Alejandro was pleased to see his daughter-in-law sitting in the library reading a new book from Spain. A small smile on her lips lifted his spirits. "Hola! Victoria," he greeted her.

She tried to smile when she saw him. Nibbling on her lip, she carefully closed here book. "Father, I want to apologize for last night." She patted her stomach. "I'm afraid I let some old fears overwhelm me."

"Victoria, you have nothing to apologize for," he assured her. He studied her features, and was pleased to see none of the terror he saw there last night. "You have spoken to my son."

"Yes," she said. Her small smile returned. "He is still sleeping."

He tensed at the words, expecting her to be upset that her husband had arrived in their bed so early this morning, but she seemed unconcerned. "And he helped calm your old fears?"

She glanced out the window. "Some."

Sheer willpower kept him from asking about her fears. What had driven her last night? After a short conversation with Raul at the tavern this morning, he doubted the woman had any involvement with his son. Raul said she was dirty, and wore clothes too big for her small frame. The patches had been plentiful and easy to see.

Turning to look at him, she smiled. "I sent a message to Raul. He should be here soon."

Alejandro bit back words. "I see."

She nodded and glanced out the window again. "It's time I stayed home."

"Past time," he said, letting his thoughts escape. No matter how many times he had practiced hiding them since Diego and Victoria married, his thoughts still yearned to escape.

She smiled and rubbed her belly. "Yes, past time."

He turned to leave and then remembered his conversation with Diego early this morning. Remembered the regret he felt for not speaking up sooner. "Victoria."

Her shoulders tensed. "Yes?"

"I know Diego is not the type of husband you wanted."

"Type of husband?" she said, obviously not understanding the comment.

"He's not like Zorro. Not exciting. Not romantic—"

"Father," she said, carefully using her arms to lift herself out of the chair. "Diego de la Vega is the most exciting man I've ever met."

He wondered if he had been in the sun too long. "What?"

Her eyes twinkled as she repeated, "Diego de la Vega is the most exciting man I've ever met. And the most romantic."

"Then why—"

She frowned and looked down at the floor. "I—it's complicated."

Alejandro made a vow to start paying closer attention to those he loved. First he found that Diego truly loved his wife. And now he found that Victoria truly loved her husband. So much for his certainty that it was a marriage of convenience.

"Victoria, I don't understand what is happening in this home. But if you love him—and I know he loves you—then work on it."

Victoria continued to look down at her feet. "He loves me?"

So he wasn't the only one surprised by the idea? "He never told you."

"Oh, he told me. Many times," Victoria said, finally looking up at him with eyes that were shining with unshed tears. "It's just—I thought maybe—"

The knock at the door kept her from finishing the sentence. "I'm sorry," she said, wiping her eyes. A false smile was firmly put back in place as she waited for her guest to be escorted into the room.

"I will leave you two to your business," Alejandro said.

She nodded. "Thank you."

Z Z Z

Zorro followed the trail left by whatever was killing cattle. The first sign left by the silent killer. Even though he had gone to bed just as the sun rose, he felt wonderfully rested. Holding Victoria, feeling connected with her again, had helped him relax in a way sleep never would.

The trail ended in the middle of nowhere. Zorro jumped off of Tornado and sighed. "It looks as if we've come to another dead end, my friend."

"Indeed it does, Diego."

The words froze the blood in his veins. The voice stopped his heart. He forced himself to turn and face the threat behind him. A ghost. Former alcalde of Los Angeles. "Ramone."

The ghost smiled. "I no longer go by that name, Diego. It is the past. And as my lovely lady tried to inform me, the past is unimportant."

"If the past is so unimportant, why are you here, Luis?"

The ghost laughed. "You think I'm here for revenge, Diego? I admit I did consider it when I started getting my memory back, but my lady reminded me that the future is what matters."

"The future?"

"Yes, Diego. The future."

Warm arms wrapped around him from behind as the scent of a lady's bathwater overwhelmed his senses. "Are you ready for the future, Diego?" a melodic voice whispered in his ear.

He shuddered as her fingers worked their way between the buttons of his shirt and stroked the skin beneath. "The f-future," he stuttered.

"Do you ever think about it? What little toys mankind will tinker with in the future? Where he will go? What he will learn?"

He swallowed. "Yes."

"Wouldn't you love to see it happen?"

See it happen? The future. The inventions that would be invented. The discoveries that would be discovered. Where would science lead them? So much had been learned in the last 100 years. Where would the next 100 years take them?

"Yes," he sighed, yearning to know.

"Then why don't you join us?" A seductive whispering promising him the future.

The future. His child. Victoria. Gray haired. Wrinkled face. Grandchildren playing at her feet as she laughed. That was the future he wanted.

He pulled away from Tasia's grasp. "Join you?"

She reached for him. The fury disappeared as quickly as it appeared. "You know you want to join me, Diego."

The insane world of this morning was back. Nothing made sense. "Join you? In what?"

"You'll soon know," she replied with a smile that was too confident. He tasted fear. "Come, Innocenzio, let us go home."

They were gone before he could think of a single word to say.

Z Z Z

"He's amazing," she said out loud. A light wind flirted her dress about her legs. She had tracked the Fox, still expecting him to disappoint her. Instead the lesson learned last night was reinforced. "He has the strength to resist the Call."

The Call. Every Vampire knew of it. Had experienced it. Some longer than others. She longer than any other known vampire. Aldrick refused to change her while she remained a child. Even now she debated if that refusal was selfish or selfless of him. Selfish to wait until she could be the lover he wanted. Selfless to be willing to deny the urge to procreate. To make a new vampire.

The Call. Powerful, primitive drive to procreate. The humans thought anyone could be a vampire. Not true. Only certain humans possessed the ability to be changed, and the Call let the vampire know who could be a "child" and who was only food.

After Tasia left the area, she approached the shaking man in the field. "I told you she liked to play with her food."

The man continued to pet his stallion. "Food."

"Food. It's what you are."

The horse snorted, conveying his opinion. And his master's, too, she knew. "You are both loco."

"No, we are both damned. According to legend at least."

His laughter boomed across the empty landscape. "Damned? You are not damned. That is me."

His pain hurt her in ways she thought forgotten. "Why? Because you yearn for her? Because you yearn for me?"

He took a step closer to his horse. "I adore Victoria. She's beautiful. Inside. Tasia is dark. Rotted inside by her beliefs. Yet, I let her kiss me. I let her touch me. After spending last night in Victoria's arms, I let her touch me. And I wanted more."

"You wanted what only she could give you." Even last night she would have laughed hysterically at the idea of offering this man-or any man-comfort.

Finally, he shuffled to look at her. "Victoria—"

"Can give you love. Companionship. Children."

"Yes." The yearning both broke her heart and awed her.

"Tasia can give you life."

The masked man remained silent for a moment. The wind blew his cape around him. The moonlight revealed the blankness on his face. "Give me life?"

"Yes," she said, taking a step towards him. The horse, sensing her differences, took a step backwards. Animals always knew.

No doubt in his mind now that she was completely loco. "I am alive."

Closing her eyes, she opened her senses. She heard bugs scratching across the dry ground. She could smell the rabbits sleeping beneath their feet. The wind played across her skin. "No," she whispered, opening her eyes again. "You are not alive. Not the way we are."

"I need to get home," he said, putting a foot in the stirrup.

"Of course, according to legend, we are dead."

He froze. "Dead?"

"According to legend."

"Which makes you—" he said, looking over his shoulder.

"A vampire," she answered.

"A vampire." He laughed. The sound actually frightened her.

Z Z Z

Thirty minutes later, Zorro's sides still ached from the insane laughter that had overtaken him. He and the woman who had almost killed him in his lair last night were walking towards the de la Vega lands. Their border was just over the ridge. Usually, he would do anything to keep anyone from seeing Zorro near de la Vega lands, but this enemy already knew his identity.

Terror should be overwhelming him. Thoughts of what to do and how to protect those he loved should be racing through his mind as he implemented one of his numerous plans for escape. However, tonight, he lacked the ability to feel.

At least he knew that the woman beside him was sane. During their conversation tonight, he had come to realize truth in the old adage that the simplest answer was often the correct one. The world had not gone insane; he had.

The answer made sense. It made sense of why his marriage-which should have been perfect-had been filled with pain and confusion. It made sense as to why his father no longer joined them for breakfast or why Alejandro could no longer meet his son's eyes. It made sense as to why Los Angeles had become a pueblo frightened by legends.

"Vampires exist and live among us," he said, recalling her earlier words. After his attack of laughter, she had spat torrents of information at him. Information that his brain had tucked away, but for which he had no reaction.

"Yes," she said. He could feel her eyes on him, studying him, wondering. Did she realize that he was the insane one? He shuddered when he thought of Don Carlito. Would he spend the rest of his days being tied to a bed like that poor man? Or could he beg his father to end his misery?

Her hand landed on his forearm. Staring down at it, he stopped his ramble towards home. "I'm not insane," she insisted.

He lacked the energy to smile at her. "I believe you are sane," he replied and began walking again, letting her hand slide off his arm.

She skipped to catch up to him. "You are not loco."

"That I don't believe." Victoria. He needed to get home to Victoria. Away from this woman. Away from this life. He needed to put away the mask forever and concentrate on the future. He needed to concentrate on his son or daughter.

Before he could blink, she stood in front of him. "I am a vampire."

Z Z Z

Victoria blinked as she slowly became aware of the world around her. Seeing him, she jerked and partially sat up, resting her weight on her right arm. "Di—Zorro?"

Glancing down, he saw his hands wrapped in the black gloves. He had left the lair without leaving Zorro behind. He had needed to get to Victoria. With short, jerky movement, he yanked off the hat and the mask, before taking off the gloves. He leaned down and pushed them under the bed.

"Diego," Victoria said, setting up in bed. She reached for him. "What's wrong?"

He pulled off his boots and sat down on the bed. Taking a deep breath, he reached for his wife. He let go of that breath when she gathered him in her arms without a word of protest. He ignored the slightly mocking voice that reminded him that tonight he had come to her as her masked hero instead of her weak husband.

His head settled on her breast as they fell back onto the bed, and his hand landed on the slope of her belly. Listening to her heartbeat, feeling the protesting movements of his child, he finally started to feel again. This was the future. The future he wanted. Closing his eyes, he allowed sleep to overtake him. And he dreamed. Of his unborn children and their children.

Z Z Z

Innocenzio had remained away from her most of the night. No doubt he could feel her fury. It heated her.

"I did warn you that he would be difficult."

She snarled at him. He smiled. "Why not force him? You are stronger than him."

She continued to stand on the patio, daring the hints of sunlight starting to streak the sky. Innocenzio remained hidden in the shadows. Part of her wanted to mock him for being a coward, even though another part was amazed that he remained awake so close to dawn.

"Ah," he said, taking a step outside. "You find it more amusing to break them first."

Staring at him, she smiled. "Yes, I do."

"You lacked the time to play with my mind," he murmured.

"Yes, I did. I only had minutes to decide if I preferred you as dinner or as companion."

"He's not easy to break," he said, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her hair, forcing her to look up at him.

"But he is breakable."

"Maybe."

She smiles as he begins kissing her neck. "You would've been difficult to break, too."

"Yes," he agreed.

She pushed him into the house, falling down on top of him, as the sun began to burn their skin. Overwhelmed by passion, she forgot the Dark One who resisted her lure. There was no need for her to worry, though. She'd break him soon enough.

Z Z Z

He awoke in her arms. Enjoying the sensation, he refused to open his eyes. He wanted to put off starting the day as long as possible. Wanted to ignore the talk of bloodless cattle, vampires, and insanity. Here, in her arms, he believed he could conquer the world, let alone a vampire. Or insanity.

Her fingers ran through his hair. "Do you want to hide in here all day, Diego?"

Breathing in the smell of her bath water, he spoke the truth. "Yes."

Her chuckle made him feel a foot taller. "I'm not sure Father will let us stay in bed all day."

"We'll just ignore his knocking."

Her fingers continued to play in his hair. "He's a de la Vega. He won't quit even if his knuckles are bloody."

Diego sighed. De la Vega stubbornness rang true for every generation. He wondered what battles he would be having with his own child all too soon. Vague memories of his mother laughing about how stubborn he was as a two-year old played through his mind. She had continuously reminded him and his father of that fact his twelfth year, the year that was the start of some epic de la Vega battles in the hacienda. Her last year on this earth.

Nodding, he pulled himself away from her warmth. The weight he had been ignoring settled back on his shoulders. Without looking at her, he pushed himself from the bed and began taking off his outfit. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Her voice was soft, confused. At least the cool distance was not yet back.

"For coming to you last night as Zorro. For having you see him be weak." His fingers were shaking. It made the buttons difficult.

"Zorro didn't come to me last night." Her firm voice told him of her conviction. "Diego did."

He turned to look at her. "Is Zorro such a hero to you that you cannot see his weakness?"

"A hero to me?" she paused in the middle of getting out of their bed. "He's not a hero to me."

"You love him." The words cut his tongue as he said them.

"Love him? I hate him!" She stood by their bed, her fingers curled into tight fists.

His shirt fell to the floor from his hands. "Hate him?" He wished last night's emotional numbness would return.

The look of horror on her face told him more than he wanted to know. Her words were truth. A truth she had struggled hard to hide. She blinked away tears and nodded. "I hate him."

"And you hate Don Diego."

"Yes." She turned away from him and headed towards her dressing room. "They both keep the man I love away from me."

Raul. The words he had spent months dreading were finally going to be spoken aloud.

"Yes, they both keep me from Diego." He blinked as she opened the doors. "As I told Father earlier, Diego de la Vega is the most exciting man I'd ever met."

Victoria's words were more difficult to understand than the "vampire" lady's. "You think Diego de la Vega is exciting?"

She paused in her forward movement. He strained to hear her reply. "Yes. Far more exciting than Zorro."

Taking a step forward, holding out his hand, he said, "But you hate him?"

Finally, she turned to look at him. Tears were in her eyes. On their wedding day, he had taken her into the cave and promised her that she would always be happy.

"I hate Don Diego. I love Diego."

He blinked. He wasn't used to feeling confused. "I—The same person—I mean I'm—"

Her hair bounced around her face as she shook her head. "Zorro's mask is easy to see. Don Diego is a mask most people don't even know is there." She laid her hand on the door frame and leaned on it. "I used to love Zorro. And I considered Don Diego my friend, but then you ripped the masks off and let me see him. Diego de la Vega. And I knew then that the love and friendships I felt for the masks were weak."

"Victoria—"

"And then last night, you let me see him again."

"I—I was tired and weak—"

She took a step towards him. "That's the man I love. He's passionate. About everything. Politics. Poetry. Family. Science. Me. He's so passionate that sometimes he burns himself out, and he needs me to help renew him. Needs me to be a shoulder for him to cry on when he feels the cut of his father's tongue. Needs me to hold him after seeing horrors that nobody should ever have to see."

"Victoria—"

"You let me see him for a few months, and then you took him away, hid him behind masks because I wasn't the wife you expected me to be."

Vampires were surely easier to understand than Victoria. "Not the wife I expected you to be?"

She wiped at her eyes angrily. "My family did not raise me to be the proper wife of a caballero."

She sounded as if she was quoting someone. "Victoria, I never expected you to be the very proper wife of a caballero."

Her eyes looked wounded at his words. "You expected me to know more than I did."

"No," he said. "I expected you to do what you wanted to do. My father and I are hardly proper caballeros."

"Doña Abegail said—"

"Doña Abegail? Victoria, she is a hateful woman in an unhappy marriage whose only pleasure in life is making other people as miserable as her. Why on earth would you listen to her?"

Victoria bit down on her lip. "She was your mother's friend."

Diego remembered his mother and father having heated discussions about the woman. Don Alejandro hated watching his wife be misused by a woman no one liked. Elena would be horrified to see what the woman had done to the once very open social structure in Los Angeles. "My mother was kind to her because Doña Abegail had no friends in the territory. But she was always tense after spending even a few minutes in the woman's presence!"

His father warned him that the ladies in the territory could be deadly vipers. The warning had been mixed in with many warnings on why his marriage to Victoria would be a mistake. Diego had loved that his father had been concerned for him, but thought he lacked the knowledge to give him advice on his marriage. He didn't know that Diego was Zorro. So, like many of his father's warnings, he had ignored it. Victoria had been a part of many social occasions in Los Angeles, and she always handled herself with poise and grace.

Perhaps, like many of his father's warnings, he should have listened. "Victoria, my only expectation was for you to be you."

The knock they were joking about earlier arrived. "Diego, Antonio is here! I need you to join us in a few minutes."

"He'll join you in the library," Victoria called.

Every muscle in Diego's body protested. Finally, the icy barrier that had surrounded his wife was beginning to fall. A barrier he had started to believe was permanent. "We need to talk."

"And the de la Vega horses need to be bred to Antonio's horses. Father has said so many times this week."

He smiled and held open his arms, holding his breath. He released it when she walked into his embrace. "We need to talk."

"Tonight," she said.

Pushing her lightly away, he looked into her eyes. Then, he kissed her. He kissed her in a way he hadn't kissed her in months. When he pulled away, they both struggled to breathe. "Tonight," he promised, and then he began rushing to get ready for a meeting he knew he was in no shape to be a part of. His father would surely complain later about his lack of attention.

Z Z Z

Alejandro noticed his son's lack of concentration immediately. For all of his complaints about his son, he never doubted that Diego would be ready to take over the family estate when he was gone. But the sparkle in the eyes, the bounce in his step, had been missing for too long. Alejandro's joy kept any complaints from his lips. Perhaps his son and daughter could work out their differences before their child was born.

"Diego, we did well today," he said as they walked into the library.

His son, looking over his shoulder, nodded. "Yes, Antonio seemed pleased, too."

"We both should make a tidy profit from this deal."

"And some good new bloodlines will be introduced to both our stocks," Diego said, sitting on the edge of his seat.

Alejandro hid his smile, remembering a time when he pranced around like a cat while waiting to see his bride. Even his skin had felt uncomfortable while taking care of business when all he wanted to do was be with his wife. "Victoria told you that she has decided to rest from the tavern until after the baby is born?"

Diego's attention focused on his father. "No, she didn't."

"Oh, I thought—anyway, it will be nice to have her around the hacienda during the day. I worried about her working too hard."

His son frowned. "Father, are you disappointed in Victoria?"

"What?"

Diego shook his head. "Victoria apparently has been the focus of some negative attention by our neighbors."

Alejandro frowned. "Attention?"

"Doña Abegail for one." Alejandro remained silent. "You knew?"

"You didn't?"

"I-" Diego shook his head. "I thought our neighbors loved Victoria."

"Most of them do. Some love her and still resent her change of status. She could have your mother's power, if she chose to exert it. If they allowed her."

His son frowned. "Mother's power?"

His son naivety worried him sometimes. "Diego, your mother was the most powerful woman in the area."

"She was the reason so many of our neighbors forgot the rules of Spanish society."

Alejandro nodded. "Yes, she was. I admit when I brought my Spanish bride to the colonies, I thought she would be horrified. I worried that I would have to take my bride and new son back to Spain within a year."

"She loved it here."

Those first few weeks home had been filled with the joy of watching his wife fall in love with the land he considered home. Most nights they had been hiding away from everyone else in the household watching the sun set and the stars rise. Whatever awe she had felt around the ladies who had tried to maintain an iron hand on the social life of Los Angeles quickly disappeared. "Yes, she did. A de la Vega in every way except blood."

Diego grinned, understanding. "Like Victoria."

Alejandro, for the first time, compared Victoria to his bride. Realized that Diego was right. Elena would have approved of his son's choice. Perhaps she could have warned him that feelings existed between the two that he never suspected until he last few days.

Miguel rushed into the room. "Don Alejandro, the alcalde has arrested the entire Vasquez family for failure to pay taxes."

He clicked his tongue. "He's upset that Rico insulted him at the tavern the other night, and he's taking it out on the entire family." He turned to ask his son to join him, but saw the answer in his son's eyes before he even asked the question. Maybe Victoria could inspire his son to take a more active role in the pueblo. "I need to go protest the alcalde's action."

Diego appeared to shrink. "Yes, someone needs to teach the alcalde a lesson."

Z Z Z

"You could have killed them," a familiar but unwelcome voice said behind him as he watched the unconscious bandits head into the pueblo on the back of their horses.

"No," Zorro said. "I could not."

"Victoria was right about you."

His shoulders tensed. "Right about me?"

"You are a good man."

His face burned beneath the mask, and his heart lightened. Victoria still considered him a good man, even though he had given her little reason to believe it recently. "I try to be."

Her smile carried in her voice. "You succeed."

He thought of Tasia's lips on his. Of his father's disappointed face. Of Victoria's shattered look. "Not always."

Her laughter was light. "None of us succeed all the time."

The shouts of the happy citizens of Los Angeles carried across the wind reached his ears. He smiled. The throbbing knuckles, the exhaustion, were worth it. They were why he fought so hard to be a good man.

Patting his stallion, he allowed himself a few moments to enjoy the laughter erupting from Los Angeles. He even enjoyed the alcalde's bellowing for Mendoza. And the knowledge that Victoria was home waiting for him made him feel as if life could be no better.

"I need your help."

Zorro sighed. Life could be better. Whatever mysterious disease that was killing cattle could be treated. And loco ladies who believed in vampires could be helped by someone else. "I have an appointment with my wife tonight. One I should have kept hours ago."

He had felt each and every agonizing minute, too. After breaking the Vasquez out of jail and threatening the alcalde, he had helped search for a missing boy, who had somehow managed to climb half-way down a cliff. Zorro's shoulder still throbbed from the wrenching it had received in that rescue. Mendoza had been with the family when he dropped the boy off, and the friendly sergeant had informed him that the coach had been robbed by a group of bandits. Two hours of tracking and a short but brutal fight later, and he was now free to go home. To his wife. Who wanted to talk.

"She'll have to wait." The voice was cool and authoritative, and he hated it.

Turning to look at her, he flinched. Gone was the messy mane. In its place was freshly washed hair pulled into a careful bun. Her old, worn clothes were replaced with attire tailored to fit her body. The dress lacked embellishments, but it was made of the finest linen. Diego noticed that her flowing skirt was actually split down the middle like pants. While her blade remained at her side, her stance spoke of a woman on a mission. His heart beat increased.

Her smile was mocking. "You don't like my new appearance, Diego?"

"Zorro," he corrected her automatically. "As for your appearance, you look lovely, as I'm sure you know."

"Sometimes, you are too much of a gentleman, but thank you." She nodded her head. "Your dislike of my appearance has nothing to do with my beauty and everything to do with the fact I now look like someone whose word you'll have to accept."

He could not deny the truth. Her tattered and filthy look matched his idea of a loco woman. The lady in front of him now seemed competent. If she came to him and said that she needed help with bandits, he would have paid attention.

"Vampires don't exist."

She smiled again. "We had this conversation last night."

Indeed they had. He remembered her words in spite of himself. "Your imagination would best be used to write fiction," he said.

She opened her mouth, obviously to repeat some of her story last night. Stopping herself, she sighed. "I need your help, Diego."

"I fight bandits, Madam. Not vampires."

"Tonight, you fight vampires."

Z Z Z