“Only one hundred thousand dollars?” Neferet scoffed. “How very frugal of them. My dear, I want you to search for something as you’re combing through the internet. Look for even tiny mentions of discontent among vampyres from the Tulsa House of Night. Focus on males—young Warriors who were active soldiers during the war. I cannot believe all of them are happy to return to life under human tyranny.”
“There seems to be a truce between vampyres and humans right now in the Midwest.”
“It will not last. To be victorious over the humans, Anastasia Lankford would have to lead the House of Night into war.” Neferet’s laughter was cruel. “And that is something for which Anastasia is utterly unfit.”
Lynette hastily made notes as she nodded. “Yes, my lady.”
“What is the second thing you found?”
Lynette tapped the surface of the phone again. “I discovered something very strange going through some obscure Twitter feeds this evening. Your mention of Zoey Redbird is a coincidence, as that is a name being bandied about on these threads.”
Neferet’s green eyes narrowed dangerously. “Zoey Redbird? Show me. Now!”
13
Other Neferet
“That little bitch was no ghost!” Neferet was flipping through the screenshots with narrowed eyes. “And you say some of these posts have been deleted?”
“Not some—all of them. That’s why you’re only looking at screenshots. Every time one of these posts pops up, whether it’s on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook, it disappears almost immediately. Every single time.”
“That is odd. But what is odder is this person—this impostor. You did well in finding this, Lynette. I have been so focused on the future that I have totally blocked this horrid child and the bizarre things she said to me the night I was betrayed.”
“So, she was there?”
“Oh, yes. She was the ringleader, which was unlike the Zoey Redbird I knew.” Neferet paused and caught Lynette’s gaze before she added, “That Zoey Redbird was a simpering know-it-all and no leader. I killed her.” She watched her handmaid closely, judging her level of shock and fear, and was pleased that Lynette seemed completely unruffled.
“Some of the posts mentioned that the fledgling the People of Faith killed—the act that started the war—was also named Zoey Redbird.”
“Yes. That is correct. The fledgling’s name was Zoey Redbird. I killed her and made it appear the People of Faith did it—and then I used that to declare war on humans. Does that change the way you feel about me, Lynette?”
Lynette’s gaze didn’t waiver. “No. I already knew that you’re ruthless. You have to be. The world chews up and spits out weak women, and a weak woman would never be a goddess.”
“You do understand.”
“Yes. I do, and I always will. So, who is this ghost?”
“No ghost. I was face-to-face with her. She was no spirit or specter. She was absolutely not Zoey Redbird, though she somehow knew that I’d been the one to kill the real Redbird fledging.
“This was a fully Changed vampyre—confident and powerful—not a simpering child. But it is confusing. Along with knowing that I’d killed the fledgling, she knew obscure things about me that were almost correct. Like the fact that I was raped, but she named the wrong man as my rapist.”
“Could it have been some kind of spell?” Lynette asked.
Neferet moved her shoulders restlessly. “Yes, that was my thought, but to create and maintain such an excellent Dissemble Spell the vampyre would have to be an extraordinarily powerful High Priestess, and one with centuries of experience. To give you an understanding of the power it would take I can tell you that I can cast a Dissemble Spell, but not even I could maintain one while dealing with sprites and holding a circle over an entire stadium. Add to that, the vampyre would have to be ancient, as for the past at least two hundred years, the out-of-touch crones on the High Council have frowned on using the Dissemble Spell, and refuse to allow it to be taught at any House of Night.” Neferet shook her head. “So, my answer is yes and no. It could have been a Dissemble Spell, but it’s highly unlikely.”
“Could it be that someone who looked a little like Zoey Redbird was fixed up to look a lot like her? It would be a good way to sow fear and to smear your good name.”
“That would be logical except why, then, is the Tulsa House of Night not spreading this ghost story across social media far and wide?” Neferet asked.
“It’s the opposite. Someone is obviously trying to bury it. This is the fourth night since we left Tulsa. Every day I search the internet for news from home, and it is just today that I’m seeing any of this.”
“And then it disappears as quickly as you find it.”
“It does.”
“There is more to this ghost story—a lot more. And I know who can tell it. That red vampyre who was with her—the lieutenant. He knew her well. Much of what they were saying was lost in the moment.” Neferet sighed and shook her head in frustration. “I should have paid closer attention.”
“You were being betrayed. You were focused on surviving,” Lynette said.
“I was indeed. I will do better—when I return immortal and triumphant. I will have to remember to have that lieutenant questioned, diligently.”
“I’ll make a note to remind you.”
“Oh, Lynette, you are the perfect handmaid.”
“My only wish is to serve you, my lady, my goddess.”
“What of your dream of living on the Amalfi Coast?” Neferet asked with a teasing smile.
“Only after you no longer require my services, my lady.”
“You may be waiting quite a while then,” said Neferet, again studying Lynette closely.
“Come vuoi,” Lynette said with a shrug.
“As you wish.” Neferet smiled as she translated the Italian and felt a knot within her release. “My dear, let us return to the house. It gets late and I would like to anoint myself specially tonight after the magick the lovely water sprites worked for me.”
Lynette glanced back at the loch as they started back across the beach. “So, it was the sprites that did that?” she whispered to Neferet.
“Whom else, dear Lynette? Neferet paused and stared out at the silent loch. It had returned to being choppy and was, once again, dressed in white lace foam. “Whom else?”
Other Lynette
That night, as Neferet rode the waves with her children, she brought to Lynette’s mind ancient warrior queens charging bare breasted into battle. Cloaked only in the thick fall of her hair and a fierceness that shimmered around her, Neferet’s brightness turned the dark loch to smoky quartz.
Her offerings that fourth night were a bowl of honey mead, another filled with fine Medjool dates, a third brimmed with Mrs. Muir’s best traditional Hairst Bree—and into the final bowl Neferet dropped her favorite jeweled ring. It was shaped like a crown crusted with diamonds, and the fat square stone was an occluded sapphire, the exact color of the sea around Skye at midday.
Lynette watched loyally while the watery arm accepted the gifts as it had done the three previous nights. Neferet returned to her again, smelling of sea and wind, smoke and earth.
“My lady! I—I can smell the four elements all around you!” she exclaimed as she handed Neferet a thick terry bath sheet, helping her dry the saltwater from her naked body before wrapping her in a thick bathrobe.
“Of course you can, dear Lynette. The sprites recognize that I offer these gifts sincerely, with respect and reverence.” Neferet spoke loudly, her voice carrying out across the tumultuous loch, but as they returned to the house she tilted her head to Lynette and whispered, “Wait until tomorrow night. I have them where I want them. They will come—air, fire, water, and earth. They will come, and they will be mine, whether they truly understand that now, or not.”
“I never doubted it, my lady,�
� Lynette lied. She tried to imagine what would happen the next night and her mind skittered away from the possibilities. Which Neferet would appear? The one who commands her children to devour others, or the one who skips stones with the innocence of a young girl?
Perhaps it will be a mixture of the two—goddess-like and magnificent—the vampyre who has become my protector, my mistress, and my future …
14
Zoey
“NO!” Aphrodite shrieked and stopped short, making Stevie Rae and me run smack into the back of her. “OMG, why are the two of you all up on me?”
“’Cause you stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, genius.” Stevie Rae stated the obvious.
We’d exited the House of Night main school building through the covered side entrance because even though it was January and there was only a little weak light making its way through the winter clouds, I heart me some Stevie Rae and didn’t want to see her fry like nasty overdone toast. At that moment, Aphrodite was standing, hands on hips, staring at the loaded school bus (with blackout windows, of course) that was waiting for us.
“Seriously? A bus? Isn’t the point of being in-charge grown-ups that we do not ever have to ride in one of those tacky yellow things again?”
“Ooooh! Photo op!” Stevie Rae cheered as she pulled out her phone and then neatly turned Aphrodite and me around so that the bus was in the background of our selfie. “I always get more likes when I post a pic with you two. ’Specially when—”
“Oh, nuh-uh.” Aphrodite flipped her hair and tried to walk away.
“—Aphrodite does something bitchy like that hair flip I just caught,” continued Stevie Rae.
“OMG! Finally! We’ve been waiting out here forever.” Other Jack stuck his head out of the open door to the bus. Then he saw that Stevie Rae was selfie-ing and he skipped down the bus steps to pose in the background, photobombing as Aphrodite glared and Stevie Rae quickly took a few more pictures.
“If you don’t edit those before you post them I’m coming after you,” Aphrodite said as she glared at Stevie Rae.
“Add a side-eye like that and I’ll get more likes than a picture of a fluffy kitty in a teacup.” Stevie Rae giggled and bumped Aphrodite with her hip. “Oh, loosen up. This is a big day for the House of Night and for Z in particular.”
“Big day or not, I don’t understand why we can’t follow the damn bus in one of the school town cars.”
“We’re going on the bus like all the other teachers and kids from all the other human schools,” Jack said firmly. “We’re supposed to be normal, remember?”
“You know how I feel about normal,” Aphrodite said. “It’s overrated.”
“Yeah, well, I’d usually agree with you about that, but not today. Not the very first time the House of Night has been included in a human high school swim meet in Tulsa’s history,” I said.
“If they really wanted to be inclusive, they’d hold it after sunset,” grumbled Aphrodite, still not moving closer to the bus.
“The finals are at night, but we have to do the prelims during the day like everyone else,” said Jack.
“Yeah, that supercool YWCA at 21st and Lewis even blacked out their windows for us. They’re bein’ real welcomin’ even if it did practically take an act of God-dess.” She wiggled her brows and giggled before continuing, “To make them relax enough to let us compete.”
“Stevie Rae’s right,” I said. “I have jumped through every hoop they asked of me—” My words broke off as I smacked my forehead with my palm. “Ah, hell! I left the folder with those forms that we had to sign and notarize on my desk.”
“No biggie. We can just send one of the kids back to get it. Aphrodite’s takin’ forever to get on the dang bus anyways.” Stevie Rae hurried to the bus and stuck her head inside. I watched her look around before she targeted some kid named Kacie and told her to run back to my office and retrieve the file. A cute girl with a blue fledgling Mark, light-brown skin, and lots of thick hair expertly dyed Beychella blond hurried past us.
“Kacie? I don’t recognize the name or the girl,” I said as Stevie Rae rejoined us.
“That’s Kacie Lockwood,” said Jack. “She might just be the fastest swimmer on the team.”
“Oh, is she the kid who just transferred in from the Chicago House of Night?” I asked Stevie Rae.
“Yeah, it’s a kinda sweet story, really. She was newly Marked when Rephaim and I were at the Chicago House of Night, and she was the first kid I mentored. When she found out I was stayin’ here and Kramisha was gonna take my place in Chicago, Kacie called me and asked if she could transfer down here. She’s only been in Tulsa for a few days.”
“That is nice,” I said.
“What’s wrong with her?” Aphrodite asked.
“Nothin’!” Stevie Rae said.
“Well, at least not much of anything,” said Jack softly.
“Um-hum. That’s what I thought,” Aphrodite said.
“Is Kacie a problem?” I asked Stevie Rae.
“No, High Priestess, I am not.”
The voice came from behind us and the four of us turned to see Kacie standing there offering my folder to me. Her eyes immediately caught my attention—big and dark, they seemed to hold secrets and a sparkle that said they also held a dose of humor (or attitude).
“High Priestess Zoey Redbird and Prophetess Aphrodite LaFont, this is Kacie Lockwood, formerly of the Chicago House of Night,” Stevie Rae introduced.
“Are those Kate Spade’s ice cream wedges from last season?” asked Aphrodite before I could say anything to the kid.
Kacie lifted one dark brow. “Good eye.”
“I’m an expert. And in this particular case I approve of wearing leftovers in honor of our much-missed Ms. Spade.”
“Leftovers?” Stevie Rae said.
“Things that were new last season,” said Jack.
“Try to keep up,” said Aphrodite.
“Welcome to the Tulsa House of Night, Kacie,” I said.
“Thanks, High Priestess,” she said.
“I want to know more of the answer to that question,” said Aphrodite.
When we all just stared at Aphrodite, she rolled her eyes.
“Z asked if this kid is a problem,” Aphrodite said.
“Oh, that’s easy to answer,” said Kacie. “I’m not a problem. School is. HP Stevie Rae gets that, so she also gets me. Most of the other priestesses and professors did not. That’s why I transferred here.”
“HP?” I asked.
Kacie shifted her attention from Aphrodite to me. “It’s short for High Priestess.”
“Ohmygoddess! I thought you were giving a nod to Stevie Rae’s love for all things Harry Potter,” said Jack. “But High Priestess makes a lot more sense.”
“Jack, you make me smile.” Stevie Rae put her arm around him.
Kacie’s attention was still focused on me. She spoke up as she met and held my gaze—and, again, I was struck by the intelligence and humor I saw in her eyes—and this time I enjoyed the glint of attitude. “HP Zoey, I want you to know this place you’ve created here at this House of Night—it’s the first time I’ve ever liked school.”
“I get that,” I said. “I wasn’t a big fan of school, either. It can definitely suck—especially high school.”
“High school in America is usually not much more than the institutionalization of a mind-numbing, racist, misogynistic shitshow. Even the Chicago House of Night was pretty much crap, though Stevie Rae was changing that. So, uh, thanks for running a better place here. And I’m not sorry for saying shitshow, even though I hear you don’t cuss much. That is all.” She flashed me a smile and turned to get on the bus.
Stevie Rae cleared her throat, which had Kacie pausing.
“Ooopsie,” the kid came back to me. “Here’s your folder.”
Kaci
e handed it to me, but as she did it slipped from her fingers and like a flock of paper birds the carefully filled-out forms took flight on the afternoon breeze.
“Shit! I’ll get them!” Kacie took off, grabbing each paper and shoving it back into the folder before she ran after another.
Stevie Rae sighed. “Kacie’s too smart for her age.”
“You mean too smart-mouthed.” I grinned at my bestie.
“Yeah, that too,” Stevie Rae nodded as we watched Kacie chase papers.
“She is a really talented swimmer, even if she does tend to intimidate the other kids because of how outspoken she is,” said Jack.
“Smart mouth, excellent fashion sense, and good hair. I like her,” said Aphrodite. “She’s also gorgeous, which never hurts.”
“When I first met her, I though she looked like what would happen if Beyoncé and JLo had a baby,” said Stevie Rae.
“Bestie, you read my mind. I was thinking her hair is Beyoncé blond,” I said.
“I have just happened to notice that she has a shoe collection that’s right up there with Aphrodite and Kramisha,” said Jack.
“Brains and beauty—a fantastic combo,” agreed Aphrodite. “We’ll need to keep an eye on her.”
“Yep. That’s a big part of why I said yes to her transfer,” said Stevie Rae.
“I’ll be sure the Dark Daughters welcome her,” I said.
“That’s real nice of you, Z. I was gonna ask you to introduce her next full moon ritual, but I was worried ’bout showing favoritism. This adulting stuff is confusin’ sometimes.”
“Right?” Jack said. “I volunteered to coach the swim team because before I was Marked, swim class was my personal high school nightmare. My young self was so, so shy about my body and my coach was a raging homophobe who lived for third-hour PE so he could humiliate me. Daily. I was that wretched man’s target until the day I was Marked. I want to give kids a better experience than I had, but I also don’t want to show favoritism or hurt a kid’s feelings—but they still need discipline and guidance. It’s really hard.”
Forgotten Page 16