The Day of the Dead (7 page)

They made it to the edge of what had
been the holding pen before Alejandro’s power suddenly cut off,
like someone throwing a switch. A ripple went through his vampires
as they felt it too and realized what it meant. They came back to
life with a vengeance, but too late; half the roof collapsed in a
cascade of limestone.

Sarah and one of her men ran up,
dirty-faced and panting. Forkface grabbed Tomas, yanked the ax out
of his back and threw him over a shoulder. Then they
ran.

The doorway collapsed behind them,
dust billowing into the air while rocks and gravel nipped at their
heels. The entire tunnel system was buckling, floor heaving,
ceiling threatening to crush them at any moment. His helper lost
his footing and they both went down, Tomas managing to catch
himself on arms that, while unsteady, actually seemed to work
again.

He grabbed Sarah, attempting to shield
her, at the same time that she grabbed for him. And amid stones
falling and dust clouds choking them, they braced together, Sara
saying things that Tomas couldn’t hear over the roaring in his
ears. But their small patch of ceiling held, and after they limped
across the boundary from the caves to the old temple, the rumbling
gradually petered off.

They emerged at last into the jungle,
where a mass of dazed people huddled together in small groups under
the dark, star-dusted sky. Forkface dumped Tomas unceremoniously
beside a small pool just inside the temple, where people were
scooping up water in hats, hands or flasks. It was a green and it
stunk, with slimy ropes of algae clinging to sides, and nobody
seemed to mind. Some were hugging, more were crying and one,
amazingly, was laughing. Tomas blinked at them, disbelieving,
seeing for the first time in four hundred years the Day of the Dead
celebrated in this place by the living.

Jason brought him some water in an old
canteen, and while Tomas didn’t particularly need it, he drank it
anyway. The fanatic came over to join them after a moment. It
seemed he’d been delegated to lead the way out while Sarah and her
remaining associate remained behind to rescue Tomas. He seemed
perturbed that they hadn’t brought him any bones, and eyed Tomas
speculatively for a moment before moving off, muttering.

Tomas’s whole body hurt and he was
ravenously hungry, but he was alive. It didn’t seem quite real.
‘How did you do it?’ he finally asked Jason.

‘
I didn’t. I only woke them
up.’

‘
I don’t
understand.’

‘
The Incan kings were
believed to watch over their people, even after death, and to
demand good behavior of the living. Any who defied them soon
learned that they also had within their power to reward or to
punish.’

‘
That’s a myth.’

Jason smiled, an odd, lopsided effort.
‘Really. It seems strange, not to mention expensive, to tie up most
of the revenues of the state in the care of creatures who have no
ability to hurt you.’ He shook his head. ‘The ancient priests
prepared the royal dead well. I only had to give them a
nudge.’

‘
You mean – ’

His eyes went soft and dreamy. ‘They
said they had been watching Alejandro for a long time. And they
were hungry.’

‘
Well, they’ll have the
whole court to snack on now, once they finish with him,’ Sarah
commented, stopping by after locating enough local people to serve
as guides for everyone else. Tomas had a sudden image of vengeful
Incan monarchs pursuing Alejandro’s vampires through the halls
where they had once done the same to humans. He smiled.

Attacking that thing on your own was
insane,’ Sarah said bluntly. ‘I like that in a person. Want a
job?’

Tomas just looked at her for a moment.
He was a first-level master, one of only a handful in the world.
The rest at his rank were either sitting in governing positions
over his kind, or were powerful masters with their own courts. They
were emphatically not running around with a motley crew of
mercenaries carrying out jobs so crazy no one else would touch
them.

He’d killed Alejandro, or close enough
by vampire law. He could assume his position, round up whatever
vampires had made it out before the cave-in, and claim to be the
new head of the Latin American Senate. That would put him beyond
the jurisdiction of the North American version – which wanted him
dead – and his master – who wanted him back in slavery. He could
rebuild Alejandro’s empire and walk these halls once more, this
time as their master. He would be rich, powerful and feared
...

And, in time, just like
Alejandro.

‘
Well?’

Sarah didn’t seem to be the patient
type. It was something else they were going to have to work on.
They weren’t touching, but she was standing so close that he could
smell the vestiges of her perfume mingled with gunpowder and sweat.
It was strangely comforting, like the lingering warmth of a touch
even after it’s gone. Tomas looked up at her face, surrounded by
stars, and for the first time in longer than he could remember, he
saw a future.

‘
Where do I
sign?’

The End