Sekhmet's Curse (Pearl Vampire Chronicles) (8 page)

They both nodded and I watched as Carlos headed into his own bathroom, but I pushed down the feeling that I was abandoning him.  I couldn’t do that every time we had to separate, if I did I’d never be able to
survive
this.  It would rip me apart.

I jumped in the shower, a little sad that I was alone.  But Matt’s voice broke through my sadness, “Sarah?  Is it alright if I join you?”

I stared for a few seconds, totally perplexed.  “Did you really just ask that?  You’re kidding right?  Matt, you never have to ask that.  The answer is yes. 
The answer has always been yes.  The answer will always be yes.”  He
shed his sweats, stepped
in and I swallowed hi
s hard body
into my arms.

Chapter Three

             
Showered and dressed,
the three of us headed to the kitchen to quickly eat.  Then I heated five more pints and we headed up the mountain to meet Jason.  He was awake and waiting for us just inside
the entrance, hovering in the shadows
. 

“Good morning, Jason,” I said as I
held out the
blood
for him
.

“Good morning.  Thank you for this
,
”
he said as he began to drink.

I watched, fascinated, as he pierced a pint with one fang and then squeezed it into his mouth, drinking and swallowing it just like a human
would a glass of water
. 

“Is there something wrong, female?” he asked when he was done.
(
seraphim’s
rarely use names when addressing women, they simply
use the term ‘female.’  I had spent several months exclusively with Aquila when I was pregnant with Jason, so I was used to this.
)

“No, why?”

“I’ve never had someone stare at me so intently while
I fed.”

“Oh.  You just feed differently than we do.
When we feed, it’s still a drinking/swallowing thing, but the
b
lood flows through our fangs and into our throats
, not into our mouths
.
It made me curious.  I apologize for staring.  I hope it didn’t make you feel uncomfortable.” I said.

He shook his head, “No.  It just felt,
mmmm
, odd.”

I motioned to Matt and Carlos, “Jason, these are my
mates
Matt and Carlos.  They want to
help any way they can.  Please, can you start by
tell
ing
us what
you know about what
happened to your father
?
”

Jason started pacing as he began speaking,
“He had been irritated and on edge for a few weeks.  We used to go out at night to feed together, but he began telling me to stay home and he would go by himself and bring some back for me. 
He was acting paranoid.  He would lock me in when he left. 
It was like he knew something was going to happen to him and he didn’t want me with him when it did.  He told me a little
bit
about our history, but he had just beg
u
n studying it himself, so there wasn’t much he could tell me.  Then he began telling me about you, a lot. He
told me about you, your compassion, and how to find this place,” he said.

“And you think he did that because he knew something was going to happen to him?”

“Yes.
He knew that you would help me.  He knew that you would be able to find him.  You can find him, right?”

I nodded,
“
I going to do everything I can. 
Tell me about the day he disappeared.  Was anything different about it? 
About him?”

“No, not really.
  Well, actually, he did hug me before he went out that night.  That’s not something he did every night,” he said, as his sad eyes stared at the ground.  I started to reach for him, but stopped myself.  I turned to Matt and Carlos, “He was saving him, wasn’t he?  Someone had approached him and he negotiated to keep Jason safe, didn’t he?” I said.

Matt nodded, “Sounds like it to me.  But for it to be someone that he wouldn’t fight, someone that he was afraid would hurt Jason….,”

“MY FATHER IS NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING!” Jason yelled, making us all jump.

“Jason, we don’t mean that he was afraid.  I know
how strong your father is.  We all know.  We meant that he was worried that this was someone or something stronger than him who might hurt you.  Something that was more
powerful
than even your father.  And, believe me,
that’s
something that scares the he
ll
out of me.”

Jason relaxed a little and even slightly smiled at my response. 

“Look, there’s someone back at the compound that we should talk to.  She’s a very
wise
Egyptian vampire.  She knows a lot about
Queen
Sekhmet
, she’s studied her and she was around the last time that Sekhmet was active, before she went into her self-imposed hibernation that she’s in now, or was anyways.
  Would you be willing to come back there with us to talk to her?”

Jason narrowed his eyes and studied us.  Finally, he nodded his head slightly and stood up.  I watched as he wandered out of the cave, and admired as he spread his wings.  It really was a stunning sight.
  Seraphim’s were truly stunning creatures – imagine the most amazing sculpted Greek God-like body that you can, with chiseled abs, broad chest, powerful
arms and legs, more than impressive other body part
s
, all on seven to eight foot tall, completely hairless creatures with hands shaped more like talons, feet more like claws and the most beautiful wings that I have ever seen that, when unfurled, reach to an impressive ten foot span.  Truly breath-taking, I thought as
I clasped Carlos and Matt’s hands in mine and we walked outside.  We r
ose
into the air and I felt the wind
from his wings
as Jason followed behind us.  He landed silently behind us in the courtyard near the waterfall, folded his wings
behind his back
and followed us inside.  Bahiti was waiting for us by the door.  “I had a feeling you would be looking for me,” she said as we walked up.  I smiled at her then made introductions.  “Bahiti, this is Jason.  Jason, meet my good friend Bahiti.”

I smiled again at the stupefied look on his face.  Even as young as he was, he still knew beauty when he saw it.  He was having the same reaction to her that I had the first time I met her.  “Why don’t we go into your office, Bahiti?  You have all
of
your maps, history and research in there, correct?”

She nodded, “I do.  Please, follow me,” she said as
she turned, opened the door and headed down the hall.  After
spending a minute or two figuring
out which chair would work best for Jason - a low-back chair that he could put his wings over the back - we began
,
  “
Do you have any idea why she’s awake, Bahiti?  You said she’s done this before since she shut down
over a thousand years ago
?”

“Yes, she has.  Not on a regular basis.  There’s no pattern to it that I can find.  But every so often she rises.  She acts like she’s searching for something or someone.  She’ll summon one or several
people
into her chamber.  But, but,” she trailed off
as she broke eye contact with me
, afraid to say more.

“But, what, Bahiti?
  Please, tell us everything.” I said.

“Well, whoever she summons into her chamber
,
I don’t know what she does with them. She can’t be feeding
on them
, because they’re vampires
and wouldn’t provide her much sustenance
. But they’re never seen or heard from again.”

“But, but, what about my father?” Jason whispered.

Bahiti saw his worry.  “If he’s with her, there’s still time to find him.  She’s been seen several times, in
several places, over the last week, which means the chamber isn’t sealed.”

“Sealed?  What do you mean sealed?” I said.

“When she’s summoned someone into her chamber, the door, well, it disappears.  It seals itself and vanishes.  It’s just solid rock.  There’s no way in or out.  And there’s no way to break through.  We’ve tried.  Even dynamite is ineffective.”

“Do you have any theories at all on what she’s doing?” Matt said.

She hesitated for a moment.  Finally she took a deep breath, “Well, if I had to guess.  My gut instinct tells me that she’s looking for her replacement.”

“Her replacement?
 
As what?
  She doesn’t really hold a position anymore since she shut down, right?  What would she be replacing?
  I
mean
,honesty
, what does she really do other than scare the shit out of other vampire purely because of how old and powerful she is?
”

“She holds the knowledge of our entire history inside
of
her.  She keeps it.  She protects it.  My guess is that she’s ready to move on and she’s searching for someone to pass that knowledge to.
My gut instinct is
that she’s not the first of her kind who did this.  I think that others came before her and each had to choose a replacement when they were tired of what there were doing.  Most of our history is not written for a reason.  Our history, if held in the wrong hands and used for the wrong reason, could be devastating to many – humans, vampires, you name it – we could all suffer. So it’s retained by someone with the strength of character to not pass it to anyone who doesn’t appear worthy
, and who won’t use it to gain ultimate power
.  You can go to her and ask her anything you want, but whether you’ll get answers or not is entirely up to her.
  But
who
m
ever she chooses to try to replace her
must have to endure some sort of test or something.  And it appears that no one has ever successfully passed it.”

“You are correct,”
said
a grating voice behind us.  We all jumped out of our chairs and turned around.    Floating in the back of the room was the shadowy apparition of Queen Sekhmet.  Not her physically, but her spirit
or something
.
I had seen her once before, in her statute form in her hidden, underground pyramid in Egypt.  She had terrified me then.  This
apparition, though not the same, still had the voice as if made from stone, still had the ‘I can crush you with a thought’ power to it, still scared the crap out of me.
I felt Carlos and Matt’s arms close protectively around me.  And I automatically reached my hand out to Jason and closed it over his arm, pulling him gently back towards us.  He seemed a little shocked at first, glancing at my hand and then at my face, but then he seemed to understand.  His eyes softened and he stepped backward to meet us. 

“May I ask why you are here?” I whispered. 

She nodded and said, “You may.  I am here to summon someone.”

We all visibly cringed.  My eyes immediately went to Bahiti as I thought, ‘No, please not her.’

“No, it is not her,” Sekhmet said.

‘Not Bahiti?’ I thought, ‘But she knows so much.’

Apparently, Sekhmet could hear what I was thinking, even though I hadn’t felt
her
link
minds with me
.  She responded, “Yes, she is very knowledgeable.  But that’s not all
that
I am searching for.  The one I need must have strength too.”

I tried not to react, but my heart started racing a mile a
minute as I thought, ‘Dear God, please don’t let it be Matt or Carlos.’

Her head slowly shook back and forth.  The figure floated a little closer to us.  “No, child,
it is
not them
that I seek
either.”

My hand tightened on Jason’s arm.  “But, but, he’s just a child,” I whispered.

“I know he’s just a child.   The reason I’m here is because I have felt what
is the best possible hope for success
than I have ever felt in my four-thousand years
of existence
.” she said.

I visibly gulped, “You, you’ve been searching for a replacement for four-thousand years?” I whispered.

“It’s one of the requirements.  The moment you are given this knowledge, you must begin your search for a suitable replacement should you ever decide that your time on this planet is done.  I have been ready to go for hundreds
, even thousands
of years.  And now I finally have
some
hope that I have found someone who will pass the tests
and guard this sacred knowledge well
:
The strength that I’ve seen
, t
he compassion
, t
he intelligence is such that it can only mean success. But,”