Carpathian 17 - Dark Celebration

and was highly skilled in combat. He moved with the drift of snow, part of nature itself, transparent and fluid, as silent as the flakes falling from the clouds.

    Skyler pulled her parka closer around her and looked out toward the deeper forest. The world was white and sparkling, snow weighing down the branches of the trees in all directions. Off in the distance she could see the smoke coming from the direction of the inn.
    She shivered for no reason at all.
    "It's beautiful out here, don't you think?" MaryAnn remarked.
    Skyler nodded. "Very beautiful—but dangerous."
    "And cold," MaryAnn added. "I'm not like the others. I can't regulate my body temperature like they can. Even you do better than I do. And I'm not a particularly adventurous person."
    "I love the forest and even the cold. There's something about knowing wild animals are close and everything around me is in its natural state." Even as she admitted it, Skyler's gaze was searching out the darker interior of the woods.
    MaryAnn shuddered. "I can see you love this, child, but I'm a city girl. And I'm totally out of my element here. I have to tell you, if any of these men were my man, I'd be bashing him upside the head—and I'm a woman who doesn't condone violence."
    Skyler swung her full attention back to MaryAnn, laughing. "I think that's a good idea.
    I'm going to tell Francesca that's what she needs to do whenever Gabriel gets bossy."

    "It's definitely what Destiny needs to do with that bossy man she's hooked up with,"
    MaryAnn said decisively.
    "I heard that," Nicolae said. He pitched a snowball at MaryAnn with deadly accuracy.
    She laughed as it splattered against her shoulder. "You're so mean, Nicolae. You know I can't retaliate because my hands are frozen."
    "You are such a little hothouse flower," Nicolae taunted. "And you couldn't hit me anyway. Your one try hit the tree three feet to my left."
    "Just call me Orchid. I thrive best in the warmth of the indoors. As for aim, I never could hit anything, not even a softball and I tried when I was a kid. What about you, Skyler, do you play sports?"
    Skyler shook her head. "No. I'm not too good with other kids. Francesca homeschools me."
    "I could hit a rock with my eyes closed by the time I was fourteen," Nicolae boasted.
    "That's what we played with in the old days."
    "Did you really?" Skyler was intrigued.
    "Yes. We spent a great deal of time seeing who could feel a small attack coming and divert it before it hit. I was darn good at it too. I won't mention my brother, who excelled at it and slipped one or two past me to give me the occasional black eye."
    "All this manly beating on the chest is making me weak. I need to fly home soon to my beautiful Seattle," MaryAnn said half-jokingly.
    Destiny made a single sound of distress and reached for MaryAnn's hand. "You can't leave me."
    "You'll do fine, girlfriend. You know you will. You're strong and whole…"
    "That's taking it a little too far," Destiny said. "I'm never going to be like everyone else."
    "And no one wants you to be. You're Destiny and you're unique. Right, Skyler?"
    MaryAnn drew the girl into the conversation. "We wouldn't want Destiny to be any other way."
    "I like you just the way you are," Skyler admitted shyly.
    "I don't know what way I am," Destiny whispered, gripping MaryAnn harder, as if she might be able to keep her in the Carpathian Mountains.
    "You accept people the way they are," Skyler said, her gaze too old, memories swirling to the surface before she could stop them. "You just accept people."
    MaryAnn put her hand on Skyler's shoulder. "That's right, Destiny. She's right about you.
    You never ask anything of anyone and you don't expect them to be anything they're not.
    You're a very accepting person."
    "I'm not any different than the two of you," Destiny objected.
    MaryAnn blew out a trail of white vapor and watched it float away. "Yes, you are," she said without meeting her friend's gaze. "I could never do what you've done. You have the courage to take on a man like Nicolae. I can't do that. I'll never do that. I intend to remain alone all of my life rather than chance being with someone who is dominating and possibly destructive." She spread her hands out. "I don't want a man in my life and I always judge them too harshly."
    "If some handsome hottie came out of the forest and claimed you, you wouldn't accept him?" Skyler asked. "No matter how hot he was?"
    MaryAnn shook her head. "Absolutely not. I would catch the first