“But I don’t want to be a cowboy. I want to be a hunter. I want to elevate the Fuentes name in Abundancia.” Mostly she wanted to show her papá how wrong he was for not believing in her. Being the best sediento hunter to live would surely do that.
“The kind of weapon doesn’t bring us triumph, Lina. The ferocity of the person who wields it does. Believing in yourself and what you are capable of is sometimes enough on its own, no?”
She blinked down at the reata. “I don’t think a rope is any match for a bullet regardless of who uses it. And it’s far less fun.”
“One does not kill sedientos for fun, Lina. We are here to protect humans, livestock, whatever lives and breathes within the great valley of Del Oro. We only pursue vampiros when those fiends pose a threat.”
She laughed bitterly. “We just scattered Señora Costas’s ashes! And last month four of Don Francisco’s ranch hands were laid to waste. Two months before that, Lorenzo was taken from us. They weren’t merethreats,Abuelito, they were assassinations. We should be going after those monsters, not waiting for them to come for us. We should find their home and burn it to the ground.”
Abuelo’s mustache twitched. “I used to think that too, but you will learn with age that some evil cannot be destroyed. Not without destroying some of the good we’ve built, too.”
“What does that even mean?” she questioned.
He shifted his weight. “Do you want to learn how to use this lasso, or do you want to talk my head off all evening?”
Carolina smirked. “Can’t I do both?”
“Not if you want to impress your papá and the other—” Abuelo’s head snapped in the direction of the stables.
“What is it?” Carolina asked. She hadn’t heard anything.
Abuelo held up a hand to silence her.
A horse whinnied. Her family’s dogs began to bark from their shelter in the chicken yard.
Reaching for his rapier, Abuelo started forward. Carolina moved too.
“No,” Abuelo said. “Go and get your papá. Hurry.”
Carolina’s pulse quickened. “What is it? A coyote? A skunk?”
“Go, Carolina,” he hissed.
She flinched. Abuelo rarely, if ever, used her real name. Whatever it was, she had to tell her father quick. She started to run toward the main house, her gift still clutched tight to her chest. Something dashed through the shadows to the left of her. Carolina stumbled to a halt. She scrutinized the gardens but saw nothing.
A long howl rumbled through the air, and more dogs from el pueblo joined in. A warning that something terribly dangerous neared.
An icy gust tickled her skin. Her long hair fluttered ever so slightly. Chills rippled down her spine when she heard the crunch of dead leaves directly behind her. Slowly, Carolinaturned toward the source of the noise. Standing before her in the shadows was a figure so disturbing her eyes prickled with tears.
The creature appeared almost human. But where there should be fingernails sat a bed of dagger-like claws. Where teeth should be sprouted elongated fangs. It was naked and slightly bent over as if it were in pain. In the moonlight, the monster’s skin appeared ashen, practically blue. And the eyes. The pit in her stomach grew. Its eyes glowed blood-red.
Sediento,Carolina thought. One that has given in completely to its thirst, at that.
But how? How did un vampiro get through the hacienda walls?
Shit.She’d let her little brothers play in the chicken yard that afternoon. Had they left a side gate open?
The vampiro lunged forward so fast, she didn’t have time to dive out of the way. Pointed claws dug into her shoulders. Carolina cried out. The agony was instant, the pain overwhelming. She tried to jerk herself free, but the sharp tips only dug deeper through her muscles and into bone. Carolina kicked out. Hitting the monster’s shin with the point of her boot.
The sediento snarled. It opened its maw. Beads of inky saliva dripped down its chin.
Disgust roiled through her. And then rage took over.
This pinche prick won’t best me on my own land!
She threw up her hands, smacking the vampiro in the jaw with the gift box that remained in her grasp. She swung again, landing another blow. The vampiro’s claws burrowed deeper into her flesh. Carolina screamed in torment. But she did not stop hitting. She could not lose to the first beast she ever fought. Her father would never let her join the guard if she did. Most likely because she’d be dead.
A rope circled the sediento’s neck. The monster flew back, hissing and snapping its teeth together, fighting against the leather braid holding it at bay.
