Microsoft Word - The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance.doc (70 page)

“Possibly,” Tomas agreed. “Although I can’t understand it.

He never took magic users before.”

“Maybe he got bored. Wanted more of a challenge.”

“Does a cat get tired of playing with lizards or mice, and  attack the neighbourhood dog instead? Preying on weaker  creatures is Alejandro’s nature. But if your brother is a mage he  wouldn’t fall into that category.”

“His type of magic isn’t likely to help him much,” she said

curtly.

“I don’t understand.”

“You don’t need to.” She stood up. “Just tell  me where I can

find this guy.”

Tomas shook his head. “I can’t do that.”

“Why not? Based on how his vamps treated you, I got the

impression you weren’t all that close.”

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He smiled at the understatement. “We aren’t. But helping

you commit suicide won’t aid  your brother.”

“Tell me where to find this Alejandro, and the only one

dying will be him.”

Tomas got slowly to his feet, gingerly putting his weight on the injured knee. It held. “For what it’s worth, I’ve come to kill him. If I succeed, it may cause enough chaos to allow your brother to escape. Wish me luck.”

He started to go, but a hand on his arm stopped him. “I’ll do

better than that. I’ll go with you.”

“I told you  –  that would not be wise.”

“Really? And you think you’d have survived just now without me? It sounds like you going in alone isn’t so wise,  either.”

Tomas turned to face her, already exasperated. He had enough on his plate tonight. He didn’t need this. “You may be good with a gun, but that won’t keep you alive. Alejandro was

once my master. I know what he’s capable of.”

“Uh-huh. And can he break off half a mountain because he

loses his temper?”

Tomas regarded her narrowly. “You’re saying that was

you?”

“That’s what I’m saying. I’m a jinx.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Jinx. J-I-N-X. A walking disaster area. Fault lines love me.

Of course, so does just about anything else that can go wrong.”

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“An inconvenient talent.”

“And an illegal one. If the magical community ever finds  out a jinx as powerful as me is walking around, they’ll kill me.  Which is why I got really good at protecting myself  –  and other  people  –  a long time ago. This vampire has bought himself more  trouble than he knows.”

“Bringing down a mountainside won’t help your brother. If

he’s where I think he is, it would only bury him  as well.”

“I can control it. And this isn’t exactly my first time at the

rodeo. I can take care of myself.”

Tomas hesitated, instinct warred with dawning hope. “I tried to draw someone else into this recently, and almost got her killed,” he finally admitted. “I swore that I’d never do that again. This is my fight  ” –

“It was your fight. Once that bastard took Jason, he made it  mine.” When Tomas just stared at her, trying to think of some  way to get rid of her that did not involve actual violence, the

ground grumbled beneath him. The precariously perched pew  gave up the struggle and slid down the hillside, only to go  sailing off into the void like a huge wooden bird. “Look, I’m not  asking you, I’m telling you. You think you’ve got troubles now?  Try leaving  me behind. My brother is all I’ve got, and he is
 
not
 
dying tonight.”

“It will not be easy,” he said, wondering how to even begin

to explain what they were up against.

The girl snorted. “Yeah. I kind of got that.” She held out her

hand. “Sara Lee. And no, I don’t cook.”

“Tomas.”

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“Well, Tomas. We gonna stand here exchanging  pleasantries all night, or go kill a vampire?” Tomas didn’t say  anything, but he slowly took her hand. She grinned. “Well, all  right then.”

“Jason is a reporter for the
 
Oracle
,” Sara said, as Tomas

hot-wired her brother’s rental car. Hers had been parked in the  part of the cemetery that hadn’t survived and was currently  exploring the bottom of the valley. “We were supposed to meet  up in Puerto Vallarta for a vacation, but when I got to the hotel,  he’d already left. All I found was a note telling me he’d got a  lead on a story and asking me to meet him here.”

“If Alejandro has started kidnapping magic users, it would  be front-page news,” Tomas agreed, as the engine on the old  subcompact finally turned over. “Or your brother could have  found out about one of his other businesses. He controls  everything from magical narcotics to weapon sales in much of  Central and South America.”

“I know. I’ve dealt with his people before.” At Tomas’

sideways look, she shrugged. “I can’t buy weapons from  legitimate sources, not in the quantities I need. The authorities  monitor that kind of stuff.”

“Why would you need huge quantities of magical

weaponry?”

“Why do you want to kill your old master?” she  countered.

“I didn’t even think that was possible.”

They bounced out onto the main road through the village, with only the weak light of a quarter moon to see by. “It wouldn’t be, if he were still my master. I challenged him to a

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duel a century ago, but he wouldn’t face me. He brought in a  champion, a French duelling master, instead. But rather than kill  me as Alejandro had wanted, after Louis-Cesar defeated me, he  claimed me as his slave. I only recently escaped.”

“And came straight back here.”

“Yes.”

“That’s very . . . heroic.”

Tomas didn’t think it qualified as heroism if he had nothing left to lose. But he didn’t say so. Her tone made it clear that the word she’d really been searching for was ‘stupid’.

“Alejandro killed the entire population of my  village. There  isn’t anyone else.” If the dead were ever to be avenged, it was  up to him to do it. And after 400 years, they’d waited long  enough.

“So you came back alone.” She shook her head. “People

like you are bad for business.”

“You’re a mercenary.”  Tomas supposed he should have

figured it out before.

“We prefer the term ‘outside contractor’.”

“I couldn’t afford to hire a team,” Tomas said, turning onto  the pitted road leading into the mountains. “And you also came  here alone.”

A dark shape suddenly loomed in front of them, forcing  Tomas to squeal tyres and practically stand the car on end to avoid hitting it. The shape resolved itself into a tall, gaunt man, with the brilliant eyes of a fanatic set deep in the hollows of his

586

craggy face. “Not so much,” Sara said, climbing out of the car.

“Boys, glad you could make it.”

“Looks like we already missed some of the fun,” another  man commented, stepping out of the jungle that hedged the road  on each side.

Tomas stared hard at the new arrival. He hadn’t  heard him approach, and that was unacceptable. Unless he eas a mage using magic to mask his breath, the sound of his heart beating, his footfalls  –  all would have alerted Tomas to his presence. But he didn’t look like a mage. He had a jagged, ugly scar on  his right cheek, as if someone had dragged a fork with sharpened tines over his skin. It was the sort of thing that could be fixed by magical healers or covered by a glamourie. Unless, of course, its owner preferred to look like an extra from a horror flick.

“Meet my knife and gun club,” Sara said, slapping the man  on the back. “At least the ones close enough to get here in time  for the festivities.”

The men didn’t greet him, and nobody offered any names, but they also didn’t demand to know what Sara was  doing with some strange vampire. Of course, she didn’t give them much of a chance, launching directly into an explanation of the problem.  If Tomas had had a doubt about their profession, it would have been quieted by their reaction to the news that they were about to raid a real vampire stronghold.

“Can I keep the bones?” the fanatic hissed, speaking for the

first time. “They’re useful in some spells.”

“Knock yourself out,” Sara said, shrugging. “But no

collecting until we have Jason, understood?”

The man gave a quick nod that reminded Tomas of a lizard or some other kind of reptile. It wasn’t a human movement. The

587

other man didn’t say anything at all, just switched over a couple  of the weapons in the collection draped over his body for several  others he  drew from a pack on his back. Then everybody got in

the car.

Tomas pulled off the road a few miles to the north, where a burbling stream snaked its way through the dense jungle. “We walk from here,” he said, pushing the car off the road in case any of Alejandro’s men were out a little early.

“I don’t see a house.” Sara had pulled night-vision goggles

out of her associate’s pack, and was staring around.

“There isn’t one. Alejandro lives underground.”

“Come again.”

“There are some Mayan ruins near here,  with a maze of  underground passages beneath them. He’s lived there for  centuries.”

“Great.” She sounded less than enthused.

“What is it?”

“Nothing. What about guards?”

“Normally, the entrances are all watched. That’s why I  picked tonight to return. They will open for the hunt, as the  prisoners’ first challenge is to find their way out of the maze.  Many never do.”

“We need to reach them before they’re released then.  Otherwise, they’ll be scattered in the tunnels, in the jungle  – we’ll never find them all.”

“I thought the plan was to rescue your brother.”

588

“Yeah. Like I’m going to leave you and the rest of the prey

to that thing.”

Tomas glanced at her, but it was difficult to see much of an expression behind the absurd goggles. She’d sounded sincere

enough, though. And he couldn’t let her go in thinking that way.  “I know where they used to keep the prisoners. We’ll go there  first. And if we’re lucky enough to locate your brother alive,  you need to take him and go.”

“I don’t abandon a colleague in the middle of a mission. We

go in together, we leave together. That’s how it works.”

“Not if you want to stay alive!” Tomas grasped her arm. “I  have the best chance of reaching Alejandro alone. If you stay to  help me, both you and your brother will die. Not to  mention that  you will almost certainly cause me to fail at my task.”

She stopped, looking from the hand on her arm to his face.  He released her, but the steady stare didn’t change. “If you don’t want my help, why are you taking me along?” she demanded.

“Because you wouldn’t find your brother alone. Not in

time.”

“And why would you care about that? You don’t even know

him.”

“I might not know your brother, but I’ve known plenty of  others.” A thousand faces, ten thousand, he’d lost count over the  years. All of those eyes begging him to help them, to save them.  They’d seen his face, the one that had prompted Alejandro to  nickname him ‘my angel’, and assumed he was their saviour.  Only to realize with horror that he was one of those hunting  them.

“What?”

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“Alejandro forced me to help with the hunts,” Tomas said  bluntly, “because he knew how much I hated them.” Telling her  was unnecessary, but it was probably his last chance for  confession. He didn’t remember the last time he’d talked with a

priest, not even the  last time he’d wanted to, and she couldn’t  absolve him anyway. But then, considering some of the things  he’d done, he doubted that anyone could. “I’ve killed thousands  just like Jason,” he added, trying to keep his voice neutral. “And  the only mercy I could show them was to make it quick. For  once, I’d like to help someone survive. And to have Alejandro  be the one wallowing in his own blood.”

“That’s a plan I can get behind,” she said, fingering her

automatic.

Tomas shook his head and didn’t comment. Once she saw what was waiting for them, her bravado would fade. Just like everyone else’s always did. The two men didn’t say anything.  But when he and Sara stepped into the undergrowth, they followed.

The next hour was taken up with slipping through the jungle in which no paths had ever been carved, followed closely by a damp cloud of mosquitoes. Sara managed it better than Tomas had expected; it wasn’t easy going even for him. Alejandro had left the jungle intact for exactly that reason: it formed an added layer of protection. It also added to the fun of his hunts, watching mere mortals flounder around in the endless green sea until he chose to put them out of their misery.