Revealed

in their desire for a place of their own. And, most importantly, I mean to bring Neferet to justice
without allowing an invasion of my school.
”
    “But that is not—”
    “That is my oath; so mote it be!”
    Then Thanatos clicked the disconnect button. Skype made its funny little hang-up sound, and the screen went blank.

CHAPTER TEN
Aphrodite
    “Holy fucking shit. Thanatos, you have balls. Great big ones,” Aphrodite said.
    Thanatos raised her brows. “I shall ignore the vulgarity and accept the compliment, Prophetess.”
    “Just so you know, it’s a massive compliment,” Aphrodite said, bowing her head respectfully to Thanatos.
    “You really stood up for us. Thanks, High Priestess,” Stevie Rae said.
    Kalona and Zoey exchanged looks. “So we are left to deal with Neferet and the local authorities on our own,” he said.
    “Again,” Zoey added. “It’s not like this is the first time the High Council has left us hanging like this.”
    “They mean well,” Thanatos said, sounding somewhere between sad and cynical. “They think they’re doing what is best for the vampyre community as a whole, and that is what the Council was created eons ago to do.”
    “They’re stuck in the Dark Ages!” Zoey blurted.
    Aphrodite watched her closely. Yeah, the High Council had been assholes, but they still had Thanatos—the power of their circle—two Prophetesses (even though Shaylin was a pain in the ass), a Bull Boy, and an immortal on their side.
    “I say good riddance. They’re a bunch of old women—no offense, Thanatos,” Aphrodite said. “Z, the only thing they could really do for us is to
maybe
get the TPD off our backs. We don’t need their permission to create our own place in the world. It’s our world, too, and we’ll
make
our own place.”
    “Yep, that’s what I’m thinkin’, too,” Stevie Rae agreed.
    Zoey crossed her arms over her chest. “So, we’re all stuck here together, doing nothing.”
    “Until we catch Neferet, I’m afraid we are,” Thanatos said.
    “Catch her? What good will that do?” Zoey said.
    Aphrodite saw that she wasn’t the only person watching Zoey closely. Thanatos’s brows lifted and she cocked her head to the side. “Priestess, we have all agreed Neferet is responsible for the deaths that happened last night, have we not?”
    “Neferet did it,” Z said.
    “So Neferet must be found and turned over to the authorities. Until then, the truth is that the human authorities will find no proof that will place blame on any of us, as we are innocent.”
    “Hang on. Does that mean you’re going to let our professors start being DNA tested?” Zoey asked.
    “No. That means we are going to find Neferet and provide her
matching
DNA to the human authorities.”
    “Neferet is a powerful immortal. She’s not going to let us catch her, let alone take her to the cops.”
    “Zoey, you say that, yet you and your circle managed to defeat that powerful immortal and rescue your grandmother from her.”
    “We beat her before. We’ll beat her again.” Stevie Rae sounded way more positive than Z.
    “Actually, all we have to do is find Neferet. Get her to a public place and start nailing her with hard questions. She’s going to lose her temper and do something batshit crazy, especially if a detective asks her for a DNA sample,” Aphrodite said. “Yeah, it’s going to suck for us when she explodes into spiders or eats some locals or whatever, and humans start to understand that there’s more going on here than vampyre versus human, but that won’t suck nearly as much as being under house arrest and blamed for shit no one here did.”
    “I believe it is time humans understand there are more forces at work than just those of human and vampyre.” Kalona surprised Aphrodite by agreeing with her. “Evil is always stronger when it is underestimated.”
    “You’re going to let humans see you?” Zoey asked Kalona.
    “I am going to bring Neferet to justice and protect this school. If that means I show myself to humans, then so be it.”
    “I have a question.” Stevie Rae half raised her hand.
    “Yes?” Thanatos said.
    “How’re we gonna find Neferet?”
    “That will be the easy part. We will remain here, stay on the path of our Goddess, and wait for Neferet to reveal herself,” Thanatos said.
    “That’s crap!” Z sounded like she was ready to explode. “When Neferet kidnapped Grandma I was sitting in the tunnels in the kitchen. I was just waiting and