Mama Johnson's face hardened into her serious expression. "You know, the sooner you come clean with everybody 'bout him, the better. Right?"

"I know. I'll try. There's a lot goin' on right now and it's not a good time for me to dump this on everybody."

"It's always the right time for the truth," said Mama Johnson.

"Oh, Mama, I don't know how I got myself into this mess."

"Sure you do, baby. I wasn't even there and I can tell you that somethin' 'bout this creature got through to you, and that somethin' might end up bein' his redemption."

"Only if he's strong enough," Stevie Rae said.

"And I don't know if he is. Far as I know he's never stood up to his daddy before."

"Would his daddy approve of you bein' with him?"

Stevie Rae scoffed, "No dang way."

"But he's saved your life twice and Imprinted with you. Baby, to me that says he's been standing up to his daddy for a while now."

"No, he did all that while his daddy was, well, let's just say out of the country. He's back now, and Rephaim is back to doin' whatever he wants him to do."

"Really? How do you know that?"

"He told me today when he--" Stevie Rae's words broke off and her eyes widened.

Her mama smiled and nodded. "See?" "Ohmygoodness, you might be right!"

" 'Course I'm right. I'm your mama."

"I love you, Mama," Stevie Rae said.

"And I love you right back, baby girl."

Chapter Eighteen

Rephaim

"I cannot believe you are going to do this," Kalona said, pacing back and forth across the rooftop balcony of the Mayo.

"I am doing this because it is necessary, it is time, and it is the right thing to do!" Neferet's voice rose in tempo while she spoke as if she were exploding from the inside out.

"The right thing to do! As if you're a creature of Light?" Rephaim couldn't stop the words, nor could he school his voice to sound anything but incredulous.

Neferet rounded on him. She raised her hand. Rephaim could see threads of power quivering in the air around her, absorbing into her skin, crawling beneath it. The sight made his stomach tighten as he remembered the terrible touch of those Dark threads. Automatically, he moved a step back from her.

"Are you questioning me, bird creature?" Neferet looked like she was readying herself to hurl the Darkness at him.

"Rephaim does not question you, just as I do not question you." His father moved closer to Neferet, stepping between the Tsi Sgili and him as he continued to speak with the calm voice of authority.

"We are both simply surprised." "It is what Zoey and her allies would least expect me to do. So, even though it sickens me, I will abase myself--temporarily. By doing so I make Zoey impotent. If she so much as whispers against me, she will reveal herself to be the petulant child she really is."

"I would think you would rather destroy her than humiliate her," Rephaim said.

Neferet sneered at him and spoke to him as if he were an utter fool. "I have the ability to kill her tonight, but no matter how I orchestrated it, I would be implicated. Even those dotards on the High Council would be compelled to come here--to watch me, and to interfere with my plans. No, I am not ready for that, and until I am, I want Zoey Redbird gagged and put back in her place. She is a mere fledgling; she will be treated as such from here on out. And as I am taking care of Zoey I will also be revisiting her little group of friends--especially the one who calls herself the first red High Priestess." Neferet's laughter was mocking. "Stevie Rae? A High Priestess? I intend to reveal what she really is."

"And what is that?" Rephaim had to ask, though he kept his voice level, his expression as blank as he could make it.

"She is a vampyre who has known, and even embraced, Darkness."

"Ultimately she chose Light," Rephaim said, and realized that he'd spoken much too quickly when Neferet's eyes narrowed.

"But the fact that Darkness has touched her changes her forever," Kalona said.

Neferet smiled sweetly at Kalona. "You are so very right, my Consort."

"Couldn't knowing the touch of Darkness have a strengthening effect on the Red One?" Rephaim was unable to stop himself from asking.

"Of course it has. The Red One is a powerful vampyre, if young and inexperienced, which is exactly why she could be of excellent use to us," Kalona said. "I believe there is even more to Stevie Rae than she has shown to her little friends. I saw her when she was in Darkness. She reveled in it," Neferet said. "I say we need to watch her and see what is beneath that bright, innocent exterior." Neferet enunciated the words sarcastically.