The Day of the Dead by Karen Chance Page A

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