The night was still. Too still, Loren thought. It was almost as if time was standing still at this moment, as though the words about to be exchanged had the ability to manipulate fate, destiny and future.

Neferet poured a generous volume of blood laced wine into two silver goblets atop a dark, mahogany table. They were sat on a private balcony; an extension of the high priestess' third floor – Neferet's floor. The balcony overlooked the campus, but not a soul was to be seen, as if the darkness of the night cloaked the pair in mystery. Distantly, an ancient clock chimed twelve- it was midnight. Neferet's moss green eyes lifted to meet Loren's dark ones and she started to speak.

"A have a task for you." Neferet spoke matter-of-factly, and took a sip of wine.

"My love?" Confusion swept through Loren's mind. "A Task." He spoke the words slowly, measuring their weight on his tongue as he spoke them. They seemed heavy as if riddled with complications.

"A task. Our little high priestess has become more than a little problem as of late." Neferet's eyes seemed to darken as she continued to speak, until all trace of their moss green colour had vanished. "Zoey Redbird? She's just a fledgling, hardly a threat to you, my love." Loren had recited poetry for the girl, and she had always seemed innocent and righteous to him. Hardly a threat to a high priestess like Neferet, he thought.

"I'm afraid Zoey has strayed from the path of good, my darling. As she becomes ever stronger with her manifestation of the five elements she drifts farther and farther from Nyx. I fear"- Neferet's eyes closed and when they opened again the moss green was back- "that she is turning to evil." Neferet sighed, and turned from Loren to look over the dark silhouettes of the campus.

"I wish to isolate her." The words were cold. "She's nothing but a silly teenage girl, weak without those around her. You shall get close to her; she will confide her secrets in you. You will then report them to me. I want to know exactly how much she knows. Find out whether she really is friends with Aphrodite. If she is that could really become inconvenient. The final word was almost a snarl. As Neferet turned to face Loren once again, her eyes were dark. "Do you understand what I ask of you?"

As Loren took in her words it did not occur to him that he had a choice. Had he not been so entranced by Neferet's power, beauty and mystery, he might have realised it. But once more his eyes seemed to lock with hers and he felt some of the glinting darkness of her eyes reflected in his own.

"Yes, my Queen."