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

  He nodded. “I’ll try, Sarah. But please understand how hard this is for me. He looks at you with such longing in his eyes. I know exactly what he’s feeling. Truthfully, I almost feel sorry for him because he doesn’t get to be with you as much as he needs to. I know I wouldn’t survive if you gave me any less of you than you do now. I really don’t know how he does it. I know why he does it, but I don’t know how.”

  It hurt like hell, but I reached my hand up to his cheek. “I do know how hard this is for you. For Carlos and how he does it, he does it because he loves me, he does it because he loves you and he does it because he knows that you and I belong together. It kills both of us that we’re hurting you like this. This is just something that we can’t make go away. We tried. Dear God, both of us tried so hard. Neither of us wanted this. But it wouldn’t let us go, Matt. It just wouldn’t let us go,” I dropped my hand back to the floor and winced.

  “Honey, don’t move. Don’t hurt yourself. Look, here comes Carlos and Cameron now,” he looked down at me and smiled.

  “How’s she doing?” Carlos mumbled as he stopped and leaned against the wall about six feet from where I was.

  Matt looked at him then looked down at me. He took a deep breath and turned to Carlos. “She’s hurting and she needs you. She needs both of us. So what the hell are you doing way over there?”

  Carlos hesitated a moment, then smiled and flew to my side, gently taking my other hand in his. “Hey kiddo. How’re you feeling?”

  “Like shit.”

  “Yeah, well you look like it too,” he grinned.

  I smiled. “So do you.”

  “Touché,” he said.

  “Okay, move back you two. I need to get the gurney in here. Help me get her up on it, would you?” Cameron said. I clenched my teeth and hands and tried not to cry out as they lifted me up and gently set me down. Cameron moved to the head of the gurney to push. Carlos and Matt were on both sides holding my hands. “We’re going to x-ray first,” Cameron said as we moved through the double doors into the halls of the clinic.

  They waited, silently, with me in the room while Cameron developed the films. “Okay, let’s take a look at these,” he said as he walked in. He put the films up and turned on the lights. “Hmmm, that’s what I thought. Oooh, that’s not good.”

  “What, Doc? What’s not good?” Matt said.

  Cameron turned around and faced us. “Five broken ribs and a fractured pelvis. And we need to stitch up those cuts on her leg.”

  “Jesus,” Carlos whispered.

  “It, that thing, fractured my pelvis?” I whispered.

  Cameron picked up a pair of scissors and began cutting off my clothes. “Yep. Now I could use your help holding her up while I wrap her ribs.” Cameron peeled open what was left of my clothing so that I was now laying buck-assed naked on the table. He turned and put the scissors away and pulled a rolled bandage out of one of the drawers. He turned around expecting the two of them to be standing there ready to help but Carlos was looking away, blushing and Matt was eye-balling Carlos. Cameron had no time or patience for this juvenile crap. He rolled his eyes. “Christ, there isn’t anything here that you both haven’t already seen. Do you want her to bleed out while the two of you are standing here acting like idiots?”

  The two of them quickly stepped up to either side of the bed. Cameron began showing him what he needed them to do. “Okay. One hand goes behind her back, on the backside of her ribcage. The other goes here, on the front of the ribcage, just under the breast. I will be lifting her head and the middle of her back. As I’m wrapping, lift your hand, then put it back down. We’re trying to keep her ribs from shifting. Sarah? This is going to hurt like hell, but I need you to sit up as straight as you can, okay? I’ll wrap as quickly as I can, then we’ll lay you back down, got it?”

  I nodded at him and clenched my teeth. I felt hands going under my back. I watched as Carlos tried really hard not to look down. Cameron peaked over his shoulder. “Shit, Carlos. Firm, not gentle. Do you want one of these ribs to move and puncture her heart? Firm,” he said as he pressed Carlos’ hand down on my ribs. “You too, Matthew. Press firmly. Good.” Cameron moved around and climbed up on the bed above my head. He slid his arms under my head and down the middle of my back until my head was cradled on his biceps. “Okay, are we ready now? No, Carlos. God damn it. Matthew, look. Carlos cannot look away. I need you both to watch what you’re doing to make sure her ribs don’t shift. So he’s going to be looking at her boobs, got it? I don’t care if you have a problem with that. Just deal with it. Carlos, don’t fucking look away, got it? Now, on three: one, two, three. Good, good, that’s it. Straight, Sarah,” he said as he grabbed the bandage and started wrapping. “Straighter, Sarah. Don’t slouch.”

  “I’m fucking trying. It hurts damn it.”

  “I know it does, but I’m almost done. Hang in there, Sarah. Okay, guys, now back down the same way. Easy, easy. Good. Now she needs to feed. Will one of you go get her some blood while I fix up her leg?”

  Carlos and Matt looked at each other. “I’ll go,” Carlos said.

  I looked up at Matt. “Honey? Can you go grab your laptop? I want to figure out what that thing said to me.”

  “Sure, Sarah,” he said but he didn’t move. He just stood there caressing my forehead.

  “Matt? What’s wrong?”

  “I – I just hate seeing you in pain. I should be mad at you for talking me into this shit but all I want to do right now is make you feel better. I love you so much.” He leaned down and gave me a gentle kiss.

  “I love you, too,” I whispered. After a few seconds he finally turned and walked out the door. I winced as Cameron began working on my leg.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled.

  “It’s okay” I said. I watched him work. I could tell that he wanted to say something to me, so I just waited.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing, Sarah,” he mumbled.

  “Shit. I can’t help what I’m doing, Cameron. I tried to keep it from happening. Really I did. We both did but it was just too damn strong.” I said.

  “Much too strong,” Carlos said as he walked in the room with an arm full of blood. I smiled at him. He set the pints on the nightstand, then leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Hi, beautiful,” he said as he brought a pint up to my mouth. I quickly drained all eight.

  Carlos stood there holding my hand for a minute until Matt walked in the door with his laptop. He glared at Carlos for a split second then his eyes softened. He walked to the other side of the bed and set the laptop on the tray. “Okay, what did he say, Sarah?”

  I squeezed my eyes shut. “Ummm, I know he said ‘Decorus proprius.’”

  “That means ‘beautiful specimen’,” he said, trying to suppress a grin.

  “Great. Now I’m a specimen. Marvelous. Okay, then he said, ‘Is unus est mei.’”

  “Ummm, ‘This one is mine.’”

  “The last thing it said was, ‘I’m iens ludo per is unus promoris.’”

  Matt chuckled slightly, “I’m not sure you want to hear this one, honey.”

  I glared at him. He snickered again, “Well, that means, ‘I’m going to play with this one first.’”

  “Well, why not? Everybody else sees me as their play thing, why not him too? Cameron, when the hell can I get out of here?” I snapped.

  “Two days, Sarah. Maybe three.”

  “I need to learn some Latin”

  “Sarah, you’re not going to try to talk to that thing?” Carlos said.

  “Like hell I’m not. I’m going to get that thing to tell me where it lives. That’s what I’m gonna do.”

  All three of them grinned at me. Derek poked his head in the door then quickly looked anywhere but in the room: I was still lying naked on the bed while Cameron stitched my leg, which all of us in the room had all forgotten. Carlos grabbed a gown from the drawer behind him and draped it across me as he smiled at me. “What is it, Derek?” Matt said.

 
“Ummm, sorry to interrupt. But that thing is waking up.”

  Instinctively I tried to sit up. “Ahhhh,” I cried out in pain

  “Sarah!” they all yelled at once.

  “Sorry,” I gasped, “I forgot. Matt, can you bring up the security camera that’s outside his cell for me on your laptop? I want to see what’s happening. If I have a question for that thing, I’ll pop into your heads and have you ask them. Leave the Latin translator up too.”

  They both nodded. Matt pushed the tray with the laptop closer so I could reach it. He kissed my cheek, Carlos squeezed my hand then they both ran out the door behind Derek. I watched the thing on the monitor as it silently studied the cage it was in. It was looking for a weakness. It was looking for a way out. I shivered as I typed a question into the Latin translator. I reached out to Matt, ‘Here’s the first thing I want you to say to it: Operor vos narro English?’

  ‘Honey, do you really think it speaks English?’

  ‘How did you know that’s what I asked?’

  ‘Not too hard to figure out on that one.’

  ‘Oh, well, it’s worth a shot, isn’t it?’

  I watched on the monitor as all of them came to a stop near the cage. The thing quietly studied all of them then he said, “Ego mos tantum compello female.”

  ‘Honey?’ Matt thought.

  I typed as fast as I could, ‘Ummm, he says he’ll only speak to the female. Say this: Is est vulnero tamen is can animadverto vos. Then point to the camera.’

  Matt repeated what I said. I shivered as that thing looked into the camera and grinned.

  ‘What did I just say, honey?’ Matt thought then he jumped when the thing spoke again.

  “Meus sperma mos vigorous suus,” as it began stroking it’s shaft and becoming hard.

  A shiver of fear shot down my spine as I typed what it said into the computer. “Cute,” I muttered out loud then I began to fill Matt in on what it said: ‘You told him I was injured but that I could see him. Then he said that his sperm would heal me. Ask him this: Operor vos have a nomen? You just asked him what his name is’

  “EGO sum accersitus Aquila,” he said as he, thankfully, stopped playing with himself.

  ‘Okay. His name is Aquila. That means eagle in Latin. That makes sense. Ask him this: Qua operor vos ago? You just asked him where he lives.’

  “EGO ago per meus abbas.”

  ‘Okay, he lives with his father. We already knew that. Ask him: Qua est vestri abbas domus? Where is your father’s home?’

  “In mons montis. In vetus terra. EGO mos refero haud magis questions insquequo EGO can animadverto female,” he said then he turned around, sat, and closed himself up in his wings.

  ‘Honey?’

  ‘He said: In the mountains. In the old country. Then he said he wouldn’t answer any more questions until he could see me.’

  ‘Okay, we need to tranquillize him anyway. To get some skin and blood samples to figure out how best to kill them.’

  “Derek, you got the gun ready?”

  I watched as Derek took aim and fired. Aquila turned around and screamed at him. He threw himself against the bars. For a second I didn’t think they were going to hold. Derek fired a second dart into him. “I’m iens neco vos totus (I‘m going to kill you all),” he bellowed then he backed up and sank to the floor. Slowly his head began to droop. He looked desperately into the camera then fell over onto his side. The look he gave me almost made me feel sorry for him. Almost.

  ‘Honey. I need to see the video from the priest. Hurry, please!’ I thought.

  Matt looked into the camera. “I’ll be there in a second. Derek, help me get the blood and tissue samples from this fucker.”

  ‘Be careful, Matt. Please, be careful.’

  He turned and smiled into the camera. Shit, I thought, now is not the time for him to play daredevil. I threw my mind into Carlos, ‘Watch out for him please. That thing could be faking. It could still be awake.’

  ‘I know, Sarah. That’s why I’m standing here with the tranquillizer gun.’

  ‘Can you even shoot a gun?’

  He turned, smiled and flipped me off in the camera, ‘It’s been a couple hundred years, but yeah, Miss smart-ass, I can shoot a gun.’

  ‘I should’ve known. You seem to be an expert at a lot of things.’

  ‘Why, thank you, kind lady. But you haven’t even come close to experiencing all of my skills yet. Just you wait and see.’

  ‘And you haven’t experienced all of my many talents yet either, sir.’

  I smiled when I felt the shiver move through his body.

  ‘Pay attention now. He’s going in.’

  ‘I am. But how do you do that?’

  ‘What? Switch from flirting with you to worrying about my husband in the blink of an eye? I don’t know how. I just know that I have to. I just do it.’

  We both watched as Matt and Derek worked quickly to collect their samples. We all breathed a sigh of relief when they came out and locked the cell door. Derek took the gun from Carlos while Matt handed the samples to Dr. David. “Troy, you take first watch. Someone will be down to relieve you in four hours. And stay the hell away from the cage. That thing could snap your neck in an instant,” Matt said.

  Troy’s eyes were huge as he nodded and sat down in the chair against the far wall.

  Matt and David made their way through the halls toward the clinic. Carlos popped into my head, ‘I’ll come by and visit you later. When it’s not so, ummm, crowded. Okay?’

  ‘Please do.’

  ‘Love you, Sarah’

  ‘I love you, too, Carlos.’

  “Hey, honey. How’re you feeling?” Matt said as he walked into the room.

  “Better, now that you’re here,” I smiled. Seriously, I thought, how the hell do I do that? He leaned down and gave me a kiss.

  He pulled the tray out and began typing on the laptop. “Now, here’s the video that the priest sent. What exactly are you looking for?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said as it began playing. I purposefully avoided watching what was happening to Maggie in the center of the screen. I was looking at the walls in the background. “Pause it!” I pointed to the screen. “Can you zoom in on that?”

  “On what, honey?”

  “There. It looks like a sign on the wall”

  “Sarah, it looks like red paint on the, oh, shit. It looks like it says: ‘Iesire.’ What the hell does that mean?”

  “Matt, it’s obviously foreign. Type it into a translator.”

  “I am, I am. Give me a second. Okay, here we go. It means ‘exit’ in Romanian.”

  “That’s what he meant by the old country, Matt.”

  “Guess I’m going to Romania,” Matt said.

  “No, guess we’re going to Romania. You would be going over my dead body. Okay, over my dead, dead body. Don’t you dare even think about going without me? Got it?”

  He grinned at me, “God, I love it when you get all fired up.”

  “So you’re going to wait a few days until I’m healed?”

  “Of course I will, Sarah. You know I hate going anywhere without you.”

  I bit my lower lip and choked back a sob. “What’s wrong, Sarah?”

  “It’s just that I knew you hated going anywhere without me, but that was before. I wasn’t sure about now.”

  His hands cradled my face as he kissed me, “Are you sure now?”

  I nodded and tried to reach up to him. “Ow, ow, ow.”

  He gently pushed my arms back down. “Heal first, Sarah. We need to go kick some weird-ass flying thing’s butts. Which reminds me. I need to go talk to David. See if he’s come up with anything from those samples.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Why don’t you tell him he can come visit you for a few minutes. I’ll be back in about fifteen. Okay?”

  I nodded. “I love you so much, Matt.”

  “I love you too, baby. Have him bring you some blood. You should feed again. I’ll see you in a bit.” He
walked out, turning and winking at me one more time.

  Shit, he is way too good for me I thought as I linked with Carlos, ‘Can you bring me something to drink please?’

  ‘On my way, baby.’

  He poked his head in a minute later, wearing, of course, the goofy Carlos grin. I couldn’t keep from laughing, “Ouch. Don’t make me laugh, it hurts.”

  “Well, I hope it’s only my face that makes you laugh when you look at it,” he grinned. He walked in with my meal, set it on the table, leaned down and kissed my cheek. He pressed his forehead to mine, “Hi there. I missed you.”

  “Hi. I missed you too.”

  He reached over and brought the first pint to my lips.

  “So, are you up for another fight?” I said after I’d finished.

  “Why? What happened? What did he say?” he said as the panic quickly filled his face.

  “Shhh, relax. Not with him. I think we know what country they’re in.”

  “Where?”

  “Romania,” I said then I saw that look in his eye. “Carlos? Please don’t go in by yourself. Promise me you’ll go with us. Please? Promise me? I can’t lose you, Carlos. Not now. Not when I just found you.”

  “Shit, Sarah. You always know the right thing to say to get us to do what you want, don’t you? Of course, I’ll wait for you. Of course, I promise. How could I not, after you say something like that?”

  I smiled and relaxed a bit as he kissed my forehead, until Matt cleared his throat in the doorway. Carlos jumped back. “Sorry, umm, I was just leaving. You get enough to drink, Sarah? Or do you need more?”

  “I’m fine for now, thanks. I’ll let you know if I need more later, k?”

  He nodded, squeezed my hand and walked out, looking back, grinning and winking at me as he did.

  “What did David find? Anything?”

  Matt shook his head. “Only that this thing’s blood fights any poison that comes near it, Sarah. But he’s still trying. And its skin is unlike anything he’s ever seen before. I’m not even sure a bullet would penetrate it, but we could try that. It’s not exactly dead like us. We might be able to kill it with conventional weapons”