Hunted

I heard Stevie Rae’s quick intake breath of surprise and the movement of the red fledglings behind us.

“That’s the kid that shot me, isn’t it?” she said.

“Yes,” I said.

“He’s Changed,” Stevie Rae said. “He’s a red vampyre.”

“He’s also a fucking rat,” Aphrodite muttered, then hastily added, “Sorry, Sister.”

“Do not trust him, Zoey.” Darius’s voice came from directly behind me. “You see where he has placed his allegiance.”

“Darius,” I said sternly, without turning to look at him. “You need to trust me, and that means trust my judgment.”

“Sometimes your judgment is wacked,” Erin said.

“Not when I’m listening to Nyx,” I said.

“Are you listening now?” Shaunee said.

I stared at Stark, trying to see any hint of darkness around him. There was nothing—just Stark and the way his eyes met mine steadily. “I am absolutely listening to Nyx. Now, form the circle up around us.” Instantly the Twins and Damien moved out of the crowd behind me. Damien walked to the eastern edge of the cement circle. I felt rather than saw Shaunee move into place behind me, and Erin situated herself on our left. For a second I was concerned that I would have to step away from Aphrodite, Stevie Rae, and Sister Mary Angela and take earth’s place, but then I realized that Mary’s Grotto was firmly positioned in the north, and that the beautiful silver thread that bound our circle now included her shrine.

“You ca

“My fledglings,” Neferet said, walking beside Kalona and, except for the darkness that throbbed around her, she looked beautiful and serene and very High Priestess-like. “You have allowed Zoey’s misguided quest for power to put you in a perilous situation, but it is not too late for you. You need simply to renounce her, close the circle, and you will be accepted back in the bosom of your High Priestess.”

“If there wasn’t a nun here, I’d tell you what you could do with your nasty bosom,” Aphrodite said.

“Zoey isn’t the one who’s turned away from Nyx,” Erin said.

“Yeah, we all know you have. It’s just that Zoey was the first to know it,” Shaunee said.

“See how her evil words have tainted your judgment?” Neferet sounded sad and very reasonable.

“And what has tainted my judgment?” Sister Mary Angela spoke up from beside me. “I barely know this child. Her words could not taint me, could not make me imagine the darkness I sense radiating from you.”

Neferet’s calm façade cracked as she scoffed at the nun. “Human woman, you are a fool! Of course you sense darkness from me. My Goddess is Night personified!”

Sister Mary Angela’s serenity wasn’t a façade, so her demeanor didn’t change. She simply said, “No, I am acquainted with Nyx, and though she personifies Night, she does not traffic with darkness. Be honest, Priestess, and admit you have broken with your Goddess for that creature.” The nun’s hand swept toward Kalona, causing the dark folds of her habit to billow gracefully. “Nephilium, I recognize you. And in Our Lady’s name I speak words you already know: You should leave this place and return to the realm whence you fell. Repent, and perhaps you may still be allowed to know eternity in paradise.”

“Do not speak to him, woman!” Neferet shrieked, all pretense of serenity gone. “He is a god come to earth. You should worship at his feet!”

Kalona’s laughter was terrible, and it caused the Raven Mockers to hiss as they moved restlessly all around us. “Ladies, do not battle over me. I am a god! There is enough of me for all of you to share.” He spoke in response to Neferet and Sister Mary Angela, but his amber eyes stared straight at me.

“I will never be with you,” I told him, ignoring everyone around us. “My choice will always be for my Goddess, and you are the opposite of everything she stands for.”

“Do not presume—” Neferet began, but Kalona lifted one hand and cut off her words.

“A-ya, you misjudge me. Look deep within yourself to the maiden who was created to love me.”

Something behind me stirred the crowd and I felt a little blip that told me our circle had been crossed, which could only happen if the Goddess herself allowed someone through. I wanted to look back and see who had joined us, but I couldn’t take my eyes from Kalona’s hypnotic gaze.

Then her hand slid into mine and love broke Kalona’s spell. With a glad cry I glanced down to see Grandma sitting in a wheelchair that Heath had pushed up to me. She looked like she’d been through a war. Her arm was in a cast, and her head was bandaged. Her face was still swollen and discolored with bruises, but her smile was her own, as was the sweet sound of her voice.

“Did I hear you have need of me, my u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya?”

I squeezed her hand. “Grandma, I’ll always need you!”

I glanced back at Heath, who smiled at me. “Kick his butt outta here, Zo,” he said; then he moved back to join Erik and Darius.

Grandma, meanwhile, had somehow risen to her feet. She took two slow steps forward, staring out at the grove of trees and the Raven Mockers swarmed there.

“Oh, sons of my mothers’ mothers!” she cried and her voice carried like the sonorous beat of a tribal drum out into the night. “What have you allowed him to make you become? Do you not feel your mothers’ blood? Can you not imagine their hearts breaking for you?”

Amazed, I watched several of the Raven Mockers turn their heads, as if they were unable to face my grandma. In others the red glow began to die in their eyes, and I recognized sorrow and confusion in their human depths.

“Be silent, Ani Yunwiya!” Kalona’s voice boomed around us.

I knew Grandma recognized the ancient name of the Cherokee people. Slowly, she turned her attention to the winged being. “I see you, Old One. Will you never learn? Must women, once again, come together to defeat you?”

“Not this time, Ghigua. You will not find me so easy to trap this time.”

“Perhaps this time we will simply wait for you to trap yourself. We are a very patient people, and you did it before,” Grandma said.

“But this A-ya is different,” Kalona said. “Her soul calls to me from her dreams. It won’t be long before her waking body calls me, too, and then I shall possess her.”

“No,” I said firmly. “Thinking you can possess me, like I’m a piece of property, is your first mistake. My soul is drawn to you,” I finally admitted aloud, and found a surprising strength in my honesty. “But like you said, I’m a different A-ya. I have free will, and my will is not to give myself to the darkness. So, here’s the deal: Leave now. Take Neferet and the Raven Mockers and go someplace far away where you can live in peace and not hurt anyone else.”

“Or?” he asked, looking amused.

“Or I will, as my human consort put it, kick your butt out of here,” I said firmly.

His look of amusement widened into a charming smile. “A-ya, I do not believe I will leave this place. I find I like Tulsa very much.”

“Remember that you brought this on yourself,” I said. Then I spoke to the women surrounding me. “The poem says: Joined not to conquer, instead to overcome. I’m Night. I’ve led you to Sister Mary Angela—she’s Spirit.” I held out my left hand and Sister Mary Angela grasped it firmly. “Stevie Rae, you’re Blood. Aphrodite, you’re Humanity.”

Stevie Rae walked over to Sister Mary Angela, and took the nun’s other hand, and then she looked at Aphrodite, who nodded and grasped her offered hand.

“What are they doing?” Neferet’s voice came from closer than she was before. I looked up to see that she was moving quickly toward us.

“A-ya! What foolishness is this?” Kalona didn’t sound amused anymore, and he, too, was approaching our circle.