Burned (House of Night #7)(27)

"Kalona is there, and he's definitely not a High Priestess," Stark said.

"Even those of us who do not believe he is Erebus come to earth know that this being you call Kalona is an immortal who has somehow arrived here from the Otherworld. The rules that bind a Warrior, or even a male vampyre who is not a Warrior, do not apply to him."

"He is bound, though," Aphrodite said, leaning forward with urgency. "I can see his chains. His body is covered by them."

"Tell me what you've seen, Prophetess," Thanatos said.

Aphrodite hesitated.

"Tell her everything," Damien said. Aphrodite met his eyes. "We have to trust someone, or it won't end up any different for Stark and Zoey than it has for those other Warriors and High Priestesses."

"We might as well trust Death," Stark said. "Because, one way or another, that's what I'm going to have to face to get to Zoey."

Aphrodite looked from Stark's pale face to Darius. "I agree."

"Me, too," said Jack.

"Yeah," said Shaunee.

"Tell her everything," added Erin.

"All right," Aphrodite said. She gave Thanatos a wry smile. "So, I better start with Neferet, and you better sit down."

Chapter Ten

Stark

Stark thought it was pretty impressive that Thanatos kept her shock to a minimum as Aphrodite, with some help from Damien, explained everything to the High Priestess, beginning with Zoey's entrance to the House of Night, going through the discovery of the red fledglings, Kalona's rising, their slow realization of the depth of Neferet's evil, and finally finishing up with the conversation she'd had with Stevie Rae on the phone.

At the story's conclusion, Thanatos stood and walked over to stare down at Zoey's body. When the High Priestess finally spoke, it seemed she was talking to Z more than to them.

"So from the beginning this has been a battle between Light and Darkness, only until now it has been fought mostly in the physical realm."

"Light and Darkness? It sounds like you're using those two words as titles," said Damien.

"Very astute of you, young fledgling," Thanatos said.

"That's what Stevie Rae was doing, too. Using Darkness like a title," Aphrodite said.

"Titles? Like they're two people?" Jack asked.

"Not people - that's too limiting. Think of them more as immortals who are so powerful that they can manipulate energy to such an extent that spirit can be made tangible," Thanatos said.

"You mean like Nyx is Light and Kalona, or at least what he represents, is Darkness?" Damien said.

"It is more accurate to say that Nyx is allied with Light. The same can be said for Kalona and Darkness."

"Okay, I'm not Miss Perfect Schoolgirl, but I'm smart, and I actually did pay attention in class. Most of the time. I haven't heard of any of this stuff," Aphrodite said.

"Neither have I," Damien said.

"And that's saying something, 'cause Damien is definitely Miss Perfect Schoolgirl," said Erin.

"Totally," said Shaunee.

Thanatos sighed and turned from Zoey to face the rest of the room. "Yes, well, it is an ancient belief that I don't think was ever fully accepted by our society, or at least the Priestesses of our society."

"Why? What's wrong with it?" Aphrodite asked.

"It was based on struggle and violence and the clash of the raw powers of good and evil."

Aphrodite snorted, "You mean guy stuff."

Thanatos's brows lifted. "I do."

"Hang on. What's so guy-stuff-like about believing in good fighting evil?" Stark said.

"It's more than a simple belief that there is good and that it should fight the evil in the world. It's a personification of Light and Darkness at their most elemental level, as forces that are so absorbed with themselves that one cannot exist without the other though they constantly try to consume one another."

Thanatos sighed again at the blank looks the kids were giving her. "One of the earliest representations of Light and Darkness was of Light being a massive black bull and Darkness being an enormous white bull."

"Huh? Shouldn't the white be Light and the black be Darkness?" Jack asked.

"One would think so, but it is thus that they were represented in our ancient scrolls. It was written that each creature, Light and Darkness, carried something for which the other would always long. Think of the bulls, swollen with the power they wield, meeting in eternal combat, each struggling to get something from the other it could never attain without destroying itself. I saw a depiction of their battle once when I was a young High Priestess, and I've never forgotten how raw and violent it was - disturbingly so. The

bulls' horns were locked. Their powerful bodies strained to reach the other, blood spewed, nostrils flared. It was a deadlock that was frightening in its intensity - the painting itself seemed to vibrate with power."

"Masculine power," Darius said. "I've seen that depiction, too, when I was in training to become a Warrior. It decorated the cover of some of the ancient journals written by great Warriors from our past."

"Masculine power. I can see why the vamp leaders let that bull stuff fade away," Erin said.