Erin lifted the candle to meet my match as I said, “Water, please join our circle.”
There was a roar as if we’d suddenly been transported into the middle of a waterfall. The night turned brilliant shades of blue and turquoise and sapphire—all the colors of water. The element gushed into the blackened circle. Water swirled around like an angry whirlpool and then, just like air and fire, it gushed straight up into the lightning-streaked sky. Clouds billowed and roiled—thunder clapped, growling with such fierceness that I cringed.
“No,” Erin said quickly. “Water’s not mad at us.”
“Neither is fire,” Shaunee said.
“Nor wind,” Damien added.
“The elements are outraged at the act that was committed here,” Thanatos said. “Prepare yourself, circle. We move to earth.”
With thunderclouds multiplying above us and lightning illuminating the gathering storm, I moved to stand in front of Stevie Rae.
“Time to cowboy up,” she said.
Thanatos nodded and spoke the earth invocation:
Stevie Rae lifted the green candle to my flame. “Earth, please join our circle.”
The ground beneath our feet began shaking as if we were standing in the middle of an earthquake. I couldn’t help the little shriek that slipped from my mouth.
“Zoey!” Stark yelled. I could see him staggering, trying to reach the circle, which was now completely ringed with a thick rope of red.
“Wait, it’s okay!” Stevie Rae shouted above the cacophony of angry elements. “Like the other element, earth isn’t mad at us. It’s not gonna hurt us. Look, it’s making the ground new.”
I looked down and saw that she was right. The ground that had been washed clean by water had shifted, rolled, until instead of ashes and the remnants of blighted plants, the rich red Oklahoma earth lay newly exposed.
“See, it’s being made right,” Stevie Rae said. As she spoke, the tremors gentled and then stopped completely.
“We must finish the circle and the spell,” Thanatos said. “Call spirit, Zoey. Now.”
From his hidden place within the orchard Aurox watched the glowing scarlet circle form. Its power was awe- inspiring; the might of the elements was incredible to behold. He could feel the emotions air, fire, water, and earth evoked in the fledglings and vampyre who embodied them. Joy and courage and righteous indignation filled the circle and boiled over to wash through him.
Aurox could use the energy to change—to morph into the creature that would emerge from him, attack Rephaim as had been his command from Neferet, and most certainly disrupt the spell the High Priestess had almost fully cast.
He stared at Zoey. Radiant, she turned to the old woman who sat in the middle of the circle. Aurox knew once Thanatos evoked the final element, spirit, and Zoey lit the purple candle, the circle would be complete and the reveal spell would be set fully into motion.
If it was going to be stopped he had to act now.
He stood, warring with himself.
Before him the elemental Light of the Goddess glistened and expanded, so clean and bright, especially compared to what had been soiled by Darkness and destruction.
Pain exploded through Aurox as tendrils of Darkness whipped around him. Thick and sticky they spread, web- like, across his body. Aurox gasped as his skin began absorbing things, melting into the creature that rested within him, and awakening it. Helpless to stop himself, Aurox felt the bull emerge. The creature took control of his body.
Thanatos and I moved slowly and carefully to stand before Grandma, who was sitting, unharmed, in the center of the elemental tumult. Her face was pale, but her hands were completely steady as she lifted the purple candle.
Thanatos began the spirit invocation:
I was striking the match to light the purple candle when Stevie Rae’s shout disrupted everything.
“Rephaim! Look out!”
I glanced up in time to see Dragon Lankford burst out of the shadows. Sword upraised, he was sprinting toward Rephaim.
“Trust me!” Dragon yelled. “Get down!”
“No!” Stevie Rae screamed.
Rephaim didn’t hesitate. Not even for an instant. He dropped to his knees as if he was sacrificing himself to Dragon’s sword. I wanted to puke. I heard Aphrodite shriek something about
Dragon leaped over Rephaim’s kneeling body and with a terrible screeching sound his sword collided with the razor edge of the bull-like creature’s horns. At the last moment he managed to deflect the deathblow from Rephaim, but the creature’s momentum was too much—his body was too powerful. Not even Dragon could stop the impact. Rephaim disappeared, not gored but knocked aside with such force that he was airborne for what seemed like ages, and when he finally landed it was far from our circle and he did not move.
“Oh, Goddess, no!” Stevie Rae sobbed. “Rephaim!”
I saw that she was turning, moving to step out of the circle and go to Rephaim.
“
The bull-thing turned and, tearing the earth with his hooves, he charged Rephaim again.
Dragon Lankford moved almost as preternaturally fast as the creature. He was there in time, standing between death and Rephaim. Lifting his sword he said, “A Sword Master of Nyx is here. I will protect Rephaim.”
Dragon clashed with the beast again. It battered him back, but in doing so Dragon was moving him away from Rephaim’s unconscious body. Then, snarling a frightening sound, the creature turned its head so that I could see its bestial face—and I felt like I’d been kicked in the gut. The creature’s eyes glowed with moonstones. I knew the thing was Aurox—fully changed and absolutely, totally, no longer human.
“Warriors, rally to me!” Dragon shouted as he faced Aurox’s next attack.
“Zoey, you must summon spirit and light the candle!” Thanatos grabbed my shoulders, turned me to face her and shook me. Hard. “Dragon will battle the beast. We must hold true to the circle and complete the spell or there is no hope for any of them.”
