“I did. But my friends translated, mostly. I can only catch a few words here and there.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “Well, we can help you learn.”
I almost replied with, —“I won’t be there long enough to learn a new language.”But I decided to keep it inside, not wanting to upset him.
I leaned forward and opted for a slightly different topic. “Tell me about my parents. Or my aunt. Anything. Actually.” I smiled politely.
Jaime relaxed again. “You were born Julieta, not Scout, after our mother. Juanito was our father. We are from Tamaulipas, which is where we are going now.” He glanced out the dark window.
“Did you know her? Our mother? Or our dad? How big of an age gap is there between you and me?” I shot question after question at him; he was patient and answered as many of them as he could.
“Sixteen years between you and I. It’s not unheard of in the undead society to have children years apart.”
“What about our parents? What were they like?”
He was hesitant, his face contorted as if struggling with what to say. “They were nice but selfish,” he finally said.
It was then that he explained our aunt’s imprisonment and the trade that was supposed to happen.
“If she hadn’t gotten pregnant with me, our mom would have kept with the plan to die for her sister?”
Jaime nodded. “It was save you or save the entire vampire village. She chose you.”
Awkwardness filled the plane. To which, Ludovica perked up.
“Yeah, but it seems to have worked out in the end, right? Scout’s alive and well. Your village survived. That’s good.”
“Yes, it is,” he agreed. “But our parents paid with their lives for the risk they had put us under to protect you.”
“So why am I being asked back then?” I shot at him. It sounded like he was still bitter about something that happened fifty years ago. He didn’t seem fazed by my quick anger.
“Because the High Priestess wants to leave her grudges behind. She wants to get to know the child our parents felt so strongly about to risk everything. She wants you to join our court.”
“Are you part of it?” I asked.
“Yes.” He didn’t elaborate, and we were landing before I could ask him more.
For being a smaller, private plane, the ride was relatively smooth. We arrived just as the sun was coming up and had to stay in a hotel until nightfall.
The heat in Mexico was high and dry. I recalled it with bittersweet memories. Even as a human, I wasn’t a fan of the hot climate. I much preferred places where autumn was the prevailing season.
Ludovica and I shared a room. I didn’t have a cell phone, so I had to use hers to call Desi and see how his trip was going. His words were reassuring, but I knew he wasn’t happy with the situation.
That next night, Jaime knocked on our door and told us a car was there to take us to meet my aunt.
“What should I call her?” I asked.
“High Priestess, unless she tells you otherwise. She may try to call you Julieta,” He warned.
“I kind of like the name. It’s pretty,” Ludovica said. She was helping the tension almost constantly with her comments. “Weren’t people calling you a priestess, too, back in the fake Ginata’s territory?”
I furrowed my brows. While it had only been a few days, it felt like ages ago. “Yeah, the Young Blood Priestess.”
Jaime nodded. “Yes, the High Priestess of Blood has high hopes for you,” he told me cryptically.
I watched out the window, but I was completely unfamiliar with where we were, so it was pointless. We drove for almost an hour before reaching a large white brick wall. It was at least twenty feet high, and I couldn’t see the ends on either side in the dark. Two large wooden doors reminded me of a castle’s gates.
The driver got out and spoke to someone standing by the doors.
