House of Night 09 - Destined

me?”
    Aurox looked away, focusing on the lights of the city and how they glittered alluringly against the night sky.
    “I await your command, Priestess,” he repeated.
    “Oh, by all the gods! Who would have known the Vessel created for me would be as mindless as he is beautiful?”
    Aurox felt the change in the atmosphere before Darkness materialized from smoke and shadow and night.
    “Mindless, beautiful, and deadly…”
    The voice rang in his head. The enormous white bull formed fully before him. His breath was fetid, yet sweet. His gaze was horrible and wonderful at the same time. He was mystery and magick and mayhem together.
    Aurox dropped to his knees before the creature.
    “Get off your knees. Get up and go back there…” She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture toward the shadows that edged the far recesses of the rooftop.
    “No, I’d rather he stayed. I enjoy gazing on my creations.”
    Aurox didn’t know what to say. This creature commanded his attention, but Priestess commanded his body.
    “Creation s ?” Priestess put a special emphasis on the last part of the word as she moved languidly toward the massive bull. “Do you often make gifts like this to your followers?”
    The bull’s laughter was terrible, but Aurox noticed Priestess didn’t flinch at all—that instead she seemed to be drawn closer and closer to the creature as he spoke.
    “How interesting! You are actually questioning me. Are you jealous, my heartless one?”
    Priestess stroked the bull’s horn. “Do I need to be?”
    The bull nuzzled her. Where his muzzle touched Priestess the silk of her gown shriveled, exposing smooth, naked flesh underneath.
    “Tell me, what do you believe is the purpose of my gift to you?” The bull answered Priestess’s question with one of his own.
    Priestess blinked and shook her head, as if she was confused. Then her gaze found Aurox, still on his knees. “My lord, his purpose is protection, and I am ready to do as you bid to thank you for him.”
    “I will accept your lush offerings, but I must explain to you that Aurox is not simply a weapon of protection. Aurox has one purpose, and that is to create chaos.”
    Priestess inhaled a deep, shocked breath. She blinked rapidly, and her gaze went from the bull to him, and then returned to the bull.
    “Truly?” she asked in a soft, reverent voice. “Through this one creature I can command chaos?”
    The bull’s white eyes were like a sick, setting moon. “Truly. He is, indeed, one creature, but his power is vast. He has the ability to leave disaster in his wake. He is the Vessel that is the manifestation of your deepest dreams, and are they not for utter and complete chaos?”
    “Yes, oh yes,” Priestess breathed the words. She leaned against the bull’s neck, stroking his side.
    “Ah, and what is it you will do with chaos now that it is at your command? Will you take down the cities of humans and rule as vampyre queen?”
    Priestess’s smile was beautiful and horrible. “Not queen. Goddess.”
    “Goddess? But there is a Goddess of Vampyres. You know that all too well. You used to be in her service.”
    “You mean Nyx? The Goddess who allows her minions free choice and a will of their own? The Goddess who will not intercede because she believes so strongly in the myth of freewill?”
    Aurox thought he could hear a smile in the beast’s voice, and wondered how that was possible. “I do mean Nyx, Goddess of Vampyres and Night. Would you use chaos to challenge her?”
    “No. I would use chaos to defeat her. What if chaos threatens the very fabric of the world? Would Nyx not step in and defy her own rules to save her children? And by doing so wouldn’t the Goddess rescind her edict that grants humans freewill and betray herself? What would happen then to her divine reign if Nyx changes what is destined to be?”
    “I cannot say, as that has never before happened.” The bull snorted as if in amusement. “But it is a surprisingly interesting question—and you know how much I enjoy being surprised.”
    “I only hope that I can continue to surprise you over and over again, my lord.”
    “Only is such a small word…” the bull said.
    Aurox continued to kneel on the rooftop long after Priestess and the bull had departed, leaving him discarded and forgotten. He stayed where he had been left, staring up at the sky.

CHAPTER TWO
    Zoey
    “A short bus? Really?” All I could do was shake my head and stare at the squatty yellow