Kalona

It came back to him swiftly, like a lost friend returning to break bread once again. Kalona had been Nyx's chosen Warrior. He had spent lifetimes battling Darkness more fierce than this.

Yes, they multiplied when shattered, but break their necks and they could not instantly regenerate. They were lesser minions.

Kalona laughed as he whirled and struck and fought. It felt so good to be doing what he'd been created for again! In the midst of battle, he saw Neferet silently watching.

"You think to defeat me with puppets? For centuries I battled such as these in the Otherworld. You shall see that I can battle them for centuries once more."

"Oh, I am quite certain you can, betrayer. But she cannot." Neferet pointed her long finger at Sylvia Redbird who was still trapped and suffering within the cage of Darkness.

"With Kalona's blood filling you

Obey me, be faithful and true

The turquoise will no longer save her life

His power will be my avenging knife!"

The tendrils instantly obeyed Neferet. They released their suction-like hold on him and, bloated with his immortal blood, swarmed Sylvia Redbird. She screamed and lifted her arms, attempting to block their onslaught. The stones she wore still slowed them, that was obvious, but not enough. Through power stolen from Kalona's immortal blood, several tendrils were able to withstand the protection of the turquoise. They sliced into the old woman's flesh. Then, as the tendrils weakened and smoked, they slithered back to him to feed. Kalona fought them anew, but for every two he stopped two more broke through his defenses long enough to cut his flesh and drink his blood. Refortified, they returned to attack Sylvia.

Sylvia Redbird began to sing. Kalona did not know the words, but he heard the intent clearly. She was singing her death song.

"Yes, Kalona. Please do remain and battle Darkness. You serve only to feed Zoey's grandmother's tormentors. They will eventually break through her protection, but with your help her end will happen sooner rather than later. Or, perhaps, once the protection of the turquoise is broken, I won't kill her. Perhaps I will keep her and make her truly my pet. How long do you believe one old woman's sanity will withstand the torments of Darkness?"

Kalona knew Neferet was right. He could not save her-he could not command Darkness away from her. Instead Darkness would use the power in his blood to torture her.

"Go! Leave me!" Sylvia paused her song long enough to shout the words to Kalona.

He knew she was right, but by leaving the old woman there he would have to return to the House of Night having been defeated by Neferet. But he had no choice! If he remained and battled Darkness all that would be left of Sylvia Redbird would be her mortal shell. Neferet would not be able to control her anger. When the turquoise no longer protected the old woman, Neferet would destroy her. Though it wounded his pride, to be victorious, Kalona had to retreat and then return to fight another day. The immortal spread his mighty wings and launched himself from the balcony, leaving the tendrils of Darkness, Neferet, and Sylvia Redbird behind.

Kalona knew where he must go. He flew high and fast, and then dropped with inhuman speed, landing in the center of the House of Night campus, directly in front of the life-sized statue of Nyx. Kalona knelt, and then he did what he had not allowed himself to do until that moment. Kalona gazed up at the marble likeness of his lost Goddess.

No, he corrected himself silently. It was not Nyx who was lost, but me.

The incarnation of Nyx that the sculptress had chosen to capture was, indeed, lovely. The Goddess was naked. Her arms were upraised, cupping a crescent moon. Her marble eyes stared straight ahead. She looked beautiful and fierce-magnificent and powerful. Kalona would have given anything if she would simply touch him again.

"Why?" he asked the statue. "Why did you accept my oath and allow me to walk your path again at the moment it cost me dominion over Darkness? Now I have had to allow Neferet to defeat me. I had to leave a kind old woman entrapped and tortured. I failed! Why accept me just to allow me to fail?"

"Free choice." Thanatos's voice carried the power of authority and command. "You know even better than I what that means."

"Yes," Kalona continued to gaze up at the statue as he spoke. "It means Nyx does not stop us when we make mistakes, even if it costs us, and those around us, dearly."

"Being immortal you might not have realized this, but life is a lesson," she said.

"Then I will forever be in a classroom," Kalona said bitterly.

"Or you could look at it as an unending chance to evolve," Thanatos countered with.

"Into what?" He stood and faced his High Priestess. "Did you not hear me? I failed. Sylvia Redbird remains entrapped by Darkness over which Neferet holds dominion."

"First you asked into what you could be evolving. My answer is: choose. You are definitely a Warrior. But what type is your choice. Dragon Lankford was a Warrior. He almost chose to become bitter and hard, an oath breaker and a betrayer. All because his love was beyond his reach. You may do the same."

"You know." Kalona said.

"That you love Nyx? Yes, I do," Thanatos said. "I also know she is beyond your reach, whether you want to admit it or not."

Kalona pressed his lips together. He wanted to cry out his rage-tell Thanatos that he believed the Goddess had touched him-that perhaps she was not beyond his reach. But he remembered how the door to the Goddess's Temple had solidified under his hand, barring his entrance. His certainty faded.

"I admit it," he said shortly.

"Good. As to your second question: yes, I heard you. You could not rescue Sylvia Redbird because you no longer command Darkness."

"Yes."

Thanatos's gaze went to the slash marks that covered his body. They were healing, but they still wept with blood. "You battled Darkness."

"Yes."

"Then you did not fail. You fulfilled your oath."

"And by fulfilling it, I could not do what you asked of me," he said. "It is a disturbing paradox."

"It is, indeed," Thanatos said.

"What now? We cannot allow Neferet to torture the old woman. She plans to control Zoey through her grandmother. Zoey would be a powerful ally for Darkness to gain, even if she was being used against her will."

Thanatos shook her head sadly. "Warrior, all that you have said is true, but you have missed the point."

"The point?"

"Neferet cannot be allowed to torture an old women because it is inhumane. If you understood that, Nyx would not be so unreachable."

"I understand it!"

Kalona and Thanatos turned as one to see Aurox. He had been sitting on the stone steps of Nyx's Temple, silent and watching, unnoticed by either of them.

"Why is he not under guard? Or at least locked in a room?" Kalona said.

"I do not need a guard or a prison any more than you do! I chose to come here-to turn from Darkness-just as you did!" Aurox shouted at Kalona. "And if I'd gotten to Grandma Redbird's home sooner, or not left at all, I wouldn't have let Neferet steal her away. I would have fought harder for her!"

Kalona strode to him, grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt, and tossed him to the ground at the statue's feet. "You could not even stop yourself from killing Dragon. You attacked Rephaim. You cannot fight Darkness, you foolish creature. No matter what your brave words and your oh-so-noble intent, you were created from Darkness!"

"And yet I do not have to be told that an old woman's life is not only important because of how her granddaughter could be used!" Aurox hurled back at him.

Kalona reached for him, wanting to shake Aurox by the scruff of his shirt again, but Thanatos interceded. "No, the boy is being truthful. He does care for Sylvia."

"He is also a creation of Darkness!"

Thanatos's eyes widened. "Yes, he absolutely is. And that, Warrior, may very well prove to be Sylvia Redbird's salvation." The High Priestess began walking quickly away, leaving Kalona and Aurox staring after her. "Well, what are you waiting for? Come with me!" she called without pausing.

Kalona and Aurox shared a confused look, and then did as their High Priestess commanded.

Zoey

I couldn't sleep. All I could do was worry about Grandma. I tried not to think about everything that Neferet could be doing to her, but my mind was filled with images of Grandma being hurt-or worse.

Neferet could have killed her.

"Stop thinking that!" Stark had told me sternly when he and I curled up in bed together. "You don't know that's happened, and you're driving yourself crazy thinking it."

"I know. I know. But I can't help it. Stark, I can't lose her. Not Grandma!" I'd buried my face in his chest and hung on to him.

He'd tried to reassure me, to comfort me, and for a while I had found comfort in his touch. I'd focused on his love and his strength. He was my Guardian, my Warrior, and my lover. He grounded me.

Then the sun rose and he fell asleep, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Not even Nala's purr machine could turn my mind off. Seriously, all I wanted to do was to curl up in the corner and cry into my cat's soft orange fur.

But that wouldn't get Grandma back.

I knew my restlessness would wake up Stark, and while the sun was up that wasn't a good thing, so I kissed Nala on her nose and tiptoed quietly from the room. My feet automatically took me to the kitchen where I foraged for a can of cold brown pop and a bag of nacho cheese Doritos. I sat at the table for a while, wishing someone would wake up and talk to me. No one showed up. I didn't blame them. We'd been up early the day before, and everyone was stressed out. They needed to sleep. Hell, I needed to sleep.

Instead I stared at my phone, drank brown pop, and ate a bag of chips.

I also cried.

If Neferet had Grandma it was my fault. I was the one who'd gotten Marked and caused a bomb to explode in my human family.

"I shouldn't have kept in contact with any of them." I hiccupped a little sob. "If I'd broken from them, Neferet would have never known anything about my mom or my grandma. They'd be safe ... alive..." I wiped the Dorito cheese on my jeans and used a paper towel to blow my nose. "I brought all of this vampyre crap on my family." I put my face in the paper towel and bawled like a two-year-old. "That's what I feel like-a damn toddler. Helpless! Stupid! Useless!" I sobbed. "Nyx! Where are you? Please help me. I need you so much!"

Then grow up, daughter. Be a woman, a High Priestess, and not a child.

Her voice filled my mind. I lifted my head, blinking quickly and wiping snot from my face. The earthen walls of the tunnel were glowing. Directly across from me an image began to surface. As if I was looking into a pool of dark water, something started to form and lift from the concave depths. It was the figure of a woman! Under normal circumstances I would have described her as fat. She was naked and she had enormous boobs, wide soft hips, and thick thighs. Her hair floated around her, as full and dark as her body.

She was absolutely and completely beautiful-every single pound and curve of her, which totally made me rethink my idea of "fat."

She opened her eyes, and I saw that they were amethyst crystals, kind and warm and the color of violets.

"Nyx!"

Yes, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya, that is one of my names. Though your ancestors would know me as Earth Mother.

"You're my grandma's Goddess, too!"

She smiled and it was hard for me to keep looking directly at her because she was so incredibly lovely. I do know Sylvia Redbird.

"Can you help her? I think she's in big trouble right now!" I clenched my hands together.

Your grandmother knows me well. She may cloak herself in the power of my earth, as may any of my children if they choose to walk my path.

"Thank you! Thank you! Will you tell me where she is and then help me save her?"

You have the means for both, Zoey Redbird.

"I don't understand! Please, for Grandma's sake, help me," I begged the Goddess.

She smiled again, and it was even more blinding. But I answered you when first you beseeched me. If you are to save your grandmother and, ultimately, your people, you will have to grow up. Be a woman, a High Priestess, and not a child.

"But I want to be, I just don't know how. Could you please teach me?" I bit my lip to keep from crying again.

How to be the woman you were meant to be is something no one can teach you. You must find the way yourself. But know this: a child sits, weeps, and dissolves into self-pity and depression. A High Priestess takes action. Which way will you choose, Zoey Redbird?

"The right way! I want to choose the right way. But I need your help!"

As always, you have it. What I have gifted I never take back. I wish you, my precious u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya, to blessed be ...

And the Goddess sank into the wall of the tunnel, disappearing in a glimmer of dust that glistened like the amethyst crystals that had been her eyes.

I sat there and stared at the wall, thinking about what the Goddess had said. I realized what I felt was mostly embarrassment. Basically, the Great Earth Mother had just told me to quit whining. I wiped my face again. I sucked down the last of my brown pop.

Then I made my decision. Out loud.

"Time to grow up. Time to stop bawling. Time to do something. And that means if I'm not sleeping, my herd of nerds isn't sleeping, either-sun or no sun."

I retraced my path down the tunnel, punching phone numbers as I went.

"What's happenin', Z?" Stevie Rae answered on the third ring and sounded groggy.

"Get dressed, get a green candle, and meet me in the basement," I said, and hung up. Aphrodite was next.

"Someone better be dead," she said as her hello.

"I'm gonna make sure that someone isn't Grandma. Wake Darius up. Meet me in the basement."

"Please tell me I can call Shaunee and Queen Damien and wake them up, too," she said.

"Absolutely. Tell them to bring their circle candles. Oh, and have Shaunee grab Erin's blue candle. You may be standing in for water."

"I have a better idea, but that's nothing new. Anyway, see you soon."

By that time I'd gotten to my room. I didn't hesitate. High Priestesses aren't hesitant babies. They act. So, I acted.

"Stark, wake up." I shook his shoulder.

He blinked, peering up through his cute, messy hair at me. "What's wrong? You okay?"

"What's wrong is we're not sleeping until we have a plan to save Grandma."

He sat up, dislodging Nala from his hip and making her mutter grumpy old lady cat noises at him. "But Kalona went to rescue Grandma."

"Would you trust Kalona to babysit Nala?"

Stark rubbed his eyes. "No, probably not. Why do you want Kalona to babysit Nala?"

"I don't. I'm just proving my point. Here's the deal: I don't want him to be who I trust to rescue my grandma."

"Okay, so what now?"

"Now, we circle." I went to the little table beside our bed and grabbed a lighter and the thick purple pillar candle that sat there, smelling like lavender and my childhood. I breathed deeply. Then I told Stark, "Get dressed and meet me in the basement."

I walked quickly. I didn't want to wait for anyone, not even Stark. I needed some time by myself to focus on spirit-to draw strength from the element that was closest to me. I needed to be brave and strong and smart, and the truth was I wasn't all of those things-or at least I wasn't all of those things at the same time. I remembered that I'd asked Grandma once how she got to be so smart. She'd laughed and told me she surrounded herself with smart people, and she never stopped being willing to listen and learn.

"Okay," I said as I climbed up the metal ladder that led from the tunnels below the depot up to the basement entrance. "I have smart friends. I can listen. And, in theory, I can learn. That's what I'll do."

I walked to what looked like the center of the basement, and then sat, cross-legged, and put the candle on the cold, cement floor. Holding the lighter in my hand, I closed my eyes and took three deep centering breaths, in and out, in and out, in and out. Eyes still closed I said, "Spirit, you are my heart. You fill me and give me strength. I ask you, please come to me spirit!" Then I opened my eyes and lit the purple candle.

The flame turned silver. I felt the inrush of the element and suddenly all of the turmoil and confusion that had filled my mind and soul since Aurox had said Grandma was missing dissolved. I was strengthened by spirit as it rushed around and through me as the silver flame of the purple candle danced in what seemed like joyous response. I nodded. "Okay, now I get busy. First step. Find out what the hell is going on." I pulled the phone from my pocket and punched Thanatos. It might be smart to wait belowground for the sun to set so that I had my red vamp backups with me, but that did not mean I went to bed quietly like a child scampering home before curfew.

Her phone was ringing as Kalona pulled the rusted grate aside and Thanatos strode into the basement, followed by the winged Warrior and Aurox.

I hit END CALL, and stood. I'd opened my mouth to ask Thanatos what the hell she was doing and why the hell she'd brought Aurox here when my mind caught up with my vision. Kalona was covered with pink slashes and spatters of blood. It looked like someone had been beating him with a whip made out of razor blade.

"Grandma? Where is she?"

Kalona halted in front of me. His amber eyes held mine. As he stood there, several of the pink slashes opened and began to cry blood. His body is vulnerable down here, down in the earth, I remembered. It's difficult for him to heal. But I didn't acknowledge that he'd willingly entered the earth even though it was obvious he was wounded. He was a Warrior. It was his oath sworn job to protect.

"Where is she?" I repeated.

"Neferet's penthouse. The Tsi Sgili has her imprisoned by tendrils of Darkness," he said.

"Why didn't you get her out of there?" I wanted to raise my fists and beat against his chest and open more of the cuts and make him hurt as badly as I was hurting-as badly as Grandma was hurting. But I didn't. I only wounded him with my eyes and my words. "You said if Neferet had her, you would rescue her. Darkness has been your BFF for centuries! Why couldn't you rescue her?"

"The minions of Darkness no longer obey Kalona. He has truly chosen to return to the path of Nyx, thus he is allied with evil no more," Thanatos said.

"Oh, just fucking great. Talk about shit timing skills, Kalona," Aphrodite said. She and Darius and Stark had climbed up the ladder, followed by Shaunee, Damien, and, I was surprised to see, Shaylin.

"So why did you run? Why the hell didn't you fight the tendrils, beat them, and grab Grandma Redbird?" Stark said. "Supposedly protecting Nyx against Darkness used to be your full-time job before you messed that up. Did you forget how to do it?"

Kalona rounded on Stark. "Do I look as if I ran from a battle?"

Stark didn't hesitate. "Yeah, you're here. Grandma's not. You fucking ran!"

Kalona snarled and took a step toward Stark. Darius pulled a knife from his sleeve and Stark lifted his ever-present bow. Pissed as hell, I stepped between them.

"This is not helping, Kalona! Tell me why Grandma's still being held by Neferet," I said.

"I could have battled those puppets of Darkness for days. I would have eventually been victorious over them. It would have cost me little except blood and pain. But their command was not to war with me. They had been commanded to feed from my blood to strengthen themselves so that they could break through the earth power with which Sylvia Redbird has girded herself."

"Go on. Tell me everything." I sounded strong, but I had to press my hand against my mouth to keep from sobbing. I will not cry!

"Turquoise and silver-earth power. That protects her, but with my blood filling the tendrils, they were able to begin breaking through that protection. Had I stayed and continued to battle them, I would have been victorious, but Sylvia Redbird would have been dead."

"We must have a creature made of Darkness to break through the cage of Darkness that imprisons your grandmother," Thanatos said.

"That creature is me." Aurox stepped forward.

"Oh, for shit's sake! We are absolutely fucked!" Aphrodite said.

Sadly, I had to agree with her.