Author's Notes: The gruesome discoveries in this chapter are all by implication rather than description. I describe the characters' reactions to what they've seen rather than the bodies themselves. I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse.

~Edited to shift notes to the end~

Chapter 5

Gruesome Discoveries

The storm had passed, all sound and fury, doing very little in the way of damage or delivering rain. It was a relief to Diego; he really didn't want to delay any further. As it was, he was barely able to hide his feelings anymore, and he'd prefer to control just when he told her the truth.

He'd woken up very early and took the opportunity to deal with the ranch business so that he wouldn't have anything to worry about until the afternoon. He also went and pulled out the letter from Dracula to see exactly what it was that the man wanted from his family. He claimed that the book was an old family heirloom that had somehow fallen into de la Vega hands. The title was an odd one: Libro magicae et occultis philosophia. As far as he knew, his grandfather hadn't been particularly interested in such things.

He certainly didn't remember any such volume, and he was as familiar with the family library as anyone. Although, he did have a vague memory of his grandfather talking about his great grandfather's interest in the supernatural. Perhaps, his great grandfather had been the one to bring it, but still that didn't tell him anything about where it could be or why Dracula considered it so important. He supposed there could be some books in storage in his grandfather's old room. That was something that he could check later. Right now, he'd rather ride into Los Angeles.

The pueblo seemed very quiet when he arrived, which seemed odd as he'd expected to see the morning patrol returning. He walked into the tavern and was pleased to see that Victoria was already dressed to go riding.

"Buenas días, Victoria," he said, cheerfully.

"Buenas días, Diego," she replied. "You missed some excitement this morning."

"I did? What happened?" he asked.

"It's still a bit mysterious. One of the lancers from the patrol came tearing into the pueblo, and not long after Mendoza was taking a cart out. No one said anything, but it seemed serious."

"And you have no idea what it was about?" Diego asked.

"I'm afraid not," Victoria said, but hesitated. "Although, and this seems crazy, I heard something about Z's..."

"Z's? As in Zorro? That does sound crazy," Diego said, starting to wonder what was going on.

"I know. It doesn't even make sense, since Zorro hasn't..." Victoria broke off. She looked around at the few customers in the tavern. "Let's go outside; that is, if we're still going on that ride."

Diego agreed quietly. "Of course."

They left the tavern together. Victoria turned to him once they were safely out the door.

"Diego, there's something I've been wanting to ask you; it just hasn't seemed the right time," Victoria said.

Swallowing nervously, Diego said, "You can ask me anything, Victoria."

Victoria looked around the empty plaza, as if she was searching for something. There was the sound of horses from a distance. She looked back at him. "That sounds like the lancers returning. What I want to know can wait until later. I'd rather not be interrupted."

Diego stared at her, wondering if she suspected the truth. Since she didn't seem particularly angry with him, he certainly hoped she did. It would make things easier. "There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about as well," he said. "I just haven't..." He broke off as he saw the lancers riding back into town, a wagon following them.

He could tell by the looks on their faces that something was very wrong. "Wait here," he told her firmly. He crossed the plaza.

Mendoza was driving the cart but pulled it to a stop when he saw Diego. Concerned at the sick look on the sergeant's face, Diego didn't notice the smell coming from the cart for almost half a minute. He barely heard Mendoza tell some of the men to get the padre.

"What's going on, Sergeant?" he asked.

"Oh, Don Diego, it is not good," Mendoza said, in a shaky voice. "The early patrol found the bodies of four men. I haven't seen anything like it..." He stopped.

"Is there anything I can do, Sergeant?" Diego asked.

Mendoza looked at Diego solemnly. ", Don Diego. There is something, but I don't like to ask it of you."

"You can ask anything, Sergeant. If I can do it, I will."

Mendoza sighed. "I'd ask Dr. Hernandez, but he's out of town... and you're a man of science and know things about..." He hesitated again. "It was bad, and I need to know if they were killed by animals or people, and they were... marked. I don't understand it."

Diego stared at Mendoza for a long moment. "I'll help, Sergeant. Just give me a couple of minutes, and I'll be right there."

"Gracias, Don Diego," Mendoza said. "I wouldn't ask, but I've never seen such a thing, and if there's some kind of animal that does this, we need to know what it is, and I guess what kind of people would keep such a thing. I don't know of any gangs that work with animals. This just doesn't make any kind of sense." He started the cart moving again.

Diego walked back over to where Victoria was standing.

"What is it, Diego?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but the lancers seem to have found some mysterious bodies while on patrol, and with Dr. Hernandez away..."

"Mendoza wants your help," Victoria said. "I understand. I saw how the lancers looked. It must have been bad if he needs someone to try to figure out what killed them."

"I'm sorry, Victoria."

"Don't apologize, Diego. This is important. What I wanted to talk about can wait," she said. She took his hand for a moment. "I'll see you later."

Diego sighed as he watched her walk back inside the tavern. If he didn't know any better, he'd think that his fear was conspiring with the elements to keep him from telling her his secret. He shook his head in self-disgust at that thought. Men were dead, and he was feeling sorry for himself. Bracing himself, he made his way over to the cuartel, wondering what it was that made Mendoza look so green.

Two hours later, Diego left the cuartel feeling distinctly ill himself. He'd managed to keep his composure while examining the bodies. He didn't want Mendoza to regret asking him for help. Padre Benites handled it much better than he did. Private Sanchez also managed to keep his head, and he was the one who identified one of the bodies as being that of Juan Martinez, a wanted man who led a small group of bandits and had a thousand peso price on his head.

Diego wished he could say these men had been victims of some kind of animal attack, but he knew of no animal that made wounds like those. Also, a couple of the bodies seemed strangely bloodless, without any signs of heavy bleeding on their clothing. And then there were the Z's carved into the chests, after the men had been killed. That's what he couldn't understand. Was someone trying to frame Zorro or warn Zorro? Did they just have a serious hatred of bandits? Reluctantly, he told Mendoza that his men had better keep an eye out for danger, as whatever person or persons killed those men were of a particularly deadly persuasion.

He needed to see where the men had been found; the lancers were no good at tracking or reading the signs. As casually as he could, he asked where the bodies had been found, and Mendoza gave him reasonably precise directions. He was relieved when he could leave and let Padre Benites attend to the remains.

Before heading out to investigate, Diego walked over to the tavern. He couldn't stand the thought of eating, but he was parched and, more importantly, didn't want to leave town without seeing Victoria again. He glanced at his hands before going through the door. He'd scrubbed them as thoroughly as he could, but he felt like the blood was still clinging to him, even if he couldn't see anything.

Victoria looked at him with concern as he walked through the door. "Are you all right?" she asked as he approached the bar.

He worked on smiling at her. "I will be, but I could use some of your lemonade if you have any left."

"I certainly do," she said, pouring him a glass.

"Gracias," he said.

He drained his glass quickly. Without asking, Victoria filled it again. This time he managed to sip it. He was starting to feel a little better now.

"You are an angel of mercy," he said.

"How bad was it?" she asked.

Diego shook his head. "Bad enough. Bandits or vigilantes who have no problem killing." He looked at her. "Bad enough that I'm worried about what may happen next."

Victoria shivered a little. Diego finished his drink and placed some coins on the counter.

"I wish I could stay longer," he said reluctantly. "But with all that's happened, I need to be going..."

"Be careful, Diego," Victoria said, putting her hand over his. "Please."

"I'm always careful," he said with as much sincerity as he could.

Victoria looked skeptical. "I'm not entirely sure about that. I think you're more reckless than you appear to be."

Diego was slightly taken aback. "I'll be careful. Really," he said. "I'll see you later." He squeezed her hand gently before heading out the door.

As he rode out to the location where the bandits had been killed, Diego wondered if he was being reckless going off unarmed except for a knife in his boot, but then the bandits had been armed with swords, knives, and pistols, and that hadn't helped them. Besides, it was highly unlikely that whoever had killed them was lingering in the vicinity on the off chance that some solitary traveler would examine the scene.

He was almost there when Esperanza shied and refused to go any closer. Dismounting, he took a little time calming her down before making his way on foot. It wasn't hard to find. In fact, it was very clear exactly where each man had been found. Diego tried to ignore the increasingly sick feeling in his stomach and examine the area for clues. It wasn't easy as the lancers had trampled over the area, and a few had obviously gotten sick themselves. Also, the road was hard-packed and not conducive to leaving tracks, except for a small section in the middle near where two bodies had been found, where water seemed to have pooled from the last rain. Finally with some difficulty, he managed to distinguish the impression of something other than the lancers or their wagon. Heavy. Possibly a coach.

His mind flashed to Dracula, whose coach he'd seen as it passed out of Los Angeles. Until this moment, he hadn't even considered the coincidence of his arrival with the death of the bandits. Why was that? He stopped and thought for a moment. Well, neither Dracula nor his coachman seemed to have been in any kind of struggle; there'd been no splashes of blood visible on their clothing. He found it hard to believe that two men could have taken out the bandits in such a bloody way without showing any signs of the fight. However, he considered that they might not have been alone. They might have had an escort that deliberately kept out of sight.

It was a thought to keep in mind, but Diego wasn't going to accuse a man without proof, and he had to admit that while Dracula was certainly intimidating, nothing about his behavior had indicated that he'd just gotten through killing or having killed the bandits.

Diego took a deep breath then regretted it. He hadn't really discovered anything, except the obvious that something violent had happened here, and without any clear signs, there was no way of knowing if whatever it was had passed on or was still in the area. He felt the chill of that thought right down to his bones.

Queasily, he made his way back to Esperanza and then rode swiftly back to the hacienda where he tried to wash away the horrors of the day and the fear that this was only the beginning.

~TBC~

Monday: Chapter 6 - Dracula on the Prowl.

End notes: While I'm indulging in a few clichés and conventions of the genre, I am trying to avoid a few others like the heroine being attracted to the vampire. In this case, it was very easy as this particular Dracula was portrayed as pure predator rather than seducer. He does have plans for Victoria though. Just not quite the usual ones.

Also for those who are curious about how long this is going to be, it's running about 22 chapters including prologue and epilogue, and unless catastrophe strikes, the last chapter should go up on Halloween— this is most definitely a story best told in October. I'll be updating this story very regularly. And I hope you all keep reading and reviewing. The reviews have been making my days cheerier and are making the final tedious editing process more enjoyable, and I've already been reminded of one plot point that needs to be better addressed, so they're helpful as well as encouraging.


~Moved from the top as I'm reediting to try to remove the most spoilery things from the beginning while still leaving what I had written~

This really is the darkest story I've ever written, and I'm trying to be very careful with just how far I go. I tend to be of a particularly squeamish nature myself, so I'm not exactly sure what possessed me to write this story, but I'm not writing past the limits I can stand which is basically no farther than Monster Squad went, and as far as I can tell, actually not quite that far (I definitely don't have anything even remotely as gory as the wolfman and the dynamite scene from the film).

I also don't know much in the way of Latin, so the title of the book mentioned in this chapter comes from an online translator. For reasons that will become clear later, I didn't want to use a known volume.