Hunted

figured out was a prophecy about Kalona returning. It was written in Grandma’s handwriting, so we called her—told her about it. She recognized the references and came to the House of Night to help us.” I paused, steadying my voice. “That’s why the Raven Mockers attacked her.”
    “I really wish we had that prophecy,” Damien said. “I’d like to take a look at it again now that Kalona has actually been set free.”
    “That’s easy enough,” Aphrodite said. She took a long drink from her bottle of wine, hiccupped a little, and then recited:

    “Ancient one sleeping, waiting to arise
    When earth’s power bleeds sacred red
    The mark strikes true; Queen Tsi Sgili will devise
    He shall be washed from his entombing bed

    Through the hand of the dead he is free
    Terrible beauty, monstrous sight
    Ruled again they shall be
    Women shall kneel to his dark might

    Kalona’s song sounds sweet
    As we slaughter with cold heat.”

    “Wow! Well done, you!” Jack said, clapping his hands.
    Aphrodite inclined her head regally and said, “Thank you . . . Thank you . . . It was nothing. Really.” And then went back to her wine.
    I made a mental note to keep an eye on her drinking. Okay, yeah, she’d been through a bunch of stress lately, and being bitten—twice—by Stevie Rae and, bizarrely enough, Imprinting with her couldn’t be particularly good for her nerves, but the last thing we needed was Vision Girl to turn into Drunk Vision Girl.
    Darius nodded thoughtfully. “Kalona is the ancient one, but that doesn’t explain what type of being he is.”
    “Grandma said that the easiest way to describe him is to think of him as a fallen angel, an immortal being that walked the earth in ancient times. Seems there were a bunch of them that showed up in the mythology of many cultures, like ancient Greece and the Old Testament.”
    “Yeah, on vacation from heaven or whatever, they decided women were hot, and so they mated with them,” Aphrodite said, slurring her words a little. “Mated—that’s an uptight way to say that they fu—”
    “Thanks, Aphrodite. I’ll take it from there,” I said. I was glad she had stopped her silent pouting, but wasn’t so sure that her drunken sarcasm was much better. Wordlessly Damien handed me a sandwich and nodded at Aphrodite. I passed the sandwich to Aphrodite telling her, “Eat something.” Then I took up the thread of the story. “So Kalona started getting with Cherokee women and became bizarrely addicted to sex. The women rejected him and he started raping them and enslaving the men of the tribe. A group of Wise Women called Ghigua made a maiden out of the earth to trap him.”
    “Huh?” Stevie Rae said. “You mean like a dirt doll?”
    “Yeah, only an attractive one. Each of the women gave the doll a particular gift, then they breathed life into her and named her A-ya. Kalona wanted A-ya, and she ran from him, leading him to a cave deep in the ground. He followed her into the cave, even though he usually avoided anything that was underground, and that’s where they managed to trap him.”
    “That is why you brought us here, into these tunnels,” Darius said.
    I nodded.
    “So we are to think of Kalona as a dangerous immortal and the Raven Mockers as his servants. Who is the other creature mentioned in the prophecy and also by Damien, a Queen Tsi Sgili?” Darius said.
    “According to Grandma, the Tsi Sgili are really awful Cherokee witches. Don’t think cool Wiccans or Priestesses. They’re not good at all, but more like demons, really, except that they are mortal and known for their psychic abilities, especially the ability to kill with their minds,” I said. “Neferet is the queen the prophecy was talking about.”
    “But Neferet announced to the House of Night that Kalona is Erebus on earth, and her consort, as if she had become the literal incarnation of Nyx,” Darius said slowly, as if he was reasoning through it aloud.
    “She’s lying. Really, she’s turned from Nyx,” I said. “I’ve known it for a while, but acting openly against her has been pretty close to impossible. I mean, look what happened tonight. Everyone saw Stevie Rae and the red fledglings and they didn’t turn on her. Except for Shekinah, they barely even blinked even after she ordered Stark to shoot.”
    “Which is why she got Stark transferred from the Chicago House of Night to Tulsa,” Damien said. When just about everyone gave him confused looks, he explained.