Sekhmet's Curse (Pearl Vampire Chronicles) (18 page)

“Yes.”

He laughed as he headed out the door, then turned back with a twinkle in his eye and said, “Good luck keeping the goofball quiet, baby.”

I was still chuckling when Carlos poked his head in the door, “What’s so funny?”

“You.
  Trying to be quiet,” I giggled.

“About what?”

“About this,” I said as I threw off the covers and revealed my nakedness to him.

“Oh shit,” he mumbled, “Sarah, I don’t know if I can.”

“That’s my line,” I whispered as I walked toward him and swallowed him into my arms.

             
I giggled into his chest.  I couldn’t help it.  “Dear God, Sarah.  Now is not the time to laugh,” he said as he lay there gasping. 

“I’m sorry.  It’s just that they have to being hearing your heartbeat.  It’s pounding in your chest.  I can’t believe how loud it is.”

“Oh, well, that’s the one thing I can’t keep quiet. Every time I look at you, it starts pounding in

my
chest.”

I shook my head and smiled, “How do you do that?” I said.

“Do what?”

“Always make me feel so incredibly special.”

“Oh, that’s easy.  You are
incredibly
special, Sarah.”

“Stop it.”

“Never,” he grinned.

We grabbed breakfast and headed topside so Carlos could relieve Matt at the wheel. 

Aquila and Jason were both up there too.  Aquila looked tense and Jason looked worried.  After we ate, Jason pulled me aside.  “Can you please stop, Sarah?”

“Stop?
  Stop what?”

“Even if he can’t hear you, he can still smell what you’re doing.  He’s not
yet
back to full strength and you’re making it
difficult for
him.”

I
blushed
three shades of
vampire
blue, “I’m so embarrassed and I’m so sorry too.  Yes, we’ll stop.  Of course we’ll stop
.”

Jason went back to his father’s side, while I sulked back to Carlos and Matt, who weren’t helping at all, based on the devilish smirks plastered on their faces.  I looked from one devious set of eyes to the other then finally blurt
ed
out, “That’s it.  I’m sleeping alone the rest of this trip.  You two can fight over the couch.”

“Sarah, don’t you think that’s being a little extreme.  I’m sure you can control yourself, and I know we can too,” Carlos said.

I crossed my arms and stared at him, waiting.  Finally, he said, “Fine.  We can
try
to control ourselves.  Come on, Sarah.  We’ll be fine.”

“Okay.  We’ll give it a try.  Let’s just get home.  I have studying to do.
 
A lot of studying.
”
I said.

“And I do too.  I have to figure out a way to keep you out of there, or get you out if you do go in
,
”
Carlos whispered.

I smiled and patted his arm, “Of course you do,” I whispered.  But you could see it in both of our eyes.  We both knew, deep down, that he wouldn’t succeed.  Not this time.  This time, the only one who could save me was me. 

Chapter Eight

             
I stared out the window of the limo and smiled as Matt squeezed my hand.  It was calm in the car. 
Too calm.
  Did this mean that we had all given up?  That we were all resigned to fate? 
To my fate?
 
To Jason’s fate?
  As soon as his name popped into my head, I remembered the one question that I wanted to ask
him but hadn’t yet
,
  “
Aquila?  Can I ask why you chose the name Jason?”

Aquila, still struggling through his recovery, looked up at me.  His eyes softened.  “I chose it because it means ‘to heal’.  He healed you.  He healed me.  He healed things between our species.  It felt appropriate.  Why do you ask?”

I smiled, “That was my son’s middle name.  It just doesn’t feel like a coincidence that you chose it, you know?  It feels inevitable.”

He nodded his head, “Memories of loved ones are
very powerful
, maybe I felt that when I coupled with you
.”

“Yes, they are,” I said.

The limo slowed and pulled in to the courtyard.  Bahiti was waiting for us.  She pulled the back door open.  “Welcome home.”

“Thank
s,
Bahiti.  It’s nice to be home.”

“For a while,” Carlos grumbled under his breath.

I turned and looked at him, “For a while, then I’ll be gone for a bit and then I’ll be back.”

Carlos grimaced a bit, then looked at me and nodded. 
I gently kissed his cheek as we all walked inside. 

“You guys probably have things to check on at work, right?  It’s been a while since you’ve been here
,
”
I said.

They both stared at me like I was the stupidest person on the face of the planet.  “What?” I said.

“You don’t really think we’re worried about work right now, do you?  We’ve got good people running things here.   Derek and Taylor are fine.
  The place is running fine.  Besides, you’re safety is our only concern now, Sarah.  It’s the only thing we’re capable of focusing on
,
”
Matt said, with Carlos nodding next to him.

“But I need to begin studying with Bahiti, now.  I need to learn my hieroglyphics.  You don’t want to
do that do you?  Wouldn’t it be boring
for you guys
?”

“Boring
,
m
aybe.
  But it might help us to help you.  And that makes it important.”

“Okay.  Suit yourselves.
Truthfully?
  It’ll make it less boring for me if you’re there.  So, thank you
, guys
.”

I looped my arms through theirs and we headed down the hall to Bahiti’s office. 

“Welcome,” she said, “Please, come in.  Have a seat.
  I’m afraid I don’t have enough books
for everyone to have one.”

“That’s okay.  We can share,” Matt said as he leaned closer to me.

“Matthew.  You can stay as long as you don’t distract Sarah.  This is extremely important.  This could mean life or death for her.  She has to concentrate,” Bahiti scolded.
 

She began the first of many lessons. 
Long days that stretched into
even longer nights.
  I spent every waking moment with her learning Egyptian hieroglyphics or with Aquila learning Latin.  Nothing could have stopped her from teaching, and
nothing could have stopped
me from learning
, except for Matt.
He quietly knocked on the door and poked his head in one day. “May I come in?”  He had been so kind and patient these last few weeks, and I had been so distracted, that I had completely forgotten his job and the unpleasant task he had been dealing with. 
“Honey?
  I’m so sorry to interrupt, but I’ve tried everything.  I’m out of ideas.  I can’t get through to her.  I
could really use
your help, Sarah.”

I stared at him for a moment, trying for the life of me to figure out what the hell he was talking about, “Get through to her?”
I said
then I gasped
and jumped out of my chair
, “Oh my God, Maria!  I completely forgot she was here! 
Of course, sweetheart.
  What can I do to help?”

“I think, I think she needs to see you.  She needs to confront you
to
get this anger out of her system.  Then
she needs to
see you and Carlos together
,
s
ee how happy you two are.  See how happy the three of us are.”

I instinctively swallowed hard then slowly nodded my head.  My hand was shaking as I reached for his.  He comforted me as best as he could as we walked
down the hall.  As we rounded the corner, Carlos came out of the interrogation room rubbing his jaw.  “She packs a mean right hook,” he said when he saw us.  “No luck, man.  I’m sorry.  I tried, but all she wants to do is tear me apart.”

I stopped about two feet in front of the door.  Matt turned around and looked at me, “Sarah?”

I was just staring at the
door
,
I couldn’t tear my eyes from it.  My heart was racing.  I was scared shitless.  Carlos placed his hand on my cheek and gently turned my head, forcing my eyes from the door to his face, “Sarah?  You don’t have to do this.  You don’t have to go in there.”

“Yes I do, Carlos.  This was my fault, and I have to try to fix it.  It’s just, it’s just that I don’t know if I can this time, and that scares the hell out of me.”

             
I took a deep breath and took the last step to the door.  My hand rested on the doorknob, but I couldn’t make it turn it.  I lowered my head and squeezed my eyes shut.  “I have to do this,” I whispered to myself. 

“Sarah,” Matt began, but I held my hand up. 

“No. 
It’s
okay guys.  I’ll be fine.”

“Do you want us to come in with you?”  Carlos said.

“Not yet.  I’ll let you know when it’s time for you to come in.”

I forced my hand to squeeze the doorknob and turn it.  I tried not to react when I saw her, but I’m sure there was some semblance of shock on my face.  I couldn’t help it.  This was not the Maria I knew.  Her stringy, unwashed hair hung in her face.  Her black eyes glared at me.  The stench from her unwashed body penetrated my nostrils. 

“Hello, Maria,” I whispered as I tried desperately to not gag. 

“Sarah,” she hissed, exaggerating the ‘S’  “How’re you and Matthew?” she growled, grinning a horribly evil grin.  Her surprised look told me that she didn’t expect the answer I gave her:

“We’re doing better than ever.  Thank you for asking.”

“What?  You mean, he doesn’t know?”  She screamed then she jumped up from her chair and ran to the glass.  She banged on the one-way glass a few times, “He’s in there, right?  He’s listening?” She said as she turned and looked at me.  Her evil grin
returned when I nodded.  She turned back to the glass, “She’s fucking Carlos, you know.  She’s a
lying,
cheating bitch and you should have thrown her out a long time ago.”

The doorknob turned, and I heard Maria gasp as Carlos stepped into the room.  He didn’t see her though,
because
his eyes were locked only on mine as he whispered, “Please don’t speak to my wife like that, Maria.”

“Your, your w, w, wife?
  You mean
,
you and Matt got a divorce?”

Matt’s voice crumbled her world as he too stepped into the room and came to my other side, “Absolutely not.  I love my wife more and more every day.”

Their hands were clasped tightly in mine as we waited.  Her reaction began to play out in slow motion, first on her face, as the anger flowed out and was replaced with total devastation.  She wobbled slightly, then collapsed onto the floor as she began wailing, “
Noooooooooo
!!”

Suddenly she began clawing at her face.   I ran to her and grabbed her hands, “Maria, don’t.  I’m so sorry
we hurt you.  We really didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“You’re lying,” she hissed at me.

“No, I’m not.  Look, I’m a young vampire.  I’m still human in so many ways.  Do you really think that I could have ever believed that being married to two men could work? 
Really?
  Why would I?  What basis do I have for comparison? 
Nothing.
  It’s just not done.  But, for me, for us, somehow it does work.  I’m still not exactly sure how, but it does.  We’re happy.  We’re at peace.  It truly feels that this is somehow our destiny.  Like this happened for a reason.  What that reason is, I’m not exactly sure yet, but I’ll know it when I see it.  I’m sure of that.”

She raised her eyes and looked at Carlos, “Did you ever love me?” she whispered.

He knelt down and took her hand in his, “Of course I did, Maria.  It’s just that this connection I have with Sarah, this connection I’ve felt since the first time I saw her, it became too much to ignore any longer.  You helped me avoid it for a while, and you helped me learn to love someone besides myself, but then this thing with Sarah became too powerful.  I
couldn’t hold it back any longer.  But that didn’t have anything to do with something you did or didn’t do.  Like she said, it was our destiny.  And don’t let her sell herself short, she’s the one who makes this work.  Every day she helps me to know, without a doubt, that I’m in the right place, that I’m with
who
I’m supposed to be with, and that I’m loved.”