“Pass?”
“For human, you idiot.”
Aphrodite felt herself go very still inside. She stared at her mother, perhaps really seeing her for the first time. She is a monster.
“You’re a monster.” The words slipped from Aphrodite’s mouth before she knew she’d spoken.
LaFont’s laughter was edged with spite. “That’s ironic coming from you.”
“No, what’s ironic is that you are literally a monster. Or you will be one very soon. Mother, you were bitten by a red vampyre from an alternative world. In that world the bite of a red vampyre is infectious. You will die in three days. Then you will rise in three more, but you will be one of them. A monster. And there is nothing you can do about it.”
“Liar!” Her mother spat the word at her. “You’ve always been such a liar!”
“No, Mother. That’s one of the many things you’ve always been wrong about. I don’t lie. It’s one of my strengths and one of my faults. So let me tell you something else, honestly. Not only will you rise a monster, but you will also die a monster. Your puny human body can’t tolerate the Change. It’ll burn out. You will die. The end. And you know what? If I had the power to heal you—I would not. You don’t deserve it. The world is better off without you. Goodbye, Mother. I won’t be seeing you again.”
Aphrodite stumbled blindly for the door as her mother screamed obscenities at her.
“Miss LaFont?” The nurse rushed from the nurses’ station, sending concerned glances at the closed door through which her mother’s tide of obscenities could still be heard. “Is everything all right?”
“No. She knows she’s going to die. As is typical for my mother, she doesn’t take bad news well. She probably needs to be sedated.”
The nurse touched Aphrodite’s arm gently. “I meant with you. Is everything all right with you?”
Aphrodite blinked fast. I will not cry. “Again, no. But I’m used to it. My mother poisons everything she touches. Though she might be right about one thing—me thinking that she had changed even a little probably means I am an idiot.”
“No, it doesn’t,” she said kindly. “It means you’re the daughter of an unpleasant woman.”
“Maybe it means both. Excuse me.”
Aphrodite fled for the elevator and punched the button for the ground floor. Before the elevator doors opened, she’d fished through her purse and found the flask she kept there. She pulled it out. It was a beautiful thing—silver, monogrammed with an ornate A. Aphrodite unscrewed the cap, lifted the flask to her lips, and drank deeply, grimacing only slightly at the peaty taste of the twenty-one-year-old single malt scotch.
20
Zoey
“Okay, Darius and his Warriors are all in place. There’s only fifteen minutes until sunrise. Time for us to go!” Stark shouted at me as he held open the door of the Escalade. I bolted from the warm, dry House of Night through the stinging snowy wind with my head ducked and my eyes half closed. He ran around to the driver’s side and climbed in.
“It’s getting bad. Real bad,” Shaunee said from the back seat.
“Which is the only reason I’m letting Stark come with us at all,” I said.
Stark shot me his cocky, half grin. “Z, I’m driving. It’s you who is coming with me.”
I shook my head at him. “I don’t like this. It’s going to be sunrise in half an hour.”
“I told you that I’ll be fine. There is no way the sun can shine through this mess, and I have this.” He lifted his hoodie and winked at me. “I won’t fry. Promise.”
“I’ll be real pissed if you do,” I said. “Not to mention if I see your skin even starting to look a little red, I’ll drag your butt back to this very heavily tinted SUV, throw you in the back seat, and cover you with blankets while I floor this thing to the school.”
“You driving in a blizzard? Now I am scared,” Stark said.
Shaunee snorted.
“Hey, that’s not funny,” I said.
“It is, Z,” Shaunee said. “Everyone knows you’re a shitty driver.”
“No, everyone knows I can’t parallel park. Hardly anyone can parallel park. That doesn’t make me a bad driver.” I turned to look at Shaunee before we left campus. “Hey, are you sure you don’t want to stay here? This weather is awful.”
“I heard Marx telling you they have flamethrowers ready. No damn way I’m going to miss that.”
“It is a good idea to have fire with us,” Stark said.
“Okay, yeah, I get it. I just haven’t been able to stop worrying since Kalona showed up in my dream and mentioned the N word.”
“Z, get real. You haven’t stopped worrying since you were Marked,” Stark said.
I sighed. “You’re probably right. I just, I dunno. I just keep feeling like something is going to happen. Something really awful.”
“You mean something more awful than the zombie apocalypse?” Shaunee said.
“Sadly, yes,” I said. We’d come to the gate that opened to Utica. I glanced down what I expected to be a totally empty street to see …
“Hey, that’s not Aphrodite staggering down the middle of Utica, is it?” Stark said.
“Ah, hell, it is. Hang on. I’ll get her.”
Stark’s hand on my shoulder stopped me. “Not without me you won’t. You don’t know why she’s staggering.”
“Are you being serious?” Shaunee said. “If Aphrodite’s stumbling we all know why. She’s either drunk or high.”
I sighed and added, “Or both.”
“Normally, I’d agree. But right now we have zombie vampyres loose in Tulsa, so I’m not taking any chances.” He grabbed his bow and notched an arrow. “Shaunee, slide up here. If any of those creatures show up—run them over.”
“Totally doable,” Shaunee said.
Stark and I got out of the SUV, braced ourselves against the wind and snow, and plowed our way to Aphrodite.
“What happened? Are you okay?” I hurried to her side while Stark stood guard, his keen eyes scanning around us looking for danger.
“Zoey! Stark!” Aphrodite stumbled and fell against me. “Two of my fave peoples!”
I caught her and got a huge whiff of her boozy breath as I helped her get upright. “You’re drunk.”