Daughter of Destiny (12 page)

"I told you that damn
telepathy wasn’t going to be the only thing to surface. What the
fuck do you plan to do now, Maureen?"

"Don’t put this all on me,
Patrick. You knew she might discover whatever abilities she
inherited."

"You assured me they would
remain dormant. I've risked a lot to protect the both of you. And
for what? She's one of them--fucking demon spawn!"

"Don’t you dare! She’s our
daughter!"

"The hell she is! We both
know it wasn't me that knocked you up."

Katarina made a sound
somewhere between a choked sob and a gasp of surprise, alerting her
parents to her presence.

"Now look what you’ve
done."

She turned to flee upstairs
but her mother caught her by the arm. "Kat, honey," her mother
said, pulling her into a hug.

Katarina jerked away. "Is
it true?"

Her mother averted her eyes
from Katarina’s accusing stare.

Her dad stepped forward.
"It isn’t important. What I want to know is what did you do to that
boy? I'm not buying that the drugs killed him. I got a look at his
tox screen. Yeah, he was high, but he didn't have enough of it in
his system to OD."

Katarina looked at the man
who for sixteen years had been her hero; a man she trusted despite
the secrets he kept. Now he treated her with open disdain. Had it
all been a lie, an act to fulfill whatever objective the Mages gave
him regarding her and her mother?

"Don't you even care that
Naia was raped?"

"Naia's a good girl, a
strong girl. She’s been through worse. After the childhood she had,
and the group home we pulled her out of, this will be just another
shitty thing she'll move past. The doctor said she was fine. Now
answer my question."

Three minutes before she
would have sworn she had nothing left, but as anger built inside
her, Katarina felt power rising up again. She didn't fight it, but
let it suffuse her, allowing her body to absorb the energy, like
recharging a spent battery. Manipulating the energy was as
instinctive as breathing. The energy banished her lethargy and
crystallized her resolve.

"You know what? Fuck off.
Believe what you want. Naia needed my help, and I did what I had to
do."

"Don’t you dare use that
kind of language with your father, young lady!"

Katarina turned from her
father's shocked expression to her mother. "I thought you just said
he wasn't my father."

"Biology isn't all there is
to being a parent, Kat. You know that."

"If that were true, then
maybe he'd give a shit about Naia."

Patrick stepped forward.
"Listen, I didn't mean to sound like I didn't care, but it's not
like she was a virgin, Kat. Her father sold her as a child
prostitute. If she could deal with that, one more dick isn't going
to kill her."

Katarina looked at the
monster in front of her and gave him a frigid smile. "I'm glad you
aren't my father. Maybe I do have something dangerous inside me.
Maybe I did kill that boy. Maybe I'll just let you wonder about
that."

She turned and confronted
her mother, who sank onto the long leather couch under her stare.
"Who is my father?"

Patrick moved to stand
behind her mother, as a threat or support, Katarina didn't know and
didn't care.

Her mother broke the
silence. "It doesn’t matter. You’re still a child. You don't
understand the ramifications of whatever power you possess and you
obviously lack control."

Her mother was wrong. It
mattered a great deal.

"We're still your parents,
Kat. This conversation, this night, never happened."

"And if I don't want to
play by your rules?"

Patrick cut off whatever
her mother intended to say. "I'll turn you into the Mage council
myself."

Fear went through her, but
the flash of fear in her mother's eyes gave her courage to defy
him. "And? I'll tell them you knew about me all along."

His eyes narrowed in fury.
"You want to play that way? Fine. You want Naia to have a safe
home? The adoption papers haven't gone through yet. You want those
papers to go through you'll agree to our terms. You go back on your
word and she's out on the street."

Katarina flicked a glance
at her mother, but she couldn't read the emotion in her mother's
shuddered expression.

"You're forbidden to use
whatever you used tonight. Do you understand me?" Patrick demanded.
The rest of his words he thought with such vehemence that she
picked them up as if he were broadcasting.
"I know you can hear
me girl. I've treated you as my own for sixteen years. I've
protected you from people who'd just as soon kill you if they find
out what happened tonight. You reacted out of fear for someone
else's safety, and for that reason alone I'll protect you this one
last time as long as you give me your word. From tonight on, you
are no longer my daughter."

She met his gaze and it was
he who flinched. Deep inside, a part of her died, power and ice
protected her, kept the pain from crushing her. She let the power
recede, leaving the ice, solid and thick.

"I understand."

***

Zane set the picture down
before his grip contorted the plastic. "And I thought my father was
a bastard." A part of him regretted looking at something so painful
and personal, but then again she'd seen him in his nightmare. Zane
caressed her image in the most recent photo in which she wore a
teal gown and stood next to Naia, who was garbed in a white gown
and veil.

"I don’t deserve her." Zane
said to the empty room. He was showing her a glimpse of heaven, of
love and happiness, and in two months he would leave, taking it all
away. Zane looked to the door, trying to tell himself to just
leave, but every cell in his body and mind protested. He stood
rooted to the floor; adrenaline flooded his system at the mere
thought of leaving Katarina. Wrong or not, he couldn't leave her,
not yet. He closed his eyes and cursed fate.

***

Katarina's jaw dropped when
she entered the kitchen. Zane stood in front of her stove cooking
an omelet.

"Whose cooking skills are
you using? Mine or yours?"

"A little of both," he
answered with a grin. "Care to lend me a hand?"

They worked together almost
as well as she and Naia. The domesticity of it all proved a
bittersweet reminder of what could not be. She lectured herself as
she piled buttered toast on a plate.
You're being foolish.
You're lucky to get this, Kat. How many people look their whole
lives and never find real love?

After their meal, Zane
helped her load the dishwasher. The process was interrupted with
kisses and caresses that distracted them both. Zane toyed with her
ponytail and suckled the pulse point on her neck as she fumbled to
start the dishwasher.

"Zane!" She laughed. "We
need to go."

He reached under her navy
blue pleated skirt and cupped her where she was already wet for
him. "I was wrong. Being dressed doesn’t help a damn bit. I still
want you." His lips met hers in a deep passionate kiss that made
her knees weak.

When he broke the kiss, his
voice was raspy with desire. "You know, I don’t even have to take
that thing off to do what I have in mind."

Katarina danced out of his
reach. "Ah, ah, ah. If I let you do that we’ll never leave. I don’t
think you came all of this way to visit the inside of my
apartment."

Katarina left the kitchen
to hunt down her purse and electronic key. She turned a circle in
the middle of the living room trying to remember where she put the
darn things. When she once again faced the kitchen, Zane stood in
the doorway.

"Looking for these?" He
held both items just out of reach.

"Yes, thank you." She held
out her hands.

Zane didn’t hand them over.
"Hmm. I think I need a finder's reward."

"Is that so?" She closed
the distance between them. She meant the kiss to be brief, but the
feel of his tongue in her mouth thrusting in blatant mimicry of sex
broke her resolve.
To hell with it.
She knocked her key and
purse from Zane’s hands and in a heartbeat it was she who had him
pressed up against the nearest wall, ripping the coverall in her
haste to feel him inside her. Today was theirs. Duty could
wait.

***

Hours later Zane woke to a
persistent chiming noise. He frowned, at first thinking it was that
damn alarm clock. Katarina sprawled half on top of him, sleeping. A
pounding noise replaced the chiming. Zane sighed and stretched out
his senses. It took a moment to pinpoint the cause of the noise.
Naia was at the door. He nudged Katarina to the side and got up.
Zane glanced down on the floor at his ruined coverall. He couldn’t
help but smirk. The material was supposed to be resistant to
anything short of flying shrapnel. He reached into his pack, which
happened to be near the sofa, and pulled out what Katarina called
boxers. He donned them on the way to the door. A moment of
concentration and Katarina’s security code popped into his head. He
disengaged the alarm and opened the door. Zane fought the urge to
laugh when Naia snatched her raised hand away an inch from knocking
on his naked chest. She took two steps back.

"Where’s Kat?"

"Sleeping."

Naia quirked an eyebrow at
him. "It’s one-thirty."

Zane gave her a cocky grin.
"We had a late night."

"She never misses work.
Ever."

He crossed his arms over
his chest. "Well, Mommy, she did call in."

She glared at him. "There’s
no reason to be patronizing."

Zane just smiled and
continued to block the doorway.

"Move out of my way so I
can come in." She tensed and Zane suspected she might try to dodge
past him if he didn't let her in. He rolled his eyes. Naia wasn’t
going to be satisfied until she saw Katarina. He was about to move
out of her way when he remembered Katarina’s state of
undress.

"Wait a minute."

He shut the door in Naia’s
face. Zane retrieved a blanket from the bedroom. He wasn’t going to
be the one to wake her. She needed the rest. She pushed herself too
hard too often. A satisfied grin plastered across his face again.
He found one way to keep her in bed and hopefully he could manage
to do that regularly for the next two months if she agreed to come
with him.

He covered her with the
blanket. She shifted positions, tossing in her sleep. He kissed her
brow and she quieted. Zane rose and went back to let Naia
in.

***

Naia stalked into the room
after sending the alien an icy glare. She pulled up short. Katarina
was indeed sleeping. A bare arm hung off the sofa, making it
apparent that her friend was quite naked under the blanket. The
clothes strewn on the floor confirmed Kat wasn’t sleeping there
because she let Zane have the bedroom either. Even though she
figured last night Kat and Zane might end up having sex, it still
came as a bit of a surprise. She couldn't envision Kat flinging
aside her infamous self-control as casually as she had the bra
lying on the floor near the coffee table.

Naia went over and shook
Katarina's shoulder. "Kat, wake up."

"Mm?"

As soon as Katarina blinked
open her eyes Naia turned and snagged the remote from the coffee
table. She turned the television on. The station didn't matter. All
of them were broadcasting the same thing.

"Authorities are urging
people to refrain from traveling as a measure of precaution. Please
keep in mind that vaccinated individuals can still serve as
carriers."

"Where?" Katarina
asked.

Naia turned. "Chicago. I
called George and he said the CDC has traced it to some guy from
India who came to the states to visit family. India's been slow to
get the vaccines out to their rural populations."

Katarina sat up and rested
her head on her knees. The afghan fell away showing her bare back.
Zane left the room and Naia thought he did so to give them privacy,
but moments later he returned with Katarina's bathrobe. He draped
it around her shoulders and perched on the edge of the
sofa.

"Travel isn't a good idea
right now," Naia said.

He glanced at the
television. "Coran said I'm fine. He compared the genetic structure
to those of our standard inoculations. It has a ninety-eight
percent match to the Rhodesian Plague."

Katarina slipped her arms
into her robe and then tossed the afghan aside. "You're still a
possible carrier and the current vaccine isn't safe enough for
children under two or immune-suppressed individuals. I advise
against travelling to India as well. I wish I could take time to
help you, but I have a treatment regimen to improve."

"I called the techs in as
soon as I heard. I have them reanalyzing the viral RNA
samples."