The sun had just broken through the night over the town of Rio Blanca. Father Suarez stepped out of a taxi and entered his church. Crossing into Mexico that morning took longer than usual. The border crossing had been shut down for a few hours after a semi crash. Fortunately he had only caught a ride to the border and crossed on foot, not bringing much with him, which helped speed his crossing along. It was easy getting a cab once inside Mexico. Inside the church, Rogelio felt like he had come home. He walk up to the altar and found a note waiting for him.
“Back later. Welcome home,” it read in English.
He shook his head and walked to a hallway just left of the altar. Father Suarez opened the door to his room and stepped in. He set his bags down on his bed and heard movement behind him.
“Is that you, Sister?” he asked, not turning to see.
There was no answer. He shook his head again.
“I don't know what you want, but there is no money here,” he said in English.
For a second he wasn’t sure why he said that in English, but he wrote it off to just being tired. He began unpacking.
“I'm not here to rob you,” said Ximena.
The Priest didn’t turn around. He recognized the voice.
“Oh. It’s you,” said the priest, as he resumed unpacking. “And what do you what from me?”
“Information. I suppose,” said Ximena.
Father Suarez turned to face his guest.
“That's all? You have to forgive me if I...” Her makeup gave him pause. “Have my doubts”
“What’s with the face?’ he asked.
“It’s kind of a contractual obligation. Apparently,” she replied.
“Uh, huh,” he said.
Ximena stepped out from behind the door and placed herself between the priest and the doorway. It was not her intention to look like she was blocking his exit.
“And to answer your question, yes just information. That's all. May God strike me down,” said Ximena.
She smiled at her bad joke crossed her heart.
“Bad choice of words in this house,” said the priest.
Someone grabbed Ximena from behind. She was thrown into the hall and she bounced off of the wall. She managed to stay on her feet but before she could react, a booted foot hit her chest, slamming Ximena back into the wall. Then a knee thrust into her stomach. Someone spun her around and Ximena’s arms were pinned behind her. The attacking nun walked Ximena back into the priest’s room.
“Sister. Let her go,” said Father Suarez.
Ximena’s arms were released and she thrusts an elbow back at the nun. It was blocked. Before the fight could escalate...
“Stop! Both of you!” shouted the priest.
The two women took a step back from each other. The nun raised her hands signaling a truce.
“You'll have to forgive Sister Sarah. Intruders tend to shoot first and ask questions later if at all,” he said to Ximena.
“Nice moves,” Ximena said to Sarah.
The nun just nodded. Then Sarah waved her hand in front of her face and pitched up her chin in a question.
“She says it’s a job requirement,” said the priest.
The nun raised an eyebrow. “The hell does that mean?” she asked non-verbally.
“Damned if I know,” said Father Suarez.
“Okay. I guess,” said Sarah’s eyes.
“She take a vow of silence?” asked Ximena.
The priest took a second to answer.
“Not exactly. How goes the whole undead thing?” he asked, changing the subject.
Sister Sarah raised another questioning eyebrow.
“I’ll explain in a bit,” the priest told her.
The crow landed on the window frame and tapped at the glass.
“Friend of yours?” asked Father Suarez.
“It would seem so,” replied Ximena.
Father Suarez walked to the window and let the crow in. It glided down and stood on his bed. It looked around then flew up to take a position on top of a dresser. Ximena remained standing while Sister Sarah leaned against the door frame. A sense of shock chilled through Sister Sarah’s body, but she kept enough control so that no one noticed.
“So, I assume you want information about a person. Who do you want to know about?” he asked.
“Her,” said Ximena.
She held out the pendant of the skull faced woman.
“Her huh? To what ends? You going to replace her?” asked the priest.
“Of course not. I just have to find her,” she replied.
Father looked to Sister Sarah who was still leaning on the door frame. Though unable to speak, Sarah was not silent. Facial expressions, body language, basic gestures, and a workable knowledge of sign language enabled Sarah to be very opinionated. Right now she said nothing. The Priest could tell she knew something.
“A woman took control of the local cartel some time ago. I’ve heard the name Señora Ecsed. She’s also referred to as La Muerte. My understanding is that some think she is a witch. Her followers think she is the embodiment of a god,” he said.
“As in Santa Muerte? Seriously?” asked Ximena, thinking it sounded like a joke.
The crow cawed. Ximena rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, she obviously isn’t the real one. Do you have anything helpful?” she asked the black bird.
It stayed silent. Father Suarez wasn’t sure what to make of the woman talking to the bird. He looked a little confused. Sister Sarah still wasn’t giving away anything.
“Hey, that’s what I hear. And I don't know where to find her,” he told Ximena.
“So what can you do to help me?” she asked.
“I can advise you to go home,” he said.
Ximena grabbed a chair and sat.
“Legally I’m not alive anymore and I’m stuck undead until I fix a few things. So home is not an option. What else do you got?” she asked.
The priest sighed.
“If you are intent on finding her, she'll probably find you first,” he replied.
“Okay, let me rephrase. Do you have anything useful?” asked Ximena.
“I won’t help you kill anyone,” said the priest.
“Not even someone who slaughters the innocent?” she asked.
“I will not raise my hands in violence or help commit violence. It is a vow that I will not break for anyone,” he said.
“It must be nice having that choice,” she replied.
“There is always a choice,” said the Priest.
“Not for someone like me. Where ever this leads, I gotta go,” said Ximena.
“There is more to this, isn’t there. It’s not just about Jonah. It’s also because of your baby,” he said.
For a few seconds, silence.
“You know about that?” Ximena asked.
“I heard, yes,” said the priest.
“Do you know why?” she asked, her voice cold.
“Why she took it?” he asked.
“Yes. I need to know,” she said.
He had heard rumors. But rumors could just be rumors. Father Suarez looked at Sarah. Sarah blew out a breath and nodded.
“I can't say for sure. I’ve heard people talk, but it could just be talk,” he said.
“Just tell me,” said Ximena.
“The rumor is that this Señora Ecsed performs... Rituals and sacrifices,” he said.
Ximena had a quick flashback to her own murder. This time she could hear the cloaked woman’s voice chanting something after her vision went black.
“The rumors are true, Padre,” she said.
Ximena walked past the nun, bumping into her shoulder on purpose. Sister Sarah’s reaction was to only roll her eyes.
“Be careful. The people say she is very strong and very dangerous,” Father Suarez called out.
“She can't kill me twice,” Ximena called back.
“People aren't supposed to return from the dead either,” he said under his breath.
Sister Sarah uncrossed her arms, raised her palms, and tilted her head up slightly.
“Yeah. A lot happened. I’ll fill you in,” said the priest. “But before that, what do you know?”
Sister Sarah rubbed her chin and looked like she did not know where to begin. Then she shrugged.
“No. You won’t hold out on me now, Sister. I can tell you know something,” he said.
She took a deep breath and said “Long story” in American Sign Language.
She could not speak when she showed up to the church two years ago. Father Suarez grew up with deaf family members and had learned sign language when he was a child. He taught it to Sarah.
“Painful experience?” he signed.
She nodded. Father Suarez knew some of her more recent trauma, but he could sense that there was more, buried inside. He suspected something happened to her when she was younger but she had yet to talk about it.
“Okay. You don’t have to tell me everything. But you know what she is, right?” he asked.
She nodded again.
“What can you tell me?” Father Suarez asked.
Sister Sarah revealed some lore she had discovered about how a crow carries souls to the afterlife and that sometimes it carries a restless soul back to make right what went wrong.
“You are saying a soul can be sent back to take revenge? That is not how it works, Sister,” he said.
“I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve seen it happen. I think it’s above your pay grade.” she signed and shrugged.
“So it’s going to get bad,” signed Father Suarez.
She nodded. He could tell there was a lot on her mind.
“Can you tell me what happened to you?” he asked.
“I’ve only been able to talk to one other person about it. Someone who was also there when it happened. But he is gone now. Let me think about it. Okay?” she signed.
“Take as long as you need,” he told her.
Sarah patted her friend on his shoulder and walked to her room.
Back at the Border Crossing, the morning was in full swing. Ranger Paulson and Agent Elizondo were in one of the offices with a few of the Border Agents that had been working overnight.
“A woman in black with a skull painted on her face?” asked the Ranger.
“Yeah, I know,” said the senior Agent “They said they stabbed her but she healed and kept going at them.”
“I think they were high or something,” said the rookie.
“Or something,” said Agent Elizondo.
Paulson scribbled in his note pad.
“Anything else?” he asked, sounding skeptical.
“Hey, they said it. We're just telling you what they were going on about. We didn’t see anyone else,” said the senior Agent.
She was tired and annoyed. She should have been back home already, getting ready to go to bed. Instead she had hours of paperwork and now she was being grilled by a Ranger and his pet Federale.
“Anything else painted on her face?” asked Elizondo.
The senior agent took a breath and exhaled, calming her nerves.
“They said she had a black bird painted on her forehead,” she said.
Elizondo rubbed the temples on his head.
“And she never once identified herself?” he asked.
“Not that they told us,” she replied.
“I think that's good for now, thanks,” said Ranger Paulson.
“Good luck,” said the Senior Agent.
The Border Agents walked out of the room.
“Do you believe that? Those guys must have been high,” he said.
“Maybe,” said Paulson.
Elizondo got a confused look on his face.
“You think they are telling the truth?” he asked.
The Ranger walked to the door and locked it. Elizondo's shoulders dropped.
“Why can't you ever give me good news?” he asked his friend.
Paulson remained silent.
“Okay, fine. It doesn't leave this room,” said Elizondo.
“You know Father Suarez, right?” asked Paulson.
“The priest in Rio Blanca?” asked Elizondo.
“Yeah. Well last night, Father Suarez saw a woman in Jonah Montgomery's hospital room. That same woman showed up when we were at the dead fiancé’s grave,” said Paulson.
“Where are you going with this?” Elizondo asked.
The Ranger's shoulders dropped this time.
“She looked exactly like Ximena, Jonah’s fiancé,” said the Ranger.
“What?” asked Elizondo, not believing.
“And I shot her. Point blank. The shot went clean through and didn't faze her.” said Paulson.
“She could have been on PCP or something,” said Elizondo.
“PCP doesn’t make your wounds heal instantly,” Paulson replied.
Elizondo’s face reflected his mental struggle to reconcile this story with reality.
“You know how you sounds right?” asked Elizondo.
“Look, I don't know if this is some crazy, street magic crap this chick is pulling. But if it's the same woman who jumped these guys…” Paulson started saying.
“And it looks like she may be heading for Rio Blanca,” Elizondo completed the thought.
Agent Elizondo's head dropped.
“This is going to get bad real quick, isn't it?” he asked.
“Pretty much,” the Ranger replied.
The sound of barking caused both men to look out the window. Border Patrol Agents had two men with their heads on the hood of a car, and their hands cuffed behind their backs. A K-9 Agent held his dog at bay while other Agents pulled packets of drugs out of the car seats.
“And it still won't change anything,” said Paulson.
“Gringos still gotta get their fix,” said Elizondo.
“And people will always fight to get the corner on the market,” said Paulson.
“Mexicans die while Americans get high,” said Elizondo.
I was hard to argue the point.
“Yeah.” replied the Ranger.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxWtFuyDtAZ
