“You will suspend her services for as long as I am staying with you,” said Neferet.
Lynette could see that didn’t go over well with Vanessa, but the girl didn’t comment.
“Now I need two things—suitable rooms where my handmaid and I may rest and refresh, and a feeder.” Neferet’s emerald eyes scanned the small group of girls hungrily.
Lynette enjoyed watching them squirm.
“Well, um, there’s a whole feeder registry,” Vanessa said.
“Yes, but none of them will do, as they are registered and therefore not disposable. No matter.” Neferet made a dismissive gesture with her long, elegant figures. “Show me to your house and I shall find a feeder myself while my fog still blankets the city.”
Kelsey, the girl wearing the blue robe of water, stared at Neferet in starstruck wonder. “You brought this fog here?”
“Yes, child.” Neferet waved her hand around the concealing mist that encircled the group, shrouding it from the cameras that watched the grotto. “This is but a parlor trick.”
“Wow,” Kelsey said.
“This is gonna be awesome,” said Vanessa. “Come this way, please, um, Neferet.”
“You five may call me ‘my lady,’ ” Neferet corrected her.
“Uh, yeah. My lady. The house is just down the street off Norfolk and Twentieth.”
“Lovely. You lead. My handmaid and I shall follow,” said Neferet.
The young women headed for the sidewalk that ran along Twenty-First Street, heading west, toward the river and into the thickest part of the fog. Neferet followed with Lynette at her side.
“They’re very naive and not particularly bright,” Lynette said, keeping her voice pitched for Neferet’s ears alone.
“Yes. They’re absolutely perfect,” agreed Neferet.
3
Other Stark
Other Kevin yawned enormously and stretched so hard that his hands brushed the top of the limo and his spine cracked. “You think Sgiach is actually gonna let us on the island?”
Other Stark looked up from the Dean Koontz book he was reading. “Oh, you’re alive again.”
“Dude, I don’t actually die when the sun’s up. You know that, right?”
“Of course I know that. Doesn’t change the fact that you red vamps look dead while you sleep. You mind if I roll down the window now that the sun’s set? Some fresh air would be good.”
“No problem.”
Stark hit the down button and the back of their limo filled with cold, wet air that smelled of earth.
Kevin stared out at the gray world as it sped by. “Wow. That’s a lot of mountains. Where are we?”
“Only about thirty minutes from the bridge to Skye.”
“So, do you think the queen’s gonna let us on the island?” Kevin repeated as he stared out the half-open window.
Stark shrugged. “Anastasia seems to think she will. She said Sgiach was pleased we’d kicked Neferet out of power.”
“Yeah, there’s definitely no love lost between Neferet and Sgiach, which is why I was surprised she’d go to Skye.”
Stark ran his hand through his shaggy hair. “Well, it’s not like Neferet went to Skye for the queen’s help. It’s more like if she’s here—or was here—she’s sneaking around trying to use Old Magick.”
Kevin grimaced. “Old Magick. That stuff is bad news. I am not looking forward to using it again.”
Stark studied him. He understood the pain that crossed his face. Kevin had lost Aphrodite to Old Magick—just days before—and the kid was definitely not over it.
“Maybe we won’t have to. She might still be here.”
Kevin snorted. “Not likely. If Neferet had planned on hanging around, she wouldn’t have taunted us in the elevator video after she killed Blake. And you heard what the London House of Night Warriors found out—that she’d ordered and eaten an entire dinner at a restaurant right down the street just minutes after she killed him. Let’s hope that douchebag’s last written words weren’t meant to throw us off.”
“I don’t think he was smart enough for that. Plus, Neferet killed him. Pretty gruesomely too. That’s fact. The video shows that the two of them were alone in that hotel room. They both went in. Only Neferet came out.”
“While I was sleeping was there any word from Dragon about a Neferet sighting around Skye?” Kevin asked.
Stark shook his head. “No word on a sighting, but the pilot finally opened his mouth.”
Kevin barked a laugh. “Did Dragon persuade him with his fists?”
“Actually, no. Anastasia got to him. Dragon said less than ten minutes alone with the guy and he told her everything. Neferet and Lynette Witherspoon, the human who was the flight coordinator at the private airport in Tulsa, had him fly them to London, where they deplaned. Neferet sent the jet on to Venice to await further instructions, which never came. He said he overheard the two of them talking about hiring a car to drive them to Skye. The human planned everything while Neferet slept for most of the flight. He heard her booking an entire B&B somewhere close to Skye, but she didn’t say the name of the place—or at least not so that he could hear it.”
“Yeah, Neferet was definitely lurking around Skye. She had to be messing with Old Magick.”
“Dragon said the pilot told Anastasia that not only was Lynette obviously with Neferet willingly, but she called her ‘goddess’ several times.”
Kevin’s gaze went from the darkening scenery to Stark. “Shit. That’s bad. The Neferet in Zo’s world became immortal.”
“Yeah, Anastasia’s guess is that’s Neferet’s goal—to become immortal too, and then return to Tulsa when she’s so powerful we won’t be able to stop her. And there are plenty of assholes like Loren Blake—”
“And your buddy, Dallas,” Kevin added.
“He’s not my damn buddy. But, yeah, there are plenty of assholes like him who would flock to an immortal Neferet so they’d be back in power.” Stark hesitated. The subject made him feel sick. When he supported Neferet and her war against humans he’d been doing what he thought was right—at first. But if he was honest with himself, he’d been questioning Neferet’s methods for quite a while. “I shoulda spoken against her. I shoulda stood up to her.”
“You did when it counted most. You were part of the reason all of the red vamps and fledglings got their humanity back. If you’d stood up to Neferet before then, I don’t know how we woulda stopped her,” Kevin said.