Betrayed

by P.C. Cast

  "... police are warning the public not to panic, even though this is the third teenager to have disappeared. They are investigating, and assure Fox News that they have several viable leads.

  "To repeat this special bulletin, a Broken Arrow teenager, an­other high school football player, has been reported as missing. His name is Heath Luck.”

  My knees no longer held me, and I would have fallen if Erik hadn't put his arm around my waist and helped me to the love seat. It felt like I couldn't catch my breath as I listened to Chera continue:

  "Heath's truck was found outside the House of Night, but the High Priestess there, Neferet, assures police that he did not enter the school grounds, and that he has not been seen by anyone there. Of course there is much speculation about these disappearances, espe­cially since the medical examiner's report states that the cause of death of the other two abducted boys was blood loss from multiple bites and lacerations. And while it is true that vampyres do not bite when they take blood from humans, the lacerations do follow a pat­tern that is consistent with vampyric feeding. It is important that we remind the public that vampyres have a binding legal agreement with humans to not feed on any human being against his or her will. We'll have more on this story at ten o'clock, and of course will break as news becomes available …”

  "Someone get me a bowl, I'm gonna be sick!" I managed to yell over the humming in my head. A bowl was thrust into my hands and I promptly puked my guts into it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  "Here, Zoey, it'll help if you swish this around in your mouth." Blindly I took whatever Erin handed me, relieved when it was just cold water. I spit it into the nasty bowl of puke.

  "Ugh, take it away," I said, suppressing my gag reflex as I got a whiff of puke. I wanted to cover my face with my hands and burst into tears, but I knew that the entire room was looking at me, so I slowly straightened my shoulders and pushed my damp hair back behind my ears. I didn't have the luxury of dissolving into a pan­icked heap. My mind was already processing the things I needed to do—had to do. For Heath, He was what was important right now, not me, and not my need for hysteria. "I have to see Nef­eret," I said resolutely and stood up, surprised at how steady my knees had become.

  "I'll go with you," Erik said.

  "Thanks, but first I need to brush my teeth and put on some shoes." (I'd just stuck on a pair of thick socks to come down and watch TV.) I smiled my thanks to Erik. "I'll run up to my room and be right back." I could feel the Twins getting ready to follow me. "I'll be fine. Just give me a sec." Then I turned and hurried up the stairs.

  I didn't pause at my room, but kept going down the hall, turned right, and stopped before room number 124. I'd raised my fist, but hadn't knocked when the door opened.

  "I thought it would be you." Aphrodite gave me a cold look, but she stepped to the side. "Come on in.”

  I walked in, surprised by the pretty pastel interior of the room. I guess I'd expected it to be dark and scary, like a black widow's web.

  "Do you have any mouthwash? I just puked and I've seriously grossed myself out.”

  She pointed her chin at the medicine cabinet over the sink. "In there. The glass on the sink is clean.”

  I washed out my mouth, taking the opportunity to try to col­lect my thoughts. When I was done I turned to face her. Deciding not to waste time on bullshit, I got straight to the point. "How can you tell if a vision is real or just a dream?”

  She sat down on one of the beds and shook back her long, per­fect blond hair. "It's a feeling in your gut. Visions are never easy or comfortable or fucking flower-draped like they are in the movies. Visions suck. At least real ones do. Basically, if it makes you feel like shit, it's probably real and not just a dream.” Her blue eyes looked me over carefully. "So, you've been having visions?”

  "I thought I had a dream last night, a nightmare actually. To­day I think it was a vision.”

  Aphrodite's lips turned up only slightly. "Well, that sucks for you.

  I changed the subject. "What's going on with Neferet?" Aphrodite's face went carefully blank. "What do you mean?"

  "I think you know exactly what I mean. Something's off about her. I want to know what.”

  "You're her fledgling. Her favorite. Her new golden girl. Do you think I'm actually going to say shit to you? I may be blond, but I'm definitely not stupid.”

  "If that's the way you really feel, why did you warn me against taking the medicine she gave me?”

  Aphrodite looked away. "My first roommate died six months after she got here. I took the medicine. It—it affected me. For a long time.”

  "What do you mean? How did it affect you?”

  "It made me feel funny, detached. And it stopped my visions. Not permanently, just for a couple of weeks. And then it was hard for me to even remember what she looked like." Aphrodite paused. "Venus. Her name was Venus Davis." Her eyes met mine again. "She was the reason I chose Aphrodite as my new name. We were best friends and we thought it was cool." Her eyes were filled with sadness. "I've made myself remember Venus, and I fig­ured you'd want to remember Stevie Rae.”

  "I do. I will. Thanks.”

  "You should go. It won't be good for either of us if anyone knows you've been here talking to me," Aphrodite said.

  I realized that she was probably right, and turned for the door. Her voice stopped me.

  "She makes you think she's good, but she's not. Everything that's light isn't good, and everything that's darkness isn't always bad.”

  Darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does not al­ways bring good. The words that Nyx had said to me the day I was Marked were mirrored in Aphrodite's warning.

  "In other words, be careful around Neferet and don't trust her," I said.

  "Yeah, but I never said that.”

  "Said what? We're not even having this conversation." I shut the door behind me and hurried to my room where I washed my face and brushed my teeth, pulled on some shoes, and then re­turned to the living room.

  "Ready?" Erik asked.

  "We'll come, too," Damien said, motioning to include the Twins, Jack, and Drew.

  I started to tell them no, but I couldn't make the word come out. The truth was that I was glad they were here, glad they obvi­ously felt the need to join forces around me and protect me. I'd worried for a really long time that my extra powers and my weird Goddess-chosen Mark would brand me such a freak that I wouldn't fit in, wouldn't have any friends. But the opposite seemed to be happening.

  "Okay, let's go." We headed for the door. I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to say to Neferet. All I knew was that I couldn't continue to keep my mouth shut, and that I had a terrible feeling my "dream" had really been a vision, and that there was more to the "spirits" I'd been seeing than ghosts. Most of all, I was afraid they'd taken Heath. What that said about what Stevie Rae had be­come chilled me to my core, but it didn't change the fact that Heath was missing, and that I think I knew who had taken him (if not what).

  We hadn't quite made it to the door when it opened and Nef­eret glided into the room on a tide of snow-scented air. She was followed by Detective Marx and Detective Martin. They had blue down jackets on that were zipped to their chins. Their hats were covered with snow and their noses were red. Neferet, as usual, looked perfectly poised, perfectly groomed, perfectly in control.

  "Ah, Zoey, good. This saves me from having to look for you. The two detectives have some rather bad news, and they'd also like to speak with you for a moment.”

  I didn't spare a glance for Neferet, and I could feel her stiffen­ing as I responded directly to the detectives. "I already heard on the news that Heath's missing. If there's any way I can help, I will.”

  "Could we use the library again?" Detective Marx asked. "Of course," Neferet said smoothly.

  I started to follow Neferet and the detectives from the room, but paused to look back at Erik.

  "We'll be here,” he said.

  "All of us," Damien said.
<
br />   I nodded. Feeling better, I went to the library. I'd hardly entered the room when Detective Martin started questioning me.

  "Zoey, can you account for your whereabouts between six thirty and eight thirty this morning?”

  I nodded. "I was upstairs in my room. Around that time I was talking on the phone to my grandma, and then Heath and I text messaged each other back and forth a few times." I reached into my jeans pocket and pulled out my cell phone. "I haven't even deleted the messages. You can see them if you want.”

  "You don't have to give him your phone, Zoey,” Neferet said. I made myself smile at her.

  "That's okay. I don't mind.”

  Detective Martin took my phone and started going through the text message files, copying onto a little pad the messages. "Did you see Heath this morning?" Detective Marx asked. "No. He asked if he could come see me, but I told him no."

  "This says that you were planning on seeing him Friday,” Detective Martin said.

  I could feel Neferet's sharp eyes on me. I drew a deep breath. The only way I could do this would be to stick as close to the truth as I was able.

  "Yeah, I was going to go out with him after the game Friday."

  "Zoey, you know it is strictly against school rules to continue to date humans from your old life." I noticed, as if for the first time, the disgust that filled her voice when she said humans.

  "I know. I'm sorry." Again, I told the truth, only omitting a bloodsucking, Imprinting detail here and an I-don't-trust-you-anymore detail there. "It's just that Heath and I had so much his­tory between us that it was really hard to totally stop talking to him, even though I knew I had to. I thought it would be easier if we met and I told him to his face, once and for all, why couldn't see each other. I would have told you, but I wanted to handle it on my own.”

  "So, you didn't see him this morning?" Detective Marx re­peated.

  "No. After we were done text messaging I went to bed.”

  "Can anyone substantiate that you were in your room sleeping at that time?" Detective Martin asked, handing me back my phone.

  Neferet's voice was ice. "Gentlemen, I already explained to you the terrible loss Zoey experienced just yesterday. Her roommate died. So, how she could have anyone substantiate her where­abouts at—”

  "Um, excuse me, Neferet, but actually I wasn't sleeping alone. My friends Shaunee and Erin didn't want me to be by myself, so they came to my room and slept with me." I left Damien out. No point getting the kid in trouble.

  "Oh, that was very kind of them," Neferet said gently, switch­ing in one breath from scary vampyre to concerned mother. I tried not to think of how not fooled I was by her.

  "Do you have any idea where Heath might be?" I asked Detec­tive Marx (I still liked him better of the two).

  "No. His truck was found not far from the school wall, but the snow is falling so fast that any tracks he might have made have been completely covered.”

  "Well, I should think that instead of wasting your time ques­tioning my fledgling, the police would be spending time search­ing the gutters for the teenager," Neferet said in an offhand tone that made me want to scream.

  "Ma'am?" Marx said.

  "It seems clear to me what happened. The boy was trying to see Zoey, again. It was only last month that he and that girlfriend of his climbed our wall saying they were going to break her out of the school." Neferet waved her hand dismissively. "He was drunk and high then, he was probably drunk and high this morning, too. The snow was too much for him and he's probably fallen into a gutter somewhere. Isn't that where drunks usually end up?”

  "Ma'am, he's a teenager, not a drunk. And his parents and friends say he hasn't had a drink in a month.”

  Neferet's soft laugh made it obvious how much she didn't be­lieve him. Surprising me, Marx ignored her and studied me care­fully. "How about it, Zoey? You two dated for a couple of years, right? Can you think of where he might have gone?”

  "Not out this way. If his truck was missing off Oak Grove Road in BA I could tell you where the keg party might be.” I didn't mean it as a joke, especially after Neferet's mean cracks about Heath, but the detective seemed to be trying not to smile, which suddenly made him appear kind, and even approachable. Before I could change my mind, I blurted, "But I had a weird dream this morning that might not actually have been a dream but could have been some kind of vision about Heath.”

  Into the stunned silence Neferet's voice sounded clipped and harsh. "Zoey, you have never before manifested an affinity for prophecy or visions.”

  "I know." Purposefully I made myself sound unsure and even a little scared (the scared part wasn't exactly pretense). "But it's just too weird that I dreamed that Heath was over by the east wall, and that he was grabbed there.”

  "What grabbed him, Zoey?" Detective Marx's voice was ur­gent. He was definitely taking me seriously.

  "I don't know." Which definitely wasn't a lie. "I do know they weren't fledglings or vampyres. In my dream four cloaked figures dragged him away.”

  "Did you see where they went?”

  "No, I woke up screaming for Heath." I didn't have to fake the tears that filled my eyes. "Maybe you should search everything around the school. Something's out there, and something's taking kids, but it's not us.”

  "Of course it's not us." Neferet came over to me and put her arm around me, patting my shoulder and making soft mom sounds. "Gentlemen, I think Zoey's had more than enough up­setting for one day. Why don't I introduce you to Shaunee and Erin, who, I'm sure, will collaborate her alibi.”

  Alibi. The word sounded chilling.

  "If you remember anything , or have any other odd dreams, please don't hesitate to contact me, anytime day or night," Detec­tive Marx said.

  This was the second time he'd given me his card—he certainly was persistent. I took his card from him and thanked him. Then as Neferet led him from the room Detective Marx hesitated and walked back to me.

  "My twin sister was Marked and Changed fifteen years ago," he said softly. "She and I are still close, even though she was supposed to forget her human family. So when I say you can call me anytime, and tell me anything, you can believe me. You can also trust me.”

  "Detective Marx?" Neferet stood in the doorway.

  "Just thanking Zoey again, and telling her how sorry I am about her roommate," he said smoothly as he strode from the room.

  I stayed where I was, trying to collect my thoughts. Marx's sis­ter was a vampyre? Well, that really wasn't so bizarre. What was bizarre is that he still loved her. Maybe I could trust him.

  The door clicked shut and I jerked in surprise. Neferet was standing with her back to it, watching me carefully.

  "Did you Imprint with Heath?”

  I had an instant of cold, white panic. She was going to be able to read me. I'd been fooling myself. There was no way I was any kind of a match for this High Priestess. Then I felt the brush of a gentle, impossible breeze … the warmth of an invisible fire .. . the freshness of a spring rain … the green sweetness of a fertile meadow ... and the powerful infilling of elemental strength flowing into my spirit. With new confidence I met Neferet's eyes.

  "But you said I didn't. You told me before that what happened between him and me on the wall wasn't enough to Imprint." I made sure my voice sounded confused and upset.

  Her shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly. "I don't think you Imprinted with him then. So, you're saying you haven't been with him since? You haven't fed from him again?”

  "Again!" I let myself sound as shocked as I always felt at the disturbing, yet seductive thought of feeding on Heath. "But I didn't really feed on him then, did I?”

  "No, no, of course not," Neferet reassured me. "What you did was very minor, very minor indeed. It's just that your dream made me wonder if you'd been with your boyfriend again.”

  "Ex-boyfriend," I said almost automatically. "No. But he's been texting and calling me a bunch lately, so I thought it would be best if I met him and tried to make
him understand, once and for all, that we can't see each other anymore. I'm sorry. I should have told you, but I really did want to solve it myself. I mean, I got myself into the mess. I should be able to handle getting myself out of it.”

  "Well, I do commend your sense of responsibility, but I don't think it was wise to make the detectives believe your dream might have been a vision.”

  "It just seemed so real," I said.

  "I'm sure it did. Zoey, did you take the medicine I asked you to drink last night?”

  "You mean that milky stuff? Yeah, Shaunee gave it to me." And she had, but I'd poured the crap down the sink.

  Neferet looked even more relaxed. "Good. If you keep having disturbing dreams, come to me and I'll give you a stronger mix­ture. That should have kept the nightmares from you, but clearly I underestimated the dosage you required.”

  The dosage wasn't all she'd underestimated.

  I smiled. "Thanks, Neferet. I appreciate that.”

  "Well, you should return to your friends, now. They are quite protective of you, and I'm sure they're worried.”

  I nodded and walked with her back to the living room, careful not to show my disgust when she hugged me in front of everyone and said good-bye with the warmth of a mom. Actually, she was exactly like a mom, specifically my mom, Linda Heffer. The woman who had betrayed me for a man and cared more about herself and appearances than she cared about me. The similari­ties between Neferet and Linda were becoming clearer and clearer.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  We resettled in our little group after they left, and didn't say much as the room got back to normal. I noticed no one changed the local station. The Star Wars DVD was forgotten, at least for tonight.

  "Are you okay?" Erik finally asked softly. He put his arm back around me and I snuggled against him.

  "Yeah, I think so.”

  "Did the cops have any news about Heath?" Damien asked.

  "Nothing more than what we already heard," I said. "Or if they do, they weren't telling me.”