The Return of Jonas (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #4) (21 page)

“One.
A son.”

“And he is where?”

“Gone.  He was with his dad in that car accident,” I said.  With more hiccups as I tried to keep the sobs at bay.

“Oh, Sarah.  I’m so sorry,” he said
.  “But how… how did you get through that?”

I rested my head on my knees as I looked at him
. “Honestly?  I have no idea, Jonas.  I didn’t live, but I couldn’t die. I felt nothing.  I was just empty… until Matt walked into my life.”

“So, if I come to your house, what are you going to feed me
?”

Going for broke here, I thought.
“Ummm, how about half and half?”

In my head Matt and Carlos were both protesting,
‘Uh-uh, no way Sarah.  He is not coming here. Not a frickin’ chance,’
they thought.

‘
Yes he is guys, so just chill out and get over it,’
I thought.

Jonas slightly smiled at me
. “Are they arguing with you right now?” he said.

I smiled
.  “Sort of.”

“What did you tell them
?”

“I told them to chill out and get over it,” I said…
and he chuckled.

“So, half and half, huh?  You really want me off the good stuff?
Because you think I’ll be a….how did you put it?… a better friend?”

I nodded
. “And I think you’ll be happier, eventually,” I said.

He stared at me for a while then finally said, “Okay, Sarah.
I’ll try it, for you.  But I’ve gotta be honest with you.  Withdrawal from this shit is brutal.  I’ll probably end up killing you, all of you, but I’ll try it,” he said.

Matt and Carlos were stunned, to
say the least.
‘I don’t believe it,’
Matt thought.

‘
Son of a bitch, she actually did it,’
came from Carlos. 

‘
I knew you had magic, baby, but this… this is extraordinary,’
from Matt.

‘
Guys, we’re not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot, so stop celebrating.’

“Ready?” Jonas said…
and I nodded.  Before he took off though, he smiled… with a twinkle in his eye. “I gotta say, this is a first for me, Sarah.  This having a friend thing. And for as long as I’ve been around, I didn’t think there were any firsts left for me.  It feels… exciting.  You really are one of a kind,” he said, then he wrapped his arm around my waist, took off and headed toward home (at least I hoped it was toward home).

He landed softly on the sand and released me.  “What do you do now, Sarah?  Do you wait for him to get back or do you feed me?” he said.  The way he said it made it feel like a test to me.  I could hear the boat approaching
fast.  But if this was a test…

“Let’s go eat,” I said as I headed toward the house.

“Why did you make that choice?  Because you’re afraid of me?” he said.

I shook my head
. “No, because you’re my guest here.”

He smiled and nodded his head
. “Nice,” he said as we headed toward the house.  When we walked in, Carlos and Maria weren’t there.  I knew they wouldn’t be.  I was sure Carlos would have taken her to the guest house… and I didn’t blame him for not wanting to be anywhere near Jonas.  Jonas followed me down the stairs to the basement.  He raised his eyebrows when he saw the lock on the fridge door.  “Let me guess,” he said, “you’re the only one who knows the combination.”

I smiled
. “Yes I am.  Could you turn around please?” I said.

He didn’t budge.  “Seriously?  Sarah, you do know I could tear that door off with my little finger
.”

“Yeah, I know that…
but I’d rather you didn’t.  Now will you please turn around.”

He sighed, then turned
.  “If you insist.”

I opened it and pulled out two pints for him.  Then I pulled out six pints of the regular blood from the other fridge.

“Honey,” I heard Matt say from upstairs, and there was a definite tinge of panic in it.

Jonas laughed
. “I think the hubby’s just a touch worried, Sarah.”

I smiled at him
. “I’m downstairs,” I called then I headed up.  Jonas followed me up the stairs.

“You have an exquisite ass, Sarah,” he said.

I stopped and turned around. “That’s a touch over the friend line, Jonas.  But, thanks,” I said.  Matt was waiting at the top of the stairs… and from the furious look on his face, he had heard Jonas’ comment.  I gave him a quick kiss, mumbling, “Relax,” into his lips.  Then I grabbed his hand and brought him into the kitchen next to me… I didn’t want him standing there as Jonas walked past, I’m not sure how Matt would react.  I stopped at the microwave and tossed the blood inside.  As Jonas walked past us to sit at the kitchen table, he nodded his head at Matt.

“Matthew,” he said. 

Matt clenched his teeth and squeezed my hand, but said, “Jonas.” 

I looked at Matt
. “Can you call Cameron today?  Get him out here to help supervise?” I said.  Matt nodded, but kept his eyes locked firmly on Jonas.  The microwave dinged and I opened it.  I went to hand Jonas his meal, but as the scent of the good blood hit me, I hesitated.  I looked at it, desperately wanting it for myself.  I licked my lips then looked at Jonas.  Jonas smiled at me.

“Take one,” he said.
  YES! My mind screamed at me, but I shook my head. 

“Thank you, but no.  No more for me,” I said and I handed them to
him.  He shrugged his shoulders.

“Suit yourself, but i
t’s gonna hurt, Sarah,” he said. “You shouldn’t quit cold turkey.”

“But I only fed on it a few times, Jonas.  It shouldn’t be that bad,” I said.

He shook his head. “You’re wrong. With this stuff, all it takes is once then every muscle in our bodies aches for it again.  When they threw me on that island, forcing me off of it, it just about killed me.  It won’t take you as long as me, but it will hurt just as bad,” he said.

I smiled at him
. “Thanks, Jonas, but I’ll take my chances,” I said.  He nodded and picked up his first pint.  I turned and looked at Matt, watching Jonas feed felt too… intimate to me.  And so began our crazy recovery.

Chapter
Thirteen

Days one and two weren’t bad at all and I was beginning to think Jonas’ warning wa
s wrong.  Then day three came…

It began with a horrendous wake up call for me.  It was dawn and I was sound asleep when suddenly every muscle in my body cramped up.
I cried out, tried to roll into a ball and fell on the floor.  My hands and my feet were contorted into horrible-looking positions.  I could see ripples of pain moving through my calves, my stomach, my arms, everywhere.  The cramps were so strong I thought they might break bones.

“Sarah!” Matt cried out as he quickly moved to my side.  I couldn’t speak, my mouth was clenched.  I couldn’t even open my eyes.
“Sarah?” Matt whispered.  “How can I help?”  Suddenly our door flew open. Jonas came in… and he took over. 

As he began to scoop me into his arms he looked at Matt and said, “Go get her at least eight pints, quick.”  Matt didn’t budge.  He was frantic, but afraid to leave me with Jonas.  Jonas stood up with me in his arms.  “Matt! Focus!  She needs your
help.  Go get her eight pints… Now!” he snapped.  Matt blinked, then turned and ran down the stairs.

Jonas sat on the edge of the bed and set me down next to him so my head was resting in his lap.  The rest of my body was still a horrifying, contorted ball.  Jonas began massaging both sides of my face and jaw.
My terrified eyes popped open and stared at Jonas.  “What the hell…” Matt said as he came back into the room. 

“Relax.  She can’t feed if her jaw won’t open, can she?  I’m working the cramps out of it.  Then she can feed and we can work on the rest,” he said. 

Matt set the blood down on the bed and sat down. “We?”

“Yes, we.  You can’t very well massage her arms and legs at the same time can you?  Unless, of course, you want her to suffer longer.  If that’s what you want, I can just go now,” he said
and I whimpered, my eyes pleading with Matt to let him stay. 

“No,” Matt said, “don’t leave.  Just tell me what to do to help her.”

“First,” he said as we all heard the pop as my jaw finally released, “you can hand me a pint.”  Jonas looked down at me. “Sarah, I need you to release your fangs, please?” he said. I whimpered again, knowing how much it was going to hurt.  I know there was pure panic in my eyes.  I was too afraid to release them… and Jonas saw that.  He smiled a little as he kept massaging my jaw to keep it from locking up again. “Sarah, if you don’t release them right now, I’m going to lean down and kiss you,” he said.  Well, I was definitely more afraid of that than the pain.  I closed my eyes and whimpered slightly as I dropped my fangs.  Jonas chuckled as he pressed a pint to them.  He looked at Matt. “I knew that would do it,” he said.  They made me drain all eight pints, even though I didn’t want them all.  “Go start a bath,” Jonas said to Matt.  “The warm water will help release the muscles when we’re massaging.”

“Wait,” Matt said,
“you’re not going to be in there when she’s in the bath?”

Jonas squeezed his eyes shut, sighed, then opened them and stared at Matt.  “Look.  Put some damn bubbles in it or something.  But she needs both of us in there, so deal with it, okay?”  Matt nodded, climbed off the bed and walked into the bathroom.  Jonas followed with me in his arms, whimpering.  “Get in.  I’m going to hand her to you
,” Jonas said

“Get in?  Wouldn’t I be more effective out of the tub?” Matt said.

“Well, that depends.  Do you really want her to feel the pain of her back coming in contact with the hard tub or do you think your body might be a little softer for her?” he said.  Matt climbed into the tub in his boxers and held his arms out.  Jonas gently lowered me down to him then he pulled off his own shirt.  “Okay, start with her hands.  Massage the fingers, like this, okay?” he said.  Matt nodded and did as Jonas instructed, while Jonas started working on my feet and toes. 

Twenty minutes later, Matt was working on my upper arms, while Jonas had managed to get my right leg to straighten out and was working on my left.  A little over an hour after this pain hit me, I finally uttered my first word.
“Ow,” I whispered.

“Well, hey there,” Jonas said
. “Welcome back.”  I tried to smile… and not blush as I glanced down and saw that the bubbles were gone and my nightgown was gone (Matt tore it off when it kept getting in his way).  Jonas saw my embarrassment and stood up. “Don’t worry, I’ll go.  I’m gonna go sit on the porch and wait for breakfast.  Matt, you need to work a little more on her stomach muscles and back before you get her out of the tub,” he said as he turned to walk out. 

“Jonas?” Matt said.  He stopped and looked back at Matt.  “Thanks
.” 

Jonas nodded, then said, as he walked out, “Just remember, we’re all going to need help when we’re going through that, soon.”

“Yeah, you’re next,” I mumbled.

“Ooohhh, lucky me,” he said as he kissed the top of my head.

An hour later I was gingerly making my way down the stairs.  “Are you sure you don’t want me to carry you?” Matt said.

“It’s okay, sweetie.  I’m thinking the more I use the muscles now, the better they’ll feel.  Right, Jonas?”

“That’s correct,” Jonas said from the doorway.

“Am I done?
Or do I have to go through that again?” I said.

“As short of a time that you were on it, you might be done.  But I can’t guarantee it.  The rest of us definitely won’t be so lucky.  The longer you’re on it, the more times you have to go through that
.”

“How the hell did you and Carlos go through that alone?” I said.

Jonas smiled a little. “Each episode lasts several days when you don’t have someone there to massage the muscles… so you just grin and bear it, I suppose.”

“So, when’s my turn?” Matt said.

Matt and Carlos were both down to one pint a day.  Jonas was on two.  “As soon as we’re sure I’m done.  Let’s give it a couple of days, okay?  By the way, where’s Cameron?” I said.

“He and David had some sort of medical emergency back at the village.  He said one of them would be here as soon as they could
.”

“Great.  I guess we’re on our own on this,” I said.  I tried to push myself off of the couch, because I knew everyone needed to feed, but I didn’t have any luck.  “Someone help me up, please?” I said.  They both shot up off the couch to help me.  Jonas started to put his arm down, but
he smiled as I grabbed onto both his and Matt’s, one hand for each.  They pulled me to my feet.  “Time for you guys to feed,” I said as I headed toward the basement stairs.  “I can’t carry this all up by myself.  Can I get a little help please?” I said.  They were both behind me in a flash.