Betrayed (2 page)

“Mama! You have to meet my roommate. Remember I told you about her? This is Zoey Redbird. Zoey this is my mama.”

“Hi, Mrs. Johnson. It's good to meet you,” I said politely.

“Oh, Zoey! It is just so nice to meet you! And,
oh my!
Your Mark is as pretty as Stevie Rae said it was.” She surprised me with a soft mom hug and whispered, “I'm glad you're taking care of my Stevie Rae. I worry about her.”

I squeezed her back and whispered, “No problem, Mrs. Johnson. Stevie Rae's my best friend.” And even though it was totally unrealistic, I suddenly wished my mom would hug me and worry about me like Mrs. Johnson worried about her daughter.

“Mama, did you bring me any chocolate chip cookies?” Stevie Rae asked.

“Yes, baby, I did, but I just realized that I left them in the car.” Stevie Rae's mom twanged in an Okie accent that was identical to her daughter's. “Why don't you come out with me and help me carry them inside. I made a little extra for your friends this time.” She smiled kindly at me. “You're more than welcome to come on out with us, too, Zoey.”

“Zoey.”

I heard my voice spoken like a frozen echo of Mrs. Johnson's warm kindness, and looked over her shoulder to see my mom and John coming into the hall. My heart fell into my stomach. She'd brought him. Why the hell couldn't she have come alone and let it be just her and me for a change? But I knew the answer to that. He would never allow it. And his not allowing it meant that she wouldn't do it. Period. End of subject. Since she'd married John Heffer my mom didn't have to worry about money. She lived in a gihugic house in a quiet suburban neighborhood. She volunteered for the PTA. She was majorly active in church. But during the past three years of her “perfect” marriage she'd completely and utterly lost herself.

“Sorry, Mrs. Johnson. I see my parents now, so I better go.”

“Oh, honey, I'd love to meet your mama and daddy.” And, like we were at any normal high school function, Mrs. Johnson turned, smiling, to meet my parents.

Stevie Rae looked at me, and I looked at her.
Sorry,
I mouthed to her. I mean, I wasn't absolutely sure anything bad would happen, but with my step-loser closing the distance between us as if he were some testosterone-filled general leading a death march, I figured the odds were probably good for a nightmare scene.

Then my heart lifted way out of my stomach and everything suddenly got much, much better when my favorite person in the world stepped around John and held her arms out to me.

“Grandma!”

She enfolded me in her arms and the sweet scent of lavender that always moved with her, as if she carried a piece of her beautiful lavender farm everywhere she went.

“Oh, Zoeybird!” She held tight to me. “I have missed you,
u-we-tsi a-ge-hu-tsa
.”

I smiled through my tears, loving the sound of the familiar Cherokee word for daughter—it meant security and love and unconditional acceptance. Things I hadn't felt in my home for the past three years—things that before I'd come to the House of Night I'd only found at my grandma's farm.

“I've missed you, too, Grandma. I'm so glad you came!”

“You must be Zoey's grandmamma,” Mrs. Johnson said when we'd quit clinging to each other. “It's so good to meet you. You have a fine girl, here.”

Grandma smiled warmly and started to reply, but John interrupted in his usual I'm-so-superior voice.

“Well, actually, that would be
our
fine girl you would be complimenting.”

As if on a Stepford Wives cue, my mother finally managed to speak. “Yes, we're Zoey's parents. I'm Linda Heffer. This is my husband, John, and my mother, Sylvia Red—” Then, in the middle of her oh-so-polite introductions, she bothered to actually look at me and her voice came to a breath-gulping halt mid-word.

I made my face smile, but it felt hot and hard, like it was poured plaster and had been sitting in the summer sun and would crack all to pieces if I wasn't careful.

“Hi, Mom.”

“For the love of God what have you done to that Mark?” Mom said the word
Mark
like she'd say the word cancer or pedophile.

“She saved the life of a young man and tapped into a Goddess-given affinity for the elements. In return Nyx has touched her with several unusual Marks for a fledgling,” Neferet said in her smooth musical voice as she walked into the middle of our awkward little group, hand extended directly to my step-loser. Neferet was what most adult vampyres are, stunningly perfect. She was tall, with long waves of dark auburn hair and brilliant, almond-shaped eyes an unusual shade of moss green. She moved with a grace and confidence that was clearly not human, and her skin was so spectacular that it looked like someone had turned a light on inside her. Today she was wearing a sleek, royal blue silk suit with silver spiral earrings (representing the path of the Goddess, but it's not like most parents knew that). A silver form of the Goddess with upraised hands was embroidered over her left breast, as it was over all the other professors' breasts. Her smile was dazzling. “Mr. Heffer, I am Neferet, High Priestess of the House of Night, although it might be easier if you would just think of me as you would any ordinary high school's principal. Thank you for coming to parent visitation night.”

I could tell that he took her hand automatically. I was sure he would have refused it if she hadn't caught him by surprise. She shook his hand quickly and then turned to my mom.

“Mrs. Heffer, it is a pleasure to meet Zoey's mother. We are so pleased that she has joined the House of Night.”

“Well, uh, thank you!” my mom said, clearly disarmed by Neferet's beauty and charm.

When Neferet greeted my grandma, her smile widened and became more than just polite. I noticed that they shook hands in the traditional vampyre greeting style, grasping each other's forearms.

“Sylvia Redbird, it is always a pleasure to see you.”

“Neferet, it makes my heart glad to see you, too, and I thank you for honoring your oath to look after my granddaughter.”

“It is an oath that is not a burden to fulfill. Zoey is such a special girl.” Now Neferet's smile included me in its warmth. Then she turned to Stevie Rae and her mother. “And this is Zoey's roommate, Stevie Rae Johnson, and her mother. I hear that the two of them are practically inseparable, and that even Zoey's cat has taken to Stevie Rae.”

“Yeah, it's true. She actually sat on my lap while we watched TV last night,” Stevie Rae said laughingly. “And Nala doesn't like anyone except Zoey.”

“Cat? I don't remember anyone giving permission for Zoey to get a cat,” John said, making me want to retch. Like anyone except Grandma had bothered to talk to me for an entire month!

“You misunderstand, Mr. Heffer, at the House of Night cats roam free. They choose their owners, not the other way around. Zoey didn't need permission when Nala chose her,” Neferet said smoothly.

John made a snorting noise, which I was relieved to see everyone ignored. Jeesh, he's such an ass.

“May I offer you some refreshment?” Neferet waved graciously at the table.

“Oh, golly! That reminds me of the cookies I left in the car. Stevie Rae and I were just on our way out there. It was really nice to meet y'all.” With a quick hug for me and a wave for everyone else, Stevie Rae and her mom escaped, leaving me there, even though I wished I were anywhere else.

I stayed close to Grandma, lacing my fingers through hers as we walked over to the refreshment table, thinking how much easier this would be if it was just she who had come to visit me. I snuck a look at my mom. A permanent frown seemed to have been painted on her face. She was looking around at the other kids, and hardly even glanced in my direction.
Why come at all?
I wanted to scream at her.
Why seem like you might actually care
—
might actually miss me
—
and then show so obviously that you don't?

“Wine, Sylvia? Mr. and Mrs. Heffer?” Neferet offered.

“Thank you, red please,” Grandma said.

John's tight lips registered his displeasure. “No. We don't drink.”

With a superhuman effort I didn't roll my eyes. Since when didn't he drink? I would bet the last fifty dollars in my savings account that there was a six-pack of beer in the fridge at home right now. And my mom used to drink red wine like Grandma. I even saw her throw Grandma a narrow-eyed, envious look as she sipped the rich wine Neferet had poured for her. But
no
they didn't drink. At least not in public. Hypocrites.

“So, you were saying that the addition to Zoey's Mark happened because she did something special?” Grandma squeezed my hand. “She told me that she'd been made leader of the Dark Daughters, but she didn't tell me how exactly that happened.”

I felt myself tense up again. I really didn't want to deal with the scene it would cause if my mom and John found out that what had actually happened was that the ex-leader of the Dark Daughters had cast a circle on Halloween night (known at the House of Night as Samhain, the night the veil between our world and the world of spirits is thinnest), conjured some very scary vampyre spirits, and then lost control of them when my human ex-boyfriend, Heath, stumbled up looking for me. And I so didn't want anyone to
ever
mention what only a couple of people knew—that Heath was looking for me because I'd tasted his blood and he was fast becoming fixated on me, something humans do pretty easily when they get involved with vamps—even vamp fledglings, for that matter. So the then leader of the Dark Daughters, Aphrodite, totally lost control of the ghosts and they were going to eat Heath. Literally. Worse—they were also acting like they wanted to take a chomp out of the rest of us, too, including totally hot Erik Night, the vamp kid who I can happily report is definitely not my
ex
-boyfriend, but who I've sorta been dating this past month so he's my
almost
-boyfriend. Anyway, I had to do something, so with some help from Stevie Rae, Damien, and the Twins, I cast my own circle, tapping into the power of the five elements: wind, fire, water, earth, and spirit. Using my affinity for the elements, I managed to banish the ghosts back to wherever it is they live (or unlive?). When they were gone I had these new tattoos, a delicate collection of lacelike sapphire swirls that framed my face—totally unheard of for a mere fledgling to have—and matching Marks interspersed with cool runelike-looking symbols on my shoulders, something no fledgling or vamp has ever had. Then Aphrodite was exposed as the rotten-assed leader she was, causing Neferet to fire her and put me in her place. Consequently, I'm also in training to be a High Priestess of Nyx, the vampyre Goddess, who is Night personified.

None of that would go over well with ultra-religious, ultra-judgmental Mom and John.

“Well, there was a small accident. Zoey's quick thinking and bravery made sure no one got hurt, and at the same time she connected with a special affinity she has been given to draw energy from the five elements.” Neferet's smile was proud and I felt a wash of happiness at her approval. “The tattooing is simply an outward sign of the favor she's found with the Goddess.”

“What you're saying is blasphemy.” John spoke in a tight, strained voice that managed to sound condescending and angry at the same time. “You are putting her immortal soul in danger.”

Neferet turned her moss-colored eyes on him. She didn't look angry. Actually, she looked amused.

“You must be one of the Elders of the People of Faith.”

His birdlike chest swelled up. “Well, yes, yes I am.”

“Then let us come to an understanding quickly, Mr. Heffer. I would not think of coming into your home, or into your church, and belittling your beliefs, though I disagree profoundly with them. Now, I do not expect you to worship as I do. In truth, I would never even think to attempt to sway you to my beliefs, even though I have a deep and abiding commitment to my Goddess. So all I insist upon is that you show me the same courtesy I have already awarded you. When you are in my ‘home,' you respect my beliefs.”

John's eyes had become mean little slits and I could see his jaw clenching and unclenching.

“Your way of life is sinful and wrong,” he said fiercely.

“Thus says a man who admits to worshipping a God who vilifies pleasure, relegates women to roles that are little more than servants and broodmares, though they are the backbone of your church, and seeks to control his worshippers through guilt and fear.” Neferet laughed softly, but the sound was humorless and the unspoken warning in it made the hair on my forearms prickle. “Have a care for how you judge others; perhaps you should look to cleaning your own house, first.”

His face reddening, John sucked in a breath and opened his mouth for what I knew would be an ugly lecture on how right his beliefs are and how wrong everyone else's are, but before he could respond Neferet cut him off. She hadn't raised her voice, but it was suddenly filled with the power of a High Priestess and I shivered in fear, even though her wrath was not directed at me.

“You have two choices. You may visit the House of Night as its invited guest, which means you will respect our ways and keep your displeasure and judgment to yourself. Or you may leave and not return. Ever.
Decide now
.” The last two words washed against my skin and I had to force myself not to cringe. I noticed that my mom was staring with wide, glassy eyes at Neferet, her face pale as milk. John's face had gone the opposite color. His eyes were narrow and his cheeks were flushed a very unattractive red.

“Linda,” he said through his teeth. “Let's go.” Then he looked at me with such disgust and hatred that I literally took a step back. I mean, I knew he didn't like me, but until that moment I hadn't realized how much. “This place is what you deserve. Your mother and I won't be back. You're on your own now.” He spun around and started for the door. My mom hesitated, and for a second I thought she might actually say something nice—like she was sorry about him—or that she missed me—or that I shouldn't worry, she'd be back no matter what he said.