Goddess of the Night (20 page)

Kids surfed the
crowd and slammed about.

268

No one noticed
Vanessa and Catty being trampled on the mosh pit floor.

Vanessa felt
herself melting into the pain that tore through her body when a hand
grabbed her and pulled her up.

269

Chapter 25

CARYL DRAGGED
VANESSA away from the crowd.

"Failed
goddess," he smirked. "Look in my eyes to save your
friend."

She knew it was
another lie, but she was too weak to pull away. His eyes held hers.
She felt herself falling again. Another memory? It was different this
time. She could feel hope ebbing from her. Was this what Morgan felt?
An inhospitable cold swirled deep inside her and still she could not
look away.

"Stop,"
she begged. She doubted Karyl could

270

hear her over
the maelstrom of music. She continued to fall. Her lungs burned for
oxygen. Her heart was on fire. She felt dizzy. The dizziness brought
up tears and unhappy dreams from some hidden place behind her heart
where she had tucked so many disappointments. Tears pushed into her
eyes.

Then she heard
someone calling, the voice barely audible, like a whisper on the
wind. Impossible. It had to be her imagination. A voice in her mind
was telling her not to look. It was Stanton.

If you look
too long in his eyes,
Stanton's voice whispered across her mind,
you'll be lost. He's stealing your life force, your hope.

She closed her
eyes.

"Look at
me," Karyl ordered, shaking her.

She felt Karyl
push away, and then Stanton took her in his arms.

"Come to
my world," Stanton ordered. "It's the only way I can save
you."

"Save me?"

"They will
destroy you."

"But I'm
the key. Don't they need me?"

271

"No,
Vanessa, you're not the key," Stanton said. "It's a special
night for the Atrox. If two Daughters of the Moon are destroyed
during the night of the Nefandus moon, the power balance shifts in
favor of the dark. The only way I can save you now is to make you one
of us.
Of your own
free will, join me to save yourself"

At that moment,
she wanted him and his world. Why not give up the struggle? It would
be so easy. She shook her head. "What about the people I'm
supposed to protect?"

"Save
yourself," he repeated.

"I don't
want a life like yours."

"I can't
harm you, because you performed an act of kindness to save me when I
was a boy," he said. "But I can't protect you from the
others."

Karyl ripped
her away from Stanton and he let her go without a struggle. She could
feel Karyl in her mind like an electrical current and already part of
her wanted to turn and gaze in his eyes and fall into that sweet
dangerous peace.

With renewed
energy and determination she fought the images Karyl was pushing into
her mind and pictured the full moon instead. She wasn't

272

going to die
like this. Power filled her body. She closed her eyes and let her
mind expand to the ends of the universe. Her molecules loosened. She
floated through his grasping hands.

She found Catty
and became visible again. She didn't care who might see. She tore
Catty's amulet from her own neck and pressed it into Catty's hand. It
had been a long time since she had tried to make anyone invisible
with her, and her powers were weak.

She held
Catty's hand as the Followers pushed through the crowd toward them.
She could feel Cassandra's thoughts clasp hold. And then Tymmie's.
She was determined not to let them overpower her this time. Her
amulet began to glow. Energy seared through her like a burst of
flame. She pulled Catty up and stood as Karyl attacked.

"Vanessa,"
Catty warned weakly.

A strange light
from the amulet struck Karyl's face and he instantly stepped back,
surprised. What had stopped him? The amulet? Did it have powers?

Cassandra and
Tymmie circled, a strange grin of torment on their faces.

273

"Why
aren't they attacking?" Catty said.

Vanessa didn't
answer. She couldn't. The power inside her felt too strong. It pulsed
through every cell. Then an unearthly glow shimmered protectively
around them and they rose like silver smoke into the air.

They floated
over the crowd. As they neared the exit, something drew her eyes back
to Stanton. He was charming and handsome in a threatening and
seductive way. He stared up at her even though she was sure he
couldn't see her. He had betrayed her, then saved her, only to betray
her again. But looking at him now and seeing how sad he looked, she
felt sorry for him. She thought of his offer. Did he love her? Too
late she realized she shouldn't have looked back. She had lost her
concentration. Her molecules clustered.

Catty became
dense and slipped from her grasp. Her molecules reformed rapidly and
she dropped toward the crowd. Vanessa tumbled close behind her.

They hit the
crowd. Hands grabbed their arms, legs, and stomachs and carried them
over the bobbing heads.

274

Vanessa prayed
the swell of hands would carry them to the barricades and drop them
into the arms of the waiting security guards. Then they could run
backstage and out to safety.

But the hands
carried them the wrong way, back to the Followers.

275

Chapter 26

THE HANDS
DROPPED Vanessa in front of Cassandra.

"Goddess."
Cassandra said the word like a curse.

"Nice to
have you back." Tymmie grinned, his eyes blank and deep.

They crowded
around her, their thoughts pushing into her mind. She tried to escape
through the mangle of pounding arms and feet, but when she saw Karyl
clutching Catty, something sparked inside her. She flung herself at
him. He stumbled backward, stunned. Too late she remembered Maggie's
warning about using the

276

tools of the
Atrox. He turned and snickered. His thin face fired with a horrible
rage, and his pupils dilated.

Vanessa
steadied herself for his assault, but it never came. She opened her
eyes.

Karyl stood
still, staring at the entrance. The throng in the mosh pit stopped
jumping and pushing. Faces turned. The singer in the band lost his
words and stared at something in the audience.

The crowd stood
still. Something bigger than the full-speed rock hysteria had taken
hold.

"What's
going on?" Catty asked.

"I don't
know yet." And then Vanessa knew. "It's Serena and Jimena."

Serena and
Jimena walked into the crowd, strides long and seductive. Jimena wore
a silver bustier and capris with matching sandals. Her hair was
rolled on top of her head with glitter and jewels. Curls bounced with
each step. Her face gleamed; her full lips sparkled. The tattoos on
her arms seemed iridescent. She whooped and squealed and gave Serena
a high five.

Serena had
moussed her hair so it stood on

277

end. Streaks of
orange glitter shot from her temples into her hair. She wore a yellow
tulle skirt over a sheer, clingy red dress and looked like a walking
flame.

The strobe
light flickered, making the entire room surreal.

"Non
aliquis incipit convivium sine nobis,"
Jimena yelled.

"Nos
sumus convivium!"
Serena joined in. Vanessa wondered if it
was a curse or an incantation.

Their silver
moon amulets caught the flashing strobe light and threw magic
rainbows across the faces of the Followers. Cassandra squealed and
put her hands in front of her eyes. Tymmie and Karyl glared.

"Hey,
boys," Jimena said to the band and stood with her hand on a hip
thrust to the side. "Where's the music? We came here to party."

The bass player
smiled. The drummer nodded, and music crashed through the room. The
velocity gained with each beat of the drum. The guitars sent metallic
notes into the air like machine-gun fire. The corrugated walls of the

278

warehouse
vibrated. The mosh pit spun into slam dancing.

Vanessa felt a
strange thrum against her chest. She looked down. The light from her
own amulet was so strong she had to look away.

Serena gestured
to Karyl and Tymmie, wiggling her fingers in an enticing way. "Come
on, bad boys, we're here to play. That's what you wanted."

Tymmie and
Karyl smiled dangerously. Their power came like an invisible wave
pushing against her. Vanessa took an involuntary step backward. The
force of their thoughts didn't seem to affect Jimena or Serena.

"Well?"
Jimena was expectant, head cocked to one side.

Cassandra
joined Tymmie and Karyl. Her thoughts came like hellish screams.
Vanessa grabbed her ears, even though she knew the piercing noise was
inside her head.

Jimena and
Serena stood perfectly still, as if the screams didn't bother them.

Frustrated,
Cassandra lunged and swung. Jimena ducked. The nails missed Jimena's
cheek

279

by inches.
Jimena shined the light from her amulet into Cassandra's eyes.

Cassandra
grabbed her eyes and tumbled away. But it was something more than the
amulet that had stopped Cassandra. Vanessa could feel it now, a
dangerously benevolent power that billowed from Jimena and Serena.

Tymmie grabbed
Serena and Karyl stared into her eyes. The pupils in Serena's eyes
expanded. Vanessa could feel the force of their struggle. Her head
pounded with the energy.

Finally, Karyl
stumbled backward. Then Serena swung around and shined her amulet in
Tymmie's eyes, but again Vanessa knew it was something more than the
power of the amulet that made Tymmie look confused and stagger before
he turned and ran.

Serena turned
to face Karyl again. The skin tightened against his skull as if anger
and hatred burned inside him. His power vibrated through Vanessa in
an ominously exciting way, his thoughts sweetly seductive and
irresistible. Her eyes drifted to him. She wondered if Serena was
also drowning in his eyes.

280

Then Jimena
touched her. She snapped back with a wrench of her neck.

"Take
Catty and go outside to the car." She stood protectively in
front of them.

Vanessa
concentrated until she and Catty were as weightless as moonbeams.
Then they drifted up and over the crowd. She glanced down at Stanton.
She could feel his eyes saying their battle wasn't done. She looked
away.

Outside fog had
settled on the ground. She pulled her molecules together and slowly
drifted back to earth next to Jimena's car.

Catty hugged
her fiercely. She almost lost her balance. "Thank you, Vanessa."

"How did
they catch you?" Vanessa squeezed Catty tightly.

"I was
doing my leapfrog back to Saturday night. It worked," she said
with excitement. "But Karyl, Tymmie, and Cassandra were
following you that night at the Bowl. I got too close, and they
grabbed me. I was so drained from all the time-twisting that I
couldn't get away. They kept me prisoner. You can't imagine what it
was like reliving time with them. I still can't figure out why they
were following you. "

281

"There's
something I've been wanting to tell you," Vanessa began. "You're
not a space alien."

No?"
Catty's voice seemed disappointed. "What am I, then?"

"A
goddess."

"Yeah,
right, would a goddess have trouble pulling a comb through her hair?
Or get so many bruises?" She held out her arms.

For real, not a
space person, you're a goddess."

"A
goddess," Catty repeated, as if she were tasting the word.
"Yeah, I always knew."

"You did
not." Vanessa laughed.

"Sure I
did," Catty said, and then she was crying in Vanessa's arms.

Serena and
Jimena ran out to the car, exhilarated and glowing.

"!Andah!
Hurry," Jimena urged, "before they get to changing their
minds and decide they want to fight some more."

They climbed in
the car. Jimena turned the key in the ignition. The mufflers
thundered.

As the car
pulled away, a new worry filled Vanessa. She had promised Maggie she
wouldn't

282

meet Stanton,
and now she had defied her. She was sure there was going to be a
punishment. Would she take away her power? She didn't want to lose it
now. Her stomach churned with apprehension.

Jimena stopped
the car in front of Maggie's apartment and got out. She turned to
Vanessa.

"Maggie
said we had to bring you back here after.

They walked up
to the front door and pushed the security button. There was no
answer.

"Push it
again," Serena said.

Suddenly Maggie
appeared, breathless, behind them. "Sorry I'm late. I had to
take Vanessa's friend Morgan home."

"She's all
right?" Vanessa asked.

"Of
course."

Then Vanessa
took a deep breath. She didn't know if she should try to apologize
now, or wait until after Maggie told her what her punishment would
be.

"Vanessa .
. ." Maggie started.

"I know I
failed," Vanessa cut in, and felt hot tears press into her eyes.

"Failed?
No, not at all."

283

"I didn't
fail? But you made me promise to do nothing. You said I had no
choice."

"I had to
test you, Vanessa," Maggie said. "Yes, I needed to make
sure you were willing to risk everything to do what was right. Saving
Catty was the right choice." She placed her soft hand on
Vanessa's cheek. "You are one of those daughters upon whom
Selene has bestowed great gifts. She has given you magnanimity of
spirit, physical energy, and courage."