Dominion by Marissa Farrar Read Free Book Online

getting married was the right thing t o do, what was stopping her? For a child to want her parents to be married was only natural . She would do anything for Elizabeth, even marry someone.
    Except she didn’t want to marry Sebastian for the wrong reasons. If she changed her mind and said yes , she wanted to do so because she wanted to be his wife.
    Elizabeth moaned in her sleep and muttered something Serenity didn’t catch. She cast an anxious glance back at her sleeping child.
    “Elizabeth? Honey? Are you okay?”
    Elizabeth said something else and shifted in her seat as though she were uncomfortable.
    S e renity reached back to touch Elizabeth’s hand, but as soon as their skin made contact, Elizabeth jerked away.
    “No, Daddy. Don’t go ...”
    Her words came out mumbled , but clear enough for Serenity to understand.
    “Daddy!” Elizabeth yelled. “Leave him alone!”
    “Hey, Elizabeth!” Serenity spoke louder. Trying to keep control of the vehicle while leaning back, s he grabbed her daughter’s knee and gave it a quick shake, h er eyes darting between the free way and her child.
    “No ... no ...” Her head thrashed from side to side, her eyes open in slits , the pupils unseeing. “Daddy!” she shrieked.
    The road was miraculously empty. Serenity swerved the car onto the hard shoulder and leapt out of the driver’s side and ran around the vehicle. She dragged open Elizabeth’s door and pulled the little girl from the car and into her arms.
    Elizabeth screamed, an ear-splitting shriek, and battered at her mother’s shoulders with balled fists. “You’ve got to help h im! Something’s got Daddy! ”
    Panic surged through her.
    Elizabeth was only seven, but she was tall for her age—all gangly limbs—and getting hold of her felt like fighting a pack of monkeys.
    Another vehicle drove past, the people inside craning their necks to watch the woman shake her hysterical daughter, but they didn’t stop or even slow down.
    Elizabeth finally opened her eyes fully. She took one look at her mother and burst into tears.
    Serenity wrapped her in an embrace and held her close. “Shhh,” she said, stroking Elizabeth’s hair to sooth e her. “Everything is okay. You’re safe.”
    Elizabeth sniffed and pulled away so she could look her mother in the face. “ I’m not frightened about me . Something’s got Daddy.”
    Serenity crouched to Elizabeth’s level and focused her attention. “Listen to me, Elizabeth. Your daddy is safe and sou nd at home. I checked on him right before I left to come and fetch you. No one has got him. We’ll be home in less than an hour and then you can see for yourself. Okay?”
    “But my dreams ...”
    “I can’t explain your dreams, sweetheart. But I believe what’s right in front of my eyes , and no one has your father. He and I went out last night and I left him sleeping in bed .”
    “I dreamed he wasn’t with us anymore. He was somewhere dark and something bad had him. Something really bad , worse than any of the vampires. It was pulling him away and he was screaming—” Her voice broke off in a choked sob.
    “Hey, it’s okay. It was only a dream.”
    “No it wasn’t , Mommy. They’re never only dreams.”
    Serenity didn’t know what to say to that. Elizabeth was right.
    No, she’s not, she reminded herself. Elizabeth has nightmares just like any other girl.
    Serenity had once read her a book about cartoon rats and Elizabeth kept thinking s he saw rats in her room until Sebastian had thro w n the book out. Another time , someone at school told her about a monster that lived under the bed and grabbed the ankles of children when they tried to get into bed. That time , she’d had nightmares and spent weeks trying to jump onto her bed from the other side of the room because she didn’t want the monster to grab her.
    Serenity felt a brief stab of guilt for speaking harshly to Veronica . If this was what they ’d been dealing with, no wonder they thought it