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Sebastian walked through the front door. Turning the corner to the living area, he found everyone sitting on the couch, waiting for him. Serenity and Bridget sat side by side, Elizabeth squashed in between them.
They looked up as he walked in and Elizabeth squealed, “Sebastian!” before jumping up and running to his side. She collided with his legs, wrapping her small arms around his thighs and giving him a hug. He reached down and messed up her dark hair.
“Hey, kiddo. What’s going on?”
“Lots of stuff,” she said, her eyes wide as she craned her neck to look up at him.
The man’s blood still burned through his veins, firing every nerve. To appear normal—as normal as he could be—he restrained himself, holding himself back when he wanted to run, jump and ravage. Just before and immediately after a feeding were the times he struggled hardest not to give into his basest instincts.
Those were the times he felt every bit the monster he was.
But he needed to act normal for Elizabeth’s sake. He’d never want for her to be frightened of him. That would break his heart.
Serenity didn’t meet his eye. She sat hunched over, her skinny arms wrapped around her knees.
Bridget spoke for her. “Serenity had another period of memory loss. She tried to run away, but we chased after her. Elizabeth touched her and saw... something.”
Sebastian glanced down at his daughter. “You had a vision?”
Elizabeth nodded. “I dreamed about him too.”
“About who?”
“A bad man. A vampire like you.
All Sebastian heard was ‘bad...a vampire...like you’. How long would he be able to protect her from the horror of what he was? One day she’d learn that he killed people, fed from them. Such knowledge would mean she’d never look at him in the same way, with such total trust.
One day, he thought, with a sadness that made his heart drop to his stomach, she’ll hate me.
“Was the bad man Jackson?” he asked, crouching to her level. “Are you sure you didn’t pick up on some of your mommy’s memories?”
Her small face crumpled in a frown as she tried to think. “I don’t think it was him. He looked different and I’m sure he was talking to me, not Mommy.”
Damn it!
He didn’t need any more complications.
“Well, we don’t know who this man is at the moment, and until we do, there is nothing we can do about what Elizabeth has seen.”
Bridget got to her feet. “Aren’t you missing something, Sebastian? Don’t you think Elizabeth seeing another vampire has something to do with your plans to take Serenity to an elder?”
“We don’t know that.”
“So it’s coincidence?”
He narrowed his eyes, rage flaring up inside him. Heat burned behind his eyes and he knew his pupils flashed yellow for the briefest of moments.
Sebastian tightened his jaw. “I don’t have any other choice, Bridget.” He lowered his voice in vain hope that Elizabeth, who was right beside him, somehow wouldn’t hear what was being said. “She’s deteriorating. What would you have me do, risk losing her forever? Elizabeth will be safe. She’ll stay here with you. I won’t take her anywhere near the ancient one.”
“My offer to help is still open, Sebastian. I know you don’t believe in the craft, but it’s not just herbs—”
He raised a hand, cutting her off. “Let’s not speak of this again, Bridget. My mind is made up. I’ll be taking Serenity to New York as soon as dusk arrives tomorrow.”
Bridget stalked to the kitchen counter where she’d left her purse. “I guess you won’t be needing me for the rest of the night then.”
“Bridget, please don’t—”
“Don’t what? Try to help fix this mess without putting your family in danger yet again? Jesus, Sebastian, sometimes I think you enjoy the pain.”
Her words struck a chord somewhere deep inside him. He, too, had wondered if he sabotaged himself, that he punished himself for what he was. But he’d never purposefully put his family in harm’s way purely so he could suffer with them, would he?
Bridget snatched up her purse. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back before daylight.”
She slammed out of the door, leaving him to mull over her words. The sound of her car’s engine hummed to life and the vehicle crunched back down the driveway.
A hand squeezed his and he glanced down to find Elizabeth looking up at him. “I don’t like it when you and Bridget fight,” she said.
“Me neither, sweetheart, but sometimes grown-ups don’t agree on everything.”
“Should I stop telling you and Bridget about the things I see?”
His heart clenched. “No! Never think you can’t tell us. I’m so sorry we made you think that you shouldn’t.”
“But if it makes you and Bridget fight...” She trailed off, uncertainly.
“Sometimes adults need to argue in order to work things out. It doesn’t mean we’re not friends anymore, okay? The things you see are very important and I don’t want you to ever feel like you have to keep things from us. Bridget’s just worried about your visions.”
“Do they mean I’m in danger?”
“No, I’m sure they don’t. You’re going to be perfectly safe right here. No one even knows about you.”
“Okay, Sebastian.”
He gently cuffed her around the head. “It’s Daddy to you. Now come on. You shouldn’t even be up. Let’s get you back to bed.”
She reached up to him. “Carry me upside down!”
Sebastian grinned. With a quick flip, he hoisted her up and spun her around so he had hold of her by her legs, her hair trailing on the floor. He shot a look at Serenity, who still sat on the couch, and she gave him a weak smile.
Elizabeth giggled and laughed as he carried her that way up the stairs and into her room. He threw her on the bed and she bounced a couple of times before scrambling to her knees. “Again, again!”
“No, get into bed. I shouldn’t be getting you over excited when you should be asleep anyway.”
“Awww...” she whined, but Sebastian lifted the blankets for her and she climbed beneath.
He kissed her on the head. “Go to sleep.”
Leaving her snuggled in bed, he made his way back down the stairs to Serenity.
“Hey,” she said, brushing her hair away from her face with one hand. “How’s she doing?”
“She’s fine. She’s more resilient than any other six-year-old in the world.”
“Being half vampire?”
He shrugged. “That and everything else she’s been through. I hope when all of this is over, we can give her as normal a life as possible.”
Serenity nodded, but continued to stare down at her hands in her lap. Sebastian realized how strange it must be for her, with him referring to their life together and how he wanted them to live in the future, when both he and Elizabeth were little more than strangers.
“Did you hear what I said to Bridget about wanting to take you to see another vampire?”
“I only caught the gist of it, but I think I understand. He’s an older vampire, right? You think he might know how to get my memory back.”
“That’s right. He’s an ancient from Greece. His name is Demitrios of Savos and he lives in New York now, where he runs a downtown nightclub. He’s been around much longer than I have. If anyone has seen your situation before—or at least something similar—it will be him.”
“Is he dangerous?”
“I don’t believe he’s any more dangerous than any other vampire,” said Sebastian. He felt a twinge of guilt at not really answering her question.
She lifted her dark eyes to meet his, her interest evident. “How did you meet him?”
“I come from Europe myself,” he said. “Spain, to be exact. After I was first turned, I wandered for years, only staying in one place for a brief period before moving to the next. I met him on my travels through Greece, in an ancient place called Delphi.”
“Are all of your kind from Europe?”
“The ancient ones are,” he said. “It’s the place of our origin.”
“But why? And how?”
“How did vampires start?”
She nodded.
“I wish I had the answer. I believe we’re simply another branch of evolution. Some of our ancestors might have had an ability to regenerate—maybe tapped into a dark source of magic and harnessed the capability. They passed on the secrets, generation after generation, and evolution happened as it always does. Those who were the most powerful survived. Those who allowed themselves to be exposed to others were—like witches—hunted down and killed. In the end, we became what we are—solitary beings who live with a curse.”
“But the ability wasn’t seen as a curse back then?” she persisted. “If what you believe is true, people tried to harness the power because they thought it would bring them great things.”
Sebastian shook his head. “The power was always bad. The whole reason we exist centers around human blood. The way we evolved must have involved human sacrifice or bloodletting. That’s magic—black magic. It was never intended for good, and whatever magic those ancient rituals harnessed is now passed on when we take our victims to the point of death and then fill them with a vampire’s blood. It’s always about the ritual.”
Serenity opened her mouth to speak, then seemed to change her mind and closed it again.
He reached out and touched the back of her hand. Whatever was going on in her head, he wanted to know. “What is it?”
“I can’t help wondering if being like you would be a better way to exist. You seem so in control of yourself, so strong and self-assured. Why am I struggling to remember who I am when I could be like you?”
“Serenity...”
“I could be like you.” She nodded, the small motion filled with urgency. “It’s possible, isn’t it?”
“I’m not sure. If I went through the motions to turn you, you might end up like me, but there’s a chance you might end up like Jackson. What would we do if that happened? You might hurt Elizabeth.”
Her face fell. “I’d never want to hurt her.”
“Which is why we need to try this other option first.”
Serenity took a deep, shaky breath. “I want to trust you. It’s just, after everything that’s happened, I’m not sure I even know how to anymore.”
He reached out and clasped both of her hands within the shell of his own. “I want you to trust me again, but I also need to earn that trust.”
“Did I ever trust you?”
“Once upon a time. Though, now I wonder if that trust was unfounded.”
She tilted her head toward him, her eyes slightly narrowed. “Why?”
“I let you down. Twice, I’ve let you down.”
“Yet you think I should trust you again.” She paused. “How did you let me down?”
“I left you alone when I shouldn’t have.”
“But the second time you left me was to save Elizabeth’s life.”
He nodded but didn’t meet her eye. “How did you know that?”
“Elizabeth told me a couple of days ago, while you slept.” She pulled one of her hands from his and reached out, touching his jaw. The contact caused a flash of heat to race through his skin. “If you saved her life, it was worth the sacrifice.”
“I should never have taken you to the mine. What happened was my fault.”
“It was my master’s... Jackson’s fault,” she corrected.
They sat in silence for a moment.
“I want to go to this ancient vampire,” she said. “I’ll do anything I can to be normal again. I can’t stand living like this. I’m scared all the time, but that’s the only real emotion I feel.”
“I’ll find out how to make you well again, Serenity. I swear I will, if it’s the last thing I do.”
She studied his face. When she spoke, she did so in hushed tones. “Why do you care so much? I’m nothing and yet you act as though I’m the most important thing in the world.”
He gave a small smile. “Next to Elizabeth, of course.”
She smiled back and this time the expression reflected in her eyes. “Of course.”
He shook his head. “You’re not nothing.”
“You haven’t answered my question.”
“When you and I first met, we were both lost. I’d been alone for so long I’d forgotten how to feel for anyone else. I saw something in you that I recognized in myself—a loneliness, a sadness. I wanted to help you and in return you helped me to live again.” He paused. “How you feel now—that emptiness, with nothing anchoring you to the world, no connection with anyone—that’s how I’d lived for centuries. It wasn’t until we met that I learned how to live... and love again.”
Her eyes welled with tears. “I can’t believe you’re talking about me.”
He lifted a hand and touched her cheek, brushing away a tear with the back of his fingers. “Believe it. Why else would I still be here?”
She nodded, her lips pressed into a thin line. “When do we leave?”
“Tomorrow, as soon as night falls.”
When Sebastian rose at dusk the following evening, everyone else in the house was already up and waiting for him. Serenity sat at the kitchen counter, a mug of almost-cold coffee clutched between her hands. She twisted the mug around, staring into its depths. Dressed in her old clothes, her jeans hung from her non-existent hips, and she’d tried to cinch them with a belt. Her previously form-fitting t-shirt hung loosely, as though she wore one of his shirts instead of one of her own. She’d pulled her long hair into a ponytail, exposing her long neck and the myriad of still-pink scars and healing skin. “Been up long?” he asked, entering the room.
She nodded. “A while. Couldn’t sleep.”
He never suffered from such a problem as his body was programmed to sleep from dawn to dusk. Only if his life were immediately threatened would his body ever wake during that time.
In the living room, Elizabeth sat on the couch, Bridget beside her. They were both engrossed in a Disney movie, something involving a girl with very long hair and a prince. They weren’t even aware of his arrival.
Sebastian turned back to Serenity. “Are you ready?”
She nodded. “I guess so.”
He reached out and she took his hand. Her fingers were fragile, her grip slight. Her skin still held the coolness he’d experienced when he’d first found her, but compared to him, she was warm.
Sebastian headed into the living area, Serenity following close behind. Elizabeth turned her head with a ready smile, but Bridget ignored him.
“We need to go now, Elizabeth,” Sebastian said. “You’ll be a good girl for Bridget, won’t you?”
“Yeah, of course. Will Mommy be all better when you get back?”
“I hope so, kiddo, but I can’t promise anything. Just remember that I’ll do my best, okay?”
She nodded. “Okay, Sebastian.” Elizabeth looked at Serenity and gave her a small smile. “Bye, Mommy. I hope you can remember us all when you get back.”
Serenity returned the smile. “I hope so too.”
Elizabeth opened her arms and Serenity leaned down, allowing the little girl to embrace her. She hugged Elizabeth back, but there was no display of the emotion one would expect from a mother saying goodbye to her child.
“We need to go now,” said Sebastian. “We’ve got a long journey and every hour is important.”
“Good luck,” said Bridget with a strained smile. Sebastian knew, whatever their differences, she only wanted what was best for Elizabeth.
“Thanks, Bridget. We may be more than one night, so don’t be alarmed if we’re not back by morning. It’s a long way and we don’t know what we’ll come up against when we get there.”
“Be careful.”
“We will.”
Sebastian caught Elizabeth up and squeezed her tight.
“Hey! You’re squishing me,” the little girl laughed.
“Sorry, sweetheart. I’ll miss you.” He kissed the top of her head, Elizabeth’s familiar scent filling his sensitive nose. “Love you.”
“Love you too, Sebastian.”
He narrowed his eyes in mock annoyance and wrinkled his nose at her. She gave an over-exaggerated sigh. “Daddy.”
“That’s better. We’ll see you very soon.”
Sebastian and Serenity left the house. Sebastian stepped through the big gates of the property and held his arms out to Serenity. With one of the only memories she had being of traveling with Jackson, she knew exactly what was required of her. With her diminished, almost child-like size, she wrapped herself around him, her legs hooked around his waist and her arms around his neck.
He would need to run that way for several hours to reach New York. Even with his supernatural speed, they had thousands of miles to cover, a task which would not drain his inexhaustible strength, but would exhaust Serenity.
He needed to get her in front of Demitrios before she lost who she was completely and irrevocably. Flying would be better for Serenity’s sake, physically, but they couldn’t risk it. The thought alone instilled him with terror. A delayed flight—especially one caught circling above a city—might risk him being exposed to daylight. He’d never taken the risk before.
Sebastian ran, taking comfort in the touch of the woman in his arms. He held her close, protected in the circle of his embrace. Her face was buried in his neck and her breath warmed his skin. The touch of her lips distracted him. Too much time had passed since he’d kissed her and had her return that kiss with passion. If Demitrios didn’t have the answer, he might never get Serenity back. To live with this shell of a woman was almost as bad as not having her at all.
They crossed the country, skirting the big cities. He crossed forest and desert, leaping raging rivers. Where he could, he stuck to the highways, the surface easier to negotiate.
After an hour, Serenity’s grip on him began to loosen and he knew she needed to rest. He leapt up onto the roof of a large truck and allowed the vehicle to take the brunt of the travel for a few miles until she felt stronger again. He hadn’t thought to bring any kind of sustenance for her, something he inwardly cursed himself for. She still wasn’t eating as she should be. Though she thought he wasn’t aware, he’d seen her throw food in the trash and then sit back down with a half-empty plate, trying to convince the people around her that she’d eaten. If she continued to starve herself like this, it wouldn’t be just her mind he needed to worry about.
Her body simply wouldn’t survive.