by Dara Nelson
“I can’t, I can’t, I’m afraid to let go, Matt. I have this horrible feeling that if I let go I’m going to lose both of you. Something really bad is going to happen, I can feel it,” I said with a trembling voice. They both moved around and wrapped me in a three-way hug, with my hands still firmly held in theirs.
“Sarah, try not to worry, sweetheart. Matt and I are going to be fine,” Carlos said.
“He’s right, honey. Chances are we’re not going to find them tonight. This is probably just going to be a night of searching and nothing else. And even if we do find them, none of us are going to do anything stupid,” Matt said.
I brought my head up and looked at both of them. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that the feeling I was having was not of them leaving me somehow. It was of me leaving them. “I love you both so much,” I said as I finally released their hands. I didn’t care that the others were all watching us. I brought my hands up first to Carlos’ face and kissed him then I moved my hands over to Matt and kissed him too. These weren’t pecks on the lips either. These were passionate kisses involving tongues, these were kisses that were shared by lovers, but I didn’t care. Complicated? Yeah, fuck complicated.
We were loaded up and back in the air thirty minutes later. Matt, Carlos and I were holding hands and linked. ‘Take us to the top of that Tampa Mountain. Then we’ll work our way down to where the entrance to the tunnel might be, okay?’ I thought.
‘Sure thing, Sarah. But I’m telling you. Vampires have searched for the entrance hundreds of times. I’ve even been here for several of those searches. I don’t think it’s there anymore,’ Carlos thought.
‘It’s there Carlos,’ I thought.
‘Ummmm, Sarah? How is it that you’re in front of us and yet you seem to know exactly where we should be going?’ Matt thought.
‘I don’t know, Matt. Everything around here seems so familiar to me. I really feel like I’ve been here before. Has Bahiti been here?’ I thought.
‘Carlos?’ Matt thought.
‘Not that I know of. You?’
‘Nope. She never mentioned it to me either,’ Matt thought.
‘But, if Bahiti’s never been here, then why do I have this feeling? Who am I getting it from?’ I thought.
‘I don’t know, Sarah. Matt? Maybe we should turn back and try to figure this out. Something’s not feeling right,’ Carlos thought.
‘Carlos is right, Sarah. I don’t like this. We should try to figure out where this feeling of familiarity is coming from,’ Matt thought.
‘Not now, guys. We’re here. Look. There’s the mountain. We can’t turn back now. Come on, it’ll be fine,’ I thought.
We all deftly avoided the trees and softly landed on the top of the mountain. I started moving downhill immediately. “Sarah, slow down. We need to be careful,” Matt whispered.
“I know Matt. But for some reason I feel excited. Almost like I’m coming home.”
Carlos reached out and grabbed my arm, stopping me. I glared at him and tried to pull my arm free, then winced as Matt grabbed my other arm. “Sarah, stop for just a second. Concentrate. Can you feel anyone or anything in your head? Can you feel what might be sending you these feelings?” Matt said.
“No, Matt. That’s just it. It’s not my head that’s leading me here, it’s my heart. I’ve got warm fuzzies for this place, like I love it. Like it’s home,” I gasped. “Oh my God.”
“What?” they both said.
“I think I know what’s pulling me here. I think it’s the one that’s growing inside of Bahiti. I’m linked to her, so it’s linked to me. Oh shit, Matt, we need to hurry. Could it be that these things only take a few weeks to gestate?” I said. I grabbed both their hands and began moving faster down the mountain. I could see the lights from the village below and knew we were getting close to the bottom. Suddenly I just had to stop. Matt and Carlos didn’t quite stop as fast and made their way back up to where I was. “What is it Sarah?” Matt said.
“I’m not exactly sure,” I said as I started looking around us, “but I think the entrance is somewhere around here.”
Carlos shook his head. “Sarah, I’ve looked in this very spot myself. I spent at least two days searching right here.”
“Look, I hear what you’re saying Carlos, but I’m telling you it’s here. You just didn’t know what to look for.”
He glared at me, then took a few steps away and leaned against a tree, watching me. I looked to my left and noticed a large boulder covered with moss and shrubs. I walked over to look at it a little closer. “Looked there,” Carlos said. I rolled my eyes at him and looked back at the rock then I looked up at the surrounding trees. I took about six large steps backwards, then a few more. “Ummm, guys, could you come here for a second, please?” They walked over and stood on either side of me and waited for me to continue. “You remember how you told me that one of the ancient symbols for vampires was kind of like an upside-down “A” in a circle?” I said. They both nodded and waited. “Well, if you were to take that branch to the left,” I pointed to it, “and that branch on the right and that branch up above and pull them straight down over this round boulder, what symbol would you have?”
I heard Carlos gasp. “No way, Sarah. I can’t believe it,” he said as he shot up in the air to the top center branch. “You guys grab the other two branches,” he said. Matt and I flew to either side and started bending the branches down. My heart was pounding in my chest. The second all three branches touched each other on the center of the rock, it shuddered and then moved a few feet backwards, revealing a staircase leading down to a tunnel. We all landed and looked inside. “Crap, how did we miss this?” Carlos whispered.
“Because you didn’t have Miss puzzle queen with you,” Matt whispered, grinning as he kissed my cheek. Suddenly a familiar voice, familiar but weak, was in my head. ‘Sarah? You’re nearby aren’t you?’ Bahiti thought. I stopped in my tracks and grabbed both Matt’s and Carlos’ hands. They instantly understood and linked with me.
‘Yes, we’re here, Bahiti. We’re in the tunnel.’
‘Be careful. I’m not sure about the tunnel, but he has motion sensors around here,’ she thought then I heard her groan.
‘Bahiti? Are you okay?’ I thought
‘So far. That was Stacy you heard. These things hurt when they move around’
‘When they move? She can already feel it moving? But she’s only been gone a little over a month.’
‘Apparently the gestation on these things is faster than humans. It has to do with vampire metabolism being so fast.’
“Fuck,” I heard Carlos whisper.
“Carlos, tell the others about the motion sensors. We need sharp eyes everywhere.” I said. He unlinked with me, nodded and turned back to gather the others. As he filled them in, I went back to Bahiti.
‘Bahiti? How fast is the gestation?’
‘I think he said sixty days.’
‘And how in the world is a pregnancy even possible?’
‘It has to do with the creature’s themselves. They carry both the semen and the eggs. The two mix when they ejaculate into a female. We still have our uteruses, so they act as incubators.’
‘Holy shit. And how’s Missy doing?’
‘I, ummm, I’m not sure. A lot of vampires don’t survive past the first week or so. Some don’t even survive the mating. Missy hasn’t spoken a word in weeks. I’m not sure if she’s dead or in a coma. I’m sorry Sarah.’
I turned my head into Matt’s chest and quietly cried for a minute, then pulled myself together and focused on the task at hand. ‘Bahiti? Any idea how to best kill these things?’
‘Well, there aren’t a lot of them left, Sarah. The only ones alive right now are the first six or seven that he created. Something’s happened to the others. They all got sick and died. And all of the creatures that are being born now only survive for a day or two at best. The priest is getting very angry and frustrated. He can’t figure out what’s wrong with t
hem.’
I couldn’t help it. I felt a smile tug at the corner of my mouth. I looked at Matt and Carlos, who had linked with me in time to hear that last part, and saw the same expression on their faces. “Only six or seven? Think we can handle that?” I whispered. They both nodded. Troy, Michael, Billy, Steven, Luis, Miguel, Stefan and Peter formed a rectangle around us. They were going to be the eyes looking for the motion sensors. We slowly started moving forward. The tunnel was dank and dark and obviously hadn’t been used for a long time, a good thing for us. Troy motioned for us to stop. He pointed to the two laser motion triggers on either side of the tunnel, much easier to bypass than motion sensors. He took out his can of spray and showed us that, surprisingly, these had two laser beams coming out of each one: one near the ground, for anyone walking, and one pointing near the ceiling for anyone flying. But there was space in between that we could hover through. So, four at a time, we successfully made our way through this first obstacle. We began moving slowly forward again. There was a curve ahead. As he reached the curve, Troy suddenly moved back onto our side of the curve.
“Camera” he whispered.
Shit. I reached out to Bahiti. ‘Bahiti? You there?’
‘Yes, I’m here.’
‘There’s a camera in the tunnel. Is there a security guard there watching the monitors?’
‘No, the priest watches them from time to time, but he’s in his lab right now. Lately he spends all of his time in the lab. I think he’s going crazy Sarah. He’s obsessed with solving this problem with the creatures. I never see him eat, he hardly ever sleeps.’
‘So, you think we’ll be okay if we move past the camera?’
‘Yes, you should be.’
“She says no one is watching the monitors and we should be okay.” We moved around the corner, expecting to move quickly out of the camera’s view, but Miguel suddenly motioned for us to stop. He had found another laser sensor. This one only had one beam near the ground so we easily made our way over it. We moved under the camera and farther down the tunnel. I squinted my eyes and saw the end of the tunnel. At least it’s what I hoped was the end. ‘Bahiti? There’s a door at the end of the tunnel. It’s about seven feet by four feet, with a big iron wheel in the middle of it. Do you think you can see it?’
‘I think so. It’s to my right, about fifty yards.’
‘If we come through it are we going to be seen? Where is the priest and where are those things?’
‘Those things are sleeping, I think. There’s a room for them down at the other end. They went in there about an hour ago, so I’m pretty sure they’re sleeping. And the priest is still in the lab, but I haven’t seen him for a while. He might have finally fallen asleep too.’
‘Where’s the lab from where you are?’
‘It’s about twenty yards to the right of the door you’re going to enter through.’
‘Okay. Thanks, Bahiti. I’ve got to fill in the others. I’ll let you know when we’re coming in.’
“Okay. She thinks the creatures are asleep, in a room at the far end. The priest is in the lab twenty yards to the right of the door. But she hasn’t seen him in a while, so he might be asleep too. Bahiti and the others are about fifty yards in front of us. How do you want to do this?”
Carlos spoke up first. “I’m taking three with me: Michael, Billy and Luis. We’re going to the right, towards the lab. We’re going after the priest. The rest of you move forward quickly and quietly to try to release as many vampires as you can before we’re noticed.”
“Should those with flame throwers move to the room that the creatures are in? Maybe we can get them all while they’re trapped in there,” Matt said.
“Good idea. Miguel, Tony, Peter and Stefan, you try to take care of the creatures. Hopefully there isn’t another door in that room for them to escape through,” Carlos said.
“We have to time this. The flame throwers are loud. We need to hit that room and the lab at the same time. And I’d use grenades in addition to the flame throwers. These things have very thick skin,” I said.
“Good idea, Sarah. I’ll link with Stefan, and we’ll synchronize going in, okay?” Carlos said.
“Okay. Everybody clear on what they’re doing? Sarah, you and all the others are with me. This is our escape route if things get too dangerous. We should be able to hold this door closed while the rest of you escape. All set? Alright, we’re going in,” Matt said.
I linked with Bahiti again, ‘We’re coming in now, okay?’
‘Okay, Sarah. Be safe.’
Matt held up three fingers and counted down. As he got to zero and made a fist, he and Carlos spun the lock on the door and pulled it open as quietly as they could. We quickly filed in. Carlos and his group broke off to the right. Troy and his group moved forward, stopping in front of Bahiti for a moment, who pointed, with her head, to where the room with the creatures was. They covered the remaining distance and readied themselves outside the door. Matt and I watched them. We waited to move forward. Suddenly Carlos kicked in the door to the lab at the same time that Troy pulled open the door in the back and unleashed with a torrent of fire and explosions from the grenades. Matt, me and the rest of our group quickly moved forward and began undoing the straps that held the vampires down. Bahiti, with the bump in her belly exposed, tried to smile at me.
Stacy was wide-eyed and panicked. “You have, you have to get this fucking thing out of me, Sarah,” she said as she gasped for air.
I set my hand on hers. “We will, Stacy. David and Cameron are waiting for us at Aaron’s. They have two operating rooms set up,” I said, hoping it was true. I knew they should be there, and hopefully they had the operating rooms set up. But they only arrived a few hours after we left. They might not have had enough time to set everything up yet, but I was hoping they had. I moved to the next bed and gasped. It was Missy. She was silent, she was motionless, and as I squeezed my eyes shut and put my head on her chest, I soon knew that she was also dead. I felt Matt’s hand on my back.
“I’m sorry Sarah,” he whispered.
“I have to grieve later, Matt. Let’s keep moving. We need to release the rest, quick. Look at the fire; it’s already spreading out here.” I looked at the room where Troy and the others were and was relieved when I didn’t see any of the creatures. They were screaming and making all sorts of noise inside the room, but they weren’t getting out. It looked like our plan was working. I looked to my left, towards the lab, and saw Carlos outside the lab, leaning over a body. He looked over towards me. He had blood running down his chin, the body was the priest. I gasped. This was exactly the same as the dream he had on the plane. I started running towards him. His face grew confused, then, when he saw me look up toward the ceiling, he seemed to remember his dream and realize what was happening. I heard the scream and felt the wind from his wings before I saw him. “Aquila! No!” I yelled. He swooped down towards Carlos, but I pounced onto his back before he reached him. Aquila pulled me off of his back and threw me against the wall, knocking the wind out of me. I crumpled to the floor, and watched in horror as Aquila turned toward Matt, who was flying toward him. He grabbed him and knocked his head into an iron pipe nearby, knocking him out. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bahiti leading all of the freed vampires toward the tunnel, away from the fire that was quickly moving towards us. Aquila glanced at the fire too, and stood up. Carlos lunged toward him, but Aquila threw his arm into Carlos and shoved him through the lab window. Aquila started walking toward me. I screamed as his foot came down on Matt’s chest, crushing it. I started to force myself up. I began crawling toward him. Matt was staring at me, but his eyes kept rolling back in his head. “Matt!” I screamed then I gasped as the air was forced out of me. Aquila had wrapped his arm around my middle and yanked me up.
“Sarah!” Carlos yelled. Aquila’s wings closed around me, protecting us, as he began moving quickly through the fire. I quickly linked with Carlos because I had to stop him. ‘Carlos, no. Save Matt. Save the oth
ers. Please. You can use my tracking device to find me. I’ll link with you and try to let you know where I am. Please, Carlos. You have to save Matt. You have to save yourself. I can’t lose either of you. He’s hurt bad, Carlos. Hurry, please. I love…’ the link was broken when Aquila put his fingers against my temples, squeezed, and knocked me out.
Chapter Fourteen
“SARAH!” Carlos yelled into the wall of flame. He glanced frantically around, looking for a way around. He was still trying to figure out a way through, when a groan behind stopped him. He glanced down and that was when he remembered what he was supposed to be doing. The fire was dangerously close to Matt’s leg. “Oh, shit. Okay, I got you, buddy. I’ll get you out of here.” He knelt down next to him and stared at Matt’s compressed chest. It looked like most of the impact had been on the right side, which was a good sign, but the entire chest was concave so he still could be having issues with his heart. “Sorry, Matt, but this is probably going to hurt,” he said as he slid his arms underneath him. As Carlos stood up, Matt cried out in pain, then his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out. As he ran toward the door to the tunnel, Carlos heard the firefighters as they entered at the far end of the room, having entered from the church above, and began battling the blaze.