Daughter of Destiny (11 page)

Leaving the library, waves
of panic, fear, and a wordless cry for help slammed into Katarina.
Naia.
Oblivious to the stares, Katarina dropped her
belongings in the grass and raced to sidewalk, looking this way and
that in near panic.
"Where are you?"
A hazy dark image
flashed in front of her eyes. That, combined with the wave of
emotions was enough for her to hone in on Naia’s location. She
circled the library building, pushing her legs and lungs harder
than any human ought to be able to manage. She reached the alley
that ran behind the library, perpendicular to the street they used
to go home. The nearest light from the empty back parking lot was
out. Katarina could see no farther than half a foot in front of
her, but she knew her sister was near and in danger.

Katarina held a fist to the
stitch in her side that bloomed from her sprint. She never knew she
could move so fast. She forced her breath in and out at even
intervals to slow it as she crept down the alley. Her racing heart
drummed in her ears.

She sensed a male nearby.
Naia’s emotions flooded her, but worse than that, her own boiled
out of control. Anger, fear, and desperation burned inside her,
hotter than magma. She needed control to use her telepathy on the
attacker, but she couldn't center. As she stood there trying to
focus, a whimper met her ears. Her heart turned over in her chest.
Did the man have a weapon? What did he want?

"You shouldn’t have turned
me down bitch. Nobody says no to me, least of all a nobody like
you." The unmistakable sound of flesh striking flesh and the echo
of Naia's pain made Katarina's stomach heave. Her hands curled into
fists.
You bastard!
Naia’s muffled sobs were countered with
a moan, but not one of pain. The male laughed and Katarina’s breath
froze at the malicious sound. The storm of twisted lust that rolled
off of him made her double over in dry heaves. Her skin felt as if
a million stinging ants were trying to devour her and she trembled
as heat suffused her. Something inside her fought for
release.

Naia needed her. She was
right here, and yet, helpless. Her ears rang and she feared she
might pass out.

"That's right, beg. I'll
give you what you want bitch."

The nearby parking lot
light flickered on for a heartbeat. Brandon Johnson, the same
football jock that picked on Naia the day she and Naia met, had her
trussed up on the ground. Her dress was hiked up around her waist
and she was naked from the waist down. He straddled Naia and
Katarina caught the sight of his dick ramming into her best friend.
She tried to move, but her vision dimmed. When the light blinked
back out, she thought for a second her eyes stopped working. Naia's
muffled scream sent blind rage coursing through her.

"Stop fighting the
power. Let it flow through you."
A calm, unfamiliar male voice
sounded in her head.

She didn't think. She
heeded the voice, allowing the inferno inside to explode. She
uttered a guttural, inhuman sound and surged forward, attracting
Brandon's attention. He jumped up and turned toward her.

He laughed. "You're the
weirdo she hangs with. You want some of this, too?" He stroked his
dick and leered at her.

A surge of heat rose from
within, as if it rode the tide of her fury. She raised her hands to
charge at him. Blinding blue light illuminated the alley

A moment before her eyes
rolled back in her head, Brandon jerked with an almost comical look
of surprise on his face. Her arms shook and then her body went
limp. Katarina's mind blanked, like an overheated
circuit.

The impact of her body
against pavement snapped her out of the momentary semi-conscious
state. Her limbs felt like overcooked spaghetti. Her throat was raw
and she had a headache that rivaled the one she had when her
telepathy emerged. She crawled over to Naia, risking a glance at
Brandon. She couldn't see much in the dark, but the silhouette of
his large frame was a lighter shade of black against the brick wall
of the building behind the library. He didn't move. Her trembling
hands sought Naia. An arm jerked under her fingers.

"It's me."

Naia relaxed and allowed
her to scoop her up. It should have been easy, since Naia weighed
less than ninety-five pounds, but Katarina's body protested every
movement. She ignored the tremors and relied on sheer will to
propel her out of the alley. She collapsed on the pavement beneath
the red-tinted halo of light provided by an emergency exit
sign.

"Help! Somebody?!" Katarina
called out as she rocked Naia. Katarina ripped the ragged piece of
cloth Brandon used for a gag out of Naia’s mouth, and pried the
belt off her wrists. Bruises already darkened Naia’s face and tears
poured down her cheeks. Katarina wasn't sure who trembled more,
Naia or herself. Katarina called out again and choked back her own
tears.

"C-cell ph-phone." Naia
stammered.

Katarina remembered her
cell. She pulled it from her pocket. She fumbled with it a moment
before she managed to dial 911.

"911. What type assistance
do you need?"

Katarina managed a steady
voice, although she wasn't sure how. "Police and an ambulance. My
sister's been raped."

Sirens wailed in the
distance as she disconnected from the dispatcher. Attracted by the
sirens, the last library patrons and the librarians gathered to see
what had happened. Katarina blocked Naia from view as best as she
could. She only relinquished her hold on Naia when the EMT's
arrived. They ushered her onto a gurney and into the waiting
ambulance. One of them turned to her. "Are you okay,
Miss?"

Katarina glanced down at
herself. Her clothes were rumpled and there was a tear on the leg
of her black slacks. "I fell down when I fought her attacker, but
I'm fine."

"All right." The middle
aged man with shaggy brown hair and kind eyes moved to get in the
ambulance.

"Can I ride with
her?"

"Miss?"

Katarina turned toward the
brisk female voice that interrupted. A dark-skinned uniformed
officer stood behind her. "If you're not hurt we need you to stay
here so we can get your statement."

"But..." She started to
protest, but broke off when she saw an EMT wheeling another gurney
toward a second ambulance. She swallowed at the sight of Brandon's
still form. She recognized a defibrillator perched on the
gurney.

"All right. Can I call my
parents first?"

"How old are
you?"

"Sixteen."

"Call your parents then."
The officer turned to the waiting EMT. "Is the vic
stable?"

"Yes."

"Officer Ramirez will meet
you at the hospital to get the vic's statement after the doc checks
her out. Make sure they do a rape kit."

"Will do." He hopped up into the ambulance. The siren resumed
and it pulled away.

The officer turned back to
her. "Stay here and make your call. I'll be back in a minute." She
strode over to the second ambulance. Fear threatened to choke
Katarina, but she took a deep breath and dialed her home number. At
the same time she let her mind stretch beyond herself to the
paramedic and the officer. As much as Katarina wanted to deny it,
whatever happened to Brandon, she caused it and she needed to know
what she'd done.

"...possible concussion and
we had to shock him out of Vtac, but that was probably from the
Paradise p
ills that fell out of his pockets when we moved
him to the gurney. I don't know why kids take that
shit."

Katarina let out a sigh of
relief and punched the talk button. She didn't want the police
asking her questions she couldn't answer.

"Kat? It's past curfew. You
better have a damn good reason for not being home," her father's
voice echoed through the phone. Katarina swallowed and pushed aside
the memory of power exploding out of her body. She focused on her
father's angry voice. One nightmare at a time was enough to deal
with.

***

Stars winked out one by one
as dawn inched its way over the horizon. Katarina turned from the
window and went to Naia's bedside. The prescribed sedative kicked
in, allowing Naia to sleep. Katarina tip-toed out of the bedroom
and went across the hall to her room. Her soft bed beckoned and
every cell in her body begged her to heed the call, but instead she
went to her desk and opened her comm. Before she faced her parents
downstairs, she needed answers. She knew one person that might be
able to supply them, and Delaney was an early riser.

"Hey, Kit-Kat. I thought
you had moral issues with waking up before the sun." Her comm-pal
grinned and brushed her mane of curly black hair out of her
eyes.

Katarina managed a small
smile. "Hi, Laney. College going okay?"

"Yeah. You caught me
finishing a biology lab report."

"Sorry. Laney, we've been
friends for what, four years now?"

"Yeah, why? There isn't an
expiration date on me is there?"

Katarina forced a small
laugh. "No, I need some straight answers."

"Okay," Delaney replied
after a pause.

"What does magic feel
like?"

"Excuse me?"

"Come on Delaney. Don't
bullshit. I
know y
ou're a Mage. I'm even better than Mom at
spotting a lie, and even she knew you were lying." Katarina leaned
closer to the screen. "I'm a telepath, Laney. Well, empath back
when we met face to face, but that isn't the issue. I swear I'll
honor your secrecy on this. Something happened and I need to know
some things."

"Are you all
right?"

"Yes."

"I'll tell you what I
can."

"What does magic feel like
when it's inside of you?"

Delaney paused, considering
the question. "Well, it varies from person to person because not
everyone has the same amount or skills. For the most part, there's
an element of warmth or heat. For me, it's kind of like I took a
shot of whiskey, not that you should know how that feels mind
you."

"No, I don't know how that
feels, but I can imagine."

"Magic is, at its most
basic, energy. When you work a spell, there's an electric sizzle in
the air. Magic can be as harmless birthday candle on a cake or as
destructive as a forest fire." Delaney paused. "What happened,
Kat?"

"I think I killed a boy
with magic."

"What!?" Delaney
screeched.

Katarina lowered the volume
on the comm.

"He was raping Naia. It
exploded out of me in this blue light and I passed out. The doctors
and police decided the drug he was high on killed him, but I know
it was me." Katarina lowered her head to her hands. She didn't
mention the voice, because now she wasn't even sure she heard it.
Maybe she thought she heard it because she had no choice but to let
that inferno out.

"Kat."

Katarina shook as she
replayed the memory in her head. She couldn't fathom being capable
of killing with little more than will.

"Kat, look at
me."

Katarina raised her eyes to
the screen.

"It wasn't your fault. You
were defending Naia. Killing isn't pleasant or easy, even when it's
necessary. Trust me. I know."

"I know, it's just, I
didn't think someone could do something like that. I'm an empath. I
shouldn't be able to." She paused and frowned. "What do you mean
you know about killing?"

"The world of magic has its
monsters. As a Mage, it is part of my duty to make sure those
monsters don't prey on unknowing innocents. As for an empathy being
able to kill, yes it's unlikely, but you'll find as you get older
that we are capable of many things when protecting those we
love."

Katarina couldn't imagine
what that life was like. She didn't want to. "Do I have to use the
magic?"

"If it's Mage magic, no.
It's no different than if you have a great singing voice but choose
never to sing. It's an ability to tap into the energy inside us and
around us. That's all."

Katarina thought back to
the alley. No, that wasn't what it felt like to her at all. She
still thought it was magic, just not the Mage kind.

"Is Naia all
right?"

"She wasn't hurt too bad
physically, but she's been traumatized. Mom already arranged for
her to see a therapist."

"Fucking bastard. Excuse
the language Kat, but if the guy wasn't already dead I would
happily do the deed. Naia's got you and your parents. She'll get
past this."

"I'll make sure she
does."

Delaney nodded. "You have
any more questions?"

"Not right now. I still
have to talk to my parents. I better go. Thanks Laney."

"Blessed be,
Kit-Kat."

Katarina smiled. "Blessed
be." She disconnected the comm. Every movement felt like moving
through Jell-O as she left her room and headed
downstairs.

Stepping into the living
room, tears burned at the back of her eyes. All she wanted was to
feel her mother's arms around her, her father's strong hand on her
back. Outside of the kitchen, her parents’ low angry voices carried
in the otherwise quiet house.