Certain Dark Things(93)

Bernardino staggered back, older again, his hair gone gray, and smirked at her.

“Atl? Are you okay?” she heard Domingo say.

Domingo rushed toward Atl. She felt a kiss upon her brow, then his arms around her. She raised her head and looked at Bernardino.

You did lose, Bernardino’s eyes told her.

She could not deny it. He’d warned her about this. She could smell the blood from the dead humans, Nick’s blood, her own blood.

“I’m fine,” she said, staring back at Bernardino.

She looked at Domingo. He seemed tired, but he was still like a freshly minted coin, and she knew all she’d ever be able to give him was this. The scent of blood and death. Nothing new or clean. And he wouldn’t mind.

Sacrifice. The face of all earthly things at one point is sacrifice.

“And you, Bernardino? Are you all right?” Domingo asked.

“I’m fine too.”

“I owe you,” Atl said, looking at the vampire. “I won’t forget that.”

“You have an appointment,” Bernardino told them.

She wished to thank him more, but he was already trailing back to the entrance of the landfill, walking by the shacks, sinking into the night.

They began to walk in the opposite direction.

“Where’s Cualli?” she asked.

“The woman shot him,” he said.

They were walking past the woman, her eyes open and her head at an odd angle. Dead too. Like the dog. She derived no pleasure from it and looked away, forward into the darkness.

“It’s just the two of us now,” Domingo muttered as he picked up her backpack, which she’d dropped during the fight.





CHAPTER

40

They stumbled onto the road, the sea of garbage behind them. They moved slowly. The sluggish canal they’d crossed over, full of filth, ran parallel to them. There were still no lights, just the moon, steady, illuminating their path until they reached a bridge and there finally, streetlights.

It was a long walk, eternal. They spotted a solitary convenience store among a sea of gray, square buildings. And stationed in front of the store a battered car, the windows rolled up, with Manuel at the wheel.

Atl grabbed the backpack hanging from Domingo’s shoulder and zipped it open, fiddling with the documents inside. She took out an envelope and tucked it into her jacket, then zipped the backpack closed.

“I’ve left cash in there,” she said. “There’s also IDs. In a couple of months pay a visit to Elisa and ask her for access to an account. She’ll have one for you. It’ll be my parting gift. You’ll have a good life.”

Domingo heard the words, but they were like an echo, faint, distant. The words could not be real.

“Wait, what are you saying?” he asked.

“I’m leaving you here. I go onward by myself.”

“You’re kidding.”

She shook her head.

“You can’t. Why’d you say such a thing?” he babbled. “Why’d you joke like that?”

“I’m serious. You are going to be fine. There’s money in there and there will be more in the account.”

Domingo let the backpack fall to his feet. He did not know if he could speak, his breath seemed to burn his lungs, and he could hardly remember how to utter a coherent sentence.

“No,” he said, and gripped her arms. “No, you promised. You have to take me with you. We talked about South America. First thing we do when we get to Brazil is you’re going to buy me a suit and we are going to have a dinner in Rio. You can’t leave me!”

“Who do you think you are to demand anything of me?” she sputtered. “Let go of me or I’ll break your arm.”

“Then break it,” he replied, holding on tighter to her.

She pushed him away and he lost his balance, falling down. He lay sprawled in the middle of the road, watching her. A cricket chirped nearby. The night seemed terribly vast, like the inked panel in a comic book, threatening to swallow him whole.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked her. His mouth had gone dry.

“You’d slow me down.”

“I wouldn’t!”

“I don’t need you anymore.”

Her words cut into him, through muscle and bone. Domingo felt his eyes stinging with tears but he didn’t cry. He pulled himself up, scanning her face feverishly.

Atl promptly looked away and closed her eyes.

“Look at me,” he said, and his voice sounded harsh and alien. “Don’t be such a coward and look at me.”

Atl opened her eyes and stared at Domingo. He stared back. He wanted to touch her. He wanted to kiss her and kiss away any doubts, but when he moved toward her she took three steps back.

“You’re a liability. I’ve made mistakes because of you and I can’t afford them anymore. You’ll get me killed or I’ll get you killed. I’m doing you a favor. You’re too young to die, especially for me.”

“Maybe I don’t care if I die. You said you’d take me with you,” he told her again, caught in a loop.

She turned her head, looking at the path they had followed, and then she looked in the opposite direction at the car waiting for her.

“I’ll tell you one vampire fact, Domingo. One final one for your scrapbook,” she said, her voice languid. “We always lie.”