Hunted (43 page)

She hesitated, studying the winged man, and then said, “He does not draw me, but I do pity him. He has certainly fallen.”

“How old does he look to you?” I couldn't help asking her.

“Ancient. Older than the earth.”

I didn't have time to tell her he looked about eighteen to me; it was then that the driver got out of the Hummer and joined Kalona and Neferet. The driver was Stark. His eyes found mine instantly, and ever so slightly, he bowed his head to me.

I heard Stevie Rae's quick intake breath of surprise and the movement of the red fledglings behind us.

“That's the kid that shot me, isn't it?” she said.

“Yes,” I said.

“He's Changed,” Stevie Rae said. “He's a red vampyre.”

“He's also a fucking rat,” Aphrodite muttered, then hastily added, “Sorry, Sister.”

“Do not trust him, Zoey.” Darius's voice came from directly behind me. “You see where he has placed his allegiance.”

“Darius,” I said sternly, without turning to look at him. “You need to trust
me
, and that means trust my judgment.”

“Sometimes your judgment is wacked,” Erin said.

“Not when I'm listening to Nyx,” I said.

“Are you listening now?” Shaunee said.

I stared at Stark, trying to see any hint of darkness around him. There was nothing—just Stark and the way his eyes met mine steadily. “I am absolutely listening to Nyx. Now, form the circle up around us.” Instantly the Twins and Damien moved out of the crowd behind me. Damien walked to the eastern edge of the cement circle. I felt rather
than saw Shaunee move into place behind me, and Erin situated herself on our left. For a second I was concerned that I would have to step away from Aphrodite, Stevie Rae, and Sister Mary Angela and take earth's place, but then I realized that Mary's Grotto was firmly positioned in the north, and that the beautiful silver thread that bound our circle now included her shrine.

“You cannot maintain that circle for eternity,” Kalona said as he walked slowly toward our little group. “I, on the other hand, can maintain my pursuit of you for eternity.”

“My fledglings,” Neferet said, walking beside Kalona and, except for the darkness that throbbed around her, she looked beautiful and serene and very High Priestess-like. “You have allowed Zoey's misguided quest for power to put you in a perilous situation, but it is not too late for you. You need simply to renounce her, close the circle, and you will be accepted back in the bosom of your High Priestess.”

“If there wasn't a nun here, I'd tell you what you could do with your nasty bosom,” Aphrodite said.

“Zoey isn't the one who's turned away from Nyx,” Erin said.

“Yeah, we all know you have. It's just that Zoey was the first to know it,” Shaunee said.

“See how her evil words have tainted your judgment?” Neferet sounded sad and very reasonable.

“And what has tainted my judgment?” Sister Mary Angela spoke up from beside me. “I barely know this child. Her words could not taint me, could not make me imagine the darkness I sense radiating from you.”

Neferet's calm façade cracked as she scoffed at the nun. “Human woman, you are a fool! Of course you sense darkness from me. My Goddess is Night personified!”

Sister Mary Angela's serenity wasn't a façade, so her demeanor didn't change. She simply said, “No, I am acquainted with Nyx, and though she personifies Night, she does not traffic with darkness. Be honest, Priestess, and admit you have broken with your Goddess for that creature.” The nun's hand swept toward Kalona, causing the dark
folds of her habit to billow gracefully. “Nephilium, I recognize you. And in Our Lady's name I speak words you already know: You should leave this place and return to the realm whence you fell. Repent, and perhaps you may still be allowed to know eternity in paradise.”

“Do not speak to him, woman!” Neferet shrieked, all pretense of serenity gone. “He is a god come to earth. You should worship at his feet!”

Kalona's laughter was terrible, and it caused the Raven Mockers to hiss as they moved restlessly all around us. “Ladies, do not battle over me. I am a god! There is enough of me for all of you to share.” He spoke in response to Neferet and Sister Mary Angela, but his amber eyes stared straight at me.

“I will never be with you,” I told him, ignoring everyone around us. “My choice will always be for my Goddess, and you are the opposite of everything she stands for.”

“Do not presume—” Neferet began, but Kalona lifted one hand and cut off her words.

“A-ya, you misjudge me. Look deep within yourself to the maiden who was created to love me.”

Something behind me stirred the crowd and I felt a little blip that told me our circle had been crossed, which could only happen if the Goddess herself allowed someone through. I wanted to look back and see who had joined us, but I couldn't take my eyes from Kalona's hypnotic gaze.

Then her hand slid into mine and love broke Kalona's spell. With a glad cry I glanced down to see Grandma sitting in a wheelchair that Heath had pushed up to me. She looked like she'd been through a war. Her arm was in a cast, and her head was bandaged. Her face was still swollen and discolored with bruises, but her smile was her own, as was the sweet sound of her voice.

“Did I hear you have need of me, my
u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya?
”

I squeezed her hand. “Grandma, I'll always need you!”

I glanced back at Heath, who smiled at me. “Kick his butt outta here, Zo,” he said; then he moved back to join Erik and Darius.

Grandma, meanwhile, had somehow risen to her feet. She took two slow steps forward, staring out at the grove of trees and the Raven Mockers swarmed there.

“Oh, sons of my mothers' mothers!” she cried and her voice carried like the sonorous beat of a tribal drum out into the night. “What have you allowed him to make you become? Do you not feel your mothers' blood? Can you not imagine their hearts breaking for you?”

Amazed, I watched several of the Raven Mockers turn their heads, as if they were unable to face my grandma. In others the red glow began to die in their eyes, and I recognized sorrow and confusion in their human depths.

“Be silent,
Ani Yunwiya!
” Kalona's voice boomed around us.

I knew Grandma recognized the ancient name of the Cherokee people. Slowly, she turned her attention to the winged being. “I see you, Old One. Will you never learn? Must women, once again, come together to defeat you?”

“Not this time, Ghigua. You will not find me so easy to trap this time.”

“Perhaps this time we will simply wait for you to trap yourself. We are a very patient people, and you did it before,” Grandma said.

“But this A-ya is different,” Kalona said. “Her soul calls to me from her dreams. It won't be long before her waking body calls me, too, and then I shall possess her.”

“No,” I said firmly. “Thinking you can possess me, like I'm a piece of property, is your first mistake. My soul is drawn to you,” I finally admitted aloud, and found a surprising strength in my honesty. “But like you said, I'm a different A-ya. I have free will, and my will is
not
to give myself to the darkness. So, here's the deal: Leave now. Take Neferet and the Raven Mockers and go someplace far away where you can live in peace and not hurt anyone else.”

“Or?” he asked, looking amused.

“Or I will, as my human consort put it, kick your butt out of here,” I said firmly.

His look of amusement widened into a charming smile. “A-ya, I do not believe I will leave this place. I find I like Tulsa very much.”

“Remember that you brought this on yourself,” I said. Then I spoke to the women surrounding me. “The poem says: Joined not to conquer, instead to overcome. I'm Night. I've led you to Sister Mary Angela—she's Spirit.” I held out my left hand and Sister Mary Angela grasped it firmly. “Stevie Rae, you're Blood. Aphrodite, you're Humanity.”

Stevie Rae walked over to Sister Mary Angela, and took the nun's other hand, and then she looked at Aphrodite, who nodded and grasped her offered hand.

“What are they doing?” Neferet's voice came from closer than she was before. I looked up to see that she was moving quickly toward us.

“A-ya! What foolishness is this?” Kalona didn't sound amused anymore, and he, too, was approaching our circle.

“And Earth completes.” I held my hand out to Grandma.

“Do not let the Ghigua join them!” Kalona cried.

“Stark! Kill her,” Neferet commanded.

“Not A-ya!” Kalona shouted. “Kill the old Ghigua.”

I held my breath and met Stark's eyes as Neferet said, “Kill Zoey. No mistakes this time. Aim for her heart!” As she spoke, darkness slithered from the shadows around her. Stretching over to Stark, I watched them wrap around his ankles and begin to move up his body. I saw clearly the struggle that was going on within Stark. Neferet's dark power could still affect him. My stomach clenched. Was his Warrior's Oath to me enough to break that hold? I wanted to trust him. I'd decided to trust him. Had that been a stupid mistake?

“No!” Kalona roared. “Do not kill her!”

“I will not share you!” Neferet cried. Her hair was whipping around her, and she seemed to grow bigger as I watched. I had been right to believe she was no longer what she once had been, not in body and not in soul. She whirled from Kalona to Stark. “By the power with which I awakened you, I command you hit the mark. Shoot Zoey through her heart!”

I was staring at Stark, trying to will him to choose good—to keep choosing good and to turn from Neferet's cloying darkness, so I saw the exact moment he understood his way out. As if he and I were back in the little room off the field house again, I heard myself saying to him,
You have my heart
. . . And his response:
Then both of us better stay safe. A heart's a hard thing to live without . . 
.

“That's what my aim won't miss.” Stark spoke across the icy distance to me as if he and I were alone. “The part of my lady's heart I hold as my own.” The shadows that had gripped his body were instantly washed from him as he made his decision.

And with a rush of panic I understood what he was going to do.

Aiming straight at me, he drew the bow and shot.

As he let loose the arrow, I cried, “Air, fire, water, earth, spirit! Hear me! Do not let that arrow touch him!” I flung my power out toward Stark, channeling all five of the elements. The arrow did a weird shimmer, and suddenly it was not heading in my direction, but speeding back toward Stark's heart. It was mere inches from his chest when the elements blasted it, disintegrating it with such force that Stark was thrown back and lay crumpled, but not skewered, on the ground.

“You bitch whelp!” Neferet shrieked. “You're not going to win this!”

Ignoring her, I held my hand out to Grandma. “And Earth completes,” I repeated.

She took my hand in hers and, joined together, we faced the onrush of Kalona and Neferet.

“Do not curse them.” Sister Mary Angela's voice was so serene it seemed otherworldly. “He is all too familiar with darkness and anger and curses.”

“A blessing,” Stevie Rae said.

“Yeah, people who are filled with hate don't know how to handle love,” Aphrodite said, meeting my eyes briefly and smiling.

“Bless him, Grandma. We'll join you,” I said.

Then my grandma's strong voice rang out, amplified with the power
of spirit and blood, night and earth, all joined through the humanity of love.

“Kalona, my
u-do
,” she used the Cherokee word for “brother.” “This is my blessing to you.” Grandma began to recite an ancient Cherokee blessing so familiar to me its words were like coming home. “May the warm winds of Heaven blow softly on your home . . .”

The five of us repeated, “May the warm winds of Heaven blow softly on your home . . .”

Grandma continued. “And the Great Spirit bless all who enter there . . .”

This time, as we repeated the blessing, Damien and the Twins recited it with us.

Grandma's voice stayed strong and steady. “May your moccasins make happy tracks in many snows . . .”

When our voices rose to repeat Grandma's words, everyone within the circle had joined us. The blessing even echoed from behind us, and I knew the Benedictine nuns had left their sanctuary to add their prayer to ours.

As Grandma spoke the last line of the poem, her voice was filled with such love and warmth and complete joy, it brought tears to my eyes. “And may the rainbow always touch your shoulder . . .”

Then over the sound of our voices joined in blessing, I heard Kalona's agonized cry. He had staggered to a halt only feet away from me. Neferet was at his side, her beautiful face twisted in hatred. He reached one hand out to me.

“Why, A-ya?” he said.

I gazed into his incredible amber eyes and banished him with the truth. “Because I choose love.”

A blinding light, made of the glowing silver thread that bound our circle, whipped from me and wrapped around Kalona and Neferet. I watched as the noose it made began to tighten. I knew the silver thread was not just made of the elements, but was also strengthened by Night and Spirit, Blood and Humanity, and grounded in Earth.

With a terrible cry, Kalona staggered back. Neferet clung to him. The
darkness that pulsed from her twitched and writhed as she shrieked in agony. Though he never took his gaze from mine, he wrapped his arms around Neferet, unfurled his mighty, night-colored wings, and leaped into the sky. He hovered there for an instant, as his wings beat against gravity, and then the silver thread reared back, gaining momentum, before it snapped, whiplike, at them, lifting the winged man and the fallen High Priestess up and up until they disappeared into the clouds with the Raven Mockers screaming and following behind.