Page 149 of Lost

33

Zoey

“Thank you, air!” I said before facing a glowering Neferet.

“Hi, Neferet. Remember me?”

“Insolent child!” she shouted. “I have never seen you before in my—” Her words broke off abruptly and I saw recognition flash across her face.

“That’s right. You thought you killed me. Guess what?I’m back!” And without thinking, my body did something I’d wanted to do for ages. I closed the few feet between us and slapped her—hard—across the face.

“You littlebitch!” Neferet’s hand flew to her cheek as from the shadows around her tendrils of Darkness began to hiss in anger and slither toward me.

“Ah, hell no! I’ve been through this crap before.” I glanced at Kevin, who was just behind me. “Focus on spirit!” I saw him nod and then I raised my hands. “Spirit, shine the Goddess’ Light on these creatures of Darkness!” A ball of brilliant purple light formed in my hands and I threw it into the writhing shadows.

Neferet’s scream mirrored the inhuman shrieks of the tendrils. As I’d hoped, this Neferet hadn’t managed to fully manifest her “children” in this world yet and, unable to bear the Light of the Goddess, they retreated back to the Dark void—or wherever the hell (literally) they came from.

“Artus, my Warrior.Kill them!” Neferet commanded.

I was frantically trying to think about what element I could call to help us against her Warrior when Kevin stepped in front of me and, in one swift motion, he pulled a strange-looking knife with a white blade from a leg sheath. He shouted, “Air, guide this true!” He threw the knife. With a howling gust of hurricane-strength wind, the dagger imbedded itself to the hilt in the Warrior’s throat. Artus clawed at it for a moment, then his eyes showed white, and, like a tower in an earthquake, he fell.

“You got a knife in here?” I asked, stunned.

Aphrodite grinned. “It was my idea. It’s made of porcelain. Didn’t show up on the metal detectors.”

“General Stark! Protect your High Priestess! Kill these assassins!”

Stark lifted his bow and nocked an arrow.

I knew we were screwed if Stark fired. My Guardian, my Warrior, my lover who can never, ever miss.

Aphrodite was on her feet and rushing to stand in front of Kevin and me. “Don’t do it, Stark. They’re the good guys—not Neferet.”

“You would betray me? My own Prophetess?” Neferet’s face had gone pale. Her eyes blazed with a strange red light.

Totally unaffected by Neferet’s hatred, Aphrodite flipped her hair back and faced the crazed High Priestess. “Oh, for shit’s sake! I am notyourProphetess! Just like Stark is notyourgeneral. First and forever we swore to serve Nyx, and it’s been obvious to me for a while now that you’re not serving the Goddess. You’re allied with Darkness.” Aphrodite’s gaze went from Neferet to Stark. “You know it too. Stark, you and I aren’t friends, but you’re not like her. You still follow Nyx. Neferet does not.”

“Kill those insolent children! All of them! And while you do that I’ll commandmyRed Army to teach those pathetic humans a lesson they will never forget.” She moved to grab the microphone, but Stark intercepted her, getting to it first.

“What are you doing?” Neferet’s voice was filled with loathing. “Do you wish to give the kill command, or will you betray me too, and be proven a liar and Oathbreaker like Aphrodite?”

I spoke up quickly. “Stark, I’d say don’t listen to her, but you need to. Listen very carefully to Neferet. Study her. Think. I’ll bet you’ve been studying her for some time now because you’re none of those things. You’re not a liar. You’re not an Oathbreaker. You take your vows very seriously and you have to know Neferet has not been following Nyx for a very long time.”

“General Stark, shut this ridiculous child up!”

“No, Neferet. You did that once already, when you killed me to start this damn war. You’ll never do it again.”

“Zoey Redbird?” Stark’s eyes went wide with shock as he finally recognized me. “You’re the fledgling that was killed by the People of Faith more than a year ago.”

“Well, yes. Sorta. One version of me was killed but not by the People of Faith. Neferet killed me and set the murder up to look like radical humans did it. Neferet was broken as a child before she was Marked. Instead of healing, she chose vengeance and anger. She hates all humans. This whole war is nothing more than Neferet getting back at her father for raping her.”

“Youcunt!You know nothing about me!”

“You’re absolutely wrong about that. I probably know you better than you know yourself. I know that soon you’ll be attempting to free a winged immortal from his eternal prison so that you can pretend he’s Erebus. I know that you’ve been studying the evil Tsi Sgili. I also know that you’re playing with the idea of being consort to pure Darkness—the White Bull.” As I spoke I watched Neferet’s eyes and saw the truth within as they registered shock at my understanding. I turned my focus on Stark. “Stark, do you really believe there is any way Nyx would approve of red vampyres murdering a stadium full of innocent humans?”

“Of course Nyx approves,” Neferet said. “And why not? The time of humans is over. What have they done in the centuries since we allowed them to usurp our rule of this world? They have poisoned this precious earth, warred unendingly against themselves, and committed atrocities in the names of their various gods. The Goddess knows they are only good for food and labor. Why else would she have created red vampyres except to giveusvictory over man. Now, do as the Goddess and I command—kill them all!”

I met Stark’s gaze. “You know she’s wrong, but I can prove it to you. Just tell the Red Army to stand down and I will show you.”