Slumped in his chair, Luys focused on his breath, his muscles, his senses, the voices, and movement around him. The powerlessness of earlier and his inability to help Avery had lashed at his soul. His fingers twitched on his lap, and slowly, ever so slowly, he struggled to raise his head. Finally, movement. The cobwebs inside his skull retreated. The last few minutes, with each thump of his heart, the numbness engulfing his entire body was receding while his frustration continued to mount.
He'd never felt so helpless as the room around him erupted into pandemonium. So much violence, so much rage. He sat helplessly, horrified at his inability to act and protect Avery. Moments later, the air cut into his lungs at the sudden silence and stillness. The room lay in ruins.
Avery lay sprawled on her side, alive, gasping for breath.
Arms flung on either side of her head, Cristina lay on her back. A section of her neck and arm was gone, revealing bone. The mercury had eaten away at her flesh. Luys didn’t want to know what her clothing hid.
She was dead.
Stephen’s body lay crumpled on the other side of the room. Blood crept across the floor from beneath his head. Sightless eyes stared back at the room.
Flexing his fingers, Luys felt their strength return as well as the muscles in his thighs, shoulders, and back.
Then Mayor, with predatory and deliberate steps, advanced toward Avery.
No!
Luys sprang from his chair, shaking his head to clear the last of the fog from his brain, and launched himself between Mayor and Avery.
“Not another step,” Luys warned.
“Why? She’s hurt you. Made a fool of the both of us.”
“She’s done nothing but help me. If it wasn’t for her, I’d still be in prison.” Luys clasped Avery’s hand, helped her up, and urged her behind him, using his body as a shield from whatever Mayor planned. Tension clutched at every tendon and muscle in his body. “Touch her, and I’ll kill you!”
“You can’t kill me, Luys!” She laughed, moving toward them. “I’m stronger than you.”
“Try me!”
Mayor paused and cocked her head to one side. “You care for the woman, yes?”
“Yes, of course I do!”
His sister’s gaze shifted. “I’ll not touch her if she means so much to you.” She arched a brow. “But I don’t understand. Why did she save my life after all I’ve done to her?”
Avery stepped from behind Luys, though he retained a hand on her arm, afraid if he let go, something dire would happen to her.
She eyed Mayor warily. “I don’t know. It was a knee-jerk reaction. Maybe because you’re Luys’ sister. I didn’t want him grieving over your death, even though I would be fine with it.”
Mayor frowned. “I don’t know why these two wanted me dead.”
“It goes back to your past when you were Aztec captives,” Avery answered, her hand clutching his as if for strength. “Cristina said you were to blame for her children’s deaths. Something about convincing the priests your daughter wasn’t a worthy sacrifice, so they turned their focus on Cristina’s boy and girl. It sounded like they had been offered to this Tlaloc.”
“The rain god,” Mayor murmured. Her brow knitted while a faraway look darkened her eyes. “I don’t understand why she would think I had any control over what our captors decided. We were all powerless.”
Luys could see that Mayor believed her own words, but he wasn’t so sure. He’d lost trust in his sister long ago.
“Well, she blamed you for their deaths and wanted revenge.”
Luys followed both women’s gazes to Cristina’s lifeless form. Such hatred. And what did it give her? Nothing.
When Mayor looked up and met Luys’ gaze, there was unmistakable moisture in her blue-silver eyes. She shook her head, a look of uncertainty flashing across her features. “I wouldn’t kill someone’s child. I may have done many crimes, but not that, never that. Luys, you must know that’s the truth with how I feel about Maria.”
Mayor’s gaze softened, even turned vulnerable. It was shocking. Maybe there was something in his sister other than the hatred and rage that had always fueled her every thought and action.
Luys urged, “Mayor, get help. There’s medication now that can ease your pain. You don’t have to live the way you do. You’ve been so focused on the death of your daughter. Let it go. Concentrate instead on getting yourself healthy, of finding happiness. It is possible.”
Mayor’s gaze narrowed, and she lifted her chin proudly. “I might. Only because of my daughter.”
He inhaled sharply. Having her admit to getting help was a first, but again, her motivation involved her daughter. Always her daughter. Mayor needed to move on if she was ever going to heal. “When will you drop it? Maria is dead. She died, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“But she lives on through Nicole! She is Maria’s incarnation.” The softness in her face dissolved. Fury and outrage flared back in her eyes as she slashed a hand through the air. “Where are they?”
“Who?” Avery asked.
“Gabriel and that woman. They have Maria. They call her Nicole. Such an estúpida name they gave her. It’s all that ugly woman’s fault I can’t find her!”
The anguish in Mayor’s eyes threatened to soften his resolve. Pity wouldn’t help Mayor or anyone else. “They must have moved to protect her.”
“Why would they do something like that?” A tear pearled on Mayor’s lower lash and slid down to her cheek.
“You know why.” Luys’ gaze narrowed. “You’re dangerous. They know you want to turn her like you’ve done Avery. They don’t want that for her. It’s too dangerous.”
“But I did it to her!” She eyed Avery with narrowed eyes.
“Luck. It could have been that and nothing more. Like I said, it’s too dangerous. You could kill Nicole.
But Mayor wasn’t listening. “I will find them. It will only take one mistake, and in time, I will be there waiting. I deserve to have my daughter with me.”
“She doesn’t want to be with you. Mayor, why else would they move? The girl is terrified of you.”
“You lie. She knows me. I took care of her as best as I could. I cherished her. She remembers. She knows I would never hurt her.”
“You don’t understand, Mayor. You’re different than the woman or girl you were when we fled Spain. She doesn’t know who you have become.”
“I am the same woman I was then.” She lifted her chin. “You and Gabriel disgust me! Your superiority is revolting!” Her face darkened with fury. “No one will keep me away from her!”
A gray-white fog formed, swirled around Mayor, and then thickened. The hem of her dress rippled as the smoke billowed around her, faster and faster until it obscured her from view. Suddenly the mist exploded in all directions.
Luys stood frozen, momentarily stunned. But he shouldn’t be. Mayor always loved being dramatic and leaving a mess behind her for others to clean up.
Avery clutched at Luys and barreled into his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head against his shoulder. “She’s gone. I never thought it would end. I was sure you and I would die.”
“She’s out there still, but she’ll be careful, knowing Gabriel and I will try to track her to ensure Nicole’s safety.”
“But she’s done with us.”
Luys thought about it for a moment. “For now. But Nicole is out there. I must protect her from my sister. She wants to make her like the both of us, and it must be Nicole’s choice. Mayor may have turned you, but I’m pretty sure you were the first. You could easily have died because of her experiment.” He looked down at her upturned face, his breath catching against the back of his throat. “And where would I be without you? You’ve brought me something I thought I’d forever lost.”
She searched his face. “What’s that?”
“Love. Something simple but something more powerful than anything else.”
Her arms around his waist tightened, and she seemed to relax against his body. “It can get people through many things. Even today.”
He glanced around the room as Avery stood in the circle of his arms. So much death and destruction. They would have to call the police. Cristina and Stephen’s death would have to be explained. They didn’t know how yet, but between the two of them, they’d figure it out.
Strange how Cristina’s life had paralleled his sister’s. Their rage had clouded how they looked at life, eradicated any thought or possibility of happiness or of life’s small wonders between the sorrows.
There might be others like him, but he didn’t care. He had Avery; he had a life that held promise. Ahead would lead to obstacles, but with her, he felt he could overcome anything.
That included Mayor.