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  “Now, we’re going to go outside like nothing happened and you’re both going to call your moms to come pick you up because I’m not well. Understood?”

  “Nothing strange happened,” they both repeated as though hypnotized.

  Elizabeth reached past them and flicked the latch, the door swinging open. Her two friends banged from the stall and headed out into the mall, already rummaging around in their purses for their phones.

  The enormity of what she’d done suddenly swept over her. Horrified, Elizabeth gasped and slammed the stall door shut again. Her legs went weak and she pulled the seat down on the toilet and sat down heavily. Then, quickly, she got back up and fell back down to her knees. She had no control over the rush of vomit which powered up her throat and exploded from her mouth. Hot, red blood splashed into the white porcelain.

  Elizabeth cried out in shock.

  Oh, my God. What have I done?

  Chapter Four

  Serenity turned back around from the shop window where she’d been browsing to discover the table where Elizabeth and her friends had been eating only moments before now empty. Their food looked abandoned—a half-eaten burrito and a couple of trays of barely-touched nachos still sitting on the surface.

  Alarm spiked through her. Where were they? They’d been sitting there quite happily only moments before. She wanted Elizabeth to feel as though she had some freedom, but she never intended to let the girl out of her sight for too long. Besides that, she’d also promised Elizabeth’s friends’ mothers that she would watch their children, though they’d seemed a little less concerned than Serenity had been at allowing their daughters to go to the mall alone at such a young age. Still, she tried not to judge. Both Jasmine and Emily seemed like sensible girls, so she could only assume the mothers trusted them. Not that Serenity didn’t trust Elizabeth, of course, it was other people she didn’t trust.

  If they’re so sensible, where are they now?

  Walking at a quick pace, she headed around the outskirts of the food court, a line of concern tightening between her eyebrows. Her eyes scoured the tables, each little gaggle of girls catching her attention, but Elizabeth and her friends were nowhere to be seen.

  Where the hell are they?

  Then she caught sight of Jasmine and Emily, walking across the mall on the other side of the food court. Jasmine seemed to be leaning into Emily, as though she needed the other girl for support.

  Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen.

  Panic clutched at her heart and she broke into a run, pushing people out of the way. Shoppers exclaimed at her in annoyance, but Serenity paid them no attention, all her focus on getting to the girls. She reached them and grabbed Emily by the arm, perhaps too roughly. The girl seemed surprised to see her, blinking at her as though she’d forgotten where she was.

  “Where is Elizabeth?” Serenity demanded.

  Emily shook her head. “I’m … I’m not sure. I think we ate something bad. Elizabeth got sick.”

  Serenity looked at her closely. What’s the matter with her? She seemed like she was drugged or something. She glanced at Jasmine. The other girl seemed even worse. Oh, God, what if someone had slipped something into their drinks?

  “Where the hell is my daughter?” Her voice lifted an octave, panic threatening to take hold.

  Her cell phone rang.

  Serenity dropped Emily’s arm and scrambled in her purse for her phone. Elizabeth’s name showed on the screen and she hit the green answer button.

  “Elizabeth, honey?”

  “Mom?” She said something else but her voice came in frantic gasps, broken by choked sobs. Serenity couldn’t understand what she was saying.

  “Elizabeth,” she said, her voice firm. “You need to calm down and tell me where you are.”

  “Oh, Mommy, something terrible has happened!”

  Her heart climbed into her throat. “What! Are you hurt? Did someone hurt you?”

  Right away, Serenity’s mind took her to her worst fears.

  “No.” She could hear the brush of hair and skin against the phone as Elizabeth shook her head. “I’m not hurt, but I did something, Mom. I did something terrible.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Elizabeth took another breath that melted into sobs. “I … I ….” But she seemed unable to speak.

  “Where are you?” Serenity demanded.

  “In the ladies’ bathrooms on the east side of the food court.” Her voice broke down again, a hiccupping sob coming down the line.

  “Elizabeth, I’m coming to you, but I won’t hang up, okay? Stay on the line with me. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “Hurry, Mom.”

  “I’ll be there any minute.”

  She turned to the other girls. “Stay right here,” she told them. “Don’t move an inch.” She scanned the area, spotting the sign for the restroom, then broke into a run. She banged through the bathroom door and started to push open stall doors.

  “Elizabeth?” she called out. “Where are you?”

  One of the doors swung open to reveal her daughter sitting on the floor. Blood smeared her face and hands, coated the rim of the bowl, and had splashed on the floor tile.

  A gasp of horror escaped Serenity’s throat. “Jesus Christ!” She fell to her knees beside her child. “Oh, baby, who did this to you? Tell me who did this and I’ll fucking kill them.”

  She couldn’t help the swear word escaping her lips. Her rage and fear for her daughter was too great.

  Elizabeth shook her head. Fresh tears streamed down her face, leaving clear trails in the bloodied mess of her skin.

  “This isn’t my blood, Mom.”

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  “I bit—” Her voice broke off. “I bit Jasmine …” She abruptly turned away and retched, stringy red bile hanging from her bottom lip.

  Serenity unraveled toilet tissue from the roll attached to the wall separating the stalls. She pushed the door shut so other women entering wouldn’t see what was going on—not that she was sure herself. With the wads of tissue, she started to mop the blood from Elizabeth’s chin and mouth and then started on the girl’s hands. When Elizabeth was clean, apart from a few dried streaks which refused to budge even with a bit of old fashioned spit and elbow grease, Serenity carefully maneuvered her daughter toward the door so she could get access to the bloodied toilet. She flushed the toilet and wiped away the bloodied fingerprints Elizabeth had left around the bowl.

  With the job done, feeling like she’d just covered up a crime, she turned back to her daughter.

  “You need to tell me exactly what happened.”

  Elizabeth stared at her, her dark eyes wide and brimming with tears. “I’m not sure. One minute, I was sick and leaning over the bowl with Jasmine and Emily trying to comfort me, and the next I’d leaped on Jaz and had hold of Emily.” She brought a hand up to her mouth, touching her teeth. “I changed. I know I did. I turned into one of them … like Dad … and then I bit Jaz.”

  “But I saw Jasmine,” said Serenity. “She seemed a bit dazed, but she didn’t look like she’d been bitten.”

  “I did something else to them, to both of them. I told them to forget everything I did. Then I put some of my spit where I’d bitten Jasmine and the holes just healed, right away! I don’t know how I did that, or how I knew how to do that, I just did.”

  She started to cry again and Serenity bundled her into her arms, Elizabeth’s head pressing against her chest like she used to when she was little. She rocked her back and forth, allowing her daughter’s tears to flow.

  Her stomach twisted in an agonizing knot as she rocked her child. Her worst fears had come true. With the arrival of Elizabeth’s womanhood had also come the gift—or curse—of her vampire side being strengthened. She’d been warned against this by the elder vampire, Demitri, back in New York, but she’d never imagined it would be a physical change. For some reason, she’d only thought Elizabeth’s paranormal visions and
foresight would grow stronger. She never thought Elizabeth would start to turn.

  Oh God, she thought, what if Elizabeth can’t stop? What if she turned fully vampire? Would her daughter be able to cope with being such a thing, having to kill to survive? She would be outcast from all her friends, from the whole of society.

  Would she stop growing and become a teenage vampire forever?

  Serenity could barely stand the thought, but she was certain of one thing. Elizabeth needed other vampires around her right now. She needed them to help her through this.

  She needed Sebastian.

  Elizabeth’s sobs had begun to subside, so Serenity helped her to her feet. “Come on, baby. Let’s get you home. You’ll feel better at home.”

  “What about Jasmine and Emily?”

  “They’re fine. I’ll call their mothers now and tell them you’ve been taken ill, okay?”

  Elizabeth nodded against her.

  Serenity went in search of the other two girls and then placed the call to both parents. The tension was understandably strange between the girls, Elizabeth unable to even look at her friends, her friends seemingly unable to meet her eyes either. They sat out front together, waiting for the arrival of their rides. As soon as the girls were picked up and pleasantries exchanged, Serenity steered Elizabeth toward the lot where she’d parked.

  She helped Elizabeth into the car. Though she seemed well enough physically, her shoulders were stooped, her head hung down. Serenity snapped in the belt for her, slammed the door and went around to the driver’s side.

  Serenity pulled out of the parking lot, not paying any attention to her surroundings, with the exception of navigating the roads. Her mind was caught up in what had happened, a frantic over-turning of events, hoping to find some other explanation other than the one staring her right in the face. Elizabeth sat silently crying in the passenger seat. Only when they made it onto the freeway did Serenity notice the sudden change in weather.

  The sky was thick with a blanket of angry, gray clouds. She leaned forward over the steering wheel, looking through the windshield at the sky above. She’d been so caught up in Elizabeth, she’d not noticed the sudden change in weather as they left the mall, but now she wondered how she’d missed it.

  She frowned. Where the hell had this front come from? The sky had been an endless stretch of blue when they’d left for the mall. She’d not seen any predictions of a coming storm on the television or even heard it on the local radio station. With all the storms wreaking havoc on cities like New Orleans and New York recently, the authorities were normally quick to issue storm warnings. Of course, such a thing was a rarity in Los Angeles, but she couldn’t deny her own eyes.

  How many hours until dusk? she wondered. At least, with it being Elizabeth’s birthday, she knew Sebastian would call. Not that he didn’t call normally, but she took some reassurance in the knowledge that tonight his call would be a certainty. Of course, depending what time it was in whatever part of the world he currently resided in, dusk for Sebastian might come at any time. He might have been trying to call already only to find no one answering.

  A small, perverse part of her heart lifted. He would need to come home now. He’d stayed away to keep Elizabeth safe, but now their daughter was no longer safe from herself …

  No, Serenity chastised herself. She couldn’t allow herself even a modicum of happiness. This wasn’t a happy situation, far from it. She would always choose Elizabeth over Sebastian if she needed to. But, nevertheless, her soul lightened at the thought of seeing him again. She couldn’t crush the excited flickering in her heart which stirred the thick layer of dread that had settled upon seeing Elizabeth curled up in the bathroom.

  By the time they reached home, Elizabeth’s tears had stopped and she’d fallen into silence. Instead of needing help into the house, she stalked up the steps and through the front door, a mixture of anger and misery radiating from her. Serenity followed her into the house and threw her purse on the hall console. She glanced at the phone, willing it to ring, but of course it did not. She sighed and went into the kitchen, not knowing what to say or do to help her daughter feel better. That it was Elizabeth’s birthday and this awful thing had happened broke her heart. She hoped it wouldn’t mar all her birthdays to come.

  “Can I get you something?” she asked Elizabeth. The girl had plopped herself onto one of the stools at the kitchen counter. “Some tea might help settle your stomach.”

  Elizabeth’s chin was crushed into her palm, her elbow on the counter. “My stomach feels just fine.”

  Serenity risked a smile. “That’s good. Maybe I can make you a sandwich then? You should really have something to eat.”

  Elizabeth lifted her head and glared at Serenity before jumping down from the stool. “I ate! Remember, Mom? I already ate!”

  And with that she whirled from the room and disappeared up the stairs, her feet clomping on the treads.

  With a sickening realization, the implication of Elizabeth’s words sank in.

  Chapter Five

  At the same moment the sun set beneath the horizon, Sebastian’s eyes flew open. The cellar of the old, abandoned hunting lodge in which he’d taken refuge remained pitch black, but this didn’t affect his body clock. He always knew, through some intrinsic aligning of his body and the solar and lunar cycle, when his time had come to wake or sleep.

  Today he had a reason to stir from his dreamless slumber. Today was Elizabeth’s birthday.

  He pushed off the wooden crates he’d positioned over himself—extra protection in case someone did return to this place. He doubted they would; he’d been able to tell from the smell of the old cabin that no human had been here for several years now, but he preferred to be cautious. The cellar stank of dampness, mold and mildew covering every surface. The rough log walls of the levels above ground had fared a little better, but he’d not been tempted to stay beneath one of the beds or even in one of the musty closets. With these old places, there was always a chance of a crack appearing in the wooden walls or furniture, allowing sunlight through. Just a chink of light would cause him some serious burns and he couldn’t risk needing to find somewhere else to hide out in the middle of the day—something that could kill him.

  Anyway, he didn’t plan on staying here for long. He didn’t stay anywhere for any length of time, and he’d been at the cabin for a couple of weeks now. His time to keep moving was fast approaching, though he was unsure where he would head to next. He lived the existence of a nomad, constantly moving onward, with no plan or schedule to negotiate his movements. He figured the less he knew where he was headed, the less likely someone else would be able to stay one step ahead and find him.

  However much he missed Serenity and Elizabeth—and he did miss them, missed them with a deep yearning that encompassed his whole soul—he was also relieved that they now lived a relatively normal life. Removing himself from the equation had allowed such a thing to happen.

  After he’d left and started calling home to make sure they were all right, Elizabeth had initially been upset, then angry, and for a while even refused to speak to him—something that hurt more than any physical pain he’d ever experienced. But now when they spoke, she chatted happily about her day at school, her friends, what book she was reading or bands she liked—just like, he imagined, any normal girl would. She no longer needed to live her life explaining the lie of her father’s severe allergy to the sun, the fictional reason for him to always stay in the dark, something which automatically made her stand out from others at a time she only wanted to fit in, labeling her a freak simply by association. Now she could tell friends the truth—her dad was no longer around. An absent father was hardly an unusual occurrence these days. Not that this made him feel any better.

  Speaking to Elizabeth always helped confirm in his head that he had done the right thing by leaving. There was no talk of blood or strange things happening, and though it had taken a long time to reach this point, he now at least felt at ease t
hat removing himself from their family life had been for the best thing for their daughter.

  Serenity however … Serenity was different. They didn’t speak as openly as he was able to with Elizabeth, their tone always somewhat guarded. They carefully skirted the topics of other people or places Serenity might have been, and he knew she never asked about his feeding for the same reason—a need to simply not know.

  Sebastian had no doubt that there would never be another woman in his life. Even the beautiful ones he occasioned across, who smiled and flirted with him, not knowing who or what he was, did nothing for him. Instead, he comforted himself with the memory of being with Serenity, falling into a trance-like state where he seemed to exist only in his memories. He brought to mind the warmth of her skin against his. The way her dark eyes lit with life when she smiled. The softness of her curls as he ran them through his fingers. Her fierce love for both him and Elizabeth.

  How he’d given all of that up.

  Years had passed now and he wouldn’t have blamed Serenity for moving on, though the idea filled him with a crazed, all-consuming jealousy. The thought alone of another man’s hands on her hips, his lips against her skin, another man pushing into that most private part of her, felt like a white-hot flame sweeping through his entire being, consuming all other emotions. He could imagine no other mortal man being good enough to even breathe in her direction, never mind being held in the warm circle of her arms. The possibility of being forced to confront such a man also left him crazed, especially if Serenity had feelings for him or Elizabeth had started to think of him as a father figure. While no part of Sebastian would ever want to cause Serenity pain, he couldn’t imagine not ripping the man limb from limb and bathing in his blood.

  He forced the image from his head. He knew such a thing was possible—he’d sensed the occasions where she’d distanced herself from him, both mentally and physically, taking, he suspected, another vampire’s blood. Yet, she’d still come back to him the next month and he’d sensed their blood bond renewed. She’d not given up on him completely.