The Return of Jonas (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #4) (8 page)

Chapter
Seven

Somehow we managed to get Carlos off the plane and onto the helicopter without him waking up, but the turbulent helicopter ride was another story.  The first jolt had him screaming as loud as his damaged vocal cords could.  I unbuckled myself and flew to his side.
“Carlos,” I said, “look at me, look at me right now.”  I waited until his terrified, panicked eyes finally found mine.  “Good, now close your eyes and listen to my voice, okay?”  He nodded slightly, whimpering and crying out once more as the helicopter dipped again.  “Carlos, you’re at the house on the island.  You’re walking on the beach and you’re surrounded by a dozen hot, sexy, beautiful women,” I said then I smiled as I saw the corners of his mouth turn up slightly.  “Right now, they’re all vying for your affection and you’re deciding which one you’re going to spend the night with.”  His voice popped into my head for a second and I smiled. “Okay, you’re deciding which
two
you’re going to spend the night with,” I said then I looked at Matt and saw him shaking his head and laughing.  “Should it be the blonde with the big boobs and the athletic brunette?  Or how about the exotically sensual one with long black hair and the cute redhead?  Or the beautiful olive skinned one who’s topless right now and the centerfold from last month’s magazine, or the one with long strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes and a round, perky butt that’s just begging to be squeezed.”  I felt the chopper begin its descent, we were almost there.  Carlos popped into my head again and I laughed. “No, I suppose you don’t have to choose.  Go ahead and take them all.”

“Well, now that’s just not fair,” Matt said from behind me, grinning from ear to ear, “he has to share some with the rest of us.”

“No kidding,” David said. “I’d like the blonde with the big boobs.”

“Dibs on the athletic brunette,” Matt said.

“Fine.  Carlos, Matt gets the athletic brunette, David gets the blonde, and you get the rest… except for the olive skinned beauty, she’s for me.” I grinned as two heads and Carlos’ eyes whipped around to me. “What?  Why should you be the only ones who get to have fun?”

‘The strawberry blonde with the perky butt just waiting to be squeezed, that’s you isn’t it?  I want her the most.’

I tried not to blush as I smiled at him.

‘
God, it’s good to see you again, Sarah. I really missed you.  Thanks for being here,’
Carlos thought.

“Like I’d be anywhere else, goofball,” I said as the chopper touched down, causing Carlos to wince.
“What’s say we get you to a room so you don’t have to move again for a very long time.  Sound good?”

‘
Sounds like heaven, of course so does seeing you with the olive skinned beauty too,’
he thought as his grin tried to get bigger.

We managed to get him inside without too much pain for him.  Transferring him from the stretcher to the hospital bed was another matter entirely.  We were as gentle as we possibly could be, and he tried so hard to not cry out, but we could all tell he was in agony.  As soon as we set him down, I asked one of the interns to bring two pints of blood.  I still had to put the blood on my finger and in his mouth to get his fangs to drop, but I was glad when he drained both pints.  David checked in his nose and down his throat.  “The nose will probably take a few more days at least, but the vocal cords look much better.  He might be able to speak
normally by tomorrow,” he said.

“That’s too bad,
” I said as I grinned at Carlos, “he’s much less annoying when he can’t speak.”

Carlos mouthed the word
‘bitch’
then winked at me.

Matt came over and wrapped his arms around my waist
. “Do you want first shift or second?”

I looked at him with pain all over my face…
I didn’t want him to leave.

“Sarah, one of us needs to stay with him, don’t you think?  The nurses we have around here now are used to humans, they haven’t been trained yet on vampire care and David and Cameron need to get some sleep, so I think it’s best if one of us stays.  At least for tonight,
don’t you think?” he said.

‘
You guys really don’t have to do that,’
Carlos thought to me.

“No, Carlos, he’s right.  We can’t have you screaming out in the middle of the night when there are a few human patients here.  One of us should stay,” I said then I looked at Matt
. “Since he just fed, I’ll go try to get some sleep.  You take first shift.  I’ll be back in a few hours, but wake me if he wants to feed again, okay?”

“I think I could probably manage to feed him,” Matt said.

“Really?” I said. “You really want to stick your finger in his mouth and have him suck it off of your finger?”

“Oh, y
eah, that’s not really something I’d like to experience.  I’ll wake you, okay?  Go sleep now.  I love you, Sarah,” he said as he locked his lips with mine.  Several minutes passed before he finally pulled away.

“I love
you too.  I’ll see you in a bit.”  I looked at Carlos. “Try to sleep, dude.”  He barely nodded.  “Night,” I said.

‘
Night, Sarah,’
he thought.
‘And thanks again.  You’re still the best ever
. 
And I can’t begin to tell you how much I missed you
.’  I leaned down and gently kissed his forehead.

I smiled, nodded and stepped out of the room.
I got halfway down the hall to our room when I said, “This is ridiculous. I’m not going to get any sleep alone.”  I turned around, walked back into the clinic, grabbed an extra chair from the waiting room and walked back into Carlos’ room.  Matt seemed to be expecting this, and was smiling and holding his hand out to me when I walked in.  I set my chair next to his and gladly took it.  I brought my feet up on the chair and rested my head on my knees, looking at Matt and smiling.  The pace of the last week was catching up to me, and my eyelids grew heavy.  Before I knew it I was out.

The nightmare began a few hours later.  It was Carlos’ nightmare, but it was also playing in my head as I slept.  It was Carlos, from a long time ago judging by his clothes.  It looked like he was in a barn and he appeared to be shackled
, with his arms above his head.  He was beaten severely and in incredible pain… and he was starving, holy shit was he starving.  I thought I was starving after going a month without feeding. That was peanuts compared to this.  I had no idea that someone could be this hungry and still be somewhat conscious.  The barn door opened and in walked Jonas, with a young, unconscious girl under one arm and a really scary looking horrible man walking on his other side.  “It’s time Carlos,” Jonas said. “I’m tired of waiting for you.  It’s now or never.  You join me now, or I’m leaving you here to slowly starve to death.”  Jonas dropped the young girl on the ground and unlocked Carlos, who immediately fell to the ground.  Jonas helped him sit up and placed the girl across his lap.

Carlos looked up at Jonas said, “Please, I beg you, please don’t make me do this.  She’s good, she’s innocent, she doesn’t deserve this.”

Jonas looked at the horrible man and nodded to him. “Have a seat next to my friend Carlos, Jeremiah,” he said.  I could feel Carlos struggling as the evil scent of Jeremiah hit him.  Jonas placed himself behind Carlos, putting both hands on either side of his head.

“Please, no,” Carlos whispered, but I could feel what he was feeling and knew
that his fangs were already down.  Carlos struggled to turn his head toward Jeremiah, wanting so badly to sink his teeth into his neck.

“No, no,” Jonas said, “
he’s here because his scent brings your fangs down, she is the only one you get to feed on.”

“I can’t,” Carlos said through gritted teeth.

Jonas leaned down to his ear, “You can and you will, or I’m going to kill your sister, your brothers, your mother and every other family member of yours that I can find.”

As soon as he said that
Carlos groaned, turned and sank his teeth into the young girl’s neck as a sob escaped him.

“NO!”
I screamed, waking myself up.

Matt was instantly soothing me
. “Sarah, you were dreaming.  It’s okay, honey.”

I squeezed my eyes shut
. “Oh my God, Matt.  Jonas figured out how to feed on innocents.  And he forced Carlos to do it too.  Oh my God,” I sobbed.

Carlos’ raspy voice made us jump.  “It took me ten years to hide my family,
to give them new identities, make certain they were safe.  Ten years I had to stay with Jonas, before I could finally turn him in to the Elders,” he whispered.  “You should have left me at the bottom of the ocean, cause he’s coming for me and he’ll go through anyone who gets in his way, and even those who don’t.”

“Carlos, how did he find out you’re the one who turned him in?” Matt said.

“I told him,” he said.

We both jumped up
and exclaimed, “You WHAT?!?”

“I thought he’d just kill me and be done with it.  Instead he locked me in the cargo hold of that stupid ship.  I don’t know why.  I don’t know if he knew that the pirates were going to take it over and blow it up.
But I can tell you that he had a plan, he always has a plan,” he said.

A voice in all our heads made all of us jump,
‘Of course I have a plan, Carlos. But if I told you what it was it wouldn’t be any fun for me.  And after all these years, I’m looking forward to some fun, a lot of fun.  I’m especially looking forward to meeting you, Sarah.  Oh yes, you and I are going to be close, very close.  I’m getting aroused just thinking about it, that and ripping apart Carlos and Matt.  So much fun, so much time.  Till next time,’
and then Jonas was gone.  At least we hoped he was gone.

Matt’s hand was squeezing mine so tight I winced.  “Did anybody feel him coming in
to our heads?” Matt said

We both
nodded our heads.  “He can usually come in without being noticed,” Carlos said.  “He could still be here now.”

I stood up
. “I’m calling Marie.  Hopefully Musetta can help us.  I‘ll be back here in five minutes.  When I get back, I want you two to fill me in on everything you know about Jonas, okay?”  I kissed Matt and headed out the door.  I could only hope that Jonas wasn’t still in my head as I called Marie, the daughter of the voodoo priestess who provided a crucial piece to turning me into a vampire – a formula that she made from a variety of disgusting ingredients that made my heart rate increase – to allow the vampire ‘virus’ to circulate through my body before it died – and it slowed the speed with which Matt drank my blood – allowing him to stop before he killed me, something that most vampires can’t do because it only takes seconds for us to drain an entire human body.

Marie
said that she’d talk to her mother about our situation and to see if she thought that there was any way to block Jonas from being in our heads, or would allow us to notice him being there, and she’d call me back later this afternoon.  On my way back to the clinic, I stopped by the kitchen and heated up six pints. I drained two myself and brought the other four to Matt and Carlos.  “Okay,” I said after I’d helped Carlos feed, “tell me everything about him.”

“He’s over seven hundred years old.  He was the original Enforcer
, building the elite guard force that protected the Elders, brought over here by Victor, the original Elder, to protect him.  Many felt that Jonas was somewhat bitter at having to serve under Victor, that he felt that he should be in charge.  He remained an Enforcer for three hundred years though, protecting Victor and the others, but growing angrier and more bitter each day, until he figured out his technique for consuming innocent blood, which makes you much stronger and much more powerful than evil blood.  That’s when he left, and began plotting his revenge against the Elders.  Plotting and growing stronger by the minute, for over one hundred and fifty years, and wreaking havoc wherever he went.  He was just about to carry out his plan when I told the Elders where they could find him.  They captured him and imprisoned him.  I begged them to kill him, but they said they wanted him to suffer instead.  So they threw him in a prison they had built just for him, on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, more than one thousand miles from anything.  He was feeding off the rats that got in to his cell.  He finally managed to break out of the cell about twenty five years ago, but he was still stuck on the island because he could no longer fly, not for short distances like most of us can and definitely not a thousand miles, and he lacked the strength to swim very far.  About a year ago, a small boat anchored in the cove and some shady treasure hunters started diving and looking for shipwrecks.  One of them came ashore to look for food and, unfortunately for him, he was a really bad guy.  Jonas fed off of him, then waited for the others that he knew would come searching for him.  He killed all but one member of the crew.  He told the last guy that he’d let him live if he helped him get the boat to South Africa.  Of course, he killed him too, right before they arrived.  He didn’t need him anymore.  He’s been quietly gaining his strength back ever since, and interrogating every vampire he comes across.  He’s got some serial killer named Lester working for him, so he can feed off innocents.  And when I just happened to show up nearby in my travels…. well, he just couldn’t resist a reunion.  Once he had me, I knew if he found out that I had a family of sorts again, people that I truly care about and would do anything to protect, you and Matt, I knew that he’d try to force me to join him, in order to save you.  So I told him I was the one who turned on him before, the one who got him caught.  I hoped that he’d be so angry that he’d just kill me quickly and it would be over with.”  Carlos closed his eyes then, because he was exhausted from telling us all of this.