"Merry meet." She had an accent that I couldn't place. It sounded Middle Eastern, but not. British, but not. Basically, it made her voice as rich as her skin. It filled the room.

We all automatically responded. "Merry meet."

Then she smiled, and the sudden resemblance between her and Nyx, who had just smiled at me moments before, made my knees feel disturbingly jellylike, so that I was relieved when she motioned for us to take our seats.

"She reminds me of Nyx," Aphrodite whispered to me.

Relieved I wasn't imagining things, I nodded. There was no time for anything else because Neferet recovered her composure enough to speak.

"I was, as I can see you all are, surprised and honored by Shekinah's rare and unannounced visit to our House of Night."

I heard Damien's sharp intake of breath and sent him a big question mark look. As per usual for Mr. Studious, he had paper and a well-sharpened number two pencil held at the ready position so he could, of course, take proper notes. He quickly wrote a few words and unobtrusively tilted the paper so I could read: SHEKINAH = HIGH PRIESTESS OF ALL VAMPS.

Ohmygod. No wonder Neferet looked freaked.

Shekinah continued to smile serenely while she motioned for Neferet to sit. Neferet bowed her head in a gesture that I was sure was meant to look respectful, but to me the movement seemed wooden, the respectful action forced. She sat, still holding herself with that odd rigidity. Shekinah remained standing as she began to speak.

"Were this a normal visit, I would, of course, have made the proper announcements of my coming and allowed you to prepare for it. This is far from a normal visit, which is only right because this is far from a normal Council Meeting. It is unusual enough to admit the Sons of Erebus, but I understand their presence here is needed in such a time of turmoil and danger. But even more unusual, there are fledglings present."

"They're here because—"

Shekinah raised her hand, instantly cutting off Neferet's explanation.

I couldn't figure out which freaked me out more—Shekinah's powerful, goddesslike presence, or the fact that she shut Neferet up so easily.

Shekinah's dark eyes went from the Twins to Damien, Aphrodite, and finally came to rest on me. "You are Zoey Redbird," she said.

I cleared my throat and tried not to fidget under her direct gaze. "Yes, ma'am."

"Then these four with you must be the fledglings who have been gifted with affinities for air, fire, water, and earth."

"Yes, ma'am, they are," I said.

She nodded. "I understand now why you have been included here." Shekinah tilted her head so that her eyes skewered Neferet. "You wish to use their power."

I stiffened at the same time Neferet did, although for a very different reason. Did Shekinah know what I had only begun to suspect—that Neferet was abusing her power and instigating a war between humans and vampyres?

Neferet spoke sharply, dropping all pretense of cordiality. "I wish to use every advantage the Goddess has given us to keep our people safe." The other vampyres on the Council shifted in their seats uncomfortably at her obvious lack of respect.

"Ah, and this is exactly why I am here." Completely unruffled by Neferet's attitude, Shekinah turned her gaze to the Council Members. "It was fortuitous I was making a private, unannounced visit to the House of Night in Chicago when word of your tragedies reached me. Had I been home in Venice, the news would have reached me too late to act upon, and these deaths could not have been prevented."

"Prevented, Priestess?" Lenobia spoke up. I glanced at her and saw the horse mistress looked much more relaxed than Neferet. Her tone was warm, though undeniably respectful.

"Lenobia, my dear. It is lovely to see you again," Shekinah said familiarly.

"It is always a joy to greet you, Priestess." Lenobia bowed her head, causing her unusual silver-blond hair to sweep around her like a delicate veil. "But, I think I speak for all of the Council when I say we're confused. Patricia Nolan and Loren Blake are dead. If you meant to prevent their murders, you are too late."

"I am, indeed," Shekinah said. "And their deaths make my heart heavy, but I am not too late to prevent more deaths." She paused and then said slowly and distinctly, "There will be no war between humans and vampyres."

Neferet shot to her feet, almost overturning her chair. "No war? So we are to let murderers go unpunished for their heinous crimes against us?"

I could feel more than see the tension that rippled through the Sons of Erebus as they mirrored Neferet's shock.

"Did you call in the police, Neferet?" Shekinah's question was asked in a soft, conversational tone, but I felt the power in it brush against my skin and stir something within me.

"Call in the human police and ask them to catch the human murderers so they can be taken before a human court? No, I did not."

"And you are so sure that you will not find justice with these humans that you are willing to begin a war."

Neferet's eyes narrowed and she glared at Shekinah, but didn't say anything in response. In the ugly silence, I thought about Detective Marx, the cop who had helped me when Heath had been taken by the creepy undead dead kids. He'd been incredible. He'd known I'd made up the story about a street person abducting Heath and killing the other two human kids, and he'd trusted me enough to believe me when I said the danger was over, and through the whole thing he'd covered my butt. Detective Marx had explained that his twin sister had been Changed, and he'd stayed close to her, so he definitely didn't hate vamps. He was a senior homicide detective—I knew he'd do everything he could to find whoever was killing vampyres. And he couldn't be the only one in Tulsa who was real and honest.

"Zoey Redbird, what do you know about this?"

Shekinah's question was a shock. Like she'd pulled a weird string inside me that made me talk, I blurted, "I know an honest human cop."

Shekinah smiled her Nyx smile again, and my freaked nerves calmed a little. "I think we all do, or at least I thought we all did until word came to me of this declaration of war—without so much as an attempt at allowing humans to police their own."

"Don't you see how impossible that even sounds?" Neferet's moss-colored eyes were flashing. "Police their own, as if they would!"

"They have, many times over the decades. You know that, Neferet." Shekinah's calm words contrasted dramatically with Neferet's passion and anger.

"They killed her, then they killed Loren." Neferet's voice was almost a hiss.

Shekinah gently touched Neferet's arm. "You are too close to this. You aren't thinking rationally."

Neferet jerked away from her touch. "I'm the only one of us thinking rationally!" she snapped. "Humans have gone unpunished for their vile deeds too long."

"Neferet, very little time has passed since these murders, and you haven't given the humans even the opportunity to attempt to punish their own. Instead you instantly judge them all as dishonest. Not all humans are, despite your own personal history."

As Shekinah spoke, I remembered that Neferet had told me that her Mark had been her salvation because her father had abused her for years. She'd been Marked almost one hundred years ago. Loren had been killed two days ago. Professor Nolan only the day before that. It was obvious to me that their murders weren't the only "vile deeds" Neferet was talking about. It seemed Shekinah had come to a similar conclusion.

"High Priestess Neferet, it is my conclusion that your judgment in the matter of these deaths is skewed. Your love for our fallen sister and brother, and desire for retribution, has clouded your reason. Your declaration of war against humans has been rejected by Nyx's Council."