Page 8

CHAPTER 8

Carolina

He came.

Carolina narrowed her eyes. The sediento was even more handsome than she first thought. Not that that mattered in the slightest. She should be concerned about getting out her stake, not about that little dimple in his chin.

Her adrenaline spiked.

Not only had the sediento entered her home as if he owned it, but he had decimated the ice sculpture of her abuelo. Was that some sort of declaration of war?

“Brother!” Fernanda swept past Carolina, slipped her arm around the young man’s elbow, and tugged him forward. She beamed. “Se?or and Se?ora Fuentes, allow me to introduce my very clumsy brother, Eduardo Montéz.”

The boy gave an uneasy half grin. He looked so human. His irises were a beautiful shade of honey. His skin a warm brown.

Carolina still couldn’t make sense of his appearance, which was neither ghastly nor monstrous.

“Call me Lalo,” he said, offering his hand to Papá. “Eduardo was my father’s name.”

Carolina’s eyes widened as her papá took it and gave it a hearty shake. Would he notice what this Lalo was? Would a great battle commence right in the middle of her foyer? He better not. Lalo was hers to kill.

Papá laughed. “A good handshake you have there, son. I often explain to my boys how one can tell the true nature of a man by the heartiness of his greeting. And you”—Papá clapped Lalo on the back—“have got one hell of a grip.”

Lalo didn’t even flinch when Papá smacked his shoulder. And everyone did. Papa’s hands were like mallets. She pursed her lips. That was the exact spot she had stuck him through with her blade. He had healed then. As only a true vampiro could.

“This is my wife, Se?ora Fuentes. My niece, Antonina. Our family friend, Rafael. And my lovely daughter, Carolina.”

“A pleasure,” Lalo said.

His voice was so soft and deep. Carolina felt suddenly overheated. She shouldn’t have left her fan back in her room.

Lalo’s gaze flicked to Carolina, and her stomach clenched.

Mamá tilted her chin. “Do you two know each other, too?”

Whatever spell they’d both been under popped like a bubble. The sounds of the ballroom filled her ears. The laughter. The mariachi. The ruckus.

“No,” Carolina and the sediento said in unison, which only added to her mamá’s suspicion.

He chuckled shyly and, by the stars, her knees weakened. She locked them. She could not and would not have wayward thoughts about a sediento. The main reason she wanted him there was to prove to her papá that she could handle her own against one.

“Apologies, but I must take my leave,” Lalo said.

“But you only just arrived. And Carolina took great pains to invite us as her special guests,” Fernanda said, a polite smile plastered on her face.

Oh, she is good. Carolina knew exactly what Fernanda was doing. She was silently proclaiming that she too understood the ways of war. If Carolina meant to stake Lalo among all these people, then Fernanda would easily let slip what had transpired between Lalo and Carolina the night before in the woods.

“I only came to retrieve my sister,” Lalo said. “We have…some business to attend to.”

“So late at night?” Mamá questioned. “Surely it can wait until morning. Especially since you live so far outside the barricades.”

His brows raised slightly. “What are the walls for? Pardon me if that’s too forward a question.”

“No, it is fine,” Mamá said. “We…”

“May I answer, Amá?” Carolina interjected, batting her lashes sweetly.

Mamá smiled tightly. “By all means.”

Carolina cleared her throat. “There are these bloodsucking devils that wreak havoc on our…”

“Carolina!” Mamá scorned.

Nena snorted, then covered it with a cough.

“What sort of business are you in, young man?” Papá interjected, always interested in the comings and goings of anyone within his pueblo.

Lalo rubbed a hand against his neck. “Oh, I…I’m doing research. I’m a scholar.”

This was perfect. Let them remain distracted so she could get to work.

Carolina’s fingers slipped over her skirts. She shouldn’t have strapped the stake to her thigh. She should have had it ready. Her nanny had taken to sewing her pockets shut when she was a girl after she had filled them with toads at a garden party, but she could have slipped a weapon in her bodice at least. How was she to grab it without scandalizing the entire room? A bead of sweat eased down her spine. The sediento’s attention snapped to her. Fernanda mouthed, “Don’t even think about it.” Carolina glared at them both.

“What sort of research?” Papá plucked two flutes of bubbling liquid from a passing server and handed one to Lalo.

Lalo observed the glass in his hand with distrust. “History and origins of lore that stem from small pueblos. I sell my findings to libraries and schoolhouses.”

“Can one make a living wage from such studies?”

“Our parents left me and my brother a comfortable inheritance, and our father’s luxury boot business is quite profitable,” Fernanda said. “Lalo will take it over when…” Her brother gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head at her.

He turned to Carolina. “Those bloodsucking devils you spoke about, Se?orita Fuentes. I should very much like to learn more.”

“I’m certain you know plenty about them, being the scholar you are,” she said.

Rafa cleared his throat. “Have we met before?”

Carolina noticed the way Rafa slowly placed his body in front of hers, as if he were claiming her. She suddenly felt a deep longing to pop him straight in the mouth as she had done when they were young.

“I don’t believe so, se?or,” Lalo said. But Carolina noticed his jaw muscles flex.

“Where are you from, Lalo?” Rafa asked. “Your fashions speak of people who hail from one of our great cities.”

Good gods, Rafa was nosy. And none of this mattered. The sediento was here for one singular reason—blood. Del Oro was the perfect place to find his victims. The town was hard to travel to, far enough away from most of the larger ciudades to make it an inconvenience for people to wish to come to the valley on holiday. There was no army here, no officials to ensure the safety of the people. Only her father’s guard and a few rangers. And Carolina, of course.

Now, how was she going to retrieve her weapons from under her skirts without anyone taking notice?

“Are you from the capital? I have recently taken up residence in Los Campos. Perhaps that is why you seem so familiar,” Rafa said. “Your family owns a luxury boot business, you say?”

“We…” Lalo placed the full flute on the tray of a server passing by. The platter flipped out of the server’s hand and the fizzy liquid inside splashed onto Lalo’s chest and face.

Mamá’s eyes went wide with horror. Papá hooted his larger-than-life laugh.

“My stars, boy. You must be the clumsiest person in Abundancia.” He smacked Lalo’s back, but again, Lalo didn’t flinch.

Lalo wiped at his eyes. “It would appear so, se?or. Tell me, where might I clean myself off?”

“Right through the corridor,” Mamá said kindly, almost sorrowfully. She always cringed when people made clowns of themselves.

He turned to his sister with a tight smile. “Won’t you join me,Fernanda?”

Fernanda tilted her head and fluttered her lashes. “I’m sure you can manage on your own.”

“I must insist,” he said through his teeth.

“And I must decline.”

His eyes narrowed at her, but then he gave a nervous laugh. “My sister, she…she is good with stains.”

“I bet she is, sanguijuela,” Carolina whispered under her breath.

Nena elbowed Carolina in the ribs and gave her a warning that said, shut up before you get yourself, and me, in trouble.

Lalo excused himself and dashed away before she had a chance to attack. Her feet ached to pursue him. But she had to play this levelheadedly. She couldn’t run after some handsome young stranger. What a scandal that would cause.

She surveyed the ballroom, searching for some explanation to step away from her parents, Rafa, Nena, and Lalo’s sister. Then inspiration struck.

“Amá,” she said. “I just saw Luisa walking into the gardens.”

Mamá’s jaw dropped. Luisa was one of their milk goats. The damn thing escaped every chance she got, heading straight for Mamá’s flowers without fail.

“I’ll get the stable hand,” Mamá said.

“No! I’ll get Luisa. She likes me,” Carolina lied. She and Luisa hadn’t seen eye to eye since Luisa ate Carolina’s favorite slippers last year.

“Perdón,” she said with a bow.

“But…,” Fernanda started before stopping herself.

There was nothing for her to say, nothing to do to keep Carolina away from her brother. Carolina nearly cackled in triumph.

“I’ll be back in just a moment,” she said.

She winked at Nena, who took the cue and brought up the topic of this year’s prized calves. The bull steers were rumored to catch a high price, and that fact was a particularly favorite subject of Papá’s to speak about.

Carolina slithered away, weaving through the crowd of partygoers to hunt after a goat that wasn’t truly there. Ready to stick her stake into the heart of the sediento she’d invited.