Destiny stiffened as if she’d been struck. “He took my blood. He forced me to drink his. I think that’s the accepted way of making a human into a vampire.”
Mary Ann nodded. “Well, of course, from what I’ve seen in movies. Is that where you’re getting your information, too? The movies?”
“You don’t have to believe me,” Destiny pulled her arm away from Mary Ann. She could hear hearts beating. She could hear the ebb and flow of blood. The whispers of private conversations. “I’m not crazy.” She said it firmly, more for her own benefit than for Mary Ann’s.
“I know that. I couldn’t leave the church, even though I knew you were in danger and I wanted to go help you. I sat there until morning, although I prayed for the strength to leave. But I couldn’t. I saw him, Destiny. I saw and heard everything he said.” Mary Ann shivered delicately. “He wanted you to call me out of the church.”
Destiny nodded her head. “Yes—to share your blood.” She said it bluntly, wanting to conclude this conversation. She had forgotten how emotions could tie one up in painful knots. She preferred physical pain.
“Let’s go back to why you believe you’re a monster. What makes you think so, Destiny? Because this maniac, this vampire, exchanged blood with you?” Mary Ann asked. “I can only go by what I’ve read in books or seen in movies. I know little of vampires and didn’t for a moment believe they existed until I witnessed that horrible man. Now I’m open to the possibility, but I still can’t believe you are one. Garlic, for instance...”
Destiny shuddered. “I never go near the stuff. I don’t know what it would do to me, but I don’t dare try it.” She pushed an unsteady hand through her hair. “
I
haven’t looked in a mirror in years. I don’t think I have a reflection, but I don’t know for certain. I want so much to enter the church, but I can’t take the chance.”
“Sweetheart—” Mary Ann caught her firmly and turned her. “Your reflection is just as clear as mine in the mirror there. And you happen to be standing directly under a string of garlic. You haven’t even noticed it.”
Destiny’s brilliant gaze found herself in the oversized mirror above the bar. She looked pale. Startled. Frightened. Did that face really belong to her? The last time she had seen herself she had been eight years old. How long ago had that been? She didn’t know. She didn’t recognize the woman staring back at her. Hanging above the bar where deli sandwiches were advertised were various food items, including strings of garlic in nets.
Afraid that if she took her eyes from her image it would disappear, Destiny watched herself shake her head. “I’ve never looked before. I was afraid of what I might see, or not see.”
“Honey,” Mary Ann continued with great gentleness, “when you pushed me into the church, you went inside with me. I was still struggling toward the man. I didn’t have control of myself until you spoke.”
There was a small silence while they both turned her words over in their minds. “I went into the church?”
“Then
you
had control of me,” Mary Ann mused. “Destiny, whatever you are, you’re not evil. You’re not anything like that monster.” She shuddered, remembering the fangs, the jagged teeth stained with blood. She glanced around the bar, spotted a small empty table in a corner and steered Destiny toward it. She was beginning to understand why the young woman had such troubled eyes. How long had Destiny lived with the knowledge that such monsters inhabited the world?
“Sit down, Destiny.” Mary Ann used an authoritative voice. Destiny was so pale, so shocked, she looked as if she might fall over. When Destiny seated herself, Mary Ann took the chair across from her. “Did that man really take your blood and force you to take his?” It seemed a silly question to ask, something out of a Hollywood horror film, but Mary Ann had seen the creature, and she had known he was evil and that he was not human. She’d been a witness to the blurring speed Destiny had used in attacking the thing.
“Not him.” Destiny’s voice was so soft, Mary Ann strained to hear her. She sounded far away. “There was another. A long time ago. He...” Destiny trailed off, one hand going to her throat defensively. She covered her pulse, pressing her palm to her skin as if covering a ragged wound. For a moment she looked so vulnerable, so young and fragile, Mary Ann had to force herself to remain silent. “I can’t think about it. I don’t dare think about it.”
“What do you think would happen if you did, Destiny?” Her voice was neutral. “Burying bad things only allows them to surface when least expected.”
“Sometimes it’s the only way to survive. Whom do I tell? The police? They’d lock me up in a mental institution.” She met Mary Ann’s gaze squarely. “How do you think I live now? You asked me to come home with you and have a cup of tea. For you that makes perfect sense. I’ll never have a cup of tea again. Never.” She pressed her fingertips to her temples. “My mother drank tea. I remember that now. I’d forgotten. Every morning she made tea in a little teapot and put a cozy over it to allow it to steep. She’d make mine with milk, more milk than tea really, but I felt so grown-up and close to her when we shared it.” She closed her eyes, wanting to keep forever in her mind the memory of her mother’s face, her scent and the way she smiled when she handed her the teacup.
She looked across the table at Mary Ann. “Thank you. I haven’t thought of that in years. The last memories I had of my family were... bad. Frightening. I made myself forget everything so I could forget that. My mother was such a beautiful woman.”
Mary Ann smiled. “I’m certain you must look a great deal like she did. What a wonderful memory. Do you have brothers or sisters?”
Destiny shook her head. “I was the only child.”
“Other family?”
Nicolae popped into her head instantly when she should have said no. His voice, his presence. Destiny felt him strongly. What was he to her? Mortal enemy. No, never that. Destiny raked her hand through her hair, shaken by the depth of her attachment to him.
Mary Ann was waiting for her answer, seeming comfortable with the silence. Destiny’s life was silence. She hadn’t talked so much with anyone in years. Other than Nicolae.
“How do you know when you can trust someone?” Destiny asked softly. “How do you know they won’t betray you?”
“I think sometimes it’s instinctive,” Mary Ann answered carefully, “although it is always possible to make a mistake. Usually you reserve judgment until you’ve been around someone, until you’ve seen their true character.”
“Is that what you’re doing now?” Destiny tilted her chin.
“With you?” Mary Ann’s reply was mild. “You want something from me I can’t give you. You want me to condemn you. You’ve saved my life at least twice. I like you as a person. I know you’re troubled, but that doesn’t make you the monster you want me to name you.”
Destiny heard the swell of conversation in the bar, the blare of music. Laughter erupted from a table only a few feet away. She waved her hand. “This isn’t real. You think you live in reality, but this isn’t real.”
“Of course it is. It’s as real as your life has been, just completely different. You can’t go back; I can’t go back either, but we can go on.”
“That’s not true,” Destiny said softly, raising her vivid eyes to meet Mary Ann’s gaze. “It isn’t true that you can’t go back.”
For the first time Mary Ann looked uncomfortable. She rubbed her fingertip along the tabletop as she composed her thoughts. Weighing her words. Thinking it through before she spoke. “I presume that means you can do something to my mind to alter my perception of reality.”
Destiny nodded slowly, hearing the sudden increase in Mary Ann’s heart rate. “I can take away your memories of me. Of everything you’ve learned about vampires. You won’t remember and you won’t ever have nightmares. You won’t be in danger from... anyone.”