Hidden (House of Night #10)(71)

Had he imagined his Goddess there? No! I remember her touch-her warmth-her kindness. Nyx had been there. Kalona willed himself to believe it.

"Kalona, I cannot say that I am unmoved by your supplication. You seem to finally be learning how to speak to a real goddess. Perhaps I will forgive your betrayal and allow you to love me again. Under one condition."

"Anything." Kalona spoke the word to his invisible Goddess, hoping that she was still present, still listening.

"This time you will have to bring me Zoey Redbird. Though I don't want her killed, at least not yet. I've decided tormenting her would be far more amusing." Neferet walked slowly to Kalona and let her fingernails scrape across his chest, breaking his skin and drawing thin lines of scarlet. Neferet turned her hand so that his blood dripped down her fingers and into her palm. Cupping the blood in her hand, she leaned forward, licking his chest and closing the wounds. Smiling, Neferet continued past him. "I had forgotten how delicious you taste. Follow me and we shall see if the rest of you is still as pleasing."

Feeling utterly numb, Kalona did not move. In the wake of Nyx's touch, he had forgotten Sylvia Redbird. He wanted nothing except his Goddess.

I cannot bear Neferet's touch. I cannot, even in pretense, open myself to a perversion of Nyx ever again.

It was the croaking of a raven that returned his focus. He glanced behind him. The sun had risen fully, silhouetting the bird perched on the edge of the stone balustrade. It watched him with knowing eyes.

Rephaim? Kalona mentally shook himself. I swore not to disappoint Thanatos or Nyx, and I will not disappoint my son, either. Yet I cannot bear the touch of this twisted version of my Goddess.

Kalona couldn't move. He was confused. His mind was a battlefield; his thoughts enemies of themselves.

"What is wrong with you?" Neferet was standing just inside the shattered glass door to her penthouse. Her eyes were narrowed with suspicion. She lifted her hand. Her palm was still cupped-still holding his blood.

"Come, a few of you. Feed. I may need you to show Kalona how very much I have changed. I no longer tolerate disobedience."

Kalona watched the snake-like tendrils of Darkness slither from a corner of the main room. They engulfed Neferet's hand, appearing to absorb it as well as his blood. Kalona knew the tendrils must be causing her pain. They pulsed and writhed as they fed, but Neferet stroked them with her other hand, almost lovingly.

Kalona looked away. Neferet disgusted him.

He heard the moan then. At first he believed the sound came from Neferet, but when he glanced back at her, she was still smiling and stroking the threads of Darkness. The moan sounded again. Kalona looked around the room. Neferet had no electric lights on. The floor-to-ceiling windows were thick stained glass and, though the penthouse was on the top of the tall building, they let in little light. Neferet had lit a few thick, white pillar candles. Their flickering flames served as the only real illumination in the suite. Kalona peered within, but saw nothing except shadows and Darkness.

Another tendril quivered from an especially dark corner of the main room, causing a break in the inky shadows. Something within the blackness stirred. There was a slight glint of silver momentarily catching and reflecting the candlelight. Kalona blinked, not certain he could trust his vision. The immortal focused on the darkness and it took form. It seemed to be shaped like a cocoon hanging from the ceiling. Kalona shook his head, not understanding. Silver within the darkness flashed again, and Kalona saw something else reflecting light within the cocoon-like shape. Eyes-a human's open eyes. Everything came together for Kalona when he met her eyes.

The winged immortal stepped into the room.

Sylvia Redbird shifted and, in a whispery, tremulous voice mumbled, "No more ... no more..." as the tendrils reshaped, curling around her, cutting into her skin. Her blood dripped to join the pool that had already formed below her cage. Oddly, the tendrils of hungry Darkness did not feed from the ready feast below them. As Kalona watched, Sylvia shifted her body again, this time pressing outward with her arms. When her forearms, which were ringed with turquoise stones and silver bracelets, came into contact with a tendril, the living strand quivered and pulled back quickly, giving off black smoke and shriveling so that it released and another tendril slithered to take its place.

"Ah, I see you've discovered my newest pet."

Kalona made himself look away from Sylvia Redbird. The tendrils of Darkness were done feeding, but they were still wrapped around Neferet's hand and arm, grotesquely mimicking Sylvia's protective bracelets.

"You will, of course, recognize Zoey Redbird's grandmother. Pity she was ready for me when I came for her. She had time to gather her ancestors' earth power in a protective spell." Neferet sighed, clearly irritated. "It has something to do with the turquoise and the silver. It's proving an impediment to reaching her, though my lovely children of Darkness are doing some damage."

"If nothing else, the old woman will bleed to death," Kalona said.

"I'm sure she will. Eventually. Pity that her blood is good for nothing. It's absolutely undrinkable. No matter. I'll wait her out."

"You intend to kill her?"

"I intended to sacrifice her, but as you can see that has turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated. No matter. I am a Goddess. I adapt easily to change. Perhaps I'll keep her, make her my pet. That would truly torture her granddaughter." Neferet shrugged. "No matter-kill her or use her. It will all end the same. She is, after all, nothing but a mortal shell."