Sebastian pulled her away from him and she lifted her face. “You don’t need to hide from me,” he said.
She kissed him again and he wrapped his arms around her thighs, lifting her up. Her back slammed against the tiles, the water still rushing around their ears. There had been tenderness before now, but when entered her it was with force and she returned the need. Sebastian was holding back; his strength meant he might easily hurt her without realizing it. For Serenity, this was the outlet she had been desperate for.
She took out all of her anger and disappointment in this single act. She scratched her nails down his back, her hips hard against his, her mouth crushing. She bit the skin of his neck and shoulders, hard enough to hurt and he gasped in surprise, pain and pleasure, all mixed into one. She wanted to hurt him.
She wanted to love him.
Afterward, he picked her up. With his free arm, he threw the soft towels on the floor and laid her down on top. He lay down beside her, propped up on one elbow, looking down at her.
Serenity glanced towards the closed door. “Is she all right? Do you think she heard us?”
Sebastian shook his head. “She’s still asleep. I can hear her breathing.” He kissed her mouth. “Don’t worry.”
His fingers traced her curves; her belly slightly more rounded than before, her hips with their faint silvery lines. They were signs of her humanity, of her fragility.
He put his head on her chest, and she reached up and touched his damp hair.
“Am I ugly to you, now?” she asked, embarrassed.
He shook his head against her. “You’ll never be ugly.”
She wished they could stay here, hiding from the world, with their child sleeping peacefully in the room next door.
Still damp, the cool of his skin against her, Serenity shivered.
“You’re cold,” he said, lifting his head, immediately concerned. He grabbed another towel from the rack and wrapped her up like a child.
“What do we do now?” she asked, unsure if she was talking about Jackson, or their relationship.
Nothing had changed. No, that was wrong. Something had changed. She had Elizabeth now. Years earlier, she had begged Sebastian to change her, but he’d refused, determined he would not turn her into a monster. She’d had nothing else in her life back then, no reason to want to stay human. But now she had Elizabeth and the little girl was Serenity’s priority.
She wanted to stay with Sebastian, but only as a human. What happened in the future would have to be dealt with then. They had already wasted the last four years. If he wanted to be with her then she wouldn’t allow them to waste any more.
“You know I’m going to have to leave you here alone,” he said. “I must try to find Jackson.”
She nodded.
“He won’t know to come here. He won’t find you.”
Serenity bit her lip. “I’m scared,” she admitted. “I’m scared for all of us.”
“Don’t be,” he said, bending his head to hers. “I swear I’ll protect you—both of you.”
Her heart swelled with love and she prayed he would be able to keep his word. Sebastian lowered his head to her once again, kissing her deeply. She returned the kiss without hesitation; wrapping her legs around the back of his, fitting herself into the hard, smooth curves of his body.
They made love again, this time gentle, full of the love that had been missing for so long.
Chapter Eighteen
Back in the bedroom, Serenity changed into clean clothes. The warm glow of sex surrounded her and she hugged the feeling to herself.
Still the darkness that had forced its way into her life reared its ugly head and thought she shouldn’t be allowed this small shred of happiness. Her own internal guilt tried to crush the emotion like a drunk with a beer can.
A soft knock came and Sebastian poked his head around the door.
“You decent?” he asked, mindful of their sleeping child.
“Yes,” she said, and then added, “Not that it isn’t anything you haven’t seen before.” The remark revealed a cheeky, flirty side and she smiled.
He walked into the room wearing the same dark, button-up shirt and suit. The outfit was almost identical to the one he’d cast, soaking wet, to the bathroom floor. In fact, he had worn the same thing every time she’d seen him.
Serenity laughed, “Don’t you own any different clothing?”
He shrugged. “After hundreds of years you tend to get a bit bored of fashion. I can’t be bothered to think about what to wear every day. Every few years I change the wardrobe to fit in. Life’s easier if I wear the same thing.”
Serenity had never been someone who bothered to think about fashion. With her abusive stepfather and then husband, clothes had been something she used to hide under, not make herself more noticeable. Since Jackson’s death, she’d tried to make more of an effort with the way she dressed, but old habits die hard. When she wore fitted clothing, she consciously forced herself not to tug at the material or cover her breasts with her arms. T-shirts, or sweaters combined with jeans, were about the only thing she felt comfortable in.
“Well I guess you look good,” she said. “So why change?”
Sebastian crossed the room and gave her a smile that made her insides crumble. “Exactly,” he said, and bent to give her a brief kiss on the tip of her nose. His eyes searched her face for a moment, a small smile playing on his lips, as though he couldn’t believe he was looking at her. “There are only a few hours of night left,” he said.
Immediately, her postcoital glow dissipated. They couldn’t hide out in this house forever. A monster roamed outside the four walls—one who wanted her dead—and Sebastian was the only one capable of stopping him.
On the bed, Elizabeth stirred. “Mommy?” she said, a small frown on her face as though she didn’t know where she was.
Serenity raced to her side. “It’s okay, honey. I’m here.”
Elizabeth sat up, her hair matted on one side where she’d slept. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Mommy, I’m hungry.”
Shit.
Serenity had been in such a rush to get out of the house, she hadn’t thought to pack any snacks for Elizabeth.
“I didn’t bring anything to eat. I’m so sorry, honey. Maybe we could order something in?”
It was two-thirty in the morning and she flashed Sebastian an awkward grin, not knowing what else to suggest.
“Don’t worry,” Sebastian said. “I have things for her to eat.”
“You have food in the house?” she said, curiously.
Being a vampire, Sebastian had no need for food. She remembered the last time she’d been here, how fully stocked the fridge had been, though obviously none of it had been touched.
“I employ someone to look after the house. I call him if I’m going to be in town and he opens everything up for me and restocks the pantry. I could tell him not to bother with the food, but it’s part of the service and helps to make me appear human.”
Human...
She still couldn’t get her head around the idea of him being a vampire. So easily, she allowed herself to forget he was something that shouldn’t really exist, but then he spoke of the realities of his existence and she found the shock hitting her, almost as fresh as the first time.
“And anyway,” he continued. “You never know when the food may come in handy.”
“When you have human guests, you mean?” She couldn’t help the bitter dagger of jealously shooting through her. What was wrong with her? She’d spent most of her life trying to prevent and placate fights, but now every time she opened her mouth she seemed to start one.
Sebastian turned, his eyes focusing upon hers.
“You are the only human I have ever brought back here. I promise.”
“It’s none of my business what you do.”
“Yes,” he said. “Yes, it is.”
They held each other’s gaze and two hundred years of intensity pass
ed from his eyes. He couldn’t glamour her, but he seemed to convey his emotions through stare alone.
“Mommy?” Elizabeth tugged on her hand, breaking her from the moment. “I’m still hungry.”
Serenity flashed a bright smile. “Hey, you know what? Me too. Shall we see what we can find?”
“Can I have French toast?” she asked, scrambling off the side of the huge bed.
Serenity laughed. “I don’t know, honey. We’ll have to go check what’s in the fridge.”
Together, they climbed back down the huge staircase to the kitchen. The scene looked strangely like a normal family, except for the late hour and the fact one of them was a vampire.
Elizabeth’s eyes were bloodshot and the little girl kept hiding wide yawns behind the palm of her hand. They had missed dinner and Serenity couldn’t expect Elizabeth to sleep on an empty stomach. Besides, Serenity was hungry herself; ravenous, in fact.
As Serenity rummaged through the fridge, pulling out a carton of eggs, strawberries, and syrup, Sebastian stood close behind her.
“I must leave now,” he spoke against her ear.
She tilted her head backward, nuzzling her cheek against his. “Be careful,” she said, her heart tightening in her chest.
She couldn’t bear to lose him, not again.
Sebastian turned to leave and a small hand slipped into his. He looked down to find Elizabeth’s dark eyes staring up at him.
“I tasted the dirt and heard the wind in the trees,” she said. “It’s in the ground.”
Sebastian frowned, “What is?”
“The thing you’re looking for.”
He crouched down. “How do you know that?”
“When I was asleep, I saw him sleeping too.”
Sebastian glanced up at Serenity and she gave a small shrug. “Sometimes Elizabeth knows things—things she shouldn’t. She has a way of knowing what others are thinking and she has dreams and often they come true.”
Sebastian crouched to Elizabeth’s level. “Did you see anything else?” he asked. “Hear anything else?”
She shook her head, her dark curls bouncing around her face. “No, but he felt happy. Like he was home.”
Sebastian dropped a kiss on top of the little girl’s head. A wave of nostalgic memory washed over him, so strong he had to stop himself stumbling back.
“Thank you, Elizabeth,” he said. “Now I know where to start.”
He stood and leaned over to Serenity, wrapping his arms around her. “I’ll find him,” he said. “You’ll be safe here.”
Mindful of the child watching them with wide, curious eyes, Sebastian gave her a simple, firm kiss on the mouth before reluctantly letting go.
Serenity drew Elizabeth toward her so mother and daughter stood together, Elizabeth’s back pressed up against her legs, watching him leave.
Sebastian left the house and closed the front door behind him, turning to the night.
He didn’t want to leave his family but had no choice. If he waited until Jackson found them, Jackson might turn up in daylight and Sebastian would be in the coma-like sleep he had no control over. Jackson would slaughter them while he lay in the next room.
His family.
He hardly believed he had a family again.
Fear at being close to humans again clutched his heart. Their humanity and fragility meant only one thing for him—loss. Their lives were fleeting and already in his mind, he raced through the years while they grew old and died, leaving him alone once again.
The thought brought back memories, a stab of remorseful pain. He once had another daughter, many years before. She hadn’t been much older than Elizabeth when he’d been taken. Her name had been Isabelle. She had lived a long and happy life; though to Sebastian, she died on the day he’d been turned.
He forced himself not to think of the future. The past few years had been wasted in misery and loneliness, and he wouldn’t allow himself to put any of them through that again. He wasn’t being fair on either himself or them. He had no idea how things would work with Elizabeth but, if his instincts could be trusted, he thought she would prove herself to be more than human as well.
Serenity said Elizabeth ‘had a way of knowing what others were thinking’, but he thought it might be more. Elizabeth was special. She obviously had some kind of precognitive ability or telepathy, and she was still so young. He couldn’t imagine what kind of woman she would become when she reached adulthood. Puberty could turn whatever talents she had now into something spectacular. If that happened, much of the world’s supernatural side would be open to her, and that her father was a vampire would simply be accepted as part of who she was.
Did her precognitive abilities have something to do with her part vampire DNA? Though it seemed none of his vampire traits had passed through, some of the supernatural still made up her blood.
Though part of him hated the idea of his daughter never having a ‘normal’ life, another part was thrilled by the possibilities. That she was something special, not only as her own person—but as something supernatural—made an exciting prospect. She was his child, but in years to come she would also be his companion. A whole other world had suddenly opened up before him.
Sebastian moved quickly through the Los Angeles streets. Even in the middle of the night the city was never deserted, but fewer people were around than early evening.
Where are you, you son-of-a-bitch?
If Sebastian believed Elizabeth, Jackson had gone back to ground. He would be back in the forest, where he’d been turned. But the Angeles Forest covered thousands of acres with all types of different terrain—from ancient redwood forests to pine and fir covered mountaintops. Even with his sharpened senses, it was unlikely he would simply run across Jackson’s trail. He’d already been back to the one place he thought Jackson might be and found nothing. Wherever Madeline took Jackson to turn him, it had been far away from where Sebastian buried his body.
Where to start?
One place made sense to Sebastian. Jackson had been shot at the airport—shot twice—and would be injured. If the injury meant spilled blood, he’d leave a trail.
Though Sebastian suspected Jackson healed quickly, just as he himself did, being shot would still weaken him. He’d need to rest and to feed to build back his strength. That would be his reason for heading back to the forest, so he could go back to the place he’d been turned.
A wave of purpose built inside Sebastian. With Jackson weakened, Sebastian wouldn’t find a better time to locate Jackson and kill him.
He moved like a ghost through the night, only noticed by the chill he left on the warm autumn air. Drivers saw him as a flash across their windscreens as he crossed the road in front of them. For those on the street, he was something that caught their eye for the briefest of moments, except when they turned to look they found nothing. He was a chill against the back of the neck, the feeling they were not alone.
Some people blamed the fearful sensation on the presence of ghosts—but Sebastian had never seen such an entity. In his mind, most of the supernatural humans blamed on other things resided with his kind—the werewolves, the ghosts, the poltergeists. Most started with a vampire.
Since the days since Jesus walked the earth, his kind roamed among them. After all, hadn’t Christ told his disciples to drink of his blood and eat of his flesh? Hadn’t Jesus re-risen three days later?
Stories of his kind were everywhere. They linked back to every supernatural myth humans believed in. Werewolves were those vampires who fed only from other animals, never giving into the compulsion to consume human blood. Poltergeists were those unable to stay away from their human families after they had been turned, moving about the homes at night, trying to recapture their human lives. Angels were those vampires, who, protective of their human families, even after many generations, still guarded them and saved them from harm.
Then there were those who acted exactly how vampires should—killing to survive, terrifying humans and enjoying i
t.
At this time of night, with the noise abatement procedures to keep the rest of the city sleeping, the airport was quieter than in the middle of the day. Sebastian headed straight to terminal eight, knowing this was where Jackson attacked Serenity’s friend and had been shot.
Passengers lay scattered around the terminal, stretched awkwardly across hard plastic chairs, or lying on the floor, heads rested on their bags. Middle of the night traveling might be in a vampire’s regime but for humans, they still tried to sleep.
He moved quickly and quietly among them. A couple raised their heads, sensing him pass but for the most part he went unnoticed. He had no interest in the travelers.
Instead, he remained alert for Jackson’s scent and it didn’t take him long to find it.
At first a faint stench, just a whiff of something putrid on the already stale air, reached his sensitive nose. It was enough for Sebastian to follow and the scent quickly grew stronger. Within moments, the reek of death overwhelmed him and he knew he’d found the source. Sebastian looked up. Three sets of doors barred his way, small figures marking each of them.
He stood outside the bathrooms.
Though the spilt blood had long since been cleaned up, just the essence, a few missed drops, created the abhorrent smell, threatening to bring Sebastian to his knees and vomit.
Sebastian had come across spilt vampire blood before, but this was not the same. Vampires consumed live blood—the fluid created their very life-force and smelled as such; fresh and intoxicating. This scent of blood was rotten, like three-day-old meat left in the sun or road kill left to decompose on the side of the road.
Unconsciously, Sebastian put his hand over his nose and mouth.
He wanted to get away from the stench but he needed to follow the trail. He hated the idea of tracking this scent for miles but he had no choice.
The scent led out past gate eighty-three, out of the big glass doors and onto the runway. In the open space, the smell grew fainter, but Sebastian had no trouble detecting it. Jackson must have continued to bleed as he ran; leaving tiny splattered drops across the runway.
The Serenity Series: Box Set: Books 1-3 Page 37