House of Night (series)
Encyclopedia
House of Night is a series of vampire-based
fantasy
novel
s by American
author P. C. Cast
and her daughter Kristin Cast
. It follows the adventures of Zoey Redbird, a sixteen-year-old girl who has just become a fledgling Vampyre and is required to attend the House of Night boarding school in Tulsa, Oklahoma
. The series has been on the New York Times Best Seller list for 63 weeks and there are over seven million copies in print in North America alone. The sixth novel, Tempted, which went on sale on October 27, 2009 with a first printing of a million copies, entered the USA Today bestseller list that week at #1. In January, 2010, Gezeichnet, a German translation of Marked, reached the #1 spot on the Der Spiegel
bestseller list. The series has so far sold more than ten million books in 39 countries.
Burned was released on April 27, 2010, and like Tempted, it entered the USA Today bestseller list that week at #1. Awakened, released in January, 2011, also entered the list at #1. The series, which is published by St Martin's Press is planned to include twelve books. In 2008, plans for a film adaptation were also announced.
The ninth book in the series, Destined, was released on October 25, 2011. The second book in the novellas (which give backgrounds on supporting characters), Lenobia's Vow, is currently set to be released January 31, 2012. Book ten is called Hidden, and the Casts are writing more novellas. Neferet’s Curse, and possibility one more about Kalona.
of House of Night differs from our own in one important respect: In a small percentage of teenagers, adolescent hormones trigger a strand of what is otherwise junk DNA, eventually changing them into vampyres. The change from human to vampyre takes four years, during which time the adolescents, known as "fledglings," must attend one of the "House of Night" boarding schools. While there, they are required to take the Vampyre Sociology 101 course to learn the dangers they face. If a fledgling is not in constant proximity to adult vampyres, the fledgling will die; so the fledglings rarely leave the school. About one in ten fledglings die anyway, since their bodies cannot tolerate the Change. For those who survive, there's a big reward: in the words of one of the authors, "Vampyres are like Superman. They’re super-gorgeous. They’re super-talented. They’re super-men."
Vampyres and fledglings are not destroyed by sunlight, as in many vampire novels, but it is painful to them, so classes at the House of Night are held at night. Fledglings are marked by a sapphire blue crescent
-shaped outline on their foreheads; when they become full-fledged vampyres, this mark becomes solid and they receive more 'tattoo
s' which extend over their cheeks (these usually represent some personality aspect; for instance, Zoey's equestrian
teacher, Lenobia, has tattoos that look like horses.) Zoey is the only fledgling to receive a filled-in mark and tattoos; as she defeats evil her tattoos extend over her shoulders, down to her lower back, around her waist, down her arms and palms, and across her chest. Older fledglings and adult vampyres need to drink small quantities of human blood, but House of Night vampyres do not attack humans to get it; the taking of blood is pleasurable for both human and vampyre, and may lead to a strong bond, called "Imprinting" between the two. When an imprint is broken, it causes major pain between the vampyre and human.
Some of the issues that Zoey and her friends face are not covered in Vampyre Sociology 101. They are issues faced by real-life human teenagers. Zoey keeps some secrets from her friends and gets in trouble with them, forcing her to consider the nature of friendship. Kristin Cast said that these moral dilemmas were included because "those are issues teenagers deal with." She continued, "We're not afraid to discuss things that are actually happening." As it happens, this kind of exploration of human nature and identity, its meaning, essence and boundaries, form a subtext to most contemporary vampire novels "The point we wanted to make," said author P.C. Cast, "is acceptance and tolerance and also that teenagers can make mistakes and recover from them." While these issues might not be discussed in the Vampyre Sociology class, they form a backdrop to the novel.
to communicate with Nyx or to harness the power of the elements: air, fire, water, earth, and spirit. Some demons from Cherokee
mythology also play an important part in later volumes, and the Raven Mockers, Kalona and Tsi Sgili are taken from real Cherokee legends.
Outside in the human world, the "People of Faith" is a fictional Protestant religion that is highly intolerant of anything else but their own beliefs. (In an interview, P.C. Cast said that she modelled the People of Faith on the worst fanatics of all religions, not just Protestantism.) Catholicism also plays an important role in the later novels, with the fledglings joining forces with Catholic nuns against Kalona.
The religious ambiance gives House of Night a strong moral perspective which may apply to the real world as well. "Help me know the right thing to do," Zoey prays to Nyx, "and then give me the courage to do it." Nyx gives vampyres and humans free will. "We all have bad things inside us,"says Zoey, "and we all choose either to give in to those bad things or to fight them." In other words, people who have bad, even monstrous desires are not monsters; people who give in to those urges are. This theme of free choice takes special prominence in Tempted, where Zoey discovers that, although she is the reincarnation of a woman created to love Kalona, she has the power to choose whether she will follow her previous incarnation's path or reject it. One of the characters dies because Zoey makes the wrong choice. Also, in Burned, a Manichaen
view of the Universe is presented, in which Good battles Evil: forces of Light combat forces of Darkness and characters must choose which side to be on. Also, the black and white bull are presented. In Awakened, the theme of love
is presented, in which love must battle Darkness, and life is really only, always, about love.
Smart Pop is planning a book on the series for Summer 2011 release on mythology, folklore, and religion in the novels.
, and the climactic scene of the first book in the series takes place in the extensive gardens of the Philbrook Museum
. Zoey sometimes sneaks off-campus to the elegant shops of nearby Utica Square
, and several important confrontations take place in Utica Square's Starbucks
coffee shop. Some of the novels' most dramatic scenes take place in a catacomb-like network of tunnels under downtown Tulsa built by bootleggers during Prohibition
; though a few such tunnels do indeed exist, and can be visited, they are far less extensive than the tunnels described by Cast. The abandoned Art Deco
train depot where the tunnels begin, however, is real. and is slated to become a concert hall The location of Aphrodite's parents' mansion, South 27th Place, is a real street, though the mansion itself is fictional. Though Aphrodite's father, Mr. LaFont, the very rich and old mayor of Tulsa, has a name similar to the former, very rich, mayor of Tulsa Bill LaFortune
, his character is very different, and the author has stressed that her fictional mayor is indeed fictional. The Benedictine convent to which Zoey and her friends flee. is real; it is called St. Joseph Monastery. And the devastating ice storm through which they flee was based on a real ice storm that hit Tulsa in December 2007. The climactic scene in Tempted takes place far from Tulsa, on San Clemente Island near Venice
, which in real life called Isola di San Clemente and is part of the small island around Venice
. The church at which the Vampyre High Council meets was built in 1131.
Much of Burned takes place on the Inner Hebrides
island of Skye
, in the palace of Sgiach, the Vampyre queen. According to Scottish tradition, Sgiach (usually spelled Sgathach) was a princess many centuries ago who ran the best warrior training school in Scotland. Princess Sgathach lived in Dunscaith Castle
, which is today a ruin. (Seoras Wallace, the doughty Scottish historian who provided P.C. Cast with a background on Scottish mythology, became her boyfriend, and the Burned character of Sgiach's consort is modelled on him.)
2. Betrayed
3. Chosen
4. Untamed
5. Hunted
6. Tempted
7. Burned
8. Awakened
9. Destined
10. Hidden
Zoey wakes up at the school in the presence of her grandmother and the vampyre headmaster- her future mentor, Neferet. She finds out that her Mark is all filled in, unusually for fledglings, but follows her intuition and doesn't mention the vision to Neferet. As a fledgling vampyre, Zoey has the opportunity to change her name and does so, taking her grandmother's surname, Redbird, before parting with her. Neferet then takes her to her room, where she meets Stevie Rae, her new roommate and future best friend.
Through Stevie Rae, Zoey meets and befriends Damien, Erin, and Shaunee. She also meets the snobby, beautiful leader of the Dark Daughters and Sons, Aphrodite, a fledgling with the power to see the future. To humiliate Zoey she invites her to join the Dark Daughters, who are an elitist group. Her new friends counsel her to accept, so that they can get insight into Aphrodite's doings. During the ritual, Aphrodite feeds her fledgling blood and Zoey discovers a new craving, unusual for her age. Embarrassed, she flees- but finds Heath, her ex-boyfriend, and Kayla, her ex-best friend, who have come to the school in an attempt to bust Zoey out. A confrontation ensues and Zoey loses control. She bites Heath, creating an Imprint with him. Kayla freaks out and runs away; Zoey eventually persuades Heath to leave too. When they have gone, Zoey discovers that Erik Night, a handsome fifth former and Dark Son who she met earlier, has seen the whole scene. He comforts her and escorts her back to the dorm. That night she is chosen by a cat, whom she names Nala.
The following day, she meets Neferet, who explains to her that an Imprint is a link that takes place between a adult vampyre and his or her human Consort. As it is very unusual that Zoey could create an Imprint in her first month of being a vampyre, she places Zoey into a senior vampyre sociology course. Zoey discovers that she has affinities for the five elements of air, fire, earth, water, and spirit- something that has never happened before in vampyre history. Stevie Rae, Damien, Shaunee, and Erin each gain an affinity for one element as well.
Zoey is (spitefully) invited back to the Dark Daughters and Sons' Samhain celebration, where they honor the spirits with some blood. Everything goes fine until a drunk Heath stumbles upon the scene and tries to bring Zoey back with him. Aphrodite accidentally summons evil spirits which try to take Heath’s fresh human blood. Zoey steps in; she and her friends use their newfound abilities to stop the spirits. Neferet, who happens to witness everything, takes Aphrodite's status as leader of the Dark Daughters and Sons and gives it to Zoey instead. As they go home, Aphrodite angrily informs Zoey that "it's not over yet- you don't understand."
The same night, Zoey witnesses Aphrodite being verbally abused at by her parents and starts developing sympathy for her enemy. Later on, she chances upon Neferet scolding Aphrodite and is shocked by this new side of her mentor. That day, Neferet invites Zoey for a private dinner. Upon hearing that Zoey saw her and Aphrodite, she informs her that the latter's visions were no longer valid, as Nyx had withdrawn her gift, and advises Zoey to keep her distance.
Later on, while watching TV, Zoey learns of the death of one of the high school football players whom she knew and goes on a walk to clear her head. She chances upon a crying Aphrodite who claims to have had another vision, that included Zoey's grandmother. She asks for a favor for her help and asks Zoey to take an oath. Unwilling to risk her grandmother's life, she accepts and learns that Aphrodite has seen her grandmother in a car, stuck on a collapsing local bridge, at a precise time. Zoey calls her grandmother to tell her to stay at home and then she and her friends make a call to the police about a bomb on the bridge, to keep other people away from it, around the time it was set to fall. Aphrodite's vision turns out to be true, making Zoey begin to doubt Neferet.
When two football player from Broken Arrow (Zoey's old School district) disappear and are found murdered, she begins to suspect Neferet has something to do with it, especially after witnessing her discussing the murders with "undead", supposedly deceased student, Eliott. Meanwhile, Zoey must make decisions regarding her love life, as she is drawn to her ex-boyfriend Heath due to their Imprint, maintains a relationship with fledgling peer Erik Night and captures the interest of Poet Laureate and teacher Loren Blake.
Zoey reorganizes the Dark Daughters, now that she is in charge of them, but Neferet takes credit for most of her new ideas at the first new Dark Daughters ritual. Shortly after the ritual, her best friend Stevie Rae rejects the Change and dies. As Zoey grieves over Stevie Rae, she learns that Heath too has disappeared, following the two other murders. Using her Imprint, a connection formed when vampyres consume a person's blood, she is able to locate him and takes off to retrieve him.
She finds out that Heath is being held captive by "undead" fledglings. Using her elemental affinities, Zoey frees Heath, but also finds out that it was Neferet who changed the dying fledglings into the "undead" creatures- one of which is Stevie Rae. The fledglings had lost their humanity and reverted to an almost feral state. She runs away with Heath, vowing to return. At the school, Neferet attempts to erase Zoey's memory, but Zoey recovers her memory and starts hatching a plan to help her former best friend.
The school's been shaken by drama teacher Patricia Nolan's death. She's been crucified and next to her there was a quote from the bible which leads Zoey to believe that the People of Faith are responsible and Neferet to strengthen school security. Set to clear out her romantic life, Zoey sneaks out of the House of Night, resolved to break up with Heath - without success. On the way back she meets Stevie Rae and, together with Aphrodite, brings her to Aphrodite's parents' house, and keeps her there while trying to find a solution for her problem.
Back at the House of Night, Zoey realizes that, as a leader of the Dark Daughter, she has to chose someone else to fill the position of Earth in her circle. Much to everyone else's displeasure, she chooses Aphrodite, when she manifests a new Earth affinity.
Zoey also feels more and more estranged from Erik, because of the lies she tells to hide her relationship with Loren. During the night Erik finishes the Change, she loses her virginity to Loren and Imprints with him, breaking her previous one with Heath. Erik walks in on them and angrily breaks up with Zoey. She pulls herself together and leaves to gather her friends, planning to tell them about Stevie Rae, to cast a circle and heal her. On the way, Zoey chances upon Loren and Neferet and hears him confess that Neferet had made him seduce Zoey, for her to become alienated from her closest, and that he actually loves Neferet.
Heartbroken, Zoey leaves to get Damien, the Twins and Aphrodite. She had planned to use the occasion to cure Stevie Rae and introduce her to her friends. Because of Loren's meddling, Stevie Rae arrives before Zoey has the chance to explain her to her friends and they feel betrayed, but agree to finish the ritual. When Zoey is about to invoke Earth, Stevie Rae attacks Aphrodite in a fit of jealousy and drinks from her and Changes into the first red adult vampyre. Aphrodite is terrified to discover that her own mark has disappeared and runs away through the secret exit with Stevie Rae after her, leaving Zoey alone with the rest of her friends.
Zoey does her best to explain and she manages to get them to listen until Erik shows up and reveals her infidelity and her relationship with Loren. This shatters Damien and the Twins' last bit of faith in her. On the way back she is seized by a series of spasms, and founds out much later that they came from her Imprint with Loren breaking as he died.
Acting from apparent grief at his loss, Neferet declares war on all humans. Zoey realizes that Neferet is lost to sense, pulls herself together and faces Neferet down after the Council. Nyx tells Zoey that "she has a job" to do.
After lunch, Zoey meets Aphrodite and Stevie Rae in her room. She finds out that Stevie Rae is mostly normal now and the only differences she experiences is an intense aversion to sunlight, and that Aphrodite's Mark is fake- she has mostly reverted to a human teenager, except for her visions. After Stevie Rae's departure the two are about to leave Zoey's room but meet Damien, the Twins, and Jack on the threshold. Aphrodite explains to them that Zoey confided in her because she was the only other one who could block her mind from adult vampyres and that her visions show Zoey dying alone. They make up with Zoey. After they leave, Aphrodite asks Zoey to cast a circle to see if she still has her Earth affinity. When the green candle "zaps" her, Aphrodite is convinced that the goddess has taken back her gift because she was disappointed in her. Zoey casts the circle and asks for guidance. Nyx appears to tell them that she still loves Aphrodite, that she was only safekeeping the Earth affinity for Stevie Rae, and that she reverted back to human because her own humanity was too strong.
After the goddess' disappearance, they rush to a Council meeting. They find out that the Priestess of all vampyres, Shekinah, has come to the House of Night to reject Neferet's declaration of war on humans. She follows Zoey's advice to put Detective Marx on the case instead. Erik Night returns to the school and takes over Professor Nolan's drama class, much to Zoey's dismay. On her way back Zoey meets Stark and watches him practice. He confesses to her that he has a gift for archery- that he never misses a target- and it was discovered when he killed his mentor by mistake. Because he fears his power, he asks Zoey to use her powers to protect the others from him. When she starts to leave, his body rejects the Change and he dies in her arms. Zoey tells him, before he dies, that he might be revived as a red fledgling.
Zoey, Darius and Aphrodite go to Street Cats, a local cat shelter, as Zoey has been searching for a community activity for the Dark Daughters. The organization is led by nuns from the Benedictine Abbey. Their leader, Sister Mary Angela, astounds Zoey with the contrast between her beliefs and John Heffer's. At the shelter, Aphrodite is chosen by a cat, to her delight, and names her Maleficent. On the way back they stop to eat at one of Zoey's favourite restaurants where they have a run-in with Heath, who is with one of Zoey's old friends. He tells Zoey that he's given her up as loving her hurt too much.
At school she's late for drama class and Erik, the new teacher, makes her play Desdemona to his Othello in a Shakespeare improvisation. She's initially mad, but uses this as an opportunity to explain her feelings for him and kisses him just before the bell rings, but he storms off. Outside, she meets Darius who brings her to Aphrodite, revealing a gift for speed. Aphrodite has been having a vision of Sylvia Redbird's house and copies out a poem in her writing. Zoey calls her grandmother and together they uncover that the poem is a warning about an ancient Cherokee legend. The poem warns that Kalona, a fallen angel, will rise again throughout the help of the Tsi Sgili queen, a dark witch that uses pain. Her grandmother also warns her to beware the Raven Mockers, half-raven half-human offspring of Kalona. Zoey asks her to come to the House of Night to be safe.
Zoey then goes to Shekinah, and is attacked by a Raven Mocker on the way. She escapes Aphrodite's first vision of death by calling for Damien, who sends Air to banish the creature. Outside the Council chambers she happens to eavesdrop on a discussion between Neferet and Shekinah. She incredulously hears how Neferet manages to twist all the problems she's faced since the beginning of her change and make it seem as if they were Zoey's fault. After Neferet leaves, Zoey tells Shekinah about Street Cats and asks for lodging for her grandmother. On the doorstep she bumps into Erik and explains to him about Loren.
Her grandmother arrives and she moves into Zoey and Stevie Rae's room. In the middle of their discussion they discover a Raven Mocker listening at their window. The next day, Zoey is woken up by Shekinah, who announces that her grandmother was hurt in a car crash. She and Aphrodite rush to the hospital. To be sure her grandmother is guarded from Raven Mockers, who she suspects of causing the crash, she asks the hospital if a medicine man could sit at her grandmother's bedside. When the Catholic hospital refuses, she asks Sister Mary Angela instead.
Back at school, Zoey begins a cleansing ritual at Shekinah's request. Zoey tries to introduce the red fledglings and Stevie Rae makes an appearance, but is interrupted by Neferet who brings an undead Stark and tries to frame Zoey. In the ensuing commotion, Neferet makes Stark shoot Stevie Rae, fulfilling another line of Aphrodite's poem. Her blood frees Kalona. Neferet reveals herself as the Tsi Sgili queen from the poem, and then kills Shekinah with her thoughts to prove it. As the Raven Mockers explode into their physical form and start a feeding frenzy, Zoey and her friends blend in with the night and together they escape to the Tulsa Depot tunnels.
Kramisha, a red fledgling, is revealed to also express prophecies through her poetry, and Zoey gives her the title of Poet Laureate. This is how they find their first clue. One of Kramisha's poems states that Kalona and Neferet will be banished when Night, Humanity, Blood, Spirit and Earth come together, but Zoey doesn't know who will represent these elements.
Heath arrives at the tunnels, and Zoey goes outside to talk to him, much to Erik's anger. Heath tries to reconcile with her, but to no avail. A Raven Mocker attacks them and critically wounds Zoey. She drinks from Heath to heal and they Imprint again, but she is still weakened. Kramisha gets exited and loses her control a little when she sees Heath (a human), leading Zoey to realize that the red fledglings may still have problems with their self-control. Darius finally declares that Zoey needs exposure to more adult vampyres to survive, and she is forced to return to the House of Night, much to Neferet's pleasure. She finds out that Kalona's presence has caused the fledglings and the vampyres to turn their backs on Nyx. Kalona's favorite son, Rephaim, and Darius get into a fight. Kalona intercedes and gives Darius a huge scar which upsets Aphrodite.
Zoey successfully persuades Stark to turn back to the good side. He becomes the second red vampyre when he pledges his Warrior's Oath to Zoey and she accepts. Zoey discusses the situation with Lenobia and, upon analyzing Kramisha's poem again, finds out that she is Night, Blood is Stevie Rae, Humanity is Aphrodite, Sister Mary Angela is Spirit, and Grandma Redbird is Earth.
Zoey and her friends set fire to the school as a diversion and escape on horseback to the Benedictine Abbey. Zoey and the other people mentioned in the poem open a circle and send everyone else inside. Neferet, Kalona and Stark arrive quickly afterwards in an SUV, followed by the Raven Mockers. Neferet and Kalona take turns at threatening and cajoling Zoey but she finally accepts the truth: that although A-ya is a part of her, she will choose her own destiny. She rejects Kalona. Neferet orders Stark to shoot Zoey but he says that Zoey is his heart and aims at her while thinking of himself. Realizing what will happen, Zoey uses the elements to stop the arrow and knocks him out in the process. Night, Humanity, Blood, Spirit, and Earth complete the spell and banish Neferet and Kalona. Zoey's Mark spreads to across her scar. She is deeply in pain because she had to say goodbye to Kalona, and knows that the fight isn't over yet.
Zoey's Story
In the aftermath of the last book, Zoey gathers her allies and starts organizing them. Stevie Rae notices she's very tired and takes over, leaving Zoey to take care of a wounded Stark and her grandmother. Having recovered from her accident, she tells Zoey that she is A-ya's reincarnation and that A-ya was made to love Kalona, so that's why she cannot help being uncontrollably attracted to Kalona, as it's in her soul. In the end she's so stressed that when Erik finds her, demanding a share of her time, they quarrel and she dumps him for being overly jealous and possessive, taking her down to two love interests (whilst Erik forms a relationship with Venus, Aphrodite's ex- roommate).
She rooms in with Aphrodite and has a dream with Kalona at the same time she has a vision that links to several elements from the dream. Alerted by Zoey's panic, Stark climbs up to her room and sleeps in, to guard her from further intrusions. Aphrodite leaves and takes Darius to Stark's abandoned room. While they talk, she realizes she's come to love him and is afraid she is incapable of returning his feelings. He soothes her and pledges his Warrior's Oath to her.
The kids return to the House of Night. They find Anastasia Lankford, a professor at the House of Night, dead at Rephaim's hands, and Dragon grieving her loss. Jack stays with Dragon to comfort him and coax him through his pain while Zoey goes to assess the mood of the school. Through Aphrodite's visions, Zoey's dreams of Kalona and Kramisha's prophetic poems they find that Kalona and Neferet plan on getting back the old ways of the vampyres. Following the rumors on Twitter, Jack finds Kalona and Neferet in Venice, on the isle of San Clemente with the Vampyre Council.
Another vision brings a new warning: if Zoey is with Kalona the world will end as they know it, and if she chooses love and Nyx he will "die" and the world will be safe. On the other hand, Zoey can't completely reject him, as she believes he can be saved. In an effort to gain her favour, Kalona shows her his past as Nyx's Warrior and promises to change his ways if she will have him.
Zoey and her friends go to Venice to have their say in the Council, but Stevie Rae stays behind, arguing that it's her responsibility as a High Priestess to take care of the rogues. Upon arriving, they learn that Neferet claims to be Nyx Incarnate and Kalona claims to be Erebus. It is revealed that Zoey's destiny is to face Kalona alone, meaning that only she can save the world. The Council declares Aphrodite a Prophetess of the vampyres, but is otherwise distrusting of Zoey, mainly because of her age. After the Council session is over Heath quarrels with Zoey because of Stark and goes for a walk. He eavesdrops on a conversation between Neferet and Kalona and is found out. He uses the Imprint to call Zoey and she arrives to see Kalona kill him. In her anguish she throws Spirit at Kalona, but her soul shatters and goes to the Otherworld. Also her tattoos disappear leaving her only with a whole Crescent moon.
Stevie Rae's Story
While sweeping the Benedictine Abbey grounds, Stevie Rae finds an injured Raven Mocker named Rephaim (the favored son of Kalona) and helps him to safety against her better judgement. She binds his wounds and sends him through the tunnels. Back at the House of Night she's horrified to learn that he was actually the one to kill Dragon's mate, Anastasia Lankford.
Stevie Rae heals Rephaim enough that he can get deeper into the tunnels. In the tunnels Rephaim is found by the rogue red fledglings, and their leader, Nicole, uses her gift to peer into his mind and learns that Stevie Rae saved him. They use him as bait and catch Stevie Rae, leaving her alongside him in a cage on the roof to be burned down by the sun. Rephaim helps her and the two get in the ground at the last minute. To repay her for nursing him back to healt, he offers her his immortal blood to heal her burns. Unexpectedly, the two Imprint and Stevie Rae loses hers with Aphrodite. Alerted by Aphrodite's going into painful convulsions, Zoey calls at the House of Night and Erik and Dragon rush to find and save Stevie Rae. With the last of her powers, Stevie Rae hides Rephaim from their eyes as they get her out. Rephaim promises to find Stevie Rae again. Stevie Rae calls Zoey and finds out that Aphrodite suffered while she was burning.
]
Zoey's Story
The narrative mode is told from multiple points of view in third-person limited (including Stark's, Kalona's, Aphrodite's, Heath's, Rephaim's, and Stevie Rae's) and first-person narrative
in Zoey's point of view, as in previous books.
Zoey's soul has shattered and has gone to the Otherworld due to Kalona killing Zoey's human Consort, Heath. For Zoey to get her shattered soul complete again, Stark must find a way to travel to the Otherworld without dying and save his High Priestess. Zoey is stuck in the Otherworld. If her body remains unoccupied by her spirit, it will die in a week. Her friends desperately try to find a way to save her.
Aphrodite, at first only for appearances at the Vampire High Council, acts as Nyx's Prophetess and finds that she can force a vision by touching Zoey's body. She discovers that Zoey's spirit is gone from her body, and she spearheads the plan to figure out how to rescue Zoey, the sister she never had. After some research into ancient-forgotten vampyre legends and religion, the nerd herd finds out about the eternal struggle between Light and Darkness personified by a black bull and a white bull respectively.
Stark is overjoyed to find a way to help Zoey, and according to the poem goes to the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, on the Isle of Women also known as the Isle of Skye to find Queen Sgaich, an ancient Warrior queen who can help him enter the Otherworld. Stark, Darius and Aphrodite travel to the Isle and observe the ancient Warrior ways. With their guidance, Stark undertakes a perilous journey to the Otherworld where he slays his Warrior self to become the Shaman and reach Zoey. Stark convinces Heath that he has to leave Zoey and move on so that she, in turn, can move on and save the world from Kalona and Neferet. In the Otherworld, Heath moves on and tells a devastated, almost shattered Zoey that they will meet again in his next life. Stark approaches her in the Otherworld and cannot explain to Zoey how she must bring her soul back together. But Stark's journey has taught him of being a Guardian, which is more than simply a Warrior. He accepts that his role is to protect Zoey from anything, even if it means he dies or she does not love him. Stark engages Kalona in a dangerous fight. When Zoey sees this she realizes that she needs to pull herself together, and she pulls the pieces of her shattered soul back together. Before she can intervene, Kalona manages to kill Stark.
Zoey attacks Kalona and manages to overpower him. She demands that he pay up the life debt he owes her for killing her Consort by bringing Stark back to life. When Kalona refuses, Nyx intervenes, causing Kalona to share a part of his immortality with Stark, and bring him back to life. Nyx banishes Kalona's body and spirit from the Otherworld. Zoey fully accepts Stark as her Guardian and lets him drink from her so he could heal, the elements fill her again and all her tattoos come back.
At the end of the story, Zoey comes back from the Otherworld before Stark, then brings his soul back to his body in the real world, and Zoey tells Stark that it's all over. She hears Nyx laugh and say "No daughter. This is only the beginning..."
Stevie Rae's Story
Meanwhile, Stevie Rae is having huge problems of her own. Stevie Rae and Rephaim, together, figure out that Neferet has imprisoned Kalona's body in this realm using Darkness and sent his spirit to the Otherworld to ensure that Zoey does not put the shattered pieces of her soul together and stays trapped in the Otherworld. Zoey's friends discover, from ancient scrolls, that to travel to the Otherworld without dying they need to know more about forgotten ancient beliefs regarding the two bulls.
Stevie Rae accidentally summons the white bull, which is Darkness personified, to find a way for Stark, Zoey's Oath-sworn Warrior who is frantic to save her, to enter the Otherworld. The bull tells Stevie Rae a poem about how it's possible. As payment for giving that knowledge, the white bull extracts his payment in her pain and her blood. Rephaim saves her at the last minute by offering himself. Stevie Rae summons the black bull and saves them both at the price of always staying connected to Rephaim's humanity.
Since she survives, Stevie Rae is able to pass on the poem with the way to the Otherworld to Aphrodite.
She is trying to hide the existence of Rephaim from the red fledglings, and at the same time she seems to be developing feelings for him. Stevie Rae struggles with being bound to Rephaim and tries to gets Dallas to have sex with her because she wants to feel good and have all her stress taken away. However, Rephaim feels what is happening and tries to stop her from abandoning him (which she is not trying to do). Finding out that Stevie Rae has been keeping Rephaim a secret infuriates Dallas, and he lets Darkness come into him and becomes the third red vampyre, though he with Darkness and not Light, like Stark and Stevie Rae. He nearly kills both Stevie Rae and Rephaim using his affinity for electricity, but they escape.
Rephaim keeps hold of Stevie Rae until she feels good enough to return to the House of Night. There, Kramisha and Stevie Rae send a message of Kramisha's latest poem to Stark, telling him to use it to find Zoey.
Rephaim and Stevie Rae are together and finally seem to be starting a relationship when they feel Kalona and Zoey come back into this realm. Rephaim says that his heart has never mattered enough, and Stevie Rae says that he should come back to her when his heart is as important to him as it is to her. Stevie Rae watches Rephaim leave, saying she will miss him, and Rephaim whispers "I will miss you too..." from afar; the message is carried on the wind to Stevie Rae.
Zoey and Stark reassure their connection by having sex under the wishing tree and become connected. Zoey finds out that she wields the ancient magick of the fey and can bring back old fey that serve her elements, prompting Queen Sgiach to ask her to stay on Skye indefinitely and be her successor.
Aphrodite and Darius leave Skye, but Zoey and Stark decide to stay a little longer while Stark recuperates. Zoey continuously senses Darkness on Skye, leading her to believe that she cannot hide from Darkness anymore. Neferet returns to the House of Night. In an attempt to draw Zoey back from Skye after Kalona's failed mission, Neferet kills Jack as a debt payment to Darkness.
Kalona finds out that he can enter Stark's mind because of the immortality he breathed into him.
Jack's death sends Damien into a deep depression. Zoey returns to the House of Night, being welcomed by her grandma. Neferet allows Zoey to light Jack's funeral pyre. Stevie Rae and Rephaim get back together.
During Jack's funeral ceremony, Neferet asks Zoey for forgiveness to regain everyone's trust. Zoey accepts the fake apology even though she sees through Neferet, but many other people think the apology is genuine. Rephaim later makes his appearance after being forced to fall out of the sky. Neferet then accuses him of being allied with Darkness and Stevie Rae for being allied with Rephaim, so Neferet orders the Sons of Erebus to kill both of them.
Kalona interferes and faces the Sons of Erebus with Rephaim. The two fight, but Rephaim only defends himself rather than attacking the warriors. Stevie Rae asks her friends to cast a circle to stop the battle and save Rephaim. Just when Dragon Lankford tries to kill Rephaim with the help of Neferet, Nyx appears in an apparition and forgives Rephaim. He was given the choice to choose between Stevie Rae and Kalona and ends up choosing Stevie Rae. Nyx alters him permanently for this decision, so from then on, Rephaim would be a raven during the day and a human during the night.
Because Neferet and Dragon do not accept him at the House of Night, Zoey, her friends, and the red fledglings leave to start a new House of Night on their own in the tunnels, with Zoey being the "vampyre queen", Stevie Rae being the High Priestess, Aphrodite being the Prophetess, Kramisha being the Poet Laureate, and all the red fledglings and Zoey's friends being the students.
Towards the end of the book, Neferet cooperates with the white bull and intends on sacrificing Sylvia Redbird, but ends up killing Linda Heffer (who had recently left Zoey's stepfather due to his infidelity) to create a Vessel for her (someone who has to obey her completely) as a weapon to use against Zoey. Meanwhile, in the Otherworld, Heath is given the opportunity by Nyx, to be the lost soul in this Vessel and he chooses it over being reborn in the real world or remaining in the Otherworld; this way, he can help Zoey in the modern world.
Meanwhile, Stark and Zoey are making out and preparing to have sex for their third time, but Stark becomes aggressive, which is unlike himself. He bites Zoey, but she is finally able to stop him (It is implied that it was Kalona, not Stark, in Stark's soul, who took over and got aggressive). When they go to sleep, Zoey has a dream where she learns of her mother's death and realizes that her mother really cared for her. The book ends with Zoey waking up with this new realization and beginning to cry and grieve for her mother's death, and Stark being there to comfort her.
While Stevie Rae tries to convince Rephaim to break his ties to his father, he still pursues the hope that Kalona might change and to this end persuades Zoey to talk to him. Kalona offers them a truce and a pact against Neferet which she accepts. Rephaim finds an unexpected friend in Shaunee, who empathizes with him because of her own problems with her father, but this causes a split between the Twins that affects the whole group.
At the same time, Zoey asks the Council for the accord in creating a second House of Night, which they give, with the initial condition that it will be a branch of the original, also a home for the red fledglings because they cannot be out during the daytime. Rephaim is continually bullied by the fledglings around him. Erik Marks a red fledgling named Shaylin, who has an affinity for True Sight, to see someone's "true colors" in their souls. Zoey's seer stone continually warms around Aurox, proving to her that he was made from old magick.
Zoey learns that Grandma knows about her mother's death. Grandma asks Zoey and her friends to come perform a cleansing ritual on her farm. Zoey agrees to it. Neferet convinces the rogue red fledglings to come back to the House of Night to cause chaos, which Neferet believes she can use to kill Nyx and rule over the vampyres as Goddess. Zoey, however, does not know this.
The group forms a tense alliance/truce with Kalona, but only for Rephaim. Shaunee gives Kalona her iPhone so that he may call her so she can get him a laptop to Skype Rephaim.
The High Council sends Thanatos to Tulsa to gather her own impression on the situation, but she reveals to Zoey that as a vampyre with an affinity for Death she has seen the Darkness around Neferet and has come to build a case against her for which she asks from Zoey to let her perform a reveal ritual of her mother's death, so that Zoey may be able to see what really happened to her mother.
Neferet sends Aurox to stop the ritual and makes a sacrifice when he chooses otherwise. Aurox is made to attack Rephaim, which is saved by Dragon's sacrifice. Dragon dies. Stark and Darius manage to send Aurox away, but not before Zoey sees Heath in him, through her seer stone.
Thanatos guides Dragon to the Otherworld where he is reunited with Anastasia, then comes to watch over a dying Rephaim. Desperate, Stevie Rae calls Kalona through Shaunee's iPhone. He arrives in time to apologize to Rephaim and beg the Goddess' forgiveness, which she grants by saving Rephaim. In exchange, Kalona chooses to pledge his Warrior's Oath to Thanatos when she declares herself the new High Priestess of the Tulsa House of Night. Zoey and her friends, along with Thanatos and Kalona, return to the House of Night to prepare for what Nyx has in store for them.
As Nyx said, "Darkness doesn't always equate to evil, just as Light does not always bring good." Now the words have come full circle. Zoey Redbird and her friends have to come against Neferet before it's too late- but it might be a little easier this time, now that they have the backing of the High Council and a fallen immortal on their side, as well as the white bull and Nyx. But the tainted High Priestess will fight back.
Also, Zoey's Guardian, Stark, has been acting weird, having strange nightmares about Zoey. She's just learned that her Consort, Heath, may be back- in the form of an evil Vessel designed to follow Neferet's command. Humans are beginning to gain hatred toward vampyres- at least in Tulsa- and have declared the vampyres banished from Oklahoma. The Twins are split apart, but it might be more than just a girl-fight between them. Aphrodite's visions are getting worse, and her latest vision is starring Thanatos- and the death of the High Council Priestess. And now Stevie Rae and Rephaim have been fighting...
In the tenth installment of the House of Night series, Zoey and her friends will learn the true meaning of Darkness, as well as the meaning of Light, and threads created throughout the series will finally come together.
House of Night Novellas series.
The book begins with Dragon receiving a flower in an apparition from Anastasia. Then he begins to remember his past.
In England, Earl of Lankford banished Dragon, who was Bryan back then, from his family. Bryan is Marked by a Tracker named Shaw, and is moved to Tower Grove, St. Louis in America.
Anastasia is accepted as a professor in the Tower Grove House of Night. She sees a student named Bryan Lankford and sees that he is charming classmates. 15 students- 13 girls, 2 boys- ask Anastasia for love spells on how to woo Bryan.
Anastasia denies this and goes to the High Priestess, Pandeia, and her Consort, for help. Pandeia lets Anastasia perform a drawing spell to show the 15 students the real Bryan, when she is shown a futuristic apparition of him, when he has fully Changed and is no longer a fledgling. Anastasia finds that she loves Bryan, and when he really appears as his nineteen-year-old self. Bryan, who is now Dragon, helps Anastasia finish her spell.
An officer, Jesse Biddle, consults with a creature (it is hinted at that this is Rephaim, the Raven Mocker that is Stevie Rae's Consort) about who he should kill- Anastasia. Biddle and the creature show up. Biddle fights and nearly kills Anastasia, and prepares to rape her, when Dragon comes and kills Biddle. But just before he kills the creature, Anastasia tells him to temper his strength with mercy, and think about what he's doing. Dragon sets the creature free. Dragon is taken back to the present, where Anastasia tells him to stick by his oath, but Dragon screams that he will avenge her death, and Darkness is seen slithering around him.
In the Otherworld, Nyx weeps.
Evreux, France, 1788: Before she is Zoey’s favorite professor and the House of Night’s powerful horse mistress… Lenobia is just a normal 16-year-old girl – with enough problems to last a lifetime. As the illegitimate daughter of a powerful baron, she has never quite belonged, and instead has to watch her spoiled half-sister, Cecile, get anything she wants. As if that’s not enough, her remarkable beauty draws unwanted attention wherever she goes. For once, she would like to just fit in.
But when fate intervenes, Lenobia suddenly finds herself surrounded by other girls, on a ship bound for New Orleans, where they will be married off to the city’s richest Frenchmen. And they’re not alone. An evil bishop who is skilled in Dark magic makes the same journey. His appetite for lovely young women makes him dangerous – most of all to Lenobia, who caught his eye back in France. So she remains hidden, making secret visits to the ship’s stables, where a handsome young man and his beautiful Percheron horses soon capture her attention.
Will they make it to land before the bishop discovers her true identity and a powerful evil breaks loose? And will Lenobia follow her heart, even if it puts lives at risk? Find out more about one of your favorite professors in the next heart-thumping House of Night Novella.
The book explains the lore, myths and religions used to craft the House of Night Series into what it is. From a Greek Goddess, myths, Cat Lore and facts, Historical explanations, and Name Meanings of the HoN cast. Learn things that made the House of Night come alive. Learn the misunderstood reasons behind Zoey's multiple men juggling, See where P.C Cast got her idea for Isle of Skye and Sgiach, Find out all you can in Nyx in the House of Night!
(Young Adult Novel) and Tempted
(Best Young Adult Paranormal/Fantasy Novel). Burned
won the Goodreads
Choice Award for Favorite Book, Young Adult Fantasy, Favorite Heroine and a nomination for Teen Read Award for Best series in 2010.
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author P. C. Cast
P. C. Cast
Phyllis Christine Cast is an American romance/fantasy author, known for the House of Night series she writes with her daughter Kristin Cast, as well as her own Goddess Summoning and Partholon book series.-Career:...
and her daughter Kristin Cast
Kristin Cast
Kristin Cast is the coauthor of the House of Night series for young adults with her mother, P.C. Cast.She graduated from Broken Arrow Senior High in 2005....
. It follows the adventures of Zoey Redbird, a sixteen-year-old girl who has just become a fledgling Vampyre and is required to attend the House of Night boarding school in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
. The series has been on the New York Times Best Seller list for 63 weeks and there are over seven million copies in print in North America alone. The sixth novel, Tempted, which went on sale on October 27, 2009 with a first printing of a million copies, entered the USA Today bestseller list that week at #1. In January, 2010, Gezeichnet, a German translation of Marked, reached the #1 spot on the Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
bestseller list. The series has so far sold more than ten million books in 39 countries.
Burned was released on April 27, 2010, and like Tempted, it entered the USA Today bestseller list that week at #1. Awakened, released in January, 2011, also entered the list at #1. The series, which is published by St Martin's Press is planned to include twelve books. In 2008, plans for a film adaptation were also announced.
The ninth book in the series, Destined, was released on October 25, 2011. The second book in the novellas (which give backgrounds on supporting characters), Lenobia's Vow, is currently set to be released January 31, 2012. Book ten is called Hidden, and the Casts are writing more novellas. Neferet’s Curse, and possibility one more about Kalona.
The Vampyre World
The fictional worldFictional universe
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
of House of Night differs from our own in one important respect: In a small percentage of teenagers, adolescent hormones trigger a strand of what is otherwise junk DNA, eventually changing them into vampyres. The change from human to vampyre takes four years, during which time the adolescents, known as "fledglings," must attend one of the "House of Night" boarding schools. While there, they are required to take the Vampyre Sociology 101 course to learn the dangers they face. If a fledgling is not in constant proximity to adult vampyres, the fledgling will die; so the fledglings rarely leave the school. About one in ten fledglings die anyway, since their bodies cannot tolerate the Change. For those who survive, there's a big reward: in the words of one of the authors, "Vampyres are like Superman. They’re super-gorgeous. They’re super-talented. They’re super-men."
Vampyres and fledglings are not destroyed by sunlight, as in many vampire novels, but it is painful to them, so classes at the House of Night are held at night. Fledglings are marked by a sapphire blue crescent
Crescent
In art and symbolism, a crescent is generally the shape produced when a circular disk has a segment of another circle removed from its edge, so that what remains is a shape enclosed by two circular arcs of different diameters which intersect at two points .In astronomy, a crescent...
-shaped outline on their foreheads; when they become full-fledged vampyres, this mark becomes solid and they receive more 'tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
s' which extend over their cheeks (these usually represent some personality aspect; for instance, Zoey's equestrian
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
teacher, Lenobia, has tattoos that look like horses.) Zoey is the only fledgling to receive a filled-in mark and tattoos; as she defeats evil her tattoos extend over her shoulders, down to her lower back, around her waist, down her arms and palms, and across her chest. Older fledglings and adult vampyres need to drink small quantities of human blood, but House of Night vampyres do not attack humans to get it; the taking of blood is pleasurable for both human and vampyre, and may lead to a strong bond, called "Imprinting" between the two. When an imprint is broken, it causes major pain between the vampyre and human.
Some of the issues that Zoey and her friends face are not covered in Vampyre Sociology 101. They are issues faced by real-life human teenagers. Zoey keeps some secrets from her friends and gets in trouble with them, forcing her to consider the nature of friendship. Kristin Cast said that these moral dilemmas were included because "those are issues teenagers deal with." She continued, "We're not afraid to discuss things that are actually happening." As it happens, this kind of exploration of human nature and identity, its meaning, essence and boundaries, form a subtext to most contemporary vampire novels "The point we wanted to make," said author P.C. Cast, "is acceptance and tolerance and also that teenagers can make mistakes and recover from them." While these issues might not be discussed in the Vampyre Sociology class, they form a backdrop to the novel.
Religion in House of Night
The House of Night series is filled with religion. The House of Night religion is, in the words of P.C. Cast, "heavily pagan and Wiccan based, with a huge influx of Native American myth and legend". Within vampyre society, the primary Goddess is a benevolent female named Nyx, who, at the beginning of the series, appears to Zoey and tells her that she will be Nyx's agent in the House of Night. Vampyres and fledglings cast a magic circleMagic circle
A magic circle is circle or sphere of space marked out by practitioners of many branches of ritual magic, which they generally believe will contain energy and form a sacred space, or will provide them a form of magical protection, or both. It may be marked physically, drawn in salt or chalk, for...
to communicate with Nyx or to harness the power of the elements: air, fire, water, earth, and spirit. Some demons from Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
mythology also play an important part in later volumes, and the Raven Mockers, Kalona and Tsi Sgili are taken from real Cherokee legends.
Outside in the human world, the "People of Faith" is a fictional Protestant religion that is highly intolerant of anything else but their own beliefs. (In an interview, P.C. Cast said that she modelled the People of Faith on the worst fanatics of all religions, not just Protestantism.) Catholicism also plays an important role in the later novels, with the fledglings joining forces with Catholic nuns against Kalona.
The religious ambiance gives House of Night a strong moral perspective which may apply to the real world as well. "Help me know the right thing to do," Zoey prays to Nyx, "and then give me the courage to do it." Nyx gives vampyres and humans free will. "We all have bad things inside us,"says Zoey, "and we all choose either to give in to those bad things or to fight them." In other words, people who have bad, even monstrous desires are not monsters; people who give in to those urges are. This theme of free choice takes special prominence in Tempted, where Zoey discovers that, although she is the reincarnation of a woman created to love Kalona, she has the power to choose whether she will follow her previous incarnation's path or reject it. One of the characters dies because Zoey makes the wrong choice. Also, in Burned, a Manichaen
Manichaeism
Manichaeism in Modern Persian Āyin e Māni; ) was one of the major Iranian Gnostic religions, originating in Sassanid Persia.Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived...
view of the Universe is presented, in which Good battles Evil: forces of Light combat forces of Darkness and characters must choose which side to be on. Also, the black and white bull are presented. In Awakened, the theme of love
Love
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
is presented, in which love must battle Darkness, and life is really only, always, about love.
Smart Pop is planning a book on the series for Summer 2011 release on mythology, folklore, and religion in the novels.
The Bulls
As noted above, a black and white bull are presented in Burned. The black and white bull symbolize Light and Darkness, the white bull representing Darkness, and the black bull representing Light. The bulls were not accepted into vampyre society because this was too masculine, and vampyre society is heavily matriarchal. The bulls each have something that the other wants. Stevie Rae accidentally calls the white bull forth, and he answers her question, giving Stark passage to the Otherworld. The bulls often take a price, or a debt, from someone if they ask for favors. The bulls have only recently entered the series. It is noted by Aphrodite that if the white bull kills the black bull, the world will fall. The white bull intervened many times in the series, always helping Neferet in her plans. He become her Consort, but his true plan’s is destroy the black bull, and he’s going to use anyone to do that, and destroy anyone too.The setting
The series is set in Tulsa, in a small and reclusive part of Midtown. The House of Night campus is in the real life campus of Cascia HallCascia Hall Preparatory School
Cascia Hall Preparatory School is an Augustinian Roman Catholic coeducational college-preparatory day school in Tulsa, Oklahoma.-History:Cascia Hall was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1926 at its current location, a campus at 2520 South Yorktown Avenue in midtown Tulsa. The school's...
, and the climactic scene of the first book in the series takes place in the extensive gardens of the Philbrook Museum
Philbrook Museum of Art
The Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma is an art museum and former home of Oklahoma oil pioneer Waite Phillips and his wife Genevieve Phillips. , the museum has a staff of 60 and an operating budget of nearly $6 million....
. Zoey sometimes sneaks off-campus to the elegant shops of nearby Utica Square
Utica Square
Utica Square is an upscale outdoor shopping center located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The center is anchored by locally-owned department store Miss Jackson's , and a branch of the Saks Fifth Avenue chain...
, and several important confrontations take place in Utica Square's Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
coffee shop. Some of the novels' most dramatic scenes take place in a catacomb-like network of tunnels under downtown Tulsa built by bootleggers during Prohibition
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
; though a few such tunnels do indeed exist, and can be visited, they are far less extensive than the tunnels described by Cast. The abandoned Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
train depot where the tunnels begin, however, is real. and is slated to become a concert hall The location of Aphrodite's parents' mansion, South 27th Place, is a real street, though the mansion itself is fictional. Though Aphrodite's father, Mr. LaFont, the very rich and old mayor of Tulsa, has a name similar to the former, very rich, mayor of Tulsa Bill LaFortune
Bill LaFortune
William "Bill" LaFortune served as the 34th mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma from 2002 until 2006.Bill LaFortune's grandfather, Joseph LaFortune, was an oil executive and a noted philanthropist in Tulsa; his uncle, Robert J. LaFortune, was mayor of Tulsa from 1970 to 1978...
, his character is very different, and the author has stressed that her fictional mayor is indeed fictional. The Benedictine convent to which Zoey and her friends flee. is real; it is called St. Joseph Monastery. And the devastating ice storm through which they flee was based on a real ice storm that hit Tulsa in December 2007. The climactic scene in Tempted takes place far from Tulsa, on San Clemente Island near Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, which in real life called Isola di San Clemente and is part of the small island around Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. The church at which the Vampyre High Council meets was built in 1131.
Much of Burned takes place on the Inner Hebrides
Inner Hebrides
The Inner Hebrides is an archipelago off the west coast of Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, which enjoy a mild oceanic climate. There are 36 inhabited islands and a further 43 uninhabited Inner Hebrides with an area greater than...
island of Skye
Skye
Skye or the Isle of Skye is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate out from a mountainous centre dominated by the Cuillin hills...
, in the palace of Sgiach, the Vampyre queen. According to Scottish tradition, Sgiach (usually spelled Sgathach) was a princess many centuries ago who ran the best warrior training school in Scotland. Princess Sgathach lived in Dunscaith Castle
Dunscaith Castle
Dunscaith Castle also known as Dun Sgathaich Castle, Dun Scaich, and Tokavaig, is a ruined castle on the coast of the Isle of Skye, in the north-west of Scotland. It is located in the Parish of Sleat, in the Highland council area, and in the former county of Inverness-shire, at .-History:The castle...
, which is today a ruin. (Seoras Wallace, the doughty Scottish historian who provided P.C. Cast with a background on Scottish mythology, became her boyfriend, and the Burned character of Sgiach's consort is modelled on him.)
Books
1. Marked2. Betrayed
3. Chosen
4. Untamed
5. Hunted
6. Tempted
7. Burned
8. Awakened
- Dragon's Oath (Novella One)
9. Destined
- Lenobia's Vow (Novella Two)
- Neferet's Curse (Novella Three)
10. Hidden
- The Fledgling Handbook 101
- The Nyx in the House of Night: Mythology, Folklore
Marked
Seventeen-year-old Zoey Montgomery lives in a world where vampyres have always existed. One day, during school, Zoey is marked by a Tracker to become a fledgling vampyre at the Tulsa House of Night, a boarding school where she will be trained to become an adult vampyre. She faints, only to find herself deserted by almost everyone and hurries home. Her mother, Linda Heffer, blames her for the Mark and, together with her ultra-religious husband (Zoey's stepfather), she tries to keep Zoey at home, to be presented to the Elders of the People of Faith, an anti-vampyre group. As fledglings need to be constantly in the presence of an adult vampyre so that their bodies won't reject the Change, Zoey flees to her grandmother Sylvia, a Cherokee Wise Woman. On the way she passes out and has a vision with the vampyre goddess, Nyx, who announces to Zoey that she will be her "eyes and ears" at the House of Night.Zoey wakes up at the school in the presence of her grandmother and the vampyre headmaster- her future mentor, Neferet. She finds out that her Mark is all filled in, unusually for fledglings, but follows her intuition and doesn't mention the vision to Neferet. As a fledgling vampyre, Zoey has the opportunity to change her name and does so, taking her grandmother's surname, Redbird, before parting with her. Neferet then takes her to her room, where she meets Stevie Rae, her new roommate and future best friend.
Through Stevie Rae, Zoey meets and befriends Damien, Erin, and Shaunee. She also meets the snobby, beautiful leader of the Dark Daughters and Sons, Aphrodite, a fledgling with the power to see the future. To humiliate Zoey she invites her to join the Dark Daughters, who are an elitist group. Her new friends counsel her to accept, so that they can get insight into Aphrodite's doings. During the ritual, Aphrodite feeds her fledgling blood and Zoey discovers a new craving, unusual for her age. Embarrassed, she flees- but finds Heath, her ex-boyfriend, and Kayla, her ex-best friend, who have come to the school in an attempt to bust Zoey out. A confrontation ensues and Zoey loses control. She bites Heath, creating an Imprint with him. Kayla freaks out and runs away; Zoey eventually persuades Heath to leave too. When they have gone, Zoey discovers that Erik Night, a handsome fifth former and Dark Son who she met earlier, has seen the whole scene. He comforts her and escorts her back to the dorm. That night she is chosen by a cat, whom she names Nala.
The following day, she meets Neferet, who explains to her that an Imprint is a link that takes place between a adult vampyre and his or her human Consort. As it is very unusual that Zoey could create an Imprint in her first month of being a vampyre, she places Zoey into a senior vampyre sociology course. Zoey discovers that she has affinities for the five elements of air, fire, earth, water, and spirit- something that has never happened before in vampyre history. Stevie Rae, Damien, Shaunee, and Erin each gain an affinity for one element as well.
Zoey is (spitefully) invited back to the Dark Daughters and Sons' Samhain celebration, where they honor the spirits with some blood. Everything goes fine until a drunk Heath stumbles upon the scene and tries to bring Zoey back with him. Aphrodite accidentally summons evil spirits which try to take Heath’s fresh human blood. Zoey steps in; she and her friends use their newfound abilities to stop the spirits. Neferet, who happens to witness everything, takes Aphrodite's status as leader of the Dark Daughters and Sons and gives it to Zoey instead. As they go home, Aphrodite angrily informs Zoey that "it's not over yet- you don't understand."
Betrayed
At her first parent visitation, Zoey is reunited with her family for the first time in a month. She joyously welcomes her grandmother, but is saddened to notice the stiffness of her parents, which contrasts strongly with the loving and friendly behavior of Stevie Rae's mother. Neferet comes upon their meeting and is almost immediately engaged in a religious dispute by Zoey's stepfather. In the ensuing argument, Zoey's parents vow never to come to the House of Night again, and Neferet kicks them out.The same night, Zoey witnesses Aphrodite being verbally abused at by her parents and starts developing sympathy for her enemy. Later on, she chances upon Neferet scolding Aphrodite and is shocked by this new side of her mentor. That day, Neferet invites Zoey for a private dinner. Upon hearing that Zoey saw her and Aphrodite, she informs her that the latter's visions were no longer valid, as Nyx had withdrawn her gift, and advises Zoey to keep her distance.
Later on, while watching TV, Zoey learns of the death of one of the high school football players whom she knew and goes on a walk to clear her head. She chances upon a crying Aphrodite who claims to have had another vision, that included Zoey's grandmother. She asks for a favor for her help and asks Zoey to take an oath. Unwilling to risk her grandmother's life, she accepts and learns that Aphrodite has seen her grandmother in a car, stuck on a collapsing local bridge, at a precise time. Zoey calls her grandmother to tell her to stay at home and then she and her friends make a call to the police about a bomb on the bridge, to keep other people away from it, around the time it was set to fall. Aphrodite's vision turns out to be true, making Zoey begin to doubt Neferet.
When two football player from Broken Arrow (Zoey's old School district) disappear and are found murdered, she begins to suspect Neferet has something to do with it, especially after witnessing her discussing the murders with "undead", supposedly deceased student, Eliott. Meanwhile, Zoey must make decisions regarding her love life, as she is drawn to her ex-boyfriend Heath due to their Imprint, maintains a relationship with fledgling peer Erik Night and captures the interest of Poet Laureate and teacher Loren Blake.
Zoey reorganizes the Dark Daughters, now that she is in charge of them, but Neferet takes credit for most of her new ideas at the first new Dark Daughters ritual. Shortly after the ritual, her best friend Stevie Rae rejects the Change and dies. As Zoey grieves over Stevie Rae, she learns that Heath too has disappeared, following the two other murders. Using her Imprint, a connection formed when vampyres consume a person's blood, she is able to locate him and takes off to retrieve him.
She finds out that Heath is being held captive by "undead" fledglings. Using her elemental affinities, Zoey frees Heath, but also finds out that it was Neferet who changed the dying fledglings into the "undead" creatures- one of which is Stevie Rae. The fledglings had lost their humanity and reverted to an almost feral state. She runs away with Heath, vowing to return. At the school, Neferet attempts to erase Zoey's memory, but Zoey recovers her memory and starts hatching a plan to help her former best friend.
Chosen
The book opens on December 24th, Zoey's birthday.The school's been shaken by drama teacher Patricia Nolan's death. She's been crucified and next to her there was a quote from the bible which leads Zoey to believe that the People of Faith are responsible and Neferet to strengthen school security. Set to clear out her romantic life, Zoey sneaks out of the House of Night, resolved to break up with Heath - without success. On the way back she meets Stevie Rae and, together with Aphrodite, brings her to Aphrodite's parents' house, and keeps her there while trying to find a solution for her problem.
Back at the House of Night, Zoey realizes that, as a leader of the Dark Daughter, she has to chose someone else to fill the position of Earth in her circle. Much to everyone else's displeasure, she chooses Aphrodite, when she manifests a new Earth affinity.
Zoey also feels more and more estranged from Erik, because of the lies she tells to hide her relationship with Loren. During the night Erik finishes the Change, she loses her virginity to Loren and Imprints with him, breaking her previous one with Heath. Erik walks in on them and angrily breaks up with Zoey. She pulls herself together and leaves to gather her friends, planning to tell them about Stevie Rae, to cast a circle and heal her. On the way, Zoey chances upon Loren and Neferet and hears him confess that Neferet had made him seduce Zoey, for her to become alienated from her closest, and that he actually loves Neferet.
Heartbroken, Zoey leaves to get Damien, the Twins and Aphrodite. She had planned to use the occasion to cure Stevie Rae and introduce her to her friends. Because of Loren's meddling, Stevie Rae arrives before Zoey has the chance to explain her to her friends and they feel betrayed, but agree to finish the ritual. When Zoey is about to invoke Earth, Stevie Rae attacks Aphrodite in a fit of jealousy and drinks from her and Changes into the first red adult vampyre. Aphrodite is terrified to discover that her own mark has disappeared and runs away through the secret exit with Stevie Rae after her, leaving Zoey alone with the rest of her friends.
Zoey does her best to explain and she manages to get them to listen until Erik shows up and reveals her infidelity and her relationship with Loren. This shatters Damien and the Twins' last bit of faith in her. On the way back she is seized by a series of spasms, and founds out much later that they came from her Imprint with Loren breaking as he died.
Acting from apparent grief at his loss, Neferet declares war on all humans. Zoey realizes that Neferet is lost to sense, pulls herself together and faces Neferet down after the Council. Nyx tells Zoey that "she has a job" to do.
Untamed
Several days after the events of Chosen, Zoey is hiding in the stables with her horse, Persephone. After an internal debate she finally decides to talk with her friends. On the way to the cafeteria she feels the presence of Darkness and rushes inside. She tries to blend in and act normally but her friends ignore her and the situation degenerates with the appearance of a newly re-Marked Aphrodite, who chooses to sit with the 'nerd herd'. A confrontation is postponed by the arrival of new fledgling and famous archer James Stark.After lunch, Zoey meets Aphrodite and Stevie Rae in her room. She finds out that Stevie Rae is mostly normal now and the only differences she experiences is an intense aversion to sunlight, and that Aphrodite's Mark is fake- she has mostly reverted to a human teenager, except for her visions. After Stevie Rae's departure the two are about to leave Zoey's room but meet Damien, the Twins, and Jack on the threshold. Aphrodite explains to them that Zoey confided in her because she was the only other one who could block her mind from adult vampyres and that her visions show Zoey dying alone. They make up with Zoey. After they leave, Aphrodite asks Zoey to cast a circle to see if she still has her Earth affinity. When the green candle "zaps" her, Aphrodite is convinced that the goddess has taken back her gift because she was disappointed in her. Zoey casts the circle and asks for guidance. Nyx appears to tell them that she still loves Aphrodite, that she was only safekeeping the Earth affinity for Stevie Rae, and that she reverted back to human because her own humanity was too strong.
After the goddess' disappearance, they rush to a Council meeting. They find out that the Priestess of all vampyres, Shekinah, has come to the House of Night to reject Neferet's declaration of war on humans. She follows Zoey's advice to put Detective Marx on the case instead. Erik Night returns to the school and takes over Professor Nolan's drama class, much to Zoey's dismay. On her way back Zoey meets Stark and watches him practice. He confesses to her that he has a gift for archery- that he never misses a target- and it was discovered when he killed his mentor by mistake. Because he fears his power, he asks Zoey to use her powers to protect the others from him. When she starts to leave, his body rejects the Change and he dies in her arms. Zoey tells him, before he dies, that he might be revived as a red fledgling.
Zoey, Darius and Aphrodite go to Street Cats, a local cat shelter, as Zoey has been searching for a community activity for the Dark Daughters. The organization is led by nuns from the Benedictine Abbey. Their leader, Sister Mary Angela, astounds Zoey with the contrast between her beliefs and John Heffer's. At the shelter, Aphrodite is chosen by a cat, to her delight, and names her Maleficent. On the way back they stop to eat at one of Zoey's favourite restaurants where they have a run-in with Heath, who is with one of Zoey's old friends. He tells Zoey that he's given her up as loving her hurt too much.
At school she's late for drama class and Erik, the new teacher, makes her play Desdemona to his Othello in a Shakespeare improvisation. She's initially mad, but uses this as an opportunity to explain her feelings for him and kisses him just before the bell rings, but he storms off. Outside, she meets Darius who brings her to Aphrodite, revealing a gift for speed. Aphrodite has been having a vision of Sylvia Redbird's house and copies out a poem in her writing. Zoey calls her grandmother and together they uncover that the poem is a warning about an ancient Cherokee legend. The poem warns that Kalona, a fallen angel, will rise again throughout the help of the Tsi Sgili queen, a dark witch that uses pain. Her grandmother also warns her to beware the Raven Mockers, half-raven half-human offspring of Kalona. Zoey asks her to come to the House of Night to be safe.
Zoey then goes to Shekinah, and is attacked by a Raven Mocker on the way. She escapes Aphrodite's first vision of death by calling for Damien, who sends Air to banish the creature. Outside the Council chambers she happens to eavesdrop on a discussion between Neferet and Shekinah. She incredulously hears how Neferet manages to twist all the problems she's faced since the beginning of her change and make it seem as if they were Zoey's fault. After Neferet leaves, Zoey tells Shekinah about Street Cats and asks for lodging for her grandmother. On the doorstep she bumps into Erik and explains to him about Loren.
Her grandmother arrives and she moves into Zoey and Stevie Rae's room. In the middle of their discussion they discover a Raven Mocker listening at their window. The next day, Zoey is woken up by Shekinah, who announces that her grandmother was hurt in a car crash. She and Aphrodite rush to the hospital. To be sure her grandmother is guarded from Raven Mockers, who she suspects of causing the crash, she asks the hospital if a medicine man could sit at her grandmother's bedside. When the Catholic hospital refuses, she asks Sister Mary Angela instead.
Back at school, Zoey begins a cleansing ritual at Shekinah's request. Zoey tries to introduce the red fledglings and Stevie Rae makes an appearance, but is interrupted by Neferet who brings an undead Stark and tries to frame Zoey. In the ensuing commotion, Neferet makes Stark shoot Stevie Rae, fulfilling another line of Aphrodite's poem. Her blood frees Kalona. Neferet reveals herself as the Tsi Sgili queen from the poem, and then kills Shekinah with her thoughts to prove it. As the Raven Mockers explode into their physical form and start a feeding frenzy, Zoey and her friends blend in with the night and together they escape to the Tulsa Depot tunnels.
Hunted
Zoey and her friends help Stevie Rae heal after the events at the end of Untamed - the arrow did not kill her, but took most of her lifeblood, so Kalona could be freed from the earth. Zoey and Stevie Rae reconcile, and the latter introduces Zoey's group to some of the red vampyre fledglings. Aphrodite lets Stevie Rae feed on her to heal, which forms an Imprint between them. When Erik follows Zoey on her way to her room they kiss, but then Erik gets too rough and scares her. Erik and Zoey get back together, though Zoey's not entirely sure due to Erik's possessiveness. Kalona starts getting into Zoey's dreams to seduce her, and calls her A-ya.Kramisha, a red fledgling, is revealed to also express prophecies through her poetry, and Zoey gives her the title of Poet Laureate. This is how they find their first clue. One of Kramisha's poems states that Kalona and Neferet will be banished when Night, Humanity, Blood, Spirit and Earth come together, but Zoey doesn't know who will represent these elements.
Heath arrives at the tunnels, and Zoey goes outside to talk to him, much to Erik's anger. Heath tries to reconcile with her, but to no avail. A Raven Mocker attacks them and critically wounds Zoey. She drinks from Heath to heal and they Imprint again, but she is still weakened. Kramisha gets exited and loses her control a little when she sees Heath (a human), leading Zoey to realize that the red fledglings may still have problems with their self-control. Darius finally declares that Zoey needs exposure to more adult vampyres to survive, and she is forced to return to the House of Night, much to Neferet's pleasure. She finds out that Kalona's presence has caused the fledglings and the vampyres to turn their backs on Nyx. Kalona's favorite son, Rephaim, and Darius get into a fight. Kalona intercedes and gives Darius a huge scar which upsets Aphrodite.
Zoey successfully persuades Stark to turn back to the good side. He becomes the second red vampyre when he pledges his Warrior's Oath to Zoey and she accepts. Zoey discusses the situation with Lenobia and, upon analyzing Kramisha's poem again, finds out that she is Night, Blood is Stevie Rae, Humanity is Aphrodite, Sister Mary Angela is Spirit, and Grandma Redbird is Earth.
Zoey and her friends set fire to the school as a diversion and escape on horseback to the Benedictine Abbey. Zoey and the other people mentioned in the poem open a circle and send everyone else inside. Neferet, Kalona and Stark arrive quickly afterwards in an SUV, followed by the Raven Mockers. Neferet and Kalona take turns at threatening and cajoling Zoey but she finally accepts the truth: that although A-ya is a part of her, she will choose her own destiny. She rejects Kalona. Neferet orders Stark to shoot Zoey but he says that Zoey is his heart and aims at her while thinking of himself. Realizing what will happen, Zoey uses the elements to stop the arrow and knocks him out in the process. Night, Humanity, Blood, Spirit, and Earth complete the spell and banish Neferet and Kalona. Zoey's Mark spreads to across her scar. She is deeply in pain because she had to say goodbye to Kalona, and knows that the fight isn't over yet.
Tempted
Tempted starts immediately after the end of events in the 5th book, Hunted, and is told from the point of view of six characters: Zoey, Stevie Rae, Aphrodite, Rephaim, Heath and Stark.Zoey's Story
In the aftermath of the last book, Zoey gathers her allies and starts organizing them. Stevie Rae notices she's very tired and takes over, leaving Zoey to take care of a wounded Stark and her grandmother. Having recovered from her accident, she tells Zoey that she is A-ya's reincarnation and that A-ya was made to love Kalona, so that's why she cannot help being uncontrollably attracted to Kalona, as it's in her soul. In the end she's so stressed that when Erik finds her, demanding a share of her time, they quarrel and she dumps him for being overly jealous and possessive, taking her down to two love interests (whilst Erik forms a relationship with Venus, Aphrodite's ex- roommate).
She rooms in with Aphrodite and has a dream with Kalona at the same time she has a vision that links to several elements from the dream. Alerted by Zoey's panic, Stark climbs up to her room and sleeps in, to guard her from further intrusions. Aphrodite leaves and takes Darius to Stark's abandoned room. While they talk, she realizes she's come to love him and is afraid she is incapable of returning his feelings. He soothes her and pledges his Warrior's Oath to her.
The kids return to the House of Night. They find Anastasia Lankford, a professor at the House of Night, dead at Rephaim's hands, and Dragon grieving her loss. Jack stays with Dragon to comfort him and coax him through his pain while Zoey goes to assess the mood of the school. Through Aphrodite's visions, Zoey's dreams of Kalona and Kramisha's prophetic poems they find that Kalona and Neferet plan on getting back the old ways of the vampyres. Following the rumors on Twitter, Jack finds Kalona and Neferet in Venice, on the isle of San Clemente with the Vampyre Council.
Another vision brings a new warning: if Zoey is with Kalona the world will end as they know it, and if she chooses love and Nyx he will "die" and the world will be safe. On the other hand, Zoey can't completely reject him, as she believes he can be saved. In an effort to gain her favour, Kalona shows her his past as Nyx's Warrior and promises to change his ways if she will have him.
Zoey and her friends go to Venice to have their say in the Council, but Stevie Rae stays behind, arguing that it's her responsibility as a High Priestess to take care of the rogues. Upon arriving, they learn that Neferet claims to be Nyx Incarnate and Kalona claims to be Erebus. It is revealed that Zoey's destiny is to face Kalona alone, meaning that only she can save the world. The Council declares Aphrodite a Prophetess of the vampyres, but is otherwise distrusting of Zoey, mainly because of her age. After the Council session is over Heath quarrels with Zoey because of Stark and goes for a walk. He eavesdrops on a conversation between Neferet and Kalona and is found out. He uses the Imprint to call Zoey and she arrives to see Kalona kill him. In her anguish she throws Spirit at Kalona, but her soul shatters and goes to the Otherworld. Also her tattoos disappear leaving her only with a whole Crescent moon.
Stevie Rae's Story
While sweeping the Benedictine Abbey grounds, Stevie Rae finds an injured Raven Mocker named Rephaim (the favored son of Kalona) and helps him to safety against her better judgement. She binds his wounds and sends him through the tunnels. Back at the House of Night she's horrified to learn that he was actually the one to kill Dragon's mate, Anastasia Lankford.
Stevie Rae heals Rephaim enough that he can get deeper into the tunnels. In the tunnels Rephaim is found by the rogue red fledglings, and their leader, Nicole, uses her gift to peer into his mind and learns that Stevie Rae saved him. They use him as bait and catch Stevie Rae, leaving her alongside him in a cage on the roof to be burned down by the sun. Rephaim helps her and the two get in the ground at the last minute. To repay her for nursing him back to healt, he offers her his immortal blood to heal her burns. Unexpectedly, the two Imprint and Stevie Rae loses hers with Aphrodite. Alerted by Aphrodite's going into painful convulsions, Zoey calls at the House of Night and Erik and Dragon rush to find and save Stevie Rae. With the last of her powers, Stevie Rae hides Rephaim from their eyes as they get her out. Rephaim promises to find Stevie Rae again. Stevie Rae calls Zoey and finds out that Aphrodite suffered while she was burning.
Burned
Zoey's Story
The narrative mode is told from multiple points of view in third-person limited (including Stark's, Kalona's, Aphrodite's, Heath's, Rephaim's, and Stevie Rae's) and first-person narrative
First-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
in Zoey's point of view, as in previous books.
Zoey's soul has shattered and has gone to the Otherworld due to Kalona killing Zoey's human Consort, Heath. For Zoey to get her shattered soul complete again, Stark must find a way to travel to the Otherworld without dying and save his High Priestess. Zoey is stuck in the Otherworld. If her body remains unoccupied by her spirit, it will die in a week. Her friends desperately try to find a way to save her.
Aphrodite, at first only for appearances at the Vampire High Council, acts as Nyx's Prophetess and finds that she can force a vision by touching Zoey's body. She discovers that Zoey's spirit is gone from her body, and she spearheads the plan to figure out how to rescue Zoey, the sister she never had. After some research into ancient-forgotten vampyre legends and religion, the nerd herd finds out about the eternal struggle between Light and Darkness personified by a black bull and a white bull respectively.
Stark is overjoyed to find a way to help Zoey, and according to the poem goes to the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, on the Isle of Women also known as the Isle of Skye to find Queen Sgaich, an ancient Warrior queen who can help him enter the Otherworld. Stark, Darius and Aphrodite travel to the Isle and observe the ancient Warrior ways. With their guidance, Stark undertakes a perilous journey to the Otherworld where he slays his Warrior self to become the Shaman and reach Zoey. Stark convinces Heath that he has to leave Zoey and move on so that she, in turn, can move on and save the world from Kalona and Neferet. In the Otherworld, Heath moves on and tells a devastated, almost shattered Zoey that they will meet again in his next life. Stark approaches her in the Otherworld and cannot explain to Zoey how she must bring her soul back together. But Stark's journey has taught him of being a Guardian, which is more than simply a Warrior. He accepts that his role is to protect Zoey from anything, even if it means he dies or she does not love him. Stark engages Kalona in a dangerous fight. When Zoey sees this she realizes that she needs to pull herself together, and she pulls the pieces of her shattered soul back together. Before she can intervene, Kalona manages to kill Stark.
Zoey attacks Kalona and manages to overpower him. She demands that he pay up the life debt he owes her for killing her Consort by bringing Stark back to life. When Kalona refuses, Nyx intervenes, causing Kalona to share a part of his immortality with Stark, and bring him back to life. Nyx banishes Kalona's body and spirit from the Otherworld. Zoey fully accepts Stark as her Guardian and lets him drink from her so he could heal, the elements fill her again and all her tattoos come back.
At the end of the story, Zoey comes back from the Otherworld before Stark, then brings his soul back to his body in the real world, and Zoey tells Stark that it's all over. She hears Nyx laugh and say "No daughter. This is only the beginning..."
Stevie Rae's Story
Meanwhile, Stevie Rae is having huge problems of her own. Stevie Rae and Rephaim, together, figure out that Neferet has imprisoned Kalona's body in this realm using Darkness and sent his spirit to the Otherworld to ensure that Zoey does not put the shattered pieces of her soul together and stays trapped in the Otherworld. Zoey's friends discover, from ancient scrolls, that to travel to the Otherworld without dying they need to know more about forgotten ancient beliefs regarding the two bulls.
Stevie Rae accidentally summons the white bull, which is Darkness personified, to find a way for Stark, Zoey's Oath-sworn Warrior who is frantic to save her, to enter the Otherworld. The bull tells Stevie Rae a poem about how it's possible. As payment for giving that knowledge, the white bull extracts his payment in her pain and her blood. Rephaim saves her at the last minute by offering himself. Stevie Rae summons the black bull and saves them both at the price of always staying connected to Rephaim's humanity.
Since she survives, Stevie Rae is able to pass on the poem with the way to the Otherworld to Aphrodite.
She is trying to hide the existence of Rephaim from the red fledglings, and at the same time she seems to be developing feelings for him. Stevie Rae struggles with being bound to Rephaim and tries to gets Dallas to have sex with her because she wants to feel good and have all her stress taken away. However, Rephaim feels what is happening and tries to stop her from abandoning him (which she is not trying to do). Finding out that Stevie Rae has been keeping Rephaim a secret infuriates Dallas, and he lets Darkness come into him and becomes the third red vampyre, though he with Darkness and not Light, like Stark and Stevie Rae. He nearly kills both Stevie Rae and Rephaim using his affinity for electricity, but they escape.
Rephaim keeps hold of Stevie Rae until she feels good enough to return to the House of Night. There, Kramisha and Stevie Rae send a message of Kramisha's latest poem to Stark, telling him to use it to find Zoey.
Rephaim and Stevie Rae are together and finally seem to be starting a relationship when they feel Kalona and Zoey come back into this realm. Rephaim says that his heart has never mattered enough, and Stevie Rae says that he should come back to her when his heart is as important to him as it is to her. Stevie Rae watches Rephaim leave, saying she will miss him, and Rephaim whispers "I will miss you too..." from afar; the message is carried on the wind to Stevie Rae.
Awakened
This novel is split into multiple points of view, as are the last two, including Zoey, Stark, Kalona, Jack, Neferet, Stevie Rae, Rephaim, Linda Heffer, and Heath Luck.Zoey and Stark reassure their connection by having sex under the wishing tree and become connected. Zoey finds out that she wields the ancient magick of the fey and can bring back old fey that serve her elements, prompting Queen Sgiach to ask her to stay on Skye indefinitely and be her successor.
Aphrodite and Darius leave Skye, but Zoey and Stark decide to stay a little longer while Stark recuperates. Zoey continuously senses Darkness on Skye, leading her to believe that she cannot hide from Darkness anymore. Neferet returns to the House of Night. In an attempt to draw Zoey back from Skye after Kalona's failed mission, Neferet kills Jack as a debt payment to Darkness.
Kalona finds out that he can enter Stark's mind because of the immortality he breathed into him.
Jack's death sends Damien into a deep depression. Zoey returns to the House of Night, being welcomed by her grandma. Neferet allows Zoey to light Jack's funeral pyre. Stevie Rae and Rephaim get back together.
During Jack's funeral ceremony, Neferet asks Zoey for forgiveness to regain everyone's trust. Zoey accepts the fake apology even though she sees through Neferet, but many other people think the apology is genuine. Rephaim later makes his appearance after being forced to fall out of the sky. Neferet then accuses him of being allied with Darkness and Stevie Rae for being allied with Rephaim, so Neferet orders the Sons of Erebus to kill both of them.
Kalona interferes and faces the Sons of Erebus with Rephaim. The two fight, but Rephaim only defends himself rather than attacking the warriors. Stevie Rae asks her friends to cast a circle to stop the battle and save Rephaim. Just when Dragon Lankford tries to kill Rephaim with the help of Neferet, Nyx appears in an apparition and forgives Rephaim. He was given the choice to choose between Stevie Rae and Kalona and ends up choosing Stevie Rae. Nyx alters him permanently for this decision, so from then on, Rephaim would be a raven during the day and a human during the night.
Because Neferet and Dragon do not accept him at the House of Night, Zoey, her friends, and the red fledglings leave to start a new House of Night on their own in the tunnels, with Zoey being the "vampyre queen", Stevie Rae being the High Priestess, Aphrodite being the Prophetess, Kramisha being the Poet Laureate, and all the red fledglings and Zoey's friends being the students.
Towards the end of the book, Neferet cooperates with the white bull and intends on sacrificing Sylvia Redbird, but ends up killing Linda Heffer (who had recently left Zoey's stepfather due to his infidelity) to create a Vessel for her (someone who has to obey her completely) as a weapon to use against Zoey. Meanwhile, in the Otherworld, Heath is given the opportunity by Nyx, to be the lost soul in this Vessel and he chooses it over being reborn in the real world or remaining in the Otherworld; this way, he can help Zoey in the modern world.
Meanwhile, Stark and Zoey are making out and preparing to have sex for their third time, but Stark becomes aggressive, which is unlike himself. He bites Zoey, but she is finally able to stop him (It is implied that it was Kalona, not Stark, in Stark's soul, who took over and got aggressive). When they go to sleep, Zoey has a dream where she learns of her mother's death and realizes that her mother really cared for her. The book ends with Zoey waking up with this new realization and beginning to cry and grieve for her mother's death, and Stark being there to comfort her.
Destined
The ninth book of the main series, Destined is told from multiple points of view belonging to Zoey, Neferet, Rephaim, Kalona, Shaunee, Dragon, Aurox, Stark, Stevie Rae, and Erik.While Stevie Rae tries to convince Rephaim to break his ties to his father, he still pursues the hope that Kalona might change and to this end persuades Zoey to talk to him. Kalona offers them a truce and a pact against Neferet which she accepts. Rephaim finds an unexpected friend in Shaunee, who empathizes with him because of her own problems with her father, but this causes a split between the Twins that affects the whole group.
At the same time, Zoey asks the Council for the accord in creating a second House of Night, which they give, with the initial condition that it will be a branch of the original, also a home for the red fledglings because they cannot be out during the daytime. Rephaim is continually bullied by the fledglings around him. Erik Marks a red fledgling named Shaylin, who has an affinity for True Sight, to see someone's "true colors" in their souls. Zoey's seer stone continually warms around Aurox, proving to her that he was made from old magick.
Zoey learns that Grandma knows about her mother's death. Grandma asks Zoey and her friends to come perform a cleansing ritual on her farm. Zoey agrees to it. Neferet convinces the rogue red fledglings to come back to the House of Night to cause chaos, which Neferet believes she can use to kill Nyx and rule over the vampyres as Goddess. Zoey, however, does not know this.
The group forms a tense alliance/truce with Kalona, but only for Rephaim. Shaunee gives Kalona her iPhone so that he may call her so she can get him a laptop to Skype Rephaim.
The High Council sends Thanatos to Tulsa to gather her own impression on the situation, but she reveals to Zoey that as a vampyre with an affinity for Death she has seen the Darkness around Neferet and has come to build a case against her for which she asks from Zoey to let her perform a reveal ritual of her mother's death, so that Zoey may be able to see what really happened to her mother.
Neferet sends Aurox to stop the ritual and makes a sacrifice when he chooses otherwise. Aurox is made to attack Rephaim, which is saved by Dragon's sacrifice. Dragon dies. Stark and Darius manage to send Aurox away, but not before Zoey sees Heath in him, through her seer stone.
Thanatos guides Dragon to the Otherworld where he is reunited with Anastasia, then comes to watch over a dying Rephaim. Desperate, Stevie Rae calls Kalona through Shaunee's iPhone. He arrives in time to apologize to Rephaim and beg the Goddess' forgiveness, which she grants by saving Rephaim. In exchange, Kalona chooses to pledge his Warrior's Oath to Thanatos when she declares herself the new High Priestess of the Tulsa House of Night. Zoey and her friends, along with Thanatos and Kalona, return to the House of Night to prepare for what Nyx has in store for them.
Hidden
--OFFICIAL BARNES AND NOBLE DESCRIPTION--As Nyx said, "Darkness doesn't always equate to evil, just as Light does not always bring good." Now the words have come full circle. Zoey Redbird and her friends have to come against Neferet before it's too late- but it might be a little easier this time, now that they have the backing of the High Council and a fallen immortal on their side, as well as the white bull and Nyx. But the tainted High Priestess will fight back.
Also, Zoey's Guardian, Stark, has been acting weird, having strange nightmares about Zoey. She's just learned that her Consort, Heath, may be back- in the form of an evil Vessel designed to follow Neferet's command. Humans are beginning to gain hatred toward vampyres- at least in Tulsa- and have declared the vampyres banished from Oklahoma. The Twins are split apart, but it might be more than just a girl-fight between them. Aphrodite's visions are getting worse, and her latest vision is starring Thanatos- and the death of the High Council Priestess. And now Stevie Rae and Rephaim have been fighting...
In the tenth installment of the House of Night series, Zoey and her friends will learn the true meaning of Darkness, as well as the meaning of Light, and threads created throughout the series will finally come together.
Dragon's Oath
This is the first of the spin-offSpin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
House of Night Novellas series.
The book begins with Dragon receiving a flower in an apparition from Anastasia. Then he begins to remember his past.
In England, Earl of Lankford banished Dragon, who was Bryan back then, from his family. Bryan is Marked by a Tracker named Shaw, and is moved to Tower Grove, St. Louis in America.
Anastasia is accepted as a professor in the Tower Grove House of Night. She sees a student named Bryan Lankford and sees that he is charming classmates. 15 students- 13 girls, 2 boys- ask Anastasia for love spells on how to woo Bryan.
Anastasia denies this and goes to the High Priestess, Pandeia, and her Consort, for help. Pandeia lets Anastasia perform a drawing spell to show the 15 students the real Bryan, when she is shown a futuristic apparition of him, when he has fully Changed and is no longer a fledgling. Anastasia finds that she loves Bryan, and when he really appears as his nineteen-year-old self. Bryan, who is now Dragon, helps Anastasia finish her spell.
An officer, Jesse Biddle, consults with a creature (it is hinted at that this is Rephaim, the Raven Mocker that is Stevie Rae's Consort) about who he should kill- Anastasia. Biddle and the creature show up. Biddle fights and nearly kills Anastasia, and prepares to rape her, when Dragon comes and kills Biddle. But just before he kills the creature, Anastasia tells him to temper his strength with mercy, and think about what he's doing. Dragon sets the creature free. Dragon is taken back to the present, where Anastasia tells him to stick by his oath, but Dragon screams that he will avenge her death, and Darkness is seen slithering around him.
In the Otherworld, Nyx weeps.
Lenobia's Vow
This is the second book of the spin-off House of Night Novellas series.Evreux, France, 1788: Before she is Zoey’s favorite professor and the House of Night’s powerful horse mistress… Lenobia is just a normal 16-year-old girl – with enough problems to last a lifetime. As the illegitimate daughter of a powerful baron, she has never quite belonged, and instead has to watch her spoiled half-sister, Cecile, get anything she wants. As if that’s not enough, her remarkable beauty draws unwanted attention wherever she goes. For once, she would like to just fit in.
But when fate intervenes, Lenobia suddenly finds herself surrounded by other girls, on a ship bound for New Orleans, where they will be married off to the city’s richest Frenchmen. And they’re not alone. An evil bishop who is skilled in Dark magic makes the same journey. His appetite for lovely young women makes him dangerous – most of all to Lenobia, who caught his eye back in France. So she remains hidden, making secret visits to the ship’s stables, where a handsome young man and his beautiful Percheron horses soon capture her attention.
Will they make it to land before the bishop discovers her true identity and a powerful evil breaks loose? And will Lenobia follow her heart, even if it puts lives at risk? Find out more about one of your favorite professors in the next heart-thumping House of Night Novella.
Neferet's Curse
In PC Cast's live stream interview, she mentioned a third novella based on Neferet. The novella's title, Neferet's Curse, was announced in late 2011. It is set to be released sometime before or after Hidden.Other novellas
As noted above, PC and Kristin are going to write one more novella about Kalona. It is unknown what the title will be yet.The Fledgling Handbook 101
The accompaniment to the series, the Fledgling Handbook 101 is referenced many times throughout the series and was released on October 26, 2010. The Handbook is the book that a fledgling gets when they first enter the House of Night. This book is full of explanations, stories, spells and rituals that are found commonly in a vampyre's life. Some stories include how Cleopatra actually made Egypt fall to Rome, and the story of the ancient Roman High Priestess whose soul shattered (mentioned in a conversation between Stevie Rae and Aphrodite in Burned).Nyx in the House of Night
Mythology, Folklore and Religion in the PC and Kristin Cast Vampyre SeriesThe book explains the lore, myths and religions used to craft the House of Night Series into what it is. From a Greek Goddess, myths, Cat Lore and facts, Historical explanations, and Name Meanings of the HoN cast. Learn things that made the House of Night come alive. Learn the misunderstood reasons behind Zoey's multiple men juggling, See where P.C Cast got her idea for Isle of Skye and Sgiach, Find out all you can in Nyx in the House of Night!
Reception
The series won the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award twice for MarkedMarked (novel)
Marked is the first novel of the House of Night fantasy series written by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast.Young teenagers are selected to enter a four-year period transformation to a vampyre and marked with an the unfilled mark of a crescent moon...
(Young Adult Novel) and Tempted
Tempted (Cast novel)
Tempted is the sixth volume of the House of Night fantasy series written by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast.Zoey has finally banished Neferet and Kalona, but he still haunts her dreams...
(Best Young Adult Paranormal/Fantasy Novel). Burned
Burned (Cast novel)
Burned is the seventh volume of the House of Night fantasy series written by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast.Zoey's soul has shattered and while her friends search through Kramisha's prophetic poems to bring her back Stevie Rae has to step in her shoes and hold the House of Night together while dealing...
won the Goodreads
Goodreads
Goodreads is a privately run "social cataloging" website started in December 2006 by Otis Chandler, a software engineer and entrepreneur. The website permits individuals to sign up and register books to create their library catalogs and reading lists. It also allows users to create their own...
Choice Award for Favorite Book, Young Adult Fantasy, Favorite Heroine and a nomination for Teen Read Award for Best series in 2010.