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Kara, how are we here? I don’t know what happened. We were sleeping, and then we were in the hands of Huitzilopochtli.
I’m sorry, Celeste. That was my doing. I led us outside while you slept,Kara said, guilt evident in every word.
But why?I asked, unable to understand why she would do that to us.
Selene showed me that Huitzilopochtli would come for us. He would have killed so many in our pack. So much loss. Gabriel, Valeria, little Meli and the girls. So much death just to get to us. She told me the only way to avoid it was to turn ourselves in. She promised he wouldn’t hurt us until the full moon. But I couldn’t tell you. Markus would have never let us go, and you wouldn’t have been able to keep it from him. I had to wait and do it while you slept.
But our pups,I sobbed.
It’s not all lost, Celeste. Markus has two weeks to find us and rescue us. We have to trust our mates and our friends. We have to trust Selene wouldn't do all of this just to have us sacrificed. They won’t let us down,she reassured, trying to soothe me.Eat, we can’t let the pups suffer. We must stay strong. We’ll need our strength.
I used the bathroom and then moved to the mini-fridge. I grabbed some granola bars and a sandwich I found there. I forced myself to eat them, then hugged a pillow and cried myself to sleep while Kara sang me lullabies in my head.
I woke up some hours later when I heard the padlocks begin to unlock. I crawled to the farthest corner of the bed again. Huitzilopochtli walked in with some sort of equipment and a bag of food. He noticed the empty sandwich package and nodded.
“Good, you’ve eaten something. I need you to sit here,” he said as he placed a white screen behind a chair.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“We are going to Mexico, and for that, you need a passport. I need some pictures to get one for you,” he explained, showing me the camera.
“And if I refuse?” I asked.
Don’t refuse, Celeste. We need to play along until Markus finds us,Kara said.
“Then I will force you, and that will only end with you injured. I prefer not to hurt women without need,” he said, and I scoffed, feeling braver, or stupider, than I should.
“You have systematically killed everyone in my pack. The ones that survived were starved, beaten and then sold to you, as well. Which part of that was needed?” His eyes darkened in anger at my words.
“The massacre was not my plan. I only wanted you and your mother. That’s why I hired those idiots to do it according to your laws, but they were mad. The carnage was senseless. I cut all my contact with them afterward, only to find out they were trying to sell the young girls they took from there. I bought them, looking for you. I knew you weren’t dead, but I didn’t know who you were, so I bought them all.”
“And then killed them,” I snarled, and he somehow found the nerve to look offended at that.
“I wouldn’t kill innocent people. Those girls were half dead. I fed them, and when they were well enough, I took them to a brujo (sorcerer) and erased their memories of what happened to them. I dropped them off in several borders of packs around Mexico.”
My hand went to my chest, and I sat up straighter.
“You didn’t kill them?” I asked as tears came to my eyes.
“I do not harm women,” he insisted, and I wanted to believe him.
“But you would kill me? Huitzilo—”
“Helios,” he interrupted.
“What?”
“Call me Helios. Huitzilopochtli is a name I haven’t used in a long time.”
“You don’t hurt women, but you would kill me?” I asked. How did that make sense?
“Yes. I am not a monster. I am simply fulfilling a promise I made to my mother. Everyone who contributed to my mother’s death will pay. Now, enough talking. Sit, before I make you,” he finished coldly, and I couldn’t help but notice the pain in his voice as he spoke.
I sighed and did as I was told. After he was done, he grabbed his equipment and walked toward the door.
“Wait,” I called, making him pause at the door. “Where is Sandra?” He grimaced and looked at me curiously.
“I don’t know what you did to that woman, but she tried to kill you when I brought you back while you were unconscious. I killed her. She was not a good person, but she was the only way I could find you.” He turned around and opened the door, pausing where I could see nothing but a set of stairs behind the door. “I brought you dinner. We should be traveling in a few days.” With that, he left, leaving me stunned on the chair as I heard the padlocks click back into place.
