Los Angeles
Dia de los Muertos, 1823
The woman stared back at him with bright brown eyes and a smirk in her smile. A smile that said she knew a secret that only she knew and would not share.
Diego remembered that smile. Likewise, the maroon dress she wore in the oil painting was one she only wore on special occasions. It was edged with black lace. He could still feel the material under his fingertips.
He lit the candle on the mantle for her, and stepped back. He felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, and turned to see his father, Alejandro, standing next to him. The older man reached forward and ran a finger down the gilded frame, then across the rosary beads sitting near the photo. "I miss her more every day," he said.
"I'm starting to forget," Diego admitted. "I was so young…"
Alejandro rubbed his son's back affectionately. "I may be old, but my memory of our dear Elena is as clear as ever. You only have to ask, my son."
Diego smiled. "I'll remember that." He straightened at a pounding on the door, shaken from his thoughts. Both de la Vega men turned around to see Bernardo, Diego's manservant and confidant, asking if he should get the door.
Diego looked at his father, brow furrowing at the insistent banging on the door. Alejandro raised an eyebrow, and then gestured to Bernardo to open the door before whoever it was broke it down.
Bernardo had no sooner opened the door when he was bowled over by a Chumash man with panic in his eyes. He grabbed Bernardo by the collar and spoke urgently in his own language.
Diego leapt to his friend's defense, pulling the man off Bernardo. "Calm down, please," he told him. "Please, you're safe here. What is the matter?"
The man gripped Diego's forearms and looked at him with terror in his eyes. Instead of English, he switched to rapid-fire Spanish. Diego could only catch every other word, but he did manage to catch fantasma and muerto.
"Diego?" Alejandro asked.
Diego put his hands on the Chumash man's shoulders. "I cannot catch everything," he said carefully. "But he said something about a ghost…and someone is dead."
The man started pulling him out the door. One of the de la Vega's vaqueros was summoned to bring three horses to the main house. Diego climbed astride a palomino they'd nicknamed Muchacho, and Alejandro mounted Princesa. The Chumash man refused the offer of a saddle and nearly left the two de la Vega men in the dust as he took off. Diego pushed Muchacho into a gallop, struggling to keep up.
They rode for almost ten minutes, and Diego was in awe of the fact that the Chumash man had to have run this far. After another few minutes, the man leapt off the horse and gestured urgently to the two men as he climbed on top of a large boulder that had fallen from the butte above them.
Diego and Alejandro's nerves were instantly on alert. The area was isolated, and they were off the main trail. Alejandro was one of the richest landowners in California and as such, a target in certain circles. And Diego knew he'd made more than his fair share of enemies as the masked vigilante El Zorro. So both men approached the boulder with trepidation, the conversation of ghosts and dead men at the forefront of his mind.
The Chumash man knelt down in the bushes and looked up at the two of them. Diego reached him first, his eyes going wide. Alejandro joined them a moment later. "Dios mio," he whispered.
The Chumash man looked at Diego again. "Fantasma," he repeated, fear in his eyes.
Diego took in the dead man's wide open eyes, staring unfocused at the sky, the strange way his arms and legs were splayed. "He is most certainly dead," Diego confirmed. He frowned. "Un momento, I know this man." He looked up at his father. "This is Doctor de la Cruz from the pueblo," he told Alejandro.
"What on earth is he doing out here at this hour?" Alejandro wondered. He waved an arm. "There's nothing out here for miles." He turned to the Chumash man. "Once more," he said. "What happened?"
The man spoke to him again, his voice shaky and out of breath.
"A ghost?" Alejandro said. "This man saw a ghost?" he clarified.
"Si," the man confirmed.
"It is more than that," Diego said. "He says this man was killed by a ghost."
"Si," the man nodded solemnly. "La Fantasma." He then added another word. "Maldicion."
Alejandro looked at his son. "A curse."
"Father, I will stay here. Ride back to Los Angeles and retrieve Sergeant Garcia. Curse or no," Diego said, "a man is dead tonight and whatever killed him is out there still."
Alejandro clapped Diego on the shoulder and jogged back to Princesa. Diego heard hoofbeats disappearing a moment later.
The Chumash man gasped and grabbed Diego by the shoulders, spinning him around. "What in the-" Diego began, but the Chumash man stopped him, pointing up the butte. Diego followed the direction he was pointing, and he swore.
Standing atop the bluff was a figure in black, looking down at them. "Uno abajo," it intoned, pointing to the dead man…and then disappearing from sight.
Diego's jaw dropped. One down.
Author's Note: Okay. The Spanish translations are coming from Google Translate, and we all know it's *always* 100% accurate. If it's not, PLEASE let me know, I want it to be authentic. Also, I don't know if they ever mentioned Senora de la Vega's name on the show, so I picked Elena, and yes, I know I went there with Mask of Zorro. Whoops :)