(In the spirit of Halloween....This story was originally written for the Zorro On-line Magazine.)
The wolf howled, it's cry echoing over the rolling Verdugo hills of the Los Angeles basin. A rabbit sniffed the air, it's ears slicked back in fright. Knowing that it's time was near. Knowing that danger lay ahead.
Suddenly, feathers ruffled, wings flapped and large sharp talons gripped the rabbit's midsection like a vice, squeezing the life out of the fluffy bunny. The eagle let out a long, piercing cry as it flapped it's wings towards it's nest, ready to bring food to it's hungry babies.
The fox stared into the cool night, it's eyes darting over the landscape as it walked, sniffing the ground for food. Little critters scattered from the clever predator, as the fox pounced on a little mouse holding it tightly beneath a slender paw. A small squeak came from the little mouse as the fox bent to sniff it's prey. The mouse quickly nipped at the fox's nose, causing it to yelp in pain and release it's tight hold on the mouse's tail.
The fox chased and yelped at the little mouse as it scurried away and disappeared into it's hole.......
The moon was full and bright, casting shadows against the darkness. Ghosts seemed to appear and disappear, while stories of a haunted pueblo circulated among the children. Stories of ghosts that appeared only on this special night. A night when they would live again, bringing peace of mind, or horror, to their loved ones lives.
Those that did not believe in these ghosts, were home snug in their beds, sleeping the night away.
Those that believed told stories of past tales and waited to see if they would be one of the chosen. Los Angeles, however, was a very religious pueblo. The presidios set up by early Spanish settlers brought the gospel and God to all those that lived within the town walls, and even those outside of them. Many believed that is was sacrilege to believe in these ghosts that haunted the pueblo. Many believed that stories of their appearances were just made to frighten children.
Then there were the few, every year, that were touched or haunted by these ghosts and those that did not believe were slowly dwindling to the minority.
It was a different group of people each year that were 'spoken to' and the next morning those people would recount the tales, stories or feelings imparted to them by the long dead ghosts......
The children of the pueblo sat around a brightly decorated tavern, listening to horror stories told by .....Mendoza !?
Diego leaned back and grinned as his father chuckled at the good 'ol Sergeants not-so-frightening stories. Despite how the good Sergeant tried, he could never sound frightening or menacing to anyone.
Diego stepped up to where Mendoza was sitting and rested a hand on his shoulder. Mendoza immediately ceased what he was saying and stared up at the tall caballero.
"Let me try, Sergeant."
Diego sat down amidst the cheers. Even the young children, who had come to be frightened out of their minds, could see that they would never be afraid of anything Mendoza might say.
As Diego began his story, Victoria returned with a tray of glasses full of mulit -colored liquid. She stifled a giggle when she noticed who had taken Mendoza's place in telling the stories. She didn't think Diego had a mean or scary bone in his body. She had to make sure so she sat down and heard some of what he had to say.
Alejandro shot her a strange look when he noticed her handing the strange colored liquid out to the children. When she had finished she smiled, leaned closer to the elder de la Vega, and whispered, "Colored water."
Alejandro smiled and his attention was immediately diverted to the children who had just jumped and gasped in fright.
Victoria and Alejandro crept closer to listen to what his son was telling the children.
"And the ancient creature leapt out of the tall grass and swallowed the unsuspecting children in one gulp!" Diego's voice deepened as he told the tale and Victoria found herself staring unconsciously at the young de la Vega.
The change in his voice reminded her of another and she narrowed her eyes at the young don's back.
"They were never heard from or seen again." Diego leaned back with a smug look on his face.
The children's eyes were wide with fear and he felt good at having been able to accomplish something good for the evening.
"But," He lifted a warning figure and pointed toward the tavern exit, "Sometimes you can find bits and pieces of them buried in the sands. "
Victoria's eyes widened.
"Why, just the other day, Felipe and I found some old bones buried near the hacienda." Diego's voice wavered a bit as if he had been frightened.
"So be careful going out by yourselves at night." Diego warned. "One of the ancient creatures of the night may take a step out of the shadows and eat you!" He demonstrated by opening his mouth and closing it quickly, as if he had a large mouthful of food that he just gulped down in one bite."
He finished just in time as the parents began to return to the tavern to retrieve their children.
Diego stood and made his way over to his father and Victoria grinning with delight.
"Well there. Now they should be able to go home and drive their parents insane by not being able to sleep tonight." Diego grinned and Alejandro nodded.
"Well, you do have a bit of a nasty streak in you, don't you son?" Alejandro commented. He hadn't believed his son could scare the children any more than Mendoza could.
Victoria shook her head at this change that had come over Diego. Why, he looked positively scary when he was telling that story. His features contorted, his voice at once calm, then deep and menacing.
She decided to clean up after the children and think about this change. Then maybe she would talk to Diego about it.
She left Diego and Alejandro talking about Diego's mean streak while she returned the dirty glasses to the kitchen.
Her eyes widened at the sight before her and one by one the glasses shattered on the floor.
An ear-piercing scream emanated from the kitchen and Diego was the first on his feet and into the kitchen.
Victoria stood, pressed against the wall, her eyes wide with fear, her arms clutched to her chest.
"What is it?" Diego asked, his father not one step behind him.
"Victoria!" Diego narrowed his eyes, put his hands on her shoulders and shook her back to reality. She collapsed into his arms, shivering, her heart beating so wildly that Diego could feel it through her clothing and his. He took a selfish moment to relish the feel of her in his arms.
"Father, get her something cool to drink." Diego led the glassy eyed woman to a bench and pulled her into a seated position as Mendoza peeked his head cautiously through the curtain.
"Mendoza." Diego shot a quick look at the man. "Keep the children occupied. And please keep everyone out of here. " He turned his full attention back to the frightened young woman. "Victoria, please, tell me what happened."
"Z-Zorro." She choked back a sob....
"What about Zorro?" Alejandro held a mug to her lips as she took a sip of the cool liquid.
"He - over there." She pointed to the famous window the masked man always used when visiting the tavern owner. "He was lying ..." She took a deep breath and then continued," over the opening, on his back. His shirt was torn and there was blood covering his chest, coming from his mouth." She shivered and buried her face in Diego's shirt. Diego narrowed his eyes and looked from his father to the window and back again.
"There's no blood, Victoria." Diego observed.
"I know what I saw!" She exploded, her small body shaking wildly, "and Zorro was dead!"
Mendoza peeked his head through the curtain's again. "All of the children have left."
Diego nodded." Mendoza, would you mind finish cleaning up the tavern tonight. The Señorita is coming home with us. I don't feel comfortable leaving her here alone tonight."
Alejandro shot a questioning look at his son, surprised that the young man would do anything without asking his father first. Humpf, maybe there was some hope for his son after all.
"Sí, Diego."
The de la Vega's escorted Victoria to their carriage and took off toward the hacienda, leaving Mendoza to clean and close the tavern for the night.
Mendoza cleaned up the broken glass, wiped the counter, placing the few peso's he found into a mug for Victoria to take care of in the morning, and wiped the tables the children had been sitting at.
As Mendoza was about to blow out the last candle, the light flickered and a small breeze ruffled his hair.
"Little Jaime. Little Jaime. Come here mí niño."
Mendoza snapped his head toward the source of the voice but he saw nothing. Shadows played tricks with his mind as time after time he squinted in the darkness trying to make out a shape or form he thought he saw there.
"Who's there?" he asked.
Voices whispered to him, voices of a man and woman who caressed his mind like a woman would caress a crying baby.
He again asked who was there as his eyes darted to and from each shadow. The mists in his mind swirled and the noises frightened him.
Perhaps Diego's stories had scared him more than he cared to admit.
He too had heard of the ghosts that haunted the pueblo each year but never really believed the stories told by the poor farmers.
When he received no answer, he turned to blow out the candle again but was frightened when the flame extinguished itself.
"Madre de Diós!" Mendoza exclaimed. "This pueblo is haunted!" He rushed out of the tavern. His shaking fingers struggling with the lock on the door.
The fog surrounding the tavern was thick and he raced for the security and solitude of the soldier's barracks.
DeSoto was snoring, the noise echoing around his small office. His head bobbed with each intake of breath and he finally sat up, and stood, stretching his tired aching muscles. He unlatched his office door and looked out into the dark, quiet pueblo.
"Finally, those damn fools all went to bed." He mumbled and latched the door. Halloween was just another day to him. Nothing special, bad or good ever came out of the day any moreso then any other day of the year.
He went to his room and shut the door tightly.
As he placed his sleep cap in position and relaxed between his fluffy sheets, he heard voices. For a moment he just laid in silence, trying to place where the voices were coming from. He mentally thought about escape routes and how to quickly retrieve his weapon from where it lay next to his bed. When the voices became louder, he jumped out of bed and unsheathed his weapon, uncertain of who or what was going to attack him.
"Evil alcalde." The voices began. A man and woman's voice echoed the first and continued the chant. "You will pay for in death what you have taken in life."
"Where are you, cowards!?" DeSoto's eyes darted around his bedroom. His shaking fingers lit a few candles but the light did little to stop the chanting. It only cast frightening shadows on the walls.
The alcalde buried his head in his pillow, trying to shut out the strange voices. "Silence!" He cried, his own voice muffled by the pillow.
"You can silence the voices but not the deeds...."
Diego was working diligently in his laboratory when he heard a creak. He chuckled, cursing himself for his jittery reflexes. He was trying to figure out what Victoria had seen that had frightened her so. What had she really seen ? A premonition? Something that would come to pass in the future?
He wasn't sure if he believed all the stories about ghosts in the pueblo. Sure they sounded real but with all of the tricks one could come up with nowadays, it would be easy to fool the many unschooled people in the pueblo.
"Diego." A woman's soft voice floated to him on the breeze.
Diego snapped his head around, his eyes darting to and from both entrances to the cave.
He walked around to where Tornado stood calmly munching on some bits of hay. The horse seemed to not have noticed anything strange.
Diego shook his head and was about to resume his experiments when he heard the voice again.
His heart somersaulted, his mind flashing toward the young woman who was supposed to be nestled in bed in one of the guest rooms.
"Victoria?" He questioned but he realized that could not be the case. It didn't sound like her. She was sound asleep in one of the guestrooms anyway. He had seen to that. He had stayed with her until she had fallen into peaceful slumber.
The voice, its thick Spanish accent, its calm tone, reminded Diego of someone. But he couldn't place the voice. It was buried deep down in his mind as a voice that he would never again hear. The memories of a tender voice that he had locked away in his heart. "Mí hijo."
Diego gripped the back of the chair and sank into it. That was it. His mothers voice. A voice he had not heard for over 15 years.
"Mother?" Diego questioned.
"All things will be rewarded in time, my son. Be patient."
Diego's heart skipped a beat. He found that his hands were shaking and he fought to calm them. "How do you know?" His eyes searched the shadows the lantern's light did not touch.
"My brave boy." The woman's voice was so close now. He could feel her breath against his skin, the caress of her hand as it lifted to stroke his cheek. "You have so much inside. Never be afraid to let it show."
"Mother please." Diego pleaded, his eyes straining to see something, someone that he very desperately wanted to see one last time. "What do you mean?"
He couldn't be himself around the people he loved. Or even the strangers. It would make it too easy to discover is secret identity.
"One day." He could hear, not feel, the voice crossing some unknown barrier and being carried away from him one more time. "Te amo, my son." And then it was gone. But the feeling, the warmth, the pain, in his heart still remained.
Diego sat upright listening to the wind howling, the stallion munching, his own breathing, and a single tear rolled down his cheek......
She was sleeping peacefully when he walked in. He pulled a chair to sit by her bed and stroked her soft, beautiful hair. The tea he had her drink had been mixed with a potion that would enable her to sleep peacefully. He was grateful it had worked so well. Because had she been awake, he would have revealed the secret that he had kept from her for so long. He felt helpless after the encounter with his mothers spirit. He was lonely. He wanted desperately to have normal life. One where he could shower the woman he loved with the kind of gifts and life that she deserved. He wanted children and he wanted Victoria to be the mother of those children. But while the mask remained between them, those things were not possible. He wanted to hold her in his arms and profess his love.
He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her parted lips. Resting his forehead lightly on hers for a few moments, he settled into the chair and proceeded to guard her for the rest of the night.
Victoria sat bolt upright , her eyes immediately searching for shadows. She noticed Diego asleep in the chair and smiled. What a good friend he was to stay and watch over her. The moonlight crossed over his body, darkening some areas and lightening others. She had to stare quite intently for a few seconds to make sure it was Diego and not someone else sitting with her.
She shook her head. Ever since Diego told the haunting stories, she had looked at him differently.
"But," she thought as her head cleared. "He had left the room after I fell asleep. I'm sure of it."
"Victoria...."
Victoria's eyes widened and she searched the room, the voice was very faint but she was able to make out the words.
"He is yours, forever......" The woman's voice whispered to her like a lover's caress.
"Who?" Her voice was barely audible in the silent room.
"You have nothing to do but accept his love..."
Tears slid down Victoria's cheeks as she stared at Diego's sleeping form. That was her mother's voice. The very woman who was hanged for aiding wounded revolutionaries not more then ten years ago. The very woman Victoria had gotten her fire and spirited personality from.
The voice floated away from her and Victoria reached out to grasp it. Victoria's heart cried out for the woman that had been wrenched so cruelly from her life and she sobbed. She missed her family.
She was tired of having to hold everything on her shoulders. Yes she was independent but she wanted a man to hold her when she cried, to love her when she was lonely , she wanted to be a part of a family again.
Diego's eyes snapped open and he noticed that something was wrong. He closed the distance between them blindingly fast. He took her outstretched hand in his own and brought it to his heart . He wrapped her in a tight embrace, fighting to stop her shaking shoulders.
He wiped at the tears as they flowed down her cheeks, murmuring in her ear. Trying to calm her. He rocked her back and forth like a scared child until her breathing became steady.
Unable to pry himself from her tight embrace, he laid against the bedframe and held her until he fell into a deep sleep.
Sometime in the night, or maybe it was in his dreams, he felt soft lips caress his, soft hands slide through his hair. He gave in to the sensations and soon found himself responding to the woman's touch.
Sleep claimed him once again and neither of them awoke until the first rays of sunlight filtered over the mountains and into the bedroom. Not a single word would be mentioned about the night. They were not sure if the feelings they experienced were real or imagined.
Neither would recount what they dreamed but the two childhood friends became closer through their shared experience and possibly closer to the lives they craved so much to have.
The blue haze that surrounded the hacienda, the tavern, and the alcalde's office and bedroom, like a thick fog, burned away with the rising sun not be seen for another year. For that was when the portals opened and allowed the spirits from heaven and hell loose upon the people of Los Angeles, to teach, to caress, to torture and to punish.......
The spirits remained only for one night. But the memory of them would last a lifetime........