by Nelson, Dara
“You promised, Sarah,” he whispered.
“And I’ll keep that promise, Matt. I promised to die by your side, if, in the heat of battle he said he’d let you live if I went with him. I will still do that. But this is different. There isn’t any battle with this, and I wouldn’t be leaving with him… it would only be one time,” I said. But I knew as soon as I said it that I couldn’t go through with it. I knew as soon as I saw the hurt in his eyes that I could never, ever do it. I set the blood down on the bed next to Carlos and walked over to Matt. I wrapped my arms around him and looked into his eyes. “I’m so sorry,” I said as I began kissing him, gently working my way through his pain until he responded.
I couldn’t stop kissing him, not when Carlos said, “Uhhh, guys, my nose works, can you please leave?” I couldn’t stop even as Carlos’ request became more desperate. “Oh, God, I can smell it guys, please, please… I can’t hold out much longer… come on guys… please… oh hell…” he groaned. I couldn’t stop even as we heard Carlos slurping his dinner, moaning and groaning as his ecstasy grew. Couldn’t stop as Carlos’ moans were clearly accompanied by uncontrollable, involuntary sexual reactions under the sheet as he downed the last pint. Couldn’t stop as Carlos let out a final muffled cry of pleasure after he shoved his pillow in his face. Couldn’t stop as Carlos lay there gasping and cursing us under his breath. But finally had to stop when he began throwing the empty pints at the back of my head.
On the last one, Matt and I started laughing, “Okay, okay, we’ll stop.”
“Damn it,” Carlos said, “my nose is fixed now. Meals will be private from now on, understand?”
“Oh, crap,” I said, “what time is it?”
“Almost eleven, why?” Matt said.
“I have a meeting with Bahiti,” I said as I rushed toward the door. “I’ll be back in an hour.”
I raced through the halls and into my office. I sat down at my desk across from Bahiti. “Thanks for coming. I have some history questions for you.”
“Sure, Sarah,” she said, “what would you like to know?”
“Well,” I said, clearly nervous, though I wasn’t sure why, “did vampires used to be different? I mean, a long time ago.”
She stared at me for what seemed like forever, then she smiled. “You mean, did they used to be like you. Able to drop their fangs at will and feed on whatever or whoever, they wanted?”
I nodded.
“Well, a lot of our ancient history was destroyed by Victor, but I have heard a few stories. I’m not sure if they’re true or not though.”
“What were they?” I said. “They were bad, weren’t they?”
“Some of them, yes. But there are bad vampires now, as you well know, so I don’t think it was much worse then. But apparently vampires had no discipline, no structure. They never tried to control themselves and they were ruthless killers,” she said.
“So you don’t know if their need to kill was out of control or just they themselves wanting to kill?”
She shook her head. “No, but I know someone I can ask.”
“Who?” I asked. “There’s a vampire around who was alive before Victor took over?” I gasped as I realized she was talking about Sekhmet – an ancient Egyptian Queen who had ruled over vampires for over a thousand years before she decided to shut down her body and go into vampire hibernation. We had gone into her temple during our search on how to turn me into a vampire and some of the drawings on her throne had provided a crucial timing piece to the process. “Bahiti, is that safe?”
She smiled. “If I don’t push her to answer questions she doesn’t want to answer, then, yes it’s safe.”
I shook my head. “No, I can’t ask you to do that for me, Bahiti.”
“You didn’t ask, I’m volunteering,” she said as she stood up. “I’ll be back in a few days. I’ll let you know what I find out.” She turned and walked out before I could say anything else.
I had one more stop on the way back to Carlos’ room. I knocked on her door and waited for Stacy to answer. Stacy had been a prostitute friend of mine who I had asked, and she had eagerly agreed, to become a vampire. She was now running the first vampire call-girl business. “Sarah!” she said as she hugged me. “I haven’t talked to you in ages. How are you?”
“I’m great Stacy, how are you doing?” I said. She saw right through me though.
“Come in, tell me what’s going on,” she said as she pulled me toward the couch
I smiled at her. “Okay, this might sound odd, but I have to ask anyway. Can you drop your fangs whenever you want?”
“The way you can? No. But every once in a while, they’ll just randomly drop. I keep trying to figure out what I’m doing when it happens, but I haven’t been able to yet because it’s so rare.”
“How rare?”
“Once, maybe twice a year.”
“Oh,” I said, trying not sound too disappointed.
“Sarah, there’s nothing wrong with you,” she said.
“Easy for you to say,” I said, “you’re not the only one like me.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being unique,” she said then she smiled. “You know what you need?”
“What?”
“A sexy new negligee,” she said as she grabbed my hand.
“Where are we going?”
“To my shop. I’m going to pick something out for you.”
“Stacy,” I began, but she turned and gave me that ‘don’t be such a drag’ look, so I stopped.
Twenty minutes later I had hidden my new purchase in our room and was heading back to Carlos’ room, but Matt found me in the hallway. “He’s not here,” he said as he gave me a kiss.
“Where is he?”
“With Maria. Is that why you had her stay with us, Sarah? I’ve never seen him like this with anyone… except…” he started to say but stopped because he knew that he didn’t need to continue. We both knew all too well who he was talking about.
“I had a feeling. Yes, that’s why I had her stay,” I said.
“You are something else, Sarah Pearl,” he said, smiling at me.
“You think so?” I said. “Wait till you see what I have in store for you later,” I said then I winked at him.
He stared at me then I watched a shiver rock his body. He pulled me into his arms. “Why wait till later?” he growled.
“Why wait till later for what?” Carlos said.
I turned and looked at him, and my heart swelled when I saw he was holding Maria’s hand. Maria looked a little worried that I might be mad, so I smiled at her and she relaxed.
“Wait,” Carlos said, “forget I asked that, because knowing you two I already know the answer.” Carlos leaned over and whispered something in Maria’s ear that made her eyes go wide and then she blushed. They’ve already progressed to the sharing secrets stage? I thought. Wow, I did better than I thought.
“So, Sarah,” Carlos said, “I went to grab some lunch earlier, but I see you’ve got some sort of electronic lock on the fridge. You gonna tell me the combination?”
I stared at him then I shook my head. “No, Carlos,” I said then I held up my hand when he started to argue. “I changed it this morning. And I’m not going to tell you and I’m not going to tell Matt, since he’s starting on it tonight.”
“I am?” he said.
I nodded. “Yes, you are. But Carlos, the other fridge isn’t locked. If you’re hungry, help yourself to that.”
Carlos glared at me. He was trying desperately to control himself. He wanted to scream at me, maybe even swing at me, but I saw him gently squeeze Maria’s hand, as if trying to draw calm from her. “Fine,” he grumbled, “I’ll wait.”
Maria could feel the tension and tried to help. “The sun’s just setting, how about we all take a walk in the courtyard?” she said. Carlos and I continued to stare each other down, but we both nodded. I grabbed Matt’s hand and we turned to head down the hall. Suddenly I started feeling nauseous. I squeezed Matt
’s hand tight. I pointed to my head when he turned and looked at me. I felt Matt linking with me just before Jonas came in.
‘What are we up to this evening, Sarah?’ Jonas thought.
‘I thought you were going to leave me alone until tomorrow, Jonas.’
‘Ahhh, we have a visitor. Hello Matthew.’
‘Jonas,’ Matt thought, hissing the “s”, which made me smile.
‘So, Sarah, did you share my offer with your husband or do I get to have some fun and tell him?’
‘She told me, Jonas,’ Matt thought.
‘Too bad, that would’ve been fun. So, are you going to share, Matthew?’
‘Fuck off, Jonas,’ I thought.
‘Stop, Sarah, you’re getting me all excited,’ Jonas thought. ‘Does this mean you’re not taking me up on my offer?’
‘Yes, that’s what it means, Jonas.’
‘Good. It’ll be so much more fun taking it instead of you giving it.’
‘Why, Jonas? Why me?’
He was silent for a few seconds. ‘Why you? You mean you don’t know?’
‘No, I don’t know, Jonas. Why me?’ I thought.
‘Tell her Matt.’
‘I have, Jonas, a thousand times,’ he thought. ‘Apparently she can’t see it from her point of view.’
I squeezed my eyes shut. ‘Stop it guys. I’m tired. Jonas, will you please go away and let me sleep?’
‘Wow,’ Jonas thought, ‘she really doesn’t have any idea. That is insane, incredible and makes her that much more irresistible.’
‘I know,’ Matt thought. ‘Now, would you please leave her alone?’
‘Maybe I’ll just come and take her right now, tonight. I can’t wait much longer, Matt. I’ve got to have her.’
‘You can’t have her, Jonas.’ I couldn’t believe how calm he was right now.
‘I can and I will,’ Jonas thought.
‘You don’t understand what I’m saying, Jonas. You could take her and, well, you know, do whatever. But you can never have her, not in the way you’re wanting to have her, because she doesn’t want you. She never will and I think you know that.’
‘I can make her want me, eventually.’
‘You go ahead and think that, Jonas. But right now I’m done with this conversation. I’m not going to waste my time arguing with you. I need to go eat,’ Matt thought.
We had all reached the waterfall by now. Carlos and Maria sat on one bench, Matt and I took the other. Everyone was completely silent, which was fine by me. My nausea went away, Jonas had left without saying a word and that started to make me feel uncomfortable. Suddenly I became very tense and started looking around.
“What is it Sarah?” Matt said.
“Something’s not right. He never leaves without saying something,” I said as my eyes darted around the courtyard. “I think he might be… I think he’s—” My eyes found him on the roof. “He’s here,” I groaned.
“Oh shit,” Carlos said as he wrapped a protective arm around Maria. Matt and I jumped up and went to stand in front of her too. I held tight to Matt’s hand, there was no way I could let him take on Jonas by himself.
Again, there was silence. Nobody said a word. Not me, not Jonas, not Matt, not Carlos, nobody. Once again, it was me who broke it. “Now, Jonas? Is it now? Is that why you’re here?” I said.
“What? I can’t just come by and visit? Maybe I just wanted to meet Carlos’ new squeeze.”
Carlos growled behind me, but I put my hand back to stop him, as Jonas went on
“Maybe I just wanted to see you again, Sarah. Maybe I just wanted to taste you again.”
That got a growl from Matt.
“Maybe, maybe, maybe,” I said, “that’s all bullshit, Jonas. Tell me why you’re really here.”
Jonas grinned then jumped down from the roof, landing about ten feet away from us. Matt instinctively moved to step in front of me, but I yanked on his hand and pulled him back.
“I want a girl,” Jonas said.
“Excuse me?” I said.
“You heard me. I heard about your little escort service you’ve got going here. I want company for a few hours.”
“I can’t do that, Jonas. You might hurt her. I can’t put anyone in that kind of danger,” I said.
Jonas turned and took a few steps toward the door. He was closer to it than we were. “Fine,” he said, “I’ll just go in and take one. But if we’re doing it this way, I’m not bringing her back.”
“Wait,” I said. Jonas stopped and smiled at me. “You won’t hurt her?”
“Sarah,” Matt said, but I looked at him and he stopped.
I turned back to Jonas. “Will you promise me that you won’t hurt her or make her do anything she doesn’t want to do?”
“Sarah, you can’t be seriously considering this,” Carlos said.
“Really, Sarah, he’s right,” Matt said.
I whirled around and faced both of them, glaring. “Shut up, both of you, please? I don’t hear either one of you coming up with any ideas here, so just back off and let me talk, okay?” I said, then I turned back to face Jonas, completely missing the smirks that Matt and Carlos made to each other but were hidden from Jonas.
“Well, Jonas?” I said.
“Okay, Sarah, I’ll promise, on one condition.”
“What’s that?” I said.
“You have to take me to them,” he said, then held up his hand when I opened my mouth to protest. “I want to choose the girl that is most like you, in looks and scent. I need you there to compare.”
I stared at him for a second then said, “Will you keep your hands off me?”
“Sarah, don’t,” Matt said.
I looked at him then back at Jonas. “Will you keep your hands off me… and Matt comes with me too,” I said.
Jonas sighed. “Fine,” he groaned. “I’ll keep my hands off you, but he stays back a ways when I’m choosing, okay? I don’t want his scent to mess up yours.”
I nodded, then turned to Carlos. “Get Maria inside to your room and stay with her until he’s gone, okay?”
Carlos nodded, grimaced slightly as he stood up then wrapped his arms around Maria as he led her inside. As I gripped Matt’s hand and stepped forward I linked with Stacy. ‘I need all of your available girls lined up for a customer.’
‘Sure, when?’
‘Now… we’ll be there in about two minutes.’
‘We?’
‘Don’t ask. Can you have them ready?’
‘Will do.’
Jonas stepped forward to the door and held it open, leering at me. A chill went down my spine as I felt the evil hunger emanating from him. I squeezed Matt’s hand tighter.
“After you,” Jonas said.
Matt and I kept our eyes locked on Jonas as we stepped inside. This was someone I never wanted to have my back to ever again.
“Mmm, mmm, mmmm,” Jonas growled. “We better hurry or I won’t be able to keep my promise, Sarah. Having you this close, it’s almost impossible to keep my hands off you.”
Matt tensed even more next to me.
“How’s the wrist?” Jonas said.
“Hurts, thanks,” I said sarcastically.
“It wouldn’t if you’d change your diet,” he said.
“No, Jonas,” I said.
He turned and looked at me. “Why do you fight it, Sarah? What are you afraid of?” he said, then I suddenly felt like I was going to puke as his mind jumped into mine, searching for the answer to his question, the answer that I didn’t want him to have. I stopped walking and bent over with my hands across my belly, groaning.
“Get out of my head, Jonas. I’m not… I’m not going… you don’t get to… get out… get out… damn it, get out.”
And he did, but obviously not before he got the answer he was looking for. He just stared at me, with his mouth hanging open. “No way…” he said. “You can… at will? Whenever you want? I’ve heard old stories about vampires like you, but I thought they were
just rumors. God, I’m so jealous… what I wouldn’t give to be able to do that too.”
“Jonas, I’d gladly give you this ability, if it would make you go away. Gladly. I don’t want it.”
“You don’t want it?” Jonas gasped, then he shook his head. “You are either incredibly stupid or absolutely amazing… I can’t decide which.” Jonas shivered. “God, just the thought of being able to go out and take whoever I wanted, whenever I wanted, without outside help…” he groaned.
I started walking again. “Can we please just get this over with?” I said. We reached Stacy’s door, but I hesitated. Without looking at Jonas, I said, “Please, please, don’t hurt her, Jonas. I’m begging you, please don’t hurt her, for me, please?” I turned and locked my eyes with his. For a split-second, I saw sympathy in them, and he wavered. That’s what I was looking for. If I could reach him on this, then maybe, just maybe, I could reason with him on everything else. He nodded and I turned back and knocked on the door. Stacy opened it and looked at us. “Are you ready?” I said. She nodded and stepped back to let us in. She had eight beautiful vampires lined up: Megan, Abby, Alison, Susie, Trixie, Debbie, Laura and Heidi. Jonas stopped and looked at me, then looked at Matt. I squeezed Matt’s hand and said, “Wait here, honey, please?”
Matt glared at Jonas, but nodded his head. His eyes were locked on Jonas and I could see that he was tense and ready to spring. I smiled. Sometimes it still felt good to have him as my protector. “Come, stand here, Sarah,” Jonas said, pointing to a spot just in front of the line of girls. He came around to stand behind me and I froze. I could hear the growl starting in Matt’s chest. Jonas pinned his hands behind his back and looked at Matt. “See, no hands,” he said. But his body was pressed so close to mine. I could feel his breath on my neck as he breathed in my scent. I could hear his heartbeat speed up… and I could feel his reaction in his pants, which he pressed against my hip. I knew Matt was going to spring… and I also knew Jonas would probably kill him in an instant if he did.
“Jonas,” I whispered.
“Fine,” he whispered then he backed up and walked along the line of girls. “Nope,” he dismissed Trixie. “Not even close,” he said to Abby. “Maybe, stay here,” he said to Laura. “Nowhere near it,” he said to Debbie. “No and no,” he said to Heidi and Susie. “Maybe another time,” he said to Alison. Then he stopped when he came to Megan. She smiled at him as he walked around behind her. He grabbed her hand and pressed it against his pants as he breathed her in. “Very nice,” she said. He spun her around and kissed her with his eyes locked on me. When he stopped he said, “Not quite the same, but close enough.”
