by Nelson, Dara
“It’s not small to me,” I whispered as I looked at him and tried to smile.
“Yeah, I noticed,” he said as he leaned in to kiss me. “Now, how about that walk?” he said.
“You still want to go? Even if…” I said, the grabbed pen and paper. ‘Even if he might be there?’ I wrote.
He nodded and pointed to the map, showing me he wanted us to come around the back side of the cave, from the top, then he took the pen and wrote, ‘Not to confront him, just to scout the location. Verify that he’s there.’
I nodded, then got up and changed into jeans, a t-shirt and hiking shoes. We headed out the back door and jumped the wall by the waterfall. We’d gone about a hundred yards when I stopped him. “Is there anything else?” I said.
“Anything else?” he said.
“Yeah, besides this weird link with Carlos, is there anything else between he and I that I haven’t figured out yet? Because, if there is, I’d really like to know about it now and not be surprised anymore.”
Matt smiled at me. “Well,” he began, “you share the same birthday, but other than that, I can’t think of anything.”
“We share the same… so our anniversary is also his birthday (we’d gotten married on my birthday)? Why would you have agreed to marry me on that day then?” I said. “Why didn’t anyone tell me this before?”
“Probably because he never celebrates it. Birthdays don’t mean much to us anymore. I’m probably the only one he’s told when his birthday was.”
“Okay, I can live with that. But that’s it? There’s nothing else?” Matt nodded. “You swear?” I said.
Matt smiled and held up two fingers. “Scout’s honor,” he grinned. Then he reached out and pulled me toward him. He pointed up, indicating that we were going to fly from here, and I nodded. We rose above the trees. I pointed to the area above us where the cave was, and Matt headed a little to the right of it, landing softly on the roof of the cave. Malina’s scent was still here, but it was mixed with another scent, one that I hadn’t smelled the last time I was here. I squeezed Matt’s hand tight and nodded to him. We crept to the edge and lay down on our bellies to peak down. I held my hair to keep it from falling over the edge as I looked and listened. Matt tapped my arm, shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, mouthing, “I don’t think he’s here anymore.” He stood up, pointed to the ground and held his hand out to me. I took it and we silently jumped to the ground just to the side of the cave. We crept around and peaked inside. His scent was everywhere, but it wasn’t fresh, he was gone. We walked to the entrance and he dropped my hand. “Wait here a second, I just want to take a quick look around.” I stood watching him for a few seconds and then I felt it. I completely tensed up, wanting to turn around but afraid to. I could feel his eyes on me. As if in slow motion, I slowly turned around… and met Jonas.
He stood about twenty feet behind me, grinning, with his arms crossed, leaning up against a tree. His voice popped in my head. ‘Don’t make a sound or the cave will collapse,’ he thought then he showed me the small detonator he had in his hand. ‘Walk towards me.’
I looked up and found the wiring and the explosives embedded in the rock. I knew what he had it rigged for. I don’t know how I knew, I just knew. It was rigged to just collapse at the mouth of the cave, trapping anyone inside. If I walked forward, Matt was still inside. I looked at Jonas and thought, ‘No,’ while crossing my arms across my chest.
His grin went wider. ‘No?’ he thought. ‘That’s pretty bold considering the situation you’re in.’
‘If I step forward, you’ll press that button and trap Matt inside,’ I thought as I was trying to determine if I could get to Jonas fast enough to knock that detonator out of his hand before he could press the button. If I could just distract him or something,
I took a deep breath, and thrust my chest out a little farther. ‘Come to me,’ I thought.
His eyebrows shot up. ‘Excuse me?’ he thought. That had thoroughly confused him, good.
‘Come to me, Jonas. Come to me now,’
He stopped leaning against the tree, hesitating as he tried to work through the confusion in his head. He was supposed to be in control here, he was the one with the detonator. But I knew how much he wanted me. He had let me know that over and over again, and I could feel it in him. ‘I’m right here, Jonas. Come to me.’
He covered half the distance to me in the blink of an eye… and then I got the distraction I needed. From behind me, Matt’s voice said, “What the…?”
Jonas’ eyes darted to Matt, who had just noticed him. I sprung at Jonas, and before he could react, I knocked the detonator out of his hand. Then I landed on top of him. I heard Matt growl from behind me as Jonas began to recover himself. He pinned his arms around me and jumped back to his feet. He spun me around so my back was pressed into him and he pinned my arms across my chest. I tried to struggle, but his arms were like a vise. I had never felt someone so strong.
“STOP!” he bellowed and I heard a crack as he broke my wrist. He dropped my arms and pinned his arm around my neck. “I’ll snap her pretty little neck if you come any closer,” he said to Matt, who instantly stopped moving. Matt’s eyes met mine and stayed there.
“I’m extremely disappointed,” Jonas said. “I was expecting a lot more from you. You two are making this way too easy. You’ve got to improve before our next meeting. Yes, I’m going to let you go in a minute, but first, allow me to introduce myself,” he said as he began kissing the back of my neck. I reached up with my good hand and tried to pull his arm away from my neck. It had no effect at all, he just squeezed slightly tighter and said, “Now, Sarah, please don’t make me kill you yet. I have big plans for you and me.” His other hand moved around to my stomach, trying to find the bottom of my shirt. As it slid underneath and began to move up, towards my breasts, I reached my mind out to Matt.
‘Turn around,’ I thought. Matt didn’t move, he just stood there staring and growling as Jonas’ hand reached my breasts. I could feel Jonas’ body responding, the hardness in his jeans, as he pressed into my backside. ‘Damn it Matt! For God’s sakes turn around. He wants you to see this. If you turn around he’ll stop,’ I thought. That finally got through to him. Matt blinked, as if coming out of a trance, and slowly turned around. I smiled as I felt Jonas’ hand stop.
Jonas whispered in my ear, “He can still hear, you know. I could just keep going,” He started to slide his hand down the front of my pants. I closed my eyes and willed myself to remain calm. The last thing I needed was for Jonas to feel me panicking.
“But hearing just isn’t the same as seeing, is it Jonas?” I said. Again, his hand stopped.
“I suppose you’re right, Sarah, but damn, you feel and smell better than I imagined, I’m not sure I can stop now,” he said.
“But, Jonas,” I said, grasping at the last straw I had, “I thought you wanted to show me that you could please me better than anyone else. You really think you can do that with your arm pinned around my neck, threatening to break it?”
“Fine, I’ll stop, this time,” he said. Matt turned around then as Jonas continued. “I just hope that this little demonstration here has shown you that you’re going to have to do better, so much better. I don’t know yet if our next meeting will be our final meeting, or if it will be another demonstration. But I truly expect and hope you won’t disappoint me again. And, Sarah,” he said as he spun me around to face him, knowing that Matt was watching again. I winced as he grabbed my broken wrist and pulled my hand towards his pants, pressing it against his erection. “You will know this, you will enjoy this and it will give you pleasure unlike any you’ve ever known.” He kissed me, his tongue forcing my mouth open and finding mine, his eyes on Matt the entire time, my eyes on him. Suddenly he winced as I bit his tongue. He pulled back and smiled at me. There was a little blood dripping down his chin. “I like it like that too, Sarah,” he said as he wiped the blood from his face. Suddenly he shoved me backwards. I flew into Matt�
�s arms and we both fell to the ground… and Jonas was gone. He flew faster than I’ve ever seen a vampire fly.
Matt and I sat, stunned, on the ground for a few minutes. Finally he started to say “Sarah, I’m so sor—” but my hand flew up and covered his mouth.
“Don’t you dare, Matthew. Don’t you dare blame yourself for this. Now, let’s go home because I desperately need a shower and a toothbrush to wash his stink off me,” I said and I saw Matt smile, “and I need some blood to help my wrist heal. And we seriously need to consider what Carlos said, because this asshole really is stronger than anyone I’ve ever met.”
Suddenly Carlos was in my head. ‘Sarah… is it time to feed? I’m hungry, Sarah. It’s time to feed… please tell me it’s time to feed…’
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Carlos is hungry again, Matt. If he’s this bad, this fast… is this something we should really tackle? Especially me? I don’t have to go through some special process to get my fangs to release. What if I start attacking and killing humans on the streets? I’m not sure it’s safe to have me try it. Maybe just you and Carlos?” I said.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about that,” Matt said. “Is he there? In your head? Can you tell?” he said.
I shook my head no. “I don’t feel nauseous, so I don’t think so.”
“What if, after Carlos is better, we drew him away, to the island? We could feed on whatever, nobody would be in danger from you, and Cameron and David could be there to help us afterwards.”
I looked at him for a few minutes, thinking about what he said, trying to picture how it would go down, trying to imagine the outcome; at least the one I hoped would happen. It actually felt like it might work. But it definitely wasn’t something I was ready to commit to, yet. I stood up and held my good hand out to Matt and we started heading down the mountain.
‘Sarah… hungry… hungry… hungry… please?’ Carlos thought.
I turned to Matt. “Clinic first, okay? I need to feed Carlos and have Cameron set my wrist.”
He nodded then gathered me in his arms and we flew the rest of the way, landing softly by the waterfall. I went to Carlos’ room first, while Matt went to collect Carlos’ dinner and Cameron. I walked in and was pleasantly surprised to see Maria sitting in the chair next to Carlos’ bed, and Carlos was sitting up. He was obviously doing much better. “Sarah,” he said as Maria jumped up.
She blushed and said, “I’m sorry Sarah, I didn’t mean to visit so long.”
I smiled at her. “It’s fine, Maria.”
Carlos said, “I was just showing Maria this show.” He pointed to the TV. “can you believe she’s never seen it before…” then he stopped and stared at me, wrinkling his nose. “Maria, I’m really sorry, but I need to talk to Sarah alone for a minute. Do you mind? I hope you’ll come back later,” he said, his eyes never leaving my face.
“That’s fine, it’s getting late anyways. I’ll be back in the morning. Goodnight Carlos, Sarah,” Maria said as she backed out the door.
The second the door closed, Carlos said, “Where did you see him?”
I sank into the chair, cradling my obviously broken wrist in my other hand. “Up by the cave, the one Malina stayed in. I see your nose is working again.”
“Sort of, for his scent it is anyways, but I haven’t noticed any other smells yet. Were you alone?” he said.
“No, Matt was with me.”
“Is he okay?”
“Yes, I’m okay,” Matt said, as he walked in with five pints, followed closely by Cameron, who was carrying a wrist brace.
“Let me see the wrist, please, Sarah,” Cameron said. I winced as he ran his fingers along the bones. There was a snap as he realigned the bones, then he put the brace on. “I want to take X-rays tomorrow morning to make sure it’s lined up correctly, understand?”
I nodded. “I’ll come see you first thing in the morning, okay?” I said. Cameron nodded and backed out of the room.
“Okay, so tell me everything,” Carlos said.
“First, you feed, while they’re still warm,” I said.
“Only if you guys leave,” he said, blushing.
“Carlos,” I said, “you still might need help. And I need to see if this causes that reaction every time, because if I’ve got the two of you reacting that way every time you feed, then we’re going to have to make sure you’re feeding in private, or we’ll be having a lot of embarrassing moments.”
“The two of us?” Carlos said.
I nodded. “You and Matt,” I said.
“Not you?” he said.
I shook my head. “Not yet. It’s too dangerous for me right now. I’ll explain later, first eat.”
Matt handed me the evil pint, which I handed to Carlos. “You try by yourself first,” I said. He pressed the bag to his nose and inhaled a few times, then opened his eyes and looked at me, shaking his head. “Maybe it’s the plastic.” he said. “Can you try putting some on the back of your hand and letting me smell that?” I nodded and dropped my fangs, pierced the pint and squeezed a few drops onto the back of my broken hand. I went to hand the pint to Matt, but stopped. Instead, I drained it first, then handed Matt the empty bag. “For my wrist,” I said as he smiled at me. I spread the blood around on the back of my hand then put my hand up to Carlos’ nose.
He gently pushed it closer. “Oh, I think… I think… oh yes,” he said as his eyes opened, his changed eyes. His tongue licked the back of my hand and his fangs dropped. I handed the first bag to him, then the next three, and tried again, unsuccessfully, not to blush, as again he had the same reaction, this one more noticeable from the undeniably familiar shape under the sheet between his legs. My heart was pounding in my chest. I was in pain with a broken wrist, my husband was standing right next to me, but, God help me, I was turned on. Shit.
“Well,” I said afterward, “feedings are definitely going to have to be private for a while.”
Carlos nodded. “Sorry,” he said, blushing, as his breathing tried to return to normal. We waited until he was ready. Finally, he said, “Okay, tell me what happened.”
Matt and I looked at each other. “Go ahead, Sarah,” he said.
I nodded. “Jonas was in my head, singing.”
“Singing?” Carlos said.
“Yep, singing the same song over and over to bug me. But when Matt said that he wanted me to show him the cave that Malina was in, Jonas stopped singing for a second, making me think that he might be there.”
Carlos looked at Matt. “What made you want to see the cave?” he said.
Matt shrugged his shoulders.
“That idea might have been him too. He might have somehow planted it in your head,” Carlos said then he turned back and looked at me. “Go on.”
“Okay, so we flew up there and landed on top of the cave. We could smell him, but it didn’t smell fresh, it definitely seemed abandoned now. We dropped down to search. Matt was inside the cave, I was standing at the entrance watching him, when I felt Jonas watching me from behind. I turned around and saw that he had a detonator in his hand. He had rigged the mouth of the cave to collapse, trapping anyone who was inside. He told me to walk towards him or he would push the button… I told him no,” I said.
“You told him no?” Carlos said, and there was total surprise on his face as I nodded. “And he didn’t go ballistic and push the button?”
I shook my head. “No, because I told him to come to me,” I said. Both of them stared at me.
“You what?” Matt said.
“I had to stay where I was so he wouldn’t push the button and I had to get him closer to me so I could knock it out of his hand, so I told him to come to me.”
“Not your smartest idea ever, Sarah, but probably not your dumbest either,” Carlos said. “Go on.”
“Well, he was almost to me, when Matt saw him. That distracted Jonas enough for me to spring at him and knock the detonator out of his hand. But he grabbed me before I could get away from him. He broke my wrist to sho
w me how strong he was, then he told Matt to stay away or he’d break my neck. God, he’s strong Carlos. He broke my wrist like it was nothing. Is that from the…?” I said.
“Mostly, but part of it is just him, from being around for so long,” he said. “Then what happened?”
I hesitated. Matt and I looked at each other. It was bad enough the first time… did we really have to relive it? Carlos noticed our reaction immediately and sat up straighter. “That son of a bitch didn’t… he didn’t… tell me what he did Sarah,” he growled.
I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting to keep my mouth shut, but it finally burst out. “He felt me up, okay? He was trying to get a reaction out of Matt, so he felt me up.” I shivered as I remembered how creepy it felt.
Carlos looked at Matt. “You… you didn’t react?” he said, sounding amazed.
Matt shook his head, looking completely ashamed as he said, “No, Sarah linked with me and told me to turn around.” I reached up and clasped my hand in Matt’s.
“And you did?” Carlos said. “You just turned around? But…how?”
“Nobody can say no to Sarah, Carlos. You know that as well as I do,” Matt said as he leaned down and kissed the side of my head.
Carlos looked back at me. “Did that work?” he whispered.
“Eventually,” I said, “it took me a few minutes to convince him, but then it did work.”
“How?” Carlos whispered.
“Because I reminded him that he wanted to force Matt to watch and he couldn’t do that up there with Matt turned around like that,” I said.