Page 48

CHAPTER 48

Carolina

“Let go of me!” Carolina screamed to her papá’s back as his men dragged her from the path and toward their horses. “I said, let me go, you traitor!”

Papá whirled around, ferocious fury shaking his face. “How dare you!”

“How dare I ?” Carolina bellowed.

“Yes!” Papá roared. “I had to learn from Rafael that you brought a devil into my home! You welcomed him in, with your little brothers, with your expecting mamá, your tías and tíos who could not defend themselves. You put our family in danger. You pretended to be his lover. For what? For what, mija?! To hurt me?”

She shook her head “No! I wanted to keep our pueblo safe from sedientos. I wanted to prove myself as a hunter but so many things got in the way.”

Carolina couldn’t deny how selfish she had been, but he had been selfish too. All the Fuenteses had been.

“I was wrong to go behind your back, Apá. And I’m sorry for that. But I am glad I did because I learned the truth.”

Her father blinked with confusion.

“The sedientos aren’t the only enemy here. They aren’t the only monsters we face.”

“What are you talking about, Carolina?” Papá asked.

“Alma Rosario Fuentes, our ancestor, is responsible for the vampiros plaguing our lands. She called the god of souls to this realm and begged him for her husband, your great-great-grandfather, back. She went against the laws of nature and struck a deal with Tecuani. He brought Vidal from the Land of Souls, but Vidal was no longer the man she loved. No longer a Fuentes. He was a monster.”

Her uncle Domingo’s brow furrowed with confusion. “Gods do not intervene in the ways of humans.”

“But they will if that human offers them something in return.”

Tío Domingo turned toward her father. “What is she talking about?”

Anger laced through Carolina. Why look to Papá when she was right here, explaining everything? Would they never believe in her?

“Vidal was created with Tecuani’s power and Alma’s blood,” she explained. “Why do you think attacks are more rampant here than anywhere else in Abundancia? Because she damned us, out of desperation. She promised Tecuani her descendants’ souls. We are either made into vampiros or stuck in purgatory, never allowed out of Tecuani’s forest. Abuelo is not in el Cielo. He is trapped in the Forest of Souls.”

“Carolina, stop!” Papá ordered, but she continued.

Fiery pain shot from her head to her toes. The wound on her neck throbbed. But she couldn’t let the agony distract her from what needed to be said. “Our forefathers knew what she did but kept her secret hidden. All this time we could have sought a way to end these monsters but failed to because our forefathers would rather let people die than expose our family’s dirty sins.”

“It isn’t as simple as you think, mija, we did not know what we were facing.”

Her eyes widened. “So you knew?”

“What I knew is that I had to protect my people.”

“Yet so many still died. You didn’t see what befell primo Lorenzo. His humanity had been stripped as un vampiro. Lalo and I have come here to end what the other Fuenteses could not.” Her mouth had gone dry. Her throat desperate for drink. “We must end this, Apá.” She shoved her braid back, revealing the raw bite marks on her skin. “Or I am dead, too.”

Carolina would never forget the absolute devastation twisting her papá’s features.

“No,” he whispered. “Please, saints, no.” Tears welled in his eyes. “Not you. Not my baby girl.”

“Lalo and I can fix this. If you would just help me get to him, we can explain everything. We can—”

A roar echoed from where Lalo had fallen into the cavern below. Carolina gasped.

“Lalo!”

She shoved the men holding her and started to run back toward the fork in the forest but was caught by her papá.

Tears raced down his cheeks. His chin quivered.

“Mija, I…” His eyes roamed over her face. “I can’t lose you.”

“Apá, we must help him.”

Faintly, she thought she heard Lalo scream.

“Let me go, Apá! Please!”

A thunderous crash came from deep in the woods. Trees snapped. Branches fell like boulders to the ground. The horses whinnied and reared back in fright.

“Arms ready!” Papá ordered. He released her and stepped back, pulling out his prized double-barrel shotgun. “Get behind me, Carolina.”

Her family drew their swords.

“Let me fight with you, Apá.”

“I said, get behind me!”

She wanted to argue but now wasn’t the time. And why should she anyway? Carolina knew what she could do. She didn’t have to prove her worth to him anymore.

The reata Abuelo gave her had been lost at some point during their flight from the chupasangres, but the rope was just an item, some thing; she had a lifetime of memories with him to last her through. But she remembered what he had said to her just before she lost him. “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.”

He had been right.

She was a fighter. And she would not fail. Regardless of what her papá thought.

Carolina still had Alma’s dagger in her grasp. She held it before her, even though her neck and shoulder screamed with fire.

A dozen figures burst through the brush. Vampiros dressed in clothing from bygone times charged toward Carolina and her family with their fangs and claws bared. The sound of their snarling hisses filled her ears and chilled her to the bone.

“This is for Maricela!” one of them roared.

The obsidian blades crafted by the Fuentes family clashed with the monsters who thirsted for their blood. They sliced and fought and kicked, killing and cutting down anything that stood before them. Bullets rang out. Screams ripped through the skies.

One of the sedientos raced for Carolina’s papá, who was too busy fighting off two other vampiros to notice. She bolted forward, pumping her arms with all her might. She didn’t dare throw the lover’s blade; she didn’t want to risk losing it. So she dove after the beast and tackled it at the knees.

Claws raked over her skin. She screamed, but she didn’t dare let go.

A gun went off, and the vampiro’s body slackened.

Papá’s face came into view. His skin was drained of its color, sweat dripped down his temples. “You saved me,” he said, his voice hardly audible over the chaos.

“Of course I did. You’re my father.”

He reached down, pulled her up.

He stared at the body. “If you hadn’t been there, this beast would have taken me to the ground.” His eyes flicked to her. “I…I am sorry, mija. I…”

Carolina shook her head. She didn’t need her papá’s apologies. What she deserved was his respect.

“More are coming!” Tío Vicente yelled.

“We fight together,” she said. Papá blinked, then nodded. He unsheathed his short sword and offered it to her. Carolina grasped it with a smile.

She and Papá turned back-to-back. They held their weapons ready, protecting one another in battle for the first time. This had been the very thing she’d always wanted but she’d never expected it to be like this. She’d never expected to be so afraid, so tired, so damn worried for the soul of the boy she loved.

An angry snarl reverberated through the trees. One of her cousins bellowed before his voice cut off altogether.

“Martín!” her tío Malaquías roared.

Another cousin cried out on the opposite side of her. He fell to his knees, holding his stomach.

“What is it?” Papá yelled. “Do you see anything?”

“No.” Whatever it was, it wove in and out of the forest with inhuman speed.

Dread took hold of Carolina.

Only one sediento was so powerful it could move in the blink of an eye. They had found Vidal.

Or perhaps he had found them.

“?Ayúdame!” Tío Domingo cried out as more sedientos broke through the woods.

Something landed at the very center of the battle. A large body crouching low and predatorial like a jaguar. Like the god who had created him.

“Vidal,” she whispered.

When he stood to his full height, he towered over Papá.

Papá raised his gun and pulled the trigger. But the sediento was far too quick. He was gone in an instant, the bullet smashing into a nearby tree. The next moment, the vampiro stood before Carolina’s father. His veiny hands grabbed her papá by the throat and lifted him over his head.

“No!” Carolina shrieked.

She raised her arm and smashed the lover’s dagger into Vidal’s back. The blade cut through muscle and tissue, but she had missed his heart. She tore the dagger out. Vidal screeched. His hold on Papá faltered. He threw his arm behind him, smacking his backhand hard against Carolina’s cheek and flicking her away like a bug.

Carolina rolled through the dirt. The wails of her dying loved ones burned into her ears.

She shoved herself up and cried out as her father and her family fought for their lives against their ancestor and his unnatural bloodline.

Hands grabbed her shoulders. She spun. Her dagger was ready.

“It’s me!”

A sob escaped Carolina. Lalo’s clothing was ripped and torn to bits. But he was alive.

She wrapped her arms around him. “Where have you been?”

“Fighting like hell to get back to you.” Lalo squeezed once, then eased her back. “I lost this when I plummeted down the sinkhole.” He raised the emerald-adorned dagger. “But I have it now. It’s time.”

Papá stumbled, falling hard on his rear, his rapier swiping through the air to defend himself against Vidal. Blood trickled down the side of Papá’s face. Deep gashes cut through his cheek and chin. Her uncle had been felled beside him. Meanwhile, the monsters seemed to multiply by the minute.

“We’re heavily outnumbered,” she said. “What if we all fall here and now?”

Lalo’s gaze found hers. “I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”

Papá grunted in pain. A low growl escaped Lalo. Claws elongated from his nail beds. “Let us end this beast for good.” He lunged forward.

Lalo jumped and climbed onto Vidal’s back just before the wretch could land a killing blow to Papá. From behind, he dug into Vidal’s face. Vidal reached up and gripped Lalo by his collar. He flung him hard over his head, slamming Lalo into the dirt beside Carolina’s father.

Vidal glared at Papá. “My Fuentes bloodline has come to smite me.” His voice was gargled, as if he drank down acid. His heated gaze flicked to Lalo. “I shall wipe you traitors out of existence for this. My one question is, which of you dies first?”

Lalo tried to rise, but a bone was jutting out of his arm. Vidal set his sights on him.

He launched for Lalo.

“No!” Carolina screamed. She dove between them. She would not let Vidal take her love.

Her back slammed into the dirt. Something hard and unyielding dug into her belly as Vidal’s body crashed into hers. She wheezed, her lungs expelling the last of their air.

Vidal’s teeth glistened with blood. But his glowing eyes were the only things she could focus on.

At that very moment, Carolina felt as if she could break apart entire worlds to save Lalo. She would tear this realm to shreds to have him nearby.

That kind of love was dangerous, all-consuming. If sedientos were monsters, it was only because Alma’s love for Vidal was more monstrous than anything on earth. There was no definitive right or wrong. There was only love and the aftermath that came.

“I understand,” she whispered. It was all she could manage, the tiniest of sighs. “I’m sorry for what you and Alma lost.”

Vidal blinked. Something like surprise flickered over his features.

“You and Alma loved each other so fiercely, but your love story was cut short. I am sorry that time was stolen from you.”

And she meant it. Time was the most powerful and frightening force because it could not be controlled. Alma was asking for more time. Carolina could no longer blame her for that because she wanted that with Lalo, too.

“She loved you ferociously.”

The devastation etched on his face nearly brought tears to Carolina’s eyes.

Movement pulled her attention to just behind Vidal. She held her features steady as Lalo raised a gleaming blade above Vidal’s back.

“Time to find your love once again,” she whispered.

As Lalo brought one of the lover’s blades down, Carolina used the last of her strength to lodge the other dagger deep into Vidal’s heart. She did not miss.

Her ancestor sucked in a breath. The light in his glowing eyes burned so bright, Carolina flinched. But just as fast as the light shone, it fizzled away, leaving only the bottomless brown of his irises. He let out a deep sigh before slumping on top of Carolina.

Burning heat rushed through Carolina as she felt the power of Tecuani inside her blood start to dissolve. She gritted her teeth to seal in her cries but couldn’t hold them back. She screamed until her throat could no longer bear it. But she was whole. She was alive. Maricela’s bite had not fully taken hold of her, and she’d not yet succumbed to the thirst.

Shrieks split open the skies. The sedientos surrounding them were falling one by one. They were dying. The vampiros were dying!

Carolina jolted.

Where was Lalo?

With a sob, she shoved Vidal’s dead body to the side. She scrambled to her hands and knees and crawled toward the boy she loved. He squirmed and howled.

Shakily, she grabbed him and pulled his body against hers.

“Carolina,” he managed. “It hurts.”

Papá edged to her side. “What’s happening? Why are they dying?”

“The lover’s blades. It was the only way to destroy Vidal, but with the power of Tecuani leaving their bodies, they’re all dying too.” She sobbed. “Stay with me, Lalo. Please. Remember our promise.”

He grimaced. His body writhed within her grasp.

“I love you,” he whispered.

And she knew this might be the final moment they saw each other in this life.

She gripped him tighter. Only a month ago she’d lost her abuelo. She held him just so. And now her Lalo was leaving her too.

She brushed a thumb over his beautiful cheek. “Find me when I move to the other side.”

Tears slithered down his temples. “I won’t rest until I do.”