Kalona’s wings rustled and his body tensed, but his voice was steady. “I will answer any questions you might wish to ask, High Priestess.”

“Though you never fully admitted being Erebus come to earth, Neferet presented you to us as such. She said you tricked her into believing it.”

“And yet I never claimed to be Erebus, and here I stand, sworn Warrior to a member of your own Council, as Neferet gets away with murdering children and humans.”

“Yes, it is an interesting turn of events. Our question is, who are you?”

Everyone, even Thanatos, was gawking at Kalona. Was he going to tell them that he was Erebus’s brother? Holy crap!

“I have been many things—a god, a lover, a destroyer, a savior. Now I am Death’s Warrior,” Kalona said. “It is fitting that I am also an immortal.”

I thought about speaking up and telling everyone that he was Erebus’s brother, but was he really? I’d already been late, looked irresponsible to the Council, and they had to know I was annoyed as hell at them. I didn’t need to spout out a claim like that and then have Kalona say nothing. Or worse, deny it completely. So, for a change, I kept my mouth shut.

“Kalona, I have prayed to Nyx and asked her to speak to me of you, and tell me if you present a danger to Thanatos, or to the House of Night,” Duantia said.

“And what did the Goddess say?” Kalona asked.

“Nyx has remained silent.”

“I think that is an answer itself,” Thanatos said. I thought she sounded pissed. She and Duantia had a silent stare down, which ended in Duantia looking away to address her Council. “Priestesses, has anything you heard here tonight changed your previous judgment on Thanatos’s request for us to intercede with the Tulsa humans?”

The five High Priestesses spoke creepily as one, “No.”

Duantia faced us again. “Then it is decided. What is happening in Tulsa has already caused unrest between vampyres and humans, as well as between fledglings and vampyres within the Tulsa House of Night itself. Part of you have broken from the whole, and it is clear to us from the recent events that this break is not a healthy one for the vampyre community. We have shunned Neferet. She is no longer our concern. It is not our responsibility to bring her to justice.”

“But Neferet’s the one causing the problems. She’s the one the humans need to blame—she’s the one you need to blame.” I practically choked trying to keep from yelling at them.

“She is immortal. As Kalona said, she cannot be brought to justice by humans,” Duantia said.

“You expect us to bring her to justice,” Kalona said.

“Yes, we do,” Duantia said. “Therefore, we will not intercede with the local humans. Nor will we any longer recognize the separation of fledglings and vampyres from your House of Night.”

“Sgiach is a vampyre High Priestess and she lives separately from you—and you’ve allowed that for centuries,” I tried to reason with them.

“Sgiach is not causing unrest with humans. Sgiach is not coming to us asking for our aid,” Duantia said.

“You know what, it makes perfect sense now why she stays on a booby-trapped island and ignores you,” I told them.

“Perhaps it is time Tulsa became an island as well.” Thanatos sounded grim and powerful. “I abdicate my position on the High Council effective immediately.”

“Thanatos, you cannot mean to lead your House of Night into breaking with the High Council!” Duantia stood. The rest of the Council were looking either super shocked or super pissed.

“I mean to change and adapt. I mean to remain here as High Priestess of Tulsa’s House of Night. I mean to support these two unusual High Priestesses and this Prophetess in their desire for a place of their own. And, most importantly, I mean to bring Neferet to justice without allowing an invasion of my school.”

“But that is not—”

“That is my oath; so mote it be!”

Then Thanatos clicked the disconnect button. Skype made its funny little hang-up sound, and the screen went blank.

CHAPTER TEN

Aphrodite

“Holy fucking shit. Thanatos, you have balls. Great big ones,” Aphrodite said.

Thanatos raised her brows. “I shall ignore the vulgarity and accept the compliment, Prophetess.”

“Just so you know, it’s a massive compliment,” Aphrodite said, bowing her head respectfully to Thanatos.

“You really stood up for us. Thanks, High Priestess,” Stevie Rae said.

Kalona and Zoey exchanged looks. “So we are left to deal with Neferet and the local authorities on our own,” he said.

“Again,” Zoey added. “It’s not like this is the first time the High Council has left us hanging like this.”

“They mean well,” Thanatos said, sounding somewhere between sad and cynical. “They think they’re doing what is best for the vampyre community as a whole, and that is what the Council was created eons ago to do.”

“They’re stuck in the Dark Ages!” Zoey blurted.

Aphrodite watched her closely. Yeah, the High Council had been assholes, but they still had Thanatos—the power of their circle—two Prophetesses (even though Shaylin was a pain in the ass), a Bull Boy, and an immortal on their side.

“I say good riddance. They’re a bunch of old women—no offense, Thanatos,” Aphrodite said. “Z, the only thing they could really do for us is to maybe get the TPD off our backs. We don’t need their permission to create our own place in the world. It’s our world, too, and we’ll make our own place.”

“Yep, that’s what I’m thinkin’, too,” Stevie Rae agreed.

Zoey crossed her arms over her chest. “So, we’re all stuck here together, doing nothing.”

“Until we catch Neferet, I’m afraid we are,” Thanatos said.

“Catch her? What good will that do?” Zoey said.

Aphrodite saw that she wasn’t the only person watching Zoey closely. Thanatos’s brows lifted and she cocked her head to the side. “Priestess, we have all agreed Neferet is responsible for the deaths that happened last night, have we not?”

“Neferet did it,” Z said.

“So Neferet must be found and turned over to the authorities. Until then, the truth is that the human authorities will find no proof that will place blame on any of us, as we are innocent.”

“Hang on. Does that mean you’re going to let our professors start being DNA tested?” Zoey asked.

“No. That means we are going to find Neferet and provide her matching DNA to the human authorities.”

“Neferet is a powerful immortal. She’s not going to let us catch her, let alone take her to the cops.”

“Zoey, you say that, yet you and your circle managed to defeat that powerful immortal and rescue your grandmother from her.”

“We beat her before. We’ll beat her again.” Stevie Rae sounded way more positive than Z.

“Actually, all we have to do is find Neferet. Get her to a public place and start nailing her with hard questions. She’s going to lose her temper and do something batshit crazy, especially if a detective asks her for a DNA sample,” Aphrodite said. “Yeah, it’s going to suck for us when she explodes into spiders or eats some locals or whatever, and humans start to understand that there’s more going on here than vampyre versus human, but that won’t suck nearly as much as being under house arrest and blamed for shit no one here did.”

“I believe it is time humans understand there are more forces at work than just those of human and vampyre.” Kalona surprised Aphrodite by agreeing with her. “Evil is always stronger when it is underestimated.”

“You’re going to let humans see you?” Zoey asked Kalona.

“I am going to bring Neferet to justice and protect this school. If that means I show myself to humans, then so be it.”

“I have a question.” Stevie Rae half raised her hand.

“Yes?” Thanatos said.

“How’re we gonna find Neferet?”

“That will be the easy part. We will remain here, stay on the path of our Goddess, and wait for Neferet to reveal herself,” Thanatos said.

“That’s crap!” Z sounded like she was ready to explode. “When Neferet kidnapped Grandma I was sitting in the tunnels in the kitchen. I was just waiting and whining to Nyx to help me save Grandma. And, guess what? The Goddess appeared to me and basically told me that a child sits around and cries. A High Priestess actually does something. So, now you’re telling me that our big decision is to sit around and wait?”

“No, what I’m telling you is that we are going to show wisdom and act with patience. We have one of our own to bury, and then we are going to resume classes, and our lives, and not allow our school to be overrun by angry locals or ourselves to drown in Neferet’s Darkness. I expect you and Stevie Rae to show your leadership skills and to help me, and the rest of the faculty, keep everyone calm and on task. And now, if you are done attempting to lecture me about a Goddess I have served faithfully for centuries, I have a funeral over which I need to preside.” Thanatos’s tone said she’d heard enough from everyone—especially Zoey—and she stood. With Kalona following in her shadow, she left the room.