The Serenity Series: Box Set: Books 1-3

by Marissa Farrar

  “Thank you. You’re very kind.”

  “Nah.” She threw Serenity a wink. “I’m paid to do it.”

  Bridget bustled into the kitchen and began to open cupboard doors, pulling a pan from the rack and a plate from the shelf.

  “Don’t go to too much trouble,” Serenity called out, hoping Bridget wasn’t planning on making a full meal. She hated to sit, forcing herself to eat while the people who wanted her to watched with encouraging smiles and eagle eyes, counting every mouthful.

  A sharp pain speared through Serenity’s right temple. She sucked air between her teeth and clutched the side of her head. The pain stabbed deep behind her eye and suddenly the whole room seemed to sway to one side. Something in her head jerked; a mental realigning. Her heart picked up a notch, panic firing adrenaline through her sluggish heart and veins.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the intense agony in her head to go away. The dizziness made her feel sick and she kept her eyes closed to prevent the room spinning. Gradually, the pain subsided and the strange sense of vertigo passed.

  What had happened? Had her master hit her again?

  Serenity opened her eyes to find herself in a strange room, sitting on a dark brown leather couch. Panicked and confused, she pulled her legs up onto the couch, scrabbling to the back. She tucked her knees into her chest, as though making herself physically smaller might make her disappear. She twisted her head from side to side, trying to figure out where she was, trying to recognize something.

  A woman with long white hair and floaty clothing approached her holding a grilled cheese sandwich on a plate. The strange woman smiled at her but must immediately have realized something was wrong. Her head tilted to one side, the smile disappearing from her face, replaced by a slight frown.

  “Serenity? Are you all right? What’s happened?”

  Serenity put out a hand to ward her off. The cleanliness of her nails didn’t escape her; they’d lost the usual cake of mud.

  “Who the hell are you? What am I doing here?”

  The woman put the plate down on an occasional table and mirrored Serenity’s body language, placing her hands out in front. Steadying her.

  “You’ve been having periods of memory loss, Serenity. That’s why you can’t remember getting here. You and I were sitting on the couch together only a few minutes ago, talking. No one here is going to cause you any harm.”

  Serenity looked around again, her head darting from side to side. Her voice was little more than a whisper. “Where’s my master.”

  “He’s dead, Serenity. Sebastian killed him.”

  “Dead!” She shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”

  “If he wasn’t dead, Serenity, do you think he’d have let us bring you here?”

  She didn’t want to believe what this woman was telling her. Surely her master wasn’t dead. She’d never allowed herself to imagine a time when she might be free of him.

  “Who’s Sebastian?”

  But the woman didn’t get a chance to answer. Movement behind her caught her attention and she glanced over her shoulder. Serenity followed her gaze.

  A small girl with dark, bouncing curls slowly made her way down the stairs. “What’s wrong with Mommy?”

  The name set off alarms in her head. This was all too much. The walls of the big house pressed down around her, the space she occupied shrinking. Her heart clambered up her throat, its thumping resonating in her ears.

  Unable to take it anymore, she bolted over the back of the couch and ran for the door.

  “Serenity, wait,” the woman called after her, but she paid no attention. She yanked open the heavy double door and ran down the couple of step leading down to the driveway. Her bare feet crunched against gravel as she ran toward the gate. The moon hung high above, but the stars were not visible behind the glaring city lights. A sharp piece of stone cut into the sole of her foot and she cried out, bending to make sure the offending object was not still piercing her skin.

  As she bent, pain spiked through her temple. Her legs gave out beneath her and she fell to her knees. The injured foot forgotten, the world swayed around her until it became no more than a blur.

  Elizabeth started toward her mother, now kneeling on the driveway, but Bridget’s hands grabbed her shoulders and held her back.

  “Let go!” she cried, struggling. “Something’s wrong with Mommy.”

  “You stay here, I’ll go to her.”

  She didn’t want to be told to wait. If Mommy needed her, she wanted to be there. She’d missed her so much over the last couple of years. Just because she was different now, just because she didn’t put her to bed anymore, or read her stories, or laugh and tickle her under the ribs like she used to, didn’t mean Elizabeth loved her any less.

  Elizabeth didn’t like to get in trouble, it made her sad if people yelled at her, but for once she wasn’t going to do as she was told.

  With a burst of speed, she broke out of Bridget’s hold. Her nanny gave chase but Elizabeth reached Serenity first.

  She touched her arm. “Mommy?”

  A flash of a man’s face filled Elizabeth’s mind. Long, dark hair and black eyes. She felt a strange sucking sensation and then she was with him, standing before him in a cavernous room.

  ‘Let’s see what you can do,’ the man said.

  Mentally she screamed and stumbled back, but the man caught her in a vice-like grip. His fingers were ice-cold and straight away she knew the man was another vampire.

  Elizabeth gasped and snatched her hand away. In her mind, she was pulling away from the dark-haired vampire, but, in reality, the movement broke the contact with her mother’s skin. The vision vanished.

  Tears sprang in her eyes and her face crumpled. Bridget must have noticed the change in Elizabeth, for her attention switched from Serenity.

  “What’s the matter, Elizabeth? What’s happened?”

  “I saw something,” she whispered. “Something that’s going to happen.”

  Her mommy raised her head, a frown creasing her brow. “What’s going on? How did I get outside?”

  Bridget stepped forward. “Do you remember where you are, Serenity?”

  “Well… I’m at the house, but I don’t remember coming out here. My foot hurts and…” She trailed off, noticing Elizabeth’s pale face. “What’s happened to Elizabeth?”

  “She saw something when she touched you—a vision of some kind.”

  Serenity turned to Elizabeth. “What did you see?”

  Elizabeth spoke, trying to contain her sniffles. “Another vampire, the same one from my dream. I don’t think he’s a good vampire.”

  “According to Sebastian, none of them are,” said Bridget. She sighed, her face grim. “Let’s get you both back inside. He’ll be home soon, I’m sure, and then you can tell him what you saw, Elizabeth. Maybe he needs to rethink his plans.”

  “What plans?” Serenity asked as Bridget helped her to her feet.

  Elizabeth looked between the faces of the grown-ups, trying to read their reactions.

  “He wants to take you to visit an elder vampire,” said Bridget. “He thinks the other vampire might be able to help you remember who you were.”

  Serenity’s face lightened, the corners of her lips twitching. “Really?”

  Bridget didn’t return the smile.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sebastian walked through the front door. Turning the corner to the living area, he found everyone sitting on the couch, waiting for him. Serenity and Bridget sat side by side, Elizabeth squashed in between them.

  They looked up as he walked in and Elizabeth squealed, “Sebastian!” before jumping up and running to his side. She collided with his legs, wrapping her small arms around his thighs and giving him a hug. He reached down and messed up her dark hair.

  “Hey, kiddo. What’s going on?”

  “Lots of stuff,” she said, her eyes wide as she craned her neck to look up at him.

  The man’s blood still burned t
hrough his veins, firing every nerve. To appear normal—as normal as he could be—he restrained himself, holding himself back when he wanted to run, jump and ravage. Just before and immediately after a feeding were the times he struggled hardest not to give into his basest instincts.

  Those were the times he felt every bit the monster he was.

  But he needed to act normal for Elizabeth’s sake. He’d never want for her to be frightened of him. That would break his heart.

  Serenity didn’t meet his eye. She sat hunched over, her skinny arms wrapped around her knees.

  Bridget spoke for her. “Serenity had another period of memory loss. She tried to run away, but we chased after her. Elizabeth touched her and saw… something.”

  Sebastian glanced down at his daughter. “You had a vision?”

  Elizabeth nodded. “I dreamed about him too.”

  “About who?”

  “A bad man. A vampire like you.

  All Sebastian heard was ‘bad…a vampire…like you’. How long would he be able to protect her from the horror of what he was? One day she’d learn that he killed people, fed from them. Such knowledge would mean she’d never look at him in the same way, with such total trust.

  One day, he thought, with a sadness that made his heart drop to his stomach, she’ll hate me.

  “Was the bad man Jackson?” he asked, crouching to her level. “Are you sure you didn’t pick up on some of your mommy’s memories?”

  Her small face crumpled in a frown as she tried to think. “I don’t think it was him. He looked different and I’m sure he was talking to me, not Mommy.”

  Damn it!

  He didn’t need any more complications.

  “Well, we don’t know who this man is at the moment, and until we do, there is nothing we can do about what Elizabeth has seen.”

  Bridget got to her feet. “Aren’t you missing something, Sebastian? Don’t you think Elizabeth seeing another vampire has something to do with your plans to take Serenity to an elder?”

  “We don’t know that.”

  “So it’s coincidence?”

  He narrowed his eyes, rage flaring up inside him. Heat burned behind his eyes and he knew his pupils flashed yellow for the briefest of moments.

  Sebastian tightened his jaw. “I don’t have any other choice, Bridget.” He lowered his voice in vain hope that Elizabeth, who was right beside him, somehow wouldn’t hear what was being said. “She’s deteriorating. What would you have me do, risk losing her forever? Elizabeth will be safe. She’ll stay here with you. I won’t take her anywhere near the ancient one.”

  “My offer to help is still open, Sebastian. I know you don’t believe in the craft, but it’s not just herbs—”

  He raised a hand, cutting her off. “Let’s not speak of this again, Bridget. My mind is made up. I’ll be taking Serenity to New York as soon as dusk arrives tomorrow.”

  Bridget stalked to the kitchen counter where she’d left her purse. “I guess you won’t be needing me for the rest of the night then.”

  “Bridget, please don’t—”

  “Don’t what? Try to help fix this mess without putting your family in danger yet again? Jesus, Sebastian, sometimes I think you enjoy the pain.”

  Her words struck a chord somewhere deep inside him. He, too, had wondered if he sabotaged himself, that he punished himself for what he was. But he’d never purposefully put his family in harm’s way purely so he could suffer with them, would he?

  Bridget snatched up her purse. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back before daylight.”

  She slammed out of the door, leaving him to mull over her words. The sound of her car’s engine hummed to life and the vehicle crunched back down the driveway.

  A hand squeezed his and he glanced down to find Elizabeth looking up at him. “I don’t like it when you and Bridget fight,” she said.

  “Me neither, sweetheart, but sometimes grown-ups don’t agree on everything.”

  “Should I stop telling you and Bridget about the things I see?”

  His heart clenched. “No! Never think you can’t tell us. I’m so sorry we made you think that you shouldn’t.”

  “But if it makes you and Bridget fight…” She trailed off, uncertainly.

  “Sometimes adults need to argue in order to work things out. It doesn’t mean we’re not friends anymore, okay? The things you see are very important and I don’t want you to ever feel like you have to keep things from us. Bridget’s just worried about your visions.”

  “Do they mean I’m in danger?”

  “No, I’m sure they don’t. You’re going to be perfectly safe right here. No one even knows about you.”

  “Okay, Sebastian.”

  He gently cuffed her around the head. “It’s Daddy to you. Now come on. You shouldn’t even be up. Let’s get you back to bed.”

  She reached up to him. “Carry me upside down!”

  Sebastian grinned. With a quick flip, he hoisted her up and spun her around so he had hold of her by her legs, her hair trailing on the floor. He shot a look at Serenity, who still sat on the couch, and she gave him a weak smile.

  Elizabeth giggled and laughed as he carried her that way up the stairs and into her room. He threw her on the bed and she bounced a couple of times before scrambling to her knees. “Again, again!”

  “No, get into bed. I shouldn’t be getting you over excited when you should be asleep anyway.”

  “Awww…” she whined, but Sebastian lifted the blankets for her and she climbed beneath.

  He kissed her on the head. “Go to sleep.”

  Leaving her snuggled in bed, he made his way back down the stairs to Serenity.

  “Hey,” she said, brushing her hair away from her face with one hand. “How’s she doing?”

  “She’s fine. She’s more resilient than any other six-year-old in the world.”

  “Being half vampire?”

  He shrugged. “That and everything else she’s been through. I hope when all of this is over, we can give her as normal a life as possible.”

  Serenity nodded, but continued to stare down at her hands in her lap. Sebastian realized how strange it must be for her, with him referring to their life together and how he wanted them to live in the future, when both he and Elizabeth were little more than strangers.

  “Did you hear what I said to Bridget about wanting to take you to see another vampire?”

  “I only caught the gist of it, but I think I understand. He’s an older vampire, right? You think he might know how to get my memory back.”

  “That’s right. He’s an ancient from Greece. His name is Demitrios of Savos and he lives in New York now, where he runs a downtown nightclub. He’s been around much longer than I have. If anyone has seen your situation before—or at least something similar—it will be him.”

  “Is he dangerous?”

  “I don’t believe he’s any more dangerous than any other vampire,” said Sebastian. He felt a twinge of guilt at not really answering her question.

  She lifted her dark eyes to meet his, her interest evident. “How did you meet him?”

  “I come from Europe myself,” he said. “Spain, to be exact. After I was first turned, I wandered for years, only staying in one place for a brief period before moving to the next. I met him on my travels through Greece, in an ancient place called Delphi.”

  “Are all of your kind from Europe?”

  “The ancient ones are,” he said. “It’s the place of our origin.”

  “But why? And how?”

  “How did vampires start?”

  She nodded.

  “I wish I had the answer. I believe we’re simply another branch of evolution. Some of our ancestors might have had an ability to regenerate—maybe tapped into a dark source of magic and harnessed the capability. They passed on the secrets, generation after generation, and evolution happened as it always does. Those who were the most powerful survived. Those who allowed themselves to be exposed to others were—like witche
s—hunted down and killed. In the end, we became what we are—solitary beings who live with a curse.”

  “But the ability wasn’t seen as a curse back then?” she persisted. “If what you believe is true, people tried to harness the power because they thought it would bring them great things.”

  Sebastian shook his head. “The power was always bad. The whole reason we exist centers around human blood. The way we evolved must have involved human sacrifice or bloodletting. That’s magic—black magic. It was never intended for good, and whatever magic those ancient rituals harnessed is now passed on when we take our victims to the point of death and then fill them with a vampire’s blood. It’s always about the ritual.”

  Serenity opened her mouth to speak, then seemed to change her mind and closed it again.

  He reached out and touched the back of her hand. Whatever was going on in her head, he wanted to know. “What is it?”

  “I can’t help wondering if being like you would be a better way to exist. You seem so in control of yourself, so strong and self-assured. Why am I struggling to remember who I am when I could be like you?”

  “Serenity…”

  “I could be like you.” She nodded, the small motion filled with urgency. “It’s possible, isn’t it?”

  “I’m not sure. If I went through the motions to turn you, you might end up like me, but there’s a chance you might end up like Jackson. What would we do if that happened? You might hurt Elizabeth.”

  Her face fell. “I’d never want to hurt her.”

  “Which is why we need to try this other option first.”

  Serenity took a deep, shaky breath. “I want to trust you. It’s just, after everything that’s happened, I’m not sure I even know how to anymore.”

  He reached out and clasped both of her hands within the shell of his own. “I want you to trust me again, but I also need to earn that trust.”

  “Did I ever trust you?”

  “Once upon a time. Though, now I wonder if that trust was unfounded.”

  She tilted her head toward him, her eyes slightly narrowed. “Why?”

  “I let you down. Twice, I’ve let you down.”