Page 25

CHAPTER 25

Lalo

Lalo had just changed out of his soiled clothes when something crashed on the first floor. Voices hollered.

“What in the devil?” Lalo ran across the room.

“Lalo!” a gruff voice yelled. “Fernanda!”

Lalo opened the door to his room and peeked out to see—oddly enough—Se?or Fuentes bolting up the steps. He seemed furious. His massive hands gripped the railing with bone-crushing force; a sword swung at his hip. Lalo jerked back. Did Se?or Fuentes know about him? Was he here to slay the resident beast?

Lalo searched for a proper place to hide. But his brain had stopped functioning. He was going to die. Here. In some drafty home. Without a single chance to retreat. He braced himself for whatever was to come, squeezing his eyes shut as if that would shield him from his impending doom.

Se?or Fuentes’s heavy footsteps clomped into his room. “Lalo?”

Lalo opened a single eyelid. Confusion twisted Se?or Fuentes’s face, then something like relief relaxed his features. El se?or let out a long sigh. “You’re all right.”

“Am I?” Lalo asked.

“ Aren’t you?” Se?or Fuentes tilted his head, surveying Lalo as if he were one of his prized bulls.

Lalo’s brain gave a painful jab, and he winced. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “If you count feeling like my head might explode and having someone break into my home all right, yes.”

El se?or’s mustache twitched. “Apologies about your front door. We thought…” He paused. “We were concerned for your safety. There was an incident.” He ground his teeth together. “My men were killed last night. We’ve found three dead sedientos, but we believe there might be more.”

Lalo’s heart thudded inside his chest. Did Se?or Fuentes think it was him? The man was truly going to kill Lalo, just when he’d gotten Carolina on his side. They were going to fix this.

“Se?or, about the attack…”

“I know, it is a tragedy indeed. Fear not, we will find every leech responsible and cut them down.”

Lalo blinked hard. Did he hear that correctly? Se?or Fuentes wasn’t here to avenge the victims?

“If I may be so bold,” Lalo dared to say. “Why are you here?”

“Come with me,” Se?or Fuentes ordered.

Lalo followed el se?or down the steps and into the library, making sure to give a wide berth to the shafts of sunlight slipping through the windows and open door in the foyer. There wasn’t much as far as food to offer the man, but there was some rather nice port his sister kept hidden behind a stack of romance magazines. And Se?or Fuentes looked like he could use a relaxer.

“I know it is early, but care for a drink?” Lalo asked.

“That would be nice.”

As Lalo moved toward the stack of books nuzzled against the large armchair his sister had claimed for herself, el se?or’s eyes scoured over every window within the study. They were covered with thick draperies. The place was a tomb at all times so Lalo could sit with his sister.

“Why are the curtains drawn so tight?” Se?or Fuentes inquired.

“I am prone to headaches.” This wasn’t a lie. “Brighter days make them worse.”

He handed Se?or Fuentes a full tumbler. The man drank it down in a single gulp, his eyes burning into Lalo.

“Is there something else, se?or?” Lalo queried.

Se?or Fuentes placed the empty glass on the small table beside him. He sat on the leather couch and leaned back in his seat as if he owned the home. “We are used to random attacks by sedientos. My guard is always prepared, but the monsters have grown bolder as of late. Never in all my years have we had so many strikes against el pueblo within a week.” His jaw muscle twitched.

Lalo braced himself for the accusation sure to come— you brought them here and now you will die.

“The men of this family have a duty to uphold. And that starts by ensuring the women we are bound to remain safe. How will you keep my Carolina protected if you are wedded?”

Lalo was not prepared for such a question, and he laughed at this absurdity. He tried to cover it with a cough when Se?or Fuentes glared at him with fatherly indignation.

“Something humorous to you?”

“No, Se?or Fuentes. It is only, from what I know of your daughter, she would be boiling mad if she heard you say such a thing. She is more than capable of keeping herself safe, no? She killed the vampiros in el pueblo last night.”

“She did what?!”

Shit. Perhaps this subject should be avoided at all costs. “One of the many reasons why I fell for Carolina is because she is a fierce champion for the people she loves. She would do anything to see her family protected.”

“You think you understand my daughter better than I?” Se?or Fuentes leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs.

“Of course not. But I believe in her more than you.”

Se?or Fuentes shot to his feet, his fists clenched at his sides. Lalo would not let this man, or anyone, intimidate him anymore.

“I see how strong and resilient and brave your daughter is.” She had confronted him in the woods when she thought him only a devil, and she had not hesitated to try to take him down. She’d faced him again and again, and those vampiros in el pueblo as well. “Carolina is not afraid to fight, se?or. And she is damn good at it, too.”

“Yes, but she is brash and stubborn. She does not listen.”

“I wonder if your father ever said the same thing about you.”

Se?or Fuentes glared at Lalo, but then his features softened. He huffed. “He said that often, actually.”

“You are a good father, Se?or Fuentes. I know you are frightened for her because this world is terrifying, but don’t push her away. Don’t hold her back from living out her dreams because of your own worries.” Lalo knew he should be heeding his own advice. He’d been isolating himself his entire life.

Se?or Fuentes’s face grew somber. He gripped Lalo hard on the shoulder. “I can see why she likes you so much, mijo.”

Mijo. My son. The word stung inside Lalo’s chest. He hadn’t heard that endearment spoken in his direction since his father died.

Fernanda rushed into the library in her night coat, her face noticeably pale at the sight of Se?or Fuentes.

“Might someone tell me why the lock on our door is broken?” she asked, breathless.

“It appears some beasts have been on the prowl nearby,” Lalo said. “Se?or Fuentes came to see if we were safe.”

She raised her brow. “What sort of beasts?”

“The very worst, I’m afraid,” Se?or Fuentes said. “My men found tracks littered about your property. We believe they belong to sedientos.”

Fernanda’s eyes flicked to Lalo’s. He saw her fear. Her concern. He could hear her pulse quicken and the blood rushing through her veins. And she should be afraid. Maricela had found them.

“I would not venture outside of your home at night,” Se?or Fuentes said. “In fact, I wouldn’t suggest you open the doors or windows once the sun begins to set. I’d like to leave some of my people here as a precaution.”

“No.” That single word came from Lalo in a whisper, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear. Lalo stepped close to else?or. “Those monsters already took out some of your men. What is to stop them from doing that again? And we are so far from town. Don’t you think it would be safer if we…” What was he doing? Why was he speaking? Lalo knew why. To keep Fernanda protected. To be closer to Carolina. If they were under the same roof, they could have more time to plan their next move, to try to find Vidal and end this nightmare. “May we stay with you, Se?or Fuentes?” He forced out the question.

El se?or’s thick brows quirked.

“Perhaps this is unconventional,” Lalo said. Perhaps it was also cowardly. But if Maricela and her goons found him, he couldn’t defend Fernanda and himself. “When the sun sets, who truly knows what those monsters might do?”

Sedientos couldn’t enter his home, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t smoke him out. He and Fernanda would be sitting ducks. Better to be behind the adobe walls of the Fuentes hacienda. If Maricela had the chance to sink her fangs into him, she would see Lalo’s memories. She would understand what he and Carolina were planning to do, and Carolina would be good as dead, too. He couldn’t take that chance. She was a tyrant of a girl, but she was so smart and full of life and—

“What are you thinking?” Fernanda whispered, cutting into his thoughts.

The irony that Lalo would seek refuge in a home filled with people who would happily kill him was not lost on him. This idea was more than insane. He’d have to somehow keep himself from being exposed to the elements. And then there was the matter of getting blood.

Se?or Fuentes toyed with his mustache. “We wouldn’t want anything to happen to either of you. You are practically familynow.”

“We are?”

“Of course. You are Carolina’s beloved and an intelligent, brave, and practical young man. You understand that you could never fend for yourself or your sister out here and have come to me for help.”

In light of their heartfelt conversation, he’d receive that as a compliment.

“You two will stay with us,” Se?or Fuentes ordered. “At least until we hunt down the bastards that took my men. We will speak more of your engagement as well and where you might move after you wed.”

Lalo’s heart did a strange sort of flip inside his rib cage.

Se?or Fuentes clapped his hands together, the sound like thunder rolling through Lalo’s skull. “It is settled. Pack your things. This is my nephew Jorge, you met his sister, Antonina, the night we were first introduced. He will follow your carriage on horseback. I have some other matters to attend to, meanwhile.”

With that, he marched out the door.

Jorge was a slender young man with dark brown skin and a knowing smirk. He chuckled. “I’m sorry for you, man.”

“For me?” Lalo pointed to himself. “?Por qué?”

“I’m used to my outrageous family. But you? You’re marrying into it. You’ve got a lot to learn.”

Lalo stood there, arms slack at his sides, as Jorge sauntered off. This hadn’t been how he thought his day would go, but it was much better than dying at the hands of sedientos.

He eyed the doorway that el se?or and Jorge had left through. He turned to his sister. “Does this mean I have his blessing?”

“I think you have bigger issues.” She jerked her chin toward the golden sunlight streaming in from the front door.

Lalo grimaced. His skin would blister and boil in moments. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

Fernanda smirked. “Of course not, you were too busy trying to weasel your way into Carolina’s house.”

“I am doing this for you.”

Fernanda rolled her eyes. “Come on, Don Juan,” she said as she started to stroll away. “We need to figure something out. Fast.”