CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Aurox
Though Aurox needed the command to get close enough to Grandma Redbird to save her, the words made his stomach tense and his heartbeat speed. He stood and began moving toward the cage made of tendrils of Darkness.
"Just break her neck. Don't damage her body any more than my children already have. I want to be quite sure Zoey can identify her. "
"Yes, Priestess," Aurox said woodenly.
He did not look at the terrible pool of congealing blood and broken turquoise that had gathered, staining the carpet beneath the cage. His gaze met Grandma Redbird's. Aurox tried to tell her with that one look that she needn't be afraid-that he would never hurt her. He mouthed two words to her, Run-Balcony.
Grandma's eyes never left his. She nodded and then said, "I will miss sunrise, lavender, and my u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya, but death holds no terrors for me. "
Aurox was almost within reaching distance of the cage. He knew what he needed to do. The tendrils would open to him. Grandma would run. He would give chase, keeping his body between hers and Neferet's slithering children, and catching her outside-on the balcony-where he would hold her, until Kalona lifted her to safety.
Then the elements would abandon him and the beast would have to fight for his own freedom. Aurox had little hope he would win, but he clung to the thought that freeing Grandma Redbird was a victory in itself. Aurox raised his hands to part the threads.
"Why have you not called the beast?" Neferet's voice was inches from him.
Grandma Redbird cringed back, staring over his shoulder.
Aurox turned. Neferet was there, floating on a nest of slithering tendrils. He could not see her feet. From her knees down she appeared to have become a part of the Dark children she had so long fed.
He felt fear then. It shivered through him like winter wind. Within him fire sent a surge of warmth and Aurox found his voice. "Priestess, the beast does not listen to my commands as it did before the reveal ritual. But I do not need it to break one old woman's neck. "
"But I do so enjoy beasts. I will help you call it forth. " Quick as a striking snake, Neferet slapped Aurox.
The beast quivered and earth soothed the stinging pain, granting Aurox control of the creature once more.
Neferet's brow lifted. "Isn't that interesting? I don't sense so much as the slightest bit of the creature's presence. " Her nest of Darkness carried her even closer to Aurox. He could smell her breath. It was rancid as if she had been eating rotted meat. He forced himself not to move as she leaned into him, putting her arms around him as if he were her lover. "But you know what I do sense?"
Aurox couldn't speak. He could only shake his head.
"I shall tell you. " She ran her sharp-tipped fingernail down his cheek. Blood welled and the tendrils around them quivered in response. "I sense betrayal. " She slapped him again, this time using her hand like a claw and drawing more blood from his face. "You are a Vessel, created as a gift for me. You are mine to command. The beast is mine to call. " Neferet struck him again, drawing more blood. The beast stirred, but spirit strengthened Aurox, allowing him to keep control.
"Spirit? How can spirit be present within you?" Neferet towered over him, fury causing her children to multiply and expand. "Strike him!" The Tsi Sgili hurled a thread of Darkness at him. This time Aurox lifted his arm to block the blow. The tendril cut deeply the length of his forearm. The beast quivered, feeding on Aurox's pain.
Instantly, the other four elements joined calming spirit and water soothed, air cooled, earth grounded, and fire strengthened him.
Neferet's rage was terrible. "The elements are with you! Where is that bitch, Zoey, and her circle?"
"Safe from you, witch!" Aurox yelled, then he turned and ripped open the cage of Darkness. Pulling Grandma Redbird into his arms, Aurox ran.
"Strike! Cut! Cause Aurox unbearable pain is my demand!"
The tendrils caught Aurox around his ankles, cutting deep and tripping him. He dropped Grandma Redbird. The old woman cried out, "Aurox!"
He tried to answer her, to tell Grandma to run to the balcony where freedom awaited, but Neferet was quicker, completing the spell in less than a breath.
"Fashioned from Darkness, beast come forth! Obey my command!"
Aurox was engulfed in the tendrils of Darkness. They did not simply cut him. They pressed their bodies against him. His skin rippled and began absorbing the terrible, snake-like creatures. Pain seared under his skin. With each beat of his frantic heart, Darkness pulsed through Aurox's body, battering the elements until they fled and waking the beast.
Grandma Redbird was sobbing and reaching toward him. The pain within him was unbearable and with a terrible shudder his body began to shift. "No! Go!" Aurox managed to shout. His voice had changed. It was impossibly powerful and completely inhuman.
The beast came forth, birthed in pain and rage and despair.
The old woman got to her feet and began to limp toward the broken door to the balcony.
"Kill her. Now!" Neferet commanded.
Within what remained of his mind, Aurox screamed as the beast roared and obeyed.
Zoey
I shook my head at Aphrodite as she ordered her third glass of champagne. "How can you drink?"
"By using my fake ID that says I'm twenty-five-year-old Anastasia Beaverhousen. "
I rolled my eyes.
"Oh, all right. My fake name is really Kitina Maria Bartovick. "
"And that's so much less obviously fake," I said, rolling my eyes again.
"Whatever. It works. "
"You missed my point about the zillions of glasses of champagne," I said.
"No, I didn't, but you missed a sense a humor. " She sipped the bubbly pink stuff. "By the by, all of a sudden you look like shit. What's up with that?"
I wiped my hand across my brow. It was shaking. My stomach was killing me.
Aphrodite leaned closer to me, pretending to be interested in the open geometry book, and whispered, "If you start coughing blood and die you will seriously screw up tonight's Plan. "
"I am not dying. I'm just-" My words broke off as I was filled with a surge of energy. "Oh, no!"
"What is it?"
"Spirit. The element's back. " I was already punching Thanatos's number on my phone. Through the huge front window I saw Shaunee's shoulders jerk, like something had just slammed into her, too, and I swear the air around her sparkled with fire. She whirled around. Our eyes met. She picked up her red candle.
Thanatos answered on the first ring. "Does Kalona have Grandma?" I asked.
"No. There has been no sign of her. Zoey, you can't-" I hung up on her and grabbed the little purple votive candle.
"She's not safe?"
"No. " I was on my feet. "I'm going up there. " Without waiting to see if she'd argue with me, I sprinted from the restaurant and across the lobby to the elevators. Shaunee and Darius met me there. She was holding her candle. Its flame was burning a lot brighter than my little purple votive, but both candles were still burning.
"Fire's back," Shaunee said.
I punched the up arrow button. "I know. Grandma's still up there. "
Stark ran into the lobby, with Damien close behind. He, too, still carried his lit candle. "Air returned! Fire and spirit, too?"
I nodded. Then faced Stark. "Grandma's not out. I'm going up there. "
"Not without me you're not," Stark said.
"Or me. " Stevie Rae's face was flushed, but she was cradling her burning candle.
Shaylin looked scared and confused when she jogged into the lobby, cupping her hand around the flame of her blue candle. "Something happened. I have water back and Thanatos didn't close the circle. I figured I better get in here. "
"You did good," I said. "Okay, look. " The elevator doors opened and I stepped in. "Aurox has lost control. Probably because Neferet did something awful. Stark and I are going up there to be sure
that awfulness isn't going to get Grandma killed. You guys stay here. Don't let your candles go out. Keep the circle open. "
"Hell, no," Shaunee said, striding into the elevator. "If you go-fire goes. "
"We're all going," Stevie Rae said.
"Fuck it. Me, too," Aphrodite said.
And that was it. My friends and I all squeezed into the elevator. I hit the penthouse button.
"You know there's going to be some majorly screwed-up shit going on when these doors open," Aphrodite said.
"Stay inside the circle close to Zoey," Darius told her. He had a knife in each hand.
Stark notched his bow. I put the hand that wasn't holding a candle on his arm. "Don't kill Aurox unless you have to. "
"Zoey, it won't be Aurox. It'll be the beast. Remember that," he said.
I nodded. "I'll remember. You remember that I love you. "
"Always," he said.
The doors opened to a deserted hallway. As one we stepped out of the elevator, holding our lit candles and keeping our circle open.
The smell of blood hit me. Laced in the terrible seduction of its scent was lavender and something I couldn't identify. Something that reminded me of the bluffs that edged Grandma's farm.
"Turquoise," Stevie Rae said. "I can smell it. "
Then I heard Grandma sob Aurox's name, followed by a shout, a terrible roar, and then Neferet's unmistakable command, "Kill her. Now!"
I ran into the penthouse. "Air, fire, water, earth, spirit! Stop the beast!"
There was a blinding flash as Aurox, fully changed into the horrible creature that slept beneath his skin, charged Grandma. The power of the elements encased him, sizzling with energy. The beast roared his rage, spittle and blood spraying from his terrible mouth, while he circled Grandma.
"U-we-tsi-a-ge-ya!"
"Get to the balcony!" I yelled. There was a shattered glass door just yards behind Grandma, and through it I could see the starlit rooftop balcony onto which Kalona, wings spread, was landing.
"No! Not this time. " Neferet was suddenly there, standing before my group. "Seal the door!" Neferet commanded and a web of black formed across the broken door, blocking Grandma's exit. Then she turned to us. "This time you are in my home, and I do not invite any red fledgling or vampyre within!"
"Oh, no!" Stevie Rae screamed as she, Shaylin, and Stark were lifted from their feet and hurled against the closed doors of the elevator so hard that Shaylin cried out. She and Stevie Rae dropped their candles. The circle was broken.
"Zoey!" Stark shouted, sounding like he was in agony as his body kept being battered against the closed metal doors.
"Make it stop!" Shaylin cried.
I understood what had happened. Different rules applied to red vampyres. The sun burned them. They could control humans' minds. And they could not enter a home without being invited.
Aphrodite knew those rules all too well. She ran to the elevator and pressed the button. When the doors opened, the three of them rushed inside. Stark got to his feet first.
"Get me my bow!" he yelled to Rephaim.
"No. I'd rather you didn't have your bow," Neferet said. She waved her hand and something dark and sticky knocked Rephaim off his feet. "But I would prefer the three of you watch. " She flicked her fingers and spiderweb-like tendrils formed around the elevator doors, holding them open. Then she turned to me. "So nice of you to join your grandmother. Let's have some fun, shall we? Vessel, kill the old woman!"
Neferet's command worked on the beast like a whip. He roared and battered against the elemental prison.
And the elements began to give.
I dropped my candle and held my hands out. Damien took my right hand. Shaunee grasped my left hand.
"Spirit, hold him!" I yelled.
"Air, batter him!" Damien shouted.
"Fire, scorch him!" Shaunee added.
The bubble of energy around the beast pulsed, and for a moment I thought it would hold, then Neferet spoke again.
"My children within, made of Darkness divine,
Come forth-absorb, and make vengeance mine!"
The beast's skin shivered and twitched, and while he roared, hideous black creatures spewed from his mouth. They slammed against the bubble of elemental power. I felt the drain as if I'd been punched in the gut. Shaunee cried out. I heard Damien gasp in pain. They both still clutched my hands.
"Spirit, hold!"
"Air, hold!"
"Fire, hold!"
We tried, the three of us, but I knew we were lost. The creatures of Darkness were too many. They were too powerful. A broken circle could not hold them.
"Zoey! Go!" Grandma was huddled on the floor before the web of Darkness that had cut off her escape to the balcony. I could see Kalona on the other side, battling furiously against Darkness. He ripped and tore and slashed. He was making headway, but I knew not quickly enough.
"Grandma, come to me!"
"I cannot, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya. I am too weak. "
"Try! You gotta try!" Stevie Rae called from the elevator.
Grandma began crawling toward us.
Neferet laughed. "This is such fun! I never believed I would end so many of you at once. This will even get rid of Kalona. The High Council will be ever so distraught when they hear that he went rogue, attacked me, and when you came to my rescue he killed all of you. " She was sitting on the back of the giant round couch with her legs crossed and her hand primly placed on her knee. Her long black dress covered her feet, but there was something wrong about it. Neferet wasn't moving, but the cloth of the dress didn't stay still. I shivered. It was like she was covered with bugs.
"No one will believe that. Thanatos was here. She is our witness," I said.
"So sad that Kalona turned on his High Priestess first," she said.
"You won't get away with it!" I yelled at her.
She laughed again and made a "come here" motion with her finger. The creatures that had come from the beast's body pressed against the bubble with renewed strength.
Shaunee stumbled and her hand slipped from mine. The element power that held the beast dimmed.
"I'm sorry, Zoey. I can't keep it up. " Damien let go of my hand and he fell to his knees, retching.
The bubble shivered.
I felt a terrible tug within me and knew I would soon lose spirit, too, and the beast would be free.
"Grow up, Zoey. This time you're not going to save the day," Neferet said.
Stark was shouting from behind me. Darius and Rephaim stood side by side in front of the open elevator, battling the threads of Darkness that kept trying to leak within.
But all of that seemed very far away to me because Neferet's last words kept echoing around, over and over, inside my mind. I save the day . . . I save the day . . . I save the day . . .
Then I remembered. It's not a poem! It's a spell!
I felt spirit wrench from me and I stepped forward. I pulled the piece of folded purple paper from the pocket of my jeans, and as I did my Seer Stone flamed with heat.
I didn't have time to question myself. I only had time to act. I jerked on the chain that held the stone around my neck and lifted it before me like a shield. Then, in a voice magnified by panic and power, I recited:
"Ancient mirror
Magick mirror
Shades of gray
Hidden
Forbidden
Within, away
Part the mist
Magick kissed
Call the fey
Reveal the past
The spell is cast
I save the day!"
I looked through the Seer Stone and the world changed utterly. I was no longer holding a small, Lifesaver-shaped stone. Before me it had expanded so that it was a slick, round surface. I didn't realize what it was until I saw the reflection of the room glistening darkly on its surface.
"You think to battle me w
ith a mirror?"
I didn't hesitate. I knew the answer. "Yes," I said firmly. "That's exactly what I think I'm going to do. " Holding the mirror in both hands I turned so that it caught Neferet in its surface.
She'd gotten up from the couch. The mirror trapped her reflection as she glided toward me. She was laughing cruelly and glancing dismissively into the mirror when her entire body language changed. Neferet's head began to shake from side to side. Her mouth opened and she whimpered, cringing back as if from an invisible blow. Amazed at the difference in her, I craned my neck around and looked at her reflection.
It was a Neferet that I didn't know. She was young-she looked barely my age. She was also pretty, extremely pretty, even though her long, green dress was torn, exposing the fact that someone had beaten her. Badly. Her face was perfect. It had not been touched. But her chest looked as though there were bite marks on her breasts. Her wrists were swollen and black with bruises. Most horrible of all was the blood that covered the insides of her thighs and dripped down her legs.
"No!" Neferet sobbed. "Not again! Not ever again!" She covered her face with her hands, keening with despair. As the Tsi Sgili wept brokenly, the tendrils of Darkness began to dissolve.
"Spirit!" I called to my element, the one that still held the beast in a fading circle of power. "Let him go. " Then I walked forward, keeping the mirror trained on Neferet. "Aurox!" My shout had the beast's head turning from where Grandma had collapsed on the floor to me. "Darkness doesn't control you. Come back to us! You can do it!" He shook his misshapen head. I kept walking to him. He began to circle me. I kept looking into his moon-colored eyes. "Spirit! Don't trap him-help him!"
I felt the element enter the beast. He stumbled and went down on one knee. He roared.
"Fight it! You are more than a creature made of Darkness!" I hurled the words at him.
He lifted his head and I felt a rush of hope. His flesh was shivering and twitching. He was changing!
"Zoey, watch out!" Stark shouted.
I looked from Aurox in time to see Neferet closing on me. She was still staring at the mirror I held. Tears of blood streamed from her eyes. She had torn her own flesh with her claw-like hands. She raised them, blood-soaked and deadly. "You bitch! I won't let you bring it all back to me! Nyx be damned-I'll kill you myself!" Neferet rushed me.
Aurox hit her hard. He still was beast enough to have horns, and one long, white tip speared Neferet in the middle of her chest. Momentum carried them forward and together they crashed through the remnants of the web Kalona had been battling. The winged immortal jumped aside as the part beast, part boy carried a writhing, screaming Neferet across the balcony. It took less than a breath for them to reach the stone balustrade. The inhuman power of the beast's body shattered it and the two of them fell off the rooftop.