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  She couldn’t tell if he meant what was happening with Elizabeth or the storm, but either way, she was happy to have him around.

  She gave him a thankful smile. One corner of his lip quirked and he gave her a slow nod.

  Serenity ran Elizabeth a bath and then left her to get undressed. Even though Elizabeth was only thirteen, she was already self conscious about her body and Serenity knew she’d only embarrass her if she stayed. Instead, she headed back downstairs to find Vincent sitting on the edge of the couch, his elbows resting on his knees, his hands clenched and pressed to his mouth.

  She took a seat beside him, feeling dwarfed by his size, and picked up the remote for the television from where it sat on the coffee table. She hit the button to switch on the big screen and then flicked through until she reached the local news channel. As she’d suspected, the big story was the storm.

  A perfectly made-up blonde reporter sat behind a desk holding a sheet of paper, though Serenity assumed she was being fed what she needed to say on a screen.

  “ … A totally unexpected and unprecedented weather cell has appeared, seemingly from nowhere, over the top of the city of Los Angeles. Already it is wreaking havoc, with torrential rain and winds reaching gusts of ninety miles per hour. Meteorologists are currently trying to forecast where the storm may go to next, or even what its potential may be. Los Angeles hasn’t seen a storm of this magnitude since 1939 when the California tropical storm hit the area. In the meantime, residents are urged to stay in their homes…”

  Serenity sighed and flicked the screen back off. She turned to Vincent. “Well, what do you think?”

  “About the storm?”

  “Of course. What else?” Her mind tripped. “You mean Elizabeth?”

  “She can’t go around attacking people out in the open like that, Serenity. She’s in danger of not only getting herself arrested or killed, she’s also risking exposing our kind to people. What happens if someone captures her feeding on camera?”

  “I don’t know, Vincent, but I can’t worry about the rest of vampire society right now. I need to think about my daughter.”

  His big, solid hand came to rest on hers and the contact sent her heart leaping in her chest. She’d had so little contact with anyone male, and she and Vincent had a past of sorts. He stared into her eyes, capturing her attention.

  “I’m thinking about her too, Serenity. If other vampires hear of her potentially exposing them, I have no idea what they might do.”

  She kept his gray gaze. “Don’t lie to me, Vincent. Yes, you do.”

  He nodded, but his eyes shifted downward. “They might be tempted to remove her from the situation.”

  Anger boiled up inside her. “So you’re saying we might need to be afraid of vampires again.”

  “I’m saying that we need to be careful.”

  “I know that, Vincent! I’m not—”

  He caught her by surprise. One moment she was ranting at him, the next his cool, firm mouth had captured hers. Her body reacted, her brain not having time to catch up, and she found her lips parting to welcome his tongue in a searching kiss. Involuntarily, her hand reached up, tracing the hard line of his jaw, touching his smooth skin. His body crushed hard against hers, the softness of the couch cushions against her back, his strong solidity pressing into her chest.

  Her brain finally clicked into action. I’m kissing Vincent!

  She broke away with a gasp and pushed against his chest with her hands, trying to ignore the rock hard muscles of his pectorals beneath her fingers.

  “I can’t do this!”

  Vincent sat back and pressed his lips together. “I’m sorry, Serenity. But with him coming home, I had to try. I had to see if you felt anything for me.”

  “I do feel something for you,” she said. “I can’t deny that I do, but it’s not … you’re not …” She stumbled over her words, trying to find the right thing to tell him.

  “It’s okay. I understand. I’m not him, right?”

  She could hardly stand the sadness in the deep gray pools of his eyes. “I’m sorry…” she said again, knowing her words meant nothing.

  Chapter Eight

  Sebastian’s journey took him through miles and miles of pine-covered terrain, crossing rivers with a soaring leap, skirting mountain ranges. His run was tireless, a single focus on making the land move beneath his feet, his mind already ahead of his body. Not much made him nervous, but the idea of seeing Serenity and Elizabeth again churned his stomach. He didn’t know how they would welcome him, with open arms or a cold shoulder. Serenity, he felt sure, would be pleased to see him—after all, she’d asked him to come home—but he wondered how Elizabeth would be. She was a young woman now, so different from the child he’d forced himself to leave. Would she be shy and standoffish, or would she leap into his arms as she always had when she’d been young?

  The lush green of the mountains turned to desert, vast expanses of empty sand punctuated only by scrubby gorse and stumped trees. He paid little attention to his surroundings and became lost in memories of his family as he ran. He pushed himself so the miles flew beneath him, closing the distance between himself and the humans he loved.

  After more than two hundred years walking the earth, Sebastian thought he’d seen everything, that there would be nothing left with the potential to fill him with surprise, yet, as he mounted the ridge to take in the view of the lights of Los Angeles in the valley below, he stumbled back in shock.

  “What the hell …?”

  A huge, churning, black cloud hung low over the city, its center appearing lighter than the thick darkness which swirled around its edges. Within seconds, he understood the reason for the light. In its mass, lightning forked and spiked at the tall buildings of downtown. He’d never seen anything like it. Sure, he’d seen storm cells at a distance before—huge masses which normally developed way out to sea—but he’d never seen one so perfectly formed. The circle of cloud looked as though it directed its fury on the city alone. As far as he was aware, California didn’t get these types of storms; the water was too cold to create anything along the lines of a hurricane.

  He didn’t like it, and not only because of the potential chaos the storm might cause. Something about the perfect symmetry of the cell rang an uneasy chord inside him. As he watched, more lightning lit up the clouds in a rippling pattern of white illumination.

  He hoped Serenity and Elizabeth had kept themselves safe and were staying inside the house.

  Sebastian left the hill and headed down into the valley, toward the city. His chest tightened with anticipation, every nerve in his body thrumming with a mixture of excitement and tension. He’d seen Serenity and Elizabeth only a few times in the past six years, times neither of them were aware of. He’d tried his best to stay away from his family completely, but on a couple of occasions, his desire to be near them had grown too strong. He’d passed through the city and stopped at the house, peering in at them to find Elizabeth grown bigger, curled up on her mother’s lap on the sofa as Serenity read her a book. Six years had been nothing in the vast expanse of his lifetime—though that didn’t mean he didn’t feel the pain of their loss every single second—but those six years made up also almost half of Elizabeth’s lifespan. Serenity had appeared just the same, content and peaceful with her child in her lap. Another time, he’d seen Serenity standing with the vampire, Vincent, in the kitchen. They’d been stood apart, but the sight had been enough to feel as if a knife had pierced his heart.

  Though it had pained him to do so, he’d forced himself to move on, knowing the disruption it would cause in his family’s life if he suddenly reappeared only to take off again.

  He’d known his actions had been selfish. Selfish for two reasons. First, that he’d been able to catch glimpses of them when they were unable to do the same. And second, because just those few brief moments opened them up to the danger of what he was all over again.

  Of course, his removing himself from their lives in order
to protect Elizabeth was all a moot point now. If she was becoming like him, he couldn’t save her from herself, even though that was exactly what he hoped he’d be able to do.

  As he crossed the city’s boundaries, the force of the storm hit him. Torrential rain opened from the sky, lashing against his skin and beating down on his head and shoulders. A vicious wind only contributed to the might of the rain, driving it against him as he ran. The streets were almost deserted as he passed through. The occasional car crept along, its windshield wipers beating frantically over the glass, trying to clear the view for the driver. Most people had stayed inside their homes, probably biting their nails, anxiously awaiting what the storm had to offer.

  How bad would it become?

  Sebastian stopped outside of the house that had once been his home. With a crouch to center his strength, he leaped upward and vaulted over the gate. The weather whipped his skin and clothing. Though to him it was little more than an irritation, he could understand how this sort of weather would be frightening for a human.

  Standing in the grounds, he frowned. Someone else was inside the house—a male—and, by the scent of him, not human either. A low growl erupted from deep within his chest. Who else was here and what did they want with his family?

  A roll of thunder cracked right overhead. With the sound of the storm covering his tracks, he made his way around the back of the house. Carefully, he tried the back door. The door swung open and he was relieved he wouldn’t be forced to break into his own house. He stepped into the kitchen and silently crossed the room and out into the entrance hall. He paused outside the living room and leaned across the wide doorway slightly to give him a view inside. As he’s expected, Serenity wasn’t alone. Another male was sitting beside her on the couch. Sebastian bristled.

  Vincent! He’d recognize the big mass of vampire anywhere. He forced himself to calm down. He knew Vincent meant his family no harm, though he didn’t trust the other male’s intentions when it came to Serenity.

  Sebastian stepped into the room, opened his mouth and spoke.

  “Serenity?”

  At the sound of her name, Serenity leaped to her feet.

  “Sebastian?”

  She saw him standing there, exactly as she remembered him—his beautiful perfection, his dark hair and green eyes, his face so serious—and she felt like a dam had broken inside her. Her heart seemed to rise and swell in her body like a balloon, growing big enough to burst and envelop her. Even though she’d been expecting him, the sight of him hit her like a fist to the stomach, leaving her almost disbelieving. All the emotions she’d kept so tightly locked away over the past few years rushed from her in a torrent. Her legs went weak, her body breathless.

  He must have seen her falter for he was at her side in an instant, his arms around her, crushing her to his chest. She felt his hands in her hair, raking through the soft locks. Her own fingers clutched at his back, pulling him as tight as she could, wanting to mold herself to him. The familiar scent of him filled her nostrils, leaving her heady. This had been missing for too long, this part of herself. The part that was him and would always be him. She saw it now, how when they were apart, they were both only living half a life.

  His mouth pressed against the top of her head, his lips moving in her hair as he spoke. “I’ve missed you so much.”

  She nodded frantically, not trusting herself to speak. A painful knot knitted tight in the back of her throat.

  His fingers found her face, gently touching the line of her jaw. Only when he lowered his face to hers, his cool lips kissing away the salty wetness on her cheeks, nose and lips, did she realize she was crying.

  They both became aware of the large figure standing nearby and they broke apart. Serenity’s cheeks heated with guilt, remembering how Vincent’s mouth had been in the place of Sebastian’s not long ago. Did Sebastian taste or smell Vincent on her? Could he sense the tension between herself and Vincent? She watched Sebastian’s face, trying to judge his mood about Vincent being there, but his expression was as impassive as stone.

  I’ve not done anything wrong, she reminded herself. She’d not seen Sebastian for six years and she’d never stopped loving him. It wasn’t her fault if someone else had kissed her. But it wasn’t the kiss that caused the guilt. Instead, it was the memory of how her body had responded to Vincent’s embrace, of how his solid muscles had felt beneath her fingers as she’d pushed him away.

  I pushed him away, she told herself. That was the main thing. I pushed him away.

  Sebastian gave Vincent a nod. “Vincent. I assume you’re here to watch over my family. I thank you for that, but I’m home now.”

  Vincent’s reaction wasn’t quite so reserved. “I don’t need your thanks.” He scowled. “I’m not here to benefit you in any way.”

  Sebastian’s hand rested against Serenity’s lower back, his body shadowing over her.

  Though it pained her to do so, when all she really wanted to do was lose herself in Sebastian’s arms, to experience his mouth against her skin, to bury her face in his neck, she forced herself to take a step away, toward Vincent.

  “Vincent has been a good friend to me, Sebastian. I don’t know what I would have done tonight without him.”

  Her words must have reminded Sebastian the reason for him coming home, for he glanced over his shoulder toward the staircase. “Is Elizabeth in her room?”

  She nodded.

  He started toward the stairs, but she hurried forward and placed herself between him and the staircase. “I’ll go first. She’s been through a lot and I don’t know how she’ll react to you being here.”

  His smooth brow creased, the first hint of worry he’d shown. “Is she angry with me?”

  Serenity shook her head. “Not you, exactly. She’s angry with the universe, with what’s happening to her.”

  He filled in her thoughts. “And I’m the focus, because if it wasn’t for me she wouldn’t be going through the change.”

  “Without you she wouldn’t exist. Don’t forget that.”

  A muscle in his jaw twitched, but he nodded. “I won’t.”

  Serenity left the two vampires and ran up the stairs. She knocked lightly on Elizabeth’s bedroom door, and when no answer came, she inched it open. The girl lay on her stomach, small buds of headphones plugged into her ears, the other end attached to the tablet Serenity had bought her for her birthday.

  Her heart sank. Her birthday. With everything else that had been going on, she’d completely forgotten about Elizabeth’s birthday. She hoped their daughter wouldn’t give Sebastian too much of a hard time, that she’d be able to consider Sebastian’s presence for what it was—a gift in its own right.

  She raised her voice. “Elizabeth? Someone is here to see you.”

  The girl must have either heard or sensed her mother’s presence, for she twisted to look over her shoulder. The sight of her pale, tear-stained face broke Serenity’s heart. How awful for her to have to go through something like this. Serenity just wanted for it all to stop, but she had a feeling things would get worse before they got better.

  Elizabeth cocked her eyebrows. What? the gesture asked.

  Serenity made a tugging motion at her own ears, a sign to get Elizabeth to take out the headphones.

  Just like any other teenager might, Elizabeth let out an over-exaggerated sigh and removed the plugs.

  Serenity felt the air behind her move. “You’ve got a visitor.”

  She stepped to one side and allowed Sebastian to enter the room.

  Elizabeth’s eyes widened at the sight of him. “Dad?” she said in disbelief. “Daddy!”

  In a single, swift movement, she leaped off the bad, tossing her earphones and tablet to one side, and launched herself at him. Sebastian caught her with a mock oomph—her weight meant nothing to him—and laughed.

  “I didn’t think you’d come,” she said. She lifted her face to him, the height difference no longer so dramatic—Elizabeth wasn’t too much shorter than S
erenity now—and her lower lip began to wobble. Her jaw tightened, creating little dimples in her chin, and, unable to hold on any longer, she burst into tears.

  Serenity hovered on the outskirts, not wanting to intrude on the personal moment. She’d always known Elizabeth missed her father, though lately she hadn’t shown it so much, but seeing them back together now brought everything home. Of course she had missed him. No amount of phone calls or presents would ever replace what every child wanted from their parent—their time.

  Sebastian held his daughter tight. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” He spoke into her hair, the texture so similar to Serenity’s, except perhaps a little coarser. The color was darker too. Perhaps she did have more of him in her than he’d thought. In a rush of emotions, he remembered his reason for coming home and his chest tightened. Yes, she did have his genetics. That was the problem.

  Her tears reduced to little hiccupping sobs and he pulled her away from his chest, her tears leaving a damp patch on his shirt, and guided her toward her bed. They both perched on the edge. Elizabeth wiped the moisture from her face with the back of her hand and sniffed. She stared down at her lap as if suddenly embarrassed by her display of emotions.

  “Sorry,” she said with another sniff.

  He took her hand. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. You’ve not done anything wrong.”

  “No? So why do I feel like shit?”

  Her frank language shocked him, but he reminded himself that she wasn’t a little girl anymore. He felt as though he was looking at two different people trapped in one body. The slightest change in light or the way she tilted her head transformed her into a young woman, and then, only moments later, he found himself looking at his little girl again. She was caught on a precipice between childhood and becoming an adult.

  “Is it terrible,” she asked him, her dark eyes locking on his, “being what you are?”

  He thought for a moment, wanting to give her as honest of an answer as he could, without either scaring or lying to her. He was aware of Serenity still standing in the background, and wanted to give an answer she would approve of.