Hidden (House of Night #10)(53)

"Your call is not a surprise, my heartless one."

Neferet heard his voice in her head, as always, but she did not feel his awe-inspiring presence. She dropped her arms, turning, searching for him. "My lord, I cannot see you."

"You need something."

Still not understanding why he had not appeared to her, Neferet did not allow her confusion to show. Instead she responded seductively. "What I need is you, my lord."

Instantly, the thickest of the snake-like minions of Darkness detached itself from the others that slithered over her ankles. It whipped around her waist, slicing through her smooth skin and drawing a perfect circle of scarlet. The other tendrils crawled up her legs, moving to feed from the warm wash of her blood.

Neferet was very careful not to cry out.

"Lying to me is not wise, my heartless one."

"I need more power," Neferet admitted. "I want to kill Zoey Redbird, and she is well protected."

"Well protected and the beloved of a goddess. Even you are not ready to openly destroy one such as her."

"Then help me. I beg it of you, my lord." Neferet cajoled, ignoring the razor-like thread that continued to cut into her skin and the other tendrils that were feeding from her.

"You disappoint me. I expected you to call me and beg for aid. You see, my heartless one, I should not be able to predict your actions. That bores me, and I have no desire to waste my powers on predictability and tedium." The voice battered relentlessly at her mind.

Neferet did not flinch.

"I will not ask you to forgive me," she said coldly. "You knew what I was when first we came together. I have not changed. I will not change."

"Indeed, and that is why I have always called you my heartless one." The voice was less of a violation. Now it was tinged with amusement. "You remind me of how well we began. You were such a delicious surprise. Surprise me again, and I will consider coming to your aid. Until then, I grant you control over the bits of Darkness that choose to remain with you. Do not despair. Many will choose you. You feed them so well. I will see you again, my heartless one, when ... if ... you pique my interest enough for me to return..." His voice faded as the thick tendril encasing her waist detached itself and disappeared into the night.

Neferet collapsed. She lay on the cold stone balcony, watching the threads of Darkness lap her blood. She did not stop them. She let them feed from her as she stroked them, encouraging them, taking stock of how many remained true to her.

If the bull would not help her, Neferet would help herself. Zoey Redbird had been a problem for far too long. For far too long she had allowed that child to interfere with her plans. She would not kill her, though. That would bring down the wrath of Nyx too soon. Unlike the Vampyre High Council, a goddess could not be ignored. No, Neferet thought, I need not kill Zoey. All I need do is create a being to do the job for me. The Vessel failed once because of an imperfect sacrifice. With the perfect sacrifice I will not fail.

"I am immortal. I do not need the bull to create. All I need is a sacred sacrifice and power. I have learned the spell. Aurox was only the beginning..." Neferet stroked the threads of Darkness and allowed them to continue feeding from her.

Enough, she assured herself, there are just enough left.

Zoey

"Goddess knows I hate to say it, but I was wrong. This is like watching The stupid Bachelorette." Aphrodite shook her head and rolled her eyes. She, Stevie Rae, and I were walking slowly to the parking lot and the waiting bus full of kids. We were moving slowly because we were super busy gawking at Damien and the reporter guy, Adam. The two of them were standing by the Fox 23 news van smiling and chattering.

"Shhh!" I whispered at Aphrodite. "They're gonna hear you and that will embarrass Damien."

"Oh, please," Aphrodite snorted. "Gay boy's all atwitter, or atitter, or whatever. He's not paying any attention to us."

"I'm just glad he's flirting," I said.

"Look! They're takin' out their phones!" Stevie Rae gushed in a whisper that was too exclamation pointed to be whispery.

"I was wrong again," Aphrodite said. "It's not like watching The Bachelorette. It's like watching the National Geographic Channel."

"I think he's a cutie patootie," Stevie Rae said.

"The guy talking to Damien?" Shaylin asked as she joined us.

"Yeah. We think they're makin' a date," Stevie Rae said, still gawking.

"He has soft, pretty colors," Shaylin said. "Actually, they go real well with Damien's."

"What, are their rainbows merging?" Aphrodite snorted sarcastically.

Shaylin frowned. "They don't have rainbow colors. That's such a horrible stereotype. They have summer sky colors-blues and yellows. Damien also has some billowy white stuff that looks a lot like cumulus clouds."

"Oh, for shit's sake, it has no sense of humor at all," Aphrodite said.

"Aphrodite, you gotta stop callin' Shaylin it. It's not nice," Stevie Rae said.

"So, for future reference, how not nice is it on the retard-mean-word scale?" She lifted a questioning blond brow at Stevie Rae. "Is it more asstard, f**ktard, or old school, hardcore, retard not nice?"

"You're the High Priestess, but I say answering her at all just encourages her. You know, like what happens when you pick up a screaming toddler-they keep on screaming," Shaylin said, sounding very matter-of-fact.