by P. C. Cast
“Z, don’t overthink it. Kalona will keep Dallas busy, and that’s all we’re worried about right now,” Stark said.
“Except for the reporters and the police and—”
“Stark is correct,” Darius interrupted me. “You overthink.”
Reluctantly, I stood. “All right. I’ll focus on the here and now. I’ll tell Thanatos what’s up as soon as the reporters are gone, and also clue in Stevie Rae. She can have the kids pack up their stuff and lay low until the basement’s ready for them. Then they can come in the back way and avoid the middle of the campus grounds where Dallas and his friends should be busy building the funeral pyre.”
“It will be done as you say, Priestess. Will you be moving to the basement as well?”
“No,” Stark answered for me, which was super annoying.
“I’m going to stay in my old room with Stark,” I continued, because I actually can speak for myself. “Stevie Rae and Rephaim will probably stay in the dorm, too.”
Kalona nodded thoughtfully. “My son needs a place from which he can come and go easily.”
“Yeah, and we decided it’s not a good idea for all of us to stay in one room together,” Stark said. “Especially when that one room is a basement with only one way in and out of it.”
“I agree,” Kalona said, standing. His hand resting on the desk drew my eye down and I noticed something weird about the wood. I kept looking and realized what I was seeing.
“Is that a handprint?”
“Is it?” Kalona replied to me. “I hadn’t noticed.”
My eyes met his and I realized I might not be the only bad liar in the room.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Zoey
I’d been right about one thing—Thanatos had made sure Chera and her crew interviewed a few kids, got some shots of our cafeteria—and then she’d had Damien explain (on camera) his class schedule as the Fox News team was quickly and politely herded off campus. It’d all happened in less than thirty minutes and Thanatos said our segment would air on the evening news as well as the Internet. I’d told her that it had been genius to have Damien be our school spokesman, then I caught her up on our Plan.
“And Kalona said he doesn’t think Neferet knows anything about the basement, so we decided to have him keep Dallas and his group distracted while we get the place cleaned out and get our kids moved there. Hopefully, they’ll have a day or two of peace, and then we’ll get to go back to the depot,” I finished explaining to Thanatos. “Oh, and if we’re here for much more than that, someone needs to go get our cats and Duchess. They have auto feeders and water, but they’ll be lonely and their litter boxes will be disgusting.”
The dark-eyed High Priestess had mostly been silent while I’d done a lot of talking. I told her that the basement had been used for storing old weapons and media center stuff, and that Darius and Stark were moving all of it to one of Lenobia’s tack rooms. I hadn’t told her that the weapons were covered with jewels and super old, and worth, like, a gazillion dollars. And there really wasn’t any media center stuff down there at all. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Thanatos, but I’d decided the fewer people knew about the fortune, the better. Stark and Darius had agreed. Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I believed that Dragon could have been keeping the weapon stash a secret for a very long time, and Dragon had been one of the most loyal Warriors I’d ever known. Clearly, there was a reason he’d kept that to himself, and I’d bet it wasn’t a selfish reason.
So I left the weapon/jewel/fortune detail out of my commentary.
“I am in absolute agreement with you regarding the cats—and Duchess. I will be sure they are transported here, if it comes to that. But how will Kalona distract Dallas?” Thanatos asked.
“He’s going to tell Dallas that I said I didn’t want to lead Erin’s funeral—that I didn’t even want to build the pyre. Then he’s going to say you left the job to him.”
Thanatos’s brow lifted. “In other words, Kalona is going to bait Dallas into building the pyre.”
“Yep, and hopefully leading Erin’s funeral, too. After everything that happened with her I decided that it really would be best for my circle, especially Shaunee, not to get involved.” I paused and added, “I hope all that’s okay with you.”
“When a fledgling rejects the Change and dies, it is always difficult for those left behind. In this case there were complex events surrounding this child’s death. I’m going to trust your instincts, Zoey. Erin was part of your circle—you have been acting as her High Priestess. It is your right to choose her funeral arrangements.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“I do believe it is wise that you allow Shaunee to invoke her element during the lighting of the pyre, though. It will help what must follow to be completed more quickly. It will also help Shaunee to bid her friend a final farewell.”
“Okay, yes. I’ll talk to Shaunee.”
“I believe you should talk with your Prophetess as well.”
“Aphrodite?” Thanatos’s request surprised me. “You mean about her dad?”
“Yes. Judge her mental health carefully.”
“Huh? I don’t think I’m qualified to judge Aphrodite’s mental health.” Not to mention that she might cut my heart out and eat it if I tried.
“You’re her High Priestess and, if my guess is correct, her closest friend. Being Prophetess to a goddess is never an easy gift to bear, and Aphrodite lost father and mother in one night—violently and publicly.”
“I already checked on her today. Darius said she was finally sleeping, so I didn’t wake her up.”
“Wake her. If she won’t admit to needing her High Priestess, she may admit to needing her friend,” Thanatos said.
“I’ll do my best.”
“I must also warn you to expect unrest at the school. I can feel Darkness building, and it feeds on anger and pain, fear and frustration, intensifying them, preying on their hosts, gaining power from them. Watch your circle and those who are most gifted by the Goddess carefully. Where there is great power, there also is Darkness drawn.”
“At least two of my circle have just gone through big losses,” I worried aloud. “And, really, Erin’s death affected all of us. Now we’re stuck here with kids who are also upset and pissed off. Can’t you do something to get us out of here?” I was having a hard time controlling my own frustration—I had no clue how I was going to help my friends deal with their issues.
“Zoey, I met with Detective Marx before the Fox News crew arrived. Actually, Chera Kimiko’s presence here is indicative of the fact that this situation is not going to be resolved quickly.”
“Didn’t Detective Marx find anything that would prove Neferet killed the major?”
“He mentioned DNA evidence and is requesting that comparative testing begin on all our professors to rule out a match,” Thanatos said grimly.
“But that’s good! None of our professors killed the mayor,” I said.
“Zoey, if I allow the human authorities to begin testing my professors I will be allowing them to cross a boundary that has successfully and safely separated human and vampyre codes of justice for more than five hundred years.”
I shook my head. “No, I still don’t see why that’s bad. At least not this time.”
“This time it is not bad. What about the next time a local murders a human and then stages it to look like a vampyre killing—and perhaps even has a strand or two of hair from one of our High Priestesses to leave at the crime scene. If I allow a nick in the wall that protects our kind against human persecution, how long will it be before that wall crumbles completely and The Burning Times begin again?”
I shivered. “What are you going to do? We can’t just stay locked up here forever.”
“I have sent a request to the High Council for a hearing this very night.”
“You’re going to ask them to step in with the humans?” Just the thought of it gave me a rush of hope.
“I am, and I nee
d you here to serve as witness to Neferet’s manifestation.”
“Okay, sure. I’ll do whatever I can,” I said.
“It is now nine o’clock. I’ve scheduled the Skype conference with the High Council for ten o’clock, so that we will still have time this night to light Erin’s pyre at midnight. Please rejoin me in one hour.”
“Should I bring Stevie Rae or Aphrodite?”
“Use your own discretion, Priestess, and I will respect your decision.”
I fisted my hand over my heart and bowed to her, wishing I had as much respect for my decision-making abilities as Thanatos did.
Aphrodite
“Chera’s actually prettier in person?” Aphrodite frowned at Darius. He sat on the side of the bed while she sipped the iced coffee he’d brought her and caught her up on the latest disasters of the day. “Like that was a detail I needed you to report?”
“No one’s beauty shines like yours,” he said, smiling.
“Just tell me what kind of purse she was carrying. One of those new blue Coaches or a sparkly Valentino?”
A deep line formed between Darius’s eyes. “It was made of leather.”
“Color?”
“White?”
Aphrodite sighed. “No way Chera would be carrying a white purse in February. You have no clue what it looked like, do you?”
“None whatsoever, but you asking about it tells me that you are, indeed, feeling better, my beauty.”
“I suppose I can’t expect you to be completely perfect, but next time consider her purse a weapon. That way you’ll remember to check it out. And, yes, I’m feeling better. My eyes have finally cleared, and knowing that no one expects me to sleep in a nasty basement, along with the fact that this coffee is filled with half and half and real sugar, has combined to make my headache go away.” Aphrodite took another sip and sighed with pleasure. “It tastes too good to be bad.”
“If it makes you feel better, that is all that counts.”
“If my butt gets so big it has its own zip code, you’ll take that back,” she said.
Darius smiled. “You do feel better.”
“Yeah, but the vision sucked. Big time.”
“Are you ready to talk about it?”
“Not really.”
Darius looked away uncomfortably, and Aphrodite stroked his strong arm and laced her fingers with his. “Hey, it’s not because I don’t want to talk to you. It’s because I need to process what I saw and figure out what the hell to do about it.”
“Should I get Zoey?”
“No!” she said, and then realized she’d almost shrieked the word. “No,” Aphrodite repeated in a normal voice. “I don’t want anyone to know that I had a vision yet. Darius, I just need some time to think.”
“But is it wise to keep a vision to yourself?”
“Right now my gut is telling me that it isn’t wise to blab what I saw.”
Darius leaned forward, kissing her softly. Then he met her gaze and said exactly what she needed to hear. “Trust your instinct, Prophetess. I believe in you and your gift. I want you to know that whatever you tell me I will hold sacred and I vow, as your Warrior and protector, not to tell anyone unless you allow it.”
Aphrodite slipped into his arms and felt the terrible tightness in her chest relax. She didn’t have to carry the burden of her visions alone. Darius would never betray her.
“I’m so crappy at this love stuff. I’ll never be able to tell you how much it means to me that I can trust you.”
He stroked her back gently. “You need not tell me. You show me every day we are together.”
Aphrodite closed her eyes and gathered strength from his touch and his words, praying silently: Please, Nyx, let the days we are together turn into months, the months years, and the years decades.
She hugged him hard, and then leaned back so that she could meet his gaze. Without any preamble she told him, “Darius, I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything,” he said.
“Watch Zoey.”
“Watch her?”
“Yes. Watch her and see if she acts unusually pissed off.”
“And if I see her being angry?”
“Come get me and I’ll deal with her. Don’t get Stark. He can feel her emotions and if she’s the level of pissed I think she’s going to be, I’m pretty sure he’s going to be ready to explode, too. Plus, remember that Aurox slash Heath is stuck inside the House of Night with us. We all saw Heath’s reflection. Z’s pretty much avoided him since that night, but who he really is has to be affecting her. It’s going to come out eventually, and, let’s get serious, you know there’s no damn way Stark will be cool with sharing Zoey again.”
Darius nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right about that. I will watch her.” He paused and then added, “Your vision was about Zoey.”
It wasn’t a question, but Aphrodite sipped her iced coffee and then nodded. “Yeah, it was about Zoey and her anger. She was out of control.”
“Why do you believe you shouldn’t speak to her of this? She knows your visions are valid. Perhaps she would listen to you.”
“That’s what I’d think, too, but the very first thing I said when I came back from the vision was for you not to get Z. Darius, I was speaking from instinct—Goddess-given instinct. Yeah, I could be messed up and misinterpreting it, but that’s why I think I shouldn’t tell Zoey—or at least not yet.”
“As I said, I believe in you. Trust your instinct and your Goddess-given gifts.”
“I’m going to, but I’m also going to get some outside help, sadly from an annoying source.”
Darius’s brows lifted. “I assume you do not mean me.”
“No, handsome, I don’t mean you. I mean Shaylin.”
“You’re going to tell her about your vision?”
“No. I’m going to tell her an interpretative exaggeration about my vision.”
“In other words, you’re going to lie to her.”
Aphrodite loved that he’d said it so matter-of-factly, with no judgment, and no lecture.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean, but calling it an interpretative exaggeration sounds better.”
“You’re going to have her watch Zoey, too?”
“Yes again.”
“Her use of the True Sight gift has, thus far, proven valid,” he said.
“Which is the only damn reason I’m going to ask for her help. She irritates the crap out of me.”
“And yet you are wise enough not to let that irritation keep you from calling on her gifts.” His smile was full of warmth and pride. “You see, my beauty, why I trust you so?”
“I see that you and I haven’t had enough quality alone time.”
“We are alone now.” His smile turned sexy.
“And my headache is definitely gone.” She drained the rest of the iced coffee and put the glass on her marble-topped nightstand. Aphrodite draped her arms around his broad shoulders and pulled him down to her. Darius came to her eagerly. His kiss was deep and as she opened her mouth he moaned, and rolled, taking her with him so that she was on top, pressed against him while his hand found the edge of her T-shirt and began moving in hot, insistent strokes against her naked skin.
When the knocking started on the door, Aphrodite whispered against Darius’s lips, “Ignore it and it will go away.”
The knocking became louder, more insistent.
Aphrodite nibbled on the side of Darius’s neck. “Pretend it’s reality TV. Ignore it.”
“Aphrodite! Hellllo!” Zoey’s voice carried through the door. “Stark told me Darius was bringing you iced coffee, which means you’re in there and awake.”
Darius reluctantly pulled down her T-shirt. “You do need to talk with her.”
Aphrodite kissed him one more time before she stomped to the door, not bothering to fix her hair, her T-shirt, or her annoyed look, and opened it, saying, “Oh, for shit’s sake, come in, birth control.”
“Huh? Birth control?” Z walk
ed in.
“Never mind. Too late.”
“Hi,” Zoey said. “You don’t look bad.”
“I never look bad,” Aphrodite told her.
Z rolled her eyes and waved at Darius. “Hey there, Darius. Stark said to tell you he needs help with the boxes, like, right now. Kalona’s plan worked and he’s got Dallas and his group piling up logs for the pyre.”
“I am on my way.” He paused to kiss Aphrodite quickly before leaving. “You, I will meet back here at sunrise.”
“Alone.” Aphrodite enunciated the word carefully, sending Zoey a Look.
After Darius closed the door, Z perched on one of Aphrodite’s velvet chairs. “So, if you’re feeling frisky, you must not be too hung over.”
“Frisky is not a verb people under the age of eighty use to describe anything except the behavior of horses, and I’m not hung over at all,” Aphrodite began as she fixed her T-shirt, went to her vanity mirror, and started combing her hair. Then, watching Zoey in the reflection, she added, “Well, okay, maybe I got a little messed up last night, but sleep, caffeine, and sugar fixed that.”
“Brown pop always does it for me,” Z said.
“You know that’s not good for your skin,” Aphrodite told her.
“Like your mimosas are?”
“Orange juice is totally healthy. I just like mine diluted.”
“With alcohol,” Z said, shaking her head and trying, unsuccessfully, not to smile.
“With good alcohol. Like Marilyn Monroe. And you see that her skin didn’t wrinkle.”
“Aphrodite, Marilyn Monroe died before she could get wrinkled.”
“My point exactly. Mimosas are healthy. The end.”
“You’re making my head hurt,” Z said.
Aphrodite smiled. “You are welcome. Oh, and before Darius and I started our super hot makeout session, which was going to lead to super hot sex, which you totally interrupted, he told me about Chera and the jewels.”
“First, eew, frisky sounded so much better than your description. Second, Chera seemed cool, but basically her being here means the House of Night is in deep poo. Third, you do understand they’re not jewels—they’re ancient weapons that happen to have diamonds and rubies and stuff like that set into them.”
