Disclaimer: all dialogue/actions/situations (but not thoughts) from before the line break belong to PC and Kristen Cast. It's from the second chapter of Revealed, which can be found on the House of night site (contains huge spoilers). Also, I don't own Aphrodite, Darius or any other character, nor do I own House of Night.
Thanatos abruptly told me to go, so I did, sprinting down the stairs from the infirmary, where Erin's too-still body lay. When I reached the wall, I saw my mother screaming hysterically. Thinking she'd just found a fly in her champagne or something equally trivial, I rolled my eyes. "Mom? What's wrong with you?" I demanded flatly, giving her the look she'd always given me, to tell me to quit making a scene.
"They've killed him!" mom shrieked, tears streaming down her normally flawless face. That's when I realized how serious things were, when I saw the mascara streaking down her cheeks, and the way her lower lip trembled as she cried. My mother is notorious for being the ice queen. She didn't cry when I left, or at her own wedding, or grandpa's funeral. I just had to hope that this was a medically induced thing. She was so prescription-ed up that she could work up a tear over anything.
"Him? Who?" I demanded, praying to Nyx. No one else could be dead. I didn't have a vision. I was a prophetess. I was supposed to see these things. I was here to stop these things. Mom was on a chemical imbalance. She had to be.
"Your father! The mayor of Tulsa!" she shrieked. I heard a ringing sound in my ears. My mouth started to taste like pennies. I started to feel sick. Dad couldn't be dead. "Oh goddess," I said softly, and I heard the crowd gasp. It pissed me off. What right did they have to watch and judge? This wasn't a fucking spectacle, this was serious. Lenobia started trying to calm people down, but all I could hear from her was the soothing tone of her voice. We couldn't be calm. There was nothing calm about any of this.
"It's too late for that!" Mom screamed at Lenobia. I assumed she meant it was too late for us to be rational. I hadn't listened to Lenobia. How could I listen? Nyx had finally abandoned me. That had to be why two people had died and I hadn't seen either death coming. She was finally punishing me for my own mistakes.
"There is nothing safe about tonight. None of us will ever be safe as long as we coexist with you bloodsuckers!" Mom screamed, getting in Lenobia's face. I shouldn't be here, I realized. If Nyx was punishing me, I didn't want anything to happen to my friends. I willed my feet to move, but they wouldn't carry me; I just stood there, staring at mom and Lenobia and praying that this was a mix-up. It had to be.
"Lenobia, this is Aphrodite's mom. She says her husband has been killed," Zoey said coldly. Not coldly, just calmly. Nyx's chosen one was going to deny me, entirely. That meant something. It had to.
"Mrs. LaFont," Lenobia reacted instantly. "There must be some mistake. It was one of our fledglings who met an untimely death to night." And that was our fault. We messed with Neferet. Neferet got us back. We killed her, not that she stayed that way, so she was killing us. And If Nyx really had abandoned me, I was in danger.
"The only mistake about it is that more of you didn't die tonight." Mom pointed at the school, where I could see a body crumpled brokenly at the gates. "He is still there. Where he was left dead and drained by a vampyre!" Then she started to cry again, this time clutching onto me. It was terrible irony that my entire life, I'd just wanted my mother to hug me, and now that she did, I just wanted her to go back to normal. Instead, I hugged her back, letting her warm, salty tears flow onto my shoulder.
"I will go," Darius said from behind me, touching my shoulder gently. I could tell he was trying to reassure me, but I wasn't sure I could be reassured. My father was almost certainly dead, and Nyx had almost certainly abandoned me. He was all that I had left, he and my mom.
I watched, completely on edge as Darius crouched beside the body. He had to look at it closely before he stood up, pausing for a moment and draped his coat over the body like a shroud. Darius walked back, looking grim. He touched my shoulder consolingly, "I am sorry," he said, the sorrow reflecting in his voice, "it is your father and he is dead."
Mom wailed when she heard the words, and the crowd began to murmur amongst themselves. I tried to find the words to scream at them, tell them to shut the fuck up, to go away, anything, but the words died on my lips. All I could look at was the body of my father. The father who Mom had pushed around and I had ignored.
Zoey started to direct us, telling me to get Mom inside and Darius to call 911. She was going to stay with me, probably only because I wasn't sure if I could find the will to walk past Dad and into the school. I wished I had been a better prophetess, a better fledgling. Then, Nyx would've warned me and I could have saved Dad, maybe even saved Erin. Maybe then, I would've seen Grandma being abducted and we could've stopped that. Then, Neferet wouldn't have needed to kill Dad.
Mom pulled free, screaming like a madwoman that she wouldn't go. I started to feel sick, and wondered where the nearest bush was. Mom and I were going to walk past Dad's cold, dead corpse into a school full of fledgling who would either avoid me or tell me how sorry they were. I was the one who should be fucking sorry. I caused this.
"Mother," I said softly, "we don't know how Dad died. He had high blood pressure. He might have had a heart attack." I prayed that that was it. It would be a human, normal death. I wouldn't have seen it. That would mean Nyx didn't forsake me. That would make his death not my fault.
"His throat was ripped open and his blood was sucked from his body. That is not a heart attack. That is a vampyre attack!" Mom screamed, every word like a dagger being thrown at me. He was killed by a vampyre. Specifically, the vampyre that I'd started the battle against. Because our biggest defense, my visions, was taken from me. And that was my fault. I felt Darius squeeze my hand, continuing to talk to the 911 operator. I could live a thousand lifetimes and not deserve him.
Lenobia said something about finding the killer solemnly. I couldn't even listen. She was just trying to placate mom. We knew who the killer was. I could picture Neferet, Her auburn hair glowing in the moon light, Darkness wrapping her lithe, not at all spiderlike form. I could see her pushing him against the wall, and whispering in his ear that she was doing this because of me. Then, she would have bit his throat out before he could even scream, blood flowing down her ivory skin, the darkness she wore lapping it up eagerly. I imagined she would have waltzed away, a smirk at her bloody lips as she left his body at the gates, like a grisly parcel.
The morbid display continued in my mind, changing every time, finding new ways to catch me off guard. It only stopped when Zoey and Stark walked over to my mother and I. I realized she hadn't stopped screaming, and Lenobia had walked off. I used to have foresight, visions, so I knew the future. Now I didn't even have the mental strength to stay in the present.
Zoey tried to make eye contact with me, and when she finally did, she said, "Stark's going to talk to your mom. Is that okay with you?" Did I want Stark to fuck with my mom's mind? If he could make her feel better. If it would lessen the burden on my conscience, and give her some solace, Stark could do it. I looked at Stark, who looked innocent enough, and then at mom, whom was still sobbing loudly, finally, my eyes returned to Zoey. I took a deep breath, and finally said, "Yeah. Actually, I think that's a really good idea."
I walked Mom over to a bench and sat down, letting Stark 'talk to her'. When she calmed down, I sighed in relief, standing there awkwardly near Zoey. She asked me if I was okay. What was I supposed to tell her? That it was my fault, and Nyx was no longer with me? That I was sure Neferet was going to come kill us all? Yeah, that would go over well. I settled for emulating my old self, carefree, kinda bitchy and confident.
I shrugged "I don't know. They— I mean my parents— they have never liked me. Actually, they've been mean to me for as long as I can remember. Seriously, it was a relief to have them out of my life. But it feels weird and sad to know my dad's body is over there by the wall." Immediately after my harsh words, I pelt a pang in my conscience. My father was dead, and here I was speaking ill of him.
Zoey said something that entirely lost me, because all I could think about was how ungrateful I was. I never thanked my Dad for everything he'd given me. I'd never atoned for the way I'd basically shit on Nyx's path, that was probably why I have no visions anymore; she was showing me how wrong I was.
"She was hugging me while she cried," I murmured. "I can't remember the last time she hugged me." And just like that, I started to cry again, having never really stopped. Zoey just pulled me closer and let me sob into her shoulder. I wondered where Darius was. Was he okay!? What if Neferet got to him!? I looked around, seeing Darius. At least he was still alive. There was also a human cop there, who was talking quietly to Thanatos.
"Arrest them!" Mom screamed when she noticed the detective. So much for Stark using his vampire mojo. If it would fix things, I was at the point where I would let the detective arrest me, if it could reverse tonight. All the things that I could've stopped if I hadn't been so entitled.
"Arrest all of them! A vampyre did this, and a vampyre should pay for it," she continued, and I realized that, as per typical, I was going to get off easy. If my friends went to jail, they would be sitting ducks. Darius walked over to me, because, I hadn't realized, but I was shaking. He pulled me in against him and whispered sweet nothings about everything being fine. Everything was not fine. Nyx had left me. Their blood was on my hands just as much as it was on Neferet's.
The cop and Thanatos came to an agreement that they would find the culprit and apprehend them, rather than punishing all of us. Mom didn't like it and shrieked a little more about Dad's throat being ripped out. Had Darius not been holding me, I probably would have fallen to my knees, just because I had no will left. This entire mess was my fault. Thanatos tried to explain that it wasn't a vampyre attack; someone had staged things to look like one. Mom just responded with an insult. She was beyond reasoning. She wanted to see punishment.
"Do you deny that you are intimately allied with Death?" She demanded harshly to Thanatos. Why didn't Thanatos warn me! I demanded mentally, and how the hell did Mom even know that? Thanatos responded, explaining that her affinity was benign, and saying that there was always at least one fledgling with her that night, whom could vouch for her if it came to that. She also mentioned Erin, and my sense of culpability augmented. That was meant to be me. I was to be Water in that circle, and then Erin interceded. Abruptly, and in a voice that was a lot softer, a lot weaker than my normal voice, I spoke up.
"If a vampyre did kill my father, I can promise you that vampyre isn't part of this school!" I hinted to Neferet, wondering how far I was going to take this if they started to question me about Neferet. Guess we'll find out. Mom demanded to know if I knew who killed Dad, and I knew what I had to do. We would need all the help we could get for this battle. That meant getting the police involved or at least aware. "The only vampyre I know who would do something like this is one who would want to set up the House of Night to take the blame." I said quickly, imploring my mom to believe me, "Mom, our old High Priestess, Neferet, has a big grudge against us, all of us. She's mean, Mom. Worse, she's evil. She'd do something like this."
And then Mom did something she'd been doing for nineteen years: denying me. She pointed out that Neferet was a 'friend' of Dad's. "Neferet was just using Dad and the city," I insisted, wondering if I could get Nyx's favour back if I made them believe me, "She's never wanted to make friends with humans. She hates humans. Actually, the only thing she hates more than a human is our House of Night, especially after she was kicked out of here. So it makes perfect sense that she'd kill Tulsa's mayor at the House of Night during our open house. She knows it'll make major problems between humans and vampyres."
The detective asked Thanatos a few questions while Darius whispered to me about how brave that was of me. I didn't feel brave, I felt like a weak human who had two people (warrior included) left to call family, and a few friends that could never understand. Mom started yelling at the pair of them about lies, and how we were probably responsible for Neferet's 'disappearance' and the 'vandalization of her apartment'. That was one thing I couldn't make myself regret, even though it led to her killing. That night, we were unstoppable, and we finally showed her we weren't going to take any of this lying down.
"Mom, you can't really believe that." I said, hoping in vain Mom was pulling my leg, or that this was a dream. I didn't pinch myself, so I could hold on to my illusions. I was going to make this be a dream.
"Of course I do! Neferet had the strength to speak out against vampyre killers. Your father took her side. And now she is missing and your father is dead." She gave the cop a look I recognised from my childhood. It was like her eyes were full of fire, before demanding that he do something. I'd like to see one human cop try.
He tried to reason with her, but she only mentioned the attorney. I wasn't surprised she was dragging Robert into all this. Not after all the things I'd seen going on between them when I was younger. "And you're coming with me. Let's go. Now." She commanded me. There was one issue with that. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't make my legs work.
"Aphrodite, I said you're coming home with me. Now. And I meant it." She insisted, after walking a bit of the way to the car. The look on her face was just like normal, cold. She was done with hysterics, that wasn't getting her anywhere, now she was going to sue this place for all it was worth, and then play the grief-stricken martyr for the media.
"No," I said, tired but resolute. "I am home, and this is where I'm staying." I clung to the strong arm of my warrior, thinking about how I had always thought of him as like a mountain. I imagined drawing strength from that mountain so I could stand up to my mother.
"Your father's killer is one of them!" she shot back, raising her voice in derision. Having her daughter siding with her 'enemy' was not a part of her plan, but I had to. I was going to earn back Nyx's favour however I could.
"Mom, I already told you, if a vampyre killed Dad, it's not one of these guys," I said flatly, the imagined strength powering me up enough to sound annoyed. Mom was not making things any harder on these people, on my people.
"Aphrodite, I'm not going to tell you to come with me again," she snapped frustratedly, motioning to me to come like she had to my old dog. I may have been forsaken by Nyx, I may not belong here, but I wasn't going back there. Not unless she dragged my dead body home. I felt a pang at that thought, realizing that she would be alone without my father.
"Good. That means I won't have to tell you no again. I'm sorry Dad is dead, and that means you're alone. But I haven't lived with you for almost four years. You're really not my family anymore." I said bluntly. I was just done. I may not have anyone but Darius going for me, but I could be strong, and I was determined.
"Detective, can I force her to come with me?" Mom asked ever so subtly.
"The detective asked about my Mark, and was told the whole tale, how Nyx had chosen me, the past tense making it still true, despite that Thanatos didn't know. Or, maybe as High Priestess, she did. I just prayed that my human status didn't give Mom the legal right to haul my ass back 'home'.
There was a long pause, during which I worried that I would be dragged home. I clutched to Darius, pretending to cry on him and whispering to him to come pick me up if she forced me. "Well, being Marked and Chosen by Nyx means that Aphrodite was emancipated from her human parents. Though the circumstances are odd, I'd say that with the ruling of the Vampyre High Council, her emancipation remains valid. Mrs. LaFont, I believe the answer to your questions is no, I cannot force your daughter to go with you." The detective's words relieved me. I wouldn't have to go back there and see all the evidence of Dad's existence, and watch as Mom clung to Robert the attorney.
"Aphrodite." Mom gave me the authoritative tone she'd always loved to use on me, "Will you do as I say and come home with me, or will you choose to remain with your father's murderers?" she demanded harshly.
"I choose my real family and my real home," I said softly, but with a sense of finality, threading my hand into Darius'. Whether or not Nyx accepted me was not my thought right now, I just wanted to go to the place I'd considered home, and do my best to atone again, to help Nyx's children, her real children, not her prodigal, me.
"Then I wish I'd never given birth to you. Don't ever call me your mother again. Don't ever speak to me again. I deny your existence completely. You are as dead to me as is your father," mother said, and I felt her words as I would daggers. I once again clung to Darius. I wanted to scream at her, call her every name under the moon, sun and every last goddamned star. I didn't. I deserved this. If I had been a better prophetess, Dad would be alive right now. I didn't deserve for Mom to love me. As I watched Mom walk away, her heels clicking like a gavel, condemning me as she left, I sobbed bitterly into Darius's arm.
"I'd like to really go home now. I'll be on the bus, waiting for you guys to get done here," I said in a soft, almost broken sounding voice, as I walked stiffly to the bus, trying to hold in my tears and still clinging to Darius.
Once we arrived at the tunnels, Darius and I walked swiftly but silently to my room, where I finally broke. I told him everything, as I stained his shirt with black, mascara-tainted tears. I told him about Nyx leaving me, and being a liability, and how I had started this thing with Neferet and if I was a better prophetess, none of this would have happened. He just listened, stroking my hair comfortingly, as more stories tumbled out. I'd never truly let someone in, but now I was, and with alarming speed. A torrent of childhood mistakes and tales of Mom being—well, mom, dismissive, ice queen Mom. I told him about how Dad used to take us for ice cream after church, stories like that.
Darius finally spoke once I'd let it all out. "Come to the roof with me, there is something I would like you to see." When I found my legs were weak, he carried me in his wonderful, strong arms. Arms I had always been so safe in. He sat me down atop a crate on the roof, kneeling beside me. He pointed to the sky, where there was no moon. I figured this was a sign. "Look up there, Aphrodite. See how every star shines. That's you, you shine, even distraught. Nyx sees it just as I do. I know she does. We all have faith in you, but you need to have faith in yourself."
I sobbed harder at his kind words. I didn't deserve him, I never would. That's when the clouds parted, and a crescent moon, shone down on us, bathing us in silver light. Nyx appeared before us, formed in the rays of the moon. "Aphrodite, my daughter. I have not renounced you," she said.
I fought not to cry, "How could you not? What have I really done for you? I'm a screwup. Not even my real mother wants me around." I couldn't meet the goddess' eyes after I spoke, instead looking down. I was a shell of myself; my pride was gone, leaving only this hole.
Nyx cupped my face between her hands, making me look up, "you are my Prophetess, Aphrodite. You are a daughter of Night. I didn't show you what was to come tonight because you could not have prevented it, not without your own death. I chose to protect you, Aphrodite, just as now, I choose to give you a sign that you are my daughter." Nyx ran her fingers almost absently down Aphrodite's right arm, and Aphrodite felt a slight sting. Then the clouds rolled in, and Nyx vanished.
Slowly, wordlessly, Aphrodite pulled the sleeve of her three quarter-length shirt up, revealing the skin beneath. Dark blue lines ran town it, curling elegantly, like spirit, written across her skin. There was a crescent moon at the top, from which it all emanated, the sign of Nyx. Aphrodite had been through so much that night, loss, darkness, doubt, love and joy, but finally, she knew beyond a doubt where her family was, who her family was. She looked up at the one star that shone through the dense cloud, and whispered, "Thanks Dad." Because her dad was the one who had led her to this revelation.
Then, not feeling guilty in the slightest, she kissed Darius passionately, expelling all of the tension from her harsh night, until all that was left was love, just love. And from the Otherworld, her father smiled.
So, thanks for reading. This is just a self-indulgent little fic that stemmed from me wondering what Aphrodite's POV would be like on such traumatic events. Originally, I was going to end it where the line break is, but that just seemed cruel, so I gave Aphrodite something, some hope. I'm really pleased with the end result. As a reminder, I own nothing but Aphrodite's thoughts from before the line break.