Born Into Love (17 page)

“Master, lie down. I will wrap you with the silk cover-up. When you wake, you will feed. You will feel better.”

“You saw Mercedes flee. I revolted her.”

Luz urged
him onto the pallet. “You scared her, but you scare everyone who meets you in that state for the first time or the last.”

He
lay on the stone and allowed her to cover him. He closed his eyes. A writhing circus of terrified faces panned across his eyelids. The vision did not last for he slept the dreamless sleep of the dead.

Luz came for
him at three. In her solicitous manner he recognized an eagerness to ease his distress. He missed the eccentric girl who often tried to ignore him.

She offered the bowl.
He drank. In disgust he crashed the empty vessel against the wall.

“Master, you can’t blame yourself. We have been over this topic many times.”

“Need I say this time the situation is different?” She muttered something like `I don’t know why I try so hard.’

He
repaired to the upstairs bedroom in search of fresh clothes. Luz pursued him. “What do you want?” he shouted.

“To change your mood, Master.”

He opened the closet door and chose the most ordinary slacks and button-down shirt hoping, yet doubting, that they would ease Mercedes’ memory of him in the crypt. He dressed and wore the jungle fragrance that appealed to her.

“Where are you going?”

“To speak with Mercedes.”

“Will she keep your secret?”

“A good question.”

“You could force her.”

“No.”

“Maybe we should go into hiding.”

“It’s too late. Whatever happens, I must make sure that Mercedes and those she loves live and die in their natural time. Teodoro and Remy have outsmarted me. But, they also have vulnerabilities. What I am defending is more valuable than anything they seek.”

A sparkle lit
his companion’s eyes. “They need fixing.”

He
nodded. “They really do.”

* * *

The ocean breeze whistled as it passed under
her bedroom door. That’s what happens when doors face the ocean, Mercedes thought. She pulled the sheet over her head and tried to regain her dream of walking an endless beach, but her body wearied of hiding even if her spirit did not.

“Mercedes.”

Her heart jackknifed. “Go away. Stay out of my mind.”

“Mercedes, come from under the sheet. My voice is audible. I am with you.”

She looked. He stood by her bureau. His body might have been a shadow, but she knew better. “What do you want?”

“Are you afraid?”

“You’ve had plenty of time to drink my blood. I’m guessing that’s not your plan, unless you’re here to ask permission. If that’s the case, forget it.”

“I will not harm you.”

“Too late.”

“Teodoro and Remy will come for us later today. I am here to discuss the danger we face. Once in the jungle the closer we get to Marta’s village, the more eager they will be to kill us.”

“Marta? What was she? Let me guess. A demon?” She moved as far away as possible while still in the bed. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.” Provoking him felt right. “Why don’t you die in sunlight?

“Chemistry provides solutions and I limit exposure. Would it make you feel better if I told you sunlight still tortures me?”

“I’m not sure.” She paused. “And Luz, what is she? A smorgasbord?” Anger radiated through her body in shifting waves, a better reaction than disgust, easier to expel.

“Luz is complicit with me. She is my
ama de llaves
, my housekeeper and companion. She has been with me for several hundred years but sometimes it feels like more. Without her, I would have ceased to exist.”

“What’s her secret?”

“I feed her.”

Mercedes struggled to swallow. “Sickening.”

“I know.”

“How do you face the day?”

“As I said, two hundred years ago I turned to animals for sustenance. The transition took a long time. I have worked at making amends. Helping others has eased my existence but not my emptiness. For that, I needed you.”

Her head throbbed. “The story about your family, another lie?”

“No.”

“How can I believe anything you say other than that sickening truth?”

“How can you doubt? I have revealed my loathsome condition. I have nothing left to hide.”

“I’m sick.”

In an instant Diego hovered at her side. “Tell me where you hurt.”

“Everywhere.” She snapped on a reading light and looked into his eyes. “It’s emotional. You’ve cut out my heart and chewed it.”

“Will you take my hand?”

She hugged herself. “I won’t go back to that tomb.”

“Not there, but to another room to complete my life story. This will not be gruesome.”

“I’m not flying or transporting or doing anything weird. Where and what is this thing you want me to see?”

“A portrait gallery in my home.”

“I’ll walk. Should I bring garlic or carry a crucifix?”

“A wooden or metal stake would be sufficient, but you must not remove it from my body. Fire also works.”

“How do you know?”

“I used both on the vampire who turned me.”

Mercedes held up a hand. “No more!” She got out of bed on the side farthest from
him. “Don’t make a big deal out of my participation. I’ll look at your family, but my heart is dead to you. D-e-a-d.”

“How much time do you need?”

“I will never love you again.”

“How much time do you need to reach my house?”

“Oh.”

* * *

Mercedes sat on a padded sofa--a copy from a museum in Toledo. “I present my family as they were in the sixteenth century.”

She walked to the closest gilt frame. “Your father?”

“Yes. He said that Rodrigo and I caused his beard to turn white. My father lived as a man of his time. The good and bad of his century and one’s position in life affected the family in the same way parents affect the lives of their children now.”

Mercedes stopped at the painting of his mother. “She’s so young.”

“Rodrigo and I arrived several years after she sat for the portrait. She smelled of jasmine and took us for long walks in the garden she forced to grow on poor soil.”

Mercedes leaned against the stucco wall. “What made you leave?”

“I longed for the sea. Men returned with tales of the New World. I had to see it.”
He walked to the picture of his brother. “Rodrigo. If he had stayed in Puerta Cerrada, perhaps he would have lived to be an old man.”

“Where’s your portrait?”

He nodded in its direction. “Draped.”

“I’d like to see it.”

He pulled the cord and revealed himself as a young man in his twenties when all his troubles came from simple mischief. “It pains me to see myself so unsullied.”

“You don’t look that much older.”

“Ten or so years. The changes in my face resulted from seafaring and the challenges of life on another continent.”

“You fooled me. You don’t look like a vampire.”

“I bet you say that to all the ghouls.”

“I’m having trouble breathing.”

Diego moved them to his false bedroom. He bathed her face with cool water. When his love opened her eyes, a tear hung on her lash.

He
caught the precious liquid this time on his finger and carried it to his mouth. Salt and misery, neither of which his body would reject since he was the source. “Can we be happy again?”

“Never.” Her eyes darkened and another tear escaped. “When you drink blood, where does it come from?
From. . . ?

“Cows.”

“The newspaper mentioned a ranch in South America.”

“Yes. I sometimes ride one of my Arabian stallions on the property.”

“Why aren’t Remy and Teodoro afraid? Are they. . . something unearthly, something stronger than you?”

“
Teodoro has powers, but. . . .”

“I shouldn’t have asked. I want to go home where things are normal
at least compared to here.”

“There is something you must take to prevent you from getting ill in the jungle.”
He worried that if she knew its real purpose stress would speed poison into her tissues. He gave her the seed.

“Do you have one?”

“No. I have crossed many jungles. I am protected.” She swallowed the seed with several drafts of water from the bathroom.

“How many of these do I have to take?”

“You need one per day.

“For how long?”

He guessed. “Several weeks.”

“So, I’m going into the jungle with killers and a vampire to rob a tomb and I’m leaving my sister when she needs me more than ever. Mom would be so proud.”

He escorted her out of his house. Just as in their first meeting she walked away only now instead of thinking of him as different, she knew he was a creep.

* * *

Dave backed away from the door as though Mercedes had come to rob his apartment.

“Mercedes. What are you doing here?”

She stayed in the hallway of the apartment house. “I know you’re surprised to see me.”

“You left Annie alone?”

“She’s wired and has a phone in her pocket.”

He slipped into a new denim jacket. “If you’ve come to make me feel guilty, you’re too late. I’m different. I want to be a father.”

“You’re not drinking?”

A horn blew in the street. “I’m in a program with guys on the job. I paint houses now. Hear that? That’s my ride.” He started to lock the door of his furnished studio. “I can’t ask you in. I’ve got to go.”

“Wait. Annie needs your help.”

“I know. I gave platelets.”

Mercedes shook her head. “She needs watching and I have to leave for Peru with Diego.”

He locked the door. “I could work out a schedule.”

“If you could stay at the house in the evenings, I’d be grateful.” She followed him down the staircase. “But if you start drinking, I’ll know. I’ll hear the heartbreak in my sister’s voice when I call.”

“It must be busting your guts to have to ask me.”

“It is, but you make her happy and you’re the father of my nephew.”

“I won’t let her down or my son. Know why? I’m doin’ better and I won’t give you a chance to say `I told you so’.”

When Mercedes reached home, her sister was in the shower. Mercedes contacted Mrs. Joyce.

The scent of lily of the valley preceded Annie’s arrival into the dining room. Mercedes tried to be cheerful. “You look refreshed.”

“I feel so much better. Do me a favor, help with my hair?”

Mercedes towel dried it and combed the dark locks into place. “I have something to tell you. I want you to try to understand. I have to go to Peru.”

“Why?”

“An archaeological trip. Through the museum. I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone. Probably two weeks.”

“Diego too?”

“Yes. He’s part of it.”

“Seems to me you like phonies despite all your speeches.” Annie took the comb from Mercedes’ hand. “Sis, I know I can be difficult, but I’m worried.” She pointed to her belly. “We’ll be alone.”

Mercedes swallowed the lump in her throat, but it lodged lower and tighter. “Mrs. Joyce’ll be here during the day whether you like it or not. I checked with her earlier. I’ve settled the salary and the hours.”

“Who’ll drive me to the blood bank or the ER if I have an emergency?”

“Dave or Mrs. Joyce.”

For a long time Annie just stared at her. “You’ve spoken to Dave?”

“Yes.”

“But, you hate him.”

“I hated his actions. Maybe this time being around you brought out the good in him. Circumstances are different and so is the result.”

“He can visit?”

“More than that. He’ll be here evenings.” Mercedes sat at the dining room table. “Have you seen my passport?”

“It’s with mine in my jewelry case. How will I get to Dr. Mendez tomorrow?”

“Mrs. Joyce or Luz will drive you. I’ve got to pack.”

Annie stared at her. “Luz left canned soup. She said to make sure you take it with you. Guess I’m the last person to learn of the big outing.” Annie rubbed her stomach. “Yeah. Everyone’s got things worked out perfectly for them, but me, I’m practically on my own.” She pinned Mercedes with a hard look. “I can’t believe you’re leaving me and the baby. No wonder you wanted all this protection stuff. What were you thinking? That setting up security would keep you from feeling guilty? This is one heck of a way to learn how selfish you really are.”