Replica(86)

“No!” Rachel lifted her gun and pulled the trigger in a single motion. One of the other vamps shot forward and took the bullet for his queen, right in the head.

Rachel’s thoughts mirrored mine. No fucking way.

The little girl wrapped her arms around Elena’s neck as the vampire queen cooed softly to her. “She will not be harmed. But if you don’t come to me soon enough, she will make a lovely meal for Timothy.” She paused in stroking the girl’s hair, her eyes locking with mine. “Timothy created Caine. They have...similar tastes.”

I took a wobbling step forward. Caine. The monster I’d killed in New York who liked his victims young and terrified. Madre de Dios, I could not let this happen.

“We’ll do it. We’ll get her back,” Rachel said, iron in her voice. Iron enough for the both of us.

I glanced at my friend, and the knowledge of what she’d done washed over.

Her life for mine. Rachel gave me a nod. “We have a trip to make. You up for it?” But I could feel the questions swirling in her head.

I turned back to where Elena and the others had stood only a moment before, but they were gone. Of course they were. They had only lingered long enough to stir shit up.

The village was silent as the sun peeked over the horizon. Gingerly, I made my way to where Elena had stood. In her place was a small leather-bound book, a thin piece of leather wrapped around it several times and knotted on the front.

“Why did she leave a book if she wants a book?” Rachel asked in frustration.

“I suspect it’s a rumored mythical guidebook. There were whispers the vampires once had a book with clues to find the Book of Life.”

“It’s true,” Antonio agreed, not sounding happy about it. “I’d heard that Elena’s people found it in the ruins of an ancient Greek temple.”

I nodded. I’d heard them as well but dismissed them as nonsense.

The knot...I slid my hand over it, feeling the perfectly round tangle of leather against my palm. “It’s called a death knot.”

“Not real subtle, is she?” Rachel asked as I held out the book to her. “Why don’t you open it?”

“The guidebook can only be opened by one family line.” I frowned. “A family of witches so powerful, they were hunted to extinction during the Salem witch trials. At least, that is how the story goes. The book will only open for one of its own.”

“What do you mean, one of its own?” Rachel didn’t touch the book.

“The leather is made of human skin. The last witch who was taken allowed them to do so only after she’d had her daughter skin her back.”

Rachel recoiled from it. “If they were so powerful, how did they get captured?”

I looked at Antonio and Rachel followed my gaze. “You Cazadors are real assholes sometimes, aren’t you?”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Antonio and I, we are the nice ones. We only hunt the bloodsuckers. There were other Cazadors, though they did not call themselves that.”

From the way he grunted, I could tell he was fighting a laugh. I knew what it would do to him to laugh with me and realize we weren’t all that different. I’d been like him once.

“So what’s this Book of Life? Why does Elena want it so badly?”

Antonio glanced to me, then to Rachel. “It’s believed to contain the history of the origins of the species…but not only that.” He paused. “It supposedly breaks it down enough that the owner of the book could create his or her own supernatural species.”

“Like Stravinsky.”

“Exactly,” I said. “Only no mutants. Pure supernaturals. Elena probably wants it to fight for control.”

Ivan moved to my side and slipped an arm around my lower back. I leaned on him, letting him take much of my weight. “It’s a long story, Rachel. And we have a long trip ahead of us. And you may not like the story once it comes to light. Sangre de la Bruja is not for the faint of heart. Even more so when you realize that it is your bloodline, my friend.”

“You don’t know that.” Her eyes flashed. I tossed her the book, and when she caught it out of reflex the knot untangled in front of us, slithering apart like a serpent.

“I do know,” I said. It made all too much sense, and the coincidences that had brought Rachel and me together no longer seemed so coincidental. Fate had a funny way of making things happen.

Ivan and I moved away from the silent village toward where the Humvee sat waiting. I slid into the front seat, Ivan into the driver’s seat. Rachel squished in next to me, Antonio flanking her. The sun wasn’t bothering me for the moment, and I knew why.