Nyx in the House of Night

God is the creator of all life. This could involve chanting the secret name of God, or writing the name of God on a piece of parchment and inserting it into the golem’s mouth.
    The most fascinating animation method involved carving the letters aleph , mem , and tav into the golem’s forehead. Together these three letters spell emet , or “truth.” When you were done with your golem, you could “kill” it by erasing the letter aleph , leaving the word met , or “death.” While “alive,” the creature could follow simple instructions, but it couldn’t think for itself and it had no will, like a robot made of dirt.
    This lack of will is crucial, because A-ya was literally made to love Kalona. She had no choice, no thoughts, and therefore no fear of him, unlike the mortal women. A-ya lured Kalona into an underground cave, where, as a winged creature of the air, he would be weakest. Deep within the earth, A-ya opened herself to Kalona willingly. As he penetrated her, she transformed back to earth, and he became trapped in her embrace forever.
    With the loss of their father, the Raven Mockers became insubstantial creatures of pure spirit, no longer able to hurt the young and healthy. They sang a new song, swearing that one day Kalona would rise again and exact revenge. He would once again dominate men and violate women—and they would like it. In Aphrodite’s vision, Grandma Redbird held a paper with a poem describing his return:
Kalona’s song sounds sweet
As we slaughter with cold heat.
    In Untamed, Kalona rises from the earth, bidden by Neferet and released by the shedding of Stevie Rae’s blood (“When earth’s power bleeds sacred red”). He fixates on Zoey, whom he believes to be the reincarnation of A-ya.
    Through dreams, visions, and the power of her own intuition, Zoey slowly accepts that she shares part of this ancient maiden’s soul. But unlike A-ya, she can think for herself. She can deny the feelings within her that draw her so strongly to Kalona.
    It isn’t easy by a long shot. Most other fledglings and even adult vampyres can’t resist his pull. He’s powerful and smooth-talking and ZOMG-hot. He claims to be Erebus, the consort of the very Goddess whom the fledglings and vampyres adore. He tells them everything they want to hear, how they should rule the world and bring back “the old ways, where once vampyres and their Warriors strode the earth, proud and strong, instead of hiding in clusters in schools…Vampyres are Nyx’s children, and the Goddess never meant for you to cower in darkness.” After two alleged human-on-vampyre murders at the Tulsa House of Night, his audience is primed for his leadership and liberation. According to one of Aphrodite’s visions, Zoey herself will reign with Kalona if she gives in to him.
    For Zoey, the allure of Kalona is ten times greater than it is for anyone else, because the part of her soul that she shares with A-ya was made to love him. She recognizes his great beauty and the power of his temptation, but that’s not what attracts her most—she is drawn to him by pity and compassion, and holds out hope that he can return to Nyx’s ways.
    But as Nyx says in the beginning of the series when she appears to Zoey in a vision and fills in her Mark, this is “a world where good and evil are struggling to find balance” ( Marked ). We see this struggle for cosmic balance enacted inside Zoey, as well—while part of her was made to love Kalona, part of her was also made to destroy him. When she sees him kill Heath in cold blood, she realizes that despite Kalona’s occasional remorse, he has chosen evil again and again, and always will.
    A PRICE PAID IN PAIN: REPHAIM’S REDEMPTION
    Meanwhile, Kalona’s firstborn and favorite son, Rephaim, becomes part of another drama of choices, with an entirely different outcome from his father’s. Mortally wounded in Hunted ’s climactic battle, Rephaim is saved at the beginning of Tempted by Stevie Rae, herself no stranger to darkness. Her recent death, un-death, and subsequent bloodthirsty rampage allow her to have sympathy for the fallen half-mortal spirit. She remembers that despite the intentions of Neferet, who brought her back from the dead, she was able to choose good and control her violent urges. Stevie Rae may therefore be the only person capable of seeing Rephaim’s humanity, and it is this humanity that she pledges herself to in Burned , as part of a bargain with the Black Bull in exchange for