"Yeah, okay, we hear ya. We really gotta get our butts back to the depot," Stevie Rae said. "But we all wish you good luck. I just know if Neferet has Grandma Redbird, you're the right guy to get her back!" She smiled that innocent, joyful smile of hers at him, and his son waved in happy agreement, then the bus's doors closed and Darius drove away.

Zoey said nothing before they left. Nothing at all. She'd just sat on the bus while everyone else talked and collected their schoolbooks and finished loading the bus. But he could feel her eyes watching him. He felt her mistrust through them. He also felt her hope. I am her only chance at getting her grandmother back alive, Kalona thought as the school bus disappeared down Utica Street. She could have at least wished me luck.

"Nyx, I ask that you watch over my Warrior, Kalona."

Hearing the Goddess's name startled Kalona and he refocused on Thanatos. The High Priestess was standing before him, arms raised, face lifted to the pre-dawn sky.

"He has chosen to bind himself to your path through me, your loyal High Priestess. He is my sword-my shield-my protector. And as I have been given dominion of this House of Night, Kalona has become its protector as well."

Thanatos's voice was rich with power and as it brushed over Kalona's skin, he trembled. She is invoking Nyx! And the Goddess is responding! He held his breath as she continued.

"Thus, I beseech your aid, benevolent Goddess of Night. I ask that you strengthen him should he be weakened by Darkness and its trappings. Allow his choice to shine and, like moonlight through the grayness of mist, let his purpose part the shadows of that which might cloud his judgment and distract his intent. Do not let him fall prey to Darkness as long as his choice is for Light."

Kalona fisted his hands so that Thanatos would not see how they had begun to tremble.

Nyx did not appear, but her listening presence was tangible. He could feel the sweet goodness that stirred the air in the wake of the Goddess. It had always been so. Wherever Nyx turned her immortal attention, there followed magick and Light, power and laughter, joy and love. Always love.

Kalona bowed his head. How I have missed her!

"Kalona, go with the blessing of Nyx!"

The swirl of energy that followed Thanatos's invocation washed against them both. Kalona lifted his head to see that the High Priestess was smiling beatifically at him.

"Nyx heard you," he said, grateful his voice did not sound as shaken as he felt.

"She did indeed," Thanatos said. "And that is most certainly a good omen."

"I will not disappoint either you or the Goddess," Kalona said, then he sprinted and launched himself into the air, thinking, not this time-I will not disappoint her this time.

Kalona flew straight and true. The balcony of the Mayo was wide and high. He dropped easily to its cold stone surface from the plum-colored sky. He folded his raven-colored wings against his naked back. Yes, he'd come to her with his chest bared. She preferred him that way.

"Goddess, your Consort returns!" Kalona called, thankful for who or whatever had shattered the glass of the penthouse's doorway. It saved him having to awkwardly break it open should she not welcome him as he expected.

"I see no Consort, only a winged failure." Her voice came from the shadows behind him in the far corner of the balcony, well away from the entrance to her penthouse.

He turned slowly to face her, allowing her time to take in the sight of his naked chest and his powerful wings. Neferet was a lusty creature. She craved men, but even more than the physical pleasure she took from a man's body, Neferet craved lording dominion over men. The white bull could give her power, but a bull was not a man.

"During the eons of my existence I have, indeed, failed at some things. I have made mistakes. The greatest of both was leaving your side, Goddess," Kalona spoke truthfully, though the Goddess foremost in his mind was not Neferet.

"So now you call me Goddess and you crawl back to me."

Kalona took two strides toward her, allowing his wings to stir. "Do I appear to be crawling?"

Neferet tilted her head. She hadn't moved from the shadows and all he could really see of her were her emerald eyes and the flame-colored shimmer of her hair as the sun began to rise behind her.

"No," she said, sounding bored. "You appear to be flapping."

Kalona unfurled his wings and opened his arms. His amber eyes met her cold, green gaze and he focused his will on her. Neferet had not long been immortal. She would still be susceptible to his allure.

"Look again, Goddess. Gaze on your Consort."