Revealed

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Aurox

Aurox wondered if funerals ever got easier. Would it be less sad if he had lived decades of life first? If he had friends he could talk with afterward?

He walked away from the main group, heading nowhere in particular. No one spoke to him. No one noticed him. But Aurox noticed everything and everyone.

Shaunee remained beside the burning pyre, crying softly, though the heat of the flames dried her tears almost instantly. Thanatos stood as close to her as she could bear. The winged immortal remained as well, standing statue-like in the shadows, eyes scanning the area around the pyre as if he expected an enemy to appear from the fledgling’s ashes.

Aurox moved swiftly and silently, staying out of Kalona’s line of vision. He didn’t know what to make of the immortal. Was he friend, foe, or simply a god whose purpose was to observe them and laugh?

Aurox continued to move through the shadows. Rephaim was comforting Stevie Rae. Aurox envied their closeness—especially the way Stevie Rae was able to accept Rephaim completely, without judgment or hesitation.

He noticed Dallas as well. The young red vampyre seemed miserable, filled with anger and envy. Aurox did not like how he stared at Stevie Rae and muttered to himself. Perhaps he should speak with Thanatos about him, though the High Priestess, as well as the rest of the House of Night, seemed well aware of Dallas’s potential for violence.

Aphrodite flitted off. Aurox saw her calling to Shaylin. It felt right that the two Prophetesses would seek one another out, especially during such trying times.

He should have continued to walk away—continued to fade into the night and wait until Stevie Rae’s red fledglings were settled for the daylight hours in their new lair in the basement. Then he could reappear to stand guard. To protect. To remain silent and vigilant, and to want no more than to serve this House, and through this House, the Goddess Nyx.

But, as always, Zoey drew his gaze. Aurox paused, and from the darkness allowed himself a moment to watch her. Stark was holding her hand as she talked with Damien and Darius. She kept glancing from whomever she was speaking to, to Shaunee. Zoey was nodding, and engaging in the conversation, but Aurox could tell that most of her attention was on her friend who stood so close to the pyre, weeping.

Zoey will probably remain until Shaunee is ready to say her final good-bye, Aurox thought. For a moment he considered remaining as well—waiting with Zoey. Perhaps there would be something he could say or do that would help.

No. Stark would be with Zoey, and Stark could only abide Aurox’s presence if Zoey wasn’t near.

And yet Aurox felt drawn to Stark as well as to his young Priestess. He honestly liked the Warrior. There had even been moments today when he had been helping Stark and Darius ready the basement for the red fledglings that they had worked easily together—companionably. Aurox had almost felt as if he belonged. Then Stark and Darius had sent him on an errand and Thanatos had called him—asked him to find Zoey—she was late for a meeting.

Aurox had found Zoey easily. He thought he could always find Zo.

But Stark had been with her, and suddenly the Warrior had become strange, cold, freezing him out and causing Zoey to berate him in front of the others.

He’s jealous of me, Aurox thought, though he knew there was no reason for Stark to feel the slightest bit of jealousy.

Zoey paid no attention to Aurox. She rarely even glanced in his direction. Earlier, it had seemed as if she could hardly bear to share the same table with him in the cafeteria.

Aurox knew that within him there was supposed to be the soul of a human boy named Heath. This boy had been Zoey’s love—her intended Consort—even though she was bonded to an Oath Sworn Warrior.

Aurox had asked Damien about it, and Damien had explained the situation to him with patience and kindness, though his explanation hadn’t really helped.

It wasn’t that Aurox didn’t understand that it was acceptable for a fledgling or a vampyre to have a human Consort as well as a Warrior or even a vampyre mate. That made sense to Aurox. Love was too complex an emotion to be constrained and given limitations.

What Aurox didn’t understand was how he could possibly host a human boy’s soul.

Where was this Heath?

Aurox had tried to reach him. Tried to talk to him. He never received any answer. Yes, once in a while he had odd dreams where he was fishing or playing sports. Or kissing Zoey.

No, that dream wasn’t from something within him. He dreamed of kissing Zoey because he wanted to kiss Zoey. She was beautiful. She was powerful. She had believed him to be more than a vessel of evil before he believed it himself.

Aurox mentally shook himself. It mattered little what Zoey was because of what she was not. She was not interested in him because the terrible truth was that sharing the soul of her human love was not enough to make Zoey forget how Aurox had been created. He had come into being through the death of her mother.

He couldn’t forgive himself for that. How could Zoey?

But I didn’t murder her mother! Aurox’s mind cried.

Had her mother not died, I would not exist! His conscience reminded him.

Not my choice! Not my fault!

Yet, still, I am held responsible for the death!

Because I am a product of that death!

Mentally exhausted by the internal debate that never changed—never could be won—Aurox did the only thing that he knew would silence the struggle within him. Unnoticed by anyone, Aurox made his way to the stone wall that encased the grounds of the House of Night. It stood twelve feet tall and two feet wide. With preternatural strength, Aurox leaped to the top of the wall, dropping quietly over the outer side. The wall was exactly 6,823 feet long. Aurox knew this not because he had looked up its length in the school’s registry. He knew it because he had covered each of those feet, shadowing the great wall, running, running, running, around and around the school grounds in the darkness outside the wall, until all he knew was the struggle for breath, the pounding of his heart, the burning of his body, and the war within his mind finally ceased.

So Aurox ran.

There were lights hung high on iron arms that jutted in regular intervals from the wall. Those lights were the only electric spotlights the House of Night owned, and they were aimed outward, effectively blinding any humans who might attempt to peer into the gaslit, shadowy school grounds. Those spotlights also created the shadow at the base of the wall in which Aurox ran, unseen, more swiftly than any human, any vampyre, could ever run.

The night before, after the fledgling and the human had died, it had taken ten laps around the school for Aurox’s mind to quiet. He thought tonight it might take several more.

He breathed deeply, steadily, pumping his arms and driving his body unmercifully.

Aurox’s left shoulder skimmed the stone as he followed the first curve around the northwestern part of the school.

He didn’t see the metal barrel. He didn’t see the humans. He did collide with both humans and metal and fall, end over end, rolling several feet before he could stop himself.

“Fuck! Vampyre!” a male voice yelled.

“We didn’t see anything!” another male cried.

Dazed, Aurox stood, turned, and faced the danger. Already he was reaching out for the fear that was wafting from the two males, readying himself to draw the emotion to him, to fuel his change into a creature that would battle them—that would protect the House of Night.

Two teenage males had scrambled away from Aurox. They were holding red plastic cups that had had been full of liquid before Aurox had slammed into them. Together they had grabbed the little metal barrel and were trying to drag it away with them as they backed away from him.

“Hey, that’s not a damn vampyre,” one of the boys said.

The other squinted at Aurox, staring at his unmarked forehead. “Damn, you’re right, Zack.”

They stopped dragging the barrel. “Shit, man, you made us spill our beer. You almost made us run off and leave the keg.”

“Yeah, that’s not okay,” the other boy said, shaking his head and wiping at the liquid that had spilled down the front of his shirt. Then he paused. “Hang on—he was runnin’. Is a vamp chasing you?”

“Chasing me? No,” Aurox said.

“Then why the hell were you runnin’ like that?”

“Because I wanted to,” Aurox answered truthfully.

“Dude, next time look where you run.”

Completely confused Aurox said, “What are you doing here?”

“Shit, man, same thing you are. Trying to get a look at some vampyre pussy.”

“Vampyre pussy?”

The first boy sighed. “Look, we ain’t showin’ you unless you can keep your mouth shut.”

“Vampyre pussy,” Aurox repeated, not sure whether to crack their skulls together or laugh.

“Just show him, Jason. It’s not like he’s one of them. And if he tells anyone it’ll fuck this up for him, too.”

Jason shrugged. “Okay, but don’t say shit.”

“I won’t say shit,” Aurox said.

“Right. Check this out.” Gesturing, Jason had Aurox follow him to the wall. He stopped and pointed at the metal barrel. “Bring the keg. It’s too high up to see without it.”

Aurox lifted the metal barrel and took it to Jason at the wall.

“Damn, man, you’re strong. Fucking keg weighs a ton,” Jason said appreciatively, rolling it so that it was positioned against the stone wall. Then, carefully, he stood on it, balancing by finding finger holds in the stones. “Right here. You can see in.” The boy pressed his face against the wall, his eyes disappearing as he peered. “It’s damn dark in there, but sometimes, usually about now, you can see vamps. And it don’t matter how cold it is—they don’t wear much. I’ve seen some serious vampyre leg and tit.” He hopped down. “Check it out.”

Feeling surreal, Aurox followed Jason’s lead. He balanced easily on the metal barrel and there, at eye level, was a fist-sized hole in the school’s wall. Through it Aurox could see the sidewalk that stretched between the girls’ and boys’ dormitories. As he watched, two female fledglings came into view. Their voices carried to him, but the words were lost in the night. He could see them, though he didn’t recognize the two girls. With a little jolt of surprise he realized they were wearing skirts that showed their legs and little tops that stretched tightly over their breasts.

Aurox got off the barrel and faced the two boys.

“Did you see any of them?” Zack asked, eyes bright with excitement.

“No,” Aurox said.

“Well, shit. There’s been all sorts of action going on in there tonight, but we haven’t hardly been able to see nothing,” Jason said. “So, want a beer? We got another cup.”

Not sure what else to do, Aurox nodded.

“I’m Jason, and this is my cousin Zack,” Jason said, opening a spout on the keg, and then handing him the full cup.

“To hot chicks!” Zack said, as he and Jason lifted their cups. Both boys looked at him expectantly.

“Yes!” Aurox tried to sound normal and enthusiastic. When the two boys upended their cups and gulped down the liquid, he followed suit and took a long drink from the plastic cup. The beer was cold and a little bitter, but he liked it. He liked it a lot.

“Drink up,” Jason said. “We have a shitload of beer. The other guys who were supposed to meet us here turned out to be dickless no-shows.”

“Hey, all the more for us!” Zack said.

Aurox drank with them, thinking that there was something very relaxing in just standing there with the two boys, and not having them look at him like he was a freak.

Aurox took another long drink, finishing the cup. He wiped the foam from his mouth with the back of his hand, and then he heard himself blurting, “I’m Heath. Do you guys come here often?”

Jason refilled all of their cups, then the two boys sat on the grass, their backs against the wall. Aurox sat across from them.

“Nah, we just found this place a few nights ago.”

“How?” Aurox asked and drank.

“Well, we was drivin’ by, mindin’ our own business, and Zack says to stop—he sees lights through the wall,” Jason said. “I thought he was crazy.”

“You thought I was drunk,” Zack corrected him.

“You were both, dude,” Jason said, and laughed.

“Yeah, but I was right. When we got out and I gave him a leg up, Jason found the hole.”

“It was easier to see before. They had a bunch of Christmas tree lights strung all over the campus in there. Got a good look at some vampyre pussy. Damn, those girls are hot.”

“Fledglings,” Aurox corrected him automatically.

“What’s that?”

“You probably didn’t see vampyres. You probably saw fledglings.”

“Like I care? I saw leg and tit and it was hot,” Jason said. “So, did you find a hole, too?”

“No,” Aurox said.

“Damn! I was hoping you found somethin’ with more to see,” Jason said.

“Hey, dickhead, you need to be happy with what I found. This is the best look we’ve had at real vampyres,” Zack told his cousin.

“Fledglings,” Aurox corrected again, holding his cup out for another refill.

Jason opened the spout again, refilling his cup, but Zack was watching Aurox carefully.

“How do you know so much about them?” Zack asked.

Jason sat up straighter. “Hey, are you one of their donors? Like, do you let them suck your blood?”

“And fuck you?” Zack added.

“No. No,” Aurox said, shaking his head, noticing that it was feeling strange—woozy—and the ground seemed to be swaying a little under him.

“Look, we won’t say shit to anyone if you tell us how to get that gig,” Zack said.

“Seriously, nobody. Not one person will know,” Jason said.

“I’m not anyone’sss mate,” Aurox said and belched. Then he laughed. His speech was giving him trouble, but he felt good. Really good.

“Dude, why are you laughing?”

“It’s not fucking funny that you’re keeping this shit to yourself.”

Aurox finished the third cup of beer in one long gulp. “I was laughing at the bubbles in my head.”

Zack frowned. “Lightweight. You better not have far to drive to get home.”

“Don’t have to drive,” Aurox said happily.

“Then you do stay here!” Zack said.

Aurox blinked several times, trying hard to focus on the boy. “Sssometimes I do,” he slurred.

“Okay, look, we’re not kidding. We could be into the bloodsucking. They don’t even need to pay us,” Jason said.

“But not with guys. I can’t go there,” Zack said.

“Oh, for sure. Not guys,” Jason agreed. “But chicks, yes. Totally yes.”

“So, what do we have to do?” Zack asked.

Aurox’s head was filled with amazing little bubbles, and his legs felt funny—like they were too heavy. But his mind seemed to be working fine. He knew the boys shouldn’t be out there, and he knew he—for sure—shouldn’t have run into them. But all that came out of his mouth was, “Wwwwait. Thinking.”

Jason sighed and took another swig of beer. “Maybe having his blood sucked so much fucks up his alcohol tolerance level.”

“I don’t give a shit, as long as I get more than my blood sucked,” Zack said.

“I hear ya on that,” Jason said.

They stared at Aurox.

Aurox was considering and rejecting options. While he considered, he held out his cup to be refilled.

“Are you sure? You’re gettin’ pretty wasted,” Jason said.

“Thinking,” Aurox slurred.

Zack shrugged. “Give him more. He said he’s not drivin’.”

Aurox thought about his options while he drank. He could morph part way into the bull creature and scare the two boys away. Or, he could just pick them up and toss them toward the road, and growl. Either way they’d be scared way.

He’d keep their beer, though.

But as he thought about it more Aurox realized scaring the boys was probably a bad idea. The House of Night was already on lockdown. It wouldn’t be good for the school if the boys were scared enough to go to the human authorities.

What Aurox needed was to turn back time and not to have run into them. He’d still like to keep the beer, though. He really liked the beer.

Everything else needed to be wiped away from the night. Gone. Forgotten. Never happened. Except for the beer.

Zack leaned closer to Aurox. “Hey, you okay in there?”

“You want to give us a number to call or whatever? Like we said, we won’t tell nobody.”

That’s when Aurox got the idea. It was a good one, too. It would fix the problem with the boys who had found the hole, and it would show Stark that he wasn’t his enemy—that he actually wanted to be his friend. Plus, he’d get to keep the beer. He grinned at the boys. “No number. Wait here. I’ll bring ’em to you.”

“Seriously!” Zack said.

“Vampyres?” Jason seemed more skeptical.

“Not females. I’ll bring vampyre-donor-ssspecialist vampyre,” Aurox stumbled over the words.

“Uh, we said we weren’t into guys,” Jason said.

“No, dude, shut up! He’s gonna get the guy who’ll take us to the chicks,” Zack said. “You just can’t walk in and do this shit like it’s nothing. There’s rules that have to be followed. Right, Heath?”

“Yes,” Aurox said. “We will follow the rules.” He stood and held his cup out for another refill. Then he pointed at Zack and at Jason. “You. And you. Stay. I’ll be back with the vampyre and the rules.”

Holding his full cup carefully, Aurox crouched, and then sprang up to land on the top of the twelve foot wall.

“That was awesome!” Jason said.

“No wonder they keep this shit quiet. If everyone knew that you got, like, superpowers from vamp sucking there’d be a line around the fucking school to get in!” Zack said.

“Stay,” Aurox said. Holding the red cup carefully, he dropped down into the school grounds.

He meant to run swiftly to the field house. That was where the entrance to the basement was, and that was where he thought Stark would probably be, helping the red fledglings get settled in. But Aurox’s run was more of a sideways jog. And instead of a swift, stealthy entrance to the field house, the doorknob was turning wrong and when he finally managed to open it, Aurox’s momentum had him stumbling inside, staggering across the sand and into the hallway that led to the door to the basement and somehow bumping up against Kramisha.

“Damn, Aurox! ’Scuse yourself,” she snapped at him.

“I didn’t mean—I couldn’t get the door—well, sorry,” he finally managed. He saw that she, and the group of fledgling behind her, were staring at his beer. He followed their gazes, looking down at an almost full cup. When he looked up it was to grin at her and slur, “I didn’t sssspill any!”

“You’s shitfaced,” Kramisha told him. Then she turned toward the open door to the basement and shouted, “Z! Your boy’s out here makin’ an ass of hisself!”

“Noooo! Not, Zo, I need—” Aurox tried to whisper to her, but Kramisha waved a hand in front of her face, screwed up her nose, and backed away from him.

“Shewww!”

“Kramisha?” Zoey was coming up from the basement. Aurox was relieved to see Stark right behind her.

“That smells nasty.” Kramisha pointed at Aurox. “He been drinkin’. A lot. I ain’t entirely sure what he is, but I’m sure gettin’ shitfaced can’t be good for him.” The other fledglings were still staring at Aurox, and she motioned for them to follow her. “Let’s get settled. And leave Z to her own business.”

Watching them go, Aurox said, “I’m not a that.”

Zoey and Stark walked up to him. Zoey sniffed and looked from his almost full cup to his face. Her big, pretty eyes got bigger, but not really prettier. “Holy crap! You’re drunk!”