by P. C. Cast
“Dinner duty?” asked Erin.
“What’s that mean?” asked Shaunee.
Aphrodite stepped forward, invading their personal space. “It means you’ll give the feeder humans a break and offer your own blood to red officers—personally—from your necks, though I hear the vein that runs up your thigh is also a very popular feeding spot of choice.” The two fledglings looked horrified, which Aphrodite waved away. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic. They won’t be allowed to drain you completely. Just almost completely.”
“N-Neferet wouldn’t let that happen!” stuttered Erin.
“Want to bet your blood on that, Thing One?”
Erin quickly shook her head.
“What about you, Thing Two?”
“No, thank you.”
“No, thank you, Prophetess, is what you Brain Sharers meant to say.”
“No, thank you, Prophetess,” they intoned nervously together.
“Better. Much better. Now, I think it best if you never speak to me again.”
“Hey, we didn’t mean anything. Really,” said Shaunee.
“Bullshit,” Aphrodite said. “Spineless little girls like you always simper and say you didn’t mean anything when you get caught being bitches. Grow the hell up. You’re not in middle school anymore. This is real life—not the internet, where you can say stupid, hateful crap without any consequences. And, for shit’s sake, do the world a favor and come out as big ol’ lesbians already.”
Erin blushed like crazy as Shaunee’s mouth flopped open in shock.
“Huh. Never mind. Looks like only one of you would be down with that. Or should I say, only one of you would go down with that.” Aphrodite laughed gaily, flipped back her long hair, and managed to twitch away, even with a broken heel. As she passed Kevin she spoke loudly enough for the Twins to hear. “Come on, Stinky. Finish schlepping my stuff upstairs. And then you need to scamper off and get me some more champagne. Tragically, I think I’m out, and dealing with the Brain Sharers has made me thirsty.”
“Yes, Prophetess. Of course, Prophetess!” Kevin ducked his head and waited for her to get a couple of yards in front of him before he began walking again, thinking, Looks like I’ll have to find another fire and water. Ah, hell …
And as he followed her into the professor’s building, he heard croaking overhead, and looked up in time to see a giant raven circling above him. He opened the thick wooden door and paused. Sure enough, the raven landed on the sidewalk, cocking its head at him.
“Redbird Boy!” it croaked.
“Come here! Hurry!” Kevin motioned at the bird, who hopped inside the little foyer with him.
“Kevin, what the hell is taking you so long?” Aphrodite called from the winding stairway.
“Sorry, be there in just a sec!” He opened the raven’s tube and took out the little pencil and paper, hastily scrawling, I’m with Aphrodite at the HoN. Staying here during daylight. More soon. Then he stuffed the paper and pencil back in the tube and opened the door for the raven, and it took off skyward.
* * *
“Want me to go get the champagne for you now?” Kevin stood uncomfortably just inside the closed door of Aphrodite’s opulent bedchamber.
“Hell no. I have plenty of champagne. I’m not a barbarian.” She nodded to the kitchenette off the sitting room exquisitely decorated with an amethyst velvet couch and matching chairs embroidered with silver thread that depicted a triple moon. “Well. Don’t just stand there. Get in the shower and wash that nasty stink off. Put on those new pajamas. Then we’ll talk.”
“But. Um. It’ll be dawn in …” he paused, connecting to his internal clock. “Less than two hours. I need to go somewhere safe to sleep.”
She sighed. “I said you’re my soldier now. You stay here.”
“Here, here?” Like his eyes had a will of their own, his gaze went to the huge canopy bed clearly visible through open French doors.
“Seriously? You think you’re sleeping in my bed?” Aphrodite rolled her eyes.
“No! No way. I wouldn’t presume. Ever. But where am I sleeping?”
“I have a super luxurious walk-in closet. There aren’t any windows in there. Or, you can sleep in my soaking tub. Take your pick.”
“How about the couch?”
“There are windows out here.”
His gaze went to them. “Aren’t those purple velvet curtains black outs?”
She sighed. “Fine. Yes. This once you can sleep on the couch if you really don’t stink and if you don’t snore. I can’t stand a snorer.”
“I promise I don’t stink, and I don’t think I snore. But I’ve never slept with anyone, so I can’t promise that.”
Aphrodite’s cornflower blue eyes found his. “So, you’re a virgin.”
Kevin’s cheeks flamed hot. “Well, yeah. I am.”
“Huh. Interesting. Get in the shower.”
She shooed him toward a closed door, through which he gladly escaped to find himself in a marble bathroom that was so white and so clean that he didn’t want to touch anything.
“Do you want something to eat? I’m going to call the kitchen,” Aphrodite called through the door.
“Um, yeah. I’ll eat about anything. And, uh, could you get me a bottle of—”
“Blood. I figured as much. Oh, and put those awful clothes you have on in a laundry bag under the sink. Tie it tight and remember to throw it away tomorrow. Super gross.”
“Yeah, okay. No problem.” Kevin didn’t know what else to say to that, so he stripped, easily finding an empty laundry bag, and pulling the drawstring tight.
Then he entered heaven.
Her shower was enclosed in circular glass, and it had one of those giant round showerheads that made it feel like Kevin was in a fantastical rainstorm. There were also showerheads that spouted from the walls, and when he flipped a switch, streams of hot water cascaded at him, hitting all over his body. She, of course, had soap that felt like silk and smelled like almonds and honey.
He wanted to stay in there for hours, but he could almost feel Aphrodite’s impatience, so he forced himself to hurry as he quickly lathered again and again, until every trace of the stinking blood goop had left his skin.
Kevin dried with a violet towel so big and so fluffy he could have used it as a blanket. Then he put on the new sweatpants and T-shirt and stuck his damp head hesitantly out into the room.
On the glass coffee table in front of the couch, Aphrodite had put a tray filled with a big sandwich, chips, and a tall glass of warm red blood that had his mouth watering.
“Come on out; it’s just me. I never let any of the servants in here while I’m home. They clean and whatnot only when I’m out. And I make them leave my food deliveries outside the door on a silver tray table.” She shrugged. “Yes, I know. I like decadence. Not apologizing for it.”
On sock feet, Kevin padded into the sitting room to find Aphrodite dressed in comfy-looking yoga pants and a white sweatshirt with WILD FEMINIST blazed across her chest. She was curled up on one of the embroidered velvet chairs, sipping champagne and nibbling on a cracker that had little black balls on it.
He sniffed in her general direction. “That smells fishy. What is it?”
She gave him a long-suffering look. “Caviar, peasant. Your upbringing was severely lacking.”
“Agreed.” Kevin sat and drained the blood in one long gulp. He put the glass down to find Aphrodite staring at him. “I was thirsty,” he said lamely.
“Tell me the truth. Do you have your hunger under control?”
“Absolutely. It’s no different now than a blue vampyre’s need. I was just really thirsty because I was wounded a few nights ago and I’m still recovering.” Not to mention my stress level has been off the charts, he thought.
“Do you give me your word on that?”
“Yes,
Prophetess. You have my word that my humanity is completely returned to me, and my hunger is under control.”
She studied him for several minutes before going back to her caviar and champagne. “Do you need more blood?”
“No, but I do need this food. Thank you.”
“No problem. Though I really confused the kitchen. I don’t eat many sandwiches.”
“Do you eat much of anything?” Kevin asked through a big bite.
She frowned. “I’m eating right now.”
He snorted.
“Just worry about yourself. I’m fine. I’m always fine.”
“Don’t believe you,” he muttered.
“I heard that. Okay, first, I’m glad you don’t stink anymore.”
“Me too. I hate the smell of that stuff. And your shower is awesome.”
“Yes, I know. Second, I want you to tell me what happened to the other Aphrodite when she sacrificed part of her humanity to save the red fledglings in your sister’s world. I realize she didn’t die, but what exactly happened to her?”
The question surprised him, but after a moment of reflection Kevin decided that it shouldn’t have. He’d been curious about what the other version of him had been doing in Zo’s world, and that other version wasn’t a Prophetess or a tool of Nyx. So, between bites he told Aphrodite what Zoey had explained to him, ending with, “When Stevie Rae and the rest of the red vampyres over there regained their humanity you’d lost your Mark, but not your prophetic gift. Until the red vamps and fledglings from here got pulled over there with me, I don’t think anyone really knew exactly what you were.”
Aphrodite looked perplexed. “But why? Why would I willingly sacrifice myself like that? I could have died, or lost everything—all of my gifts. It makes no sense. The me over there is an idiot.”
“That idiot saved a whole race of vampyres.”
“Why?”
“For love, of course. The other you is surrounded by people she loves. She may act like a heartless bitch sometimes, but only half of that’s true, which is cool because I happen to like bitches.”
She rolled her eyes. “And you say that over there I’m now a weird red-and-blue hybrid vampyre as well as a Prophetess?”
“Yep.”
“How did that happen?”
“Not sure. There was a lot going on and I didn’t have much time to ask questions. What I do know is that Nyx gifted you with the ability to give people—humans as well as vampyres—a second chance after they’ve messed up, like, tragically-in-a-big-way messed up.”
Aphrodite snorted. “That’s probably because I know a lot about messing up tragically in a big way.”
He grinned. “Could be. Other Aphrodite’s Mark is just like yours, only there’s more of it, and half of it’s red. Nyx said that every time you use your gift and grant someone a second chance, part of your Mark will disappear until eventually it’ll be gone completely, and then you’ll be human and live out a normal human lifespan.”
“That sounds bizarre. I’m not sure I’d like that.”
“I’m pretty sure Other Aphrodite felt like that when it happened too. But then she saw the difference she made with me and Other Jack, and the rest of them—and I’m one hundred percent sure she decided she was glad for the gift.”
“So that Aphrodite is good. Really good,” she said.
“Yep, absolutely,” he said.
“You sound pretty stuck on Other Aphrodite.”
Kevin met her gaze. “I’d say Aphrodite is spectacular—in any world.”
Aphrodite snorted and then was silent for a while, sipping champagne and nibbling caviar and crackers. Kevin finished his sandwich and was mowing through the mound of chips when she spoke again.
“It must be a lot different over there.” She’d lit the fire and was staring into the fireplace like she could see the other world within the controlled flames.
“It is. And then it isn’t. That world feels different because it’s a lot less scary. Neferet’s defeated. Zo and her friends run the New North American Vampyre High Council, which means they’re in charge of the House of Night sites in the US, and they’ve started these awesome programs where humans can take classes with fledglings.”
She looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Human teenagers. At the Tulsa House of Night. Taking classes.” She shook her head. “It’s hard to imagine.”
“It’s not happening just in Tulsa. Humans and vampyres are coming together at a bunch of the schools. It’s cool.”
Aphrodite went back to being silent. Kevin was going to ask her for a pillow and a blanket when she spoke again.
“We’re all so damn isolated over here. But your sister’s world doesn’t sound like that at all.”
“It’s not, but not all of us are isolated here, either. Not Dragon and Anastasia—not my g-ma. Actually, not any of the Resistance fighters. They’re friends, but more than that.”
“Bleeding hearts,” she said.
“Friends with a cause,” he corrected. Then he met her gaze again. “You don’t have to be alone. Not even here. You aren’t alone in Zo’s world.”
“This isn’t your sister’s world.”
“No, it’s not. It’s mine. And I’m going to change things.”
“You?”
“Me.”
“All by yourself?”
“Well, no,” he smiled. “I’m not by myself. You’re helping me.”
“I think you’re an idealist,” she said.
“Probably.”
“Idealists get people dead.”
“Sometimes, but while they live, they live magnificently. Join me. Join the Resistance. You might as well—you already kinda have. You saved Dragon and all those people today.”
“I’m also the one who put them in danger,” she reminded him.
“Did you want to? Did you want to be the reason the Red Army killed them?”
“No! I hate all this death and killing. And I hate that Neferet uses me like a weapon.”
“Then help me find a way to change things for the better in this world.”
Instead of answering she got up and disappeared into her room, returning with an armload of blankets and a fluffy goose-down pillow, which she plopped on the couch beside him.
“Hey, thanks. This is really nice of you. I’ll clean up the dishes before I fall asleep,” Kevin said.
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re my soldier, not my housekeeper. There’s a silver cart just outside my door. Stick the dirty dishes out there. The minions will take care of them.” Then she hesitated, and her hand reached out, for a moment like she was going to touch his hair. “Before you pass out you might want to dry your hair more. Sleep on it like that and it’s going to stick up—”
“Like a duck’s butt,” he finished for her. “I know, I know. Zo used to tell me that all the time.”
“Yeah, well, it’s distractingly tousled and shaggy and even kinda …” Her words trailed off and she shook her head like she wanted to dislodge her last thought.
He couldn’t help it. He looked up into her gorgeous eyes and said, “Were you gonna say kinda sexy?”
“Must be almost dawn. You sound delirious.”
“Other Aphrodite likes me, you know,” he grinned cheekily.
“Other Aphrodite has issues. Lots of issues.”
“But excellent taste,” he said. “She would’ve done what you did today. She would’ve made sure Dragon and the rest of those people got away.”
“Goodnight, Kevin. Tomorrow we’ll figure out a more permanent rooming solution for you,” was all she said before she disappeared into her bedroom.
“Goodnight, Aphrodite,” he called through the closed door.
Kevin put the dishes outside the door on the silver cart that waited there, banked the fire, and made up his bed on
the couch. Then, exhausted and feeling safe for the first time in his world since he’d been Marked, Kevin slept.
* * *
“Kevin, come on! You need to wake up!”
Kevin swam his way up from the depths of a deep, beautiful dream that had him back in Zo’s world laughing with her as he held Aphrodite’s hand and she accepted his proposal to be his mate.
“Huh? What? You will?!” he said sleepily, reaching for Aphrodite’s hand.
She actually let him take it, and then she pulled him to a sitting position.
“Wake! Up!”
Kevin blinked and rubbed a hand across his face. “I’m up. Sorta. What’s wrong?”
“There is a big black bird pecking at my window. I was going to throw something at it, but it said ‘Redbird Boy.’ Um, might I assume that’s you?”
“Yes! Is it still there? Let it in!” He’d taken off his shirt to sleep, so he hastily pulled it over his head and hurried after Aphrodite into her bedroom.
Aphrodite’s raised hand stopped him. “Stay there! My drapes are totally open and the sun is definitely up.”
Kevin only had a moment to pace back and forth, then the big raven flew into the sitting room, landing on the glass coffee table.
“Redbird Boy!”
“You found me! Good job. Okay, okay, I’ll read it.”
Aphrodite peered over Kevin’s shoulder. “What is that thing around his neck?”
“It holds notes.” Kevin pulled the leather thong over the bird’s head and opened the little tube, taking out the paper inside.
“Ohmygoddess! That’s how you warned the Resistance about the bales of hay.”
“Yep.”
“What’s the note say?”
He turned and looked up at her. “It’s Zoey! She’s here!”
24
Zoey
“It’s super weird how much it looks the same, isn’t it?” Stevie Rae said when the three of them had stopped blinking spots from their vision and could see again.
“Yeah, it looks like home,” I said. Then I looked closer. “Well, almost.” The lavender fields were the same. The house was the same. With one major difference—from all the eaves on the porch, as well as the windows of Grandma’s house and the surrounding trees, hung strands of beads. Hundreds and hundreds of beads.
