The woman screamed and bolted up the steps. Lalo jerked his fangs from the dead man’s flesh and dove after her. He burrowed into her, tasting her soul. She wasn’t this man’s wife. She had memories of her own husband mixed in with this torrid affair.
Footsteps pounded through the cantina. Hisses mixed with screams. Lalo knew there were sedientos within the throng, but he didn’t care. He had no fear. Only feverish thirst. And it was far more powerful than anything. He tore through a swarm of bodies trying to stop him. He bit and clawed and bathed in their screams until the noises ceased.
Lalo jerked awake with a gasp. He shot up, bumping his skull on the cool stone of the den. He rubbed his head as his brain frantically came to terms with where he was and how he’d gotten there. That masked girl. The scuffle. His cowardly retreat. His tumble into the cavern. This, the nightmares, the screams, the lives he had taken. They haunted him every time he closed his eyes.
He shifted and winced. The angrier woman’s scent lingered on his clothing. And it was ironically pleasant, with hints of vanilla, leather, and the soft velvet of lavender. How could a person so quick to inflict pain smell so sweet?
Lalo rubbed his hands over his face. Everything was so complicated. This new normal was quite literally the very last thing he wanted for himself.
Boring. Dull. Safe. Quiet. Those had been the things Lalo longed for in his life. And now? Well, now he was stuck in a hole after fighting off some spiteful vampiro hunter and her pan-wielding sidekick.
“Lalo!” Fernanda’s voice echoed from inside the woods. “Lalo!”
“Thank the gods,” he sighed. His body tensed.What if this was a trap?That beast of a woman might have his sister at knifepoint. If that were the case, Lalo needed to save Fernanda at once. But that killer might best him again. And then he’d have to watch thedisappointment play on his sister’s features as he was slain. She’d think,why was I cursed with such a miserable brother?
He pulled himself up just enough to glance out. The light of day had subsided, and the deep blues of dusk peeked through the canopy.
“Lalo?” Fernanda’s brows were raised, surprised. She was also unaccompanied by anyone trying to murder him. Her pinched face softened with relief, and she put her hand to her heart. “Praise the saints! You’re all right.”
He was dusty and grimy and stiff from head to toe, and it felt almost as bad as being knifed by that fiend. “I spent a whole day trapped in some foxhole. I have been stabbed and assaulted with cookware. I’m hardly all right.”
Fernanda put her hands on her hips. “And I spent an entire day thinking my brother and only family was forever lost.”
Lalo’s stomach sank.
“But you aren’t. Which is fantastic, because I have the most exciting news.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes!” Fernanda rushed to his side, plucked a beetle from his coat, and flung it away.
Lalo gasped in horror.
“Look.” She thrust out a letter. “It’s a special invitation for a fiesta tonight. Two young women brought it. The party is being put on by their family.”
“Two young women?” He eyed the scrawling letters written by a delicate hand.
To Señor and Señorita Montéz:
They had changed their surname from Villalobos to Montéz to be inconspicuous and planned to tell anyone who asked that they came from the farthest city they could find on a map, Puerto Blanco, instead of Los Campos. He didn’t know how far-reaching vampiro communication lines could travel, and he would not make it any easier for Maricela to find them.
I have recently learned of your arrival to our glorious pueblo. It is not often I come into acquaintance with new people my age and thus would love to invite you to the fiesta my family is hosting. I would be honored if you would attend as my special guests.
Warmly,
Carolina Victoria Fuentes del Rancho Fuentes
“Fuentes,” he whispered to himself.TheFuenteses. As in the founders of Del Oro.
“Oh, Lalo. She was the loveliest girl! So polite and funny, too. I imagine she has dozens of suitors. And her cousin was quite fetching.” Fernanda clapped her hands.
“When did you receive this?” He held the letter to his nose, sniffed it. His entire body went stiff. Lavender, vanilla, leather. His bones rattled. This…this was the scent still clinging to his clothing. She had visited hishome.
“Carolina was certainly inquisitive,” Fernanda said, a grin warming her entire face. “She’s eighteen, you know. I suppose because she’s the mayor’s daughter, she asked so many questions about us.”
He gulped. “Like what?”
“Where we hail from. Why we ventured here. She even requested to see a portrait of you.”
