Sekhmet's Curse (Pearl Vampire Chronicles) (4 page)

I was an animal and didn’t hesitate
but for a second
.  I stepped up and moved to sink my teeth into him, but the instant before I did, Carlos stepped up, grabbed my scarred hand in his
(part of the change process in creating a new vampire involves a ceremony with an Aztec medicine man who cuts your palm, creating a scar.  If you have the ceremony with another person, a partner or a lover, they get a mirror image of your scar on their palm.  When these two scars touch, you can feel everything that the other person is feeling – which is a huge turn on if done when you are aroused).
Carlos
buried
his teeth into the other side of
the man’s
neck at the exact moment th
at
I sunk my teeth in.  I tried to stop, but couldn’t.  I tried to squeeze my eyes shut, but couldn’t.  And I tried desperately not to
get aroused
, but couldn’t stop it.  The moment
I shivered
, Matt also stepped up and grabbed my other hand
, as he and I also had matching scars
.  The two of them went down to their knees with me.  I pulled my teeth out
of the neck they were
in
and glared at Carlos as I tried to calm myself.
Between panting breaths I gasped
,
  “
You, you, have no idea how fucking pissed I am at you right now, Carlos. 
Damnit
, this isn’t funny.  Stop treating me like a friggin’ parlor trick.” 

“
Ahh
, honey.
  Please don’t be mad.  I just had to feel it for myself.  You can understand that, can’t you?”

“I’m not speaking to you.  Go get the hostages back on the road.  I’ll meet you at the car.” 
I spat as I turned and
stormed off toward the car.  Carlos glanced desperately at Matt, who stared at him for a moment, then pointed his chin toward me, “Go. 
Talk to her.
  I’ve got this.” 

Carlos
didn’t need to be told twice.  He
took off toward me.  “Sarah?” he whispered.

“I thought I told you to help with the hostages,” I hissed, without turning to look at him.

“Sarah, please.  I’m sorry.  Please don’t be mad at me.  I can’t have you mad at me.”

“Why not?”

“Because it hurts too much.”

That stopped me.  I stared at him for a moment. 
“Well, you should have thought about that before you did this.  I told you how embarrassing it was.  I told you that I didn’t want it to happen again.  Yet, despite that, you just couldn’t help yourself, could you?  You just had to see how far you could push it.  You had to know if it would happen again.
You had to fucking feel it
for yourself
,
b
ut what about my feelings, Carlos?  I know you two
love
how I am, sexually.  And most of the time I love it too. 
But this?
  This is just wrong, but I can’t help it.  I don’t want to be the carnival side show freak, but I am.  Step right up and see the vampire lady who
gets aroused
every time she kills a human.  That’s me, Carlos.  Don’t you get it?  That’s me and I hate it.  So please, please, don’t make me
feel
it again.  If we’re put in a situation where we can’t help it, that’s one thing
,
b
ut please don’t ever force it to happen again like you did tonight.”

He hung his head and looked so remorseful that my heart melted.  “I won’t, I promise.  And I’m so sorry, kiddo.  Can you please, please forgive me?”

I stared at him for a while, wishing I could still be mad at him but knowing that I couldn’t.  I nodded
and wrapped my arms around his neck.  He kissed my neck and squeezed me tight.  “I really am sorry, hun.  I just couldn’t stop myself.  I know you don’t like what happens to you, but I think it’s totally fucking awesome,” he pulled back and grinned his goofy grin at me so
that
I couldn’t possibly get mad at him. 

“Carlos, if it happened with anything else, I would probably think it was awesome too. 
But this?
  Killing people?  No, that most definitely is not awesome.”

“Sorry.  Sometimes I forget how young you are.”

“It’s not that I’m young, Carlos.  It’s who I am.  I will always be more human than I am vampire.  That’s my nature.  It’s my character.  It’s what makes me, me.  And I really hope that never changes, no matter how old I am
.  Does it really not bother you at all to kill people
?
,
”

“When you’ve been around as long as I have, you see a lot of bad shit, Sarah. 
These evil motherfuckers, the horrible things that they do to others, makes
them not feel human to me. 
They
are the animals, and sometimes it’s necessary to put them down,” he said.

I lifted my head
to respond but
saw Matt talking to Robert, “Hang on a second.  I need to talk to Matt.”   I linked with Matt, ‘
Honey?  Can you drive the Suburban for a bit?  I mean fast and with the lights off until we’re about a mile from the border.  I don’t want any more kidnappers to find us.  I don’t want any more encounters.  Please?’ 
Matt nodded, said something to Robert and then
Matt
climbed into the driver’s seat
as Robert squeezed himself into the backseat with the others.
  Carlos and I climbed into
our
car and we all sped off.

Forty-five minutes later Matt pulled the Suburban to the side of the road.  We were only a
half
mile from the border
and
we could see the lights
from it
up ahead.  Matt climbed out of the Suburban and I watched as Robert said something to
him,
shook his hand then climbed into the driver’s seat.  Robert turned on the headlights and headed toward the bright lights of the border, the lights that we all knew meant safety and freedom for all of them.  Matt walked back to the car and climbed into the back seat.  I drove, silently, for at least twenty miles before they couldn’t stand it anymore.  “I’m really sorry, Sarah,”
Carlos said as he placed his hand on mine.  I looked over and tried to smile at him.  “I’m not mad at you anymore, honey.  I’m furious with myself.  I know we’re not human anymore, but I hate this side of me.  I don’t want to be a monster.  I don’t want to be someone that people are terrified of.  That’s not who I was, that’s not who I am, that’s not who I want to be, ever.”

Matt leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the seat, resting them on my shoulders, “Sarah.  You could never be a monster.  It’s just not in you.  Actually, you’re the exact opposite.  You can draw the monster out of others and allow them to be good.  Just look at what you did with Jonas and Aquila, honey. 
I’m still working on forgiving Aquila, that
damn
Seraphim, for kidnapping you and f-f-forcing you to give birth to his child.  That delivery almost killed you Sarah, giving birth to Seraphim’s kills most vampires.  But Aquila didn’t want you to die and
somehow
he knew that you were strong enough to survive.  And he knew that, despite the fact that he did this against your will, he knew that your heart was so big that you would grow to love the son growing
inside of you.  And he was right.  You loved that child and, because of that, you were able to forgive Aquila.  And
Carlos spent ten years under Jonas’ cloak of evil, ten years that he spent making sure that his family was safe from Jonas’ wrath before he was able to turn him in and get away from him.  Jonas then rotted in his own prison on a deserted island for over a century before he escaped.  When he found Carlos and decided to exact his revenge on the people that Carlos loved, none of us thought that we’d ever survive.  Jonas was one of the oldest, strongest and, Carlos would agree, most evil creature
s
on the face of the planet.  There was no way that we could beat him physically
.  We were done for, toast, or so we thought.  But of course we should have known that you, with your big heart and endless supply of love, could reach through
the black, impenetrable shield around Jonas’ heart and
find
the good that even
he
didn’t know that he had.
Nobody
else could have done that.  You
a
re love, Sarah.  Plain and simple, you are love.”

My mouth hung open as I stared at him in the rearview mirror.  I glanced over at Carlos, who was
also just staring at Matt with his mouth open.  Matt’s eyes flicked to both our faces, “What?” he said.

“Dude,” Carlos began, “How the hell do you do that?”

“Do what?” Matt said.

“Say the most perfect, most romantic, most loving things to her?  You’ve got
me
wanting to kiss you right now,” he grinned.

“Oh shut up,” Matt blushed.

“No, he’s right Matt.  I might be love.  But you are the most loyal and most forgiving person I’ve ever met
,
”
I said.

“Well, shoot. 
If you
are
love, Sarah.
   And he’s loyal and forgiving.  What the hell am I?” Carlos said, pouting with a twinkle in his eye. 

I winked at Matt in the rearview mirror then we both grinned and said, “
Trouble
,” at the same time.

“Gee, thanks.”

“We’re kidding, Carlos.  You’re fun,” I said.

“Fun?
  That’s it?  I’m fun?”

“You make everything fun and exciting.  You’re love of life infects everyone around you.”

“Sounds to me like we form a perfect triangle, then,
don’t we?  We all bring something different to the table,” Carlos said.

I thought about this as I
pulled the car over to the side of the road, “Okay, up and over the fence, then we can fly to El Paso and catch a hopper to Albuquerque, then home.  Come on guys,
I’m exhausted. L
et’s go home
,
”
I said.

I settled into my seat on the plane, kissed the back of both of their hands that were clasped in mine and leaned my head back.  I drifted off to sleep within seconds, completely unaware of the conversation that the two of them were having with Bahiti
, a stunning centuries-old vampire back home at our compound,
in their heads, ‘
You’re sure it’s a
Seraphim
, Bahiti?’

‘Yes, Matthew.  It definitely is.’

‘But it’s not Aquila?’

‘No.  But he doesn’t seem menacing either.  This one never gets too close and he appears to be searching for someone.  But, but,’
she hesitated, not sure if she should say more.

‘But what, Bahiti?
  Tell us everything,’
Carlos thought.

‘Well, it’s just that there’s something very familiar about this one, and different than the others I’ve seen.  His eyes, they’re shaped differently and they’re green.  I’ve never seen one with green eyes before.’

‘Oh shit,’
Matt said.  Matt and Carlos looked at each other.  “Do you think it’s him?” Matt said.

“Why would he be looking for her?  Do you think he wants to hurt her?”  Carlos whispered.

“Bahiti said he didn’t seem menacing.  If he was there to hurt her, he’d probably harm anybody he came across, don’t you think?  Maybe he just wants to meet her.  Maybe he’s just interested in knowing his mother,” Matt said.

‘
Matthew?’

‘Oh, sorry, Bahiti.
  I was just talking to Carlos.  Don’t do anything to the
Seraphim
unless he actually attacks.  We’ll be there tomorrow afternoon to see what’s going on, okay?’

‘It’s hers, isn’t it?  It’s the one Sarah gave birth to,’
she thought.

‘
We think so, Bahiti.’

‘Okay.  We’ll watch him until you get here.  I’ll see you tomorrow,’
she thought and then she pulled out
of their heads.

“We have to tell her, Matt.  This isn’t something that should be sprung on her when she walks into the compound.  She needs to be ready.  She needs to know,”

“Needs to know what?” I mumbled then I stretched and yawned.  I
saw the worry on
both of their faces and sat up straighter in my seat.  I was wide awake now.  “What’s going on, guys?”

“Why are you awake so soon, Sarah?  You’ve only been asleep for a few minutes.  What woke you up?” Matt said.

“I had a weird dream.  Stop trying to change the subject, Matt.  Tell me.”

“I’m not trying to change the subject, Sarah.  I’m trying to figure out if your dream has anything to do with what’s going on, so please tell me what it was, okay?”