Sekhmet's Curse (Pearl Vampire Chronicles)

by Dara Nelson

  I nodded, “Yes.”

  “Father was right about them, they are weak because they listen with their hearts. I may be young but I could snap your neck in an instant. They should be closer to you in order to protect you.”

  “But you aren’t here to harm me. I told them to stay down there because I knew I wasn’t in any danger.”

  I felt him watching me, studying me, as he thought about what I said. “Father said he chose you for your intuition, compassion and strength. I guess he was right about the intuition.”

  “Why don’t you tell me why you are here. Did your father send you?”

  “In a manner of speaking, yes. He told me to find you if anything ever happened to him. He said you would help me.”

  “And something’s happened to Aquila?”

  “He is missing.”

  “You are certain of this?”

  “Yes.”

  “How long?”

  “Eight days now.”

  “And he’s never left for that long before?”

  “No. Never for more than a day. And he’s been warning me. He’s been telling me that if something were to happen to him that I should find you. He was worried. He knew something was going to happen.”

  “Has he told you what he was worried about? Do you have any idea what happened to him?”

  “Not really. But he has been telling me a lot about the history of my kind. And about that Queen lady who created us.”

  “You mean Sekhmet?”

  “Yes. That’s her. That’s the one he was talking about. He said you’d know.”

  “Will you come inside and fill me and my friends in on what you know?”

  He shook his head, “No. Not tonight. It’s late and I’m tired. But you and your friends can come up to the cave tomorrow morning. You know the cave up the mountain, yes? I’ve smelled your scent in there.”

  “Yes. I know the one. Would you like me to bring you something to drink when we come?”

  “That would be nice. Thank you. I will see you tomorrow,” he said as he spread his wings.

  “Do you have a name that I can call you?” I said before he flew off.

  “Yes. I am called Jason,” he said then he flew off into the night leaving me with my heart in my throat.

  “It can’t be,” I mumbled to no one.

  “What can’t be, Sarah?” Carlos said as the two of them landed next to me on the roof.

  “His name. He said his name is Jason,” I sobbed.

  “Honey? What’s wrong with that? What is it?” Matt whispered.

  I was still too shocked to break down completely. I looked up at him, “Jason was Scotty’s middle name, Matt. There‘s no way Aquila could have known that. So how did he pick that name? Why did he pick that name? Why? Why?”

  They both wrapped their arms around me to try to comfort me. But they knew it was only a gesture of compassion. Nothing could comfort me right now. Nothing but time could take away this pain. And even time wasn’t helping. It had been a little over ten years since Scotty had died and yet everything that triggered a reminder of him still made my heart feel like it was yesterday, still made it feel like a shattered shell of what it used to be.

  The three of us sat there for a while, watching the moon rise and the stars come out. “I guess this is his way of making sure that I never forget him. God, he’d be almost seventeen now. I would have loved to see what kind of teenager he would have been.”

  “I’m sure he would have been amazing, just like his mom,” Carlos said.

  I looked up the mountain toward the cave, “He must be so frightened right now. He’s just a child and he’s all alone up there.”

  “Remember, Sarah. He’s not human, he’s not vampire. They don’t think like us. They don’t feel like us. I’m sure he’ll be fine until morning,” Matt said.

  I patted his hand, “You’re probably right. It’s just hard to not think like a mom. Let’s go eat, I’m famished. Ever since we hunted, I can’t seem to make my hunger go away.”

  “It’ll be like that for a while hun. That’s why it’s so hard to stop once you start,” Matt said.

  “And why, for some, it’s impossible to stop completely,” Carlos whispered. Matt and I both looked at him. “Look, Matt. You need to be honest with her. Tell her the truth. She deserves to know.”

  “Matt? What the hell is he talking about? Tell me the truth about what? What haven’t you told me?” I said as fear began to grip my heart.

  Matt squeezed his eyes shut and I saw the pain written all over his face. I leaned back into Carlos, trying to draw strength from him, strength that my instincts told me that I needed in order to hear what I was about to hear. He rested his chin on the top of my head and wrapped his arms around me. Matt opened his eyes, took both my hands in his, and began, “Honey, I’m so sorry I lied to you. But I loved you so much and wanted you with me so bad that I just couldn’t stop myself. I only hope that you can forgive me.”

  Chapter Two

  I could only stare at both of them for a while. My heart was pounding. Matt? Had lied to me about something? That was so far beyond my realm of believable possibilities that my brain couldn’t capture it. I was stunned. “No,” I mumbled.

  “No?” Matt gasped, thinking that I was telling him that I couldn’t forgive him.

  “No you didn’t lie to me. It’s not possible.”

  Matt visibly exhaled, “Yes I did, Sarah. And I’m so sorry.”

  “About what, Matt? What did you fucking lie about?” I hissed as my anger bubbled to the surface.

  “You should have told her before, man. She still would have said yes,” Carlos said

  “Are you certain of that?” Matt snapped at Carlos.

  Carlos looked into my eyes and gently placed his hand on my cheek, “For you she would have done anything, Matt.”

  This was definitely not something I was ready to hear right now. I pushed Carlos’ hand away and jumped to the ground, leaving them stunned and alone on the roof. I heard them land on the grass as I pulled the door open and dashed down the hall toward the kitchen. I needed to feed. I pulled as many pints out the fridge that I could grab and tossed them in the microwave. I saw them standing in the doorway as I pulled them out and let them flop to the table. “These are all for me. You need to get your own,” I mumbled, embarrassed that I was so damn hungry. Matt came and sat across the table from me while Carlos went to the fridge. As the microwave whirred to life again, Matt began telling me the truth. “I, I, shit, I lied when I said that it was possible for us to survive without hunting, ever. It doesn’t exactly work that way.”

  I dropped my head and squeezed my eyes shut, “How exactly does it work, then, Matt?” I softly said, trying to control my anger.

  “Well, it’s just, I mean for some it does, but for most, well,” he began, but I had no patience anymore for hesitations. My head whipped up and they both gasped when they saw my eyes were changed and my fangs were down, “You fucking tell me right now or I’ll beat the shit out of you Matthew Pearl. Do you understand me?” I hissed.

  I felt Carlos’ hand rest on my arm, “Calm down, honey,” he whispered. My glare slowly turned to him, “I’ll take you on too, if someone doesn’t come clean right fucking now,” I hissed.

  Carlos grinned his goofy grin, “I’d love to see you try sweetheart. Now calm down and let the man speak.”

  My gaze turned back to Matt and I waited. “None of us can go forever without hunting. It’s true that some can go, ummm, years without hunting. But those are vampires who, well, who weren’t very passionate as people. The more passionate you were as a human, the stronger the need to hunt as a vampire is. And the older you get as a vampire, the stronger that hunger becomes. No one really knows why, it’s just how it is.”

  “And our first night together in the hotel room didn’t give you a clue that I was a teensy bit passionate, did it? You should have told me before you changed me, you fucking prick.”

  “Would you stil
l have come with me, Sarah? Would you still have gone through the change?”

  “Yes.”

  “Really? Honestly? If you knew that killing people was part of the deal, you still would have said yes?”

  “Yes. No. Shit I don’t know. But you should have given me the choice, Matt,” I said as I angrily stood up to walk out but I stopped to slap Carlos hard on the arm, “And you. I’m more pissed at you right now than him,” I spat as my finger pointed to Matt.

  “Me? Why me?” he said as he rubbed his arm.

  “Because you were always honest with me, from the very start, you were there for me and you were honest with me. Even if he couldn’t tell me, you should have.”

  I turned and stormed out of the kitchen. I wanted to be pissed and I wanted to be alone. But what I saw when I walked into our room was so unexpectedly sweet and beautiful, that I had a hard time holding on to the anger. I just stopped and stared. Stared at where the wall used to be that separated our room from Carlos’ room. Now we shared a common, gigantic living room, a place that would allow me to easily move between the two, as we continued to work out how to have our perfect triangle. This was the first time that we had been home since Matt had accepted the fact that I was also in love with Carlos and suggested that Carlos and I get married too. I had been so busy and distracted since then that it hadn’t occurred to me how we would deal with it in our everyday lives at home. My heart swelled with love as I realized that they had thought of it for me. I fell to my knees and sobbed.

  “This was supposed to make you happy, Sarah,” Carlos said from behind me.

  “This was your idea?” I said.

  “No, actually it was Matt’s. He suggested a door. But I said, why a door? If we’re going to be completely open about this, then why hide behind doors? I mean, we still have privacy in our bedrooms when we need it, but the rest of the time there’s no reason to hide, is there?”

  I sighed and held my hands up in the air. They both walked over, clasped their hands in mine and I pulled them down to the floor with me. We sat in total silence for a few minutes, until I finally had the courage to ask the one question that I was afraid to ask, “How often, Matt? How often will I have to hunt?”

  “I don’t know, Sarah. Anyone else with your passion, I’d say once a month or so, easy. But you’re different. You’re so strong that I wouldn’t be surprised if you were able to suppress it for a long time: Months, maybe even years.”

  “And this hunger, it’s only going to get worse? It’s only going to get stronger?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why haven’t I noticed it before now?”

  “Probably because we haven’t had to hunt except for that one time, and probably because our lives have been so hectic and chaotic. You just never had time to notice.”

  “You should have told me, Matt.”

  “I know. And I’m sorry.”

  “You should have told me, but I’m glad you didn’t, because I probably wouldn’t have had the guts to go through with the change. And I’m so happy with my life now. I never would have had this. I never would have had both of you. So thank you for lying to me, but don’t you ever fucking do it again.”

  “Are you kidding? Never would have had both of us? As horny as you were as a human? You would have had both of us, eventually,” Carlos grinned.

  “Oh shut up,” I smiled. He still always knew how to make me smile. I stood up, “Let’s go to bed. I’m exhausted.” I started heading toward the bedroom, but stopped when Carlos pulled back on my hand. He wasn’t moving. But I refused to let go of his hand. “Hun, I’m going to sleep in my own bed tonight, okay?” he whispered.

  “What? No. No, that’s not okay. Not tonight. Not yet,” I said.

  “Sarah. This is how it has to be when we’re here. You know that. We have to get used to that. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. And you know where to find me if you need me.” I completely missed the look that passed between Matt and Carlos when he said this. But they seemed to know that I was going to have problems and that I would be needing one, or both, or them during the night.

  “But, but, but what if I’m not? Why does it have to be like this? Why can’t we just sleep in the same bed?” I said, knowing it was a ridiculous questions but I had to ask it anyways. Carlos cleared his throat then imitated our voices, “’Good night, Sarah, good night, Matt, good night, Carlos…snore.snore, sleep, sleep, middle of the night hard on, um, excuse me Matt but could you go out in the hall for a bit while I bang my wife? Sure, no problem, Carlos,’ Sarah, you know that this isn’t that kind of arrangement. I think we all agree that this feels like two separate marriages that just happen to be with the same woman. I’ve had three-somes before, many times, but to do that with this feels like it would, I don’t know, disrespect what this is. You’ll come to me when you need me, I’ll come to you when I need you. Where you lay your head tonight to fall asleep won’t change that.”

  I knew he was right but I still opened my mouth to protest again, but Carlos cradled my face in his hands and kissed me. Long and passionate and filled with love was what this kiss was. It warmed me. It filled me up. It gave me strength. When he finally pulled away, I knew deep in my heart that he was right. “Sleep well, my love,” he whispered. I nodded and tried to smile, but my heart was breaking inside. “I love you,” I whispered as he turned and walked into his room. Matt wrapped his arms tight around me to comfort me. I turned, walked into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. I tried not to show it, but I was lost right now. “It’s not supposed to be me,” I whispered. Matt sat next to me on the bed and silently waited. I fell back, with my hand over my eyes. “It’s not supposed to be me that can’t handle this. It’s supposed to be one of you. But I don’t feel complete unless you’re both with me. I feel broken. I don’t know if I can do this Matt.”

  He leaned back on one elbow and gently pulled my hand from my eyes. He smiled and traced his finger down my cheek. “Of course you can, Sarah. The way you’re feeling right now, the hurt you’re feeling, is the very reason why this will work. Neither of us will ever lack for anything from you. Neither of us will ever feel un-loved. Neither of us will need anything more, because you love us both completely. Because you make us complete,” then he leaned down and began kissing me. Filling me with every ounce of love he had, and then some. He gave me his love. He gave me his strength. And he gave me exactly what I needed: a distraction. Before long, this was no longer a loving kiss, this was a hungry kiss, a passionate kiss. One that ignited the fire in me and instantly had me realizing how long it had been since we had been together. I growled and pushed him onto his back and quickly threw off my clothes. I pounced before he had time to finish undressing, and he laughed at my impatience. I straddled him, kissing his lips, face, chin, neck, as my nails dug into his chest and his hands and hips worked at getting his pants off. When I finally felt his hard length spring free and slap my backside, I couldn’t wait anymore. My thighs lifted my body just high enough to feel him brush against my wet folds and then slid myself down into heaven.

  A few hours later, as I lay in his arms dozing after he had sent me soaring over the edge more times than I could remember, I mumbled, “I don’t feel quite so hungry right now.”

  “I know. That was the plan. It’s possible to turn the hunger for blood into hunger for something else, at least for a while.”

  “Really? Well, then by all means, please do that, a lot, tons,” I whispered.

  “As you wish, my love,” he said as he pressed a gentle kiss to my cheek and I quickly drifted off to sleep.

  The hunger came back at three a.m., with a vengeance. My eyes flew open and took in my surroundings. If not for Matt’s arm around me, I would have flown out of bed, out the door and off into the night to hunt, without thinking twice. But even in a sound sleep, his grip was firm enough to make me hesitate, which then cleared my head. I heard a noise coming from the other room and I tensed. I gently rolled out from under Matt’s arm and pulled on
his t-shirt that I had pulled off of him and tossed to the floor during our earlier love making. I quietly closed the bedroom door behind me then smiled when I heard the microwave ding in Carlos’ room. He seemed to know I was there and he knew exactly what I needed. Of course he did. I should have known that. He poked his head around the corner, held up a few bags of blood and said, “Hungry?”

  I flew into his arms, pressing him into the counter in his kitchen, and kissed him hard. “Drink,” I growled as I began kissing and nibbling his neck.

  “Excuse me? Don’t you want some?” he groaned.

  “Yes, but not from the pints. You feed. I’ll take what I want from you,” I smiled at him then began kissing his chest. I began moving lower as my hands slid into the waistband of his sweatpants. I worked them down over his hips, smiling as I had to stretch the band even farther to get it passed his now throbbing erection. I kept moving lower until I was on my knees in front of him. I licked my lips as my hands wrapped around him then I moved forward, swirled my tongue around the glistening tip then slid my lips down the shaft as far as I could go. I repeated this as his hands fumbled between the fridge and the microwave as he heated more blood, “Jesus, Sarah. You’re driving me crazy. Oh God,” he groaned as he pulled out four more pints and quickly drained them. In one fell swoop, he bent down, scooped me up, turned around and set me on the counter and entered me. I could smell the blood in him and I wanted it, bad. I kissed him hard as he cupped my butt cheeks, pulled me off the counter and carried me to his bedroom. I threw off my shirt as he began thrusting into me, but he kept holding his neck away, almost like he was purposely preventing me from getting a clear shot at him to bite his neck. “Carlos,” I groaned, “please, feed me.”

  He smiled at me, “In a second, Sarah. Wait till its just right. Wait until its friggin’ boiling in me. It helps curb the hunger longer.” He leaned down and crushed his mouth down on mine again. As he moved to the side to kiss my neck, my fangs brushed against his skin. He popped his head up again and smiled at me, “Uh-uh, Sarah. Look. Watch it, watch the vein,” he said as he leaned his head to the side. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open as I felt my climax approaching, especially after he reached his hand up and joined my scar with his, but I watched. I watched the tendons in his neck strain as he struggled to hold his own climax back. And I watched the vein throbbing in his neck. And the closer he got to his own climax, the more pronounced the throbbing became. Suddenly I saw it. The vein began popping and bubbling under the skin almost as if the blood was boiling inside of him. He crushed his body down on me, “Now, sweetheart. Do it now,” he groaned. I buried my teeth in his neck and felt my climax hit as the hot liquid began to fill my body. My back arched and my pelvis crashed into his as my climax had me squeezing and pulsing around his shaft. He cried out as his own orgasm crashed over him. We both shivered and exploded, spasms of pleasure coursing through us that felt like they would never end. “All of it,” he growled with a shaky voice as his body continued to writhe in ecstasy, “take all of it.” I had no idea how long we had been going, but I finally felt his body start to slow as I drained the last drop. But my climax was nowhere near being done. I flipped us both over until I was on top of him, then I pulled him up into my arms as I continued slide up and down on him, my body squeezing him tight. “Take it back,” I groaned as I leaned my head to the side. I could feel the blood boiling in me now, my body literally felt like it was on fire. He smiled weakly at me, “Not from there, sweetheart.”