Page 49 of Midnight Serenade
I wokeup to bright sunlight. I groaned and rubbed my eyes, then as the previous night hit me, I went still.
“Sebastian?”
“I’m here.”
I turned to see him sitting in a chair beside the bed.
“What are you doing?”
“Watching you.”
“That’s kinda creepy,” I teased. I had to tease him, or I would cry. Sebastian looked like awreck.
He rubbed his scruffy face. It looked like he hadn’t had a chance to shave yet, because his chin and the area around his mouth were covered in dark stubble.
“I almost lost my soul mate last night, Grace.”
I winced and sat up gingerly, wanting to comfort him. “I wasn’t too happy to be dying, either,” I assured him. I patted the bed next to me. “Come sit.”
Sebastian’s nostrils flared. “If I get in that bed, I’m going to make love to you.”
I blinked at him in shock, and a faint smile touched his lips. “You’ve always been hard for me to resist. But between almost losing you last night and then giving you a piece of my soul to change you into a dunamis, my iron-clad control is at its limits.”
I ran a hand through my snarled hair. “A dunamis?” I looked at my hand and my body, expecting it to look different, but the only thing that appeared different was that my eyesight was sharper. “I thought you changed me into a vampire?”
Sebastian shook his head. “I can if you want me to, but changing you to a dunamis was enough to rid the morphine overdose from your body and set you on the path to healing.”He leaned back, away from me, and laced his hands together. I could see them trembling with my sharpened eyesight.
“A dunamis is the half-step between human and vampire. In ancient times, they were a vampire’s dearest companion. Vampires have long lives. They see many friends and loved-ones pass from this existence to the next. A dunamis has the immortality of a vampire, some immunity against poisons and illnesses, and a stronger body, as well as keener eyesight, hearing and sense of smell. They’re not as durable as vampires, but they’re much more durable than humans, and they don’t suffer in the sun, or need to drink blood for nourishment. It’s gone out of fashion now, but it used to be that every vampire household had a dunamis in it.”
I could see why it had gone out of fashion if a vampire had to give up a piece of their soul in order to grant it.
“Thank you, Sebastian,” I whispered. I smiled, trying to set him at ease, which I could still see he most definitely wasnot.“If I promise not to kiss you, can you hold me?” My words ended on a hiccup, and before I knew it, I was crying and shivering.
Sebastian cursed and drew me into his arms, wrapping them around me tightly. “Shh, it’s okay.” He ran his fingers through my hair soothingly and rested his chin against the curve of my neck as I sobbed in his arms.
I’d almost died last night.
And after everything that I’d gone through, I couldn’t believe some woman had tried to kill me because her fiancé had straying eyes. I knew I had a draw on people as a siren, but Sebastian had assured me people still had a choice. That I didn’t take over their free-will.
Speaking of free-will, I pulled my face away from his chest and scowled at Sebastian. “You made my eyes stay open,” I accused. “When were you going to tell me you could take control of my body?”
He chuckled. “I was going to tell you before we married, I promise.”
“Hmph.”
I leaned into him, sighing. “I’m assuming she’s been sent by helicopter to a jail cell somewhere?”
Sebastian nuzzled my neck, making my arms erupt in goosebumps. “Even better, she was a paranormal, a fox shifter, so she’ll be tried in a paranormal court of law and be sent to one of our maximum security prisons.”
He pulled away from nuzzling my neck to look at me, his expression sorrowful. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here, Grace. I got a call last night while you were asleep. She’d gone around and released all the lifeboats. None of my crew saw her do it, they just realized the lifeboats were gone. She’d also somehow shorted the warning system that would normally be sent to the Bridge when a lifeboat is released. We had to stop the ship and go back the way we came to retrieve them. By the time I realized it might be someone trying to get me away from you, I ran back here, but she’d already injected you with the morphine. She’d timed everything perfectly. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”
I remembered the woman’s emotionless eyes and shivered. I could well believe it of her. She had seemed ruthlessly intelligent, but also completely lacking empathy. It was terrifying to think that there were truly unhinged people like her out there in the world.
“You did everything you could,” I told him softly. “I never doubted that. Yeah, it was scary, but we came through it okay. That’s all that matters. Thank you for saving me.” I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. “Besides, I’m hoping I’ll get a few new powers.”
Sebastian rubbed his chin along the crown of my head as he hummed in thought. “You’ll likely just have the enhancements I told you about, in addition to whatever your siren powers are.So far, you’ve demonstrated a siren’s ability to know the souls around her, a sonar blast when in danger, an assumed ability to manipulate water, a siren’s natural ability to calm storms, and a siren’s natural magnetism. I’m not anticipating that the new dunamis abilities will change or hinder any of your siren abilities.”
“I’m glad we’re working on testing the sonic boom and water manipulation. You would think I would have at least spotted the water manipulation one before now.”
