by P. C. Cast
“Why do you think that is what saddens you the most?”
From the stage Thanatos asked the question, but I kept looking at Stevie Rae. She smiled and said, “How come it would be better if you knew what happened to your momma?”
“Because someone needs to pay for what was done to her,” I told my BFF.
“Vengeance?” Thanatos asked.
Then I did look at her. “No. Justice,” I said firmly.
“It is admirable as well as understandable for you to desire justice. Let this be a lesson to the rest of you—there is a distinct difference between wanting to gain revenge and exact vengeance, and wanting the truth to shine forth so that justice for all is illuminated.” Thanatos met my gaze. “I believe I can help give you the truth, so that you will be able to get justice for your mother and closure for yourself.”
“What do you mean?”
“I spoke with your grandmother. Today is the fifth night after your mother’s death. I explained to her that five is an important number in our belief system—it represents the elements and our closeness to them. She has agreed to pause her traditional cleansing on this, the fifth night. It is not a certainty, but with the elemental power held by your circle and your connection to the one whose death we seek to reveal, I believe I can illuminate the truth of your mother’s murder if you are willing to cast your circle and witness what it reveals.”
“I’m willing.” I felt sick, but I knew I had to go through with this.
“There is more,” Thanatos said. She looked from me to Stevie Rae. “Zoey will cast the circle. I will be there to invoke the presence of death, but the spell that invokes death hinges upon you.”
“Me?” Stevie Rae squeaked.
“It is your element in which this deed was imprinted. It is through your element the truth of it will be revealed.” Thanatos’s gaze sought out each member of my circle as she continued explaining. “This spell will not be pleasant. Zoey’s mother was murdered. If we are successful, we will witness that horrendous act. You must each be willing participants, focused and aware of what it is you are agreeing to.”
“I’m willing,” Stevie Rae said immediately.
“Me, too … Yep, I’m in … I’m willing,” came from Shaunee and Damien and Erin.
“Then it is decided. We leave as soon as first hour is over. If I call your name you will assemble in the parking lot and prepare yourself for the ritual and spell. If I do not call your name please proceed to your second-hour class. Your homework will be an essay on loss—and that homework will be due from those participating in the ritual as well as those of you who do not. The students joining me are: Zoey, Stevie Rae, Damien, Shaunee, Erin, and Aphrodite. The rest of you may begin working on your essays. Good day to you, and blessed be.” Thanatos bowed formally to her classroom and then went to sit behind her desk.
My mouth flopped open. As Grandma would have said, this whole thing flummoxed me.
Aphrodite plopped down in the desk beside me and hissed a whisper. “Talk to Thanatos. Be sure she doesn’t let Dragon go with us.” She paused, tilted her head, and gawked at Stevie Rae and Rephaim, who totally had their heads together and were talking like a mile a minute. “Unless I’m wrong—and I’m never wrong—she’s gonna insist birdboy goes with us, which is no surprise because I can promise you Darius won’t let me go without him. But having Rephaim with us means Dragon can’t go or, according to my vision, he’s gonna get sliced in two.”
“Hell!” I said.
“Cursing?” Aphrodite said.
“No. It’s a place. I didn’t send anyone there,” I said.
“Grow up,” she said.
“Screw you,” I said, succinctly.
Aphrodite laughed, which totally took the Big Girl sting from my almost-curse. I sighed and as the bell chimed, got out of my desk and walked slowly but resolutely up to Thanatos.
From her seat behind her desk Thanatos glanced up, but her eyes didn’t go to me. Instead she glanced around me and called, “Aurox, a moment please.”
Aurox had been leaving class, but he stopped and turned. “You want me, Priestess?”
“I want to give you an answer to your question.”
“Uh, I’ll wait outside so you two can—”
“There is no need for you to leave.” Thanatos cut me off. “My answer is the same for whomever is asking the question.”
“I do not understand,” Aurox said.
Actually, neither did I. His question was “What am I?” How could there be only one answer for that question?
“I believe you will understand when you hear me out. The question of what we are can only be answered by ourselves. We each decide what we are by the life choices we make. How we were made, who are parents are, where we are from, the color of our skin, who we choose to love, all those things do not define us. Our actions define us, and will keep defining us until even after death.”
I saw surprise in Aurox’s expression. “The past does not matter?”
“The past matters a great deal, especially if we don’t learn from it. But the future need not be dictated by the past.”
“I decide what I am?” He spoke slowly, as if he was working through a riddle.
“Yes.”
“Thank you, Priestess.”
“You are welcome and you may be excused now.”
He fisted his hand over his heart and bowed deeply to her before leaving the room.
I was looking after him, still thinking about the surprise I’d seen in Aurox when Thanatos spoke to me. “Zoey, I know this ritual and the spell casting will be difficult for you, but I believe it will also give you closure.”
“Yeah, me, too.” Feeling a little like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar, I spoke quickly, my eyes turning to Thanatos. “I mean, I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to see what happened to Mom, but I figure I keep replaying it in my imagination anyway. The truth will at least stop my imagination.”
“It will do that,” she said.
“So, this ritual—who all will be there?”
“Those I named already. I would imagine your Guardian will accompany you, as will Aphrodite’s Darius. And I will be there. Follow your instincts, Zoey. Is there anyone else you request?”
Aurox’s presence seemed to linger in the room with us and I shook my head. “No, I don’t want to request anyone else. My circle and our Warriors are all that I need, but there is someone I don’t want there.” She raised her eyebrows and I continued. “Dragon Lankford. He hates Rephaim, and he’s pretty much acting as Stevie Rae’s Warrior, so he should be with her.” I made a quick decision, Thanatos should know, and added, “Plus, yesterday Aphrodite had a vision that showed Dragon totally involved with Rephaim being skewered by a sword. I’d rather that didn’t happen during my mom’s reveal ritual.”
“Dragon Lankford has been tasked with protecting this school and its students. If he allows, or takes part in, Rephaim being injured a great injustice will have been committed and he must be brought to task quickly and—”
“Wait, stop.” I interrupted her. “I don’t want this spell to be some kind of setup for Dragon to get in trouble. I don’t want any of that drama to touch what’s happened to my mom. Her murder is drama enough. Can’t you just help me be sure Dragon’s not there? We’ll deal with his issues later.”
Thanatos bowed her head slightly. “You have a valid point, and you are right to remind me. Your mother’s death is not the appropriate venue to test Dragon or to illuminate his failings. I shall see that he does not accompany us.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Thank me when the ritual and spellcasting is over. I’ve found quite often that the dead reveal things that should have been kept hidden from the living.”
And on that ominous note I left death’s classroom and made my way to the parking lot and to a future none of us would have been able to predict.
Neferet
When the bell chimed to end first hour Neferet moved n
onchalantly to the doorway of her classroom. Under the guise of saying good-bye to what was left of the class after Thanatos had culled it for her own special first hour, Neferet positioned herself so that she could watch the High Council member’s students as they departed.
Dallas, now would be a lovely time to orchestrate another altercation.
No sooner had the thought formed in her mind then the young red vampyre himself moved into her view. He wasn’t posturing or provoking. Neferet frowned. He and his ragged group of compatriots were slinking from Thanatos’s first hour as if they were dogs with their tails tucked between their legs.
Then Zoey’s group, minus Zoey, she noted, hurried from class all moving in the same direction. The same direction? Most of them had different second-hour classes. No matter how sheep-like they were, they should not all be traveling together.
Aurox emerged and Neferet smiled.
As if he could feel her gaze the vessel looked her way.
“Come to me,” she mouthed the words and gestured to her office. Neferet didn’t wait to see if the vessel complied. She knew he would do as commanded.
“Yes, Priestess,” he said, standing before her desk. “You called?”
“Did anything unusual happen first hour?”
“Unusual, Priestess?”
Neferet barely contained her irritation. Must he be so stupid? “Yes, unusual! I noticed Dallas and his group seemed unusually reserved, and many of the other students, those closest to Zoey Redbird, left together as if they had somewhere to go that was not their second-hour class.”
“Your observation is correct, Priestess. Thanatos intends to oversee Zoey and her circle performing a ritual so that she may then cast a spell invoking death. Her intent is for Zoey to witness the truth of her mother’s death and thereby to attain closure.”
“What?” Neferet felt as if her mind was going to explode.
“Yes, Priestess. Thanatos is using Zoey as an example of how all fledglings and vampyres can overcome the loss of a parent.”
Neferet lifted her hand, palm out, and the threads of Darkness swarmed to her. Aurox took a step back, obviously uncomfortable with her tumultuous emotions. She made a conscious effort to control herself and the sticky tendrils quieted.
“Where is this spellcasting taking place?”
“At the site of Zoey’s mother’s murder.”
Through clenched teeth Neferet managed to say, “When? When is this happening?”
“They are gathering to leave now, Priestess.”
“And you are quite certain Thanatos is accompanying them?”
“Yes, Priestess.”
“May all the immortals be damned!” Neferet almost spat the curse. “A reveal ritual. It must be accompanied by the casting of a very specific spell…” She drummed her pointed fingernails on her desk, thinking. “It would have to be earth-based, as it is within that specific plot of earth that the death would have been Imprinted. It is Stevie Rae then, and not Zoey who must be impeded.” She turned her attention back to Aurox. “This is my command: you will thwart this ritual and the casting of the death spell. Do whatever you must to stop it, even if you must kill, although I do not want the death to be one of the Priestesses.” She grimaced in annoyance. “Unfortunately, the price of a Priestess’s death is too costly, especially as I don’t have an equitable sacrifice to offer,” she muttered, almost to herself. Then she caught the vessel’s moonstone gaze with her own. “Do not kill a Priestess. I’d prefer no one realize you were there, but if you cannot stop the spell without giving yourself away, then do what you must. Your command is that the ritual and its spellwork go awry, so that Thanatos cannot reveal the manner of Zoey’s mother’s death. Do you understand me?”
“I do, Priestess.”
“Then get out of here and do as I command. If you are discovered do not expect me to rescue you. Expect me to forget we ever had this conversation.”
When he simply stood there staring at her, she said, “What is it? Why are you not already obeying my orders?”
“I do not know where to go, Priestess. How do I reach the location of the ritual?”
Neferet squelched the urge to smite him to his knees with Darkness. Instead she scribbled an address on a notepad, tore it off, and handed it to him. “Use the GPS as I’ve showed you before. This is the address. It couldn’t be easier if I conjured you there.”
He bowed, clutching the paper. “As you command, Priestess,” he said, leaving the room.
“And be careful they do not see you arriving!”
“Yes, Priestess,” he said before closing the door behind him.
Neferet watched him go. “I wish he was smarter,” she whispered to the dark tendrils that crawled up her arms and caressed her wrists. “Oh, but you are, aren’t you? Go with him. Strengthen him. Watch him. Be quite sure he does not falter in obeying my simple commands. Then return and tell me everything.” The tendrils hesitated. Neferet sighed and, with a quick flick of her forefinger, she sliced the inside of her bicep and ground her teeth as Darkness fed from her. Shortly, she waved them away and licked the shallow wound closed. “Go now. You’ve taken your payment. Do my bidding,”
The shadows slithered from her and Neferet, content, called for her assistant to bring her a glass of wine laced with blood.
“Find some virgin’s blood this time,” she snapped when the young vampyre answered her summons. “The other is simply too common, and I have a feeling a celebration will soon be in order.”
“Yes, Priestess, as you command.” The assistant bowed and scurried out.
“That is right.” Neferet spoke aloud to the listening shadows. “All will be as I command. And someday soon they will not call me Priestess, but Goddess. Someday very soon…”
Neferet laughed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Dragon
A Sword Master notices everything. It’s part of what makes him successful—what keeps him alive. Though it didn’t take his preternatural abilities of observation for Dragon Lankford to know something was going on with Zoey’s inner group. It only took following his instincts and asking one simple question.
Shortly after second hour was underway Dragon instructed his students to begin their warm-up exercises, and told them he would return momentarily. Instinct had been niggling at him, driving him, prodding him, worrying him. Darius and Stark were talented Warriors—both more than capable in their specialized areas of weaponry. Darius was probably the most gifted knife thrower Dragon had ever known, and Stark’s infallibility with bow and arrow was, indeed, awe inspiring.
Neither of those abilities meant they should be in charge of training young, impressionable fledglings. Teaching was a gift in itself, and Dragon very much doubted that two such youthful vampyres had the experience and wisdom needed to be true professors.
She had been young when she was made a professor, so very young. That was how he’d met her—his mate—his life—his own. He knew what Anastasia would say were she here. She would smile kindly and remind him that he should not judge others harshly because of their youth—that once he had known how that felt. She would remind him that he was in the perfect position to mentor the youths—to be sure they developed into worthy Warriors and exceptional teachers.
But Anastasia was as dead as the past and because of that his life was utterly changed. Dragon did not want to supervise or mentor or oversee young professors, especially in light of the fact that they had begun this extra class so that he would not have to suffer the presence of the Raven Mocker turned boy. But Dragon was finding that duty was an odd thing. Even though he had stepped away from the path he’d walked with his mate and his Goddess, it seemed he had not become entirely free of the bonds that tied him to honor and responsibility.
So, begrudgingly, Dragon gave in to the instinct that was telling him to check on the young Warriors and made the short trek from the field house to the arena of Lenobia’s stables where Stark and Darius had set up their Warrior training.
<
br /> As soon as he placed foot inside the sawdust arena, Dragon knew he’d been right to be concerned. The two vampyres weren’t conducting training—the human stable man was. Lenobia was nowhere to be seen, and the two Warriors were following Aphrodite from the stables. Dragon shook his head in disgust.
“Darius!” he called. The young vampyre paused, gestured for Stark and Aphrodite to go ahead, and then he hurried over to Dragon. “Why is a human leading your class?”
“It cannot be avoided,” Darius said. “Stark and I must escort Aphrodite and Zoey.”
“Escort them? Where?”
Dragon could see that Darius was not comfortable discussing the subject with him, but he really had very little choice. No matter their differing views on Rephaim and Neferet and some of the new red fledglings, Dragon was still Darius’s ranking Warrior, and as thus he owed the Sword Master an answer.
“Thanatos is going to lead Zoey and her circle in a ritual at her grandmother’s farm. The spell involved is supposed to reveal the manner of her mother’s death.”
Dragon felt the shock of it—this was major spellwork, and one that entailed some measure of danger, even if the threat was more emotional than physical. I should have been informed. I should have been included.
Dragon kept his thoughts veiled and only asked, “Why now, during school hours, is this ritual taking place?”
“This is the fifth night after her murder.”
Dragon nodded, understanding. “One night for each of the elements. Four would be incomplete. Six would be too late. It must be tonight.”
“Yes, that is how Thanatos explained it, too.” Darius added, obviously uncomfortable, “May I have leave to go, Sword Master? My Prophetess awaits.”
“Yes, you may.”
Darius bowed and Dragon watched him go. Then, with a grim set to his handsome face, Dragon Lankford changed direction and made his way quickly to the classroom Thanatos had made her own.
He was relieved to see the High Priestess was still there, looking through one of the cupboards in the rear of the room and gathering candles and herbs, which she placed carefully in a large spellwork basket that was all too familiar to him. It had been Anastasia’s favorite.