Oh God, please don’t let it be him.
“Mommy,” said Elizabeth, her shirt sleeve clamped over her face. “Something smells bad.”
“I know, honey,” she said, going to her daughter on the couch. “Don’t worry; it’ll go away in a minute.”
She curled up beside her daughter, her eyes flicking around the small apartment, terrified Jackson would materialize in the middle of the room.
A loud banging on the front door thundered through the apartment, making Serenity jump. She stifled a scream. A second later the banging came again, only this time at the back door.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
“Mommy?” Elizabeth’s voice was a thin whine of fear.
Whoever pounded on the door—and Serenity didn’t have any doubts about their identity—moved from the front door to the back, so fast the transition was almost immediate. In one moment, the banging came from the back, in the next, the front. And then back again.
Serenity clutched Elizabeth in her arms, spinning from one door to the next. Elizabeth started to cry.
“Go away!” Serenity screamed. “Just leave us alone!”
All fell silent.
The atmosphere around the apartment changed. The tension—the thickening of the atmosphere—lifted. The oppressive stench lingered in the air for a moment, but soon drifted away like smoke.
He was gone.
Serenity heaved a sigh of relief and slumped down into her daughter. Elizabeth sniffed through her tears.
“He’s gone now, Mommy.”
“I know, sweetheart. You were so brave. Mommy’s so proud of you.”
Elizabeth nodded against her and Serenity kissed the top of her head.
Why hadn’t Jackson burst through the door? Serenity didn’t think for a second he wasn’t capable of doing exactly that. She had to get Elizabeth away from here. The fear of losing her daughter overwhelmed any fear she had for her own life. The idea of any harm coming to Elizabeth was too much to stand. Just seeing Elizabeth scared hurt Serenity and if this monster got hold of her and did things to her…
Serenity shook the thought from her head. She couldn’t even bear to think about it.
She needed to focus on that one thing right now: getting Elizabeth away from there. Getting from the apartment, to the cab, to the airport, would be dangerous, but she had no choice. She only hoped whatever kept Jackson out of the apartment, would also keep him away as they traveled.
Serenity gathered their things together and placed a call to a local cab company.
They sat nervously waiting for the cab to show up. The case holding Elizabeth’s things sat at their feet like a patient dog.
Still Serenity couldn’t shake the feeling that sending her daughter away was wrong. They shouldn’t be separated.
The blare of a car horn brought Serenity to her feet. She ran to the window and pushed the slats of the blind open with her fingers. A cab waited on the street.
“Mommy?” Elizabeth grabbed her hand and Serenity glanced down at her. Fresh fear was written into her young features.
“Everything’s okay, sweetie. Time to go.”
Serenity grabbed her purse and Elizabeth’s case. Sick with nerves, she opened her front door and they stepped out on the street. They were horribly exposed. At any moment, Jackson might attack them both. Serenity held Elizabeth’s hand, keeping the girl tight to her side, pausing only long enough to lock the door behind them before they ran to the car. Serenity pulled open the door and half-pushed Elizabeth in first before climbing in behind. Quickly, she found the button to lock the doors and hit it down.
The cab driver, a middle-aged Indian man, eyed her curiously in the rear view mirror and Serenity caught his eye.
“She likes to open car doors,” Serenity said, hoping he would buy her explanation and instantaneously wondering why the hell she cared.
Elizabeth sat silent in the cab. Serenity chatted inanely, trying to keep both of their spirits up.
“I can’t believe you get to go in an airplane. How exciting!” Her enthusiasm was as fake as saccharine, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. “And you’ll help Amy with Noah, won’t you? You’re such a big girl now. I know Amy loves when you help her.”
Elizabeth didn’t answer. Her small mouth was pressed tight, holding in her emotions. She stared out as the freeway rushed past, the cars moving in the opposite direction in a blur of color.
While Serenity climbed into the cab outside of her apartment, Jackson stood one block from Serenity’s house.
His senses were acute now—those of a predator—growing more powerful by the day. Smell, sight, hearing; everything was so much stronger than when he’d been human. Through the buzz of noise around him, he distinguished the sound of a rat scurrying behind a trashcan, a woman tearing a waxing strip from her leg, her gasp of pain as the strip tore the hairs from the root. He heard the clang of metal on metal as someone replaced the lid of a trashcan, and the faint sliver of a knife slicing though a vegetable.
And then there was his other sense; the one he didn’t believe he possessed as a human. Jackson was tuning in on another level. He sensed the presence of people. He felt their shapes in the atmosphere, as though they left some kind of psychic mark, a dent in the environment.
With his now supernatural hearing, he’d been able to differentiate Serenity’s voice from the rush of other noise around him. He heard her telling the cab driver she wanted to go to the airport, the small grunt of acknowledgement from the driver, and the sound of the key turning in the ignition.
Jackson bristled with rage. Did she think she could run away from him? He would never allow it.
This time he didn’t want Serenity to be aware of his presence. In the apartment he’d had her trapped, but he didn’t want to give her any chance of doing something drastic to escape him. If she died before he got his hands on her, his whole existence lost purpose.
The strange hole beside her had him worried. Perhaps it signaled another of his kind or even the one who changed him? He didn’t understand what the glaring gap meant, but he would have to take things more cautiously than he had intended.
He would run again—he loved to run now. The power and strength he experienced as his legs propelled him forward.
It felt like flying.
Chapter Fifteen
In the back of the cab, Serenity approached the huge terminal, Elizabeth cuddled into her side.
Cabs and free coaches transporting tourists from the big hotels pulled up in front of the terminal, passengers spilling out of the vehicles. People pushed trolleys piled high with luggage. A woman in stiletto heels, carrying a small dog in a carry-case, teetered along the sidewalk.
As the cab pulled up, another woman lost control of her trolley. The wheels caught on the curb and her cases spilled out into the drop-off bay. No one stopped to help her pick up her bags and the woman swore and kicked out at her luggage.
The last time Serenity had been at the airport had been against her own will. Another vampire had been involved then: Madeline—the one who turned Sebastian— abducted and held her in one of the disused hangers.
The sight of the place brought back a wave of emotions and memories; none of them good. Though she made sure both she and Elizabeth had passports, they’d barely been outside of the city. Serenity hadn’t been able to afford a vacation but that hadn’t stopped her making sure they’d be prepared should the opportunity arise.
Serenity paid the driver and added twenty percent on top. During the journey she’d sat with Elizabeth’s case on her lap, so the driver didn’t even bother getting out of the cab to open the door. Annoyed, Serenity felt like asking for her tip back.
Serenity helped Elizabeth jump out of the car and took her hand. People rushed on each side. Business travelers walked brisk and determined, knowing exactly where they were headed. Tourists stood in small groups, staring at information boards, trying to figure out which way to go.
Elizabeth stayed close to Seren
ity’s side, staring around with big, frightened eyes.
Serenity stood with the tourists for a moment, looking for which check in desk they needed. She found the United Express to Sacramento desk number and they headed into the terminal.
It didn’t take her long to spot Amy. The blonde stood beside the check-in desk, Noah in her arms. Noah’s stroller and a roll-along suitcase sat on the floor beside her.
As Serenity raised her hand to catch the other woman’s attention, Elizabeth flung herself in Serenity’s path.
“Don’t make me go!” Elizabeth wailed, on her knees now, her arms wrapped around Serenity’s legs. “Don’t make me go, Mommy. He’ll hurt you if I go.”
Her words weren’t meant as a threat; Elizabeth simply said what she believed to be true.
Across the terminal, Serenity looked up at Amy with beseeching eyes. Amy shook her head and held up her wrist, the one with the watch. Serenity knew what she was saying. If they didn’t check in soon, they would miss their flight.
“It’s going to be okay, sweetheart. Everything is going to be okay. Amy will take care of you.”
“No! He’ll hurt you. You need me, Mommy.”
Serenity glanced back up at Amy and held out her hands. Amy settled Noah back in his stroller and grabbed her own case. She struggled across the terminal toward them.
Amy flashed a smile of sympathy at Serenity. “Hi,” she said. “Hey Elizabeth!”
Elizabeth ignored her and continued to cling to her mother’s legs.
“Where’s James?” Serenity asked, noticing his absence.
“He’s still working.”
“What? He let you guys come here on your own? What if something had happened to you on the way?”
“We were fine. We caught a cab just like you did. He’s got to find this guy. You know James wouldn’t let any of us come to any harm. He’ll always do everything he can to stop this S.O.B.”
Serenity’s heart sank. “But I told him to stay away!”
“It’s his job, Serenity! What else was he supposed to do? I’m frightened for him too, you know?”
“Of course you are.”
Amy being angry with her made Serenity feel wretched. She didn’t know how much James had told Amy about her past, but she read the other woman’s thoughts on her face as clearly as if she had spoken them out loud;
Her ex-husband has murdered countless people. How could she be married to someone like that? What does that say about her?
Serenity didn’t blame Amy for being mad at her. Amy was as frightened as Serenity, and it was easy for her to blame Serenity for dragging her family into this.
“I’m so sorry, Amy.”
Amy didn’t respond, instead she squatted in front of Elizabeth. “Come on honey, it’s time to go.” Elizabeth continued to sob and hug Serenity’s leg. “I bet you’d like some chocolate on the plane.”
Amy had settled for plain bribery to get Elizabeth to calm down. This would normally work, but Elizabeth didn’t even acknowledge her. Switching tactics, Amy tried to pry Elizabeth from her mother’s leg, but Elizabeth only clung tighter.
Noah started to wail in his stroller.
“Go on, sweetheart,” said Serenity, rubbing her daughter’s back. “You’re going to have so much fun.” But even saying the words make her sick to her stomach. How could she send her hysterical daughter away?
It’s for her own good. There’s too much danger here.
Serenity felt the eyes of strangers upon them. Two screaming, hysterical children always grabbed people’s attention. Some people purposefully tried not to look at them, obviously embarrassed on their behalf, but others stared openly. Noah’s wails built into a crescendo and Amy turned her attention back to her own child.
What was she supposed to do? She could hardly expect Amy to take Elizabeth like this? Serenity doubted the airport staff would even allow Amy to take a hysterical child she wasn’t related to on the plane.
Amy glanced at her watch again.
“It’s okay, just go,” Serenity told her, her stomach sinking.
Her hopes of sending Elizabeth somewhere safe vanished before her eyes. Yet was part of her was relieved. She didn’t want Elizabeth to go, but she was terrified of her staying.
“What about you and Elizabeth?” Amy asked, her blue eyes wide with confusion and worry. “I can’t go and leave you both here.” She lowered her voice as best she could amongst the screaming children. “After all, we’re running away from your ex. It seems nuts that we’re going and you’re both staying here.”
“I don’t know what else to do,” Serenity said in desperation.
“Come with us! Elizabeth will come if you do.”
She shook her head. “I can’t. My coming will defeat the whole purpose. It’s me he’s after. Being near you will only attract him to you.”
“Oh, Serenity,” Amy grasped Serenity’s hand. “You’ll be safe won’t you? I’m so frightened for you.” She glanced down at Elizabeth. “For both of you.”
Serenity bit her lip, trying to hold back the tears. “We’ll be safe,” she said, hoping she spoke the truth.
From the other side of the terminal, Jackson watched the two women talk.
There she was, the bitch who stole his life.
Rage powered through him, but he bit down on the emotion once again. When he’d been human he’d always been able to contain the rage. He’d been able to hold his temper until the perfect time, dragging out his pent up fury until she quivered with fear, strung like a piece of elastic.
Seeing her now made him furious. Did she really think she would just be able to continue with her life? She had fucking murdered him! Did she think she would get away with it?
How dare she walk around as if nothing had happened? The thought that she believed she had beaten him made him livid.
A low growl emitted from somewhere deep in his chest.
A young man walking past jumped at the sound. He flung a glance Jackson’s way and then quickly turned and hurried off.
Jackson needed to watch himself. He didn’t want to attract even more attention than he already had.
Around him people shied away, grimacing. One woman even put her shirt sleeve over her mouth and nose, trying to stifle the smell.
He carried the stench of death with him. It was his one downfall; the thing that made him standout from the crowd, made him noticeable. The smell was part of who he was now—ingrained into his flesh like his DNA—and wasn’t something he’d ever be able to wash off.
Jackson doubted anyone would approach him. His presence instilled emotions of both fright and embarrassment in the people around him. He might catch the attention of airport security, but he was fast and strong. He would do exactly what he wanted.
He focused his attention back to Serenity. Whatever had been protecting her in the apartment was still with her. Some kind of strange aura surrounded her, as though he needed glasses to see and couldn’t focus on her properly. Staring too hard hurt his head.
It was easier to focus his thoughts on the other woman; a short, dumpy blonde with too many curves for his taste. Nevertheless, he still imagined sinking his teeth into her flesh. The rush of her blood would be sweet and warm. The thought made Jackson drool.
The two women obviously cared about each other. The hurt it would cause Serenity to witness her friend mauled and dismembered would be make him feel better.
Were the women getting on a flight together?
Their plans made no difference to him. If he attacked them here and now, what would be the worst that could happen? Could the thing seeming to be shielding Serenity harm him?
A frission of fear trembled through him and he growled again. Fear wasn’t part of who he was now.
The two women embraced and Serenity turned and started to walk out of the terminal. Jackson was torn. He wanted to follow Serenity, but her time hadn’t come yet. He would take everything from her before killing her, so instead he followed the person he intended to b
e next on the list.
The short blonde pushed a stroller towards the check-in desk.
Jackson waited and watched.
He would need to get to her before she boarded the plane. He didn’t want to start ripping her to shreds in front of all of these people. The security staff would have guns. While Jackson suspected their bullets would not affect him, he wasn’t prepared to take the risk.
The woman would be alone at some point. He only needed to bide his time.
At security, people removed belts and shoes, passing their possessions through huge metal detectors, pushing bags and laptops through scanners. Uniformed men and women patted the travelers down on the other side.
Using his speed, Jackson slipped quickly and silently behind one of the operators doing security checks. The man, middle-aged and overweight, glanced up from the monitor he was watching, his nose wrinkled in disgust, his eyes narrowing. He looked over his shoulder and suspiciously at the people queuing to pass through the detector.
At the gates, people shopped, picking up last minute souvenirs. Some sat in the chain-restaurants—Garfunkles and Starbucks—eating or drinking coffee, wasting time before getting their boarding calls.
Standing still, Jackson felt exposed. People shot him nervous glances and gave him a wide berth.
Jackson caught sight of his reflection in a mirrored window of one of the restaurants. His too long hair was lank and hung down by his jaw. His face was different and not just because he no longer wore—or needed to wear—the glasses that had adorned his face for most of his adult life. His complexion was white and pallid, every pore and acne scar magnified. Dark marks shadowed beneath even darker, haunted eyes.
Dead.
He looked like he was dead.
Jackson thought he should be shocked, but somehow his appearance felt right. His outside now matched his inside. When he’d been alive he’d been a lanky, geeky-type. No one ever suspected the cruelty, the evil that had resided within him. In many ways his mild appearance had been his blessing, but now he took pleasure in what he was.
The Serenity Series: Box Set: Books 1-3 Page 34