Love's Challenge (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #5) Read online

  Surprisingly, the hesitation that I thought would be there, wasn’t. “I do,” he eagerly whispered.

  “Then, by the power vested in me by the United Vampire Nation, I now pronounce you second husband and wife. You may kiss the bride,” he said. Carlos’ hands came up to my face and there was no one else in the room as he brought his lips to mine.

  Finally, Cindy said, “Okay, enough of that,” and she flicked on the stereo. We all started laughing and dancing around the room with the kids.

  Hours later, and way past the kid’s bedtime, Aduviri, Kevin, Cindy, Juan and Sophia were finally asleep upstairs. Matt, Carlos and I sat at the kitchen table and fed. “Well, this is kind of awkward, but I need to ask you two to do me a huge favor,” I said.

  Both of them looked at me and said, “Yes, Sarah. We’ll do it.”

  “Wait. I haven’t even asked you yet. You don’t even know what it is.” I said.

  Carlos shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, you know we’ll say yes,” he said as he grinned his goofy Carlos grin.

  I rolled my eyes. “Would you at least let me ask it and tell you why?” They both nodded and waited. “I need to be upstairs with both of you tonight, which means no sex. And Carlos, I know that’s not fair to you because it’s our wedding night, but it’s Matt’s last night here too so I need to be with him. And Matt, it’s our last night together for a few days, so I know it’s not fair to you, but I can’t very well have Carlos sleep alone on his wedding night, can I?”

  “Like we said before, of course, Sarah,” Matt said.

  “You’re sure?” I said.

  “Yes, Sarah. We’re sure,” Carlos said then he popped into my head. ‘Is this the last of the buildup, Sarah? Or have you got more for me tomorrow?’

  ‘Carlos, darlin’, by this time tomorrow you’re going to be begging me to stop,’ I thought then I smiled at the shiver that rocked his body.

  The three of us headed up the stairs and were soon sound asleep, my arms under both of their heads, and a smile on my face.

  The next morning, I snuggled into Matt once more on the dock. “Sarah, I really have to get on the plane, sweetheart. It’s only for a few days, honey. Then you’re all mine for a while. I love you, baby.”

  “I love you too,” I whispered as we pulled our arms tight and gave each other one of those kisses.

  “Till Corpus Christi,” he whispered when he could finally speak again.

  “Till Corpus Christi,” I whispered. He climbed onto the plane and I waved goodbye to everyone as it turned around and took off into the air. I wasn’t alone on that dock though. I could feel Carlos waiting for me at the other end. Patiently waiting, like he always has. Waiting for Mrs. Pearl to stop being sad. And for Mrs. Delgado to start being horny. I smiled as I thought of the name Mrs. Delgado. “Really? Mrs. Delgado? How huge is that?” I said as I moved toward him.

  “Right now, until you get yourself into my arms, it’s really huge. Until you help me get rid of this buildup, it’s very huge,” he grinned.

  Aduviri cleared his throat from the porch behind Carlos. “Oh, crap,” I groaned. “We have to do the linking first.”

  Carlos smiled. “Of course we do. You know, men have died under similar circumstances, Sarah. Died while waiting for the women they love.”

  “Yeah, but the ones who survived were oh so happy afterward, baby,” I said as I held tight to his hand and we walked up the porch steps and into the house.

  An hour later we were out cold on the floor of the family room – Aduviri had performed the linking ceremony – after which Carlos and I had passed out as always happens – and then he had headed back home to the Bahamas. But apparently not everything on Carlos was asleep. Something was poking into my hip, and it was very hard. I smiled as I realized what it was. I quietly slid off my dress and unbuttoned his pants. He groaned as he began to wake up and realize what was happening. “Sarah, wait, not yet. I’ll be too fast. Please, wait.” he groaned.

  I smiled into his neck as I kissed it. “Yesterday you were begging me to do this. Now you’re begging me to stop? You really need to figure out what you need.”

  “What I need,” he growled as he pushed me onto my back and placed his hand between my legs, “what I need is to not be first. I refuse to be first,” he said as his fingers worked their magic. I groaned and pulled his mouth to mine as every nerve in me awakened. My fingers weaved into his hair and gently pulled as I arched my back and cried out.

  An hour later he was still saying, “Not my turn yet, Sarah. It’s still yours.”

  “No, husband,” I growled and he smiled. “It’s both of us now.” I pushed him onto his back and we both gasped as I touched my scar to his. How had he held back? How could he have possibly waited when he felt like this? I marveled. “You are the strongest man I’ve ever known,” I whispered as I climbed on and took him inside me. He sat up and wrapped me tight in his arms. He dragged his fingernails down my back as he tried to hold back and I tried to race forward. My entire body was shaking with anticipation. “Jesus, Carlos, now, honey, now,” I groaned.

  His teeth were clenched, “But, but, you’re not, you’re not there yet.”

  I smiled as the first spasm began to rock me, “I will be, hun. The second you are, I will be.” He growled and cried out, as the spasms began rocking through both of us.

  Several hours later. “Again, Sarah? I don’t know, you’re kind of boring me. Oh who am I kidding? I can’t even try to say that with a straight face,” he said as he pulled me into his arms.

  The next day. “Carlos. We were supposed to leave yesterday. Now it’s getting close to sunset. Are we pushing this back another day or are we driving all night?” He leaned up on one elbow and traced his finger down the middle of my chest, down my stomach and then my pelvis, causing me to gasp and shiver, and finally came to a stop between my legs. As I reached for the back of his neck, I moaned. “First thing in the morning. We leave first thing in the morning,” then I brought his mouth down to mine.

  As dawn broke, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and kissed the back of his neck as we flew through the water with the boat. We’d already made several stops to go below, and even some where we didn’t even bother to go downstairs, but we had still managed to make up most of our lost time. I could see the shoreline about five miles ahead and that’s when I first noticed the other boat. It was about one hundred yards behind us, but, to me, it looked like it was following our exact path. I leaned down to Carlos’ ear. “Veer left for a minute,” I said.

  He grinned. “Why? You need me one more time?” he said as he reached for the ignition key.

  I kissed his cheek. “No, well yes, but that’s not why I said that. I think we’re being followed.”

  That got his attention. He tensed and straightened up in his seat. “Come sit on my lap, Sarah. Pretend like you’re kissing me, but watch them. I’ll link with you so I can see them too.”

  He slowed down a bit as I climbed on. I brought my mouth to his but kept my eyes on the boat behind us. Sure enough, it made a slight left just like us then slowed down a bit when we did. Carlos veered back to his original course, and the other boat did the same. Whoever was driving either was lousy at trying to follow unnoticed or they didn’t care if we saw them. Both scenarios told me that they weren’t cops or any other kind of law enforcement. Carlos killed the motor and we came to a stop in the water. “Find out where Matt is. Ask him if he’s heard of anything going on,” Carlos said. Just before I closed my eyes to find Matt, I saw it. The large camera with the huge telephoto lens on it.

  I ducked my head and covered my face with my hands. “Camera! They’ve got a camera. Reporters? Private investigators?” I asked.

  “Could be either one,” he said as he restarted the motor.

  I reached out to Matt. ‘Honey? You there?’

  ‘Of course I’m here, sweetheart. It’s good to hear your voice, so to speak. Are you on your way?’

  ‘We
’re about four miles out. But is there anything going on that we should be aware of? Any developments or anything?’

  ‘Well, not really. There’s a new website that’s popped up that we’re monitoring closely, but that’s about it.’

  ‘Let me guess, it’s a site devoted to exposing vampires and it posts pictures of supposed vampires.’

  ‘Yeah, but how did you know that?’

  ‘Because we’re being followed, and they have a camera.’

  ‘Oh shit. Okay, I’m going to call for a limo with dark windows. I’ll meet you on the dock.’

  ‘Okay, but bring your stuff with you and say goodbye to Cindy and the kids first. I don’t want to lead any reporters back to her house. We can either catch an earlier flight out or get a hotel room.’

  ‘A hotel room? Okay, sounds like a plan, Sarah. An interesting plan, but a plan none the less. I’ll see you in a little while sweetheart. I love you and I can’t wait to show you how much I’ve missed you.’

  ‘I love you and miss you so much too. And Matt? Thank you for being so understanding and for being so good to me. I couldn’t ask for anyone better.’

  I moved around behind Carlos again as we moved faster through the water. “He’ll be on the dock with a limo. We’ll go straight to the airport or to a hotel until we can get a flight out.”

  “But I was looking forward to seeing Cindy and the kids again for a bit.”

  “I know. I was too. But whoever this is, I don’t want to lead them back to Cindy’s house. We’ll see her as soon as we can. I’m going to go below and get things closed up on the boat. I already gave Cindy the spare key for it.”

  “Did Matt have any idea who this is?”

  “He said there’s a new website that’s popped up that they’re monitoring. One that posts photos of supposed vampires.”

  “That must be them. But how would they know we’re coming in on the boat? Who else besides the three of us knew that?”

  “I don’t know, Carlos. Maybe Matt mentioned it to Troy back home. And maybe he mentioned it to someone else. It’s not like it’s a big secret or anything. Nothing’s a secret anymore as far as we are concerned.”

  “Yeah, but that’s my point. The only ones who knew were vampires, Sarah. That means whoever is following us has a contact on the inside. They have a vampire who’s feeding them information. Do you know how dangerous that is? Not only to us, but to humans too?”

  “I know,” I said as he slowed down. We were nearing the no wake zone.

  “Which slip did he say is ours?” he said.

  “Thirty-six. Over there,” I said as I pointed over his shoulder. I ran my fingers through his hair to comb it out.

  He leaned his head back on my chest. “I love you, part-time Mrs. Delgado,” he whispered.

  I smiled and leaned around to kiss him one last time. “I love you too, Carlos.” When I finally pulled away, he was breathing heavy.

  “Buildup?” he groaned. I smiled and nodded.

  “Day one of the buildup,” I said.

  “And how many days do I have to wait?”

  “Until we can’t wait anymore, Carlos. You know that.”

  “But what if that’s tomorrow, Sarah? Right now I want you just as much as I did on the day we got married.”

  “What are you saying, Carlos? Are you saying you can’t share anymore?” I asked as my heart pounded. I was worried that this day might come, but didn’t think it would come so soon.

  “No, I’m not saying that. I’m just asking you to please not make me wait months, Sarah. Please let it be a little more frequent than that.”

  I smiled and kissed him again. “Sweetheart, I seriously doubt I could ever make you wait months ever again. It won’t be months, Carlos. I promise.”

  “Weeks then? How about days?” he teased as he grinned his goofy Carlos grin.

  I laughed. “Weeks, yes. Days, maybe.”

  “Okay, I can live with that,” he said then he slowed to a crawl and expertly brought the boat into the slip. I jumped off and secured the lines, then looked up the dock toward the parking area. Matt was climbing out of the limo and started walking towards us. Just then, the boat that had been following us came to a stop directly behind ours and a black van stopped in the parking lot next to the limo. The back door slid open and a young woman climbed out, followed by a cameraman. Carlos took a step onto the dock, but I stopped him.

  “Can you please grab our bags, honey? I’ve got this.”

  He hesitated for a moment then turned back onto the boat. Matt had almost reached me when he realized that I wasn’t looking at him, I was looking past him. He slowed his step, but I held my hand out to him. I grabbed his hand and pulled him into my arms. “Reporter, right behind you,” I muttered into his lips as I kissed them. I smiled when I saw the three large silver crosses hanging from her neck.

  “Ms. Pearl? Ms. Pearl?” she said, surprising me. How the hell did she know my name? “I was wondering if you would answer a few questions about life as a vampire?”

  I laughed and pulled Matt behind me, wrapping his arms around my stomach. “Oh, I get it. I’m pale. It’s close to Halloween, so I must be a vampire, is that it? Those are beautiful necklaces. May I?” I said. She nodded and I reached my hand out, smiling at the surprised look on her face when I rested the crosses on my hand. “What? You were expecting them to, let me guess, burn my skin or something? Sorry to disappoint you.” I said. “That’s quite an active imagination you have, though. Maybe you should consider fiction novels instead of journalism.”

  “Well, how do you feel about this?” she said as she tossed a water balloon at my chest, but it was filled, not with water, but with blood. It burst open and sprayed all over my chest, face and mouth.

  “What the fuck, lady? Are you insane?” Matt said as he went to move toward her, but I held tight to his arms.

  “Honey, relax,” I said as I wiped the blood from my eyes. Truth be told, I was calming myself and making sure that I didn’t go into hunting mode, which I was struggling against right now. I felt my teeth tingling as I smelled the sweet scent all around me. As soon as I knew it was safe, I opened my eyes and looked at her. “First of all, may I have a business card please? I need to know where to send the bill for replacing my dress. Second, you might want to get back to your van. It’s double-parked and about to be towed.”

  “Oh, shit,” her cameraman said then he turned and ran up the dock.

  The reporter just stared at me, stunned and confused. She reached into her purse and handed me a card with a shaking hand. “I’m not exactly sure what you hoped to accomplish here. But I think you’re lucky that I’m not someone who vomits or passes out from the sight of blood. And you’re also lucky that I’m not going to sue your ass for this. Leave and don’t bother me again,” I said as I turned to step onto the boat. My hands were shaking from the smell, but Matt was holding tight to them.

  “Are you going back to Peru?” the reporter said, stopping Matt and me in our tracks.

  “Do not react,” I whispered. “Do not react.” We slowly turned around. “Why would I go to Peru? Is there something there that I should go see?”

  “Well, that is where you live, right?”

  “Look at me. Do I look like someone who lives in Peru, a country below the equator that has tons of sunshine?”

  “Well, whatever. I’ll see you there,” she said.

  “Look, what do you want from me?” I said

  “The truth.”

  “The truth about what? Look, I’m nobody. Go find somebody famous.”

  “But you are somebody famous in the vampire world. You’re it. You’re the reason everything is so good now for them. I just want to find out how you do it. I just want your story.”

  “No, you’re wrong. You’ve got the wrong person. I’m just a gal from Washington State who lost her husband and son in a horrible car accident years ago and who is just now learning how to be happy again. That’s all I am.”

  “C
hrist, Sarah, honey. What the hell happened to you?” Carlos said as he came up to the deck and saw me covered in blood. I held my hand out to him.

  “Wait. You called him honey,” the reporter said, pointing to Matt, “and now this guy calls you honey? That’s interesting.”

  “Okay. You got me. There’s your exclusive. That’s your story. These two are both my lovers. Print that and now leave me the fuck alone,” I said as I dragged Matt and Carlos down below.

  I gripped the edge of the sink, gasping for air, as Matt explained to Carlos what happened. “Blood. I need blood. I need to feed now,” I panted.

  “Honey, we’re out. We finished it up this morning,” Carlos whispered.

  “Jesus,” I said as I tore my dress off, dropped it to the floor and began washing my face in the tiny sink. “When’s the last time you fed, Matt?”

  “A few days ago, Sarah. I’m sorry.”

  “You mean we’ve got nothing until we get home? I’ll never make it that far. Not now. Fuck, she pissed me off. I wanted to bite her friggin’ head off.”

  “Sarah, you need to try to calm down,” Matt said as he began to rub my back.

  “I’m trying to calm down, Matt. But it was only a few months ago that I was hooked on that shit. I don’t know if I can calm down.”

  Carlos pulled out his cell phone, “Let me make a few calls and see what I can do.”

  “How the hell does she know so much, Matt? Where is she getting her information?”

  “I don’t know Sarah. She might still be nearby. I could try to listen in to her conversations. But my guess is she probably knows about our hearing so she’s texting,” Matt said then he grabbed his cell phone which started ringing on his hip. He looked confused as he stared at the number. “It’s Bahiti. Why would she be calling? Link with me so you can hear too, Sarah. Yes, Bahiti?”

  “There’s been a development that I wanted to make you aware of,” she said.

  “The website? Yes, we know about it.”

  “No, not the website. This is something I haven’t told anyone yet. It’s Sekhmet, Matt. She’s gone missing.” Sekhmet was the oldest vampire in existence. She had voluntarily shut down – turned herself into a statue that resided in an underground pyramid in Egypt – centuries before. But when she was alive and in power, she was brutal.