Leilani

by LM DeWalt

  Giovanni thought for a while and then shook his head. “Never heard of him.”

  There went that theory. Why, of all the places in the world, would Melinda be coming to Peru to do her recruiting, and for what? Ian had been forming an army before I killed him. Melinda seemed to be doing the same thing. I turned to Giovanni again. “Any idea how many vampires actually reside in Lima?”

  “Not really,” he leaned his head back in his seat and turned to face me. “I’m sure that’s something Mr. Aloysius would know though. Do you think Melinda knew Ian, that she was maybe working for him all along?”

  “I don’t know what to think. I just find it odd that they would both come here to look for more vampires.” Before I could say anything more, the announcement was made that we would be landing in Chiclayo. Giovanni grabbed his map and stuck it in the inside pocket of his jacket. I turned to look out the window as the plane made its descent over the fog-covered runway.

  Giovanni settled into the seat of the rental car, adjusting his mirrors. It was as badly maintained as most of the taxis on the roads of Lima but it would serve its purpose as long as we were not chased. Giovanni laughed at my thought as he coaxed the little car onto the road out of the lot.

  “How far from here?” I asked, anxious to get this over with.

  “Less than twenty minutes,” He reached to turn the knob on the radio before he noticed it was broken off. “That figures.”

  “There’s a pair of pliers right there. Could that be what they’re for?” I asked picking them up. I attached the end to the metal and turned. Static greeted us. “Guess so.” I pushed all the buttons for the stations that were preprogrammed. Nothing but static. I turned it off and threw the pliers back down.

  “It is good that this car was cheap to rent,” Giovanni added with a smile. “Look.” He motioned to his window with his head. A group of people were knee deep in water.

  “What are they doing?” I asked as I watched another person rolling up his pants legs on the side of the road, preparing to join the others.

  “It’s a rice paddy. They grow a lot of it in this area. The weather is ideal for it,” Giovanni said.

  “In all of my travels, I’ve never seen one of those,” I admitted. As we passed, I saw more rice paddies on either side of the narrow road. The workers paused to look as we passed, some of the children waving to us.

  “That’s it, up ahead,” Giovanni pointed to a squat building that looked like it was never finished. Spray painted on the wall was a sign with the name of the hotel. “Sad, isn’t it?”

  “People pay to stay there?” I asked amazed. He nodded. “It should be against the law.”

  He stopped the car on the side of the building and turned off the engine. “They’re in number three. We will go together since they’ve seen me before.”

  We got out of the car and he led the way to the door. He knocked and stood back. “What if it doesn’t work?” I asked.

  “It has to work.”

  The door opened a crack. “Quien?” A small male voice asked. Giovanni announced us.

  The boy answered in Spanish. “My mother is not here. I cannot let you in.”

  “Let me take over,” I whispered to Giovanni before turning back to the door. “My name is Lily. I am here with Giovanni, your dad’s friend. Can we come in and wait for your mom?”

  The boy hesitated a moment. “She will get mad at me. I am not supposed to let anyone in while she is gone.”

  “Do you know where she went?” I asked not liking that she left her children alone.

  “She went to the river to get water.”

  “Paco, who is it?” a little girl asked.

  “Papá’s friends,” Paco answered. Much to Paco’s surprise, the little girl pulled the door open.

  “Hello. I am Alegría,” she looked from me to Giovanni. “I know you. Do you have it?”

  I looked at Giovanni with surprise. “No. I am sorry but I did not have time to get it. I will get you one later, I promise.” He turned to me. “I usually bring her a lollypop when I see her.”

  “Can we please come in and wait for your mother?” I asked Alegría. She looked me up and down before answering.

  “Come in,” she said and turned to her brother. “They are daddy’s friends. They are not strangers. Mamá said no strangers.” She stood with her back straight as if trying to appear taller than she was. A diminutive girl with long dark braids, she was all manners as she pointed to the bed. “Please sit. Mamá will be back soon.”

  “You’re going to get in trouble,” Paco said as he passed her. She stuck her tongue out at him before she sat on the other bed. Both beds were neatly made. A rag doll lay against the pillow on the center of one.

  “That is Lulu. Isn’t she pretty?” Alegría picked her up, straightened her dress, and handed her to me.

  “She is very pretty. She looks just like you,” I said as I stroked the doll’s long yarn braids.

  “My abuelita made her. She is me,” Alegría smiled as I admired her doll. “Do you know where Papá is? Did you come to take us to him?” She asked. That got Paco’s attention and he joined his sister on the bed. I looked at Giovanni for help.

  “We don’t know where he is right now but he will be with us soon,” Giovanni explained. “He wanted us to take you and your mother to Lima to wait for him.”

  Alegría clapped her little hands. “I’m so happy. I want to go back home to my other dolls. They are all alone.”

  Though I knew their apartment was empty, I tried to make her feel better. “We will take you back to them, do not worry.” I was interrupted by the door opening. A woman of no more than twenty-five walked in carrying a blue bucket. She dropped it when she saw us, spilling its contents all over the floor, turning the firmly packed dirt to mud.

  “Who are you?” she screamed as she gathered her children in her arms. “Please leave my babies alone.”

  “It’s ok, Mamá. They are Daddy’s friends. That’s the one that gives me lollypops, remember? They are going to take us to Daddy,” Alegría explained. The woman looked at Giovanni with recognition in her deep brown eyes.

  “Is this true?” she asked still hugging her children closely. Paco tried to pry her arms apart with no success.

  “Not exactly,” I started and stood from the bed. “We are trying to find your husband. Until we do, Aloysius, his employer, thought it best to have you with us. You will be much more comfortable in Lima than in this place.”

  “Why would we go with you? We are not safe in Lima,” she explained.

  “Mamá, please let me go,” Alegría pleaded. “They are nice people.”

  The woman looked at Giovanni and me before loosening her hold on the children. The children straightened their clothes before sitting back down on their bed.

  “Look, ma’am, I understand you don’t know us, or trust us, but you will all be more comfortable with us. In Lima, we can protect you while we find Tomas. We cannot do that here,” I explained. “The children will be happier there. Aloysius and Fiore are fixing a room up for you.”

  “Why should I believe you?” She asked as she sat down next to her children, close to Alegría’s side. “You are one of them.”

  “Look, ma’am,” I sat on the other bed. “I know you don’t know me and I understand your hesitation, but you are all in danger. If you stay here, they will find you. We cannot protect you here and we can’t stay.”

  She looked at her children. They both smiled at her. “But you are one of them, right?”

  “If by one of them you mean…Immortal,” I whispered hoping the children didn’t hear. “Then, yes. But we are the good ones. We are the ones who can keep you all safe.”

  “I don’t know,” she started and stood. “Why would someone harm us? Why would they threaten to kill us?”

  Giovanni cleared his throat. “We can talk about that on the way to the airport. We need to leave as soon as possible. It is a possibility we were being watched, might have been fol
lowed.”

  The little girl stood and took her mother’s hand, turning her around to face her. “Mamá, they are very nice. I want to go with them. I want to go on the airplane.”

  The woman laughed and turned to me. “They have never been on an airplane. I don’t know…”

  Giovanni moved to the window and pulled the tattered curtain aside. “We need to go, now. Something is not right.” He looked at me. They are close. I sense them…

  “Please, Mamá,” Alegría begged pulling on her mother’s hand.

  “Yes, please let’s go,” Paco echoed.

  The woman looked from Giovanni to me, her eyes widening with terror. “Okay. We will go with you but we have to get our things,” She walked to the corner of the room and picked up a duffle bag. “Alegría, Paco, get your things.”

  “Too late,” Giovanni moved to stand with his back against the door. “They are here.”

  SEVENTEEN

  “Who’s here?” I ran to help Paco shove things into the empty bag. “How many?”

  Giovanni looked out the window, making sure to stay out of sight. “Three, no four, all human. They’re going into the office…maybe that’s enough time.”

  “Why would they just send humans?” I asked as I continued working.

  Giovanni thought a moment. “I don’t think they know we’re here. They were sent to collect a woman and two children, all human.”

  “That makes sense. But, we’ll never make it, not with the children,” I said and zipped Paco’s bag. Alegría stood in the corner of the room, her doll grasped in her arms, her face hidden behind it.

  Lucia ran to the corner and took Alegría in her arms. “What do they want from us?”

  “I’m not sure but we’ll get you out of here. I promise.” I looked at Giovanni whose face remained calm.

  What can you do? I asked.

  Besides what we’re doing now? Nothing. I’m just smart, strong, and dependable. He shrugged.

  Great, that would do a lot of good in this situation.

  What can you do? He asked as he walked over to where Paco stood as if cemented to the floor, his eyes wide and his hands shaking.

  I can fly but not from the ground. I would need some place high…Oh, wait, that won’t help all of us. Oh, I can kind of mess with people’s minds.

  What do you mean “kind of mess with their minds?

  Well, I can make them see what I want them to see…

  “That just might work,” he said aloud.

  “What might work? Please, someone say something before they get here,” Lucia pleaded with us.

  “We are planning something,” Giovanni explained and turned back to me. “Think you can make us invisible right now?”

  “I don’t know,” I held Paco against me.

  “Ouch!” he complained.

  “I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I backed away from him and he ran for his mother and sister but smiled at me, assuring me he wasn’t angry.

  “Lily, now please, an answer. They are leaving the office.”

  Taking a deep breath, I tried to ground myself. I had to try. I had to get these innocent people out of here safe and sound. I had to. “I think I can. Let’s try. If it doesn’t work, take them and leave the rest to me.”

  “No. We go together.” Giovanni announced. “I am going to take my gun out, just in case. I will not use it unless I have to protect you,” he explained to the three cowering in the corner. “We are going to walk outside, close together, and get into the car. Please do not make a sound.”

  “This is crazy. They are going to see us,” Lucia protested.

  “If this plan works, they will not see us and we don’t want them to hear us either, so please, be as quiet as you can,” he explained with such authority I found myself nodding.

  “Mamá, carry me,” Alegría asked already holding her arms up. Lucia looked at me and I nodded. The less footsteps, the better. Giovanni answered my thought by scooping Paco into his arms, gun ready in one hand.

  “Whatever happens, we stay together,” I whispered to them, their eyes full of fear. “Ok, here we go.”

  I took a deep breath and concentrated on the figures in front of me, picturing them as nothing but air. Giovanni, arms full, motioned with his head for Lucia to open the door. She turned wide eyes to me and I realized I had to concentrate harder. Her image wavered before my eyes before disappearing completely, just as I needed it to. Hopefully, it would last.

  To our right, the four humans, three men and one woman, kicked doors open and searched rooms. I counted doors as we took tentative steps and felt panic when I saw they only had three more rooms to check before coming our way. As we inched our way toward the car, the images of Lucia, Paco, Alegría, and Giovanni wavered and swayed in front of me, coming in and out of focus as if a camera tried to zoom in on them. This would never work. I had to make them invisible before the others left the next room.

  As we made slow progress on our path, a light breeze picked up the dust of the unpaved parking lot, blowing it in our faces. Alegría sneezed. We froze.

  “She has allergies,” Lucia whispered.

  “What was that?” The woman poked her head out of a room. A man stepped up behind her and stuck his head out, looking around the parking lot.

  My eyes stayed in place, glued on the figures in front of me, picturing nothing but the ground, the trees in the distance, the few cars parked along the outer edge of the lot.

  “Someone’s out here,” the woman said from the doorway. “Jorge, go look around.”

  “It was nothing. It was just the wind, or a car, or something,” he argued.

  “I said go look,” the woman commanded. “You two, next room.” The other two men walked out, following her orders. She stood outside the room, hands on her hips, as she looked in our direction.

  Keep going…We’re almost there… I communicated to Giovanni.

  She senses something…

  I know…I’m working on it…Keep going…

  While I concentrated on the scenery in front of me, I heard the woman’s footsteps as she left the room and slowly walked toward us. Lucia stopped breathing. Paco took a deep breath.

  “Hello?” the woman called. “Who’s there?”

  I looked back just long enough to see her arm stretch in front of her as if grasping for something. She just missed me. I nudged Lucia to walk faster. I concentrated harder, picturing a dog, his brown fur dirty and matted to his thin frame, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth from thirst. Stray dogs were nothing new in these parts.

  “I see no one. I looked all around the building,” Jorge said as he walked up to her. “Oh, look, it’s just a dog.”

  “I could have sworn…Ok, back to work,” she said as she looked down. The dog was lying on the ground, scratching savagely at its neck. With a disgusted look on her face, the woman looked around one more time before following Jorge back to the row of doors.

  She had come so close to discovering us, but my concentration remained solid.

  Open the driver-side door, Giovanni. We can all get in that way and climb into our seats. I instructed.

  Once we were seated, Giovanni pulled his door shut as quietly as possible. How do we get out of here without starting the car?

  I hadn’t thought of that…What if I put in into neutral and you push, at least until we are a safe distance away?

  We could do that, but they may notice a car moving with no driver.

  That’s a chance we’ll have to take…

  Before moving to the driver’s seat, I whispered, “Giovanni is going to push us until we are far enough to start the engine. Please stay down just in case.” I needed to focus on keeping Giovanni and I invisible while steering the car. I wasn’t sure my concentration would last long enough so I mentally let go of Lucia and her children for the time being. They ducked down in the seat, huddled together, as Giovanni started pushing. We rolled along the dirt path of the parking lot in the direction of the pa
ved road leading out of town. So far so good. They were still busy searching rooms.

  Lily, how far do you think before we start it?

  Just a little more…Oh, no! They are coming out of Lucia’s room. Stop pushing for a moment.

  Giovanni stopped pushing just as the woman’s head slowly turned, scanning the parking lot. I held my breath. She shook her head and walked into the open door to the next room. I exhaled. Giovanni resumed pushing the car.

  We should be good. Get in… I instructed Giovanni. He ran to the passenger side and jumped in. I looked at him and sighed, turning the key.

  “Step on it, Lily,” he looked back. “I’m sure they heard me closing the door.”

  The three huddled on the back seat stopped breathing; their heart beats speeding in my ears.

  “Can you do something, disguise us, make us invisible again?” Giovanni asked as he signaled for the others to stay down.

  “I’m trying,” I accelerated as soon as the road allowed, the tires kicking up stones and hitting the sides of the car. Alegría screamed. “I have to concentrate on keeping us on the road.”

  Up ahead, the road began to curve uphill. I gripped the steering wheel tighter. Though I couldn’t see them in the rearview mirror yet, I heard their tires screeching as their car made its way out of the dirt lot.

  “They are coming, mamá,” Paco yelled behind me.

  “Get down, Paco. We’ll lose them,” I tried to assure him though I wasn’t sure I believed it myself.

  “Lily, watch out!” Giovanni yelled as we approached the first turn in the narrow road. I jerked the wheel to the right, the car balancing on two wheels before landing on all four with a bang. Screams turned to the squeals of pleasure from the children in the back seat. “I can see them now. They’re catching up!” Giovanni warned as the road straightened again. In the rearview mirror, their vehicle made an appearance in a cloud of dirt. I stepped on the gas, hoping the little piece of junk we rented would cooperate.