“Would you turn me?”
“No, Serenity. I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t.”
For once, she accepted his words. “But you wouldn’t be with her. You and I, we would both be alone, but we’d know the other was out there, still caring about each other.”
“I will always care about you.”
“We would live our lives separately.” Even the thought caused her pain, but she thought it might be a pain she could live with—a pain that, in time, would become part of who she was.
“You might find someone else,” he said, “and still have a chance at a normal life.”
She shook her head. “Whatever you say, that will never happen.”
“I can’t watch you grow old, Serenity. I can’t go through that again.”
Realization dawned. She’d been purely selfish thinking about only her own feelings in this matter. She wasn’t the only one who had been through hell. Losing a wife and child was worse than what she had been through over her life time. She had lost her babies before they’d had the chance to become the personalities she would love. She could only imagine how it would feel to be taken away from the cute smile that woke you up in the morning, or the little arms that wrapped around your neck when they were scared.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “What I’ve been asking of you... I’ve been selfish. Nothing is ever going to stop me from wanting to do whatever it takes to be with you, but I need to respect your feelings. I guess I’ll live with that. We both will.”
Deep down, Serenity believed if he loved her enough, he would do whatever it took to be with her. She didn’t understand that for once, someone was putting her own well-being before his own personal needs.
He leaned across and kissed her, his lips cool and firm against hers. Serenity pressed against him, deepening the kiss but he pulled away.
“I have to go,” he said. “I’ve already been too long.”
“Can I come?”
He shook his head. “You’ve been exposed too much already. If you’re ever going to live a normal life, you need to start forgetting what you’ve seen.”
She laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. “Sure. That should be easy. You are coming back, aren’t you? I don’t think I am ready to say goodbye yet.”
“Aren’t you tired?” he asked, not answering her question. “It’s nearly three in the morning. You should be asleep.”
“I guess I’ve gotten used to living at night.”
He got up from the bed and started to pull his clothes back on. Just the sight of the smooth line of his back and the dimples at the bottom of his spine was enough to take her breath away. She would never meet someone like him again.
“Hey,” she reached out and grabbed his hand. He had managed to get his pants back on and shrugged on his shirt, but it hung, unbuttoned, exposing his chest. “You’ll come back, won’t you?” she asked again.
He sat beside her on the bed. “My head tells me to stay away, but my heart can’t stand the thought.”
“You still haven’t answered me,” she said quietly.
He bent his forehead to hers. “Yes, Serenity. I’ll come back.”
“I love you,” she told him.
He pulled her toward him. His fingers sunk deep into the back of her hair and he kissed her passionately before forcing himself to pull away.
“And I love you,” he whispered fiercely into her hair, and then he was gone.
Chapter Nineteen
This time she wasn’t going to risk falling asleep. She had no idea how long Sebastian would be, but she didn’t want to fall asleep and miss him when he got back. Serenity knew he wouldn’t want to disturb her if he saw her sleeping and would take himself off to wherever he went during the day.
Exhaustion made her eyes sore and her limbs heavy. However much she wanted to be with Sebastian, she had to admit their schedules didn’t match.
If she stayed in bed, she would succumb to the softness of the pillows and the scent of Sebastian on the sheets, so she forced herself to get up. She wrapped her body in the soft white robe supplied by the hotel.
On the hunt for some caffeine, she crossed the room and pulled open the mini bar. Serenity helped herself to a coke. She didn’t normally drink soda, but the ice-cold sweetness tingled on her tongue and she immediately started to wake up.
Serenity didn’t want to wash Sebastian off her skin but a shower might help bring her back to life.
She went into the bathroom and switched on the shower. The water drummed the base of the tub with force. If anything was going to wake her up, the pounding of water on her skin would. Serenity shrugged out of her robe, letting the material drop to the floor.
Naked, she stood in front of the mirror and pulled her hair off her neck, tying it into a knot with an elastic band. Her body looked different now, her breasts higher, stomach flatter. All of the faults Jackson had pointed out over the years melted away.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement darting around the bathroom door.
Every muscle froze, adrenaline shooting through her veins like heroin. Serenity spun around, but as she moved, an impossibly strong arm wrapped around her throat, catching her in a headlock. The arm was slender and as strong as the coil of a python. The loop tightened, enough to hold Serenity fast, but not enough to stop her breath.
Instinctively, she fought; her back bucking, elbows jabbing, her feet trying to kick out, but she might as well be fighting a brick wall.
Serenity didn’t have time to think about what was happening. Her brain went into survival mode, the way it had when Jackson delivered one of his beatings.
Her feet lost their grip on the floor as she was lifted by her throat and suddenly they were moving.
Glass exploded around her, shards cutting her face, catching in her hair, and then she fell through the air, her abductor’s arm still locked around her throat.
They hit the ground. The impact burst the air from her lungs. Her bones jarred, her tendons stretched to their limit and snapped back again. Her abductor took the worst of the impact preventing Serenity from smashing to pulp on the sidewalk, but the fall jolted her to the edge of her body’s restrictions. She had screamed in fear as they fell and now groaned in pain as every muscle in her body felt torn. She thought her neck would have dislocated if not for the strong arm acting as a neck brace.
She didn’t have the luxury of time to recover.
Her abductor ran again, carrying Serenity, naked, terrified and in pain. They moved fast enough to tear the air from her lungs. This time, she didn’t have a safe neck to bury her face in.
There was no question of who had her; Serenity had traveled this way before.
Unable to catch a breath, her whole body hurting, she was also suffering from extreme motion sickness and disorientation. Serenity’s world grayed out. She fought against the gray, aware that blacking out would leave her exposed and defenseless, but she was powerless against the pull. Her body had been through so much, it couldn’t cope anymore.
Time to shut down.
Serenity came to, confused and disorientated. She blinked against the darkness. Every muscle in her body hurt and she tried to swallow against her raw and bruised throat. Naked, she lay on cold concrete, her bones digging into the floor. Briefly, she thought she must be back in her house, that Jackson was still alive and had given her the beating of her life. Then she remembered Sebastian and wondered if she could be in the hotel room.
Upon waking she had forgotten the abduction—her terrifying and potentially fatal drag through the night—but all at once the memory came back to her and so did the fear.
Madeline had taken her!
The vampire must have grown sick of waiting for Sebastian to make his decision and, when he hadn’t complied with her wishes, Madeline had decided to force Sebastian’s hand by taking his human companion.
Cautious, Serenity pushed herself to sitting. She felt so exposed, naked in the dark, and she wrapped her arms around
herself, instinctively trying to cover her nudity. Every inch of her body screamed out in protest but nothing seemed to be broken. From previous experience, she knew: even though the throbbing in her ribs was excruciating, the pain came from torn muscle, not broken bone. Her face felt tight and crusted with blood from the cuts sustained when Madeline jumped through the hotel window. Similar cuts probably covered the rest of her body, though for the time being, the halo of agony clouding her masked the visceral sensation.
She squinted at the black surrounding her, trying to make out something in front of her face. Not a single beam of light cut through the darkness and the place was totally devoid of sound. The faint scent of blood filled the air—her blood.
Part of Serenity thought she should stay quiet; some stupid part of her hoping Madeline might have gone or forgotten about her. She thought she might be able to fight her way through the pitch black to a place of safety, but knew better. Madeline had taken her for a reason. The vampire knew her exact location.
“Hello?” Serenity called out. Her voice sounded hollow and echoed back at her. Whatever place she found herself in, it was big.
A loud clunk broke through the silence. Starting at the far end of the room, row after row of harsh florescent lights came on, racing toward her. She squinted against the sudden illumination, raising her arm to shield her eyes from the glare.
Where the hell was she?
Giant walls of corrugated iron rose around her and a vast, curved, corrugated roof hung above her head. The bunker was the largest enclosed space she’d ever seen. Enormous double doors made up most of the far wall. Walkways of scaffolding ran along the other three walls.
She had expected to find Madeline standing in front of her, but she remained alone.
Someone had switched on the lights.
“Hello?” she called again.
Her heart thumped hard in her chest. Her whole body hurt, the pain exacerbated by the trembling that held her limbs. She wanted to be brave but anyone in her situation would be crazy not to be terrified.
In the distance, a muffled roar grew louder by the second, as though bearing down on her. The sound grew in volume and Serenity clamped her hands over her ears. A number of explanations ran through her mind—thunder storm, earthquake, a bomb—then she realized she recognized the sound.
An airplane landing.
The ground vibrated beneath her feet and the roar filled her ears, filled the bunker.
She realized where she was.
The huge bunker must a disused aircraft hangar at the airport.
Why would Madeline have brought her here? Serenity didn’t intend to waste time trying to figure out her motivations. The vampire was nowhere to be seen and where there were planes, there were also people. A normal sized door was cut into the huge gates for the aircraft. Not caring about her nudity, she set her sights on the door and ran as fast as her sore legs would carry her.
The vampire dropped out of the air, landing directly in Serenity’s path.
Serenity let out a scream of surprise and tried to stop herself before she collided with Madeline. She stumbled and fell over her own feet, landing on the floor with a thump. The air burst from her lungs, her already exposed flesh scraping on the concrete.
The red-haired vampire towered over Serenity. In many ways, she appeared to be an ordinary woman, dressed in a pants-suit, high-heeled boots, an expensive bag hanging off her arm. No wonder people didn’t suspect her. Like Sebastian, she looked like the type of person everyone else wanted to be.
She was hugely intimidating, her presence terrifying.
Madeline stared down at Serenity, lying naked on the floor at her feet, and laughed.
“Pathetic,” she said, shaking her head with mock pity. “Truly pathetic.”
A bundle of clothes was tucked under her arm and she threw them at Serenity.
Her jeans and t-shirt landed at her feet.
“Get dressed,” Madeline told her. “I can’t stand all that... flesh.”
Serenity scrambled for her clothes, pulling them on. At least dressed, she might hang on to some portion of her dignity.
The vampire’s presence overwhelmed Serenity. The charge of electricity Serenity always perceived from Sebastian was in overload in this woman. Serenity almost expected sparks to jump from the tips of her fingers.
Madeline made her aware of her mortality in a way Sebastian never had. Danger radiated from her; danger and madness. Whatever this woman had been when human, her transformation to a vampire had driven her insane.
“What do you want with me?” Serenity said, despite already knowing the answer. She wanted to be strong, but her voice was little more than a whine.
Madeline flashed a grin filled with too many teeth. “Let’s call it a social occasion.”
She barely comprehended what the vampire was saying. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Madeline shrugged. “I thought we might have a girly chat—you know, talk about men, our love lives, that sort of thing?”
Serenity stared at her in amazement. “What?” she said again, unable to find the words. “Are you crazy?”
“Perhaps,” she shrugged, “but that’s kind of irrelevant, don’t you think?”
The vampire was playing with her. Serenity was nothing more than entertainment.
Madeline sighed and reached down, touching Serenity’s face with her long, perfect fingers. Serenity flinched.
“He’ll miss you,” she said, watching Serenity for a reaction.
Her first instinct was to protect Sebastian. She didn’t want Madeline going anywhere near him. If Madeline thought there was nothing between them, she might forget her whole crazy plan. Perhaps if Madeline believed she hated Sebastian—hated what he was—she would let her go.
Her voice came out cold and hard, but the words hurt to say, “He’s a fucking monster, just like you!”
Madeline laughed, but her eyes narrowed. “You didn’t seem to be thinking as much when you were fucking him tonight.”
Serenity flinched, horribly violated at the thought of this creature watching them.
“So you know,” she said, feigning bravery. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Well, I could kill you in a moment,” the vampire said, matter of fact.
“Do it then!” Serenity threw at her. “I’m sick of other people trying to control my life. If you think I’m going to let you be the next in line, you can forget it. Kill me if that’s what you’re here to do.”
Madeline’s eyes widened at Serenity’s outburst, but only for the briefest of seconds.
She threw back her head, exposing her long white throat, and laughed. “The little human bitch has a temper on her. How sweet.” She composed herself. “The thing is I can’t kill you right now. If I did, I wouldn’t have anything to blackmail the beautiful Sebastian with.”
“Like you blackmailed him with his wife and child all those years ago?”
For the second time, Madeline looked surprised. A flash of pain and ugly jealousy crossed her face.
“He told you about them?” she spat. “He never talks about his family.”
“What are you going to do with me?” Serenity asked, a tremor affecting her voice. “Why have you brought me here?”
Madeline gestured around. “Well, firstly this place doesn’t have any windows, which also means no light. Considering how close you and Sebastian seem to be, I’m sure you’ve learned daylight and our kind don’t get on very well. Then, of course,” she said, raising her voice as another plane came into land, and somewhere in the distance another took off, “there’s the noise. Los Angeles is a crowded city and I figured this is one place where no one will hear you screaming.”
Serenity shivered. She didn’t want to beg for her life, even with Jackson she had refused to beg. What little pride she had back then made her hang on to the last thread of her dignity and she wasn’t going to lose it now.
Sebastian will come and find me.
Like he knew she wouldn’t find you at the hotel?
She pushed the voice away. He would come.
Another plane came into land, so close the molecules of the iron around her vibrated. She was thankful the place had been silent when she woke up. Being woken by this terrifying noise would have been enough to shatter her mind.
Something tried to nag at her, some significance about the planes being on the move. Then she realized what nagged her. If planes were taking off and landing, it meant morning had arrived. Where ever Sebastian was, he wouldn’t be able to reach her in the daylight.
The thought broke the last of her barriers down and tears filled her eyes. She struggled to hold them in, the world trembling in a flood, before one tear escaped her eye and spilled down her cheek. She didn’t want Madeline to see and so she whipped her head away, swiping at the tears with her sleeve.
Sebastian may never find her. If Madeline didn’t tell him where she was, he’d probably never know. She could die in here and never see him again.
Serenity couldn’t sit here and wait to be rescued.
“So what are you going to do now?” she dared ask. “If you’re not going to kill me, what are you planning?”
“He gets one last chance,” Madeline said. “One last chance to make the right choice. Perhaps when he realizes the type of danger I can put you in, if he sees his little pet all scared, he’ll be sensible and do what I want.”
“How will he know I’m scared?”
“You’re going to tell him.”
“What?” she couldn’t help it, her heart flickered with hope.
“Don’t get excited, I don’t mean literally. We’re going to do this the old fashioned way and write him what I believe you call a ‘Dear John’ letter.”
“No, I won’t.”
“I wasn’t asking. You’re also going to tell him that you don’t want anything more to do with him. Tell him you’re sick of being scared and you want him to go with me and leave you to get on with your life.”
Serenity stared at her, but didn’t give voice to her thoughts. He will never believe it.
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