Page 22 of Lost

Anastasia’s eyes flashed as she looked up at her mate, who was standing near the entrance to the cave, arms folded, a dark expression shadowing his handsome face.

“You may question him after I sew him up.”

“I’d rather talk. It’ll take my mind off it,” Kevin said.

“Very well. I’m going to begin. First I’ll pour alcohol over the wound. It will be very painful.”

“I’m ready. Okay, so, what happened to me? Well, I—!” Kevin’s words broke off in a terrible gasp. It felt like Anastasia was pouring liquid fire on his back and he had to struggle to stay conscious.

“Breathe, u-we-tsi. Breathe. Deeply, in and out, in and out. This will pass,” Grandma soothed as she blotted his back.

Kevin fisted his hands and drew several long breaths with his g-ma.

“And now I will begin the sewing. The good news is that this is a long, straight wound. You’ll have a scar, but it should heal well.”

“It beats losing my head,” Kevin managed through gritted teeth.

When she started sewing he thought he was going to pass out—wished he would pass out, but when he didn’t, Kevin turned his concentration to his story and tried to pretend he was outside his body, standing beside Dragon, looking out at the cold winter night as he spoke.

“Three nights ago, I was part of a group of red vampyre soldiers and fledgling trainees who were pulled from our quarters in the tunnels under the depot and dropped into an alternative world.” Kevin had to pause and draw several breaths as the pain in his back threatened to overwhelm him.

“What do you mean by alternative world?” Dragon said.

“That world is just like this one, only Neferet isn’t in charge there. My sister is.”

Anastasia’s busy hands paused. “Zoey?”

“You knew my sister?”

“I did. She was a lovely young woman. She was only in my Spells and Rituals class a few weeks before she was killed, but she already showed promise with spellwork. You remember her, do you not, Bryan?”

“I remember that her death was the official beginning of Neferet’s war,” Dragon said.

“Neferet killed her,” Kevin said.

“How do you know that?” Dragon asked sharply.

“Because in the other House of Night world, Neferet tried to start a war with humans the same way—by framing humans for vampyre deaths she was actually responsible for.”

“And your dead sister told you that?” Dragon said.

“No, my alive sister told me that—at the Tulsa House of Night where she is one of several powerful High Priestesses who run everything. Zo and her group defeated Neferet and stopped the war from happening.”

“Boy, you just made your first mistake. Their number is few, but we do have spies in the Red Army camp. I can check with them about this disappearance yarn you’re spinning.”

“Good,” Kevin said between gritted teeth as Anastasia hooked the needle through another piece of his torn flesh. “I want you to. Have your people ask what happened to General Dominick and his soldiers.”

“I will. You may count on that.”

“Good,” Kevin repeated.

“But until then, let’s say I believe you. How did being pulled into another version of our world restore your humanity?”

“It was something Nyx did after she gifted Aphrodite with the ability to grant second chances.”

“Aphrodite?” Dragon laced the name with sarcasm. “You mean the blue priestess who has death visions?”

“That’s her. Only in that world she’s a Prophetess of Nyx who is as powerful as she is beautiful.”