Right now, Serenity saw no reason to sit up all night waiting for Sebastian. She knew he’d be home before dawn. He didn’t have much choice in the matter.
Another sigh morphed into a yawn and she plodded her way up the stairs, toward their bedroom. Sebastian had gotten over his self-consciousness about allowing her to see him in his sleeping state and she had grown used to curling up against the cold, inert form lying beside her.
With a heavy heart, she crossed the room, using a band on her wrist to knot her long, dark hair on top of her head. She slid out of the dress she’d worn especially for dinner and dropped it in a pile on the floor at the bottom of the big bed. A rueful smile accompanied the action. That certainly wasn’t how she imagined the dress being removed while dressing earlier that evening.
Serenity climbed up onto the mattress and slid her bare legs beneath the sheets. The soft cotton slipped against her skin and she curled up on her side, her head crushing the feather pillow. She wanted to sleep, but her mind wouldn’t rest. She hoped Sebastian was all right. The memory of the darkness passing over his face sent a shudder racing down her spine. She was sure she hadn’t only seen a shadow, a play of light. Something as innocuous as a shadow wouldn’t have caused such an extreme reaction in her. If he hadn’t surprised her with the proposal, she would have pressed him further on what happened.
Instead, in Sebastian’s eyes at least, the darkness had been all but forgotten.
Sebastian entered the house in near silence. He cracked open the front door and peered into the wide hallway, wondering what would be waiting for him. Would Serenity be furious with him for walking out on their conversation? Would she be crying? Would she even be speaking to him? Somehow, he doubted she’d give him the silent treatment. After years of being forced to hold her tongue with Jackson, she didn’t normally hold back from saying what she thought.
Stepping inside, he realized he could hear the steady thump of her heartbeat and her slow breathing coming from upstairs. She was asleep.
His heart sank. He’d so wanted to talk to her about what happened tonight—both the marriage proposal and what happened later. He didn’t like to think she’d gone to bed still angry or upset with him.
His whole world revolved around her and Elizabeth. His whole reason for survival was two fragile humans.
Nothing else mattered.
Sebastian closed his eyes briefly and shook his head at himself. What was he thinking? A vampire marrying a human? A vampire getting married at all! He would be the laughing stock of his kind everywhere. But what did he care? The opinion of other vampires meant nothing to him. The only people whose opinions mattered lived beneath the same roof.
Light-footed, he ran up the stairs to their bedroom and carefully pushed open the door.
The sight of her made his heart ache. Serenity slept in her usual position—curled up on her side with her hand beneath her cheek. Her features were softened in sleep. She didn’t look as though she’d been crying—no red blotches marred her creamy complexion.
Her dress lay pooled on the floor at the edge of the bed. He pressed his lips together. He’d not planned for her to undress alone tonight.
Crossing the room, he slid onto the bed beside her. Several hours remained until morning, but he didn’t want to leave her again.
Should I wake her? He desperately wanted to talk to her.
He reached out and touched her cheek. She exhaled in response to his touch and rolled over, so he was left with only her back to him. She’d pulled her hair up onto the top of her head, exposing the long line of her neck. With the tips of his fingers, he traced a line down the side of her throat, his sensitive fingertips picking up the steady thump of her pulse beneath her soft skin. He continued across her bare shoulder, part of him hoping the contact would wake her. His touch elicited a race of goose bumps to erupt over her flesh and she shrugged away.
Sebastian pulled the sheet up over her naked shoulder and her breathing settled back down into a deep sleep.
He sighed and rolled to his back.
Perhaps the missing memory occurred because he’d been upset about Serenity? Had he even overreacted to the man’s body coming back? Perhaps the body’s time to reanimate had already come, he’d just not known because of the missing hours.
No, he thought. That man came back unlike anything else he’d seen before. Something was going on here and he couldn’t explain what. He just hoped it had nothing to do with the people he loved.
Not wanting to wake her, he leaned over and pressed a cool kiss against Serenity’s shoulder.
“I love you,” he whispered. “Whatever else happens, always remember that I love you.”
Serenity blinked awake and immediately rolled over. She let out a sigh of relief. Sebastian lay beside her, his eyes closed, his hands folded over his chest. With the exception of his shoes and jacket, he was still fully dressed. His fringe of dark lashes rested on his pale cheek, his full lips slightly parted in his rest.
Despite knowing he wouldn’t hear her, she snuggled up beside him and reached out and touched his cold, smooth cheek.
“I’m glad you’re home. I missed you.”
Something caught her attention and she frowned. Dark brown flecks stained the collar of his white shirt. She drew back, her heart sinking, the organ suddenly fat and heavy in her chest. Serenity knew what those spots meant. She’d spent enough time trying to get her own dried blood out of her clothing while married to Jackson.
Blood.
Something inside her tore a tiny bit. So he’d gone out and fed. All because she’d told him no. She didn’t like the idea that, albeit inadvertently, she was responsible for an innocent person’s death. She wasn’t naive—she knew Sebastian killed to survive—but to do so out of anger went against everything she’d tried to form her new life into.
Her insides twisted and she gritted her jaw. Her emotions would always be at war because of his need to kill. No one wanted to think the person they loved was capable of harm, but with Sebastian she had no choice. At least when he only killed in order to survive, she could make some kind of peace with it.
Even though Sebastian tried to hide it from her, she always knew when his time came to feed. He grew paler and became highly strung, snapping at her and Elizabeth for no reason. Then he’d make excuses to go out or wait until he thought she was asleep and slip away. The next night, he’d be back to himself again.
She knew he’d not reached that place yet.
“Why, Sebastian?” she said to his inert body. “Why did you do it?”
Now they had two issues to contend with—her refusing his proposal and him going out and feeding unnecessarily. She knew she couldn’t control him and she wouldn’t want to. He was a grown man and a force in his own right, but Sebastian had his boundaries and compromising them made her worry about what else might be wrong.
Serenity wanted to talk to him, make things right between them again. But, however much she wanted to speak to him, she had to wait until nightfall.
She sighed and went to her closet and pulled out a t-shirt and pair of jeans. She dressed quickly, not bothering to try to keep quiet, knowing he’d never hear her. Her day stretched ahead of her, long and alone, too many hours remaining for her to fret over Sebastian. She wished Elizabeth was home. With Elizabeth around, she was never in danger of being lonely during the day. Even with her daughter at school, she had enough to do between pick-up and drop-off. Elizabeth’s clothes and toys would be scattered all over the floor, her breakfast things left out. Doing chores might seem mundane to many people, but considering her reality, it sometimes seemed like the only part of her life that contained any semblance of normality.
Dressed, Serenity headed downstairs to the kitchen. At the counter, she spooned coffee granules into the percolator and clicked the switch to start the machine hissing and gurgling. The aroma of coffee began to rise on the steam. Though her appetite had fled at the sight of the blood on Sebastian’s shirt, she put a piece of
bread in the toaster, wanting to give herself something to do.
Suddenly Serenity froze, a prickle of goose bumps crawling over her skin like a hoard of spiders. Her pulse resonated in her ears, her breath shallow.
The certainty that she wasn’t alone gripped her.
The fall of footsteps in the room behind made her spin around, her heart pounding, certain she’d find someone standing behind her.
But the room was empty.
She frowned.
Sebastian?
She glanced at the window where the blinds were still lowered. Small slats of daylight pierced the tiny gaps in the wood. No, it wouldn’t be Sebastian, or any other vampire for that matter. The sun had risen outside, and Sebastian could only move in the daytime if his life was being threatened. If someone was trying to harm him, he’d have yelled out at the very least.
She gave her head a slight shake. She must be imaging things.
She filled her favorite breakfast mug with coffee from the pot and spooned in sugar. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t alone. She sensed eyes drilling into her back, yet when she threw another glance over her shoulder, no one was there.
The toast popped, drawing her attention. The moment forgotten, she pulled the hot piece of toast from the toaster, dropping it on the counter. From the double-door refrigerator she took out peanut butter, jelly, and milk for the coffee. Childlike tastes, but something she still loved.
The sound of scraping made her turn just in time to see her coffee cup sliding across the counter and off the edge. The porcelain hit the tiled floor and shattered, black liquid splattering at the impact.
Serenity screamed and leapt back, narrowly avoiding the boiling liquid splashing her bare feet.
She stared in disbelief at the mess. How on earth had that happened? Had she accidently hit the cup when she’d turned to the fridge? She must have, though she stood several feet away. What other explanation was there?
The shrill ring of the telephone cut through the house, making her jump. With one hand clutched to her chest, once again she found herself trying to catch her breath while her heart hammered.
“Damn it,” she muttered. She didn’t like feeling like this. They’d been living in peace for a year, and all of a sudden her old fears and paranoia seemed to be creeping back.
She ran to the hall to pick up the phone. She didn’t want to miss it, the call might be important.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Hathaway?” A woman’s voice came down the line.
“Yes, who’s speaking?”
“My name is Veronica. I’m one of the guides for St. Agatha’s Girl Scouts. I’ve got Elizabeth with me.”
Serenity’s heart picked up pace again, but for a different reason. “Oh! Is she okay?”
“She’s been having some nightmares. Bad ones in fact. More like night terrors. I’ve told her they’re just dreams and can’t hurt her, but she’s worried about her father.” The woman lowered her voice. “To be honest, Ms. Hathaway, she’s scaring the other children. She’s waking everyone up and seems inconsolable.”
“Can you put her on the line?” Serenity asked.
“Of course.”
She heard a rustle and then Elizabeth’s sweet voice came down the line.
“Mommy?”
The sound melted something at her core. With her attention removed from herself, Serenity felt calmer, stronger. Her focus had always been on her daughter. Elizabeth was the reason for her existence. She wondered sometimes, if she’d not fallen pregnant, would she have made it through that awful, black time after Sebastian left and her whole world had changed.
“Hey, sweetie. Veronica says you’ve been having bad dreams.”
“Is Daddy okay? I’ve been dreaming about him.”
“Yes, he’s fine. I just came down from the bedroom and he’s sleeping.”
“But I’ve been having those dreams. He’s lost in the dark. He was trying to find us, but he couldn’t.” She lowered her voice. “I think something had him. Something ... else.”
“Your daddy is safe and sound. I promise you.” Despite her reassurances to her daughter, Elizabeth’s words caused a chill to work down her spine, her skin seeming to crawl up over her shoulders. “Listen to me, Elizabeth. I will always believe you if you think you had one of those dreams, but right now everyone is fine and you’re away on your trip. I want you to enjoy yourself and not worry about us. If anything happens, I’ll make sure I call you. I promise.”
“No, Mommy!” She sounded panicked. “I don’t want to be here anymore. I need to be with you and Daddy. It’s important. Something is going to happen—something bad.”
Serenity’s heart sank. She hoped Elizabeth was wrong, but she had also learned to listen to her daughter’s instincts and dreams. While sometimes Elizabeth’s dreams were only dreams, some proved to be a whole lot more.
“Okay, sweetie. Put Veronica back on the phone, okay?”
“You’ll come and get me, won’t you, Mommy?”
“Just put her back on, honey. I love you.”
“I love you too, Mommy,” Elizabeth replied, her tone deflated.
There was a pause as she handed the phone back.
“Hello, Ms. Hathaway. I hear Elizabeth wants to come home.” Her voice dropped a level again, as though she could keep her words from the little girl. The other woman obviously had no idea about Elizabeth’s abilities. “To be honest, we’d rather she went home as well. We’ve never experienced the sort of nightmares your daughter suffers, and we’re a bit at a loss about how to handle them. And as I said, she’s screaming at night and scaring the other children ...” She trailed off and then said, “Can I ask a personal question, Ms. Hathaway? Are there any problems at home we should be concerned about? Does Elizabeth need to talk to someone?”
Serenity sighed. “Veronica, I don’t know how much you know about my past, but only a year has passed since I was returned to my family after my ex-husband kidnapped me and held me a prisoner for two years. The police assume him to be dead now as a lot of his blood was found in Washington after a brawl started, though, unfortunately, his body was never found. Elizabeth’s father took care of her in the time I was gone, but something like that is always going to affect a little girl. If she’s not scared for me, then she transfers her insecurities over to her father. That’s what the dreams are about. She’s been much better recently, but I’m guessing that being in a strange place has caused everything to resurface again.”
“I’m so sorry for what you went through,” the other woman said, sounding genuinely shocked.
“Don’t be,” she said. “We’re healing now.”
An awkward silence buzzed down the line.
Veronica broke it by saying, “Even so, I think it would be best if you came and collected your daughter. This doesn’t seem to be the right environment for her to ... heal. Do you have transportation?”
Though partly she felt annoyed and a little angry at the implication that her choice to send Elizabeth to camp was the wrong thing to do, she was also pleased to get out of the house and have her daughter home. Serenity walked to the window and used her index finger to pull open a slat on the blind. Her 4x4 sat on the gravel driveway. Unconsciously, her eyes flicked left and right, checking no one else stood on the property.
“Yes, I do. I’ll leave right away.”
Chapter Four
Sebastian stood on the wide streets on downtown Los Angeles. Multi-story office buildings rose either side of him, the windows all ablaze, though no workers seemed to move around inside. The street remained quiet, vehicles on the road noticeably absent. Dotted at regular intervals, palm trees remained motionless in the still night, no breath of air rustling their fronds.
He frowned. Something was wrong. With his acute senses, he could always hear something moving, the low hum of traffic in the city, the buzz of people talking. Now, utter silence had fallen over the city. His ears strained to catch any sound—the movement of
a rat rummaging through the trash, the yelp of an urban fox, anything! But the place seemed to be deserted.
On the other side of the road, a street lamp flickered. A dark shadow darted beneath, merging with the spate of darkness. The light sputtered back to life, revealing only an empty space where the shape had been.
Sebastian braced himself. “Hello?” he called, but no response came. Using his vampire’s speed, he ran across to where he’d seen the movement. He turned a slow circle, one hand locked in his hair. The sidewalk remained empty.
What am I doing here? He didn’t remember coming downtown, and this certainly didn’t feel like the city he knew. Was he dreaming?
He gave his head a slight shake. He couldn’t be dreaming, vampires didn’t dream. The last time he’d dreamed had been before he’d been turned. Since then, his sleeps were a nothingness—he closed his eyes and when he opened them again, dusk had once again fallen. When he slept, he had no sensation of passing time and certainly didn’t experience the dream world of which his memories were so vague.
So, no, he couldn’t be dreaming. But surely this couldn’t be real? His usual instinct would be to get back to Serenity, but he felt certain if he returned home he would find their bed—and their house—empty.
Sebastian lifted his face to the sky, hoping at least to gauge the time of night by the position of the moon. With a gasp of shock, he stumbled back. Not a single star winked back at him. Instead, thick, bulbous clouds filled the sky, swirling and churning above his head. They hung low, like a gathering storm, but the air wasn’t filled with the sort of charged energy he’d expect. He was looking at something different.
“Where am I?” He spoke out loud, but his voice seemed to be sucked into the ether. Nobody answered him.
Farther down the street, another street lamp stuttered.
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