The Return of Jonas (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #4) (6 page)

“Stop the boat,” I yelled.  Omoruyi killed the engine and I turned to tell Matt what I had seen, but my heart leapt into my throat instead.  Oh, the pain that was on his face. 
His mind was still linked to mine from our time in the water.  His eyes were squeezed shut… he had seen it too. “Matt?” I whispered.

“No, Sarah, don’t.
Not now,” he turned and looked at me and the pain in his eyes killed me.  I wanted to curl up in a ball, I wanted to disappear in my head, I wanted to go into a coma again. I couldn’t bear to see his pain.  His beautiful fingers brought my chin up and he shook his head.  “You’re not going anywhere, missy.  Now, concentrate. Where is he?”

“I can’t,” I groaned.

“Sarah, goddamn it, he’s still my best friend.  I need you to find him Sarah, find him and bring him back.”

I nodded, took a deep breath and closed my eyes.  I reached out my mind, searching, trying to find any spark.
‘Carlos!’
I thought.
‘Please, Carlos.  I’m here, I’m right here, but I need a little help.  I can’t find you.’

‘…
Hide…..and…..seek?’
he thought and I gasped, squeezing Matt’s hand so hard that he winced.

‘
No more hiding, Carlos.  Show me where you are, please?’
I thought.

‘….
Give…up…then?’
he thought.

‘
Yes, I give up, you win.  Open your eyes, please? Show me where you are.’

‘
But it burns, Sarah.’

‘
I know it does, honey, and I’m so sorry.  But if you open them and look around, just once, really fast, then I’ll get you and make the burning stop, okay?’

‘
Promise?’
he thought.

‘
Promise.’

‘
On the count of 3, k?’
he thought.

‘
Ready, Carlos,’
I said as I linked with Matt too.

‘
One… two… three.’

Matt and I both gasped at the pain.  We squeezed our hands together and pushed through it. 
‘There,’
Matt thought.
‘The stern, see the stern, he’s pinned under that smokestack that we saw behind the stern, the one that broke off.’
  The image went black.  I grabbed my mask as Omoruyi started the engine.

“Grid 7
, Omoruyi,” Matt said.  My head dropped to my chest as the sobs began.  Matt’s arm came around my shoulder, but I pushed it off.

“No,” I gasped
. “I don’t deserve you.  All I ever do is hurt you.”  I leaned away from him as far as I could go.  He reached over and pulled me onto his lap.  I tried to push away on his chest, but I had no strength in my arms, I was sobbing too hard.  I gave up and buried my face in his chest.  He kissed my temple.

“Sarah, nothing that has happened has changed how I feel about you.  If anything, it’s made me realize even more how much this, us, means to me.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whimpered.

“I know,” he said as the boat came to a stop. 

Omoruyi said from behind us, “We only have a few minutes, please hurry.”  We turned and nodded, then looked at each other.

“Ready?” Matt said.  I nodded and we dropped into the water.  It only took us a few seconds, but it seemed like it took forever.  As the stern came into view, we both veered left, quickly finding the smoke stack.  We moved around to the far side and that’s when we saw him. 
‘Oh my God,’
Matt thought.

‘
How?’
I thought.
‘How are we going to get him out?’
  The only part of him that was visible was his head and the right side of his chest, the rest of him was buried under the broken smokestack.

‘
I doubt we can lift it, let’s try digging so we can pull him out, okay?’
Matt thought.  I nodded and we moved to both sides of him. 

‘
Carlos, we’re here,’
I thought

‘
It’s about friggin’ time,’
he thought.
‘What took you so long?  Ahh ahh… don’t do that, it hurts.’

‘
Sorry, but we have to,’
Matt thought,
‘but
we’ll try to hurry
.’  We dug at a feverish pace.
‘Try pulling now,’
Matt thought. 

I reached down and grabbed his hand, and he screamed. 
‘Don’t touch me, please don’t touch me.’

‘
I’m sorry, Carlos, but we have to.  We can’t get you out unless we touch you,’
I thought, trying to sound calm, when my insides were anything but.  I pulled as he grimaced, but he moved a few inches.

Matt moved from side to side, digging as fast as he could.
‘Keep pulling,’
he thought.  Pretty soon he was out far enough for me to grab under both arms, but I couldn’t grab both hands, his left one was too mangled.  I shoved both feet into the sand, trying to get a good foothold, and pulled as hard as I could.  Suddenly I was on my back, with Carlos on top of me. Matt swam over to me and lifted him off me.  We both put our arms under him and began quickly swimming towards the surface (though vampires do breath, it’s not physiologically necessary – we mostly do it out of habit from our human lives and for the sense of smell). 

Omoruyi was waiting for us at the stern
. “Hurry, we must hurry,” he said as I saw the sun appearing on the horizon.  Carlos was, thankfully, unconscious.  The pain from pulling him out must have knocked him out.  Omoruyi grabbed under his arms and pulled him onto the back of the boat then he ran to the helm and started the motor.  Matt and I barely had time to jump onto the swim platform before the boat was flying through the water.  We steadied each other and crawled over to Carlos.  We lifted him and carried him below where he wouldn’t be seen if we were stopped.  We laid him on the floor and we went to work.  I found a bucket and filled it with warm fresh water, grabbed a washcloth and said, “Get his clothes off, we have to wash the salt off of him.”  Matt tore off what little was left, it looked like several creatures tried to take a bite out of him, but only got cloth.  Yes, it crossed my mind that Carlos was naked in front of me, with my husband two feet away, but no, that couldn’t bother me right now. There was too much work to be done first.  I didn’t want to rub, I was afraid that his skin might rub off, so I just gently squeezed the washcloth over him, starting at his head and working my way down.  Matt grabbed another washcloth and did the same.  We looked at each other when we neared the bottom of his belly.

“Ummm, I’ll do
his feet and legs, you do his…” Matt said.

“Gee, thanks,” I said
as I squeezed the cloth so that the water dripped over his crotch – and despite the state he was in, the pain he was in, I couldn’t help being impressed with what was resting against his left thigh. I forced my eyes to look away, several times, since they seemed to be drawn back as if they were metal and his shaft was a magnet.  We finished and then I gently rolled him toward me, trying not to notice that
it
flopped onto my knees when I did. “Pull his clothes out and then do his back, while I hold him.”  Matt had almost finished when Carlos suddenly started thrashing and coughing.  All the seawater inside him came out onto my forearm – which was cradled under his head – along with a few small fish and two tiny hermit crabs.

I smiled at Matt
. “I suppose I deserved that,” I said.  “Can you put some towels on the bed?  We need to move him up there.” 

Matt laid the towels down, then stepped aside, “You move
him Sarah.”  My eyes begged him not to make me do that.  “You’ll be gentler than I can be,” he said as his hand rested on my cheek.  He kissed my forehead. “It’s okay,” he whispered.  Since I was between the bed and Carlos, I got up and moved around to his other side while Matt held him on his side.  I locked my eyes on Matt as he laid him on my arms, and I kept them locked on him as I picked Carlos up and gently laid him on the bed, quickly covering him with the sheet.  Then I made my way to Matt’s arms.  He held me for a few minutes then said, “We need to get out of these wetsuits, Sarah.”

I nodded, then looked at him
. “Ummm, where? The bathroom’s not big enough to change in.”

Matt rolled his eyes at me
. “Sarah, stop being so sensitive.  He’s a wreck and completely out of it, do you really think I’m worried that you’re going to fall into his arms if you get naked in front of him?  Please give me a little more credit than that.”

“I’m sor–
” I began to say but Matt’s finger came to my lips and stopped me.

“No,” he said, “
I’ve heard that enough.  I know you’re sorry, Sarah. I don’t want to hear that anymore.”  He reached behind me and undid the zipper on my wetsuit, as I pulled down the zipper on his.  We both peeled our wetsuits off then dried off with towels.  I pulled on a sundress while Matt threw on a t-shirt and sweats.

“Hungry?” I said as I moved around the
corner into the tiny kitchen.

Matt nodded and followed me.  “What are you
smiling at?” he said.

“Nothing,” I said, but an idea had come to me, and he was about to find out what it was.  I put four pints
of blood into the small microwave and handed two to Matt when it was done. 

After we finished, he smiled, “Seriously, Sarah, what the hell are you smiling at?”

I leaned up to his ear and whispered, “I’m not wearing anything under my dress,” as I guided his hand between my legs. His shocked look quickly turned into hunger as his mouth found mine… I didn’t need to tell him twice.

Chapter
Six

An
agonizing scream woke me.  Matt and I were sleeping on the floor.  The boat was docked, but we had to hide out here until the plane landed, which wouldn’t be for another few hours.  I flew up and grabbed Carlos’ hand.  “Shhh, Carlos,” I said as calmly as I could.  “Try not to move.”  His eyes were wide and frantically searching the room, finally landing on my face.  The pain in them was almost unbearable.  He opened his mouth and tried to say something, but the only sound that came out was a raspy groan. “Shhh, your vocal cords are pretty messed up from the saltwater.  Don’t try to talk.  Are you hungry?  Do you think you could eat?”  He stared at me for what felt like forever, whimpering.  His eyes were pleading with me to make the pain go away. 

His eyes moved up and found Matt, who was now standing over my shoulder.  “Come on Carlos, please try?” he said.  Finally, ever so slightly, he nodded his head.  Matt heated up a pint
(supplied to us from a global network of prison doctors so that the
blood supplied to us was from evil, or bad people)
, brought it back and handed it to me.  I held it close to Carlos, but nothing happened.  He grimaced then looked to me for help. 

“Matt, can you bring me the wash rag?  I want to try to clean out his nose.  He can’t smell right now.”
Most vampires’ fangs only reacted to the scent of evil blood – you smelled evil, your fangs dropped, then you drink – that’s how it was with all vampires, except for me apparently.  For reasons we had yet to determine, I was able to drop my fangs whenever I wanted to and could probably drink any kind of blood, from a good person or an evil one, but I had already been told that vampires drinking blood from a good person was not a good idea – it was addicting to us, which was probably why most vampire’s fangs only reacted to evil blood, it wouldn’t bode well to have a bunch of vampire addicts running around, now would it?. 

Matt doused
the washcloth in warm water and brought it over to me.

“I’m sorry Carlos, but this might hurt a bit,” I said.  He stared at me then closed his eyes.  I was as gentle as I could be, but he still whimpered and squeezed my other hand too hard, maki
ng me wince.  I handed the rag back to Matt then picked up the blood, holding it near his nose again.  I was trying to will his fangs down, but again, there was nothing. 

“Maybe if he tastes it?” Matt said.  I nodded, pushed the blood to the bottom of the bag, dropped my fangs, held my breath (so
that I couldn’t smell it) and pierced a small hole in the bag.  I squeezed out a little onto my finger then carefully stuck my finger in his mouth.  Carlos’ eyes were glued to mine the entire time.  At first it was only my finger that was moving, but slowly, I felt his tongue begin to move around my finger as the blood made its way beneath the damaged surface of his tongue to the still functioning taste buds beneath.  He closed his eyes, groaned, then opened them up again… and they were changed – his eyes were the black eyes of a hunter.  I quickly grabbed the bag and stuck it on his lowered teeth.  “Good job, Carlos,” I said. “That was really good.”  I looked up at Matt.  “How much longer?”

“About another hour,” he said. 

I nodded and looked back at Carlos.  “Okay, hun, we hate to do this, but we’re going to have to move you soon,” I said.  Carlos whimpered and I saw the fear in his eyes.  “I know, I know.  It’s gonna hurt like hell, but we have to get you to on the plane.  We’ll be as gentle and as quick as we can, I promise.  Okay?”