Love's Challenge (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #5) (12 page)

“That’s what he meant by the old country, Matt.”

“Guess I’m going to Romania,” Matt said.

“No, guess
we’re
going to Romania. 
You
would be going over
my dead body.  Okay, over my dead, dead body.  Don’t you dare even think about
going without me?  Got it?”

He grinned at me, “God, I love it when you get all fired up.”

“So you’re going to wait a few days until I’m healed?”

“Of course I will, Sarah.  You know I hate going anywhere without you.”

I bit my lower lip and choked back a sob.  “What’s wrong, Sarah?”

“It’s just that I knew you hated going anywhere without me, but that was
before.  I wasn’t sure about now.”

His hands cradled my face as he kissed me, “Are you sure now?”

I nodded and tried to reach up to him.  “Ow, ow, ow.” 

He gently pushed my arms back down.  “Heal first, Sarah.  We need to go
kick some weird-ass flying thing’s butts.  Which reminds me.  I need to go talk
to David.  See if he’s come up with anything from those samples.”  He leaned
down and kissed my forehead.  “Why don’t you tell him he can come visit you for
a few minutes.  I’ll be back in about fifteen. Okay?”

I nodded.  “I love you so much, Matt.”

“I love you too, baby.  Have him bring you some blood.  You should feed
again.  I’ll see you in a bit.”  He walked out, turning and winking at me one
more time.

Shit, he is way too good for me I thought as I linked with Carlos,
‘Can
you bring me something to drink please?’

‘On my way, baby.’

He poked his head in a minute later, wearing, of course, the goofy Carlos
grin.  I couldn’t keep from laughing, “Ouch.  Don’t make me laugh, it hurts.”

“Well, I hope it’s only my face that makes you laugh when you look at
it,” he grinned.  He walked in with my meal, set it on the table, leaned down
and kissed my cheek.  He pressed his forehead to mine, “Hi there.  I missed
you.”

“Hi.  I missed you too.” 

He reached over and brought the first pint to my lips.

“So, are you up for another fight?” I said after I’d finished.

“Why?  What happened?  What did he say?” he said as the panic quickly
filled his face.

“Shhh, relax.  Not with him.  I think we know what country they’re in.”

“Where?”

“Romania,” I said then I saw that look in his eye.  “Carlos?  Please
don’t go in by yourself.  Promise me you’ll go with us.  Please?  Promise me? 
I can’t lose you, Carlos.  Not now.  Not when I just found you.”

“Shit, Sarah.  You always know the right thing to say to get us to do
what you want, don’t you?  Of course, I’ll wait for you.  Of course, I
promise.  How could I not, after you say something like that?”

I smiled and relaxed a bit as he kissed my forehead, until Matt cleared
his throat in the doorway.  Carlos jumped back.  “Sorry, umm, I was just leaving. 
You get enough to drink, Sarah?  Or do you need more?”

“I’m fine for now, thanks.  I’ll let you know if I need more later, k?”

He nodded, squeezed my hand and walked out, looking back, grinning and
winking at me as he did.

“What did David find?  Anything?”

Matt shook his head.  “Only that this thing’s blood fights any poison
that comes near it, Sarah.  But he’s still trying.  And its skin is unlike
anything he’s ever seen before.  I’m not even sure a bullet would penetrate it,
but we could try that.  It’s not exactly dead like us.  We might be able to
kill it with conventional weapons”

“I’ve been trying to figure something out that’s puzzling me.  I can
understand the reasoning behind using female vampires instead of humans.  A
human would never be able to carry one of those things to term.  It would kill
them too early in the pregnancy.  But why are they still using vampires?  I’ve
seen females of those things.  There was one out there today.   Why aren’t they
using them?  I mean, they might be able to deliver the young without dying.”

“I’m not sure, Sarah.”

“Well, I want to ask him tomorrow.  And I want to be down there where he
can see me.”

“Jesus, Sarah!  Why?”

“Because he’ll answer my questions if I am,” I said then I closed my eyes
for a second.

“Honey, you need to sleep.”  He leaned in and gave me a kiss, then turned
to walk out, but I held firmly to his hand.  He watched me for a second then
nodded his head. “I’ll be right back.”  He walked out, and returned a few
seconds later, with
two
chairs.  “Get him in here, Sarah,” he said as he
set one chair on the left side of the bed and one on the right. 

“Matt, that’s really not necessary,” I whispered.

“Yes, it is,” he said as he turned, sat in the chair and held my hand.

I closed my eyes.  
‘Ummm, busy?’
I thought.

‘Never too busy for you.  What’s up?’

‘Well, he brought a second chair into my room.  He says it’s
for you.  Are you…’

‘I’m on my way.’ 

I could hear him running through the halls, until he was just a few feet
from my door.  Then he slowed to a walk.  He silently walked in, sat in the
other chair and held my other hand and quickly I drifted off to sleep with a
smile on my face.

I grunted.  I couldn’t breathe.  That thing was on me again, trying to
find his way in.  Crap!  I didn’t have any clothes on this time.  It was going
to be so much easier for him. It lifted its head and smiled at me.  “Get it off
me!  Get it off me!  Oh God, get this fucking thing off me!”

“Sarah, wake up!” came Matt’s voice in one ear.

“Shhhh.  You’re okay, Sarah.  It’s not here.  Nothing’s going to hurt
you,” Carlos soothed in my other.

They were both standing and pressing down on my shoulders, trying to keep
me from moving.  It took me a few panicked moments to realize that it wasn’t
that thing holding me down.  I tried to calm down my breathing, ’cause it was
hurting like hell.  “Shit, shit, sorry, shit,” I said between gasps.

Carlos graciously sat down, holding my hand, and let Matt take over.  “It’s
fine, Sarah.  It’s not your fault.  Relax, sweetheart.  You need to go back to
sleep.”

“Sorry guys.  I guess that thing freaked me out a little more than I
thought it did,” I whispered.

“I’m not surprised.  It freaked me out too, and it didn’t touch me.  You
a little better now?  Think you can maybe sleep again?” Matt said as he
smoothed my hair back.

“I’ll try,” I said as I nodded my head.  He sat back down and again clasped
his hand in mine.  I closed my eyes and forced that thing’s face from my
vision.  It took a little while, but I finally drifted off again.  When I next
woke up, I smiled as I looked down and saw both of their heads on my bed.  They
were sound asleep.  I gently pulled my hands out from theirs and caressed my
fingers in their hair. 

Carlos woke first.  He yawned, turned his head to look at me and smiled. 
“Hi,” he mouthed, not wanting to wake Matt yet.  “Thirsty?”

I nodded.  He stood, gave me a kiss on my forehead and went out the door
just as Matt began to stir.  “Good morning, baby.  Hungry?”

“Breakfast is on its way, sweetheart,” I said as I smiled and continued
to run my fingers through his hair.  He leaned down and kissed the scar on my
palm, making me inhale sharply, and then wince. 

“Oh crap, I’m sorry honey.”

I smiled at him and tried to pull his face towards mine.  “Don’t be,” I
said as I lifted my lips to his.

Carlos cleared his throat in the doorway.  We stopped kissing and I
smiled at him.  He walked in, handed two pints to Matt, kept two for himself
and set four on the nightstand.  He handed me one and then we all drank in
silence.  It was definitely an awkward moment.  There were a lot of awkward
moments these days. 

Luckily Cameron came in and changed that.  “Gotta take her back to x-ray,
guys.  I want to see what’s healed.  Leg looks good.  Cuts are healed and the
stitches are dissolved.  Wait here a second, I’ll have her back here in a
flash,” he said as he started rolling the bed from the room.  Shit, he’s going
to leave the two of them here, alone? 

“Ummm,” I began.

As if reading my mind, Cameron said, “Relax Sarah.  They’re adults. 
They’re going to behave themselves and be just fine, aren’t you two?”

They stared at each other then they nodded.  As Cameron wheeled me back
in a few minutes later he said, “See?  I told you they’d be fine.”

“Yeah, I only hit him a few times,” Matt said, grinning. 

Carlos and I looked at each other and couldn’t help but grin.  Matt?  Made
a joke?  About this?  Wow.

“Gotta go develop the films.  Be back in a second,” Cameron said as he
raced out the door.  Another awkward moment followed and was again broken up by
Cameron, who came in and placed the films on the screens.  “Pelvis fracture is
healed, and that’s good.  The ribs need another day though.”

“I need to be able to talk to that thing in person, Cameron.  Anyway we
can make that happen today?”

Cameron rolled his eyes.  “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of
this, am I?”

I shook my head.  “Not a chance.”

“Fine.  No walking, no carrying her.  Wheelchair down there and back, got
it?”

“Can I walk the few steps from the hall to a chair in front of his cage? 
I don’t want him to know I’m still hurt.”

“Christ, but you are stubborn, Sarah.  Fine, you can walk the few steps. 
But I don’t want you sitting in some unpadded, metal folding chair,” he said
then he looked at Matt.  “Lug a comfortable, padded chair down there for her,
got it?”

“I can do that right now,” Carlos said.  “See you in a bit.”

“Are you sure about this, Sarah?” Matt said.

I nodded.  “Absolutely.  Can you give me the laptop.  I need to prepare
some questions for him.  And can you bring me a t-shirt and pants?” 

Matt pulled the tray and laptop closer to me then leaned down and kissed
me.  “I’ll be back in a few minutes.  I want to let everyone know what you’re
going to be doing.”

I spent the next few minutes alone, typing and translating questions onto
the laptop.  I heard Matt talking on his cell phone as he walked back in,
“Okay.  Really?  Juan said that?  God that’s awesome.  Yeah, she’s here, hold
on a second.”  He held the phone out to me. 

“Hi Cindy,” I said.

“Do you ever remember your cell phone?”

“When I’m here?  Not usually.  How are you?” I said.

“Me?  I’m fine.  What I want to know is how you are doing.  And how you
and Matt are doing?”

“I’m fine.  We’re doing better.  We’re, ummm, adapting.”

“Adapting?  To what?  Not life as a threesome?”

“No, I definitely wouldn’t go that far.  More like life as a couple and a
half,” I said smiling at Matt, who mumbled, “A couple and an eighth,” as he
grinned.

“Well, according to Matt it’s a couple and an eighth.”

“No way.  He’s making jokes about it?  Hell, Sarah.  That is so much
better than I thought it’d be right now.  You must be thrilled.”

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly say thrilled.  I think it’s more like cautious,
terrified optimism.” 

Cameron walked in pushing the wheelchair. 

“Hey Cindy.  I’m late for a meeting.  I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Sure, okay.  But keep your damn cell phone on you.  I’m tired of trying
to track you down.”

“Will do.  Bye, sis.  Love you.”

“Love to you and Matt, too.  Bye Sarah.” 

I handed the cell phone to Matt and gingerly pulled my clothes on.  I
started to swing my legs out of bed.  “Ah, ah, ah.  Stop right there,” Cameron
said.  “Some ground rules first.  You do not get in or out of that bed or that
chair without help.  Help comes under both arms.  I don’t want you helped from
one side or the other – that would put more stress on that side and not enough
on the other.  The help comes from behind you, like this,” he said,
demonstrating on Matt. 

I nodded.  “Got it.  Thanks, Cameron.”

They moved to either side of me and helped me move from the bed to the
chair.  Shit, that smarts, I thought.  Matt gently set the laptop on my legs. 
“You ready?” he whispered.

I winced slightly as I tried to adjust then nodded, “Yep.”

He wheeled me through the halls of the clinic.  As we pushed through the
doors to the hall, Carlos was waiting for me.  He silently fell into step next
to me.  I was trying to control my breathing, but I was getting more and more
nervous as we moved through the halls.  As we reached the final corner, Matt stopped. 
Carlos took the laptop from me and stepped to the side.  Matt reached under my
arms and helped me stand.  Oh shit, that hurts.  I almost sat back down, but
then I heard his voice.  “EGO nidor vos (I smell you).  Female, ostendo vestri
(Female, show yourself).”

I clenched my teeth and tried to work through pain.  “He knows I’m here,”
I said.