Hunted

“Stark is James Stark, the fledgling who won the gold medal at the Summer Games for archery. Neferet wanted him here so she could use him to shoot Stevie Rae.”
    “Makes sense,” Aphrodite said. “We already know Neferet has something to do with fledglings un-dying. Obviously she wanted to use him, and her plan worked because he’s definitely undead and under her control.” She looked pleased at her powers of deduction and upended the bottle of wine for another long drink.
    “Guess I’m just lucky his aim wasn’t so good now that he died and then came back,” Stevie Rae said.
    “That’s not it.” My mouth spoke before I could shut myself up. “He missed your heart on purpose.”
    “What do ya mean?” Stevie Rae asked.
    “Before Stark died, he told me about his gift from Nyx. He never misses. He can’t. He always hits the mark he aims at.”
    “Then if he missed killing Stevie Rae on purpose, that must mean he’s not totally under Neferet’s influence,” Damien said.
    “He did say your name,” Erik said. His piercing blue eyes seemed to see deep inside me. “I remember that distinctly. Before he shot Stevie Rae he definitely recognized you. He even said he’d come back to you.”
    “I was with him when he died,” I said, returning Erik’s questioning gaze and trying not to look as guilty as I felt for being attracted to yet another guy besides him. “Right before he died I told Stark that fledglings at our House of Night were coming back from the dead. That’s what he was talking about.”
    “Well, there was obviously a connection between the two of you,” Darius said. “And it probably saved Stevie Rae’s life.”
    “But Stark definitely wasn’t himself,” I said, looking away from Erik. It had just been a few days ago that I’d kissed Stark and he’d died in my arms, but it seemed like forever had passed. “He was obviously under Neferet’s influence, even if he was trying to resist her.”
    “Yeah, it’s like she put a spell on him or something,” Jack said.
    “Hang on, that reminds me,” Damien said. “I definitely noticed how almost everyone acted awestruck and even a little disoriented when Kalona appeared.”
    Venus snorted, sounding very much like Aphrodite at her most sarcastic (and least attractive). “Everyone except us.” She made a gesture that took in all of the red fledglings. “We knew he was evil and totally full of bullshit from the second we saw him.”
    “How?” I asked abruptly. “How did you guys know? All the other fledglings, well, except us, actually fell to their knees at the sight of him. Even the Sons of Erebus warriors didn’t move against him.” I’d felt drawn to him, too, but I didn’t want to admit that in front of Venus.
    Venus shrugged. “It was just obvious. Yes, he was hot and all, but come on! He exploded from the ground after Stevie Rae bled all over it.”
    I watched her closely, thinking that maybe the reason she recognized Kalona’s evil was that she was too darn familiar with evil.
    “Look, he had wings. That ain’t right,” Kramisha added, fragmenting my attention. “My mama told me don’t trust no white boy, even a pretty one. I’m thinkin’ a pretty white boy with wings explodin’ up from the ground in a mess of blood and ugly-ass bird things is double trouble.”
    “She has a point,” said Jack, obviously forgetting he was a pretty white boy.
    “I have to share something,” Damien said. We managed to pull our attention from Kramisha to him. “If I hadn’t been in the middle of a fully cast circle, surrounded by you guys with Aphrodite yelling at us to stay together and get out of there, I might have fallen to my knees, too.”
    I felt a prickle of unease. “What about you guys?” I asked the Twins.
    “He was hot,” Shaunee said.
    “Majorly,” Erin said. She looked at Shaunee. Her Twin nodded, so she continued, “He would’ve gotten to us, too. If Aphrodite hadn’t been shrieking unattractively at us to keep the circle together, we’d still be back there in the middle of that mess.”
    “Which would not be good,” Shaunee said.
    “That’s all I’m sayin’,” Kramisha added.
    “Again I save members of the nerd herd,” Aphrodite slurred.
    “Just eat your sandwich,” I told her. Then I turned to Erik. “How about you? Did he make you want to . . . ?” I trailed off, not sure how to put it.
    “Stay and worship him?” Erik inserted, and I nodded. “Well, I did feel his power.