Haunted

CHAPTER 56

THE COLOR DRAINS FROM LUIS’ FACE. “YOU WERE listening?”

“Of course. Ramon was the one paranoid about listening devices. But then he was gone. It was Maria’s idea to plant a bug in case Tomás and his friends escaped and returned to the cave. She has been a great help.”

Maria now looks at Pablo with the same adoration she’d shown Luis a moment before and Ramon, days before that.

I amend my assessment. Crafty bitch.

Luis is backing away from both of them. “You know I lied, Pablo. I would never betray you. I said what was necessary to get them to bring me here.”

“So you knew we had spotted you?”

“Of course.”

Pablo steps after Luis, closing the difference between them. “So when you said Maria just told you about the cameras, you were lying.”

Luis is caught in his own web. He backtracks. “Well, maybe I didn’t know. But I knew you were too smart to let them get away. Tomás, the man who killed Rójan to get back at you? I knew you’d be keeping watch.”

“So then you are aware I know the last shipment of llello is gone.”

“I don’t know what happened. I think Ramon—”

“Not Ramon.” Pablo’s tone is ice. “It was your perversion. Su gusto para las chicas jóvenes.” He takes a deep breath. “You sent six of your men away to find four little girls who escaped. You left the shipment unguarded.”

“But the men ran away. It is them you should blame.”

“They came to me. They told me what you had been doing. How business was taking a backseat to pleasure. I didn’t want to believe them. Then I got the news about the shipment. I was on my way to see for myself when Maria contacted me. When she told me who Ramon had brought here and why.”

Luis turns flashing eyes on Maria. “You told Pablo? Why?”

“Why do you think?” she snaps back. “You and Ramon are weak. You should have taken care of Ramon yourself when you knew he had murdered Rójan. Instead you let him talk you into this ridiculous plan. You left Gabriella and me rotting in that cave.” She turns burning eyes to me. “And Ramon left us with that puta. I don’t know how she did it, but she tied me up and destroyed the door. If Gabriella hadn’t smuggled a cell phone in with us, we’d still be trapped in there.”

I feel a smile tickle my mouth. I was right. Good for Gabriella! Bad for us.

Not so good for Luis, either.

Pablo says, “You are my brother. We have taken care of each other all our lives. It saddens me to see what you have become.”

But there is no sadness in his face. Pablo’s expression is harsh, cruel. His eyes have lost all traces of humanity. They are dead.

Luis sees the change. “I will go away, Pablo,” he says, breathless with fear. “I will disappear. You will never hear from me again. I can’t hurt you. You know that. Let me go.”

Pablo half turns to one of his soldiers and holds out a hand. The man places a revolver in his palm.

“I give you a choice,” he tells Luis. “Do the right thing. End it yourself. Or I will do it.”

Luis looks at the gun in his brother’s outstretched hand. He looks up at Pablo. There is no reprieve there.

I know what is going to happen before it does. Luis is not smart enough to realize that the choice his brother is offering him is no choice at all. He snatches the gun and turns it around on Pablo. The soldier who has come up quietly behind him fires before Luis can pull the trigger.

The bullet enters the back of Luis’ shoulder, exits in front, sending bits of collarbone and a spray of blood onto the floor. It’s a wound to injure, not kill. Luis topples forward, the gun falling from his hand. Pablo reaches down and picks up the revolver. Luis meets his eyes and he opens his mouth.

Pablo shakes his head. “Vaya a dios, hermano.”

This time, it’s a kill shot.

CHAPTER 57

PABLO STEPS BACK FROM THE BODY OF HIS BROTHER and snaps an order. Two guards come forward, haul Luis away by his arms and legs.

There is not a glimmer of sadness in Maria’s eyes as she watches them. She doesn’t even bother to turn to see how they dump him unceremoniously behind the plane.

Another adjustment. Cold bitch.

I glance up at Max. He said as long as the plane remains in the hangar, his troops will not approach. If they are watching, they saw what happened when we arrived. How long will they wait before the sounds of gunfire bring them in to save Max? I look around. Besides the twenty men they saw, there are at least twenty more inside.

Maria and Pablo are talking quietly. I feel Culebra’s gentle intrusion into my head. What do you think they’re talking about?

I smile—grimly. Who to kill first, I imagine. Time for another snake act? How quickly do you think the guards would retreat if a giant rattlesnake suddenly appeared in their midst?

Pretty quickly. Let’s see, forty guards, a pilot, Pablo and Maria. I think we can take them. We need a distraction. Will Adelita help?

Are you kidding? It’s too dangerous. I don’t want her hurt.

Dangerous? As opposed to how secure her future is now? Shouldn’t it be her choice?

And he’s whispering in her ear before I can stop him.

She meets my eyes. “I know what to do.”

“No.” The guards closest to us turn our way. I lower my voice and they resume their stance, waiting for Pablo to give orders. “Adelita, it’s too dangerous.”

But she’s already making her move. She runs toward Luis’ body, screaming in Spanish—that he was a pig, that he deserved to die, that she hoped he was burning in hell. When she reaches him, she drops to her knees, pounding his corpse with her fists, dragging her fingernails across his flesh.

The startled guards near us move toward her. The others watch in idle interest, probably wondering who Pablo will order to kill her.

He doesn’t. He goes to Adelita himself, picks her up and hands her off to the closest guard. “Amarrala,” he barks.

I feel relief wash over me. He’s ordering the guard to tie her up—not kill her. I indulge the feeling the second it takes to realize Culebra is no longer standing beside me, but has slithered in snake form under the plane, shedding a pile of clothes like a second skin.

My cue. I nod to Max and let vampire free.

I’m on the back of the nearest guard, tearing at his throat, growling in his ear. He drops his rifle and I see Max move to snatch it up.

Vampire blazes into full control. There are so many necks to choose from. She takes a mouthful from the screaming guard in her grip, then snaps his neck, moves to the next. This one goes down without a fight, too shocked to do anything but stare as vampire feeds. Six go down in the time it takes vampire to jump from one to the next.

Commotion on the other side of the plane. Culebra has made his presence known. Shrieks of panic, screams of pain, sweet perfume of blood. It makes vampire’s lust flare.

Sporadic gunfire erupts.

Then the hangar doors bang open and I hear footsteps racing for the outside.

Vampire is not yet satisfied. She follows the scent of frightened men. Her human consciousness tells her she should be looking for Pablo, but the chase is a challenge. She grabs two retreating soldiers, snaps their heads together gleefully, the spray of blood and brains a treat that she licks from her lips. She does it again and again until her hands are slick with gore and her own smell becomes an aphrodisiac ratcheting bloodlust to new levels.

More gunfire from the hangar. Human thought surfaces once again, questioning. Should she go back to protect her friends, or follow the blood bags ru

The decision is made for her. Vehicles with sides made of gray metal, a silver star emblazoned on the sides and front, thunder onto the airstrip after Pablo’s fleeing troops. They shoot at the backs of the soldiers who fall one by one.