Redeemed (House of Night #12)(69)

“What do ya mean?”

“Simple. Those two have pissed Neferet off badly enough that she’s going to go after them first. It’s good luck to be moved down on Neferet’s who-I’m-going-to-kill-and-torture list.”

“I have a feeling we’re always close to the top of that list,” said the girl who must be Zoey.

“Yeah, no shit,” said Aphrodite. “Okay, I’m outta here. And I’m not going back to the field house. Did I mention that even more humans flocked here while you guys were off having a good time spell casting?”

“Yes, Aphrodite, you’ve mentioned that.”

“Only about a gabillion times. Jeesh, you’re definitely our whine expert.”

“I’m going to go find Stark while he’s still conscious. I don’t care if I have to stand guard with him, he and I need some alone time.”

“I hear you on that, Z. I need to find Rephaim before dawn.”

“Why don’t you marry him and put a GPS chip in the ring. Then you could track him. It’d be like a National Geographic reality show…”

Bickering, the girls’ voices faded away, leaving Lynette alone and paralyzed by fear and drugs.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Neferet

“Sometimes I cannot help but wonder why I have the desire to be worshipped by humans at all.” Neferet lifted her lip in a sneer as she looked down from the mezzanine at the herd of people Kylee had commanded to gather in the ballroom. “Fat, ugly, and unimpressively dressed. I wager their blood tastes like sloth. Kylee, are you quite certain this is all of them?”

“Goddess, these are all of the people Lynette had on her list under the column headed UNATTRACTIVE AND NO SKILLS.”

Neferet rounded on the girl, backing her against the marble pillar and lifting her by her neck so that she gasped for air and twitched like a fish out of water. “I told you I never want to hear that woman’s name uttered in my company again!”

Kylee’s eyes grew wide and her face began turning colors. Neferet watched, enrapt by approaching death, when the head of the thread of Darkness that possessed the human began emerging from her mouth. The Goddess let loose her hold on the girl, allowing her to slide to the floor while she gulped air and the tendril, which disappeared within her again.

“You are right, my child. It wouldn’t do to lose one of you because of a human’s mistake.” She looked down at Kylee. “I forgive you. Do not let it happen again. Now, get me another bottle of wine while my children and I cull our herd.”

Neferet ignored Kylee as she crawled away. She crouched and stroked the tendrils that still clung to her, weak and wounded from being scorched by the wall of flame.

“They have dared to imprison me. They will pay—I vow it. For every one of you they harmed, I will sacrifice one hundred of them. And you may choose whether those hecatomb are human, fledgling, or vampyre.” Neferet stroked the injured tendrils and crooned to them. “And when I destroy the winged immortal, you shall all feast on his blood.” She stood and pointed at the group of nervous humans huddled together in the middle of the ballroom. “Until then, those of you who have been wounded, feed from this herd and restore yourselves.”

The scorched tendrils moved slowly. Their kills were awkward. They lacked the beautiful razor edges—the neatly severed limbs—with which her healthy children killed. Annoyingly, the screaming went on and on.

Quivering around her, eager to be loosed and join the feeding frenzy, her unharmed children pulsed and throbbed.

“Be patient, as am I. You shall all be fed.” Then the first of the humans died, and Neferet closed her eyes, concentrating on the rush of power she felt as she absorbed the humans’ energy, thinking, Sloth-like or not, they feed and renew us. They are not worthy sacrifices; they are necessary sacrifices.

Kylee returned with a new bottle of wine as the last of the herd stopped breathing. “Ah, excellent timing. I am going to retire to my penthouse.”

“Yes, Goddess.”

“Well, then, give me the bottle and go back to your receptionist’s station and await my next command.”

Kylee obeyed her instantly, and as Neferet entered her penthouse elevator alone, the Goddess shook her head in disgust. She wouldn’t tolerate hearing Lynette’s name spoken, but that didn’t change the fact that none of these humans could take her place.

Irritated, Neferet strode from the elevator, through her spotless penthouse, and out to the wide stone balcony.

The night was clear and cold. She approached the stone balustrade cautiously. Slowly, Neferet extended her hand. As it neared the edge of the railing, the air began to glow red, singeing her fingers.

Shrieking in anger, she hurled her glass of wine at the abomination. “Traitors! Betrayers! You will not cage me!” Unhindered, it flew through the barrier to shatter far below on the street.

Enraged, Neferet stalked around the balcony, careful to stay away from the balustrade. Power swirled around and through Neferet. What an irony it was! She was at her most powerful, and yet she was trapped.

There must be a way out of this prison, she reasoned as she returned inside her penthouse to replace her absent goblet and pour herself another glass of wine. Even the betrayer Kalona found a way out of the oath that bound him to do my bidding. Breaking this wall must be simpler than breaking an oath.