“I love you, Elisabeth. I know it’s been a short while, but you must believe me. I’ve loved you from the first moment I laid eyes on you, when you were standing in the crowd around the harpsichord. Cupid’s arrow tore through my heart, and now it bleeds for your love. I’ve never known such feelings could be possible, until you.”
She placed her hand aside his cheek. This time the words I love you sounded right coming from him. He seemed so alone and vulnerable right now. She drew her fingers across his skin and traced his mouth, which he parted to kiss her fingertips.
Abruptly, he took her hand and rose to sit beside her on the bench. “But there are some things you must know about me, ma cherie. I thought everyone knew. Most of Paris knows, thanks to the gossips.”
“Sebastian, what are you talking about?”
He blew out a long breath. “Elisabeth, it doesn’t matter to me that everyone knows. It doesn’t bother me at all anymore—but understand that it means a lot to me what you think.”
She had no idea what he was leading up to, but with a nod she signaled him to continue.
“Quite simply, I am a bastard. I am not heir to my family’s fortune, nor will the duke acknowledge me as his flesh and blood after I am married. I have taken the LeReaux name only to appease his vanities.”
She listened, quietly stunned as Sebastian relayed his tale.
“My father, as he chooses to be called, was away on court business when I was conceived. Out of boredom my mother had taken a lover and when Roland returned I was born six months later. He knew that I was not his child but he sought to hush up what had happened for fear that he would lose his coveted court position at the king’s side. And he loved my mother dearly. So he agreed to give me his name and act as though I was actually his child. Over the years the truth has leaked out, much to his disapproval. And with that, I have agreed to leave as soon as I am married in order to remove this unsightly mar from his family bloodline. Out of sight, out of mind, as Roland has said.”
“Oh Sebastian, I’m so sorry.” Sebastian, a bastard? No wonder he was treated so coldly by the duke. And that certainly explained Jacques’ treatment. “But what about your mother? Surely she must have some say in this?”
“No, my mere does as she is told. She was just thankful that Roland didn’t make her give me to an orphanage when I was a child.” Sebastian sighed and closed his eyes. She could see the pain stretch over his face. “Elisabeth, my mother is everything to me. I love her dearly. She was deeply ashamed to have done this to me. But it doesn’t matter. I am glad that pompous aristocrat in there is not my real father. I shall rejoice when the day comes that I must leave, except for the fact that I must also leave my mother.”
Scarlet felt her heart split and the agony of Sebastian’s pain entered. How he must have suffered through the years with only the love of his mother to carry him through. “Do you know who your real father is?” she whispered.
His expression changed, a smile appearing. “I’ve never met him but my mother has told me about him. He is a Portuguese musician, a marvelous singer who travels the world entertaining royalty. My mother says that I am his double. And she said he, like me, loves all that is simple and not overdone. Though she loves Roland very much, she tells me often that she loves to look at me and remember him. I’ve never pressed her for his name, though I’ve been tempted at times. It is enough for me to know that she did love him.”
He pulled her fingers to his mouth and kissed them. “Elisabeth, I hope what I’ve told you doesn’t change the way you think of me. I couldn’t bear knowing if you felt badly toward me.”
“Oh, no, of course not. I still—” Scarlet stopped mid-sentence, knowing what she was about to say and wondering if she dared. With a sigh, she spoke her heart. “I love you, Sebastian. There is nothing that you could say to change my mind.”
“My sweet angel from heaven, I am glad to hear you say those words.”
He pushed his fingers through her hair and kissed her. Her body tingled and grew light as everything came full circle. Scarlet closed her eyes, surrendering her soul to the moment and to the dark prince who wanted to cherish her. Never in her life had she experienced such a rush of emotions from a single kiss.
Yes, she did love him. She needed him. But at the same time she pitied him for all that he had been through, living life unwanted and unloved by all except his mother. And what was he still to suffer?
As his lips parted hers, she closed her eyes, remembering that she was a visitor here and that things were going to change even more drastically for Sebastian if she could ever figure out how to get back.
Sensing her distraction, he broke the contact between them and went down on one knee, still clutching her hand. “Elisabeth, I don’t want you to think that what I’m about to say is directly related to what I’ve just told you. God knows my stepfather and Jacques have been pushing me toward this these past few days, but this is something that I would have asked no matter what the circumstances, no matter where or when I’d have met you.”
“Then go on,” she said, sensing dreadfully what was about to come.
“Elisabeth Montrose, it would please me if you would do me the honor of becoming my wife. I wish to spend the rest of eternity with you.”
How unaware he was of the prophecy of his own words. “Sebastian, I don’t know—”
His fingers rested over her lips, followed by a quick kiss to silence her. “Don’t say a word. I’ve just told you many things, and I know you will need time to sort them through. I only ask that you give me your answer soon so I will not have to suffer any longer than necessary.”
She was about to speak, but he stood and pulled her up to her feet. “Tomorrow night. That is when I want to hear your answer. Until then, a kiss for your thoughts and a night of sweet dreams.” With that he pulled her close and pressed his mouth against hers.
Scarlet was unable to think of anything as the stars twinkled above their heads. She would worry about his proposal later. Now, all that mattered was his kiss.
***
“Our flight leaves tomorrow evening at 7:00 P.M.”
Handing a bottle of wine to Vince, Francesco pulled his new leather jacket off and straddled the chair by the window, resting his chin in his hands. He was finding it easier to imitate the lifestyle of the young and reckless, and even enjoying it. It reminded him of his younger years. A time long ago—a time spent with Sebastian DelaCourte.
He shook his head, obliterating the bittersweet memories.
“Did you give up your room?”
“Yes, that was a good idea. Foolish to rent another room when you have an extra bed in here. Do you want the shower first?”
Vince aimed the remote control at the TV, satisfied that it landed on a channel with music videos. “Nah, I’ll take one in the morning. Go ahead.”
Entering the bathroom and closing the door behind him, Francesco turned off the bright fluorescent light and sat in the darkness. The artificial light that mortals had created did nothing but cause him a headache. It felt good to sit in the darkness, knowing that only a few feet away sat a divine creature who would soon be his.
“Tomorrow night, Vincent, before I leave you, things will begin. If I am correct about your condition it won’t be long before you come crawling to me.” He laughed and then abruptly stopped, pressing his fingers to his mouth for fear of being overheard. “I believe you shall play an important part in my revenge,” he whispered into the blackness.
Francesco smiled, seeing through the door to Vince lying on the bed, his hair strewn recklessly about and his foot jerking to the beat of the hideous music.
“And even if you cannot help, it is no matter. I will still have you, Vincent Lyons. You will be mine.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Scarlet turned over on her side. Her body slept while her mind worked overtime. Sebastian’s proposal wavered like endless ripples over water. Marry me for eternity.
“I can't marry you for ete
rnity, Sebastian. I couldn’t find the vampire who created you. I will live on without you. You cannot be changed into a vampire unless I—”
Scarlet awoke with a start and sat up in the immense four-poster bed. Her hopes sank. Sebastian was not lying next to her.
But that wasn’t what woke her. It was the dream. And her realization.
***
“Gary!” Sebastian flew through the door of the mansion and ran top speed down the hallway, his boots clicking like a locomotive across the marble.
He dashed up the stairs to the second bedroom and stood panting in the doorway. Caught off guard, Gary looked up from his papers, the first draft of the band’s album liner notes.
“Gary, listen to me!”
Gary slammed the papers to the table and stood, ready to forcibly remove Sebastian from his room. But he checked his anger, seeing that Sebastian looked as if he’d run all the way from his house. “Settle down. What are you doing here?”
“She’s the one.” He inhaled deeply, catching his breath.
“What? Did you run the whole way here? Catch your breath and tell me what’s so urgent. Did you figure out how to get Scarlet back?”
***
Scarlet smacked her forehead with her palm and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
“I don’t know why I didn’t realize this right away. Of course it’s not Christelle!”
She leapt out of bed and tiptoed to the wooden armoire where she rummaged for a dress to put on. She had a lot to do now that she’d realized the truth.
***
“She’s the one!” Sebastian repeated.
Gary shook his head. “Who? Who are you talking about?”
Unable to control his energy, Sebastian paced the floor. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner.”
Gary watched as Sebastian walked circles in front of him.
“Scarlet!” Sebastian burst out. “She’s the one. She’s the woman who changed me into a vampire.” He pounded his forehead with a fist and continued. “This is so bizarre. I always knew there was a resemblance. But I never could have believed ...” He stopped by the window, pulling the tips of his hair to his chest as if remembering. “She’d always worn her hair up.”
“Wait a minute, how the hell could Scarlet have been the one?” Gary stood in front of him so he wouldn’t pace. “She was only born twenty-six years ago. You were made over two centuries ago!”
“I know!” Sebastian stepped past him and resumed his pacing.
“If she’s the one, then how come you didn’t recognize her the first time you met her at the beach house party?”
“Like I said, she was familiar, but she was different. More modern, different hairstyle, different clothes.”
“Oh please, if you can’t even recall what the woman looked like . . .”
“Gary, it’s been a long time. Her hair was up, her skin whitened by the powder we used and the clothes . . . When I first met Scarlet at your party, the thought did cross my mind but I quickly dismissed it because it seemed impossible. She wasn’t a vampire when I met her at your party. I knew this as soon as I touched her.”
“But I still don’t understand—”
“I do believe in fate, Gary.”
Sure that Sebastian had hit bottom and was grasping for anything, Gary shook his head. “Are you saying that she was supposed to go back in time? That this is the way it was supposed to happen?”
“I think so!” Sebastian exclaimed.
“Even so, that still doesn’t help matters.”
Sebastian jumped at him with delight, “Yes, it does. Don’t you see?”
Gary crossed his arms and shook his head, finding it hard to achieve Sebastian's level of enthusiasm.
“Right after Scarlet, er—Elisabeth . . .” He paused, reflecting on his memories. “Now where did she get that name? It doesn’t matter. Anyway, right after she transformed me, she disappeared. Gone. Pouf! No trace. I never saw her again.”
“So you think that if she bites you she’ll disappear and end up back here somehow?”
“Exactly! At least, that’s the only explanation I can come up with. Where else would she have disappeared to?”
“But the spirit—” Gary stopped, not sure what he was going to say. There was no reasonable explanation for anything when it involved Sebastian. He decided to keep his mouth shut.
“Fate, Gary.” Sebastian patted him on the back and beamed with renewed hope. “Trust me.”
***
Scarlet pulled the aqua dress flourished with white bows over her head and studied her reflection in the floor mirror. She tugged and pulled until the tight armholes fit just right and the waist aligned with the sharp inward curve of her corset.
“Here I’ve been trying to keep Sebastian away from some evil vampire woman and all along I’m the one I should have been protecting him from.
She twisted her hair into a thick chignon and shuffled through the few supplies on the vanity for a hairpin, sticking it through to secure her hair.
“He never told me her name, but of course if it had been Scarlet he would have known me right from the start. But why didn’t he know me? Oh, this is confusing.”
She streteched her arms up and behind her back, blindly reaching for the satin ties.
“How can I be the one who changed Sebastian if he’s the one who transformed me into a vampire in the first place?” Struggling with the ties behind her neck, she was able to pull them together. “He never told me that he proposed to her, either. Proposed to me, I should say.”
There was a pair of shoes inside the closet with blue paste jewels fastened across the toes. She slipped them on, happy that they fit. She’d become quite adept at dressing in the costume of the times and had started to enjoy the clothes.
But she realized now that she had the power to change everything. Sebastian’s fate was in her hands.
***
“That’s impossible,” Gary said. “You were the one who changed my sister into a vampire.” He twisted his head from side to side while rubbing at his aching temples. “This is getting confusing.”
“I know, but trust me.”
Thinking how much he hated those two words, Gary cast a worried look at Sebastian. The man was confident. But trust was the last thing he felt for Sebastian right now.
“Let’s pray that what I’ve told you is right, and with any luck, Scarlet has run into me back in time. Okay?” Sebastian didn’t wait for Gary’s response. “If she bites me, then hopefully, she’ll be back here soon.” He rubbed his palms together and started to pace again.
Gary watched him pacing to and fro but was struck by a morbid thought.
“So how are we going to know if she’s doing the right thing? She might not have come across you, we don’t even know where she is.”
Sebastian turned to Gary. He chewed at his lower lip. “We can’t think like that. We have no choice, Gary. For Scarlet’s sake.”
***
“What am I going to do?” Scarlet said as she sat at the edge of the bed dangling her bejeweled toes over the floor. “If I continue with my plan and keep Sebastian from being changed into a vampire, then that means he will cease to exist in the future. And I would never have encountered him, and I’d still be back home with Gary. Maybe.”
But that would change history. What catastrophic events might take place if she were to alter one bit of history? Though Sebastian seemed to have no significant effect on the world, how could she be sure? Wouldn’t it be strange if a rock star were to suddenly disappear, never to be seen again?
Besides, she wasn’t sure she wanted to go back to the future if he wasn’t going to be there.
“I do love you, Sebastian,” she said, feeling her eyes burn as the tears threatened. “And I want nothing more than to stay here and to be your wife. But that’s impossible.
“I’ve got to do it. There’s no other way, not now. Now that I’ve fallen in love with you.” She turned and flung herself fa
ce down on the bed.
“I can’t believe my luck!”
“It’s good luck you’re speaking of, I hope?” Sebastian entered her room carrying a tray laden with fresh pastries, a pot of chocolate, and a long-stemmed white rose.
She looked up from her outstretched position and forced a smile, quickly wiping the tears away as he turned his back to her to set the tray down.
“Is it good luck?” he asked again, approaching to smooth a ringlet from her forehead.
She smiled, thinking again how lucky she had been to travel back in time. To meet Sebastian at this important time in his life, to see how he had started out, what kind of man lay beneath the vampire facade. Without this knowledge she wasn’t sure if she could say that she loved him and mean it.
She reached up to touch his smile. “Yes. I think it is very good luck that I happened onto you, Sebastian. You would call it fate, I’m sure.”
***
“We should know by tomorrow if she’s found me and done the right thing.”
“We will?” Gary was intrigued and amazed that Sebastian seemed to have some sort of sixth sensed regarding Scarlet. Or at least that was what he hoped the man had.
“Yes, it was only a few days after my nineteenth birthday that it happened. My transformation, that is. All we have to do is wait. If she has found me, then she should be back here . . .” He pressed his fingers to his forehead searching for the pertinent information from centuries ago. “. . . around two or three in the morning, but then there’s the time difference between here and Paris. So what is that, hmm, eight, nine hours?”
“But what if she doesn’t find you? And even if she does, what if she doesn’t bite you?” Gary’s words hung in the air like frozen sighs.
Sebastian clasped his hands behind him and walked to the window where the breeze tickled the curtains into billowing waves. He turned toward Gary and spoke softly, as if his soul was already beginning to slip away.
“Then I will cease to exist.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Do you know where Monsieur LeReaux is? I mean, Sebastian.”
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