“You thought you’d take on a beast who could suck the life out of you? Without a single person to assist?” Spittle flung from her father’s mouth. “Give that to me.” Papá gestured toward the rusted dagger in her hand.
She held it tight against her chest. “But…”
“Now!”
With shaking fingers, she thrust the handle toward him. He jerked it out of her grasp and shoved it into his belt.
“I thought you were dead.” His voice cracked. Fresh tears filled his eyes. “I’ve been looking for you since we found the felled sedientos in town. I was so scared. I…” He pulled her into his massive form. He crushed her in his arms. “Never do that to me again.”
Even now, he did not believe her capable of surviving on her own. She had been the one to kill the monsters, but he would never believe that. Or he’d use this as the last straw and truly send her away for good. Yes, she knew he loved her with his whole heart. But why could he not love her as she was? Why could he value her as a woman but not as a fighter?
The sound of hooves thundering came from behind the boulders. Papá spun, pulling Carolina behind him, and thrust out his sword. His tension eased when two guards rounded the bend on horseback.
“Señor!” one of them called. “We believe we found something. Tracks going into the woods toward la casa del Alicante.”
“That’s where Lalo is staying,” Carolina blurted out.
“And you think they were inhuman?” Papá asked.
“We cannot say for certain, but the strides are longer. Lighter. Something incredibly fast ran through there. And not so longago.”
Could those tracks have been Lalo’s?
“Do you believe it was a lone sediento?” she asked, ignoring her papa’s glare.
“It looks like several.”
She had cut down two vampiros last night. There could have easily been more. If they were traveling toward Lalo, he could be in danger.
Carolina grasped her papá’s arm. “We must go there, Apá. Right now!”
“Show me,” Papá ordered his men. He turned to Carolina. “Go home. I don’t want to even think you are outside the gates. Do you understand?”
“But…”
Papa’s eyes narrowed with another heaping of fury.
“I understand.” She would not waste time fighting him, not if Lalo and Fernanda were in peril.
“Please, hurry,” Carolina said.
He ran to his mount and climbed onto the saddle. Papá and his men set off, pounding in the direction from which she’d come.
Carolina sighed and let her shoulders slump. She rubbed her bottom, which was sore from falling off Guapo. She was tired from her misadventures. And she was thoroughly confused.
She clicked her tongue and her horse stopped munching on the dried grass underfoot. He trotted over and bumped his snout against Carolina’s back.
“Don’t try to apologize now,” she grumbled. “You threw me on my ass.”
Guapo sighed into Carolina’s hair and nuzzled in closer. Grinning, she scratched his jaw and nose. “All right,” she said. “You’re forgiven. But my apá is not.”
From the journal of Friar Alejandro Ibarra
Tecuani cannot leave the Forest of Souls unless summoned. And thus, those inflicted with his death curse cannot enter a residence without permission.
It is easy to imagine how quickly the world as we know it could fall if these abominations weren’t weakened by the laws of the gods. I often wake up in the night in a cold sweat wondering what would happen if said laws didn’t exist. What would I do if one stricken with the death curse burst through my door?
The answer is nothing. I could do nothing to fight something so powerful.
