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“That’s not too long, really.” She tucked her ticket into her pocket and pressed her hands between her knees. “And if the paintings are what you were worried about, then we should be safe here, right? We’re not anywhere near them. Plus, grumbling isn’t going to make the train show up any faster.”

Sebastian glanced at her with angry eyebrows, but sighed and slumped forward. “I suppose you’re right. I can’t believe I’m going back to the coven keep twice in one year, and of my own free will.” He sounded so dejected that Isabel couldn’t help giggling.

“What’s so bad about going back there, anyway? You said you had a falling out with your dad, but why do you still go there at all if you’re so unhappy about it?”

Sebastian didn’t answer right away. He scanned the immediate area, then sighed. “It’s a vampire thing,” he whispered, so softly she could barely hear him. “A celebration and ceremony of sorts. Probably best that you don’t remember that bit. I wish I could forget it, but Victor doesn’t allow any members of the coven to miss it.”

Isabel wanted to push for more details, but the look on Sebastian’s face made her stop. Instead she decided on casual small talk to pass the time. Favorites, dreams, the usual surface-level topics used to fill the silence.

The train whistle filled the air and Sebastian shot up to his feet. He grabbed Isabel’s hand and hurried to the gate, getting them on board moments after the doors opened. Together they walked to the very back of the train and took the last cabin on the left.

Sebastian locked the cabin door and tossed his small bag into the luggage rack above the seats. “Do you want your bag up here, too?” he asked, and Isabel passed it over. She settled against the wall of the train with her legs stretched along the seat. In an attempt to loosen the muscles, she began massaging her calves.

“How long is the train ride?” she asked without looking at Sebastian.

He let out a sound of annoyance and closed the blinds. “Five and a half hours.”

CHAPTER16

Vernazza, Italy. 7 June, 2007

He knew his dour demeanor wasn’t doing anything to improve his standing with Isabel. But Sebastian just couldn’t brush aside the fear. It consumed his insides and screamed to get out. Perhaps he’d been too rash when Victor told him that his magic was dangerous? The details of their fight were fuzzy in his mind after nearly 400 years, but now he desperately wished he’d looked past his own pride and listened.

At least it wasn’t too late, he hoped.

The rumbling of the train quickly lulled Isabel to sleep; Sebastian wasn’t surprised. She was still well within a jetlag timeline. Watching her chest gently rise and fall gave him something to focus on rather than the terror gnawing at his gut. It was joined by guilt as well. In all their lifetimes, he’d never managed to make such a poor introduction of his truth and their past.

“I guess I’ll have another chance to do it right next time,” he grumbled under his breath. It wasn’t a comforting statement.

An hour into the ride he pulled a copy ofThe Odysseyfrom his bag and began to read. It was a leatherbound copy he’d picked up from a chap named George back in 1614, and he’d devoured the pages countless times. He found comfort in the familiarity. The characters were always the same, the outcome was always the same. He knew the ending and didn’t have to worry during the concerning parts.

Boy what he wouldn’t do to know the end of his current journey from the beginning! But life didn’t work that way. All he could do was assure himself that Victor would tell him exactly what was happening and how to fix it.

Isabel woke halfway through their journey. She stretched, the stretch extending right down to her wiggling toes. “I’m going to go find the bathroom,” she said, and Sebastian nodded in acknowledgement. He listened as her feet padded down the hallway, then returned to his book.

Ten minutes passed, then fifteen and twenty. Sebastian glanced down at his watch and his eyebrows knit together. Twenty minutes was an abnormally long time for her to have disappeared. He closed his book and opened the carriage door, scanning up and down the hallway for any sign of Isabel.

But she was nowhere to be seen. His chest contracted. Her scent still lingered lightly in the hallway, enough that his predator senses could still pick it up. He followed the trail to the bathroom door and paused, knocking a few times. “Isabel? Are you in there?”

The indicator on the lock said “occupied,” and when he tried the door, it didn’t move. “Isabel?” he called again, but no sound came from the locked room. He swore and began searching for the conductor or anyone with a key to the bathroom door.

Three cars up, he found the food trolley. His eyes were wide and his breathing erratic, and the woman pushing the trolley looked at him with concern. “Is everything okay, sir?” she asked, taking a couple of steps backwards.

“I need someone with a key to the lavatory. My girlfriend went in almost half an hour ago, and when I went to check on her, the door was locked and she’s not responding. She’s been having medical problems recently, and I’m concerned that something happened.” He did his best not to let his panic show in his voice, but couldn’t stop the trembling in his lower tones.

The trolley lady straightened, her face taking on some of Sebastian’s worry. “Oh, dear. Let me find someone with a key. Which car are you dears in?”

“The very last one.” Sebastian’s hands spun around each other as he wrung them without realizing it. “I’m going to go keep trying to get her to answer, okay?” The lady nodded and he ran back through the cars as fast as he could go while still maintaining a facade of humanity. He reached the door in seconds and began banging on the wood.

“Isabel! Isabel, can you hear me? Are you in there?” he called over and over. Heads popped in and out of various compartments like a game of pop the weasel, but Sebastian paid them no mind. He shouldn’t have let her go alone! Not after what happened when he touched the painting.

To him, an eternity passed before a man appeared with a jingling ring of keys. “Still no response from your lady friend?” the man asked, and Sebastian shook his head. “Alright, step out of the way, please.” The man knocked on the door a few times and called out, “Hello, is anyone in there? I’m going to open the door.”

The breath caught in Sebastian’s throat as the key turned in the lock and the service employee pressed the handle downward. The door slid open about four inches before the man peered inside and immediately swore.

“Well?” Sebastian demanded, trying to see through the crack. He pushed the employee aside and looked for himself, seeing Isabel lying on the floor with a pool of blood around her head. “Isabel!” he howled, wrenching the door the rest of the way open and dropping to one knee at her side.

Meanwhile, the employee keyed his radio. “I need the train manager to Car J, code yellow. Please bring supplies.” An announcement came over the loudspeaker asking for any trained medical personnel to make their way to the last car for an emergency, and soon half a dozen people stood in the hallway.