Redeemed

Lynette saw that the uniformed officers, even Jamison, had all paled at Neferet’s flippant admissions of guilt, but Detective Marx’s face hardened into stubborn lines. His spoke with calm authority. “Neferet, I will allow you to make one phone call to your High Council, but you must give yourself up to me and prepare to pay the consequences for your actions.”

“The High Council has even less jurisdiction over me than do you,” Neferet said. “I am no vampyre—I am Goddess of Darkness, Queen Tsi Sgili—and I will never again bow to any authority. You, Tulsa, and even the world will worship me as is my divine right. Watch and learn. Mabel, come to me!”

The girl obeyed immediately. She walked through the front doors that Judson opened for her and went to Neferet’s side.

“More hostages won’t help you get out of this, Neferet!” Detective Marx said.

“I said, watch and learn, humans! I have no hostages, only willing supplicants. Now gaze into your future!” Neferet opened her arms to the girl she called Mabel. Lynette had to step aside as Mabel hurried willingly into her embrace. “If I am your Goddess, sacrifice yourself to me.”

Morbidly curious, Lynette watched, wondering what the girl was going to be compelled to do. She only had seconds to wonder.

“You are my Goddess,” the girl said mechanically, and then Mabel began clawing at her own neck, gouging her flesh and causing blood to weep from the wounds.

“Now that is the behavior of a proper supplicant.” Neferet bent to drink from her offering. The girl gasped and trembled, but instead of trying to escape, she cried, “Thank you, Goddess!” in a voice that was filled with ecstasy.

“How sweet of you,” Neferet said, her lips inches from Mabel’s bloody neck. Before she began feeding from her, she commanded, “Shield us!”

An instant later there was a deafening burst of gunfire. Lynette fell to the pavement, ducking into a ball and putting her arms up in a vain attempt to protect herself.

There was a cry of pain, and then the officers began shouting. Shaking violently, Lynette peeked up through her arms. Neferet was feeding on the girl, ignoring the chaos happening before them.

Apparently, the bullets meant for Neferet—and probably also Lynette—had bounced off whatever shield the vampyre had invoked and been deflected directly into the foul-mouthed pedophile officer’s body.

“Oh my god,” Lynette whispered in a rush.

“Do you not mean oh my goddess?” Neferet, lips scarlet from the girl’s blood, smiled down at Lynette.

“Y-yes, I do,” Lynette said, feeling light-headed.

Neferet let loose the girl, and Mabel fell heavily to the concrete. Then she held out her hand to Lynette, who took it and stood shakily. “Have no fear. I won’t allow them to harm you. I won’t allow them to harm anyone who is loyal to me,” Neferet told her. She turned her attention back to the officers. They had dragged Jamison’s bullet-ravaged body behind the cars, which is where the rest of the men were crouching. Lynette could hear their radios crackling as they called for an ambulance and backup.

“Do you understand now, Detective Marx? Have you learned your lesson?”

“We’ve learned that you’re a killer!” he shouted. “We’re not done here—this hasn’t ended!”

“For once, you are correct. I am not done here—this has only just begun. Watch and learn, watch and learn,” Neferet repeated. “Oh, and look up! Children, come with me!” she commanded. Linking Lynette’s arm with hers, Neferet turned her back to the officers and reentered the Mayo.

“Judson, chain the doors again.”

“Yes, Goddess. That will not hold them off for long, though.”

“I know that! Just do as I have commanded. As always, I will take care of the rest of the details myself.”

“Yes, Goddess.”

“Lynette, I’d like you to join me on the balcony of my penthouse. A spectacular event is getting ready to take place there.”

“Yes, Goddess,” Lynette said, entering the elevator with her.

Neferet’s smile was knowing. “You almost believe that I am divine.”

Lynette didn’t respond. What could she say that Neferet couldn’t refute by probing her mind and finding the truth? So again, she said the only thing she could, “I’m here to serve you, Neferet.”

“And so you shall.”

The doors to the penthouse opened. “Kylee, Lynette’s looking pale. Pour a glass of my best red wine and bring it to her on the balcony.” Neferet swept past Kylee with Lynette following, opening the glass doors and joining the sixty people who stood in frightened groups on the balcony. Many of them were near the stone balustrade that framed the wide outdoor expanse, and it was obvious from their expressions that they had heard the shots from below and had been watching the drama unfold from above.

“Wait here, Lynette, and drink your wine. It will help the bloom return to your cheeks. I can’t have my favorite supplicant looking sallow and ill,” Neferet told her. Then she walked to the stone railing, causing the people closest to her to shuffle nervously aside. “Because modern education is abysmal, I feel it is my duty as your Goddess to tell you that this”—she paused and pointed at the carved stones—“is called a balustrade. The thick, evenly spaced supports, here and here and here”—she pointed again—“are called balusters. It is a happy coincidence that there are exactly sixty balusters spaced all around this rooftop balcony of my Temple. I want each of you to choose a baluster and stand directly in front of it.”

“You—you aren’t going to make us jump, are you?” asked a terrified old woman.

“No, Grandmother,” Neferet said warmly. “That makes no sense at all. Did you not see how I protected Lynette from the deadly bullets the police fired at her?”

There was a long silence, and then someone called, “Yes, but you ate that girl.”

“Mabel was disobedient. Would you like to share her fate?”

Her words worked like spurs on the people. They scattered, each taking a position in front of a baluster.

“Excellent! Kylee, refresh my supplicants’ glasses of champagne while I have a private word with my Dark children.”

Lynette appreciated expensive red wine, and she usually savored it, sipping slowly as it deserved. Not then. She chugged it, snagging the bottle from robotic Kylee as the girl passed her to return inside, fetching more champagne. Lynette was grateful for the surreal, detached feeling the alcohol was giving her as she watched the vampyre. She’d moved to a shadowy corner of the balcony, well away from the stone railing, and was bent, talking to what looked like nothing at all.

Lynette knew better. And, sure enough, only another second or two passed before the air around the vampyre’s feet rippled, like heat currents lifting from a blacktop road in the summer, and Neferet’s snakes became visible. Lynette was glad the vampyre was distracted by her “children,” because she couldn’t repress her shudder of disgust. Lynette was reminded of an old western she’d seen as a young girl. In it cowboys were on a cattle drive, and as they made a river crossing, a young man had fallen off his horse, landing in the middle of an enormous nest of mating water snakes to be killed by them, though not quickly enough. It looked like Neferet was standing in the center of that nest, only her snakes were bigger, blacker, and even more dangerous than the old west vipers.

What in the hell were they? Granted, Lynette didn’t know much about vampyres. Though she would have welcomed their business—they were notoriously wealthy—she’d never been hired by one. She was far from a vampyre authority, but she felt sure she would have heard something about these deadly snake-creatures. Their familiars were supposed to be cats, for god’s sake, not reptiles!

Lynette poured the remainder of the wine into her goblet and took another long gulp, feeling relieved that her face was warm. Good, the flush would bring back the “bloom” of her cheeks. Lynette had no doubt the vampyre was capable of killing her on a whim. Surreptitiously, she pinched her checks to be sure they were in full bloom.