Love's Challenge (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #5) (11 page)

They waited, silently, with me in the room while Cameron developed the
films.  “Okay, let’s take a look at these,” he said as he walked in.  He put
the films up and turned on the lights.  “Hmmm, that’s what I thought.  Oooh,
that’s not good.”

“What, Doc?  What’s not good?” Matt said.

Cameron turned around and faced us.  “Five broken ribs and a fractured
pelvis.  And we need to stitch up those cuts on her leg.”

“Jesus,” Carlos whispered.

“It, that
thing
, fractured my pelvis?” I whispered.

Cameron picked up a pair of scissors and began cutting off my clothes. 
“Yep.  Now I could use your help holding her up while I wrap her ribs.” 
Cameron peeled open what was left of my clothing so that I was now laying
buck-assed naked on the table.  He turned and put the scissors away and pulled
a rolled bandage out of one of the drawers.  He turned around expecting the two
of them to be standing there ready to help but Carlos was looking away,
blushing and Matt was eye-balling Carlos.  Cameron had no time or patience for
this juvenile crap.  He rolled his eyes.  “Christ, there isn’t anything here
that you both haven’t already seen.  Do you want her to bleed out while the two
of you are standing here acting like idiots?”

The two of them quickly stepped up to either side of the bed.  Cameron
began showing him what he needed them to do.  “Okay.  One hand goes behind her
back, on the backside of her ribcage.  The other goes here, on the front of the
ribcage, just under the breast.  I will be lifting her head and the middle of
her back.  As I’m wrapping, lift your hand, then put it back down.  We’re
trying to keep her ribs from shifting.  Sarah?  This is going to hurt like
hell, but I need you to sit up as straight as you can, okay?  I’ll wrap as
quickly as I can, then we’ll lay you back down, got it?”

I nodded at him and clenched my teeth.  I felt hands going under my
back.  I watched as Carlos tried really hard not to look down.  Cameron peaked
over his shoulder.  “Shit, Carlos.  Firm, not gentle.  Do you want one of these
ribs to move and puncture her heart?  Firm,” he said as he pressed Carlos’ hand
down on my ribs.  “You too, Matthew.  Press firmly.  Good.”  Cameron moved
around and climbed up on the bed above my head.  He slid his arms under my head
and down the middle of my back until my head was cradled on his biceps.  “Okay,
are we ready now?  No, Carlos.  God damn it.  Matthew, look.  Carlos cannot
look away.  I need you both to watch what you’re doing to make sure her ribs
don’t shift.  So he’s going to be looking at her boobs, got it?  I don’t care
if you have a problem with that.  Just deal with it.  Carlos, don’t fucking
look away, got it?  Now, on three: one, two, three.  Good, good, that’s it. 
Straight, Sarah,” he said as he grabbed the bandage and started wrapping. 
“Straighter, Sarah.  Don’t slouch.”

“I’m fucking trying.  It hurts damn it.”

“I know it does, but I’m almost done.  Hang in there, Sarah.  Okay, guys,
now back down the same way.  Easy, easy.  Good.  Now she needs to feed.  Will
one of you go get her some blood while I fix up her leg?”

Carlos and Matt looked at each other.  “I’ll go,” Carlos said.

I looked up at Matt.  “Honey?  Can you go grab your laptop?  I want to
figure out what that thing said to me.”

“Sure, Sarah,” he said but he didn’t move.  He just stood there caressing
my forehead.

“Matt?  What’s wrong?”

“I – I just hate seeing you in pain.  I should be mad at you for talking
me into this shit but all I want to do right now is make you feel better.  I
love you so much.”  He leaned down and gave me a gentle kiss.

“I love you, too,” I whispered.  After a few seconds he finally turned
and walked out the door.  I winced as Cameron began working on my leg.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“It’s okay” I said.  I watched him work.  I could tell that he wanted to
say something to me, so I just waited.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Sarah,” he mumbled.

“Shit.  I can’t help what I’m doing, Cameron.  I tried to keep it from
happening.  Really I did.  We both did but it was just too damn strong.” I
said.

“Much too strong,” Carlos said as he walked in the room with an arm full
of blood.  I smiled at him.  He set the pints on the nightstand, then leaned
down and kissed my forehead.  “Hi, beautiful,” he said as he brought a pint up
to my mouth.  I quickly drained all eight.  

Carlos stood there holding my hand for a minute until Matt walked in the
door with his laptop.  He glared at Carlos for a split second then his eyes
softened.  He walked to the other side of the bed and set the laptop on the
tray.  “Okay, what did he say, Sarah?”

I squeezed my eyes shut.  “Ummm, I know he said ‘Decorus proprius.’”

“That means ‘beautiful specimen’,” he said, trying to suppress a grin.

“Great.  Now I’m a specimen.  Marvelous.  Okay, then he said, ‘Is unus
est mei.’”

“Ummm, ‘This one is mine.’”

“The last thing it said was, ‘I’m iens ludo per is unus promoris.’”

Matt chuckled slightly, “I’m not sure you want to hear this one, honey.”

I glared at him.  He snickered again, “Well, that means, ‘I’m going to
play with this one first.’”

“Well, why not?  Everybody else sees me as their play thing, why not him
too?  Cameron, when the hell can I get out of here?” I snapped.

“Two days, Sarah.  Maybe three.”

“I need to learn some Latin”

“Sarah, you’re not going to try to
talk
to that thing?” Carlos
said.

“Like hell I’m not.  I’m going to get that thing to tell me where it lives. 
That’s what I’m gonna do.”

All three of them grinned at me.  Derek poked his head in the door then
quickly looked anywhere but in the room:  I was still lying naked on the bed
while Cameron stitched my leg, which all of us in the room had all forgotten. 
Carlos grabbed a gown from the drawer behind him and draped it across me as he
smiled at me.  “What is it, Derek?” Matt said.

“Ummm, sorry to interrupt.  But that thing is waking up.”

Instinctively I tried to sit up.  “Ahhhh,” I cried out in pain

“Sarah!” they all yelled at once.

“Sorry,” I gasped, “I forgot.  Matt, can you bring up the security camera
that’s outside his cell for me on your laptop?  I want to see what’s
happening.  If I have a question for that thing, I’ll pop into your heads and
have you ask them.  Leave the Latin translator up too.”

They both nodded.  Matt pushed the tray with the laptop closer so I could
reach it.  He kissed my cheek, Carlos squeezed my hand then they both ran out
the door behind Derek.  I watched the thing on the monitor as it silently
studied the cage it was in.  It was looking for a weakness.  It was looking for
a way out.  I shivered as I typed a question into the Latin translator.  I
reached out to Matt,
‘Here’s the first thing I want you to say to it: 
Operor vos narro English?’

‘Honey, do you really think it speaks English?’

‘How did you know that’s what I asked?’

‘Not too hard to figure out on that one.’

‘Oh, well, it’s worth a shot, isn’t it?’

I watched on the monitor as all of them came to a stop near the cage. 
The thing quietly studied all of them then he said, “Ego mos tantum compello
female.”

‘Honey?’
Matt thought.

I typed as fast as I could,
‘Ummm, he says he’ll only speak to the
female.  Say this:  Is est vulnero tamen is can animadverto vos.  Then point to
the camera.’

Matt repeated what I said.  I shivered as that thing looked into the
camera and grinned.

‘What did I just say, honey?’
Matt thought then he jumped when the
thing spoke again.

“Meus sperma mos vigorous suus,” as it began stroking it’s shaft and
becoming hard.

A shiver of fear shot down my spine as I typed what it said into the
computer.  “Cute,” I muttered out loud then I began to fill Matt in on what it
said:
‘You told him I was injured but that I could see him.  Then he said
that his sperm would heal me.  Ask him this:  Operor vos have a nomen?  You
just asked him what his name is’

“EGO sum accersitus Aquila,” he said as he, thankfully, stopped playing
with himself.

‘Okay.  His name is Aquila.  That means eagle in Latin.  That
makes sense.  Ask him this: Qua operor vos ago?  You just asked him where he
lives.’

“EGO ago per meus abbas.”

‘Okay, he lives with his father.  We already knew that.  Ask
him:  Qua est vestri abbas domus?  Where is your father’s home?’

“In mons montis.  In vetus terra.  EGO mos refero haud magis questions
insquequo EGO can animadverto female,” he said then he turned around, sat, and
closed himself up in his wings.

‘Honey?’

‘He said: In the mountains.  In the old country.  Then he
said he wouldn’t answer any more questions until he could see me.’

‘Okay, we need to tranquillize him anyway.  To get some skin
and blood samples to figure out how best to kill them.’

“Derek, you got the gun ready?”

I watched as Derek took aim and fired.  Aquila turned around and screamed
at him.  He threw himself against the bars.  For a second I didn’t think they
were going to hold.  Derek fired a second dart into him.  “I’m iens neco vos
totus (I‘m going to kill you all),” he bellowed then he backed up and sank to
the floor.  Slowly his head began to droop.  He looked desperately into the
camera then fell over onto his side.  The look he gave me almost made me feel
sorry for him.  Almost. 

‘Honey.  I need to see the video from the priest.  Hurry,
please!’
I thought.

Matt looked into the camera.  “I’ll be there in a second.  Derek, help me
get the blood and tissue samples from this fucker.”

‘Be careful, Matt.  Please, be careful.’

He turned and smiled into the camera.  Shit, I thought, now is not the
time for him to play daredevil.  I threw my mind into Carlos,
‘Watch out for
him please.  That thing could be faking.  It could still be awake.’

‘I know, Sarah.  That’s why I’m standing here with the
tranquillizer gun.’

‘Can you even shoot a gun?’

He turned, smiled and flipped me off in the camera,
‘It’s been a
couple hundred years, but yeah, Miss smart-ass, I can shoot a gun.’

‘I should’ve known.  You seem to be an expert at a lot of
things.’

‘Why, thank you, kind lady.  But you haven’t even come close
to experiencing all of my skills yet.  Just you wait and see.’

‘And you haven’t experienced all of my many talents yet
either, sir.’

I smiled when I felt the shiver move through his body.

‘Pay attention now.  He’s going in.’

‘I am.  But how do you do that?’

‘What?  Switch from flirting with you to worrying about my
husband in the blink of an eye?  I don’t know how.  I just know that I have
to.  I just do it.’

We both watched as Matt and Derek worked quickly to collect their
samples.  We all breathed a sigh of relief when they came out and locked the cell
door.  Derek took the gun from Carlos while Matt handed the samples to Dr. David. 
“Troy, you take first watch.  Someone will be down to relieve you in four
hours.  And stay the hell away from the cage.  That thing could snap your neck
in an instant,” Matt said.

Troy’s eyes were huge as he nodded and sat down in the chair against the
far wall.

Matt and David made their way through the halls toward the clinic. 
Carlos popped into my head,
‘I’ll come by and visit you later.  When it’s
not so, ummm, crowded.  Okay?’

‘Please do.’

‘Love you, Sarah’

‘I love you, too, Carlos.’

“Hey, honey.  How’re you feeling?” Matt said as he walked into the room.

“Better, now that you’re here,” I smiled.  Seriously, I thought, how the
hell
do
I do that?  He leaned down and gave me a kiss.

He pulled the tray out and began typing on the laptop.  “Now, here’s the
video that the priest sent.  What exactly are you looking for?”

“I’m not sure,” I said as it began playing.  I purposefully avoided
watching what was happening to Maggie in the center of the screen.  I was
looking at the walls in the background.  “Pause it!” I pointed to the screen. 
“Can you zoom in on that?”

“On what, honey?”

“There.  It looks like a sign on the wall”

“Sarah, it looks like red paint on the, oh, shit.  It looks like it says:
‘Iesire.’  What the hell does that mean?”

“Matt, it’s obviously foreign.  Type it into a translator.”

“I am, I am.  Give me a second.  Okay, here we go.  It means ‘exit’ in
Romanian.”