by P.C. Cast
Of course, we followed her. What else could we do?
"So, did you get the dirty done?" Shaunee whispered.
"Huh?" I blinked in shock at her. How did she know I'd been ho-ishly grinding against Heath. Did it show? God, I was going to die if it showed!
Erin rolled her eyes. "Heath. Breakup. You with him," she whispered.
"Oh, that. Well, I, uh—"
"I was worried about you today." Erik had moved up and neatly nudged Shaunee from her place beside me. I expected the Twins to hiss and spit at him, but instead they waggled their brows at us and fell back to walk with Damien. I heard Shaunee murmur, "So damn fiiiiine." Jeesh, they could face Neferet, but Erik's hotness totally did them in.
"Sorry," I said hastily, feeling guilty about how nice it felt when he took my hand. "I didn't mean to worry you. I just had, well, stuff."
Erik grinned and laced his fingers through mine. "I hope you got rid of him—I mean, that particular stuff this time."
I sent daggerlike looks over my shoulder at the Twins, who tried to look innocent. "Traitors!" I muttered.
"Don't be pissed at them. I used my unfair advantage and bribed them with their weakness."
"Shoes?"
"Something they like better, at least for a moment in time. T. J. and Cole."
"That was very sly of you," I said.
"And not very tough to manage. T. J. and Cole think the Twins are dead sexy," Erik said, using an excellent Scottish accent and proving, again, what an old movie dork he was (hello—Austin Powers).
"T. J. and Cole called the Twins dead sexy in that awful accent?"
He squeezed my hand playfully. "My accent isn't awful."
"You're right. It's not." I smiled up into his clear blue eyes and wondered how I could have gotten myself into a position where I was double cheating on him.
"How are you today, Zoey?"
I knew through our joined hands Erik could feel the shock that went through my body at the sound of Loren's voice.
"I'm fine. Thanks," I said.
"You slept well last night? I wondered how you'd managed after I left you at the dorm." Loren gave Erik what was obviously a patronizing, I'm-way-older-than-you smile and explained, "Zoey had quite a shock yesterday."
"Yeah, I know." Erik's clipped the words out. I could feel the tension between them and wondered a little frantically if anyone else had noticed. When I heard Shaunee's whispered, "Damn, girl!" and Erin's "Um-hum!" I had to force myself not to groan. Clearly everyone else (translation: the Twins) noticed.
By then we'd caught up to the group of adults that were now standing around what I realized was the trapdoor in the east wall. Ignoring the potentially explosive boyfriend situation I'd put myself right smack in the middle of, I said, "Hey! Why are we stopped here?"
"Neferet is offering prayers for Professor Nolan's spirit, as well as invoking a protective spell around the school grounds," Loren said. His voice sounded way too friendly and his gaze felt way too warm as our eyes met and locked. God, he was utterly gorgeous. I remembered how his lips had felt against mine and …
And then I realized what he'd just said.
"But isn't her blood and stuff still…" I trailed off helplessly, making a vague gesture out at the grassy area on the other side of the wall, the horrible grassy area that had been drenched with Professor Nolan's blood just yesterday.
"No, don't worry. Neferet has had it cleansed," Loren said gently.
For a second I thought he was going to touch me right there in front of everyone. I even felt Erik tense, like he expected it, too, then Neferet's solemn but powerful voice broke through our little drama, calling everyone's attention to her.
"We are going to move through the trapdoor to the site of the atrocity. Make a crescent around the statue of our beloved Goddess, which I placed in the exact spot Professor Nolan's ravaged body was discovered. I ask that you concentrate your hearts and minds on sending positive energy to our fallen sister as her spirit flies free to the wondrous realm of Nyx. Fledglings," her gaze swooped over us, "I want you each to take your position by the candle which represents your element." Neferet's eyes were kind, her voice gentle. "I know it is unusual to use fledglings in an adult ritual, but never before has a House of Night been gifted with so many extraordinary young people at one time, and today I believe it is only right that I tap into your affinities to add power to what we ask of Nyx." I could practically feel Damien and the Twins vibrating with excitement. "Can you do this for me, for us, fledglings?"
Damien and the Twins nodded like crazed bobble-heads. Neferet's green eyes moved to me. I nodded once. The High Priestess smiled, and I wondered if anyone else could see past her beautiful exterior to the cold, calculating person within.
Looking pleased with herself, Neferet turned and ducked through the open trapdoor followed closely by the rest of us. I'd readied myself for something terrible, or at the very least for something bloody, but Loren had been right. The area that had been so gruesome just yesterday had been completely cleansed of any nastiness, and I wondered briefly how the Tulsa cops had gathered their evidence, and then shook myself. Surely Neferet had waited for them to do their job before she'd cleaned everything. Hadn't she?
In the spot where Professor Nolan's body had been there was now a beautiful statue of Nyx that looked like it had been carved from a single slab of onyx. Her hands were upraised, and within them she held a thick green candle symbolizing earth. Without speaking, the vamps formed a semicircle around the statue. Damien and the Twins moved to stand behind the oversized candles that represented each of their elements. I didn't really want to, but I took my place by the purple candle that symbolized spirit. I could see the warriors had spread out and were surrounding us. With their backs to our group they stared out into the night, bristling with alertness.
Without any of her usual theatrics (which were always cool to watch), Neferet walked to Damien, who was nervously holding the yellow wind candle, and raised the ceremonial lighter.
"It fills us and breathes life into us. I call wind to our circle." Neferet's voice was strong and clear, obviously augmented by the power of a High Priestess. She touched the lighter to the candle's wick and instantly wind whipped around Damien and her. Neferet's back was to me, so I couldn't see her face, but Damien's smile was wide and joyous. I tried not to scowl. The sacred circle was not the right place for me to be pissed off, but I couldn't help feeling annoyed. Why was I the only one who could see Neferet's fakeness?
She moved to Shaunee. "It warms and succors us. I call fire to our circle." As I'd experienced several times before, Shaunee's red candle burst into flame before the lighter touched it. Shaunee's smile was almost as bright as her element.
Neferet followed the circle around to Erin. "It soothes and washes us. I call water to our circle." As the candle lit I heard waves crashing on a distant beach and smelled salt and sea in the night breeze.
I watched carefully as Neferet moved to stand before the statue of Nyx and the green candle. The High Priestess bowed her head. "The fledgling who personified this element perished, and it is fitting that the position of earth remain empty tonight, and that it rests upon the spot our beloved Patricia Nolan's body has so recently rested upon. It sustains us. From it we are born, and to it we all shall return. I call earth to our circle." Neferet lit the green candle, and though it burned brightly I didn't smell even a hint of green meadows or wildflowers.
Then Neferet was standing in front of me. I don't know what kind of expression she'd showed Damien and the Twins, but to me her face was strong and stern, and amazingly beautiful. She reminded me of one of the ancient vampyre Amazon warriors, and I almost forgot that she was actually dangerous.
"It is our essence. I call spirit to our circle." Neferet lit my purple candle and I felt my soul lift with the tickle-tummy feeling a roller coaster gives me. The High Priestess didn't pause to share any kind of special look with me, instead she began to work the crowd. Walking around inside th
e circle, making eye contact with the vampyres who surrounded us, she got right to the point. "It hasn't happened for more than one hundred years—not so openly—not so brutally. Humans have murdered one of us. In this case they have awakened not a sleeping giant, but have provoked a leopard who they believed was tamed." Neferet's voice rose, powerful with anger. "She is not tamed!" The little hairs on my arms lifted. Neferet was amazing. How could someone who was so blessed by Nyx have gone as wrong as I knew she'd gone? "They believe our fangs have been filed flat and our claws removed, like a fat household tabby. Again, they are wrong." She raised her arms over her head. "From this sacred circle, cast on the site of a murder, we call on our Goddess, Nyx, the beautiful Personification of Night. We ask that she welcome Patricia Nolan to her bosom, though it is decades too early for her to have departed. We also ask Nyx to rouse her righteous anger, and with the sweetness of her divine fury, to grant us this spell of protection so that we will not be caught in the humans' murderous web." As she spoke the spell Neferet walked back to Nyx's statue.
"Protect us with the night;
above all it is in darkness we delight. "
When she turned to face the crowd I saw that she was now holding a small, ivory-handled knife with a wickedly-sharp-looking curved blade.
"Around this coven we ask
Nyx's curtain to be cast."
With one hand she lifted the knife. With the other she wove intricate shapes in the air that around her became glittery and semi-substantial as she continued incanting the spell.
"All who enter or leave I shall detect,
vampyre, fledgling, human, all will be checked.
If harm is meant
to my will it shall be bent."
Then, in a fast, ferocious gesture, Neferet slashed through her wrist, so deep that her blood instantly began to spurt, red and rich, hot and delicious. The scent washed around me, automatically making my mouth water. With grim determination, the High Priestess walked the circumference of the circle so that her blood fell around us in a scarlet arch, sprinkling grass that had so recently been soaked with Professor Nolan's blood. Finally she reached Nyx's statue again. Neferet lifted her face to the night sky and completed the spell.
"My blood binds thee,
so mote it be."
I swear the night air rippled all around us, and for a moment I could actually see something settle on the walls of the school, like a black, gauzy curtain. She's set a spell that will not just tell her when danger enters the school, but when anyone enters or leaves it. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from groaning. No way was the curtain of a goddess going to be fooled by my little Bram Stoker-ing. How in the hell was I going to sneak Stevie Rae her blood?
Completely preoccupied with my own drama, I hardly noticed when Neferet closed the circle. Woodenly, I let the tide of people carry me back through the trapdoor. I only snapped out of it when Loren's deep voice sounded surprisingly close to my ear.
"I'll meet you in the rec hall in a little while." I looked up at him. My face must have been a complete question mark because he added, "Your Full Moon Ritual. I'm your bard tonight for the opening of the circle, remember?"
Before I could say anything Shaunee's voice purred, "We always look forward to hearing you recite poetry, Professor Blake."
"Yeah, wouldn't miss it. Not even for a shoe sale at Saks," Erin added, eyes twinkling.
"Then I'll see you there," Loren said, his eyes never leaving my face. He smiled, gave me a little bow, and hurried away.
"Dee-lish-us" Erin said.
"Ditto, Twin," Shaunee said.
"I think he's slimy."
We all looked up to see Erik glaring at Loren's back.
"Oh, no way!" Shaunee said.
"Luscious Loren Blake is just being friendly," Erin said, rolling her eyes at Erik like he was insane.
"Hello! Don't go all psycho-jealous boyfriend on Z," Shaunee said.
"Uh, I gotta go change," I blurted, not wanting to even comment on Erik's way-too-obvious jealousy. "Could you guys go on to the rec hall and make sure everything's ready? I'll run to the dorm and be back in just a sec."
"No problem," the Twins said together.
"We'll take care of the last-minute stuff," Damien said.
Erik didn't say anything. I smiled a quick and, I hoped, non-guilty smile at him, and took off down the sidewalk to the dorm. I could feel eyes on me and knew with a terrible sinking feeling that I was going to have to do something about Erik and Loren (and Heath). But what the hell was I going to do?
I was crazy about Heath. And his blood.
Erik was an amazing guy who I really, really liked.
Loren was completely delicious.
Jeesh, I sucked.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
I was trying to convince myself that this ritual was going to be a snap. I'd just cast a quick circle, offer up prayers for Professor Nolan, announce that Aphrodite was rejoining the Dark Daughters (which would be obvious after she showed her affinity for earth), and then say that because of the stress that the school has been dealing with I've decided not to Tap any new Prefect Council members till the end of the school year. It really should be an easy ritual, I told my knotted stomach over and over again. Nothing like last month when Stevie Rae died. Nothing that bad could happen tonight. Dressed and as ready as I was going to be, I opened the door to find Aphrodite standing there.
"Take a breath, will ya?" she said, backing out of my way. "Hello! They have to wait for you."
"Aphrodite, has no one ever told you that it's rude to keep people waiting?" I said as I hurried down the hall, practically skipped down the stairs two at a time, and rushed out of the dorm with Aphrodite scrambling to keep up with me. I nodded at Darius, who had taken up his position outside, and he saluted me.
"You know, those warriors really are some totally hot-looking vamps," Aphrodite said, craning her neck around to get a last view of Darius. Then she shot me a curled lip look and said in her stuck-up, rich-girl's voice, "And no, no one has ever told me it's rude to keep people waiting. I was raised to keep people waiting. As far as my mother's concerned, the sun waits for her before it rises and sets."
I rolled my eyes.
"So how did Neferet's ritual go?"
"Fabulous. She set a protective curtain around the school. No one gets in or out without her knowing about it. Couldn't be better. Oh, that is, unless you're us."
Even though there was no one around us, Aphrodite lowered her voice. "She's still gulping down the bags of blood?"
"She's barely hanging on. We gotta do something soon."
"I don't know what the hell you think we're gonna do," Aphrodite said. "You're the one with the mega-powers. I'm just along for the ride." She paused and lowered her voice even more. "Plus, I don't know what you expect to do. She's gross and more than a little bit scary."
"She's my best friend," I whispered fiercely.
"No. She used to be your best friend. Now she's a scary undead dead girl who drinks blood like pop."
"She's still my best friend," I repeated stubbornly.
"Fine. Whatever. Then heal her."
"Okay, it's so not that simple."
"How do you know? Have you tried?"
And I stopped totally dead in my tracks. "What did you just say?"
Aphrodite raised an eyebrow at me, shrugged, and looked utterly bored. "Something like, have you tried?"
"Holy crap! Could it be that easy? I mean, I've been spending all this time looking for a spell or a ritual or a … a … something specific and amazing and totally magical, and maybe all I needed to do is just ask Nyx to heal her." And as I stood there basking in my ohmygod moment, I heard Nyx's voice echo through my mind, repeating what the goddess had told me a month ago right before I used my elemental powers to break the blocks Neferet had put in my memory: I wish to remind you that the elements can restore as well as destroy.
"Holy crap? You said holy crap? You know, that's another almost cus
s. I'm starting to worry about your terrible potty mouth."
Feeling suddenly so utterly happy and hopeful that not even Aphrodite could piss me off, I laughed. "Come on! Worry about my mouth later." I took off again, almost jogging down the sidewalk.
There was another of the warriors standing outside the rec hall, a huge black vamp who looked like he should have been a professional wrestler. Aphrodite made a little purring sound at him, and he gave her a sexy, yet somehow still warrior-like smile. She hung back to do more flirting.
"Don't be late!" I hissed back at her.
"Relax your panties. I'll be in there in a sec." She waved me off and shot me a look that reminded me it was better if she and I weren't seen hanging out together. I gave her a tight little nod and went on in.
"Z! There you are." Jack came scampering over to me with Damien close behind him.
"Sorry. I hurried as fast as I could," I said.
Damien smiled. "Not a problem. Everything's ready for you." His smile faded a little. "Well, except Aphrodite. She's nowhere to be seen."
"I've seen her. She's coming. Go ahead and take your place."
Damien nodded. He went back to the circle and Jack moved over to the audio equipment area (the kid is a genius with any kind of electronic equipment).
"Whenever you're ready, just let me know," he called.
I smiled at him, then looked back at the circle. The Twins waved at me from their places in the south and west. Erik was standing near the empty spot behind the earth candle. He caught my eyes and winked at me. I smiled back, but wondered why he was standing so close to where he knew Aphrodite was going to be.
Speaking of… Annoyed that she had managed to make me wait for her, I glanced at the door in time to see Aphrodite twitch into the room. I watched her hesitate, and thought her face went kinda pale as she looked over at the circle of waiting Dark Daughters and Sons. Then she lifted her chin and tossed back her blond mane, and ignoring everyone, she strutted straight over to the northernmost part of the circle to stand behind the green candle. As kids caught sight of her, the easy talking was cut off like someone had pressed a mute button. No one said anything for a couple seconds, and then low whispering started. Aphrodite just stood there behind the candle, looking calm and beautiful and very stuck-up.