“So you keep me close, surround me with officers, and when Jackson comes to kill me and my daughter, you try to arrest him.”
The detective held her eye. “If he comes anywhere near you or your daughter, we will make sure he is apprehended.”
Serenity snorted air out through her nose. “You just don’t get it, do you? We’re little more than bait to you.”
“I assure you that’s not true,” he said, hurriedly.
“He’ll kill your officers and then he’ll kill me.” She remembered Jackson’s earlier reaction to Elizabeth. “If I am lucky, he’ll, at least, let my daughter live.”
“No one will come to any harm. I assure you of it.”
“You can assure me all you want, Detective. But the truth is that Jackson isn’t… normal.”
“I’m aware of that. I’ve witnessed the autopsies of the people he has murdered.” For once the incredibly controlled officer seemed to lose some of his composure. He stuttered over his words and Serenity witnessed a slight shiver to his shoulders. “I’ve seen what he is capable of.”
“That isn’t what I mean…” She trailed off. What was she supposed to say? It wasn’t as if she could tell him the truth. There was no chance in hell this man would believe her.
“Do whatever you need to do. There’s nothing more I can say.”
Chapter Twenty-one
Detective Gingham instructed two of his men to take Serenity and Elizabeth back to her apartment.
Serenity had no intention of staying there. As soon as the officers dropped them off, she ran inside, grabbed some more items of clothing and called a cab. She didn’t want to be here, she only wanted to be with Sebastian. Of course, what she wanted was impossible, but at least being around his things gave her some comfort.
Both she and Elizabeth were exhausted. They’d experienced several nights of broken sleep and had suffered some serious emotional trauma. Serenity wanted to sleep but not there.
An unmarked car containing two officers followed the cab. Normally Serenity would have worried about leading them back to Sebastian’s house, worried she would be creating problems for him, but none of that mattered anymore. They could ask all the questions they wanted. All she would be able to tell them was his name and that he was a friend. Nothing she said could hurt him now.
Back at the house she locked all the doors and windows, and double-checked them. Automatically, she took Elizabeth back to the room she’d come to think of as ‘their’ room. They were both beat and Elizabeth had even stopped asking questions, though the girl seemed happy to be back in the house, more relaxed.
Despite the fear surrounding them, they both needed to rest. The blackout shutters in the bedroom made the room as dark as if it were the middle of the night, it was easy to climb into the big bed and pretend it was.
The certainty that someone else was in the room hit her before she was even awake.
Serenity burst from sleep, her heart pounding, sick with fear.
Someone—a man—stood over her, his shape dark and looming in the poor light.
Serenity didn’t even have time to scream, she just grabbed Elizabeth, pulling them both to the other side of the bed. Elizabeth, startled from sleep, started to cry. Serenity clutched her daughter to her body, terrified at this sudden intrusion.
Jackson was back. It had to be him!
“Wait,” the man’s voice said and immediately she knew it wasn’t Jackson. “It’s all right. It’s only me.”
Her head swam with confusion. Was she dreaming? This wasn’t real—it couldn’t be real. Sebastian couldn’t be standing by her bedside, talking to her. It was impossible!
“He’s been here, hasn’t he?” the man beside her bed continued, his voice fired with anger. “I can smell him!”
Serenity couldn’t speak.
The man reached over and flicked on the bedside lamp. A soft yellow light flooded the room and Serenity blinked at its sudden brightness. Sebastian was standing there, as real and solid as he’d ever been.
Elizabeth’s tears quickly subsided. “Mommy, you scared me. It’s only Sebastian, you big silly.”
Serenity heard the pleasure in her daughter’s voice and Elizabeth untangled herself from her mother’s arms and half bounced, half scrambled across the bed toward him. Serenity made an attempt to grab her back again but her brain didn’t seem to be talking to the rest of her body. Her arms remained useless and impassive by her sides.
“What’s happened, Serenity?” Sebastian said. “Did he hurt you?”
She opened her mouth to tell him ‘no’, but her reply came out as only a squeak and she shook her head in response.
Instead, her daughter filled in her words. “The bad man told Mommy you were gone and you weren’t coming back again.”
Elizabeth’s arms were wrapped around Sebastian’s waist, his arm around her shoulders. The scene looked so natural she couldn’t stand not to be part of it, however much she doubted her own eyes.
With trembling limbs, she crawled across the bed. Her hand shook as she reached out and touched his pale face. She almost expected her hand to pass right through him, but his skin felt as smooth as ice beneath her touch. Her thumb traced his full mouth, her palm cupping his cheek.
“I thought…” She couldn’t manage any more. Her voice vanished as her throat closed over with emotion.
He took hold of her hand, holding it against his face. “Everything is okay. I’m here.”
“Jackson said you were…” she tried again. This whole thing was all so overwhelming. How had he survived? Jackson said he’d held him down in the sunlight. He said Sebastian was nothing more than a pile of ash. Could he have regenerated? Was this some kind of vampire thing she knew nothing about?
Then reality sank in and she groaned.
It was so obvious! Jackson had lied—of course he had lied! It’s not as if he’d ever been honest when he was alive.
Elizabeth still clung to Sebastian’s side. Serenity collapsed against Sebastian, crushing them both against his solid chest. His fingers laced in her hair, his cool mouth pressed on the top of her head. She shook violently in his arms.
“Are you crying?” he asked her, trying to raise her head away from his chest.
She shook her head against him, not allowing him to move her.
Crying? No, she was laughing bitterly.
Why the hell had she believed Jackson so readily? When would she learn? She might have done something—given up even—thinking Sebastian was dead. Jackson knew her so well. He’d hoped she’d do exactly that.
“I should have sensed him here and felt your fear,” Sebastian said, his muscles tensed around her. “I should have come out.”
“It was daytime,” she said. “The sunlight would have killed you.”
Sebastian growled; a low rumbling deep inside his chest. “I would have taken Jackson down first.”
Except they both knew those were just words. The sun was the one thing he couldn’t fight.
“How did he even discover where I was?” said Serenity. “How did he find out about this place?”
Sebastian’s hand went to his forehead and he shook his head. “I brought him here. He followed me back.” Sebastian released his hold on them and spun away. He lashed out, his fist making contact with a wall, his knuckles mashing right through the plaster. “God damn it! I led him right to you!”
“Hey!” Serenity leapt to her feet. “Quit it, right now. There are some things we have no control over, this just happens to be one of them.” She grabbed his hand and raised it to her lips, her eyes locking with his. “No more violence,” she said. “Not when it isn’t needed, and especially not when Elizabeth is around.”
His eyes lifted to Elizabeth, who sat huddled on the bed. “I’m sorry.”
The little girl gave a small smile.
“Let’s get you back to bed,” said Serenity to Elizabeth. “The grownups need to talk.”
She settled Elizabeth back under the covers. “L
eave the light on, Mommy,” said Elizabeth.
“Sure thing, honey.” Serenity stroked her daughter’s hair until her breathing evened and she dropped back into sleep.
Slowly, Serenity got to her feet and walked over to where Sebastian still stood. Not wanting to leave Elizabeth alone, she grabbed his hand and tugged him into the adjoining bathroom. She closed the door and the latch engaged with a slight click. Finally afforded some privacy, Serenity threw herself into Sebastian’s arms, crushing her mouth against his.
“I thought I’d lost you again,” she said, between kisses. “I couldn’t stand it, to think I finally had you back, only to be taken away from me again.”
He kissed her back, their tongues dancing in ferocious passion. “I’m not going anyway,” he told her, breaking the kiss.
“Do you promise me? Promise we won’t be apart again. I can’t bear the thought of spending any more of my life without you in it.”
“Oh Serenity,” he breathed. “I can’t go back to existing without you in my life. I was in hell. I don’t care what happens, I’ll be right here, with you.”
“And Elizabeth,” she said. “Promise me you’ll take care of her too. She’s the most important thing in the world. I’d die myself before I let anything happen to her. A world without her in it wouldn’t be a place I’d want to live in.”
“Hush, don’t talk about dying. I don’t want to hear such things.”
“I mean it though,” she said, pulling away from him slightly so she could look up at him, directly in the eye. “Promise me you’ll take care of her above all else.”
“I promise, Serenity,” he said, lowering his head and capturing her mouth in another sweet, intense kiss. She melted against him, her tongue brushing the smooth planes of his teeth, their tongues entwining in slips of cool and heat. She pressed her body up against his and his hands found her shirt, pulling at the material.
She wanted to feel his skin against hers, meld herself against him. She wanted him to encompass her, to fill her completely and stay that way forever. How had she gone so many years without feeling this way? Without wanting to be possessed fully by another person? To put herself in his hands and trust him not to hurt her?
With no inhibitions, Serenity tore at his shirt, popping open buttons to get to his beautiful, hard chest. Her mouth left his and worked along his cool shoulder, down across the firm curve of his pectoral, finally closing around the small nub of his nipple. Above her, Sebastian gasped, his fingers knotted in her hair as she circled his nipple with her tongue before repeating the action to its partner.
Sebastian pulled her back up, and now it was his turn to rid her of her clothes, pulling her t-shirt over her head, allowing her dark curls to tumble down her naked back. He reached around and unhooked her bra. Serenity slipped the straps from her shoulders, allowing the lace to fall to the floor, her full breasts exposed to him.
Sebastian popped the button of her jeans and she stepped out of them before shedding herself of her panties, so they pooled around her feet. Naked before him, his eyes roved her body, his full lips slack with a combination of lust and love.
Before, Serenity’s insistence on being turned had marred their love making. Now, with the existence of Elizabeth, Serenity becoming like him was no longer on the table and they could lose themselves in each other without worrying about second agendas.
With urgency, Sebastian pulled off his own shirt, revealing the solid curve of his bicep, his graceful, strong forearms. Serenity stepped forward, into the circle of his arms, and finally rid him of the last of his clothes.
Overcome with desire, she wrapped her arms around his neck, fitting her body into his. Using his speed and strength, he whisked her around, her back slamming up against the wall.
“I don’t want to live without you,” she told him, between frantic kisses.
“Oh, Serenity,” he gasped as he pushed her up against the wall, his cold fingers reaching between her thighs, slipping into her molten heat. “Let me show you how much I love you.”
Jackson was livid. Had this kind of rage been inside him when he had been human? Red-hot fury burned through every part of him, firing his muscles, pounding on the backs of his eyeballs like a migraine that wouldn’t let up. He couldn’t keep still, he couldn’t contain the anger inside of himself. Irrationally, he was terrified the rage would encompass him, explode from his body and spontaneously combust.
Instead he was reduced to pacing back and forth, pulling at his hair and railing at the world.
He was back in the forest again. All around him the debris of his fury lay like fallen angels. Small shrubs had been ripped up by their roots, bark shredded from the trees, low hanging branches torn away from the trees they had sprung from. Deep grooves were gouged from the soft earth, leaving the ground open and bleeding.
What was that thing at the house?
Something protected Serenity and as long as she kept it close, he was all but helpless. He was almost certain it was a person he was dealing with. The question was who? It couldn’t be the vampire she was screwing. The daylight put an end to that possibility.
When the person was around he couldn’t think, his muscles hurt, his vision was distorted. He shouldn’t have spent so much time fucking around with Serenity. He should have killed her there and then, or grabbed her and brought her back to the depths of the forest.
Instead he had toyed with her and loved every second of it, right up until he had sensed that being. The strange black hole hovering above him.
When he had glanced up toward it, he felt as though he’d been blinded by the flash of a camera or looked directly at the sun. His hearing buzzed, like a terrible case of tinnitus, deafening him. Deaf and blind, he’d had no option other than to retreat—to leave the bitch until the next time.
The only thing left to do now was find out what—or who—was affecting him so badly. Now Serenity wasn’t his only enemy. The person she kept with her would also pay. No one got away with doing that to him. He was stronger than anyone else and he would show them.
He’d have to go back. He’d have to watch and wait; learn who and what this adversary was.
But for now he needed to recuperate. Digging himself back into the soil, buried within its soft folds, he settled himself down. He would recover from the effects of the thing like sleeping off a bad hangover.
When he woke, he would seek his revenge.
Chapter Twenty-two
Sitting behind the wheel of his car, Detective Gingham drove up the wide street, toward the house where Serenity Hathaway had sought refuge. He wondering what types of people lived behind the high walls and huge gates towering over him on both sides. Who blocked themselves off from their neighbors like that?
Rich people—that’s who.
Gingham frowned. What business did a woman like Serenity have with someone who could afford to live in one of these houses?
As soon as the call came in that she’d taken a cab to one of these homes, he did a search on the address. The house belonged to a Sebastian Bandores. Other than a name, he found no other information on the man. He held no mortgages, loans or credit cards registered to the property. Gingham only found utilities and a property management company linked to the address.
He made a mental note to send someone down to the management company and do some sniffing.
Sebastian Bandores didn’t have a driver’s license, a birth certificate or a passport. The man was like a ghost. No, worse—more like he never existed.
Gingham ran all the possibilities through his head. Could the name be an alibi for Serenity’s husband? Were Jackson Hathaway and Sebastian Bandores the same man?
The detective’s mind ran wild with possibilities. Perhaps Jackson had made a fortune over the time he’d been missing and bought the house? But the dates didn’t line up. Whoever Sebastian Bandores was, he’d purchased the house more than fifty years ago. Had Jackson been involved in something big before he went missing? Drug dealing, people tr
afficking, weapons? All of the things that made people this kind of money, without leaving a paper trail. Was Sebastian Bandores a rich relation, involved in such things, and had gotten Jackson involved?
Still something didn’t feel right.
The modest three-bed duplex the couple originally lived in didn’t have the grandeur he would expect from a drug lord or weapons runner. From his profile, Jackson Hathaway wasn’t blessed with the brains to keep that kind of double life going.
Gingham didn’t put the lights on the top of the unmarked vehicle, but he drove too fast, pushing the speed limit as much as he dared.
He had no intention of letting this one go. He’d given two young officers strict instructions to follow Serenity wherever she went and to keep him informed. Gingham wasn’t going to leave this assignment to junior officers.
Where he’d find the woman, so he’d find the murderer.
The detective had seen what this monster had done to his innocent victims—young women, an elderly couple sleeping in their bed. The bodies looked as though they’d been the victims of an animal attack. The teeth marks showed the jaw shape of a human, but the actual teeth marks themselves were wrong. Their pathologist theorized the murderer filed his own teeth down to points, or else sharp veneers had been attached to his own teeth.
What kind of person would do that?
Detective Gingham intended on being around when the bastard showed up.
He hadn’t told the two young officers he was on his way. He didn’t want it to look like he didn’t trust them. If they noticed him, his excuse would be that he needed to check something out about the house.
The street was surprisingly empty. Street lamps lined the sidewalk, throwing circles of light on the tarmac. Ahead, he saw the shape of the patrol car parked on the side of the street. The headlights were out, the interior of the car in darkness.
Gingham frowned. The officers weren’t undercover. Serenity was aware of them. In fact, their presence was supposed to be a deterrent. They didn’t need to be sitting in the dark.
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