2. REWARD

When Maria gained consciousness the morning light was already filtering through the trees and into her prison. She still felt sick, as if the earth was moving all around her. Then she realized it wasn't the earth moving, it was her cage on wheels that was moving. She looked up to see Ramiro pulling the cart along as if he were pulling a child's wagon. He moved so quickly and easily that Maria was impressed by his strength. She now saw the army of vampires moving alongside them. The pain in her broken wrist came back to her. She wished that she could still be asleep so that she wouldn't have to feel it. She looked further up and recognized Benito leading the group.

"Where are we going?" She asked Ramiro.

"To Monterrey. We go to fight." Ramiro never looked back when answering her.

"Why? Why do you fight?" Maria was struggling to understand. If she was going to be doomed to this life then she wanted to know everything about it that she possibly could.

"We want the territory. Monterrey is a very large city with many people. If we own the territory then we can feed as often as we like without fear of being discovered."

Just then there was a clearing in the overhead trees and pure sunlight bathed the strong warriors. Maria gasped as she saw beautiful rainbow colors reflect off the skin of her captors. They glistened like diamonds in the light. She had never seen a more beautiful sight.

"Why do you shine like that?" She asked.

"I don't know why but we just do. We normally don't go out in the daylight here in the south because we don't want to be exposed to humans. However, we're confident that the Monterrey coven also exercises this practice so we will be able to surprise them during the daylight hours." Ramiro seemed well versed in the plans for combat. He was Benito's most well-trained soldier.

Maria knew that she had a million more questions running through her mind but when the cart came to a halt, and she saw the view of a city below the hill they now rested upon, she could only think of one question to ask.

"Ramiro, are you going to win me?"

He turned around to face her but he was completely expressionless. "Yes," was his only reply.

Benito made his way back to Maria's cage. "We are going down there to fight. I am going to leave you here. You will not want to try to escape or scream for help because the only ones that will be able to hear you are the vampires. And the only ones that will come to you without my permission are our enemies. And the only reason they will come to you is to kill you. Do you understand?"

Maria felt sick again but nodded.

"Good. When we have won this I will come back to you and give you the gift of eternal life." Benito forced an awkward smile at his daughter. Even he knew that it was no 'gift'. He turned and began his descent down the hill while the rest of the men followed him. Diego turned around and winked at Maria while grinning. The gesture made her feel uncomfortable.

Soon they were so far away that she could barely make out their bodies down in the city below. It seemed as though she were watching ants climbing all over a colony. She knew that there were humans mixed in there because they were the ants that didn't reflect the beautiful light. She wondered how many humans would die in this fight. Then she wondered how many her father would kill just for being witness to it.

As the day wore on she began to see pillars of smoke come up from the city below. A pungent smell of burning something sweet wafted up to her. She choked on the scent; it was almost like burning sugar. As she sat there all the other questions came to mind and she wished there was someone around to ask. Perhaps when her father returned she could get some answers from him.

The number of sparkling ants below began to dwindle and Maria wondered what would happen if all the vampires ended up killing each other. She wondered if anyone would find her in time to keep her from starving to death. As she thought of food she opened the satchel from the night before. She was famished. She found some bread and an apple and ate very quickly. She thought of saving some for later but she was so hungry that she couldn't bring herself to stop.

Finally it looked like the sun was beginning to set. The thought of having to sleep in the cage again without a fire to warm her made her heart sink. She tried to ignore the pain in her wrist and fiddled with the hem of her dress, wishing that she had something to do. This day was the slowest day of her life, perhaps because she spent every minute of it waiting in anticipation.

The sun set and night settled in. She could no longer see the city below except for the pillars of fire still burning away. How much longer would she have to wait? Just as she was toying with the idea of trying to go to sleep she finally heard something.

"Woooohooooo!" A man's voice cried in the dark.

Maria was suddenly very alert and was anxious to know who was going to find her. Suddenly a voice came from behind her.

"We did it Maria! We won!" It was Diego. She was partially relieved that it was not the Monterrey coven that had come to her in the darkness.

"Oh, well, congratulations." Maria offered.

Diego cocked his head to the side, mouth still grinning, and his eyes looked her up and down. He was making her uncomfortable and he enjoyed that.

Fear caught in Maria's throat. "You didn't win me, did you?"

Another voice spoke on the other side of her cage. "I told you I would win, didn't I?" She turned around to see Ramiro. She was relieved. "Now move along Diego, she's my reward after all."

Diego laughed. "Yeah, but just keep in mind that when you're claiming your prize, she'll be thinking of me the whole time!" A bunch of the others joined him in laughter but Ramiro was furious. He was about to attack but Benito was by his side to constrain him too quickly.

"You won Ramiro, let it go." Their leader commanded.

Ramiro got a hold of himself and went to gather firewood again. Benito congratulated his men on a job well done and spent time talking with them, discussing plans to take on Mexico City next. When the fire was burning brightly Maria could see into the dark more easily. She was so surprised to find that less than half of the army had returned.

"Where are the others?" She asked Ramiro.

"Every war has its casualties." Ramiro's face was grim and somber. He handed her another parcel of food, wrapped in cloth. He also brought back some water for her to drink in a leather canteen. She consumed everything and for the moment was quite content. Then Benito approached them.

"Well Maria, it's time for you to be reborn." He forced that awkward smile at her again. "I won't lie to you, it will hurt, but when it's over you will be strong like the rest of us. Ramiro is a good man. You are lucky that he was the one to win you. Now give me your hand." Benito reached into the cage and held up his palm towards her.

She hesitated. She looked at Ramiro and wished there was some other way, that perhaps he could save her. But he did not meet her gaze. It was obvious that he would never stand up to Benito. She began to breathe more quickly as the fear set in. Tears welled up in her eyes. She did not want to do this.

"Come now girl, there's no way around it, let's just get this over with." Benito was getting impatient. When she failed to give him her hand he just reached further in and grabbed it. Then he turned to Ramiro, "You should move away from here, I don't want any accidents. Make the others go with you."

Ramiro followed the order and walked away with others towing behind. Maria began to sob. She really was afraid. Benito let out a heavy sigh and pulled his daughters broken wrist to his lips. He tried to be gentle with it but even the touch made her cry out at the sharp pain.

"Stop crying!" Benito scolded her. "I haven't even begun yet!" This only made Maria cry even harder. She had no tolerance for pain. Finally fed up, Benito bit into her wrist and began sucking up her blood.

The pain was more intense than anything she had ever felt before. The broken wrist was nothing compared to this. It was so intense and overwhelming that she couldn't even begin to cry out. She fell onto her back in the cage as everything around her went dark. She didn't even have the strength to keep her eyes open. The burning spread through every part of her body and now she was alone with her agony as the rest of the world seemed to fade away.