“What do you think would happen if you did, Destiny?” Her voice was neutral. “Burying bad things only allows them to surface when least expected.”
“Sometimes it’s the only way to survive. Whom do I tell? The police? They’d lock me up in a mental institution.” She met MaryAnn’s gaze squarely. “How do you think I live now? You asked me to come home with you and have a cup of tea. For you that makes perfect sense. I’ll never have a cup of tea again. Never.” She pressed her fingertips to her temples. “My mother drank tea. I remember that now. I’d forgotten. Every morning she made tea in a little teapot and put a cozy over it to allow it to steep. She’d make mine with milk, more milk than tea really, but I felt so grown-up and close to her when we shared it.” She closed her eyes, wanting to keep forever in her mind the memory of her mother’s face, her scent and the way she smiled when she handed her the teacup.
She looked across the table at MaryAnn. “Thank you. I haven’t thought of that in years. The last memories I had of my family were… bad. Frightening. I made myself forget everything so I could forget that. My mother was such a beautiful woman.”
MaryAnn smiled. “I’m certain you must look a great deal like she did. What a wonderful memory. Do you have brothers or sisters?”
Destiny shook her head. “I was the only child.”
“Other family?”
Nicolae popped into her head instantly when she should have said no. His voice, his presence. Destiny felt him strongly. What was he to her? Mortal enemy. No, never that. Destiny raked her hand through her hair, shaken by the depth of her attachment to him.
MaryAnn was waiting for her answer, seeming comfortable with the silence. Destiny’s life was silence. She hadn’t talked so much with anyone in years. Other than Nicolae.
“How do you know when you can trust someone?” Destiny asked softly. “How do you know they won’t betray you?”
“I think sometimes it’s instinctive,” MaryAnn answered carefully, “although it is always possible to make a mistake. Usually you reserve judgment until you’ve been around someone, until you’ve seen their true character.”
“Is that what you’re doing now?” Destiny tilted her chin.
“With you?” MaryAnn’s reply was mild. “You want something from me I can’t give you. You want me to condemn you. You’ve saved my life at least twice. I like you as a person. I know you’re troubled, but that doesn’t make you the monster you want me to name you.”
Destiny heard the swell of conversation in the bar, the blare of music. Laughter erupted from a table only a few feet away. She waved her hand. “This isn’t real. You think you live in reality, but this isn’t real.”
“Of course it is. It’s as real as your life has been, just completely different. You can’t go back; I can’t go back either, but we can go on.”
“That’s not true,” Destiny said softly, raising her vivid eyes to meet MaryAnn’s gaze. “It isn’t true that you can’t go back.”
For the first time MaryAnn looked uncomfortable. She rubbed her fingertip along the tabletop as she composed her thoughts. Weighing her words. Thinking it through before she spoke. “I presume that means you can do something to my mind to alter my perception of reality.”
Destiny nodded slowly, hearing the sudden increase in MaryAnn’s heart rate. “I can take away your memories of me. Of everything you’ve learned about vampires. You won’t remember and you won’t ever have nightmares. You won’t be in danger from… anyone.”
“You can do that?”
Destiny smiled suddenly. There was no amusement in the depths of her eyes. “You would be shocked at what I can do. Yes, easily. I’m one of them, MaryAnn. I’m one of them, and I’ve become comfortable being one of them.”
MaryAnn shook her head. “You’re something different, Destiny. I don’t know what, but you aren’t anything like that creature who wanted my blood.”
Destiny leaned across the table. “What do you think I exist on?” She placed her palms flat on the table, leaned closer still. Her voice was a soft hiss of warning. “I can hear your heart beating. I hear the blood rushing in your veins.” She ran her tongue over her small, perfect teeth. “I have to fight to keep my incisors from lengthening. I haven’t fed in two risings. I think about hunger every moment I’m awake. It crawls through me, an addiction I can’t overcome. Don’t make the mistake I did. Don’t ignore the fact that something beautiful, something alluring, can be the most dangerous thing you will ever encounter.”