Sekhmet's Curse (Pearl Vampire Chronicles) (15 page)

He kissed my forehead, “
It’s
okay, Sarah.  I understand.  I’ll go see who it is and find out why they’re here.  You stay here with Jason.  Keep him out of sight, okay?”

“I’ll go with you,” Carlos said as he stood up from the couch.  He stretched his arms and yawned.

“You heard everything?” I said to him.

“Course.
  I’m a ninja, baby.  I sleep with one ear open.”

I rolled my eyes,
“Excuse me while I go throw up,” I said
, smiling
as I made my way downstairs, while Matt pulled quietly up to the dock.  Carlos jumped off the boat and tied
it
up to the dock.  Suddenly I stopped, turned around and ran back to them.  I hugged them tight, “Please be careful.  I need you two around for a very long time.”

They both kissed my cheeks, “We will, Sarah.  We promise.  Now, go below with Jason, please
.
  We’ll be back in a few minutes.”  I nodded, turned and walked down the stairs.  I tapped on Jason’s door, “Jason?  Are you awake?”

I heard him rustling in the room, and pulling on his pants, “Yes.  I’m up.  Come in.”

I opened the door.  He looked anxious and ready to go, “Are we there?  Is it time?” he said.  I sat on the end of the bed, “We’re there, but it’s not quite time.  There are some, ummm, uninvited visitors on the island.  Matt and Carlos just went ashore to, well, to tell them to leave.”
“Are you kidding me?  What else could go wrong?  How many more damn delays are we going to have?”
he cried.

“Jason.  Try to relax, please.  It’s still dark out.  We can’t search until daylight, anyways.”

“I know.  You’re right, Sarah.  It’s just so frustrating.  We need to find
him
and it has to be soon or it’s going to be too late.  Do you know what that feels like?  That’s my father out there.”

“I know, Jason.  And whether you believe it or not, I understand.  Both Matt and Carlos were taken or in trouble.  And I had to try to find them before it was too late.  It tests you.  It challenges you.  It just about kills you.  But, in the end, it makes you stronger.  And it makes you appreciate, even more, those who love you.”  Speaking of which, I thought, I need to check on them.  I linked with Carlos to
watch what was happening. 
‘Gotta check out what you are seeing, hun’

‘What took you so long?’

‘
Been talking to Jason.
  Looks like a small boat anchored in the cove.  Do you see anyone?’

‘
Not yet, but I hear someone. 
Up near the porch.
  I think…..’ 
POW!  The sound of the gunshot ricocheted off the trees.

Chapter Six

“Stay here!”  I said as I jumped up and ran out the door.  I made it off the boat and onto the dock before the sound of the gunshot had dissipated.   Two more steps took me onto the path to the house.  Suddenly an arm reached out from behind the tree and wrapped around my waist.  I moved to strike, but the voice stopped me.  “Honey, wait.  It’s okay.  It’s not what you think
.  This guy
was just scared and protecting himself and his wife.  Nobody got hurt.  Sarah, please calm down,” Matt whispered.

“What the hell happened, Matt?”

“Shhhh, just listen.
  Carlos is talking to him right now.”

I tried to relax and get the sound of my pounding heart out of my ears. 

“So you came here looking for help and then
you
shoot first and ask questions later?” Carlos said.

‘I’m, I’m, I’m so sorry.  It’s just that my nerves are fried.  We’ve been chased on the seas twice by pirates.  We just want to get home.  But I realized that we didn’t have enough fresh water or fuel to
make it.  I saw the house and thought maybe I’d find some here.  I have money.  I can pay.”

I watched the man’s shaking hand bring out his wallet.  Carlos placed a reassuring hand on it, “That’s not necessary.  Now, if you’ll return to your boat and bring it to the dock, I’ll bring down some fresh water and the key for the fuel depot.”

“Really?
  You’ll do that for us?  Oh, thank you.  Thank you so much.  God, I
’
ve never been
as
scared as I have been the last week,” he said as he hurried down the path and onto the sand.  He pushed his
dingy
into the surf, started the small outboard motor and headed out toward his anchored boat.  “Go, Sarah.  Get Jason inside before they get to the dock.”  Matt said. 

I
ran
back to the boat, and found Jason waiting for me on the bridge, “I heard,” he said.  I grabbed his hand and we both jumped onto the dock and ran toward the house.  Matt held the door open for us.  We zoomed up the stairs and into one of the bedrooms.  I closed the door as he sat on the end of the bed.  We both stared at each other, then, slowly, ever so slowly, grins broke out on both our faces.   “Well, that was,
ummm, interesting,” he said.

“To say the least.
  Are you hungry?”

He nodded. 

“Wait here.  I’ll bring you something.”

I headed downstairs, heated a few pints in the microwave then waited when I heard Matt and Carlos walking up the
porch
st
ep
s.  They were laughing. “I thought you were faster than that, old man,
”  Matt
said.

“Shut up.  He was right in front of me, and I wasn’t really expecting a gun.  It’s only a flesh wound.  It’s already almost healed.”

The both stopped when they walked in the door and saw me glaring at them.  “Sarah,” Carlos began.  I held my hand up
and he stopped
.  “You got shot?  And you didn’t tell me?  You are in serious trouble, you know that, right?”

Carlos pulled his shirt up, showing me the shrinking wound on the side of his belly. 
“Honey.
  It was just a scratch. 
Really.
  It’s nothing.”

“You don’t get to be the judge of that.  Understand?  It might be nothing to you, but it’s something to me.  You should have told me.”

“You’re right, and I’m sorry honey.  Won’t happen again, I promise.”

I smiled and patted his cheek, “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.  They’re gone now?”

Matt nodded his head, “Left about five minutes ago.”

“Jason?  You can come down here now
,
”
I said.

Jason
appeared on the stairs a split-second later, “Is it time?  Can we go
look for him
now?”

I nodded, “Yes. 
As soon as we’re done eating.”

Carlos spread the map out on the kitchen table.  “I divided the area into grids.  Which grid do you want to start with first Sarah?  Come on.  Close your eyes.  Try to remember the flight Jonas took you on.  Did you see anything? 
Anything besides open water?”

“We’ve been over this, Carlos.  I had my eyes closed.  I didn’t see anything until we landed.”

“Well, did you hear anything?”
he said.

“Hear anything?  What do you mean?”

“Like waves crashing on
to
a shore before you got there?”
he said.

My eyes popped open, “Yes! 
About halfway there.
  It didn’t register at the time, but it had to have been
waves.”

“Halfway.  Okay.  There are islands in the middle of grids two, five and six.  Which one do you think we should start with?”

“Two.  Let’s start there.”

We all headed out to the boat.

*  *  *  *  *  *

             
I flopped down on the couch, exhausted.  We had searched every island in grids two, five, six, and every other grid, over the last four days.  Time was almost gone.  The hourglass was almost empty.  I watched as Jason sadly headed up the stairs to bed.  It was late, well after dark, and though he had desperately screamed at me to stay out and keep searching, I had finally made the agonizing decision to head back.  We were all too tired, too hungry and too desperate to continue.  I was even too tired to get off the couch.  I leaned my head on the armrest and was sound asleep within seconds.  My sleep didn’t last all night, though.  Worry woke me at around four.  I quietly wandered down to the
beach
and sat in the sand.  I pressed my forehead to my knees and absent-mindedly traced my fingers in the damp sand. 
Bringing my head up and resting my chin on my knees, I did the only thing that I could think to do.  “Jonas,” I whispered, “
I don’t know if you can hear me, but
I really need your help here.  A friend of mine is stuck on your island
.
Y
ou
know,
the one you took me to
?
  He’s starving and he’s dying.  I need to find him.  But I’ve searched so hard.  I’m so tired.  And I can’t find it.  Can you please, somehow, point me in the right direction?  Can you give me a sign?  Please, Jonas?”  

Trying to speak to the ghost of my dead friend, Jonas?  This was desperate, I knew, but I was out of ideas and grasping at straws now. 
I tensed and waited, losing hope when minutes went by and the only sound was the waves crashing to shore.  Suddenly, I heard
something; the
sound of fingers tracing in wet sand, but mine were clasped on top of my knees.  Afraid to startle him, I slowly turned my head and looked.  I watched as an invisible finger traced numbers and letters in the sand in the brilliant moonlight.  Latitude and longitude coordinates
:
hope.  The writing stopped.  “Thank you, Jonas.  Thank you so much.”

I jumped as his voice whispered in my head, ‘Miss me?’ it said.

“I do.  Very much,” I said as I looked around, and saw no one.  His was a disembodied voice.

‘Knew it.
  I would have been number three’ he said.  I laughed out loud, “I can barely handle two
husbands
,
three
would probably kill me.”

‘Yeah, but I was that good, really
.  Now g
o, Sarah.  Go get him.  You and I, we’ll talk later.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

I jumped up and ran into the house.  
“Up!
  Up!  Everybody up!  I know where he is.”  I ran over to the map on the table, quickly located the island using the coordinates
Jonas had written in the sand
and circled it with a red pen. It was outside all of our search grids. We never would have found it on our own. “It’s here,” I said as a sleepy Matt and Carlos joined me, “It’s this one here.”

“And you know this, how?” Matt said.

“Jonas,” I whispered.

“Jonas? 
But how?”

“I don’t know, Matt.  But let’s not worry about the
how right now.  Let’s load up some blood on the boat and get the hell over there.”

“Got the food,” Carlos said from behind me.  His arms were full with as much blood as he could carry.

A sallow eyed, sleepy and stressed looking Jason came down the stairs.  “What’s going on?” he said.

“Should we go get your father?”

“What?  What do you mean?”

“I know where he is.”

“Then why the hell are we standing here?”
he said, clearly wide awake now.

“Matt, Carlos, please go down to the boat.  I just need to talk to Jason for a second.  Okay?”

“Sure thing, Sarah,” they said as they headed out the door.  I waited until I knew they were no longer within hearing distance, which meant
they
down on the dock.

“Sarah, you don’t need to talk to me.  We need to go.  Now
,
”
Jason said.

“Jason.  I need you to do me a favor out on the boat.  Your father
,
h
e will probably be so insane with hunger that he won’t recognize you, or me or anyone else.  Your kind become very violent when they’re
starving
,
h
e will probably attack first without thinking
,
”
I said.

“He’ll know me.”

“But what if he doesn’t?  What if he hurts you, or worse?  That’s why I need you to stay on the boat when we reach the island, and keep Matt and Carlos on it too.  I need you to make sure they don’t get off that boat, Jason.  I can’t let anything happen to them.  Please?  Will you do that for me?”

“You’re going to confront him alone?”
he said.

“I think it’s the best way.  I’m hoping he won’t feel the need to react so strongly to a female.”

He studied me for a few moments, then nodded his head, “Okay, Sarah.  I guess that makes some sense.  But I will be listening and watching.  If it even appears to me that your plan isn’t going to work, then I’m coming ashore.”