The Link

by Dara Nelson

  “What are you doing here? Where’s Matt?” I gasped again and said, “Something’s wrong. Something’s happened to him. Tell me Carlos. Please, tell me.”

  “Relax, Sarah. He’s fine. It’s just taking a little longer that he expected and he asked me to keep you company today,” he said.

  “You swear he’s okay, Carlos?” I said.

  He grinned and held up two fingers, “Scout’s honor,” he said.

  “He’s going to be gone all day?” I said.

  “Probably until tomorrow morning. But relax, Sarah. You’ve got me as your Paris guide. We’re going to have fun,” he said.

  “But I already did the tourist stuff with Matt yesterday,” I said.

  Carlos rolled his eyes, “Oh, please. You did the boring tourist stuff. I’m going to take you to see all the fun stuff. The stuff that Matt was to chicken to show you,” he said. “Now, hurry up and get ready.”

  I just sat there with my arms crossed, staring at him.

  “What?” he said

  “I need that robe, please. And I need you to turn around,” I said.

  He just stared at me for a second. “You mean… you’re naked under there? And I didn’t even know? Shit, I could’ve peaked. Damn the luck,” he grinned as he handed me the robe and then turned around. I threw on the robe and started to climb off the bed to head into the bathroom.

  “Do me a favor and order me some breakfast please? I’m starving,” I called over my shoulder.

  “Sure thing, but what do you want? I’m a little out of practice.” he said

  “Just some fruit, maybe some juice and croissants, please.”

  When I emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, Carlos was sitting next to the table full of food, grinning. “What’s so funny?” I said.

  “The bellboy commented that I was a different guy than the one you came in with last night. I’m pretty sure he thinks you’re a bit of a slut,” he said.

  I just shrugged my shoulders, sat down and started eating.

  “That doesn’t bother you, Sarah?” he said, a little surprised.

  “No. Why should it?” I said.

  “Huh. You surprise me,” he said.

  I finished breakfast, grabbed my camera and we headed out. We saw the bellboy as we walked through the lobby. Carlos just shook his head and chuckled as I wrapped my arm around his waist and made it look like we were a couple. The day flew by with so much laughter that my cheeks hurt. Carlos put his own spin on the history he was telling me, making me laugh so hard I had tears coming out of my eyes. He took me to a burlesque show, made even more interesting because half the girls knew Carlos by name. “And the bellboy thinks I’m a slut,” I whispered into his ear, making him grin. For our last stop we went to the countryside to tour a winery. The sun was just beginning to set as we wandered through the vineyards. I noticed Carlos kept getting us farther and farther away from the rest of the tour group.

  We were alone near one of the back rows that backed up to a cliff, when Carlos leaned in and whispered, “Don’t scream, okay?”

  “Don’t scream? What do you mean don’t…” then I gasped and clasped my hand over my mouth as Carlos wrapped both arms around my waist… and flew. He flew us up to the top of the cliff, where we sat and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets I had ever seen. We waited until it was dark, then he flew us all the way back to the hotel, landing in the dark alley right next to it. I was exhausted. I put on one of Matt’s t-shirts, climbed into the bed, and tried to keep my eyes open as I thanked Carlos for the incredibly fun day. But I’m pretty sure I was out after only a few minutes.

  I woke the next morning, with the sun streaming in through the window, to a knocking at the door. I glanced around frantically. Carlos was gone and Matt should’ve been back by now. I threw on my robe and headed to the door. I looked through the peephole and smiled at what I saw: My Matthew with a cart full of food. I opened the door and he breezed in with a, “Good morning, my sweet.”

  “Good morning to you,” I replied, eyeing the food (I was starving from all the running around I had done with Carlos). The cart was filled with fruit, juice, crepes, croissants, pure heaven I thought as I dug in. “Did you have any success?” I said.

  He smiled and patted my hand, “Eat first, my love. We can talk about that later,” he said. That’s kind of odd, I thought, but I decided not to push it right now. I was enjoying my breakfast too much.

  “I think I really am going to miss food,” I said to him, smiling with a mouthful.

  “I did too for a while,” he softly said, “but not so much anymore, although I am enjoying the feelings you have when you eat right now,” he smiled. I stopped when he said this, swallowing the bite I had in my mouth. “You can feel how much I’m enjoying this food, huh?” He nodded and closed his eyes, smiling. I looked down at the table and I was surprised to see that I had already devoured most of the food on it. With a smirk I decided to ‘change’ what he was feeling. His eyes popped open and I saw the confused look on his face as he tried to figure out what I was doing. I closed my eyes and started fantasizing about what I wanted to be doing to him, with him, right here, right now. Keeping my eyes pressed shut and a smile on my face, I allowed my body to feel what I was thinking. I felt my heartbeat quicken and I felt the familiar pulsing between my legs. I heard the surprised, “Oh!” then “Oh my!” then a groan, a growl and he was on me, kissing me and pulling me down to the carpet… the bed was just too far away this time.

  I traced my finger down his chest later. “That was sneaky,” he mumbled.

  “No, that was fun,” I replied and he smiled. Then I remembered what I had done the day before. My eyes flew open. “Oooohhh! Guess what I did yesterday?” I said.

  He smiled at me, “You mean, besides upsetting the poor bellboy?”

  I smiled, “Oh, he’ll get over it. No, I got to fly! Wait until you see the pictures I got of the sunset,” I said.

  “Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” he smiled.

  “Duh!” I said. “Seriously, you have got to do that with me… a lot.”

  “Of course, my sweet.”

  He sat up then and I knew it was time to go, again. We dressed and packed together (there seemed to be more new clothes in my bag - how does he do that?). We were quiet as we rode to the airport. The frantic pace of the last week was wearing on both of us. I absent-mindedly traced the scar on his hand and asked, “Where to now?”

  “Haiti,” he replied.

  “Haiti?” I asked, trying to think of what was there that could possibly have anything to do with vampires.

  “Voodoo?” I asked and he nodded. The flights were very long. I was totally exhausted and beginning to wonder if I was going to be able to keep going much longer. I leaned my head on his shoulder, closed my eyes and concentrated on how good it felt to be with him. How completely loved I felt. It seemed like a lifetime since I felt this good, this happy, despite my nagging fears of what would happen in the future. Slowly, I felt my strength beginning to return. I would keep going. I had to go on, for him, for me, for us. He took my hand kissed the back of it, then turned it over and kissed my scar. A gasp escaped my lips - that will never get old, I thought. We climbed out of the taxi and were standing in front of a beautiful old plantation home. The driver seemed a little nervous here, and I wondered why. He hurriedly got our bags out of the trunk and set them on the ground. Then he jumped back into the car. We moved out of the way just in time to miss the gravel and dirt from his spinning tires, as he took off too fast. I turned back to look at the house and was surprised to see a woman standing on the steps right in front of us. She seemed to have appeared silently out of nowhere. She eyed me up and down, then turned to Matthew, bowed her head and turned and headed towards the house. We picked up our bags and silently followed. Inside I instantly felt like I had walked into an old movie. There didn’t appear to be electricity in the home and there were candles lit everywhere. They created an eerie glow that made shadows dance on the
walls. This place was both fascinating me and giving me the creeps. She motioned for us to set our bags down in the hall and then we followed her to the back of the house, down the stairs to what I assumed was the basement but in reality was a huge cavern that was easily larger than the house above us. There were candles lit on the walls and a fire next to one wall with a large black iron cauldron on it. And in the center of the room was a pool. A pool of what I thought was deep black water. Looking closer, I glanced quickly at Matt’s face, then back at the thick black water because it appeared to be moving. No, not moving, I thought, pulsing… like a heartbeat. She walked to the other side of the pool, picked up a pot with a long handle on it, scooped water out of the pool and poured it into the cauldron. I couldn’t be sure but I would swear that she was struggling to get the water from the pool to the cauldron, like it was fighting with her. To my horror I was right. On the last pot she grabbed, a large drop fell onto the rock at the side of the pool… and slithered back in to the water. I shivered and turned my face into Matt’s chest. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight. She motioned to us then, wanting us to join her near the fire. As we walked over, I kept my eyes on the water the entire time. I was afraid to tear them away until we were near her. She lit some incense and began singing, chanting and waving the smoke around us and the cauldron. She pulled down a jar from the wall which looked to me like it contained small human bones, maybe from fingers or toes. She poured some into a bowl, ground them up and poured it into the cauldron. There was a growl (I swear it was) from the cauldron and a big puff of smoke and she stirred again, while still singing and chanting. Next, she picked up a small cage. I tried not to gasp when I saw it contained a live chicken. I turned my head into Matthew’s chest, not wanting to see what happened next, and turned back in time to see her pour a bowl full of blood into the cauldron. Another growl, another puff of smoke, more stirring and chanting. Three more jars, of things that I really didn’t want to know what was in them, were pulled down off the wall, ground up and poured into the cauldron. Each followed by louder growls and larger puffs of smoke. Several minutes, maybe hours, later (I wasn’t sure because I was dizzy and had no sense of time down here), the cauldron released one more groan, a large puff of blood red smoke and then she stopped singing and chanting. She grabbed two small bottles, that each had a leather string tied around them, and a ladle. She scooped some liquid from the cauldron and poured it into the small bottles, then inserted the corks and placed them around our necks. Then she placed her hand on my forehead. I was instantly aware of what was in the bottle, why it was needed, what it was for. How is that possible when she never spoke a word??? I stared at her for a second, but she just smiled and nodded her head. She stood up then and we followed suit, me trying to maintain my…sanity. But when she picked up the chicken carcass and tossed it in to the pool, which began to ‘fight’ over it, that was too much for me, I had seen enough. Matthew’s soft arms caught me as I fainted, and he gently carried me up the stairs.

  I woke in Matt’s arms a short time later and shot up in bed, my eyes darting around the room in a panic. I relaxed slightly when I realized we weren’t in HER house anymore. “Where are we?” I whispered.

  “We’re still on the plantation,” he said, then added quickly when he saw my panic rise again, “in one of the outer buildings on the far side of the property. We’re about a mile away from the main house.”

  I relaxed a bit then, but not much. It was still too close for me. I was pretty freaked out for the next few hours, panicking again when I saw the small bottle that had been around my neck, on the nightstand. Then again when there was a horrible screeching sound at the window (just a tree branch blowing in the wind), and again when an owl hooted. I finally fell into a fitful sleep filled with nightmares and pain (I bruised my arms and knee by tossing violent over onto Matt several times). When I woke again, the sun was out and the room was warm. I could see our packed bags were by the door. But I noticed that Matt was sitting at the table with a confused look on his face. “Where to now?” I asked, (thinking, please let it be somewhere far away from here).

  “I… I’m not sure,” he replied.

  “You’re not sure?” I said, “What does that mean?”

  He turned to me and I saw the fear in his eyes as he answered, “I don’t know of any more places to go, Sarah. Or anyone else to see who might have the answers,” he said.

  I thought about that for a minute then said, “So, does this mean we’re giving up and going home or does this mean that we have all of the pieces?” My heart raced at that thought. The anguish was obvious when he replied, “I don’t know, Sarah… I’m not sure if we have all of the pieces. I JUST DON’T KNOW,” he cried and put his head down.

  I walked over to him, kissed his ear and said, “Relax, honey. It’ll be okay. Where can we go that’s safe… and far away from this place… where we can look at what we have and try to figure this out, sweetheart?”

  He looked up at me then and I saw some of the anguish leaving his face, “Let me make a few calls,” he said as he pulled out his cell phone.

  Chapter Seven

  We stood at the foot of the bed and stared at the cards on the bed. The clues, all of them, we hoped. There were five of them written on pieces of paper and spread out on the bed. “Wait,” I said turning to Matthew. “What about the clue from Paris? You never did tell me about that one.”

  Matthew shook his head, “There wasn’t one. Paris was a trap.”

  I whipped my head around and opened my mouth to say something, but stopped when he held up his hand. “I didn’t tell you before because I didn’t want to worry you. As I was led deeper into the tunnels, I grew tense because every vampire I passed had a closed mind. None of them were letting me in. I knew something was off immediately. I was finally able to work my way into the mind of one of the younger vampires and discovered that this nest was an alliance to the Elders. They were constantly searching for disloyal or unlawful vampires so they could turn them in and earn preference from the Elders. I ran then, spending all night and the next day in the tunnels and back on the streets making sure I had lost them, because I couldn’t lead them back to you.”

  I stared at him for a minute, my eyebrow raised, not sure if I should be angry with him for not telling me. I finally decided getting angry just wasn’t worth it right now. We had much more important things that we needed to concentrate on. I turned my attention back to the clues. They needed all our attention. We stared longer, hoping we had them in the right order (it was the only way that made sense to both of us), I read them again: First clue: Draw five 5-pointed stars - one on the wall above our heads, one on the ceiling above us, one at our feet and one each on both sides of the bed. Second clue: Place five incense burners, with the incense from Nigeria, one in each of the stars on the floor, one on a shelf above where our heads would be, the one last hanging from the center of the star on the ceiling. Third clue: Sprinkle the red powder from the Mexican priest onto our scars - this was supposed to cause them to open. When they did we were to sprinkle more powder inside the wounds, join hands and never let go, not until the transference was done. Fourth clue: Drink the liquid (prepared by the voodoo priestess, five ounces for each of us made from five ingredients). Fifth clue: Transference - this was the tough one. The formula from the Voodoo priestess allowed him to bite me, so draining me wasn’t a problem (unless he took all of my blood, which would make my heart stop, not good). We had a huge syringe that would then be inserted into Matthew’s artery. He’d take my blood, then use the syringe to drain himself, and quickly, as in faster than the blink of an eye, inject the blood back into the vein in my neck, according to the Nigerian, so it could flow through my heart quickly. Since our hands had to be joined we were thinking that Carlos would be faster than any blood pumping machine we could get our hands on, and of course he was eager to help. We continued to stare but then he shook his head. “No,” he said, “We must be missing something, this is too easy. Some
one would have figured this out a long time ago. This isn’t right.”

  “Shhhh,” I said, “I know, just let me think a second.” I stared, glad that I had been a lifelong follower of brainteasers. I knew puzzles like this, and he was right. There was something else, I could feel it. He started to say something and I put up my hand and shook my head. It was there, building in my brain. Suddenly I found it. I gasped.

  “What? What is it?” he said.

  “It’s five,” I said.

  “Well, umm, yeah it’s five, I can see that,” he said.

  “No,” I said, “Five is the key. Look,” I said as I gestured to the clues. “Everything points to five. Five clues. Five 5-pointed stars, five incense burners, five ounces of the formula made from five ingredients. The Egyptian symbols we saw - the hand with the eye in the middle, it wasn’t the eye that was important, it was the five fingers. The bird with five feathers on his tail that the Peruvian women painted on my arm… it all points to five, it hasto mean that the transference needs to be done five times.” I turned to face him then. “Um, I think I see now why the Elders designed a machine to do this. It means you’ll have to drain me five times, with Carlos quickly draining you and transferring the blood that has cycled through you back to me. And remember that picture on the back of Sekhmet’s throne, the one of the vampire figure with blood flowing into cups out of different places: its arms, neck, legs? I’m thinking it must mean that you have to be drained each time from a different artery. These have to be all of the clues, because there are five of them.”