Love's Challenge (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #5)

  Love’s Challenge

  Pearl Vampire Chronicles, # 5

  By

  Dara J. Nelson

  Acknowledgements

  I cannot thank my readers enough – your comments, praise, suggestions and reviews give me the motivation to keep writing – I do this for you. You are the ones who keep Sarah, Matthew & Carlos’ story going.

  To my kids – Jen, Zach & Clint – you’ve made me what I am today. I love you very much.

  Also by the author:

  The Link – Pearl Vampire Chronicles #1

  The Recruiters – Pearl Vampire Chronicles #2

  Malina’s Revenge – Pearl Vampire Chronicles #3

  The Return of Jonas – Pearl Vampire Chronicles #4

  Love’s Challenge

  Pearl Vampire Chronicles, # 5

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Caution – Contains some adult subject matter. May not be suitable for younger readers. Parental discretion is advised.

  Love’s Challenge © Copyright 2012 by Dara J Nelson. .

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without the written permission from the author except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  ISBN-10: 1-610-61089-6

  EAN-13: 978-1-61061-089-6

  Prologue

  “It can’t be that many,” I said

  “It really is, Sarah,” he said

  “But, Matt. How can eighty-seven vampires go missing in the last six months? How is that possible?” I said

  He shook his head. “I don’t know Sarah.”

  “No one’s seen or heard from any of them? At all?” I asked, still unable to believe what he was saying.

  “No. Nothing,” he said then he looked away and squeezed his eyes shut. That’s when I knew. I knew he was keeping something from me. I knew he wasn’t telling me everything. I took his hand in mine. I felt him tense up. He could sense that I knew.

  “Matt,” I whispered. “Tell me. You have to tell me.”

  “I know I do, Sarah. It’s just so hard. I feel so guilty. I’m head of security, I was responsible for them. I feel like this is my fault.”

  “It isn’t. I know that. You should know that. But Matt, who is it?”

  He looked at me. “I’m so sorry, Sarah,” he said.

  Okay, this is bad. He’s stalling now… and it was beginning to piss me off.

  “Matthew Pearl. Tell me who is missing, right now,” I hissed.

  “Stacy,” he whispered.

  Stacy was a great friend, a stripper before I had turned her and as a vampire she ran a top-quality vampire call-girl service.

  I gasped. “No!”

  “It’s worse, Sarah,” he said even more quietly.

  “Worse? How could it be worse?” I groaned.

  “Missy’s gone too.”

  Missy was my assistant in the office, she kept me organized, kept me grounded, she kept me sane.

  He caught me just as my knees started to give out and wrapped his arms around me as I sobbed into his chest. “No, no, no, no, no,” I said between sobs. “Oh my God,” I said as I tried to get control of myself. I pulled my head back and looked at him. “When?” I said. “When did they disappear?” I was terrified that I already knew the answer, but I had to ask anyway. I was right.

  “Last week when we were on the island.”

  “Shit!” I said. “Why does this crap always happen when we’re trying to have a normal life? Why?”

  He gave me that look.

  “What?” I said.

  “Sarah, considering everything that’s gone on in our life, especially lately, do you really think we could ever have what’s considered a normal life?”

  I grimaced. That stung. “Point taken.” I rested my head on his shoulder. “What do we do now?” I said.

  “I’m not sure. I don’t have a single clue. There haven’t been any rumors. Nothing. There’s nothing. It’s as if they vanished into thin air,” he said.

  I looked at him and took a deep breath. “Okay. One thing’s for certain. This place is going into lockdown. Get anyone back here who’s gone. Nobody leaves. Nobody. And put the word out to everyone, warning them. Tell them they can come here if they want. They can stay here until we figure this out. And you and I are going on lockdown too,” I said.

  “Us? We’re going on lockdown? What exactly does that mean?” he said.

  “It means you’re not leaving my side, ever. Not even for a second. We’re going to work in the same office. Eat together. You’ll have to come with me when I make my rounds in the clinic. Everything. All the time. Together. You were ripped from my life once before when Malina kidnapped you and then I almost lost you now because, well, because I was stupid. I’m trying to fix that now. It would devastate me if you were taken now. I know I wouldn’t survive it,” I said.

  Matt stared at me for a second then he nodded. “Okay, Sarah,” he said then his mouth gently came down on mine. Suddenly the alarm sounded. “Oh God, no,” he groaned as he grabbed my hand and we ran down the hall towards his office.

  “What, Matt? What does it mean? Not another one.” I said then I gasped when he nodded. We burst through the security room door.

  “What’s happened, Derek?” Matt said.

  “I… I… I just saw them take Tracy,” he stammered.

  “What? What do you mean you saw them? Saw who?” he said.

  Derek pointed a shaky finger at the monitors. “She was walking through the courtyard, when these… things… swooped out of the sky, grabbed her and flew away with her.”

  “Things? You mean they weren’t vampires?” he said.

  “Not like any vampires that I’ve ever seen” he said. “They had wings.”

  We both stared at him with our mouths hanging open. “Wings?” Matt was finally able to say. “As in, actual, attached to their bodies, wings?”

  Derek nodded. He punched a few commands into his keyboard. “Here, look,” he said.

  The center monitor flickered then began playing the tape. We saw several vampires in the courtyard. Tracy must have been shopping in the village. She walked in through the main gate, smiling and waving at the guard, Troy then she continued on into the courtyard. As she reached the halfway point, several shadows appeared on the ground around her. Strange, huge, bird-like shadows. Tracy noticed them too. She stopped walking and looked down with a confused look on her face. Then she slowly looked up. Confusion quickly turned to horror. She dropped the bags she was carrying and was just about to scream, when they swooped down. “What the…???” Matt and I both said. Derek quickly hit the pause button. The three of us could only stare… we were completely speechless.

  My head tilted to the side as I studied the odd creatures. Three were male, one was female. All were completely naked. All were completely hairless. Their hands and feet resembled claws and talons. Their eyes were shaped more like an eagle’s eyes than a human’s. The muscles on their bodies were chiseled and looked much, much stronger than ours. Their fangs were down. And they were all wearing some sort of tracking collar around their necks. I pointed at it. “Do you see that?” I said.

  Matt nodded next to me. “Uh-huh. It’s like these things are somebody’s pets.”

  “Have either of you ever seen anything like t
his before?” I said.

  “No way,” Derek said.

  “No, Sarah,” Matt said.

  “I have,” whispered a quiet, shaking voice behind us. We all whipped our heads around and stared at Bahiti’s terrified face… then we waited for her to continue…

  Chapter One

  “Ahhhhhh! I got you,” Juan yelled as he tackled Carlos. Carlos was our best friend, who was currently in a relationship with a beautiful girl named Maria (whom I had introduced him to)… and he was also someone that I had been fighting an attraction to for some time now – ever since Matt had been kidnapped – and that attraction was definitely not one-sided. He struggled with it too.

  It was Christmas time and we were at my sister Cindy’s house in Texas. My sister had adopted Juan and Sophia after their mother was killed when her apartment building had collapsed. I knew them and their mother. All three had been patients at our medical clinic back at our home Peru. I had even babysat them sometimes. And while Matt and I had briefly considered raising them ourselves, but with us being vampires and them being human children I wasn’t sure if that was the best idea. My sister, on the other hand, my human sister, had been a perfect choice. We had all three planned on being here for two weeks, but the growing incidences of disappearing vampires had required Matt to leave a few days early. So Carlos and I were still here, although Carlos still hadn’t told me why he had shown up at my sister’s house with Matt and me rather than spending the holidays with Maria, but I knew he would, eventually. It was really great seeing him laugh again, though. He hadn’t been his usual, happy self lately. Every time we saw him he had seemed tense and irritated. I could only hope that it didn’t have something to do with me. No, don’t, Sarah, I said to myself. Don’t read anything into this. Yes, the two of us had a history, sort of: one or two passionate kisses and a whole heap of sexual tension, but we’d dealt with it, right? The two of us are fine now. Best friends and nothing more, right? Oh how I hoped that I was right.

  We were in Cindy’s living room. I was playing with one year old Sophia on the floor in the corner. Four year old Juan was ‘the cop.’ Carlos was ‘the bad guy.’ Cindy was the ‘damsel in distress.’ Juan was saving her. Juan stabbed his sword (a cardboard tube from Christmas wrapping) into Carlos. “Ohhhh,” Carlos moaned, “I give up. I surrender. Please don’t kill me.”

  Carlos caught my eye and winked. I smiled at him and then went back to entertaining Sophia. This was our last evening here. Carlos and I were catching the red eye home tonight. I wanted to leave when the kids were asleep. I thought it would be easier on them… and me. “You are going to jail now, mister bad guy,” Juan said as he grabbed Carlos by the arm. He led him over to the ‘jail’ (the couch) and ‘locked’ him in. Then he rushed over to Cindy and began untying her from the chair. As he did, he looked over at Carlos and said, “You don’t get to scare Mommy anymore,” then he went back to untying her. Cindy and I tried not to react, but we both looked at each other. It had been so innocent, yet it meant so much.

  Cindy had adopted the kids only a few months before. Being four, Juan remembered his Mom and missed her terribly, so he was shy at first and he called her Cindy. This was the first time Juan had called her Mommy. I saw a tear roll down Cindy’s cheek. Juan saw it too and said, “It’s okay. You don’t have to cry. I’m saving you,” he said.

  Cindy smiled and said, “Sweetie, I’m crying because I’m happy. I’m happy that you saved me.” The second her arms were untied they were wrapped around Juan. She finally pulled back and looked at him. “Okay, honey. It’s way past your bedtime,” she said. I brought Sophia into my arms and stood up.

  The four of us headed for the stairs, but stopped when Carlos said, “Ummm, hey guys. Can I get out of jail now?”

  Juan and I looked at each other. I bent down and whispered into his ear, “What do you think, Juan? Should we let him out? If he promises to be good?”

  I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stifle a laugh when I saw the intense look of concentration on Juan’s face. Finally he nodded and said, “Okay. But only if you promise to be nice… and only if you fly me upstairs.”

  My eyes flashed to Carlos. While Juan knew that we were ‘different’ (something he noticed on his own) he didn’t know exactly what we were. The word ‘vampire’ had not entered his vocabulary and I hoped it would stay that way. “Carlos!” I said. He shrugged his shoulders. “It was an accident, Sarah. We were jumping around in the backyard the other day and I got a little carried away… and he noticed that we didn’t come back down to the ground as fast as we should have.”

  My eyes squeezed shut, as my hand met my forehead. But I relaxed a little when I felt Cindy’s hand on my shoulder, “It’s fine, Sarah. I’m sure he didn’t mean for it to happen.”

  “Oh, I know he didn’t mean it, Cindy. I just don’t want it to cause any problems for you, you know, if anyone at the school found out,” I said.

  “Oh, I won’t tell anyone, Auntie Sarah. I promise. Uncle Carlos told me that he can’t take me flying if anybody finds out, so we locked the secret up and threw away the key.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. He was trying so hard to keep me from being mad at Carlos. I wrapped my arm around Juan’s shoulders and pressed my cheek to his forehead. “Okay, Juan. I believe you. Carlos can fly you to bed and then we have to say goodbye to you because we have to get back home and you have to get ready to go back to school in a few days.”

  “You… you’re leaving?” he said as his lip quivered.

  “Yes, but we’ll be back soon. We’ll come back in March for your fifth birthday, I promise,” I said.

  Juan was trying so hard to be brave, but one tear escaped his eye and made its way down his cheek. I wiped it with my finger and then hugged him tight. I pulled back and looked at him. “Now, it’s time for you to fly, Juan,” I said. His smile lit up his face then he frowned slightly when Carlos didn’t move.

  “Aren’t you coming, Uncle Carlos?” he said.

  “Well, you have to let me out of jail first, buddy.”

  Juan rolled his eyes, walked over and took Carlos’ hand in his. “Silly, it’s not the jail anymore, it’s just the couch,” he said as he pulled him up.

  “Oh, well, thanks for telling me,” Carlos said then he pulled Juan into his arms and flew up the stairs and down the hall… with Juan laughing and squealing the entire way.

  Cindy and I put Sophia to bed then wandered into Juan’s room. Carlos had him tucked in and was sitting on the edge of the bed talking to him. “When I grow up I want to be just like you, Uncle Carlos,” Juan said. Cindy and I looked at each other and waited for Carlos’ response.

  “When you grow up you’re going to be an awesome person who’s special in his own way, Juan. You don’t want to be like me. You want to be one of a kind, right?”

  Juan thought about it for a second then nodded his head, “Right. There’s nobody like me.”

  “Exactly. Goodnight, buddy. I’ll see you soon,” Carlos said then he leaned down and kissed his forehead.

  Next, it was my turn. Carlos brushed my hand and caught my eye, causing my heart to hiccup, as he and I switched places. I sat down next to Juan. “You promise you’ll come back soon, Auntie Sarah?” he said.

  I nodded. “Very soon, Juan. I promise.”

  “You and Uncle Carlos and Uncle Matt, right?” he said.

  “Of course, Juan. All three of us.”

  Suddenly Juan frowned.

  “What’s wrong, sweetie?” I said.

  “How come I never see you kissing Uncle Carlos?” he said.

  My eyes flew open, flipping from his face to Carlos’ and back again. I didn’t miss the slight smirk on Carlos’ face. “What do you mean, Juan?” I said.

  “Well. I see you and Uncle Matt holding hands and kissing sometimes. And I’ve seen you holding Uncle Carlos’ hand. But I’ve never seen you kiss Uncle Carlos. You’re married to both of them, aren’t you? How come you never kiss Uncle Carlos?” he said.


  “Honey, why would you think that I’m married to both of them?”

  Juan concentrated for a second before answering. “It just… feels… like you are.” he said.

  I smiled and blushed. If this little guy could only see in my head and my heart. I was thinking, ‘Sometimes I wish I could be.’ “I’m married to Uncle Matt, Juan. Uncle Carlos is my best friend. I hold his hand because I love him. But I’m not married to him too,” I said.

  “Oh,” Juan said as his eyelids got heavy. “You should be.” Then he yawned.

  I leaned down and kissed his forehead. “Goodnight, sweetie. I love you,” I said.

  “Night, Sarah. Love you too,” he mumbled.

  I got up as Cindy walked over to tuck him in. I couldn’t help but notice the look in her eyes as she walked past, though. The sexual attraction between Carlos and me was something that Cindy had noticed the first time that she had met him. She had even commented that it was so strong that she was surprised that we hadn’t acted on it by then. Yeah, yeah, I thought. It’s complicated. Nobody but the two of us can understand that. Carlos locked his eyes on mine as I walked towards him. He was leaning against the doorway. Not again, I thought. Please, please, not again. I moved to walk past him into the hall, but he gently grabbed my hand, stopping me. I held my breath and squeezed my eyes shut, then I slightly shook my head and he let go. I continued into the hall and headed toward my room, but I could feel him right behind me. I walked into my room and sat on the end of the bed. He started to close the door.

  “Do not close that door, Carlos. Please.” I whispered.

  He stared at me for a second then dropped his eyes, nodded and walked over and sat next to me, resigned once again to having to be just my friend. He clasped my hand in his. “I don’t know if she’s coming back, Sarah,” he said.

  “Maria? Why not, Carlos? What happened?” I said.