Author's Notes: Thank you all who are reviewing. 48 reviews, and it still makes my day to see new ones. One week left and then this story is complete.

Chapter 14

Spellbound

Wanting to stay near the front of the house in case of any further incidents, Diego brought out the box of his grandfather's papers and then went through the library trying to find some books that dealt with myths and legends. He was sure he read something on vampires. His rational mind was still having difficulty accepting any of this, but then he also wasn't about to deny the evidence of his own eyes. And he didn't really understand why he was finding it more difficult to believe in vampires than angels. He finally found a couple of books in the bottommost corner of the bookcase. Bringing them over to the desk, he alternated searching through the books and the papers until exhaustion claimed him, and he fell asleep at the desk.

He wasn't sure how long he slept, when he was woken by a knocking on the front door. Weary and stiff, Diego walked to the door. He was surprised when he saw Victoria standing there. The sun was barely up in the sky.

"Victoria, what are you doing here?" he asked. "I thought you'd agreed not to go out alone."

"No, I agreed not to go out alone at night," she said. "It's not night. And if you're worried, aren't you going to invite me in?"

She seemed somewhat breathless, and he couldn't help but notice that she'd come wearing short sleeves and no shawl despite the chill in the air.

"Of course, come in," he said, stepping out of the way so she could come inside. "What's happened?"

"Happened?" She looked a little confused.

"To bring you out here like this," he said. "You must be cold." He looked around and saw a small blanket laying on a chair where he'd dropped it the evening before. "Here." He put it around her shoulders. "Now tell me what's happened."

"Oh." She looked confused as if she hadn't really thought about why she'd come. Diego was worried about her. After a long moment, she said, "Sergeant Mendoza came knocking on the tavern door saying Zorro had attacked the lancers and then come back, and he wanted to make sure I was safe and that Zorro wasn't hiding in the tavern. I... I... couldn't sleep anymore, and I was worried about you. I just had to come and see that you were all right." She wandered over to the desk and glanced at one of the open books. "Vampires? Is that about Zorro? About the rumors?"

"No," he said. He wondered what he should tell her. Maybe it was time to tell her everything, mad as some of that everything was. "It's about Dracula."

"Dracula?"

"Yes, it sounds insane, I know, but last night I saw some things..." he trailed off. Almost unconsciously he rubbed his sore neck as he tried to find the words.

Victoria was still looking at the books and the papers on the desk. "Were you up all night with these?"

"Part of it," he said hesitantly. "I fell asleep at some point."

"At the desk? No wonder you look so tired and stiff. Let's sit, please," she said, practically pulling him down onto the sofa. "Now, what happened? What did you see?"

"I decided to pay another visit to Dracula's house last night," he said slowly, still wondering if he should tell her how he was dressed when he paid that visit.

"And you said you were going to be careful," she said, letting the blanket slip off her shoulders as she leaned forward.

Had he? Oh, yes, he had. That seemed a long time ago now. "Well, I was. At least I tried to be."

"So what did you find?" she prompted.

Diego got up and sat at the desk. It would be easier if he wasn't looking at her. He still had a hard time believing it. He idly turned the pages in one of the books as he spoke. "Teresa never eloped. She and Rosa were there, and Jonata— she'd disappeared a couple of days beforehand. They were... different. I think they killed Joaquin. I'm not sure, and they came after me. They were very strong, stronger than they should have been."

Victoria got up from the sofa and put her hand on his shoulder. "What happened?" she asked softly.

Keeping his eyes focused on the books in front of him, Diego said, "I don't really want to say, but a man saved me from them. They're... dead, and I'm still not sure if they were already dead or he killed them to save me. It just doesn't make sense at all. But...," he paused, mustering the nerve to say what he had been trying to not believe, "...they could have been vampires and Dracula their master. Teresa mentioned him by name, and I saw him do something... Anyway, I've been looking through these books, and in one there's a brief mention of rumors of one of the Draculas being a vampire. It's not much. And I don't know why that book he wants is so important or even if I should look for it at all. I mean wouldn't it be safer if no one finds it?"

"How much have you looked?" Victoria leaned over his shoulder to look the papers on the desk. "What if it isn't that securely hidden? You should at least make sure it's not here, shouldn't you?"

The softness of her voice, the smell of her hair, just the nearness of her was making it impossible to for him to focus. He struggled to speak normally as inwardly he fought to keep hold of the reins on his imagination. "I suppose. The truth is I haven't started physically looking for it. I was hoping to find out about it from these papers: what it's for and where it is. I didn't want to have to dig through storage, especially if it's not there. I know it's not among the books that are in the open."

"I'll help you look," Victoria said.

Her voice was practically kissing his ear, and Diego was hard-pressed not to turn and kiss her. He was tired of hiding from her. Standing suddenly, he faced her. "Victoria, there's something I need to tell you, and frankly, I'm starting to think there's never going to be a right time."

He couldn't miss the look of near panic that hit her eyes before she said, "I'm sure it seems that way, but why don't we try finding that book first. You can tell me afterwards."

"But..." Afterwards seemed like it would never come.

"Diego, if Dracula really is the monster you say he is, we really need to find the book as soon as possible," she said, almost desperately.

Diego sighed, resigned. "Well, the first place to check is my grandfather's old room which we've been using for storage. It still has a lot of his things." The last time he'd been in there was when he and Felipe had acquired his grandfather's desk and a few other odd pieces of furniture for the cave. No one had missed them.

"All right. Let's check there then," Victoria said, taking his hand.

He looked down at her hand in his and then led her back to the room which was in a little used part of the hacienda. Opening the door, he looked at the all the piles of boxes, trunks and random odds and ends and sighed again. He was really hoping he wouldn't have to go through this room. With some difficulty, he managed to get to the one window and get the shutter open for some extra light. His grandfather had always preferred a stuffy room. He then looked around to try to figure out what would be the most likely place to start looking. He didn't want to be at this all day, and he still wasn't sure this was a good idea.

On the principle that the important trunk would have been one of the first to be brought in and probably the hardest to reach, he worked his way to the most inconvenient part of the room, where four nearly identical trunks were stacked. He was glad that he had taken some furniture out of the room, otherwise there wouldn't be any place to move things. With difficulty, he moved two of the trunks to the space in the middle, and then went back to the corner where the other two trunks stood side by side. Victoria followed him, almost tripping over her skirts to get to him. Diego had to work to keep his eyes off her legs as he helped her over the last obstacle. There wasn't a lot of space in the corner, and Diego was starting to feel a little uncomfortable.

Concentrating, he worked the fastenings on both trunks loose. One opened easily enough, the other which was closest to the wall, wouldn't open at all. Victoria sat down in front of the open one and started looking through the books and papers she saw there, while Diego examined the other trunk, trying to figure out why it wouldn't open since there was no obvious lock. It wouldn't even budge from the ground, either as if it were stuck or fastened to the floor. As he looked over it, he wished either there was more space or he could shrink a bit. There were times when it was not an advantage to be tall and long-limbed, and he did not want to have to shift more furniture.

"I don't think this is stuck," he said in frustration. "There must be some key to unlocking it."

"Would one of these help you?" Victoria asked, holding up a couple of small volumes. "They have your great-grandfather's name in them, but I can't read them."

Diego took them from her and sat on top of the troublesome trunk. They seemed to be journals his great-grandfather had written in an odd mixture of Latin and Greek. He started flipping through the smaller of the books, trying to find anything that looked like a reference to the trunk. Victoria kept searching through the other trunk, and he found himself repeatedly rereading the same page as he was more focused on her as she leaned over. She was beautiful in red, and he'd always liked that particular shirt on her, but as a gentleman, he really shouldn't be staring at her like this. Wrenching his attention away from Victoria, he knew his mind really wasn't on finding that book.

When he was about to give up on the journal, he found some odd notations on one page which didn't seem to match anything around them. They seemed to refer to a puzzle lock, and moving to sit in front of the trunk again, he noticed that the notes seemed to correspond to some of the ornate carvings on the front of the trunk. Following the notes, he tried pressing and sliding various points and was finally rewarded with a snap. He opened the trunk, and Victoria left her search to look inside along with him.

The trunk was filled with books and small boxes. They all seemed to be about magic and the supernatural. Victoria quickly replaced the items she'd taken from the other trunk and closed its lid so that they could have a place to put what they took from the trunk. It took quite some time to go through everything. Diego was getting very stiff and very tired as the particular book he was looking for remained elusive. When the last item was out and the book not found, Diego leaned forward in frustration.

"This had to be the trunk, and it's not here. And why should it really be here? If it was such a dangerous book, my grandfather could have tossed it overboard on the voyage to California."

"But you can't be sure. He might have wanted to hide it more thoroughly."

"Then it could be anywhere, and once again, I have to wonder if it's worth looking for." Diego rubbed at his neck.

"Well, Dracula thinks it's worth looking for, and who knows what he'll do if he's convinced you have it or know how to find it," Victoria said. She reached up to touch his neck, and he flinched ever so slightly, partly from pain and partly from the sensation of her touch. Noticing his reaction, she pulled aside his shirt collar to look at the bruises and scratches on his shoulder. "You didn't say you'd been hurt." One hand rested on his chest as she examined him more closely.

"I hadn't really noticed," Diego said, far more acutely aware of her hands on his skin.

"I have the feeling you left out some things when you told me your story," Victoria said, looking in his eyes.

"One thing I've been trying to tell you for a while," Diego said, trying to retain his composure. "I just haven't had the courage." He looked around. In his mind, he had played out telling her his secret times without number, and never once did he foresee it being in a dusty storage room sitting on the floor with barely enough space to move.

"Well, then tell me now," Victoria said.

Diego closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed nervously. It was now or never. He opened his eyes and spoke before his courage failed him again. "I love you, and... I'm Zorro."

~TBC~

Thursday: Chapter 15 - In the Cave

End Notes: I hope you don't mind the change of pace after the last two chapters, but I thought it was about time that Diego started looking for that darn book in earnest, and it was also about time he told Victoria the truth. And thanks to Ghetto Outlaw for providing a couple of touches to Diego's distraction.