Love's Challenge (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #5) (2 page)

The four of us headed for the stairs, but stopped when Carlos said, “Ummm,
hey guys.  Can I get out of jail now?”

Juan and I looked at each other.  I bent down and whispered into his ear,
“What do you think, Juan?  Should we let him out?  If he promises to be good?”

I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stifle a laugh when I saw the
intense look of concentration on Juan’s face.  Finally he nodded and said,
“Okay.  But only if you promise to be nice… and only if you fly me upstairs.”

My eyes flashed to Carlos. While Juan knew that we were ‘different’
(something he noticed on his own) he didn’t know exactly what we were.  The
word ‘vampire’ had not entered his vocabulary and I hoped it would stay that
way.  “Carlos!” I said.  He shrugged his shoulders.  “It was an accident,
Sarah.  We were jumping around in the backyard the other day and I got a little
carried away… and he noticed that we didn’t come back down to the ground as
fast as we should have.”

My eyes squeezed shut, as my hand met my forehead.  But I relaxed a
little when I felt Cindy’s hand on my shoulder, “It’s fine, Sarah.  I’m sure he
didn’t mean for it to happen.”

“Oh, I know he didn’t mean it, Cindy.  I just don’t want it to cause any
problems for you, you know, if anyone at the school found out,” I said.

“Oh, I won’t tell anyone, Auntie Sarah.  I promise.  Uncle Carlos told me
that he can’t take me flying if anybody finds out, so we locked the secret up
and threw away the key.”

I couldn’t help but smile.  He was trying so hard to keep me from being
mad at Carlos.  I wrapped my arm around Juan’s shoulders and pressed my cheek
to his forehead.  “Okay, Juan.  I believe you.  Carlos can fly you to bed and
then we have to say goodbye to you because we have to get back home and you
have to get ready to go back to school in a few days.”

“You… you’re leaving?” he said as his lip quivered.

“Yes, but we’ll be back soon.  We’ll come back in March for your fifth
birthday, I promise,” I said.

Juan was trying so hard to be brave, but one tear escaped his eye and
made its way down his cheek.  I wiped it with my finger and then hugged him
tight.  I pulled back and looked at him.  “Now, it’s time for you to fly,
Juan,” I said.  His smile lit up his face then he frowned slightly when Carlos
didn’t move. 

“Aren’t you coming, Uncle Carlos?” he said.

“Well, you have to let me out of jail first, buddy.”

Juan rolled his eyes, walked over and took Carlos’ hand in his.  “Silly,
it’s not the jail anymore, it’s just the couch,” he said as he pulled him up.

“Oh, well, thanks for telling me,” Carlos said then he pulled Juan into
his arms and flew up the stairs and down the hall… with Juan laughing and squealing
the entire way.

Cindy and I put Sophia to bed then wandered into Juan’s room.  Carlos had
him tucked in and was sitting on the edge of the bed talking to him.  “When I
grow up I want to be just like you, Uncle Carlos,” Juan said.  Cindy and I
looked at each other and waited for Carlos’ response.

“When you grow up you’re going to be an awesome person who’s special in
his own way, Juan.  You don’t want to be like me.  You want to be one of a
kind, right?”

Juan thought about it for a second then nodded his head, “Right.  There’s
nobody like me.”

“Exactly.  Goodnight, buddy.  I’ll see you soon,” Carlos said then he
leaned down and kissed his forehead.

Next, it was my turn.  Carlos brushed my hand and caught my eye, causing
my heart to hiccup, as he and I switched places.  I sat down next to Juan. 
“You promise you’ll come back soon, Auntie Sarah?” he said.

I nodded.  “Very soon, Juan.  I promise.”

“You and Uncle Carlos and Uncle Matt, right?” he said.

“Of course, Juan.  All three of us.”

Suddenly Juan frowned. 

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” I said.

“How come I never see you kissing Uncle Carlos?” he said.

My eyes flew open, flipping from his face to Carlos’ and back again.  I
didn’t miss the slight smirk on Carlos’ face.  “What do you mean, Juan?” I
said.

“Well. I see you and Uncle Matt holding hands and kissing sometimes.  And
I’ve seen you holding Uncle Carlos’ hand.  But I’ve never seen you kiss Uncle
Carlos.  You’re married to both of them, aren’t you?  How come you never kiss
Uncle Carlos?” he said.

“Honey, why would you think that I’m married to both of them?”

Juan concentrated for a second before answering.  “It just… feels… like
you are.” he said.

I smiled and blushed.  If this little guy could only see in my head and
my heart.  I was thinking, ‘Sometimes I wish I could be.’  “I’m married to
Uncle Matt, Juan.  Uncle Carlos is my best friend.  I hold his hand because I
love him.  But I’m not married to him too,” I said.

“Oh,” Juan said as his eyelids got heavy.  “You should be.”  Then he
yawned. 

I leaned down and kissed his forehead.  “Goodnight, sweetie.  I love
you,” I said.

“Night, Sarah.  Love you too,” he mumbled.

I got up as Cindy walked over to tuck him in.  I couldn’t help but notice
the look in her eyes as she walked past, though.  The sexual attraction between
Carlos and me was something that Cindy had noticed the first time that she had
met him.  She had even commented that it was so strong that she was surprised
that we hadn’t acted on it by then.  Yeah, yeah, I thought.  It’s complicated. 
Nobody but the two of us can understand that.  Carlos locked his eyes on mine
as I walked towards him.  He was leaning against the doorway.  Not again, I
thought.  Please, please, not again.  I moved to walk past him into the hall,
but he gently grabbed my hand, stopping me.  I held my breath and squeezed my
eyes shut, then I slightly shook my head and he let go.  I continued into the
hall and headed toward my room, but I could feel him right behind me.  I walked
into my room and sat on the end of the bed.  He started to close the door. 

“Do not close that door, Carlos.  Please.” I whispered.

He stared at me for a second then dropped his eyes, nodded and walked
over and sat next to me, resigned once again to having to be just my friend. 
He clasped my hand in his.  “I don’t know if she’s coming back, Sarah,” he
said.

“Maria?  Why not, Carlos?  What happened?” I said.

“Well, at first she started getting mad at me because… well… because I’m
a flirt.  I can’t help it, I just am. You know that and you’re fine with it,
but she wasn’t.  I just love a beautiful woman.  It doesn’t mean that I love
Maria any less.  But I can’t change who I am.  I tried… and I was miserable” he
said.

“And then?” I said.

“And then… well… and then we started traveling.  We had to.  She started
noticing that I was always, ummm, tense, when I was around you.  She began
watching me like a hawk.  She could tell that there was something between us,”
he said.

Hell, I thought, had everybody noticed?

I ignored that thought and said, “What’s so bad about traveling?”

He looked at me for a second.  He really didn’t want to answer.  I gave
him a look that told him he didn’t have a choice.

“Well… it’s just that… well… you know,” he said.

“What, Carlos?  What do I know?” I said.

“Well, I’ve been around a long time.  And I’ve
been
with a lot of
women.  A lot.  And, well, we kind of kept running into them everywhere we
went.  And some of them weren’t shy about letting me know that they missed me. 
So Maria kept getting mad about that too.  So we had decided to return to the
fortress.  We thought it would be better for us.  We were focused on improving
things between us, making things right again.  But then the night before we
left to come home, it happened,” he said.

“What?  What happened, Carlos?” I said, terrified that I might already
know the answer.

“I called her somebody else’s name when we were making love,” he
whispered.  Yep, I was afraid of that, I thought.  I fought my next question as
hard as I could, but it still came out.

“Whose name did you call her, Carlos?”  I whispered.

“Does it matter?” he said.

I looked at him and turned his chin so he had to look at me.  “Yes it
does,” I said.

“Why, Sarah?  Why does it matter?” he whispered.

“It matters to me, Carlos,” I whispered.

“Why?  Because you don’t want it to be your name?  Or because you do?” he
whispered.

I couldn’t stop myself.  I hauled off and slapped him across the face,
regretting it the instant I made contact.  “Oh shit, Carlos.  I’m so sorry,” I
gasped. 

Carlos rubbed his cheek and adjusted his jaw.  “Don’t be,” he said.  “I
probably deserved that.”

I stood up from the bed, stomped to the dresser and started throwing my
clothes in my suitcase.  “No you didn’t,” I said.  I felt him behind me before
he said anything.  He pressed himself into my back and pinned my hands to the
top of the dresser.  “Yes I did.  And, yes, it was your name I said,” he
whispered into my neck then he kissed it, instantly sending shivers down my
spine. 

“Don’t, Carlos.  Please, stop,” I whispered without any conviction.  He
didn’t.  And this was going to quickly reach the ‘I cannot stop this’ stage. He
was not playing fair, he knew how sensitive the back of my neck was and how
much it turned me on when it was kissed.   I shivered as the fire ignited in
me.  I closed my eyes and brought Matt’s face into my head, using it to give me
strength.  I spun around and pushed his shoulders, holding him away from me. 
“Why, Carlos?  Why is this happening again?  Why won’t this just go away?”

“It’s not happening
again
, Sarah.  And you know that.  It’s just
that when I’m with somebody else, it’s easier for us to ignore it and pretend
it doesn’t exist.  But it never really goes away, does it?” he said.

“But it has to,” I sobbed.  “I can’t do this again.  I can’t hurt Matt
again.  I’m not strong enough anymore to handle that.  And I’m not strong
enough anymore to fight this.”

“Neither am I,” he said as he started to move closer to me.  This was it,
I could feel it.  There was going to be no turning back now.  He was going to
kiss me, and we weren’t going to be able to stop this time at just a kiss.  Thank
God Cindy poked her head in the door. 

“You guys need anything before I hit the sack?” she said, eyeing us less
than a foot apart, in front of the dresser.  I quickly spun around and began
packing again.  Carlos backed up and started walking toward the door. 

“We’re fine, thanks Cindy,” I said.  “The car will be here in thirty
minutes.” 

“I should finish packing too,” Carlos said.  “Goodnight, Cindy.  Thanks
for having me,” he said then he kissed her cheek, took one quick glance at me,
walked out the door and went to his room.  Cindy came over and sat on the bed,
silently watching me pack. 

Finally she whispered, “It doesn’t mean that you love Matt any less,
Sarah.  You two can’t help what you feel.”

I stopped what I was doing and hung my head.  Carlos was in my head,
listening (an ability that most vampires had – and one that for some unknown
reason was stronger between the two of us – we sometimes even linked in our
dreams without even knowing that we were doing it), but I didn’t care.  “But I
love Matt so much.  How can I even think about doing this to him?” I groaned.

“You’re not doing anything
to
him, Sarah.  You’ve got too much
love inside you for just one person.  You couldn’t possibly love Matt any more
than you already do, but you’ve still got more love to give.  You can’t help
that.  It’s just how you are.  It’s how you’ve always been.  And what better
person could you give that love to than Carlos?”

“I already love him, Cindy.  That’s not the problem.  The sex is the problem. 
I’d be breaking my vow to Matt.  I vowed to be faithful, remember?”

“Yes, but what does that mean when you’ll live forever?  Seriously?  Do
you really expect Matt to fulfill that unrealistic vow too?  Forever is a very
long time, Sarah.  Heck, I couldn’t even make it until death do us part with
Brian,” she said.  My eyes shot up to hers.  This was something she had never
told me.  She smiled slightly.  “We both had a few affairs.  And, no, that’s
not what broke up the marriage.  We just grew apart and didn’t have anything in
common anymore.  But we both knew about the affairs.  It really wasn’t that big
of a deal.  I think monogamy is kind of overrated anyway.”

“You’re really not helping me fight this, you know,” I said.

“Maybe that’s because I don’t think you should.  Fighting it is only
hurting you more and really it’s probably just delaying the inevitable.  Maybe
you should just stop fighting and get it over with so you can move on with your
life,” she said.

“But I’m afraid, Cindy,” I said.

“Afraid of what?” she said.

“I’m afraid that once I start with him, that I won’t be able to stop. 
I’m afraid, that as good as the sex is with Matt, with him it will be even
better and I’ll keep wanting more,” I said.