Wicked Destiny

Chapter 5





Days, weeks, and months started to run together. Come to think of it, the dreams stopped too. Viktor and I started to do the couple thing. During the week when I wasn’t working we’d spend time together. He was basically some type of consultant that could work whenever he wanted and, well, I was still a bartender-slash-club owner. I still had my days with Shay on Thursdays and we’d always meet up and go shopping. Viktor made sure not to overcrowd me, though Shay always asked for intimate details. Up until now all we’d managed to do was kiss, and even that made my toes curl.

“You are so lying to me right now!” Shay shouted across the clothing store.

“I’m not lying. He’s a complete gentleman.” I couldn’t help but laugh at myself for saying that.

“So, for two and a half months you have managed to keep all your clothes on? With all of this showing,” Shay waved a hand around me, “and with that hanging on your arm?” She then was pointing to Viktor, who was walking toward us.

“Hello, ladies. I came to see if I could buy you lunch.” He gave me a quick peck and a soft smile.

“Like I said, you are lying.” Shay started walking out the store, but turned to us and said, “Well, are you coming?”

“Did I say something wrong?” Viktor took my bags and threw his giant arm around my neck.

“Nope, you did everything right.” I smiled as we caught up to Shay.





After shopping with Shay and having lunch, Shay went home to get some rest while Viktor and I headed back to the loft. He received a call about some deal that needed to be looked at and he went to consult, because that’s what he did. I walked into my loft and put all my bags in my room, kicking off my shoes. I was trying to figure out if I wanted to watch TV, but then I realized I hadn’t been in my studio in a while.

I changed into my overalls and grabbed my iPhone with my ear buds. I walked through my secret opening and began to uncover all the brushes and paints. I grabbed a blank canvas and looked at it, trying to envision what I needed to paint. Nothing came to mind at the moment, so I set it on the easel and went to mixing and cleaning as I put my ear buds in. Once everything was organized, I turned one last time and a vision of icy blue eyes flashed in my head. Without thinking, I took out a charcoal pencil and traced out the actual image before I started painting.

I carefully mixed colors to get the right color of the skin tone and the perfect color of the pair of eyes.Then I began to add in all of the colors. I added the black and white in the certain areas that accented the partial face feature so that it brought out the eyes. I had to get them right; something about them just had to be perfect. I wasn’t aware of the time that had past and was taken completely off guard when I happened to look up and saw Viktor standing in my studio. I dropped everything that was in my hand and screamed.

“What the hell are you doing in here?”

“You left your door unlocked and I wanted to see what you were doing. Sloane, why didn’t you tell me?” He slowly walked over to me, but this was my space and mine only. He had to go.

“You can’t be in here. Get out!”

He walked over to what I was painting, and it was finished. Not realizing it at the moment, but the eyes looked angry, hurt, and betrayed. Not to mention they were looking right at me as if I was the one to make them appear that way. As Viktor spoke, he brought me out of my trance.

“Those aren’t mine.” He was referring to the eyes and he was right. They weren’t his sexy grey-colored eyes.

“They were stuck in my head.” I started to panic as realization took over. It was Declan. I threw paint thinner on it, and then it started to happen. I felt everything change and Viktor had to go before he saw the real me.

I covered my face with my paint-stained hands and tried to push Viktor out, but he wasn’t budging at all. He was acting like a stone wall. The anger in me began to build. All because he’d seen one of my secrets, and there were two more. One of them was about to be revealed if he didn’t leave now.

“What are you doing?” he asked as I tried to make my way to the bathroom on the other side. But he wouldn’t let me pass. “Look at me, Sloane!”

And I did.

“Is this what you want to see? This freak?” Tears threatened to spill, but I wouldn’t allow them.

With so much that was bottled up, I didn’t even realize it happened until it was over. Viktor went in to hold me and instead I rejected him. When I say I rejected him it was more like projected him. I threw him straight across the room and the objects around me began to swirl around the room like there was a tornado inside the studio. I covered my face with my hands and began to cry as I sank to the floor. I just wanted it all to stop. Everything I touched seemed to turn to shit. I didn’t want any of it and I wanted to be rid of it.

I laid there for some time, holding my face and praying I wouldn’t have to watch Viktor walk out. Why would he want to stay? And then I felt someone pulling me into their lap, holding me and then slowly rocking me.

“Just leave now before I hurt you.” He hugged me even tighter.

“Haven’t you realized that I’m not leaving?” Victor pulled my chin up so that I could look at him. My eyes were different; I already knew that and he smiled at me. “Red. That means raw passion and anger, if I’m not mistaken.”

“You aren’t afraid of me?” I couldn’t help but fidget with my hands while waiting for his swift exit.

“Do you want me to show you a trick?” I looked at him, not in understanding, but nodded anyway.

Viktor shut his eyes and everything around me began to move on its own. All the spilt paint, brushes, and everything that was broken was put back together. The wind whipped around as if erasing everything that just happened. How was this possible? I looked back at Viktor while his eyes were still shut and I couldn’t resist. I kissed him and it didn’t even break command. All I could think about was the fact that I wasn’t alone. Viktor picked me up so that I could stand on my own. I took a look around and began to shake. Viktor walked over to my painting I ruined, or at least I’d thought I ruined it. When he turned it around to face me, there they were. Those piercing icy blue eyes were staring at me.

“Do you want to tell me about him?” Viktor actually looked nervous.

“He is, well, was someone I loved a long time ago.” I sat down, looking straight at the painting.

“Do you still love him?” He didn’t look at me then.

“I don’t know if I do. He used to haunt my dreams, but that changed when I met you. I don’t know why that is and I don’t know why I had to paint this.” I braced myself for some type of outrage.

“Do you want me to leave?” That was the first time someone ever asked me if I wanted them to leave. I was shocked and hurt.

“No!” It just came out. “Please, don’t go. This is the first time I’ve actually felt something other than bitter. Whatever it is, I don’t want you to take it away. And I know if you leave, so will this feeling.”

“No more secrets and no more lies, then.” Viktor walked over to me to take my face in his hands. “I’m serious. No more lies or secrets. Is there anything you would like to tell me?”

I nodded my head. “I own three of these lofts, I have supernatural powers and I have no clue where the hell they came from. And—wait, so do you! You have some explaining to do as well, but first I want to say this. Not only do I own the lofts but I am a painter and a photographer sometimes, and I own Xchange. No one else knows, not even Shay. Well, Shay knows about the creepy eye tricks that happen, but nothing else.” Man did it feel good to vent.

“Wait, you own Xchange?” He looked more confused about me owning that damn club than anything else.

“Yeah, why?” Victor smiled at me like he knew something I didn’t and he stood there just shaking his head.

“I’m just speechless, that’s all. You own a nightclub and you work the bar. Is this everything?”

I shook my head at him, remembering something, and without even thinking, I blurted it out. “That day you found me at the river walk,” he nodded for me to continue, “well, I saw Declan across the bank. But when I went to hop on my bike to leave, he was there. There was no possible way he would’ve done that unless he too…” Then it hit me. All this time Declan had some kind of supernatural genetics, too.

“Did he say anything to you?”

“Not really. I think he thought my name. I know that sounds crazy, but he said my name in his head and I heard it in my mind.”

“Have you seen him since?”

“No, I haven’t and now it’s your turn. What the hell is going on?”

“Well, it’s complicated for me. I’m not supposed to tell or reveal what I am.”

Now I was pissed.

“Okay, you just had me confess everything to you, but yet you can’t tell me what this is? How is that possible?” He started pacing around the studio. “Viktor, tell me. No one has ever been able to come to terms with what this is and here you are, and now you refuse.”

“You need to calm down before you bring this building down around us.” He looked at me as if I were pitiful.

“I don’t need your sympathy. I’ve done fine with being on my own and I can continue on just like that.” I got up to push the hidden door open, walking into my loft.

“OK! I’m supernatural, too. You’re something different, though. I can sense different things through your aura. I never could before because you refused to open up to me. What was your mother?”

“What was my mother? Have you lost your mind? She was my mother—human.”

“No, she, by far, was not human, and neither was your father.” Now he did it. “Wait, you said you lived with your great aunt, right? I’m thinking your mom left you there purposely to protect you. Sloane, you really have no clue of what you are surrounded by, do you?”

“What I’m surrounded by? I’m not following you.”

“I know you’ve heard stories about the things that go bump in the night. Well, they’re true—every single one of them. There’s a Heaven and a Hell. Not to mention everything else in between.”

“OK, so what are you exactly?”

“I don’t think you’re ready to know what I am.”

“Quit stalling and just tell me.”

“I’m a Fallen.”

“A Fallen what?”

“Angel.”

Laughing out loud, I said, “You can’t be serious.”

Just like that, he let his wild black feathered wings burst out from behind him.I fell backwards and tripped over my coffee table and continued to stumble. I tried to get back as far as possible. He really was a Fallen Angel. Even though they were beautiful wings, they were so overwhelming, too. He stood there waiting for me to bolt like I actually wanted to, but he was closer to the door and I didn’t think I would make it very far. His shoulders sank and he bowed his head as if ashamed. I didn’t know what to do. All I knew was that he accepted me and everything weird about me. My freakish eyes that revealed my mood swings, the strength I had when I’m out of control, the fact that I could control elements, and let’s not forget about this mind thing. Although, I’d only done it with Declan, so I didn’t even know if that’s what actually happened.

“Don’t be afraid of me. I would never hurt you.”

Yeah, I jumped about an extra two feet backwards.

“Wait, did you...”

“Yes, and you can too.”

“Stop! Just talk to me; this is a little too much. I’m on complete overload right now. So, are you telling me that only Angels can do this?”

“Yes, and their descendants. It has something to do with our blood.”

“So, you’re telling me I’m descendant of your kind?”

“There might be a little more to you than you think. I think you were bred to be as strong as you are.”

“Bred? Like someone purposely put my parents together?”

“Yes, to strengthen the bloodline.”

“Lovely, I’m a mutt. Thanks for the confirmation.” I walked over to my couch and dropped down on it.

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Viktor, you can put your wings up. I believe you now.”

He walked over to the couch and sat next to me. I noticed then that his shirt was torn all to hell now. I felt bad, and things definitely couldn’t get any worse. I laid my head back and shut my eyes.

“I can leave if you need to be alone.”

I didn’t even open my eyes. “I thought you told me you weren’t going anywhere? Have I asked you to leave? No, I haven’t, so shut up and lay back. I’m tired now.” He did as I said and laid back on the couch, stretching out his legs. I laid my head on his chest and covered us up with the throw blanket. Immediately, I drifted off.