Authors: Marissa Farrar
“They’re not just going to let us take her.”
Sebastian’s jaw tightened. “We’re not going to give them a choice.”
Sebastian didn’t intend on telling
Serenity—she had enough to worry about—but the feeling of the sun coming up was growing stronger with each passing second. He fought his instincts with every inch of strength he had, but every cell of his body screamed at him to get out of the way of danger.
The sensation felt like a tugging on all his limbs, dragging him away from the horizon. His blood seemed to fizz in his veins, all of his extremities tingling, as if he were desperate to feed. He knew this instinct wasn’t one of hunger, but of protection.
He balled his fists, his whole body tensed, both because of the scene in front of him and the turmoil which fought a battle inside him.
Where he’d once believed his body would only ever function in the daylight if he found himself in mortal danger, he now learned that having those he loved—even more than he loved his own immortal life—allowed him to break those bonds and step into the light. He’d stand here and let the new morning sun burn him to dust, just as long as he’d made sure of his daughter’s safety first.
The threat of the oncoming sun meant he couldn’t waste any time. As soon as the sun rose, not only would Elizabeth be killed, he would turn to ashes.
Conner stood, his body at an angle so he faced the ocean and the city beyond. His son was at his side, and they’d not yet been noticed by anyone but the demons. Sebastian kept his voice low, wanting to keep the element of surprise on their side. He squeezed Serenity’s hand.
“If the boy causes trouble, don’t hesitate to do whatever needs to be done to get Elizabeth to safety. You’ve still got my blood in your veins. You’ll be stronger than him.”
She looked up at him, her dark eyes hard with determination, and matched his tone to prevent herself from being heard. “No one’s life is more important than Elizabeth’s.” She glanced around at the shadows surrounding them. “But what about them?”
“I don’t think they can do anything to stop us,” he said. “Not yet, anyway.”
Serenity nodded. “Okay. So what now?”
He dropped a soft kiss against her lips. “Whatever happens, remember that I love you.”
She frowned, the question on her lips, “What do you mean—”
He didn’t let her finish.
With a roar and a burst of speed, he launched himself at Conner. The warlock seemed to sense him coming and spun to meet him, putting Elizabeth between them. He would crush Elizabeth if he hit at this rate, so he forced himself to slow.
The blade tightened against Elizabeth’s throat, the sharp edge nicking her skin, the scent of her blood filling the air.
He came to an abrupt halt.
“Daddy!”
Elizabeth cried, her lower lip trembling. “I’m really sorry, Daddy. I should never have trusted them.”
Sebastian focused on his daughter’s face, hating to witness the fear in her eyes. “It’s okay, baby. None of this is your fault.”
His fury toward Conner made him want to lose control, to attack and tear the man to pieces and revel in his blood, but he needed to hold back. One wrong move and Conner would open Elizabeth’s throat.
“I’ll kill her right now,” the man threatened. “Even though it’s too soon, I’ll kill her if you move another inch.”
“Sebastian!”
He turned his head quickly toward Serenity’s cry, not daring to take his eyes off Conner for more than a fraction of a second. The demons were moving toward them, slowly and in silence. They’d closed in so they now stood mere feet from the start of the pier, blocking off the route of escape. The creatures were no more than ghosts here, he reminded himself. Even if they wanted to try to stop them from rescuing Elizabeth, from their lack of action, he assumed they were unable to do anything but try to frighten them. Of course, with Elizabeth’s death, all of that would change. That was what the demons waited for now. As soon as Elizabeth’s life blood was spilled, they would take solid form.
This small distraction had been all Conner needed. He lifted the hand holding the knife and shouted in Sebastian’s direction.
“
Tueri contra sanguinem satietas!”
Protect against the
bloodfeeder …
A blow hit Sebastian in the center of his chest and his feet lifted from beneath him. He flew backward through the air before hitting the boardwalk on his back and skidding. He let out a yell of anger and frustration and slammed his fists on the ground. When he tried to leap back to his feet, he found himself unable to, a huge weight pressing against his chest, pinning him down. On top of that, he sensed the sun rising higher, and the prickling in his skin turned to needle points. He tried to ignore the pain, knowing he couldn’t allow it to cloud his judgment.
“It’s coming!” Conner hooted, the knife still held at Elizabeth’s throat. “The moment is coming and there is nothing any of you can do to stop it!”
“
Nooo!” Serenity ran at Conner, her arms outstretched as though she planned on choking the man to death.
Conner’s spell wouldn’t work on Serenity, Sebastian realized. Even though she had his blood in her veins, she was still human.
Elizabeth saw her mother coming. With a sudden burst of spirit, she lifted a sneakered foot and stomped down on Conner’s instep. He let out a yell, but the knife caught her throat, cutting her again and drawing more blood. She cried out, her hands clutching her throat. Serenity had almost reached them, but she wasn’t quick enough. Conner snatched Elizabeth up again, and though she fought and squirmed in his arms, he was ready for her now, prepared for the jabbing elbows and kicking feet. His upper lip curled in disgust, the knife back against her throat.
“I’ll kill her right now,” he said. “I swear I will.”
Serenity skidded to a halt, only five feet separating them.
“Shoot her!” Conner demanded of his son.
“Her and the vampire too. Only this time, make sure it’s in the head.”
Ryan lifted the weapon and pointed the barrel at Serenity.
“Do it!” Conner yelled. “What are you waiting for?”
But the weapon trembled in the boy’s grip.
He shook his head and lowered the gun. “I can’t.”
His father snarled. “I always knew you were weak!”
Serenity took a step closer, her eyes fixed on Elizabeth. “Everything is going to be all right, sweetheart.”
Blood dribbled down over the cold steel of the knife’s blade. “One more step and I’ll deepen those cuts enough to stop her breath.”
Still unable to move, an invisible force pinning him to the boardwalk, impotent fury bubbled up inside Sebastian. “He’ll do it anyway, Serenity! The man is crazy.”
She shot a frantic, terrified glance at him, and he could see the indecision in her face. He understood. She didn’t want to risk Elizabeth’s life, but Elizabeth’s life was already at risk, and soon his own would be over.
Conner crowed with laughter. “The sun is about to come up! Look, it’s time! It’s almost time!”
He was right; the faintest sliver of light glowing crimson on the horizon. Across the ocean, toward the east, the red orb of the sun began to appear from behind the skyline.
And Sebastian’s skin began to smolder.
Serenity’s eyes widened at the sight. “No!”
All was lost.
Ryan ran forward and grabbed something from around Elizabeth’s throat. He stood in front of Conner, and Sebastian realized what he held in his hand—the tiger-stone pendant he’d given to Elizabeth for her birthday.
The stone that protected against evil and black magic. A magic that could only be activated by sunlight.
Ryan held the stone toward his father and swathe of light washed over the older man—yellows,
golds and ambers—like a prism of crystal when the sunlight shines through. Conner threw up the arm holding the knife to cover his eyes and a shout of anger exploded from his mouth. “You dare defy me, boy!”
And suddenly Sebastian was able to move again.
Faster than the human eye could see, he threw himself at Conner and Elizabeth. His hand closed around Conner’s arm, the one holding the knife, and wrenched it backward, the sharp snap of bone echoing through the breaking dawn. The man’s howl of agony followed.
Sebastian’s skin began to blister, the scent of burning flesh filling his nostrils and coating the back of his throat, but he wouldn’t let his strength fail him now. He shoved Elizabeth down the boardwalk toward Serenity. Serenity held her arms open and dragged her daughter into her embrace, crying and holding her tight.
Conner lifted his other hand, his mouth opening to try another spell, but Sebastian didn’t allow him any final words. Placing his hands on either side of Conner’s head, he wrenched the warlock’s head around, the spine tearing in two. The man slumped in Sebastian’s arms like a puppet whose strings had been cut, the knife clattering to the ground.
Sebastian gritted his teeth and roared in agony as the sun crept above the city, but his job wasn’t done. He wouldn’t just leave the dead man here for Serenity and Elizabeth to be forced to deal with. Instead, he lifted the body and threw him off the side of the pier, the corpse vanishing beneath the tumultuous gray waters.
The certainty he too would die took hold of him, and with it came a kind of peace. Elizabeth was safe once again, and while he’d wanted more than anything to watch her grow up and create a life for herself, for now, just the knowledge she was out of harm’s way was enough.
At least he would witness his first sunrise in over two hundred years.
And his last. As the sun created a light so bright he felt his very retinas burning, he forced the pain away with thoughts of Serenity.
Serenity stared in horror as
Sebastian threw Conner from the pier. But her dismay wasn’t for Conner, she was glad the man was dead and Elizabeth was safe in her arms once again. It was Sebastian who instilled such fear in her. Smoke poured off his body, creating a cloud around him, disguising the raw blisters she knew would be bubbling from his skin.
“Dad!”
Elizabeth cried.
Serenity yanked off her jacket. She ran up to Sebastian and threw the clothing over his head, trying to protect him from the rising sun. She knew if this had been the middle of the day, he would probably be dead by now, no more than a pile of ash like Vincent had become.
Above their heads, the dark portal of clouds seemed to be sucking into itself, vanishing into their own core until they became a knot of darkness, before disappearing altogether. The sky was an indigo blue and lightening by the second. Serenity looked around and realized all the demons were also gone. Whatever threat Conner had started, it had also finished with his death. Or perhaps it had finished when Elizabeth hadn’t been killed at sunrise; she had no way of really knowing and perhaps never would.
She didn’t have time to dwell on that right now.
“Move!” she yelled at Sebastian. She pushed him down the boardwalk, toward the car Conner had left parked on the road. He stumbled over his own feet, all signs of the fast and agile creature he normally was gone, and she found herself with his arm over her shoulder as she tried to support his immense weight. The trunk of the car was the only shelter she could think of, but she had no idea if she would get there in time.
Seeing what was happening, Ryan stripped off his shirt and ran forward to cover Sebastian’s head, using the cloth as extra covering. Serenity could feel Sebastian weaken beneath her and desperately wished he had enough strength left in him to use his speed to get him to the car more quickly. Even with his blood racing through her veins, she was nowhere near as fast or strong as she needed to be.
She only hoped she’d acted quickly enough to save his life.
By the time they reached
the car, Sebastian’s beautiful alabaster skin had charred black, his green irises cloudy and unseeing. Serenity could barely bring herself to look at him, but at the same time, couldn’t tear her eyes away. She feared the next time she glanced at him he’d have turned to dust.
“Open the trunk!” she yelled
at Ryan, praying it would in fact open. The back of the car was dented from where the Suburban had ploughed into it by the underpass.
Though the boy had reacted quickly to the sight of Sebastian burning, the reality that he’d just watched his father—however crazy he might have been—kil
led in front of him must have sank in for he just stood, unresponsive and blank-faced.
“Now!” she snapped.
Ryan blinked, seeming to regain some of his senses, and he hurried around to the driver’s side to lift the latch to open the trunk. Nothing happened and Serenity’s heart was in her throat. If the trunk didn’t open, she had no idea what she would do. He yanked at it again a couple of times and finally the latch gave, and the trunk popped.
“Oh, thank God,” she breathed. “No
w help me with him.”
Sebastian was over two hundred pounds of solid vampire and it took all of Serenity’s strength, together with Elizabeth and Ryan’s help, to lift him into the trunk. He landed heavily on one shoulder and rolled to his back. He groaned in pain, but didn’t seem conscious. Serenity couldn’t even bring herself to consider the sort of agony he was in. Crusted burns covered all of his exposed skin, smoke pouring from his body.
“I’m sorry,” she mouthed at him before slamming down the lid. She didn’t have time for delicacies, speed was of the essence. She needed to get him away from the deadly effects of the sunlight and she had a feeling being shut in the trunk wouldn’t be enough, especially not with the damage. Some faint shards of sunlight would surely filter through somewhere. All her focus was on getting him to a place of safety. Away from the increasingly stronger rays of sun.
She needed to get him home.
Oh, God, please don’t die,
she begged in her head. They’d only just gotten him back. She couldn’t stand the thought of losing him again, especially not permanently this time.
Ryan opened the back door of the ca
r and let out a yell of alarm. Liam’s body slid from the back seat, half falling out onto the road, though his feet remained in the foot well. The boy stared at the body, his face as white as any vampire’s.
Serenity rounded the car and her heart sank. “
You have got to be kidding me!”
They couldn’t just leave the body on the street. Though there was a chance the police might put the man’s injuries down to an accident sustained in the storm, she still didn’t want to leave the corpse out here. She remembered only too well what happened to bodies after a vampire
’s bite. Sometimes they came back.
“
You have to help me again,” she told Ryan.
Tears streamed down the boy’s
face. “I … I… can’t touch him.”
“Yes
, you can. Unless you want me to leave you here with him, you will help me.”
Together, they lifted Liam by the shoulders and dragged him down the pier to the point where Sebastian had thrown Conner off the side. She could only imagine what sort of horrors were going through Ryan’s mind, but she didn’t have time for sympathy. Her priority was with Sebastian.
Ryan stepped back, allowing her the awkward, awful task of tipping Liam’s body off the edge. The body slipped into the ocean and sank below the gray water. Though the waves had calmed, she hoped the currents created by the storm were enough to carry both bodies far away from here. When she looked behind her, Ryan had already run back to the car.
She ran
after him, around to the driver’s door and jumped behind the wheel. Thank goodness Conner had left the keys in the ignition. If they’d been thrown into the ocean, still in Conner’s pocket, they’d have been screwed.
Elizabeth had already strapped herself into the passenger seat. Serenity didn’t intend on arguing with her about where she could or couldn’t sit. Ryan had climbed in the back, though Serenity had no idea what she was supposed to do with the boy.
Though the storm had vanished, the carnage it had created remained. Traffic lights were out. The sidewalk was littered in tiling torn from the roofs of houses. Foliage lay in the middle of the road. The streets were still waterlogged, foam from the ocean settling in every nook and cranny.
Spray flew up from under the wheels as she drove. People began to emerge from their houses, confusion and disbelief written all over their faces as they surveyed the remains of their damaged property and tried to rationalize what had happened.
The sun was almost fully up now.
Elizabeth rolled down her window and stuck her bare arm out into the direct sunlight. “Look, Mom.” She wiggled her fingers. “No burning.”
In her frantic horror at what was happening to Sebastian, Serenity realized she’d forgotten about Elizabeth’s change.
“That’s great.” She forced a
smile. “And how are you feeling?”
“Okay, I think.” She gave a shrug. “It’s hard to …” Her words trailed off and her face went blank, her lips slack as she seemed to stare into nothing.
Serenity’s stomach dropped out of itself. She looked across at Elizabeth, eyes flicking between her daughter and the road. She reached out and shook her knee, fresh panic surging through her. “Elizabeth! Are you okay?”
As quickly as she’d gone, Elizabeth snapped back into focus again. “Iona!” the girl declared. “We can’t leave Iona. She’s still hurt.”
Serenity slammed her palms against the steering wheel. “Shit!”
She hesitated for a moment, not wanting to have to make the decision to veer off course and collect Iona; every second seemed vital to Sebastian’s survival. But if the girl was lying hurt and frightened, all because she’d tried to help Elizabeth, Serenity couldn’t bring herself to abandon her.
Sebastian lay
curled on his
side in the cramped, dark space. How he was still alive and still conscious, he didn’t know. He’d been certain he’d die out there on the pier, that he’d be reduced to no more than a pile of ash. Only Serenity’s quick thinking had gotten him where he was now, though he knew his chance of survival was still slim. Even so, he was thankful for the lack of light. The rising sun had felt like someone scoring every inch of his flesh with razorblades.
Though being out of direct sunlight was a relief, riding in the trunk was torture. Every bump and turn the car made slammed him against the side, roof or base of the trunk, sending bright sparks of agony through his whole body. His smoldering body filled the air of the confined space with smoke and the scent of burning flesh. Part of his mind wanted to deny that the acrid scent was him, but he couldn’t deny what had happened. His mind tried to pull away at the edges, withdrawing from the agony. When he tried to move, his skin cracked like brittle paper.
Conner was dead, he reminded himself. Elizabeth and Serenity were safe. Nothing else mattered to him. He didn’t want to die, but not because he feared for his own afterlife—or lack of it. Instead, he simply didn’t want to miss them, couldn’t imagine never seeing them again.
They went over another bump, his head hitting the metal side of the trunk. He felt his skin splitting, searing red-hot shards of agony flooding through his skull. He heard himself cry out in pain, though the sound was distant, as if it came from someone else’s mouth. His consciousness pulled away again, withdrawing deeper inside himself to escape the agony taking over his whole body. He’d never known a pain like this. He wanted to stay in the present, to fight for his life, but the pain was just too great.
Take care of Elizabeth,
he willed Serenity as he let go of the world around.
Love her for me, as much as I’ve always loved you.
And he gave into darkness
once more.
With her stomach in knots,
Serenity took the road away from their home and drove back to where she’d last seen Iona. The scent of burning filled the car and when Elizabeth went to do her window back up Serenity stopped her and hit the button to slide down her own. She tried not to think about Sebastian being the reason for the air inside the car being redolent with smoke, telling herself it was due to the fires in the city.
They reached the small underpass. A chunk of concrete from the flyover forced her to leave the road for a moment and mount the bordering wasteland. The other, older car was in the same position they’d left it, skewed against the broken fence, but there was no sign of Iona or of the woman they’d left unconscious on the road. Had the woman taken Iona? Her heart twisted. Surely that wasn’t going to be another battle they’d need to fight? Already exhausted, she didn’t think she had it in her.
She and Elizabeth climbed from their vehicle.
“Where is she?” Serenity asked
, turning a circle with her hand locked in her hair, unable to hide the desperation in her voice.
“There!” said Elizabeth, pointing at the car.
Serenity saw a small white palm pressed against the back windshield.
Of course! Sebastian told me he’d left her in the car.
With everything going on, she’d completely forgotten.
She raced over and pulled open the back door to find the girl lying on the back seat. Iona’s jeans were shredded and she could make out damaged flesh beneath the hole.
“Oh, my God, are you all right?”
Iona winced as she looked down at her leg. “Yes, it was worse earlier. A couple of healing spells have helped, but I’m still not feeling strong enough to put any weight on the leg.”
Serenity put out her arms to help Iona
from the car. The sorceress put an arm around Serenity’s shoulder and Elizabeth took the other side.
Iona offered Elizabeth a smile. “Considering you’re still
alive and the storm has vanished, I take it we won.”
Elizabeth grinned back. “We won.”
“But not without casualties,” Serenity warned. “Sebastian got caught in the daylight and he’s badly burned.”
“Where is he?”
She nodded to the back. “In the trunk. We need to hurry.”
The implication of Serenity’s words must have sunk in. “Oh! But you came here for me anyway.”
“You helped us. I couldn’t leave you here alone.”
“Well, thank you, I mean it. Not everyone would have done that. I promise to do everything and anything I can to help your vampire.”
A sudden painful ball formed in Serenity’s throat and she couldn’t speak. She blinked back angry tears and nodded instead.
They helped Iona in beside Ryan, who sat silent and sullen in the back.
Iona started back in surprise. “I wasn’t expecting to see him.”
Elizabeth twisted around in her seat. “He helped save me in the end.” She pulled out the pendant, still hanging around her neck.
Iona’s eyes widened. “Tiger stone. I wish you had told me you had that.”
Elizabeth shrugged. “I didn’t know. I thought it was just a pretty necklace my dad had given me for my birthday. How was I to know it had some kind of special power?”
“Tiger stone is most powerful. Wards off evil magic.”
She grinned again. “Yeah, I know that now.” She slipped the pendant beneath her shirt. “I guess I’ll hang onto it.”
“There won’t be any more black magic,” Serenity interrupted, unable to keep the warning tone from her voice. No matter what happened with Sebastian, she refused to allow any more sorcery into their lives.
She drove through the streets toward their home. The big gates stood wide open, the electronics broken, she assumed, in the storm. At a high speed, she swung the car into the drive and then did a three-point turn, crunching the gears and causing gravel to spray up from under the tires.
“Hang on,” she told her passengers.
Putting the car into reverse, she stamped on the accelerator and, twisted around in her seat so she could see the front door of their house looming bigger in the rear windshield. She drove the car hard at the low set of steps which led to the front door. With several, bone-jarring bumps, the car mounted the steps before coming to a rest. The car was on a slope, the front wheels spinning in the gravel, but at least they’d gotten as close to the front door as possible. She didn’t know how much it would help, but she figured every second she could avoid Sebastian being exposed to the sun might go some way to helping save his immortal life.
“Elizabeth, get inside and lower all the blinds and drapes in the kitchen and living room. We need to keep as much light out of the house as possible.”
“We’re just going to take Dad into the house?” she asked, anxiously chewing at her lower lip.
Serenity shook her head. “No, we need to take him down to the cellar. But I want to keep him away from all possible exposure as much as I can. Okay?”
Elizabeth nodded and jumped from the car, running inside.