“You won’t have a choice! If he hasn’t already found you, he will, and he will demand that you serve him or he will kill you!”
This just made him tired. “He frightens you. You’re terrified!”
“Dux Bellorum is the monster that vampires tell stories about to frighten one another. He means to conquer us all and unite us under his banner. To hold all our power for himself.”
Rick chuckled. “Like what, some Alexander the Great of vampires? Master of all? Why?”
“Why not? What else should he do with his time?”
“Good night, Elinor. Good night to all of you. I will not interfere in whatever war you have brought to Santa Fe, and do not expect me to participate. Good night.” He gave them a mock bow, doffing an imaginary cap, and walked away.
“Ricardo!” Elinor called after him, but he did not stop.
He also did not go straight back to Imelda’s. Instead, he went in the opposite direction, turned down a couple of stray corners, and found a shadow to wait in, to see if he was followed. And he was, by one of those strong young vampires who rode in Elinor’s train. They might have been her own progeny, made to serve her. Ricardo didn’t breathe, kept himself stiller than death, quieter than darkness, in the shadow of an adobe wall. The man likewise traveled silently in shadow; Ricardo never would have seen him if he hadn’t been watching. But each sensed the other, that hard chill of the undead tainting the air.
The man, a stony look in his dark eyes, dark hair curling around his ears, had a wooden stake. From a distance the long pole carried at his side looked like a rapier blade, but it was made to kill vampires. He was stealthy, quiet. He kept to the same shape as the shadows around him. But he was not as old or as strong as Ricardo.
Ricardo had heard stories that vampires could disappear, travel as mist, turn into bats, appear out of thin air. In truth, he simply moved very, very quickly, and so silently that no hunting dog would sense him. He didn’t go far—he wanted his tracker to stay where he was, to think he still had Ricardo in his sights. At the house next door, Ricardo found what he was looking for in a pile of firewood. A broken stick, with enough of a sharp end to be a threat. He wouldn’t have to make noise by breaking it. Moving like the night air itself, he slipped out of the house’s yard, up the street, and put the man in his sights.
Elinor should have known better, sending just one man against him. He paused, searched again, sensing for that particular chill in the air, and yes, it was just the one man. Elinor and the others had moved away. With his target squarely in sight, Ricardo rushed from the wall to the stand of trees where the man waited, slipping behind him before he recognized the danger. He planted the sharp end of the stake at his back and murmured close to his ear.
“Does Elinor think so little of me that she only sent you, or does she think so little of you that she would sacrifice you?”
The man flinched and stiffened, as if the stake had already gone through him. Ricardo only held it there, so if the man tried to move he would impale himself.
“I swear I was only sent to watch you, to see where you went and who you spoke with. I swear!”
“Your weapon is in your hand as if you mean to use it.”
“It’s dangerous here!”
“Indeed.”
“Please señor, I was only sent to watch, I promise.”
“And perhaps kill me if you saw the opportunity?” The man might have whimpered a little. “Tell Elinor to leave me alone. Understand?” He poked the stick a little harder. Not enough to break through the wool of his jacket. But enough to make him nervous.
“Yes . . . yes, señor.”
“Good.” Ricardo stepped back, let the man turn to face him. He was young, handsome. Just a boy. He probably thought he was so strong, so powerful. “You should go back to Elinor. Don’t follow me, yes?”
He nodded quickly. Licked his lips. “Is . . . is it true that you rode with Coronado? That you were the first vampire in all of Mexico?”
Ricardo sighed, looked heavenward. “Yes, I rode with Coronado. No, I was not the first. I killed the first. Remember that.”
He shoved him, and the man ran but pulled up short. He had sensed what Ricardo had in the same moment, a new presence approaching. This was different than the vampires’ chill; it was dark and carried the charge of violence. Ricardo didn’t recognize it.
“What is that?” Ricardo said.
The man’s gaze went wide, trembling. His body seemed like it might break with tension. “Dux Bellorum, he is here!”
“No, this isn’t a vampire, it’s different. Listen!” Ricardo jogged out to the middle of the street to see.
A streak of movement caught his eye, something low and fast. He narrowed his gaze, focused, but it was gone. Then came another following the first, a low, furry creature running across the road some distance ahead. Ricardo got a decent look when it stopped and glanced back at him: a wolf, huge, bulky, gray-and-black fur bristling all over. Its open mouth showed large, yellowing teeth. Their gazes met, just for a moment, before the creature dashed off.
“Wolf men,” his erstwhile companion said. Still afraid. “Dux Bellorum’s army. I must go warn Doña Elinor.” He vanished in speed and shadow, leaving Ricardo with whatever approached.
Wolf men?