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

  “Hi, Sarah,” he mumbled because, without looking he knew I was there. “She’s gone now, gone for good.”

  I hesitated. Shit, there goes that distraction. “I’m sorry, Carlos,” I said as I stepped into the room.

  “I think we both knew it would happen sooner or later,” he said.

  As I headed for the fridge, I couldn’t stop my feet from guiding my body towards him. I leaned down and kissed the top of his head. He reached up and touched my hand. “I miss you,” he whispered.

  “I know. I miss you too,” I said then I forced myself to move on to the fridge.

  “Is that his shirt you’re wearing?” he said.

  I nodded as I grabbed two pints and put them in the microwave. “Yeah, it is,” I said.

  He smiled slightly. “You smell like him. Good move, Matt,” he said.

  I smiled, grabbed my meal and sat down at the far end of the table. I drank and then we just stared at each other for a few minutes.

  “I’m sorry, Carlos,” I said.

  “For what?” he said.

  “For Maria. For pushing her on you. That was more selfishness on my part than anything. You don’t belong with anyone. I knew that. But it was easier for me to fight this pull if you were with her. I’m sorry for that,” I said.

  “I do belong with someone. I belong with you,” he said.

  “But not for forever. You could never be with one person forever. Not even me. You get bored. You know that. I know that. Matt knows that. He and I belong together. You and I will always be… well, we’ll always have this pull, this connection. And sometimes it will be too strong to keep us apart, I know that. But for the most part, I’ll be with Matt.”

  He exhaled and dropped his forehead to the table. “Oh, thank God,” he said.

  “What?”

  He looked at me with so many emotions in his eyes that I wanted to look away. Relief, pain, love, lust, longing, just about everything was there. “I thought you were going to tell me that was it. That what we shared in that hotel room in Texas was never going to happen again. That the best experience I’ve ever had in my life was a one-time thing,” he said.

  “As much as I tell myself it should be, I think we both know that it wasn’t. I’m going to fight, Carlos. I’m fighting right now. But I’m not strong enough to fight this forever. Nobody is strong enough to fight this forever,” I said.

  “So it isn’t just me. I thought I was the only one sitting here having to force myself to stay away from you,” he said.

  “No, it’s not just you. God, believe me, it’s not just you,” I said as I squeezed my eyes shut.

  “Shit, Sarah. What do we do now?” he groaned.

  “We keep busy. We bury ourselves in work. We put up distractions. For as long as we can.” I said.

  “Damn it, I want you so much it hurts,” he said.

  “What do you want me to say, Carlos? How am I supposed to respond to that? I want you too. But I owe it to Matt to fight this as long as I can. You owe it to Matt to fight it,” I said.

  “I know. You’re right. And I’m trying,” he said.

  Suddenly Matt stepped into the room. He hesitated for a moment, looking at both of us. Then he walked toward the fridge. “Afternoon, Carlos,” he said.

  “Matt,” Carlos said.

  As Matt’s meal was heating in the microwave, and with his back to us, Matt said, “So, you keeping your hands off my wife today?”

  Carlos and I locked eyes then we both slightly smiled. “So far,” he said.

  “Good, let’s try to keep it that way,” Matt said as he sat down next to me.

  Thus began their strange daily ritual for the next few months. Almost every morning, when they would invariably run into each other, Matt would say, “Morning, Carlos. You keeping your hands off my wife today?”

  Carlos would answer, “So far.”

  Matt would respond with, “Good, let’s try to keep it that way,” and then they’d get on with the rest of their day. It was strange. It was sad. It was almost funny. But it became the way that they worked through the anger and tried to become friends again. We all worked non-stop for two months – me in the clinic, Carlos on the website and Matt on security and the disappearances. Every once in a while I would wander into his office and see more pins on the map. But I hadn’t been in there for a few weeks. And I had no idea how quickly it had escalated until the day we came back from a week-long, beautiful break, at the island – which brought us to staring at Bahiti and waiting for her to continue…

  Chapter Seven

  “We called them Seraphim’s. They were Sekhmet’s creations. Sekhmet was the original vampire and an Egyptian goddess. Sekhmet was jealous of Ma’at, the Egyptian Goddess of truth, balance and order. She was a beautiful, winged, human creature. Sekhmet hypnotized one of Ma’at’s lovers one night. He slept with her and she bit him and then made him drink some of her blood. The virus penetrated his seed and when he went home that night, he impregnated Ma’at. The result was this human-vampire creature with wings. It was a male. It had fangs and fed on blood, but it kept some human qualities too. For one thing, it was very seductive. When he grew up and became a man, he took many lovers. And all of them produced more of these creatures. They became more and more dangerous. They were difficult to control because they were extremely powerful. When Sekhmet realized it was out of control, that’s when she decided to shut down – she closed herself up in her tomb and went into what’s basically a vampire hibernation. It took several hundred years, but myself and several dozen vampires who had dedicated themselves to eliminating them were finally able to hunt them all down and kill them. But with today’s advances in science and with the right DNA, someone might be able to recreate them.” she said.

  “What kind of DNA?” I whispered.

  “Sekhmet’s, Ma’at’s and strong vampire blood,” she said.

  “Vampire blood, shit. Of course, now it makes sense,” I gasped as I ran into Matt’s office.

  “What, Sarah? What are you seeing?” Matt said as they all crowded into the office behind me. I had slid the bookcase to the side and was staring at the map.

  “What percentage of the missing vampires are female?” I said.

  “I’m not sure. Why, Sarah?” he said.

  “God damn it, Matt. What percentage?” I snapped.

  He started looking through the list of names, counting in his head. “Shit, Sarah. It’s at least ninety percent. How did we miss that?” he said.

  “Crap. He’s done it. He’s figured out how to impregnate female vampires,” I said.

  “What the hell are you talking about, Sarah. Who’s done it?” he said then he followed my finger to where it was pointing on the map. “There isn’t a pin there, Sarah. What are you pointing at? Oh, shit. The priest?” he said as he saw my finger on Guaymas, Mexico. “The priest who helped us when we were searching for the clues to how to turn you into a vampire? That’s why he wanted my blood? He was trying to figure out how to make these things? You mean… you mean… one of them could be… mine?” he whispered.

  “In a manner of speaking, because he could have mixed your DNA with other DNA, yes,” I said.

  “Holy shit,” he said then he quickly turned to Derek. “Get Carlos in here right away. We have to post a warning on the site (a vampire news website that we created and Carlos was responsible for),” he said.

  I squeezed my eyes shut. “Don’t bother, he’s on his way. Something’s happened,” I said then I opened my eyes and looked at Matt. Yeah, I can feel him. I can’t help it. We all heard his footsteps as he ran down the hall. We were staring at the door when he burst in.

  “You guys have to see this,” he said as he ran to Matt’s computer. “Someone just sent this video to us. I haven’t watched the whole thing, yet. But what I did see is bad, really bad.” We all stared in horror as the image flashed on the screen.

  “That’s Maggie, isn’t it?” I said, staring at the frightened vampire girl strapped to the
table. She was staring at the camera and kept looking at her swollen, very pregnant belly. I was standing between Matt and Carlos and I instinctively put my hands in both of theirs. We all needed each other’s strength right now.

  Maggie started speaking, “Why? How? How is this possible?” she croaked out. “What is that? Oh my God, it hurts,” she said then she arched her back and started screaming as her belly began tearing open. Something from the inside was using its claws to tear its way out. It poked its ugly head out and looked around as Maggie finally, thankfully, fell silent. It pushed its little arms through the opening in her belly and made it larger. The sound of her flesh tearing was almost too much to bear. It sent a chill down my spine. The creature squatted in the opening and stretched its wings then it turned and reached into her stomach.

  “Oh my God, no,” I whispered.

  “What, Sarah? What the hell is it doing?” Carlos said then he gasped.

  “Her heart. It’s going to eat her heart,” I choked out.

  The camera panned around, and that’s when we saw his face. The priest began speaking to the camera. “This is my world now. I control it. These are my creations. They will stop at nothing to protect me. It’s a new world and you have no possible hope of stopping me from taking over.” The camera panned around again and zoomed into the distance. It was a warehouse filled with captive vampires. I saw at least two dozen pregnant females. The screen went black and I dropped my head and sobbed.

  “Shit. What do we do? How do we stop him?” Carlos whispered.

  I inhaled deeply several times then I turned around and faced both of them. “First of all, we study that video frame by frame. Zoom in on the walls. Maybe there are some signs or words that will help identify where he is. Then we have to capture one of those things and figure out the best way to kill it,” I said.

  “Capture it? How, Sarah?” Matt said.

  “Using bait,” I said, locking my eyes with his.

  It took him a second, but then his eyes flew open. “Oh, hell no,” he said. “You are not going outside and waiting for one of those things to grab you. Sarah, what if we miss? What if it takes you? I’m not risking that. I can’t lose you.”

  “Then don’t miss,” I said

  “Sarah, please don’t do this,” Carlos whispered.

  “Look, guys. I appreciate the concern from both of you. But we need one of those things to figure out how to kill it. And those things are only around if they’re capturing a vampire. A female vampire. You got any better ideas?”

  Matt and Carlos looked at each other. Carlos shrugged his shoulders. “I got nothing, man. She’s your wife. You talk her out of it,” he said.

  “Well she’s your…” Matt snapped, but then he stopped himself when he heard me gasp. “She’s your best friend. You talk her out of it,” he said as he glared at me.

  Bahiti and Derek glanced at each other. I’m pretty sure they didn’t miss what had just happened.

  “Look, nobody is talking me out of anything. Now, let’s figure out the best way to capture it. I’m thinking a large, really strong net. I could be in the courtyard. You guys could be waiting on the roof. When you see it swoop down to grab me, fly over and pin it, and me, in the net,” I said.

  “But you’ve seen the claws and teeth on those things, Sarah. Who knows what it’ll do to you before we can get you out of the net,” Matt said.

  Carlos looked over at him. “You’ve seen one of those things? As an adult? When? Where?”

  “Derek, will you please show him the footage? I need to try to talk some sense into my wife,” Matt said as he stared at me. The three of them walked out and closed the door.

  “Matt, you’re not going to talk…” I began. But he pulled me into his arms and began giving me one of those kisses. I didn’t even have a chance to brace myself. It had been so long since he’d given me one of these. Maybe there was some other way to capture one, I thought. Maybe I didn’t have to do this. My head was swimming. No, no, no, I can’t let him do this. A compromise, perhaps? He finally pulled away and pressed his forehead to mine. Shit, this had to have been so hard for him. I mean, thirty seconds ago I was holding Carlos’ hand. I know he saw that. He saw that and then he still turned around and did this. How could I not let him have this moment? I took a step backward, and almost went down to the ground. My legs felt like Jell-O. I steadied myself on the desk and smiled at him. “How–” I began then cleared my throat. The voice wasn’t quite back yet. Matt placed his hand on my cheek. Yeah, that’s not helping.

  “I love you, Sarah,” he said.

  I coughed once. “I love you too,” I croaked. “How about some sort of backup? Like an anchor or something. You know, some sort of wire that’s anchored to the ground. So that, if you guys miss and those things get a hold of me, I still wouldn’t go anywhere,” I said.

  Matt stared at me for a minute then he nodded. “I suppose I can live with that,” he mumbled. “If I have to.”

  “Yes, you have to,” I whispered, “Let’s get to work, baby.” I grabbed his hand and opened the door. Derek, Carlos and Bahiti were staring at the monitors, watching the footage of the video. On another monitor, a close up picture of one of those things was frozen on the screen. Carlos turned around and faced me as we walked in. “You are not going to be in a net with one of those things, Sarah,” he said. “It’ll tear you apart.”

  “Yes I am, Carlos. Just get me out fast,” I said.

  Carlos jumped up. “NO!” he yelled, surprising us all. He glanced around, and, realizing what he had done, sank back to the chair. He stared at Matt. “Please don’t let her do this, man,” he said.

  Matt’s eyes flashed with anger then quickly softened. “There’s no stopping her from doing what she feels she needs to do. You and I know that better than anyone, Carlos,” he whispered.

  “I know. But I had to try,” Carlos said.

  “I know. And I tried too,” Matt said.

  “I know you did.”

  “Do you mind, guys? I’m standing right here. Can we please get to work on a plan? He has Stacy and Missy. We need to find them and save them before one of those things tears itself out of their bellies. Please?” I said.

  They both nodded. “Okay, Sarah. I kind of feel like a broken record, but, you win, again,” Matt said. Oops, wrong thing. That just pissed me off, big time.

  “Son of a bitch. Shut the fuck up, both of you. This is not about me. This is not about winning anything. Somebody is doing something really wrong here. This is about stopping them. This is about saving vampires that we care about. Now are you two going to help me or do I have to go find someone who will?”

  They both stared at me with their mouths open. I saw Carlos try to suppress his grin. He popped into my head ‘Shit, Sarah. That was some strong at-ti-tude. That just totally turned me on. I’ve got wood here, seriously.’

  I bit my lip and smiled at him. God, but he knew how to make me laugh.

  “You’re right, Sarah. I’m sorry. Ummm, for the net, I’m thinking steel mesh, like they use to protect people from shark attacks. And probably twenty feet by twenty feet. For the anchor, I’m not sure. Just a wire around your ankle and we’d risk you losing a foot. I’m guessing these things are strong enough for that. I’ll have to think about the anchor for a bit,” Matt said.

  “Thank you. And what about some sort of implantable tracking device. You know, one that goes under my skin. Just in case they do get me.” I said

  “They can’t get you, Sarah,” Matt mumbled.

  “I know that, Matt. But just in case, we need to plan for all possible outcomes. One of those outcomes could be them taking me. So, I’m thinking a strong tracking device so you can find me quickly and save my ass, would be kind of nice.”

  Carlos chuckled, he couldn’t help it. Matt glared and took a step toward him, but I placed my hand on his arm. He looked at me. I shook my head and then kissed his cheek. “Okay, it’s late. Enough for tonight. Tomorrow we find the mesh for the net a
nd work on the anchor. We have to do this soon. Very soon.” I said. Bahiti asked Derek to stay behind for a few minutes. She said she wanted to study the footage a bit more.

  Carlos, Matt and I walked to the kitchen to feed. As they sat down at the table, Carlos said, “Why don’t you ask me anymore?”

  “Ask you what?” I said as I stood by the microwave.

  “Not you, me,” Matt said. “He wants to know why I stopped asking if he was keeping his hands off of you.”

  I spun around and stared at them. I really didn’t think I wanted to hear the answer to this.

  “Well?” Carlos said. I glared at him for a second. He shrugged his shoulders at me.

  “Because I decided that I didn’t want to hear the other answer. I didn’t want to hear you say no. No, you weren’t keeping your hands off of her. Since I didn’t want to hear that, I had to stop asking the question,” Matt mumbled. Crap, that’s what I was afraid of. But we had been good so far. The answer was still ‘so far.’ That was something, wasn’t it? But he was right. The day will come when the answer will change. We all knew that.

  “I can understand that,” Carlos said.

  “So, are you?” Matt said then he squeezed his eyes shut.

  “Are you sure you want me to answer that?” Carlos said.

  Matt opened his eyes and watched me. He nodded his head. I saw his jaw tighten as he braced for the other answer.

  “So far,” Carlos said.

  I watched Matt take a few deep breaths. Relief filled his eyes. But Carlos locked his eyes on me. I could feel them. He popped into my head, ‘but not for much longer, Sarah.’. Shit, I know that, I thought as I squeezed my eyes shut. I feel it too. It was coming. Like a storm on the horizon, it was coming. There was no place to run. There was no place to hide. And there wasn’t a cellar strong enough to keep me from its grasp.

  Chapter Eight

  Today was the day. It took us almost a week, but we had the netting. We had the ‘anchor’ – one that had a break-away feature so I wouldn’t lose a foot if they pulled too hard. I had a tracking device implanted in my arm. Matt, Carlos, Derek, Billy, Bahiti and Troy were going to be placed around the net. Starting at noon I was going to be spending the rest of the day in the courtyard. As bait. I had a few things to take care of in the office. Matt had a few last minute preparations he needed to do in his office. After an early morning of making love, I kissed him on the cheek in the hall. “I’ll meet you at noon by the courtyard doors,” I said.