Authors: Marissa Farrar
Dressed, Serenity headed downstairs to the kitchen. At the counter, she spooned coffee granules into the percolator and clicked the switch to start the machine hissing and gurgling. The aroma of coffee began to rise on the steam. Though her appetite had fled at the sight of the blood on Sebastian’s shirt, she put a piece of bread in the toaster, wanting to give herself something to do.
S
uddenly S
erenity froze,
a
prickle of goose bumps crawling over her skin like a hoard of spiders. Her pulse res
onated in her ears, her breath
shallow.
The
certainty that she wasn’t alone
gripped her
.
The fall of footsteps in the room behind made her spin around, her heart
pounding
, certain she’d find someone standing behind her.
But
the room was empty.
She
frowned.
Sebastian?
She glanced at the window where the blinds were still lowered. Small slats of daylight pierced the tiny gaps in the wood. No, it wouldn’t be Sebastian, or any other vampire for that matter.
The sun had risen
outside
,
and Sebastian could
only
move in the day
time
if his life was being threatened. If someone was trying to harm him, he’d have yelled out at the very least.
She gave her
head a slight shake. She must be
imaging things.
She
filled her favorite breakfast mug with coffee
from the pot
and spooned in sugar. Still
,
she couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t alone. She sensed eyes drilling into her back, yet when she threw another glance over her shoulder, no one was there.
The toast popped, drawing her attention. The moment forg
otten, she pulled the hot piece
of toast from the toaster
, dropping it
on the counter. From the double-door refrigerator she took out peanut butter, jelly
,
and milk for the coffee. Childlike tastes, but something she still loved.
The sound of scraping made her turn just in time to see her coffee cup sliding across the coun
ter and off the edge. The porcelain hit the tiled floor
and shattered, black liquid
splattering
at the impact.
Serenity scream
ed
and leapt back, narrowly avoiding
the
boiling
liquid
splashing her bare feet.
She stared in disbelief at the mess. How on earth had that happened? Had she accidently hit the cup when she’d turned to the fridge? She must have,
though she stood
several feet away. What other explanation
was there
?
The shrill ring of the telephone cut through the house, making
her
jump. With one hand clutched to her chest, once again she found herself trying to catch her breath while her heart hammered.
“Damn it,” she muttered. She didn’t like feeling like this. They’d been living i
n peace for a year
,
and all of a sudden
her old fears and p
aranoia seemed to be creeping back
.
She ran to the hall to pick up the phone. Sh
e didn’t want to miss it, the call
might be important.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Hathaway?”
A woman’s voice came down the line.
“Yes, who’s speaking?”
“My name i
s
Veronica.
I’m one of the
guides for St. Agatha’s Girl Scouts
. I’ve got Elizabeth with me.”
Serenity’s heart picked up pace again, but for a different reason. “Oh! Is she okay?”
“She’s been having some nightmares.
Bad ones in fact.
More like night terrors. I’ve told her they’re just dreams and can’t hurt her, but she’s worried about her father.” The
woman
lowered
her voice. “To be honest, Ms. Hathaway,
she’s scaring the other children. She’s waking everyone up and seems inconsolable.”
“
Can you put her on the line?” Serenity asked.
“Of course.”
She heard
a rustle and then Elizabeth’s sweet voice came down the line.
“Mommy?”
T
he sound melted something at her core. With her attention removed from herself, Serenity felt calmer, stronger. Her focus had always been on her daughter. Elizabeth was the reason for her existence. She wondered sometimes, if she’d not fallen pregnant, would she have made it through that awful, black time after Sebastian left and her whole world had changed.
“Hey
,
sweetie.
Veronica
says you’ve been having bad dreams.”
“Is Daddy okay? I’ve been dreaming about him.”
“Yes, he’s fine. I
just
came down from
the bedroom and he’s sleeping.”
“But I’ve been having those dreams.
He’s
lost in the dark.
He wa
s trying to find us
,
but he couldn’t.” She lowered her voice. “I think something had him.
Something
... else.”
“Your daddy is safe and sound. I promise you.”
D
espite her reassurances to h
er daughter, Elizabeth’s words
caused a chill to work down her spine, her skin seeming to crawl up over her shoulders. “Listen to me, Elizabeth.
I wi
ll always
believe
you
i
f
you think you had one of those dreams, b
ut right now everyone is fine and you’re away on your trip. I want you to
enjoy yourself
and not worry about us. If anything happens, I’ll make sure I call you. I promise.”
“No, Mommy!” S
he sounded panicked. “I don’t want to be here anymore. I need to be with you and Daddy. It’s importan
t. Something is going to happen—
something bad.”
Serenity’s heart sank. She hoped Elizabeth was wrong, but
she
had also learned to listen to her daughter’s instincts and dreams. While sometimes Elizabeth’s dreams were
only dreams, some proved to be
a whole lot more.
“Okay, sweetie.
Put
Veronica
back on the phone, okay?”
“You’ll come and get me, won’t you, Mommy?”
“Just put
her
back on
, honey
. I love you.”
“I love you too, Mommy,” Elizabeth replied, her tone
deflated.
There was a pause as
she
handed
the phone
back.
“Hello, Ms. Hathaway
. I hear Elizabeth wants to come home.” Her voice dropped a level again, as though she could keep her words from
the little girl
. The other woman obviously had no idea about Elizabeth’s abilities. “To be honest, we’d rather she went home as well. We’ve never experienced the sort of nightmares your daughter suffers
,
and we’re a bit at a loss about how to handle them. And as I said, she’s screaming at night and scaring the other children
...” She t
railed off and then said,
“Can I ask a personal question,
Ms. Hathaway?
Are there any problems at home we should be concerned about? Does Elizabeth need to talk to someone?”
Serenity sighed. “Veronica, I don’t know how much you know about my past, but only a year has passed since I was returned to my family after my ex-husband kidnapped me and held me a prisoner for two years. The police assume him to be dead now as a lot of his blood was found in Washington after a brawl started, though
,
unfortunately
,
his body was never found. Elizabeth
’s father took
care of
her
in
the time I was gone, but something like that is always going to affect a little girl. If she’s not scared for me, then she transfers her insecurities over to her father. That’s what the dreams are about. She’s been much better recently
,
but I’m guessing that being in a strange place has caused everything to resurface again.”
“I’m so sorry for what you went through,” the other woman said, sounding genuinely shocked.
“Don’t be,” she said. “We’re healing now.”
A
n awkward silence
buzzed
down the line.
Veronica
broke it by saying
, “Even so, I think it would be best if you came and collected your daughter. This doesn’t seem to be the right environment for her to
... heal. Do you have transport
ation
?”
Though partly she felt annoyed and a little angry at the implication that her choice to send Elizabeth to camp was the wrong thing to do, she was also pleased to get out of the house and have her daughter home.
Serenity walked to the window and used her index finger to pull open
a
slat
on the blind. Her 4x4 sat on the gravel driveway. Unconsciously
,
her eyes flicked left and right, checking no one else stood on the property.
“Yes, I
do
.
I’ll leave right away.”
Sebastian stood on the wide
streets on downtown Los Angeles. Multi-story office buildings rose either side of him, the windows all ablaze, though no workers
seemed to move around inside. The street remained quiet, vehicles on
the road
noticeably absent
. Dotted at regular intervals, palm trees remained motionless in the still night, no breath of air rustling their fronds.
He
frowned. Something was wrong. With his acute senses, he could always hear something moving, the low hum of traffic in the city, the buzz of people talking.
Now, u
tter silence
had fallen over the city
.
His
ears strained to catch any sound—the movement of a rat rummaging through the trash, the yelp of an urban fox, anything!
But the place seemed to be
deserted.
On the other side of the road, a street lamp flickered. A dark shadow darted beneath, merging with the spat
e of darkness. The light sputter
ed back to life, revealing only an empty space where the shape had been.
Sebastian braced himself. “Hello?” he called, but no response came. U
sing his vampire’s speed,
he
ran across to where he’d seen the movement. He turned a slow circle,
one
hand locked in his hair. The sidewalk remained empty.
What am I doing here?
He didn’t remember coming downtown
,
and this certainly didn’t feel like the city he knew. Was he dreaming?
He
gave his head a slight shake. He couldn’t be dreaming
,
vampires didn’t dream. The last time he’d dreamed had been befor
e he’d been turned. Since then,
hi
s sleeps were
a nothingness
—he
closed his eyes and when he opened them again, dusk had once again fallen.
When he slept, he had
no sensation of passing time and certainly
didn’t experience the
dream world of which his memories were so vague.
So
,
no, he couldn’t be dreaming
.
But
surely this couldn’t be
real? His usual instinct would be to
get back to Serenity, but he felt
certain if he returned home he would find their bed—and their house—empty.
Sebastian lifted his face to the sky, hoping at least to
gauge
the time of night by the
position of the moon. With a gasp of shock, he
stumbled back. Not a single star w
inked back at him. Instead,
thick, bulbous cloud
s filled the sky, swirling and churning
above his head.
They
hung low, like a gathering storm, but the air wasn’t filled with the sort of charged energy he’d expect
. He was
looking at something
different
.
“Where am I?” He spoke out loud, but his voice seemed to be sucked into the ether. Nobody answered him.
Fa
rther down the street, another street lamp stuttered.
Sebastian stared. Just as the light darkened, another black shape swooped around the head
of the lamp like a giant bird o
r a bat.
He broke into a jog, a frow
n
knitting his dark eyebrows together. As he approached th
e darkened lamp, he squinted. So
mething was wrapped around the top, blocking the light with it
s
body
. The
shape
stretche
d out what
appeared to be
a wing, again
giving him
the impression of a bat, but the mov
ement was too fluid, a
s though made from smoke.
The thing let out a screech and darted at Sebastian’s face in a flurry of flapping air and wings.
Right
before it collided with him, he caught a glimpse of glaring, blood red eyes. With a yell, he lifted his arms in defense and ducked, the creature having caught him off guard.
The burst of movement confused him
and
,
despite his speed and strength, he couldn’t get a grip on the
thing.
Sharp claws scratched his face, wings b
atting his arms and shoulders. J
ust as
suddenly, it was gone again, leaving
Sebastian standing alone on the street.
He spun around, tryi
ng to figure out where the creature
had gone.
“What the hell...”
Sebastian didn’t know which way to head. For the first time, after living in the city for several centuries, he felt lost. Though this placed looked like Los Angeles on the outside, he had a hunch that he was somewhere else entirely. He thought the
walls of the buildings were no more solid than
any of those in the film studios that filled the city. It was all just a facade, hiding something else.
Obscuring the
truth of where he really was.
The road passed by as the
wheels of her Land Rover ate away the miles. Old songs on the classics radio station made up her soundtrack for the journey, but Serenity barely heard them. Lost in thought, she
kept only the minimal amount of attention on the road ahead
.
Elizabeth’s trip was to
the Lake Casitas Recreation Area
. The drive would only take a little over an hour, a location nearby purposefully chosen by the camp organizers in case of this exact thing happen
ing and one of the children needed
to be picked up.
The girls were staying in a cabin and then going to the nearby water park the next day. It saddened Serenity to think Elizabeth would be missing out.
She figured she’d be back long before dark—or at least she hoped she would. She’d not thought to leave a note for Sebastian to let him know where she’d gone. Cleaning up the mess of broken porcelain and splattered
liquid
had taken up most of her attention before she’d emptied the remainder of the coffee left in the percolator into a travel mug, snatched up her keys and purse and headed out the door.
Aft
er so many months at peace, the
old churning in the pit of her stomach was back again. Elizabeth’s bad dreams might only be
nightmares, but something told her they might
be
more. On top of that, sh
e couldn’t shake the sensation that
someone else
had been
in the room with her wh
en she’d been making breakfast. T
he strange way the cup had been knocked off the
counter
without her being near
wouldn’t leave her thoughts
. No, it hadn’t just been knocked off. The cup had moved with force, as if someone had shoved it to the floor.
Serenity reached down and switched off the radio. The music was annoying her, interrupting her thoughts.
No one had touche
d the cup. She’d been alone and if someone else had been close
enough
, she would have seen them. Unless
,
of course
,
she had magic to
blame
...
.
Or
perhaps a ghost.
The idea sent an
awful, crawling, creeping shiver down her
back and she pushed the notion away. She didn’t believe in ghosts.
Did she?
The parking lot for the
campsite
was
located around the side of a log cabin with the sign for ‘reception’ hung above the door.
Serenity
parked the car and climbed out. Right away the sound of girls giggling and chatting caught her attention. Following the noise, she
made her way around to the back of the building where rows of p
icnic tables were filled with kids
eating packed lunches. Serenity spotted Elizabeth quickly, sitting among a couple of other girls. Her head was tilted to one side as she spoke to the girl beside her. The girl said something in return and Elizabeth laughed.
She
paused for a moment, enjoying watching her daugh
ter be herself. Elizabeth’s skin was
paler than normal and bruised shadows hollowed her eyes. She looked tired—a result of the nightmares
, Serenity guessed
.
Elizabeth must have somehow sensed h
er mother’s arrival for she turn
ed her head and caught Serenity’s eye. A wide smile lit her face and she lifted a hand and waved to her mother with a small, frantic gesture.
Serenity lifted a hand in return and began to weave between the tables and children to reach her daughter. She squatted down behind
her and
Elizabeth twisted in her seat to give her a hug. Serenity breathed in her daughter’s familiar smell, felt the softness of her hair
against her skin.
“How are you doing?” she asked. “Still want to come home?”
Elizabeth nodded. “I have to
,
Mommy. You and Daddy need me.”
“Your daddy and I are fine. You look like you’re having fun now. If you want to stay, that’s okay too.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “No
,
Mommy. I want to come home.” She lowered her voice. “I think everyone else wants me to go home too. I think I scared them.”
Serenity’s heart broke for her. She wanted Elizabeth to fit in with the other children and hated for her to feel like an outcast. Part of her wondered if she was doing the right thing by taking her away. Wasn’t she only adding to E
lizabeth’s isolation? Yet,
if she refused to take Elizabeth home and the nightmares continued, she could scar the poor child for life.
Serenity became aware of someone hovering behind her and she turned to see Veronica—the
petite, short
-haired
Girl Scout leader—standing there,
holding Elizabeth’s bags.
“
Hi, Ms. Hathaway.
Thanks for coming
,” Veronica said.
“
I hope you understand
that w
e’re not in the habit of sending children home for this kind of thing, but these really are exceptional circumstances
. With
everything Elizabeth has been through over the last few years, we simply didn’t seem able to mak
e her feel any better.” The young woman
turned her attention to Elizabeth. “Your dreams are very real to you, aren’t they Elizabeth?”
“Sorry I woke everyone up.”
Veronica reached down and ruffled the girl’s dark hair. “It’s not your fault. But sometimes, if things are bothering us, it’s best to be with the people we love, isn’t it?”
Elizabeth nodded again and Serenity reached out to take her bags
from the Scout leader
.
“Perhaps you shouldn’t organize trips like this if you’re unable to take care of the needs of children.”
Veronica blinked in surprise, but Serenity didn’t give her the chance to answer. She grabbed Elizabeth’s arm and hustled her
away
, ignoring shouts of
“B
ye!
”
from the other children.
She knew s
he shouldn’t be annoyed with Veronica,
she was sure the woman had done everything she could
,
but part of her felt frazzled and anxious about
her argument with Sebastian and what happened at the house. The young woman
was simply the person
who
stood in the way.
“It
i
sn’t her fault, Mommy,” Elizabeth said as they reached the car. Serenity flung Elizabeth’s bag in the back seat
and the girl scrambled into her booster seat beside them.
She sighed. “I know, sweetie. I just
hate
that your trip got ruined.”
Elizabeth shrugged. “I don’t mind. I’d rather be home with you and Sebastian.”
Serenity started the engine and pulled the car out of the lot
and onto Santa Ana Boulevard
.
She sighed.
How hard to be a mother—
to simultaneously want to keep your child close, but also want
them to create an independence and
a life of their own.
She glanced over
her shoulder
at her daughter’s face. T
hough Elizabeth smiled back, Serenity couldn’t miss
the shadows beneath her bloodshot eyes and her pale skin.