“I"m going to kill her,” I said.
He laughed. “You really have no idea what you"re dealing with do you? She"s is more powerful than you could possibly imagine, and she keeps getting stronger.”
“She"s only one vampire, against all of us,” I said.
“That"s where you"re wrong, bitch,” he hissed, sounding like a snake. “She has followers. And a lot of them live righthere under this roof.”
I couldn"t help the shiver that ran down my spine. I took my hand off his throat and grabbed the map from his hand. “Get out,” I spat.
“With pleasure,” he grinned and ducked out the door.
I had very little time. Matt or Carlos or both would be looking for me soon. I peeked out into the hall. Seeing it was empty, I ran down and out the side door and into the courtyard. I turned toward the back corner, sprang up on the wall (very close to the place where I was impaled not too long ago), and jumped down on the other side. I ran a hundred yards into the woods, then stopped and opened the map. It looked like the cave was a few miles directly above me. Easy enough to find. I started to move on then I hesitated. Should I turn back and take the chance that we defeat her? Or do I go to her, hoping that what Ramon said was true? What if I go to her and she captures or kills me? What"s to stop her from killing Matt and Carlos then? I never warned them. I looked down at my t-shirt. I dropped my fangs and used them to tear off a small piece and then walked back to the wall. I didn"t want the inside cameras seeing me, and I had ten seconds before the external one swept back around. I jumped just high enough to put my right hand on the top of the wall. Hanging, I hoped that my timing was right as I swung my left arm up and put the fabric on the end of one of the spikes, then I let go and dashed back into the woods, out of the range of the cameras. I continued running uphill, tearing off small pieces of my shirt and sticking them on a few branches, then rubbing my hands on others. I saw a large group of rocks about a hundred yards above me. Suddenly Carlos was in my head.
‘Sarah, where the hell are you?’ he thought.
Suddenly Matt was in my head too, ‘Sarah?’ If I don"t answer them they"ll both panic right away, but I couldn"t let them know what I was doing.
‘You were right about Ramon,’ I thought. ‘He belongs to Malina, and he says others there do too.’
Both of them shouted their thoughts at the same time, ‘SARAH, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?’
‘Not now guys, please. I have to do this. You two try to find out who else belongs to Malina. I love you both. I have to go now, but I’ll be back soon’, I thought then I shut them both out as I reached the mouth of the cave.
“I must say I"m a little surprised,” she said from deep inside the cave. “I figured your ego would tell you I stood no chance against you, so why bother?”
“Apparently you know very little about me,” I said, crouching down, ready to spring.
“Now, that"s no way to behave. You"re my guest here, please come in and sit down,” she said.
“I"d rather not,” I spat.
“Fine,” she said. “Suit yourself. You are showing incredible restraint thought, considering what I did to your husband. Or did you enjoy watching me have my way with him, Sarah? I"ve got the full length video. I can send you a copy if you"d like. All two hours of it. I watch it all the time. His stamina is pretty amazing isn"t it?”
“Fuck you, Malina. I"m going to kill you for doing that to him,” I hissed as I took a step towards her.
“Relax, Sarah. You don"t want to die yet. Ahh, they are very resourceful aren"t they?”
“Who?” I said.
“Your husband and your soon-tobe lover,” she said, and I winced. “They found the note you dropped in the kitchen and have now taken Ramon into the interrogation room. They"ll never break him though. I created him. He"ll die before he betrays me. I made him that way. It"ll kill him if he does.”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Now, now,” she said, “don"t be connecting with them, I need your full attention.”
“I"m not,” I said. “It"s me and only me.”
“It"s almost a shame to kill you,” she said. “You"re really one of the smartest, strongest, most natural vampires I"ve ever seen. You were born to be a vampire, did you know that? I really could use someone like you.”
“Never,” I said.
“I figured as much,” she said. “Ah well, too bad. Now, I"m getting bored so I"m going to show you why you"re going to lose and then send you on your way.”
“Liar,” I hissed.
She chuckled. “You don"t believe me? But you know how I love a big show. I"m going to share with you my latest… ability… and send you off to share it with your friends. Maybe you"ll get smart and just take off, trying to avoid the fight and your certain death, but I doubt it.”
“And you"ll never harm them?” I said.
“Harm them? Probably,” she grinned. “But I won"t kill them.”
“Alright, what"s this new…?” I stopped. Suddenly she was gone. She had disappeared. I flew backward and landed on my back when she kicked me in the stomach with an invisible foot. I felt her pinning my arms down and sitting on my stomach. I looked up at where her face should be… and grinned. “That"s it?” I said. “That"s all you"ve got?”
I heard her growl and felt her jump off me then I watched her come into view, her fury shaking her entire body. Slowly she forced herself to relax. “Oh, I get it,” she said, “you think your little voodoo friend willbe able to help you.” She grinned and shook her head. “Nope, not this time.”
Her fury returned though when I smiled and said, “Please… Musetta? I wasn"t even thinking of calling her. This one I"ve figured out on my own.”
“You think so?” she screamed then she disappeared. Invisible hands picked me up and threw me against the wall of the cave. “I should just kill you right now and be done with it,” she said. I crouched down and hid my face as I dropped my fangs and changed my eyes for a split second then I changed them back and braced myself for the next impact.
“I thought you wanted a big show Malina,” I said. “Where"s your audience? Or are you afraid of me?”
“HA!” she laughed. “Me? Afraid of you? You must be insane… or desperate.” She punched me in the face and kicked me back into the wall, smacking my head so hard that a huge spider web crack spread out ten feet in all directions from my head. “Your ego really is going to be the death of you,” she said as she came back into view.
“No,” I said, “my intelligence is going to be the death of you.”
“Go then,” she said. “Keep pretending that you can beat me. I"m looking forward to our next meeting. You will die you know.”
“You first,” I said and I turned and headed downhill into the heavy forest. I opened my mind and let Matt and Carlos back in. ‘SARAH!’ they both screamed.
‘ Geez, guys, don’t shout, I’m right here,’ I thought.
‘Sarah Pearl, you are in so much trouble,’ Matt thought.
‘Damn it Sarah, you scared me half to death,’ Carlos thought.
‘Relax, I’m fine, well sort of fine,’ I thought as I rubbed my jaw. ‘I could use an ice pack when I get back.’
‘An ice pack!’ they both thought. ‘Why the hell do you need…’ They both grew strangely quiet.
‘Malina?’ Matt thought.
‘You better believe it, baby,’ I thought.
‘She’s not dead is she?’ Carlos thought.
‘You think I’d let you two miss out on the fun of that?’ I thought. ‘No, she’s not dead. She’s alive and well and here, with some new tricks up her sleeves.’
‘And you’re okay?’ they both thought.
‘For the most part, yes,’ I thought.
‘Damn it Sarah. What the hell were you thinking? Taking her on by yourself? Are you insane?’ Matt thought.
‘ That’s the second time someone’s said that to me this afternoon,’ I thought.
‘Is she coming now?’ they bot
h thought.
‘Naw,’ I thought. ‘I was right, she wants a big show. And she truly believes that she’s going to win because of this new ability she has,’ I laughed.
‘She can’t?’ Matt thought.
‘Not a chance,’ I thought. ‘I’ve already figured it out.’
‘Sarah, don’t underestimate her,’ Carlos thought.
‘Oh, believe me, I’m not,’ I thought. ‘This is going to be a very tough fight, no doubt about that. I need you to come up with a place near here where a group of us can go for a day or two at a time to train, without her seeing or knowing where we are. Can you do that?’
‘I’ll work on that,’ Carlos thought.
‘You didn’t learn anything from Ramon, did you?’ I thought.
‘No, we didn’t, yet. We’ll try again later,’ Matt thought.
‘Don’t bother, you’re not going to get anything out of him,’ I thought.
‘Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure,’ Carlos thought.
‘Guys, believe me, he’d die before he’d betray her. Not by choice, but because that’s how she made him,’ I thought. ‘Meet me by the waterfall.’
‘You’re here?’ they thought.
‘Yep,’ I thought as I jumped to the top of the wall. I smiled when I saw them run out of the side door then I jumped and landed softly on the ground. I walked to the bench and sat in the middle of it. Matt was by my side in a flash, Carlos hesitated. I looked at him and thought, ‘It’s okay, Carlos. I’m not mad.’ He flew to my other side and took my other hand in his. I leaned against Matt who started picking leaves and pine needles out of my hair.
‘Gee Sarah, you look like hell,’ he thought, grinning.
‘Thanks,’ I thought.
‘So,’ Matt began, ‘I saw the note in the kitchen and I can’t decide if I should be mad at you or not. Why the hell didn’t you get us, Sarah? Why didn’t you wait for us?’
‘Well, let me know when you figure that out,’ I thought sarcastically then I turned, looked at him and spoke out loud. “You of all people should understand the instinct to protect the ones you love. To do anything you can to save them, including sacrificing yourself. Didn"t you read the note? It said „come alone or they both die." What choice did I have?”
“You"re right,” he said as he squeezed his eyes shut. “I know you"re right, but it"s hard. For the last thirty years, my sole purpose, my only reason for existing has been to protect you. I can"t just turn that off now that you"re a vampire. I don"t want to turn that off because then it means that you don"t need me anymore.”
Now it was my turn to close my eyes. I processed what he said for a few seconds. Maybe that"s what changed. When Malina took Matt, when he was gone, when I thought he died – I needed him desperately. I needed him to fix me. I needed him to comfort me. I needed him to make me whole again – but he wasn"t there, he couldn"t be there. Carlos was. Carlos was there in every way that Matt would have been except one. Maybe that"s why I can"t seem to let this go, because I still feel like I need him, because I"m afraid that if I need someone again, Matt won"t be there again. God, was I actually blaming him for not being there? What kind of person was I? That bitch, Malina deserved the blame for this, not Matt.
“Sarah?” Matt whispered.
“Sorry,” I said. “I was thinking about what you said. You"re wrong though. I need you now more than ever, just not in the same ways that I needed you before I was changed. Before I was vulnerable, fragile. Now, well, now it"s different. Now, I don"t need you to protect me. Now I need you to love me, I need you to need me, I need you to want me.”
“I do, more than you could possibly imagine,” Matt said, as Carlos squeezed my hand. Yeah, I get it now I thought to myself– I get it and I think I can fix it. At least I hope I can.
Matt put his hand on the back of my head and kissed my forehead. He instantly noticed me wince. “What?!?” he said. “What"s wrong?”
“It"ll be fine,” I said. “She just threw my head into the wall of a cave, that"s all. An ice pack for a few minutes and it"ll be fine.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself.
‘Okay,’ I thought, ‘right now I’m too tired to think too much – so this is going to be brief, but Matt, this might hurt a bit.’ They both turned and looked at me. I saw the panic in Carlos" eyes as I continued. ‘Matt, I need you to understand that I’m going to have to do most of the planning for this fight with Carlos and not you.’
‘What?!?" he thought. ‘But why?’
‘Even you said so. Because she had you for over a month, honey,’ I thought. ‘We don’t know for sure that she didn’t do something to you that might make you, well, a danger to us somehow. That she might be able to get information from you somehow. She might even be able to hear your thoughts. Probably not, but we need to assume the worst, wouldn’t you agree?’
His head dropped as he quietly thought, ‘Yes. Damn it, isn’t there some way we could figure out if I’m a threat though?’
I shook my head. ‘Not enough time, baby. Not enough time.’
‘You’re right, Sarah. I know you’re right. But this sucks,’ he thought.
I nodded and then stood up. “I"m going to go eat, shower and change. Carlos, can you meet me back here in an hour?” I said. I looked at Matt and smiled, reaching my hand out to him. “No, let"s make that two hours,” I said.
Chapter Ten
I emerged into the evening air two hours later feeling completely refreshed, completely hopeful about the future, and most definitely, thanks to Matthew, completely satisfied. But I still couldn"t help my heart from doing a little flip-flop when I saw Carlos waiting for me. I smiled now that I knew the reason (at least I hoped I did). I knew what I was dealing with (again, I hoped). I knew what I needed to do to fix it (or I thought I did). Until then, I could cope with a little flip-flop now and then. I held my hand out to him, which he happily took. “Fly with me?” I said. He nodded and we both closed our eyes and rose above the courtyard.
“Where to?” he said.
I didn "t want anyone to hear, so I thought, ‘The lake?’
He nodded and we headed off in that direction. He flew while I checked all around us to make sure we weren"t being followed. He pulled me closer and wrapped his arms tightly around me as he landed a few minutes later. I tried to ignore the fact that I really liked feeling his arms around me and I just didn"t want him to let go. He hesitated for a second before releasing me. ‘What?’ I thought.
‘We’re only here to plan, aren’t we? That’s it. That’s all we’re here for, isn’t it?’ he thought.
I nodded and felt my heart sputter when I saw the disappointment on his face. ‘Carlos, I,’ I thought, but stopped when he shook his head.
‘No, don’t,’ he thought. ‘I get it. You’re right. It’s the right thing to do, Sarah.’
‘No, you don’t get it, Carlos,’ I thought, ‘but I’m going to try to help you to understand, just not right now, okay?’
He nodded and we sat next to each other on the shore. He wrapped his arms around his knees, resting his chin on them. I slipped my arm through his and lay my head on his shoulder. ‘Okay,’ he thought, ‘what’s the plan?’
‘She’s mastered invisibility,’ I thought.
“WHAT!” he yelled.
“Shhhh,” I said.
‘Sorry,’ he thought. ‘I thought you said it was something we could beat.’
I grinned. ‘It is,’ I thought.
‘But how?’ he thought. ‘How can we possibly fight something we can’t see?’
‘Maybe you can’t see her, but I can,’ I thought.
‘You can? But how?" he thought.
‘When I go into predator mode, when my eyes change, all I see are heartbeats. It’s a different level of vision, and it’s something that means that her heart isn’t invisible to me.’
‘Are you sure?’ he thought.
‘Yep,’ I thought. ‘It’s something I suspected when she first became
invisible, but I had to wait for the right opportunity to be in predator mode to check. She gave that to me when she got mad and started beating the crap out of me.’
‘And she doesn’t know that you can see her?’ he thought.
‘How could she?’ I thought. ‘As far as we know, I’m the only vampire who can enter predator mode at will and I’m pretty sure Ramon never thought to mention it to her, he thinks she’s invincible so why would he?’
‘But Sarah, you can’t beat her alone,’ he thought.
‘I know,’ I grinned. ‘That’s where you come in. You’re going to have to learn to take direction from me.’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Oh great,’ he thought then he smiled. Suddenly his eyes went wide. ‘But what if it’s not just her?’ he thought. ‘What if there are others who can become invisible?’
‘I’ve got that covered too,’ I thought. ‘Stacy, Rashidi, Bahiti, Billy, Anne, Maggie, Trevor. The ones we know we can trust, I’m going to teach them too. We need a large basement or something where we can train in private. And we need a good plumber that we can trust,’ I grinned.
His head whipped over to me. ‘A plumber? What the hell do we need a plumber for?’ he thought, and I grinned.
We stayed there for the next hour, planning, strategizing, and trying to ignore the elephant in the room (our attraction to each other)– we would tackle that after September second. We both were stuck, though, when we finished planning. Neither of us wanted to move. I kept my head on his shoulder as we watched the moonlight dancing on the water and the small waves lapping to the shore. How I wished I could be two people. I could feel the pull between us growing stronger, if we didn"t go back soon… I stood up. “We need to get back,” I said.
His eyes were closed. “I know,” he said, “but I don"t want to, you know? But can I ask you something first? How do you do it? How can you be so strong? How do you fight this so easily? Or is it just me? this thing. Maybe I"m the only one who is feeling Maybe I"m not reading you right. Maybe you"re not having such a hard time with this.”
Malina's Revenge Page 9
