Redeemed

Aurox grasped his forearm. “When this is over, I’d like it if we could share a beer, or six.”

Stark gri

“Great,” I said, shaking my head at them both. “Death—destruction—our Goddess speaking—and you guys want beer.”

“Not right now, Zo. Afterward,” Aurox said in Heath-speak, and then he went down the stairs, taking them three at a time.

I turned to Stark, but before I could say anything he pulled me into his arms and kissed me. “Just live,” he said when he finally released me.

“I will if you will,” I said.

“It’s a deal,” he repeated.

Then a movement over his shoulder caught my eye. Under the streetlight at the Twenty-first and Peoria Street intersection, tendrils of Darkness swarmed.

“She’s here,” I said. I gripped my Seer Stone, thinking … thinking … And then I knew—at least part of what I needed to do. “It has to be like on Skye. The Fey are attached to Old Magick!”

“What can I do to help you?”

“I need something sharp.”

“No worries. I got this handled.” Stark sprinted to the Hummer, yanking open the door and taking out the duffel bag full of arrows he’d brought. Then he was ru

“She’s vain. Remember that. Aim for her face,” I said. “That’ll really piss her off.”

Then all my attention was focused on her tendrils of Darkness. They were swarming into the park, like black oil spilling over the ocean’s surface. In the center of them, being carried forward with their tide of evil, was Neferet.

I shouldn’t have been surprised that she’d changed. We’d all changed since the last time I’d seen her. I just hadn’t expected that the madness inside of her would eventually seep out so visibly.

Neferet was bigger than she had been before. Her arms and legs were out of proportion with the rest of her. They had elongated, especially her fingers. They moved continuously, restlessly, as if she couldn’t keep herself still.

A spider! Oh, Goddess, she reminds me of a spider!

“Spirit, come to me,” I said before fear overwhelmed me. Instantly, I felt the infilling of my favorite element, soothing my nerves, calming my fear.

Nyx, I’ll do the rest if you just please help me to be wise and strong.

The Goddess’s voice washed through my mind along with spirit, filling me and chasing away the last of my fear. You have my blessing, Zoey Redbird. Remember, love is the strongest of them all …

Confidently, I stepped to the edge of the stone stairs.

“Neferet! It’s Zoey Redbird. I’m here because I’ve had enough of your bullshit. Your killing time is over. Now.”

Neferet’s emerald gaze focused on me right away. Her smile was reptilian. “Don’t you mean you’ve had enough of my bullpoopie, you vapid, ridiculous child?”

“Actually, no,” I said. “Unlike you, I mean what I say. Bullshit it is because bullshit you are.”

“How very grown-up of you,” she sneered. “And what a lovely surprise it is to find you so quickly and easily. I thought I’d have to pry you from the middle of your circle after each of your friends willingly and stupidly sacrificed themselves for you.”

“Well, Neferet, you are wrong. Again.”

While she laughed at me and glided over the sidewalk and into the park, I drew a deep breath.

I can do this. I know that there is Old Magick in Tulsa, and where there is the most ancient of magicks, there is also the Fey.

I lifted the Seer Stone, and thinking about what Sgiach had taught me, as well as what Nyx had reminded me of, I sliced the arrowhead across my palm. I cupped my hand, welling the blood, then lifted my Seer Stone, saying, “Sprites of spirit! Come to me!” I blew a big puff of breath over my palm, shooting a cascade of blood at the Seer Stone. As if the blood were caught in a vortex, it swept through the center of the stone, and as it came out the other side there was an explosion of bright purple light.

I smiled at the sprites. “Thank you for hearing me. I ask one thing of the Fey. Shed your Light into that Darkness.” I pointed at the nest of writhing creatures surrounding Neferet.

The sprites shot away from me. Seconds later purple lights exploded all around Neferet, sending blood and gore skyward.

“No!” Neferet screamed. With her u

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Zoey

Neferet’s command released total chaos. Threads of Darkness moved in a wave of teeth and writhing, muscular bodies toward the stone stairs.

There was a deafening roar, and Aurox rushed from behind the rocks that had been concealing him. He didn’t hesitate. He charged straight into the thick of them, goring with his horns, tearing and stomping with his cloven hooves.

He was as terrifying as he was magnificent.

“The betrayer vessel!” Neferet shrieked at him. “Broken! You will forever be broken!”

Unable to speak, Aurox’s only response was a roar, as he kept spreading carnage around him.

It was hard for me to look away from him. As I stared I realized that he, too, had changed.

“His horns,” I shouted to Stark. “They aren’t that sickening white anymore!”

“No,” Stark said. “They’re black, like Nyx’s night.”

“And like the other bull. The good one.”

“Stay sharp, Z. Good bull or not, they’re getting past him,” Stark told me. “Watch Neferet. The second she’s close enough, get that circle cast.” Then Stark raised his bow and said, “Kill those bastards of Darkness!”

Arrows rained down on them, all around Aurox. But Stark’s aim was true. The bull was not pierced by them, though tendrils of Darkness all around him were skewered to the ground.

“More!” Neferet called into the night. “I need more of my children!”

It seemed that the shadows vomited Darkness. The things swarmed from everywhere.

And still Neferet wasn’t close enough.

“Her face! Do it!” I told him.

“Strike Neferet’s vanity,” Stark commanded as he pulled his bow taut and let fly two arrows at once.

Both sailed in a beautiful arch, falling in perfect timing with one another. Together they sliced her cheeks, scoring bloody, gaping wounds through her sapphire tattoos.

Screaming over and over, Neferet staggered, holding her face in her hands, trying to keep the skin on her cheeks from flapping open.

I’d thought wounding her would at least confuse her tendrils of Darkness, make them pause if she was unable to call out commands.

I’d been wrong.

Wounding her worked on them like spurs on a horse. Suddenly they were everywhere, and Aurox’s roar was no longer one of challenge but of pain.

“Zoey! Get back to the Hummer! Lock yourself in!” Stark yelled at me as he shot his last arrow. “I’ll follow you!”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said.

He looked up at me and smiled grimly. “Then neither am I.” Stark planted his feet wide and held his fists up, ready to battle the tendrils with his bare hands.

Instantly, a longsword materialized before him, glistening with deadly beauty.

Stark’s hand closed around the Guardian Sword’s hilt, and with a triumphant shout, he began slicing through the tendrils of Darkness that dared try to get past him.

And still Neferet wasn’t close enough.

Grimly, I slashed the arrowhead across my other palm. This time deeper, causing my blood to rush into my hand. I held up the Seer Stone. “Sprites of air, fire, water, and earth—come to me!” I blew my blood through the center of the stone, and Fey appeared all around me in the forms of birds and fairies, merefolk and forest nymphs. “No matter the cost, I’ll pay it. Just get me to Neferet.”