Daughter of Destiny

by HC Playa

  He laughed. "You're the weirdo she hangs with. You want some of this, too?" He stroked his dick and leered at her.

  A surge of heat rose from within, as if it rode the tide of her fury. She raised her hands to charge at him. Blinding blue light illuminated the alley

  A moment before her eyes rolled back in her head, Brandon jerked with an almost comical look of surprise on his face. Her arms shook and then her body went limp. Katarina's mind blanked, like an overheated circuit.

  The impact of her body against pavement snapped her out of the momentary semi-conscious state. Her limbs felt like overcooked spaghetti. Her throat was raw and she had a headache that rivaled the one she had when her telepathy emerged. She crawled over to Naia, risking a glance at Brandon. She couldn't see much in the dark, but the silhouette of his large frame was a lighter shade of black against the brick wall of the building behind the library. He didn't move. Her trembling hands sought Naia. An arm jerked under her fingers.

  "It's me."

  Naia relaxed and allowed her to scoop her up. It should have been easy, since Naia weighed less than ninety-five pounds, but Katarina's body protested every movement. She ignored the tremors and relied on sheer will to propel her out of the alley. She collapsed on the pavement beneath the red-tinted halo of light provided by an emergency exit sign.

  "Help! Somebody?!" Katarina called out as she rocked Naia. Katarina ripped the ragged piece of cloth Brandon used for a gag out of Naia’s mouth, and pried the belt off her wrists. Bruises already darkened Naia’s face and tears poured down her cheeks. Katarina wasn't sure who trembled more, Naia or herself. Katarina called out again and choked back her own tears.

  "C-cell ph-phone." Naia stammered.

  Katarina remembered her cell. She pulled it from her pocket. She fumbled with it a moment before she managed to dial 911.

  "911. What type assistance do you need?"

  Katarina managed a steady voice, although she wasn't sure how. "Police and an ambulance. My sister's been raped."

  Sirens wailed in the distance as she disconnected from the dispatcher. Attracted by the sirens, the last library patrons and the librarians gathered to see what had happened. Katarina blocked Naia from view as best as she could. She only relinquished her hold on Naia when the EMT's arrived. They ushered her onto a gurney and into the waiting ambulance. One of them turned to her. "Are you okay, Miss?"

  Katarina glanced down at herself. Her clothes were rumpled and there was a tear on the leg of her black slacks. "I fell down when I fought her attacker, but I'm fine."

  "All right." The middle aged man with shaggy brown hair and kind eyes moved to get in the ambulance.

  "Can I ride with her?"

  "Miss?"

  Katarina turned toward the brisk female voice that interrupted. A dark-skinned uniformed officer stood behind her. "If you're not hurt we need you to stay here so we can get your statement."

  "But..." She started to protest, but broke off when she saw an EMT wheeling another gurney toward a second ambulance. She swallowed at the sight of Brandon's still form. She recognized a defibrillator perched on the gurney.

  "All right. Can I call my parents first?"

  "How old are you?"

  "Sixteen."

  "Call your parents then." The officer turned to the waiting EMT. "Is the vic stable?"

  "Yes."

  "Officer Ramirez will meet you at the hospital to get the vic's statement after the doc checks her out. Make sure they do a rape kit."

  "Will do." He hopped up into the ambulance. The siren resumed and it pulled away.

  The officer turned back to her. "Stay here and make your call. I'll be back in a minute." She strode over to the second ambulance. Fear threatened to choke Katarina, but she took a deep breath and dialed her home number. At the same time she let her mind stretch beyond herself to the paramedic and the officer. As much as Katarina wanted to deny it, whatever happened to Brandon, she caused it and she needed to know what she'd done.

  "...possible concussion and we had to shock him out of Vtac, but that was probably from the Paradise pills that fell out of his pockets when we moved him to the gurney. I don't know why kids take that shit."

  Katarina let out a sigh of relief and punched the talk button. She didn't want the police asking her questions she couldn't answer.

  "Kat? It's past curfew. You better have a damn good reason for not being home," her father's voice echoed through the phone. Katarina swallowed and pushed aside the memory of power exploding out of her body. She focused on her father's angry voice. One nightmare at a time was enough to deal with.

  ***

  Stars winked out one by one as dawn inched its way over the horizon. Katarina turned from the window and went to Naia's bedside. The prescribed sedative kicked in, allowing Naia to sleep. Katarina tip-toed out of the bedroom and went across the hall to her room. Her soft bed beckoned and every cell in her body begged her to heed the call, but instead she went to her desk and opened her comm. Before she faced her parents downstairs, she needed answers. She knew one person that might be able to supply them, and Delaney was an early riser.

  "Hey, Kit-Kat. I thought you had moral issues with waking up before the sun." Her comm-pal grinned and brushed her mane of curly black hair out of her eyes.

  Katarina managed a small smile. "Hi, Laney. College going okay?"

  "Yeah. You caught me finishing a biology lab report."

  "Sorry. Laney, we've been friends for what, four years now?"

  "Yeah, why? There isn't an expiration date on me is there?"

  Katarina forced a small laugh. "No, I need some straight answers."

  "Okay," Delaney replied after a pause.

  "What does magic feel like?"

  "Excuse me?"

  "Come on Delaney. Don't bullshit. I know you're a Mage. I'm even better than Mom at spotting a lie, and even she knew you were lying." Katarina leaned closer to the screen. "I'm a telepath, Laney. Well, empath back when we met face to face, but that isn't the issue. I swear I'll honor your secrecy on this. Something happened and I need to know some things."

  "Are you all right?"

  "Yes."

  "I'll tell you what I can."

  "What does magic feel like when it's inside of you?"

  Delaney paused, considering the question. "Well, it varies from person to person because not everyone has the same amount or skills. For the most part, there's an element of warmth or heat. For me, it's kind of like I took a shot of whiskey, not that you should know how that feels mind you."

  "No, I don't know how that feels, but I can imagine."

  "Magic is, at its most basic, energy. When you work a spell, there's an electric sizzle in the air. Magic can be as harmless birthday candle on a cake or as destructive as a forest fire." Delaney paused. "What happened, Kat?"

  "I think I killed a boy with magic."

  "What!?" Delaney screeched.

  Katarina lowered the volume on the comm.

  "He was raping Naia. It exploded out of me in this blue light and I passed out. The doctors and police decided the drug he was high on killed him, but I know it was me." Katarina lowered her head to her hands. She didn't mention the voice, because now she wasn't even sure she heard it. Maybe she thought she heard it because she had no choice but to let that inferno out.

  "Kat."

  Katarina shook as she replayed the memory in her head. She couldn't fathom being capable of killing with little more than will.

  "Kat, look at me."

  Katarina raised her eyes to the screen.

  "It wasn't your fault. You were defending Naia. Killing isn't pleasant or easy, even when it's necessary. Trust me. I know."

  "I know, it's just, I didn't think someone could do something like that. I'm an empath. I shouldn't be able to." She paused and frowned. "What do you mean you know about killing?"

  "The world of magic has its monsters. As a Mage, it is part of my duty to make sure those monsters don't prey on unknowing innocents.
As for an empathy being able to kill, yes it's unlikely, but you'll find as you get older that we are capable of many things when protecting those we love."

  Katarina couldn't imagine what that life was like. She didn't want to. "Do I have to use the magic?"

  "If it's Mage magic, no. It's no different than if you have a great singing voice but choose never to sing. It's an ability to tap into the energy inside us and around us. That's all."

  Katarina thought back to the alley. No, that wasn't what it felt like to her at all. She still thought it was magic, just not the Mage kind.

  "Is Naia all right?"

  "She wasn't hurt too bad physically, but she's been traumatized. Mom already arranged for her to see a therapist."

  "Fucking bastard. Excuse the language Kat, but if the guy wasn't already dead I would happily do the deed. Naia's got you and your parents. She'll get past this."

  "I'll make sure she does."

  Delaney nodded. "You have any more questions?"

  "Not right now. I still have to talk to my parents. I better go. Thanks Laney."

  "Blessed be, Kit-Kat."

  Katarina smiled. "Blessed be." She disconnected the comm. Every movement felt like moving through Jell-O as she left her room and headed downstairs.

  Stepping into the living room, tears burned at the back of her eyes. All she wanted was to feel her mother's arms around her, her father's strong hand on her back. Outside of the kitchen, her parents’ low angry voices carried in the otherwise quiet house.

  "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.