Sekhmet's Curse (Pearl Vampire Chronicles) (27 page)

“But why do I have to feed on Aquila?  Why can’t we just draw some of his blood and then I’ll feed on it?”

“Because I’m worried that it will lose its effectiveness that way
.  There’s a timing issue, there’s exposure to air, there’s a number of factors that might diminish or eliminate its effectiveness
,
”
h
e said.

“But you do know how much it hurts to stop, right?
  We filled you in on what happened to me that one time
that
I stopped.  It was hours before I could function again.”
I said.

He nodded, “I know, Sarah.  But the fact that you
can stop is the reason this might work
.  And I think maybe the more you do it, the less pain you’ll have
when you do stop
.”

I turned to Carlos and said, “
He might be right.  When I stopped when I was sharing the pints with Jason in the tomb, the pain didn’t get any better, but the recovery time seemed to get shorter
.”

I turned back to Cameron,
“Fine.  But Aquila has to agree to this.  I’m not doing this without his permission.  Besides, if I bit him without his permission, he’d snap me like a twig.”

“I know.  That’s why I went and talked to him first this morning.  He’s fine with it.  He’ll be here shortly.”

I stared at the door, “Now?  You want me to do this now?”

Cameron nodded.  I jumped when there was a knock at the door.

I opened the door.  “Come in,” I said, suddenly feeling nervous.  Aquila ducked his head as he walked inside.
  We both sat on the couch.  A worried Carlos sat on my other side.  I suddenly remembered what Aquila had told me earlier,
“Should we be doing this now?  I mean,
with
the problem
that
you’re having.  You
know,
your
need to mate
?
  Is it safe for me to do this now or could it be a problem?”

Aquila smiled
, “You’re right to be worried if the need was still there.  But I took care of that this morning.  The female, Bahiti, is now carrying another son for me.”

“Sh
e is?  Oh, okay
.  Ummm, I’ve only bitten and stopped once before.  It causes me a lot of pain, but I can do it.”

Aquila nodded, “I know.  And I’m not worried.  Where would you like to bite?”

“Uh, the wrist I suppose.  Yes, the wrist,” I said,
feeling
that the neck would feel too intimate.  I looked at Cameron as Aquila held his wrist out to me, “How long?”

Cameron looked at his watch, “Let’s do five seconds.  Okay?”

I nodded, “Okay, but shout it out for me.  There’s no way I can count in my head when I’m trying to stop.”

Cameron nodded
.  He spread out his blood drawing supplies on the coffee table
to be prepared
.
“Got it
,”
he said,
“
Ready?”

I closed my eyes and dropped my fangs then I looked at him again, “Ready.”

“And, go,” he said.  I buried my fangs in Aquila’s wrist.

Every nerve fired in my brain.  The sound of his heart pumping was deafening in my ears, drowning out the sound of Cameron’s voice.  I barely heard a muffled, “Five! Stop now, Sarah!”  My body screamed at me to continue – this was awesome, amazing,
almost
as sweet as innocent blood – but I fought that desire.  I squeezed my eyes tighter, growled at myself then forced my head to pull back, tearing the skin on his wrist in the process.  I gasped as I tried to catch my breath.  The room began swimming.  I groaned again as I forced my teeth to retract, then the room went black
as
I passed out.

“Sarah?”
said
a whispered voice. 
It was
Cameron.

“Honey?
  Wake up.  Are you okay?” Carlos whispered.

My eyes fluttered and tried, unsuccessfully, to stay open.
  I tried to find my voice, “Stop whispering,” I choked out.

“We’re not whispering hun.  We’re shouting.  Come on, wake up.  Please?” Carlos said as he gently patted my face.

Shouting?  They’re shouting?
  Fuck, this is not good.  My head was pounding.  I grunted and forced myself to sit up.  Whoops, not a good idea.  I immediately felt
nauseous
.
  “Oh crap,” I said as I leaned forward over the rug and vomited blood.  Carlos and Aquila tried to quickly move their feet out of the way. “What the fuck?  Cameron?  Why is she throwing up?” Carlos said.

“I, I’m not sure,” Cameron said.

I shook my head, “No,” I said as I coughed and spit out a little more blood, “this has happened before when I had Aquila’s blood inside me. 
In the cave.
  I thought it was because I was pregnant.  But maybe it was him.  Maybe his blood just makes me nauseous.  No offense, Aquila.”

“None taken.
  I’ve seen this happen in others.  It’s the vampire blood trying to force the foreign
s
eraphim
blood out.  Others throw most of it up.  For some reason, you only throw up a small amount, Sarah.  I don’t know why, but you are able to absorb
much more than other vampires.”

“That must be why her blood is so effective in killing the virus.”

“Yeah, but Doc, if this works, how often is she going to have to feed?  How often will she have to go through this?  This can’t be good for her,” Carlos said as he rubbed my back.

“I’m fine, honey,” I said as I smiled weakly at him.  I held my arm out to Cameron.  “You need to draw blood, right?”

Cameron and Carlos looked at each other. 
“See Doc?
  You’re not fine, Sarah.  Cameron drew blood an hour ago.  David came in and got it.  This is too hard on you, honey.”

I turned and mustered up as much strength as I could as I looked at Carlos.  “Carlos
,
i
f this works
,
i
f this saves Matt and others
,
i
f this is a cure, then, no, it’s not too hard on me.  Nothing is too hard on me if it saves him.”

Carlos looked at me for a second then nodded as he cupped his hand on my cheek, “Okay,” he whispered as he leaned his forehead in to mine. 

Cameron started gathering up his supplies as he
stood, “I’m going to go help David.  You and Aquila should go and feed.  Replenish yourselves.  Gain your strength back.  I’d ask you not to do too much physical activity, Sarah, to keep your strength up, but I know you well enough to know that would be a ridiculous request,” he said, then he winked at me.  I blushed as Carlos pulled me tight to his chest, “You got that right, Doc.”

“What an awesome reputation I have,” I said sarcastically.

“It is an honor to have that reputation among
s
eraphim
’s, female.  We have extremely high sex drives, but every time we mate with fertile females we create new lives.  That is why female
s
eraphim
’s are sterile.  They help keep us satisfied without creating a population explosion.  The females with the highest sex drives hold
the highest ranking in my species.” Aquila said.

“But there aren’t female
s
eraphim
s
now
, right?  You and Jason are the last two, right?  What are you doing to, I mean, how are you coping?” I said.

“We’re not.  We’re suffering, basically.  .  Jason and I are going to find as many willing female
vampires as we can to repopulate our species.”

“Well, good luck with that buddy.  I’m sure you’ll find many. 
But not this one.
  This one already gave you a child, unwillingly I might add,” Carlos said, barely containing his anger.

Aquila looked down at his hands, “I know,” he whispered, “but it was the only way that I could prove that our two species could co-exist.  It had to be the strongest vampire I could find.  One that I knew would survive the birth.  She was the only choice.
I think you understand that.  You don’t like it, but you understand it.”

“He does,” I said as I patted Carlos’ hand. 

We all got up and headed to the kitchen to eat.

As we silently ate in the kitchen, Cameron burst in, barely able to contain his excitement, “Sarah.  It’s worked on every test in the lab.  We’re going to transfuse that pint you gave us into Matt now.  If it has a positive effect, we’ll need you to feed again and then give us more blood, okay?”

I glanced at Aquila, who nodded, “Okay.  But I’m going to need a bucket this time
,
”
I said, smiling.

“Damn it.  I don’t like this, Doc. You’ve got to try to
come up with another way.  This is going to be too hard on her,” Carlos groaned.

“I know, Carlos.  I’m working as hard as I can.  But for right now, this is the only success we’ve had. And, umm, well, umm,” he stammered.

“What?  What is it?  Spit it out,” Carlos growled.

“Well.  It’s just that I want to make sure that you don’t catch this thing.
  You already have some of the antibodies in your system, probably because the two of you share blood already,” he held his hand up as I started to protest, “I know, I know.  You’ve shared blood with Matt too.
And, yes, he had some of the antibodies in his system too. 
But not enough.
  Actually, we’re not exactly sure yet how much is enough.  But I want to be safe.  So I want you to test this immunization I’ve developed.  I’ve already tested it on David and myself.  I’d like you to be next.”

Carlos rolled up his sleeve, “Sure.  Give it to me.”

“Not here.  I can’t give it to you here.  It has to be administered in a controlled environment
,
”
Doc Cameron said.

“A controlled environment?
  What the hell does that
mean?  What’s going to happen to me?”

“Well, the two of us had a violent reaction.  David nearly destroyed the lab and he broke Ryan’s leg.
We think it’s from our bodies trying to fight off the foreign substance.
”

Carlos rolled his eyes, “Great,” he mumbled.

I patted his hand, “I’ll stay with you sweetheart.  I’ll help you get through it.”

“No you won’t, Sarah.  I don’t want to hurt you.  You’re already going through enough.  Doc, you lock me in one of the cells in the dungeon, got it?  Let’s go do this now,” he said as he stood up.

Cameron nodded his head
and stood too.  “Fine,” I said as I
also
stood, “but I’m waiting right outside the cell.”

Carlos held his hand out to me, “Of course you are.”

Cameron ran to his lab to grab the shot while Carlos and I headed downstairs, “Honey?” he said.

“Yes?”

“I think I need to leave for a while.”

“Why?  I need you here.  With me,” I whispered.

“I’ve got to try to find a better cure. 
One that won’t kill you in the process of getting it.
  There’s got to be
something out there.”

I stared at him for a few seconds.   He was right.  I knew he was right.  But that didn’t mean that I liked that he was right.  I quietly nodded and rested my head on his shoulder.

“That’s my girl,” he whispered as he kissed my forehead.
“I’m thinking I’ll take Jason with me, stay off of airplanes.  It’ll get us into remote areas more easily.  Think Aquila would go for it?  Who knows, maybe I could help him find a girl while we’re out there.”

I laughed, “If anybody could, it would be you.  I’ll talk to Aquila. But don’t stay gone too long.  I miss you already.”

He stopped and looked at me.  Both hands cradled my head as he leaned in and kissed me, “You do know how much I love you, don’t you?” he whispered.

“I do.  And I love you.”

He shook his head, “No, I don’t think you know how much you mean to me Sarah.  Waiting for you when you were in that tomb was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.  It’s entirely against my nature to sit
around and do nothing.  I really didn’t think I’d be able to do it.  But
because of you, and something that Matt said, I stayed.  I stayed, Sarah.  Because I love you so much and I couldn’t let you down, I stayed.”

“I do know, Carlos.  When your face was the first one I saw when I came out, well, let’s just say that shock is an understatement.  But at that moment, I realized how much you loved me because you did stay.  You stayed for me, honey, and that meant more to me than I could ever say.”

He hugged me tight.  “By the way,” I mumbled into his chest, “What did Matt say to you?”

He smiled his crooked smile, “He told me I was
that
guy.  I’ve never been
that
guy before. It meant something to me.”