Then Lynette screamed, and my gaze whipped back to the Neferets in time to see the good one be embraced by the monster—and impaled on the two-pointed spear.
Then everything happened really fast.
Lynette took off. Hugging her broken shoulder with one hand, she ran through the green barrier.
“Shit! I gotta get there too!” said Aphrodite, sprinting after her.
“Go to her! Help them!” said Anastasia from the ground.
“Well, hell,” I said. “Guys, break the circle and come with me. We’re gonna have to trust that our Warriors will keep the soldiers off us.”
“Done, Z! Let’s go!” said Stevie Rae.
We ran across the grass, racing toward the Neferets. We got there just behind Aphrodite and Lynette. Our dark Neferet hung from the wall like a macabre scarecrow, lifeless and covered in blood. Kalona had pulled this world’s Neferet from the spear and placed her on the ground.
Lynette dropped to her knees beside Neferet as her beloved friend closed her eyes. She took Neferet’s hand and held it to her own breast as she cried.
“My lady! Open your eyes! Don’t leave me—please! You can’t leave me!”
I watched Neferet’s bloody chest rise one last time and then Aphrodite was there.
“Help her!” Lynette sobbed. “She’s not dead. Our Imprint has not broken!”
“Don’t worry. I’ll help her.” Aphrodite bent and rested her palm on Neferet’s forehead, saying, “I grant you a second chance.”
Instantly, Neferet’s body began to writhe uncontrollably. Lynette fell backward, sobbing hysterically. I had zero clue what the hell was going on, so I grabbed the woman under her arms and dragged her away from Neferet’s contorting body.
Neferet’s tendrils rushed to Lynette. I stepped back as they surrounded her and crawled onto her lap while they made terrible keening noises.
I tried to find Batshit’s tendrils of Darkness, but they had completely disappeared, leaving only ugly, dark stains on the brown grass.
I heard the pop of gunfire, and Kalona suddenly went airborne. He soared to the House of Night where soldiers and our Warriors had squared off against one another. Kalona landed between the two groups. Wings spread, he was as magnificent as he was terrifying. His deep voice boomed, “ENOUGH! Put down your foolish weapons and witness the honorable death of a High Priestess! ” He faced the traitorous soldiers and brought his hands together in a mighty clap that battered them, causing them to drop their weapons and clasp their ears.
Dragon and the surviving Warriors were on them in an instant, kicking their rifles out of the way and forcing them to the ground.
“Ohmygoodness, Z! Look at Lynette!” Stevie Rae said.
I turned to see that Lynette was still sitting on the ground, sobbing, but instead of a nest of Neferet’s children, on her lap was a large, long-haired orange-and-white cat. I gulped in shock. “Skylar?”
“Holy shit!”
Aphrodite’s shout had me changing my focus to Neferet’s body. In its place, a girl sat up and turned to blink at us in surprise.
She was young—probably barely sixteen—and she was wearing a simple white dress. Her green eyes were Neferet’s, as was her thick, wavy auburn hair. But little else about her looked like the world-weary High Priestess who had just sacrificed herself for love. Her face was beautifully cherubic—and her forehead was newly Marked with a crescent moon in scarlet.
“My lady!” Lynette staggered to her, still holding the big cat. When they reached Neferet, the cat—who I swear was the absolute twin of Skylar, who had been our Neferet’s familiar before she’d denounced Nyx—jumped out of Lynette’s arms and began purring magnificently and rubbing against Neferet.
The girl smiled and stroked the cat. “Oh, hello!” she said in a pleasant voice that sounded so much like Neferet that it was shocking. “I know you! Your name is Skylar—and aren’t you handsome!” She ran her hands through his fur as she looked up at Lynette. “I—I feel like I know you too, but I can’t seem to remember your name. I’m s-sorry.” Her full bottom lip quivered, and she looked like she was going to burst into tears.
Lynette fell to her knees and took the girl’s hands in hers. “Oh, dearest, that’s okay. My name is Lynette.” She smoothed back the girl’s hair and kissed her forehead softly. “I am your family.”
“Who am I?”
“Emily,” said Lynette. “But the truth is, you can be anyone you wish to be now.”
“I—I wish to go home, but I don’t know where that is,” said Emily.
I went to them and crouched down, smiling at Emily. “You are home, Emily. You’re at the House of Night.”
Emily gasped and a tentative smile lifted her lips as she gingerly touched the crescent on her forehead. “You mean, I’m a vampyre? Like you?”
I grinned. “Well, you’re a fledgling right now. But someday you’ll be a vampyre—and I’ll bet you’ll be a wonderful one.”
Above us, clouds began to form. They roiled and billowed and then parted to expose a full moon that I was sure hadn’t been there when the night had started. On a fat moonbeam, Nyx appeared in full regalia. Her hair was silk brushing against the generous curve of her waist. She wore a headdress of stars so brilliant that it was difficult to look directly at. She rode the moonbeam down to us and stepped lightly off of it.
“Merry meet, Nyx!” I said. I was already crouching, but I went to my knees. All around me everyone, including the defeated soldiers, took to their knees and shouted, “Merry meet, Goddess!”
Kalona strode to her, dropping to his knees in front of her and bowing his head. “My Goddess, my love! Forgive me for being absent so very long.”
Nyx bent and put one slender finger under his chin, lifting his face. It was hard to look at him too, as his love shined as brightly as Nyx’s headdress.
“There is nothing to forgive. What you did for your brother was worthy of my
