“Ah, good. Please join us, Sylvia.”
“Why is a human here?” Neferet asked.
“Why is that human here?” James countered with, pointing at Lynette.
Neferet waved James away dismissively with a flick of her well-
manicured nails and said, “Because she is my human. Who is she?”
Stevie Rae went to Grandma’s defense before I could. “She’s our human, so back off, or we’ll be on you faster than a dog on a bone.”
“And she knows more about the prophecy than any vampyre,” I said. “She and her people have kept record of it for all these years. Her name is Redbird. You can call her that.”
“Redbird …” Neferet turned to Lynette. “Dearest, why is that familiar?”
“It’s Zoey’s last name.”
“Oh, I see.” She looked at Grandma, who sat across the circle from her, beside me. “Which world are you from?”
“This one.”
“And this prophecy, it is Native American?”
“It is,” said G-ma.
“Well, then, what other pieces of the puzzle do you have? I fulfill the line about neither friend nor foe. My guess is Zoey and her little band of morons—”
Lynette touched her arm gently. “My lady, we talked about this before we arrived, remember?”
Neferet sighed and patted Lynette’s hand. “Thank you, dearest. You are correct as usual. There is no need for rudeness.” She turned back to Grandma. “As I was saying, Zoey and her little band of travelers must have some idea to whom the rest of the poem refers.”
The wine and blood came then, and Lynette poured Neferet equal parts wine and blood before filling her own goblet with wine. I watched them touch their glasses together and continued to be amazed at the ease and intimacy with which Lynette handled her. I think they’re actually friends!
“High Priestess, do I have your permission to proceed?” Grandma asked.
“You do,” Anastasia said.
Grandma stood. “We believe this prophecy refers to an immortal my people called Kalona of the Silver Wings—or just Silver Wings. It seems, from this poem and from other sources,” she glanced at Rephaim, who nodded, “that he was Nyx’s Warrior, perhaps even brother to Erebus, and he retreated from the world for a noble reason. In Zoey’s world—”
“Yes, yes, yes,” Neferet interrupted. “I read the articles. In Zoey’s world Kalona was killed by that Neferet because he’d given a portion of his immortality to Stark.” She looked from my Stark to James and her lips twitched up. “Which means Stark got the better deal. Our supposition is that if we call our Kalona forth and raise him from whatever is imprisoning him, that he will be grateful and help us destroy your world’s Neferet.”
“We call her Batshit. It saves confusion,” said Stevie Rae.
“Batshit—accurate, but too vulgar. I call her the Monstress, as she is truly twisted and unimaginably monstrous,” said Neferet. “And I know all of this. What I do not know is who fulfills the rest of the prophecy.”
Kacie lifted her hand. “I fulfill the fire and water red part.”
“Interesting,” Neferet said. “Not one, but two female red vampyres. And why do you fulfill that line?”
“I was dead—pretty recently, actually. And when I resurrected I was fully Changed and gifted with affinities for fire and water.”
“That is fascinating,” said Lynette.
Rephaim spoke up. “I fulfill the other part. In our world, I am Kalona’s son.”
“Does he have no son in this world?” Neferet asked.
“No,” said Rephaim.
“So, with me you now have all the requirements you need to call forth the winged immortal and secure his aid in defeating the Monstress.” She sipped her wine before continuing. “Though I think we should all be prepared if he refuses. I have some experience in freeing immortals. They tend to show their gratitude in odd ways—like trying to kill you and your friends.”
Grandma Redbird lifted her hand. “I can address that. Kalona of the Silver Wings was a Warrior of Nyx. He battled Darkness. This Other Neferet, the Monstress, is definitely in league with Darkness. So, it is his duty to battle her.”
I couldn’t help but add, “And those of us who follow Nyx and are on the side of Light believe in doing our duty.”
“Yes, we’ve already established what tedious little rule followers you are,” said Neferet. “Do any of you know where we must be to call forth Kalona?”
“We all know,” I said. “It’s the same place he came from in my world. Out there in the rear grounds at that big oak by the east wall. You know—right by where you killed this world’s version of me.”
“You carry a grudge. I can appreciate that, but perhaps you should set aside your personal grievances until after we’ve saved both of our worlds,” said Neferet.
Dragon was standing behind Anastasia’s chair and he stepped up. “Which brings up another point. If you believe a temporary alliance with you exonerates you from your many crimes, you are mistaken.”
Neferet let out a long-suffering sigh. “Of course, you would feel the need to threaten me, even when the danger we face is so much worse. Let me remind you, Swordmaster, until modern times vampyres had always been allowed to kill humans who threaten them. That is what I did. Loren Blake was a traitor who conspired against this House of Night—consider it an execution that I carried out before you could.”
James shook his head, and I thought he looked like he was going to be sick. “You’re responsible for the deaths of other vampyres—noble, blame-free vampyres.”
“Like my sister,” said Kevin.
“And our wonderful Lenobia,” added Anastasia.
Neferet ignored everyone except Anastasia. “That was war. I was on one side—a side, you should note, that General Stark was on as well—and those vampyres, or fledglings, were our enemies. It was that simple. But I care little for your uninspired exoneration or your pedantic laws. Do you really think I came here without being completely sure that my children, my handmaid, and I could leave when we wished to? If you do not accept my aid, that is exactly what I shall do—leave. I will disappear, and you will
