Hidden

“Lying to me is not wise, my heartless one.”

“I need more power,” Neferet admitted. “I want to kill Zoey Redbird, and she is well protected.”

“Well protected and the beloved of a goddess. Even you are not ready to openly destroy one such as her.”

“Then help me. I beg it of you, my lord.” Neferet cajoled, ignoring the razor-like thread that continued to cut into her skin and the other tendrils that were feeding from her.

“You disappoint me. I expected you to call me and beg for aid. You see, my heartless one, I should not be able to predict your actions. That bores me, and I have no desire to waste my powers on predictability and tedium.” The voice battered relentlessly at her mind.

Neferet did not flinch.

“I will not ask you to forgive me,” she said coldly. “You knew what I was when first we came together. I have not changed. I will not change.”

“Indeed, and that is why I have always called you my heartless one.” The voice was less of a violation. Now it was tinged with amusement. “You remind me of how well we began. You were such a delicious surprise. Surprise me again, and I will consider coming to your aid. Until then, I grant you control over the bits of Darkness that choose to remain with you. Do not despair. Many will choose you. You feed them so well. I will see you again, my heartless one, when … if … you pique my interest enough for me to return…” His voice faded as the thick tendril encasing her waist detached itself and disappeared into the night.

Neferet collapsed. She lay on the cold stone balcony, watching the threads of Darkness lap her blood. She did not stop them. She let them feed from her as she stroked them, encouraging them, taking stock of how many remained true to her.

If the bull would not help her, Neferet would help herself. Zoey Redbird had been a problem for far too long. For far too long she had allowed that child to interfere with her plans. She would not kill her, though. That would bring down the wrath of Nyx too soon. Unlike the Vampyre High Council, a goddess could not be ignored. No, Neferet thought, I need not kill Zoey. All I need do is create a being to do the job for me. The Vessel failed once because of an imperfect sacrifice. With the perfect sacrifice I will not fail.

“I am immortal. I do not need the bull to create. All I need is a sacred sacrifice and power. I have learned the spell. Aurox was only the beginning…” Neferet stroked the threads of Darkness and allowed them to continue feeding from her.

Enough, she assured herself, there are just enough left.

Zoey

“Goddess knows I hate to say it, but I was wrong. This is like watching The stupid Bachelorette.” Aphrodite shook her head and rolled her eyes. She, Stevie Rae, and I were walking slowly to the parking lot and the waiting bus full of kids. We were moving slowly because we were super busy gawking at Damien and the reporter guy, Adam. The two of them were standing by the Fox 23 news van smiling and chattering.

“Shhh!” I whispered at Aphrodite. “They’re gonna hear you and that will embarrass Damien.”

“Oh, please,” Aphrodite snorted. “Gay boy’s all atwitter, or atitter, or whatever. He’s not paying any attention to us.”

“I’m just glad he’s flirting,” I said.

“Look! They’re takin’ out their phones!” Stevie Rae gushed in a whisper that was too exclamation pointed to be whispery.

“I was wrong again,” Aphrodite said. “It’s not like watching The Bachelorette. It’s like watching the National Geographic Channel.”

“I think he’s a cutie patootie,” Stevie Rae said.

“The guy talking to Damien?” Shaylin asked as she joined us.

“Yeah. We think they’re makin’ a date,” Stevie Rae said, still gawking.

“He has soft, pretty colors,” Shaylin said. “Actually, they go real well with Damien’s.”

“What, are their rainbows merging?” Aphrodite snorted sarcastically.

Shaylin frowned. “They don’t have rainbow colors. That’s such a horrible stereotype. They have summer sky colors—blues and yellows. Damien also has some billowy white stuff that looks a lot like cumulus clouds.”

“Oh, for shit’s sake, it has no sense of humor at all,” Aphrodite said.

“Aphrodite, you gotta stop callin’ Shaylin it. It’s not nice,” Stevie Rae said.

“So, for future reference, how not nice is it on the retard-mean-word scale?” She lifted a questioning blond brow at Stevie Rae. “Is it more asstard, fucktard, or old school, hardcore, retard not nice?”

“You’re the High Priestess, but I say answering her at all just encourages her. You know, like what happens when you pick up a screaming toddler—they keep on screaming,” Shaylin said, sounding very matter-of-fact.

All I could think was holy crap, Aphrodite is going to yank her hair out by the roots.

Instead Aphrodite laughed. “Hey, it made a joke! It might actually have a personality.”

“Aphrodite, I think you might be brain damaged,” Stevie Rae said.

“Thank you,” Aphrodite said. “I’m getting on the bus. And I’m timing Gay Boy. If he flirts for more than five more minutes I’m going to—” Her words stopped when she turned toward the bus. My eyes followed her gaze. Shaunee and Erin were standing just outside the bus’s open door. Shaunee looked upset. Erin’s face had no expression on it whatsoever. I could see that they were talking, but we were too far away to hear what they were saying.

“There’s something wrong about her,” Shaylin said.

“Who her?” Stevie Rae asked.

“Erin,” Shaylin said.

“Shaylin’s right. There’s something wrong about Erin,” Aphrodite said.

I couldn’t tell which shocked me more, what Aphrodite and Shaylin were saying, or that they were agreeing.

“Tell me what you’re seein’,” Stevie Rae spoke quietly to Shaylin.

“Here’s the best way I can describe it. There was this culvert that ran behind the house I lived in when I was a kid, just before I lost my sight. I used to play by it and pretend that it was a bubbling, beautiful mountain stream and I was growing up in the Colorado Rockies, ’cause it was clear and even kinda pretty. But the second I got too close to it I could smell it. It stunk like chemicals and something else, something rotting. The water looked good, but under the surface it was dirty, polluted.”

“Shaylin.” I was seriously at the edge of my patience. I felt like I was listening to one of Kramisha’s poems— and that’s not necessarily a good thing. “What in the hell are you saying? Erin is the color of polluted water? And if she is, why didn’t you say something before now?”

“She’s changing!” Shaylin yelled. When faces on the bus, along with Shaunee and Erin, turned their heads toward us, she added, “Winter seems to be changing to Spring! Isn’t it a beautiful night?”

Kids shook their heads and squinched their foreheads at her, but at least they seemed to quit listening.

“Oh, for shit’s sake. You are no good at espionage at all.” Aphrodite lowered her voice and huddled us up. “Z, get a clue. It’s simple. What Shaylin is saying is that Erin looks like she used to—pretty, blond, popular, perfect. You know, typical. But the truth is that under the surface, there’s something rotting. You can’t see it. I can’t see it. But Shaylin can.” Aphrodite glanced over at the bus. We all looked with her in time to see Shaunee shake her head no, and disappear quickly up the black, rubber-treaded stairs while Erin stood there looking beautiful but very, very cold. “Seems like Shaunee might be able to see it, too. Not that we’d believe her. We’d believe she was just pissed at Erin because the Dorkamise Twins have been surgically separated.”

“I think that’s pretty harsh,” I said.

“So do I,” Stevie Rae said. “But my gut’s tellin’ me it’s the truth.”

“Mine is as well,” Damien said, walking up to us. His cheeks were still flushed, and he waved gaily as the Fox 23 van pulled away, but his attention was focused on Erin. “My gut’s telling me something else, too.”