Chapter Twenty-Four

Zoey

"I've changed."

I blinked. Suddenly, I was standing in Neferet's penthouse. Stark and Aurox were beside me, and Aphrodite behind us. Theseus was staring at us, next to Neferet.

I opened my mouth to tell her that it was okay, that I forgave her because that was what Nyx would do. But the words wouldn't come out. And then I remembered.

I was supposed to get Neferet to choose Darkness; then, she would be able to stop the Chaos magick from winning because it would somehow enter her.

I controlled the annoying urge to help her, to tell her everything would be fine. "No, Neferet, you haven't," I said coldly. "You know what you'll always be? A cold, heartless bitch. That's all I consider you." I stepped toward her, and she flinched away from the venom in my words—because regardless of who was more powerful, I had spirit and Nyx on my side, and I tended to glow purple when pissed. "You killed my mom, Neferet. You killed Jack. You killed so many of my friends, and are responsible for so many of the problems in my life, that I don't care how much you THINK you've changed, because the truth of the matter is, you haven't. And you never will."

I watched Neferet as her face sagged, disappointment filling her eyes. Then, to my astonishment, her eyes slowly turned red, and her lip curled in a sneer. She blinked and the red was gone, but I knew in my soul that I had not imagined it. She looked hurt, but the hurt in her eyes was too fake, too much of a mask for me to believe it.

I stalked past her into the back, where Grandma Redbird was tied up. I calmly untied her and helped her to her feet, brushing the dirt and debris off her. Her face was cut; the cuts were open and bleeding. I was astonished that I didn't want to drink her blood. Maybe it was because I recognized the anguish in her eyes.

Helping Grandma Redbird, I walked to the front. She would occasionally give a low whimper, but other than that she was silent, her eyes on my face as if remembering every detail. She jerked away from Neferet when we finally reached her, and cleared her throat.

"Your evil can never be removed," she said. "Not even the purest of loves can undo the wrong done to you, Tsi Sgili."

Neferet made a low growling noise in the back of her throat. "I am not a Tsi Sgili," she insisted roughly. "I am Neferet Englewood."

"And I want nothing to do with you," Aphrodite snapped. "Neither does Zoey. We think you're rotten, and can never go back to what you were. And if she thinks that, you know that's what Nyx thinks."

Neferet jerked back as if we'd hit her. "But... The Goddess has to forgive me," she whispered. "I..." She looked so hurt and broken that I wanted to take back everything I'd said, but I stayed strong, keeping my face firm, as though I didn't care that she was crying.

"No," Aurox said quietly. "She doesn't have to do anything."

And with that, we all turned and walked away, leaving Neferet on the ground, as we tried not to hear her heartbroken sobs.

Stevie Rae

Stevie Rae stood in position, Rephaim at her side. The crowd of humans and red fledglings (and a couple red vampyres) advanced slowly, methodically, like they were timing their arrival. She tensed when they stopped a couple inches from the blue fledglings, somehow knowing exactly what would happen next.

"Stevie Rae," Rephaim said.

She looked into his eyes. The look in them was so sweet, so gentle, and so caring that she had to bite her lip to hold back the tears forming in her own. "Yes?"

"I love you," he said. "If we don't survive, I just wanted you to know that."

Her heart swelled with love for him. She thought it would explode, for she had not thought it capable of holding in so much love. She knew his words were genuine. So her reply was exactly what he would expect her to say—exactly how she truly felt.

"I love you, too. Forever, Rephaim."

"Forever, my Red One," he murmured, and his arms came around her waist; she sensed he would not let go any time soon.

She stared at the army across from theirs. They were unblinking, unmoving, dark. She knew they would attack soon. Just at that moment, Thanatos stepped forward. Her eyes were full of wisdom and calm, calm that Stevie Rae wished she could feel.

"Is there true need for battle today?" she cried, and her voice echoed across the field. Her elegant hair billowed in the flowing wind that seemed to only be around her. "Why must we be enemies?"

"You are an abomination." Travis's father stepped forward. Stevie Rae's heart lurched with understanding, somehow knowing exactly what was about to happen. That, and the eerie grin on his face that she wanted to wipe off with earth magick. "You all must be exterminated. We will start here, and destroy all the House of Nights on earth. Soon, there will be nothing left of you." Almost in a trance, he added: "And our Goddess Neferet will rule."

"Neferet?" Kalona snapped. He stepped forward. Though he was mortal now, he looked every bit as beautiful and powerful as he had when he had emerged from the earth. How much of a change he had made since then! Now, Stevie Rae's heart swelled up with pride for him, and she realized she cared about Kalona, in that weird way someone you should hate turns your every emotion around and makes you feel sympathy for them. (Ex: Rephaim.) "Neferet is no Goddess. She is barely even vampyre. She is not mortal. Darkness lies within her. Does your God not ally with Light? Would he want you trafficking with Darkness just to get your way, like a pathetic two year old?"

Travis's father's face reddened with anger. By baiting him, all Kalona was doing was strengthening the chaos magick. The man hated vampyres, and a vampyre yelling at him was bound to piss him off.

"Shut up! You know nothing!" Travis's father lunged for Kalona.

"No!"

What happened next was an almost paradoxical twist on what should have happened. Kalona should have stood firm and disarmed the man, killing him. But Thanatos, her eyes suddenly wide with fear, jumped in between Kalona and Travis's father. Travis's father swung his stake-clad hand up in a deadly arc that got Thanatos straight through the heart.

Stevie Rae fell limp, just as she had the first time. Thanatos slumped to the ground, her body shaking and shivering. No. This was all wrong. Thanatos couldn't be dying. But Stevie Rae knew in her soul that this time, it was going the way it was supposed to. Thanatos's death was supposed to happen.

"No!" Kalona cried, falling to his knees and holding her as she died. She did not have any last words, just four choking breaths; with each, she grew paler and less tense, more limp, as the life left her body slowly. Before she knew it, Thanatos was dead.

In anger, Stevie Rae nodded for the attack. Whether this was supposed to happen or not, Travis's bastard father had to die.

"Son-of-a-bitch," Travis roared.

The two armies moved for each other at the same time now, both bloodthirsty and hungry for the battle to begin.

Zoey

"Go go go," I panted as we ran for the truck. "Gotta get to the House of Night and save everyone."

"Don't we have to kill Theseus?" Aphrodite asked as we climbed into the car.

"They will come," Aurox said softly. "I can feel it—they're following us now."

Stark started the car, and pulled out of the parking lot of the Mayo. When we were on the road, I felt a lot better, and could breathe easier. The elements were all around me, majestic and powerful. I could almost hear Sgiach's whisper in my mind: Do not allow it to make you hard.

"Go, Stark," I pleaded, even though he was going as fast as he could without getting us a ticket.

"We're almost there, Z. Relax," Aphrodite said.

I wanted to smother her. Relax? How could I relax when the responsibility of saving the world rested on my shoulders? But I knew she meant well, so I took a deep breath and ignored the comment.

"May the Earth Mother be with us," Grandma murmured. "Especially with my Zoeybird." I was surprised to feel stronger, my shoulders straighter. Maybe Grandma's Earth Mother and Nyx were the same person.

Stark turned onto the campus, and my stomach tightened. We were too late—the battle had already begun. In the field, a group of humans, vampyres and fledglings had taken up arms against each other. Stark parked the car, and we ran as fast as we could, Grandma just an inch behind us. This time, there was no Neferet, but I could feel her presence around me, in the air. And there was Darkness inside it. Neferet was changing, whether she knew it or not.

We charged into battle. Stark and I were holding hands, but I broke from him when we reached the battle. I looked around wildly to make sure everyone was okay, and gasped when I saw Thanatos's fallen body. But to my surprise, she seemed to be the only casualty. I saw Kalona, Erebus, and Nicole jumping a human, and stomping his face in. On the other side, Kramisha and Jordan were doing a pretty good job on one, convincing the guy to rip his own limbs off. Stevie Rae and Rephaim were alive, as were Shaunee, Shaylin, Nisroc, and Erik. Sophie and Johnny B had double teamed a human guy. I even saw Travis and Lenobia fighting someone. My heart swelled with pride for them. I smiled.

My smile faded when Stark nudged me; I turned and saw Neferet advancing, Theseus at her side. Her eyes were wide and innocent. So we had not cracked her shell yet? Very well.

Stark and I locked eyes. Aurox's eyes met mine. Together, we lowered our heads and charged at Neferet and Theseus.

Travis

Travis hadn't thought you literally got hot when you were pissed, but his skin was burning. Rage and hatred moved within him so potently that it was with all his strength that he struck out at his father. The pathetic bitch fell to the ground, and Travis took the opportunity to cuff him, again and again.

Travis locked his arm around his father's neck, cutting off his oxygen. "You ready to die yet?" he hissed.

His father looked at him, and in his eyes there was a mixture of hatred and fear—which both overjoyed and surprised Travis. He had not ever expected Elliot Foster to be afraid of anything.

In Travis's distraction, Elliot reached up and tightened his hand around Travis's neck. The world went red, and Travis's grip on Elliot was lost. His body was shaking, and he could not breathe.

His father was killing him.

Suddenly the pressure was gone, and Travis fell to the ground. Hard. He blinked and rolled over, staring at the spot where his father had been. There stood his cherie, his Lenobia, holding Elliot's head and smashing him into a rock over and over again until he did not move. When she lifted her hand, it was covered in thick, red blood.

"That was for Thanatos," she said.

Wordlessly, he rose to his feet and threw his arms around her. He kissed her softly, and refused to let go of her.

"I love you so much," he whispered.

"I love you, too, Travis." She chuckled.

Kramisha

"Kramisha!"

Kicking the dead body on the ground away from her, the Poet Laureate spun around to find the voice that had called to her. It was female, and she recognized it. Sophie. Though the two hadn't spoken in a while, she knew they would always be friends. And Kramisha always helped her friends.

Especially when one was getting jumped.

There were three of them, two men and one woman, one human and two vampyres, one of the vampyres red and one blue. As she got closer, the grey sky seeming to darken above her, she saw that the blue vampyre wasn't a vampyre but a fledgling, and that it was Erin Bates. The red vampyre was Dallas.

Her stomach tightened, but she kept running until she reached them. She heard Jordan's voice somewhere behind her, and she hoped he was helping her. And indeed he was. She lunged for Erin first, tackling the smiling bitch to the ground and catching her off guard. The two slid in a patch of mud, getting Kramisha's Hollister shirt all dirty.

Kramisha made sure she was on top of the girl before she sent about six punches to her face. She twisted her fingers through Erin's hair, and yanked it, getting another punch in with her free hand. Where she came from, you had to get as many hits in as possible.

"Bitch!" Kramisha roared savagely as she went in for the kill. She had never expressly been friends with Erin, so it was easy to wrap her hand around the girl's throat and tighten-

"No!" Erin choked. "Please!"

Dammit, Kramisha cursed herself silently. Outwardly, she snapped: "Why should I save you?"

"I don't want to die. I can repent for my sins," she sobbed. "I can get Nyx to forgive me."

Kramisha freed the girl. She wasn't a cold hearted killer unless she needed to be. Erin got up and brushed herself off. "Thank you."

Kramisha turned to see what process Jordan had made, and gasped in shock to see him fighting Dallas on the ground, Sophie dead beside them. Her heart ran cold.

"Whatever," she said sweetly. "Just don't get in my way when I kill your boyfriend."

Without waiting on an answer, Kramisha lunged for Dallas, punching him in the side of his face. Caught off guard, he hesitated—and that's when Jordan jumped up and stabbed the guy straight through the heart with a wooden stake. Erin didn't make a sound.

Kramisha turned to see her reaction, but there was no reaction to see. A wooden stake had been shoved through Erin's stomach, and she'd fallen to her knees.

The grief that befell Kramisha was strange. Hadn't she just been about to kill the girl herself? Yet seeing her die and killing her were two totally different things.

"Erin," she whispered, and ran to her. Erin was shaking. Her (cute) top was soaked with blood. The stake was cutting off her blood supply, and her face was getting pale. "This stake has to come out."

"No," Erin whispered. But Kramisha had never been one to listen to a pretty, evil white girl. She pulled the stake out quickly, and Erin gasped but sighed with relief when it was out. "The pain... It's gone," she whispered miraculously. "I can't... I can't feel anything."

"Of course you can't." Silently, Kramisha prayed to Nyx: I don't have no affinity for no element, but please don't let this girl die uncomfortable. Soothe her with them.

Erin gasped, her eyes filling with tears. "It feels so good," she sighed.

"I know, honey," Kramisha soothed, inwardly shocked that the Goddess had answered her prayer. She had expected Nyx to ignore her. She wasn't anything important.

Before she could continue to think about why Nyx had answered, Erin's breath choked in her throat. Blood bubbled on her lips like red foam, her eyes rolling back into her head. And she went still and silent.

Kramisha drew a deep breath and turned to face Jordan, who was staring at her with a mixture of awe and admiration. Wordlessly, she walked to him and threw her arms around him. The two stayed in that position, embracing, as the battle resumed around them, soaking them up in blood and danger and darkness.

Stark

Stark didn't have conscious thought of what he was going to do before he did it—he just did it. When they reached Neferet and Theseus, he went straight for Theseus, knowing that the vampyre was top priority.

Above him, thunder rumbled in the sky.

Stark swung his sword at Theseus, who was also holding a sword. The vampyre met him, blow for blow, with such force that Stark was sent back a few inches. But he continued to fight, slashing and hitting. With every blow of Theseus's, Stark had one of his own. The ground below them seemed to almost quake with the power of their battle. Stark had never felt so strong, so confident. Not even when he'd fought Kalona—and this was surprisingly similar.

As they exchanged blows, Neferet's voice was heard in the background. "Stop!" she was wailing. "You'll kill him! Please, Stark, stop!"

He wanted to listen to her, but he knew he had to get her to relinquish her humanity, and therefore he had to do whatever it took to break her. He had to get her to choose Darkness.

Theseus was distracted by Neferet. Stark took the opportunity to saunter forward. He tightened his grip on his sword—to his surprise, he realized it was the Guardian Sword, glowing, giving him the strength to battle such a powerful vampyre—and swung it, slicing Theseus's head off in a deadly circular arc.

Neferet screamed and ran to Theseus's dead, broken body. Stark looked at Zoey and Aurox, and nodded his head. He turned back to Neferet, and she was staring hatefully at him, dark smoke materializing around her.

Darkness.

Stark had not understood why Neferet needed to be on the side of Darkness for them to win, but now he understood. Neferet had held the chaos magick that had started the spell within her, through Aurox. Now, all that chaos magick was coming back to her, like a sponge and water. It was making her immortal again.

Giving them strength.

Neferet's lip trembled, and she showed her teeth, an expression of pure hatred, as she stared at Stark. Zoey stood protectively beside him.

"That's right," Stark said calmly and coldly. "I killed him. I killed Theseus and took away everything you loved—the only person you ever cared about. I turned him into nothing but a headless FREAK." With every word, Neferet moved a little closer to him. "And I'll do the same to you."

Suddenly she roared, lunging at him and tackling him to the ground. They flew back several feet. Stark could feel Neferet's Darkness against his skin, burning and ripping at his clothes. He had never been so close to her, and he realized with horror that her skin was utterly and completely cold, no blood and no warmth. She was something immortal and evil—something worse than a Tsi Sgili. He grasped wildly for her hair and threw her off him, sending her flying to the ground. He rose to his feet.

The battle around him had stopped, the humans losing their fight with the absence of their chaos magick, and everyone had surrounded Stark, Zoey, Aurox, Neferet and Aphrodite. At that time, Zoey held her hand out to Stark.

He knew without asking what she wanted, and he handed her the Guardian Sword. Both pride and worry for her swelled up in his throat. He was proud of her, but worried that Neferet would win and kill her.

Suddenly, from the sky, a large purple hole opened, and through it came Nyx, looking beautiful and deadly all in one. She fell gracefully to the ground beside Zoey, and the force of her fall almost knocked him down. She was beautiful, and he knew everyone could see her. They all bowed to her, except Neferet.

"My gracious Goddess," everyone said methodically—even him.

"My gracious people," she said softly, smiling. "In times of unjust such as these, does it not call for Godly intervention?"

"You swore you would not interfere," Neferet gloated, her eyes glowing a brilliant red. She looked strong and powerful and terrifying, all wrapped in one. She sounded different, too. Her voice was deeper, almost male now. Darkness seemed to pulsate within her body, her skin crawling with it. Stark only didn't cringe with a supreme effort.

"I am not interfering, Darkness," Nyx chastised. "I am intervening. And plus, I swore I would never interfere with mortal affairs, and you by all counts, are no longer mortal. You have taken over Neferet Englewood's body, Darkness, just as I prepare to take over my daughter's."

Neferet chuckled. Her skin seemed to fade away, and Stark gasped as he glimpsed the white bull within her. The bull's skin was shining, grotesque yet powerful. The ground vibrated with Dark energy where his hooves touched it. Stark blinked and Neferet was standing there again. She seemed stronger and taller. There was now a sword in her hand, the color of night, and Darkness pulsated around it, circling like the sun and the planets.

He turned to Zoey. She looked terrified. He had never seen so much fear in her face. He threaded his fingers through hers, and squeezed her hand, the warmth from his coming off on her.

"I will claim Zoey Redbird's heart," Neferet cried. "And I will rule the earth, with Chaos and Hell combined."

Nyx was unfazed. She turned to Zoey. "Child, quickly. Let us join hands. Darkness grows strong."

Zoey squeezed Stark's hand before she broke their connection. She raised her hands, and Nyx grasped them. After murmuring a few words, Nyx became purple smoke—smoke that seeped slowly into Zoey, into her mouth, eyes, and ears. Zoey stood frozen as the smoke entered her. When it cleared, she looked different. Stark drew a shocked breath.

Zoey was absolutely, frighteningly beautiful.

She had been before, but it was emphasized now. Her long, dark hair was even longer and darker, coming almost to her back and matching the color of her eyes, which were now a flat, omniscient black. Her body was muscular, yet feminine, like Sgiach. Her body glowed with white-hot light. The crowd around them took a few steps back.

"Z," he heard Stevie Rae whisper.

"Whoa, Zoey!" Shaylin cried.

"Zoey," choked Aphrodite.

All Stark could do was stare.

The Guardian Sword glowed in Zoey's hands. She turned to Neferet without saying anything, her eyes full of righteous anger.

"You must be destroyed," she said with the voice of a goddess.

"Come destroy me, then." Neferet was grinning, her voice still that of the white bull.

"Gladly."

Before Stark could comprehend what was happening, Zoey was charging across the wide space straight at Nereret, the Guardian Sword glowing brilliantly as her elegant fingers tightened around the hilt.

...

Epic epic epic! Can you guys say EPIC?! I think I outdid myself there. The reason it took so long to update was because I kept changing the way this chapter ended, until I came up with this way. I love it!

Oh, and to answer Nyx'sReincarnation: they are out in daylight, but the sun isn't out. The sky is grey. So they wouldn't burn up.

Stay tuned to see what happens to Zoey—and what happens to Neferet!

XOXO,
Casey