Fallen Priestess- A House of Night fanfiction

Dethroned

A/N: the only place I still rule part two
"Now, I have a request," she dragged him down to the DJ, a man clad in leather, with a goatee and an oversized pair of headphones on. He looked distractedly down a his laptop, playing a game with guns and little blips.

"Down with the Sickness, Disturbed," Cyrce said coolly, interrupting his game.

"Is there a please in there, new girl?" he demanded. She fake coughed before he looked up and gasped, "Oh, Cyrce. I'm sorry. I'll play it right now," he instantly hit play and played the song she requested. This song started off with a tribal drum beat.

Neferet watched in horror as the man turned the song on, and prayed that it was Farther Away by Evanescence, which shared the drum beat at the start. If it was Down With the Sickness, she was screwed.

"Can you feel that?" she heard a male voice whisper seductively, "Ah, shit."

His statement echoed hers exactly. Oh shit. Cyrce must have known that the song would bring back memories. She looked around, hoping Dividos would reveal himself. A waitress came up, delivering her a drink. Neferet sniffed it, to check it for poison, and then consumed it. The beverage burned her throat, she could tell it was full of alcohol, but she wasn't terribly upset by that. Hopefully it would take the edge off the song. But she had no such luck. When David Draiman began to scream at his mother, Neferet felt as though she was standing in front of Zoey's cursed mirror. All she could see was her father above her. All she could hear was his voice. She could even smell the reek of his alcohol soaked breath, and she swore she could feel him. She swore she could feel the pain she had felt then.

Xynox heard the scream as Neferet fell to her knees. He saw the pain written all over her face as she crumbled. Cyrce laughed. The look of agony in Neferet's eyes was unfathomable. Xynox watched the way she fought unseen hands, screaming as she lost. He watched the woman he'd considered a goddess screaming and sobbing tears of blood. This was the first time Xynox saw her as a person, someone who had weaknesses as well as strengths. Xynox didn't know what it was about the song, but he ran to the DJ, wrenching out of Cyrce's bruising grip.

"Neferet needs you to change the song," he panted, tired from sprinting over there, but still determined to stop the song before it got any further.

"Who?" the DJ demanded.

"Nefer-" he started, then he remembered she went by an alias. If only he could remember it.

"Saraneth," Dividos interrupted him, "Saraneth needs you to change the song," he smirked, knowing that this would cause even more chaos, pitting Neferet against Cyrce. Neferet would be livid.

The DJ obediently clicked a new song on his laptop. It started off with a slightly creepy sounding guitar riff. Xynox couldn't see if Neferet was okay through the throng of people. He realized they were flocking around him, like they were magnetic. Then as he began to wonder if it was another of Cyrce's tricks and the song would trigger something worse, he witnessed the single most dramatic entrance he'd ever seen. There were ropes up at the top of the building, leading from the balcony, and Neferet had slashed one of them and she swung down to the floor as the singer sang an initial sustained note. She looked terrifying, blood still shining wetly on her face, moving slowly and deliberately to the beat of the song. People moved out of her way as she strode towards Xynox. Cyrce was all that stood in her way.

Neferet wanted to reclaim her vessel. She wanted Cyrce to pay for making her vulnerable. The singer began to sing about how he'd tried to love someone, and Neferet called on the last vestiges she had of Darkness. She expelled it, fed by her anguish and the blood she'd shed when she cried, when she tore at herself with her nails. It struck Cyrce when she wasn't expecting it. The Darkness dug into her and she whirled to face her assailant.

Cyrce laughed, still battling the tendrils "Feeling a little vulnerable, Neferet?" she asked "That wasn't even fun it was so easy". She began to take Neferet more seriously as the Darkness cut into her.

Neferet then realized what she had to do. She grabbed Xynox and whispered "We need to get to the centre of this crowd before she returns the favour" while looking around apprehensively.

Xynox smiled, "So I do get to dance with you?" he remarked. He walked with her to the centre of the floor, pushing past those who were too stubborn to move.

"It would appear," Neferet whispered, still looking slightly nervous. Xynox wondered why his goddess feared Cyrce.

Xynox wasn't sure how to dance to this, so he let Neferet lead. She moved gracefully, spinning and stepping as he awkwardly tried to move in time with her. Predictably, a crowd amassed. No one had seen Neferet dance before and they were enthralled. Xynox was enthralled by the woman dancing with him. All too soon the song ended, only to launch back into action when he wasn't expecting it, and the singer sang the words "love, hate, love" one last time before the song concluded. A new one started, this time with a livelier drum beat, causing the crowd to writhe in time to the beat.

Neferet smirked as Cyrce retreated to the bar. It was true, what the singer said, "Once I start I cannot help myself". She wanted to hit her again, with more Darkness now, but she couldn't. So, she settled for ignoring Cyrce entirely, focusing instead on Xynox. She found it entertaining how he moved enthusiastically to the beat, despite the fact that the crowd watched him almost as attentively as they watched her.

Xynox was mesmerised. He felt absolutely mesmerised by Neferet. Earlier, when she had been in pain, he'd seen her as another person. Now he saw that person still, but overshadowed by a goddess. He wondered why she'd chosen him to bring, a mere mortal.

A new song started. Xynox excused himself, because he knew, being a vessel, he wasn't supposed to be attracted to Neferet the way he was. He was supposed to serve her protect her; he was not supposed to fall for her. And he was certainly not to imagine how things would be different if he wasn't a vessel. Particularly since she was a goddess, and he was a mortal. Part of the lyrics to the song echoed into the restroom, where Xynox had sat down.

"I'm a slave, and I am a master
No restraints and, unchecked collectors
I exist through my need, to self-oblige
She is something in me, that I despise," the lyrics followed him. Too true, he thought. Then the singer went on about how he wouldn't let this build up inside him. The most striking part was when the singer began to sing about how "She isn't real, I can't make her real," Xynox had to accept that. The Neferet he fantasized about was just that. Not real, and she never would be. He was sure that she'd never be real. Feeling disappointed, he left the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Neferet thought about the lyrics. She wondered if Xynox had left because he was afraid of her. She looked like a mess, with blood dried under her eyes, and little slices running up her arms. This trip had been counter-productive. She'd wanted Xynox to fall for her so she could guarantee he'd continue to serve her, instead he saw her weakness, and no doubt now he was repulsed by her. Xynox returned at the end of the song as the singer sang "She isn't real, I can't make her real," the Neferet that she wanted him to see, the one who was in control and powerful and immortal was a lie, a front. She couldn't make that Neferet real. She'd tried tirelessly, and never succeeded.

A new song began, with the loud, raucous guitar Xynox was getting accustomed to. He stood there, awkwardly near Neferet trying to resist his growing urge to wrap his arms around her slender ivory neck and pull her blood red lips to his. The lyrics weren't helping either, considering the singer had written them about a relationship he'd had. Neferet stood a meter away, and he got up the courage to close the distance between them as the singer began to sing the chorus of the song for the second time "I loathe your face, just get away.
I'm on my knees, fuck you, fuck me," the lyrics weren't helping Xynox's imagination to stop thinking about Neferet, that was for sure.

Neferet knew he was repulsed by her. That was why he was standing so far away. She knew she couldn't grow attached to her vessel though. The pain inflicted on her by those she had loved was too memorable, like it was branded into her brain with a burning rod. She told herself that she only wanted him to care about her so he would protect her, because she was now mortal. Somehow, it didn't quite seem true anymore.

Xynox finally caved and wrapped his arms around her slender hips, still keeping his body a few inches from hers, not wanting to alarm her. Her scent permeated the air around him, something dark and seductive, with a hint of lily juxtaposed into it. It smelled intoxicating. He could stand here forever, drinking in her scent.

Neferet felt slightly uncomfortable. It wasn't that Xynox had wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close. The issue was that he was still holding himself away. He was doing this only for her, obviously, and that hurt her. A light guitar intro signified the start of a new song. Neferet recognized the voice of Jonathan Davis, but sounding softer, sweeter than she was used to. "The places I have ran to all my life have disappeared,
And I owe this all to you," he sang. It made her think about how this place was hers, but now Xynox could get here and she would have to share, even if he left her, he could now get in. She knew he would leave her, too. It was obvious in the way he held himself away

Xynox was greedy. This wasn't enough for him. He knew there was hell to pay, but he wanted to kiss her. He wanted her lips on his and he wanted her to feel like he did. He was going to lose his mind if he kept trying to stay away, his position as a vessel be damned. Then, he saw the smirk on Dividos' face. Even the way Dividos had been watching Neferet had been pissing him off to no end, and the possessive part of his mind demanded that he show Dividos that he couldn't have Neferet.

In a reckless moment, he did just as he'd wanted to, wrapping his arms around her neck. He pulled her lips to his. He wanted her to feel how much he loved her, how much he needed her. "Why can't this kiss be true?
Why won't you please let me through," he heard the singer sing. Why, indeed? he wondered absently. Then, he felt her lips move beneath his.

Neferet was shocked when he pulled her towards him. When she felt his lips seize hers, she stifled a gasp. She didn't like that he'd started it, however. She was uncomfortable with having Xynox initiate this, but she found herself kissing back. She wondered if he meant it like she did, when she let it all out, her anger at Cyrce, her fear from flashing back, the pain from ripping at her own flesh, the pain from knowing he'd leave, the way she'd betrayed herself by growing attached to him. She realized that's what the song was about, wondering why your partner didn't feel like you did. It was about wondering why they couldn't kiss you like you kissed them. Neferet on the other hand was trying to determine why he'd kissed her at all.

Xynox was shocked by how strongly Neferet reacted. It was like suddenly she was releasing all the frustration, all the stress from today. It didn't mean she felt anything for him, but she had chosen him and that had to mean something. At the end of the song, Neferet pulled away, leaving Xynox confused. Did he do something to anger her?

Neferet pulled away to avoid letting him any further past her shields. She had already done far too much. She was betraying herself already so much by kissing him, by letting herself kiss him. Now she had to stop. She had to, or she would put herself at risk. Why did he make her betray herself like this?

The next song started off softly, with a haunting female voice. The start was about a kiss. Neferet wondered if the DJ had seen her and Xynox. It was once she got to the second verse that she was shocked.

"Through this world I've stumbled
So many times betrayed,
Trying to find an honest word,
to find the truth enslaved" Neferet understood that. She felt like it was true to her, she who'd been betrayed time after time. Neferet only wanted control over her life, which was why she needed to control the world. She wondered if Xynox, too would betray her. That made her feel a pang. Oh no. it couldn't be. He was already in her heart. As Sarah Mclachlan sang about kissing someone so hard it took their breath away, Neferet followed suit. Pulling Xynox back to her, she let her mind go and reveled in this moment, refusing to think.

Xynox had no clue what to make of this, but he was enjoying it. He felt Neferet's lips on his, and he finally knew that somehow, some way, she desired him.

"I love you," the words sprung unbidden from his lips as he mumbled them against hers.

She froze. He loved her. The words were a blessing and a curse. She didn't want to love someone. She'd sworn it could never happen again. It was like giving the person a knife to dig into you. They always betrayed you when she needed them most. They always betrayed her somehow.

"It's okay if you don't love me. I'm fine with that," Xynox whispered, still lying, slightly "You don't trust love. But I wanted you to know how I feel". That was a lie. He wanted her to say it back. He wanted her heart. But that would be a little too much for today. He wouldn't rush her.

Neferet was relieved by the fact that he didn't expect her to love him. She just appreciated that the man beside her would protect her for the time being.

Meanwhile, Dividos rolled his eyes at them and walked back to the bar, to see if he could talk Cyrce into causing some more trouble. He fed off chaos, and this night had just run out. For now, anyway.