Malina's Revenge (12 page)

“For me too, sweetheart. For me too,” he said as he leaned in and gave me a soft, gentle, “friendship” kiss on the lips. “Now, let"s get you home before somethinghappens that we both regret, okay?”
I placed my hand on his cheek. “I"d never regret it, Carlos. I"d hate myself and I"d feel incredibly guilty, but I"d never regret it.”
He grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it. “I love you so much, kiddo.”
“I love you too. But you"re right. Let"s go home.”
I wrapped my arms tightly around him for the flight home. I didn"t need to anymore, I was getting much better at flying on my own, but I wanted to feel his body pressing against mine for just a little longer. It wasn"t fair to him, because he"d be in an aroused state from us bouncing in the wind and then I"d just walk away, but I just couldn"t help it… and neither could he. When we were a few minutes away from home we both knew that it finally had to stop.
“Sarah, please. I can"t let anyone see me like this. He might be waiting for you,” he whispered. I hesitated for just a moment, then nodded, grabbed his hand and flew next to him. We landed in the dark and deserted courtyard and held hands as we made our way inside. I suddenly felt totally exhausted, not from the training but from the constant battle that was fighting shoulder within me. I leaned my head on his as we walked through the halls. He dropped my hand and wrapped his arm around me, kissing me softly on the forehead. We turned into the kitchen and separated… Matt was sitting at the table with his back to us. I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. I kissed his cheek. He reached his arms up and laced them behind the back of my neck.
“I missed you so much today, Sarah,” he whispered. There was an odd calmness… or maybe even asadness… coming from him.
“I missed you too, sweetheart,” I said. “Are you okay?”
He took a deep breath then said, “I"m fine, especially now that you are here. I saw the others come back a little while ago. I take it you two had something else to work on?”
Carlos set two pints in front of each of us and sat down across from us at the table, watching me.
“Yep. Carlos thought we should work on me passing orders to him silently to make sure he reacted as quickly as he does to spoken commands.”
“And, how did you do?” Matt said to Carlos.
“Pretty good, I think. Sarah?”
“He did very well. His reactions were almost as fast as spoken commands,” I said.
“That"s good. Now, are you mine now or do I have to wait a little longer?” Matt said.
I frowned at his question. What the hell did he really mean by that? Was there something else in that question or was I just being paranoid. My eyes flicked to Carlos for a second, then back to Matt. “Honey, I"m always yours. Don"t you know that?” I said.
He tilted his head and smiled up at me, but it wasn"t his usual smile, it wasn"t a smile that reached his eyes. “Of course I do. I just wasn"t sure if you had more work to do with Carlos or if you were done for the night.”
“Oh. We"re done until tomorrow.”
“Good. Then how about flying with me? I want to show you something,” Matt said.
“Sure honey. Anything you want.”
He stood up, turned and wrapped me in his arms. He hesitated for just a moment, then leaned in to give me what began as a tender, loving kiss, then changed to a hungry, longing, almost desperate kiss. Stop it, Sarah, I told myself, your mind is playing tricks on you. Stop reading stuff into this. Everything is fine.
Carlos stood up. “I"m going to bed. I"ll see you guys tomorrow. What time in the morning, Sarah?”
“Ummm, ten o"clock. Okay?”
“Sure thing. „Night all.”
“Good night, Carlos,” we both said. Matt grabbed my hand and led me down the halls and out into the courtyard. He wrapped his arms around me and began kissing me as we began to rise into the air. He flew east, parallel with the mountain, for a few minutes then touched down by a pool at the base of a waterfall. Because he had been kissing me the entire time, I barely noticed we had landed and I sure in the hell didn"t want to stop kissing him to look around because I was completely turned on by that point.
“Sarah,” he mumbled into my lips, but that didn"t stop me. He placed his hands on either side of my face and pulled away. “Sarah, honey. Stop for just a second and look around.”
I opened my eyes and looked at him for a moment. I was thinking he was crazy for making me stop. Then I eventually rolled my eyes and looked around. “That"s a beautiful waterfall, honey. Now, kiss me again,” I said.
But he shook his head. “No, honey. Touch the water.”
“Are you trying to frustrate the hell out of me?” I said, crossing my arms across my chest and pouting like a spoiled child. His eyes danced as he smiled at me this time. He didn"t say a word, he just waited. “Fine, I"ll touch the damn freezing cold water,” I said then I leaned down… and gasped. “Holy shit. It"s warm. This water is friggin" hot.”
I turned back around to him and my heart jumped in my chest. He was beaming at me– and he was completely naked. “Care to join me?” he said. I couldn"t shed my clothes fast enough.

Almost every day for the next three and a half weeks Carlos, myself and the others practiced, while Matt waited for us at home. Day after day, hour after hour, we practiced until we were exhausted, but we felt like a well-oiled machine. I just had to hope that nobody panicked when the moment arrived. Right now, each one of them reacted instantly to my words. They were perfect. Of course, practicing every day meant that every day Carlos and I fought this damn thing between us that was trying to change our friendship into something else. The more we practiced, the easier the fighting got, but the harder it became to stifle our growing attraction. We worked at opposite ends of the room whenever possible. And as soon as we returned to the fortress, we made sure that Matt was around one or both of us all the time.

In between practices, Matt and I met with Missy to go over the party details. And in between all of that, he and I made time for each other, with Matt continuing to amaze me with his seemingly endless supply of new ways to excite and totally satisfy me.

The night before the party, I was snuggling with Matt, and again trying to catch my breath. “Honey?” I said.

“I need you to be in our room at ten tomorrow morning, just for an hour or so, okay?” I said
I felt him tense up and I felt awful. I turned to meet his eyes. “I"m sorry honey,” I said. “I hate this just as much as you do, but you know it"s necessary.”
“I know,” he groaned.
“I"ll tell you what,” I said, “let me see if Carlos can handle this part alone. If he can, I"ll stay in here with you, sound good?”
“If you promise to keep me busy, it sounds great,” he grinned.
I put my head down on his chest and started thinking about tomorrow. “Are you nervous?”
“Yes,” he whispered. “I remember all too well what happened to you the last time you fought her. I almost lost you. Now I have to be ready for a fight that I can"t prepare for, because I could be the one to hurt you, so yes, I"m nervous and terrified about tomorrow.”
“Me too,” I whispered.
We lay like that for the rest of the night, both of us unable to sleep. Finally, when the clock clicked to four a.m., I decided that I had had enough worry. I quickly sat up. “Okay,” I said. “That"s it. I"m not doing this anymore.”
“What?” Matt said. “Not doing what?”
I looked at Matt. “Will you get him in here please?”
“Now? Sarah, honey, it"s four o"clock in the morning. He"s probably sleeping,” Matt said.
“No, he"s not,” I said. “He"s lying there awake and worrying just like us.”
“Then why don"t you get him?”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “No, it has to be you,” I mumbled.
Matt stared at me for a second then closed his eyes. Just a few seconds later our door flew open. “What"s wrong!? Is she here now?” Carlos said, as his eyes darted around the room.
“Calm down, Carlos,” I said. “No, she"s not here. Sit down, okay?”
“Okay,” he said hesitantly, as he eyed me.
“Look,” I said, “there is too much of this brooding crap going on. Today used to be my birthday, today is now my wedding anniversary. It"s supposed to be a happy day, but instead we"re all sitting around worrying. You two are going to stop that right now. Because what I really want to know right now, right this second, is what are we going to do tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow?” they both said.
“Yes, tomorrow,” I said. “After we"ve beaten her. What fun, outrageous things are we going to do together tomorrow? What are we going to do that"s going to make me laugh my ass off? Because, what I really need right now is to laugh until it hurts. Things have been way too serious and tense lately and I don"t like it.”
Matt and Carlos looked at each other and Matt nodded to him slightly. It was Carlos who spoke first, “Well, actually Sarah, I"m leaving.”
“What?” I gasped as I frantically looked at the two of them. Now it was my turn to panic. “You can"t leave me, I mean you can"t leave yet, Carlos. You just can"t. Are you trying to make me cry? You are not leaving,so do not tell me that.”
Matt put his arm around me. “Relax honey, it"s only for a few days. And we"re going to meet up with him, ummm, somewhere. It"s just that he needs to go ahead of us to get everything ready.”
“Oh,” I said as I took a deep breath. “Go where? To get ready for what?”
“That, my dear,” Matt said as he tightened his arms around me, “you do not get to know yet.” Then he playfully kissed my cheek.
I turned and glared at him. “I"m not sure I"m liking this,” I said.
“Oh you will,” Carlos said.
“Well, will it be fun? Will I be laughing?” I said.
“Fun, exciting, surprising, and everything else,” Matt said.
“And we"ll all be together?” I said before I could stop myself. I saw Carlos smile as he looked away.
“Yes, we"ll all be together. Most of the time anyways. I would like you all to myself in the bedroom, if that"s not too much to ask,” Matt said, smiling.
“Well, duh. Of course it will just be you and I in the bedroom,” I said as Carlos and I stole a quick glance at each other. “If you tell me we"re all going to be together then I suppose I can live with your secrecy and surprise. But not for long. You know how I hate to be the last one to know something, Matt. Thisis going to eat me up inside.”
Carlos looked at Matt. “You know she"s going to try to get it out of you.”
Matt grinned. “I sure as hellhope so.”
We spent the rest of the morning talking, laughing and just enjoying being three best friends again. We all headed to the kitchen at nine-thirty and grabbed a big breakfast– five pints each in order to be at our strongest. “Hey, Carlos, can you handle the ten o"clock appointment by yourself?” I said.
“The ten? Oh, that one. Sure. Why? Do you have something else to do?” he said.
“Not exactly,” I said as I looked at Matt. “I just feel bad that Matt keeps getting left out of everything, so I wanted to stay with him.”
“Oh, okay,” he said as he stood up from the table. “I guess I better go get dressed then.” He headed out into the hall, glancing back at me once and smiling sadly just before he headed out the door.
“Did Trevor paint the numbers on the walls for the dancing game?” I called to Carlos, who flashed me a thumbs up as he went out.
“The dancing game?” Matt said.
“You"ll see,” I said as I patted his leg. “Now,” I stood and held out my hand, “I believe it"s time for me to keep you busy.”
We finally emerged from our room at twelve-thirty– a full thirty minutes before the party was set to begin. We walked down the hall and turned into the kitchen. Carlos was waiting for us there and he stood as we got close. With Matt on my left, Carlos on my right and my hands clasped in both of theirs, I looked straight ahead. “Ready?” I said.
“Ready,” they both said. The three of us walked forward and through the doors into the main hall.

“Sarah!” Missy cried . “You guys are early.” “I know. I thought you might need some help setting up,” I said, as I looked around the room. We weren"t the only early arrivers. Stacy, Rashidi, Maggie, Jared, Bahiti, Billy, Trevor and Anne were all here too, ready and waiting. I smiled at them.
“Everything"s all ready,” Missy said. “I don"t want you guys doing anything todaybut having fun.”
The three of us looked at each other, wishing that fun was all we were going to have, but we all knew that there was going to be much more than fun, a lot more. The crowd quickly grew, and you could tell that everyone was more than ready to have a good time. The music started up and folks started dancing in the middle of the room. There was a lot of laughter and most were having a great time, most but not all. I sat between Matt and Carlos, partially hidden, so that others wouldn"t notice my changed eyes as I scanned the room. They watched me and waited, and so did the others. They were spread throughout the room, pretending to be in conversations, but their eyes were trained on me and only me– the six who were ready to fight and the other six (Johnny, Mark, Simone, Cara, Hector and Suzanne) who were ready to close the doors from the outside and lock us all in as soon as I gave the word.
Thirty minutes after the party started I was beginning to get worried. I was beginning to think that she might not show, or that she would but that we had figured everythingwrong. “Carlos?” I said.
“Yes, Sarah? What is it? Is she here?”
I shook my head. “No. Ramon is still in custody, right? Were you ever able to get anything out of him? Anything at all?”
“No, nothing. Not a goddamned thing. Why?”
“Maybe we figured it wrong. Maybe she"s not coming at all tonight. Maybe she"s, maybe she"s, hell, where the hell is she?” I said.
“Relax, Sarah. She"s coming. You know she is. She"s probably just waiting until the party is in full swing, hoping that everyone will be distracted,” Carlos said.
“He"s right, honey. Here, dance with me,” Matt said as he stood up.
“But, Matt. I need to stay up here on the platform so I can see the entire room,” I said.
“So? Dance with me up here then,” he said as he pulled me to my feet, wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me tight. My breath caught in my chest as I looked at him.
“I love you so much,” I whispered, trying so hard to quell the guilty feelings that threatened to overwhelm me when I spotted Carlos out of the corner of my eye. This man, right here, in my arms. This man who loved me with all of his beautiful heart. Who always makes me smile. Who makes me feel desired every minute of every day. Who I love with all my heart. Who I want more and more each time I look at him. Who makes me feel complete. This man is it. He"s all I need. There is nothing lacking in our relationship. Yet, why was I feeling this attraction to another? pull toward Carlos? Why this incredibly strong His best friend.
My
best friend. There is definitely something wrong with me, because it sure wasn"t something that Matt was doing or not doing that was leading me to Carlos. This was me, all me. I am seriously fucked up.
“I love you too, honey. Now, here. Look over my shoulder,” he said. And I did. I rested my chin on his shoulder, and looked directly at Carlos. Yep, seriously fucked up.
“Shit,” I muttered as I squeezed my eyes shut for a second.
“What? Is she here?” Matt whispered as every muscle in his body went tense.
“Sorry, no. I"m just really on edge right now. It"s wigging me out,” I whispered.
“I know, hun. I am too. I feel completely blind here, and totally unprepared,” he said.
“I know sweetheart. And I"m so sorry. Damn it, I"m so fucking sorry,” I sobbed. I wasn"t only apologizing for keeping him in the dark. I was trying to apologize for
everything
. And he knew it.
His hands gently cradled my face as he locked his eyes with mine. “I know, Sarah. I know.” Then his mouth closed on mine and the room went silent for a moment as he kissed me. Not now, my mind screamed at me. Not now, we"ve got work to do. I can"t get distracted now. Everyone was counting on me. I opened my eyes and peaked around the room. Everything looked completely normal. Suddenly something caught my eye from the back of the room.
‘She’s here,’
I thought to both of them.
‘Where?’
they thought.
‘Back of the room, left door,’
I thought.
Carlos stood up and clapped his hands a few times. “Everybody,” he called as Missy stopped the music, “can I please have your attention? It"s time for the dancing game. Come on, it"ll be fun. Grab your partner and please move around to the edges of the room.”
I knew that meant that the six trained fighters were still in the center of the room and the six guards were now in place next to the doors.
‘How many?’
Carlos thought.
‘Ten so far, in two columns of five each. They’re stopped right behind Billy and Trevor. Can you let them know?’
‘Done,’
he thought and I saw Billy and Trevor grow tense as they waited for their signal.
‘How many now?’
‘Unless she’s got more waiting outside for some reason, thirty. We might have to pull the alarm a little sooner than we planned,’
I thought.
‘We’ll see. We want to avoid that as long as possible– it’ll make everybody slippery and tougher to grab. Where’s the bitch now?’
he thought, and I smiled at the sinister grin that seemed to be permanently embedded on his face right now.
I scanned the room, panicking for a second when I couldn"t find her.
‘I’m not sure. I can’t find, ah, got her,’
I thought,
‘hovering near the ceiling at the top left corner. She’s watching us and oh God you should see the evil grin on her face. I can’t wait to beat it off of her.’
Carlos chuckled from his seat.
I watched as Malina slowly floated down to the middle of the room. I heard the screams begin as she materialized out of nowhere. “Well hello everyone. Hate what you"ve done with the place while I was gone, Sarah,” she said then she turned her wicked gaze to Matt. His hand squeezed mine so tight that I winced. I watched his face to try to see what his reaction would be.
“Matthew, dear lover, my oh my but I"ve missed you terribly,” she said as she seductively ran her finger down her chest between her breasts. The blush from embarrassment reached Matt"s cheeks instantly.
He squeezed his eyes shut and said through clenched teeth, “I hate her. I"m going to rip her head off for doingthis to us.”
I patted his arm. “Don"t honey. It"s okay,” I said then I turned back to Malina, who was now looking at me again.
“But I must confess that I"m devastated, Sarah,” she said over the muttering crowd, who was now slowly backing away from her. I retracted my fangs for a moment and stood, facing her with normal eyes.
“Oh, do tell, Malina,” I said as a lot of people headed for the exits, exactly what I was hoping she would allow to happen.
“I"m crushed that I wasn"t invited to your little farewell party,” she grinned.
“Maybe that"s because it isn"t a farewell party,” I said, then I grinned. “At least not for me.”
I saw the fury spark in her eyes. “That"s where you"re wrong, you insanely stupid bitch,” she hissed and raised her arm. She turned her head and I changed my eyes back. Her followers were all crouching, ready to spring.
“Doors,” I yelled, and the guards quickly ducked out and I heard the heavy bolts sliding into place. I linked with the ones who I could link with.
‘Billy, Trevor– you’re getting the first wave, turn around.’
Malina dropped her arm, yelled, “NOW! Crush them all. But leave the bitch for me.” As she disappeared above us, as all hell broke loose.
“Stacy! Six, Maggie, four, Jared, four, Rashi, eight,” I yelled, as my mind was working the others,
‘Carlos, two, Billy, twelve, Bahiti, seven, Anne, seven.’
Their blows all made contact, some effective, others not.
I yelled out numbers faster and faster, and I heard Matt pleadinglywhisper next to me, “I get it, let me help. Please, Sarah.”
“Go,” I said.
‘Carlos, three!’
I thought then I winced when the blow came down on his shoulder.
‘Sorry,’
I thought.