Burned

Neferet blinked. Her eyes cleared and were once again the color of expensive gemstones.

Aphrodite drew a shaky breath, and the small hairs on her arms lifted again, but her voice was flat and sarcastic when she said, “That’s okay. I’ll take my chances without your ‘help.’ ” She air quoted around the last word.

“Neferet, the Council recognizes you!”

Neferet turned to face the Council, but before she descended the stairs to them, she paused and made a graceful gesture, which included Aphrodite.

“I ask that the Council allow the presence of this human. She is Aphrodite, the child who makes claims of being Nyx’s Prophetess.”

Aphrodite stepped around Neferet and looked squarely from one Council member to another. “I don’t claim to be a prophetess. I am Nyx’s Prophetess because the Goddess wants me to be. The truth is, if I had a choice about it, I wouldn’t want the job.” She kept speaking even though several of the Council members had gasped in shock. “Oh, and just FYI: I’m not telling you anything Nyx doesn’t already know.”

“The Goddess believes in Aphrodite even though she is not quite as sure about herself,” Darius said.

Aphrodite smiled at him. He was more than her big, hot, mountainlike Warrior. She could count on Darius; he always saw the best in her.

“Darius, why do you speak for this human?” asked the brunette.

“Duantia, I speak for this Prophetess,” he enunciated her title carefully, “because I have pledged myself to her as her Warrior.”

“Her Warrior?” Neferet couldn’t keep the shock from her voice. “But that means . . .”

“That means that I can’t be completely human because it’s impossible for a vampyre Warrior to swear an Oath Bond with a human,” Aphrodite finished for her.

“You may enter the Chamber, Aphrodite, Prophetess of Nyx. The Council recognizes you,” proclaimed Duantia.

Aphrodite hurried down the stairway, leaving Neferet to follow behind her. She wanted to go straight to Zoey, but instinct made her stop in front of the brunette named Duantia first. She formally fisted her hand, pressed it over her heart, and bowed respectfully. “Thank you for letting me come in here.”

“These extraordinary times call for us to accept unusual practices.” This came from a tall, thin vampyre who had eyes the color of night.

Aphrodite wasn’t sure what to say to the vamp, so she just nodded and moved to Zoey. She slid her hand in Darius’s and squeezed hard, trying to borrow some of her Warrior’s amazing strength. Then she looked down at her friend.

She hadn’t imagined it. Zoey’s tattoos really were gone! The only Mark left on her was an ordinary-looking crescent-moon outline in sapphire in the middle of her forehead. And she was so damn pale! Zoey looks dead. Aphrodite stopped the thought immediately. Zoey wasn’t dead. She was still breathing. Her heart was still beating. Zoey. Was. Not. Dead.

“Does the Goddess reveal anything to you when you look at her, Prophetess?” asked the tall, thin woman who had spoken to her before.

Aphrodite dropped Darius’s hand and slowly knelt next to Zoey. She glanced at Stark then, as he was kneeling directly across Z from her, but he didn’t move. He hardly blinked. All he did was weep silently and stare at Zoey. Is this what Darius would be like if something happened to me? Aphrodite shook away the morbid thought and re-focused on Zoey. Slowly, she reached out and rested her hand on her friend’s shoulder.

Her skin was cool to the touch, as if she were already dead. Aphrodite waited for something to happen. But she got not even the slightest twinge of a vision or a feeling or anything.

With a sigh of frustration, Aphrodite shook her head. “No. I can’t tell anything. I can’t control my visions. They just hit me, whether I want them to or not, and the truth is, it’s usually a case of not.”

“You aren’t using all of the gifts Nyx has given you, Prophetess.”

Surprised, Aphrodite looked up from Zoey to see the dark-eyed vampyre had risen, and was gracefully approaching her.

“You are a true Prophetess of Nyx, are you not?” she asked.

“Yeah, I am,” Aphrodite said with no hesitation, but with equal parts confusion and conviction.

In a flutter of silk robes the color of the night sky, the woman knelt beside Aphrodite. “I am Thanatos. Do you know what my name means?”

Aphrodite shook her head, wishing Damien was sitting closer so she could peek at him for the answer.

“It means death. I am not Leader of the Council. Duantia has that honor, but I have the unique privilege of being unusually close to our Goddess, as the gift she gave me long ago was the ability to aid souls as they pass from this world to the next.”

“You can talk to ghosts?”

Thanatos’s smile transformed her stern face and made her almost pretty. “In a fashion, yes, I can. And because of that gift, I know something of visions.”

“Seriously? Visions aren’t anything like talking to ghosts.”

“Are they not? From what realm do your visions come? No, perhaps more accurately, in what realm do you exist when you receive your visions?”

Aphrodite thought about how she’d had too many damn death visions and how she’d started actually seeing the shit that was happening from the dead people’s points of view. She drew in a fast breath, and in a rush of understanding admitted, “I’m getting visions from the Otherworld!”

Thanatos nodded. “You traffic with the Otherworld and the realm of spirits much more than I, Prophetess. All I do is guide the dead as they transition, and through them I glimpse Beyond.”

Aphrodite looked hastily down at Zoey. “She is not dead.”

“Not yet, no. But her body will not last more than seven days in this soulless state, so she is close to death. Close enough that the Other-world has a strong hold on her, stronger even than it has on the newly dead. Touch her again, Prophetess. This time focus and use more of the gifts you’ve been given.”

“But I—”

Annoyingly enough, Thanatos cut her off. “Prophetess, do what Nyx would want you to do.”

“I don’t know what that is!”

Thanatos’s stern expression relaxed, and she smiled again. “Oh, child, simply ask for her help.”

Aphrodite blinked. “Just like that?”

“Yes, Prophetess, exactly like that.”

Slowly, Aphrodite placed her hand back on Zoey’s cold shoulder. This time she closed her eyes and drew three long, deep breaths, just like she’d watched Zoey do before casting a circle. Then she sent a silent but fervent prayer up to Nyx: I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important, but you know that already because you know I don’t like to ask for favors. Not from anyone. Plus, I’m not really good at this supplication bullshit, but you already know that also. Aphrodite sighed internally. Nyx, I need your help. Thanatos seems to think I have some kind of link to the Otherworld. If that’s true, could you please let me know what’s happening to Zoey? She paused in her silent prayer, sighed, and bared herself to Nyx. Goddess, please. And not just because Zoey’s like the sister my mom was too selfish to have. I need your help with this because so many people depend on Zoey, and, sadly, that is more important than