Neferet sighed. She touched the side of Kalona's face. His flesh was cool, as it always was, but lifeless. He showed no reaction whatsoever to her presence.

"What is taking so long, my love? Could you not have disposed of one annoying child more quickly?"

Neferet caressed him again; this time her hand slid from his face down the curve of his neck, over his chest, to rest on the indentations that defined the corded muscles of his abdomen and waist.

"Remember your oath and fulfill it so that I might open my arms and my bed to you again. By blood and Darkness you have sworn to prevent Zoey Redbird from returning to her body, thus destroying her so that I might rule this magickal modern world."

Neferet caressed the fallen immortal's slim waist again, smiling secretly to herself. "Oh, and of course you shall be by my side while I rule."

Invisible to the Sons of Erebus fools who were supposed to be the High Council's spies, the black, spider-like threads that held Kalona trapped against the earth shivered and shifted, brushing their frigid tentacles against Neferet's hand. Distracted momentarily by their alluring chill, Neferet opened her palm to Darkness and allowed it to twine around her wrist, cutting ever so slightly into her flesh--not enough to cause her pain that was unbearable--only enough to temporarily sate its unending lust for blood.

Remember your sworn oath ...

The words sloughed around her like the winter wind through denuded branches. Neferet frowned. She need not be reminded. Of course she was aware of her oath. In exchange for Darkness doing her bidding--entrapping Kalona's body and forcing his soul to the Otherworld--she had agreed to sacrifice the life of an innocent Darkness had been unable to taint. The oath remains. The bargain holds, even should Kalona fail, Tsi Sgili ... Again the words whispered around her.

"Kalona will not fail!" Neferet shouted, utterly incensed that even Darkness would dare chastise her. "And should he, I have bound his spirit as mine to command as long as he is immortal, so even in failure there is victory for me. But he will not fail." She repeated the words, slowly and distinctly, regaining control over her increasingly volatile temper.

Darkness licked her palm. The pain, slight though it was, pleased her, and she gazed at the tendrils affectionately, as if they were simply overeager kittens vying for her attention.

"Darlings, be patient. His quest is not complete. My Kalona is still but a shell. I can only assume Zoey languishes in the Otherworld--not fully living and, unfortunately, not yet dead."

The threads that held her wrist quivered, and for an instant Neferet thought she heard the mocking ring of laughter rumbling in the distance. But she had no time to consider the implications of such a sound--whether it was real or just an element of the expanding world of Darkness and power that consumed more and more of what she once knew as reality--because at that instant Kalona's entrapped body jerked spasmodically and he drew a deep, gasping breath.

Her gaze went instantly to his face, so she witnessed the horror of his eyes opening, even though they were nothing but empty, bloody sockets.

"Kalona! My love!" Neferet was on her knees, bending over him, her hands fluttering around his face.

The Darkness that had been caressing her wrists throbbed with a sudden jolt of power, causing her to flinch before they shot from her body and joined a myriad of sticky tendrils that, web-like, hovered and pulsed against the stone ceiling of the dungeon.

Before Neferet could form a command to call a tendril to her--to order an explanation for such bizarre behavior--a blinding flash of light, so bright and shining that she had to shield her eyes from it, exploded from the ceiling. The web of Darkness caught it, slicing through the light with inhumane sharpness and entrapping it. Kalona opened his mouth with a soundless scream.

"What is it? I demand to know what is happening!" Neferet cried.

Your Consort has returned, Tsi Sgili. Neferet stared as the globe of imprisoned light was wrenched from the air and, with a terrible hissing, Darkness plunged Kalona's soul through the sockets of his eyes and back into his body.

The winged immortal writhed in pain. His hands lifted to cover his face, and he drew panting, ragged breaths.

"Kalona! My Consort!" As she would have done when she was a young healer, Neferet moved automatically. She pressed her palms over Kalona's hands, quickly and efficiently centered herself, and said, "Soothe him ... remove his pain ... make his agony like the red sun setting into the horizon--gone after a momentary slash through the waiting night sky."

The shudders that wracked Kalona's body began to lessen almost instantly. The winged immortal drew a deep breath. Though his hands trembled, he clasped Neferet's tightly, removing them from his face. Then, opened his eyes. They were the deep amber color of whisky, clear and coherent. He was completely himself again.