Dominion (20 page)

The last thing he saw before he lost himself to the darkness was Elizabeth clutched in Conner’s grip, her white, terrified face as she stared at him holding Bridget’s limp body in his arms.

A burst of light exploded
around Iona’s body, smoothing the swirling pool of darkness like water drenching flames. Serenity ducked away, her arm raised to cover her face. She collided with Vincent’s solid form, but barely registered being held in his arms once again.

The light dissipated, leaving Iona standing there looking small and frail.

“It’s done,” she said, though her face remained grim.

“The demon is gone?” Serenity couldn’t keep the hope out of her voice.

Iona nodded. “Yes. The demon is gone back to Dominion. But so, I fear, has your vampire.

Chapter Twenty

Serenity stared at Iona, aghast.
“Are you telling me we’ve lost Sebastian to Dominion?”

Iona nodded
, her slender eyebrows drawn together with worry
. “I think so, yes. The demon somehow attached itself to him and took him back with it.”

“How do we get him
back?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t know if we can.
”

Serenity
’s whole body trembled, tears flooding her eyes. She bit them back, fighting against the painful knot in her throat threatening to choke her.
“No! Don’t say that! There must be a way.”

She still stood, engulfed in
Vincent
’s huge frame, her back pressed against his chest. His hands gripped her upper arms and he squeezed her gently.
“Something else is wrong too.”

She twisted to face him, looking up
at him in alarm.
“What?”
What else could possibly have happened?

His gray eyes narrowed.
“
I’m not sure, but I think something’s happened to my mother.”

“What do you mean?”

“Something doesn’t feel right. We need to get back to the trailer right away.”

Serenity understood what he was saying. “We leave the car here?”

“For the time being.
We can’t afford to waste any more time.”

They both looked to Iona for confirmation. The girl nodded. “Okay. I can’t say I’m looking forward to this, but I guess I don’t have much of a choice.”

Vincent shrugged. “Unless you know some kind of teleportation spell …”

She gave a wry smile.
“Unfortunately not.”

Serenity didn’t relish the idea of traveling with the big vampire that way either—an hour or more of being held against him while he ran through the desert. But how she felt didn’t matter. She only wanted to be by Sebastian’s side, to find a way of making this right again. She prayed Elizabeth was all right and not in too much distress over what had happened to her father.

What will
Sebastian look like
? The same as when he slept—physically present, but otherwise vacant? She didn’t want to think about any other possibility. An awful thought occurred to her—what if they were unable to bring him back? What if they were left with a shell of a man? What would they do then? Would he continue to deteriorate and eventually die? Or would she and Elizabeth be forced to continue their lives around the shell of the man they both loved, like the family of a coma victim?

She clutched the palm of her hand tight to her mouth, suppressing a sob. She couldn’t stand the thought that she’d lost him—forever this time. How would she go through each day knowing she’d never hear him speak again, never hearing him say the words “I love you?
”
How would Elizabeth cope? She loved her father more than anything—she worshiped him. How would she grow up to be normal—as normal as she could be—living with the knowledge her father existed in some other
place
?

“Serenity?”

Vincent’s voice drew her from her thoughts and she shook her head, sniffing back her sorrow. “Sorry.” She turned to Iona. “What about this?” She gestured to the area Iona had worked her magic through.
“Do we leave it … open … like this?”

“The veiled places are a part of our world and theirs, like mountains or the ocean. I wouldn’t feel comfortable trying to close it. I don’t know what effect it would have on either world.”

Serenity nodded. “Okay, so we just leave.”

Iona gave a single nod in return. “We just leave.”

They stepped from the unit and Vincent held out his arms to them both. The two women exchanged a glance and Serenity forced a smile for Iona’s sake. If the girl had
never traveled this way before, the experience was bound to be daunting. Nerves danced in Serenity’s own belly, but for different reasons. She was terrified of what they’d find when they got back
,
and she didn’t want to be in such close proximity to Vincent.

But she had no choice.

Vincent scooped Iona up in one arm and the girl suppressed an almost flirtatious squeal of surprise. Serenity stopped herself raising one eyebrow.
Oh yeah
? Vincent was clearly far too old for her, and not just in vampire years. He must have been in his late twenties when he’d been turned—twenty-eight, she guessed—and so was even younger than Serenity in human terms.

Serenity mentally stopped herself. What was she thinking, getting possessive over him?

She cast a glance to Vincent. He studied her face and one corner of his lips turned up in a smirk, as though he knew exactly what she was thinking.
Damn that vampire blood.

Focusing on her need to get back to Sebastian, she stepped forward into Vincent’s body space. She wrapped her arms around his broad back, her fingers digging into muscles layered over muscle. Even if Vincent wasn’t a vampire, she thought he’d still be strong enough to carry them both. Iona clung to his other side, her legs wrapped around his waist, one arm around his neck. Vincent held them both, one in each arm, the bulge of his bicep pressing into Serenity’s back.

He set off with a sudden lurch and Iona gave a shriek of surprise. The sound was quickly lost as the rush of wind snatched the air from her lungs. Serenity was used to traveling this way and tucked her face against the ball of his shoulder, trying not to inhale the musky, masculine scent of him. She still had his blood racing through her veins and, as such, was aware of everything around her with a heightened sensitivity—including his muscles contracting beneath her body in a way that went beyond distracting.

His run felt different from Sebastian’s, somehow less graceful, more loping, despite the obvious speed.

Sebastian, Sebastian, Sebastian
…

She clung to the hope that Iona had been wrong and he was safe.

Another fear worried at her. What if, by her taking Vincent’s blood, Sebastian had lost his connection to her? What if that connection had been the last thing holding him to this world?

Or, even worse, he had sensed what happened between her and Vincent and simply decided to let go.

No, she couldn’t blame herself. If she hadn’t taken Vincent’s blood she would have died, no question. But perhaps her physical and emotional response could have been different?

She struggled against fresh tears, knowing they wouldn’t help anyone. She couldn’t change what had happened, but, if it turned out Sebastian was lost in this other place, she would do everything in her power to get him back again.

With Vincent’s speed, the journey back through the desert took only a fraction of the time. Because of the wind and sand his passage whipped up, Serenity was unable to judge the distance they’d traveled, but as soon as he slowed, she lifted her head from his shoulder. To her surprise, the shapes of the trailer park rose like sleeping giants out of the expanse of desert ahead.

Vincent dropped them both to the ground. Serenity stretched out her arms and legs, the cool of the desert night and the cramped position having stiffened her muscles. Iona leapt down and started to stride across the sandy terrain, her age making her more limber than Serenity.

Vincent took a step forward and then froze. He lifted his face to the air and sniffed, his nostril’s flared. Panic streaked across his face.
“Oh, no!”

Serenity’s stomach lurched. “What is it? What’s—”

He didn’t answer her question. In a movement that was a blur, he raced to the park.

Iona and Serenity exchanged a glance and ran after him. His howl of rage filled the desert night as he hit the force field Iona’s warlocks had put up as protection against vampires.

They reached him, Serenity gasping for breath, a stitch threatening to cramp her side. He spun around to her, his eyes blazing yellow in his fury.

“What’s he done?” he snarled. “What’s your goddamned vampire done?”

Serenity fell back, terrified of the sight of the huge vampire towering over her, his eyes blaze, his face white and terrible.

She shook her head, her eyes wide. “I don’t know. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I can smell my mother’s blood.”

Her fingers pressed against her lips.
“Oh, God.”
Her voice came out as a breath.

“
Stand back
,” said Iona, striding forward. She swept one arm up around over her head.
“Protection,
disseminabunt
!”
Protection, disperse!

With the force field gone, Vincent vanished from their sides, the door of Iona’s trailer opening and closing with a bang that ricocheted like a shot around the still night. Immediately, the yells of Iona’s men followed and Serenity heard Elizabeth’s cries.

“Elizabeth!” She took off after Vincent, Iona at her side.

Together, they burst through the trailer door. Serenity’s focus was on Elizabeth, at first ignoring the rest of the scene around her. Her eyes sought out her daughter and she found her huddled up in the corner of Iona’s big white, leather couch, Henry and Conner sitting on either side of her. The little girl’s face was white, her eyes huge and dark in her head. She caught sight of Serenity and burst into tears.

“Mommy!” she cried, climbing off the couch and running to Serenity. She collided with Serenity’s legs, almost knocking her off balance. Serenity scooped her up and Elizabeth’s arms and legs wound around her body, clinging to her. The girl’s whole body shook with uncontrollable tremors.

With her daughter safe in her arms, she allowed herself to absorb the rest of the scene.

“Oh, God, Sebastian!”

Sebastian lay collapsed on the floor, as though one moment he’d been standing up and then, like a puppet, his strings had been cut, leaving him helpless. Serenity started toward him, but Henry and Conner appeared in front of her blocking the way.

“Hey!” She stared between the two men. “Get out of my way!”

“I wouldn’t do that, miss,” said Conner. “He’s dangerous.”

“What are you talking about? He’s unconscious!”

The men exchanged a glance and Serenity looked past them, her attention taken by the huge vampire crouched on the ground, rocking back and forth over a shape covered by a blanket.

Two questions sprang to mind—what was under the blanket and where was Bridget?

Realization dawned, her heart clenching with fresh pain. “Oh, no,” she gasped. “Please don’t let it be true.”

“It is, Mommy,” Elizabeth sobbed into her neck. “Sebastian hurt Bridget.”

Vincent sprang to his feet, his eyes burning yellow, fangs exposed, his huge jaw knotted in a ball of muscle. “He killed my mother.”

Frantic, Serenity shook her head. “No, I can’t believe it!”

The big vampire snarled.
“That son of a bitch!
He’s wanted her dead ever since he found out she betrayed him to Demitri. This whole thing was just an excuse to satisfy his blood lust.”

“Vincent,” Serenity tried to keep her voice level, though internally her whole being screamed with terror, her heart wrenching in two at what Sebastian had done. With the calming influence of his mother gone
,
and Sebastian incapable of protecting
them, she was all too aware of how fragile they were in the presence of this massive, grieving vampire. “If Sebastian had wanted Bridget dead, he would have killed her long before now. You must be able to see Sebastian wasn’t in control. You know the demon has been control
l
ing him. You saw the state of Natasha, of what it did to her.”

He shook his head. “No. The demon was gone. Iona made sure of it. He killed my mother anyway!”

Iona stepped forward and Serenity felt thankful for the girl’s presence. Despite her age and small size, she radiated power and authority. Even a hulking vampire couldn’t help but take notice.

“I expect the demon didn’t want to be sent back. It must have fought for control and while Sebastian fought the demon, he lost control of himself. His natural instincts for blood kicked in and Bridget was the closest human at hand.”

Serenity’s heart clenched with pain and she hugged her daughter closer to her body. What if Elizabeth had been closer? What if Sebastian had attacked Elizabeth?

Iona turned to Serenity. “Just because I understand what happened, doesn’t mean I agree with or forgive it. Blood has been spilled on my property. This is the exact reason I don’t want vampires hanging around. This vampire is no longer a threat to you or Elizabeth, so I’m asking you to now take him away from here. I want no more to do with this.”

Serenity’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t leave him like this!”

Elizabeth’s worried voice came from below. “Mommy …?”

“It’s okay, honey. We’ll get this sorted out.”

Iona shook her head. “No, I’m the one who is sorry, but I refuse to have any more involvement. I won’t put my people at risk.”