“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 need 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.”