Sebastian glanced down to find Elizabeth asleep, her dark head rested against his chest. He stroked her hair with a gentle touch. He couldn’t imagine how all of this was affecting her. Elizabeth’s resilience didn’t prevent her from hurting. Just like Serenity years before, he only wanted her to have a normal, happy life.
With Elizabeth in his arms, Sebastian got to his feet. Careful not to wake the sleeping child, he carried her back up the stairs and into her bedroom. He settled her beneath the covers and flicked off her nightlight. He doubted she’d wake again before morning.
As he made his way back down the hallway, Sebastian paused outside of Serenity’s door. From her slow, steady breathing and heartbeat, he knew she too, had fallen back to sleep.
Satisfied his family was at peace, at least for the moment, he headed back downstairs.
He needed to feed; even more so if he intended on seeking out his old ‘friend’. His strength would never match Demitrios’s, but he still intending on being as sharp as possible.
For the second time that evening, Sebastian picked up the phone.
This time a female voice answered.
Sebastian leaned his cheek into the handset. “Hey, Bridget, it’s me. Sorry to call so late, but I need a favor.”
“Sure,” her voice came back. “Name it.”
“I’m going to need to go away for a couple of days. Do you think you could come and stay here with Elizabeth? I’m talking twenty-four hours a day, instead of your usual daylight hours only.”
“Of course,” she said. “Does this have something to do with Serenity?”
He sighed, his heart like solid lead in his chest. “She’s taken a turn for the worse. I went into her room and she didn’t recognize me or know where she was. She forgot the whole of this last week and went right back to the beginning. I’m scared if I do nothing things will get worse and her mind will continue to deteriorate.”
“I’m so sorry, Sebastian. Do you need me to come over right away?”
“Yes. Thank you. We won’t be leaving until tomorrow night, but I need to do something else first.”
Although Bridget was perfectly aware of his nature, he didn’t want to voice his need to feed out loud. The act felt too personal and he didn’t want to put either of them in an awkward position considering he would basically be telling her that he was going out to kill.
“No problem. Give me an hour.”
His shoulders sagged in relief. Where would I be without her? “Thanks, Bridget. See you soon.”
Chapter Nine
Within the hour, Sebastian heard the low thrum of a car engine and the metallic creak of his front gate opening, followed by tires crunching on gravel. He’d opened the front door and was standing on the porch before she even pulled the car to a halt.
Bridget switched off the engine and climbed from the vehicle. Her white hair hung in a braid down the center of her back, and she pulled the fabric of a long, red skirt around her legs, lifting it as she walked.
“The way you always hear me coming unnerves me,” she said as she walked up the steps toward him, an exasperated frown marking her face. “One of these days I might just want to sneak up on you.”
“And why would you want to do that?”
“You never know. Maybe I’ll surprise you one day.”
Sebastian smiled, brushing off her comment. He stepped to one side and allowed her through the front door.
“How is Serenity?” she asked, her features straightening. “How’s Elizabeth?”
“They’re both sleeping for the moment.”
“Good, they need their rest.” With Sebastian following, Bridget headed into the kitchen and placed her purse on the breakfast bar. She turned to him, her blue eyes serious.
“Listen, Sebastian. There’s something I need to talk to you about. I think I may be able to help Serenity without you needing to take her away. I’ve practiced some magic in my past and though I don’t practice any more for personal reasons, I might be able to find a spell to help her.”
Sebastian’s heart sank. He didn’t want to be rude to Bridget, but he’d heard of plenty of occasions when humans had played at Wiccan magic. The act was somewhat laughed upon in the vampire world. He’d not yet met a single ‘witch’ who could do much more than whatever natural properties already lay present in the roots and herbs they used.
“No offense, Bridget, but she needs more than a few roots and chanted words to bring back her memory.”
“There’s more to it. The magic comes from the earth, and yes, herbs are used, but that’s because they’re part of our planet. Mother Nature is a very powerful thing, Sebastian. She shouldn’t be sniffed at.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to belittle whatever spells you learned when you were younger, but whatever they are won’t be enough to beat the sort of effect a vampire bite has on a human. I may not believe in herbs and special words, but the physiological effects repetitive feeding has on a person changes them at a cellular level.”
Her lips thinned and she shook her head. “Is that not a type of magic? Isn’t the effect a vampire has on a human magic? And what about what you are? Your heart isn’t beating. You have ferocious strength and an ability to heal. Are they all not a magic of sorts?”
“What I am goes against nature, not with it.”
“Your existence in this world proves you are a part of nature. Have you forgotten my own child is like you now? I refuse to believe my son is something unnatural.”
He bristled. “What you believe or don’t believe is irrelevant. I need to get Serenity proper help from someone who knows what they’re talking about. Most vampire’s aren’t good, Bridget. They’re killers and the vast majority have little or no respect for humanity.”
She shook her head again, a brisk, sharp movement. “They’re not all like that. The type of vampire they become must be linked with the person they were as a human. My son was a good boy and I’m sure he’s not some bloodthirsty murderer. Besides,” she glared at him, her blue eyes as sharp as glacial ice. “What about you? You love your human family. How can you describe yourself as an unnatural killer?”
“Because that is what I am.”
“No, you’re not. I know you’re so much more. You have a heart, a soul. How can that be unnatural?”
“You might be trying to convince yourself what happened to your boy is all fine, and he’s happy and normal. But it’s not like he told you he’s gay. He’s a vampire and that means he kills. If he was human and told you he murdered people, would you be quite so accepting?”
“How can you say such a thing? You’re not just insulting me and my son, you’re putting yourself down as well. I won’t hear you talk like that!”
Sebastian clenched his teeth. Her outburst made him uncomfortable. “I’m not your son, Bridget,” he said. “I’m your employer.”
She flinched as though he had slapped her. “I know you’re upset right now, Sebastian, so I’m going to let this go. I was only trying to help you—all of you—but if that’s how you want to think, then I’ll keep my mouth shut and concentrate on what you pay me for—taking care of your family when you can’t.”
With his anger, the need for blood crept beneath his skin like a thousand scuttling insects. It was always this way. Any strong emotion instigated a desire to feed. He couldn’t afford for Bridget to be the one who walked out. However much he might not like it, right now he needed Bridget a damn sight more than Bridget needed him.
Sebastian turned away from her, fists bunched at his sides. He stalked from the house, banging through the front door, not giving her a chance to leave before him. Bridget was too responsible to leave Elizabeth without a guardian and even if she hated his guts right now, she wouldn’t take out her anger on the little girl.
Sebastian fled into the night, only one thought encompassing his soul: blood. He didn’t often feel like this—the addiction making him think he needed to feed immediately or he was going to start tearing up the people
around him. The stress of the last week must have affected him worse than he’d realized and now only one thing would make it all go away.
He crossed the city at a run, flying with the wind. He never felt more free than when he moved like this, except, perhaps, when he had Serenity’s naked body moving beneath his. When he lost himself within her depths.
The memory brought a pang of pain and he roared at the night, needing blood more than ever. He raced past traffic on the freeway, leaping from car roof to car roof, his feet barely leaving a dent in the metal as he propelled himself from one to the next. For once, he had no plan as to where he was headed. He moved on instinct, wanting only to put distance between him and the house.
Was this what happened to other vampires who tried to ‘domesticate’ themselves. Did they eventually lose it? Did they end up hurting the humans they’d come to love?
No, he couldn’t think like that. These weren’t normal circumstances. He’d never hurt Serenity or Elizabeth, or even Bridget. He’d never fought with Bridget before but her bringing up the subject of a few spells she’d done in her youth as being a possible solution to Serenity’s problems would be laughable if it wasn’t so sad. A few bits of mumbo-jumbo she’d read from a book many years ago weren’t going to have any effect on something as powerful as a vampire’s bite.
Sebastian mentally shook himself. He kept thinking of Jackson as being a vampire, but he hadn’t been, not fully. That he was some kind of half-breed made this whole thing even more dangerous and unpredictable. Perhaps the ancient vampire he intended on visiting would know a precedent to Serenity’s case.
Sebastian crossed the Century Freeway, easily darting between traffic, and entered the outskirts of Compton. Now late at night, the streets were quiet with most people safely tucked in bed.
An elderly man pushed a cart along the side of the street. He walked with a stooped back and hunched shoulders. A dirty, beige overcoat hung from his shoulders. A thick mass of beard covered half of his face and from this, a bulbous nose protruded, spider-webbed with broken red-capillaries.
He didn’t hear Sebastian’s approach, just continued to shuffle, muttering to himself under his breath.
Focused upon his prey, Sebastian’s body adjusted for the kill. His jaw structure changed, his fangs elongated, pushing the canines to the front of his mouth. Strength built in his muscles, burning with unreleased energy.
Sebastian lunged, catching the man from behind. His arm wrapped around the hobo’s neck, clasping his beard-covered jaw in the palm of his hand. He wrenched his head backward and exposed his throat. Stale alcohol, cigarette smoke and body odor filled Sebastian’s nostrils, but the scent of blood overpowered all those repellents.
His fangs pressed upon the man’s rough skin, puncturing it with a pop. Hot blood flowed down his throat; iron and life. He sucked hard, ferocious, drawing the blood over his tongue and down his throat, draining his victim. The old man beat at Sebastian’s arm with his fists, but he was powerless to do anything in the vampire’s grasp. The man had probably been too out of it to even realize what was happening.
Heat spread from Sebastian’s center, flooding to his extremities, filling him with a power only fresh blood could give. Never did he feel more alive than when he thrummed with the life-force of human blood.
Sebastian dropped the body to the sidewalk, needing to concentrate on the immediate rush in the same way a drug addict focuses on the sensations of a hit.
He felt better now, calmer and stronger. He would need to go back home and make things right with Bridget. If he was going to take Serenity to visit Demitrios in New York, he needed to be sure Bridget was still willing to take care of Elizabeth.
He glanced down at the dead man at his feet. Before he could deal with anything else, he first needed to dispose of the body.
Chapter Ten
Serenity woke with the certainty something had happened, yet had no idea what it was. The niggling feeling worked away at her so she sat up in bed and swung her legs over the side. She remembered Sebastian being here, but little else.
She climbed out of bed and pulled on her jeans. A cup of coffee sat on the dresser and she placed her hand against the outside of the mug. The cup was stone cold. Serenity frowned. He must have brought her the coffee, but then why didn’t she drink it?
Perhaps she’d still been asleep? She slept little and in small catnaps, so it was a possibility. Yet she felt sure she’d spoken to him. Maybe she’d been sleepwalking or at least still been half asleep?
Her sleeping habits had been strange over the past week, since she’d been brought to the house. When she’d been with Jackson, she’d slept when he slept. Now, the freedom to sleep when she pleased had left her body clock confused. She caught a couple of hours during the day, and then another three or four during the night. At least her erratic sleeping habits meant she got to spend time with both Elizabeth and Sebastian alone. During her time alone with either one, she found it easier to connect with them. But for those couple of hours in the evening, when they were all together, she felt like even more of an outsider as she watched the natural connection between father and daughter, the way they laughed and joked together.
If she thought back to her past, she only knew Jackson and the hell she’d been living in. Before Sebastian and Elizabeth found her, she’d not fully understood the nightmare her life embodied. She’d never known anything other than pain and cold and violence. That someone could show her such affection and compassion at first surprised her and made her question their reasons, but then she finally accepted their attention for what it was—love. She only wished she could return the affection they showered on her. How could she love someone else when she didn’t even know who she was?
Serenity left the bedroom and stepped out into the hallway. The house seemed quiet, but what else did she expect in the middle of the night? Elizabeth should be fast asleep and she guessed Sebastian would be out doing whatever vampires did in the dead of night.
Unable to sleep anymore, she headed down the stairs. To her surprise, the nanny, Bridget, sat on one of the leather couches, a book held in one hand. She stopped short and Bridget glanced up. “Sebastian asked me to watch over you while he went out.”
“Okay,” she said, unsure of what sort of reaction this should evoke. Despite being told she was the girl’s mother, Sebastian clearly didn’t trust her to be left alone with Elizabeth.
Serenity didn’t blame him. She wouldn’t trust herself either.
Bridget placed her paperback on the empty space beside her. “How are you feeling?”
Serenity rubbed her palm over hot, gritty eyes. “The same. Confused, sad, frustrated.”
“Sebastian told me you forgot coming here. He said you’d forgotten him again.”
Serenity frowned. “He did? I guess I forgot that as well.” She sighed, the sound coming from the bottom of her lungs. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to remember things. I try to think back and there’s nothing but the time I spent with my master… I mean Jackson. Sebastian and Elizabeth are both treating me with such kindness, I feel as though I’m letting them down by not remembering who they are. They both look at me as though they’re expecting someone else and I’m trying to be that person, but I simply don’t know how.”
Bridget moved her book and patted the empty seat beside her. Serenity sank into the spot.
“It will happen,” said Bridget. “Sebastian loves you and he’s passionate about making you better again. He won’t let anything stand in his way.”
“I’m sure you’re right. It’s just hard to believe in someone I don’t even know.”
The older woman’s soft, warm palm covered the back of her hand. “He believes in you enough for both of you.”
Serenity forced a smile. She wished Bridget’s words touched the part of her she thought they should, but everything at the moment left her cold.
“How are you so understanding about all of this, Bridget? Isn’t it strange for you?”
“My son was turned when he was twenty-eight. He didn’t run from me, but came to me and told me what he was.”
“That must have taken a lot for you to adapt.”
“I used to wear a lot of silver,” she laughed. “But then I discovered it was no good for their kind. I’d give my son a hug when he came to visit and leave burn marks around his neck. Of course they healed right away but it’s still not how I want my son to remember his mother’s embrace.”
“Where is he now?”
Bridget’s eyes flicked to the floor and she gave a slight, dismissive shake of her head.
“Oh, ran off to France with some other vampire he met. It’s typical. I brought him to America from England when he was only a baby, trying to offer him a new life, and then he grows up and runs off back to Europe again.”
“Weren’t you tempted to go with him?”
“He’s got his own life now,” she said, her words sharp. “Or perhaps I should simply say existence. This is my home, has been for the past thirty years. I don’t intend on going anywhere.”
Serenity got the impression the older woman struggled to talk about what had happened. More than anyone, Serenity understood how it felt to not want to talk about something.
They settled into silence.
Bridget rose from the couch and headed toward the kitchen.
“You’re still so thin,” she called out over her shoulder. “I’ll make you something to eat and drink.”
Her appetite had not returned, but she realized one of the things required for her to do in order to fit in with what people expected of her was eat.
The Serenity Series: Box Set: Books 1-3 Page 51
