Of course you may, and I would like to give you a gift while you are considering my proposal. I would free you from the protective spell that entraps you.

“My lord, that is very generous of you,” Neferet said, thinking, and binding of you, as that would put me in your debt once more. “But I would rather break free myself. It would be another opportunity to surprise you.”

Instantly Neferet felt the bull’s displeasure. Ah, a third surprise.

“I hope not an unpleasant one.” Neferet stroked his neck again.

Think nothing of it, my heartless one. Throughout eternity I have found that the more something is desired, the dearer the sacrifice must be to attain it.

Then he drove his hoof into the stone balcony, causing the rooftop to shake. And with the sound of a deafening thunderclap, the White Bull disappeared into the roiling clouds, leaving his cloven imprint behind.

Thanatos

“Zoeybird?”

Thanatos heard the worry in Sylvia Redbird’s voice. She opened her eyes. Shaunee was already peering through the tent flap. The wind had increased and thunder rumbled in the distance. The women had been working to secure their makeshift shelter against the upcoming storm while she and Shaunee rested within.

“What is it?” Thanatos asked tiredly.

Erik, who hadn’t been far from Shaunee all night, called back from just outside the tent, “Zoey’s here. So’s the rest of her circle plus Stark, Darius, and Rephaim. I’d better—”

“Hurry!” Zoey shouted above the wind. “Neferet is trying to break the spell. We have to circle and channel more energy to you.”

Thanatos sat, grasping the table to steady herself. She was dizzy and weak, but she felt no new drain against the spell. “Zoey, circle if you believe you must, but I sense no disturbance in the barrier.”

“Neither do I,” Shaunee said. “Actually, it’s gotten better since it’s so late and there’s obviously a bad storm brewing. People are finally staying home.”

“We’re circling,” Zoey told Thanatos decisively. “You don’t have to cast it. I’ll take the spirit candle and channel the elements to you.” As Damien, Shaylin, and Stevie Rae took their places, Zoey entered the tent for the spirit candle. “Sorry about this, Shaunee. I know you’re tired, so sit just outside the tent. I’ll do my best to channel as much of fire as I can for you.”

“Come on, I’ll help you.” Erik offered his hand to Shaunee. She leaned on him for a few feet, and then she sank to the ground, facing the tent.

“Zoey, explain to me what has happened. Why are you so frantic?” Thanatos asked.

“Neferet’s throwing hostages from the roof of the Mayo. She’s trying to break the barrier,” Zoey explained quickly as her circle took their places and she retrieved the long wooden matches from the altar table.

Struggling to clear her thoughts, Thanatos stood, leaning heavily on the table. “No, as Shaunee said, the barrier is secure. There is no disruption within it. Neferet must have other motives. She—” Thanatos gasped with shock and fell to her knees.

“Darius! Stark! Help me! Something’s wrong with Thanatos. She passed out.”

“No,” Thanatos fought to speak. “Not me—Kalona!”

“What did she say?” Stark asked as he and Darius tried to make her comfortable.

“She said Kalona’s name.” Zoey’s voice was hushed, as if she already had guessed what Thanatos knew.

The scream of an ambulance siren drew closer and closer. “Help me stand. Help me stand!” Thanatos said. “Zoey, ready your circle. I am going to need its borrowed power, though not for the barrier.”

“I’m really sorry,” Zoey said, and grasped her hands, squeezing them briefly before she took the ritual matches and moved to stand before Damien in the east.

Thanatos grounded herself and made ready. Zoey returned to the center to face her, called spirit, and invoked, “Air, fire, water, earth, and spirit! Please fill our High Priestess, Thanatos, and lend her strength for what is to come.”

Thanatos straightened, drawing a deep breath and feeling the power of five elements flowing through her veins as if replacing her blood. She stepped free of Stark and Darius and their helping hands. The ambulance lurched to a stop in the middle of Cheyenne Avenue.

“Rephaim, come here to me, please.” The boy had been standing close to Stevie Rae, just outside the circle.

“You want me to enter the circle?”

“You must. And quickly, too.”

With a worried look at Stevie Rae, Rephaim approached the glowing silver thread that joined the elements and drew the circumference of the circle. The thread of light rippled and drew back on itself, opening just wide enough for Rephaim to step within before closing once more.

“Something is very wrong,” Rephaim said to her.

Thanatos held the boy’s gaze. “It is your father. Be strong for him.”

Rephaim’s face drained of color as the wide rear door of the ambulance opened, and police officers, led by Detective Marx, carried Kalona from within.

“Father!”

Thanatos put a restraining hand on his arm. “He needs to come to us. The circle will welcome him as it did you.” Thanatos raised her voice and called, “Detective Marx, bring my Warrior to me.”

There was a terrible crack of thunder, and lightning flashed across the sky, making the torches that Sylvia had lit throughout the park seem as insignificant as fireflies.

“I can’t carry him alone,” Marx said from just outside the glowing circumference of the circle.

“All who bear Kalona are welcome within,” Thanatos said.

Marx didn’t hesitate. He stepped forward. His men moved with him, bringing Kalona to her and laying him gently on the ground at her feet.

Rephaim was weeping. Thanatos looked from Kalona’s shattered wings to the scarlet soaked pads that did little stop the blood that seeped down the sides of his chest. Finally, her gaze rested on his colorless face. Still not looking away from her Warrior, she said, “Detective Marx, thank you for bringing him to me.”

“She shot him while he was in the air! Emptied a Glock into him. He was trying to save the people she was throwing from the balcony. There was not a damn thing I could do.”

“You have done what he needed. You were a good friend to him.”

“Wish I could have been one longer,” the detective said, wiping the tears from his face.

“He’s dying?” Rephaim’s eyes were glazed with shock and grief.

“Yes,” said Kalona, opening his eyes. “Come here, son.” His hand lifted weakly.

Rephaim dropped to his knees beside his father, clutching his hand. “No! You can’t die! You’re immortal!”

Kalona coughed, and foam flaked with blood came from his lips. His voice weakened as he spoke. “Knew this could happen. My choice, Rephaim. Remember, my choice.” Kalona’s gaze left his son for a moment to go to Stark, who stood silently beside Thanatos. “Use the piece of immortality I gave you for Light. Protect your Priestess.” His eyes seemed to be losing focus. He blinked, struggling to look around, then he found Zoey. “Forgive me—the pain I caused.”

“With my whole heart I forgive you,” Zoey said.

Kalona coughed more blood and grimaced, then he touched his son’s face. “You are the best of me. Find your brothers. Care for them. And watch over Stevie Rae. If you lose her, you will lose yourself.”

“I will do as you say, Father,” Rephaim said, sobbing. “I love you.”

“I will always love you. Always,” Kalona said. Finally, his fading gaze met Thanatos’s. “Thank you for trusting me.”

Thanatos’s chest felt heavy with grief, but she smiled at him. “I have never accepted a Warrior’s Oath before you, and there will be none to come after you. You have been a fine and worthy Guardian.”

Kalona’s red-flecked lips lifted in a satisfied smile. “I did not break my oath…” He drew a gasping half breath, and then his bloody chest did not rise again, his amber eyes lost their light, and Kalona died.