Still, her memories of events after her mother’s disappearance remained clear in her mind. It had been a frightening time for her, filled with serious conversations between the remaining adults in her life, when long words such as ‘custody’ and ‘residence orders’ seemed to spike through their muttered tones. However, after her daddy, Sebastian, and Uncle James went through her mother’s things, they discovered Sebastian’s name on Elizabeth’s birth certificate. After that, the problems over who would take care of her and the scary, intense conversations subsided. Uncle James still acted strange at first, but once he saw how she lived—with her nanny, Bridget, taking care of her during the day—things had gotten easier.
On the big double bed before her, her backpack lay open, partially covering her rose-embroidered quilt. Now an expert in packing light, Elizabeth began the monotonous task of filling the bag with enough items of clothing to see her through the next couple of days. She added her favorite teddy and then snuck in the muslin cloth she still had as a comfort blanket. She felt like she was too old to still have a security blanket, but she couldn’t bring herself to give it up. Should she have a friend around to play, she hid the blankie under her pillow.
Her daddy told her the room that was now hers had also been the one her mother slept in. It gave Elizabeth comfort to know that when she put her head on the pillow at night, her cheek rested on the same spot her mother’s once had.
Elizabeth’s gaze traveled to her white nightstand, where a photograph of her and her mom stood front and center. Her mom had caught her up from behind, her dark eyes looking directly into the camera. From the way her arm reached out, Elizabeth guessed her mom had turned the camera around to take the photograph herself.
Elizabeth knew her mother had dreamed of a normal life for her, but that was never going to happen. Elizabeth’s ability to predict the future made living in the present difficult. She’d learned from a young age that people didn’t like to hear her thoughts and dreams. Hearing predictions about their future—ones that always came true—made them fear and hate her.
The sound of her bedroom door swishing open made Elizabeth turn around. Her nanny, Bridget, stood in the doorway, one hand on her chunky hip. Her wrist jangled with numerous turquoise bracelets and a long braid of almost-white hair hung down one side of her body.
“Almost done?” Bridget asked, her British accent softened from the number of years spent living in America.
Elizabeth’s shoulders sagged. “Nearly.”
Bridget crossed the room and sat on the edge of Elizabeth’s bed, the soft mattress sinking beneath her weight.
“Getting a bit sick of racing around the country, huh?”
Elizabeth put down the long-sleeved tee she was holding and climbed up onto the bed, huddling beside Bridget’s solid form.
“I just keeping hoping we’re going to find her, but then we don’t and I feel even sadder than before.”
Years had passed, yet her father hadn’t given up. They both knew Serenity was still out there alive somewhere and he swore he’d continue the search until he brought her home.
Because Elizabeth dreamed of Serenity.
Sometimes it felt as though she were watching her mother from afar, as though hovering above her or lurking in the distance like a spy in the shadows. Other times, she saw the world from Serenity’s eyes, experiencing what she did, feeling her emotions. Yet she was never able to see her mother’s face. Naturally, when she watched the world from her mother’s perspective she wouldn’t expect to, but even when she watched from afar, her mommy’s face was always cast in shadows.
At first, the dreams came to her sporadically and fragmented. Elizabeth struggled to make sense of them, to pin down Serenity’s exact location. As she got older, she learned how to control them more; how to look for clues as to the whereabouts of her mother—names on buildings, street signs or landmarks Sebastian might recognize.
Sebastian was tireless in his search. Each time Elizabeth saw something in a dream or envisaged something about Serenity, he immediately sat her down in order for her to break down any leads she might have picked up on. Time and time again, they’d left in search of Serenity—New York, Phoenix, San Francisco—anywhere Elizabeth gave a clue to where she might have seen. Each time they missed Serenity, though on several occasions Sebastian had found clues to suggest they’d been there: a stinking hole in the ground, or worse, an unexplained and horrific murder of a young girl. They’d been on innumerable trips now, Sebastian racing across the county with Elizabeth clutched to him, but still they’d not so much as caught a glimpse of Serenity. Somehow Jackson knew to stay on the move, that if he stayed in one place for any length of time, they’d track him down.
Elizabeth’s dream the previous night had placed Serenity in Virginia, so now they would head to that city for a couple of days to search for her. Elizabeth slid easily into her father’s sleeping pattern while they were away—as though the sleep she didn’t need normally was saved up for the times they were away. They always made sure the hotel they stayed at had blackout blinds or shutters and Sebastian would sleep under the bed to reduce his chance of exposure. The amount of money they had meant almost anything could be bought—including privacy—and the staff would be warned to stay out of the room until nightfall.
At night, they scoured the city and surrounding area, trying to pick up on a trail or hoping that Elizabeth’s proximity to her mother would increase the strength of her dreams and visions so they could pin her down to a more specific location.
Bridget offered a smile of sympathy and rubbed Elizabeth’s leg. “You know, I’m sure your daddy wouldn’t want you to be upset. If you want to stop all this, you should tell him.”
Elizabeth glanced up at her bedroom wall to where her clock hung, the face covered in colored diamante butterflies. The huge house in the Hollywood Hills seemed imposing to many, but her daddy had done everything he could to make the place her home, including decorating her bedroom just how she wanted. Of course, he’d gotten in some designers to take care of things—shopping for pink wall paper and princess furnishings was just a step too far for his vampire personality.
Six thirty-two p.m.
Only another minute before sunset.
Elizabeth knew the exact moment of sunset, whatever the time of year. It wasn’t that her body was attuned in the same way Sebastian’s was. She simply liked to know when her father would get up.
Having a vampire father didn’t exactly help integrate her into society.
In order for them to live as much like a human family as possible, Sebastian had been diagnosed with a rare skin condition—one that made him allergic to the sun. Bridget took care of her for most of the day—doing the school run and feeding her dinner—but as soon as the sun fell, Sebastian was all hers again.
As Elizabeth got older, her need for sleep had diminished. Where most six-year-old girls would need ten to twelve hours a night, Elizabeth only needed eight. Her lack of need for sleep meant she still got time to spend with Sebastian. He would take her on excursions, moving in that way she knew no one else understood and she needed to keep a secret. She loved nothing more than clinging to her father as he flew across the city, holding her in his arms as though she were the most important person on earth.
The other kids at school still teased her about her family life, despite her obvious wealth. Picking up on mainstream culture, they didn’t hesitate to call her daddy a vampire because of his inability to be exposed to the light. Of course, they had no idea how close to the truth their mean, childish jibes were. At night, as she snuggled down in bed, Elizabeth fantasized about showing each and every one of the mean kids just what a vampire really looked like.
A gentle knock on the door made both Elizabeth and Bridget look up. Her father’s handsome, pale face poked around her bedroom door.
“Ready?” he asked, his green eyes flicking over the half-packed bag.
“In a minute, Sebastian” she said.
�
�It’s Daddy to you.”
“Yes, Daddy,” she grinned.
Sebastian’s attention turned to her nanny. “Has everything been okay?”
“Yes, fine. She’s been good as gold.”
Sebastian smiled and Elizabeth beamed back. “I wouldn’t expect anything less. You can go now, Bridget, if you’re ready. Thanks for everything.”
“Same time tomorrow?” Bridget asked.
“I’m not sure when we’ll be back, but if you could be here just in case.”
“Of course.” Bridget planted a kiss on top of Elizabeth’s head. “See you, sweetie.”
“Bye, Bridget,” said Elizabeth.
Sebastian opened the door further and stood aside to allow Bridget past. The nanny’s footsteps echoed down the hall. He stepped fully into the room and closed the door behind him.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I want to take my things with me.”
“You don’t need to pack, Elizabeth,” he said. “If you need anything, we can buy it when we get there.”
“Yeah, but I want my stuff,” she protested, her lower lip pooching out. “I can’t sleep without my things.”
“It’s easier for me to carry you without a bag.”
She folded her arms across her narrow chest. “You’re strong. You can manage.”
“Hmm,” he said, only partly disapproving.
Elizabeth knew she’d get her way. While he limited things like junk food and too much television, when it came to things she sought comfort in, he rarely said no. His compliance stemmed from guilt; guilt for what happened in the mines two years earlier. Elizabeth lived with her own guilt. She remembered breaking free from her mother’s grasp and running in the total darkness, only to suddenly plunge into icy cold water. If she’d have stayed with her mother as she’d been supposed to, her daddy would never have been forced to come after her, leaving her mommy alone and unprotected.
In the weeks and months following Serenity’s disappearance, Elizabeth cried many times about what happened. Her father tried to reassure her, telling her it wasn’t her fault, she was just a child, but nothing soothed the sickening, aching hole in her heart.
The psychic connection she had with her mother meant she could not escape the pain, neither her own or her mother’s. Serenity had become a shell with no memory of her family. Jackson kept her as his companion and she followed him around, making no attempt to escape. His regular bites kept her half drained, making her physically weak. The repetitive bites also had another effect—they’d made her forget who she was. She only knew of her existence in that moment.
“How much longer are you going to be?” Sebastian asked.
“I’ll be ready in a minute,” she said, her voice sharp with irritation.
Sebastian put up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. I’ll wait for you downstairs. Just make sure you don’t pack everything you own.”
She gave an over-exaggerated sigh. “I won’t.”
He left the room at human speed and Elizabeth jumped back off the big bed to finish packing.
She picked up her shirt, preparing to add the item to her bag. The room around her blurred as though she were suddenly looking through a frosted window. Everything tilted, the floor sloping out from under her like the deck of a big ship in an ocean storm. She stumbled and steadied herself on the bed, but her world continued to change.
“Daddy?” she tried to call out, but her voice came out as only a whisper.
She glanced down to find the pink carpet of her bedroom had been replaced with gravel. As she raised her head, her bed disappeared. The walls of her room continued to ripple and blur, growing thinner and more transparent by the second.
Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut, trying to bring her world back to normal. However much she knew they relied on her visions to find her mother, they always frightened her while they were happening. But when she opened her eyes again, her bedroom had completely vanished.
She stood on a long, wide street. Leafy trees flanked her on either side. In the distance, a tall spire reached into the sky, bigger than anything she’d ever seen before, lights shining up from its base. The structure was unusual because it wasn’t circular but square.
Voices from behind made Elizabeth spin around.
In front of her was the back of a man she recognized as Jackson. Beside him stood her mother, her hair longer than she recalled, brushing right down her back. It was dirty and bedraggled—nothing like the soft, fragrant curls she remembered.
The stench that always surrounded Jackson filled her nostrils and she clamped a hand over her nose, trying to breathe through her mouth. It did no good and she tasted his rottenness on her tongue, cloying at the back of her throat. Elizabeth’s senses were more acute than most and the hideous reek made her want to gag.
“Mommy,” Elizabeth said. “Mommy, I’m here. Can you hear me?”
Serenity had never been able to hear her before, but still Elizabeth needed to try. Normally, when she appeared near her mother, Elizabeth was little more than a ghost; an apparition no one could see. Yet, she was sure her mother sensed her somehow and this time was no different.
As she spoke, Serenity stopped walking.
Elizabeth paused, her heart thumping. She’d not seen her mom’s face in all these visions and she longed for her mother to turn to her, recognize her and run with arms open wide, to squeeze her so hard it hurt.
Serenity turned.
Elizabeth screamed and stumbled back.
Her mother’s face no longer looked like her own; it didn’t look like anyone’s face. A black, moving mask of shadows hid her features, like clouds racing across the moon.
What had she become?
Elizabeth covered her face with both hands, no longer trying to avoid Jackson’s stench, but to hide from the terrifying sight of her mother. Was she no longer the person Elizabeth had known? Had Jackson turned her into the same monster as him?
Tears flooded her eyes, blurring her vision and she stumbled away. Muted by her emotion, she distantly heard Jackson calling to Serenity. Elizabeth just wanted to be away from there, to be back in the warm safety of her home and her father’s arms.
Her feet caught around each other and she fell, her face about to smack the rough gravel. Instead, she hit the soft mattress of her bed, the springs bouncing beneath her. Her own familiar scent welcoming her home.
Relieved to be back, but still horrified by what she’d seen, Elizabeth curled up on her bed. Her whole body trembled and her bowels felt loose and watery. She crushed her face into the soft feathers of her pillow and allowed the tears to come. Sobs wracked her body and her hand unconsciously sought her comfort blanket, forgetting she’d already packed it.
“I hope you’re done already,” her father’s voice called from outside the door. Elizabeth didn’t answer. She felt a slight breeze across her forehead as her father pushed open the door, and, finding her in tears, used his vampire’s speed to be instantly at her bedside.
“Elizabeth?” he said from above. “What’s wrong?”
She couldn’t answer him and only continued to cry into her pillow.
“Elizabeth!” he repeated, his tone slightly brusque. “Tell me what’s happened.”
She lifted her face to him and he wrapped his arms around her narrow waist, pulling her onto his lap. Grateful to be held in his solid, very real embrace, she choked back the tears enough to speak.
“I saw Mommy, but she didn’t look like herself. Her face was all dark and scary.”
“Shhh,” he said, rocking her. “What you saw wasn’t really your mom. It was a projection, something your mind picked up on.”
Elizabeth shook her head against him. “No, it was her. She’s different now.”
His finger touched the bottom of her chin, tilting her face up to his.
“Elizabeth, if all this is too much, if you can’t face the thought of still looking for her, if everything is too upsetting, then we won’t. You know ho
w much I love your mother. I love her as much as I love you, but I won’t see you upset by all of this.” He squeezed his eyes shut, and then opened them again. “You’re only a child and you need to be allowed to act like one. Your mother would never have wanted you to be growing up scared of her.”
“I don’t have a choice,” she said. “I can’t control it. It’s like she’s calling to me and I can’t help but find her.”
His cool lips pressed against the top of her head. “I wish I could take it away from you,” he said. “I wish there was some way I could make you a normal girl.”
“I don’t. If I was normal, we’d never be able to find her and bring her home.”
He nodded against her head. “I know. I just hate this.”
“Me too.”
“Any time you’re ready to talk about what else you saw, you tell me, okay? And don’t worry; we’re not going anywhere tonight. I’m not about to start dragging you around the country when you’re so upset.”
Elizabeth sat up. “I’m okay. I can tell you what I saw. I want Mommy home too.”
“Are you sure?”
Elizabeth nodded and took a breath. “I was standing in front of a huge spike sticking up into the sky. Loads of people were hanging out, Sebastian—”
“Daddy,” he automatically corrected.
“Daddy,” she repeated, and then carried on. “People with cameras, maps and books. And I saw a really big house—even bigger than our house! It was white and had pillars like the ones in the books at school when we were learning about Greece. There was loads of grass, all cut short and perfect.”
“Hang on. Tell me more about the house.”
“I don’t know anything else. The front was round. It was more like a castle than just a big, white house.”
Sebastian’s face widened with recognition. “The White House? Are you telling me you saw the White House?”
The Serenity Series: Box Set: Books 1-3 Page 45