Haunted

CHAPTER 33

THERE’S MORE MURMURING GOING ON BEHIND the cover of brush at the side of the road. The gist seems to be an argument between the men who want to continue after Max (or who they think is Max) and the ones who think they should go back for reinforcements.

Ramon is clear what he wants to do. I hear him arguing that it’s only one man for god’s sake. But the counterargument is pretty compelling.

It’s one of their own lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the road.

I don’t wait to see who’s going to win. I grab the duffel and start running away from the rocks and in a direction away from the village. If Ramon wins the argument, I want to leave a trail for him to follow. Tracks and when the ground gets rocky, small branches scattered along the way. I want it to look like a man running for his life.

After about fifteen minutes, I stop to listen.

I don’t hear anything.

Shit.

They aren’t following. My plan to get them going in the wrong direction so I could double back to the village isn’t working. I guess the fear that Max had more grenades in that duffel convinced them they needed to amp up the firepower, too.

Damn it. At least it gives Max and Adelita more time to get away.

I backtrack along my own trail, this time not crossing back into the brush, but continuing along the road, careful to keep out of sight. It doesn’t take long to overtake Ramon and his gang. Ramon is once more in the lead but he walks like a man rigid with anger that he couldn’t convince the others to follow him after Max.

They’re moving along the road, on the opposite side from me. To a man, they keep swiveling their heads and flashlights back the way they’ve come, on alert for an ambush from behind.

I pick up speed. I can easily beat them to the village. If I’m lucky, I can reach out to Culebra, find out where they’re holding him, cut him loose before Ramon makes it back. One vampire can outrun an army of men.

And I do. I reach the outskirts of the village in minutes. It’s very quiet, though something is different from the first time I approached the village. A lookout is posted near the well. He’s in the shadows, but the glowing tip of a cigarette gives him away. I make my way around him soundlessly to the shack where I saw Adelita and the girls.

There’s a guard here now, too. Squatting down with his back against the wall of the shack, rifle resting on his lap. I send out a mental probe.

Culebra?

I’m here.

He doesn’t sound hurt or scared. He sounds pissed. What happened?

Fucking Ramon. Coldcocked me as soon as we got to the village.

How’d he do that? I thought you were suspicious of him?

Not suspicious enough, obviously. Or on my guard the way I should have been. Where are you?

About fifty feet from the shack, in some bushes.

Is Max with you? He didn’t get Max, too, did he?

No. I give him a Reader’s Digest version of what happened. About how I sent him away with Adelita so she would be safe. He’s going to come back, but it will be eight hours at least.

I let a minute go by before asking. I know there are more girls. Are they with you?

No. The anger is back, radiating through his thoughts. They moved them to another shack. He’s with them.

Santiago?

Not the Santiago we’re after. His bastard brother, Luis.

Who the hell is Luis?

A decoy. Culebra’s mind radiates dark anger. A trap set by Ramon.

Why? What happened to protecting his family?

He is protecting his family. Santiago made him a deal he couldn’t refuse. Me in exchange for the life of his wife and daughter.

Santiago wants you? After all this time? You must have really pissed him off.

When Culebra doesn’t answer right away, I get the feeling there’s something more he’s hiding about his past. Something he wants to keep hidden. There’ll be time to find out what it is later.

So, shape-shift. Get yourself out of there. The men heading back for the village will leave again to go after Max. I’ve laid a false trail. When Max gets back, we’ll go in after the girls. I’m not leaving them. I saw what they did to Adelita.

Culebra remains shut down. Whether he’s considering what I said or coming up with his own plan isn’t coming through. Finally he says, I’m staying put. At least for the time being. I might pick up something from Luis or the guards that gives us an idea where his brother is. We’ve got nothing but time until Max gets back anyway. May as well see if I can learn something useful.

What if Ramon comes back and decides to kill you?

Culebra’s dry chuckle resonates in his head, transmits itself to me.

Then I shape-shift and bite his ass.

NOTHING FOR ME TO DO NOW BUT WAIT. I TRUDGE back to the same spot I occupied this morning—well, yesterday morning actually—and crawl back inside my little burrow. In thirty minutes I hear Ramon and his troops come into the village. The men disperse, Ramon barking a sharp order that they have fifteen minutes to get supplies and get their asses back to the well. I watch to see if he’s going to the shack where Culebra is being held, but he goes instead to where Culebra said Luis Santiago and the girls were hiding.

The guard snaps to attention when Ramon approaches. Ramon ignores him and pushes open the door to stalk inside. His anger is apparent and the guard doesn’t challenge or question him—in fact he doesn’t even greet him, just ducks out of Ramon’s way.

I can’t hear what’s being said behind the door Ramon slammed on his way inside. Gives me a chance to decide what I’m doing next.

Culebra?

Yes.

When the men start out again, I’m going to follow them for a while. Make sure they pick the trail I laid and not Max’s. He’s gotten a pretty good head start but hopefully they’re not adding a bloodhound to their posse.

Culebra’s rasping chuckle comes through once again. Haven’t seen any bloodhounds around.

Ramon appears just then and heads for Culebra’s shack.

Uh-oh, I say. Ramon is on the way.

I feel it as Culebra’s thoughts turn dark and dangerous. Stay tuned in, he says. I’ll try to find out what he has planned.

Ramon heads for the shack, his gait as stiff and angry as it was before. He greets this guard with as much arrogance as he did the other, too.

“Mueve el culo,” he barks. Move your ass.

The guard jumps to his feet, stands at attention. But he needn’t have bothered. Ramon whips past him without a backward glance.

In a moment, Culebra has opened a mental conduit that allows me to hear what is going on. Ramon must have struck Culebra because a wave of pain colors his thoughts bloodred. Ramon and he are talking in Spanish, but Culebra’s interpretation comes through to me in English. It’s a trick of this telepathy thing. No language barriers.

I don’t know where Max would go. Or why he left.

You are lying.

Another gasp from Culebra. And another. Ramon keeps hitting him until I feel Culebra’s thoughts grow dim. I’m just about to jump up and pull him out of there when Culebra sends me a message.

Don’t. Make sure they follow the false trail. Ramon won’t kill me. He has orders to bring me to his brother alive.

The beating goes on.

Let me stop this, Culebra. I can kill all these motherfuckers and we’ll leave with the girls.

No. Culebra’s answer is quick and heated. We need to find Santiago or I’ll never be safe. Go. Please.

Vampire stirs, feeling Culebra’s pain, not understanding why I don’t unleash her to save our friend.

But the human Anna understands.

I fight my way out of my bramble hiding place and take off down the trail to the rocks. Culebra’s pain follows me but I know he’s right. It’s the only way. I’ll lay the false trail farther and farther from the village. By the time Ramon and his thugs realize they’re chasing a ghost, I will have Culebra and the girls to safety.