Dark Destiny (40 page)

Father Mulligan appeared to be dozing in a chair by the bed. Sam was asleep, tears still marking his pale face. Destiny's heart went out to the little boy. She materialized beside him, her fingers stroking back the thatch of hair tumbling across his forehead. "Poor little boy," she murmured softly.

Father Mulligan sat up with a start, clutched dramatically at his heart as he glared at them. "Do you go through walls? You nearly killed me coming in like that."

Destiny looked instantly repentant. "I'm so sorry, Father. I thought you were really asleep. I should have been more careful."

"His heart rate did not even rise," Nicolae pointed out. "He should be an actor, not a priest."

Father Mulligan grinned mischievously, looking for all the world like a small boy. "I did rather well in the school plays when I was a young lad, much to my father's chagrin. He thought acting a perfect sin. I was expecting you two this evening."

"We would have come earlier but we have been looking into the strange, unnatural behavior of your parishioners. Are you certain the wine you are serving is not a bad one?" Nicolae inquired with a straight face. "All of them do attend this church."

"I hadn't thought of that," Destiny agreed, glaring accusingly at the priest.

"You two are treading quite close to blasphemy," Father Mulligan warned, attempting to look severe. His eyes were twinkling merrily, ruining his credibility as an actor.

"Well, I suppose we can rule you and your wine out, but I do have a question," Destiny said. "The night Martin took the poor box, do you recall if any glass was broken? Before he became violent."

Father Mulligan frowned. "How strange you should ask that. I spoke with Tim and he told me that he had given Martin medicine, and the glass of water dropped onto the floor as Martin handed it back. Tim said Martin just stared at the slivers of glass, shoved Tim out of his way and left their apartment. Evidently, Martin came straight here to the church."

"Has Martin ever used the little clinic, the one just down from Mary Ann's office?"

"Yes. There's a doctor who comes twice a month. He's noted for being brilliant in pain management. Martin was in a terrible accident a couple of years ago, shattered all kinds of bones and twisted his back. He had been going to the doctor for help, and it seemed to be working. But Tim said they had some kind of falling-out and Martin decided not to go back. It was too bad, because his pain was under control."

"Do you have any idea what the falling-out was over?" Destiny asked. Seeing the priest hesitate, she continued. "I wouldn't ask, but I think the doctor may be involved in all of this in some way. The more information I have, the easier it will be to solve the entire mess."

"It had to do with their business. Tim and Martin are planning a community for older citizens. They are trying to make it unique and safe and yet affordable. A great deal of money is involved. The doctor wanted to be added to the staff for a high consultant salary. Martin overheard him treating an elderly patient and thought his manner impatient and insulting. I heard several complaints about his treatment of the elderly, and when Martin asked me my opinion, I told him what some of my parishioners had said."

"So at his next session with the doctor, Martin probably told him politely they would pass on his services," Destiny mused.

"I don't want to give you the wrong impression," Father Mulligan said. "The doctor may not be very good with the elderly, but he's helped others tremendously. I know he visits poor little Blythe Madison on a regular basis. I've seen him leaving when I go to see her."

"Is Blythe an attractive woman?" Nicolae asked.

"Strikingly so," Father Mulligan answered readily.

"Just as Helena is," Destiny pointed out. "Is Harry as crazy about his wife as everyone claims he is?"

"Absolutely," Father Mulligan said. "He's devastated. Not a single day goes by that he doesn't visit her at the hospital. He's begged her to come home to him, but he says she's become even more withdrawn."

"Perhaps we should pay him a quiet visit," Nicolae suggested. He held up his hand when Father Mulligan might have protested. "Do not worry, he will not even know we were there."

"Thank you for taking care of Sam, Father," Destiny said. "I'm sorry I had to turn him over to you."

"I don't mind. Nicolae helped the social workers see things my way, so I think we have Sam's future well taken care of, including a trust fund that Nicolae set up for him. The couple who want him are wonderful people, and we're cutting through the red tape nicely."

Nicolae. It always came back to him. His thoughtfulness. His attention to detail. For some reason, the thought made Destiny blush wildly and she had to duck her head to conceal her thoughts from the priest. There was no concealing them from Nicolae.

Details are important
, he agreed in his black velvet voice, implying all sorts of things.

Lightning is going to strike you if you keep that up in front of a holy man.

Let us go where I am much safer, then. But first we must stop by The Tavern.

Destiny murmured a goodbye to the priest, brushed back Sam's hair once more and started for the door.

"Go out the same way you came in," Father Mulligan pleaded. "Just one more time, for me."

Destiny glanced at Nicolae, who raised an eyebrow at her. His lips twitched with suppressed laughter. Together they melted into vapor, then rushed out beneath the small crack in the door while the priest laughed delightedly.

Harry had already closed The Tavern and had climbed the stairs to his apartment above the bar when they arrived. He was slumped in a chair with a framed photo in his hands, his forehead resting on the glass. He sat there unmoving, clutching the picture of his wife. The sight of him sitting so alone and unhappy wrenched at Destiny's heart.

We
will fix this, Destiny. Now that we know what Blythe looks like, we can find her. I feel as if we are very close to solving this mystery. The doctor is very much involved in these attacks
.

They left Harry and flew out of the city. Destiny looked down at the sparkling lights.
It's so beautiful here, Nicolae. I love this city. I love the people
.

She could admit it to him now. He had given her that gift. She wasn't so afraid to allow herself to care about others. She was beginning to believe she wasn't responsible for the death of everyone she had ever loved.

Is that the hospital where Blythe is living
? Destiny was already heading toward the grounds, certain of the direction, almost as if Blythe were calling to her.

"Maybe she is," Nicolae said with understanding. "She has suffered greatly. I think it best if you speak with her alone. I will be close, but unseen."

Destiny was grateful for his sensitivity. Nicolae could easily force Blythe's acceptance of him, but Destiny was reluctant to compel cooperation from someone who was most likely suffering, and Nicolae shared her view.

Destiny blew him a kiss as they walked through the halls of the hospital invisible to the human eye. She found Blythe huddled on a window seat, rocking back and forth, her tormented gaze riveted on the door. She didn't appear to notice Destiny at first; her entire concentration was focused on the door.

Destiny cleared her throat to bring the woman's attention to her. When Blythe turned her head, Destiny recognized the look in her eyes. She had seen it over and over on the faces of the abused and battered women who had fled their lives and gone to MaryAnn. There was despair and shame and hopelessness. Blythe was drugged, but there was awareness in her, a strong spark of life despite her situation.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?" Blythe asked nervously, but she was looking expectantly toward the door, not at Destiny.

"Is he coming? The doctor?" Destiny asked softly.

Blythe focused more fully on her. She nodded. "If he sees you here, you could be in danger." At the mention of the doctor, Blythe's heart rate increased dramatically.

"He hypnotized you, Blythe, didn't he?" Destiny asked softly.

"I suspect that he did." Blythe's voice was surprisingly strong for a woman everyone believed to be mentally ill. "There's no way to get away from him and know Harry is safe. He uses drugs and hypnosis." She shrugged. "Everyone thinks I'm crazy." She added the last as an afterthought.

Destiny noted that Blythe was becoming increasingly agitated. Her fists were clenching and unclenching. Destiny felt the same presence she'd discerned earlier that day. Evil. It was moving toward them, the footsteps hard on the hallway floor. Blythe whimpered and hurried to her window seat, pressing one hand hard against her mouth to keep from crying out.

Destiny slipped back into the shadows. "Get him to talk, Blythe," she said softly. "Give me something to work with." She could easily take the information from the doctor's mind, but she wanted Blythe to participate actively in freeing herself.

The lock clicked and the door burst open. Destiny was half expecting a vampire, but the man glaring suspiciously around the room was wholly human and yet as vile as any monster she had vanquished. Destiny could see through the illusion a vampire projected with his voice and his looks to the rotting malevolence beneath, but this man shocked her. He was incredibly good-looking, a tall, blond man with a shark's smile. Even looking closely, Destiny could not
see
past his surface good looks to the evil lying beneath.

"I heard you talking to someone." He closed the door with deliberate finality. "Or are you so far gone that you talk to yourself now?"

Blythe huddled closer to the window as if she might throw herself out, except the way was blocked by bars. Her gaze shifted to the corner of the room where Destiny had disappeared. She lifted her chin. "I won't let you touch me again."

He laughed, the sound chilling. "Of course you will. You'll do exactly as I tell you, just as you always have. You wouldn't want to kill your husband, wonderful Harry. Slice him up into little pieces while he slept in bed, now would you? I could make you do that, Blythe, and you would deserve it for cheating on me with that
nothing
of a man. A
bartender
, for God's sake. I am a genius, a man of greatness, and you turned your back on me and slept with a common nothing. You let him touch you."

Blythe lifted her chin. "You can come here every night and rape me, drug me, force yourself on me, but I will never want you. I'll always belong to Harry, never you."

Destiny could feel her stomach churning with bile, with a fierce rage as cold as ice and as hot as an out-of-control fire. She heard the humiliation in Blythe's voice, the utter despair even as she defied her tormentor. Destiny looked at the doctor and saw only a monster. Without thinking, she waved Blythe to silence, sent her to sleep so that she slumped over on the window seat, her eyes closed.

The doctor swore. "You little bitch, do you think that's going to fool me?"

Destiny came out of the shadows, her eyes flaming a fiery red. She hissed softly, drawing his attention. "You do not deserve to live."

He spun around, stepped back and quickly put up his hand. "You have no proof of anything. I was attempting a form of therapy. How dare you come into this room?"

"You hurt John Paul because Helena turned down your sick advances. You harmed Martin because he refused to give you your way in his project. You use your profession to hurt people, don't you, Doctor?"

He shrugged carelessly once he assured himself they were alone in the room. "I'd like to see you prove such an accusation. I have an impeccable reputation." He pulled a syringe from his pocket, smiling at her as he did so. "You shouldn't have stuck your nose in where it didn't belong." He walked to her, completely confident that he could subdue her.

Destiny allowed him to take her arm in his viselike grip. She smiled coolly at him while inside she smoldered with outrage at his complete lack of remorse. "I don't have to prove it, Doctor. I'm not human." For one moment she allowed him to see the rage, the fury, the red flame of retribution.

The doctor went white, his mouth opening to emit a high shriek of terror. Destiny waved her hand to stop the sound, catching it in his throat, cutting off his airway. She blinked, suddenly realizing what she was about to do.
Nicolae. I will not be like the undead. I may have their blood, but I will not join their ranks and terrorize this disgusting excuse for a man. I will not do the very thing they do. He deserves to be brought to justice and I will do so, but
…

She released the doctor as Nicolae materialized, pulling the syringe out of the doctor's suddenly nerveless fingers. "I think I would like you to write out a full confession for us, Doctor. And include why and how. You must tell the world in general that you could not live with the guilt of your crimes." His voice was so soft and pleasant, Destiny backed away from him, away from the power of the compulsion.

She was shaking with the need for justice, grateful that Nicolae had intervened with a cool head, remembering they would need proof for all the victims.

It was terrifying to think how much she had wanted the doctor to see death coming. Destiny wanted him to feel everything Blythe had felt. Everything she herself had felt.

She put her arms around Blythe, whispering to her, promising her that everything would be all right.
We cannot leave her like this, Nicolae
.

Do not worry, we will provide for her.

The doctor turned as if sleepwalking and left the room. Nicolae put his arm around Destiny and together, at a much more sedate pace, they followed the doctor down the hall and out of the ward. Both watched as the man sat at the desk in his office and carefully wrote out his confession. He left it on the desktop and once again was on the move, climbing the stairs to the roof, several stories up, where he simply stepped off the edge. They did not watch him hit the sidewalk below, but hurried away, stopping only to allow Nicolae to whisper to a security man and the nurse at the desk. They sought the peace of the quiet streets, easily gaining entrance into Harry's home. Destiny watched Nicolae, her heart swelling with pride as he bent to give Harry a soft command.