She turned her back to Neferet and focused on Kalona. She opened her mouth and suddenly her words dried up. The winged immortal looked like an avenging god. His bare chest was spattered with blood and his black spear dripped gore. His eyes shined amber as they stared at her with an expression that was amusement mixed with disdain.

How did I ever think I could stand up to him? Stevie Rae's mind shouted inside her head. He's too powerful, and I'm nothing--just nothing ...

"Strengthen her, spirit," Zoey's voice whispered to her, carried on the wind Damien had conjured. Stevie Rae pulled her gaze from Kalona's, meeting Zoey's eyes. Her BFF smiled. "Go on. Finish what you started. You can do it."

Stevie Rae felt a rush of gratitude. As her gaze returned to Kalona, she pulled deeply from the roots she imagined connecting her to her element and with that lifeline of power, and the support of her friends, she finished what she'd started.

"Okay, everybody knows that you used to be Nyx's Warrior, but that you're here 'cause somethin' messed up with that," she said matter-of-factly, "which means you messed up. It also means that even though you've gone all evil and stuff, you used to know about honor and loyalty and maybe even love. So I have somethin' to tell you about your son, and I want you to listen to me. I don't know how or why it happened, but I love him, and I think he loves me." Here she paused and met Rephaim's gaze.

"I do," he said clearly and distinctly so that his voice carried to everyone watching. "I love you, Stevie Rae." She took one moment to smile at him, full on, filled with pride, and happiness, and above all, love. Then she refocused on Kalona. "Yes, it's weird. No, it's never gonna be a normal relationship, and Goddess knows we're gonna have to deal with lots of issues with my friends, but here's what's most important: I can give Rephaim kindness and a life where he'll know peace and happiness. But I can't do that unless you do somethin' first. You have to free him, Kalona. You have to let him make his own choice between staying with you or changing his path. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and believe with everything inside me, that somewhere deep inside you is still a tiny sliver of Nyx's Warrior, and that Kalona, the one who protected our Goddess, would do the right thing. Please be that Kalona again, if only just for one second."

Into the long silence where Kalona stared unblinkingly at Stevie Rae, Neferet's voice intruded--disdainful and arrogant. "Enough of this silly charade. I'll take care of the grass barrier. Dragon, exact your revenge on the Raven Mocker. And you, Kalona, you I order to be banished from my side as you were before. Nothing has changed between us."

As she spoke, Stevie Rae watched her pull from the shadows all around them, and from her own body, the slithering black tentacles that seemed to always be near her now. Stevie Rae readied herself. It was going to be awful, but she was dang sure not backing down, and that meant she was gonna have to stand up to Darkness again.

But just as she felt the first tug of pain and chill, and the drain Darkness caused within the earth, the winged immortal raised one hand slightly, and said, "Halt! I've long allied with Darkness. Obey my command. This is not your battle. Begone!"

"No!" Neferet shrieked as the sticky threads, invisible to almost everyone present, began to slither away to be reabsorbed into the shadows from whence they came. Neferet turned on Kalona.

"Foolish creature! What are you doing? I ordered you to leave. You must obey my command! I am High Priestess here!"

"I am not under your control! Nor have I ever been." Kalona's smile was victorious and he looked so magnificent for a moment Stevie Rae's breath caught at the sight of him. "I don't know what you're talking about," Neferet recovered quickly. "It is I who was under your control."

Kalona glanced around the school grounds, taking in the wide-eyed fledglings and the vampyres who were either armed against him or frozen somewhere between their desire to run from him and their desire to adore him. "Ah, children of Nyx, like me, many of you have stopped listening to your Goddess. When will you learn?"

Then the winged immortal looked to his right. Rephaim was standing there, silently watching his father.

"It is true you have Imprinted with the Red One?"

"Yes, Father. It is."

"And you saved her life? More than once?"

"As she has saved mine in turn, more than once. It was she who truly healed me from the fall. It was she who filled the terrible wound Darkness ripped within me later, after I faced the white bull for her." Rephaim's eyes found Stevie Rae's. "As payment for freeing her from Darkness, she touched me with the power of Light she wields, that of the earth."