Author's Notes: I've realized that my worst habit is a tendency to over-explain things in my author's notes. I tend to do this in stories in which I'm not overly concerned about the content, and the compulsion was even stronger here. I also don't have a problem with spoilers, so while I try toning it down in general, I tend to forget that many people don't like even mild ones. Thus I am grateful to have had that pointed out to me. This story has been a major learning experience for me.

So while I can't promise to give up over-explaining entirely, I will now be confining that to end notes on the relevant chapters, so they can be easily ignored, and if they aren't, they still won't refer to anything yet to come. So no more teasers, no more summaries, no more spoilers except for the next day's chapter title (and I think I'm past the most obvious spoilery chapter titles). It's going to make me a little jittery, as, after all, the problem with bad habits is that they are habits, and as I don't have many vices (except an abiding love of chocolate), this will be a hard one to give up, but I will try to minimize it. Now on with the chapter.

Chapter 12

The Fox and the Hunter

It was three hours after sundown when Zorro headed for Dracula's hacienda. While he was reluctant to don the mask especially in light of the rumors and suspicions about Zorro, he hoped that with his precautions he'd be able to investigate invisibly and quickly, since this was meant to be nothing more than reconnaissance. However, if he was spotted, he'd rather not let them know exactly who was interested in them.

For tonight's expedition, instead of using Toronado's usual tack, he put him in all black as well. He'd also managed to find the spy glass that he'd once used for night vision. He had the feeling he'd need it tonight. It took longer than he expected to reach his destination. He actually managed to spot a couple of lookouts on his way there, and he'd had to dismount from Toronado and make his way on foot. As he approached, he could hear a couple of horses going on the road away from the hacienda, but he didn't get a chance to see them.

When he reached the edge of the grounds, he pulled out his spyglass to try to look around. Only a couple of the windows of the hacienda showed any signs of light, and he saw a man in the courtyard, who clearly wasn't either Boris or Dracula. He'd been right that Boris hadn't been the only other one there. As the man entered the house, Zorro wondered just how many men Dracula had.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck seemed to stand up as he heard just the lightest of scrapes behind him. Spinning quickly, he narrowly avoided taking a knife to the back. The man had been incredibly quiet, and he knew how to fight. It took Zorro longer than he expected to subdue him, and though the fight was mostly silent, he couldn't help but feel that reinforcements would arrive soon.

He rose from the ground and looked around, senses keyed up to his surroundings. He didn't see anything as he approached the house. Dropping over the wall in the back, he moved cautiously. Suddenly, he froze as he heard a very feminine giggle nearby. He spun around but saw nothing but a strange fog flowing over and around the ground. It made no sense as the night was otherwise clear. As the thought flitted through his head, he heard more laughter in another direction, but still saw nothing but the fog.

Then he heard a voice behind him. "A fox in the hen house." He turned to see a woman in white stepping out of the fog. No not quite that; the fog seemed to disappear as she appeared. He was so baffled by the phenomenon that it took him a moment to recognize Teresa. She looked pale. He stepped back.

"Not quite in the hen house," another voice broke in.

Turning his head he saw another young woman in white that he thought might be Jonata. The fog behind her had vanished as well.

"Is that important?" a third voice asked. He looked and saw Rosa, in white as the others and just as pale, and the last of the fog was gone.

"Not when it's such a handsome fox," Teresa said, "and the hens have teeth."

He moved back so that he could see the three women at once. They were behaving very oddly. He spoke to Teresa first.

"Your father's worried about you. He thought you'd eloped with Joaquin," he said.

Teresa laughed, and the other two joined in. "Joaquin?"

"Was he the one from earlier?" Jonata asked.

"Yes," Rosa said.

"Not enough blood in him," Jonata said.

"He'd been wounded first," Rosa said. "Boris was careless with him. It wasn't fair."

"This one is whole enough," Teresa said, her gaze running blatantly up and down Zorro's tall frame. "Even if we have to share again."

Zorro was both confused and horrified by this conversation. "Teresa, Rosa, Jonata. What has happened to you?"

"We've been freed," Jonata said.

"Freed from what?" Zorro asked, trying to keep the ladies talking so he could gain some time, though for what he wasn't sure.

"From life," Rosa said.

"And death," Jonata followed, "And I'm still hungry." She licked her lips slightly.

"Yes, but I'd rather play with him first," Teresa said, walking closer to him. "Joaquin didn't last long, and Dracula won't let us play with the others. He didn't say anything about the Fox."

Strongly reminded of his last nightmare with Victoria, Zorro backed up a few steps. He didn't want to hurt them, since they were behaving almost as if they were in a trance. But there was something strange about their eyes and their mouths; the eyes glowed red in the moonlight and their canine teeth seemed unnaturally sharp when they smiled, and the smiles themselves were strained and frightening. With the fog and their strange appearances, he wondered if this were just another nightmare, but it felt too real.

"Why do you get to go first?" Rosa asked with a pout.

Teresa kept her eyes locked on Zorro. "I saw him first."

"It's my turn," Rosa insisted.

Zorro tried to find the right words to reach them. "SeƱoritas, please. You're not well. I think you need help."

"No, Zorro, we don't need help," Jonata said, coming closer. "We just need you."

"It doesn't have to hurt," Rosa added.

"If you don't resist, it could be quite pleasant," Teresa said.

Starting to feel trapped and not wanting to hurt them, Zorro started backing towards the garden wall, as the three women continued forward. He felt a strange heaviness in his limbs, like he was being drugged or mesmerized. No, he was not going to lose his will again. Not after last time. Never again. He shook his head fiercely to try to clear it; hands in tight fists by his side. His back hit the wall, and Rosa reached for him. Pushing at the hands that were grabbing at him, he was shocked at how difficult it was. How could she be so strong? Had he actually been drugged?

Rosa was pulling him down, her mouth open, aimed for his throat, when there was a heavy thunk from behind her, and her body was thrown forward against him. Catching her, Zorro saw a large wooden stake protruding from her back. Looking past her, he saw a thin ascetic man of around sixty, holding a crossbow. After a few moments of frozen incredulity, Zorro realized he knew the man.

It was Solomon Kendall, elder brother of his old teacher, Sir Edmund Kendall. He'd only met him once, but Solomon Kendall was not a man who was easily forgotten, especially not since he'd had the privilege of seeing Sir Edmund and Solomon sparring with one another. The two had been almost evenly matched, but while Sir Edmund took pleasure in the fight, Solomon fought like a man for whom every challenge was life and death. Diego had been quite intimidated by him then, and he found him terrifying now. As he stood there the words his grandfather's ghost had spoken in his last nightmare came to him: "You trusted his brother... trust him..."

He didn't have much time to reflect on this as the other two women attacked the newcomer before he could reload. Grabbing Teresa from behind, Zorro pulled her away from Solomon and then, as she twisted around in his arms, found himself under attack, her nails digging into his skin, drawing blood, the sight of which seemed to make her even more frenzied. Strong as she was, he had a hard time overcoming his natural protective instincts and kept trying his best to subdue her rather than hurt her. But when she forced him back onto the ground and he found himself struggling to keep her teeth from his throat, thoughts of chivalry began to vanish.

Zorro fought to get enough leverage with his legs to throw her off, but she straddled him high up on his chest and was bearing down hard. She was slowly drawing nearer his throat and he didn't know how much longer his trembling arms could keep her back. Just when he felt his limbs might fail him, Teresa's head jerked back, her eyes went wide, and her grip on him relaxed. Her mouth moved dumbly for a moment before she collapsed on top of him.

Horrified, Zorro scrambled out from underneath her. There stood Solomon Kendall, blood dripping from his arm. "You will have to do better than that, Diego de la Vega," he said and punctuated the sentence by using the heel of his boot to drive the stake the rest of the way through the girl.

~TBC~

Tuesday: Chapter 13 - Crossing Lines

End Notes: Now back to my over-explaining. I don't think it's much of a secret that I find Diego infinitely more interesting than his alter ego. After all it's the act he puts on as Diego that has to be the more challenging one, so I deliberately structured this story to minimize Zorro's actual appearances. However, while generally I find the Zorro scenes the more difficult to write, I actually had a lot of fun writing the scene with Zorro and the vampire ladies. Probably more fun than I should have had. And just as I didn't want Victoria to be strangely attracted to Dracula, I also wasn't going to have Zorro strangely attracted by the vampire ladies. I preferred having his compassion and chivalry get him into trouble, since he's always had difficulty dealing with bad girls.

Also, I really didn't want to use a member of the Van Helsing family in this story, but I felt that Diego really needed to meet an experienced vampire hunter of some kind, one preferably he had met before even if he didn't know what he did. One who could give him practical information about vampires' strengths and weaknesses, and well, save his life here because I just didn't see him being able to stake any of them even if he knew what he needed to do. Also, since Sir Edmund is my favorite guest character in my absolutely favorite episode (and whose friendship with Alejandro dated back 30 years), I thought a slightly elder brother would be a good choice.

Solomon Kendall was in large part inspired by (and named after) my favorite Robert E. Howard character, Solomon Kane, a very driven man who faced all sorts of supernatural horror, and in another part inspired by Peter Cushing's Van Helsing from the Hammer Dracula movies. In my head, he definitely is played by Cushing, just as Boris is Christopher Lee. Under the circumstances, honestly, how could he not be? Also, Ghetto Outlaw really got into the character of Solomon as I was developing him and was eager to write some of his scenes, and as I'm not really an action girl, I was glad to let him.

Final note, vampires being able to transform into mist/fog comes from the novel Dracula.