The Return of Jonas (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #4)
Read The Return of Jonas (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #4) Online
Authors: Dara Nelson
The Return of Jonas
Pearl Vampire Chronicles
#4
By
Dara J. Nelson
Acknowledgements
A huge thank you to my readers – none of this would be possible without your love and support.
To Dad – thank you for giving me my endless imagination and gift for prose. To Mom – for giving me my ability to love all completely, Sarah’s huge heart comes from her. And to TG – editor extraordinaire – your guidance and feedback has helped me in so many ways – I owe you more than a dinner now.
Also by the author:
The Link – Pearl Vampire Chronicles #1
The Recruiters – Pearl Vampire Chronicles #2
Malina’s Revenge – Pearl Vampire Chronicles #3
The Return of Jonas
Pearl Vampire Chronicles #4
By
Dara J. Nelson
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Caution –
Contains some adult subject matter. May not be suitable for younger readers. Parental discretion is advised.
The Return of Jonas. ©
Copyright 2011 by Dara J Nelson. All rights reserved.
ISBN-10:
1-610-61090-2
EAN-13:
978-1-61061-090-2
Prologue
Matt was passionately kissing my neck – something that usually makes me oblivious to anything but him – when I first heard it.
‘Sarah’
the faint gasp said in my head. It was so faint that I couldn’t recognize the voice. I leaned back and looked at Matt.
“Did you hear that?” I said.
He grinned. “What? Hear you moan? Yes I did,” then he leaned in and started kissing me again.
‘
Sar….’
this one choked off and I gasped.
“Stop!” I said.
Matt looked at me. “What’s wrong?”
I squeezed my eyes shut
. “Link with me, quick. Somebody’s in trouble but I can’t tell who it is.” Most vampires have the ability to link minds and pass thoughts and images to other vampires. I felt Matt in my head as his mind joined with mine. I squeezed my hand in his and tried to will whoever it was back. Suddenly brief images flashed in our heads. Whoever it was must be on a ship as I saw the steel room they were in and the door in front of them. From the angle they were at, they must be lying on the floor. Suddenly the door burst open and in walked an angry-looking man, dressed all in black, carrying a machine gun and shouting something I couldn’t understand. He walked over and I watched in horror as the butt of the gun came down on the person’s head, then the image went black. “No!” I gasped. I kept my focus on the image, even though all that I saw now was blackness
“Come on,” I whispered
. “Come back.”
From next to me Matt whispered
, “That’s got to be a cargo ship near Africa. That had to be a pirate.”
We waited for what seemed forever. Slowly a few blurry images began forming, the room started to come into focus again. The view started to move from the walls to the floor as whoever it was tried to get onto their hands and knees. I felt my own body move as I tried to
send them the strength to stand up – even though that wasn’t possible.
I didn’t even know who
this person was, but I desperately wanted to help them. I saw the floor move as they shook and swayed. My God, they were so weak. Ever so slowly, one hand moved forward a few inches, then the other as they tried to crawl toward the wall. They made it a few feet then collapsed onto the floor for a few minutes.
‘You can do this,’
Matt thought.
‘Come on, please get up,’
I thought. Now we were both concerned and trying to help them. Our encouragement in this stranger’s mind seemed to help a bit as the room moved a bit almost like they were nodding in agreement to our words. They struggled back to their hands and knees.
‘That’s it, keep going,’
I thought as they slowly moved forward again, finally reaching the wall. One hand came up to the wall and then the other. We could hear them grimacing as they tried to stand, failing the first three times. Finally they made it, and stood gasping, their head resting against the wall. They reached and grabbed something off the wall and brought it down in front of them. It looked like some sort of frame. A picture? No, not a picture.
“
It’s a mirror,” I whispered. Their legs gave out and they sank back to the floor, the mirror coming to a rest upside down in their lap. All three of us heard the first explosion just as the mirror began to come around. Boom, boom, boom, the rhythmic explosions moved closer as the charges that the pirates must have set began to go off. The mirror came around and I saw who it was right before the explosion blew the wall out next to him, throwing him into the far wall as the water began rushing in and the ship quickly started to sink. I didn’t scream, I didn’t utter a sound.
I could hear Matt next to me saying
, “Oh my God, no. Oh shit, it can’t be,” as I just clung to him and his mind, willing it to stay.
‘Sarah, help me’
he gasped.
As the image inevitably began to fade in my head, I felt the panic and thought
,
‘Please don’t go
.
’
Just before he lost consciousness again, as strongly as I could, I thought,
‘We’re coming, Carlos.’
My mind refused to believe that it had just seen our best friend – my best friend since I had met Matt, Matt’s best friend for over a hundred years – blown out of the side of a ship and into the deep black waters of the sea.
Chapter One
One
year earlier
Carlos stayed with us for the rest of the week
on the island (my island, I thought smiling as I reminded myself, the island that Matt had purchased and given to me for my birthday), until it was time for my sisters to leave. We were taking a long overdue vacation after everything that had happened and it felt so good to relax – and it was the first time that I had seen my three human sisters since I had been turned – and the first time that I told them that we were all vampires, including Carlos who they all had crushes on (who didn’t – even I had to deal with some demons when it came to how I felt around Carlos). We had more fun than anyone had the right to have. Even though it was the first time that I had seen my sisters since becoming a vampire. It took a little time and a lot of questions but they soon knew that I was still me, even though my diet had changed and my future, well, my future was endless. My face constantly hurt from all of us laughing so much.
They were all packed and we were dreading our goodbyes when I heard the buzz of the seaplane as it approached from the distance. Carlos was going to escort them back to Miami, to the airport, where they would wait for their flights and then he would go his own way, not returning to the fortress
(the home in Peru that he shared with us and about a hundred other vampires) until he was ready, he said. I knew where he was coming from – when Matt had been kidnapped recently and his death faked to make me believe he was truly gone – well, the intense friendship that Carlos and I have shared since the day we met came dangerously close to morphing into something more. And even though Matt had escaped and returned to me before anything had happened, the feelings that Carlos and I shared, the incredible attraction each other, was taking its sweet time going away.
Matt and I were going to remain on the island for another week
– a little much-needed alone time for us – before heading back to Peru. The plane landed and the pilot tied to the dock, waiting for Carlos and my three sisters to board.
We were all still in the house.
“Honey,” I said to Matt but with my eyes locked on Carlos, “can you take the girls down to the dock, please? I need a minute here.”
I felt Matt’s eyes on me.
Sorry, honey, but this is something I have to do, I thought to myself. I had no intention of ever cheating on Matt – I completely adore my husband and want him with every ounce of my being – well, almost every ounce. Apparently there’s a disturbed part of me who wanted to throw down with his best friend,
my
best
friend
, the man who could make me laugh when the world was crashing down around me, who saved my ass on numerous occasions, the one who understood me, but who was also a complete slut with women, totally selfish and would break my heart – seriously, how fucked up was I to be playing with fire like this? Can you say ‘pyromaniac?’
Matt bent down and picked up two of the bags
. “Sure thing, Sarah. Come on ladies. Let’s get you on the plane.”
“We’ll be down in a minute,” I said to Cindy
who was staring at me as she hesitated. She knew me better than the other two did and she had commented on the attraction she could see that Carlos and I had for each other. She had even said that it was so strong that she was amazed that we hadn’t acted on it yet.
Finally she nodded then turned and followed the others out the door. I felt Carlos’ hand in mine
as I watched them and I turned and wrapped my arms around him, holding him as tight as I could. “Tell me you’ll come back,” I whispered. “Even if you don’t mean it, just tell me you’ll come back.”
I felt him take a deep breath, then his fingers tilted my chin up and his eyes met mine
. “Of course I’ll be back, Sarah. No matter what happens, I could never stay away from you two forever.” He kissed my cheek and this time it was me who moved my mouth around to meet his. Unlike the time that he and I had been thrown together in a tiny, confining space – a space that forced us into a tight embrace as we tried to keep silent – and which got him so worked up that that he couldn’t stop himself from kissing me, which then turned into petting and ended with him dry-humping me before I got pissed and walked out. This time I definitely wasn’t pissed, I wanted it this time. My kiss began tenderly at first then harder, more urgent. My mouth opened, my tongue found his, my body pressed into his, my fingers weaved into his hair. I wanted him so much that it hurt. I ached for him. I wasn’t the strong one this time. I could only hope that he was. A small sob escaped from my chest and he pulled away and pressed his forehead onto mine. Both of us were gasping.
“Come back to me, Carlos. Please come back to me. Soon. I can’t do this without you.”
“I promise I won’t be gone too long, Sarah,” he finally said.
“You better not be, or I will come and find you. I know that things are messed up and weird right now. But we have to figure out how to deal with it together, not apart. Please?” I said, smiling weakly.
“I know, Sarah. And we will. I just need a little time, that’s all. A little time will make this pain tolerable. Right now it’s unbearable. Right now the ache I feel for what might have been is killing me. I’ll come back when I can think about you without getting hard,” he smirked.
“
Oh shit, then I’ll see you, ummm, never,” I joked.
He smiled sadly
. “God, why didn’t I take advantage of you when you were in a coma? Why did I suddenly have to develop a set of scruples and respect you enough to not touch you? I really do love you, kiddo,” he whispered.
“I
know and I love you too,” I said.
We turned and walked arm-in-arm out to the dock. I hugged my sisters, telling them I’d bring Matt out to
our family cabin soon then they climbed onto the plane. I held tight to Matt’s hand and wrapped my arm around Carlos, burying my head in his chest and not even trying to suppress the sobs that escaped me. I barely heard Matt say, “Good luck out there,” to Carlos, and the meaning of it definitely didn’t register, at least not right now. This weirdness between me and Carlos was something that was just between us. Matt didn’t know what was going on, or so I thought.