Christine Feehan - Dark Destiny (Dark Series - book 13)

This woman knew more than any human should. She knew things that could get her killed.

“I’m no threat to you,” Mary Ann said softly. Nicolae’s face was a mask. Unreadable. Handsome and compelling. Dangerous. Instinctively she knew he was the same as Destiny, not quite human. “I want to help her. She saved my life twice.”

“She has survived things so hideous you cannot even conceive of them. Why would you presume to think you can help her?”

Although his words were spoken in a low, beautiful timbre, something in that perfect tone made her shiver with apprehension. She was conversing with a powerful being, something she knew nothing of. Someone who made life-and-death decisions over others every day of his life. Mary Ann felt the impact of each of his words. She lifted her chin. “Because she chose me.”

Nicolae studied her face for a long time. She had the feeling he was examining much more than her features. For one horrible moment she felt him moving in her mind. He didn’t bother to hide it from her, deliberately showing her his power, a not-so-subtle threat. A warning. Whatever he found must have satisfied him, because he withdrew from her mind, leaving her memories still intact.

“Do you have any idea what you are asking?” Nicolae demanded in a low, compelling voice. “You must be very certain this is what you want. You know what I am. You know what she is. And you have an inkling of the demon we hunt. There is one in this city—at least one, maybe more. He is out there now, killing the innocent. Maybe hunting a small female child with the amazing gifts Destiny has. The knowledge of our existence that you have right now constitutes a danger to all immortals, whether they are vampire or hunter. It is allowed only in rare instances.”

Mary Ann followed Nicolae across the room to a secluded table away from the crowds, knowing that whatever she said to him now would decide her fate. She thought of Destiny’s eyes. Troubled. Filled with shadows and sorrows. “I can’t leave her to suffer. She won’t find her way back, Nicolae. I know she won’t. You think you’ll be able to reach her, and you might on some level, but it won’t be enough. She’s suffered a terrible trauma. That won’t just go away because you will it to do so.”

“You are risking your life.” He wanted her to know the truth. “Destiny would not want you to risk your life for her.” He pulled out a chair, stood courteously while Mary Ann slipped onto the seat. As he sat down across from her he waved off the waitress. “Think very carefully before you speak. I can remove your memories of all of this. Of Destiny. Of me. Of the creature that wanted to kill you. All of it. You will never worry about Destiny, because you will not remember that she exists.”

“I don’t want that.” Mary Ann shook her head adamantly. “She’s important to me, and I think I’m important to her.” She leaned across the table toward him. “I can handle this. I really can. I’m afraid. I’d be silly not to be afraid, but you don’t know what she did for me. Twice. She saved my life twice. She’s given the sanctuary so much money, money we desperately needed to expand and to make sure the women had counseling and job opportunities. Destiny did that. She deserves a chance, too.”

“Mary Ann—” His voice washed over her. Gentle. Compelling. “I will take care of Destiny. I give you my word of honor.”

“I honestly don’t think she will get better. I think she’ll try, but you won’t be able to help her overcome what’s happened to her.”

“I lived through it with her.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “I see the same things in your eyes that I see in hers.”

“I understand her, understand what she needs. And we are meant to be together. Two halves of the same whole.”

“She isn’t whole, Nicolae; she’s fragmented and lost. She can’t go into a relationship that way and have it work. I think you know that or you wouldn’t be talking with me. You would have already removed my memories.”

“If I leave you with this knowledge, I will have to be able to monitor you at will. I am responsible for the safety of my people. I have to know that you are capable of keeping our secret at all times, and I will have to make sure that the undead cannot use you to get to Destiny.”

Mary Ann swallowed her fear. “I think that’s fair enough.”

“It entails my taking your blood, Mary Ann. Not converting you, simply taking a small amount of your blood so that I can touch your mind at any time. It wouldn’t hurt and you wouldn’t be in danger, but the idea of it is uncomfortable to humans.”

Mary Ann was silent, leaning her chin in her hand while she studied his face. “Destiny wasn’t given a choice, was she?”

Nicolae shook his head. “She was converted by the vilest of creatures. The undead. A vampire lives for the pain of others. He made her suffer for years. He subjected her to every humiliating degradation he could think of. He murdered men, women and children in front of her and forced her to drink their blood. He used her body for years in the most painful ways possible although she was an innocent child.”

Mary Ann rubbed the heel of her hand over her face. “And you want me to desert her because I might be uncomfortable for a moment or two? I owe her more than that. Take my blood if you feel it is necessary, Nicolae, and let’s find a way to help her.”

Destiny rushed out into the night, dragging great gulps of air into her lungs. It was humiliating to be shaking like a child just because she was in such close proximity to so many people. She wouldn’t admit her distress had been caused by anything else. How could she want to touch a man’s skin? Be held in his arms? Breathe him into her body?

She knew about men, what they did, what they wanted from a woman... a girl... a child. A scream welled up from her soul, the terror of a child trapped with a monster. She pressed the scream back with her hand, as if to shove it back down her throat and bury the terror where she would never have to look at it. See it. Think of it.

The night is so beautiful, Destiny. Clear and cold and crisp. Look above you at the stars.

His voice came like magic. Soothing. Gentle. Out of nowhere, simply there in her mind. Pushing away the memories of hard, hurting hands, rivers of blood, the faces of the damned.

There is nothing so beautiful as the night. Even the leaves are a shimmering silver. I did not remember that. Did you notice the color? Silver and gold tonight. The wind is whispering to us. Hear? Just listen to it, little one. It speaks to us of the secrets of the earth.

She closed her eyes, listened to his voice, found her heartbeat, knew she was alive and whole. Knew she could make it through another minute. Another hour. Even another night. Destiny knew the truth then, accepted the truth. If she were to survive, then so must Nicolae. The nightmares haunting her were far too strong to conquer on her own. She might fight and win every other battle, but not the one for her sanity. Not the one for her soul. That was Nicolae’s battle.

She took a deep breath and looked up at the sky, at the stars glittering like gems over her head. The tension was slowly draining out of her body, but the need was there, crawling through her with insistence. A craving she couldn’t ever escape.

Your craving is natural, Destiny, like breathing. We are of the earth. We do not eat the flesh of living things. Is it so terrible what we sustain ourselves on? We harm no one. We see to the protection of humans. We live among them, do business with them. Just as you have learned to care for the people who live along these blocks, so will you care for our people.

Her first reaction was denial. More of them? Vampires? She shook her head, forcing herself to consider his words. Carpathians. A race of beings she now belonged to. Beings with special powers. Beings who could enter churches and stand under strings of garlic. She suddenly laughed, the sound flowing down the street like music. She had a reflection. She knew what she looked like.