Destined (27 page)

“I keep my own counsel, boy. You should remember to keep yours, too.” The Sword Master clapped him on the shoulder and walked away, leaving Aurox confused, troubled, and as always, alone.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Zoey

“This is going to be a cluster fuck of massive proportions,” Aphrodite whispered to me as we stood outside the room designated as Thanatos’s classroom first hour on Monday. The room was one of the biggest in the school. Actually, except for the drama classroom, which was really more like a mini-auditorium, and the auditorium itself, this was the biggest “regular” classroom in the school.
Great,
I thought,
all the more room for the explosion that’s getting ready to happen.

“It’s not like we can cut this class,” I muttered back to Aphrodite. Then, to the rest of my group I said, “Okay, let’s go in. Don’t worry. We’re together so it really can’t be that bad.” My nerd herd, as well as Stevie Rae, Rephaim, and all of her red fledglings flanked me. Everyone nodded and looked resigned and ready for whatever was getting ready to hit the fan. I opened the door and stepped inside.

My seer stone immediately began radiating heat.

Dallas and his group were already in class, predictably filling up the back row of desks.

Aurox sat in a desk in the front row over at the far side, obviously separating himself from Dallas’s group. I wondered why he wasn’t hanging out with the bad guys, since he was on Neferet’s team like they obviously were, but I kept my gaze carefully averted from him.

“I’m gonna try and keep a positive attitude,” Stevie Rae said, ignoring the sneer Dallas was sending her and the mean laughter that wafted like cheap perfume from Nichole. She took Rephaim’s hand and smiled, kissing his cheek. “Don’t let them get to you.”

“Good luck with that,” Erin said.

Shaunee, standing several kids away from Erin, said nothing.

“He’s red, and I don’t mean a good red like Shaunee is,” Shaylin said, peeking over my shoulder at Dallas.

I looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“I’m red?” Shaunee asked.

“Yeah,” Shaylin told her. “Your color’s clear and easy to understand. You’re like a campfire—warm and good.”

“That’s real nice,” Stevie Rae said.

“Thanks,” Shaunee said. “That is nice.”

“But what about Dallas?” Rephaim asked.

“He’s red like a bomb. Like anger. Like hate,” she said.

“Then I say we go down front and get as far away from him as possible,” Stevie Rae said.

“Some things are harder than others to get away from,” Erin said, but she wasn’t looking at Dallas. She was looking at campfire-red Shaunee, who was looking at her fingernails.

“Don’t be such a Negative Nancy,” Stevie Rae told Erin, neatly breaking the awkward silence. Then she beamed her sweet, open smile at me. “Let’s go sit up front!”

“Okay, I’ll follow you,” I said, even though I wanted to run screaming from the room.

“I want to run screaming from the room.” Aphrodite spookily echoed my thoughts as she followed me following Stevie Rae and Rephaim.

I clamped down on the “ditto” I wanted to say and, by default, took the desk on the other side of Stevie Rae that was front and center in the room. The bell chimed and Thanatos entered from a door that led from a small office directly to the front of the room, which was raised, kinda like a stage, and had a podium smack in the middle of it with a Smart Board behind it.

“Oooh! Pretty colors!” Shaylin said from her seat behind me.

“Merry meet,” Thanatos said. We all echoed her greeting. I thought she looked regal and powerful. She wore a night-colored dress that was decorated only with the silver threads of the embroidered outline of Nyx with her arms raised cupping a crescent moon. “Welcome to the first of a first. In all of our history there has never been a class quite like this one, made up of different types of fledglings, changelings, humans, and even vampyres. I stand before you representing the High Council of Vampyres which is, as long as you exist within our society, your ruling Council.” Thanatos gave me a long look during the last part of her sentence. I met her gaze steadily. Hell, I agreed with her.

I just wasn’t one hundred percent sure whether my group and I wanted to exist within vampyre society.

“I know you are wondering exactly what this class will entail, but I have only a partial answer to your wondering. I am here to hone and guide you on a journey that is as rare and unique as are each of you. This class will take the place of your vampyre sociology hour; therefore, I will bring to you subjects that all fledglings and vampyres must eventually attempt to understand, such as death and Darkness, Guardianship and Imprints, Light and love. But because of the unique makeup of this class there are also subjects you will bring to me, and thereby to all of us. I give you my oath that I will seek only the truth with you, and if I do not have an answer for your questioning I will do my best to discover it with you.”

I thought that so far the class didn’t sound too bad, and was actually starting to feel kinda at ease and curious when the poo hit the fan.

“So, let us begin seeking truth. I want each of you to spend a few moments in reflection. Then, on a piece of paper, write at least one question you would like to have answered through this class. Fold it, and after you leave I will read them. Be honest with your inquiry, without fear of censure or judgment. You need not affix your name to the question if you would rather remain anonymous.”

There was a pause, and then Stevie Rae’s hand went up.

“Yes, Stevie Rae,” Thanatos called on her.

“I just wanna be sure we’re all clear. We can ask about anything? Anything at all, without worryin’ ’bout getting’ in trouble?”

Thanatos was smiling kindly at Stevie Rae, and began to respond saying, “That is an excellent—” when from the back of the room Dallas’s exaggerated whisper of
“I wanna ask what a bird has that a guy don’t, and why she likes it so much!”
could be heard clearly.

Stevie Rae grabbed Rephaim’s hand and I knew it was to keep him from getting up to confront Dallas. Then I wasn’t paying attention to my BFF or her boyfriend as Thanatos reacted. The change that came over her was fast and utterly, totally scary. She seemed to grow larger. Wind whipped around her, lifting her hair. When she spoke I was reminded of the scene in
LotR
when Galadriel gave Frodo a look at what kind of terrible dark queen she would become if she took the ring from him.

“Do you mistake me for a lesser being, Dallas?” The power of her presence shivered against us. Thanatos was so gloriously angry that she was hard to look at, so I glanced over my shoulder at Dallas. He’d pressed back into his chair as far as he could. His face was winter white.

“N-no, Professor,” he stuttered.

“Call me Priestess!” Thanatos exclaimed, looking like she could throw lightning bolts and call down thunder.

“No, Priestess,” he corrected quickly. “I-I didn’t mean to disrespect you.”

“But you meant to disrespect at least one of your classmates and here, in
my
classroom, that is unacceptable. Do you understand me, young red vampyre?”

“Yes, Priestess.”

The wind died around her and Thanatos went back to looking regal instead of lethal. “Excellent,” she said, and then turned her attention back to Stevie Rae. “The answer to your question is as long as you behave in a respectful manner, you may ask me anything without fearing rebuke.”

“Thank you,” Stevie Rae said a little breathlessly.

“All right then, you may all begin writing your questions.” Thanatos paused and glanced from Rephaim to Aurox, addressing both of them with the one question. “I did not think to ask before, but as both of you are new to the, well, let us say, the academic world, do either of you need reading or writing assistance?”

Rephaim shook his head and answered first, “I don’t need help. I can read and write several languages of man.”

“Wow, really? I didn’t know that,” Stevie Rae said.

He smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “My father found it useful.”

“And you, Aurox?” Thanatos prodded.

I saw him swallow and he looked nervous. “I can read and write. I-I do not know how I came by this skill, though.”

“Huh, well that is interesting,” Thanatos said. And then, as if people having the magickal ability to read and write was totally normal, she continued totally nonplussed. “Zoey and Stevie Rae, as you’re sitting close by, please divide the room and pick up the questions from both sides for me.”

Stevie Rae and I muttered our okays and then I sat there and stared at my empty piece of notebook paper. So should I ask something harmless, like a question about affinities and when is it “normal” for them to manifest? Or should I be for real and ask something I really wanted to know?

I glanced around me. Stevie Rae was writing with a very serious look on her face. Rephaim had just put his pencil down and was folding his paper in half. I got a quick look at it, but all I could see was that he’d signed his name to the question.

I’m gonna be for real,
I decided and wrote: How do you get over losing your parents? I hesitated, and then signed my name to the question. I tried to check out what Stevie Rae was writing, but she was already finished and had her paper in her hand. She bounced out of her desk and started walking up and down the aisles on her side of the room, picking up papers like a pro.

I sighed and began to minesweep my side. Of course Aurox was there. The next kid in the row after Damien and Shaunee. I didn’t want to meet his eyes, so instead I looked at the paper he handed me. On it, in big block letters was the question: WHAT AM I? And he’d signed it.

Totally surprised, I met his gaze. He looked back at me steadily. Then he spoke so softly only I could hear him saying, “I would like to know.”

I couldn’t look away from his unusual, moonstone eyes. For some moronic reason, I heard my voice whispering back, “Me, too.” I snatched the paper from him and moved hastily away, trying not to think, trying just to do what I’d been told. Dallas and his group were super subdued. They barely looked at me or Stevie Rae, but I noticed they hadn’t written any words on the papers I picked up from them, which was a seriously passive-aggressive bad sign. I shoved those papers to the bottom of the pile on my way back to the front of the class. Thanatos took the papers, thanked us, and then said, “I shall study your questions tonight and begin discussions on some of them tomorrow. For the rest of the hour let us turn to a subject I believe most of you will find relevant—that of Imprinting with a mate or Consort.”

I expected Thanatos to give us the standard just-say-no speech we’d been given about the Imprinting thing from day one, but I was wrong. She talked frankly about the pleasure and beauty of the proper Imprint, as well as the tragedy of one going wrong. She was interesting and funny (in a dry British kind of way). It seemed like I blinked and the bell for the end of the hour was chiming.

I hung a little behind, waiting for Aphrodite who was still in a deep but surprisingly respectful discussion with Thanatos about Imprinting. Aphrodite’s point was that an Imprint wasn’t based on sexuality. Thanatos was insisting, much to Aphrodite’s consternation (’cause she’d Imprinted with Stevie Rae, even though it hadn’t lasted very long) that sexual attraction went hand in hand with Imprinting.

Thanatos finally ended the discussion with, “Aphrodite, whether you admit a thing or not does not make it more or less true.”

“I’m going to be sure Zoey gets to second hour,” Aphrodite said, sounding disgruntled.

“You do that, young Prophetess.” Thanatos had a smile in her voice, if not on her face. “And thank you for such a lively discussion today. I’ll look forward to another one like it tomorrow.”

Aphrodite nodded and frowned, and just out of earshot of Thanatos said, “Lively discussion my gorgeous ass. I’m not discussing shit about lesbian Imprints again. Ever.”

“I don’t think that’s what she meant, Aphrodite,” I said, careful to keep the smile from my face, too. “But she was right, it made for a good class—way more interesting than regular vamp soc with all of Neferet’s issues.”

Aphrodite opened the door. “I’m so glad I could amuse the masses and—” And we stepped into the middle of chaos.

“Bring it, birdboy!” Dallas was shouting. “You can’t hide behind Stevie Rae forever!” Muscley Johnny B was pinning his arms and holding Dallas back, but he was struggling like crazy.

“I’m not hiding, you arrogant fool!” Rephaim yelled. Stevie Rae had a vise-like grip on his arm and was trying to pull him down the sidewalk away from Dallas.

“I’ll get Darius and Stark,” Aphrodite said, and sprinted away.

“Okay, look, you guys, stop it!” I stepped between the two guys and their growing groups.

“Butt the hell out, Zoey! This ain’t your fight.” Dallas turned his venom on me. “You think you’re so much better than everyone else, but you don’t mean shit to us.” He jerked his head toward the group of his red fledglings who were standing close by, just watching and smiling.

I was surprised by how much what he said hurt my feelings. “I don’t think I’m better than everyone else!”

“Don’t let him get to you, Z. He’s nothing but a mean, sad little boy all dressed up like a vampyre,” Stevie Rae said.

“And you’re nothing but a slut!” Dallas shouted at Stevie Rae.

“I told you to stop calling her that!” Rephaim tried to pull away from Stevie Rae.

“Everyone knows you’re just pissed because she’s not with you anymore,” I told Dallas, thinking what a total and complete jerk he’d turned out to be.

“No, I’m pissed because she’s with a freak of nature!” His words shot back at me. I noticed even though he was struggling and yelling, his gaze kept going back to a spot low on the wall he was inching closer and closer to. I followed his gaze and saw a single electrical outlet on the wall—one of the industrial three-pronged things.

Ah, hell!

“I’m not a freak!” Rephaim looked like he was going to explode. “I’m human!”

“Really? How ’bout we wait around until the sun comes up and let’s just see how human you are.” Dallas sneered and moved closer to the wall.