Page 51

CHAPTER 51

Lalo

Death was not what he expected. There was no screaming of tortured souls. There was no infinite doom. The world around him was quiet, peaceful, and smelled quite a bit like dog.

He was lying flat on his back. Grasses tickled his arms. Something sniffed loudly at his side. A warm snout nudged his shoulder. When Lalo opened his eyes, he shuddered. A chupasangre was hovering over his body.

Lalo scrambled to his feet. The beast simply tilted its head like a common pup. They stood in the center of a dense forest, one so similar to the one he’d gone through with Carolina only hours ago.

“The chupasangre know you do not belong here,” a voice called from within the trees.

Lalo spun around but saw no one. “Here?” he yelled. “Where is here?”

“You are in Tecuani’s territory now. The hounds protect the Land of the Dead from the living. It is their duty to ensure only the truly departed may enter.”

“But I am dead,” he said.

“Her blood thrums inside you. Her love will not let you go.”

“Carolina’s?” Lalo gulped. “Does this mean…”

A man and woman holding hands stepped from behind the stretching branches. He recognized them at once. Alma Rosario Fuentes, a nearly identical match to her great-great-great-granddaughter, and Vidal Fuentes, more human than Lalo thought possible. Golden light haloed the lovers’ bodies.

A cool breeze whispered about Lalo’s skin as dozens of men and women slipped from behind the trees. He had seen many of these faces in the portraits hanging within the Fuentes casa. He was among Carolina’s ancestors.

Chills rippled over his skin when a woman with red hair stepped through the throng. She was in a simple garment of black linen, something he would have seen people in el pueblo wearing decades ago.

“M-Maricela? What are you doing here?”

“I lost my way. There were so many voices, so many thoughts running through my mind from the lives I stole, I had all but forgotten who I was. Who my family was. I am sorry, Lalo. I…” She shook her head.

“You are a Fuentes,” he whispered as he noticed the likeness among the relatives.

She looked at her hands and nodded.

He gazed at the faces surrounding him and saw so much of Carolina within them. His heart ached for his vampiro hunter.

He folded his arms against himself. “What does this mean?”

“That is up to you,” Alma said. “You may cut the ties that bind you to Carolina. Your heart will stop, and the chupasangre will bring you to Tecuani’s throne. He will decide if you may enter the Land of the Dead, where you will ultimately discover the gates to el Cielo. There, you will find nothing but peace and comfort.”

He shifted his weight. His parents would be there. He would find the quiet and serenity that he always wanted. But that had been before he met Carolina Victoria Fuentes.

“Or,” Vidal said, “you can climb through the veil and truly live.”

Lalo stared at the ground. The crack between this world and that of the living was little more than a glistening vein in the soil.

“You must hurry,” Alma urged. “Make your choice before Tecuani knows you have come, and it is too late. Stay here and find the harmony you once longed for or go back and experience a life full of dangers and joy.”

A distant voice echoed through the forest. “Lalo. Come back to me.”

Lalo’s pulse thumped hard against his chest. He pressed his hand over his ribs.

“Come back, do you hear me? Come back, or I will never forgive you. I will wreak havoc on you in the afterlife. If you don’t wake up, so help me, I will spit on your prized books.”

He laughed and faced Alma and Vidal. “I think I know the answer.”

The lovers smiled in unison.

“What will happen to you when Tecuani finds you?” Lalo asked. He had to know if their souls would find peace even after what they had done.

“I have been here for a long while now, waiting in the silent forest with my kin, doing whatever Tecuani asked, until someone was able to set us free,” Alma said. “There are countless sins to be atoned for. Terrible hurts I caused. But the death curse has been broken. Thanks to you and my great-great-great-granddaughter, the souls of my descendants and all they’ve turned can finally move on.”

Vidal looked down at his wife, at the woman who tore worlds apart just to be with him. “We are together now. We’ll face whatever comes as one.”

Alma smiled sadly, pressing deeper into her lover’s body.

“Now go,” Vidal said. “Live a full life for us.”

Lalo nodded.

“Wait!” A large man with gray hair and a thick mustache jogged toward Lalo. He resembled Se?or Fuentes so much so that Lalo knew this could only be one person.

“Abuelo?” he asked, almost feeling shy about using such a title.

The man smiled. “Sí. And you are the boy who captured mi nieta’s heart.”

Lalo chuckled. “I suppose I am. Though, I don’t think she’d let anyone capture it. More like, I was offered it and threatened bodily harm if I let it go.”

Abuelo laughed heartily. “That is my Lina.” He wiped a single tear from his eye. “You tell Lina her abuelito is fine. Tell her I will be with her abuelita soon. Thanks to her stubbornness, and yours too, of course, I can now enter the gates to el Cielo. Tell her that she was always my special girl and to continue giving the world hell.”

Lalo smirked. “I will, se?or.”

“Best hurry before she gets angrier.”

“I will, se?or.”

Lalo dropped to his knees and began to claw at the dirt. He would get to her. He would find the girl he loved.

Brilliant light exploded behind the hoods of Lalo’s eyes. He let out a groan and moved his arm to shield himself from the intense rays.

Something squeaked and tumbled to a hard floor. Hands grabbed him.

“Lalo?”

He tried to pry his lashes apart, but they were heavy, and everything was so damn bright.

“Lalo!”

A hand slapped across his cheek. It hurt. It hurt like the devil, really.

“Wake up, you damn fool!”

This had Lalo’s eyes finally working. He blinked rapidly.

“The sun,” he croaked. “Shut the curtains, Fernanda, or it will kill me.”

“No, it won’t, but I sure as hell feel like murdering you.”

What was happening? Last thing he remembered was kissing Carolina goodbye and then…He shot up. His head spun in circles. Black dots flashed in his vision. But then everything cleared. There, beside him, in Tía Morena’s gaudy room, sat Fernanda.

Her hand went to her chest. “Oh, thank the stars.”

She smacked him hard in the shoulder.

“Ouch.” Lalo rubbed his arm. “That hurt.” He stopped. Grinned. “That hurt. ”

His fingers went to his jugular, feeling for a pulse. It was there. As strong and resilient as ever.

He smiled so hard his cheeks burned. “I’m alive!”

“I ought to slaughter you here and now for putting me through this.” Fernanda was fuming red. Her hands were readying to smack him once more. “What were you thinking?”

“I didn’t want to live out the rest of my days as a sediento. I wanted to protect you.”

“So you decided to put yourself in grave danger?” She hit him again. And he gladly let her.

“Saints, that feels wonderful.” He laughed with the whole of his chest and dodged another blow.

“How are you human again?” Fernanda asked. “None of this makes any sense.”

Nothing did, truly. But that was the world he lived in. It was weird and mysterious and confusing. Messy and loud. And he would enjoy that always. Because he was alive. And he was in love.

Lalo threw the blankets off his body and jumped out of bed.

“Where is she?” he asked his sister.

Fernanda gasped and covered her eyes. “You can’t go out without any pants on.”

He was wearing nothing but a long nightdress with bears on it. A bit humiliating, but who cared?

“The hell I can’t. Don’t you know when to live a little?” He kissed his sister on the forehead. “Where is she?”

Fernanda’s smile was as big and as cheerful as he’d seen it in months.

“She’s in the garden.”

“Thank you.”

And with that, Lalo was gone.

He raced down the hallway. His heart thumped hard against his chest. Dozens of portraits whizzed by. The Fuentes ancestors could stare at his bare human ass all they wanted, but he had a feeling they were too busy making their way toward el Cielo.

Lalo turned toward the staircase that would lead him to Carolina. He took a deep, utterly human breath, then he smiled. “Time to find my love.”