Dark Destiny (39 page)

Something planted these sounds in his head, and it wasn't nature
. She shared with Nicolae as she always did.

Someone. He has been programmed much like a bomb might be. If shattered glass is the trigger, what is the target? What is the point of this violence?

Now she could hear it, a voice, low, mumbling something over and over. It sounded as if it were on fast forward, demonic, speaking a command. Puzzled, she amplified it for Nicolae. John Paul was unaware of the command, unaware of the voice at all. It was only part of the terrible roaring in his head.

Destiny waved her hand and silenced the voice, silenced the roaring. John Paul stood in the center of the room, blinking at her with blurry eyes. He looked puzzled. His great shoulders were shaking and he broke out in a sweat. He lifted his head and looked past Destiny to Mary Ann.

Destiny blurred his vision to make certain that he would not catch a glimpse of the shattered slivers of glass on the floor. "John Paul." Her voice was melodic, silvery, the compulsion buried deep. "You must go back to your home and stay there. You want to sleep, not listen to music or tapes or talk on the phone. You just want to go to sleep."

I am going through his house now, Destiny. There must be something that sets him off before he is given the trigger. I will find it. Vikirnoff is on his way to Mary Ann's office to make copies of the photograph of the young lady the vampire is hunting.

John Paul muttered something and rubbed his eyes. He looked more confused than ever. When Destiny touched his mind, she felt sorry for him. He was totally bewildered, had no idea how he had gotten to the office or why he was there.

"MaryAnn?" He sounded like a small child seeking reassurance. "I think I'm losing my mind. I'm so sleepy, and I don't know what happened." He peered around her, squinting to get a better look. "Did I do this? Did I wreck your office?"

Destiny patted his arm in a gesture reminiscent of Velda. "Go home and sleep, John Paul. Everything will be fine."

MaryAnn watched him go, her eyes troubled. "Will it be fine, Destiny? Does this have something to do with a vampire? Do you have any idea what's going on? This violence can't keep happening. It's ruining everyone's lives."

"Velda told me of a woman, Blythe Madison, who had similar problems a while back. She was put in a hospital by her husband."

"Harry's wife. She's a wonderful woman. I go to visit her twice a month. She doesn't remember anything of what she did. She stays voluntarily in the hospital. I didn't even consider that her breakdown was anything like what happened to John Paul and Martin. How could the events possibly be connected?" MaryAnn knelt near her lamp and began to carefully pick up the pieces, tossing the slivers of glass into the wastebasket.

Destiny could see that MaryAnn's hands were trembling. Tears glistened in her eyes. Her reaction shook Destiny as nothing else could. MaryAnn cared deeply about these people, and it was painful to her when they were in trouble.

"We're much closer to finding out what is going on," Destiny assured her. "I don't know who's behind this, but John Paul was under some sort of command."

MaryAnn looked up at her, blinking back tears. "Like hypnosis?" There was sudden speculation in her voice.

"Is someone around here into hypnosis?"

"There's a doctor at the clinic. He comes in a couple of times a month. He believes in hypnotism for things like pain management and quitting smoking, that type of thing. I went to him once and couldn't quite get over his bedside manner. He's related to Harry, a cousin or something; that's why he even bothers to come to our lowly little neighborhood. He has offices uptown and also at the hospital."

Destiny frowned, trying to assimilate this new information. "I don't know what you mean by bedside manner."

Deep inside she heard Nicolae give an inelegant snort.

Well, I
don't
know
, she insisted.

He probably came on to her. Made a pass while he was examining her.

He's a doctor!

Destiny, vampires are not the only monsters in the world. Many of them are human.

Destiny sat down abruptly beside Mary Ann. "Was the doctor inappropriate with you? Did he—"

"Touch me inappropriately? Yes. And he was a slimy little worm with a charming smile and a handsome face. Obviously, women have said yes to him and been thrilled by his advances. I was not, and made it abundantly clear. He thought hypnotism would work well on me and wanted me to let him try. What a jerk."

"But you didn't report him?"

Mary Ann ducked her head. "No one else was in the room. To make that kind of accusation against a professional with his reputation and money is risky. I didn't want to risk what I do here. I just never went back to him."

"I wonder if John Paul went to him for any reason. Or Martin. And before them, Blythe Madison."

"If Harry is the doctor's cousin, wouldn't it be natural for him to ask him to take a look at his sick wife?" Mary Ann wondered aloud.

Destiny was more inclined to think the culprit was a vampire. All along she had concentrated her energies in that direction. The legions of the undead had to be involved. To Destiny, whoever was behind these bizarre character changes was deliberately tormenting and hurting people for amusement. She couldn't conceive of a human committing such atrocities. Demons were vampire, not human.

At once Nicolae was there, sensing that her thoughts were beginning to shake the very foundations of her world view. His arms were strong, his body sheltering, his mind firmly merged with hers. Her anchor. Nicolae was always with her. She could count on him endlessly. In spite of the crouching darkness that he had fought most of his life. In spite of the tainted blood now flowing in his veins, Nicolae was unfailingly good.

Nicolae
. She breathed his name in a sudden overwhelming surge of love. He was slowly handing her back her life. A little piece at a time. And all the while he was there, comforting her, reassuring her as he had always done.

"Destiny?" Mary Ann's voice shook her out of her reflection. "If the doctor is somehow involved in this… if he actually has done something to harm Helena and John Paul and Martin and Tim and Father Mulligan… and poor Blythe living in a hospital thinking she lost her mind… I could have prevented it. I could have brought charges against him. What if I could have stopped him?" She looked lost, sitting there on the floor with her large eyes and horror in her mind.

"No! Mary Ann, what are you thinking?" Destiny gathered her close, hugged her hard in protest. "You know better than to think anything so ridiculous. How could you be responsible for something a madman chooses to do? We don't even know if this doctor has anything to do with what's happened. All the facts aren't in yet, but even if he is waving a magic wand and casting spells throughout the neighborhood, you cannot possibly be to blame."

"You sound like me. That's all well and good in theory, but if I had brought charges against him, maybe he wouldn't have been able to touch any of my friends."

"Or, more likely, he would have moved his deviant behavior somewhere else where no one would notice the difference in their friends. Don't you see, Mary Ann? This neighborhood and the people in it are so close, they don't readily accept that someone like John Paul who loves Helena so very much would suddenly turn on her and try to hurt her. They don't accept that Martin would attack Father Mulligan. All of them began to watch one another and try to figure out what was going wrong."

"Please find out who is doing this and stop it, Destiny," Mary Ann pleaded.

Destiny hugged her again. "I intend to do just that."

Chapter Seventeen

Nicolae was waiting outside the office, his long, sinewy frame leaning negligently against the banister. Destiny paused to look at him. The breeze was coolly ruffling the long silk of his hair. The moon cast a silver beam across the angles and planes of his face, illuminating the sheer sensuality there. His body was hard and powerful, a dangerous blend of predator and seductive male. He turned his head and smiled at her, robbing her of breath just that easily.

"You're very good-looking," she said judiciously, tilting her head to study his magnificent physique. "Are all Carpathians as good-looking as you?"

His black eyebrows arched. "I do not think that is a safe subject for you." He held out his hand to her. Destiny studied it carefully, as if examining it for a trap. How in the world had she become so obsessed with him that the sight of his outstretched hand could send her heart somersaulting? Her fingers laced almost reluctantly with his. Up close, he would be able to feel the way he made her pulse elevate, the way her heart beat a little unsteadily. Her entire body ached for him if she ventured too close to his sheer magnetism. A humiliating fact, and one impossible to hide when he was touching her.

"Silly woman," he said affectionately. "There is nothing at all to hide from a lifemate. There is never any need. I am in your mind as you are in mine."

"Well, if you're in my mind, then you should be perfectly aware that I'm having a difficult time accepting our weird relationship."

He brought their linked hands up to his mouth, his lips teasing the skin of her inner wrist. "You accept our weird relationship; you just are afraid to trust it. Or yourself. It makes you happy, and you do not trust that."

She glared at him. "Have you been hanging out with Father Mulligan again? He's always handing out that two-cent advice of his."

"He only charged you two cents? He made me fill his poor box," Nicolae said, straight-faced. "And he didn't offer a single word on marriage. He just said to have courage, whatever that meant."

Destiny burst out laughing. "The old fraud, he probably said that on purpose just to make me crazy. Where's Vikirnoff?"

Nicolae rugged on her hand until she began walking along the street with him. "He is out seeking information on the woman in the photograph. The healer is on his way, and my brother is determined to keep the cities free of vampires. We do not need Vikirnoff cluttering up the skies tonight. I have plans."

The three little words set butterfly wings fluttering in the pit of her stomach. She had already been too long away from him. Desire shot through her, shaking her very foundations. Her mouth grew dry, and her body hot, just hearing his words. Just the thought of his hard body made her tremble. She didn't dare look at his mouth; her knees would give out.

"What kind of plans?" She had no idea how she managed to get the words past her strangled throat.

He moved closer, his larger body brushing against hers so that electricity seemed to arc and crackle between them. Little dancing whips of lightning sizzled in her bloodstream. Just walking with him was a miracle to her.

Nicolae glanced down at the top of her bent head. She was the miracle to him. He still couldn't quite grasp the fact that he had found her at long last. The endless search for her was over and she was with him. A part of him. The intensity of his feelings shocked him at times. "You said you wanted to go to the movies. I found an all-night theater."

She glanced up at him from under her long lashes, rewarding him with a small smile. "I'd like that, thank you."

The thought of sitting with her in a darkened theater was a reward in and of itself. He couldn't stop the erotic fantasies filling his mind. Destiny blushed wildly, catching his thoughts. She had never considered what one might do in a dark corner of a theater.

Destiny cleared her throat, searching desperately for something to say. Searching desperately for a safe subject "MaryAnn is worried about money again. She didn't want me looking at her books, and now John Paul has wrecked her office. She tried to act as if it were no big deal, but it obviously is."

"I do not want you robbing a bank or risking your life taking money from a drug dealer."

"You sound just like her." Destiny laughed at his severe tone.

"She had a point. I will get her the money she needs. Living in the world for centuries, we Carpathians have a certain expertise in acquiring money. There is no need for you to do anything illegal or dangerous to help MaryAnn."

"I'll hold you to that. I don't like her worrying so much."

"Good. I'm an expert fund-raiser. Count on me, Destiny."

Of course she could count on him. She had known, on some level, for most of her life that he would always be there for her. Now he was real. Solid. Beside her sharing her life and her thoughts. She did count on him.

He bent his head, feathered kisses down her cheek even as they walked along the darkened streets together holding hands. "I share your body too," he murmured wickedly.

His voice whispered over her body, made every muscle clench with urgent need. A rush of liquid heat surged, spread, pooled low in anticipation. She didn't know how he had managed to become so firmly entrenched in her heart so quickly. "I still think you've used some black-magic spell on me," she said gruffly.

"Is it working?"

"Don't sound so happy about it." A fine drizzle had begun. Destiny lifted her face to the skies, allowing me vapor to bathe her face. "I love the rain. I love everything about it. The air always smells so fresh after it rains, and the sound is so soothing. I sometimes lie under the covers and just listen to the way rain sounds likes music."

"Do you want to drop in at the rectory and see Sam?" Nicolae ventured. "Two hours from now I would not want you to suddenly worry about him."

"You were reading my mind again." She smiled up at him because she couldn't help herself. Nicolae. Sharing her life. Giving her hope. Binding his life to her life, so that she would never be alone again. It was almost more than she could take in and accept. Happiness. She had never dared to believe it could be hers. Belief seemed to trickle into her mind and take hold a little bit at a time.

Still hand in hand, they launched skyward, shifting shape as they did so, two owls flying toward the windows of the rectory. They shifted a second time, became vapor streaming through the night to find the opening in the window, no more than a crack, but it allowed them entry. Twin ribbons of colored mist poured into the house, moved quickly through the darkened hallway to find the crack beneath the door.