The Return of Jonas (Pearl Vampire Chronicles #4) by Dara Nelson

you to meet my best friend Carlos. Carlos, this is Maria,” I said.
    “Hola, Senor Carlos,” she said, shyly.
    “Como esta, Maria?” he replied, with his goofy grin firmly in place.
    She grinned and looked at the floor, clearly too shy to carry on a conversation so soon. 
    “Okay, Maria.  Let’s get his bedding changed. First his gown,” I said.
    “Sarah, please, do we have to?” he mumbled.
    “Relax, I’ve got you covered,” I said as I held up a hand towel.  “Literally.”  I handed him the towel, which he stuck under the sheet and used to cover his groin.
    “Ready?” I said and he nodded.
    “Okay, Maria.  I’ll roll him towards me, you untie the back and open it, then I’ll roll him back and we’ll, gently, take it off of him.”  I looked at Carlos’ eyes, to be sure he was ready, since I knew this would cause him to hurt like hell.  He looked scared, but determined, as he nodded.  I put one hand on his arm, the other on his thigh then ever so gently pulled him toward me.
    He grunted and tried really hard not to moan.  “The leg, Sarah, the leg.  Try moving your hand down a little,” he said through gritted teeth. 
    “Better?” I said.
    “No,” he groaned.
    Maria nodded at me and I lowered him back down, pausing for a minute to allow him to recover.  “Carlos, you’ve got a lot of dried salt on you, we need to try to wash it off again” I said
    He tried, unsuccessfully, to give me an evil stare. “You have a death wish or something?” he said.
    “You know it will hurt worse if we leave it there,” I said.
    “Yeah, I know, but I have an idea,” he said as he pointed to my notepad and paper.
    “Can you hold this?” I said, meaning the pen, but not wanting to say it just in case Jonas was listening.
    “Probably not, but you can for me,” he said.
    I pulled the chair up next to the bed and sat down.  “This doesn’t get you ou t of the sponge bath you know,” I said.
    “I know,” he groaned, “in a minute.”
    I gripped the pen and held it to the paper as he gently laid his hand over mine and started guiding it over the paper.
    “ You have blood for the humans, right?” he slowly had me write.  I nodded yes.
    “ I’ll heal twice as fast if you let me have some.”
    I stared at the paper for a few seconds then looked at Matt, who read it and looked at me.
    “But Carlos, you said it’s very…” Matt said but stopped when Carlos held up his hand
    He began writing again, “ Addicting, yes it is.  Very.  But I’ve been thinking about it.  I think it’s the only way we’ll be strong enough to take on Jonas.”
    “We?” I said.
    Carlos nodded, then wrote, “ Yes, we.  The three of us.  Drinking it won’t be a problem for you, Sarah.  You can drop your fangs at will.  Matt and I will have to use the evil blood to drop our fangs, then drink it.”
    “But what about… after?” I said.
    “David, Cameron, Stefan & Penelope can help us break the addiction.”
    “How bad is it?  How long does it take?” I said.
    Carlos squeezed his eyes shut . Clearly this was a bad memory.  “Okay, yes, it’s really bad. It took me a few months, but I was doing it on my own.  I didn’t have help.”
    I looked at him for a bit, while I mulled over his idea.  Finally I said, “For you, okay.  But until you get better, we’re going to have to think about whether or not we’ll do it too, okay?”  Suddenly I began to feel what was now becoming, the more familiar queasiness that let me know that Jonas was back.  I pointed to my head and mouthed, “ Jonas. ”  Then I looked at Matt. “Honey, can you go get Carlos four and one?”  He nodded and walked out as he understood that I meant four pints of regular human blood and one pint evil.  I walked into the bathroom and filled the pan I had in there with warm water, then I put some Vitamin E oil and aloe in the water.  I carried it out with a washcloth.  “Okay, Maria.  Thanks for being so patient. This