Redeemed

Shit! I was too busy pulling off this performance to worry about being sure all the pieces of people were thrown off the balcony. Lynette’s mind scrambled and she let out a relived sigh when she found the answer. “Goddess, I believe Kylee was in charge of seeing to your balcony.”

“That girl,” Neferet muttered, sipping her champagne. “She’s good at some things, but she needs so much supervision. Could you use your useful little ear machine to remind her of my command?”

“Of course, Goddess,” Lynette said.

“And while you supervise Kylee, I believe I shall mingle with my adoring, attractive supplicants. Can you imagine how honored best man Camden would be if I allowed him to ask me for a dance?”

Thankfully, Neferet’s question was rhetorical, and instead of focusing on Lynette for a response, the Goddess turned her back to her and, sipping her champagne, she walked toward the large double staircase that led down to the ballroom.

Lynette noted Neferet didn’t glide. It’s because she sent the snake-things out to play, Lynette thought. Somehow they must carry her—or cha

She shook her head, as if clearing cobwebs away. She couldn’t afford to overthink. She couldn’t afford to do anything except survive.

Lynette tapped her earbud. “Kylee, Neferet is going to inspect her balcony. Soon. She’s holding you responsible for it being clean.”

“I understand and will obey,” came Kylee’s robotic response.

Lynette sighed heavily. She took a few stumbling steps back and leaned against one of the marble pillars, doing nothing for just a moment except breathing.

She’d made it through Neferet’s first test. She was still alive, and still not possessed by anything that slithered. But if she was going to stay that way, she couldn’t afford to relax. There would be time for relaxation after she got through this. And Lynette would get through it—she always got through whatever bullshit life shoveled on her.

To begin, Lynette had a list to make.

She had to check out every single person in the building. They needed to be categorized as either attractive and acceptable, or needs work. Under the needs work category she’d subcategorize as fat, fashion impaired, or just plain ugly. The first two could be fixed—maybe. The third, well, just plain ugly would have to learn some skills that kept them behind the scenes.

“Here’s hoping they can cook or sew…”

Lynette was mumbling to herself as she tapped her smartphone notes list when she heard a scream coming from the ballroom. What now? What more could Neferet be doing? Her mind was heavy with fear and exhaustion, but she made her feet carry her to the mezzanine railing.

Neferet was standing beside Camden. He was staring at the plunging neckline of the Goddess’s short velvet dress. The other eleven people were staring at the slithering snakes that were coiling around Neferet’s bare ankles.

“Oh, do be quiet,” Neferet snapped at the girl who had screamed. “You need to get used to my children. They’re never far from my side, just as you, my loyal supplicants, are never far from my side.”

“I-I’m s-sorry, Goddess. Th-they look like snakes. I-I’m afraid of snakes,” the girl stammered.

“They are not snakes. They are much more dangerous. And I’m not asking that you get over your fear of them. I’m commanding that you not voice it.” Neferet shifted her gaze downward to the snake-things that were writhing with what seemed like excitement around her feet. “What is it, my darlings?”

“Goddess, the detective has returned,” Judson called from the front of the foyer. “He’s brought more people with him.”

“That means nothing. He can bring an entire Oklahoma National Guard armory with him. They ca

“He hasn’t brought an army, Goddess. He’s brought a vampyre who is making the air around her glow while a large man who appears to have wings hidden under his trench coat paces nearby.”

“Why did you wait until now to tell me?” Neferet shrieked. “Children! Come with me!” Lifted by the fully visible nest of slithering vipers, the Goddess glided to the front doors.

Lynette’s body went cold. She slipped out of her chic heels so that she could sprint quietly around the mezzanine, heading for the large picture windows that overlooked the front of the building, trying not to think at all, but especially trying not to hope.

CHAPTER NINE

Zoey

“Holy crap, the Mayo looks awful!” I blurted.

“Like it’s dripping with death.” Damien sounded as horrified as I felt.

“Not with death,” Thanatos said. “Death is inevitable for all mortals. It is neither good nor evil; it is simply part of the great spiral of life. What Neferet has coated that building in is pain and fear, blood and despair.”

Her voice sounded weird. Grandma, Stark, Shaylin, and I were all smushed into the middle row of seats of the school’s Hummer, and Thanatos was sitting up front with Marx. I’d noticed that the closer we’d gotten to the Mayo, the more restless the High Priestess had appeared. She was literally fidgeting, which was super strange for her—Thanatos was usually like a mountain of calm.

Her obvious nervousness had my stomach clenching like crazy.

“Chaos,” Kalona said. I glanced over my shoulder where he was sitting with Damien and Shaunee (they were super smushed because his wings were taking up way too much room) to see him shaking his head in disgust. “Neferet has used the threads of Darkness to create chaos, and that is protecting her.”

“Well, chaos smells bad,” I said, wrinkling my nose.

“Fetid and horrible,” Damien agreed. “And we don’t even have a window cracked.”

“Sorry,” Marx said. “I meant to warn you about the stink.”

“No need to be sorry, Detective,” Grandma said. “I don’t believe there is any way you could have prepared us for this.”

“You’re probably right, but I better mention that we can’t be sure if all the body parts have been cleared from the area,” Marx added. “So watch where you step.”

“Body parts?” My voice squeaked.

Marx nodded. “The snake-things killed a lot of people when they came over the edge of the balcony and spread blackness and guts down the building. All evening Neferet’s been tossing pieces of people, drained of blood, off the penthouse balcony.”

“I can feel the spell she has bound in blood and death and Darkness,” Thanatos said. “She used the deaths of those poor people to make a barrier.”

“Neferet cast the spell, but she wouldn’t dirty her hands with the cleanup,” Kalona said grimly. “Which means she has people in there who are still alive and doing whatever she tells them to do.”

“Does it really matter who’s doing the tossing? Especially if Neferet’s holding them all hostage?” Shaunee said.

“What truly matters is that everyone remember if we stop Neferet, we stop all this madness,” Thanatos said.

We nodded in grim agreement.

Marx had driven through the police barricade areas and pulled up over the curb, parking across the street from the Mayo on the wide sidewalk in front of the ONEOK building, where we sat and gawked.

“We’ve set up two command posts inside the ONEOK. The one on the third floor has all the audiovisual equipment. The one on the roof has the snipers,” Marx explained as we sat stared at the gore-coated building across the street.

“Snipers can’t kill Neferet,” Kalona said.

“Yeah, we’ve figured that out,” Marx said dryly. “But they can kill people, even people who are under her spell.”

“You can’t shoot those people! They’re victims,” Grandma said, shifting beside me in agitation. “They’re not responsible for their actions—Neferet is.”

“Yes, ma’am, I know that and I don’t want to shoot anybody, but if Neferet commands a group of her minions, or whatever you want to call them, to attack us or any of Tulsa’s citizens, we’re going to be forced to stop them.”