Carpathian 13 - Dark Destiny

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.
    MaryAnn 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, MaryAnn, 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."
    MaryAnn 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 MaryAnn. "You saw him. You saw the way he acts with me. Everything about him drives me crazy."
    There was a small silence. MaryAnn 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, Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    silently daring MaryAnn 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."
    MaryAnn gestured with her hands. Beautiful hands, Destiny noted. Graceful. Perfect nails. The fingers weren't very long, but they were shapely, like MaryAnn. Destiny always found herself fascinated by MaryAnn'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."
    MaryAnn 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."
    MaryAnn 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?" MaryAnn 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?"
    MaryAnn 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 MaryAnn. "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.
    MaryAnn noticed the slight trembling and sat up straight. "How did you meet Nicolae?" Because that was what this was about. Something in the past was causing perfectly controlled Destiny to pace like a Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    caged animal. Causing her hands to tremble and her soul to reject a wonderful partner.
    Destiny's shoulders hunched