Destined (33 page)

“You’re definitely not your mom,” I agreed. Darius looked relieved and began to open the wine. “Okay, so, while your man is letting your wine breathe I want you to drink some of this water.”

Her lips curled up in what was almost her familiar sneer. “What do you know about letting wine breathe? You don’t even drink.”

“I watch TV. Jeesh, everyone with half a brain knows wine needs to breathe,” I said, guiding her hands to the open bottle of water and helping her drink it. “How was it this time? As bad as the last?”

When it was obvious she wasn’t going to answer, Darius did for her. “Worse,” he said. “Maybe you should come back after she’s rested.”

The Zoey who was Aphrodite’s friend totally agreed with him. But the Zoey who was High Priestess in Training, knew better. “She’ll be drunk and exhausted for the rest of tonight and probably into tomorrow. I need to hear about this vision before she’s too out of it to talk.”

“Z’s right,” Aphrodite said before Darius could protest. “And anyway, this one was short.” I was glad to see she’d drained the water bottle, but she reached out a blind hand and said, “Water’s gone. Where’s my wine?”

Darius brought her a wineglass that looked super simple, just crystal and a pretty shape, but it had a little Riedel mark written on the bottom, so I knew it was
nice
stemware from Williams-Sonoma. I knew that because Aphrodite had lectured me when I’d almost broken one a few days ago. (Like I care?) Anyway, Darius helped Aphrodite take a very long drink from the crystal glass. Then she exhaled slowly. “Get another bottle ready. I’ll need more.” He didn’t even glance at me for confirmation; he just looked defeated. “And tell Stark to quit lusting after your knives. He’s bowboy, not knifeboy.”

“Are they super heroes now?” I asked, trying (probably unsuccessfully) to be funny.

Her lips turned up in satisfaction, and for a second she looked way too much like her cat for comfort. “Well, mine’s a super hero in
lots
of ways. You’ll have to decide about yours on your own.”

“Vision,” Stark mouthed to me from across the room where he was, indeed, checking out the ornamental knives.

“Okay, so tell me what it was about this time,” I said.

“It was one of those damn death visions again. One where I was
inside
the guy getting killed.”

“Guy?” I felt a little bubble of panic build.
Was it Stark?

“Relax, it wasn’t your guy or mine. It was Rephaim. I was inside him when he was killed. And, by the way,” she hesitated, taking another long drink of wine. “Birdboy has some weird shit in his head.”

“Give me the basics now. We’ll talk about the gossipy part later,” I said.

“Well, as per usual when I’m inside the person who’s getting slaughtered, the vision was confusing,” she said, pressing her hand over the washcloth and grimacing with pain.

“Just tell me what you remember,” I prompted. “How did he die?”

“Sword almost sliced him in two. Totally gross, although his head didn’t come off like yours did in that other vision.”

“Well, that’s nice for him,” I said, not sure if I was being serious or sarcastic. “Who did the cutting in half?”

“That’s where the confusion kicks in. I’m not sure who actually kills him. I am sure Dragon is there.”

“Dragon kills him? Ugh. That’s awful.”

“Well, like I said, I’m not sure of that. I can tell you that I remember the look on Dragon’s face just before the sword sliced me. He was totally shut down. He looked even worse than he’s been looking recently. It’s like there was no hope or light or happiness anywhere in his life, and he was crying—really bawling, like with snot and everything.”

“Then Rephaim gets killed by a
sword
,” I said.

“Yep,” she agreed. “I know. Should be a no-brainer. Seems like Dragon did it, but it just doesn’t feel one hundred percent to me, especially when you add in the bawling part and all the other confusion.”

“Other confusion?”

“Yeah, bizarre shit kept flashing all around. There was something white that looked dead. There was ice that was burning a circle. There were blood and boobs everywhere,
and then
I—meaning Rephaim—was dead. The end.”

I rubbed my temple where I felt a headache brewing.

“Boobs?” Stark perked up at that word.

“Yes, bowboy. Boobs. Like there was a naked woman hanging around. Literally. I didn’t see her face because Rephaim was predictably mesmerized by her boobs, but I do know she had something to do with the blood and the white dead thing.”

“Hey, wait,” I said. “Didn’t Kramisha’s last poem say something about fire and ice?”

“Hmm, I’d forgotten about that. Easy for me to do because, well, fuck poetry.”

“Don’t be so negative,” I said. “And it’s not just poetry. It’s prophetic poetry.”

“Which makes it worse,” she said.

“I remember. The poem also said something about Dragon’s tears,” Stark said.

“Maybe he weeps because he kills Rephaim, even after he was tasked to be his protector because he is Sword Master of our House of Night,” Darius said.

“But he’s not,” I said. “We have our own House of Night over here, so he’s not technically
our
Sword Master. Maybe that’s how he rationalizes being able to kill Rephaim.”

“All that sounds logical, but there’s still a piece missing. That’s what my gut says. I just can’t see that piece. Everything except Dragon kept fading in and out of my vision, mostly because Rephaim was super focused on Stevie Rae, who was super focused on the ritual she was performing.”

“Ritual? Was I there?”

“Yeah, the whole nerd herd was there. A circle was cast. You were leading things, but the ritual itself was earth centered, so Stevie Rae was playing the major part.” She sucked in a breath. “Holy shit, I just realized where we were—at your grandma’s lavender farm.”

“Ah, hell! The cleansing ritual I’m supposed to do in a couple days. Or maybe not. Thanatos was calling Grandma about us doing something early—something that might reveal what actually happened to Mom.” I paused, feeling overwhelmed by the thought of the dead white thing, the blood, and the boobs, all in the context of my mom’s murder. “Does this mean I wasn’t meant to find out and I shouldn’t do anything at all?”

Aphrodite shrugged. “Z, I know you’ll find this hard to believe because you’ve been Miss Front and Center in a bunch of my visions, but in this one you barely made an appearance. I just don’t think this is about you at all.”

“But it’s at Grandma’s farm.”

“Yeah, but it’s Rephaim getting carved up this time and not you,” she said.

“Wait, isn’t this good news?” Stark said, coming up to me and taking my hand.

Aphrodite snorted. “Sure, unless you’re Rephaim.”

Stark ignored her comment and continued, “You’ve seen Rephaim killed. You know where and you know who has to be there. So what if we’re sure those elements don’t all come together? That’ll stop the death, won’t it?”

“Maybe,” Aphrodite said.

“Hopefully,” I said.

“We need to be sure Dragon stays away from Rephaim,” Darius said. “Even if he didn’t actually kill him, you know for a certainty that he was present when Rephaim was killed.”

“That much I do know,” Aphrodite said.

“Then that’s it. We keep Dragon and Rephaim separate, even if that means Rephaim doesn’t come with the rest of us when we go to Grandma’s farm.”

“If I go, Rephaim goes.”

Stark, Darius, and I turned to see Stevie Rae and Rephaim ducking under the blanket and coming into the room. Aphrodite frowned, but kept the washcloth on her eyes.

“Her vision was about Rephaim.” Stevie Rae didn’t say it like a question, but I answered her anyway. “Yeah. He dies.”

“How? Who does it?” Stevie Rae’s voice was hard. She looked ready to take on the world.

“Not sure,” Aphrodite spoke up. “It was from birdboy’s point of view, which means the whole damn thing was confusing.”

“But we know it happens at Grandma’s farm and that Dragon is there,” I said. “Which is why we were saying Rephaim should stay here when we all go out there,
if
we all still go out there.”

“We will,” Stark said. “You can’t let this stop the ritual you were going to do for your mom.”

“It’s not for her,” I said miserably. “She’s dead. That won’t change.”

“That’s right,” he said. “It’s for you and your grandma, which is more important than doing something for a dead woman.” He glanced at Rephaim and Stevie Rae. “The ritual needs to happen, but Rephaim doesn’t need to be there and be in danger. It would be smartest if, like Z was saying, he stayed here.”

“So that someone, like Dragon, can sneak up on him when he’s all alone? I don’t think so,” Stevie Rae said.

“I do not understand,” Rephaim said.

I sighed. “Aphrodite gets visions of deaths. Sometimes they’re real clear and easy to keep from happening. Sometimes they’re confusing.”

“Because I’m inside the person who’s getting killed. That’s how it was with you. And, speaking of, flying seems scary. No matter what your birdbrain thinks.”

“It is not scary when you have wings,” Rephaim said, sounding matter-of-fact.

“Huh,” I said.

“No,” Stevie Rae spoke up. “Keep whatever you found inside his head to yourself. It’s not anyone’s business.”

“She was inside my head?” Rephaim was obviously confused squared.

“In a vision I was. It won’t happen again. I hope. And there was something else hanging around the vision besides Dragon. It was a bull, or at least the shadow of a bull.”

“Shadow of a bull?” My stomach felt sick. “Was that the dead white thing you saw?”

“No. That was definitely something else.”

“Did you see what color it was?”

“Zoey, shadows are only one color,” she said.

“Aurox,” Stark said.

“Did you see Aurox?” I asked quickly.

“Nope. Just the bull shadow. And for the record, I agree with you and Stark and Darius—birdboy should stay away from Dragon. If that means he stays here, then that’s what should happen. Now, may I please have a refill on my wine and some rest?”

“I don’t think it’s good for you to drink while you’re bleedin’ like that.” Stevie Rae said.

“Don’t question me. I’m a professional,” Aphrodite said.

“What does that even mean?” I asked.

“It means my beauty is done talking and needs to sleep,” Darius said.

“The pizza should be here soon,” Stevie Rae said. “I got you one.”

“If I’m still awake when it gets here I’ll eat it,” Aphrodite said. Then she took the washcloth off her eyes and blinked them slowly open. I was prepared. I’d seen this before. Rephaim, however, was not.

“By all the gods! You do weep blood,” he said.

She turned her red-tinged gaze to him. “Yeah. Even I know it’s terrible symbolism. Birdboy, you need to remember this. I got this damn vision because there was a message in it for you. Keep your ass safe. Stay away from pointy objects, and if that means you need to stay away from Dragon Lankford, then do it.”

“For how long?” he asked her. “How long must I hide from this vampyre?”

She shook her head. “I got a warning, not a timeline.”

“I’d rather not hide.”

“I’d rather not have you dead,” Stevie Rae said.

“I’d rather sleep,” Aphrodite said.

“All right, let’s go,” I said. I handed Darius my last bottle of water. “Try to make her drink this between glasses of wine.”

“I’m right here. You don’t have to talk about me like I can’t hear you.” She made a toasting gesture with her glass and then drained it.

“You’re under the influence, so I’m ignoring you,” I said. “Get some rest. I’ll talk to you later.”

We moved from Aphrodite’s room, Rephaim and Stevie Rae holding hands and talking in low voices to each other as we made our way up through the tunnels and outside where we were going to wait for a very confused delivery boy who I was going to be sure got an excellent tip.

“What do you think about the vision?” Stark asked, putting his arm around me and holding me close to him.

“I think Stevie Rae is going to be a problem. She’s going to try to protect Rephaim so much that she’s gonna end up getting him killed.”

Stark nodded and looked grim. “That’s how Darkness works. It turns love into something bad.”

His words surprised me. He sounded so cynical, so old. “Stark, Darkness can’t turn love into anything. Love is the only thing that lasts through Darkness and death and destruction. You know that—or you used to.”

He stopped then and all of a sudden I was in his arms and he was holding me so tight that he almost stopped my breath.

“What is it?” I whispered to him. “What’s wrong?”

“Sometimes I think I should have been the one to die and Heath should have been the one who stayed with you. He believed in love a lot more than I do.”

“I don’t think the amount of belief you have is what’s important. I think it’s what you have belief in that matters.”

“Then we’ll be okay because I believe in you,” he said.

I wrapped my arms around him and held on, trying to reassure him and myself with touch when words just didn’t seem to be enough.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Neferet

How goes the pursuit of chaos, my heartless one?
The white bull’s deep voice echoed through her mind.

Neferet turned almost in a complete circle before she caught sight of his luminous, magickal coat, his massive horns, his cloven hoofs. He was approaching her from behind the tomb over which the statue of an angelic young girl looked down, head bowed. Time had crumbled one of her stone hands and Neferet thought her expression made it seem as if the angel had given part of herself as an offering, perhaps to the white bull.

The thought made Neferet burn with jealousy.

She walked to meet her bull, moving slowly, languorously. Neferet knew she was beautiful, yet still she felt compelled to pull power from the surrounding shadows to enhance herself. Her long, thick hair glistened, much like the liquid silk of her black gown. She’d chosen it because it reminded her of Darkness—reminded her of her bull.

Neferet stopped before him and dropped gracefully to her knees. “The pursuit of chaos goes well, my lord.”