Captured Sun

by Shari Richardson

  Serina walked slowly around Mathias, trailing a long finger along his jaw and down his chest. Mathias' jaw clenched, but he did not move. Only someone who knew him well would see how tightly he held to his control. "This one does have a certain appeal," she said. "I must give you that much credit. But what is it that draws you so strongly to him?"

  Alfred averted his eyes and said nothing. Serina lifted one lovely brow. "You will answer me," she said, her voice deepening and seeming to echo.

  Alfred's face contorted in agony. Serina made no move, but Alfred dropped to his knees and clutched his head. Mathias watched his father's pain for only a moment before speaking.

  "Tell her, father. Do not suffer for me."

  Alfred trembled, but dropped his hands. Whatever Serina had been doing, she had obviously stopped when Mathias had spoken.

  "Ah, a selfless vampire," Serina said, running her hands over Mathias' chest. "Surely that is a rarity, but still not rare enough to account for your lack of allegiance to me, Alfred."

  "It is his..." Alfred ground the words out between clenched teeth. "It is his ties to his humanity," he finished.

  Serina's smile was chilling. "Yes, I can feel the purity in his soul. But why would ties to cattle make his soul so pure and make his draw so strong for you?"

  "I do not know," Alfred spat. "If I did, do you believe I would not have sought ways to disengage him from his obsessions with humans?"

  "Hmmm," Serina mused. "I wonder how close his ties to you are, Alfred." Serina held Mathias' face between her palms an kissed him. It was a deep, passionate kiss that Mathias ended as gently and kindly as he could but had obviously tolerated rather than enjoyed. Alfred's face twisted with jealousy as he watched, but for whom?

  Serina glanced at Alfred, a cruel smile lifting the corner of her mouth before turning back to Mathias. "Do you not enjoy my kiss, young one?" she asked, tracing Mathias' lips with her fingernail.

  Mathias tensed, but did not pull away. "My heart is spoken for," he said.

  "Is it? And who has the audacity to speak for what I want?"

  Mathias refused to answer. Serina glanced over his shoulder to Alfred. "Is it you, my love?" she asked. "Have you found the joys of Achilles and Patroklos?"

  "It is not me, my queen." Bitterness depended Alfred's voice.

  "Alfred, no," Mathias cried. "Speak no more."

  Serina wrapped her hand around Mathias' throat. Mathias' eyes bulged when Serina squeezed his neck, but he did not move. "He is not yours to order about, boy," she whispered against his ear. "To whom does this one give himself, Alfred?"

  "A human," Alfred said.

  Serina jerked her head back from Mathias to gaze into his eyes. "A human? You befoul your nature with the love of cattle?"

  "We have very different ideas of what befouls our nature, Serina," Mathias said.

  "Who is it," she demanded.

  Mathias said nothing. Serina's growl made the air tremble around them. "I asked you a question, pup. I expect an answer."

  Mathias refused to speak, further infuriating the now trembling vampiress. Her hand flashed up and sliced down, tearing open Mathias' shirt and the flesh beneath it. He didn't flinch, though his jaw tightened, and the flesh began to knit itself back together. Again and again Serina opened the wound until pale lines of scarring remained behind when the flesh had healed.

  Alfred watched, agony twisting his handsome face into a gruesome mask. "Enough," Alfred growled. "If he will not tell you, I will. I cannot bear this any longer."

  "Alfred, if you have ever loved me, do not do this," Mathias begged. "You know what she will do."

  "It is because I love you, because I know what she is capable of, that I do this, Mathias. Did I not promise to ensure Serina would not hurt you? She," he spat the word, "demanded that promise from me and I will fulfill it." Alfred turned to Serina. "It is a human girl in Highland Home," he said. "She has this hold upon him such that I have never seen before."

  "Her name, my love," Serina said.

  "Mairin Cote," Alfred said.

  Mathias' eyes burned with fury. "It is on your head, father," he spat. "I will not forgive this. You may believe you have kept your promise, but you will force me to break mine."

  "But you will live to hate me, Mathias. That is what matters," Alfred said.

  "So," Serina said. "The young one feels that this human is worth breaking the bond which was strong enough to keep my child from my side. I think I should like to meet her." Serina's smile was that of a feral animal who had scented its prey.

  "No!" Mathias exclaimed. "Please, I beg of you to leave her in peace. I will...I will do whatever you wish if you will give me your word that you will leave this place without harming her." Mathias knelt before Serina, his hands raised in supplication.

  Serina eyed Mathias like a choice cut of meat. "Anything I wish?" she asked. "Even leave her and Alfred and come with me?"

  Mathias' shoulders fell in defeat. "Yes."

  "What guarantee do I have that you will not leave me once we are safely away from your human?" Mathias' easy acquiescence had obviously made Serina doubt his sincerity.

  "You have my word, as a gentleman and vampire, that so long as no harm comes to her by your hand or your order, I will remain with you."

  "An interesting proposition," Serina mused. "I will take you from Alfred, and your love. I will have an eternity of suffering from which to feed, and a lovely boy on which to sate my needs." She looked at Alfred who trembled in the dark alley, anguish plain in his face. "And an eternity in which to gloat that I have what you desire, Alfred. Perhaps when I next send out my call to you, you will come at a run rather than evading me for a century."

  Serina raised Mathias from his knees and kissed him again, devouring his lips and clinging to his body. Though pliant, Mathias was obviously detached. An evil glint lit Serina's gaze. "I accept," she said before striking Mathias with such force that he collapsed to his knees before crumbling to the ground.

  ***

  The scream jerked me out of the dream. Xavier's hand on my arm was warm, but far from comforting. It was not the cool, electric touch of Mathias' skin on mine, but something so hot and vital that it burned.

  "Mairin, hey, what's wrong?" he asked, worry clouding his green eyes. Kerry may have told him of my dreams, but hearing about them and seeing their affects were completely different things. So often in the first moments after I awakened from my premonitions and night terrors, I was combative and violent. I also needed familiar things to reconnect to. Xavier's over-heated touch when I wanted and needed Mathias' cool hand, made it even harder for me to come back to the present.

  I shook my head. I couldn't form words yet. The sight of Mathias crumpled and helpless in the alley still burned before my eyes. But it was the memory of Alfred's betrayal that held my tongue and made me want to claw Xavier's hand off my arm.

  "Mairin?" Kerry's voice was high with worry. I held up my hand and she pulled Xavier back. "She needs space, X. Let go of her."

  I nodded and then blessed the cool air that replaced Xavier's super-heated touch.

  "Kerry, is Mairin OK?" Mom called from the top of the stairs.

  "Yeah, Mom. Go back to bed, I got it."

  I heard my mother's footsteps retreat and allowed the trembling to take hold. I wrapped my arms around myself in an effort to hold myself together, but I knew it wouldn't work. Alfred had fulfilled his promise. He'd protected Mathias and kept him alive, but at what cost? Mathias might be alive, but he wasn't coming back to me as he'd promised. "For your own good," echoed in my brain until I wanted to scream. He'd gone with the monster for my own good. He would stay with her for my own good. He would even die by her hand for my own good.

  I moaned low, letting the sound break through my pain. Mathias may have done these things for my own good, but I knew I could not live without him. It would be for my own good that I would find the way to save him and bring him home. Mathias was going to have to learn that "for my own goo
d" was a double-edged sword and I was willing to wield it.

  "What time is it?" I whispered when I had calmed down enough to speak.

  "About four," Xavier said.

  "Mathias?" I asked, knowing the answer before Xavier spoke.

  "Not back yet. I wasn't going to worry until the sun came up."

  "You can worry now," I said. "He's not coming back." Xavier cursed and slipped his cell phone from his pocket.

  "We need to find Alfred," I said. "He's probably at Mathias' house by now. He'll know where Serina took Mathias."

  Xavier waved me off and I heard him curse at whoever answered his call.

  "Kerry, we have to move fast. My dreams of Serina have never left much time to act. I doubt this one is any different."

  "Are you okay to drive?" she asked.

  "No." I was still trembling and my vision was still locked on Mathias' body in the alley.

  Xavier snapped his phone closed. "The boys lost sight of Mathias and Alfred not five minutes after they started following them. The vamps ditched us on purpose."

  "X, can you drive Mairin's car?" Kerry asked, wrapping an afghan around my shoulders. "We need to get to Mathias' house and find out what happened." I blessed Kerry's quick grasp of the situation. The dream's power still held me and made it difficult for me to speak. Why was it that my dreams of vampires always seemed to come just a little too late? Why couldn't this dream have come days ago, when I could have used it to stop Mathias from seeking out Serina? I had to believe even Alfred would have helped keep Mathias from her if he had known she would take him as she did.

  The drive to Mathias' house seemed to take an eternity. Every moment we wasted looking for Alfred was another moment Serina had to further harm Mathias or take him farther away from me. Despite knowing he wouldn't be at the house when we arrived, my heart still plummeted when we turned the corner and saw both Alfred's red SUV and Mathias' black sports car in the drive. I ran up the front walk and pushed the front door open, unsurprised to find it unlocked. I stood for a moment in the entry way, vainly listening for some sign of Alfred in the dimly lit house.

  "Come in, my young friends," Alfred called from the dark living room. His voice was a dead thing compared to the vibrant tone he'd had only hours earlier.

  "Where is he?" I demanded, rushing into the dark living room without fear and flush with fury. In the dim light of the moon filtering through the window, I saw Alfred shake his head.

  "I cannot tell you, Mairin."

  "Bullshit," I screamed. "You know where she would have taken him."

  Alfred sighed. "I did not say that I did not know where he was, only that I cannot tell you." He glanced past me to where Kerry and Xavier stood. "Or anyone else."

  Xavier fumbled around until he found the switch which flooded the room with light. "I hate talking to vamps in the dark," he said. "What's going on here, leech?"

  "I have been forbidden by my maker to reveal her location, kitty. I cannot speak the words, no matter that I would if I could." He looked at me. "If it were in my power to help you bring him home, do you believe I would withhold that information?"

  I ground my teeth. "I don't know what to believe of you, Alfred," I said. "I watched you betray me under the guise of saving him, but I also know you love him."

  "Whether he believes that or no, you are right."

  "So we're just supposed to stand here and let Mathias go to hell with the bitch who made you?" Xavier said. I was shocked to hear such a degree of anger in Xavier's voice. I hadn't thought Xavier cared enough about Mathias to worry for his safety.

  Alfred nodded. His sad eyes found mine and I glared at him.

  "You betrayed me and you betrayed him," I said. "You told her about me knowing she would use it against Mathias. How could you not have foreseen what he would do?"

  "Would you prefer she had killed him in the alley and left him like so much trash? I could not allow that to happen."

  Xavier growled and I could see his aura beginning to pulse. "Xavier, please. I need you clear headed if we're going to figure this out."

  Kerry wrapped her arms around Xavier's shoulders and I could see him breathing deeply. His aura smoothed out and began to blend with Kerry's. When he'd regained his control he asked, "So what do we do?"

  I sat in the chair across from Alfred. There had to be a way around this order from Serina. "If we figure it out, can you tell us if we're right? Can you help us at all?"

  Alfred swallowed hard. "I think so," he said. "The bond, the connection Serina had with me is not as strong as it once was. Her betrayal and her joy in hurting me has weakened the bond significantly. I think there may be enough give in it that I can give you confirmations."

  I nodded and leaned back. I tried to remember what Alfred had said about Serina at Xavier's house yesterday. He'd mentioned something about where she came from...some place she rarely left. Where was it?

  "England!" I exclaimed. "You said she rarely left England. Has she gone home with Mathias?"

  Alfred's expression was pained, but he nodded.

  "But you didn't tell me where in England she lived. Dammit." The elation from getting one clue was quickly quelled when it became obvious that was the only clue I could pull out of my own memory.

  "Maybe they haven't left yet, Mairin," Xavier said. "Let me call some of the boys and get them out there to track them."

  "I don't know where they should start," I said, feeling defeated. "There weren't any defining features in the alley I saw in my dream." I put my head in my hands and tried to force a clearer image from my dream. I'd been so focused on Mathias that I hadn't noticed anything else.

  Alfred coughed. When I looked up, I could see he was struggling to say something. "Green," he finally choked out.

  Xavier's head swiveled to face Alfred. Xavier's eyes lit with expectation. "Green Street and what, leech?"

  Alfred pounded on the table beside him. The wood cracked beneath his hands. I shook my head. Alfred taking his frustration out on Mathias' furniture was not going to help us find him.

  "Pine," Kerry said, making the connection I hadn't. "Green and Pine cross near that ugly bar where the second victim was found."

  Alfred was nodding again, and Xavier turned his back to flip open his cell phone. He shouted a couple of orders to whomever answered and then snapped it shut.

  "OK, leech. The boys will track them from that alley. If they're already gone, we need to know where we're going next."

  I looked at Kerry and Xavier and shook my head. "Not we," I said. "Xavier, you have to take Kerry back to our house and watch over the family. Serina knows about me, it wouldn't take much for her to figure out I have family. Mathias has promised his servitude in return for our safety, but I don't trust her."

  "Maire, you can't do this alone," Kerry said. "It's not safe."

  "I won't be alone. Alfred is going to redeem himself," I turned to him. "Aren't you."

  "You're going after Mathias? Knowing what Serina will do to you, you're still going?" Alfred's shock at my devotion was obvious.

  "I don't have a choice. She took my heart and soul with her. I can't live without him."

  Alfred considered my words before turning to Kerry. "I will protect your sister as best I can, but I cannot guarantee her safety."

  "That's not good enough," Kerry cried.

  "It has to be, Kerry. I need you to go home, tell Mom and Tawnya that I had to take care of this, that it was a dream that sent me. You know that will keep them from asking too many questions. I'll come back as soon as I can get Mathias."

  Xavier's eyes told me he didn't believe me, but he kept that thought to himself.

  "I'll keep the boys on the watch around the house and the shop. Kerry will stay with me. Your family will be here when you get home, Maire," he said.

  "Thanks, Xavier," I said, hugging him. I kissed Kerry and pushed them both out the door. When I closed the door behind them, I realized that tears coursed down my cheeks unchecked. I was certain I'd ne
ver see my family again, but without Mathias I had no reason to live. I had to go to England. I had to find him and I had to do what Alfred had been unwilling to do. I had to save him.

  "Where do we start, Alfred?"

  "The airport, I suppose." He rose from his chair and stepped closer to me. The hair on my neck rose and I backed away from him.

  "You need to keep away from me, Alfred," I said. "I saw what you did, heard everything you said. Mathias begged you to keep his secret, but you didn't. You gave him to Serina as much as if you had physically handed him over to her. I don't trust you."

  Alfred held out his hands and took a step away from me. "I don't understand your connection to my son, Mairin. I didn't realize he would be willing to sacrifice his freedom for your safety. In my world, humans are not cherished as Mathias cherishes you. When I spoke, I did so knowing only that I could not allow Serina to kill my son. You say you saw what I did. Did you also see the torture she had begun? The scars she will leave on him? Would you have allowed that to continue, to end in his death? I think not."

  I nodded. He was right. I would have offered my neck to Serina if I'd believed doing so would stop her from hurting Mathias. "So we agree we don't trust each other, but we both love Mathias. I guess that's as good a place as any to work from," I said.

  Alfred sat in the chair by the window, peering into the brightening dawn. "Mathias mentioned your dreams to me. How they are often premonitions," he said. "Can you make yourself have one? Perhaps it would be enough to tell you where they are."

  I shook my head. "I've never tried to force a premonition. They've always just come to me," I said. "It's been extremely frustrating lately that the dreams involving vampires always seem to come just a little too late."

  "Perhaps it is because we do not truly have a future," Alfred mused.

  I shuddered at the though. "Mathias has a future," I said.

  "Only if you can find them. Will you try?" Alfred's pain was something I hadn't been prepared for. He'd stood by and allowed Serina to take Mathias, despite his obvious love for his son. Serina's power over him was horrifying in its ability to overrule his free will. No one deserved to have his life reduced to being forced to follow orders without thought or choice.