The woman could have been anywhere from twenty to her mid thirties. She had a lush, full figure and a mass of dark hair falling in a cascade of loose ringlets. She was looking back at the camera, and there was a hunted, anxious look in the depths of her eyes. Destiny felt an instant kinship with her. She knew what it was like to be alone and hunted. Whatever the woman was running from, a violent boyfriend or husband, she now had much bigger problems with a vampire tracking her.
“What is her talent?” Destiny asked.
“She can hold an object and know who has touched it and the past history associated with it. A wonderful gift, and very rare.”
He asked her if she knew of any other people with such a gift. Why is the vampire more interested in the talent than the woman with the talent?
Destiny could feel his confusion. The vampires were not acting in expected ways at all.
Mary Ann swept her hair from her face and smiled at them. “Velda can see people’s auras. Did you know that? We don’t talk about it, of course, because no one would believe us, but she knows about me and I know about her.”
“What about you, Mary Ann?” Destiny asked curiously. “What talent have you been gifted with?”
She smiled innocently, without any guile whatsoever, still completely under Nicolae’s compulsion. There was no way to hide the radiance of her inner heart. “I have a small gift, one barely discernible to most people but useful when clients need help. I know when a woman is telling the truth. Like poor Helena. I know John Paul did attack her. And I know she loves him more than anything on earth. When women come here seeking refuge, I screen them. More than once, a woman has come for the wrong reasons. And worse, there have been a few who took money to act as a spy to find another woman already in a safe house.”
“This gentleman who came to see you, Mary Ann—what were his specific instructions?” Nicolae asked quietly.
Again she frowned slightly and rubbed her brow. “I am to call him at once if she comes here. A reasonable request. He wants to help her. The research center has money and counselors, and they are very willing to hide her from anyone wishing to harm her. He says her talent is valuable, and the center will do anything it can to help her. He believes she is trying to find an underground avenue to South America.”
She cannot tell us anything more. I cannot see even a hint of what this vampire looks like.
Pater? Could it be Pater? Destiny stared down at the face in the picture, the haunted eyes.
What are we to do for her?
She must be found and protected. There is no other choice. She will be found.
A terrible black stone weighed heavily on Destiny’s chest. Jealousy. It rose, sharp and appalling and unexpected. She fought down the unfamiliar emotion, exerted control on herself, made certain she didn’t meet Nicolae’s sharp gaze.
I cannot leave you, Destiny. I would not leave you. Vikirnoff must find and protect this woman. She must be escorted to our homeland and placed under the protection of our Prince. Nicolae framed Destiny’s face with his hands and bent his head to hers, kissing her thoroughly.
And then he was gone, leaving her to face Mary Ann, who sat behind her desk, one eyebrow raised and a faint smirk on her face. She fanned herself. “Well, well, well.” Free of Nicolae’s compulsion to speak of the stranger, she was once more completely at ease. “What in the world were we talking about? The two of you were so darned hot, you fried my brain.”
“Not the two of us, Mary Ann,” Destiny said with disgust. “He’s like that. Impossible.” She began to pace back and forth like a caged tiger, prowling through Mary Ann’s office, carefully skirting the comfortable chairs for clients. She moved with elegant grace, fluid, like an animal on the hunt rather than a human. Gliding. Her feet made no noise, her movements were a whisper in the still air of the office.
Leaning her chin into her hands, elbows on the desk, Mary Ann watched her solemnly, mesmerized by the beauty of Destiny’s movements. “Are you just going to wear a hole in my carpet or are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
Destiny glared at her. “It’s
him. He’s
what’s wrong.” She shoved a high-backed chair out of her way and made another circuit around the room.
Mary Ann nodded her head. “I see. I presume by him you mean Nicolae.”
Destiny whirled to face her, hands curled into tight fists. “Don’t you dare laugh, Mary Ann, and don’t use that tone. I know what you’re thinking. I don’t need you laughing at this; it isn’t funny at all.”
Mary Ann kept her features carefully blank. “What exactly is it about Nicolae that is upsetting you, Destiny?”
“Everything!” Destiny threw herself into one of the offending chairs and stretched out her legs, still glaring at Mary Ann. “You saw him. You saw the way he acts with me. Everything about him drives me crazy.”
There was a small silence. Mary Ann picked up a pen and began to trace patterns in her notebook. “Could you be a little more specific? Perhaps narrow it down for me?”
“Okay.” There was challenge in Destiny’s voice. “He looks at me.” She lifted her chin belligerently, silently daring Mary Ann to laugh.
If Mary Ann’s eyebrow could have risen any higher it would have reached her hairline. Her mouth twitched, and she hastily bit the end of her pen. “Oh, my. The bastard.”
Destiny steepled her fingers and looked pointedly at Mary Ann. “Could you try to be serious? You’re supposed to be a professional. It’s the
way
he looks at me.”
Mary Ann gestured with her hands. Beautiful hands, Destiny noted. Graceful. Perfect nails. The fingers weren’t very long, but they were shapely, like Mary Ann. Destiny always found herself fascinated by Mary Ann’s movements. By her innate goodness. “Please continue, Destiny. I’m certainly intrigued.”
“He looks all goofy at me,” she elaborated reluctantly. “Like I’m beautiful. Like he thinks I’m incredibly beautiful and smart and everything he ever wanted.”
Mary Ann smiled at her. She leaned closer. “Is it possible that to Nicolae you
are
beautiful, and smart and everything he wants? Why is that so threatening to you?”
Swift impatience crossed her face. “I didn’t say I was threatened. Did I say that? He’s nuts to want me. I’m not normal.”
Mary Ann sat back in her chair, her gaze on Destiny’s face. “Normal? What is normal, Destiny? Why should he settle for normal when he could have you? What is normal to you?”
“You know, normal. Not me. Not what I am.” Impatiently Destiny jumped to her feet and resumed pacing, quick, restless movements that revealed more than her short, snappy sentences.
“What do you think you are?” Mary Ann persisted.
“There you go again. You’re using your counselor voice on me. You know very well what I am. I turn into vapor and fly on wings and run on four feet. Does that sound normal to you?”
Mary Ann smiled, a quick gleam of humor. “Actually, Destiny, it sounds very normal when we’re talking about you. Or Nicolae. Isn’t he the same as you?”
“Don’t take his side. He’s acting ridiculous. I’m trying to save the situation here, and the two of you and Velda and Inez have some idiotic idea of romance. Can you really picture me in the middle of a romance?” Destiny waved her hands around in a kind of fury. “It’s absolutely silly. I don’t do that sort of thing.”
“I suppose it’s true if you say so. You’ve never done that sort of thing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. There’s no reason not to try new experiences.” Mary Ann leaned her chin into her palm and tapped her pen on the desk. “I think of you as very adventurous, Destiny. Maybe you should view Nicolae as a new page in your life.”
Destiny stopped pacing, kept her back to Mary Ann. “Well, he isn’t a new page in my life. He’s been in my life nearly as long as I can remember.” She pushed a hand through her thick mass of hair, lifted the weight of it from her neck.