by P. C. Cast
“No,” I said. “But she did tell me she was going to consider taking in students again.”
“Allowing outsiders to come and go from Skye would be extraordinary.” The way Duantia said it made me think she didn’t believe “extraordinary” was synonymous with “a good thing.”
“I believe opening up to outsiders is something we all must do in these changing times,” Neferet said.
Everyone stared at her. Even Duantia was speechless.
“Because I feel so strongly about it I have decided to open the doors of my House of Night in the form of some of the more menial jobs, to local humans. I think it wise and responsible, especially in these hard economic times. I hope Sgiach follows suit.”
“That is an excellent idea, Neferet,” Duantia said. “As you are aware, humans have had a steady presence here on San Clemente Island for the past several centuries.” The Vampyre High Priestess smiled. “Since we have become civilized and modern.”
“As the Tulsa House of Night would like to become, as well,” Neferet said.
“Well, then. That is decided. The Tulsa House of Night will employ local humans. Rephaim, the red fledglings, and Zoey’s group of students will attend school at the Tulsa House of Night while resting in the tunnels under the depot during the day. I will make a note to speak to the Tulsa City Council about the purchase of the depot.”
“And what of Zoey’s status as queen and the depot’s allegiance to me and this House of Night?” Neferet asked.
I held my breath.
“As I already ruled, I will consult the full High Council on a matter as serious as a young and gifted fledgling being considered a queen, even if just a queen in training. Until a decision can be made, Zoey Redbird and the Tulsa Depot are to be an extension of the Tulsa House of Night.”
“And thus I remain their High Priestess,” Neferet said.
Stevie Rae cleared her throat. Our eyes turned to her. “Uh, not to be mean or anything, but if Z’s not gonna be called queen, and we have to have a High Priestess, I’m next in line. My red fledglings need someone like them to understand them. And that’s me. So, call us a branch of the House of Night if ya want, but if there’s a High Priestess over us, then she’s gonna be me.”
“You make a valid point, young Priestess,” Duantia said with no hesitation, which made me wonder if she’d just been waiting for Stevie Rae to object. “Stevie Rae, until the matter of Zoey Redbird’s standing is settled, you are acting High Priestess of the depot extension of the Tulsa House of Night.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Stevie Rae said. “And I didn’t mean to sound disrespectful.”
Duantia’s sharp features softened as she smiled. “You did not sound disrespectful. You sounded like a High Priestess. Now, if there are no further items of business, I will adjourn to update the other Council Members on these events and decisions.”
“I’m done,” I said.
“Yep, me, too,” Stevie Rae said.
“I believe what we have already accomplished is quite enough for one day,” Neferet said.
“Excellent. Then I bid you farewell, and wish you all to blessed be.”
The computer made the weird Skype cutoff noise and the screen went blank.
“Well, that was quite interesting,” Lenobia said.
I realized after she’d spoken that she hadn’t said anything for the entire Skype call. It made me wonder about her. I mean, she’d clearly been on my side before against Neferet, but then again, so had Dragon.
“Yes, interesting is one word to describe what that was,” Neferet said.
“Congratulations, High Priestess,” I said to Stevie Rae.
“Yeah, congrats,” Erik said.
“You was already our High Priestess, but it’s nice they made it official,” Kramisha said.
“I don’t want him in my class.” Dragon spoke abruptly, totally cutting through the well-wishing.
I started to open my mouth to defend Rephaim’s right to go to fencing class or whatever, even though it still felt really weird to be defending Rephaim at all, but Stevie Rae’s response surprised and silenced me.
“I think you’re right. I know this is hard for you, Dragon. How ’bout I ask Darius and Stark to teach some extra classes on knife stuff and whatnot? Rephaim can take those classes.”
“That is actually a good idea,” Lenobia said. “As every fledgling must take some sort of self-defense class, with the unexpected addition of the red fledglings your classes will be overfilled.”
“Yeah, we was supposed to be dead. Bein’ undead will screw up class size for sure,” Kramisha said.
Neferet sighed heavily and then said, “Every fledgling must take a self-defense class because of the attack of the Raven Mockers. Am I the only one who sees the terrible irony in what all of you are saying?”
“I see it—and more,” Dragon said.
“And I see that you keep stirrin’ the shit pot,” Stevie Rae said. She’d turned and was standing toe-to-toe with Neferet. She didn’t blink. She didn’t back down. My BFF looked tough and strong and way older than her years.
Stevie Rae looked like a High Priestess.
A High Priestess who was making dangerous enemies.
“Duantia decided Rephaim and the rest of us can stay,” I said as I stood up, stepping between Stevie Rae and Neferet. “I think what we need to do is to figure out a way we can do that without causing a bunch of stress and trouble.” I looked at Dragon, trying to find within his anger-filled eyes the wise, kind Sword Master I’d known. “We’ve all had enough of that to last us a long time, don’t you think?”
“I’ll be in the field house with the normal fledglings,” Dragon said and then he pushed through the room.
“Stevie Rae, you can tell Stark and Darius that they may hold class in the stables,” Lenobia said.
“I’m glad to hear you’re in such an accommodating mood, Professor Lenobia,” Neferet said. “The first of the humans I am hiring will be a stable hand to aid you with all of the—” she paused and her gaze cut to Stevie Rae, Kramisha, and me. “Sewage in the stables.”
“Manure.” Lenobia’s reply was swift. “I don’t have sewage in my stables. I have manure. And I don’t need any help with it.”
“Ah, but you will accept the help, because it is the right thing to do, and because the High Council just endorsed it. Won’t you?”
“I will do what I believe is right.”
“Then you will do as I expected.” Neferet turned a dismissive back to Lenobia. “Zoey and Stevie Rae, the red fledglings should resume the class schedule they were following before they died,” she said matter-of-factly. “And you two should join them. Whether you’re abnormally Changed,” she flicked her fingers at Stevie Rae, “or just abnormal fledglings,” she shifted her attention to Kramisha and me, “it matters little. You need to be in class. You’re all much too young to be truly interesting without being better educated. Second hour should be underway by now. Get to class. This Council Meeting is now adjourned.”
Without so much as a “blessed be” she swept from the room.
“She is one hot mess,” Kramisha said.
“Crazy times ten,” Stevie Rae said.
“But Neferet is a known entity. We understand that when we’re dealing with her, we’re dealing with a High Priestess who has gone wrong and who is utterly mad,” Lenobia said slowly. “It’s Dragon that I’m most worried about.”
“Then you are with us?” I asked the Horse Mistress.
Lenobia’s gray eyes met mine. “I told you once that I’ve battled evil. I bear the scars of that encounter, both physically and emotionally, and I will never allow evil and Darkness to decimate my life again. I’m with you,” she nodded in turn to Stevie Rae and Kramisha, “and you and you because you’re on the side of the Goddess.” Then she turned to Erik, who was standing, but who hadn’t made a move to leave the room. “And where are you in all of this?”
“I’m the Tulsa House of Night’s Tracke
r.”
“We know that, but what side does that put you on?” Stevie Rae asked.
“I’m on the side that Marks kids and changes their destinies.” Erik evaded.
“Erik, someday you’re gonna have to take a stand,” I told him.
“Hey, just because I’m not battling toe-to-toe with Neferet doesn’t mean I haven’t taken a stand.”
“No, it just means it’s a weak one,” Stevie Rae said.
“Whatever! You don’t know everything, Stevie Rae.” Erik stormed from the room.
Kramisha snorted. “That is a waste of one pretty boy.”
It made me sad, but I couldn’t disagree with her.
“I’ll begin sectioning off space in the arena for Warrior classes,” Lenobia said. “If you round up the two Warriors and let them know they’re going to be professors, or at least temporary professors.”
“Shouldn’t be hard to find them,” I said. “Stark and Darius are probably in the field house playing with their swords.”
“I’ll come with you,” Stevie Rae said.
“I guess I’ll go to second hour,” Kramisha said with a heavy sigh.
As Stevie Rae and I left the room, she snagged my arm and slowed me down so that we were walking by ourselves. “Hey, you know that just ’cause the High Council and them are callin’ me the High Priestess at the depot, it doesn’t mean that I want to be the boss of you or anythin’ like that.”
I blinked in surprise at her. “Yeah, of course I know that. And anyway, you’re a great High Priestess, and that means you won’t be a bossy pain in the butt.”
She didn’t laugh like I thought she would. Instead she tugged on one of her curls, a definite sign she was stressing. “Okay, that’s nice to say and all, but I’ve only been a High Priestess for, like, two seconds. I need to be sure you’ll help me.”
I hooked her arm with mine and bumped shoulders with her. “You can always be sure of me. You know that.”
“Even after Rephaim?”
“Even after Loren and Kalona and Stark?” I countered with.
She started to grin. “You always gotta one-up me, don’t ya?”
“Sadly, I think I three-uped you,” I said, which did make her laugh, but made me sigh.
We left the part of the House of Night that held the tower-like media center and took a left on the sidewalk that wound around to the field house and stables. It was a cold night, but it was super clear. The sky was filled with stars, which were really easy to see through the winter branches of the big oaks that dotted the campus grounds.
“So, he’s cute, huh?”
I pretended clueless. “Who? Stark? Definitely.”
She knocked her shoulder into mine. “I’m talkin’ ’bout Rephaim.”
“Oh, him. Yeah, I guess he’s okay.” I hesitated, and almost didn’t ask, but then I decided to go ahead. I mean, we were BFFs. And BFFs could ask each other anything. “So, did you see him turn into a bird?”
I could feel the tension that entered her body, but she sounded almost normal when she said, “Yeah, I did.”
“What was it like?”
“Awful.”
“Did he, uh, stay around? Or did he fly right off?” I couldn’t help it. I was totally, morbidly, car-wreck curious.
“Flew right off. But as soon as the sun set he came back. He says he’ll always find his way back to me.”
“Then he will,” I said, hating to hear the worry in her voice.
“I love him, Z. He really is good. I promise.”
I was opening my mouth to tell her I believed her when a shout interrupted me. For a second I didn’t understand what the voice was saying, all I reacted to was the danger in it. Stevie Rae understood, though.
“Oh, no! It’s Dragon! He’s calling Warriors to him!”
She dropped my arm and began to run toward Dragon’s voice. With a terrible sense of foreboding, I sprinted after her.
CHAPTER FIVE
Rephaim
“Why are you here?!” Rephaim shouted at the three Raven Mockers perched above him. He looked hastily around. If he’d had time he would have breathed a sigh of relief that this part of the campus remained empty; all the fledglings had found their way to second-hour classes. “You must go before anyone sees you,” he said in a much quieter voice.
“Rephaim? How?”
Though there were three Raven Mockers in the tree, only one of them was actually speaking. Of course Rephaim recognized him instantly as Nisroc, one of the more human-like of his brothers.
“I chose the path of Nyx. The Goddess forgave and accepted me, and when she did she changed my form to completely human.” Rephaim wasn’t sure why he didn’t add “at night.” What he was sure of was that anything he told Nisroc would be reported directly back to his father.
“Forgivenessss? Why?”
Rephaim stared at his brother, almost overwhelmed by pity. He doesn’t realize there is any other way than that which our father leads him, and he doesn’t understand that what he does in Kalona’s name is wrong.
“Nisroc, when we—” Rephaim paused. No, he thought, I can only speak for myself. “When I harmed others, when I killed and raped and took whatever I wished simply because I could—that was wrong.”
Nisroc cocked his head back and forth. His other brothers, two of the nameless, bestial horde that did their father’s bidding, hissed softly, disturbed but not high enough evolved to comprehend why.
Finally his brother said, “Father’sss command. Not wrong.”
Rephaim shook his head. “Even Father can be wrong.” He drew a deep breath and added, “And even you can choose a different path.”
The two nameless ones stopped hissing and stared at him in shock. Nisroc narrowed his scarlet colored, human eyes. “She did thisss. The female. As Father sssaid!”
“No one did anything to me. I decided for myself.” Then with a start of fear, realization hit him. “Nisroc, the Red One, Stevie Rae, she didn’t make me do anything. I chose her and her Goddess. You can never harm the Red One. Ever. She belongs to me. Do you understand?”
“Yours. High Priestessss to kill we cannot.” Nisroc repeated as if by rote, but Rephaim saw the hard, mean glint in his glowing eyes.
“You need to leave. Now,” Rephaim said. “You can’t let anyone see you, and you can’t return.”
“First, Father’s messssage.” Nisroc dropped from the thick middle branches of the oak, landing in front of Rephaim, followed by the other two Raven Mockers, who flanked him. “By Father’s ssside you will be. But here. Watching. Waiting. Ssspying.”
Rephaim shook his head again. “No. I will not spy for Father.”
“Yesss! As Father willsss!” Nisroc spread his wings, an action mimicked by the other two Raven Mockers. Highly agitated, he bobbed his head and fisted his hands.
Rephaim didn’t feel threatened. The physical danger he was in didn’t register in his mind. He was too used to his brothers—too used to being one of them. No, it was more than that. Rephaim was too used to being their leader to fear them.
“No,” he repeated. “It’s not as Father wills for me anymore. I’ve changed. Inside and outside. Go back to him. Tell him that.” Rephaim hesitated and then continued, “Tell him my choice stands.”
“Hate you, he will,” Nisroc said.
“I know that.” Rephaim felt the hurt of it deep inside him.
“Hate you, I will,” Nisroc said.
Rephaim frowned. “You don’t have to.”
“I mussst.”
Slowly, Rephaim reached out, offering his forearm to Nisroc in the traditionally respectful greeting and parting gesture between Warriors. “You don’t have to. We can part as friends, as brothers.”
Nisroc paused, cocking his head side to side. His narrowed eyes relaxed. His aggressive stance shifted. He began to move, to speak, but Rephaim would never know his brother’s true intent because at that moment Dragon Lankford’s cry of “Sons of Erebus! To me!” shattered the night and the
Sword Master descended upon them.
Rephaim experienced an instant of body-numbing panic. He stood frozen in the middle of chaos as his brothers, hissing and snarling, met Dragon’s attack. He watched with the terrible, fatalistic knowledge that very soon Warriors would begin spilling from the field house, swords drawn and arrows notched. They would join Dragon and utterly overwhelm his three brothers.
“Dragon, no!” he cried. “They weren’t attacking!”
From the midst of battle, Dragon Lankford’s voice carried to him. “You are either for or against us! There is no middle ground.”
“There is middle ground!” Rephaim yelled back, holding his arms wide as if in surrender. “It is where I stand!” He took a step toward Dragon. “They weren’t attacking!” he repeated. “Nisroc, brothers, stop fighting!”
Rephaim believed Nisroc actually hesitated. He was quite certain his brother was listening to him, understanding, wanting to retreat. Then Neferet’s voice sliced through the night.
“Aurox! Protect! Destroy!”
Neferet’s creature exploded into the scene.
He came from the wall side of the grounds, facing Rephaim. At first he appeared to be human. He had a human male’s form, youthful and unmarked as a fledgling or a vampyre. But his movements were too fast to be human. In a blur he struck. Attacking from behind he grasped the closest Raven Mocker by his upraised wings and in a single, horrible motion ripped them from his body.
Over his centuries of existence Rephaim had seen terrible things—he’d committed vile, dark deeds. But somehow seeing from his new, human point of view made the violence he was witnessing more awful. His scream echoed his brother’s as the Raven Mocker’s body fell to the ground, writhing in agony and spurting blood.