The Goddess answered her question with a question. “And what of your mother? Will you gift her with a second chance?”
Aphrodite jerked back in shock. “My mother? What does this have to do with her? She’s not a red or blue vampyre.”
“Your gift isn’t limited to fledglings and vampyres—your gift is for humanity, and you are all humans, though some of you would like to debate that.”
Aphrodite stood and began to pace back and forth, back and forth in front of the Goddess. She wrapped her arms around herself, as if to keep herself from breaking. Finally, she stopped and faced Nyx. Fresh tears flowed down her face and her voice was filled with despair. “My heart and mind say the same thing. My mother doesn’t deserve a second chance.”
Nyx stepped from the dais and went to Aphrodite. Gently, the Goddess took the young prophetess into her arms and held her close while she sobbed. Nyx stroked her hair and murmured wordless comfort until Aphrodite’s tears dried.
“Thank you,” Aphrodite said, stepping from Nyx’s embrace. “I’m better now. And my answer is still the same. My mother does not deserve another chance. My heart and mind told me that. They also told me that I can’t fix her, and that I have to let her go. So, that’s what I’m doing.”
“You are wise. Frances LaFont has been given many chances for redemption during her life. Selfishness and self-loathing prevented her from taking them. But no child should be made to choose whether their parent deserves redemption. My final gift to you, Prophetess, is twofold. The humanity will be restored to the red fledglings and vampyres from the other world. That gift comes from me. You will not pay a price for it. I also gift your mother with a second chance. So mote it be!”
The Goddess waved her hand, causing a ripple in the air around them that reminded Aphrodite of a stone being thrown into a still pool of clear water. Reality pressed against her, shifting, changing … making it difficult for her to breathe.
Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the strange shift in reality lifted. Aphrodite gasped and was able to draw breath again.
“Is that it? Is it done?”
“It is, Daughter. I am proud of you, and my pride is truly of a mother for a favorite child. And now I wish you merry meet, merry part, and that we merry meet again.” Nyx’s form faded until only her headdress of stars was all that remained, and then it, too, faded in a glittering rain of diamond sparks.
“I am worth a mother’s love,” Aphrodite whispered.
From the air around her rang the Goddess’ loving words. “Of course you are, my sweet, wise daughter. And may you always blessed be.”
22
Heff
Heff forced down the panic that kept bubbling up and threatening to drown him. He had no idea how this thing had happened, but he was definitely not in a Tulsa he recognized.
His Tulsa had no restaurant in the depot above the tunnels that served as the main encampment of Neferet’s Red Army.
His Tulsa certainly had no humans dining in a restaurant run by red fledglings.
There were no trapdoors that opened at a touch from above so that they could drop into the safety of the depot tunnels from several places along the deserted railroad line and between the depot building and the heart of downtown. Heff knew. He and General Dominick had split up and tried every trick entrance to what should have been their army’s stronghold.
None of them worked. There was no sign that there had ever been trapdoors leading from street level to the tunnels.
There was a lot about Tulsa itself that was wrong—even though the city slept under a whiteout blizzard.
Festive garlands wrapped with lights decorated the downtown streets, swaying in the wind as if they were dancing with glee at being there—at being allowed there.
In Heff’s Tulsa, humans were no longer allowed to decorate the streets for Christmas. Neferet had declared that holiday obsolete.
And now human police officers—humans—made their presence very obvious outside the entrances to several buildings that provided tunnel sanctuaries beneath them. It was the second-oddest thing Heff had ever seen.
The first was his sister—alive and well and a fully Changed vampyre—closing the circle that had drawn them to this upside-down world. He tried to compartmentalize his confusion and his hope. Tried to use the mental tricks that had helped him stay sane during the past year, but like this world, his emotions were turned upside down.
“With me, Lieutenant,” General Dominick snapped as he brushed past Heff.
“Yes, sir.” Heff followed the general through the rubble and remains left by the homeless who had the poor luck to have chosen to pull apart one of the boarded up windows of the abandoned Sinclair Building to try to weather the storm. The general had ordered his vampyres to break into the building so that they could regroup. The homeless within? They had been what the general called “before-bedtime snacks.”
“Nothing is right.” General Dominick rubbed his hands together and braced himself against the wind and snow as they closed the plywood opening to the broken window. The two of them stayed close to the side of the building—taking refuge from the blizzard, as well as concealment from roving humans. “This is not our world. It cannot be.”
Heff said nothing. He knew better than to call too much attention to himself or to accidentally provoke the general.
“Sunrise is close. Too close.”
“Thirty minutes,” Heff said.
Dominick’s red gaze blazed at him. “I know that as well as you do!” The general turned his attention back to the snow-covered street. “I still see no one outside the Philtower, and there is no movement by the Atlas Building, either. Even with this snow covering the sun, we can’t take a chance at staying above ground.”
“But this building’s obviously been abandoned for awhile. There are public auction flyers posted that it’s selling next month. With this snow, I don’t think anyone except the homeless will be coming in here, and not even them if we barricade that loose board.”
The general didn’t answer with words. Instead he backhanded Heff. The force hurled him against the side of the building, his ears ringing as his head smacked a crumbling limestone pillar.
“It’s not your job to think. Take the fledglings and a squad of the vampyres. Go to the Philtower tunnels. I’ll take the rest of the vampyres to the Atlas Building. After sunset we meet here and decide how to find Neferet and get our orders. Now.”
“Yes, sir,” Heff repeated, rubbing the back of his head. He kept a tight rein on his emotions. He’d learned this lesson well. Draw no attention. Do as I’m told. And hold on. Always try to hold on to who I am. I am Kevin Heffer. I am surrounded by monsters, but they do not define me.