Haunted

CHAPTER 46

LUIS IS STILL CRYING LIKE A LITTLE GIRL AND RAMON is still squealing like the pig he is. Culebra has wound his heavy, sinewy coils around Luis’ legs and is spitting into his face with a tongue darting from a head as big as a Rottweiler.

I take a moment to enjoy Luis’ terror before I reach out to Culebra. I’m back. Looks like your snake act is making Luis apoplectic. He may stroke out before you have the chance to kill him.

There’s no response. It dawns on me that I’m not sure if our mental connection works when Culebra is in his other form. Maybe I need to speak out loud—

You could have stayed away a little longer. He hisses the words. Things are just getting interesting.

—or maybe Culebra is enjoying himself, too.

I step out of the shadows and go first to grab up Ramon’s gun before he remembers he dropped it. He looks startled to see me and I realize he hasn’t been in contact with Maria after all. For an instant, he forgets about his swollen ankle and stares, mouth open.

Then concern darkens his face and turns his mouth hard. “You. How did you get away?” Concern veers to anger. “Maria. Did you hurt her?”

“Not as much as she wanted to hurt me,” I snap back. “But I guess that was your idea, wasn’t it? To have her threaten to shoot me if I tried to leave.”

“What about Gabriella? If you did anything to hurt her—”

“Ramon!” Luis yells. “Cállate la boca!”

We both turn to Luis, the snake’s head now perilously close to his. He says, “¿Quién es esta mujer?”

Culebra swivels his head and I swear he winks at me. Then Ramon is explaining who I am and that Max and I are friends of Tomás.

At the mention of Tomás, Luis unleashes a torrent of Spanish, telling Ramon to go get the guard in Tomás’ shack and to bring the guard back here to shoot this fucking snake. And for Ramon to shoot Tomás while he’s there, the hell with what his brother wants.

Ramon hobbles off with a backward glance. I have his revolver dangling at my side but he doesn’t try to take it from me. He doesn’t seem to want to get any closer than he has to. Maybe he thinks I’ve forgotten I have it and if I remember, I’ll shoot him.

They think they’re still in charge, Culebra says with glee in his tone. I think I’ll go show Ramon how wrong they are.

Culebra begins to loosen his coils, drawing himself down from Luis’ body. I watch the process with interest. If I didn’t know the true nature of that huge reptile, I’d be scurrying up the nearest tree. As for Luis, he goes weak-kneed with relief when the snake untangles itself and frees him. He sinks to the ground, face pale with fear; his dark eyes stand out like black Chinese checker marbles on a granite slab.

Pathetic wretch. I have to stifle a laugh.

Culebra slithers off into the brush after Ramon. I get behind Luis before the asshole recovers his nerve, and prod him with the gun. “Levántate,” I say.

He’s looking around to see if the snake has really gone. Assuring himself that it has, he turns his head to squint at me.

“You are American?”

He’s speaking English. Doesn’t have much of an accent, either. Good. There will be no miscommunication between us.

I prod him again, this time in the kidneys, hard enough to make him wince. “Get up. Quick. Before Ramon comes back.”

As the fear ebbs, his confidence returns. “You think you can make me, girl?” he says. “A skinny stick like you?”

Just what I hoped he’d say. I grab his right wrist, bend it back until he’s gasping with pain. To ease the pressure, he stumbles upright.

I don’t let go. I maneuver him like I’m pushing a cart until he’s near the well. The rope he used to tie Adelita still dangles from the crossbeam. I shove him against the well, grab his free hand and before he can resist, I’ve got both hands secured behind his back. I pull the knot tight.

Only then do I spin him around to face me.

He’s sputtering with rage. “Do you know who I am?”

“You’ve been watching too many movies,” I tell him, feeling the corners of my mouth curl in a smirk. “That line sounds ridiculous in real life.”

“You won’t think it so ridiculous when Ramon comes back. He’ll kill you where you stand.”

“Yeah. We’ll see.” I’m sure Ramon will be back, all right, but with Culebra on his ass.

Luis starts yelling in Spanish. To Ramon. To the people hiding behind closed doors in the shacks around us. He’s ordering them to come out and free him. To shoot me. Offering money as a bribe.

Funny thing, the doors remain closed.

“I think you fucked yourself when you shot all the men in the village. Pretty shortsighted, Luis.”

He stares. “How do you know I shot the men? How do you know my name?”

When I don’t answer, he yanks against the ropes. “I have other men. They will be back.”

“Not for a while, I suspect, if they intend to try to save any of your llello.”

His eyes flash. “What do you know of my llello?”

I blow on the palm of my hand. “I know it’s gone.”

He struggles against the ropes again, leaning toward me, his mouth twisted in anger. “What did you do?”

Darkness is descending, the first long shadows creeping across the ground. I turn, searching the sky. A whiff of odor tells me where to look. A thick black cloud rises in the east. Luckily, the breeze is blowing it away from the village. Only a vampire’s keen sense of smell tells me what it is. The burning coke.

“There.” I point to the cloud. “I hope your boys stay downwind.”

Luis’ face contorts, color rushing up to stain his skin a sickly scarlet. “Do you know what you’ve done? Do you know what my brother will do to you when he finds out?”

Before I can respond, I catch a second scent. A familiar one.

“Then we’d better make sure he doesn’t find out.”

It’s Max’s voice behind me. He approaches with Adelita by his side and a shotgun in his hand.