Kalona
Rephaim hadn't told him. His son had let him believe the Goddess had forgiven him, and in doing so she'd gifted him with the form of a human boy.
Rephaim hadn't mentioned that he'd been condemned to be a bird, a beast who could only long for something that was, with a creature's mind, forever unattainable.
"At least for the hours of daylight it is unattainable," Kalona said, pacing across the top of the ridge.
"Help you, we will?"
Kalona's anger exploded at the hissing, semi-human sound of his other son's voice. He turned on Nisroc, raising his hand to cuff him into silence. The Raven Mockers who were clustered around scurried back, out of his reach. Nisroc cringed, but remained near and did not try to escape his father's wrath.
Mid-swing, Kalona hesitated. He let his fist drop to his side. He stared at his silent son who crouched, waiting for the blow.
"Why?" Kalona allowed the desperation he was feeling to be heard in his voice. "Why would you want to help me?" Nisroc raised his head. There was confusion in his red gaze. "You are Father."
"But I have not been a good father," Kalona heard himself say.
Nisroc's gaze remained steady on his. "That mattersss not. Ssstil you are Father." Utterly defeated, Kalona could only shake his head, and in a voice gentled by emotions he barely understood, he said, "You cannot help me with this." Kalona gestured to the sky. "Go on. It is full dark now. You may stretch your wings and ride the sky without being seen. Just be back before dawn."
They didn't hesitate. They leaped from the ridge, and with raven cries took to the sky.
He didn't realize Nisroc had not left with the rest of them until he spoke. His son's voice was unusually soft. Perhaps it was the softness of it that made him sound so human. "Help you, I would."
Kalona looked at his son. "Thank you," he said.
Nisroc bowed his head as if his father's words were as tangible as the blow he'd almost received.
Kalona cleared his throat, and looked away from the creature he'd created in anger and lust. "Go on. Join your brothers. I command it of you."
"Yesss, Father."
Kalona listened to Nisroc's wings beat against the wind. He tilted his head up so that he could watch his son disappear into the night.
It was when he was alone that the phone began to ring. Feeling decidedly foolish, he lifted the thing from the rock he'd left it on the night before.
The display said STEVIE RAE. Without hesitation Kalona tapped the accept button and put the phone to his ear.
"Help Rephaim! The bull 's gonna kill him!" The Red One's voice shouted above a terrible swell of sounds.
There was a crackle of static and the connection went dead.
Kalona's body was moving before his mind fully processed his decision. He launched himself into the air, gathering with him the ethereal wisps that drifted from the Otherworld to form invisible currents in the mortal sky.
"I call upon the power of the spirit of ancient immortals, which is mine by birthright to command. Take me to the blood of my blood, the son of my spirit. Take me to Rephaim!"
Zoey
"Help Rephaim! The bull 's gonna kill him!" Stevie Rae screamed and dropped the phone, which was instantly engulfed in the scarlet glow. She tried to get to her feet and go to Rephaim, but her body was trapped within the circle's power. Desperately, she yelled at me, "Close the circle! Let me help him!"
I didn't hesitate. We'd seen the truth of Mom's murder. The circle could be closed. "Spirit, earth, water, fire, air-I release you!" But my words made no difference. The red glow still imprisoned us.
"What's happening?" Stevie Rae was sobbing and struggling futilely to stand.
"Death has put this spell in motion," Thanatos repeated. She sounded sad, resigned. "Only death can release it."
"You represent death. You release us!" I said.
"I cannot." She looked old and defeated. "Forgive me."
"No! That's not good enough. You have to-"
Before I could complete the words, Aurox lowered his horrible head to charge at Rephaim again. Bleeding and battered, Dragon Lankford staggered between the boy and the creature, taking the blow meant for Rephaim. Aurox's horn caught Dragon in the middle of his chest, lifting him off his feet as the bull gored completely through the Sword Master. Aurox stepped back, shaking his head so that Dragon's body came loose and slid to the ground. We watched Dragon shudder, cough, and with his last breath he looked toward our circle and said, "If only death can release you, then my death releases you..."
Aurox roared his victory and circled around Dragon to resume his attack on Rephaim.
But Dragon's death changed everything. The red glow lifted from the circle. It went so high that it seemed to touch the moon. In the sky it exploded and a pure silver mist fell back to earth bathing everything gently in a warm, spring-scented rain.
The instant she was released Stevie Rae ran forward, calling, "Earth, come to me! Protect Rephaim!" But the green glow that appeared instantly around Rephaim wasn't needed. As the silver rain washed over the bull, the creature's body jerked and twitched and then stumbled. I blinked and wiped my face, trying to clear my vision, but I realized there was nothing wrong with my sight. The bull-
thing was melting, changing, shifting, and within moments Aurox, the boy who'd saved me from the falling branch, was standing in his place.
He blinked several times and looked around as if he was confused, as if he didn't know where he was.
"Stay away from him!" Stevie Rae snarled at Aurox as she stood between him and Rephaim. Her hands were glowing green.
Aurox took a hesitant step back, shaking his head. He was looking around, still obvious dazed. I saw the moment his gaze found Dragon's gored body.
"No!" Aurox said. "No." He looked from the Sword Master's battered body and his gaze found me. "Zoey! I chose a different future. I did!" Then Stark and Darius were there, descending on him with swords raised. Aurox was still shaking his head and saying over and over again, "I chose a new future ... I chose a new future..." but no matter what his words said, I could see that his body was beginning to ripple again. He was shifting back into the bull. Stark and Darius were going to kill him.
Darkness does not always equate to evil; light does not always bring good. See with true sight, child ... see with true sight ...
Nyx's voice filled my mind and I knew what I had to do. I lifted the seer stone from where it hung between my breasts, drew a deep breath, and looked through it at Aurox.
Seen through the stone the boy's body radiated a moonstone glow from its center, near his heart. The glow expanded until it shielded Aurox completely. And then I realized what the glow actually was-it was the image of another body, one that was ghostly, ethereal, and it wasn't so much shielding Aurox as overshadowing him because it was so bright.
And familiar.
"Heath!" I screamed his name. Aurox, already partially changed into the creature, swung his head around to look at me. The glowing vision of Heath moved with him and, just for an instant, our gazes met. I saw Heath's eyes widen in surprise. "Earth!" I borrowed from the elemental energy Stevie Rae had already manifested. "Protect Aurox. Don't let Stark and Darius hurt him!" Some of the green glow that hovered around Rephaim spread through the ground and then lifted in front of Aurox, forming a wall between him and the two Warriors.
"Zoey, what in the hell are you doing?" Stark said, trying to get around the wall of protection.
"I know what I'm doing," I told Stark, but my gaze never left Aurox. But Aurox wasn't human anymore. The creature was fully formed and the image of Heath was gone. The beast roared with rage and agony and despair, dropped his head, and charged directly at me.
I know it was moronic, but I didn't move. Instead I kept staring into his eyes and sounding way more calm and certain than I felt as I said, "You won't hurt me. I know you won't."
At the last instant Aurox veered to the side. Missing my body by inches, he passed so close to me that I could smell the blood and death on him, and feel the brush of his skin. Then he disappeared into the night.
I don't know whether it was adrenaline or stupidity that had kept me on my feet up 'till then, but both suddenly deserted me and I went down smack on my butt. The green wall disappeared and Stark ran to me.
"Are you hurt? Are you okay? What the hell is wrong with you?" Stark crouched beside me and fired questions at me as he ran his hands all over my body. "Are you bleeding?"
I grabbed his hands, holding tight to him, hoping he couldn't tell how badly my own hands were shaking. "I'm fine. Really."
"You're stupid. Really," Aphrodite said, looking down her nose at me. "Seriously, Z. It's either that or you're delusional. Bull boy is not Heath."
"Hell no he's not Heath," Stark said, looking at Aphrodite like she'd lost her mind.
So he didn't hear me. Good, maybe no one else heard me. I can handle Aphrodite. Later. Just then I ignored her, which was easy because Grandma was hurrying up looking as worried as Stark. "Did he harm you?"
I tugged on Stark's hands and he helped me up. Then I hugged Grandma. "No, I'm okay." She gave me a reassuring squeeze and didn't call me stupid. Instead she said, "Rephaim is not."
"Uh-oh." Damien, Erin, and Shaunee had joined Stevie Rae where she knelt at Rephaim's side. We started over to them. Under her breath, Aphrodite said, "This is gonna be bad. Really bad."
I meant to keep my eyes from looking at Dragon's body, but they didn't listen to me. He'd fall en not far from Rephaim. Just seeing his face I would have thought he was sleeping. I mean, except for the trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth he actually looked more at peace than he had since Anastasia's death. It was his body that was a disaster. Both arms had wounds in them. Aurox's horn had ripped through the fabric of his pants leaving one of his thighs a hamburger meat-looking mess. His chest was a terrible thing to see. His ribs had splintered around the hole.
From his chest down, blood was everywhere.
I was standing there, staring, when Thanatos's velvet cloak swirled into view. She'd unclasped the brooch that held it over her shoulders and, with a flourish, the High Priestess covered Dragon's body. She had an odd expression on her face, and I was trying to figure out what was going on, when she spoke.
"You may move on now. You were destined to either die this night with your oath reclaimed, your path true-or to emerge from this night with your body alive, but your spirit dead to all that is honorable." Thanatos smiled, and I realized her expression looked odd because she was talking to the air above Dragon's body. "By sacrificing yourself for Rephaim you found mercy again, and through it, our Goddess." Thanatos made a sweeping gesture up with her arm, and I thought she looked incredibly graceful and totally beautiful. "There is your path. Move on to the Otherworld and your new future."
Then I gasped as the sky above Thanatos shivered. Night parted and a familiar tree came into view. It was green and lush, a rowan and hawthorn twined together. The pieces of cloth that were tied to its massive umbrel a of branches kept changing colors and lengths as they waved gently in a warm breeze that smelled of earth and moss and springtime.
"The Goddess's hanging tree," Stark whispered.
"You can see it, too?" I murmured to him.
"Yeah," he said.
"So can I," Aphrodite said.
"As can I," Darius said-and all around me my friends nodded and whispered and stared in wonderment as a girl stepped from behind the tree.
She was blond and smiling, and looked super gorgeous in a long skirt the color of blue topaz that had glass beads and shells and white leather fringe all around its hem and the neckline of the sleeveless, matching top. She was carrying a single sunflower.
"It's Anastasia!" Damien said.
"She's so young," I blurted, and then closed my mouth, worried that I'd say something to shatter the vision.
But Anastasia didn't seem to see us. Her attention was completely captivated by the young man who strode into view. His hair was long and thick and tied back and his brown eyes sparkled with unshed tears.
"It's Dragon," Shaunee said.
"No," Thanatos corrected her. "It's Bryan, her Bryan."
The young Bryan Lankford touched Anastasia's face reverently. "My own," he said.
"My own," she said. "I knew you would find yourself again."
"And in doing so, I found you." Smiling, he pulled her into his arms and as their lips met the sky shimmered again and the doorway to the Otherworld closed.
Stark handed me a balled-up Kleenex he pulled from his jeans pocket. I blew my nose.
"Is Rephaim gonna die now, too?"
Stevie Rae's question pulled us firmly back to earth. I turned to see that she was still kneeling beside Rephaim. I was close enough now to see that he was bleeding from a deep gash in his head. He looked pale and still -too still.
"Your affinity is Death," Stevie Rae continued. Wiping tears from her face with the back of her hand, she stared at Thanatos. "So, tell me the truth.
Is Rephaim gonna die?"
There was a giant whooshing sound and Kalona dropped from the sky. Stark and Darius instantly raised their weapons and moved to stand between Aphrodite and me, and the immortal. But Kalona didn't even glance at us. He hurried to Rephaim.
"You're too late!" Stevie Rae yelled at him. "I called, but you came too late." Kalona looked from his son to Stevie Rae. "I did not hesitate. I came at your call." Then he utterly shocked me by kneeling beside Stevie Rae.
Slowly, he reached around her and touched his son's face. "He lives."
"Not for long," Thanatos said gently. "Take what time is left to say your farewells. Death has marked Rephaim for her own." Kalona's amber gaze seemed to skewer the High Priestess. The power in his voice was as terrible as was his grief. "Death cannot have him! He is my son, and I am an immortal. He cannot die."
"Did you not renounce him and name him no longer your child?"
The pain that flashed across Kalona's face was heartbreaking. I could see that he was trying to speak, but the words wouldn't come.
Stevie Rae touched the immortal's arm. His gaze turned to her.
"We all say things we don't mean sometimes, 'specially when we're mad. If you didn't mean it, why don't you try just sayin' you're sorry?" She looked from the immortal to his son. "Tell Rephaim. Maybe he'll hear you." Then she scooted back, leaving Kalona by himself, kneeling beside Rephaim.
Kalona leaned forward and pulled his son to him, so that Rephaim rested across his lap. The immortal looked down at him for what seemed like a very long time and then, in a voice unsteady with emotion he said, "Rephaim, I am sorry. You are my son. You will always be my son. Forgive me for my anger and my foolishness." And then Nyx's fall en Warrior closed his eyes, bowed his head, and added, "Goddess, please. Do not let him pay for my mistakes."
A single tear tracked down Kalona's cheek and fell onto Rephaim's forehead and the bloody wound that gaped there. There was a flash of light, so brilliant and pure that I was blinded for a moment. As I blinked the dots from my vision I saw Rephaim take a deep breath and open his eyes. The gash on his forehead was gone. He looked a little baffled. Kalona moved awkwardly to help him sit up on his own, which Rephaim did easily.
Rephaim's smile was tentative, but he sounded perfectly normal when he said, "hello, Father. When did you get here?" Stevie Rae wrapped her arms around Rephaim and hugged him hard, but her face was tilted up so that it was obvious she was speaking to Kalona when she said, "Just in time. Your daddy got here just in time."
Kalona stood. At that moment he wasn't an all uring, powerful, downright scary immortal. He was just a dad who didn't have a clue what to say to his kid.
"The Red One-" Kalona paused, and then began again. "Stevie Rae called. I came." First Rephaim smiled, and then his happiness faltered as he obviously remembered. "Dragon. Where is he? He wasn't trying to hurt me. I know he wasn't."
Stevie Rae bit her lip. Tears spilled from her eyes as she said, "Yeah, we know. Dragon saved you from Aurox."
"Aurox? Neferet's creature? He was here?" Kalona asked.
"He was. He tried to kill your son and disrupt the reveal ritual. Dragon Lankford gave his life to save him," Thanatos said.
All of our eyes went to Dragon's shrouded body.
I didn't know what to say. How the hell was I going to explain to them that I'd really seen Heath's soul inside Aurox? And what the hell was I going to do about it?
"You must know that Neferet has all ied herself with Darkness," Kalona said.
"I do," Thanatos agreed. "And the Vampyre High Council will now know it, as well."
"What's going to happen?" I asked Thanatos.
"Neferet will be stripped of her title of High Priestess and shunned by all vampyres," Thanatos said.
"She will fight," Kalona said grimly. "And she has powerful all ies in Darkness, her creature, and the Red Ones who follow her."
"Then we will defend ourselves," Thanatos said.
"Does that mean you are staying in Tulsa? Or are you going to return to your Italian isle and leave these children to battle Darkness?" Kalona asked.
Thanatos narrowed her eyes at him. "The Tulsa House of Night has a new High Priestess, and she is Death." Kalona stared at Thanatos, then he looked from her to his son. I could see the indecision on his face and I figured he was getting ready to fly away-actually the thought passed my mind that even though he'd said sorry to Rephaim and seemed to have a truce with us, we couldn't really be sure he wasn't still involved with Neferet. I mean, I'd believed in him before and Heath had died because of it.
But when the immortal finally moved it wasn't because he was flying away. He strode over to Thanatos, and then he knelt on one knee and said,
"It seems your House of Night will also need a new Sword Master. I pledge myself body, heart, and soul to protect you, High Priestess. I believe it is just that I serve as Death's Warrior. Will you accept my oath?"
"Holy shit!" I heard Aphrodite murmur.
Beside me Stark moved restlessly and I saw him share a look with Darius.
"I do accept your oath, Kalona, and I will hold it as binding."
Kalona bowed his head and fisted his hand over his heart saying, "Thank you, High Priestess." When he stood, his gaze went directly to his son.
Rephaim's smile was brilliant, even though his face was washed with tears. "You did the right thing," he told his father.
Kalona nodded. "Yes. At last."
"Well, then. Shal we return to our House of Night and see what awaits us there?" Thanatos asked.
We all nodded, even though I know I wasn't the only one whose stomach hurt and who absolutely wanted to run screaming from whatever we were going to find back in Tulsa.
But none of us ran. None of us said much of anything as we followed Death and her winged Warrior to the bus. Darius and Stark carried Dragon's cloak-wrapped body. I kissed Grandma good-bye and stared out of the bus's window as we drove past the circle that had been blighted by Darkness and which was now filled to bursting with lavender plants in full, beautiful bloom.
"Wait," I called to Darius. "Stop the bus."
I opened my window and heard my friends all do the same. Then, as one, we breathed deeply, inhaling the magickal scent of reblessed lavender.
"Look!" Stevie Rae cried, pointing above the circle.
I looked up and there, hovering, was our Goddess. She was dressed in robes the color of night and wore a headdress decorated with stars. Her smile took in us all, and with the fragrance of the flowers, her words drifted through the bus: Hold to the memory of the healing that happened here this night.
You will need that strength and peace for the upcoming fight.
I closed my eyes, bowed my head and thought, ah, hell ...
THE END