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The Warriors glanced at Thanatos. “I agree with Zoey. Cause Aurox pain.”

Aurox

“I may enjoy this,” Stark said, setting his bow and arrows aside and cracking his knuckles.

“As may I,” Kalona said, as he began circling Aurox. “I owe you blows for my son.”

“And I owe you for Dragon,” Darius told him, pulling from his belt loop a small, deadly looking knife.

“You’re not supposed to kill him,” Zoey said. Her voice sounded cold, emotionless.

That absence of emotion frightened Aurox more than any of the three Warriors.

“I’ll bet he’s pretty hard to kill,” Aphrodite said, crossing her arms and winking at Darius. “So, you go ahead and have some fun with your knives, handsome.”

“The beast feeds on anger. Get serious. Get angry,” Thanatos commanded the Warriors, and they went silent and closed on him.

Aurox felt the change in their energy immediately. Where before the three of them obviously disliked and mistrusted him, they were not angry. Now tension radiated from them, building in intensity. The beast within him stirred expectantly.

Aurox clenched his teeth and tensed his body. No, I will not release control. It is tsu-ka-nv-s-di-na, not beast. I will tame the bull!

Kalona struck first. With a movement that was inhumanly quick, he spun and backhanded Aurox across the face, knocking him to his knees. Before he could rise, Darius darted in. He felt an electric line of pain across the top of his shoulder, and then felt warmth as the thin, shallow cut began to bleed. An instant later, Stark punched him in the stomach.

Aurox doubled over. The Warriors were angry. The scent of his blood worked on the two vampyres. He could feel the violence within them build, especially that which rested inside Stark. Darkness—I can feel it. Stark has known evil, though he has chosen another path. Aurox was able to gain his feet, where he took a defensive stance just in time for Kalona to send another stinging blow to the other side of his face. Aurox turned, going with the blow, and brought his arm up in time to block Stark’s fist.

As he moved, turning, and blocking, the creature within him quivered, trying to break free of Aurox’s will. Though his skin twitched and he felt his bones begin the terrible melting change that turned boy to a horned beast, still he remained himself. Still he had control.

“You have to fight back!” Zoey called to him.

Aurox blocked another of Stark’s blows. “I ca

“Then what the hell good are you?” Aphrodite lifted her hands in frustration. “Neferet isn’t going to let you walk in there, tell Darkness to get lost, and then walk out holding hands with Grandma.”

“They are correct,” Thanatos said. “You must fight back. And you must control the beast as you do.”

Aurox nodded and, feeling a terrible dread, he ducked under Darius’s knife hand and came up swinging, sending a blow under the Warrior’s chin.

Aurox felt the pain and anger explode within Darius. The beast felt it, too. The emotions siphoned into his body, filling the creature within with power. Aurox tried to stop it, tried to control it. But when he whirled and kicked Stark, co

“Think of moonlight!” the True Sight fledgling yelled at him. “You have it inside you. Try to find it.”

He thought of moonlight and lavender, of silver and turquoise and the earth around him.

Kalona struck again—another stinging backhand. This time Aurox grabbed his wrist and, using his own inhuman strength, tossed the immortal away from him.

The beast roared.

“He’s losing it!” Aphrodite said.

“You guys get back down the tu

“You better control him because we’re not going anywhere! Aurox, hang on!” Zoey shouted.

“I try!” Aurox cried, backing away from the three Warriors, who were breathing hard but not attacking him again. “I control!”

“If you do not. If you harm any of them I will destroy you.” Kalona’s voice was calm. He did not shout. He did not posture. But Aurox felt the truth of his statement. The immortal may be able to destroy me. The thought had the beast retreating, releasing some of its anger.

Aurox stood his ground. “Control! I control.”

“That’s what I’m counting on,” Zoey said. “Guys, stand down for a sec. I have an idea.” The three Warriors nodded, but continued to watch Aurox warily. Zoey continued, “Damien, Shaunee, Stevie Rae—take your places. Form a circle around Aurox. The three of them scattered. “Aphrodite, take Erin’s candle and stand in for water.”

“Better idea.” Aphrodite handed a blue candle to the True Sight fledgling. “Go west and think wet.”

“Water? Me?” The girl took the candle, but shook her head, looking confused.

Aphrodite pulled a small, handheld silver object from her pocket and snapped it open. Aurox saw light dance across its mirrored surface. She held it up to the girl’s face. “Read your own aura.”

The fledgling sighed and looked into the mirror. Then her brows went up and her eyes seemed to double in size.

“Awesome! Wow! I never even thought about reading myself. I’m all different colors of blue!”

Aphrodite clicked the mirror closed and put it back in her pocket, looking smug. “Yep, just as I thought. So, head west.”

Smiling, the fledgling took her place in the circle.

“That was wise, Prophetess,” Thanatos said.

“I have my moments,” Aphrodite said. Then she called to Zoey, who was watching, wide-eyed, along with the other fledglings, “You are welcome.”

“Okay, well, let’s see if I can be as wise,” Zoey said.

“How may I help?” Thanatos asked.

“Cast the circle. I don’t want to be anything but spirit this time,” came Zoey’s quick answer.

“Agreed,” Thanatos said.

“Aurox, do you have a handle on yourself?” Zoey asked him.

He was still breathing hard, and the beast hovered just below the surface of his skin, but since the Warriors had stopped their attack, Aurox had gained a measure of control again. “I do. For now.”

“Alright, here’s what we’re go

“How?” he asked her.

“I did it a little before. I sent spirit to strengthen you. Imagine that times five,” she explained. “You say the beast feeds off of violence and anger and pain, right?”

“That is right,” he said, nodding.

“Well, even though the elements aren’t good or bad, how they make each of the five of us feel is definitely good. So, I figured if the five of us cha

“Aurox, if this works”—Thanatos joined Zoey in the middle of the circle—“then it will prove that you are more than the Darkness from which you were fashioned.”

“Then it will work because I am not Darkness. I ca

“Prove it,” Stark said.

“I will,” Aurox replied. He met Zoey’s gaze. “I am ready.”

“Then we begin with air.” Thanatos took the lighter Zoey offered her and walked to Damien. Speaking simply Thantos called, “Air, you are the first of the elements, and I call you to this circle.” After she lit Damien’s yellow candle, she moved to Shaunee, invoking fire in the same way. When she stood before the True Sight fledgling, she took longer, saying, “Water, you are ever changeable, always adapting. You have been called to this circle and manifested many times for your fledgling, Erin Bates. But that fledgling has, like water, changed and adapted to another environment. This new daughter of Nyx stands here, open and excited to accept your gifts. As High Priestess I invite you to this circle. Come, water, and show Shaylin she may blessed be!” Aurox watched as Thanatos lit the fledgling’s blue candle, and then she gasped in pleasure.