Lynette would not leave the travel bag they’d arrived with in the villa for Vanessa and her minions to paw through, so she carried it with them, adding to it a couple tea lights and a pretty, thimble-sized quartz crystal they would leave as “offerings” at the wall of the tomb.
“But we really, really want to come with you!” Vanessa whined as Lynette and Neferet headed out the door to walk to Woodward Park.
“And you shall, but not this night. You, my little angels, would draw far too much attention,” Neferet told Vanessa and the others for the third time. “Lynette and I will reconnoiter and if all goes well, tomorrow, using the dark power of the new moon, your Neferet will emerge from her tomb to embrace you.”
Vanessa frowned and played with the sheer chiffon cape attached to the absurd gown she had changed into when they’d finished their classes that day. Her dress was purple because, as she explained to Neferet, she liked to be clothed in her element. The other girls had similarly ridiculous outfits, each in the color of the element they pretended to be attuned to. Lynette and Neferet had watched them literally flit about the villa, catching the wind of several fans they’d set up in each of the main rooms so that the diaphanous dresses billowed after them.
“Oh, Vanessa. Do not frown so,” said Neferet. “It will cause you to wrinkle. You will already age far too fast.”
Vanessa startled as if Neferet had just described a tragedy of horrid proportions. She fixed her face into a more neutral expression and acquiesced. “Well, okay. I suppose we do understand. And, of course, Lynette will go with you. She’s old and plain. No one will pay any attention to her.”
“See, you can understand if you try,” said Neferet as Vanessa looked vaguely confused. “We shall return. Please clean my room and make my bed before we do.” Then she breezed out the door into the cold winter night.
Lynette hesitated only long enough to say, “Honey, you know what else causes premature aging? Too much of that.” She pointed to the glass of rosé Vanessa constantly carried around with her. Then she followed Neferet into the night.
“Did you say something terribly mean to her?” Neferet asked.
“No. Something true that will give her nightmares. I basically told her wine causes wrinkles.”
“And does it?”
“Yes, if you drink lots and lots of it—and she does. Of course, it won’t happen for another decade, but still.”
“I do not like that they disrespect you. I’ll have you know that I only tolerate it because keeping them alive and doing my bidding makes things easier for us.”
“I understand that, my lady.”
“Good, because my children have been whispering that they would like to rip their throats out—most especially Vanessa’s. They have become very fond of you, dearest Lynette.”
“That’s sweet of them.”
They walked on in silence. Lynette thought it best to approach the park from the west, walking along Peoria Street. Neferet had agreed, and also decided that they should circle around so that they would not be seen coming from the direction of the villa.
The night was dark and cold, and it was late enough that there were almost no cars traveling the midtown streets. As they crossed Peoria near the entrance to the Rose Gardens, Neferet spoke, though to Lynette it seemed more like she was reasoning aloud than actually conversing.
“They are decidedly irritating, but those frivolous children have taught me something.”
When she said nothing more, Lynette prompted, “I do not understand how those entitled, vapid girls could teach you anything.”
Neferet’s full lips quirked up. “It was those horrid photos of theirs.”
Lynette rolled her eyes. “Which ones? The ones on the first floor of the villa—the naked ones on the horses lining the stairway—or the naked pretending-to-be-goddesses ones in their rooms?”
“Well, all of them, but in particular the ones in their rooms. You never visited my office at the House of Night, did you?”
“No, my lady.”
“I decorated the walls there much as those children decorated their bedrooms.”
Lynette startled. “But, my lady, you cannot compare your beauty—your power—to those girls and their silliness.”
“I can, because the photos of me were also an egotistical pretense. I was not a goddess. I was only a High Priestess looking for another path because I cannot bear to subjugate myself—not even to a goddess. In a way, I looked as foolish as those children—though more attractive.”
“Much more,” Lynette agreed.
Neferet laughed softly. “Those gowns they were fluttering about in—I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“That’s what happens when young women have too much money and too little concern for anyone except themselves. I could go into a whole diatribe on entitlement and such, but it wouldn’t change things.”
Neferet was silent for several minutes, and then she said, “I will change things when I return to our world.”
Lynette flushed with pleasure. “You really could make such a difference, my lady.”
Softly, in a voice that sounded nothing like the broken but arrogant and heartless vampyre who strode into the private airport in Tulsa, Neferet said, “I will be a goddess worthy of worship.”
Lynette stopped and turned to face Neferet. “I believe you already are.”
Neferet’s lips turned up. “Thank you, my de—” Suddenly her words broke off. They’d passed the Tulsa Rose Gardens and the west entrance to Woodward Park that climbed up to the wooded area above Neferet’s grotto.
Lynette started to speak, but Neferet pressed her finger to her lips and whispered. “A circle has been cast within the park. I can feel its power. Come, quietly. Follow me.”
Neferet led Lynette off the sidewalk and through
