Awakened (House of Night #8)(34)

He ignored the coldness of the stone beneath him and felt only the strength of the limitless sky above and the ancient magicks that floated free and alluring within the night.

Kalona closed his eyes and slowly ... slowly ... breathed in and then out. As the breath left him Kalona also released all thoughts of Neferet. When he drew in his next breath he pulled, within his lungs his body and his spirit, the invisible power that filled the night over which his immortal blood gave him authority. And then he drew to him thoughts of Zoey.

Her eyes--the color of onyx. Her lush mouth. The strong stamp of her Cherokee foremothers that informed her features and so reminded him of that other maiden whose soul she shared and whose body had once captured and comforted him. "Find Zoey Redbird." The fact that Kalona pitched his voice low made it no less commanding as he conjured from his blood and the night a power so ancient it made the world seem young. "Take my spirit to her. Follow our connection. If she is in the Realm of Dreams, she cannot hide from me. Our spirits know each other too well. Now go!"

This leave-taking of his spirit was nothing like what had befallen him when Darkness, bidden by Neferet, had stolen his soul. This was a gentle lifting --a pleasurable sensation of flight that was familiar and enjoyable. It wasn't sticky tentacles of Darkness he followed, but instead the swirling energy that hid in the folds between the currents of the sky.

Kalona's released spirit moved swiftly and with purpose to the east at a speed not comprehensible by the mortal mind.

He hesitated briefly when he reached the Isle of Skye, surprised that the protective spell Sgiach had laid on the island so long ago could give even him pause. She was, indeed, a powerful vampyre. He thought what a pity it was that she had not answered his call instead of Neferet.

Then he wasted no more time on idle thoughts and his spirit swatted away Sgiach's barrier and let himself float down, slowly but resolutely, toward the vampyre queen's castle. His spirit was given pause once more as it passed the grove that grew lush and deep and close to the castle of the Great Taker of Heads and her Guardians.

The Goddess's fingerprint was all over it. It made his soul quiver with a pain that transcended the physical realm. The grove didn't stop him. It didn't forbid him from passing. It simply caused him an agonizing moment of remembrance.

So like Nyx's grove that I will never again see ...

Kalona turned from the verdant proof of Nyx's blessing on someone else and allowed his spirit to be drawn to Sgiach's castle. He would find Zoey there. If she was sleeping, he would follow their connection and enter the mystical Realm of Dreams.

As he passed over its grounds he glanced with approval at the human heads and the obvious battleready state of the ancient place. Sinking down through the thick gray stone that was speckled with the sparkling marble of the isle, Kalona considered how much he'd rather be living there instead of the gilded cage of the Mayo's penthouse in Tulsa.

He needed to complete this task and force Zoey back to the House of Night. Like moves in an intricate game of chess, this was just one more queen that had to be captured so that he could be free.

His spirit sank lower and lower. Using his soul sight, the power through which his immortal blood made visible to him the layers of reality that lifted and shifted, roiled and surged all around the mortal world, he focused on the Realm of Dreams, that fantastical sliver of reality that wasn't completely corporeal, nor was it only spirit, and pulled taut the thread of connection he'd been following, knowing that when the cacophony of colors shifting realities caused cleared, he would be joined to Zoey there.

Kalona was relaxed and confident and therefore utterly unprepared for what happened next. He felt an unfamiliar tug, as if his spirit had become grains of sand being forced through the narrow funnel of an hourglass.

Sight first, his senses began to stabilize. What he saw shocked him so badly he almost lost the thread of the spirit journey altogether and was jolted back to his body. Zoey smiled up at him with an expression filled with warmth and trust.

By the shades of reality surrounding him, Kalona knew immediately he hadn't entered the Realm of Dreams. He stared down at Zoey, hardly daring to breathe.

And the sense of touch returned to him. She was wrapped in his arms, her naked body, pliant and warm, pressed against him. She touched his face, letting her fingers linger over his lips. His hips automatically lifted to her and she made a small sound of pleasure as her eyes fluttered closed and she raised her lips to his.

Just before she kissed him and he settled deeply within her body, Kalona's sense of hearing returned.

"I love you, too, Stark," she said, and began to make love to him. The pleasure was so unexpected--the shock so intense--that the connection was severed. Breath ragged, Kalona pulled himself to his feet and leaned against the rooftop balustrade. Blood pumped hot and fast through his body. He shook his head in disbelief.

"Stark." Kalona spoke the name to the night, reasoning aloud. "The connection I followed wasn't to Zoey at all. The connection was to Stark." He understood, and then felt a fool for not anticipating what had happened. "In the Otherworld I breathed the spirit of my immortal soul within him. Some of that spirit has, obviously, remained." The smile that broke over the immortal's face was as fierce as his raging blood. "And now I have access to Zoey Redbird's Guardian and Oath Sworn Warrior."

Kalona spread his wings, threw back his head, and let his triumphant laughter ring into the night.