Alone (25 page)

“
You still haven’t answered
me,” she said quietly.

He bent his forehead to hers. “Yes,
Serenity. I’ll come back.”

“
I love you,” she told
him.

He pulled her toward him. His fingers
sunk deep into the back of her hair and he kissed her passionately
before forcing himself to pull away.

“
And I love you,” he
whispered fiercely into her hair, and then he was gone.

Chapter Nineteen

This time she wasn’t
going
to risk
falling asleep. She had no idea how long Sebastian would be, but
she didn’t want to fall asleep and miss him when he got back.
Serenity knew he wouldn’t want to disturb her if he saw her
sleeping and would take himself off to wherever he went during the
day.

Exhaustion made her eyes sore
and her limbs heavy.
However much she wanted to be with Sebastian, she had to
admit their schedules didn’t match.

I
f she stayed in bed, she would succumb to
the softness of the pillows and the scent of Sebastian on the
sheets, so she forced herself to get up. She wrapped her body in
the soft white robe supplied by the hotel.

On the hunt
for some caffeine, she crossed
the room and pulled open the mini bar. Serenity helped herself to a
coke. She didn’t normally drink soda, but the ice-cold sweetness
tingled on her tongue and she immediately started to wake
up.

Serenity didn’t want to wash Sebastian
off her skin but a shower might help bring her back to
life.

She went into the bathroom and switched on
the shower. The water drummed the base of the tub with force. If
anything was going to wake her up, the pounding of water on her
skin would. Serenity shrugged out of her robe, letting the material
drop to the floor.

Naked, she stood in front of the mirror
and pulled her hair off her neck, tying it into a knot with an
elastic band. Her body looked different now, her breasts higher,
stomach flatter. All of the faults Jackson had pointed out over the
years melted away.

O
ut of the corner of her eye, she caught
movement darting around the bathroom door.

Every
muscle froze, adrenaline shooting
through her veins like heroin. Serenity spun around, but as she
moved, an impossibly strong arm wrapped around her throat, catching
her in a headlock. The arm was slender and as strong as the coil of
a python. The loop tightened, enough to hold Serenity fast, but not
enough to stop her breath.

Instinctively, she fought; her back
bucking, elbows jabbing, her feet trying to kick out, but she might
as well be fighting a brick wall.

Serenity didn’t have time to think about
what was happening. Her brain went into survival mode, the way it
had when Jackson delivered one of his beatings.

H
er feet lost their grip on the floor as
she was lifted by her throat and suddenly they were
moving.

G
lass exploded around her, shards cutting
her face, catching in her hair, and then she fell through the air,
her abductor’s arm still locked around her throat.

They hit the ground. The impact burst the
air from her lungs. Her bones jarred, her tendons stretched to
their limit and snapped back again. Her abductor took the worst of
the impact preventing Serenity from smashing to pulp on the
sidewalk, but the fall jolted her to the edge of her body’s
restrictions. She had screamed in fear as they fell and now groaned
in pain as every muscle in her body felt torn. She thought her neck
would have dislocated if not for the strong arm acting as a neck
brace.

She didn’t have the luxury of time to
recover.

Her abductor ran again, carrying Serenity,
naked, terrified and in pain. They moved fast enough to tear the
air from her lungs. This time, she didn’t have a safe neck to bury
her face in.

There was no question of who had her;
Serenity had traveled this way before.

Unable to catch a breath, her whole body
hurting, she was also suffering from extreme motion sickness and
disorientation. Serenity’s world grayed out. She fought against the
gray, aware that blacking out would leave her exposed and
defenseless, but she was powerless against the pull. Her body had
been through so much, it couldn’t cope anymore.

Time to shut down.

Serenity came to, confused
and
disorientated. She blinked against the darkness. Every
muscle in her body hurt and she tried to swallow against her raw
and bruised throat. Naked, she lay on cold concrete, her bones
digging into the floor. Briefly, she thought she must be back in
her house, that Jackson was still alive and had given her the
beating of her life. Then she remembered Sebastian and wondered if
she could be in the hotel room.

Upon waking
she had forgotten the
abduction—her terrifying and potentially fatal drag through the
night—but all at once the memory came back to her and so did the
fear.

Madeline had taken her!

The vampire must have grown sick of
waiting for Sebastian to make his decision and, when he hadn’t
complied with her wishes, Madeline had decided to force Sebastian’s
hand by taking his human companion.

Cautious, Serenity pushed herself to
sitting. She felt so exposed, naked in the dark, and she wrapped
her arms around herself, instinctively trying to cover her nudity.
Every inch of her body screamed out in protest but nothing seemed
to be broken. From previous experience, she knew: even though the
throbbing in her ribs was excruciating, the pain came from torn
muscle, not broken bone. Her face felt tight and crusted with blood
from the cuts sustained when Madeline jumped through the hotel
window. Similar cuts probably covered the rest of her body, though
for the time being, the halo of agony clouding her masked the
visceral sensation.

She squinted at the black surrounding her,
trying to make out something in front of her face. Not a single
beam of light cut through the darkness and the place was totally
devoid of sound. The faint scent of blood filled the air—her
blood.

Part of Serenity thought she should stay
quiet; some stupid part of her hoping Madeline might have gone or
forgotten about her. She thought she might be able to fight her way
through the pitch black to a place of safety, but knew better.
Madeline had taken her for a reason. The vampire knew her exact
location.

“
Hello?” Serenity called out. Her
voice sounded hollow and echoed back at her. Whatever place she
found herself in, it was big.

A
loud clunk broke through the silence.
Starting at the far end of the room, row after row of harsh
florescent lights came on, racing toward her. She squinted against
the sudden illumination, raising her arm to shield her eyes from
the glare.

Where the hell was she?

Giant walls of corrugated iron rose around
her and a vast, curved, corrugated roof hung above her head. The
bunker was the largest enclosed space she’d ever seen. Enormous
double doors made up most of the far wall. Walkways of scaffolding
ran along the other three walls.

She had expected to find Madeline standing
in front of her, but she remained alone.

Someone had switched on the
lights.

“
Hello?” she called
again.

Her heart thumped hard in her chest. Her
whole body hurt, the pain exacerbated by the trembling that held
her limbs. She wanted to be brave but anyone in her situation would
be crazy not to be terrified.

In the distance, a muffled roar grew
louder by the second, as though bearing down on her. The sound grew
in volume and Serenity clamped her hands over her ears. A number of
explanations ran through her mind—thunder storm, earthquake, a
bomb—then she realized she recognized the sound.

A
n airplane landing.

The ground
vibrated beneath her feet and
the roar filled her ears, filled the bunker.

She realized where she was.

The huge bunker must a disused aircraft
hangar at the airport.

Why would Madeline have brought her here?
Serenity didn’t intend to waste time trying to figure out her
motivations. The vampire was nowhere to be seen and where there
were planes, there were also people. A normal sized door was cut
into the huge gates for the aircraft. Not caring about her nudity,
she set her sights on the door and ran as fast as her sore legs
would carry her.

The vampire dropped out of the air,
landing directly in Serenity’s path.

Serenity let out a scream of surprise and
tried to stop herself before she collided with Madeline. She
stumbled and fell over her own feet, landing on the floor with a
thump. The air burst from her lungs, her already exposed flesh
scraping on the concrete.

The red-haired vampire towered over
Serenity. In many ways, she appeared to be an ordinary woman,
dressed in a pants-suit, high-heeled boots, an expensive bag
hanging off her arm. No wonder people didn’t suspect her. Like
Sebastian, she looked like the type of person everyone else wanted
to be.

She was hugely intimidating, her
presence terrifying.

Madeline stared
down at Serenity,
lying naked on the floor at her feet, and laughed.

“
Pathetic,” she said, shaking her
head with mock pity. “Truly pathetic.”

A
bundle of clothes was tucked under her arm
and she threw them at Serenity.

Her jeans and t-shirt landed at her
feet.

“
Get dressed,” Madeline told
her. “I can’t stand all that... flesh.”

Serenity scrambled for her clothes,
pulling them on. At least dressed, she might hang on to some
portion of her dignity.

The vampire’s presence overwhelmed
Serenity. The charge of electricity Serenity always perceived from
Sebastian was in overload in this woman. Serenity almost expected
sparks to jump from the tips of her fingers.

Madeline made her aware of her mortality
in a way Sebastian never had. Danger radiated from her; danger and
madness. Whatever this woman had been when human, her
transformation to a vampire had driven her insane.

“
What do you want with me?”
Serenity said, despite already knowing the answer. She wanted to be
strong, but her voice was little more than a whine.

Madeline flashed a grin filled with too
many teeth. “Let’s call it a social occasion.”

She barely comprehended what the vampire
was saying. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Madeline shrugged. “I thought we might
have a girly chat—you know, talk about men, our love lives, that
sort of thing?”

Serenity stared at her in amazement.
“What?” she said again, unable to find the words. “Are you
crazy?”

“
Perhaps,” she shrugged, “but
that’s kind of irrelevant, don’t you think?”

The vampire
was playing with her. Serenity
was nothing more than entertainment.

Madeline sighed and reached down, touching
Serenity’s face with her long, perfect fingers. Serenity
flinched.

“
He’ll miss you,” she said,
watching Serenity for a reaction.

Her first instinct was to protect
Sebastian. She didn’t want Madeline going anywhere near him. If
Madeline thought there was nothing between them, she might forget
her whole crazy plan. Perhaps if Madeline believed she hated
Sebastian—hated what he was—she would let her go.

Her voice came out cold and hard, but the
words hurt to say, “He’s a fucking monster, just like
you!”

Madeline laughed, but her eyes narrowed.
“You didn’t seem to be thinking as much when you were fucking him
tonight.”

Serenity flinched, horribly violated at
the thought of this creature watching them.

“
So you know,” she said,
feigning bravery. “What are you going to do about it?”

“
Well, I could kill you in a
moment,” the vampire said, matter of fact.

“
Do it then!” Serenity threw at
her. “I’m sick of other people trying to control my life. If you
think I’m going to let you be the next in line, you can forget it.
Kill me if that’s what you’re here to do.”

Madeline’s eyes widened at Serenity’s
outburst, but only for the briefest of seconds.

She threw back her head, exposing her long
white throat, and laughed. “The little human bitch has a temper on
her. How sweet.” She composed herself. “The thing is I can’t kill
you right now. If I did, I wouldn’t have anything to blackmail the
beautiful Sebastian with.”

“
Like you blackmailed him
with his wife and child all those years ago?”

For the second time, Madeline looked
surprised. A flash of pain and ugly jealousy crossed her
face.

“
He told you about them?” she
spat. “He
never talks about his family.”