Neferet felt a sick jolt of shock. “Our father raped and beat you? Not our betrothed, Arthur Simpton?”
Mirrored shock flashed across the creature’s cadaverous face. “Arthur? That coward! No, he only abandoned us, as did our mother—leaving us to our father’s vile lust.”
Neferet took a step closer to her twisted, broken mirror image. She felt lightheaded with shock. “Did your mother not die along with your brother at his birth?”
“Yes, of course. That is what we said.”
“No. You said she abandoned you like Arthur did.” She took another step closer to her counterpart.
“It is the same thing!” The Monstress’s elegant brows lifted and her emerald eyes glinted with spiteful humor. “Do you think you can destroy us? You, a weak mortal and unfinished version of us?”
“No, I do not,” said Neferet. “You destroyed yourself long ago. I am only here to witness the end of it. You see, I know you, Emily. I know your pain and your sorrow—your loneliness and your disappointment. How you seek happiness or even mere contentment—but how both always evade you. And now I know why.”
The creature’s laughter was poisonous. “Oh? Then why, foolish, unfinished one?”
“Because you lost your capacity for love, and without love and family and friends, life is only one day leading into another in an interminable repetition of nothingness that no amount of money or power can alleviate.” Neferet took the last step to her and stared into eyes that were mirror images of her own. With so much compassion that her voice broke, she said, “I know how tired you are. I’m the only person who knows that. Do you not long for it all to simply end?”
The Monstress’s two-pointed spear wavered and then lowered slightly. She stared at Neferet for a long moment before finally dropping the hand holding the spear so that it hung loosely at her side. So quietly that only Neferet could hear her she said, “Yes.”
“Then now it ends.” Neferet closed the remainder of the space between them and grasped the center of the spear—her hands on either side of the creature’s—and she struck, plunging one ivory horn tip into the her other self’s chest so that it went all the way through her emaciated body with such force that it was driven into the wall behind her.
“Oh!” The Monstress’s eyes went huge and round. Blood sprayed from her lips as her chest heaved. “You cannot kill us,” she gasped. “We are immortal.”
“I didn’t. You murdered yourself more than a century ago. I only helped you complete the job today. Remember, you admitted you long for an end.” Neferet felt only sadness as she watched the creature struggle for her last breaths. “I do not know what happens to you next, but I want you to know that I feel only sadness and pity for you. I’ll pray to Nyx to have mercy on your soul.”
The Monstress looked at Neferet, and her scarlet lips lifted in a final, vicious smile. “And I have only hatred for you!” With the last of her strength, her insectile arms reached out and seized Neferet by the shoulders and pulled her into a deadly embrace, impaling her on the other end of the spear.
Neferet felt only a tug and the warmth of her life’s blood leaving her as she stared into the eyes that were so like hers until the light went out of them. She heard Lynette’s scream of anguish, and felt her friend’s heart break along with hers.
“No!” Kalona swooped down to gently pull Neferet from the spear and lay her on the bloody ground.
She looked up at him with his white wings gleaming and his handsome face crumbled in sadness and thought, This is where angels came from.
Neferet closed her eyes. Forgive me, Nyx. I have been a very great fool.
Zoey
“This is not going to end well for Neferet,” Aphrodite whispered to me as we watched her approach Batshit.
“Yeah,” I whispered back so that Lynette, who was crying softly as she stared across the grounds at the scene unfolding by the wall, didn’t hear us. “But she knew that.”
“She’s sacrificing herself,” Stark said.
James nodded in agreement. “It’s hard to believe, but I agree with you.”
I glanced at the two Starks. They were out of arrows. Everyone, even the traitorous soldiers and the tendrils from both Neferets had stopped fighting and were watching the two powerful women—one a vampyre, one a Tsi Sgili demon—meet.
While everyone’s attention was focused elsewhere, I spoke urgently to my Warriors, “Stark, James, Rephaim—get to the temple. Go to the basement and grab as many weapons as you can, then get them to Dragon and his men. Now!”
Rephaim carefully put Anastasia on the grass, then the three young Warriors sprinted through the bubble of protection and raced to Nyx’s Temple, disappearing inside—and I turned my attention back to the Neferets.
“I wish I knew what they were saying,” said Aphrodite.
“My lady is confronting the Darkness within herself,” said Lynette, wiping her eyes. “Her whole life has led to this moment. She is calm—serene even. And she is sure the Monstress will defeat herself.”
“Like Stark did!” I blurted.
My circle had come in close so that we were just a few feet from each other. Still in the northerly position, Stevie Rae was standing in front of me. “What do you mean, Z?”
“To get into Nyx’s Realm to save me, Stark had to face and defeat himself. Only he didn’t, really. He realized he had to love himself—even the bad parts—and accept who he really was. When he did that, the good in him defeated the bad.”
“He killed himself. Sorta,” said Stevie Rae.
“And that’s what Neferet is doing,” said Damien.
“Well, what she’s trying to do,” said Aphrodite.
“She will do it. She’s stronger and better than you know,” said Lynette firmly.
I looked at her. “I believe you.”
Lynette smiled. “Thank you.”
From the
