Carpathian 13 - Dark Destiny

come.
    "Destiny?" Inez prompted. "Velda's right about this. She has the second sight, you know."
    "Do you, Velda?" Destiny asked curiously. She had never run across another person who had special gifts.
    Velda nodded sagely. "I know things about people," she whispered. "That's how I can match people up.
    And that's why I know something's wrong." The whisper was dramatic, the voice theatrical. Destiny automatically scanned the minds of the two sisters, even though she knew it was an invasion of privacy.
    Velda was worried and so was her sister. They believed something had crept into their neighborhood, but no one would listen to them. They fully expected Destiny to laugh at them.
    "I know things about people, too," she admitted, seeking to reassure the sisters. "It can be frightening to have information and not know how to convey it so that others listen. Please tell me what you've observed, Velda."

    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    Velda patted her arm. Inez patted her knee. Neither seemed to notice that she squirmed uncomfortably, but Destiny knew them now. They were both good at reading people; they knew she didn't like to be touched, and they were determined to push past the protective barrier she erected around herself.
    "You're a good girl, dearie," Velda said approvingly. "You were right, Sister—she's the one who will listen to us."
    Destiny considered screaming in frustration. Couldn't they get on with it? This close proximity to others was unnerving. Her head was beginning to throb, and she was afraid there was danger of it exploding.
    Male laughter echoed softly in her mind. Gentle. Teasing. So typical of Nicolae, amused by her self-inflicted predicament, but never malicious about it. Why was she softening toward him? Why was she noticing little things to love about his character? Vampires were deceivers, sweet-talking, cunning deceivers.
    I do not like your thinking I am the undead. My heart is very much alive and in your hands. Do your best not to destroy it.
    You are very lucky it isn't in my hands. She responded to him immediately. To his words that turned her heart over and left her helpless and vulnerable. The only thing I know to do with hearts is incinerate them !
    Ouch! His laughter swept through her mind, moved through her body with the heat of her blood. Turned her to jelly right there in the silly lawn chair. His laughter should be outlawed. She'd thought that more than once over the years.
    "It all started withHelena ," Velda confided, dropping her voice and regaining Destiny's attention immediately. "Have you seen littleHelena ? Nice young girl, with a real figure, not like the half-starved bodies we see so much now."
    Inez nodded. "She has a woman's figure, meat on her bones for a man to snuggle up against. And she knows she's a prize."
    "True, Sister, Helena knows it. She has the confidence of a woman who can wait for the right man."
    Velda confirmed.
    "The right man," Inez echoed, bobbing her purple head.
    Destiny knew the "young woman" they were speaking of. She was in her late thirties or early forties and was a bright spot on the street when she hurried along the walkways calling greetings to everyone. She had mahogany skin and straight hair as black as a raven's wing. Her eyes were a dark chocolate, and she was nearly always laughing. She did have confidence in her walk and a way of enticing men.
    "I know who she is," Destiny admitted.
    "She has a lover, a sweet man, John Paul. A great big bear of a man."
    "A teddy bear," Inez explained.
    Destiny had seen them together—Helena, a short woman with a ripe, curvy figure, and John Paul, a huge, burly man who looked at her as if she were the sun and the moon and everything in between. They Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    held hands everywhere they went, and John Paul was always touchingHelena , a small, stroking caress on her hair, on her shoulder, on her arm. John Paul seemed a gentle giant, well pleased that he had managed to captureHelena 's attention.
    "They've been together for years," Velda said. "Always in harmony, a perfect match.Helena is a flirt," she added.
    "A terrible flirt," Inez affirmed.
    "But she never goes home with other men. She talks and laughs, but it's always John Paul. She adores John Paul, really adores him. And he's wild about her."
    Destiny knew they were speaking the truth. She had been watching the residents of the