Destiny Calls

  “Get away from me, toad.”

  “What’s the matter?” Gracie never cried.

  “I said get away!” she snapped, and Cain stilled. Someone had hurt her.

  “Grace, tell me what has happened,” he asked softly, and she tossed the celery she had been holding onto the counter and dropped to the floor. Her face pressed into her palms as she choked out hard sobs. He followed her to the floor and rubbed her back as she wailed. “Tell me what has upset you.”

  “No,” she cried. “I will never tell a soul. I am such a fool. Such a stupid, stupid fool!”

  “You are not stupid, Grace.”

  Her body shook. “Yes, Cain, I am. I am very, very stupid.”

  “Why do you say such things?”

  When she glanced at him, her eyes were watery and shot through with red. “Why is this life so cruel? Why did God make Anna Adam’s and yours as well? Why did He allow mother and father to fall in love when they were not true mates? And why did He send the Fosters here only to ruin little Cybil’s life and leave Dane with nothing?”

  He had never seen his optimistic sister so distraught.

  “I do not know, Grace,” he rasped. “I wish I had the answers, but I don’t.”

  “You are lucky.”

  He scoffed. “That is the last word I would use to describe myself, runt.”

  “You are,” she said as she continued to wipe at her tearing eyes. “You do not have to follow some greater being’s plan. You can love whoever you want and never have to fear being called away from them.”

  “It isn’t that simple, Grace.”

  “Why not? You have been here pining for Destiny since the minute she left. Someone else may already love her by now.”

  His throat constricted as his gut tightened. “She deserves to be happy.” He forced the words out, knowing it was the right thing to say.

  “And what about you, Cain? Do you not deserve happiness?”

  “I am happy.”

  “Liar,” she said and then gave a water-logged laugh. “Why are you still here? You never remained on the farm this long in the past. You barely visit the town anymore.”

  He pursed his lips. He barely left the farm because he didn’t trust himself to not go find Destiny. Rather than answer her question, he repeated his own. “What has upset you, Grace?”

  “It does not matter. It is better I found out now than later.” She wiped her eyes and just like that, she seemed to decide she had cried enough. “I need to tell you something.”

  “What’s that?”

  She swallowed. “I don’t know if it means anything, and the only reason I know is because I picked it up in someone else’s thoughts, but it might mean something.”

  “Tell me.”

  She sat up and sniffled. “Did you ever see the birthmark on Destiny’s neck?”

  “Yes. She calls it her stork bite.”

  “Yes, that’s the one. Dane has the same mark.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. I don’t know if Cybil does.”

  Cain wasn’t following. “Okay. Why is this important to me?”

  “Because Magdalene has it, too.”

  “Grace, you so—” Dane and Magdalene were half-breeds. Cybil was a half-breed. That meant… “You think Destiny may be—”

  She nodded. “I think it’s worth looking into. From what Larissa tells me, this Magdalene has a theory that immortals like she and Dane do not get called. It’s just a theory of course, the girl is rather idiotic if you ask me, but there you have it. If Cybil shares the same mark, perhaps it means something.”

  Cain stood. “Are you all right?” He needed to go visit Cybil. Grace nodded. He had a suspicion about what had upset her. He felt terrible leaving her after she had just cried her eyes out, but he needed to go see if what she said was true. Wanting to bestow some form of comfort on her, he quickly said, “Grace, males are dimwitted. We don’t figure things out as quickly as females. Don’t stay mad at Dane too long. The poor kid loves you.” With that he ran out the door.

  * * * *

  Eleazar followed Cain into the holding area. “It may just be a coincidence,” the bishop said.

  Cain paused. He and the bishop had never really gotten along, but Cain needed him to understand how important this was. “Eleazar, if it isn’t just a coincidence, if it actually means something, it changes everything. I love her.”

  The bishop’s next words took him completely off guard. “Which one, Cain?”

  His head jerked back. “What do you mean which one?”

  Quietly, without a bit of facetiousness, Eleazar said, “Destiny or Cybil?”

  Cain would have been more comfortable if the male had physically struck him. “Cybil is a child!”

  “I am aware she is, but the two of you share a very close bond. Even now, when her mind is not well, she calms in your presence. Was it not the sight of you with another female that sent her off in a fright? She is a child now, but she will not always be.”

  Cain’s jaw tightened. “She will always be a child to me. It isn’t right for you to speak of her so. She is not well, and she is just a girl.”

  “I do not mean to offend you. Keep in mind that I am almost six centuries old, my friend. I have seen a lot in my lifetime. We are immortal. I have watched your grandfather wait for your grandmother to come of age. I have seen your father await your mother. I was there the day that Nico met his best friend’s daughter, Mary, and was beaten to a pulp when he confessed she was to be his. I was there the day your sister, my wife was born. Eventually we are all adults, Cain. Eventually our age ceases to matter. I do not know about Destiny. I have witnessed more impossible occurrences in the past two years than ever before. What I do know is that Cybil is like us. She may not be well, but since transitioning, she has become more like us than both Dane and Magdalene. Perhaps she was who God called to you.”

  He was wrong. Cain understood what he was getting at, but he was wrong. “No, Eleazar. You may be right. She is more like us than the other two, but you overlook one crucial fact. If Cybil was my mate, her body would have accepted my blood without affecting her mind. The female God called to me is not hidden. She is very pregnant and very happy, living in my brother’s home. Annalise was my chance at destiny. Now I am choosing my own.”

  He nodded, and nothing more was said. When they approached Cybil’s cell, she growled and bared her fangs at the bishop. “Be still,” he commanded, and she stopped pacing.

  “She won’t hurt me,” Cain said as he unlocked the cell and stepped in. He signed and spoke. “Cybil, I need to touch you for a moment. Will you let me look at something?”

  Her head tilted to the side as she eyed him curiously. He moved slowly and reached for her hand. Cain was quite aware she didn’t settle like this for anyone but him. It still didn’t negate what he had said. She was not to be his. He looked at Cybil like a little sister.

  She purred as he lifted her natty hair off her shoulders. He sucked a breath in at the sight of the mark. Stork bite.

  He gently patted her shoulder and thanked her. She hissed when he left the cell, and then the banging came. He hadn’t been to visit her as much. It always pained him to leave her. She seemed distressed after each visit.

  He tried to ignore the display of animal behavior coming from her now. He focused on memories of the way she used to be. His mind clung to one evening when she had climbed into his bed after a nightmare.

  “What was the dream about?” he asked. Dreams had always fascinated him. He missed the dreams he had once shared with Anna.

  The sign Cybil had made wasn’t one he recognized. Spelling was always a little difficult for the girl, being that she hadn’t attended school since her mother’s passing. She spelled out each letter.

  V-A-N-P-I-E-R.

  That had been just before Destiny and Vito had returned. He had been distracted and never asked her more about her dreams. She may have discovered what they were, same as Dane had. Perhaps she had drea
ms from seeing her mother dead in the woods.

  To mortals, even half-breeds, dreams were just dreams. There was very little significance to them. Interesting how something that carried immeasurable value to them was worthless to mortals. Well, he was done waiting for fate to decide.

  He suddenly had a disturbing thought. Cain had a pretty good idea why his sister was so upset. “Bishop,” he called, turning back before leaving the holding area.

  Eleazar looked at him expectantly. The man looked tired since becoming a father.

  “Magdalene…Is there any way she could be related to—”

  “She is not,” he interrupted.

  “You are sure?”

  “Yes. We have her blood, and Christian and I compared it a few days ago. She is of a different sire than Dane and Cybil. Her immortal blood is her mothers. Her father was absolutely mortal.”

  Relief shot threw him. Bloodlines were complicated business the Amish were very careful about. If Dane had messed around with Magdalene, he was a wretch for hurting Grace, but at least there hadn’t been any crossing of bloodlines by accident. No matter what, he would always feel responsible for those kids.

  Chapter 36

  “What’s going on with the kids?” Destiny shouted over the base pounding from the speaker behind their booth. They were really getting too old for this Friday night bar scene.

  Carmella lowered her long willowy body into the booth and slipped her cell phone back into her purse. “Nothing, Jason just wanted to make sure we were okay to drive. I think he’s trying to get out of the house and leave the kids with my mom.”

  “Isn’t it amazing how quickly they get burnt out?” Rochelle said, swirling the straw in her Malibu Bay Breeze and adjusting her cardigan. “I mean, I never complain or bat an eye when Matt goes to a hockey game, but the second I’m heading out the door it’s, Well, how long are you gonna be? What should I feed the girls for dinner?”

  Destiny looked over at Brenda. “How’s work?” she shouted to her friend.

  Brenda shrugged. “It’s a job. What ever happened on your date the other night?”

  Ugh, Destiny didn’t even want to think about that disaster. “My date referred to himself all night in the third person, and when I got home my heel broke on my favorite shoes.”

  “The black ruffle ones?”

  “Yup. Just another night in the exciting life of Destiny Santos.”

  “That stinks.”

  The topic turned to the usual. Brenda taking inventory of the possible suitors in Destiny’s life, finding some good quality in each loser she listed, as Carmella and Chelle went on about which children’s store was going to have sales that week. It was the same as it always was. They laughed, they joked, their three wedding bands taunted Destiny, but she loved them all, and she was glad they had found the right man even though she had not.

  “Excuse me.”

  As if all connected by a string, all four of them turned their heads at once to the tall man with the deep voice standing at their table.

  “Well, hello,” Rochelle greeted.

  “Shut up, Chelle,” Brenda said as she elbowed Destiny in the ribs. Under her breath she said, “Carmella, you’re drooling.”

  “I don’t care,” Carmella said, openly staring at the beautiful man with the blue eyes and strong arms peeking out from his rolled sleeves. Destiny couldn’t get her tongue to work in order to form words.

  “Can I buy you a drink?” he asked, and Destiny looked at the girls sitting around the table.

  “You!” Brenda hissed. “Say yes!”

  “Yes,” Destiny answered with only a minor delay.

  The man smiled. “I have a seat at a table over there. It’s a little bit quieter. Why don’t you come and join me.”

  “Uh, I’ll meet you right there.”

  “Good.” He nodded and turned away.

  “Ho-ly cow,” Carmella said as she continued to stare as the beautiful man walked away.

  “That was one delicious piece of man right there,” Rochelle commented as she squinted her eye and looked into the bottom of her glass.

  “How much has she had to drink?” Brenda wondered aloud.

  “Um, hello, what the hell just happened?” Destiny asked, tapping the table to get every one’s attention. Sometimes when they got together it was like an attention deficit convention. Something shiny passed by, and everyone got completely lost. “What the hell do I do?”

  “Um,” Brenda said, pressing her finger to her lips. “I’m pretty sure you go over there, let him buy you drinks while we spy and get Carmella to try to lip read what he’s saying to you, and then go home and have lots and lots of sex with him.”

  “Oooh, that’s a great plan!” Carmella cheered.

  “I am not having sex with a perfect stranger!”

  “You really should,” Rochelle encouraged, leaning on her elbow.

  “No more, sweetie.” Carmella patted Rochelle’s arm and slid away her cocktail. Rochelle pouted. Turning back to the group, Carmella said, “Seriously, Destiny, you should go talk to him.”

  “Something’s got to be wrong with him. Men like that don’t hang out in dive bars unless there’s some sort of defect in their personality.”

  “Won’t know unless you try. For all you know he could wind up being the love of your life,” Brenda said encouragingly.

  Destiny groaned. “You think every man I meet’s going to be the love of my life.”

  “Well, sooner or later I’ll be right.”

  Rochelle, who had somehow retrieved her Bay Breeze again added, “And maybe he’s the kind of guy who knows how to take charge.” She made a wick-tush sound and motioned as if she were cracking a whip.

  All three of them stared at her. “You’re a hot mess tonight,” Carmella said.

  “I can’t help it. I told you not to let me have rum.”

  “Okay, I’m going over there. Do not leave.”

  Destiny wiped her sweaty palms down the hips of her jeans as she tried to walk with a little sway to her step and not trip at the same time. When she found the man’s table, he was sitting with his arm resting on the back of the chair, fist to his cheek, and smiling at her. Destiny fought the urge to look to see if he was playing some sort of joke on her.

  “Please sit down,” he said.

  She swallowed and slid into the booth. There definitely had to be something extremely wrong with him. No one was that good-looking and nice, too. Or…“Are you married?”

  He laughed at her question. “No. I’m not married.”

  “Divorced?” She didn’t even know his name, and she was interrogating him.

  “No.”

  “Gay?”

  “No.”

  “Homeless?”

  “No.”

  There had to be a catch here. Destiny frowned. He was probably hiding a baby toe between his legs.

  “Let me help you out. I’m Amish.”

  “Amish? Then what are you doing in a bar?”

  “I came to find you.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Okay, nice talking to you.” She stood.

  “Wait,” he said, and she stilled. He stood as well and took her hands in his. She tried not to let how good her hands felt in his persuade her. She didn’t date guys who tried to use lines on her.

  He stepped close to her and as much as she didn’t want to be affected by him, she couldn’t deny that he affected her. He was beautiful. A warm wave of hope filled her that made no sense whatsoever.

  “Your name is Destiny Santos. You’re a reporter for Channel Six news and you love your job, but deep down you would trade it all in for a family if you found the right man. He can’t be just any man. He has to know how to love a woman like you. You want to be respected, adored, valued, and needed. You’re addicted to dirty romance novels and are captivated by something called an iPad. You must have your phone on you at all times.

  “You love animals and are captivated by opportunities to try new things. In the winter you
wear hideous boots that you call UGGs. Your hair is really curly, but you insist on wearing it straight. You have three scars on your back and have no idea how they got there. Your brother has a weird obsession with pie and science fiction. You—”

  “Stop!” She pulled her hands out of his grip and looked to make sure her friends were still there. “How do you know all that? Did you go through my trash or something?”

  “I know it because I love you.”

  Destiny took a hasty step back. “Who are you?”

  “My name’s Cain Hartzler.”

  “Look, Cain Hartzler, I’m not sure where you came from or how you learned all that stuff about me, but if you don’t leave me alone I’m going to call—”

  He looked her in the eyes.

  Pressing his lips to her ear, she shivered as he softly whispered, “Lembre-se de mim.”

  Remember me.

  Destiny sucked in a breath, prepared to tell him where he could go when all of the sudden a thousand images flooded her mind like magic. The woods. A monster. Cain saving her. The cabin. The farm. The bishop kissing the nun who wasn’t a nun at all. Gracie feeding Vito pie. Cain kissing her, making love to her, holding her, loving her. That terrible moment where she told him good-bye. The bishop coming to take away her memories and her looking at Cain one last time and then only seeing a stranger for a split second and waking up the next day alone in her bed with only the memory of having the flu.

  Her hands trembled, and tears stung her eyes. She needed to sit down, but couldn’t move. She looked at him and shook her head. “I remember you,” she somehow managed to rasp.

  He shut his eyes and smiled as he breathed a sigh. He took her hands in his and softly said, “I have something to tell you, Destiny.”

  “What?”

  “I have a mate.”

  Her smile faltered. She recalled the girl named Annalise. “Anna.”

  “No, Anna isn’t my destiny. You are.”

  “But…I’m not like you.”

  “You may be more like me than you realize, but even if you are just Destiny, I have decided that you are mine.”