Love's Challenge (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #5) (8 page)

“It’s eleven?  Already?  Okay, give me a minute to put away all this
data,” he said as he began straightening up the mess of papers on his desk,
winking at me as he did.  I blushed.  I walked behind him, took one more look
at the map and then slid the bookcase in front of it.  Something about it
bothered me, but I wasn’t sure what yet.  “I’ll be done in about thirty
minutes.  I’ll come find you?”  Matt said.

“I’d like that, sweetheart.  I’ll either be in the kitchen or the
clinic,” I said.

“Okay,” he said as he kissed my forehead.  I kissed the scar on his hand,
smiled at him, then walked out.  I meandered down the hall.  I really wasn’t in
a hurry to get anywhere.  But as I made the turn to step into the kitchen, I
froze.  Carlos was sitting, alone, at the table, with his back to me and his
chin resting on his hands.  I knew he hadn’t seen me.  I wanted to turn and
run, but I couldn’t. 

“Hi, Sarah,” he mumbled because, without looking he knew I was there.  “She’s
gone now, gone for good.”

I hesitated.  Shit, there goes that distraction.  “I’m sorry, Carlos,” I
said as I stepped into the room. 

“I think we both knew it would happen sooner or later,” he said.

As I headed for the fridge, I couldn’t stop my feet from guiding my body
towards him.  I leaned down and kissed the top of his head.  He reached up and
touched my hand.  “I miss you,” he whispered.

“I know.  I miss you too,” I said then I forced myself to move on to the
fridge.

“Is that his shirt you’re wearing?” he said.

I nodded as I grabbed two pints and put them in the microwave.  “Yeah, it
is,” I said.

He smiled slightly.  “You smell like him.  Good move, Matt,” he said.

I smiled, grabbed my meal and sat down at the far end of the table.  I
drank and then we just stared at each other for a few minutes. 

“I’m sorry, Carlos,” I said.

“For what?” he said.

“For Maria.  For pushing her on you.  That was more selfishness on my
part than anything.  You don’t belong with anyone.  I knew that.  But it was
easier for me to fight this pull if you were with her.  I’m sorry for that,” I
said.

“I do belong with someone.  I belong with you,” he said.

“But not for forever.  You could never be with one person forever.  Not
even me.  You get bored.  You know that.  I know that.  Matt knows that.  He
and I belong together.  You and I will always be… well, we’ll always have this
pull, this connection.  And sometimes it will be too strong to keep us apart, I
know that.  But for the most part, I’ll be with Matt.”

He exhaled and dropped his forehead to the table.  “Oh, thank God,” he
said.

“What?”

He looked at me with so many emotions in his eyes that I wanted to look
away.  Relief, pain, love, lust, longing, just about everything was there.  “I
thought you were going to tell me that was it.  That what we shared in that hotel
room in Texas was never going to happen again.  That the best experience I’ve
ever had in my life was a one-time thing,” he said.

“As much as I tell myself it should be, I think we both know that it
wasn’t.  I’m going to fight, Carlos.  I’m fighting right now.  But I’m not
strong enough to fight this forever.  Nobody is strong enough to fight this
forever,” I said.

“So it isn’t just me.  I thought I was the only one sitting here having
to force myself to stay away from you,” he said.

“No, it’s not just you.  God, believe me, it’s not just you,” I said as I
squeezed my eyes shut.

“Shit, Sarah.  What do we do now?” he groaned.

“We keep busy.  We bury ourselves in work.  We put up distractions.  For
as long as we can.” I said.

“Damn it, I want you so much it hurts,” he said.

“What do you want me to say, Carlos?  How am I supposed to respond to
that?  I want you too.  But I owe it to Matt to fight this as long as I can. 
You owe it to Matt to fight it,” I said.

“I know.  You’re right.  And I’m trying,” he said.

Suddenly Matt stepped into the room.  He hesitated for a moment, looking
at both of us.  Then he walked toward the fridge.  “Afternoon, Carlos,” he
said.

“Matt,” Carlos said.

As Matt’s meal was heating in the microwave, and with his back to us,
Matt said, “So, you keeping your hands off my wife today?”

Carlos and I locked eyes then we both slightly smiled.  “So far,” he
said.

“Good, let’s try to keep it that way,” Matt said as he sat down next to
me.

Thus began their strange daily ritual for the next few months.  Almost
every morning, when they would invariably run into each other, Matt would say,
“Morning, Carlos.  You keeping your hands off my wife today?”

Carlos would answer, “So far.”

Matt would respond with, “Good, let’s try to keep it that way,” and then
they’d get on with the rest of their day.  It was strange.  It was sad.  It was
almost funny.  But it became the way that they worked through the anger and
tried to become friends again.  We all worked non-stop for two months – me in
the clinic, Carlos on the website and Matt on security and the disappearances. 
Every once in a while I would wander into his office and see more pins on the
map.  But I hadn’t been in there for a few weeks.  And I had no idea how
quickly it had escalated until the day we came back from a week-long, beautiful
break, at the island – which brought us to staring at Bahiti and waiting for
her to continue…

Chapter
Seven

“We called them Seraphim’s.  They were Sekhmet’s creations. Sekhmet was
the original vampire and an Egyptian goddess. Sekhmet was jealous of Ma’at, the
Egyptian Goddess of truth, balance and order.  She was a beautiful, winged,
human creature.  Sekhmet hypnotized one of Ma’at’s lovers one night.  He slept
with her and she bit him and then made him drink some of her blood.  The virus
penetrated his seed and when he went home that night, he impregnated Ma’at. 
The result was this human-vampire creature with wings.  It was a male.  It had
fangs and fed on blood, but it kept some human qualities too. For one thing, it
was very seductive.  When he grew up and became a man, he took many lovers. 
And all of them produced more of these creatures.  They became more and more
dangerous.  They were difficult to control because they were extremely
powerful.  When Sekhmet realized it was out of control, that’s when she decided
to shut down – she closed herself up in her tomb and went into what’s basically
a vampire hibernation.  It took several hundred years, but myself and several
dozen vampires who had dedicated themselves to eliminating them were finally
able to hunt them all down and kill them.  But with today’s advances in science
and with the right DNA, someone might be able to recreate them.” she said.

“What kind of DNA?” I whispered.

“Sekhmet’s, Ma’at’s and strong vampire blood,” she said.

“Vampire blood, shit.  Of course, now it makes sense,” I gasped as I ran
into Matt’s office.

“What, Sarah?  What are you seeing?” Matt said as they all crowded into
the office behind me.  I had slid the bookcase to the side and was staring at
the map.

“What percentage of the missing vampires are female?” I said.

“I’m not sure.  Why, Sarah?” he said.

“God damn it, Matt.  What percentage?” I snapped.

He started looking through the list of names, counting in his head. 
“Shit, Sarah.  It’s at least ninety percent.  How did we miss that?” he said.

“Crap.  He’s done it.  He’s figured out how to impregnate female vampires,”
I said.

“What the hell are you talking about, Sarah.  Who’s done it?” he said
then he followed my finger to where it was pointing on the map.  “There isn’t a
pin there, Sarah.  What are you pointing at?  Oh, shit.  The priest?” he said
as he saw my finger on Guaymas, Mexico.  “The priest who helped us when we were
searching for the clues to how to turn you into a vampire?  That’s why he
wanted my blood?  He was trying to figure out how to make these things?  You
mean… you mean… one of them could be… mine?” he whispered.

“In a manner of speaking, because he could have mixed your DNA with other
DNA, yes,” I said.

“Holy shit,” he said then he quickly turned to Derek.  “Get Carlos in
here right away.  We have to post a warning on the site (a vampire news website
that we created and Carlos was responsible for),” he said.

I squeezed my eyes shut.  “Don’t bother, he’s on his way.  Something’s
happened,” I said then I opened my eyes and looked at Matt.  Yeah, I can feel
him.  I can’t help it.  We all heard his footsteps as he ran down the hall.  We
were staring at the door when he burst in. 

“You guys have to see this,” he said as he ran to Matt’s computer. 
“Someone just sent this video to us.  I haven’t watched the whole thing, yet. 
But what I did see is bad, really bad.”  We all stared in horror as the image
flashed on the screen. 

“That’s Maggie, isn’t it?” I said, staring at the frightened vampire girl
strapped to the table.  She was staring at the camera and kept looking at her
swollen, very pregnant belly.  I was standing between Matt and Carlos and I
instinctively put my hands in both of theirs.  We all needed each other’s
strength right now. 

Maggie started speaking, “Why?  How?  How is this possible?” she croaked
out.  “What is that?  Oh my God, it hurts,” she said then she arched her back
and started screaming as her belly began tearing open.  Something from the
inside was using its claws to tear its way out.  It poked its ugly head out and
looked around as Maggie finally, thankfully, fell silent.  It pushed its little
arms through the opening in her belly and made it larger.  The sound of her
flesh tearing was almost too much to bear.  It sent a chill down my spine.  The
creature squatted in the opening and stretched its wings then it turned and
reached into her stomach. 

“Oh my God, no,” I whispered.

“What, Sarah?  What the hell is it doing?” Carlos said then he gasped.

“Her heart.  It’s going to eat her heart,” I choked out.

The camera panned around, and that’s when we saw his face.  The priest
began speaking to the camera.  “This is my world now.  I control it.  These are
my creations.  They will stop at nothing to protect me.  It’s a new world and
you have no possible hope of stopping me from taking over.”  The camera panned
around again and zoomed into the distance.  It was a warehouse filled with
captive vampires.  I saw at least two dozen pregnant females.  The screen went
black and I dropped my head and sobbed.

“Shit.  What do we do?  How do we stop him?” Carlos whispered.

I inhaled deeply several times then I turned around and faced both of
them.  “First of all, we study that video frame by frame.  Zoom in on the
walls.  Maybe there are some signs or words that will help identify where he
is.  Then we have to capture one of those things and figure out the best way to
kill it,” I said.

“Capture it?  How, Sarah?” Matt said.

“Using bait,” I said, locking my eyes with his.

It took him a second, but then his eyes flew open.  “Oh, hell no,” he
said.  “You are not going outside and waiting for one of those things to grab
you.  Sarah, what if we miss?  What if it takes you?  I’m not risking that.  I
can’t lose you.”

“Then don’t miss,” I said

“Sarah, please don’t do this,” Carlos whispered.

“Look, guys.  I appreciate the concern from both of you.  But we need one
of those things to figure out how to kill it.  And those things are only around
if they’re capturing a vampire.  A female vampire.  You got any better ideas?”

Matt and Carlos looked at each other.  Carlos shrugged his shoulders.  “I
got nothing, man.  She’s your wife.  You talk her out of it,” he said.

“Well she’s your…” Matt snapped, but then he stopped himself when he
heard me gasp.  “She’s your
best friend
.  You talk her out of it,” he
said as he glared at me.

Bahiti and Derek glanced at each other.  I’m pretty sure they didn’t miss
what had just happened. 

“Look, nobody is talking me out of anything.  Now, let’s figure out the
best way to capture it.  I’m thinking a large, really strong net.  I could be
in the courtyard.  You guys could be waiting on the roof.  When you see it
swoop down to grab me, fly over and pin it, and me, in the net,” I said.

“But you’ve seen the claws and teeth on those things, Sarah.  Who knows
what it’ll do to you before we can get you out of the net,” Matt said. 

Carlos looked over at him.  “You’ve seen one of those things?  As an
adult?  When?  Where?”

“Derek, will you please show him the footage?  I need to try to talk some
sense into my wife,” Matt said as he stared at me.  The three of them walked
out and closed the door.

“Matt, you’re not going to talk…” I began.  But he pulled me into his
arms and began giving me one of those kisses.  I didn’t even have a chance to
brace myself.  It had been so long since he’d given me one of these.  Maybe
there was some other way to capture one, I thought.  Maybe I didn’t have to do
this.  My head was swimming.  No, no, no, I can’t let him do this.  A
compromise, perhaps?  He finally pulled away and pressed his forehead to mine. 
Shit, this had to have been so hard for him.  I mean, thirty seconds ago I was
holding Carlos’ hand.  I know he saw that.  He saw that and then he still
turned around and did this.  How could I not let him have this moment?  I took
a step backward, and almost went down to the ground.  My legs felt like Jell-O. 
I steadied myself on the desk and smiled at him.  “How–” I began then cleared
my throat.  The voice wasn’t quite back yet.  Matt placed his hand on my
cheek.  Yeah, that’s not helping.