rae to this demon. But I wasn't sure how we were going to do this. I was glad that he was here though. He gave me a sense of strength. We laid back down, careful not to wake anyone else with our talks. He held me even closer than before and lightly kissed my hair. He rubbed his hand up from my shoulder, down my waist to the tops of my thighs. He turned me over to face him and kissed me lightly on my lips. In just that moment the passion between us was undeniable. I put my hands on his face and kissed him passionately back flicking my tongue on his bottom lip. He moaned in my mouth and pulled me closer. Our legs intertwined in each other. Our hips moving in a oh so familiar rhythm. His hands caressed my back and held me tight. He pulled my hair away from my neck and kissed the hollow of my shoulder. Then he bit me. The surge of passion and heat overwhelmed me. I felt as though I was going to explode.
"Oh Erik!" I moaned as he continued to feed from me. My neck was arched as well as my back. My hands running through his hair holding him still as if I didn't want to let him go. He licked the spot where his fangs penetrated my neck and softly kissed my lips with the blood on his mouth. I wanted him so bad right then and there. I didn't care what we were about to face, where we were or who was around us. I wanted him to take me. Man he was so hot and I was so lucky that he wanted me. He took his nail and sliced a small cut on his chest just under his nipple and pulled me toward him. See, for adult vampires, a blood exchange is the ultimate orgasm. It was hot, passionate and sexy. I flicked his nipple with my tongue while I sucked the blood from his chest. He moaned even deeper as I continued to draw from him. He cradled my head against his chest tighter. When I got my fill I lightly licked the area he had cut and kissed his nipple lightly.
"Erik…"
"Shh, don't say anything" and he kissed me on the lips again. He started to run his hand from my thigh and up my dress. I abruptly caught his hand and stopped him.
"Erik..No! I don't want to do this here. I want to be with you like that, but I don't think given our current situation that we should really get….into it."
"True. I understand. As long as your not just pushing me away for another reason." He laughed.
"No, of course not! I'm just tired and honestly, I would rather 'be with you' in a real bed, in a place that doesn't smell like death and moldy pizza."
"HAHA, ok, that's fine. Just as long as you promise me that after we get out of here, its you, me, and a bed!"
I couldn't disagree with him. The sound of that was so appeasing I wish there was a room with candles everywhere with a nice soft bed for us to lay down on. I had to admit, I was utterly attracted to this boy. But yet again, he was the hottest guy in the entire school.
We laid back down and he pulled me towards him again. This time not to kiss me, but to make me comfortable. He laid on his back with his arm around my neck and I slept on his chest. My hand over his heart. I felt content. Now if I could only feel content on everything else.
Erik and I woke up to the rustling of bags and chatter. Obviously everyone else was up already. They must have let us sleep.
"I'm sorry if we woke you guys. You were just too cute for words!" said Shaunee as she stuffed a honeybun in her mouth.
"Ditto Twin! Hey, you guys make a great couple." Erin said giving us both a wink as she took a sip of her orange juice.
We were extremely grateful that Damien and Jack had found food. When we all took our separate ways down the tunnels, seems that they had found a 7-11. They brought back loads of drinks and food.
"Here, drink this." Erik said as he handed me a juice bottle. "I put a little bit of blood into it. That should help with your thirst."
He was so right. I drank the juice like it was going out of style. The moment I was done with it, I wanted more.
"Do we have any more…juice?"
"Did you even taste what I just gave you?"
"Um…yeah. But I'm still thirsty."
"Ok, let me see what other juices that Damien got and I'll be right back."
While Erik was out fixing my drink I got up to go talk to Stevie Rae. We had a lot to discuss. Not exactly sure how we were going to work this whole 'expelling the Kalona' thing, but we had to think of something soon.
"Hey Zoey! Did you sleep well? I'm really sorry about the smell down here. I was talking with Aphrodite last night about what we can do to fix that."
"Yeah, I slept well. Quite well actually. Anyways, besides that, I wanted to talk to you."
"Sure thing! Do you want to talk about what you guys were doing last night? I smelled the scent of blood then I saw you guys necking over there across the room and…well, I guess I pieced things together."
"That's not really what I wanted to talk about…but to answer your question, yes, we were 'necking' and he did bite me and I did feed from him as well. It was exhilarating. Anyways, back on point, I want to talk to you about the Kalona."
"Oh…." her face suddenly feel from giddy to very solemn.
"This is extremely risky Stevie Rae. Are you sure your up to this? I don't want to lose you!"
"Zoey, you need to understand, I was brought back for a reason. I became undead for a reason. I am a changed red marked vampire for a reason. If this is what Nyx had planned, then so be it. I am willing to sacrifice myself for the wellbeing of everyone else."
Right as she said that my eyes started to swell with tears. I just couldn't fathom losing my best friend again. "Stevie Rae…"
"No Zoey, I want you to listen to me. I'm serious! I'm not the Stevie Rae you knew. I'm not the best friend you used to have. Yes, I do have some humanity left in me, but I'm not the same person anymore! Your just not getting that through your head!" she screamed.
I was a bit thrown back by her reaction that it made me cry. She really just wanted me to let go. But I couldn't. Not now that I got her back. Even if there was just a little humanity left in her, she was still my Stevie Rae. But what was I to say to her? Nothing. She was right, I needed to let go and let her do what she felt she was here for.
"Ok, fine. If that's how you feel, then I won't argue with you any further. But we have to devise a plan. We can't just sit down here in the tunnels forever."
We both sat there for what seemed like eternity pondering what we could do about the current predicament we were in. What WERE we going to do?
"I have an idea.." said Damien as he walked in on our conversation with Erik who brought me my drink. "Zoey, you have an affinity for all the elements. Maybe we can 'trick' the Kalona. You have the ultimate power to condemn him once and for all right?"
"Hey, that's an idea! Great thinking Damien! But how exactly am I supposed to 'trick' the Kalona?"
"That may be tricky, but I think I have a plan. Erik, go get the rest of the group. I want to try something."
Erik walked back through the dark tunnels and headed back towards the large opening. We weren't exactly sure what Damien was thinking, but I hoped that it would work.
"Ok, whats this" Shaunee pointed out
"All about?" Erin finished.
"Seems like another nerd herd pow wow" Aphrodite answered.
Damien just took charge of the situation, "Ok, lets take our places at each point in the circle. Aphrodite, I need you to stand in the middle with Zoey. Zoey, I need you to cast a circle and invite the elements to you. This is going to be tricky, but if any of my reading has done my justice then, then maybe we might be able to invoke the original A-Ya."
"I don't exactly see how me being in the middle is going to help anything though. I have no affinities for the elements anymore remember?"
"Just shut up Aphrodite and get in place. We're going to try Damien's idea out." Stevie Rae said as she pushed her towards me.
"Did anyone pick up the candles from the last circle? Do we have a smudge stick?" I said as I looked around at everyone.
"Already taken care of" remarked Damien as he pulled out a candle for each element and even had the smudge stick we had used.
I cast the circle like I have every other time as if it was second nature. I walked over to Damien and said "Air is the thing we breath and rely on for life. Air I invite you to this circle." A rush of cool and clean air came around us like a tornado. It was refreshing as it swept all that musty and dead scents from the circle. I walked to Shaunee, "Fire warms us and is the passion in our hearts, Fire, I invite you to this circle." Just then the whole tunnel started to glow with a reddish-orange ambiance. The warmth was overwhelming and took the chill off. Standing in front on Erin, "Water is refreshing and nourishes us. Without it we could not survive. Water, I invite you to this circle." I felt the spritz of cool water against my skin and Erin looked suddenly relaxed. I walked over to Stevie Rae, who was still a bit nervous for this being her second casting after she had turned. "Earth, you are our core and you ground us. I invite you to this circle." and with that I smelled the fresh scent of Lavender and fresh cut grass. The earth started to move under my feet. I came to the middle to invite Spirit when Damien whispered to me. "Take Aphrodite's hand when you invite Spirit." Aphrodite was not a touchy feely person, especially not with her friends, if that's what she would call us now. I took her hand much to her resistance and held them up high. "Spirit, you are what fills us and raises us up. I invite you to this circle." And just then, we both felt a shiver. Aphrodite retracted her hand from mine and looked as wide eyed as a deer. I turned to look at her and in amazement, her mark, that was once gain, reappeared.
"Aphrodite! Your mark!" I started to yell at her. She touched her forehead and looked brightly at Darius who was as white as a ghost.
"Zoey, don't break your concentration. We need to ask the Earth to help us now." Damien scolded.
"Right, right." I turned to Stevie Rae, who looked paler than normal, well, normal for a red marked vampire. "Earth, we call to you for your help. In times of deep despare, we ask for your assistance."
At that very moment we all felt the earth tremble. Without even asking a great opening in the floor started to spread in the middle of the circle.
"Keep your places! Don't break the circle!" Damien yelled at all of us. We were all getting quiet scared and not sure how big this opening was going to be. The trembling stopped just as the opening reached a few inches from our feet. Aphrodite and I were standing between Damien and Stevie Rae now since we obviously couldn't stand in the middle, which was now a gapping hole that looked like it had no bottom. "GREAT! It worked!"
"What worked? Now there is just a gapping hole in the middle of a tunnel where any of us could just walk in and fall to the pits of our death." Aphrodite sarcastically said.
"Zoey, you need to enchant the hole."
I wasn't sure what Damien meant, but I knew we couldn't just have this whole in the middle of a dark tunnel so people could fall just like Aphrodite pointed out. But I had an idea. Kind of like the Wise Women and the cave they trapped the Kalona in. This was our cave.
"Earth, I call to you once again. Thank you for providing us with the means of trapping this monster that is terrorizing this planet. I call to you now to protect this hole that goes to the debts of your bowels. Protect the people who are righteous and condemn those who are villainous. Let those with purposeful souls pass over with no fear of danger. Provide us with a bridge so that we may pass safely." As suddenly as I said it, the hole seemed the disappear, but not totally gone. We all saw the outline of what was the hole. I started to step out and I planted my foot down on the ground. Stiff as rock. The ground was translucent. It was solid as if no hole was ever made, but yet you could still see the deep gaping emptiness that rested below. I suddenly had a great idea. I walked over to Damien and held his hands up above his head with his candle, "Air, I call to you once again. Blow all the bad spirits away and out of this earth. Make the damned feel your chill in the depths of the earth. Anything that tries to escape blow him back."
I walked to Shaunee, "Fire, I call you to again, burn the evil and brand them. Make a prison of fire for those we condemn."
I rushed to Erin. I could feel the power of the elements magnifying at my words, "Water, I call to you again. Wash the evil from this world and purify us once again."
I walked over to Stevie Rae, who was shaking in her cowboy boots, "Are you ok?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I just need blood. Please hurry."
"Earth, you have done such a great service for us today and I thank you. I thank you for your service and hope that you will come at our call again. You may depart."
As I released each of the elements I started to feel my spirit rise. We had a plan. Now, we needed to create the diversion to get the Kalona into the pit and trap him forever. Stevie Rae practically collapsed over with exhaustion. She needed to feed a lot more often than a regular adult vampire. "Erik, get my juice…hurry." I whispered to him. I didn't want everyone else to get worried. It wasn't that it was a big deal, she was just tired from not feeding. And knowing Damien, Jack, Shaunee and Erin, they would think that I was hiding something from them again.
"Is she ok?" Jack said
"Yeah, she's fine. Just needs to feed. You guys go ahead, we'll be right behind you."
"Ok!" Jacks face lite up and ran over to take Damien's hand.
I looked down at Stevie Rae, her eyes were going almost black from the lack of blood. Erik rushed over and got my juice he brought for me, handed it to Stevie Rae and she gulped it down in one large gulp.
"Thanks guys. That's awful nice. I'll be ok, but I need more….a lot more."
"No worries, Erik and I managed to find a tunnel that lead to a blood bank and we have tons of bags stored."
"Really?!" her face got ansey and tense all at the same time. She looked right on the verse of insanity. I think now I knew why Aphrodite might be just a tad nicer to Stevie Rae now. When we asked the Goddess Nyx to help us bring her humanity back that she lost when she became undead. That night Aphrodites affinity for Earth was given back to Stevie Rae. Since that night, she's had the red full tattoo of an adult vampire. But she was different. I was never really scared of her. She was my best friend. And I believed with all my heart and mind that no matter how bad the situation, I did not ever feel like she'd actually harm me. But tonight, this was a look I've never seen on her. It was crazed. Insane. Like a Schizophrenic on Acid. I was suddenly scared of her. I backed a way a few feet in shock almost when I finally saw her empty eyes gazing at me. I could see myself in the reflection of her black hollow eyes. I tried to make it seem like me moving so quickly was normal. I wouldn't want to set her off. "Come on, let's go get something to 'drink'." And I motioned her to follow me.
Even Erik looked a bit shocked at Stevie Rae's face. I've never seen her this way. I knew that being an adult vampire we would only feed or drink blood. We don't generally eat normal food anymore. Man that was going to suck. I'm really going to miss my Coco Puffs. I grabbed Erik's arm and pulled him forward, Stevie Rae rushing in front of us towards the big opening.
"They're in the bag by our mattress. Go get some. We'll meet you in a second." I yelled to her. I was feeling kind of scared of being around her at the second and I was kind of exhilarated by what had happened tonight. I placed a spell, well, asked the elements to kind of do me a favor. I was overwhelmed and in a way, a great first step to our plan. I was excited. Erik turned to look at me. He was terrified of Stevie Rae. He didn't know what she was or really what she could really do.
"Why'd we stop?" he asked.
I didn't even answer him. I just looked up at him in those beautiful brilliant blue eyes, grabbed his face and pulled my lips up to his. I felt his face tense in surprise and relax again to settle into my kisses. I just couldn't grasp what had happened tonight. The amazement of what I, Damien, Shaunee, Erin, and Stevie Rae conjured to do. It was amazing. I had my friends, I had my boyfriend back. Well, almost-boyfriend. He still had not officially 'asked me back out'. But I wasn't going to bring it up. I'm assuming he's my boyfriend/almost-boyfriend. All the other worries about what was going on outside didn't bother me in that moment. I didn't think about what we were going to do next. All I wanted to do was kiss him.
I ran my fingers through his hair. His silky smooth black hair. It almost had that blue sheen like Superman did in the comic books. And he was drop dead sexy. He held me in a tight embrace with one arm around my waist holding me firmly to him, while his other hand was up under my hair running his fingers around the back of my neck. If this kind of passion and lust consumed every adult vampire, I don't see why they would ever leave their beds! I certainly wouldn't if Erik Night was in my bed.
How I yearned for this whole nightmare to be over so him and I could have some real 'alone time'. He started to lightly kiss my lips, then the corner of my mouth, to the apples of my cheeks, then finally a small kiss on the top of my nose.
"We really should start heading back. Everyone is going to start getting 'ideas'."
"I guess your right…" I looked up at him and gave the poorest excuse for a sad 'puppy dog' eyes. He just laughed and headed back towards the opening pulling me along.