Then I went to the wall. I knew what was compelling me. It was her journal—Neferet’s Curse—and the lingering pity I felt for Emily Wheiler.
I rested the palm of my hand on the wall, closed my eyes, and spoke to her.
“They were wrong—that man who abused you, and the others who stood by and let it happen. The vampyres you went to were wrong, too. They should have gotten you help—should have known something was seriously wrong with you. And we were wrong. First, to let you have so much power, and now to be so quick to cast blame on you—so quick that we opened our world to monsters.” I paused and added, “But goodness came of it. I found my brother. Damien found his Jack. Aphrodite found herself. And I learned something important about you. I learned that I feel more pity for you than hate, and that’s a pretty big thing. So, Neferet, for the first time, I can say I honestly hope you find peace. And I wish you to blessed be.”
I took my hand from the wall and turned my back to it as I pulled out my cell phone and punched the old number I’d found earlier that day. He picked up on the second ring.
“Uh, hi, Kevin. This is your sister, Zoey.”
Zoey Redbird didn’t see the thin tendril of Darkness that snaked from the almost-invisible crack in the wall where her hand had just rested. It reached for her, trembling with need. As it came within a hair’s width of her body, its sightless face rippled and its maw-like mouth opened. Pointed teeth glistened with spittle. At that instant, Zoey shifted her stance, allowing the light of the newly risen moon to shine behind her. When the silver beam touched the tendril it quivered, smoked, and slowly—very slowly—it slithered back between the rocks and disappeared.
The end … for now.