Of course not. How could you possibly displease me? I will be ready and willing for you, as always.
And you will be in my bed, awaiting my pleasure, she said. With a cruel smile she spun around and glided into the huge bedchamber that took up half of the palatial penthouse, closing the double doors to the bathroom with a dramatic slam that Kalona thought sounded much like a gaoler closing a prison door.
He and Rephaim remained still and silent for almost one full minute. When the immortal finally spoke his voice was rough with repressed anger.
There is no price too great to pay to break the hold she has over me. Kalona swiped his hand down his chest as if he could wipe away her touch.
She treats you as if you are her servant.
Not for all of eternity, she will not, Kalona said grimly.
For now she does, though. She even commands you to stay away from Zoey, and youve been bound to the Cherokee maiden that shares her soul for centuries!
The disgust in his sons voice was mirrored by Kalonas own thoughts. No, he said quietly, speaking more to himself than his son. The Tsi Sgili may believe she commands my every move, but though she thinks herself a goddess, she is not omniscient. She cannot know everything. She will not see everything. Kalonas massive wings moved restlessly, mirroring his agitation. I believe you were correct, my son. It may prod Zoey to leave the ancient Isle of Skye if she understands that even there she cannot escape her connection with me.
It seems logical, Rephaim said. The girl hides there to avoid you. Show her your powers are too great for that, whether the Tsi Sgili approves or not.
I do not require that creatures approval.
Exactly, Rephaim said.
My son, take to the nights sky and track the rogue fledglings. That will pacify Neferet. What I truly wish you to do is to find and watch Stevie Rae. Observe her carefully. Note where she goes and what she does, but do not capture her yet. I believe her powers are linked to Darkness. I believe she can be of use to us, but first her continuing friendship with Zoey and the House of Night has to be corroded. She must have a weakness. If we watch her long enough we will discover it. Kalona paused, then he chuckled, though the sound was utterly humorless. Weaknesses can be so beguiling.
Beguiling, Father?
Kalona looked at his son, wondering at his odd expression. Beguiling, indeed. Perhaps you have been so long apart from the world that you do not remember the power of a single human weakness.
I I am not human, Father. Their weaknesses are difficult for me to understand.
Of course of course, just find and observe the Red One. I will consider what to do with her from there, Kalona said dismissively. And while I await Neferets next commandhe spoke the word as a sneer, like the very voicing of it was distastefulI will search the realm of dreams and give Zoeyas well as Nefereta lesson in hide-and-seek.
Yes, Father, Rephaim said.
Kalona watched him open the double doors and step out onto the stone roof. Rephaim strode across the balcony to the balustrade-like wall that ringed the edge, leaped up on its flat ledge, and then opened his huge ebony wings and dropped silently, gracefully, into the night, gliding black and almost invisible against the Tulsa skyline.
Kalona envied Rephaim for a moment, wishing he, too, could leap from the rooftop of the majestic building called Mayo and glide the black, predators sky, hunting, searching, finding.
But no. This night there was another hunting job he would complete. It would not take him to the sky, but it would also, in its own way, be satisfying.
Terror could be satisfying.
For an instant he remembered the last time hed seen Zoey. It was the same moment his spirit had been torn from the Otherworld and returned to his body. The terror then had been his, caused by his failure to keep Zoeys soul in the Otherworld, thereby killing her. Darkness, under the direction of Neferets oath, sealed by her blood and his acceptance, had been able to control himto seize his soul.
Kalona shuddered. Hed long trafficked with Darkness, but he had never given it dominion over his immortal soul.
The experience had not been pleasant. It hadnt been the pain that had been so unbearable, though it had, indeed, been great. It hadnt been the helplessness hed known as the tendrils of the Beast had encased him. His terror had been caused by Nyxs rejection.
Will you ever forgive me? hed asked her.
The Goddesss response had cut him more deeply than had Starks Guardian claymore: If you are ever worthy of forgiving you may ask it of me. Not until then. But the most terrible blow had been delivered with her next words. You will pay my daughter the debt you owe her, and then you will return to the world and the consequences awaiting you there, knowing this, my fallen Warrior, your spirit, as well as your body, is forbidden entrance to my realm.
Then she had abandoned him to the clutches of Darkness, banishing him again without a second glance. It was worse than the first time. When hed fallen it had been his choice, and Nyx had not been cold and uncaring. It had been different the second time. The terror the finality of that banishment caused would haunt him for an eternity, just as would that last, bittersweet glimpse hed had of his Goddess.
No. I will not think of it. This has long been my path. Nyx has not been my Goddess for centuries, nor would I want to return to my life as her Warrior, forever second to Erebus in her eyes. Kalona spoke to the night sky, staring after his son, and then he closed the door on the cold January night and with it, once again, closed his heart to Nyx.
With renewed purpose the immortal strode through the penthouse, past the stained glass windows, gleaming wood bar, the dangling light fixtures, and the velvet furnishings, and into the lush bedchamber. He glanced at the closed double doors to the bathing room, through which he could hear water running, filling the huge tub in which Neferet so loved to luxuriate. He could smell the scent she always added to the steaming water, oil that was a mixture of night-blooming jasmine and clove made especially for her at the Paris House of Night. The scent seemed to slither under the door and fill the air around him like a smothering blanket.
Disgusted, Kalona turned and retraced his steps through the penthouse. With no hesitation he went to the closest set of glass doors that led to the rooftop, opened them, and gulped in the clean, cold night air.
She would have to come to him, seek him out, find him here, under the open sky, when she deigned to stoop so low as to actually look for him. She would punish him for not being in her bed, awaiting her pleasure as if he were her whore.
Kalona growled.
It was not so long ago that, drawn by his power, she had been enthralled with him.
He wondered briefly if he would decide to enslave her to him when he broke her hold over his soul.
The thought gave him some pleasure. Later. He would consider it later. Now time was short and he had much to accomplish before he had to, once again, placate Neferet.
Kalona walked to the thick stone railing that was ornate as well as strong. He spread his huge, dark wings, but instead of leaping from the rooftop and tasting the night air, the immortal lay on the stone floor, closing his wings over him, cocoon-like.
He ignored the coldness of the stone beneath him and felt only the strength of the limitless sky above and the ancient magicks that floated free and alluring within the night.
Kalona closed his eyes and slowly slowly breathed in and then out. As the breath left him Kalona also released all thoughts of Neferet. When he drew in his next breath he pulled, within his lungs his body and his spirit, the invisible power that filled the night over which his immortal blood gave him authority. And then he drew to him thoughts of Zoey.
Her eyesthe color of onyx.
Her lush mouth.
The strong stamp of her Cherokee foremothers that informed her features and so reminded him of that other maiden whose soul she shared and whose body had once captured and comforted him.
Find Zoey Redbird. The fact that Kalona pitched his voice low made it no less commanding as he conjured from his blood and the night a power so ancient it made the world seem young. Take my spirit to her. Follow our connection. If she is in the Realm of Dreams, she cannot hide from me. Our spirits know each other too well. Now go!
This leave-taking of his spirit was nothing like what had befallen him when Darkness, bidden by Neferet, had stolen his soul. This was a gentle liftinga pleasurable sensation of flight that was familiar and enjoyable. It wasnt sticky tentacles of Darkness he followed, but instead the swirling energy that hid in the folds between the currents of the sky.
Kalonas released spirit moved swiftly and with purpose to the east at a speed not comprehensible by the mortal mind.
He hesitated briefly when he reached the Isle of Skye, surprised that the protective spell Sgiach had laid on the island so long ago could give even him pause. She was, indeed, a powerful vampyre. He thought what a pity it was that she had not answered his call instead of Neferet.
Then he wasted no more time on idle thoughts and his spirit swatted away Sgiachs barrier and let himself float down, slowly but resolutely, toward the vampyre queens castle.
His spirit was given pause once more as it passed the grove that grew lush and deep and close to the castle of the Great Taker of Heads and her Guardians.
The Goddesss fingerprint was all over it. It made his soul quiver with a pain that transcended the physical realm. The grove didnt stop him. It didnt forbid him from passing. It simply caused him an agonizing moment of remembrance.
So like Nyxs grove that I will never again see
Kalona turned from the verdant proof of Nyxs blessing on someone else and allowed his spirit to be drawn to Sgiachs castle. He would find Zoey there. If she was sleeping, he would follow their connection and enter the mystical Realm of Dreams.
As he passed over its grounds he glanced with approval at the human heads and the obvious battle-ready state of the ancient place. Sinking down through the thick gray stone that was speckled with the sparkling marble of the isle, Kalona considered how much hed rather be living there instead of the gilded cage of the Mayos penthouse in Tulsa.
He needed to complete this task and force Zoey back to the House of Night. Like moves in an intricate game of chess, this was just one more queen that had to be captured so that he could be free.
His spirit sank lower and lower. Using his soul sight, the power through which his immortal blood made visible to him the layers of reality that lifted and shifted, roiled and surged all around the mortal world, he focused on the Realm of Dreams, that fantastical sliver of reality that wasnt completely corporeal, nor was it only spirit, and pulled taut the thread of connection hed been following, knowing that when the cacophony of colors shifting realities caused cleared, he would be joined to Zoey there.
Kalona was relaxed and confident and therefore utterly unprepared for what happened next. He felt an unfamiliar tug, as if his spirit had become grains of sand being forced through the narrow funnel of an hourglass.
Sight first, his senses began to stabilize. What he saw shocked him so badly he almost lost the thread of the spirit journey altogether and was jolted back to his body. Zoey smiled up at him with an expression filled with warmth and trust.
By the shades of reality surrounding him, Kalona knew immediately he hadnt entered the Realm of Dreams. He stared down at Zoey, hardly daring to breathe.
And the sense of touch returned to him. She was wrapped in his arms, her naked body, pliant and warm, pressed against him. She touched his face, letting her fingers linger over his lips. His hips automatically lifted to her and she made a small sound of pleasure as her eyes fluttered closed and she raised her lips to his.
Just before she kissed him and he settled deeply within her body, Kalonas sense of hearing returned.
I love you, too, Stark, she said, and began to make love to him.
The pleasure was so unexpectedthe shock so intensethat the connection was severed. Breath ragged, Kalona pulled himself to his feet and leaned against the rooftop balustrade. Blood pumped hot and fast through his body. He shook his head in disbelief.
Stark. Kalona spoke the name to the night, reasoning aloud. The connection I followed wasnt to Zoey at all. The connection was to Stark. He understood, and then felt a fool for not anticipating what had happened. In the Otherworld I breathed the spirit of my immortal soul within him. Some of that spirit has, obviously, remained. The smile that broke over the immortals face was as fierce as his raging blood. And now I have access to Zoey Redbirds Guardian and Oath Sworn Warrior. Kalona spread his wings, threw back his head, and let his triumphant laughter ring into the night.
What is so amusing and why are you not awaiting me in my bed?
Kalona turned to see Neferet standing naked in the doorway to the suite, a look of irritation on her haughty face. But that look quickly changed as she gazed at his fully aroused body.
I am not amused, I am joyous. And I am here because I wish to take you on the roof with the open sky stretching above us. He strode to Neferet, lifted her, carried her back to the balcony railing, closed his eyes, and imagined dark hair and eyes as he made her cry out in pleasure over and over again.
Stark
The first time it happened so quickly Stark couldnt be sure, totally, absolutely sure, it had happened at all.
But he should have listened to his instincts. His gut told him something had gone wrong, very wrong, even if it was only for a few minutes.
Hed been in bed with Zoey. Theyd talked and laughed and basically just been having a good time being alone. The castle was awesome. Sgiach and Seoras and the rest of the Warriors were great, but Stark was really a loner. Here on Skye, no matter how cool it was, someone was always around. Just because the place was withdrawn from the real world didnt make it any less busy. There was shit going on constantlytraining and castle maintenance, trading with the locals and such. And thats not even taking into account that hed been teamed with Seoras, which meant he was more or less the old dudes slave/errand boy/fodder for comedy.
Then there were the garrons. Hed never really been a horse guy, but the highland garrons were amazing animals, even if they did seem to produce an amount of horse crap that was totally out of proportion with their size. Stark should know. Hed spent most of that evening shoveling it, and when hed made a couple offhanded comments that, sure, might have sounded like complaining, Seoras and some other old Warrior with an Irish accent, bald head, and a ginger-colored beard had started calling him Ach, poor wee Mary with the sweet, smooth hands of a lassie.
Needless to say he was seriously glad to be alone with Z. She smelled so damn good and felt so damn good that he had to keep reminding himself it wasnt a dream. They werent still in the Otherworld. This was real and Zoey was his.
It had happened between deep, hot make-out kisses that made him feel like he was going to explode. Hed just told her he loved her, and Z had been smiling up at him. All of a sudden something inside him had changed. Hed felt heavier yet weirdly stronger. And there was a strange sense of shock that jolted all along his nerve endings. Shed kissed him then and, as usual when Z kissed him, itd been more than kinda hard for him to think, but hed known something was off.
Hed felt shocked.
And that was bizarre as hell because he and Z had been kissing and morelots morefor a while. It was like somewhere inside him, but apart from him, there was a guy who was totally blown away by what was going on between him and Z.
Then hed started making love to Z and there was a sizzling sense of utter astonishment. It had felt strange, but everything was intensified when he touched Zoey. And it had gone away almost as quickly as it had started, leaving Z in his arms, melting into him so that the only thing filling his heart, mind, body, and soul was her only her.
Afterward Stark tried to remember what it had been that had seemed so weirdwhat bothered him so much. But by that time the sun was rising, he was drifting into a happily exhausted sleep, and it just didnt seem so important anymore.
After all, why should he worry? Zoey was tucked away safely in his arms.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Rephaim
The Raven Mocker let himself fall from the seventeenth-story rooftop of the Mayo building. Wings outstretched, he soared over the city center, his dark plumage making him almost invisible.
As if humans ever looked uppoor, earthbound creatures. Odd that even though Stevie Rae was earthbound, he never thought of her as one of the rest of the unwinged, pathetic horde.
Stevie Rae His flight faltered. His speed slowed. No. Dont think of her now. I have to get well away first and be certain my thoughts are my own. Father must not guess anything is amiss. And Neferet can never, ever know.
Rephaim closed his mind to everything except the night sky and purposefully made a long, slow circle, assuring himself Kalona had not changed his mind and defied Neferet to join him. When he knew he had the night to himself, he positioned himself so that he was headed northeast on a flight path that would take him first to the old Tulsa depot and then to Will Rogers High School and the scene of supposed gang violence that had recently been plaguing that part of the city.
He agreed with Neferet that the cause of the attacks was most likely the rogue red fledglings. That was all he agreed with Neferet on, though.
Rephaim flew soundlessly and quickly to the abandoned depot building. Circling it, he used his sharp vision to look for even a breath of movement that might betray the presence of any vampyre or fledgling, red or blue. He studied the building with an odd mixture of anticipation and reluctance. What would he do if Stevie Rae had come back and reclaimed the basement and the labyrinthine series of tunnels below it for her fledglings?
Would he be able to remain silent and invisible in the night sky, or would he let himself be known to her?
Before he could formulate an answer a truth came to him: he wouldnt have to make that decision. Stevie Rae wasnt there at the depot. He would know if she was near. The knowledge settled over him like a shroud, and with a long exhalation of breath Rephaim dropped to the roof of the depot.
Finally completely alone, he allowed himself to think of the terrible avalanche of events that had begun that day. Rephaim folded his wings tightly to his back and paced.
The Tsi Sgili was weaving a web of fate that could unravel Rephaims world. Father was going to use Stevie Rae in his war with Neferet for dominion over his spirit. Father would use anyone to win that war. The moment after Rephaim had the thought he instantly rejected it, automatically reacting as he would have before Stevie Rae had entered his life.
Entered my life? Rephaim laughed humorlessly. Its more like she entered my soul and my body. He paused in his pacing, remembering how itd felt to have the beautiful, clean power of the earth flow into and heal him. He shook his head. Not for me, he told the night. My place is not with her; it is impossible. My place is as it has always been, with my father in the Darkness.
Rephaim stared down at his hand, resting on the rusted edge of a metal grate. He wasnt man or vampyre, immortal or human. He was monster.
But did that mean he could look idly on as Stevie Rae was used by his father and abused by the Tsi Sgili? Or worse, could he take part in her capture?
She wouldnt betray me. Even if I captured her, Stevie Rae wouldnt betray our connection.
Still staring at his hand, Rephaim realized where it was he was standing, on which grate his hand was resting, and he jerked back. It was here that the rogue red fledglings had entrapped themhere that Stevie Rae had almost lost her lifeand here that shed been so mortally wounded he had allowed her to drink from him Imprint with him
By all the gods, if only I could take it back! he shouted to the sky. The words echoed around him, repeating, mocking. His shoulders slumped and his head bowed as his hand smoothed over the surface of the rough iron grate. What am I supposed to do? Rephaim whispered the question.
No answer came, but he didnt expect one. Instead he withdrew his touch from the unforgiving iron and collected himself.
I will do what I have always done. I will follow the commands of my father. If I can do that and, at least by some small measure, protect Stevie Rae, then so be it. If I cannot protect her, then so be it. My path was chosen at my conception. I cannot deviate from it now. His words sounded as cold as the January night, but his heart felt hot, as if what he had said made his blood boil at the core of his body.
With no more hesitation, Rephaim leaped from the roof of the depot and continued on his easterly route, flying the short miles from downtown to Will Rogers High School. The main building was set on a little rise beside an open field space. It was large and rectangular and made of light-colored brick that looked like sand in the moonlight. He was drawn to the centralmost part of the structure, the first of two large, ornately carved square towers lifting from it. That was where he landed. That was also where he immediately assumed a defensive crouch.
He could smell them. The scent of the rogue fledglings was everywhere. Moving stealthily, Rephaim positioned himself so he could peer down at the front grounds of the school. He saw a few trees, large and small, a long expanse of lawn, and nothing else.
Rephaim waited. It wasnt long. He knew it wouldnt be. Dawn was too close. So hed expected to see the fledglingshe just hadnt expected to see them walk boldly up to the front door of the school, reeking of fresh blood and led by the newly Changed Dallas.
Nicole was wrapped around him. That big, dumb Kurtis obviously thought he was some kind of bodyguard because while Dallas pressed his hand against one of the rust-colored steel doors, the oversized fledgling stood at the edge of the concrete steps, looking out and holding a gun as if he thought he knew what to do with it.
Rephaim shook his head in disgust. Kurtis didnt look up. None of the fledglings, or even Dallas, looked up. He was no longer the broken creature theyd captured and used; they had no idea how pathetically vulnerable they were to his attack.
But Rephaim didnt attack. He waited and watched.
There was a sizzling sound and Nicole ground briefly against Dallas. Oh, yeah, baby! Work your magic. Her voice lifted in the night as Dallas laughed and pulled the no longer locked or alarmed door open.
Lets go, Dallas told Nicole, sounding older and harder than Rephaim remembered. Dawns close and theres somethin you got to take care of before the sun rises.
Nicole rubbed her hand down the front of his pants while the rest of the red fledglings laughed. Then lets get us down to those basement tunnels so I can get going on it.
She led the fledglings inside the school. Dallas waited outside until they were all in, then followed them, closing the door. In another moment Rephaim heard a sizzling sound like before and then all was quiet. And when, in the next moment, the security guard drove lazily by, all was still quiet. He, too, didnt look up to see the enormous Raven Mocker crouched on the top of the schools tower.
When the guard drove away Rephaim leaped into the night, his mind whirring in time with the beating of his wings.
Dallas was leading the rogue red fledglings.
He was controlling the modern magick of this world and it somehow allowed him access to buildings.
Will Rogers High School was where they were making their nest.
Stevie Rae would want to know that. She would need to know that. She still felt responsible for them, even though they had tried to kill her. And Dallas, what did she still feel for him?
Just thinking about seeing her in Dallass arms made him angry. But shed chosen him over Dallas. Clearly and completely.
Not that that made any difference now.
It was then that Rephaim realized the direction hed been flying was too far south to take him back to the downtown Mayo. Instead he was gliding over midtown Tulsa, passing the dimly lit abbey of the Benedictine nuns, cutting over Utica Square, and silently approaching the stone wallprotected campus. His flight faltered.
Vampyres would look up.
Rephaim beat against the night air, lifting up and up. Then, too high to be easily seen, he skirted the campus, diving soundlessly outside the east wall into a pool of shadow between streetlights. From there he moved from shadow to shadow, using the darkness of his feathers to blend with the night.
He heard the eerie howling before he reached the wall. It was a sound so filled with despair and heartbreak that it cut even him to the bone. What is making that terrible howl?
He knew the answer almost as quickly as hed formulated the thought. The dog. Starks dog. During one of her sessions of nonstop talking, Stevie Rae had told him how one of her friends, the boy named Jack, had more or less taken ownership of Starks dog when hed turned into a red fledgling, and how close the boy and the dog had become and what a good thing she thought that was for both of them because the dog was so smart and Jack was so sweet. As he remembered Stevie Raes words, everything slid into place. By the time he reached the schools boundary and heard the crying that accompanied the terrible howling, Rephaim knew what hed see when he carefully and quietly scaled the wall and peered down at the scene of devastation before him.
He looked. He couldnt stop himself. He wanted to see Stevie Raejust see her. After all, he couldnt do anything except lookRephaim definitely couldnt allow any of the vampyres to see him.
Hed been correct; the innocent whose blood had fulfilled Neferets debt to Darkness had been Stevie Raes friend Jack.
Under the shattered tree through which Kalona had escaped his earthen prison, a boy knelt, sobbing Jack! over and over beside a howling dog in the middle of bloodstained grass. The body wasnt still there, but the bloodstain was. Rephaim wondered if anyone else would be able to detect the fact that there was a lot less blood than there should have been. Darkness had fed deeply from Neferets gift.
Beside the weeping boy the schools Sword Master, Dragon Lankford, stood silently, his hand on his shoulder. The three of them were alone. Stevie Rae wasnt there. Rephaim was trying to convince himself that was for the best. It really was a good thing that she hadnt been theremaybe hadnt seen himwhen a wave of feelings slammed into him: sadness, worry, and hurt foremost among them. Then, arms filled with a big wheat-colored cat, Stevie Rae rushed up to the mourning trio. It was so good to see her that Rephaim almost forgot to breathe.
Duchess, you gotta stop this now. Her distinctly accented voice washed over him like a spring rain in the desert. He watched her crouch beside the big dog, depositing the cat between her legs. The feline instantly started rubbing against the dog, as if he were trying to wipe away her pain. Rephaim blinked in surprise when the dog actually quieted and began licking the cat. Theres a good girl. Let Cameron help you. Stevie Rae looked up at the Sword Master. Rephaim saw him nod almost imperceptibly. She turned her attention to the sobbing boy. Digging into the pocket of her jeans, she pulled out a wad of tissues, and handed it to him. Damien, sweetie, you gotta stop this now, too. Youre gonna make yourself sick.
Damien took the tissue and wiped quickly across his face. In a shaking voice he said, I d-dont care.
Stevie Rae touched his cheek. I know you dont, but your cat needs you, and so does Duchess. Plus, honey, Jack would be real upset if he saw you like this.
Jack wont ever see me again. Damien had stopped crying, but his voice sounded terrible. It seemed to Rephaim that he could hear the boys heart breaking within it.
I do not believe that for one hot second, Stevie Rae said firmly. And if you really think about it, neither do you.
Damien looked at her with haunted eyes. I cant think right now, Stevie Rae. All I can do is feel.
Some of the sadness will pass, Dragon said in a voice that sounded as heartbroken as Damiens. Enough so that you will be able to think again.