Kalona’s voice mocked her as the scene echoed from her memory.

The winged immortal hadn’t even bothered to turn to look at her. He’d called over his shoulder, “Yes, I remember. I also remember that you could not keep me bound to you.”

Traitorous, forsworn bastard! Neferet’s memory shifted, replaying the night she’d discover him, too badly wounded from Zoey’s tantrum to protect himself, yet still selfish and ambitious enough to agree do her bidding and be bound by the oath she’d conjured: “If you, Kalona, Fallen Warrior of Nyx, break this oath and fail in my sworn quest to destroy Zoey Redbird, fledgling High Priestess of Nyx, I shall hold dominion over your spirit for as long as you are an immortal.”

Kalona had failed to destroy the fledgling, though he had somehow broken his bondage to her. Trying to drown the indignity of the memory, Neferet lifted the goblet to her lips—and realization hit her with such force that her hand convulsed and she snapped the stem, sending wine and crystal shards all over her marble floor. Kalona hadn’t broken his oath. The oath could not bind him because the conditions of it no longer applied.

“That fool! He has shown me the path to his destruction.” Neferet ignored the glass that cut her feet and the tendrils of Darkness that lapped at her pooling blood. She was immortal—cuts and blood meant little to her.

She lifted the telephone and punched reception’s number.

Kylee answered on the first ring. “How may I do your bidding, Goddess?”

“Send Judson to me. I believe he can help me with a small matter, and you can help me with another. Do I remember correctly that that woman made special annotations regarding the personalities of the more attractive of my worshippers, their likes and dislikes and such?”

“Yes, Goddess. That woman took notes on everyone she thought you might value.”

“Excellent! Go over the lists and find the nicest of my supplicants.”

“The nicest, Goddess?”

“Yes, Kylee. Are you having difficulty understanding English?”

“No—no, Goddess.”

“Good. Then do as I command. Bring me my supplicants who that woman noted as the most kindhearted, those whose intentions are always good.”

“It will be as you command, Goddess.”

“Of course it will be,” she said. “But don’t bring those people to me yet. I need to speak with Judson first. He will let you know when I am ready to receive my most loving supplicants. At that time, I want you and all of the male members of my staff to escort the group to my penthouse.”

“Yes, Goddess.”

Neferet hung up the telephone. Her victorious laughter mixed with the scent and taste of her blood, and her children rejoiced.

Aphrodite

“Seriously, Z, you’ve got to stop the whole coitus interruptus thing. It’s getting on my nerves.” Aphrodite untangled herself from Darius, straightening her clothes but not getting off his lap.

“You weren’t doing it. Yet. So it’s not technically coitus interruptus,” Stark said.

“How do you even know what she’s talking about?” Z asked him.

“Big Bang Theory.” Stark grinned his ridiculous, cocky smile at Zoey. “Now who’s the dork?”

“Oh, for shit’s sake, you’re both dorks.”

“Oh, I think I get it,” Zoey said, and her cheeks turned pink. “Uh, sorry. Stark and I just wanted to grab a few minutes by ourselves. We didn’t think anybody would be over in this part of campus. You know, too close to Nyx’s Temple for the humans to wander over here, too far from the wall for Aurox or Kalona to patrol.”

“And too near dawn for noisy fledglings to be wandering around. Yeah, exactly what Darius and I thought, too,” Aphrodite said.

“Great minds think alike, my beauty,” Darius said, scooting both of them over so that there was room on the blanket. “Would you sit with us?”

“Being as you already interrupted our plans,” Aphrodite muttered.

“That’d be great,” Zoey said, sitting beside Stark, hand in hand. “I don’t feel like I’ve had a break since we ate after the ritual.”

“Humans are a lot of work,” Darius said.

“And there are so many of them.” Aphrodite shuddered delicately.

“I wish Grandma was here. She knows how to deal with large groups of people. She’d have them all weaving herbs and beating drums,” Z said.

“Well, I heard Lenobia say something about beating, but I’m pretty damn sure it wasn’t drums she had in mind,” Aphrodite said, rubbing at a headache that had just begun in her forehead.

“Yeah, she’s pissed that they’re so close to the horses. She and Travis are doing double duty to keep those kids out of the stables,” Stark said.

“I should never have told those mommies that the House of Night vampyres didn’t want to eat them. I should have told them we all wanted to eat them, so they’d better take their Valiums and stay quiet,” Aphrodite said, wishing the damn headache would go away. “I even heard Damien almost lose his temper when some brat asked if he could see his fangs—six times after Queen Damien had already explained, patiently, that real vampyres don’t have fangs.”

Zoey was laughing when Aphrodite realized her headache was causing her vision to blur and narrow. She only had time to reach for Darius when the vision crashed over her.

Aphrodite was in the sky, looking down at a wall of clouds rolling into Tulsa. It was night, but sky lightning was flashing so often that it was illuminating the entire skyline. Nyx, I don’t mean to be a bitch, but T-Town can watch Travis Meyer and The News on 6 for a weather report. It doesn’t take a vision to clue Okies in about wicked weather—we’re down with that.

The scene shifted, focused on downtown, and something fell out of the sky. Suddenly Aphrodite wasn’t an outside observer anymore. She was inside the body as it tumbled, end over end, hurtling toward the earth below. She tried to make her wings work (wings?), but they wouldn’t obey her. She tried to brace herself, but the shock of hitting the ground reverberated throughout her body, breaking her bones. Gasping but unable to draw in air, her fading gaze found her body. There was a bloody hole where her heart should have been and her broken wings lay useless, their raven black color turning red as her life’s blood seeped from her body.

No, she thought as the mind she’d inhabited lost consciousness. Not my body. Kalona’s body!

Warn him, so that he may choose freely … The Goddess’s voice pulled her from Kalona’s dying body and was her conduit to return to herself.

“Aphrodite! Talk to us! Aphrodite!” Zoey was holding her hand. She couldn’t see her, of course, because her eyes were filled with blood, but she knew Z was there. Just like she knew Darius’s arms were around her and Stark was standing protectively over them.

“Kalona,” she gasped. “You have to take me to Kalona.”

“You need water and your bed,” Zoey said, her voice sounding shaky. “And we need to get all this blood cleaned up.”

Aphrodite knew it was bad. She could feel the warm wetness that had washed down her face and soaked through her shirt. She ignored it and squeezed Z’s hand—hard. “Afterward. Get me to Kalona now.”

“He’s somewhere walking the perimeter. I’ll find him,” Stark said.

“I’ll carry her to Nyx’s Temple. That’s the closest building to here,” Darius said.

“And I’ll stay with her,” Z said, still holding her hand even though Darius had stood and was already moving.

“And I’ll just lay here and dream about the Xanax and wine that wait for me,” Aphrodite said, resting her head against Darius’s strong shoulder, keeping her eyes shut tightly against the pounding pain.

Kalona

“Kalona! You have to come with me. Aphrodite needs you right now!” Shouting, Stark ran up to Kalona as he and Detective Marx were making a perimeter sweep and discussing options for housing the increasing number of humans who were seeking sanctuary at the House of Night. Kalona had been enjoying Marx’s company and his sense of humor, and feeling renewed and well-rested after spending time on the roof of Nyx’s Temple. Stark’s appearance changed everything.