He flicked the radio off. “Just a little farther,” he moaned to himself. "I can do this.”
He gripped the steering wheel, and bit down on his lip. He bit so hard he could taste the blood. The wetness in his mouth felt good so he bit again, and this time sucked at his opened flesh, and for the moment, he was satisfied.
***
The room was silent. Sebastian watched with fear and wonder as Elisabeth rose from the bed and padded to the water basin across the room. Although her image was blurred he knew that she was naked and could see she was washing her skin. But he couldn’t hear the water splash, even though he could see it drip from her towel.
She crossed the floor, carrying a wet cloth.
He wanted to speak, to question her, but he couldn’t find the words. What had just happened?
Carefully she sponged his body off, sending shivers to his limbs as the cool cloth moved from his face down to his stomach. And then she walked silently across the room.
He was surely delirious or perhaps even mad. Elisabeth stood across the room from him pulling on the white material. But still no sound. Shouldn’t hear something? Her footsteps? The rustle of her dress? He squinted to bring a sharp edge to the picture, and noticed the spot of red on her chest where the thorn had pierced her skin.
Was she really an angel?
The edge of sanity tore back with a loud buzzing between his ears—and he remembered. She’d ripped open his flesh like an animal and had feasted on his blood. And then, using the rose thorn, had slashed her neck and then had forced him to drink from her.
Surely she was an angel from hell! A dark angel sent here by the devil himself.
He blinked and the image faded. The figure of the woman—what was her name?—standing over him was growing blurry around the edges. He struggled to maintain a clear view of her but he was growing so weak.
***
The antique silver watch that Sebastian twisted between his fingers showed 1:00 A.M. He rubbed his forehead and sank further into his chair.
He wondered if Gary was still awake. Of course he would be. He had helped him open the vault door earlier this evening. Though he had declined the idea of sitting out the night in the vault, Sebastian knew that Gary would be waiting outside the huge iron door for any signs of Scarlet.
To make matters worse, Gary told him that Vince had called. He’d buried his mother and done all he could in his hometown. He figured he’d be getting back early this morning. Sebastian hoped that they’d have Scarlet back before Vince arrived.
1:15. He wasn’t sure when she had disappeared from his room that night. He had been so weak, he had thought that he would die for sure. And when she finally had disappeared he hadn’t been sure what he was seeing. It took him a few days after his transformation to realize what had happened to him.
He still believed her to be an angel, though. The devil’s angel, for sure, but an angelic being just the same.
***
Scarlet stared out the paned window. Moonlight shone across the courtyard. She couldn’t bear to look toward the bed and see Sebastian suffering. She knew he was. Even though his body was going through a remarkable transformation and it was growing stronger by the minute, he still suffered. And of all the pain he would endure, she knew that he would suffer the most to know that she had done this to him.
“I love you, Sebastian,” she whispered out the window, hoping that the winds would carry her words forever until they reached him in the future.
A piercing twist of darkness ripped through her body and pulled her head down to her knees. Scarlet struggled to call out to Sebastian, who pushed himself up on the bed but he couldn’t help her—it was too late.
Blackness fell over her eyes and she felt the air forced from her lungs as she fell. The dust rose in thick clouds as her body slammed into the hard floor.
Part Three
Chapter Thirty-Two
Sebastian bolted forward in his chair. The bedroom was silent save for the gentle rustle of the curtains. The rose had fallen to his lap and he clutched it between his fingers, thumbing the blunted thorn. A molten heat rushed through his veins and he smiled in the darkness.
The feeling was back. Yes! He could feel her again.
He ran down the stairs and out to his car. As he sped to the mansion, he laughed heartily to himself and pounded the seat beside him. “I love you, Scarlet!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “You’ve come back to me!”
***
Dozing on the couch, Gary sniffed and rolled over, attempting to secure a more comfortable position. Half asleep, he groaned at the ache in his back the unevenly stuffed couch had caused.
A loud slam shattered the sleep from his mind. Where had it come from? He listened and heard it again—the front door. Scrambling off the couch, he navigated the darkness, but before he got to the kitchen, he slammed into Sebastian, and the force of the collision tumbled him onto the floor.
“She’s back!” Sebastian reached down and pulled Gary to his feet even as he bounded toward the vault.
Gary ran close behind him. “She is? Can you feel her? Is she here?”
“She did it, Gary. Scarlet chose to come back to me, I know it. She’s here.”
He turned and started into the blunt darkness of the vault, taking the steps two at a time. Gary followed close behind. Once close to the inner room, there was no light at all. The heavy blackness was not just blinding, but deafening. But that did not dissuade Sebastian from eagerly jumping into the darkness in search of Scarlet.
“We’re going to need some light,” Gary said.
“Then go get a flashlight.” Sebastian said. “I’m not leaving.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Sebastian closed his eyes and breathed deeply. She was in the crypt. He knew that she was. Her pulse beat under his skin now and he could smell her delicious aroma, feel the intense vibrations that shuddered between them. Her body was calling for its master.
“Scarlet,” he called out softly and moved slowly forward, dragging his feet along the floor to guide his way. He was blind but his distinct sense of smell brought him to the center of the room. The tip of his boot pushed into something and he immediately went down on his knees, his hands falling into the plush softness of her hair.
His hands moved down her hair until he could feel her face. Her cheeks were smooth and cool, and as he gently touched her lips he could feel that her breath was weak. His hands slid down over the slippery satin that he knew from memory to be white and felt the slow pounding of her heart beneath the warmth of her breast.
Gently, he pulled her up and onto his lap, cradling her in his arms.
“Scarlet, it’s me.”
“Sebastian?” Her voice was only a whisper, but it brought him to tears.
“Yes, Scarlet it’s me. You’ve come back to me.”
He rocked her back and forth in the darkness. She struggled to stay conscious but her hands clutched at his shirt and she pulled him down so his face was close to her mouth.
“Don’t speak, Scarlet. Gary is bringing a light so we can see to get you out of here. Just rest now. Everything is going to be okay. I’m never going to let you go.”
She relaxed and released his shirt.
He slipped his arms under her body and rose to his feet. He stood in the blackness cradling her to his chest.
“Sebastian?”
“Be quiet, lover. I’m here,” he said.
“Good” she whispered. “No more French. I love you.”
Her words filled the emptiness he’d carried with him for over two hundred years. They echoed through his body and appeased his soul. Scarlet Rose was his now, and at that moment he took a silent vow. He swore to himself that he would always love and cherish her.
He kissed her face until he found the cool softness of her lips. “I love you, too, Scarlet.
***
Just a few more feet . . . yes . . . and then . . . finally! The car crept into the garage and Vince
wrenched the keys from the ignition. His head hit the back of the seat. Sweat tunneled down his forehead and ran through his matted hair. The journey home had been a trip through hell.
The pain was incessant now, and he was no longer able to squelch it by clutching his stomach, or by breathing deeply and holding the air in as long as he could. It traveled his body, from the arched bones of his toes trapped within his tight boots, to the hollows of his pelvis, where it whirled and spat at his insides. It drove a hot spike through his stomach and dried his throat so he was unable to pull the saliva to his mouth, and his bottom lip was swollen and bruised from his attempts to bring liquid to his throat. And the headache was fierce.
Vince felt unbalanced, sure that he would not be able to stand once he stepped outside the car. A jerk on the door handle and it opened. Scan the surroundings through tear-filled eyes. The door to the mansion was only five feet away. Two steps up and then the comforts of home.
His breathing was rapid and shallow as he leaned forward and reached for the edge of the car door. Misjudging the distance by a few inches, his body tumbled to the floor, hitting the cement hip-first. He rolled over, clutching his hipbone, and let out an animal yell, sure that he would wake the dead. But the release of his voice made the pain a trifle bearable, so he began to moan and curse as he pulled himself to his knees and crawled toward the steps.
His hand slid in a grease spot and he fell again in a twist of pain. The steps were so close, just a hand’s distance away. Could he make it?
***
“Did you hear something?” Gary stood and looked to the kitchen.
Scarlet lay on the couch, Sebastian sitting beside her.
“Like what, Gary?” She still felt sleepy and it didn’t matter whether or not he answered as unconsciousness teased.
“I don’t know, sounded like a dog or something.” He scratched his head and dismissed it as the wind or a neighborhood pet. “Now that Scarlet’s back, I think we could close this door.” He pushed the heavy iron door shut. “That’s better.”
“Can we put her up in Vince’s room, Gary?” Sebastian ran his fingers over Scarlet’s mouth and smoothed her hair from her face. “I think she should rest now, she’s been through so much.”
“That’s a good idea, you carry her up—” Gary pricked his ears and held his hand to his lips to signal silence. “I know I heard something.”
“You’re just spooked. Though I’m not surprised after everything that’s occurred.”
“No.” Gary walked to the kitchen and stood under the archway. “There it is again. It’s coming from the garage.” He dashed to the garage door.
Sebastian slipped his arms under Scarlet and carried her upstairs. The face of an angel. He would never let anything happen to her again. Suddenly, he heard Gary yell. He set Scarlet down and rushed to the opened garage door.
Gary knelt over Vince, who lay in a fetal position on the garage floor before the last step.
“What’s wrong with him?” Sebastian stepped down to the floor and laid a hand on Vince’s grease-streaked forehead. The sweat was hot and thick but there was no mistaking what he felt. Familiar vibrations.
“He’s trying to say something.” Gary bent over Vince. “We need to get you to a doctor, Vince, I’m not fooling around with these stupid headaches anymore.”
Sebastian pulled back and stared dumbfounded at Vince now. Why hadn’t he noticed before? The man was a vampire. Possibly the sort that has one mortal parent and one vampire. In-borns, they were called. The purest and strongest of the vampire race, far more powerful than the created vampire he was. It was likely that Vince had yet to taste vampire blood because, until he did, the vampire nature would not surface, only simmer inside of him.
He was sure that Vince had no idea. And that would certainly explain all the suffering he’d been through. There was no doubt in Sebastian’s mind that he had just touched a vampire.
Shuddering against Gary’s chest, Vince attempted to reach into his pocket, but his head shot forward convulsively. “My . . . pocket,” he managed.
Gary reached in and produced a scrap of mangled paper from Vince s pocket.
“What is it?” Sebastian inquired, maintaining his distance.
“Looks like a phone number," Gary said. "What do you want me to do, Vince? Should I call this number? Who is this for?”
“Just call . . . tell him I need him.”
“But—”
“Go!” Vince raged as he pushed up onto his hands.
“Fine, I’ll go call. Watch him, Sebastian, I’m going to call an ambulance, too.”
“Check on Scarlet when you’re in there. Be sure she’s okay.”
Sebastian crouched a foot away from Vince and watched as he writhed on the floor. If he was an in-born vampire, then Sebastian knew he could help him. But would he want help?
“Stay away." Vince managed to skitter away until his back hit the side of his car. He seemed to be gaining control, and pulled his knees to his chest. From under his sweat-soaked hair, his watery blue eyes stared at Sebastian, like those of an animal trapped by a predator.
Not wanting to upset him more than he already was, Sebastian held his hands before him placatingly. “I won’t touch you, Vince, but I think I know how to help.”
“No!”
Not sure what Vince’s anger would push him to do, Sebastian knew there was only one way to stop the pain. But that would mean changing Vince’s life forever. On the other hand he wasn’t sure what would happen if he didn’t intervene and help him. Death, perhaps.
“Don’t come near me, you bastard,” Vince hissed. “Francesco is the only one who can help.”
“What? Francesco?” Sebastian slammed his fists to his sides and ground his teeth together. Now he knew. Francesco was somehow behind this.
Strange though. He had felt sure Scarlet would be Francesco’s target.
“No, Vince, Francesco can’t help. He is evil—”
“You are the evil one, Sebastian. Look at what you did to Scarlet! He’ll be here soon. Gary is calling him right now.”
“No!” Leaving Vince glowering against the car, Sebastian raced to the kitchen and grabbed Gary's cell phone out of his hand.
“You didn’t call the number, did you?” Sebastian grabbed him by his shirt collar. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“Let go of me!” Gary pushed him off and straightened his shirt. “Give my phone. What’s your problem now?”
“What did he say? Did he say who it was?”
“There was nobody there,” Gary snatched his phone.
Sebastian grabbed the phone from Gary. “Don’t try again!”
Gary crossed his arms over his chest and threw a deadly look his way. “I’m going to call the ambulance, if you don’t mind. My friend is lying out there probably inches from death. Is it all right if I try to get him some help?”
Knowing that his denial would only spark angry questions, Sebastian nodded and handed him the phone. But it wouldn’t help to call the hospital. In fact, it might make things worse for Vince. What would they find when they began probing and testing his body and blood?
He listened as Gary described Vince’s condition to the person on the other end of line. High fever. Shaking, sweating. Intense pain. Has had a lot of headaches in the past.
Sebastian knew the only two words that could describe what Vince was going through.
Blood hunger.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Blinding lights flashed in Vince’s face, then narrowed to two orbs of light. He could see the silhouette step out of the car and rush to him. The steady hum of the running motor ground at his sanity.
A voice spoke near his ear. “It’s all right, Vincent. You’ll be taken care of now.”
Gently, he was lifted and carried to the car. Once inside, he felt Francesco’s fingers push against his forehead until his head rested in the man’s lap and he was looking up into his pale blue eyes.
“We’ll be home soon, Vinc
ent.”
“You can help me?”
His savior nodded. “Yes.”
Vince closed his eyes and started to drift, sure that he was safe now. A sort of peace took over and the pain grew lesser. He liked the sensation of Francesco’s hand against his cheek, pushing the sweaty strands of hair from his eyes and mouth. With another wave of the unmerciful pain, he tucked his knees to his chest and buried his face in Francesco’s lap.
***
“Wait a second.” Gary peeked around the corner, saw Sebastian standing over Scarlet, then bounded back to the garage door. “Where is he? Did you move him, Sebastian?”
“Huh?” Pulled from his thoughts, Sebastian stepped to the door and looked out into the garage. The smell of oil mixed with fresh rain wafted through the open door. “He’s gone.”
“But his car is still here. Man, we’ve got to find him.”
They looked under and inside Vince’s car, checking every hiding spot, and then stood at the garage door, catching the rain on their feet.
“I can’t believe that he’d wander off," Gary said, "especially when he was in so much pain. Where do you think he’s gone?”
Sebastian could only shake his head. If Francesco was behind this, there was no telling what had happened. Had the vampire slipped in and abducted Vince in the little time that he had been in the house with Gary? Unlikely.
“He couldn’t have gone far, not in this rain. And in his condition.”
“Yeah, well, we’d better find him soon.” The sky took its cue by answering with a rumble of thunder and a downpour of heavy rain. “Looks like it’s getting bad. Shit, why the hell did he wander off?” Gary stepped out into the rain, pulling his shirt collar tight about his neck, and turned back to Sebastian. “Maybe you should keep an eye on Scarlet. I can check the yard and the streets by myself. You’re right, wherever he is, he couldn’t have gone far in this downpour.”
“I’ll let Scarlet know what’s going on, then I’ll come help,” Sebastian said. “I have pretty good night vision. I might be able to spot him before you.”
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