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I had been mystified too until Gabriel had explained that Weres had supernaturally quick immune systems. The side of his face had been bruised and red from taking the blows from the butt of the guard’s rifle yesterday, but today his face was unmarked. Only a weapon with silver in it—like the belt our stepfather had used to beat him and Christopher growing up—could leave permanent marks and scars on a Were’s skin.
But of course, my stepbrother wasn’t about to explain this to Don Diego.
“I heal fast,” was all he said.
“I think my big brother is trying to ask, what do you want from us?” I said, trying to defuse the situation. “We don’t understand.”
“What I want is for the three of you to make a little movie together,” Don Diego told me. “We already have the equipment for it—though originally I had Lupio buy it to record your execution.”
I shivered, thinking of how we’d been forced to our knees with guns to our heads.
“What kind of movie?” Christopher asked suspiciously.
“A movie about love, of course.” Don Diego smiled at us from the laptop screen. “A thing you should know about Don Diego, is that I am a romantic at heart.” He put one hand over the left lapel of the cream colored suit he was wearing. “Also, I love the movies—especially love stories.”
I stared at the drug king blankly. Was he serious? A cartel leader who was into romance? It seemed strange, but I still didn’t understand what he wanted from us.
Gabriel seemed to be getting the idea though—a frown was forming on his face as he glared at the laptop.
“Here is what I envision,” Don Diego went on. “You told me you were escorting your sister to meet her esposo-to-be and that is when the idea formed in my mind. This will be a movie about an innocent young virgin bride who is about to be married the next day. But she is frightened—uncertain of what to expect. And so she goes to her beloved older brothers, and she asks them to show her—to teach her the ways of love so that she can be ready for her wedding night.”
“What?” Christopher said blankly. “You’re not actually saying you want us to—”
Don Diego’s voice suddenly went hard.
“What I want to see is the two of you fucking your little sister,” he snapped. “But slowly…gently,” he added in a softer tone. “I do not believe in violence against women.”
“No.” Gabriel was shaking his head. “No, we can’t do that! She’s our little sister! That’s incest!”
An evil smile spread over Don Diego’s jowly face.
“Which is exactly why I want to capture it on film,” he snapped at Gabriel. “And once the little movie is made, I will send a copy to your father—that cabron, Cruz—so that he can see his sons and his daughter committing the worst sins of the flesh it is possible to commit.”
“No!” Gabriel shouted again, surging to his feet. “You can’t make us do this to Zoe!”
Don Diego gave us all a cold look.
“You have two choices. You can do my little movie and I will set the three of you free…or you can refuse and I will have you all executed at once.”
Cold terror ran though my body and my skin broke out into goosebumps. I wanted to talk—to say something, to beg and plead—but my tongue felt like a lump of clay in my mouth and not a word would come out.
Christopher, however, hadn’t lost his power of speech.
“Please, Don Diego,” he said leaning forward. “You don’t understand—among our father’s people, this is an even worse crime than it is among hu—among others.”
I guessed he had been about to say “humans” and quickly stopped himself.
“It’s the worst crime you can commit,” Gabriel agreed. “If we made your ‘little movie’ and our father saw it, he would send people to hunt us down and kill us!”
“It is a great pity, then, that I do not care.” Don Diego shrugged. “At least if you make my movie for me, you will have a chance to live. You can run from your father and you may get away. But if you do not do as I ask, the three of you will be in an unmarked grave within the next fifteen minutes,” he added. “Don Diego has already instructed Lupio to have it dug.”
“It’s ready and waiting, Don Diego,” Lupio, who had been standing to one side, assured him. “Give the word and we’ll shoot all these pendejos in the head.”
I looked at my brothers and saw the expressions on their faces. Christopher was torn but Gabriel was definitely about to refuse again, I could tell. Which would get all three of us shot.
Suddenly, my tongue unfroze and I spoke up.
“We’ll do it,” I said to Don Diego.
“What?” Both Christopher and Gabriel said at the same time and both of their heads swiveled to look at me.
