Destined Chapters 10 & 11

Chapter 10

How many damned psychics does Zoey need at any given time, PCK? First, she had Aphro who gets, or did get, random visions. Then Krammy got added to the mix and she churns out shitty poetry faster than a fifteen year old on Live Journal after a breakup. Now she has an aura reading seer. Never mind that Zoey herself already has prophetic dreams. Look, I’m not an expert in deities but when they hand you that much guidance, they’re basically giving you a helmet and telling everyone that you’re a miracle.

With the amount of divine intervention Zoey gets on a regular basis, I’m starting to suspect the whole thing is an elaborate Make-a-Wish fulfillment. Everyone is setting Zoey up so she can “conquer” the villain before her terminal cancer ravages the rest of her motor functions and kills her.

We’re with Kalona now who’s playing the exposition game where you tell someone to repeat themselves for the benefit of the folks watching at home. Nisroc says Rephy isn’t a raven anymore and that he serves Nyx. Kalona is shocked that Nyx could forgive him. Then Kalona starts wondering where Maion is as he’s short another son. Nisroc says he’s dead and Kalona asks if Rephy did it.

“No. The creature. Killed him it did.”

“What creature? Speak clearly!”

Speak like Yoda, he does. And while I was annoyed by the biblical theme, it makes just as little sense as the Greek names, PCK. There might be carbon monoxide fumes killing me but I recall these ravens as being born of Native American women. People who, if I recall that episode on History channel I drunk watched while waiting for PornTube to load, didn’t have a lot of truck with either Greece or the bible. So where in the fuck Kalona got the idea of naming his half breed kids using foreign words is beyond me. Aliens, probably. Or maybe Kalona’s actually a proto-hippy. Also, I still haven’t forgiven you for just having them know English, PCK.

Kalona works details out of Nisroc the same way people get blood out of stones. When he learns that Heath showed up, killed one of them and started turning into a bull, Kalona comes to a conclusion. That Neferet has given herself over to the white bull completely. Also, she has no idea of the powers she’s awakening or the other usual nonsense about letting evil sleep.

Kalona then complains about Rephy getting forgiveness while he’s being shunned. Nyx could make it easier if she’d just told him that he’s not learned his lesson but she had to be coy about it. Kalona then says he should visit Rephy and maybe they can ally against Neferet. Then he mutters something about how he will rule on day and those who crossed him will regret it.

Over to Rephy who is enjoying some post coital cuddling with Stevie. He likes her skin but not the same way a mister Gacy would. He says it’s about dawn and he has to go. Stevie wants him to stay which Rephy says he can’t. Rephy says that he remembers nothing while he’s a raven and doesn’t want to get hurt or hurt her while in bird form.

Stevie stops him on the way out and says she’s sorry a brother of his died. Then she asks if they were there to take him back. Rephy says no, then explains that he’s a good guy now but he still loves his dad. Stevie then tells a story about a girl she knew who’s mother ran off but would come back and be abusive every so often. Stevie tells Rephy he has to decide if he’s really starting a new life or not. So give up your feelings for your dad, Rephy, or you’ll lose her.

Stevie then says she trusts him and she’ll explain the raven’s presence to everyone. Rephy then takes off and transforms. Stevie then gets dressed and wanders into the kitchen. There are some jokes about soda including one about Krammy liking orange soda because she thinks it’s healthy. Aphro says that’s bullshit and that anything that’s not water will make you fat excepting blood. because author forbid a vampire look like anything less than an underwear model.

Stevie asks where all the food came from and Zoey has to explain how Krammy found some guys doing night stocking and stole from them. Nice to see the vampires continue the rampant theft which is doubtless costing hundreds of people around Tulsa their jobs. Everyone then starts asking what the ravens were doing at the school. Just looking for a convertible to crap in, Zoey. They go over everything we already know then they start talking about this true sight and what they found in the book.

“Yeah, but it’s not much. There’s only a short reference to it in the advanced handbook. Basically, it’s rare and it hasn’t happened for a long time. Like as in more than a couple hundred years. It’s frustrating because there isn’t a lot of documentation about it, but from what I could find it seems that a fledgling or vampyre gifted with True Sight—and they’re usually vampyres, by the way—has the ability to see the truth about people.”

Oh look, a legendary thing which hasn’t happened in a long time. How very original in this series. They decide Shaylin has to understand her gift in order to use it properly. There’s an unspoken assumption by everyone that this will just come in handy to the plot. I guess PCK can’t be bothered to make her characters pretend ignorance any longer.

Also, Shaylin seems to like Erik and everyone thinks this is good. Whatever happened with him and the girl Venus, is a mystery PCK won’t leave alone for long.

Chapter 11

 Where we pay a visit to the POV of the horse lady. She smells something smokey and decides to find out what Cowboy is up to. And I will bet you a pretty penny you can’t guess what he’s doing. If you said he’s burning a stick of herbs, then you’ve been reading ahead. Lenobia then goes outside and sits on a bench and gets lost in her thoughts.

Coyboy then comes over and startles her so she reacts like any badass from an action movie. She whirls around ready to kill, stops short when she sees it’s just him then says not to sneak up on her ever. Right, because Captain Cowpoke is basically a ninja in Tony Lamas and a Stetson. Or, like most of the characters who do that, Lenobia is a nutjob.

Cowboy mentions he didn’t think there’d be a vampire out and about in the day. Lenobia says they don’t burn in the sun and he says he knows. Lenobia asks how he knows anything about vampires. His mom had a friend who was one who kept in touch until she died. Then he mentions how her horse freaked out when Lenobia did then calmed down when Lenobia spoke even though she couldn’t have been heard.

Yes, Lenobia has a magic mind meld courtesy of Nyx. Cowboy knows that Nyx is their god. Lenobia confirms her mind reading of horses and then asks him why he was smudging. He says his father was part Muscogee and it’s one of those habits he picked up. He then asks her if his horse is happy and how she’s feeling. Then they hear a noise and Lenobia will investigate. She mentions cowboys carrying guns and Cowboy says he does have one.

They wander over to the noise and find the groundskeeper, Gaea. Apparently the human contractor who’s in charge is being flustered by her because she is “unusually attractive, even for a vampyre”. Gaea is pissed off that Neferet arranged humans to come in to do yard work behind her back. What a grand plan this will be. I can’t wait until we witness Neferet hiring assistant librarians and kitchen staff. What a grand scheme to cause ultimate chaos!

Cowboy picks up on this and says that Neferet seems to be sowing confusion. Personally, she would do a better job by shuffling everyone around on their jobs and schedules after making them take a skill assessment which gets used to place them in the worst place possible. Then going back through and restructuring everything within three weeks.

Lenobia tells Cowboy about the ravens and tells him to shoot only if they attack the horses. Also, he needs to change his schedule to match the vampires. He says he will and that he’ll be staying near the horses. Lenobia then points out her quarters which are also near the horses, before going to be. Can you just cut to the chase and get to them boning, PCK? I’m not really in the mood to watch yet more of your characters flirt like a train wreck in slow motion.