Haunted Hearts

Chapter 1-2

Alessandro Escobar knew trouble was brewing. No one had said anything to his face, but he’d lived in the village of Pico n***o his entire life, knew each and every member of the Escobar witch clan as well as he knew himself. Yes, everything should have been calm and quiet, peaceful now that Vicénte, the former leader of the clan, had been removed from power by his far more talented — and, luckily for the Escobars, much less cruel — younger brother Gabriel, and yet Alessandro saw the way people wouldn’t meet his eyes, how they cast their gaze somewhere else whenever he crossed their path.

One could have argued that he should be used to such things, that as a warlock who possessed the odd and thankfully rare null talent — a talent that allowed him to suppress the power of any other warlock or witch in his vicinity — he should have grown accustomed over the years to being something of a pariah. This was different, though. Something about these sidelong glances felt different…smelled different.

Because of all this, he wasn’t terribly surprised when Gabriel summoned him to a private meeting at the large, gracious house that had once belonged to Vicénte and was now the property of the new primus and his fiancée, Ava Castillo of the Castillo clan in New Mexico. There were already signs that the home’s new occupants were doing their best to make it their own — brightly painted pots filled with equally bright flowers occupied places of honor on either side of the front door, and more flowers graced the surface of the dining table in the airy room that served as both a living and eating space on the ground floor.

The clan’s new primus did not appear particularly ill at ease, but Alessandro noted the way his companion’s smile of greeting seemed a little forced, as if she actually was not all that happy to have the null in her home. She was a beautiful young woman, with luxuriant, wavy dark hair and the kind of full mouth that might make a man’s thoughts tread dangerous ground…especially when that mouth belonged to a woman claimed by the clan leader.

“Please, Alessandro, sit down,” Ava said, gesturing him toward a leather sofa that faced two chairs, all of the seating grouped around a large carved coffee table of dark wood. More flowers graced that table, but the furniture itself was still the same. Most likely, they hadn’t yet had the time to replace it. After all, Gabriel had only taken control of the clan four days earlier, and although some things had changed — the apparently brain-dead Vicénte, felled by a dark spell that had backfired on him, was now in a private room in a clinic in San Salvador, maintained by machines but with no semblance of a mind left, and the clan elders who had been his lackeys were gone for good, chased off into the jungle — many more elements of the village and the people in it still seemed more or less unaltered. “Some tamarind tea?”

He accepted the drink because he knew it would be churlish to turn it down, although his shoulders tensed even as Ava handed the heavy glass to him. The usually refreshing tang of the tea now tasted downright sour to him, and he made himself take a second swallow despite his desire to set the beverage down on the table and ignore it.

“I suppose you’re wondering what this is about,” Gabriel said. Unlike his fiancée, he appeared relaxed enough, sitting there with his hands casually draped over his jeans-clad knees.

But then, why wouldn’t Gabriel be relaxed? He now had everything he’d ever wanted — his controlling older brother out of the way, rule of the Escobar clan, and a beautiful woman at his side.

Whereas he, Alessandro —

“I think I can guess,” he said, then forced himself to drink some more of his tea. Custom satisfied, he finally allowed himself to put it down on a coaster of tightly woven reeds.

This reply seemed to surprise the primus; now he leaned forward slightly, and his brows drew together. “You can?”

“I am not blind, Gabriel,” Alessandro said. He would not allow himself to be overly formal. They had known each other all their lives, had been friends back before their powers began to develop. His terrible null talent had put an end to their friendship, but still, he could not forget their shared past. “I have seen how the others in this village have been acting toward me these past few days.”

Everyone except his mother and his sister, of course, but they were used to him, did not fear his ability to take away the powers that defined them.

Ava spoke then, saying, “It’s nothing you’ve done, Alessandro — ”

“But I don’t have to do anything,” he cut in, his tone bitter. “I only have to be what I am, right?”

Gabriel and Ava exchanged a glance. From the way her full mouth tightened and her gaze shifted away from him, Alessandro had a feeling she would much prefer to be elsewhere.

Well, he could sympathize.

“There have been…concerns,” Gabriel said after a weighty pause. “There are fears that, since you seemed to have no problem using your powers against the people here when my brother ruled this village, you may do the same thing going forward. Trust is a very delicate thing.”

Did Gabriel think he didn’t know that? Alessandro had despised himself for going along with Vicénte’s cruel edicts, but although the null power he commanded was a fearful thing, even it had its limits. He could have taken Vicénte’s powers away…possibly could have even overcome the two elders who followed their primus’s commands in all things…but he could not have prevailed in the end if enough rose up against him. And there had also been his mother and his sister to consider. No, there had never been any outright threats, and there hadn’t needed to be. He’d known what Vicénte might do if Alessandro crossed him.

“I would only use my powers if my primus asked me to…and I don’t think you would do that, would you, Gabriel?”

“Not without a very good reason,” he answered. “But that is not enough reassurance for some people.”

“Everyone is on edge right now,” Ava said. “Which is totally understandable, considering what’s happened recently. But we — Gabriel and I, that is — we were thinking that maybe it would be a good idea if you were to…take a break for a while.”

“‘A break’?” Alessandro repeated. “What do you mean?”

Another pause as once again the pair traded glances. This time, it was Gabriel who spoke. “We thought you could go away for a while, just until things are more settled here.”

He made it sound so easy, as if it was no great matter for a warlock to uproot himself from his clan and go someplace else. “Oh, well, I have been thinking I needed a vacation,” Alessandro remarked, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in his voice.

However, Ava seemed to take his comment at face value. “Great — you’ll love Santa Fe.”

Was she being serious? “What?” he demanded as he stared at her in disbelief.

“I talked to Miranda, the prima of the Castillo clan,” Gabriel said. “And she’s fine with you coming to stay there for a while.”

“My house is empty right now,” Ava added, obviously wanting to jump in before Alessandro could reply. “You can stay there. It’s close to downtown and the Plaza, so there’s lots to see and do. I — ”

“You obviously have this all settled,” he broke in. “I have no say in any of it?”

Gabriel’s jaw tightened, but his tone was even enough as he said, “I think it would be a good idea. The Castillos are fine with having you there, and, as Ava said, you’ll have a house at your disposal. And she assures me the weather in Santa Fe is very pleasant in the summer, not nearly as hot and humid as it is here. You could do far worse.”

The intimation being, of course, that if he were to remain here, matters might come to a head with the other residents of Pico n***o. Gabriel would probably step in before things got entirely out of hand, but Alessandro had his mother and sister to consider. Yes, his mother was now one of the clan’s elders and possessed a status she previously hadn’t enjoyed, and yet…his sister Lara was of an age where she might be thinking about getting married. Did he really want to cause the kind of trouble that might prevent her from making the true match of her heart?

Even so, he felt he should protest the cavalier way in which his primus intended to remove him from his life. “If people have problems with my presence here, then they should have the courage to say these things to my face. Let me face my accusers, and I will assure them directly that I pose no threat to any of them.”

Gabriel’s jaw tightened — never a good sign. However, his tone was calm, measured when he spoke. “I’m afraid that isn’t possible. Surely you must understand why certain people in this clan would wish to avoid such a confrontation. You will just have to take my word on this.”

Damn it. Alessandro knew then that it didn’t matter what sorts of arguments he put forth, what kind of protests he made. It was clear enough Gabriel had already determined for himself that the best thing to do was to get rid of him. This little interview was a formality and nothing more.

“How long?” he asked, even as a feeling of inevitability settled over him.

“I honestly can’t say for sure,” Gabriel replied. “Probably the summer at least. Then…we’ll see.”

Which seemed to be the primus’s way of saying that he didn’t know for sure and wouldn’t make promises he couldn’t keep. That sensation of inevitability grew, became a solid lump of dread somewhere in Alessandro’s gut.

It was all decided…had been decided before he even came here. Clearly, there was no reason to stay, not when there was nothing else to say.

“Fine,” Alessandro said, and rose from the couch. “I’ll pack my things.”

And before either of them could say anything, he stalked from the house. As he went, he felt his hands curl into fists.

Somehow, he knew he would not fit in with the Santa Fe witches any better than he had here in the place where he was born.