Hunted (House of Night #5)(104)

"I can feel the power of this place," Aphrodite said.

"Wow, that statue of Mary is really, really pretty," Jack said. He and Damien were holding hands and gazing up.

"Check out the sidewalk--it's perfect," Stevie Rae said.

I looked down. The sidewalk that led from where we'd left the horses changed when it reached the front of the shrine. Here it got lots bigger and formed a circle. I grinned at Stevie Rae. "It's definitely perfect."

"What is it you need us to do, Zoey?" Sister Mary Angela asked, but before I could answer, the roar of an engine pulled everyone's attention back to the bird-infested trees and the road beyond.

With growing fear, I watched the big black Hummer, the very one I'd been taken back to the school in, leave the road. Gunning its engine, the vehicle lurched down the ditch, then up the other side and made its growling way through the grove of trees, causing the Raven Mockers to beat their wings and croak in a frenzy of encouragement.

"Sister, stay close to me," I said. "Aphrodite, Stevie Rae, I need you beside me, too."

"We're here," Aphrodite said as Erik and Darius stepped out of the way and the two of them moved into position beside me.

"I need Grandma," I said.

"She's coming. Do not fear," Sister Mary Angela said.

Finally, the Hummer rolled to a stop, so close to the horses that they snorted at it and backed away until they were standing under the carport. The doors to the vehicle opened, and Kalona and Neferet stepped out together. She was wearing all black--a floor-sweeping silk dress with a neckline that plunged to expose the onyx winged pendant resting between her br**sts. A dark aura pulsed around her, making her thick hair lift and move around her shoulders. "Holy shit," Aphrodite whispered.

"Yeah, I know," I said grimly.

Kalona strode at her side. He was wearing black pants and nothing else. As he moved away from the Hummer with Neferet, his wings rustled and opened a little, showing just a hint of their magnificence.

"Oh, blessed Mary!" Beside me Sister Mary Angela gasped.

"Don't look in his eyes!" I whispered to her. "He can have a hypnotic effect on people. Don't let him get to you."

She hesitated, studying the winged man, and then said, "He does not draw me, but I do pity him. He has certainly fallen."

"How old does he look to you?" I couldn't help asking her.

"Ancient. Older than the earth."

I didn't have time to tell her he looked about eighteen to me; it was then that the driver got out of the Hummer and joined Kalona and Neferet. The driver was Stark. His eyes found mine instantly, and ever so slightly, he bowed his head to me.

I heard Stevie Rae's quick intake breath of surprise and the movement of the red fledglings behind us.

"That's the kid that shot me, isn't it?" she said.

"Yes," I said.

"He's Changed," Stevie Rae said. "He's a red vampyre."

"He's also a f**king rat," Aphrodite muttered, then hastily added, "Sorry, Sister."

"Do not trust him, Zoey." Darius's voice came from directly behind me. "You see where he has placed his allegiance."

"Darius," I said sternly, without turning to look at him. "You need to trust me, and that means trust my judgment."

"Sometimes your judgment is wacked," Erin said.

"Not when I'm listening to Nyx," I said.

"Are you listening now?" Shaunee said.

I stared at Stark, trying to see any hint of darkness around him. There was nothing--just Stark and the way his eyes met mine steadily. "I am absolutely listening to Nyx. Now, form the circle up around us." Instantly the Twins and Damien moved out of the crowd behind me. Damien walked to the eastern edge of the cement circle. I felt rather than saw Shaunee move into place behind me, and Erin situated herself on our left. For a second I was concerned that I would have to s f u sy&tep away from Aphrodite, Stevie Rae, and Sister Mary Angela and take earth's place, but then I realized that Mary's Grotto was firmly positioned in the north, and that the beautiful silver thread that bound our circle now included her shrine.

"You cannot maintain that circle for eternity," Kalona said as he walked slowly toward our little group. "I, on the other hand, can maintain my pursuit of you for eternity."

"My fledglings," Neferet said, walking beside Kalona and, except for the darkness that throbbed around her, she looked beautiful and serene and very High Priestess-like. "You have allowed Zoey's misguided quest for power to put you in a perilous situation, but it is not too late for you. You need simply to renounce her, close the circle, and you will be accepted back in the bosom of your High Priestess."

"If there wasn't a nun here, I'd tell you what you could do with your nasty bosom," Aphrodite said.

"Zoey isn't the one who's turned away from Nyx," Erin said.

"Yeah, we all know you have. It's just that Zoey was the first to know it," Shaunee said.

"See how her evil words have tainted your judgment?" Neferet sounded sad and very reasonable.

"And what has tainted my judgment?" Sister Mary Angela spoke up from beside me. "I barely know this child. Her words could not taint me, could not make me imagine the darkness I sense radiating from you."