by P. C. Cast
“Ah, hell no! I’ve been through this crap before.” I glanced at Kevin, who was just behind me. “Focus on spirit!” I saw him nod and then I raised my hands. “Spirit, shine the Goddess’ Light on these creatures of Darkness!” A ball of brilliant purple light formed in my hands and I threw it into the writhing shadows.
Neferet’s scream mirrored the inhuman shrieks of the tendrils. As I’d hoped, this Neferet hadn’t managed to fully manifest her “children” in this world yet and, unable to bear the Light of the Goddess, they retreated back to the Dark void—or wherever the hell (literally) they came from.
“Artus, my Warrior. Kill them! ” Neferet commanded.
I was frantically trying to think about what element I could call to help us against her Warrior when Kevin stepped in front of me and, in one swift motion, he pulled a strange-looking knife with a white blade from a leg sheath. He shouted, “Air, guide this true!” He threw the knife. With a howling gust of hurricane-strength wind, the dagger imbedded itself to the hilt in the Warrior’s throat. Artus clawed at it for a moment, then his eyes showed white, and, like a tower in an earthquake, he fell.
“You got a knife in here?” I asked, stunned.
Aphrodite grinned. “It was my idea. It’s made of porcelain. Didn’t show up on the metal detectors.”
“General Stark! Protect your High Priestess! Kill these assassins!”
Stark lifted his bow and nocked an arrow.
I knew we were screwed if Stark fired. My Guardian, my Warrior, my lover who can never, ever miss.
Aphrodite was on her feet and rushing to stand in front of Kevin and me. “Don’t do it, Stark. They’re the good guys—not Neferet.”
“You would betray me? My own Prophetess?” Neferet’s face had gone pale. Her eyes blazed with a strange red light.
Totally unaffected by Neferet’s hatred, Aphrodite flipped her hair back and faced the crazed High Priestess. “Oh, for shit’s sake! I am not your Prophetess! Just like Stark is not your general. First and forever we swore to serve Nyx, and it’s been obvious to me for a while now that you’re not serving the Goddess. You’re allied with Darkness.” Aphrodite’s gaze went from Neferet to Stark. “You know it too. Stark, you and I aren’t friends, but you’re not like her. You still follow Nyx. Neferet does not.”
“Kill those insolent children! All of them! And while you do that I’ll command my Red Army to teach those pathetic humans a lesson they will never forget.” She moved to grab the microphone, but Stark intercepted her, getting to it first.
“What are you doing?” Neferet’s voice was filled with loathing. “Do you wish to give the kill command, or will you betray me too, and be proven a liar and Oathbreaker like Aphrodite?”
I spoke up quickly. “Stark, I’d say don’t listen to her, but you need to. Listen very carefully to Neferet. Study her. Think. I’ll bet you’ve been studying her for some time now because you’re none of those things. You’re not a liar. You’re not an Oathbreaker. You take your vows very seriously and you have to know Neferet has not been following Nyx for a very long time.”
“General Stark, shut this ridiculous child up!”
“No, Neferet. You did that once already, when you killed me to start this damn war. You’ll never do it again.”
“Zoey Redbird?” Stark’s eyes went wide with shock as he finally recognized me. “You’re the fledgling that was killed by the People of Faith more than a year ago.”
“Well, yes. Sorta. One version of me was killed but not by the People of Faith. Neferet killed me and set the murder up to look like radical humans did it. Neferet was broken as a child before she was Marked. Instead of healing, she chose vengeance and anger. She hates all humans. This whole war is nothing more than Neferet getting back at her father for raping her.”
“You cunt! You know nothing about me!”
“You’re absolutely wrong about that. I probably know you better than you know yourself. I know that soon you’ll be attempting to free a winged immortal from his eternal prison so that you can pretend he’s Erebus. I know that you’ve been studying the evil Tsi Sgili. I also know that you’re playing with the idea of being consort to pure Darkness—the White Bull.” As I spoke I watched Neferet’s eyes and saw the truth within as they registered shock at my understanding. I turned my focus on Stark. “Stark, do you really believe there is any way Nyx would approve of red vampyres murdering a stadium full of innocent humans?”
“Of course Nyx approves,” Neferet said. “And why not? The time of humans is over. What have they done in the centuries since we allowed them to usurp our rule of this world? They have poisoned this precious earth, warred unendingly against themselves, and committed atrocities in the names of their various gods. The Goddess knows they are only good for food and labor. Why else would she have created red vampyres except to give us victory over man. Now, do as the Goddess and I command—kill them all!”
I met Stark’s gaze. “You know she’s wrong, but I can prove it to you. Just tell the Red Army to stand down and I will show you.”
“Is that not the red vampyre lieutenant you trusted?” Kevin flinched as Neferet gestured toward him. “The one that lying bitch of a Prophetess said you assigned to her? No wonder your last mission failed, General Stark. He’s not a red vampyre! He doesn’t even have a Mark. He’s part of the Resistance!”
I couldn’t stop my gaze from going down to the field. The Red Army hadn’t attacked, but they had moved out on the field. I could see blue vampyre soldiers trying to keep them contained as they waited for Neferet’s kill command. The two football teams had formed a circular group in the middle of the field—players on the outside, cheerleaders, referees, and coaches on the inside. I couldn’t find Heath, but I was absolutely certain he would be one of the first to meet his death if Stark didn’t side with us.
Beside me Kevin wiped the cover-up off his red Mark. “Wrong again, Neferet. I’m what all those soldiers down there could be if their humanity was returned to them, which is exactly what Zoey, Aphrodite, and I intend to do today.” He turned to Stark. “I’m sorry I lied to you, but I have a message for you from William Chidsey. He’s ashamed you’re siding with Neferet. He knows you know better.”
Stark’s face blanched white at the mention of his beloved mentor’s name. “William is dead.”
“In this world, yes,” I said. “But that only means he’s joined the Goddess. Do you really think he’d be proud of the things you’ve done in Neferet’s name?”
Without replying Stark lifted the microphone to his lips and pressed the speak button.
“This is General Stark. Neferet’s kill order is rescinded. I repeat—stand down. Stand down now. Maintain control of the Red Army and await my orders. Wave if you copy!”
He paused, and we all stared down at the field where first one, then another and another blue vampyre officer standing between the humans on the field and the milling red soldiers stepped forward and waved their acknowledgment.
I was watching the officers when a jolt of recognition hit me. I was sure I knew one of them. Even from this distance his powerful body and the way he carried himself was obvious. That’s Darius. I know it is!
Stark keyed the mic again. “Excellent. New orders will come shortly. Humans—remain where you are. You are safe.” He released the button. “Prove that you’re telling the truth, Zoey Redbird.”
“No!” Neferet shrieked. Raising her hands in claws she rushed at Stark, who easily sidestepped, trapping her arms behind her back as he shoved her into a chair.
“Be quiet and sit there or I’ll gag and tie you. I’ve been listening to your will and following your orders for months, believing I was doing the will of our Goddess. Now it’s your turn to listen. Let’s see once and for all exactly who is following Nyx and who is a lying Oathbreaker.” He nodded to me. “Show me.”
“Let’s face the window and call them together,” I
said to Kevin.
“I’m with you, Zo.”
“Me too,” said Aphrodite.
We walked to the wall that used to be glass and was now open to the magnificent sky.
“You start,” I told Kevin. “They know you better in this world.”
I felt him draw a deep breath and let it out slowly, then his strong, confident voice echoed from the room out into the night.
“Old Magick sprites, elemental beings as old as the earth, I am the one you know as Redbird Boy. I need your aid. Oak! I ask that you and your elementals come to me. There is an abomination you must make right!”
“Good job,” I whispered to him.
“Thanks. Aphrodite helped me practice.” He grinned down at her and it made my heart squeeze to see the love that blazed between them.
I drew a deep breath, just as Kevin had done, and let it out slowly. Then I raised my voice to join my brother’s call.
“Old Magick sprites, I am the one from far away that you call Redbird Girl. I join my brother in beseeching your aid. Oak! I ask that you and your elements of air, fire, water, and earth come to me. You must know about this abomination of nature!”
We waited and my stomach turned upside down a few times. I had enough time to think about IBS and wish that being a fully Changed adult High Priestess cured it.
Then the sky in front of us began to shimmer and—with a strange sounding Pop!—sprites suddenly materialized. I sucked air and heard Kevin and Aphrodite’s gasp echoed by the full stadium below us.
I’d never seen so many sprites—not even on Skye when I conjured them with Queen Sgiach’s help. They filled the sky over the stadium, and they were glorious. They came in so many shapes and sizes that my mortal mind couldn’t process them. Many of them looked like birds—with the heads of women. Some seemed more insectile, like enormous butterflies and dragonflies—every bit of their bodies were iridescent and glistened like wet pearls.
From the middle of the enormous group, Oak drifted to us as the sprites parted to allow her through. She was bigger than she’d been when she’d led us to this world, and she looked wilder, somehow less humanoid and more the personification of a tree.
“Redbird Boy and Redbird Girl, your call is a surprise. I find that intriguing. What is this abomination of which you speak?”
“Look down on the field,” I said. “And really see the red vampyres. Smell them. Observe their insatiable hunger.”
“And why should I do that?” the sprite asked.
Aphrodite spoke before I could. “Because they are an abomination of what is natural. They are missing their humanity.”
The sprite startled in surprise, which sent ripples through the other Old Magick beings. Then her almond-shaped eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“Truly? Or are they simply a force that opposes you? We do not meddle in the squabbles of mortals, even should those mortals be as long-lived as vampyres—red or blue.”
“I was once one of them,” Kevin said. “My humanity was returned to me through great sacrifice in my sister’s world. But even with my blood, which ties me to the land, I felt their hunger and their never-ending rage. It is not natural. It is not in opposition to us. It is in opposition to nature and the world.”
“Go down there and see for yourself,” I said. “You’ll understand once you look more closely at them.”
“Don’t listen to these children.” Neferet stood, smoothing back her long auburn hair and straightening her shoulders. For that moment she looked every bit like a High Priestess, beloved of Nyx. “The red vampyres are simply my soldiers. They are, indeed, less evolved than blue vampyres, but they are mine. Given to me by Nyx. I speak for the Goddess—not these Oathbreakers.”
Oak’s laughter was visible, sending glittering tendrils of lilting sound all around us.
“Neferet, I see you. I know you. You have not spoken for Nyx for more than a century.” The sprite turned and commanded. “Air sprites! Go to the red ones on the field. Fill them. Know them. Then tell me what you learn.”
Like a mini fireworks explosion, a group of the sprites shot off, falling down to the field and onto the milling groups of red vampyres, who began shouting in anger and fear, and trying to swat them as if they were insects.
It only took seconds. The air sprites returned and Oak met them. They engulfed her, obscuring the tree sprite from our view. And then she was back, floating before us, her expression grim. When she spoke I could see her sharp, pointed teeth. Her eyes blazed with anger.
“Abomination of nature indeed!
Your call to make right this horror we shall heed.”
Kevin and I breathed twin sighs of relief as we recognized the singsong tone the sprite used whenever she had decided to make a deal.
“Thank you so much—” I began.
“But as the abomination is not of our making
There must be a payment for our taking.”
“That’s me,” Aphrodite said. She took a step toward the glassless window and the hovering sprites. “I will pay the price to return humanity to the red vampyres.”
“Prophetess, there is much here that must be made right
And though your humanity shines bright
It might not bring with it enough light.”
“Aphrodite, be careful.” I spoke to her low and fast. “Be sure you know the exact price you have to pay.”
Her blue eyes found me, and I saw the lonely truth within them. This Aphrodite seemed like mine, but I suddenly understood that inside she was much, much more broken.
“I know what I have to do and I’m fine with it. I’m better than fine with it. I’m glad of it.” She turned to Kevin and stepped into his arms, tiptoeing to kiss him. I heard her whisper, “I love you. Forgive me.” Then she moved away from him and even closer to the window. “I understand. I’ll pay the price. You have my oath as a Prophetess of Nyx. Isn’t my blood enough to fix them—all of them?”
“It is, indeed.
You are all that we need.”
“Hang on. Wait. No. This doesn’t feel right,” Kevin said.
He started to reach out to Aphrodite, but I snagged his wrist first.
“You can’t stop this,” I said.
Aphrodite looked over her shoulder at me. “Tell your Aphrodite that I made it right.”
My eyes filled with tears that leaked down my cheeks. “I will. Thank you.”
“Zo, wait,” Kevin said. “We need to stop her before—”
Oak held a glowing, delicate hand out to Aphrodite.
“Come, Prophetess, our deal has been made.
Now the price must be paid.
I seal this deal between thee and me.
So I have spoken—so mote it be.”
“Aphrodite! Don’t!” Kevin lunged for her, but she moved more quickly and with no hesitation. Aphrodite stepped through the broken window and grasped Oak’s hand. I held my breath, sure we were going to watch her fall to the bleachers far below, but it didn’t happen like that.
Aphrodite floated with the sprite. They hovered in the air together as the people below pointed and cried out. I could see Aphrodite’s face. She was radiant. Her smile was filled with joy and I thought she looked like a young girl who had never known abuse or sadness, heartache or loneliness. Then the sprites surrounded her, engulfing her in a ball of brilliant silver light.
“What’s happening?” Kevin rushed to the window, staring out.
I couldn’t say anything because I knew what was happening. Aphrodite was sacrificing everything to save this world.
The glowing silver ball drifted slowly down toward the field, and as it got closer and closer, the light changed from silver to something that looked like ballerina-slipper pink, then a lovely salmon color. When it finally came to rest in the middle of the fifty-yard line, making both teams scatter to the
sidelines, it changed color yet again to its final shade—the perfect red of fresh blood.
The instant it touched the field the ball of light exploded, sending scarlet beams away from it. Like waves crashing against a beach, the bloody light washed through the humans and the blue vampyres and found the Red Army. It crashed against them as they cried out, covered in brilliant, blazing red so bright that we all had to look away.
Then everything went dark. I was blinking spots from my eyes when the keening began. It lifted from the field, carried on the night wind like smoke. I rubbed at my eyes, frustrated that it was still so difficult to see. Then my vision suddenly cleared, and I understood the sound. On the field the red vampyres were sobbing. Some had fallen to their knees. Some were standing with their arms wrapped around themselves. Still others were laying on their sides in the fetal position. But all of them, every single man, was sobbing uncontrollably.
I whirled to face Neferet. “You did this. You used them instead of trying to help them. Their agony will forever be tied to you—so I have spoken. So mote it be!”
Neferet stood, her face completely expressionless—almost serene. Then she smiled, and I have never seen such evil reflected from another’s soul.
“And why should I care about those men? Men are all the same, no matter what skin suit they’re wrapped in. They are abusers and users. They have subjugated women for centuries. Raped us. Bought and sold us. They live to control us. Any agony those men feel is less than every one of their gender deserves.”
“I pity you,” I said.
“Neferet, High Priestess of the Tulsa House of Night,” Stark said formally, “I am going to escort you back to your chambers. There you will be held until the Vampyre High Council decides your fate.”
“No, boy. You will not.” With a movement so preternaturally swift that no one could stop her, Neferet hurled herself out of the glassless window.
We looked down, expecting to see her bloody and broken body on the bleachers below—but there was nothing. No body. No Neferet.
“Crap!” I said. “I should’ve known! I should’ve brought turquoise to tie her up with. Crap!”
