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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.