Lured
Chapter Two
Chaos, Confusion, and Shock
After opening the door to my apartment, I was almost blown away by the powerful aroma of lavender that wafted from the room. I was about to go on a tour of the rooms, but a pair of arms wrapped around my waist and picked me up bridal style.
I beamed up at Stark, "Thank you my strong warrior."
He just smiled back. Before I knew it, I was being dropped on a large, comfortable bed. I ran my hands over the soft silk and laid back.
"I figured you could appreciate it in the morning," Stark said while taking my shoes off. I nodded, a little dazed and continued running my hands over the fabric.
My eyes closed, sleep finally creeping its way up over me. I had been through a lot today. The strenuous activities of the day/night had really taken it's toll and now sleep was all I wanted.
I could tell dawn was approaching from the lightening of the sky. Stark did too. He went over and drew the black out curtains tightly shut.
With a yawn, I climbed further up in bed. "Do you want something comfier?" Stark asked, stripping his shirt off. I felt a light blush appear on my cheeks when Stark caught me staring. What? I couldn't help it if he had a nice body. It was hard not to stare.
Then I remembered he had asked me something. I shook my head and just kicked my jeans off. This time it was his turn to blush and look away. I laughed lightly as he jumped in bed next to me, his jeans somehow missing without my noticing.
He pulled the covers up and we crawled in. Like it was the most normal thing in the world, I rolled to my side with my back to him and his arm wrapped around my waist, drawing me close.
"Goodnight my Priestess."
"Goodnight."
---
"Should we wake the lovebirds?" A familiar voice squeaked.
Erin? What was she doing in my dream?
"Nah, they look so darn cute together." Another familiar voice twanged.
Stevie Rae? What was going on?
"Please, I don't mind waking them up. This lovey-dovey stuff is going to make me gag." Another one said with annoyance.
Aphrodite? What the-?
My eyes opened reluctantly. I was still drained, so therefore, I did not want to wake up. And who all was here was in danger of getting blasted with the elements for waking me up.
"Nice going hag!" Shaunee exclaimed from somewhere to my right.
"You woke them up!" Her twin finished the complaint.
I could just imagine Aphrodite rolling her eyes dramatically. I stretched, yawning with it. Stark mumbled his own complaint and rolled over.
Yep, I was mad.
"Z, put the ball of fire away…" Damien said warily.
Good, they should be afraid. I laughed and closed my hand, my eyes opening fully.
"Alright, so who's idea was it to wake me up at the butt-crack of dusk?"
"Lenobia sent us to get you. It's time to start planning," Jack answered me quietly from besides Damien across the room.
I smiled at him softly, then poked Stark to wake up. He groaned and rolled over. I noticed, with the light on, that his chest was deeply bruised. I frowned and touched it with my palm and asked Spirit to come to me. The element came and filled my body, a smile crept across my face as it made everything feel… right. I asked it silently to help Stark heal. The element obeyed and drifted through my palm to his injured chest.
He startled awake and gasped, "Whoa. What was that?"
I rolled my eyes and grinned in response.
"Awe," Jack and Stevie Rae gushed. My mouth quirked.
I sighed. "Well, I have to get dressed. I'll see you at the cafeteria in half an hour."
They nodded and filed out. I jumped out of bed, knowing I wouldn't get up if I didn't, then headed for the bathroom. I nearly died when I opened the door.
It was beautiful. Marble flooring, cream color palette, a large shower that totally beat Aphrodite's, and one of those vintage, stand-alone bathtubs. I squealed like a little girl and ran over to the bath where purple lavender candles filled the edges. When I had time to, I was going to make a nice bubble bath and just relax in here. But not today. Nope, I had High Priestess stuff to do.
The thought hit me like a ton of bricks and I doubled over in the shower a few minutes later, water pelting my back. Stark must have felt my distress because there was a knock on the door.
"Priestess, are you alright?"
I gulped down the shock of my new duties and nodded, even though he couldn't see me. "Yeah, just a little shell-shocked is all," I called out, hoping my voice reassured him more than it did me. Of course I was telling the truth, but not the whole truth.
"Okay, I'm going to go take a shower in the dorms," Stark announced.
"'Kay."
I sighed and leaned against a wall, water hitting me from three different directions. It was nice to just sit back and think. With so many thoughts running through my head, peace and quiet was very much welcomed.
The first thought that swam through my mind was that I was, according to Lenobia, the temporary High Priestess of this House of Night in Tulsa. The responsibilities that come with that name alone blew my mind.
The second, more important, was that Kalona was banished, not defeated. He was out there somewhere regrouping and getting stronger, making his plan perfect.
That just meant we were going to have to be ready. Ready for anything.
---
A bang on the door startled me. "Coming!" I yelled and threw on the first jacket I found in my huge new closet.
It was surprising when I looked through it and found a whole lot of clothes with the High Priestess insignia and my size.
Aphrodite was waiting for me when I opened the door.
"Bout time. I swear you are slower than the twins while going through a sale rack in Vuitton."
I roll my eyes as we jog down the stairs. Glancing at my feet, I was glad I had picked out flats. When we reached the door, I noticed that it was getting warmer outside. The clouds were dispersing and I could just make out a half moon. I smiled up at the sky and my step picked up. I had a lot to do, I could enjoy the night later.
"There you are," Damien sighed in relief when we walked into the cafeteria. The gang was gathered around our table and with plates of breakfast. My tummy growled.
With a nod at them, I made my way over to the food bar and made me a bowl of Chocula and grabbed a brown pop.
Shaunee sniggered, "Typical," when I sat down at the table. I rolled my eyes and dug in.
"So what's the plans today?" I asked after I swallowed two good mouthfuls.
The table was silent as they considered. Then Stevie Rae spoke up, "Lenobia wants to speak with the council and then decide what to do from there."
I nodded and took a sip of brown pop. That was what I was expecting. "Did anyone have any bad dreams last night?" I inquired after a minute of silence.
There were a few glances around the table, but everyone shook their heads.
"Good," I sighed and sat back, my bowl empty. "We might as well get a move on it," I said as I stood.
Erin and Shaunee got up as well and sauntered out, Damien and Jack right behind them. Stark came over to my side and I glanced at Erik. He was still sitting, his knuckles white on his fork that was hovering over an untouched plate of eggs. My mouth twitched with a frown. Stark pulled on my elbow and we started walking out.
Darius whispered something to Aphrodite who giggled like a little school girl. I smiled to myself and was glad she found someone to make her happy. At least he makes her a tad nicer.
We reached the High Priestess' office and knocked. Lenobia called for us to come in. We followed into the room single file and took our seats around a table that had been set up for the occasion. Lenobia took one end while I took the other. Dragon, Anastasia, and Penthesilia were sitting around the table. Dragon had a few cuts and bruises but Anastasia surprised me with an arm in a cast and a long scar of stitches that ran down the left side of her face. She must have put up a good fight. I gave her a thankful smile, which she returned. As I was sitting down, it took all of my willpower not to glare at Professor P who was so easy to succumb to the allure of Kalona and his false story. But I ignored the urge and nodded for Lenobia to begin.
Lenobia cleared her throat and all eyes were on her. Her long, golden hair was pulled back into it's usual ponytail, a familiar comfort for looking at her since everything else about her was tired and strained. Looking at her eyes I could tell she was up to her knees in stress.
I instantly felt guilty. Last night I had went straight to bed when I should have stayed up and helped her with the mess of a campus the Raven Mockers had left behind during their wake. Lenobia noticed my expression and smiled softly, looking surprisingly younger with just that one quirk of her lips.
"Now," she began with a calm voice. "What happened at the Abbey?"
Getting the drift she was talking to me, I answered, "We banished Kalona, the Raven Mockers, and Neferet from Tulsa. Oklahoma hopefully."
The professors, apart from Professor P, all seemed to relax as a whole. Lenobia sighed, "Thank the Goddess."
It was my turn to pipe up. "What happened here?"
Lenobia frowned momentarily. "Those Raven Mockers put up a good fight. Anastasia almost died when snuck up behind her. Luckily Dragon jumped in the way and killed it before it could do more damage… They started attacking fledglings who were trying to help fight-"
"Whoa," I cut her off. "Students fought too?"
That got a real smile out of Lenobia, "Yes. I'm glad to say they did."
I was bewildered. When I stayed here during Kalona's brief reign, it seemed as though all the fledglings were under his spell and Neferet's lie.
Lenobia continued, "Anyways, we drove them off. Either that or it was your banishing that sent them squawking away." She laughed softly. My lips curved into a smile.
"So," Aphrodite spoke up. "What are we going to do now?"
"Contact the High Council for starters," Lenobia interjected. Everyone agreed to this seeing they could help the most.
"We should inform the school," Damien added. Jack nodded in agreement with this next to him.
That meant I would have to give a speech. Confront a entire student population that probably hates me. Tell them everything they thought was right was wrong. Ah hell.
---
Well, here I was. Standing on the stage in the auditorium. How did I get here? Oh yeah, that's right. Damien just had to open his big mouth and land me here. I was muttering profanities when Stark walked over.
"A Priestess shouldn't curse," he tisked jokingly. I rolled my eyes in response. "Oh, c'mon Z. You need to just breath…"
My eyes closed as he started rubbing my shoulders. It felt amazing and it calmed me way down. A throat cleared and the hands on my back stilled before squeezing and letting go. Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and almost wanted to shut them again as if by blinking they would go away.
"Stark." He nodded to him then he turned to me. "Zoey."
"Erik." I spat back.
An eyebrow arched on his angelic face. "Now, now Zoey. No need to be hostile. I was just going to tell you to break a leg." He smirked and stalked off.
Okay, if he so badly wanted to get back together, then why the hell was he acting like this?
Stark probably 'felt' my mood and wrapped his arms around me in a hug. I wound my arms around his waist and just relaxed into his chest. He was my rock through all this. Someone I could count on, hopefully for a long time. I really am falling for this guy, I realized after a few minutes of just peacefulness.
Of course, nothing that pleasant lasts forever. As if on cue, Lenobia chose that moment to inform me it was time. I heard the fledglings entering the auditorium and taking their seats. Their conversations flowing through the curtains and onto the stage. I heard their eagerness to discover why Nyx and more importantly, Erebus reborn were missing on the campus. I sighed and stepped from Stark's comforting hold.
"You can't protect me from everything," I answered his sad expression.
Stark grimaced, "I know. But I'll try my best to keep you safe Priestess." With that, he stepped into the shadows of the backstage and disappeared. That was every warrior's worst fear. Not being able to protect their Priestess. I frowned and prepared for the curtains to open up. Lenobia was going to brief the students and then I was to go into full detail of the events from the past few days.
The curtains opened and a light found Lenobia at a podium. "Good evening fledglings," though she looked a little drained, Lenobia stood with an air of confidence and she appeared to be very calm. I envied her for her easiness in front of a crowd. Well, it wasn't really the crowd that was frightening me, it was that I would have to go to class with them later and they would all hate me.
"Tonight," Lenobia continued, "we have called you here to inform you of a great tragedy that has befell the campus. You see, you have all been under a spell to say the least. Who you thought was Erebus is actually a fallen angel."
The crowd erupted into chatter of disbelief. Lenobia silenced them with her next comment, "He is an evil immortal out to cause destruction and those Raven Mockers that follow him around like an guards are his abomination of sons!"
She cleared her throat and continued on, "Zoey Redbird, who will be our temporary High Priestess," to this the fledglings lost control of themselves and broke out in yells of protest. Lenobia had to shout to quiet them, "SILENCE!" She took a breath to calm herself, but her face was stern and she didn't look happy. "You will respect her. She has been trying to tell you all how evil this fallen angel is, but no one listened. It is she who you owe your lives to for if she and her friends hadn't banished them from Tulsa we all may be dead!"
The audience was silent and I felt like I had shrunken as far as I could to not be noticed, though that was a futile attempt seeing how there was a dim spotlight on me. Lovely.
"Now," Lenobia spoke again, this time in a much calmer tone. "She is going to speak to you and explain further. I want to see full respect while she is speaking." Lenobia looked back at me and swallowed. Hard. She smiled reassuringly and I nodded and took her spot at the podium.
I looked out at the audience, well, what I could see through the contrast of the light on stage to the darkness over them. What I did see scared me.
A/N: Please don't hate me. :) I apologize for the months and months of not updating! My laptop broke right after I dropped one of Pre-AP classes so I could have more time to write. It's still broke. But I've been hogging my mother's laptop the past few days and trying to get a story out. My plan was to have one up on Thanksgiving night, but the chapter wasn't ready for it. It needed more. So here it is. Don't expect quick and speedy updates. I can't get on my mom's laptop enough to write. So don't PM me asking for another chaptaer please. I'm trying the best I can. Also, Love Bites should be getting updated in around two weeks. Hopefully. I'll try my hardest. And another thing, I'm not sure if I'm getting a new laptop for Christmas. Doubt it because we're having money problems. The power cord stopped working, so yeah. It would be expensive to buy another when we could just replace it seeing how it is crappy. So, please be patient and appreciate all of your support!