by Dara Nelson
I felt Carlos’ heavy heart as he popped into my head to watch what I was doing as he said to Matt, “Does this mean that she’s not coming back, Matt?”
“What? Why would you say that?” Matt said.
“Well, she’s come full circle, Matt. This guy was part of her training as a brand new vampire. She let him go with a warning. Now, here she is facing a frightening and uncertain future and we come across him again. She’s going to finish him and then what? What does it mean that she came across him tonight, Matt? I mean, what are the chances that she’d run into him, tonight? Of all nights, why tonight, the night before we leave for Egypt? Her last meal before she’s locked in that tomb with Sekhmet. Does this mean that she’s not coming out?” he whispered as he watched the surprised look on my prey’s face turn to horror as the man recognized my face. “Run,” I growled to the beaten girl on the ground. She crawled a few feet then managed to get to her feet and stumble down the alley and around the corner. I turned my gaze back to him, looking down at the ground when I heard the urine, as he once again lost control of his bladder. My gaze moved back to his face, “I gave you a warning, didn’t I? You just can’t stop yourself, can you?” I hissed.
“I, I, I,” he began, but I stopped him as I saw what he was thinking. That bastard wasn’t scared anymore. He was thinking about doing to me what he was trying to do to that girl, and he was getting turned on. “You’ve got to be kidding me. My hand is closed around your throat. You have no way out. And you’re getting a hard on? Unbelievable,”
“Sorry darlin’. Can’t help it. The ladies like it when I do those things to them. Beside, those tits are amazing,” he said as he reached his arms forward and squeezed. My gaze slowly moved down and watched as he groped me. For a moment I was too stunned to react. Once again, I thought death would be too good for this man. But the lesson had to be harsher, much harsher this time. My hand fell away from his neck, “You’re right,” I whispered, “I like it like this.”
He pushed me up against the wall and began kissing my neck as he growled, “I told you so.”
‘Sarah? What the hell are you doing?’ Carlos thought. A moment later I felt Matt in my head too. He had linked with Carlos and was watching too. ‘Relax guys. I got this under control. Do you know where the nearest hospital is? Cause he’s going to need one soon,’ I said as I smiled. I turned my head and tried not to gag at his nasty cigarette breath as I began kissing him. My hand squeezed his crotch and he groaned as I spun us both around and shoved his back against the wall. I tore open his shirt and began kissing his chest, then belly, moving down as my hands worked to unzip his pants. “Oh yes, darling,’ I knew you’d come around. Christ this is fucking awesome,” he groaned as my hand clasped around his erection and pulled it out of his pants as my mouth moved back to his neck. ‘Crap, Sarah. I almost feel sorry for him,’ Carlos thought as he realized what I was going to do. I grinned then thought, ‘Uh, guys, you might not want to watch this part.’
‘No way, not missing this for the world. But, honey, there’s going to be blood. You’re not going to be able to stop, you know,’ Matt thought.
‘You’re wrong, Matt. I can stop. I know I can. Don’t ask me how. I just know. Watch.’
My lips closed on his jugular while my fingernails prepared for the strike. He groaned again and grabbed the sides of my head. “Squeeze harder, darlin,” he groaned as he began thrusting in and out of my hand. I could feel him growing. He was close, so close. He pulled out and moved to make one final thrust just as I released my fangs. He climaxed and screamed at the same time as my fingernail dug into the nerves at the base of his shaft rendering him permanently impotent and my teeth sank into his neck. I hesitated for one brief second as I felt his blood begin to flow into me, then I grunted and forced my teeth to retract. I, too, screamed, because it hurt like hell. I stumbled back, punched him in the face to knock him out, then backed up a few steps and fell to my knees as I began to cough then I grabbed my head as I tried to make the blinding pain go away. This was worse than a migraine, worse than Malina’s horrible mind trick – the one where she could actually make your head explode if she didn’t stop – this was worse than anything I’d ever felt. “Sarah?” Matt said as his arm went around my waist. He lifted me up and cradled me in his arms
The pain radiated from my head, through every muscle of my body, then out through my toes. Carlos knelt over the man’s unconscious body, pressing his wadded up shirt into his crotch to slow the blood flow, as he watched me. He spit on his finger and rubbed it on the bite marks on his neck, which quickly faded away but the wound in his crotch was not one that he would help heal – that would be his forever gift from me. I groaned a few times then tried to take a few deep breaths as I finally felt the pain begin to dissipate slightly. A few more seconds and I was finally able to speak, “Oh my God. That hurt like hell. If that’s what it feels like to force yourself to stop feeding, then I’m not surprised that vampires aren’t able to do that, or don’t try to do that. That sucked,” I whispered.
“Uh, guys, this guy needs a hospital or he’s going to bleed out,” Carlos said. Matt and I looked at each other. I nodded. He turned to Carlos and said, “Can you bring him? We’ll fly with you, but I’m pretty sure Sarah can’t fly yet. She’s still in too much pain. Am I right honey?”
I nodded again, and grimaced at the pain it sent shooting through me. Carlos scooped the bleeding man into his arms and we took to the skies. We landed a few minutes later at the edge of the parking lot. Carlos ducked inside the emergency room doors, placed him in a wheelchair then ducked out. It all happened so fast that he was never seen. We waited and listened outside as he was discovered. “Who put this patient here? Oh my God, this man is bleeding. Somebody help me get him onto a table,” a nurse said in Spanish. We waited until we heard someone say, “Hey. I recognize this man. He’s on all those wanted posters. He’s that rapist. Go call the police. They’ll want to question him when he wakes up. Looks like somebody gave him his own justice though.”
Matt cradled me in his arms as we silently flew home. The weight of the night came crashing down hard on all of us. None of us wanted to talk about the fact that this would be our last night here, our last night, if not for forever, then who knew for how long. Matt walked into the room. Then he and Carlos looked at each other, wondering what to do next. Without opening my eyes I said, “If either of you even thinks about leaving me tonight, I will beat the shit out of you.”
They both grinned then Carlos said, “Your bed’s a little bigger.”
Matt gently set me into the middle of the bed, on my side. Then he snuggled in behind me, while Carlos tucked himself in front of me. I opened my eyes and tried not to grimace as I smiled at him. He tried, unsuccessfully, to hide the pain in his eyes as he leaned in to kiss my forehead, “I love you kiddo,” he whispered. “I love you too, Carlos. And, yes you can,” I said.
“I can? I can, what?” he said as he looked at me.
“You can do this. When I’m in there, you can do this. You will make it. You’ll survive. You’ll wait for me. You’ll be strong for me. You’ll be fine,” I said.
“God, I hope you’re right,” he groaned. We all closed our eyes and quickly slept, completely exhausted from the last few days.
My eyes popped open at around four a.m., but I couldn’t move. Matt’s arm was wrapped tightly around me, while Carlos’ leg rested across my hips. I was pinned, and I wished I could stay there forever. I started to panic as I thought about leaving them. Maybe we could run. Maybe we could hide from her. But then I thought about Jason. He was still just a child, although it was hard to remember that since he was already a foot taller than me and quickly approaching his fathers’ seven feet height. I couldn’t do that to him. I couldn’t risk his life like that.
But how am I going to do this, I thought. How am I going to be able to be strong for Jason when I’m barely keeping it together myself? I will be all alone. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying not to cry, a
nd that’s when I heard his voice. ‘Sarah? You don’t have to be alone, Sarah. Let me in. Let me come with you,’ Jonas said.
‘Let you in? What do you mean, let you in? And how the hell did you get here?’ I thought.
‘A few seagulls and a panther. The seagulls were cramped, but the panther was awesome, but that doesn’t’ matter. Let me come inside you right now. You’ll feel it. It will feel strange for a moment. And you’ll feel me inside you. You’ll feel, ummm, crowded, is the best way I can put it. But don’t push me out. Let me stay. I’ll stay with you, Sarah. I’ll be with you inside her tomb. Maybe I can help.’
Jonas, inside me? He’s right, it would feel weird. But maybe he could help. And at least I’ll have someone to talk to in my head when I’m scared but I don’t want Jason to know.
‘Okay, Jonas. You can come in,’ I thought. Suddenly I felt pressure in my mid-section. It felt like someone was standing on my stomach. I tried not to groan. ‘Sarah, relax. Try to relax,’ he thought.
‘That’s easy for you to say. You don’t feel like a bulldozer is trying to push through your stomach,’ I thought then I started breathing deeply, forcing myself to relax. Suddenly the pressure was gone. I opened my eyes and looked around. He was right. It did feel crowded. I could feel him inside me, looking around. Hell, I swear I could even feel him breathing. I fought the natural instinct to try to push this foreign thing out. I tried to think about other things. I started thinking about where I was going, and the fear came back. I looked at Carlos, at the complete pain on his face as he slept. It was almost too much to bear. But when I turned to look at Matt, my strong one, my rock, my voice of reason, and saw him quietly crying in his sleep. Well, that was too much. That was way too much. I turned my head into the pillow as the sobs began to rack my body. I quietly cried, until my sobs shook the bed enough that I felt them both stirring. As soon as that happened, I forced myself to stop. I couldn’t let them see this, not now. Yes, I know that I told them that I would stop being the strong one in front of them, that I would show my fear. And I will, I told myself, but not now. Not when they are falling apart. One of us has to be strong. I can fall apart later, when I know that they’re better. So I took a few deep breaths, closed my eyes and brought memories of happy times into my head. Times filled with laughter and love. I felt the glow of love warm my heart and bring a smile to my face. I felt myself glow. Then and only then did I dare open my eyes to look at them. My plan was to smile at them, to beam at them, and make them feel better. Yep, that was my plan. But when I opened my eyes and saw them both smiling and beaming at me, Carlos with his goofy grin, and Matt, well, Matt with that smile, that smile that still made my heart do back flips, well, there went that fucking plan. My lower lip started quivering and the sobs followed soon after, “Oh my God. How am I going to do this without you? I’m so fucking scared right now.”
‘Sarah, you won’t be alone. I will be in there with you,’ Jonas’ voice said in my head. That gave me the calm I needed to stop. I lifted my head up and looked around. Matt and Carlos had the most confused looks on their faces as they stared at me. “What?” I said.
“Your eyes, Sarah. You’re crying,” Matt whispered.
“What?” I said as my hand slowly came up to my face. Carlos caught it though then he very gently stroked his knuckle in the corner of my eye, pulled the tear away and held it up for me to see. “Blood? I’m crying tears of blood? What the hell? How is this possible? Is this because of how much I fed last night?”
They looked at each other then slowly shook their heads. “I don’t think so, hun. I’ve overfed many times and never had anything like this happen,” Carlos said.
“Oh, really? You’ve overfed and then cried?” I said sarcastically.
“Well, actually, yes. Because I got punched in the nose by a jealous boyfriend shortly after I fed. Made my eyes feel like they wanted to water, somethin’ fierce, but nothing happened.”
“Then why?” I cried, unleashing more tears.
“I think, I think maybe it’s because you stopped yourself from killing him during feeding, Sarah. I don’t know when the last time was that a vampire was able to do that. Maybe you’re crying now because you stopped yourself last night,” Matt said.
“So, so you’re saying that this is a one-time thing? That I’m not a freak, yet again? That I’ll go back to not being able to cry tomorrow?” I groaned.
Matt smiled and placed his hand on my cheek, “Sarah Pearl Delgado, you are not a freak. Please stop thinking that you are. But, yes, I think you’ll go back to not having tears tomorrow.”
‘But they might not, Sarah. He’s just trying to comfort you because he loves you. I won’t tell you what you need to hear, I’ll tell you like it is. You’re different. And you’re still evolving. This might be a new, umm, feature of yours,’ Jonas said in my head.
‘I was afraid of that. Thanks for being honest with me,’ I thought.
I wrestled for a brief moment with whether I should tell Matt and Carlos that Jonas was sharing my body, but quickly decided that it wouldn’t help them or me at all if they knew. They wouldn’t like it, and even after I explained that he might be able to help me in there, they would feel bad that it couldn’t be them. So, all around, it wouldn’t do any good for them to know. So, I kept it to myself, for now. I wasn’t comfortable doing that, not by a long shot, but I knew it was best for now. I started to slide toward the end of the bed, but Matt stopped me, “Honey? Everything okay?”
I smiled and patted the back of his hand, “I just want to keep busy until it’s time to leave. I’m going to go talk to Jason. I haven’t seen him in a few days. I want to make sure he’s okay,” I said
“What can we do to help you get ready?” Carlos whispered. God, he was trying so hard to be brave. “You can stay with me. Don’t leave my side until she locks me in with her. You know that overdose of blood that that we thought was so important? Well, now an overdose of you two is just as important. For all of us. Okay?” Carlos nodded and leaned in to kiss my temple. We all got dressed, then slowly wandered down the hall to Aquila and Jason’s room. I knocked on the door, “Come in,” came the gentle voice from within. Aquila smiled at me, “Hello, female.”
I smiled back, “Good morning, Aquila. It’s almost time to head to the airport, are you ready?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say ‘ready’ is an accurate word. I don’t think I could ever be ‘ready’ for something like this, could you? But I have come to terms with it.”
I smiled sadly at him, “Well, then you’re doing better than I am. How is Jason doing?”
“He’s scared but okay. He’s accepted this as a part of his destiny.”
There was a light tap on his door behind me. I turned and smiled at Matt. “The car’s ready, hun.”
We all slowly headed down the halls toward the courtyard. The halls were lined with vampires wanting to say goodbye. Their intentions were great but seeing the devastated looks on each face was like a knife in the heart each time. I smiled, shook hands, hugged, and wiped away the small bloody tears that, not surprisingly, fell down my cheeks – of course Jonas was right. It took close to an hour but we finally made it to the end of the long line of vampires and out the doors. We started heading toward the car, but I suddenly stopped. There was something that I had to do first. “Come with me for a minute,” I said as I pulled them toward the waterfall. “Sarah,” Carlos said, his hand shaking in mine.
“No, Carlos. This is important,” I whispered. I sat on the bench, pulled them in as close to me as I could, and for a few moments just listened to mesmerizing sound of the water. Finally, I took a deep breath, “Whatever happens, if I make it out or if I don’t, please know that the two of you have given me more happiness in the last few years than I could have ever known in a lifetime without you. I love you more than life itself. But I need to ask one more thing from you both. You have to promise me that, no matter what, you will go on. That you will continue to live, to love, to be happy.”
“But how am I supposed to do that, Sarah?” Carlos choked out.
“Because, Carlos. You, of all people, showed me the importance of going on. That you can never give up hope, no matter how bleak the situation looks. When you had me on the island and I was trying to die because I thought that Matt was dead, you wouldn’t let me. If it weren’t for you being a stubborn mule, I wouldn’t be here now. You see? You can never give up hope, ever.”
Carlos struggled with the pain, but finally nodded his head and sobbed into my shoulder. Matt wrapped his arm around my shoulder and whispered, “I’ll go on, I’ll live, I’ll be happy but I won’t love again. I just can’t honey. My heart would never be able to heal that much. I hope that’s enough for you,” into my ear.
I locked my eyes with his, smiled and nodded, then leaned in to kiss him. I forced myself to pull away much sooner than I wanted too, lifted Carlos’ chin, kissed him, then pulled away. I clasped both of their hands tightly in mine and we stood up and slowly made our way to the car.
Chapter Eleven
The plane touched down after what felt like the shortest flight to Egypt ever. It wasn’t, of course. But it sure felt that way. None of us had slept. We really hadn’t even spoken. We just spent the time clinging tightly to each other, while Jonas kept up a barrage of encouraging words in my head: ‘You’ll be fine, Sarah. You’re going to do great. We’ll figure this out together. We’ll beat this crazy bitch once and for all,’ he kept saying over and over in my head. By the time we landed, he almost had me convinced, almost. We all climbed into the waiting car and stared out the window as we made our way through the streets to the alley by her tomb. As the driver pulled to a stop, he looked around, “Are you sure this is where you want me to stop, sir? There isn’t a hotel around here.”