The Return of Jonas (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #4)

by Nelson, Dara

  “No, I’m tired of waiting and I’m tired of this game, Sarah,” he said, “and to prove it to you, I’ve got a present for you.”

  Suddenly Carlos was shouting in my head, ‘SARAH! It’s Maria… she’s gone… I can’t find her. Oh God, Sarah… where is she?’

  I growled at Jonas, “What the hell did you do?”

  Suddenly he flew and grabbed me. We flew out over the water, toward the big rock with the cave in it. Faster than I could blink, we landed at the edge of the water. I looked inside the cave… and groaned. Scared, shaking and cowering in the back corner was Maria.

  I turned to Jonas. “This is not funny Jonas. What the hell do you hope to accomplish with this?”

  He laughed. “Accomplish? I’m going to prove to you that you’re just like me, Sarah. Can’t you smell her? She smells so good. You know you want to drain her.”

  Maria whimpered when he said this. I squeezed my eyes shut. “Jonas, I’m nothing like you. Of course I can smell her, of course she smells good, but I do not want to drain her. I would never want to do that. Just because something smells good or tastes good or you really want it, doesn’t mean you should just take it. If it’s wrong, then you should walk away, because that’s the right thing to do.”

  He stared at me. “I can see you’re going to need a little help,” he said, then he was behind Maria in a flash. Pinning her and turning her neck towards me.

  “Don’t hurt her, Jonas. Don’t you dare hurt her.”

  His evil smile sent a chill down my spine. “I’m not going to hurt her, Sarah,” he said, “but you are.” Then I screamed as his fingernail came across her neck, slicing it open at the jugular. Maria’s eyes went wide. Jonas dropped her into the sand and stepped back, watching me. I was at her side in an instant, pressing my hand onto the wound, trying desperately to stop the flow of blood, while at the same time fighting the overwhelming urge to sink my fangs into her neck. I was gasping, fighting to control myself. “You son of a bitch, Jonas,” I growled. I closed my eyes and linked with Carlos, ‘Get the room ready, quick, Carlos. We have to do the change right now.’

  ‘What? What do you mean, Sarah? Why?’

  ‘Damn it Carlos. Don’t ask questions, just fucking MOVE.’

  I turned my head and saw Jonas blocking my exit. “Get out of my way, Jonas.”

  “No, Sarah. I can’t do that,” he said.

  I looked in Maria’s terrified eyes and tried to smile. I took one of her hands and pressed it against her throat, removing mine. “Put pressure here, for a second, okay?” I whispered, and she nodded. Then I turned and flung myself at Jonas, knocking him backwards into the sand. I started punching his face repeatedly as I yelled, “You can and you will, asshole.” He was stunned at my ferocity. “Stay the hell out of my way,” I said then I picked him up and threw him against the back wall, knocking a huge chunk of rock down on top of him. I saw that as my only chance. I scooped up Maria and flew out of the mouth of the cave. Heading toward the house, I linked with Carlos, ‘I’m coming, she’s hurt bad. She’s bleeding a lot. God, Carlos, there’s so much blood. I don’t want to drop her when I land, please come help me.’

  Two figures streaked out of the house. Carlos took Maria from my arms, but I kept my hand firmly on her neck. I felt Matt’s arm around my waist as the four of us landed on the porch, and we hit the ground running – into the house, up the stairs and into the room.

  “Keep her conscious, Carlos. She has to stay conscious,” I said as I frantically grabbed the powder that we got from the Mexican priest – the powder that gets sprinkled into the scars to re-open them and then again inside the scars, so that when they are joined together, the vampire ‘virus’ can stay alive long enough to travel from the vampire’s body to the human’s.

  “Stay with me baby, okay? Please stay with me,” Carlos whispered as Maria’s eyes tried to lock onto his.

  “Hands. I need hands,” I yelled. Matt grabbed both their hands and held them palm side out for me. I sprinkled the powder, waited the agonizing few seconds that it took for the scars to re-open, sprinkled more as Matt pressed their palms together. Maria gasped and the energy from it seemed to revive her a bit. I ripped the tops out of two of the bottles of formula from the voodoo priestess Musetta. The formula – made from chicken blood, ground bones and other things that I didn’t want to know about, speeds up the human’s heart rate and gives the vampire the ability to slow down the speed that the drink the human’s blood, allowing them to stop before they kill them. I used both my hands to pour them into both of their mouths at the same time.

  Matt positioned himself behind Carlos. I watched Carlos’ face, waiting for his eyes to open. The second they did I said, “Okay, Carlos, now.” He plunged his fangs into the open wound. “Stay awake, Maria. You can do this, for Carlos. Stay awake, please.” Her eyes rolled back, but then came back and focused on me. I saw her clenching her teeth. “That’s good, honey. Fight,” I said. Matt pulled Carlos back and plunged the syringe into his neck, filling it with Carlos’ blood. He handed it to me and I plunged it into Maria’s neck. Carlos’ blood revived her even more. Back and forth we went. I was a robot. I had to be. Because if I thought about what I was doing, I would lose my fight and plunge my teeth into her neck. I was struggling so hard. My eyes were changed, making it more difficult to see what I was doing. My teeth were down, making it harder to speak. And my need to feed was unbearable. As we began the fifth, and final, transfer, I heard him chuckling in the doorway. “Fuck off, Jonas,” I growled. Matt and Carlos flinched. “Don’t move, you two!” I shouted. I plunged the last syringe of blood into Maria’s neck.

  “Did it work, Sarah? Oh God, please tell me it worked,” Carlos groaned.

  “I hope so, Carlos. I think it did. I still hear her heart. It’ll stop in a few seconds, but then it will start up again, so keep listening, okay? Just listen.”

  I handed the syringe to Matt and mumbled, “Stay with them, Matt. Help Carlos get her through the change.” Then I pushed myself off of the bed and turned to face Jonas.

  “Sarah?” Matt said.

  “Matt, I don’t want to break anything in the house, so I’m going to take Jonas outside to beat the crap out of him. Will you please stay here with Carlos?”

  I could hear the fear in his voice as he said, “Okay, honey. I love you.” I blinked when he said this. I couldn’t leave without…

  “I love you too,” I said then I moved around to give him a kiss. He was shaking.

  “Be careful,” he whispered. I nodded and turned back to Jonas. I could still smell Maria’s blood, I couldn’t help it. I was covered with it. My arms, my hands, my shirt, my hair. It was everywhere. I used the scent to help my fury build.

  “You, me, outside, now,” I yelled as I moved toward Jonas.

  Jonas stepped to the side and held his arm out. “Ladies first,”

  I stopped. The last thing I wanted was him in the room and me out of it. “No, assholes first,” I said.

  Jonas clucked his tongue, “Temper, temper, Sarah,” but he stepped out into the hall and headed down the stairs. I paused and looked back at Matt one more time then I followed him down the stairs.

  I shoved Jonas all the way down to the beach then slapped him across the face as hard as I could. “Don’t you ever, ever, do something like that again, Jonas. Do I make myself clear?”

  Jonas just stared at me as he rubbed his cheek. “What makes you think you can tell me what I can and cannot do?” he growled.

  “Because, Jonas, that’s what friends do,” I said. That stopped him cold.

  “Friends? What do you mean… friends?” he whispered.

  I walked down to the water and tried to wash the blood off my hands and arms. The shirt, however, was hopeless. “Friends, Jonas. I really believe you and I can be friends.”

  He looked down at his hands. “Sarah, I don’t have friends.”

  “I know that, Jonas, but you could, if you tried. I know you could.”.

 
Suddenly he smirked at me. “Oh, I get it. You’re trying to break me down. To make me believe you want to be friends, so you can ambush me. Nice try, Sarah.”

  I walked up so I was inches from his face. “Jonas, look at me. I’m not doing this to trick you. I really feel that, deep down, you’re a good person and that you and I could be great friends.”

  His head tilted to the side as he studied me. “You… you think I’m a good person? Nobody’s ever said that to me.” Suddenly he was in a rage. “Ahhh, damn it, no. I don’t believe you,” he growled then he grabbed me around the waist and took off flying. It scared the hell out of me. I had no idea where we were going… and I had no idea how fast we were going. All I know is we landed on a deserted island about ten minutes later. He pushed me onto my back in the sand. “Now you’re mine,” he growled as he pressed down onto me. I kept turning my head as he tried to kiss me.

  “Jonas, no,” I mumbled.

  “Sarah, yes,” he growled.

  “No, please, Jonas. Please don’t do this. I can’t be your friend if you do this.”

  He stopped for a second and looked at me. “Would you stop with this friend crap. You don’t want to be my friend, Sarah. I don’t know how to be a friend.”

  “I can teach you Jonas. I want to show you. Please?”

  He growled, but he pushed off of me. “What the hell are you up to, Sarah?” he groaned.

  “I’m not up to anything, Jonas. Just give me a chance to prove that to you, please?”

  He stood up and started pacing and mumbling to himself. Suddenly he stopped and stared at me. I didn’t realize it, but I had been picking at the now dried blood in my hair and on my shirt. “There’s a small hut about twenty yards behind you. You can have one of my shirts, if you want,” he said then he went back to pacing and mumbling. I stood up and walked to the hut.

  As I stepped inside, Matt’s voice popped into my head, ‘Sarah? Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay? Where are you?’ The words rolled out of him at a frantic pace, he was in a panic.

  ‘I’m here sweetheart and I’m okay.’

  ‘Thank God,’ he groaned, ‘but where is here?’

  ‘Oh… well, I’m not exactly sure. It’s a small, deserted island, that, at Jonas’ speed is about ten minutes away from you.’

  Dead silence… uh oh. ‘He… he took you?’

  ‘Well, yes, but I’m fine. Everything’s fine,’ I thought, knowing that wouldn’t convince him.

  ‘Which direction?’ he demanded.

  ‘Honey, I don’t want you to spook him. I’m really okay,’ I thought, but I knew there was no way I was going to win this fight.

  ‘Damn it, Sarah Pearl. Which direction?’

  ‘Well, I was scared, so my eyes were closed most of the time, but West, I think. Or maybe Northwest.’

  ‘You listen to me very carefully, Sarah. Are you listening?’

  ‘Yes, I’m listening.’

  ‘Okay, I’m getting in the boat right now and I’m going to head out. I can’t bring Carlos with me, because he needs to stay here with Maria. She’s too new to travel anywhere. So here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to link with Carlos and let him see everything you’re seeing – the island, the sand, the trees, the sun, the horizon, everything. Got it? You’re going to do that, and he’s going to let me know where you are. I will dock off shore and try to give you some space to do whatever it is you’re trying to do. But if he so much as looks at you funny, so help me God, you are not going to keep me away from you. Understand? You are not going to keep me away.’

  My breath caught in my chest as I felt the power of his love in my head. ‘Okay, honey. I love you so much,’ I thought while trying not to sob… that would probably send him over the edge that he was so precariously balanced on right now.

  ‘I love you too… and, please be careful,’ he thought. ‘I’m going to bring Carlos up to speed on this. Give me two minutes then contact him, okay?’

  ‘Got it,’ I thought… and then I gasped as I felt his mind pull away from mine.

  I had to get back to Jonas, so I quickly opened the trunk in the hut and found a t-shirt and a towel. There was so much dried blood on me that just changing my shirt wasn’t going to be enough. I had to be able to clean off. I walked down to the beach… and relaxed a bit when I found Jonas in the exact same place, still pacing and mumbling to himself.

  “Ummm, Jonas?” I whispered, startling him. He stopped and stared at me with a completely confused look on his face, like he had no idea I was on the island with him.

  “Could you please put your back to the water? I need to wash this blood off of me.”

  He grinned at me. “I’ve already seen you naked, you know,” he said.

  “Yes, I know. But that wasn’t by my choice. And I’d really appreciate it now if you’d give me a little privacy. Please?”

  “You’re going to trust me to keep my back turned while you’re naked?” he said as shock filled his face.

  “Yes, I am, Jonas.”

  He opened and closed his mouth several times, then gave up on finding any words. He turned his back to the waves and began mumbling to himself again. I tried to make out his words as I shed everything but my underwear and stepped into the water. “Why would she?” he said. “I don’t get it,” then “Could I really?” then “I don’t know how” and so on, back and forth his argument went. I dunked my head underwater, worked the dried blood out of my hair, brought my head out of the water… and froze. Jonas was standing at the edge of the water, staring at me, no, he was leering at me. I didn’t say a word, I just watched him, trying to figure out what he was going to do. I waited as he opened his mouth “I… I have to go feed,” he said.

  “I’m hungry too. Why don’t we go feed at my house?”

  “You want me… to… come to your house… to feed?” he said.

  “Yes I do. Actually, I’d like you to come and stay with us for a while. So we can get to know each other better and become friends.”

  He grinned at me. “I’d rather get to know you better right now,” he growled then he took a few steps towards me. Carlos was in my head, watching, which meant Matt was watching.

  ‘Don’t do anything yet, give me a minute,’ I thought, just in case Matt had found the island and was nearby waiting. “Jonas, will you hand me the towel please?” I said.

  He stopped, looked at the towel on the sand, looked back at me, back at the towel and back at me. My heart was pounding in my chest as I waited. I tried not to show my relief when he bent down and picked it up and held it open for me. I covered my chest with my hands, walked towards him then turned my back to him. I closed my eyes as I tried to will my body to not shake. Finally, I felt the towel drape across my shoulders and I heard him turn and walk back up to the dry sand and start pacing again. I wrapped the towel around me and walked up to my clothes. I turned my back to Jonas as I quickly pulled on my jeans and t-shirt, then I used the towel to dry my hair as I watched him. I spread the towel on the sand and sat down. I turned and held my hand out to him. “Come and sit down with me?” I said. I could see him wrestling with his decision. He took a tentative step towards me then stopped, then another, then stopped, and so on, until he was standing next to me. He stared at my hand like he was afraid to touch it. “It’s okay Jonas, it’s only my hand,” I said.

  He slowly put his hand in mine and sat down next to me. “What the hell is it about you, Sarah? Anybody else tries something like this and I’d know in a heartbeat they were full of shit. But you? There’s something different about you. Even though my mind is trying to tell me you’re lying, my gut, my heart, is telling me you’re not. Why is that? How do you do that?”

  “How do I do that? Because I’m telling you the truth, Jonas. The absolute truth. And you can feel that.”

  I could feel his eyes on me as he scrutinized, while I stared out at the water. If Carlos and Matt saw him sitting so close to me, they’d freak. “You’re playing a very dangerous game S
arah. I hope you know that.”

  “I’m not playing a game, Jonas. Now, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”

  “Me? Like what?”

  “Like how old are you?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Okay, how about what year were you born?”

  “1304,” he said.

  I tried not to react to that but, “Wow,” popped out, then I jumped to the next question, hoping I hadn’t offended him. “How old were you when you were turned?” I said.

  “Twenty-six,” he said.

  I turned and looked at him. He didn’t look twenty-six. He looked older than that. His twenty-six years must have been hard. “How did you get the scars on your face?” I asked.

  He reached up with his fingers and lightly touched them. “I got attacked by a dog when I was sixteen.”

  “Did you have a rough life before you were turned?”

  I could see anger and bitterness in his eyes when he responded. “Well, let’s see. I was an orphan living on the streets by the time I was ten. Does that answer your question?”

  “Ten? Wow, that must have been hard. How did you survive?”

  “I did what I had to,” he said. Okay, no specifics, I get it and I won’t push it.

  “When…” I began but he interrupted.

  “No, now it’s my turn. Tell me something about you. Tell me about your life before you were turned,” he said.

  “Well, I was married before.”

  “Divorced?”

  “No, widowed.”

  He stared for a second. “How old were you when he died?”

  “Thirty-two.”

  “How old was he?”

  “Thirty-six.”

  “Whoa. What happened?” he said.

  “Car accident,” I said, feeling the huge lump in my throat. In my head I was begging him to not ask more… but in my heart I knew he was going to. It wasn’t his fault… he didn’t know.

  “That’s too bad. Kids?” he said… and there it was. My chest did a little hiccup.

  “One. A son.”

  “And he is where?”

  “Gone. He was with his dad in that car accident,” I said. With more hiccups as I tried to keep the sobs at bay.