“Rephaim, I’m going to cut Neferet’s hand and after it’s bled onto the ground, that’s when you call Kalona.”
“I understand,” he said.
“You can do it, Rephaim!” said Stevie Rae.
I faced Neferet. I didn’t have to say anything. She had been a High Priestess for considerably longer than I’d been alive. This definitely wasn’t her first ritual, though I did wonder briefly how it felt for her to be in the center of what was obviously a circle infused with power granted by a goddess she’d forsaken.
Mentally, I shook myself. Focus—this is far from over.
Aphrodite handed me a ceremonial dagger that was razor sharp. I pressed it against the meaty part of Neferet’s hand, just below her thumb as I had to Erik’s hand that night so long ago. The blade sliced her skin easily, welling with scarlet. Neferet didn’t flinch or grimace, she only held her arm out and turned her hand over, palm down, so that blood began to drip on the thick roots of the tree that were exposed through the sparse winter grass.
After it had dripped for several minutes so that there were dark stains spattering the roots, I nodded to Rephaim. He, too, faced the tree and spoke in a deep, strong voice that filled our circle.
“Kalona of the Silver Wings, I call to you! I am Rephaim—son from another world—though my love for you is strong in any world. We have need of you, Warrior of Light! Come forth!”
We waited. And waited. And waited.
Surreptitiously, I moved to the side as Neferet’s blood continued to drip onto the oak’s roots.
“Try again,” I told Rephaim.
He nodded, cleared his throat, and repeated, “Kalona of the Silver Wings, I call to you! I am Rephaim—son from another world—though my love for you is strong in any world. We have need of you, Warrior of Light! Come forth!”
Still we waited. Still there was no answer.
I moved another step farther away from Neferet and told Rephaim. “Something is going to happen in just a second. When it does I want you to call him again, only this time use words from the prophecy. Do you remember them?”
“I do.”
“Well enough to change some of them to reflect the fact that you’re calling him now, and it’s not just an old, stale poem?”
His face brightened. “I do, Z. I memorized it well.”
“Good. Get ready.”
“What’s going—” Neferet began, but I turned and met Stark’s gaze outside the glowing circle and nodded.
Quick as a striking viper, Stark lifted an arrow, drew, and as he fired he said, “I aim for the true mark, the one who is neither foe nor friend, and by her blood he shall be free!”
Stark’s arrow caught Neferet in the chest, exactly where his arrow—in another world and another time—had caught Stevie Rae. Neferet dropped to the ground, clutching the quill that decorated her chest as blood gushed from her body and covered the ground. I knew it wasn’t fatal—just as Stevie Rae’s injury hadn’t been—but Neferet had no way of knowing that. Neither did Lynette. Her scream was heartbreaking. I glanced outside the circle to see that Anastasia had her arms around the woman who clutched her own chest as she shrieked in agony.
Goddess! They’re Imprinted!
Then my attention had to snap back to Neferet. I went to my knees beside her and shifted her body so that she was laying on her side, bleeding heavily into the ground.
Her emerald eyes were glassy with shock. “What have you done?”
“Exactly what was done before,” I said. “It’s not fatal. He’s taken your blood, not your life. I give you my word.” Then I looked up at Rephaim who was staring at me in shock. “Do it! Call Kalona now!”
His face was pale, but when he spoke his voice blasted around us.
“Ancient one sleeping, it is time to arise,
The dead have joined with fire and water red
I am son who is not—my raven call I did devise
Hear me—hear my call—rise from your sacrificial bed!
By this blood of she—neither friend nor foe—you are free
Behold her terrible sacrifice—it is a bittersweet sight,
Ruled by Light we do wish to be
No one will kneel to Darkness tonight!
Kalona, your return shall be sweet
We welcome you with love and heat!”
The massive oak’s branches began to sway in its own wind. I grabbed Neferet’s shoulders and was ready to drag her out of the way should Kalona explode out of it like he had in our world.
But everything was different that night.
Instead of the tree bursting apart, it bloomed. At the first massive fork it began opening—gently, with no violence or horrors. And from that opening wings appeared—so silver-white that they matched the glowing thread that bound our circle. They spread and beat against the wind, and Kalona lifted from within the heart of the tree.
34
Other Neferet
Neferet could not believe that annoying child had conspired with Other World Stark to shoot her! She could tell that the little bitch had spoken the truth about the injury though. The wound was deep and painful, but it had missed anything vital and it would heal. She was trying to send Lynette comfort. Her screams were heartbreaking because her dearest had no way of knowing she wasn’t mortally wounded, but then Rephaim used the prophecy to call to Kalona—and the tree opened to allow the immortal to fly free.
For a moment Neferet forgot the pain of her wound and the anguish of Lynette, and all that filled her senses was Kalona.
He was truly magnificent. His smooth skin was gilded with statuesque perfection. His hair was long and black and loose around his shoulders like ancient Warriors used to wear theirs. Neferet wasn’t fond of men. The truth was she had little use for them outside of sex, feeding, or protection, but
