Dominion (7 page)

Ghost.

The
crazy
thought came again. There were no such things as ghosts. But then if someone had asked her before meeting Sebastian, she’d have sworn
against the existence of vampires and witches as well.
And
she’d been proven wrong on both counts.

Chapter Seven

Sebastian blinked
in surprise at
the wide, palm tree
-
lined streets he recognized as being only bloc
ks from his home. His heart clenched in his chest
.

Oh no, it had happened again.
One moment he’d been walking thr
ough the forest, the next he found himself
standing in his neighborhood.

He spun in a circle, his senses alert for the scent of blood. Had he done the same thing and killed during the missing time? But no, he couldn’t sm
ell blood on the night air and he didn’t feel that
fiery tingling through his veins
which
he experienced after a feed.

What was he doing back here, so close to home? Had he been making his way back?

Sebastian approached the house and frowned. From the position of the moon in the night sky, he calculated the hour to be almost four in the morning, but all of the lights on the ground floor were ablaze, the illumination spilling out onto the gravel driveway.

Something wasn’t right.

Using his speed, Sebastian raced to the front door. He reached for the key he always kept in his jacket pocket—despite being a vampire, his small family still needed security—and his frown deepened. The key was missing.

Had he dropped it somewhere
?

He patted himself down and located the small shape of metal in his pant pocket.
Strange.
He always kept it in the same place; he was a creature of habit.

Turning his mind to more immediate concerns, he jabbed his key in the lock. The lock turned and he pushed the door with his shoulder, but it wouldn’t open. His worry stepped up a notch.

“Serenity?” he called through the heavy wood. He didn’t want to hammer on the door, worried about waking up Elizabeth, but he didn’t need to. The door opened a crack, the security chain stretched between the back of the door and the frame with a rattle of metal and Serenity’s face peeped around the corner. Relief melted onto her features at the sight of him.

Sebastian had expected to find her still asleep, but she looked wide awake, her eyes frantic.

“What’s happened?” he asked, his forehead creasing in a frown.

She shook her head and backed away from the door, letting him through. “Sorry, I
deadlocked
the door. I had to be sure …”

His eyes narrowed. “Sure of what?”

Serenity chewed at her lower lip.
“Of no one getting in the house.”

“Why? Has someone been here?”

“Yes … well, no.” She backed away from him and then turned and headed into the kitchen, shaking her head. “I don’t know. I thought I saw something and things had moved.”

“What sort of things?”

She hesitated. “No
t
moved exactly, but the faucet in our bathroom, Elizabeth’s
,
and down in the kitchen were all
running
.”

“Are you sure they weren’t left on accidentally? Or perhaps the water pressure in the pipes changed and forced the water on.”

“I heard footsteps as well, boards creaking.”

“Pipes again?” he suggested.

“And doors slammed. The front door burst wide open!”

“I’m not sure what to say.” He frowned. “Perhaps I didn’t close it properly when I left.”
He considered the possibility. Things weren’t right with him. He may have made a mistake and not closed the door on his way out.

Her shoulders sagged and she sighed. “So you think I’m just being paranoid?”

“I don’t know, Serenity. Are you sure you didn’t actually see anyone?”

“I thought I
did,
a movement perhaps, but now I’m not sure. Perhaps I freaked myself out for no reason.”

Unprompted, she burst into tears.

“Hey, Serenity, it’s all right. Everything is all right.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She buried her face against his chest and he lowered his nose to the top of her head, breathing in her familiar scent.

“I’m sorry,” she said, pulling away from him to look up into his face. “
These past couple of days have
been awful. I hate us fighting, but sometimes the things you do frighten me.”

“I don’t mean to scare you. I’d never do anything to frighten you on purpose.”

“You went out and killed a man when you didn’t need to.”

He took a deep breath. Telling her would be opening up a whole new world of worry for Serenity—something he didn’t want to do. But what other choice did he have? Keeping things a secret from her would only drive them apart.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “You’re right, I did kill a man, but I don’t remember doing it.”

She sniffed and wiped a tear from her cheek. A little line appeared between her eyebrows as she asked,
“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said.
One moment I was walking down Venice Beach and the next I was standing in the street with a dead body at my feet.”

“Are you sure you killed him?”

“Yes. I had his blood in my veins. I could feel it.”

Serenity glanced away, her lips pressed together. Despite all their time together, he knew she still found it difficult to accept that he killed on a regular basis. Serenity had killed
as well—to protect herself from Jackson, and from the vampires, Madeline and Demitri, who had threatened her family’s safety—
but knowing someone you loved hurt others was never an easy thing to bear. He tried to keep that side of his life away from her as much as possible,
tried
to allow her to pretend it didn’t happen, but
sometimes
occasions
arose where they both needed
to face what he was head
-
on.

He debated telling her about what happened in the forest, but realized keeping something from her may only prove to be dangerous. “There’s something else. The body came back.”

“What?”

“After I’d drained him, I took
the body to the forest to hide it, but it started to come ba
ck and not in the normal way. The body
acted as though it was aware and wanted to hurt me. I broke its neck
,
but it kept coming. In the end, I had to rip off its head.”

She
pushed him away and took a step back
, her eyes wide with alarm. “Jesus, Sebastian! How could that even happen?”

He shook his head. “I have no idea.”

She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again.

“What?” he prompted. “What is it?”

She glanced away and shook her head. “This is going to sound weird, but
tonight isn’t the first night I’ve felt like something strange is happening around here
.”

He frowned. “
What do you mean
?”

“Things moving.
Feeling like I’m not alone.”

Alarm raced through him. “S
o s
omeone else
was
in the house.
”

“No one I saw.”

He risked a smile. “Do we have a ghost?”

She smiled back and ducked her head in embarrassment. “I thought the same thing myself.”

“You think it’s a possibility?”

She lifted her gaze back to his.
“I doubt it, but something is going on. It’s not a coincidence that
after
I saw something in your fa
ce at the restaurant,
strange things start happening in the house and then you don’t remember killing someone.
”

The mention of the restaurant caused his
heart to tighten with pain, but he forced the emotion back down.
“That’s not all.”

Her face crumpled in worry.
“Oh
,
God, what now?”

“It’s probably the least important of everything, but I had the strangest dream.”

“
I didn’t think vampires
dream
ed
.”

“We don’t.
I don’t even know how to explain what I experienced. I felt like I was awake—as awake as I am now—but I was somewhere else.”

“A different city?
Country?”

He shook his head. “No, I was right here in Los Angel
es, but
no one else
was around.
At least, no one human.
Also, since I had the dream, I’ve b
een slower, some of my strength
reduced.
”

She must have seen the fear and confusion in his face because she reached out and took his hand.
“I wish you’d spoken to me sooner.”

“Me too, but we were fighting. Things weren’t right between us.”

The tension between them thickened as they were both taken back to the awkward moment he’d proposed.
She stepped closer
and he thought she would put her arms around him, but then she stopped, peering
at
a spot right
beneath his ear.

“What’s that?”

He lifted his fingers to touch the place
where her eyes focused
. His skin felt rough and flakes fell a
way beneath his fingertips.

Serenity caught his wrist and pulled his hand away so she could get a better look. “It’s just a small patch of dry skin,” she s
aid. “I’m sure it’s nothing to be concerned
about.”

He pulled away so he could stare her
directly in the face. “Serenity,
I’m a vampire. I don’t get dry skin. I heal fast. If someone stuck a knife in my ribs, it would have healed completely within a couple of hours. This isn’t normal.”

Her dark eyes studied his face. “Okay,” she said, slowly. “So someone is messing with us.”

He nodded. “I think we need help.”

“Bridget?” she said.

“Yes, Bridget. This isn’t just vampires at work.”

“Do you think we can trust her?”

“I don’t think we have many other options.”

Serenity glanced at the clock hanging on the wall behind Sebastian’s head. It was still far too early to be calling someone.

“I’ll call her as soon as morning comes,” she said. “Hopefully, she’ll be willing to help us and will come over and check things out. By the time you wake up this evening, we might even understand what’s going on.”

He nodded. “Okay.” He hesitated, not wanting to ask the question but needing to know the answer. “Things are all right between us now, aren’t they?”

Serenity looked up at him. A smile tugged at her lips and lit her dark eyes. “I never want things to be bad between us. I love you. I always have.”

With her words, the tension between them seemed to melt away. He stepped in toward her, closing the small gap remaining between their bodies. He felt her relax against him, her arms sliding around his waist until her hands found the hard muscles of his back.

His fingers locked in the back of her hair. Her lips pressed against the skin of his throat, her nose nestled against the dip of his collar bone. Her mouth traced up toward his jaw, feather-like kisses that became more urgent, her lips nipping his skin.

“I’m frightened, Sebastian,” she whispered.

He gently tugged on the back of her hair, forcing her face up to his. “We’ll get through this. We always get through these things.”

“We don’t even know what ‘these things’ are.”

His eyes flicked over hers, drinking in the sight of her, simultaneously strong
,
and yet so vulnerable. He wanted to protect her more than ever before, but the worry
about his own state hung over him. He’d almost fallen in the forest. He’d missed catching the glass. He was missing small portions of time.

He might no longer be in a position where he’d be able to protect her.

“I love you,” he said. “I love you so much.”

Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes and she stood on tiptoes to kiss him, her mouth soft and warm against his. Tears trickled down her cheeks, toward their joined lips, and he tasted salt.

Their kiss deepened, tongues dancing to trace every inch of each other’s mouth. He reached down and lifted her, so her legs wrapped around his waist. He carried her to the couch and reclined her back on the cushions. She lay out before him, her hair spread in a wave across the soft leather.

Sebastian bent his face to her belly and raised her top to expose her flat stomach. He ran his tongue up from her navel in a cold, wet trail, eliciting a shiver and a rash of goose bumps from her flesh.

Serenity exhaled in a small moan. She turned her face to one side and closed her eyes.

He pushed the t-shirt upward, exposing her naked breasts. He reached up and covered one soft, warm mound with his palm. The nipple immediately tightened, forming a hard bud against his cold flesh. He moved higher up her body and lowered his mouth to her other breast, enclosing his lips around her areola. His tongue swept in a circle, hardening her nipple further.

Blood rushed to the area, the veins thick and faintly blue beneath her creamy skin. Her pulse thumped in his ears, the sound overwhelming all others. He longed to bite her there, sink his teeth into the sweet, succulent flesh and draw her blood up over her tight nipple and into his throat. But he held himself back, he always held himself back. Whatever his darkest desires might be, Sebastian would never want her to be frightened of him.

His own arousal pressed hard against her thigh, a pressure for which he needed to find release.

Sebastian lifted his face from her breast and knelt up. Moving with speed, he pulled off her top and tore her panties down one side and then the other, so the wispy shreds of material fell from her body.

She looked down, a smile quirking the corners of her lips, and raised an eyebrow. “I think you owe me a new pair of panties.”

“I prefer you without them.”

Quickly, he removed his own clothes, dropping them to the floor beside the couch. He paused for a moment, just to make sure Elizabeth was still sleeping. He focused in on her steady heart and breathing upstairs. They wouldn’t be disturbed any time soon.

He lowered himself over Serenity, her warm, smooth thighs wrapping around his hips, drawing him in. He held himself above her body, only the faintest slither of air between his chest and hers. He kissed the corners of her mouth, gentle teasing nips, until she reached around the back of his head and caught his neck, pressing his face down to hers. She kissed him back, deep and sweet.

With a gentle shift of his hips, he pushed inside her, the heat of her soft, wet core burning him like fire. Her inner muscles hugged him tight, gripping him in her heat.

Nothing else allowed him to take in another person’s body heat like this, other than feeding. Her warmth spread from his pelvis up through his body. How did he feel to her, he wondered? Like he’d placed a rod of ice inside her?

Serenity dug her blunt nails into his back, her heels pressing into the backs of his thighs. She lifted her hips to meet him and gently he pushed back, sliding deeper. They moved together, a perfect match, two bodies as one.
Her heat against his cold.

Even at the point where pleasure tilted him over the edge, he’d never completely be able to let go. His powerful strength meant he could shatter her pelvic bone with just one uncontrolled thrust of his hips. And the need to bite sometimes became overwhelming, wanting to lose
himself
in her completely.
To devour her in every way.

Serenity’s heart rate picked up as her climax approached, blood rushing through her veins. Her breath left her body in little gasps, gusting against his shoulder as she clung to him.

Her heat … her smell … the blood flowing …

An overwhelming excess of sensations.

He wanted her, wanted her in every way.
To be his wife, to allow him to own her.
But she would never let him. She’d never give herself over to him fully, he knew that now.

Not thinking, Sebastian grabbed her hands with one of his and pinned them against the cushions above her head. Her eyes widened in surprise and she took a sharp intake of breath. Her breasts lifted higher in this position and her nipples grazed his chest.

“Sebastian—” she started, but he didn’t let her finish. He drove in hard, not enough to hurt her, but enough to make her know he meant business. She cried out, a mixture of pleasure and shock.

He thrust into her, a low growl at the pit of his throat, over and over, her body bouncing with every stroke. He wound up tight at his core, the pressure swelling. Her head tilted back, her back arching. She called his name as her orgasm broke over her like a wave that rippled around him, urging him on.

Everything in that moment focused on Serenity—the racing beat of her heart filling his whole body, the heady aroma of her blood racing through her veins, the sweet tang of her arousal. The world seemed to shrink until she was all he knew.

They clung together with him still held inside her, his weight pinning her down. Her breathing became shallower as she caught her breath again, her chest heaving less and less beneath his.

Sebastian moved to climb off her, but she held on tight.

“Hold me like this for a moment.”

He relaxed against her again, but he couldn’t stay that way for long. Morning was coming; he could sense the approaching of the sun with all the vibration of an oncoming train.

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

She shook her head against him.

“The sun will be up soon. I need to sleep.”

“I hate that you leave me every day.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I’m not leaving. I’m only upstairs.”

“But it feels the same as though you’d left. It’s like you’ve gone somewhere else.”

He sighed. “I wish I didn’t have to leave you either, but I have no other choice.”

“I know.”

He propped himself up on one elbow, so he could look down at her. Her hair was tousled over the cushions, a high flush in her cheeks, her lips slightly swollen. He had to force himself away, though he wanted nothing more to stay here with her.

“Call Bridget as soon as it’s a reasonable hour,” he told her. “And keep the doors locked and don’t let anyone else into the house.”

“What are we going to tell Elizabeth?”

“Knowing her, she’ll already know something is up.”

Serenity smiled, the expression transforming her face.

He gave her one final kiss. “Be careful and I’ll see you tonight.”

She nodded, but before she had the chance to say anything else, he whisked away to take up his position on the bed.

Morning had come.