Kevin was trying to think of something else he could say—something, anything, that might get Aphrodite to talk to him without making it obvious that he really, really wanted her to talk to him, when Zoey broke into his thoughts.
“So, how’s the truce going over there in your world?”
“It’s going, but it’s crappy.”
Behind them James snorted again. “Heavy on the crappy. There’s a whole group of vampyres who still support Neferet and her war.”
It was Z’s turn to look behind in shock. “Seriously? Like they didn’t learn how awful war was and how twisted Neferet is?”
“Seriously,” James said. “We have a lot to deal with when we get back. Makes me wonder why the hell Neferet came over here. She talked to Loren Blake. He musta told her she still has a bunch of followers.”
Kevin snorted in disgust. “Not to mention they’re pretty easy to find on the internet.”
Kacie spoke up, and her voice sounded utterly certain—like she’d just had a discussion with Neferet. “She came over here to learn how to become immortal.”
“Exactly what I was thinking, Ice Cream Shoes,” said Aphrodite.
Kevin craned his neck around to look at Kacie while Damien said, “Oh, something else about Kacie. She knows stuff. And it’s stuff Aphrodite usually knows too.”
Stevie Rae grinned proudly at Kacie. “Yup. We have another prophetess in the makin’.”
“That could be helpful,” said James. “Especially since we’re short a prophetess in our world.”
“No Ice Cream Shoes over there?” Aphrodite asked.
“Not that I know of,” said James.
“Well, if Kacie and Aphrodite are right—and Aphrodite usually is,” said Kevin as he brushed rain from his face, “it means we have to find our Neferet ASAP, before she gets any more powerful.”
Zoey adjusted the hood of her slicker. “Well, here’s one bright spot. I don’t for one instant think our Neferet would help anyone become immortal—and especially not anyone who would then be her equal in power.”
“I hope you’re right about that, Z,” said Stevie Rae.
Silently, Kevin seconded that thought.
“Look sharp. We’re coming up on the park,” Darius said.
Everyone stopped talking as they crossed Rockford Street at the east edge of the park, walked past the beginning of the greenery and the arched wooden bridge that covered a small, frozen stream, and then moved quickly across Woodward Park Drive, the road that led up to the top section of the park, and the parking lot there.
Then the rock wall began.
“I wish those damn lights were on,” muttered Zoey.
And like she had conjured electricity, the streetlights flickered and came on to illuminate a terrible scene.
It was like someone had set off a bomb in the middle of the grotto. Boulders littered the expansive lawn that stretched between the man-made ridge and the sidewalk. There was no wall left, and only a remnant of the rock ceiling that used to enclose the grotto tomb.
There was nothing left of the grotto except for a hole in the ridge and a pool of water so dark it looked like frozen ink.
“Is that velvet?” Aphrodite asked.
Carefully, the Warriors moved their group closer and Kevin saw what Aphrodite’s sharp, fashion-attuned eyes had already caught. There were five piles of clothing scattered around the broken tomb.
“I think they’re capes,” said Zoey.
“What are those white things with them?” Stevie Rae asked.
Damien went to one of the piles and squatted down before it. He stood and looked at the rest of them, and his face was colorless except for his bold sapphire tattoo. “Bones,” he said. “They’re human bones.
A chill crawled up Kevin’s spine as he peered over Damien’s shoulder.
Kacie stumbled to a halt beside one of the discarded cloaks and a scattered pile of bones. “Oh, shit! I think I’m gonna be sick.”
Stevie Rae grabbed her arm and guided her away. “Come over here. I’ll hold your hair for ya, but don’t puke on the evidence.”
As Kacie retched into the bushes, the Warriors spread out and looked for signs of anyone left alive.
“Hang on. I need to call Detective Marx,” said Zoey. She stepped away and began to speak earnestly into her phone.
Kevin followed the debris trail around until he saw a puddle of something darker than water beside a cluster of fist-sized rocks. He knelt and touched it gently with his finger. “Z, I have blood over here. And it’s not human. Sta—I mean James, can you come over here?”
James hurried to him, with Zoey, Stark, Aphrodite, and Darius close behind.
Kevin stared at his blood-tipped finger. “Can you tell if this is our Neferet’s?”
“Why would he be able to—” Zoey began and then Kevin saw understanding in her expressive eyes. “Oh. You’ve, uh, tasted her blood.”
James grunted, but didn’t say anything as he crouched beside Kevin, dipped his finger into the slickness of congealing blood, and then licked it. He grimaced and wiped his finger on his jeans.
“Yeah, that’s definitely Neferet’s.”
Kevin stared down at the blood. “Is there a trail of this? She’s hurt, but unless there’s a lot more blood, she’s not hurt badly.”
They spread out, searching the dark, wet ground as rain continued to spit at them. Suddenly, Aphrodite shouted.
“Hey, over here!”
Kevin, Zoey, and James were closest, so they reached her first. Aphrodite was standing inside a clump of azalea bushes that hugged the ridge. It was shadowy within the bushes and they provided cover, but Kevin could see that if he parted one of them it was easy to peek through and have a good view of the grotto.
“Something feels weird over here. Get Ice Cream Shoes. I need a second opinion,” said Aphrodite. She had her hands out, palms down, like she was trying to feel heat rising from
