The Link (9 page)

“
Hey,” I said suddenly bouncing on the bed, “what if the change process is to trick your fangs into thinking you’re drinking evil blood when you’re really not. What if we put one of those bags up to my neck and your fangs accidentally went through the bag into my neck?”

His horrified look crushed me. “NO!” he gasped, “you saw what happened when I drank it, how FAST it was gone, I couldn’t have stopped
myself if I tried, even I
’
m not that fast.
How could I possibly stop in the few seconds it would take to drain you?”

I sat back on the bed, pouting.
“Well, maybe you also have to learn how to slow down when you’re drinking.”

He laughed then and wrapped his arms around me, “We’ll see, sweetheart, we’ll see. I love your enthusiasm but, like I said before, until we are fairly certain that we have ALL of the puzzle pieces, we aren’t going to try anything, okay?”

“
Okay,” I said.

“
Well,” he laughed. “Enough questions for this morning, now we do need to get ready to go.” I climbed off the bed and headed in to the shower, the shower that I never got last night. The shower that, once again, did not end alone…
boy, I smiled to myself, I sure could get used to this.

We dressed and packed quietly side by side, smiling. Every time we touched, even just the smallest brush of our fingertips, it took every ounce of strength we had to not throw each other on the bed again. It had already happened, twice, since we’d
gotten out of the shower, and we were already so late. It was well after noon and we wouldn’t have much driving time, I thought, which reminded me, “Where are we going now?” I asked.

“
South,” he answered, “there’s a Peruvian medicine man, deep in the Amazon that I need to see next. You’re not afraid of boats are you?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

“
No,” I said hesitantly, not sure what I was really agreeing to. We walked outside and Carlos was leaning against the car, smiling of course. “It
’
s about time. I was beginning to think I was going to have to come in and pour cold water on you two, but I
’
m not sure even that would have stopped you. I told you he’d have you smiling, Sarah
,
” he said.

“
We
’
re not driving?” I asked, trying not to blush at Carlos’ comment.

“
No,” he replied, “we
’
re flying.”

“
We
’
re
…
ummm
…
flying?” I asked.

Matt beamed at me and said, “No, not that kind of flying, there
’
s a small airstrip near here, we have a plane waiting.”

“
Oh,” I replied, a little disappointed. “What’s
going to happen to your car?” I asked.

“
I have to drive it back to Matt’s house
,
” Carlos said, sounding completely annoyed. “
It’s
so much slower than flying…
this really sucks!” I smiled at Carlos. I could tell how much he was enjoying helping us through our adventure. Carlos dropped us at the airstrip and I smiled when he got out of the car with us. I knew he was testing me and how I was going to respond to him, but what he didn’t know is how many male friends I had that were exactly like him: lovable flirts who were fun, funny and harmless. He held his arms open wide and said, “Come on, give us a hug goodbye.”

I smiled at the surprise in his eyes when I didn’t hesitate at all. I stepped into his arms, kissed him on the cheek and hugged him tight, “We’ll see you soon. Thanks for everything Carlos.”

He stuttered slightly as he tried to recover, “Umm, you’re, you’re welcome, Sarah,” then he grinned a goofy Carlos grin at Matt
.
“Dude, you have seriously hit the jackpot.”

Matt just smiled and pulled me into his arms
.
“Don’t I know it,” he said as he leaned down to kiss
me.

We made it to Peru that night, and I happily spent another mostly sleepless night (I most definitely could get used to this) in a small inn with him. He woke at dawn, and woke me by gently, then more urgently kissing my lips. When he pulled back I was just staring at him. “What?” he laughed.

“
You really need to stop doing that or I’m not going to be able to function anymore,” I said as I started to climb out bed, but he stopped me, gathered me in to his arms, said
,
“Never
,
” and was kissing me again. This time when he stopped, I just smiled, shook my head and said “Okay, okay, you win.”

“
Good,” he said.

We strolled hand in hand the few blocks to the river smiling and just enjoying each other, when his faced turned serious, “Wait here a moment please,” he said. He turned and I watched him walk over to a young boy near the river. I listened as, of course, he spoke perfect fluent Spanish to him. He took out a wad of money, pointed to me and then pointed down the river. Even though I didn’t know what he was saying, I could get figure it out
; he
needed a boat to
take us down the river. He was back at my side a moment later, holding me close as we waited for the boat. I leaned my head on his chest, and realized again, that, without a doubt, this was where I belonged.

“
What are you thinking right now,” he asked.

I smiled and said, “How perfect this feels.”

He sighed and said, “That’s what I was thinking too.”
A
nd
I once again wondered if he could read my mind. I decided to test that out and began thinking of the last shower we took together. Suddenly he moaned and pulled closer to him. I looked up at him.

“
You CAN read my mind,” I said.

“
Not really,” he smiled, “it’s more that I can FEEL what you’re feeling, and you must have been thinking of something…
um
…
very erotic because I could feel you responding that way,” he sighed.

“
Oh,” I said a
s I quickly
turned back around
. I didn’t
want him to see me blush, again. A few minutes later the boat arrived, pulling up silently to the dock. Matthew grabbed the one bag he had brought from the hotel.

“
Won’t we need our clothes or anything?” I asked.

“
No,” he said, “we won’t be gone that long.” He held my hand as we climbed onto the boat then pulled me down to the seat, between his legs, so I could lean
back
against his chest. We peacefully floated down the river, enjoying the abundant wildlife while he rubbed my shoulders. I decided to be honest with him and voice some of my fears.

“
Will I
…
I mean, if we’re successful
…
will I be any different? I’m not talking about physically. I mean my personality, my feelings, my emotions.
Will it change me?
Will I still be me?”

He had been rubbing my shoulders and I felt him hesitate for a second. He leaned down so his cheek met mine. “I think
you’ll be the same
, Sarah. But, truthfully I can’t say for sure. I haven’t known anyone before they were turned. I know I feel like I’m the same. I’m pretty sure Carlos was the same lovable, annoying flirt he is now. But we were all changed by the Elders. I don’t know if it will be different if we’re able to change you. That’s why this has to be your decision. You know how I feel
about you, but I would feel this way if you stayed human too
,
” he whispered. I nodded and sank back into him. Enough questions…
for now, I thought.

A little while later I began to see people on the riverbanks. Guards, sentries most likely, because as soon as we passed, loud warning signals erupted from the trees. We pulled up to the bank, tied the boat to the tree roots and faced a wall of very intimidating looking natives, with spears, and shields. The second I thought that might be a problem, they looked at Matthew and slowly began parting and bowing their heads (does EVERYONE seem to know vampires existed but me???)
.
We followed one of them through the jungle on a small path, to a clearing…
their village. We were stopped at the entrance. The guard said something to Matthew, looked at me and shook his head. Matthew turned to me and said, “I have to go on alone from here, they want you to go with the village women. They will prepare you for the evening’s celebration.”

I raised an eyebrow as I turned to him and slowly said, “Okay.”

He leaned down, gave me an all-too-brief kiss
and headed off with the guard through the jungle. I glanced around, not
sure
where
I was supposed
to go. I didn’t see a single female. Suddenly they all appeared out of nowhere, surround
ed
me
and
pull
ed
my arms
,
leading me to a nearby hut. I ducked under the doorway (even at 5’6” I still had to duck) and was completely surrounded by beautiful colors. There was a dress laying across the floor that I assumed was for me. There weren’t any sleeves on it, it just slid over the head and then was tied with a colorful woven belt. There were bowls with ground powders of all the colors of the rainbow, and then some. There were beads, dyed string and feathers. The women were very animated, chatting with each other, and to me (though I had no clue what they were saying) but I could feel their excitement at having a visitor. Several of them started removing all of my clothes (no modesty was allowed here). They dipped a cloth into a bowl of warm water with a flowery, intoxicating scent and began bathing me. When they were finished they pulled the dress over my head, and tied the belt in place. It was amazingly soft on the inside and I wondered what material it was made of.
They sat me down in the center of the floor and surrounded me, one brushing my hair and beginning to intricately braid it with beads and feathers throughout. Another dipped brushes into the powders and was decorating my face. Still others were painting various pictures down my arms of birds, suns, flowers and other symbols. I began to think that I knew what the canvas felt like as DaVinci painted the Mona Lisa.

After a while they stopped. They nodded their heads as they looked at me and appeared to be satisfied with their work, and since there weren’t any mirrors I had to assume (hope) that they were right. Then they stood me up and started showing me what I eventually figured out were dance moves (oh no! was I going to have to dance in front of people?? My heart started racing)
.
After much practice I felt comfortable with the moves. It was a hypnotic, flowing dance that made even me look graceful. They grabbed my hands and pulled me towards the door. I was surprised to see that it was dark outside - the time in the hut was so busy it seemed like minutes, not hours. They led me to the center of the
village where the men were seated in a large circle, some beating on drums, others playing various homemade instruments. All of the women, including me, filed in to the center of the circle and I immediately felt the nervousness of before, knowing that they wanted me to dance with them in front of all these watchful eyes. I wanted to run and hide in the bushes. My eyes darted around the circle, noticing everyone watching me, excitedly talking to each other. I paused on one who had to be the chief. He had an intricate gown and headdress on. And his eyes were boring into me, this stranger in his village, and my panic grew. It was almost unbearable. I was just getting ready to give in to my urge to run when my eyes found him, seated next to the chief, quietly nodding his head as those around him spoke, his eyes never leaving my face. Eyes filled with such love and devotion, for me, that my panic was instantly gone. I immediately relaxed. Never taking my eyes off of him, I began the dance with the women. Moving, flowing to the music, I was only dancing for him.
There was no one else there at that moment, only him. I was feeling the hypnotic, sensual moves
of the dance, and, from the look on his face, he was feeling them too. The dance ended all too soon and I looked around having no idea what to do next. I stood there, confused. I was getting ready to head back to the hut rather than standing
t
here looking like a fool, when two of the women took my arms and pulled me to the center of the circle. Two others went and grabbed Matthew’s hand
s
and pulled him to meet me. They then surrounded us with a circle of colorful sand on the ground, humming as they moved. The chief glided over to us so gracefully I would swear he was floating. He started chanting, singing and dancing around us. I watched him move. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. I was completely mesmerized. I felt like I was in a trance. He reached out and gently took my hand, palm side up, and traced my lifeline with what I thought was just his finger. I was stunned when I saw that what followed his finger was blood, my blood. He had somehow cut open my hand along my lifeline. I stared at it for a moment, with my brow furrowed, wondering why there wasn’t any pain. I glanced up then and gasped. His other hand held Matthew’s
hand the same way he held mine, and Matt’s hand was open with the exact mirror of the slice on my hand, and there was a small line of his blue-tinged blood dripping down it.
The chief guided our hands up, with our palms facing each other, and pressed them together. There was a surge of energy between us so strong that I was instantly dizzy, my head was swimming, my knees were weak. I was vaguely aware of hands lifting me up and lifting Matthew up, our hands still gripped together, our fingers entwined. They carried us very gently to a hut on the far side of the village and laid us together on the soft mat on the floor, while quietly whispering to each other. The last thing I remember, before surrendering to the darkness that was trying so hard to claim me, was Matthew’s other arm being wrapped around me, pulling me tight, his breath on my face, our other hands still completely locked together and tears streaming down my face. I couldn’t hold on to consciousness any longer. I drifted off into a dreamless, peaceful sleep.