Haunted

CHAPTER 48

IT TAKES LONGER TO CONVINCE ADELITA TO LEAVE Culebra and me with Ramon and to go on with Max and Luis. She argues that she has a reason to want Ramon dead, too, and should be allowed to witness his execution. Her voice is low and urgent.

She appeals to me rather than Max or Culebra and I know why. She saw me with the driver in the truck. She knows my taste for vengeance is strong.

But as much as I understand her feelings, as much as I sympathize with her, she has seen enough death in her short life. Her nightmares will be riddled with blood and terror as it is. She has had no control over what happened to her up to this moment. Time alters perspective. If she participates in killing Ramon, consciously or unconsciously, she may come to feel responsible for his death. She has been abused, but she’s not a killer—yet.

That’s a burden she doesn’t need.

That’s a burden best shouldered by me.

That’s a burden I’ve already accepted.

Max lets me talk with her and after a time, when Adelita reluctantly accepts that she should go, I nod to him.

He approaches, dipping a hand into his backpack. “I almost forgot. I brought something for you.”

He pulls a clean, white T-shirt out of the bag and hands it to me. “Figured you were ready for a change of clothes.”

I glance down at my blouse, frayed around the arms where I tore off the sleeves, covered with blood, so dirty it’s hard to imagine it’s original pristine whiteness. Wonder if Gabriella wants it back?

I take the T-shirt, smile a thank-you and slip the tee over my head, working the blouse off and letting it slip to the ground. Then I work my arms into the sleeves and tug it into place.

I feel better already.

Max motions to Adelita, then crooks a finger at me. “You’ll follow?”

“We’ll be right behind you.”

Max leads Adelita into the brush, staying close in case she takes a notion to change her mind. Luis, tethered by a short length of rope, walks ahead. He has been quiet during the exchange. Perhaps afraid if he says anything, he will meet the same fate as Ramon.

Ramon, for his part, is quiet as well. It’s as if he’s no longer in the present, but gazes unfocused at a scene only he can see. Culebra and I wait until we can no longer hear Max and Adelita. Then we approach.

Culebra prods Ramon with the barrel of his rifle. “I heard you,” he says.

Ramon raises his head, his eyes clear. “You heard what?”

“I know the part you played in the death of my family. I know you tried to kill me.”

Ramon looks away. “It was a long time ago.”

“You did it to take my place with Santiago.”

A shrug. “You would have done the same.”

“And now?” Culebra asks. “What do you gain from my death now?”

Ramon is leaning heavily against the well, trying to take the weight off his injured ankle. I don’t let him, leveraging my own body against his so he stumbles onto both feet again. He winces and whistles with the pain. “Puta,” he hisses.

“Answer Culebra’s question.”

“I needed someone to serve up as Rójan’s killer. Someone Santiago would believe still held a grudge.”

“Why would Santiago believe Culebra killed Rójan?” I ask. “He’s been gone fifteen years.”

“We killed his family. Blood vengeance runs deep.” Ramon sniffs. “Killing Rójan wounded Santiago where it hurt the most. He lost money. And Santiago would believe me because I said it. Especially when I confirm his suspicion that Tomás had worked with Julio to set up that gun deal. Twice he has cost Pablo Santiago money. Your friend Culebra would be dead so he could not dispute it. I would have killed him as a show of loyalty and been back in Pablo’s good graces.” His voice drops. “I would have avenged my son.”

“And assuaged your guilt?” I think back to what Gabriella told me. “Your own daughter holds you responsible for Antonio’s death. Did you know that?”

“She is a girl. She does not understand how it is with men. They have to be strong. To stand up for themselves. Antonio was weak.”

Something in his tone sends an icy finger up my spine. “Was any of the story you told us about your son true?”

Ramon blinks over at me. “What difference does it make?”

Culebra catches the meaning of my question. “Did Rójan do any of the things you accused him of?” He speaks slowly, coldly, deliberately.

Ramon’s eyes shoot fire. “He pissed on my son. Pissed on him. It was an outrage and Antonio should have killed him for that. He wouldn’t. So I did.”

Culebra and I look at each other, understanding dawning with brutal clarity. Ramon made up a story designed to suck us in. And it did.

Culebra opens his thoughts, his mind a black void of despair. Do we need to know anything else?

Do you think he knows where Santiago is hiding?

Culebra shakes his head. I think Luis is the only one who knows. Ramon has not had Pablo Santiago’s trust since he killed Rójan. I doubt Pablo was so quick to accept Ramon’s version of what happened. But when Ramon cooked up the story that I killed the boy to get even with Santiago for killing my family, and the finance minister was demanding blood for blood, I became the perfect scapegoat. He sweetened the pot by reminding Pablo of the gun sting. I told you, money is more important than blood to Santiago. He didn’t really care who to sacrifice now, as long as the finance minister was satisfied and the money exchange houses were back open.

Ramon is watching us now with more interest. Perhaps he senses there is something passing between Culebra and me.

How do you want to do this? I ask Culebra.

He hesitates only a moment. I think I would like to watch. See him suffer. Are you hungry?

Yes. Please. Vampire purrs.

Culebra takes a step back. “Good-bye, Ramon.”

I take a step closer.

Ramon looks puzzled. I have no weapon to threaten him, yet he feels threatened. His eyes are shadowed with fear. He looks past me to Culebra. “You don’t have to do this. Let me go. I will make things right with Luis and Pablo. I will tell them the truth.”

Culebra shakes his head. “It is too late. You killed my family. You were willing to sacrifice me for a lie to save your own skin.”

“Not for me. For my family. For Maria and Gabriella.”

I sidle closer. “And where is Maria? She did not try to warn you that I was free. Why do you think that is? Do you think she found out what you’ve been doing for Luis? About the girls whose lives you’ve ruined?”

“I had no choice.” But there is no remorse in Ramon’s voice. No trace of guilt.

“Do you know who Adelita is?” I ask, keeping my voice as low and human as possible.

His eyes snap to me. “That crazy bitch? I’ve never seen her before.”

I’m right beside him now, so close my lips nuzzle his chin. “Are you sure?”

Ramon begins to see and feel and hear the changes taking place in me. The heat from my skin, the teeth at his neck, the timbre of my voice morphing from human to animal. “I don’t know her. What are you doing?”

I take a nip, right at the jawline, let the blood trickle onto the collar of his shirt. “Sure you do,” I manage to say. If I don’t get this out quickly, I’ll miss my chance. Vampire is clawing her way free. “You took her from her village with two other young girls. Promised them jobs. Promised to return them home. You did neither. Two are dead. You have to answer.”

He looks into my eyes—vampire eyes, golden, slit like a cat’s. “¿Dios mio, lo que son?” he whispers.

I glance at Culebra, give him one last chance to intercede on Ramon’s behalf.

Culebra stands stiffly upright, his face rigid in its resolution. He gives a tiny shake of his head.

“What am I?” I whisper then. “Vengeance.”

Anna is gone. Vampire rips into his throat, cutting his scream short. He struggles, but he’s already weak from the snakebite and it takes only one hand to hold his head while steel jaws clamp down, seek the carotid artery, sever it with teeth that saw back and forth until the blood is freed.

Will his blood taste of the snake?

Vampire lets it flow into her mouth, sampling. It tastes like any other human blood—full of warmth, vibrancy, life. It flows like sweet, fresh water drawn from a well. There’s no hint of evil beneath the skin. No hint of death and treachery. I put both arms around him as his body slumps into mine. Hold him up, shake him, make sure he’s conscious. I draw my head away to look into his eyes. He sees. He’s aware.

He’s afraid.

I glance back at Culebra.

His face is stern. He meets my eyes and nods.

Vampire smiles at Ramon. In a dim corner of the human Anna’s mind, a picture of a son driven to suicide and two dead girls lying in the back of a truck comes into sharp focus. It’s all vampire needs.

She turns snapping jaws back to his throat to finish the job.