The Return of Jonas (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #4) (18 page)

“Matt, we have to leave for the airport in an hour.  More is going to have to wait until we’re on the island
.”

Panic filled his face.
“No,” he gasped.

I kissed him to distract him, then pulled back and reminded him, “Honey, as soon as we get to the island, we both get to have some.”

He stared at me for a few seconds then understood. “Both? Both of us? Together? Oh God,” he said as he shivered.  He pulled me down to him, his mouth crushing onto mine.

“Matt,” I mumbled through the kisses, “don’t you want to shower before we leave?”

“If I’m choosing between a shower or sex with you,” he said as he slid one finger into the waist band of my jeans, just one tiny little finger, and ripped them right off of me. “I’m choosing sex, every time.”

“Holy shit, Matt.  How did you…
oh my God, don’t stop, don’t you dare friggin’ stop,” I groaned. 

I dressed (again!) and got him out the door
a few minutes before ten.  We walked down the hall and knocked on Carlos’ door.  He opened it with a huge smile on his face, but I grew concerned when I saw the dark circles under Maria’s eyes.  She was human, she needed sleep.

As we settled onto the plane, both Matt and Carlos were jittery.  Matt fell into a fitful sleep in his seat.  Maria laid her head on Carlos’ shoulder and tried to doze off, but he kept turning and kissing her, waking her up again.  On the third time he did this, I shot into his mind,
‘Stop it, Carlos.’

‘No
,’
he thought and he tried to kiss her again.

‘Carlos!’
I thought.

‘
What?’
he thought as he turned and glared at me.

‘
She’s human and needs her sleep.  You’re going to make her sick. Knock it off, Carlos.’

‘Or what?
’

‘
Or I’m going to knock your ass out,’
I thought then had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

“Ahhh, I see psycho Sarah is back in town,” he whispered, then he started quietly chuckling.  He stood up, gently laying Maria across his seat as he did, and came and sat in the empty seat next to me.  He clasped my hand in his as he gazed lovingly at Maria.  “I really don’t know how you did it.  First try and you knocked it out of the park.  You have a gift.  You are one of a kind, Sarah, and definitely something special
.”

“So are you, Carlos, so are you,” I said as I laid my head on his shoulder. 

He linked with me again.
‘Do you still think about it, Sarah?  About us?  About what it would have been like?  Be honest.’

‘Shit.  You had to add that ‘be honest’ didn’t you?’
I thought and he chuckled.

‘
Honestly? Yeah, I guess I do, sometimes.  We have a connection, Carlos.  An incredibly strong connection.  I can’t deny that anymore.  But I also can’t give in to it either.  I have to fight it.’

‘What did you feel when I kissed you, Sarah?’

‘Don’t ask me that, Carlos.  Please?’

‘Sarah, I have to know.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I have to know if it was the same thing that I felt, or if my imagination is just blowing it all out of proportion.’

My heart was racing as I thought about that kiss again.  I hadn’t thought about it in a long time, but once I did, that feeling came back as strong as ever.  I squeezed my eyes shut. 

‘Sarah?’

‘I felt a desire, a yearning, unlike anything I’ve felt before.  With Matt, I want him, I crave him.  But when you kissed me, I felt like it was something that I had to have.  Something I needed.  I felt helpless to stop it.’

‘But you did.’

‘If we’d been in a bigger room, I wouldn’t have.’

‘Really?’

‘Really.’

‘Do you regret that we weren’t in a bigger room?’

‘Yes and no.’

‘Sometimes I hate that you’re so strong.  But that’s also why I love you too.’

‘I know.  And I love you too.  But can we please stop talking about this?  It’s easier for me if I don’t think about it.’

‘Yeah, I know.  Me too.’

He nodded, kissed my temple, and then we both drifted off to sleep.

Chapter
Eleven

The seaplane landed at midnight, and Aduviri was waiting for us on the dock. 
Aduviri was the son of the Peruvian chief who had given us our matching scars that are part of the process needed to create a vampire.  He had helped us when we needed to create several new vampires at one time when we were preparing to do battle with The Elders.  We had called him from the plane, and since he was already on Paradise Island, he hopped into his boat and made the half-day’s journey right away.  “Hello Sarah, Matthew, Carlos.  It’s nice to see you again,” he said.

“Hi Aduviri,” Carlos said
. “I’d like you to meet Maria.  Maria, this is Aduviri.”

Maria shyly stuck out her hand and smiled at him.  He shook it.  Suddenly Aduviri’s eyes went wide and shock filled his face.  “Wait! The linking ceremony,” he gasped, “it’s for you, Carlos?”

A huge goofy grin filled Carlos’ face as he nodded. “That’s right,” he said. “I’ll bet you never in a million years expected it to be me, did ya?  Well, neither did I, my friend.  Neither did I.”

We all decided to forgo feeding and stay in the main house tonight.  Aduviri would do the linking ceremony in the morning then he would head back to Paradise Island, leaving one less human here for me to worry about.  I snuggled in to Matt’s arms to sleep.  “I think there’s something wrong with me Matt,” I said.

“Why, Sarah?  What’s wrong?” he said.

“I absolutely hate it when I can’t make love to you,” I said
. “I shouldn’t be this… addicted to you, should I?”

He grinned.
“It’s only fair, since I’m that addicted to you.”  Then he sat up, pulled his shorts on, stood up and stuck out his hand to me. “Come with me.”

“Where?” I said as I pulled on my nightgown.

“Just come with me,” he said as he grabbed the blanket off the end of the bed.

I happily took his hand and he led me down the stairs and out the front door.  We walked down to the beach and along the water until we were about a mile away from the house.  He spread out the blanket, dropped his shorts and lay down
.

“Better?” he said as he grinned at me.

“Oh, much,” I said as I peeled off my nightgown and joined him.

I was still asleep but I began to realize that something was wrong.  In the dream I was having, the waves were lapping at my toes.  And I swear my feet really were wet.  But that wasn’t possible.  We had spread out the blanket way up by the tree line, even at high tide the water didn’t reach that far.  So why did my toes feel wet?  I frowned in my sleep.  I was laying on my right side
facing Matt, who was on his left side facing me.  Our limbs were entwined.  I opened one eye, looked at Matt, smiled… and then I felt it.  Water was dripping on my feet.  As if in slow motion, my head turned.  I gasped and pulled myself tighter to Matt, trying to cover up.  “Well, good morning sleepy head,” Jonas said.

“Jonas, wha
t the hell are you doing here?” I said as I frantically glanced around looking for my nightgown.  “Where is my…” I started to say, but then I saw it, in his hand. 

“It’s a nice, warm morning, Sarah.  You don’t need this,” he grinned.

“Jonas you are such an ass,” I said.

“And you have such a nice one,” he said.

Throughout this exchange, Matt hadn’t moved, hadn’t made a peep.  Suddenly his arm moved and he shoved something into my hand. “Put these on, Sarah,” he growled.

“But you won’t have anything,” I said as I slid his shorts over my feet and pulled them up while Matt kept my chest covered.

“Sarah, it’s you he wants to see.  I could care less if he sees me.  Now, cross your arms, cause I’m going to stand up,” he said.  Suddenly my nightgown fluttered down over both of us.

“
That
I definitely don’t need to see,” Jonas said.

I turned my back to Jonas, slipped it on, and handed Matt’s shorts back to him.  I turned back, couldn’t find Jonas, then looked up and saw him hovering above us.  Matt moved to jump up, but I grabbed his hand and held him down.  I knew Jonas would tear him apart if he did.  “You didn’t answer my question, Jonas. What the hell are you doing here?” I said.

“Well, I came by last night to check the place out, but, lucky me, I got treated to an awesome show.  Thank you very much, Sarah,” he sneered.

“You…
you… you saw us?” I whispered as I squeezed Matt’s hand tighter when I heard the growl in his chest.

“Oh, absolutely.  And I must say it’s much better seeing it than just feeling it in your head, much better
.”

“Go to hell, Jonas,” I mumbled.

“Sarah, please let go of my hand,” Matt said through clenched teeth as he glared at Jonas.

“No, Matt.
He’ll kill you.”

“Relax.
I’m leaving now.  But I’ll be back soon,” Jonas said and then he flew off.  I stared at the sky where he had just been.

“Matt?  How far is the nearest island from here?” I said.

“About sixty miles,” he said as he too stared at the sky.

“He can fly that f
ar?”

“Apparently.”

“Do you know any other vampires who can fly that far?”

Apparently Matt had reached his breaking point, because he did something he’s never done before…
he snapped at me. “No, Sarah. Damn it.  I don’t know any vampires who can fly that far.  I don’t know any vampires who are as strong as he is.  And I don’t know how in the fuck we are going to beat him, okay?  Happy now? This is friggin’ hopeless.”  He threw his arms up the air and started walking, by himself, toward the house.  I didn’t move. I was too stunned to move.  Too stunned… and then too pissed off.  I crossed my arms across my chest, glared at Matt… and waited.  He walked about half a mile, slowed, then finally stopped.  He hung his head, turned and looked at me, then covered the distance back to me in two seconds.  He wrapped his arms around me, but mine stayed firmly across my chest. 

“Oh, Sarah, I’m so sorry,” he s
aid. “I’ve just never felt this… scared before.”

I stepped back, put my hands on his face and looked into his panic-filled eyes
. “Yes you have, Matt. Before you changed me, remember?  You were scared shitless.  But we made it through that, and we’ll make it through this.”

“But that time, I was in control and my fear was that I was going to kill you.  This time, this time it’s different.  This time my fear is that I’m going to die and I’m not goi
ng to be able to keep him from… keep him from… touching you,” he groaned.

“If you don’t think we stand a chance physically, then you have to let me try to get through to him. 
You have to let me try, Matt,” I said.

He stared at me for a few seconds.
“Do you really have any hope that you can, Sarah?”

I nodded
. “Yes I do.  I’ve seen him hesitate.  I’ve felt his confusion.  I think with the right person and the right words of encouragement, he could change.”

He pressed his forehead to mine
. “Well, you’re definitely the right person, Sarah.  But this scares the shit out of me too.”

“I know, Matt.  It scares me too.  But I have to try.  To give us a chance, I have to try,” I said.

“I’m a little disappointed though.”

“Why?”

“I was looking forward to feeding time, with both of us feeding on the good blood,” he said.

“Oh, well, we’re still going to do that,” I said.

He tilted his head as he looked at me. “But why?”

“Because I need him to believe that we’re still planning on trying to beat him physically.
If I asked him to come here so he and I could ‘talk,’ I don’t think he’d be too receptive.  I need him to come here believing it’s for a fight.  Which means, all of us need to act like we’re preparing for that fight.”

“But won’t that make it harder for you?  You’ll be going through withdrawals while you’re trying to help him
.”

“But so will he, and his will be much worse.  I’ll be fine, Matt.  Trust me, ok
ay?”

He nodded
. “I love you so much, Sarah.”

“I love you too, baby,” I said
. “Now, let’s go wake the others so we can do the linking ceremony.  Then Aduviri can go home and we can feed,” I grinned.

I picked up the blanket and we slowly made our way back to the house.  As we approached the steps, we heard worried voices from inside
. “I don’t know where they are,” Carlos said. “You don’t think he came and took them do you?”