Sekhmet's Curse (Pearl Vampire Chronicles) (3 page)

I smiled, “It’s an old trick that a cop taught me,” I said as I put his arm over my shoulder and helped him up.  He was a little unsteady at first, but then he found his footing.  “You are incredibly strong, Miss, ummm, Miss.”

“Sarah.  My name is Sarah.”

“Sarah.  I never would have guessed someone as tiny as you would be so strong.”

We were next to Carlos when Bill said this.  Carlos kissed my cheek and said, “Sir, this is the strongest person, male or female, I’ve ever met in my life. 
In mind, body and heart, definitely the strongest
.”

I stared at him for a second.  I was floored.  “Wow, honey.  I love you too.”

“I’m serious, Sarah.  You really are.”

“Would you help me get him to the car, please?  Then you can tell me how great I am.”

Carlos nodded and wrapped his arm around Bill’s other side and we headed toward the garage.  Matt had everyone piled into the Suburban.  “Come on,
Sarah.  These guys need to hurry.  I’m sure the kidnapper’s here have friends, lots of friends.  These guys need to get as far away as possible.  He turned to the driver, “Robert.  When you get to the bottom of the driveway, make a left and head north as fast as you can.  We’ll
follow
you for a little while, until we have to head west.”  Robert nodded as we loaded Bill into the passenger seat.  I buckled him in.  As I turned to close the door, Bill grabbed my hand, “Thank you so much, Sarah.  I’ll be forever grateful.  If there’s ever anything I can do for you, anything at all
, I’m
Bill Tompkins from
Dallas
.  I’m in the book. And don
’
t worry.  I won
’
t tell anyone.”

“Tell anyone what, Bill?”
I said.

He leaned in and whispered in my ear, “I won’t tell anyone what you are.  I won’t tell anyone that you exist
, but wow, wouldn’t that make one hell of a story
.”

I looked at Matt and Carlos. 
How in the hell did he know, we all thought. 
They both shrugged their shoulders. 

I patted the back of his hand and smiled at him, “You take care of yourself, Bill,” I said then I closed the
door.  Matt pushed the button to open the garage.  Carlos sniffed hard, “Nobody’s coming.  They’re good to go.” 

Matt nodded to Robert and he started the Suburban and backed quickly out of the garage, turned it around, and raced down the hill. 
The three of us floated up in
to the skies and landed next to
our
car.  “Can one of you drive for a while?  I want to lie down in the back and think for a bit.”

Matt and Carlos looked at each other, “Sarah,” Matt started to say, but I shook my head, “Not now, please?  Let me have a few minutes, okay?  We have to get going to catch up to them and make sure they’re okay.”  I climbed into the back seat and stretched out on it with my arm over my eyes.  Carlos and Matt hesitated for a moment then
they both
climbed into the front seats.  Matt was driving and he angled the mirror so he could watch me.  Carlos turned around in the
passenger
seat and placed his hand on my hip.  I lifted my arm and looked at him for a second.  I smiled and put my hand in his, “I’ll be fine.  Stop worrying.  This just wigged me out a little.”

“A little?
  I’d say a lot, Sarah.  And it shouldn’t.  Jeez, for all you know this is a one-time thing.  It probably wouldn’t happen again.”

“Maybe you’re right, Carlos.  But
I’ll
never find out because
I’m never hunting
again.” I said.

“Never?
  Sarah,
you
may have to someday,” Matt said from the front seat.

“I realize that.  But I hope
I never do
, okay?  Because I’m completely mortified by what happened and ashamed of myself
,
a
nd I really don’t want to know whether it will happen again.”

“Sarah, please don’t be ashamed of who you are.  You are who we fell in love with.  Because of who you are, you make this work with the three of us.  Only you could do that and it’s because of who you are and how you are.  If you weren’t you, then we wouldn’t be us
,
”
Carlos said and Matt nodded
his agreement
into the mirror.  I sat up, “You’re right, I guess.
But I can’t seem to shake the feeling that I know why this happened.  What’s different this time?  What’s happened to me between now and then?”

“Hell, Sarah, what hasn’t happened.  There’s a lot
that’s happened to all of us.  Taking out The Elders
, you and me almost dying after fighting Malina, Matt’s kidnapping, killing Malina, Aquila and what he fucking did to you,” Carlos said
, growling at that last part
.

“Carlos, you have to forgive Aquila.  I have.” 
Suddenly the answer was so obvious.  I shot up in my seat, “Fucking, hell,” I spat.

“What is it, hun?” Matt said as he watched me in the rearview mirror. 

“That’s it, that’s the answer. This is from Aquila,” I whispered before I went silent.  It
took me a few breaths to work up to courage to look them in the eyes and explain.  I took a deep breath before I went on, “Something Aquila said when he had me.  He couldn’t understand my body’s reaction when I drank the innocent’s blood when he had me.
”
  (Innocent blood from non-evil people is highly addicting to vampires, but breaking into a blood bank was the only way for Aquila to supply me with blood, and blood from a blood bank is hit or miss as to whether it’s evil or good.  For most vampires this isn’t a problem because their fangs only react, or drop, when they are hit with the scent of evil, so they can’t drink from a bag of innocent blood.  But for me, that’s a different story. 
Because I was made into a vampire using the old-fashioned methods instead of the modern, controlling methods created by The Elders to prevent vampires from
turning against them, I am able to drop my fangs at will, regardless of what type of blood is involved). 
“
I mean, he could tell that I became sexually aroused when I drank the good blood and he asked about it.  When I explained, he told me that
Seraphim
’s don’t reac
t
that way when drinking blood, but they do react that way when they hunt
:
‘hunting sexually arouses us
,
’ he told me.  When he forced, when he planted his DNA inside of me to impregnate me with his son, what if some of his species’ qualities became mine?  What if I’m now sexually aroused when I hunt just like a
Seraphim
would be
?  What if, o
h shit,” I said as I looked out of the
front
window.
Both Matt’s and Carlos’ eyes followed mine.
 
A familiar
suburban was up ahead, parked on the side of the road, surrounded by two other cars.  The passengers were lined up by the side of the road with their arms up
, their hands clasped on top of their heads
.  Two men were facing them, pointing guns at them.  Two other men were nearby, talking on cell phones.  Matt pulled over quietly to the side and cut the motor.  Our headlights hadn’t been on, so we hadn’t been
seen yet.  “How do you want to do this?” Matt said.

We’ve got to lure them up by the front of the suburban so the others can’t see us, but how, hmmm, wait, I’ve got an idea.  Carlos, get out and start arguing with me.”

“Excuse me?” he said.

“Get in a fight with me.  I’ll accuse you of cheating on me and storm off towards them.  Matt, you fly above.  You two will know what to do when it’s time. Don’t open the door yet, Matt.  Let me climb on your lap so we can climb out together.  Then, when I close the door and the light goes out, you fly.  Come on, let’s hurry.”  I climbed onto Matt’s lap, he wrapped an arm around my waist, and he and I climbed out together, while Carlos climbed out on the other side.  “You son of a bitch,” I screamed as I slammed the door and Matt jumped skyward. 
“You fucking, lying, cheating son of a bitch.
  I saw you with her.  You can’t deny it now
‘
cause
I saw you with her.  I don’t ever want to see you again, asshole.  Stay the fuck away from me,” then I turned and stormed up the road as Carlos pleaded with me.  “But honey, I’m sorry.  It didn’t mean anything. 
Please don’t leave me.”

I stopped and turned around, with my hands on my hips.  I could hear the kidnappers laughing now, as the shock of us being there had given way to amusement to what was going on.  “It didn’t mean anything?  It didn’t mean anything?  Fuck you.  It means something to me.  It means we’re through,”
I said then
I turned and continued up the road toward the kidnapper
s
, muttering to myself and seeming to be completely oblivious that they were there.  “Asshole thinks he can cheat on me and get away with it?” I said then I looked up and acted like I finally noticed they were there, but also like I knew them, “On me?  Can you believe it?  Am I so horrible?  I’m okay-looking, aren’t I?”

They had tucked their guns out of site by the time I got close to them.  I did a quick glance at Bill, who caught my eye and then quickly looked away.  The kidnapper closest to me decided to be brave enough to answer my question.  “You look good-enough,” he said with a strong accent, “but come closer so I can get a better look.”

I stopped for a second and stared at him.  I looked
frightened, like I had just realized the situation I had put myself in.  “Sarah, you get your ass back here right now,” Carlos yelled.  I bit back my smile.  This was perfect.  The anger came back and I spun around to yell at Carlos, while taking the last few steps toward the kidnapper at the same time, “Fuck you, Carlos.  You don’t get to tell me what to do ever again.  You lost that privilege when you slept with your whore.”  I turned and smiled at the kidnapper, “Now, you were saying something about how good I looked?  Tell me more.” 

“Come here, beautiful.  Let me get a good look at you.”

I hesitated again, “Ummm, can I get a ride from you?”

He nodded, “Sure thing.  My car’s right up here,” He pointed to the car that was in front of the Suburban, blocking it.  “My name is Pablo. Here, let my friends and me show you
to the car.
  Jose, Arturo, come help me show my pretty lady friend which car is ours.”

“But, but, what about me?” the last kidnapper said. 

Pablo gave him a stern look.  “You need to stay with our friends, Diego.  You will be able to meet, Sarah,
is it?  You’ll be able to meet Sarah later.”

As we got toward the front of the Suburban, I slowed down and my hands started shaking, “Ummmm, I think I made a mistake.  I need, I need to go back now.  Carlos?  CARLOS?” I yelled, but Pablo cut it off by clamping his hand over my mouth.  His gun, which was in his other hand, came up to my cheek.  “Shut the fuck up, Sarah, or I’ll shoot Carlos.  Understand?”

I nodded at him with my eyes wide and terrified.  ‘
Okay, guys.  Anytime now,’
I thought.

Carlos appeared silently behind the three kidnappers and locked his eyes with mine.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Matt cross the road until he was behind the fourth one
, Diego
.  He wrapped his arm around
Diego’s
neck and grabbed his gun at the same time.  The gun crumbled in his grasp
, like it was made of plaster,
as he whispered something in Diego’s ear.  He didn’t want to kill him in front of the hostages.  They
both
turned and headed toward the rest of us.  My eyes moved back to Carlos
, standing silently behind the other kidnappers
, who nodded at me.  “Sarah?” he said, causing the three kidnappers to spin
around and point their guns at him.  He raised his arms, but watched me.  Pablo was behind the other two, so I took that opportunity to make my move.  Without making a sound, I closed my right hand around the gun
, crushing it
while grabbing his neck with my left.  I buried my fangs deep in his neck, drained him then quietly laid him on the pavement. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to take a deep breath because my body was on fire again.  I opened them and saw Carlos grinning at me.  His eyes moved right and I followed them and saw why he was grinning.  I just happened to look at the exact moment that Matt was sinking his fangs into Diego’s neck.  I shivered then linked with Carlos, ‘
You are such an asshole sometimes,’
I thought.

“Sorry, baby.  I can’t help it.  I’m enjoying the hell out of this.”

This statement confused the hell out of Jose and Arturo, who looked at each other then
slowly
turned around and saw Pablo on the ground with me standing over the body.  “What the?” one of them started to say, but Carlos squeezed both their necks hard enough to knock them out instantly.  He
drained one of them, then let him fall to the ground while I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to look.  
“Here Sarah.
  You take this one.”