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 with Helena,” Velda confided, dropping her voice and regaining Destiny’s attention immediately. “Have you seen little Helena? 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 held hands everywhere they went, and John Paul was always touching Helena, 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 capture Helena’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 neighborhood for months, was a silent observer of their lives. John Paul lived for Helena. His every waking thought was for her.
“Helena was crying a few weeks ago, wandering around at night. She came over to us, and her face was swollen and bruised. John Paul had struck her several times. She said it wasn’t like him at all. He came home from work and was ‘different.'”
The nape of Destiny’s neck prickled in alarm. A shadow crept out of the darkness, slid along the street toward them. Overhead, a sudden gust of wind carried swirling black clouds to obliterate the stars.
“John Paul is incapable of hurting Helena.” She made it a statement. She knew his thoughts, knew his gentle nature. She knew how much he loved Helena. He would never risk his relationship with her. Helena was not a woman who would put up with a man striking her. “Are you certain?”
Velda nodded. “Helena believes him to be ill. She was planning to ask him to go to see a doctor. She thought he might have a brain tumor or something. It’s just so out of character. The next day, when she confronted him, he didn’t seem to remember what he’d done.”