Thanks again to everyone that reviewed!!! You guys rock!!! \m/

For this chapter: Each POV is at a different time-- for instance, the first is right when Stevie Rae first entered the Greek place, the second is after everybody figured out the poem, and the third is while the poem is being deciphered (and before the second ends). It's not quite as complicated as it sounds right now when you read it. Even as I read this I am confused. I'M SORRY FOR SO MUCH CONFUSION!!!

Just thought I'd tell you.

Enjoy!


Rephaim

As soon as the Red One was inside, Rephaim hobbled forward into the darkness. He closed his eyes and felt the direction he should go in, and followed his instincts. He stood below the window he would enter through, and looked doubtfully up at it. It was about thirty feet from the ground, and surrounded by a balcony. The wall of the building was smooth, and there was nothing to grip onto to help him climb up. His eyes narrowed to slits as he realized what he would have to do.

Rephaim wandered to a different window nearby, one that was only a few feet from the ground. He checked inside to make sure no one was in the room, and carefully stepped onto the window ledge. He looked for the nearest window, and it was up about seven more feet and to the right of him about four. He reached out and gripped the window's edge before quickly shutting off his link to the Red One. He had a similar cerebral link to his father, but it had become weaker with distance. He knew his father was close by through this bond, and told him he was coming through it.

The bond he shared with the Red One was not as evolved as the one with his father, for she had never experienced anything like it before. For instance, he and his father could converse through theirs, but the Red One hadn't seemed to figure it out that deeply yet. He knew that Neferet shared a bond with his father similar to Rephaim's with the Red One. Since Neferet was linked to his father and he was as well, Rephaim had been forced to do much of her bidding. However, she did not understand the full extent of this bond, and Rephaim hoped that she wouldn't. She was powerful and hard to disobey enough as it was, and she was getting stronger every day. Rephaim had never liked her much.

From what he could tell, his bond with the Red One ran much deeper than any other imprint before, and even deeper than the Red One herself believed. And so Rephaim had cut off their link in a way he hoped she wouldn't notice, and so that she would not feel the pain he was about to experience and rush out to help him. He blocked the pain from his father so that he wouldn't have to endure it with Rephaim, and leaped.

Excruciating pain shot through his wing as he used his wings to propel him upward. His eyes watered with pain and he almost let out a whimper to accompany it. He just barely landed on this window, and crouched there, shaking. He slowly brought his head up as he realized that he had forgotten to check if anyone was in this room. He saw the quick movement of a heel disappearing into a bathroom and witnessed the door soundlessly shutting. He breathed out, not having realized that he was holding it, and looked for the next window he would be aiming for; his wing aching even more at the simple thought of repeating that stunt.

The next window was directly above him, about seven feet again, and this time he checked for anyone to be in it. It was empty, and he jumped suddenly in an attempt to prevent his muscles from tensing beforehand. This propelled jump was even worse than the first one, and he took several shaking breaths before selecting his next path and seeing if it was clear. The easiest one was a window only a couple feet away to his right, but that room had somebody in it, so Rephaim picked a harder way. Straight up, seven feet.

As he sprang, he suddenly noticed a pole jutting out from the wall in the middle of his course, and tried to avoid it. Too late, he hit it with his bad wing, jolting back on the only half-blocked connection with his father, and sending an unbearable amount of pain through his ravaged body. He guiltily sensed his father feeling his pain, and tried to cut it off again. He clutched blindly for anything to halt his decent to the ground, and grabbed what felt like some sort of gargoyle on the edge of a window ledge.

Rephaim hung there, eyes closed, shaking with effort but too tired and weak to pull himself up. A groan echoed in the courtyard behind him, and he realized that it was his own. He cursed himself out loud for lack of discipline and heard the sudden flutter of wings. But instead of growing farther from him, they became closer, and he could soon feel a light breeze rustling his feathers and hair. The link with his father was forced open again, and Rephaim heard his father's voice in his head and with his ears.

"Rephaim, what's happened?" His father sounded appalled at the sight of him, and Rephaim didn't blame him. He could feel himself bleeding again, and his wing was twisted at an awkward angle—even more so than what had been usual since he broke it. He was still shaking, and he knew he must look unhealthy and pale to his father's eyes. His father's warm hands were suddenly pulling him away from the wall, and carrying him upward. Even through all the pain, it felt good to be in the air again.

I have broken my wing, and probably sprained it just now, if not worse, Rephaim told his father sadly through their link.

He could feel his father falter a little at this, and asked him if he thought he'd ever fly again.

No, Rephaim answered simply, busy trying to stop a wave of emotions from taking him over. He was tired, guilty, filled with despair, content, angry, grateful, confused. He would tell his father what had happened in his absence, he would…right after resting…yes, that's what he needed: rest…


Stevie Rae

She didn't know what had changed, but Stevie Rae was almost certain something had.

The sun was beginning to rise, so Stevie Rae sprinted to the room she had been assigned to. She finally reached it, swiftly pulled the door open, and was extremely thankful that the blinds on her window had been shut tight. She sighed, and plopped down into one of those comfy egg-chairs. Fatigue coursed through her, and she was finally starting to feel the effects of the time differences between the US and Greece. She closed her eyes, rubbed her temples, and let her mind wander.

When Aphrodite had told them about her visions, Stark had walked right out of the room. He seemed calm, but Stevie Rae was sure he was gonna do somethin' stupid to blow off steam. From what everybody'd all figured out, Zoey had to fall in love with Kalona or the world would end. Or at least pretend to love him, because everyone knew that she never actually would. But Stark hadn't liked that idea one bit. He was sure there was some other way to do things.

And then there was that change Stevie Rae could just sense. She'd felt a little twinge in her mind a couple of minutes after she first entered the building she was in now, and another while everybody was reading through the poem. She didn't know what it was, then or now, and it had distracted her throughout the translation of Kramisha's poem. And now there was something there, in the back of her mind. Stevie Rae thought that it might be something that Rephaim was thinkin' about, but she couldn't be sure. It was just this little place in her mind, eating at her until she could hardly bear the curiosity any longer.

She jumped up, and almost ran to the 'kitchen' in her room. Basically, it was a mini-fridge, a microwave, a sink, and some cupboards. She opened the fridge, hoping that there would be some blood in it, and sighed in relief when there was. She removed one of the small baggies, and wondered why it was so tiny. As she grabbed a couple more she guessed that it was because everything in hotels seemed to be mini, and this practically was one. There was room service, a front desk, very nice rooms, and she thought she remembered someone saying that there was a pool, arcade, and ballroom. She couldn't even begin to guess why they would need all that in a place where the Council lived. But then again, they probably got a lot of visitors.

Stevie Rae leaned against the wall and began draining her blood-bagies. She was still recovering from almost bein' fried to death, and so needed a bunch of blood. She yearned for Rephaim's, even as she was drinking the tiny bags, and began to wonder where he'd gone off to.

Suddenly, she heard a low thump from outside her window, and a little rustling as well. There was a grunt and a hurried knocking on the window, and Stevie Rae could only stand where she was in surprise. She got over it quickly, and swiftly darted to her window, now sensing who it was. She stopped short of the window, just as there was more knocking, and braced herself to be burned. She stood right next to the wall, hopefully out of reach of the suns rays, and opened the blinds—only to find that no sunlight was coming through.

Stevie Rae peeked out the window and saw nothing but black…feathers? She fumbled with the window and finally got it open. In one fluid motion, Rephaim closed his wings, slid through the window, and shut the window, which was now shedding a gentle light throughout the room. Stevie Rae longed to feel the warmth of sun on her face once again, without bein' burnt to a crisp, and almost wished that she'd never been marked in the first place. But then she thought about how much wouldn't have happened if that were to have happened, and quickly dispelled the wish.

"What took you so long?" Rephaim demanded gruffly, and Stevie Rae was surprised at the emotion contained in his low voice. His usually emotionless stature and attitude was now filled with a writhing, feuding horde of emotions that Stevie Rae couldn't even begin to decipher. Even his feathers were ruffled, his eyes wide, and he was fidgeting nervously. But he looked physically much better. His wing looked totally fixed, and he just seemed healthier in general. He looked around the room, as if to check to make sure no one was eavesdropping on them.

"I-I have to tell you—" Rephaim began urgently, but cut himself off with a weird choking noise. "Never mind," he said softly a few moments later, and anger and frustration shone in his conflicted eyes for a mere second before clouding over with his usual blank stare.

"You can tell me," Stevie Rae prodded, anxious because he was; his emotions building on hers.

"No," Rephaim replied, a grim look on his face. "I can't."

And suddenly, Stevie Rae felt a familiar twinge in the back of her mentality, and couldn't feel a single thing from Repahim's mind.


Rephaim

When he woke up, he'd almost forgotten where he was. Rephaim had become accustomed to waking up in the dark—weather it be a garden shed, underground, or in an abandoned shack. But now, a dim light was glaring into his sleepy eyes. Memories washed over him, and he sat up. He yawned as he looked around the room, and his eyes froze on a solitary shape sitting in a chair near a dresser in the corner.

Neferet stood up gracefully, flicking her long hair over her shoulder and smiling sweetly at him, and Rephaim scowled for so short a time, no human would be able to have seen it. Unfortunately for him, Neferet wasn't human. In fact, she wasn't even completely vampyre anymore, either. By this time, she was something far worse; Queen Tsi Sgili.

Her eyes narrowed as she noticed his accidental micro expression, and she swept over to him. He was sitting on a bed, and he could smell his father's scent, although it smelled as if he'd just left the room. She leaned over Rephaim and laughed, blowing a sickly sweet aroma to himc.

"So," Neferet held the word, drawing a question in the air with it. "I know that you have something with Stevie Rae," she said the name scornfully. "I just don't know what. Yet."

Rephaim said nothing, just glared into her eyes. She used to shiver at his unnatural appearance and frightening red eyes, but now she glared back with twice as much abhorrence. Neferet must have sensed the Red One's imprint on him through his connection to his father. He tightened his father's link, but knew it was too late.

"Well," Neferet continued, almost as kindly as her breath, "We need 'The Red One' to get what we want. And you are going to help us get to her." She rested her hand on Rephaim's damaged wing, and he braced himself for terrible pain. But instead of relentless pain, he felt only the gentle pressure of her hand. She smiled wickedly at him and whispered, "You owe me."

"No," he said calmly, "I owe Kalona. He is the one that saved me from a terrible fall."

"Yes," she hissed impatiently. "But I was the one who healed you. Completely."

Rephaim's heart leapt at this claim—he would fly again!— but he remained impassive. He also was beginning to become nervous—she had gained this much power in such a short length of time?

Her lips curled upward in a sneer.

"You will help us, and do you know why?" She paused as if awaiting an answer, but continued on after receiving no response. "Because I know how to get to you now. You care for her, don't you?"

Rephaim didn't need to ask who 'she' was. Neferet meant Stevie Rae; the Red One. At her words, Rephaim felt a swell of emotions; an urge to protect her, fear at what Neferet might do, and even more unidentifiable ones. He had never felt this way about anyone before, even his father or siblings, and it baffled him. A brief expression of confusion broke through his mask, and Neferet knew that she'd gotten to him. She stepped away just as the door opened and Kalona stepped into the room. Kalona looked at his son, who by now had returned to his indifferent expression, and at Neferet.

Rephaim vaguely heard Neferet and his father talking about how they could use the Red One to their benefit, but Rephaim's mind was elsewhere. Their conversation lasted only about five minutes, and Kalona left the room once more.

And suddenly, her voice was in his ear again.

"And even if threats don't work," Neferet jeered, "I will soon make you help us. I have become much stronger in your absence."

Rephaim couldn't help it--he shivered. And Neferet waltzed away, cackling. Rephaim tried to stand and speak up, but something held him where he was, and not a sound escaped him.

"Much stronger," Neferet repeated, this time sounding much more serious.


I cannot, for the life of me, remember what building they are all in. If anyone could remind me, it would be very much appreciated.

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ll SuperOreoMan ll