“Neferet—Neferet—Neferet—Neferet …”
Neferet raised her arms, palms up, hands cupped to accept the power of the dark moon.
“Come to me, power of blackened moon.
My vampyre blood to you attuned.
Add strength to my spell this icy night,
As a wrong I do mean to set aright.
Willing sacrifice feeds the bound goddess within,
Now in this world a new dark reign shall begin!”
Centuries before, the Goddess of Night, Nyx, irrevocably linked the power of the moon to vampyres and that night it readily answered Neferet’s call. Energy flowed into her cupped palms. She trembled at its touch and had to concentrate to fight the desire to absorb the delicious strength and keep it for herself.
“Now, my children, it is your turn. Kill each of them. Drain them of blood and muscle. Shatter their teeth. Eat everything—suck dry their marrow. Strip them to their empty bones. And then take the feast you hold within you and the power I give to you from the moon, and penetrate that puny, mundane wall to gift the feast of blood and bone and power to the goddess trapped within. Go now!”
The tendrils unwound from around her and glided swiftly across the diamond grass as Neferet threw the power of the dark moon at them. They absorbed it instantly, and she smiled while they swelled in size, radiating the often-overlooked energy of a new moon. Together they descended upon the five Dark Sisters.
Neferet was surprised at how quickly it was over, and how silently her children worked. Filled with energy gifted to them from the moon they entered each woman’s body through their mouths with such force that their jaws were broken and their teeth flew in bloody arcs around them before the tendrils dived down their throats, slicing and tearing from within.
Neferet watched, glad their deaths were quick. Yes, the five had been spoiled, entitled, obnoxious children, but she took no pleasure in their deaths, and certainly felt no need for them to suffer. They were simply performing a service for her and, ultimately, the immortal they considered their goddess.
“Is it done?” Lynette whispered from the concealing shadows.
“The Dark Sisters are no more,” said Neferet. “The children are still feeding.”
Neferet couldn’t see Lynette but she felt her relief. “It was quick?”
“Yes, dearest. The foolish girls did not suffer.”
“I’m glad. I’m really, really glad.”
“As am I.”
Neferet watched her children rip and tear until there was nothing left but bones, dry as chalk. Then she raised her arms again and her children, thick and glowing with power, turned their heads toward her.
“Into the tomb! ” she commanded.
The tendrils of darkness lifted, hovering off the gore-splattered rocks and then they hurled themselves down. They struck the roof of the tomb and appeared to liquefy, dissolving between the tiny cracks of the rock until the wall began to glow with the same inky power that had pooled in Neferet’s palms.
Neferet steadied herself to wait. She had no idea how long it would take for the immortal within to absorb enough power to break the seal that entombed her, but she did not have to wait long. The rocks stopped glowing. At the same moment, the earth beneath her feet began to tremble and then the tomb exploded in a flash of ebony.
15
Other Neferet
Neferet only had an instant. “Duck! Quickly!” she shouted to Lynette as she slid across the icy grass to huddle under a stone bench not far away while broken bits of dolomite rained around her like shrapnel.
When the battery of stone stopped, Neferet stood. With the sleeve of her sweater, she wiped blood from a deep cut on her forehead and called to Lynette. “Dearest, are you well?”
“Y-yes. I twisted my ankle and I can’t walk very well, but I think I’m okay.”
“Remain in the shadows. Do not speak or move. I will protect you.” Fearlessly, Neferet strode through what looked like thick, black smoke but smelled of decay, to the mouth of the opened tomb.
The smoke dissipated, and the first thing Neferet noticed was the spectral bison. They’d been awakened. The beasts pawed around the tomb, blowing through their noses, shaking their massive heads and looking for something to gore. Neferet staggered back as their repelling power pushed against her.
A voice boomed from the tomb. “Begone! ”
Instantly, the protective spirits began to dissolve, though they were still roaring and snorting, until they were absorbed into the earth from which they’d been conjured. Free from the power of their repel spell, Neferet was able to hurry forward to the tomb.
As she approached, her children rushed to her. They were emaciated and terribly weakened. They wound around her, and Neferet could feel the cold and fear within them as they clung to her.
She would never forget her first glimpse of the thing that had been her mirror version in this world. Other Neferet did not frighten easily—if at all—but the creature before her filled her with terror.
It—she—was perched atop the remnant of the broken ceiling of the tomb. Upon first glance it seemed that she was clothed—then Neferet looked closer and realized that her body was actually covered by what must be her version of the tendrils. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of them. They writhed and pulsed over her elongated body, reminding Neferet of pictures she’d seen of beekeepers being covered with a swarm—only this swarm was serpentine and black as the moonless night.
The creature that had once been this world’s Neferet was tall—easily over six feet—and skeletally thin. Her limbs seemed stretched to twice their normal length. Her dirt-smeared face was carved from bone, and her cheekbones protruded like an insect’s mandible. Her eyes were enormous and disarmingly beautiful. They were emerald jewels in the bleak, horrible canvas of her face. Her hair was long and matted and the same auburn as Neferet’s, but it was streaked with white.
Neferet could not even think of her as familiar. This creature was a bizarre monster—not vampyre. Not High Priestess. She was a dark goddess, terrible to behold, and Neferet
