Hidden (House of Night Novels) (21 page)

“Other vampyres? News?”

“Yes, ma’am. They’re on Fox 23 late night right now.”

“Turn it on for me!” she snapped.

“But the champagne’s not—”

“Leave it! I am fully capable of opening it myself. Put on the news and go.”

The boy did as he was told and then slunk out, still casting longing glances at her. Neferet paid him no mind. She was utterly engrossed in the scene unfolding before her on the large flat screen television. It was Thanatos, Zoey, and several of her group. They were outside at the House of Night, clustered together and talking easily with the reporter. Neferet scowled. They all looked so
normal.

Her lip curled as she heard Thanatos explain away Dragon Lankford’s death as a tragic bison accident.

“That wretched Aurox,” Neferet muttered. “Imperfect, inept Vessel! All of this is
his
fault.”

She kept watching the interview, smirking at Stark and Zoey, only concentrating when she heard her name mentioned. Neferet pressed the volume button and Thanatos’s voice blared,
“… Neferet is a disgruntled ex-employee with no whistle to blow…”

Neferet’s body became very cold.

“She dares to name me an
employee!
” Neferet continued to watch. Her anger built to such intensity that the glass door to the penthouse balcony burst open, raining shards of crystal across the marble floor.

“We’re sharing Tulsa, and we love it. So, let’s just all get along!”
Zoey’s ridiculously cheerful voice grated up and down Neferet’s spine.

“I will not allow you to undo what I have begun, you obnoxious child!” Neferet seethed. When Thanatos announced that the Tulsa House of Night would be taking applications for human professors her mouth gaped along with the reporters. After the new High Priestess’s benevolent,
merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again
, Neferet watched in disbelief as the news anchors chattered inanely about how interesting all the vampyre interaction was and how great the open house and job fair would be for the city as a still shot close-up of Zoey’s smiling face decorated the screen. She punched the power button, unable to bear one more instant of Zoey Redbird.

From the clever little alcove that was tucked between the living room and the dining room, Neferet’s computer began to ring. On the screen the silhouetted figure of Nyx’s upraised arms flashed and beside the icon were the words:
VAMPYRE HIGH COUNCIL
.

Neferet walked slowly over to the computer and clicked the mouse to answer, automatically activating the video camera. She smiled coolly at the six somber High Priestesses seated on their carved marble thrones. “I have been expecting your call.”

Duantia, the senior member of the Vampyre High Council, spoke first. Neferet thought she sounded very,
very
old. There certainly seemed to be more silver than brown in her long, thick hair, and Neferet was sure she could see bags under her dark eyes. “You were summoned to appear before us, yet there you are in Tulsa, and here we are in Venice. What has delayed you?”

“I am busy.” Neferet pitched her voice to sound more amused than annoyed. Or afraid. She must never allow them to believe she feared them, or anyone, at all. “It is not convenient to make a trip to Italy at this time.”

“Then you force us to pass judgment over you in
absente reo
.”

Neferet scoffed. “Save your Latin for vampyres too old to live in the present.”

Duantia continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “Our sister High Priestess, and the seventh member of this Council, Thanatos, has produced irrefutable evidence though a reveal ritual witness by High Priestess Zoey Redbird, her—”

“That insolent child isn’t a High Priestess!”

“You will not interrupt me!”
Even through the Internet, thousands of miles away, Duantia’s power was palpable. It was only with a supreme effort that Neferet didn’t cringe from the computer screen.

“Say what you must. I will not interrupt again,” Neferet said emotionlessly.

“The reveal ritual over which Thanatos presided was witnessed by the young High Priestess, Zoey Redbird; her circle, each member of which has been gifted by Nyx with an elemental affinity; as well as several Sons of Erebus Warriors. During this ritual the earth gave record that you murdered a human, sacrificing her to the white bull of Darkness, who appears to be your Consort.”

Neferet watched the High Council members shift nervously, as if just hearing the word Consort associated with the white bull was difficult for them to bear. That pleased her. Very shortly the High Council would have to bear more than simple words.

“Neferet, what do you say in your defense?” Duantia concluded.

Neferet drew herself up to her full height. She felt the threads of Darkness rustle around her, lapping at her ankles and slithering around her calves. “I need no defense. Killing the human was not an act of murder. It was a sacred sacrifice.”

“You dare call Darkness sacred?” the Council member named Alitheia shouted.

“Alitheia, or Truth, as we would say in a language that isn’t dead, I will impart a little of your own to you. The
truth
is that I am immortal. In a little over a hundred years I have attained more power than all of you in all of your centuries have managed to acquire. The
truth
is that in another hundred years, most of you will be dust, and I will still be young, powerful, beautiful, and a goddess. If I choose to sacrifice a human, no matter for what purpose, it is sacred and not sin!”

“Neferet, is Darkness your Consort?” Duantia’s question shot through the silence following Neferet’s shout.

“Conjure the white bull and ask Darkness yourself. But only if you dare,” Neferet sneered.

“High Council, what is your judgment?” Duantia asked. She held Neferet’s gaze as each of the High Council members stood and, one at a time, pronounced the same word, over and over, “Shunned!”

Duantia stood last. “Shunned!” she said firmly. “From this day forth, you will no longer be recognized as a High Priestess of Nyx. You will no longer be recognized as a vampyre at all. Henceforth you are dead to us.” As one, the High Council members turned their backs to Neferet, and then the screen bleeped the
CALL ENDED
sound and the picture went blank.

Neferet stared at the black screen. She was breathing heavily, trying to control the tumult within her. The High Council had shunned her!

“Horrid old crones!” she ranted. Too soon! Neferet had, of course, intended to break with the High Council, but not before she had divided them and set them at each other’s throats so that they would be too busy with the destruction happening within to meddle in the world she was fashioning outside their cozy little island. “I almost accomplished it before—when Kalona was posing as Erebus at my side. But Zoey ruined that by forcing me to reveal him as a fraud.” Unable to quiet her frustration, Neferet stalked from the room, her stiletto heels crunching on the broken glass. She went out on the balcony, pressing her hands against the cold stone balustrade. “Zoey caused Thanatos to be sent to Tulsa to spy on me. And it was Zoey’s mother who was too weak, too imperfect a sacrifice. Had Aurox not been a cracked vessel, the reveal ritual would have been stopped by Rephaim’s death. And now I am shunned by the High Council and viewed as a domesticated ally by Tulsa humans.” Neferet raised her arms to the sky and shrieked her anger. “Zoey Redbird will pay for what she has caused!”

Neferet reached down and ripped the silk robe from her, baring her body to the night. Naked, she threw out her arms and tilted back her head so that her long hair veiled her like a dark curtain. “Come to me, Darkness!” She braced herself, ready for the painful pleasure of her white bull’s icy touch.

Nothing.

The only movement in the night was the restless, dark tendrils that had become her constant companions.

“My lord! Come to me! I am in need of you!” Neferet called.

“Your call is not a surprise, my heartless one.”

Neferet heard his voice in her head, as always, but she did not feel his awe-inspiring presence. She dropped her arms, turning, searching for him. “My lord, I cannot see you.”

“You need something.”

Still not understanding why he had not appeared to her, Neferet did not allow her confusion to show. Instead she responded seductively. “What I need is
you
, my lord.”

Instantly, the thickest of the snake-like minions of Darkness detached itself from the others that slithered over her ankles. It whipped around her waist, slicing through her smooth skin and drawing a perfect circle of scarlet. The other tendrils crawled up her legs, moving to feed from the warm wash of her blood.

Neferet was very careful not to cry out.

“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.