Malina's Revenge (5 page)

Musetta turned to her daughter. Marie said, “Yes, but we"ll need to return to Haiti to make that much. We can have it ready in a few days.”
I looked at Carlos. “Okay,” I said, “we"ll fly to Seattle first then out to Haiti to pick it up.” I turned back to Musetta to thank her for coming, but she suddenly grabbed my hand and gasped. I stared at her as she closed her eyes and rocked back and forth. She reached over and touched Carlos" forehead for a few seconds, then took his hand and put it in mine. She opened her eyes and stood up. “Wait,” I said as I looked from her to Carlos and back. “What did you see? Tell me? Please! What?” I said with the panic and fear filling my voice.
Musetta shook her head as Marie spoke for her, “What she saw, it wasn"t clear. She"s not sure how to interpret it. It would do you no good to know right now, it might change how you react.”
“React?” I whispered. “React to what?”
Marie shook her head too, and then placed her hand on my cheek. “No,” she said. “No more, just be strong. You have to be so strong.” They walked out, leaving me standing there, holding Carlos" hand and my mouth hanging open. I was afraid to, but I turned and looked at him. Trying to hide overwhelming sadness from his face, he barely smiled. “You ready to go?” he said, trying unsuccessfully to distract me.
“Carlos,” I whispered, “what did she tell you?”
He shook his head. “Please, Sarah,” he whispered, his eyes were begging me not to ask.
I opened my mouth to say something, to ask him again, but then closed it and nodded my head – something told me that I didn"t want to know what she told him, that I couldn"t handle knowing. We walked silently down the hall, grabbed our bags and climbed in to the car waiting to take us to the small airstrip.

The silence screamed at me during the short flight to the main airport in Lima, and then on the flight to Seattle. I was terrified of what we would find, terrified of what we were walking into. I felt the tension in Carlos too, as I gripped his hand tight. I leaned my head onto his shoulder as he stared out the window. I squeezed my eyes shut as the absence of his calming words screamed in my head. Not a single, “It"s going to be okay, Sarah” or “We"ll find him, Sarah.” This is bad, really bad, horribly bad, I thought. Sleep didn"t come for either of us, despite the long seventeen hour flight. Landing at Boeing Field at six a.m. the next morning, we rented a car and drove to the dock to wait for the ferry to Bremerton. More silence as we waited for the 7:35 ferry. I finally whispered the only thing that I could say, “If he"s gone Carlos, don"t bring me back. When I lose it, please promise me you won"t bring me back, just let me go. No more pain. I can"t take any more pain. Please?” I turned to look at him. His eyes were squeezed shut with pain written all over his face, but he nodded slightly and kissed the back of my hand. We drove onto the ferry and walked topside, ignoring the stares from folks who thought we were crazy. It was overcast, windy and cold, but that didn"t matter to us. It was nice because it meant we"d be the only ones out on the deck. The one hour ferry ride was followed by the short drive to Matt"s house, enough time for me to push down my panic and the horrible thoughts that were running through my mind. There was no room for any of that right now. We had too much work to do.

We parked in an alley a few miles away and approached the house from the back. Jumping the fence, we landed behind some bushes in the yard then made a quick dash up to the house. Glancing in the living room window, the house looked quiet, too quiet. We watched for at least ten minutes, looking for any signs of Malina. Everything appeared to be deserted, eerily silent. I walked up to the back door and was slightly relieved to find it locked. I quietly inserted my key and we walked silently into the kitchen. Her scent was everywhere and I felt myself instantly go into predator mode. Carlos tapped my shoulder, pointed to me and upstairs, then pointed to himself and downstairs. I nodded and we separated. I made a quick search of his office and the guest room. She hadn"t spent much time in either of these. I couldn"t hold back the hiss when I opened the master bedroom door though. She had been in here, a lot. And, by the looks of it, she had slept in the bed. “That bitch!” I muttered. I turned and ran up to the third floor attic and did a quick search. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, I ran back down the stairs, expecting to join Carlos in the basement. But at the bottom of the stairs, something in the living room caught my eye and made me stop dead in my tracks. I didn"t want to, but couldn"t stop my feet from moving closer to the small item hanging on the front of the TV. I reached out to take Matt"s wedding ring in my hand as I read the note taped to the TV. “He won"t be needing this anymore,” it read, “push play and watch.” My hand shook as I turned on the TV and pressed play on the DVD player. I cried out and sank to my knees as the first image I saw on the screen was my son and me– the beautiful son who had been taken from me when he and my first husband, Rob, were killed in a car accident. It was a scene I knew all too well. It was the morning of the last day of his life. Rob had decided to grab the camera and film me helping Scotty get ready– he was going on his first fishing trip with his Dad and he was so proud.

I heard Carlos come up the stairs and stop in the doorway, but I couldn"t move my eyes from the screen. I reached out to the screen as Scotty said to me. “Don"t worry, Mommy, I didn"t forget anything, I promise.”

I mouthed the words I knew so well, as onscreen I said, “I know you didn"t, cause you"re my big boy.”
“I"m going to bring you back a big fish, a really big fish. The biggest fish you"ve ever seen, Mommy.”
“Of course you will, honey,” I said, then I leaned in to kiss him.
I hung my head as the screen went black then snapped it back up when Carlos gasped behind me. I shot backwards from the TV, landing on my butt, as I saw Matthew. Looking beaten and weak, he was unconscious and strapped to a table in his basement. “I saw that table downstairs,” Carlos said from behind me, “but…”
“But what,Carlos?” I said, afraid to take my eyes from the screen. I glanced quickly at him, saw him shaking his head then I turned back to the TV, hissing as Malina came into the picture. I reached my hand back to Carlos as she walked up to Matt, smiled into the camera and seductively ran her finger down his chest and stomach. I squeezed Carlos" hand tight when she walked up by his head and licked his cheek. I growled when she planted a kiss on his lips. I could see that he was starving– she had drained most of the blood that was in him when she had taken him. She taunted him by holding a pint of blood in front of his face, just out of his reach. His fangs dropped, he licked his lips. He tried to bite at it when it got close, but she never got it close enough. The screen faded to black, then came back on again. By the date and time stamp it was the next morning– yesterday morning to be exact. Matt had been here, with her, in this house just yesterday. Why hadn"t we left earlier? We could have found him. I forced my thoughts back to the screen. She had the pint hanging from a stand now, with a tube coming out of it. She took the end of the tube and tauntingly held it over his opened mouth. She turned opened the valve long enough for one tiny drop to fall into his mouth.
“Oh God, please,” he gasped. The camera shook slightly as the angle changed, revealing more of Matt on the table.
“Oh hell, no,” I growled when I saw that he was now completely naked.
“Sarah, maybe you shouldn"t watch this,” Carlos mumbled behind me.
“Like hell I won"t,” I spat.
My focus returned to the TV. “You want more?” she said as she set down the camera so that the entire table was in view. He nodded weakly and swallowed hard. My God, give him more. He"s starving, I thought. She walked to the far side of the table, took the tube and dropped one more drop of blood into his mouth.
“Give it to him!” I yelled at the television. “More?” she said.
He barely nodded again.
“Then you know what I want. Are you going to give it to me?”
“I, I can"t,” he mumbled.
“Can"t? What do you mean, you can"t, Matt? Give her what she wants so she will give you the blood,” I said to the screen as if he could hear me.
“Sarah. I don"t think you want to watch this,” Carlos said again.
“Carlos! Shut the hell up. I don"t care what he has to give her if it means it will keep him from starving to death. Look at him. He"s got nothing in him. He needs it and I don"t give a shit what he has to do to get it.”
“Yes you do, Sarah,” he whispered.
“Carlos, what the hell are you talking about?” I said then I gasped when I turned back to the screen.
Malina was smiling into the camera as she reached up and pulled the bag off of the stand.
“You"re too weak to give me what I want right now, so here"s what I"m going to do for you. I"m going to let you have this first. I don"t want you to think that I would take what I wanted and then not give you the blood. You can trust me Matthew. I"m going to let you feed first and then you"re going to give me what I want.”
Matt turned his head to the side. “Please. I can"t,” he whispered.
She smiled into the camera again and said, “I"ll tell you what. I"m going to put this up to your lips. If you don"t drink it, then I"ll walk away and leave you alone. But if you do drink it then I"ll take that as my answer that you are going to give me what I want. Deal?”
The blood moved closer to his face. He clamped his lips closed and turned to the side.
I turned to Carlos and said, “Why the hell is he fighting so hard? What is it that he doesn"t want to give her, Carlos?”
Carlos just shook his head and I turned back to watch just in time to see her pull her dress over her head. She was standing there totally naked as she pressed the bag to his lips.
“Himself,” Carlos whispered behind me as I watched. My fingers dug into his hand as I squeezed it tighter.
I watched as Matt fought to keep his mouth closed. I saw him grimace as his fangs forced his lips to open. I cried out as I saw his eyes open and knew that he had lost his fight. Just before his teeth sunk into the bag, he whispered, “I"m so sorry, Sarah. Please forgive me.”
As he drank, my hand caressed his image on the screen as I whispered, “It"s okay, baby. I understand.”
I wanted to, but I couldn"t look away as she climbed up onto the table and took him inside her. She left the camera going for several minutes then she picked up a remote and pointed it at the camera. “This is going to take a while, you don"t need to watch the whole thing,” she said just before she pushed stop.
The screen went black for several seconds and it took me a moment to realize that I had stopped breathing a while ago. I took a deep breath as Carlos brushed his hand down my hair. Suddenly I jumped when the next scene began playing. Thankfully they were both clothed this time. The time stamp showed that it was several hours after the last shot– it was last night at six p.m. Matt was passed out on the table and I could see that she had a needle in his arm and had drained his blood again. That bitch!
She looked at the camera and said, “I can see why you"re with him, Sarah. Even tied down we me doing all of the work, he performed very well. I lost count of how many orgasms I had. And his, when he finally released, was amazing. It shook the whole table. Quite impressive. I really wish I could keep him around for a while for more.” She held a lighter up to the camera. I gasped and choked as she flipped the top up and flicked on the flame. Then I screamed and my world went black when I saw her light the table on fire.
I don"t remember anything that happened next. I don"t remember Carlos taking me into his arms as he pulled the DVD out and stuck it into his pocket. I don"t remember him locking the house and running back to the car. Don"t remember him putting me on the seat and driving back to the dock. Don"t remember the ferry ride back, the drive to the airport, him telling the pilot to change the flight plans to take us to Miami. Don"t remember him calling Stefan and asking him to go to Musetta"s to pick up the formula, or the call to have the boat fueled and ready in Miami, or the four day boat ride to the island. I was gone and that was where I was staying, thank you very much. There was nothing left to bring me back and I was glad for that. Carlos carried me up to the bedroom of the beach house, talking to me the entire time, but it didn"t matter anymore. There was nothing he could say that I could grab hold of to bring me back. The only words that I needed to hear, he couldn"t say. He couldn"t tell me I had to find him, he couldn"t be found anymore, he was gone and so was I.
Carlos kept trying for the next month as I withered away, easily refusing to feed even though I was starving. He tried to talk about anything, trying to find something to bring me back. He begged me. “Please, Sarah. Please don"t leave me.” My heart fluttered. I didn"t want to leave him alone, but I didn"t want him to get hurt either. It would hurt, but it was safer this way, for him. I felt a flicker when he said, “Sarah, Malina"s still alive, she"s still out there. I need your help to stop her.” I pushed it back; they"d have to find her for me. I was so weak but I struggled to stay where I was when he pleaded with me, “Please, Sarah. Ilove you and I don"t think I can survive without you. Please come back.”
I slept more and more, dreaming often of being with Matthew. I lived for my dreams. But they also confused me too. Because, as often as these erotic dreams were of me and Matt, they were just as frequently of me and Carlos. And even though I was sleeping, I knew that there were physical signs of these dreams. Things that Carlos would have definitely noticed if he was in the room with me, which he was most of the time. I know I groaned frequently. I know my legs squirmed. And I know that my hands moved under the covers and between my legs. But what I didn"t know was if I called out any names in these dreams when I was peaking, and, if I did, whose name did I say? These dreams scared me, but I also loved having them. But it was because of one of these beautiful, peaceful dreams that I said three words I never, ever thought I"d say. In the dream, Matthew and I were walking along the waterfront in Bremerton. I leaned down to smell some roses, and quickly realized that they smelled like blood. Suddenly the scent of blood was all around me. In my dreams, my eyes changed and I sank my fangs into the roses, surprised as I felt the sweet warmth of blood flowing into my veins. Suddenly I blinked and I was in Aaron"s house on the island, staring at Carlos, with my fangs sunk into an empty pint of blood. I growled at him and pushed him off the bed as I scurried and crouched in the corner of the room. “You son of a bitch,” I spat. “You promised, Carlos. You promised me that you„d let me go. I hate you.”
Surprisingly, he tried to hide a grin. “I know you do, but you"ll thank me someday, soon,” he said as he crept towards me with another bag of blood.
“Get the hell away from me,” I said through gritted teeth.
He shook his head. “Can"t do that Sarah,” he said. I jumped up trying to go over his head, but he grabbed my ankle and pulled me down to the floor. I was face down on the floor. He sat on my back and pressed the blood toward my face. I pressed my face hard into the floor like a child refusing to eat their vegetables. “Don"t,” I growled weakly. Now that I"d had some it was so much harder to refuse it.
“Sorry, sweetheart, but I have to,” he said as he pulled my head up by pressing his palm on my forehead. My fangs were already down, so he just pressed the bag onto them. I whimpered as I gave in. I emptied it and he tossed it aside. “Why Carlos? Why? I thought you were my friend. I thought you loved me,” I mumbled.
“I do love you, but I have my reasons,” he said as he climbed off me and stood me up. “Now, please go shower, Sarah, and then I"ll explain everything.”
“He has his reasons… he has his stupid reasons… he has his…” I muttered under my breath then I stopped in the doorway to the bathroom and turned around. “Please tell me you"re not that shallow and selfish,” I said, knowing full well that he wasn"t. “Is that why you did this?” I said as my anger started to return. I ignored the fact that from the look on his face he obviously had no idea what I was talking about. Right now, what I desperately needed was to be pissed off. I reached under my dress and pulled off my underwear as his confused look turned to shock. My voice shook with anger, as I pulled my dress over my head while saying, “Is this why you brought me back? Is this what you wanted? Is this why you couldn"t let me go? Because you just had to have me? You had to fuck me? Is that it? Well, you can have my body Carlos, but I can never give you my heart. I can"t ever do that again. Everyone I"ve ever loved has died, Carlos, everyone. I can"t ever let anyone into my heart again. If I do, they"ll die. I can"t lose you too.” I stood there naked and gasping. He stood there gaping for a moment, then walked over to me and tilted my chin up. I braced myself for the kiss I thought was coming, the kiss that I wanted, but wasn"t ever going to be ready for.
Instead, he softly kissed my cheek and said, “Hun. I"m going to ignore what you just said because you"re emotionally devastated right now. My dear friend Sarah, if she was in her right mind, would know without a doubt that I would never have brought you back just to, as you so eloquently put it, fuck you. I"m shallow, but I"m not that shallow, Sarah. Hell, if sex was all I wanted I could have gotten that when you were in a coma, couldn"t I? Now, will you please just go and shower? I"ll explain everything when you get out, okay?”
I nodded and leaned my head into his chest and began sobbing, I was emotionally and physically exhausted. It was too much of an effort to even try to say„I"m sorry." But he knew. Finally I turned and slowly walked into the bathroom. My head hung down. I was dejected, crushed, heartbroken and alone, utterly alone. I climbed into the shower, willing the wave to come at me. I wanted to go back to the solitude of where I was, where I couldn"t hurt anyone ever again. Carlos" voice next to me shocked it away, “Don"t do that Sarah. You"re going to want to hear what I have to say, really. If you need to go back after that, then I won"t stop you, but you need to hear it, okay?”
I stared at him for a minute, my eyes begging him to let me go now then I finally nodded. My legs started shaking then. I no longer had the strength to stand up. The effects of lying in a bed and not feeding for so long were catching up to me. I sank down in the tub, pulling my knees up and resting my chin on them. Carlos took the shampoo from me after watching my fingers fumbling as I tried to open it. I let him wash my hair as I struggled to wash my body in its crouched position. It would have to do.
“How long was I out?” I whispered.
“A month, Sarah. A little over a month. And it was the longest month of my life,” he said. I nodded slightly, not long enough, I thought. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back as he rinsed my hair. He held a towel out for me and I stood and walked into it and his arms, resting my head on his shoulder. He"d seen me naked enough that I no longer bothered trying to hide.
“I can"t do this anymore Carlos,” I said, I was so tired, so overwhelmingly tired.
“Do what?” he said.
“I can"t fight to stay alive anymore. It"s just too much. I"m totally exhausted,” I whispered.
“I know,” he softly replied. “Look Sarah,” began said as he stepped back and looked into my eyes, “give me ten minutes to try to change your mind, just ten minutes, please? If you"re still too tired after that and if I"m not enough for you to stay awake, you can go back to sleep and I"ll do my best to try not to wake you again. I can"t promise you that I won"t, but I can promise that I"ll try, okay?”
I cringed at the hurt in his voice. “Of course you"re enough, Carlos. I just don"t want you to get hurt. I don"t want you to die, too” I mumbled.
“I"m not going anywhere, Sarah,” he said then he walked to the dresser and pulled clean clothes out of my bag. I slowly dressed as he went into the bathroom to grab a brush for my hair. He sat behind me on the bed and gently brushed the tangles out of my hair. He was so sweet and so loving. I sighed and leaned back into him. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my cheek. For a moment, an image flashed in my head: an image of Carlos and me, on this very island, laughing, kissing and making love. I quickly sat up and forced the image out of my head. He set the brush down, stood up and held his hand out to me. “Please come downstairs with me, okay?” I nodded and took his hand. He secured his hand around my waist as he helped me downstairs. “Will you feed again first?” he said at the bottom of the stairs. I nodded and he set me down on the couch then he went to the kitchen to heat up two bags, which I quickly drained. Then he was suddenly standing in front of me, holding his hands out and grinning the goofy Carlos grin that I loved so much.