Haunted

CHAPTER 40

I’VE NEVER SEEN CHILDREN SO CALM AND SILENT. I guess that’s what happens when you’re scared to death. I’m the one who has to remind myself not to keep checking my watch, not to get up and pace to the window. Luis’ shack faces the church directly and if the guard sees a flicker of a shadow or a face at that window, he’s sure to come investigate.

My whole body burns with the need to do something. Waiting has never been easy—not when I was human, especially not now as a vampire. David used to hate doing surveillance with me. I’d get so antsy, he’d say I was like a maggot in shit. Crude but accurate. I couldn’t sit still.

What happens when Max gets here? As long as Ramon hasn’t returned, the answer is easy. I “question” Luis about the whereabouts of his brother while Max frees Culebra. Then we get the hell out of here. Get the girls to safety, come back to mop up.

If what Culebra says is true about Ramon, he’s as dead as the Santiago brothers.

I’m sure Culebra will insist. As will I.

Peppi is whispering something to her sister. Esmeralda looks over at me. “She has to go to the bathroom.”

The little girl has a look of embarrassment on her face.

“It’s okay, Peppi,” I whisper. “Go behind the vestibule door.”

Esmeralda helps her sister to her feet and points to the door. Peppi scoots around her, glancing back at us as if ashamed her body has betrayed her.

“What about the others?” I ask Esmeralda.

She asks, but the other girls shake their heads. I think they are afraid to move away from her protective arms.

“Are you all from the same place?” I ask Esmeralda when Peppi has returned and settled down once again near her sister.

“Yes. A village not far from here.”

I think of Adelita’s story. “Were you brought here with the promise of jobs?”

Esmeralda’s face grows dark with anger. “Jobs? No. We were kidnapped from a schoolyard. In the middle of the day. In front of our teachers. They stood by and watched, too frightened of the narcos to fight to save us.”

“Did you know the men who took you?”

“Yes. The men in our village grow amapolas . . . um, poppies. When the men came, we thought it was for the opio. The drugs. But they took us instead. For El Jefe.”

She is quiet for a moment. “I begged them not to take the little ones. They laughed and said I could come along, too, if I wanted to take care of them. They didn’t know Peppi was my sister. But the way they said I could come along, the way they laughed, I knew what they were going to do. I had to stay with the niños. To try to protect them. But I failed.”

“No. You were very brave. And we will get them out of here. Someone is coming soon to help us. We need only be patient for a little while longer.”

As soon as I speak the words, the thought “from my lips to god’s ear” leaps to mind. Must be the influence of our setting. The look of hope on Esmeralda’s face burns like a torch. I hope my promise to her doesn’t prove to be as empty as this forsaken church.

THE HOURS PASS WITH SLOW-MOTION AGONY. I CAN’T think of anything else to ask Esmeralda and she, too, stays silent. She doesn’t ask me who I am or why I’m here. I glance down at my bloodstained shirt. Perhaps she’s afraid of the answers. Her eyes follow me each time I walk to the back window and I feel her watching when I return my seat. She’s put her trust in me, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to relax her vigilance. All that’s important to her is that she and the girls are alive and unmolested. In her eyes, I read her resolve to fight for them. Against anyone.

The village is quiet, too. I keep expecting the search party to return or Ramon and his men to come back. I wonder what Luis is doing in his shack—probably devising ways to torture the men if they come back empty-handed. Or jerking off to mental images of four little girls.

Finally, finally, I hear footsteps approach. One set of footsteps. I jump up so fast, vampire fast, everyone gasps. I curse myself for the blunder, put a finger to my lips. Only I can hear the stealthy approach from outside. I want to be sure it’s Max before the footsteps come any closer.

I move to the back door, open it a crack to test the wind.

Max’s scent.

Relief washes over me like a tidal wave.

I look back at the girls. They know someone is outside. Fear is stark on their faces. “It’s okay,” I whisper. “It’s my friend.”

I wait for Max to get to the door, then push it open. He slips inside. He’s dressed in camos, a large backpack over his shoulders, a rifle strapped across his chest.

He and I look at each other a moment. Then his eyes go to the girls. He takes off the backpack and opens it. This time there’s a water bottle and protein bar for each girl.

The food and water are accepted eagerly. Even Esmeralda drinks this time and unwraps her bar gratefully.

We watch the girls eat and drink.

“I’m glad you’re here,” I say.

Max is quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry about what happened before. If you love Stephen, I hope it works out for you. I don’t know why I did or said what I did.”

God, that conversation seems so long ago. And so utterly irrelevant now. Not that I intend to let Max off so easily. I allow a smile. “Maybe you really are a prick. Ever thought of that?”

“Every minute of every day.”

He has a wistful tone to his voice that makes me stare hard at him. “Who are you and what did you do with the real Max?”

His face reddens a little. A sound from outside cuts our conversation short. Once again, I’ve picked up what human ears cannot. I signal Max and the girls to be quiet.

After another second, though, it’s unnecessary because the cacophony of cries and gunshots is explosive enough for us all to hear. We freeze.

I gather from the excited calls to Luis to come outside that Ramon and his men have returned.

I peek out the front window.

Ramon says he did not return empty-handed.

The shouts bring Luis to the door of his shack. Ramon and his men are gathered in a circle near the well.

“Esta son para muchachas,” Ramon says. “Le trajimos una sorpresa. Un premio de la consolación.”

He is offering a consolation prize for Luis’ lost girls.

A consolation prize?

Luis steps forward. “Enséñame,” he says, hand on the gun at his waist.

Ramon steps aside and one of his men pushes a figure behind him to the front.

All the air rushes out of my body. My heart pounds so violently, I’m sure everyone can hear it. I whirl on Max with rage bubbling in white-hot fury to the surface.

“What the fuck have you done, Max?”

He shoulders me aside to look out.

He pales. “I don’t know how she got here. You have to believe me, Anna. I don’t know how she could have followed me.”

I shove him away, back against the table, with such force, he stumbles and falls. The table scrapes loudly against the wooden floor. I don’t care about the noise.

I whirl and look outside again.

One of Ramon’s men has pushed her to the ground and Luis is circling her like a lion with wounded prey.

Ramon grabs her hair and yanks her face upward.

“Oh god, no.” The words hiss out, my heart pounding. “Adelita.”