Dark Destiny (15 page)

The fracture was there in the skull of the priest, a jagged crack, a dark violation of his being. Destiny heard the soft chanting in Nicolae's melodic voice and added her voice to his so that they blended in perfect harmony. Words of healing. Ancient words she didn't understand but that were beautiful and right. She felt the peace and rightness of it, the energy flowing between them to the priest. Destiny observed carefully as Nicolae meticulously welded the edges together so that the skull was once again seamless. He paid attention to the smallest detail, removing blood clots and reducing the swelling as if the injury had never been.

Nicolae did not stop there, even though she sensed his weariness. He streamed through his patient, examining his heart and lungs, every vital organ, until he was completely satisfied that the priest would awaken healed and strong.

They emerged at the same time, returning to their own bodies, smiling at one another like old friends. "Thank you, Nicolae. You saved his life."

It was worth every ounce of his strength to see that look on her face. Soft. Accepting. Happy. She was looking at him with stars in her eyes. He had not thought she would ever look at him that way. Nicolae was careful not to allow any show of emotion to betray him. His hold on her was fragile. He didn't make the mistake of gathering her into his arms and drawing her close, even though that was all he wanted to do. She was pale, her hunger beating at him, yet he couldn't provide for her.

"He is a good man, Destiny. Did you have time to examine his memories to see what actually happened?"

Destiny nodded. "It was as he told me. Martin Wright came in and confronted him. Father Mulligan offered money, asked him to sit and talk, tried to reason with him, but Martin attacked him."

Nicolae sat on the floor beside the priest's bed. "That makes no sense."

"No, it doesn't. Velda and Inez told me a similar story about John Paul coming home and attacking Helena."

"I am not familiar with them. I have seen Wright in the bar, but not this other couple."

"John Paul adores Helena. He would never beat her." Destiny tapped her fingernail against the bed frame. "Something is definitely wrong." Nicolae looked pale and drained, appearing gray in the darkness as he rubbed his shadowed jaw thoughtfully.

"Do not look so worried, Destiny. We will figure it out. Are you certain Father Mulligan destroyed that letter? Mikhail Dubrinsky is the Prince of our people. We cannot afford to let anything or anyone endanger him in these tense times. Our very existence as a people is threatened."

She leaned toward him, needing to examine his features up close. Her fingertips moved over the angles and planes of his face, brushing at the lines near the corners of his mouth. "You need to feed." She hadn't meant it as an invitation, but it came out that way. Soft. Seductive. Unexpected. And it startled both of them.

Nicolae's body responded to the temptation of her voice, of her invitation; a relentless, savage ache hit him hard. Heat swept through him. Lightning streaked through his veins with white-hot intensity. His eyes met hers. He was lost immediately, drowning in the depths of her aquamarine eyes. She turned her head slightly, exposing her soft, vulnerable neck, an expanse of smooth, scented skin.

Nicolae reached for her, drew her close. She fit into his arms, her soft body lush and pliant. She was hot silk and satin, elevating his fever. Slowly he bent his head to her perfect skin.

No
! It was no less than a command. His brother's voice was sharp with warning. Nicolae inhaled her scent, felt her pulse jump beneath his lips. The call of her blood was potent in his mind, in his heart.
She is tainted. You are not yet bound! Stop Nicolae, you endanger both yourself and her
.

Nicolae closed his eyes, wanting to shut out reason and thought.
You endanger both yourself and her
. It was true. Reluctantly he drew back, away from temptation. His incisors receded. He could not risk Destiny. Would not risk her.

Destiny sat very still with the warning echoing in her mind.
She is tainted. She is tainted
. It played like a terrible refrain in her head. Beat at her with the intensity of a horrific truth. She shoved Nicolae away from her as she leapt to her feet.

"Destiny." Her name was wrenched from his heart. "Stay with me."

The aching loneliness in his voice was haunting, soul destroying. For the first time she could see how much he needed her. It wasn't just wanting; he
needed
. Everything feminine, everything
human
in her struggled to be what he needed.
She is tainted
. The ugly refrain reverberated loudly in her mind.

She shook her head as she backed away from him. "What do you think will happen if I stay with you, Nicolae? Do you believe in miracles? I prayed for miracles night after night when I heard him coming for me, when I huddled in a little ball in the corner of a dirty cave." She curled her fingers tightly into a fist so that her nails dug into her palms. "You belong here with Father Mulligan. With these people." She gestured toward the priest with her clenched fist. "I don't, and I never will. Please thank Vikirnoff for his warning. I wouldn't have wanted to infect you."

"Destiny." The ache in his voice was raw, real, expressing a pain far beyond her own.

"No." Someone had to have sense. "Answer me. I would have infected you if you had taken my blood, isn't that right?"

Her eyes were glittering like rare gems, sparkling with tears. She dashed the moisture away with an impatient sweep of her arm. Nicolae thought her the most extraordinary woman he had ever seen. The most courageous. He refused to be anything less. His gaze met hers squarely, and he nodded. "Yes, Destiny. And as I have no anchor to hold me to the light, it would be very dangerous."

She lifted her chin proudly. "That's me. Your anchor. What happens to you if I can't be what you need?"

"Destiny, this is not necessary. You are everything I need. Everything I want."

"Answer me, Nicolae. What happens to you?" Her voice was very soft but very steady. Her gaze never wavered.

A flicker of pain crossed his face before his expression settled once more into a stoic mask. "I am a Carpathian male, an ancient hunter very close to my time. If I am not bound to my lifemate, I must either seek the dawn or turn vampire. My choice is clear."

She pressed her fingertips to her eyes briefly in reaction. "Is there no other lifemate for you? There must be another."

Nicolae shook his head. "There is only one. You are the other half of my soul."

Destiny swung away from him, dissolving into a fine mist, streaming under the door and down the hallway into the night air. She rose fast, climbing high until she was well over the city, screaming in her mind so the shock waves wouldn't distress the people below her.
Did you know all along that I was your lifemate
? It was an accusation, nothing less.

No! If I had known, I would have told you. Come back to me, Destiny. You must feed soon. You need me.

He was right. Her strength was waning quickly. She hadn't fed in several risings, and lending her strength to Nicolae as he healed the priest had drained her of what little she had left. She landed, regaining her natural form. She knew exactly where to go to find what she needed. And it wasn't Nicolae.

Destiny was furious. Her entire life had been disrupted again. The world seemed to be spinning out of control. As she stalked down the narrow street, her fingers curled into fists and her lips pressed together tightly. She was looking for a fight. Any fight. A good old-fashioned fight would do. Where were all the criminals in the city? Had they all gone to bed early? Where was a vampire when you needed one?

Destiny sought out every back alley she could think of, stalking the streets trying desperately to look like a victim. A poor, lonesome girl caught out all alone in the dark. Her eyes glittered dangerously as she glared into the night, looking for anyone to attack her.

She huffed out her breath in a rush of indignation. She was strolling down a dirty street where it was known a person could be stabbed for a pair of shoes, yet not a single person tried anything. The buildings loomed up on either side of her, great ugly examples of crumbling neglect. Graffiti was thick on the walls, along with other things she preferred not to identify. Stairwells and alcoves abounded, perfect hiding places for someone with larceny on his mind. Destiny was certain she was the perfect target. A woman alone, defenseless. There were no streetlights to illuminate any crime. It was the perfect opportunity for mayhem, and no one was taking her up on the invitation. She was totally disgusted with the criminals in the city.

It seemed an eternity before she spotted three men leaning against a wall, watching her progress and murmuring softly to one another. She could hear them clearly discussing ideas on how to pass the rest of the night with her. Their conversation brightened her spirits considerably. At last, a chance to take out her frustration and aggression. Deliberately she slowed her pace, giving them plenty of time to make up their minds. She had stayed away from the neighborhood for three risings and she had not fed. Hunger was a living, breathing entity crawling through her body with a relentless demand. The pull of the neighborhood was incredibly strong. MaryAnn's gentle voice, the church, Velda and Inez. She shied away from thinking the word
home
. She had no home. She was a nomad. A loner.
Why wouldn't Nicolae get out of her head
?

She had no reason to worry about him or feel guilty. Nicolae probably was making the entire thing up. Except she'd never caught him in a lie. She'd spent a lifetime looking for his lies to prove to herself he was a vampire. She glanced briefly at the men, then down at the ground, continuing her steady pace. She needed physical action.

One of the three men straightened, took two steps toward her as if to intercept her. Destiny let her breath out in a hiss of anticipation, eagerness coursing through her body like adrenaline as she turned toward him, waiting. Waiting. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath with her. Two rats scurrying near trash cans sat up on their hind legs, motionless, waiting expectantly.

She felt him then. Nicolae. Real, not imagined. Close. There was no beautiful voice, no soft words to turn her from her intended path. But when she swung her head, her gaze meeting her would-be attacker, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Destiny knew immediately that the hungry flame burning deep in her belly betrayed her, glowing red hot in the depths of her eyes. "What kind of idiot are you?" she taunted him, then glared at the others, daring them to attack her.

She heard Nicolae's soft laughter then.
You should have lured them with sex
. Something in his voice made her shiver, an underlying menace that told her it wouldn't have been a good idea.
Call me to you
.

Her breath escaped between her teeth, a hiss of anger. Before anything else, she should have asked Mary Ann if all men were such pains in the butt. She was
not
going to call him to her. She would not be enticed. Lured. Tempted. She would have left Seattle for good to escape him, but she had unfinished business. She had promised Inez and Velda she would check into the problems in the neighborhood. "Cowards," she sniffed with contempt and turned her back on the three men, who were staring in outright alarm at her.

Had there been a small surge of power in the air? Had Nicolae interfered in some way, enhancing the fire burning in her, allowing the three men to see the danger they were in? Destiny whirled around, her vivid gaze seeking out every nook and cranny. The rats. They had hunkered down closer to the trash cans, staying small in an attempt to keep from being noticed. She glared at them until they hid in the midst of the trash.
Are you following me? Don't you dare try to follow me
! Nicolae wouldn't dare. Destiny paused at the entrance to the narrow street, tapping her fingernail against the wall. Of course he would dare. He was a hunter.

Her anger was fading. All she could think about was the aching need in his voice, the stark hunger in his eyes. Despair was a sharp knife piercing her heart each time she remembered the flicker of pain crossing Nicolae's face. She leaned her weight against the wall and looked up at the stars. The wind was blowing stronger now, shifting a blanket of gray fog so that it spread across the night, blotting out stars and muffling sound. A fine drizzle began to rain down on her. She glanced at the rats scurrying for cover. Something in the way one of them moved caught her attention—the way it kept her in sight, the round, beady eyes shining with far too much intelligence. At once a chill went down her spine. She went still inside, her senses flaring out to discover the others. And there were others. This time she had been truly drawn into an ambush.

Chapter Seven

Destiny moved slowly, carefully positioning herself as she examined every inch of her surroundings. The wind was kicking up paper and small leaves and whirling the debris down the street. Her wary gaze slipped over the buildings, took in every detail, every shadow. She had come looking for a fight; she was in for an all-out war.

She needed room to maneuver. Smiling sweetly at the little rat, Destiny glided swiftly into the open, out from between the towering buildings into the middle of the street. "I see you are in your true form, Pater. Ever the nasty little rat. And you have all your little friends with you this time, running in packs the way ratty little creatures tend to do. What is it? A reunion? Old home week? A vampire's seminar and no invitation for me? I feel left out." She used her most compelling voice, so that those listening would reveal themselves, if only for a moment.

At once she saw them in their true form. Tall, gaunt figures with jagged, stained teeth and gray skin stretched tight over their skulls. The illusion of physical beauty was projected by their minds, while their bodies had decayed to match their rotted spirits. There were two beside the trash cans. One on the roof of the nearest building. One in the shadows of the alley itself. And the last one clinging to the side of the building looming just above her, hidden as a dark splotch, a spider waiting at the center of the web, to attack when the net was drawn tight.