Page 53 of Cuervo's Carnival
Reluctantly, I stop. I know he is right, but after all this motherfucker, our once best friend, has put us through, I want nothing more than to inflict the most sinister of pain on him.
I return my gaze to where Lola stands, withPurgatorioback on her shoulder and the machete in hand.
“You know, a wise woman once told me that blood,sangre, isn’t always everything. That same wise woman, in fact, two wise women, warned me that the Grimmrose bloodline was tainted. Given your attempt at following in our father’s footsteps, I would say that is accurate,” she says, beginning to circle where Zeke sits, restrained.
“Whatever. Dad was right about you. You are just like them fucking—”
His speech is halted when she lifts the machete in the air before forcefully driving it into his thigh.
Zeke lets out a screech.
“Bruja!” he shouts.
Admiring the fresh crimson on the blade, she brings it to her fingertip, playing with it like the tip of a spindle.
“Yes, yes, witch as you call me. That’s okay, I’d rather be a witch than a sorry piece of self-righteous, good-for-nothing shit like you and Dad,” she begins, lifting the machete once more in the air. “Ah, Dad, how poetic.”
Zeke lifts his head, confused. “The fuck, Lo?”
“It’s poetic that I am using the exact machete Donato left here on these grounds to kill our mother. Remember her?” she asks sarcastically, raising her fist with the blade clamped in her palm before driving it into his leg again.
Zeke lets out a shriek just as Roberto comes to.
Roberto lets out a muffled cry from the gag in his mouth and begins to rock the chair. Pax and I scoot over to Roberto. Pax holds the chair in place so I can drive an uppercut to his gut, causing Roberto to release more muffled whimpers.
“He is going to find us!” Zeke shouts. “And when he does, I can’t wait to see him kill you just like he did—”
Lola interrupts him. “Wait, hold that thought.” She laughs, running over to the recorder on the table near all the tools.
Lola returns to where Zeke sits, confused and in pain, with brows furrowed.
“Sorry, okay, I needed to press record. I can’t wait to add your pathetic cries to the guys’ next song.” She laughs. “Now, keep going,” she instructs him.
And the moment Zeke parts his lips to speak, she unleashes on him.
Blow after blow, she tears the blade into his legs, and each time the blade tears into his skin, Zeke lets out a blood-curdling scream.
Finally, Lola pauses. Her ink-covered skin is now painted crimson.
“You are just like her, fucking crazy,” he whimpers.
She tosses her head back, moving the hair that has fallen from her braids, before she lowers herself to Zeke. Dropping the machete, she takes her hand to where his chin droops. Looking him in the eye, she begins, “And you are just like him. Afraid, weak, and evil. You tried to kill me because I was brave enough to leave his rule. You are a coward, just like him, and you are right. I’m just like Mom. Strong, determined, resilient. I’m done cowering to evil men like you and Father.”
She drops his chin. Zeke’s head hangs for a moment before he slowly lifts it. His eyes first look at Pax and me, then to Lola. “He’s going to come here and kill you for taking me. You know that, right?”
Lola unleashes a smile as she walks over to the recorder. She stops the previous recording before starting a new one.
Lips toward the speaker, eyes on Zeke, withPurgatorioback on her shoulder, she parts her lips. “Good, I hope he does. This time, when he steps foot on these familiar grounds, he won’t be the one to leave alive. Reapers aren’t the ones who kill anymore, Cuervo’s are.”
We inch closer to Lola, our wicked queen of sorrows.
It’s been two months since we have kept Zeke and Roberto here. The place where Donato Grimmrose made his killing ground all those years before. And the place that he undoubtedly knows we are since he was probably the one behind Zeke and Roberto following us here that night. Yet, despite missing his golden child, the fact that he hasn’t stepped foot back here is telling. Not only of his lack of character but the fear he internalizes, having to deal with the consequences of his actions in the form of a very determined daughter who will no longer take his shit.
In time though, I know he will come here. He will try to separate us; he will try to end what the DNA of Lenore Cuervo started, but he will have to contend with much more than Lola’s wrath.
She is our center, strong and able. We are her wings, broken and mighty, and together can be stopped nevermore.
For we are the abandoned, and this is our hell…Welcome to Cuervo’s Carnival.
To be continued…
