Tempted

by P. C. Cast

Chapter Thirty-eight

  Stevie Rae! Are you really okay? I gripped the cell phone, wishing I could beam myself to Tulsa and actually see with my own eyes that my BFF was alive and well. Z! You sound so worried. Don't be! I'm okay. Promise. It was all a big, stupid accident. Goddess, I'm such a dork. What happened? Well, I was late leavin' the House of Night. I'm so stupid. I should have just stayed there and waited till tomorrow to come back to the tunnels. But I went anyway. And then, get this--I thought I heard someone up on the roof! So I rushed up there 'cause it was almost dawn and I thought some red fledgling kid might be trapped. Goddess, I need to have my ears checked. It was a cat. A great big, fat, calico cat yowling on the roof. I started to leave and, like the totally uncoordinated noncheerleader type I am, I fell and bonked my head so hard I passed out.

  You would not believe all the blood. Totally scary. You knocked yourself out on the roof? Right before dawn? I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle her. Yeah, I know. Not the smartest thing I've ever done. Especially since I woke up with the sun shining on me. Did you burn? My stomach felt sick. I mean, are you still, uh, messed up from it? Well, yeah, I started to burn, and that's probably what woke me up. And I'm still pretty toasty. It could've been a lot worse, though. Luckily, I had time to run to that tree that's near the roof. Remember it? I knew the tree all too well. It had hidden something that had almost killed me. Yeah, I remember it. So I jumped on the tree, slid down it, and had the earth open up to make a little hidey-hole for me. Kinda like a tornado was comin' and I was livin' in a trailer park. That's where Lenobia found you? Yeah, Lenobia and Erik.

  He was real nice, by the way. Not that you should be with him again, but I thought you'd like to know. Okay, well, good. I'm glad you're safe. I paused, not sure how to say this next part. Uh, Stevie Rae, it's been bad for Aphrodite. What with the Imprint between the two of you being broken and all. I'm real sorry if it hurt her. Hurt her! Are you kidding? We thought she was going to die. She was burning with you, Stevie Rae. Oh, my goodness! I didn't know. Stevie Rae, hang on a sec. I turned my back on everyone who was trying to listen in to my conversation and made my way out into the amazingly beautiful hall. White spun-glass chandeliers, holding real candles, lent a warm flickering light to the creams and golds of the upholstery, making me feel like Alice in Wonderland talking through a rabbit hole to an entirely different world. Okay, that's better. Less ears out here, I continued. Aphrodite said you were trapped. She was sure of it. Z, I tripped and hit my head. I'm sure Aphrodite picked up on my panic. I mean, when I woke up I was burning. Plus, I'd fallen over some metal trash on the roof, and I was all tangled up in it. I'm tellin' you--it scared the bejesus outta me. She musta felt that. So no one grabbed you? You weren't caged in anywhere? No, Z, she laughed.

  That's just crazy. But it would make a better story than me trippin' over my own feet. I shook my head, still not able to take it all in. It was scary, Stevie Rae. For a while I thought I was gonna lose both of you. Everything's okay. You're not losin' me or pain-in-the-butt Aphrodite. Even though I can tell you I'm not sorry my Imprint with her is broken. Okay, that's another weird part. How did that happen? Your Imprint didn't even break when Darius drank from her, and you know they have that thing between them. Best I can figure is that I was closer to dying than I knew. That must have snapped our Imprint. And it wasn't like we wanted to be together. Maybe her thing with Darius had weakened it. It sure didn't seem like the Imprint between you was weak, I said. Well, it's gone, so when it came down to it, our Imprint was pretty easy to break.

  From where I was watching it didn't seem easy, I said. Well, from the perspective of the flaming kid in the sun, I can say it wasn't easy here either, she said. Instantly I felt bad for the way I'd been firing questions at her. She'd almost died (for good), and here I was, grilling her about details. Hey, I'm sorry. I was just so darn worried, that's all. And it was awful to watch Aphrodite experiencing your pain. Should I talk to her? Stevie Rae asked. Uh, no. At least not right now. Last time I saw her, Darius was carrying her up an amazingly wide staircase to what sounded like a totally expensive suite so she could sleep off the drugs the vamps had given her. Oh, good. They medicated her. Aphrodite will like that. We laughed, and it felt normal between us again. Zoey? The High Council is calling the session to order. You must go, Erce's voice called down the hallway.

  I gotta go take care of business, I said. Yeah, I heard. Hey, I want to say somethin' to you that you need to remember. Follow your heart, Z. Even if it seems like everyone else is against you, and that you might be messing up royally. Follow what everything inside you tells you to do. What happens because of it might surprise you, Stevie Rae said. I hesitated and then said what was foremost in my mind. And it might save your life? Yes, she answered. It might. We need to talk when I get home. I'll be here, she said. Kick ass and take names, Z. I'll try, I said. Bye, Stevie Rae. I'm glad you're not dead. Again. Me, too. Again. We hung up. I drew a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and got ready to face the High Council.

  The High Council met in a really old cathedral that sat right next to the super-beautiful San Clemente Palace. It was obvious that it had once been a Catholic church, and I wondered what Sister Mary Angela would think of how the vamps had changed it. They'd gutted the place, except for the enormous light fixtures that hung on thick bronze chains from the ceiling, looking like something that should have been suspended magically over the tables at Hogwarts. They'd built circular seating in tiers in a style I remembered studying about when we read Medea. Down on the granite floor, seven carved marble chairs sat side by side. I thought they were pretty, but looked like they'd make your butt fall asleep or freeze. The stained-glass window scenes of the original cathedral had been changed from bloody Jesus on the cross and a bunch of Catholic saints to a representative of Nyx, arms upraised holding a crescent moon between her hands, a brilliant pentagram close beside her.

  In the other windows I saw stained-glass versions of the four class emblems that symbolized which year a fledgling ranked at the House of Night. I was looking around the cathedral, thinking how beautiful the windows were, when I noticed the scene depicted directly across from the image of Nyx--and it felt like everything inside me froze. It was Kalona! Wings fully extended, his naked body muscular and bronzed and powerful. I felt myself begin to tremble. Stark took my arm and wrapped it through his, like he was being a gentleman and guiding his lady down the stone stairs of the amphitheater-like space to our seats near the floor. But his touch was strong and steady, and he spoke low for my ears alone, It isn't him. It's just an ancient repre sen ta tion of Erebus, like the symbol of Nyx over there. But it looks enough like him that they're going to think Kalona really is Erebus, I whispered frantically back to Stark. They might. And that's why you're here, he murmured. Zoey and Stark, these seats are for you. Erce pointed down to a tier of seats in the front and off to the side of the seven chairs. The rest of you may fill in the row back there. She ushered Damien, Jack, and the Twins into seats several tiers behind us saying, Remember, you may only speak if the Council recognizes you, Erce said.

  Yeah, yeah, I remember, I said. Something about Erce was annoying me. Okay, she was Lenobia's friend, so I wanted to like her, but since Aphrodite's freak-out she'd stepped in and been acting like she was seriously the boss of me and all my friends. I'd insisted Darius stay with Aphrodite, so I'd basically watched without saying much as Erce had droned on and on about the rules of the High Council and What Not to Do. Okay, a fallen immortal and a rogue ex?High Priestess were trying to manipulate the Vampyre High Council. Wasn't clueing them in to that a little more important than being polite? Of course, Damien, Jack, and the Twins all chimed in with innocent, intimidated okays. I'm gonna be back here behind you, sitting next to Damien and Jack. I'm not feeling the love in this place for humans, so I'm keeping a low profile, Heath said. I saw Stark exchange a long look with him. You watch her back, he said. Heath nodded. I'll always have her back. Good. I'll focus on eve
rything else, Stark said. Got it, Heath said. And they weren't kidding. They weren't being sarcastic or testosteroney or overly possessive guy-like. They were so worried that they were working together.

  That made me really, really paranoid. I know it was ridiculous and immature, but I felt a terrible longing for my grandma. I wished with everything inside me that I was curled up in her cottage back at her Oklahoma lavender farm, eating popcorn that was too buttery, watching a marathon of Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, and the worst thing I had to worry about was how much I totally didn't get geometry. The Vampyre High Council! Remember to stand up! Erce whispered over her shoulder to me. I squelched an eye roll. The big room fell absolutely silent. I stood up with everyone else, and then gawked as seven of the most perfect creatures I'd ever seen strode into the room. All of the High Council were women, but that much I'd known already. Our society is matriarchal, so it figures that its governing council would be female. I knew that they were old, even for vampyres, and they were. Of course you couldn't tell their age from just looking at them. All you could tell was how incredibly beautiful and amazingly powerful they were. On one hand it gave me a little squee of pleasure to see proof that even though vamps did age and, eventually die, they didn't get all grossly Shar-Pei?looking and full of wrinkles. On the other hand, the sense of power they exuded was totally intimidating.

  Just thinking about speaking in front of them, let alone the rest of those in the cathedral, grim, silent vampyres, made my stomach want to turn itself inside out. Stark covered my hand with his and squeezed. I held tight to him, wishing I was older and smarter and, quite frankly, a better public speaker. I heard the sound of someone else entering the room and glanced over to see Neferet and Kalona walking confidently down the stairs to fill two empty places in the same bottom row tier we were on, only the two of them sat directly in front of the High Council. As if they'd waited for them to arrive, the Council sat down, signaling to us it was okay to sit, too. It was hard not to stare at Neferet and Kalona. She'd always been beautiful, but in just the couple of days since I'd last seen her, she had changed. The air around her seemed to vibrate with power. She was wearing a dress that reminded me of ancient Rome, flowing like a toga. It made her look like a queen. At her side Kalona was spectacular. It sounds stupid to say that he was only half dressed: He had on black slacks--no shirt--no shoes, but he didn't look stupid.

  He looked like a god who had decided to walk the earth. His wings swept around him like a cape. I knew everyone's eyes were on him, but when he looked at me and our gazes met, the world fell away and there was just Kalona and me. The memory of our last dream blazed between us. I saw in him Nyx's Warrior, the incredible being who had stood beside her and then fell because he loved her too much. And in his eyes I saw vulnerability and a clear question. He wanted to know if I could believe him. In my mind I heard his words: What if I'm only evil with Neferet? What if the truth is that if I were with you, I could choose good? My mind heard the words and rejected them again. My heart was something else. He'd touched my heart, and even though I was going to have to deny him--to pretend that he hadn't gotten to me--for that moment I wanted him to see the truth in my eyes. So I showed him my heart and let my eyes tell him what I knew I never could. Kalona's response was to smile with such gentleness that I had to look quickly away. Zoey? Stark whispered.

  I'm okay, I whispered back automatically. Stay strong. Don't let him get to you. I nodded. I could feel people looking at me with even more than their normal curiosity for my added tattoos. I glanced over my shoulder to see Damien, Jack, and the Twins all gawking at Kalona. Then I caught Heath's eye. He wasn't looking at Kalona. He was staring at me, obviously worried. I tried to smile at him, but the expression felt more like a guilty grimace. Then a Council member spoke, and I was relieved to focus my attention on her. The High Council is convened for this special session. I, Duantia, call us to order. May Nyx lend her wisdom and guidance to us. May Nyx lend her wisdom and guidance to us, intoned the rest of the room. During Erce's briefing she'd told us the names of the Council members, and described each of them, and from her I knew that Duantia was the senior member, so it was her job to call it to order and to decide when the session would close. I stared at her. It was unbelievable that she was several hundred years old, and except for the intense confidence and power she commanded, her only outward sign of age was that her thick brown hair was streaked with silver.

  We have further questions for Neferet and the being who calls himself Erebus. I saw Neferet's green eyes narrow just the slightest, though she nodded graciously to Duantia. Kalona stood and bowed to the Council. Merry meet again, he greeted Duantia and nodded to each of the other six Council members. Several of them nodded back to him. We have questions about your origins, Duantia said. It is natural that you would, Kalona said. His voice was deep and rich. He sounded humble and reasonable and very, very honest. I think I, along with almost everyone present, wanted to listen to him, whether we believed what he said or not. And then I did something that was silly and totally childish. Like a little girl I closed my eyes and prayed one prayer to Nyx harder than I'd ever prayed before in my life. Please let him speak only the truth. If he tells the truth, maybe there is hope for him. You say that you are Erebus come to earth, said Duantia. I opened my eyes to see Kalona smile and respond with, I am, indeed, an immortal being. Are you Nyx's consort, Erebus? Tell the truth! I screamed in my head. Tell the truth! I once stood at Nyx's side. Then I fell to earth. Now I am here at-- At the side of the Goddess Incarnate, Neferet interrupted, standing beside Kalona. Neferet, we already know your viewpoint of who this immortal is, Duantia said. She didn't raise her voice, but her words were sharp, their warning clear. What we want is to hear more from the immortal himself. As any consort would, I bow to my vampyre mistress, Kalona said, bowing slightly to Neferet who flashed him a triumphant smile that made me clench my teeth. Do you expect us to believe that Erebus's incarnation on this earth has no will of his own? Whether on earth or beside Nyx in the Goddess's Realm, Erebus is devoted to his mistress, and his desires reflect hers.

  I can tell you that I know the truth of these words through personal experience, Kalona said. And he was speaking the truth. As Nyx's Warrior he had witnessed Erebus's dedication to his Goddess. Of course the way he worded his response made it seem like he was claiming to be Erebus--without actually saying the untrue words. But isn't that what I'd prayed he'd do? That he'd only speak the truth? Why did you leave Nyx's Realm? asked another Council member, one who had not nodded her welcome to him. I fell. Kalona looked from the Council member to me and spoke the rest of his response as if he and I were alone in the room. I chose to leave because I no longer believed I served my Goddess well. At first it felt as if I had made a terrible mistake, and then I rose from the earth to find a new realm and a new mistress. Lately I have begun to believe I could, indeed, serve my Goddess again, only this time through her representative on earth. Duantia's gracefully arched brows rose as she followed his gaze, which rested on me. Her eyes widened only slightly. Zoey Redbird. The Council recognizes you.