Sekhmet's Curse (Pearl Vampire Chronicles)

Sekhmet’s Curse
             
             
©Dara Nelson

Sekhmet
’s
Curse

Pearl Vampire Chronicles
,
#6

By Dara Nelson

Sekhmet’s Curse
             
             
©Dara Nelson

Prologue

             
I looked at all the
worried faces and tried to smile.   I walked over to each one, beginning with Bahiti
, a beautiful Egyptian vampire and close friend, one of a few vampires who had help Matt and me on our quest a few years back to learn how to turn me into a vampire (something that had been kept secret for centuries by an evil group of vampires who controlled all others at the time, called The Elders)
.  I hugged her, “Please be safe,” she whispered into my ear.   “Watch over him Bahiti.  Don
’
t let him give up.  Please,” I whispered as I glanced at Matt.  She nodded as I moved next to Aquila
, a rare human/vampire/bird hybrid creature
called a
Seraphim
and one of only two left in existence
, “Thank you for rescuing me, female,” he said then he smiled sadly.  I took his hand in mine and stood on
my tiptoes.   He bent down so I could kiss his cheek, “I will keep him safe.  I promise,” I whispered.  A small tear escaped his eye as he nodded at me, “I know you will, Sarah.” 

I smiled at the first time
that
he had actually
called me by
my name
. Our introduction to, or re-introduction as it were, was not a pleasant experience.  These creatures were first created thousands of years ago by the first vampire, Sekhmet, an Egyptian queen turned vampire by ingesting the blood of hundreds of thousands of
humans  She
became jealous of a beautiful
winged Egyptian Goddess
named Ma’at
. Sekhmet seduced one of Ma’at’s lovers, biting him during their lovemaking and unbeknownst to him, having him
ingest
some of her blood.  The vampire virus penetrated his seed and when he went home and made love to Ma’at
, she became pregnant.  Sixty days later, she gave birth to the first
Seraphim
.  He grew quickly into a very attractive man who could easily seduce a woman.  Within a year, the population of
Seraphim
’s had grown so rapidly that they became a danger to humans and vampire alike, so they were hunted down and killed, made extinct, or
so we thought.  A year ago, an insane priest who was intent on ruling the world, managed to find DNA from these creatures and re-create them in his lab.  There were complications, though, and Aquila was the only one who managed to survive.  He kidnapped me, impregnated me when I was unconscious and held me captive until I gave birth to his son, our son, sixty days later, at which time we all began to heal from the ordeal – with me explaining to Carlos and Matthew how I was able to come to love the child as it grew inside of me
. 

I moved next to Stacy
, my friend and one of many who had been turned to help us defeat The Elders in an epic battle, bringing freedom from oppression to vampires worldwide.
I
hugged her tight, “Thank you so much for everything, Sarah.”  I put my hands on her cheeks, “Show him how to be happy again, Stacy,” I said as I glanced at Carlos, who turned away and leaned his
fore
head against the back wall, “He’s going to do everything he can to die, but don’t let him succeed.  Heal him, for me.
He can survive this and live, help him to know that.
”  She nodded and cried out as she pulled me tight into her arms again. 
Suddenly Carlos cried out, making us all jump, “No!  No, goddamn it.  You are not saying goodbye to us.  You aren’t going in there.  We can stop her.  We can fight her,”
he said as
he started to move toward the door, but Aquila stepped in front of it and blocked his way.  “Get out of my way, you son of a bitch, or I’ll kick your ass
,
”
Carlos said, weakly, his voice cracking with the strain of his emotions.
   Aquila raised his eyebrow at him and gave him a ’you really think you can kick my ass?’ look
– since, being over seven feet tall with the chiseled, muscled body of a
greek
statue, there was no way that Carlos could possibly win in hand-to-hand combat with Aquila and everyone knew that
.  I smiled at Aquila and placed my hand on Carlos’ shoulder, “Carlos, my love,” I whispered.  He hung his head and I saw the sobs begin in his chest.  He spun around and wrapped me tight in his arms, burying his face in my neck.  He began frantically kissing my neck, my ear, my cheek then his hands cradled my face as his lips crushed down on mine.  Time stood still as the love poured out of him into me.  He finally pulled away and whispered, “Don’t say goodbye to me, Sarah.
  I get
it.  I know what this is, but just, please, don’t say it.
” 

My hand rested on his bruised cheek as I stared into his eyes.  Finally I nodded, “I love you so much,” I whispered. 

“I love you too, Sarah, forever,” he said then he quickly turned away and punched the back wall before he sank to the floor next to it.  I wanted to go to him.  I wanted to reach for him.  I wanted to comfort him.
He was my husband, for gosh sakes. Well, one of my
two
husbands – no not a husband and an ex-husband.  I’m married to two men because, as my sister so eloquently pointed out a few months back ‘you’re a vampire, Sarah. There aren’t any rules for you, make your own rules.’  And she was right.  I was in love with two men and somehow we managed to make it work.
But there wasn’t time
to comfort him now
.  I turned to Matt
, my other husband,
and my heart nearly broke.  He was smiling at me.  He was beaming.  Just like he did the first time he smiled at me
when I saw him watching me from that pier near my home at the time on
the shores of
Puget Sound in Washington
.  I pulled him into my arms and held him tight.  “I love you more than ever,
Matt.  Thank you for saving me,” I whispered.  He cradled my face in his hands, “I love you too, Sarah.  But I didn’t save you.  You saved me.  You saved all of us.  And this isn’t goodbye.  We will see each other again.  I promise.”  Then his lips came down as he gave me one of those kisses.
A kiss that made me weak in the knees and unable to speak for a while afterwards because of how much love and passion he packed into it.
When he finally pulled away, I felt stronger than I ever had. 

“Carlos?”
I whispered then I waited for him to finally look up. 
Carlos stood
up and I wrapped my arms around both of them.  “I am so lucky to have both of you.  Promise me you won’t do anything stupid.  Because if
, no,
when
,
I make it out of this
, if
you both aren’t here
waiting for me
then I’m going to be really
, really
pissed. And you really don’t want to have to face that.  So, promise me, okay?”

Matt smiled and nodded at me, “Of course I promise, my love.”  I turned and looked at Carlos, who hesitated.  I glared at him, “Okay, okay, I promise.  How could I not?  Besides, how could I do anything stupid when I’m just going to be waiting right here
for you?  I’m not going anywhere until I see you again, Sarah.  So don’t take too long,
cause
you wouldn’t like me when I’m starving.”

“
We
,” Matt said and we both looked at him.  “
We
are going to be waiting right here for you, Sarah. 
For as long as it takes.
 
Until we are all together again.
  Forever,” he said.  I didn’t have time to argue with them now.  I kissed them both one more time, drawing strength from their love.  Then I quickly turned around.  I couldn’t look at them anymore.  I took
Aquila’s son
Jason’s worried hand in mine and smiled at him, “You ready?” I said.

He took a deep breath and nodded, “Yes.  I am ready,
Sar
,
mmmm
, Mother.”

Aquila stepped to the side and pulled the door open.  We both stepped inside and bowed our heads.  I resisted the strong urge to turn around or cry out as I heard the door close shut behind us
. I fought
my
panic as I heard the sound of it sealing
shut,
the door
was gone
, as if it had never been there in the first place
.  We were locked in,
w
e were her prisoners.  I felt little flickers of Matt and Carlos trying to link
minds
with me
– an ability that all vampires possessed on
some level
, but something about this room made that impossible, and that made me feel utterly alone.   Jason and I waited.  We waited for Sekhmet
– the ancient Egyptian Queen and the original vampire
-
to
invite us in and tell us why she had summoned us and what our challenge was.