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Whinny could be found in more or less the same spot during the daytime hours. She would do her usual routine, which was apply a generous layer of suntan lotion on every inch of her body before going out into the sun to enjoy the waves on the shoreline and the view of the ocean. Nothing in Harper rock was this enchanting to the woman as the ocean was.

The woman would lounge on a chair under straw topped gazebo, more or less and listen to music, her bare toes tapping along to the beat of the playlist she made before leaving with Adelita for Mexico. Currently, she was listening to Enrique Iglesias, because wasn’t he the hottest Hispanic guy ever? She had heard the rumors about the guy being gay, but that didn’t stop the woman from having her minor fantasies about him. Anyone who said he wasn’t hot was a fricken liar in her books and his voice was to die for. Whinny would do a lot of things with that man if she ever saw him in person.

And the was when her eyes darted around the beach, hoping to see a very scantily clad Enrique, or even a shirtless guy. When she didn’t see the man of her dreams, Whinny lifted the other magazine she brought-Consumer Reports and read a few articles in there about improving your house value and the benefits of having an IRA versus a regular retirement account through your work. Wynifred had to prepare her future as a regular human-who unlike Adelita had forever to get what she wanted to live comfortably.

“HOLA!” A voice shouted not too far from her. A male voice, and one that was obviously a native to Mexico. Was it...Enrique? Even though the woman doubted it, she looked to her side to see a male who wasn’t all that bad looking either. Did they just breed hot people in Mexico? If she was honest, Wynifred thought Adelita was stunning, even if her bedside manner could be abrasive and far from charming. Then there were the guys from yesterday and now this one. Who was wearing a white, cotton, button down that was lightweight and airy, with matching pants that were rolled up at the ankles.

Wynifred pulled the earbuds from her ears and then waved to him as he crouched down next to Wynifred. “HI!” Wynifred gushed as she stumbled to keep control of the Ipad that had been resting on her lap. “Yo tengo Espanol?” He asked once she got her device under control, only to have Wynifred shake her head no. She understood some, very little, spanish. “No, only English.” She told him with an awkward smile.

“Ahhh! English! Me too!” He stood up and pulled out a drink list from a back pocket of his cotton button downs and offered it to her. “Would you like a drink? From the bar?” He pointed to the outside bar that was under a much larger version of the gazebo Whinny was currently occupying. “Oh! Yes, please.” She looked at the menu that had both Spanish and English writing on it. “I’d like a water and then a Bahama Mama. Thank you.” Laney showed her key card to the guy, telling him to charge both drinks to that account and it would be paid for by the end of the night. He nodded his head, reclaimed the drink menu, slipped it back in the large back pocket of his pants and moved through the sandy beach to the gazebo where Mexican music could be heard on top of the sounds of people playing pool and the whirl of the blender going for what Wynifred would assume was for the margaritas the bartender was making.

The guy in white brought her drinks, a bottle of water and the drink that was comparable to the Mexican Sunset-or any sunset in any part of the world. Wynifred thanked the guy in Spanish, because that was about the only phrase she could say correctly in their tongue, set the booze drink on the table next to her and decided to hydrate herself with the bottle of water first. From there, most the day was a little fuzzy until she got a text message from Adelita not long after the sun had settled, asking her if they were still going to the dance club.

Daylight always hit Adelita the same way. The very second her body even sensed it, the woman was out cold, as if she had been drugged or a chair had smacked the back of her skull and knocked her out for the entire day time duration. But what happens when she sleeps? Does Adelita dream? If she does, she never remembers those dreams or anything specific about them.

Montez Delgado worked hard for years in the same position he had been promoted to. He had left his family home, to live with the other men who helped prepare the snow white substance that hit the city streets hard not that long ago, thanks to friends and family of the Gran Jefe, in Cuba. The Gran Jefe, whose real name was known to very little people, was born in Cuba. He was relocated here by his family when he was around six or seven years old. Now, at the time Montez met him during a stash quality check, the guy was in his late thirties, to early forties.

The guy dressed in light colored, airy linens, and always wore an off white panama hat with a brown, wood colored edging, where the base and the top met. His padre moved here when his family wanted to branch out with their drug business and make a strong, rich partnership. They wanted to be the guys everyone wanted to be, know and work for because their income was growing at a steady rate of at least one hundred thousand dollars a month for the product they sold. Not Montez though. He never wanted to be the guy on top. He liked being right where he was. The pay wasn’t bad-it was a lot better than when he was working for ‘wheels.’ Montez just wanted to make enough money to live comfortably and to help his family out.
But, people don’t always get what they want.

When Montez was in his mid-twenties more dealers from Cuba and other latino countries came. At first, not many people paid them any mind. They stayed out of the districts ran and controlled by the Gran Jefe, but when money is to be made, and can be made, people start getting greedy. People start getting sloppy. Eventually, Mexico would see an all out war that would last two years before it came to an end.

The first thing the woman did was once again email the same trio she had been emailing since her departure from Harper Rock when she woke up.

To: Godric
From: Adelita
Message: Halfway through

My dinner meeting went better than what I expected. I got a short term contract with the designer, which is better than nothing. She says she has a lot of faith in me and likes my spunk. Whatever that is. I’ll be back to Harper Rock soon.

I’ve not heard from you, so I’m starting to think you’re being a very bad boy. I’ll be searching for you when I get back!

Lita



To: Elighan
From: Adelita
Message: Halfway through

I’m loving my time in Mexico. Too bad it’s almost halfway done. i would tell you to pack a bag and get your butt down here. Whinny is even enjoying herself. We’re going to a dance club tonight-the first one of our entire trip. I have to call Lola Pavia and get the contract signed tonight and then I can finally relax.

Lita

P.S. Did you wear that tie yet?


To: Sirena
From: Adelita
Message: Halfway throught

I hope you are having as good of a time as I am here in Puerto Vallara. I’ll be home in four more nights. Did you watch the Novella I bookmarked for you? You should watch it! there are english subtitles, so you can follow along and there are only seventeen episodes. You can get it done before I get home!

Did you find out why some vampires puke for no reason? Can we get food poisoning? I miss you! I even miss Blake, in all his state of perpetual silence. Don't tell him I said that though. It’s kind of a girl talk secret.

I think you can help me as much as I can help you. While I’ve been here, I’ve done some real reflective, deep thinking, crap and need your opinion on something. Movie night and girl fest when I get back?

X
Lita

With those emails sent, Adelita went to the dresser across from her bed and pulled the phone from her charger. She scrolled through her phone book for Lola’s number and listened to it ring for longer than she thought it should have. Lola had either changed her mind and wasn’t going to pick up-or she gave Adelita a false numbe. Again, there was that tinge of defeat in her mind, her body slightly hinting at such as Lita’s shoulders slumped forwards, a sigh escaping her lips. On the fourth ring, Lola picked up and the time and place was set up. Lola’s designer loft at eight in the night.

When that was taking care of, Lita paged Whinny all the details of her time spent tonight but promised they were going to that dance club on the Boulevard she had seen going to the meeting and coming back from the dinner meeting. Lita told Wynifred that she had precisely two more hours to herself before Lita would be back to change and they could hit the bustling nightlife of clubs galore down by the ocean front.

Adelita showered, dressed into a one piece buisness dress, that had a white top with black polka dots, a solid black skirt and was adorned with various bulky jewelry, and white high heeled boots. While she zipped up the sides of the boots, Adelita dialed a taxi to arrive in approximately twenty to thirty minutes, stuffed all her essentials in a purse, and moved to the main foyer of the hotel where she watched the water trickling from the front dual leveled waterfall outside. When the cab arrived, Lita stood, looked at her messages-which there were none and frowned. That wasn’t like Whinny and was she going to get it.

The entire time to Lola’s loft, Adelita texted the woman, threatening her in a variety of ways. None of them would be true, because Lita knew she couldn’t ever physically harm her thrall. Not when she had been Lita’s biggest rock when Remington, Godric, and Elighan disappeared. Still, that didn’t stop Adelita from sending Wynifred twenty-seven messages, demanding for the woman to answer her.

The loft was like any individual would expect a clothing designer’s loft to be. It had a very industrial feel and appeal to it. There were four workstations, two aligned in one row, the other two aligned in another row, with another space for everyone to work on their assigned projects. Mannequins could be found against a wall, or near the large bay window that was divided in square shaped sectionals that could be not much larger than the size of Adelita’s hand, the width that of her foot, tops.

The woman, Lola was hunched over a table, working on some design on a white, see through textile paper, flipping between the more solid paper underneath, and the lighter, see through paper above it as the woman sketched or altered the original idea of the dress she had previously designed.”Hola, Lola!” Adelita said loud enough so that the woman knew Adelita had made her way up from the ground main floor.

Her brown eyes moved to all the tools on the table, a tape measure, a couple of pencils, larger erasers, some black markers, a protractor and a regular ruler where some of the things Adelita recognized off the top of her head. “Hi, Melete!” Lola dropped the pencil in her right hand and then called her over with a frantic wave of her left hand. “Your name is very...different. I thought that last night. So when I came home, I researched its meaning. It’s Greek, right?” Lola asked as she moved to another bench, pulled open a drawer and pulled out a dark blue, lined folder, opened it up and set it on that very bench. Adelita nodded her head and then laughed. ”Yes.” Adelita confessed with a small laugh and a huskiness in her voice as she tried to think of how the name could have came to be for someone like her. ”My mother was into Greek romance and things like that. Only, she never heard the stories as what they were, growing up. Most of them ended in tragedy.” Adelita confessed as her cheeks splashed the color of pink at embarrassment.

Lola dismissed the idea and then laughed too. “Well, hopefully this relationship doesn’t end in tragedy.” She collected a pen from another drawer and put it on the large wooden table after twisting it open. “Feel free to read it over. I had my lawyers draft it last night. It basically says that we have a short term arrangement for three months. At that time, one week prior to the three month marker, I will review sales with you and we shall figure out how best to advance.” Adelita tucked some of her hair behind her ear before progressing towards the table and scanning the document over inside the folder, after she picked it up.

”You didn’t add in the return of your goods on my expenditure.” The other woman on the other side of the table nodded her head. “I can afford to bring my own things home if I need to-but I doubt I will need to. Call it good faith and good will. I like you. I want you to succeed. I think you have a good head on your shoulders-or at least a lot of passion.” Lola held out the pen for Adelita after scooping it up off the table. “If you have any addendums, feel free to add in somewhere in the sides, I’ll initial and then we should be able to end our night and carry on with our evenings. The pen was weaved from side to side in front of Adelita, coaxing the woman to take it to sign things when she was ready.

Adelita took the pen as she scanned the document, and then shook her head. ”No, I don’t think that is necessary. Everything seems more than fair and agreeable.” Adelita told the woman before she hunched over the desk, placed the paper back in the folder and signed her alias’ name on the bottom of the document. Once that was done, the folder was closed and Adelita extended her hand for the deal to be shook upon. ”Congratulations, partner.” Adelita smiled brightly at the woman who grabbed Lita’s hand and shook it in return. “I’ll call you next week and let you know what items I am sending. I look forwards to our successful business relationship.” The woman collected the folder, moved to a copy and fax machine, made Lita a copy, put it in a manilla envelope and gave it to the woman. “We’ll talk soon, Ms. Vasquez.” With that, Lita was more or less dismissed so the woman could go back to her project she was working on and Lita left, manilla envelope tucked under her arm, so she could head back to the hotel and get her celebration on with her thrall.

By the time Adelita had gotten into the cab, there were three text messages on her phone. The first was of an emoticon, the silly faced looking one with its tongue sticking out. The other were actual words-or at least some semblance of words where Lita tried her hardest to sound those words out in her head, but lost at least half the message after she read, I feel aslep on beech.” That was all Adelita needed to know about where Whinny was and what she had been up to, prior to receiving the third text message of two smiley faces, a rose, a flag,a chicken and a bunch of question marks. Wynifred always had been a light weight, but the sun didn’t seem to work in her favor either.

Adelita didn’t bother to reply to the messages that were at least forty minutes old, because she was more than halfway to the hotel. And the club had the woman’s attention as the taxi drove past it. It wasn’t the large mermaid looking sculptures that drew her in, it was the blue hue of light on the white building that drew Adelita in. Not those hideous statues donned in a fake gold paint. And from the looks of things, the club was already packed at just nearly ten at night. In the quick drive by, Lita could see people near the windows, a few disco balls that were different in sizes, curtains that were draped open for people to see the in and out of the club and occasionally flashing lights. But, this night would not be destined for the two of them to join the other party goers. Instead, this night would be spent taking care of Wynifred, like she had done so many times for Adelita. Tonight would be another one of those treacherous nights in, known as a ‘girl’s night.’

When Adelita got out of the back of the cab, she headed not to her room, but to Wynifred’s room. Lita gently knocked on the woman’s door and waited, forehead pressed to the door as she listened to Wynifred shuffling around in the room. The woman had run into a couple things, tripped, said ‘ow’ a couple times and fumbled with the security lock before opening the door, her eyeliner smeared past her lower eyelid, while her hair was knotted in a few different places. Wynifred looked like a hot mess and then some.

”You look gross!” Adelita said as she moved around the woman, slammed the door close with mild force and sighed. ”You are smart enough to know to stay hydrated. Aren’t you going for a degree in Women’s studies or something? For all things sacred, Wynifred, you want to be someone’s puta tonight while they take you from behind and from front?” Lita scolded the woman as she moved to the bathroom, wet a towel and tossed it at the woman.”Clean yourself up. You look like a five dollar zombie hooker.” This was her version of helping Wynifred out. Telling her what to do-she wasn’t going to coddle the woman, but she would be here the best way she could be.

”And no. We aren’t going out tonight. We’ll try again tomorrow. If you don’t drink like a fish.” Adelita chided the woman before sighing gently. ”Come on.” Adelita grabbed the dirty wash cloth that Wynifred had used to clean all her smeared makeup off and tossed it in the bathroom sink when she peeked around the corner. With both hands extended to Wynifred, Lita grabbed her hands and coaxed the thrall into bed. ”Let’s watch a movie. Or something funny. I don’t care. You pick.”

Lita pulled back the woman’s duvet, pushed her into bed and then pulled the sheet and duvet over the woman’s body, right up to her chin. Lita moved around the other side of the bed, kicked off her heels, removed all her jewelry, grabbed the remote and turned on the television. Lita flicked through some channels before she found a rerun of a show that was in Spanish, but was one of her mother’s favorite shows, Lita remembered. The duvet on her side was pulled down, Lita slipped in and burrowed under it with a content sigh. ”Don’t vomit on me, you puta.” Adelita warned as the remote found a place to rest on the stand next to the bed as she got comfortable to watch the show. ”You need to be more careful, when you’re alone. Not all of Mexico is fun, Wynifred.” Lita scolded the woman before sighing and then wrapped her arms around the woman’s body that was turned away from the television and from Adelita as the woman curled up into a ball-whimpering slightly. Lita smoothed the woman’s hair with the palm of her right hand and ‘shhh’d’ Whinny to sleep, but not before Adelita said one final thought. ”You tell anyone about this night, I’ll break you.” Adelita warned the woman before closing her own eyes and listening to the breathing of her thrall. Once it became steady and consistent, Lita would leave and retreat into her room to watch her Novellas.

”Whiiiiinnny.” Adelita called through the other side of the door after knocking on it loud enough to wake the dead. ”I brought you some foooood.” Adelita shook the styrofoam container in her other hand, making the fries and the burger rustle in the container, attempting to capture the woman’s attention with the bribe of food.

A very tired and groggy looking Wynifred shuffled to the door, feet scraping the tiled floor before the door was unlocked and she stood there, in the doorway of all her hungover glory. ”Do you know what time it is?” Adelita asked the woman as she looked at her thrall, who was still in the same outfit Lita had left Wynifred in the night before. The darker haired, and more paler of the two women yawned, scratched the side of her left leg and then nodded her head. “Night time. Because you’re here. Bothering me. What did you get me to eat?”

”Isn’t someone just a bitter Betty after they get themselves drunk?” Adelita stuck her tongue out at her thrall, as the woman shoved the container into her chest as the woman entered the room. Lita would sit on the piece of furniture in front of the bed, cross her legs and lean back so that her back was pressed to the mattress of the bed and her head came to rest on that very matress. ”Take some tylenol, hydrate, and let's get moving. You wanted to go to that club sooo bad last night.” Lita reminded Wynifred as her left leg bounced and smacked the other leg gently in the shins. She wanted to go to Mandala too, but wouldn’t let on that she wanted to go there as badly as Whinny had the night before. “Let me eat. I need carbs.” Whinny moaned as she shuffled back to the bed, curled her legs under her body and sat there eating the fries Lita got her. ”What are you going to wear?”

The Mexican woman popped up off the tiny white chaise, and moved to the wardrobe. Wynifred, was unfortunately too slow on the uptake to realize what Lita was doing, until the wardrobe door was opened and eyes landed on...Her black backless mini-dress, with bold colorful, fluorescent zig zags, of pink, green, purple and yellow. ”You puta, that is my dress.” Lita grabbed it, turned around and held it out for Whinny to confess to stealing. “But it looks better on me.” The thrall practically sang, thinking about the night she had almost died. Adelita laughed and shook her head. ”It’s going to show all your fat. Whatever. Wear it. I don’t care.” The woman was barely fatter than Adelita, but Lita had to have the final say about her thrall stealing her dress.

”Besides, my dress is better.” She always told Whinny everything Adelita had in her possession was better than whatever Wynifred bought or found from one of Lita’s closets. ”I bet I’ll get more numbers than you.” Adelita closed the wardrobe closet door and flopped on the bed in front of Wynifred. ”The loser buys the other dinner tomorrow night?” Adelita pressed her palms to the bed, slid off and then moved to the door. ”You have under two hours before our cab arrives. Do not be late.” Adelita blew a kiss to her thrall and left the hotel room of her thrall’s making sure the door closed gently behind her on the way out.

By the time Wynifred knocked on Adelita’s door, the woman was dressed in a cerulean blue colored dress with large, bold strawberry colored flowers of all shapes and sizes, silver bangles around her right wrist. The woman slipped her feet into a pair of bright yellow heels. At first glance, people would wonder what on earth she was doing with yellow shoes, but if someone took a step back and looked at both the shoes and the dress, it flowed very nicely together. Even complimented it in a unique, distinct way.

“Your dress is better.” Wynifred mumbled as Lita’s eyes dropped to the purple heels Whinny was wearing, her red painted lips cracking into an amused smile. ”I bet you’ll still get a pity **** number.” Adelita laughed before allowing their hips to connect with a brief bump, before the woman’s arms draped around her thrall’s shoulders.The two would walk together like this to the awaiting taxi where they would get in and head to the fairly popular nightclub near the ocean boulevard.

Both women arrived at the club roughly around forty-five minutes before it opened at nine-thirty at night. Just like last night, this night was no different. The lines were a little longer than the one she had seen which, Adelita suspected it was because last night was smack dab in the middle of the week, unlike tonight. Most Thursdays were known as ‘Thirsty Thursdays,’ and had some sort of specials. Shots, two for one. Women drink for free. Men have half priced drinks. Cheap rail drinks...things of that nature. Tonight was two for one shots it seemed, judging from the sign written in neon, on the ground not far from the door’s entrance.

When the women finally got in-this was not what either of them expected. Clubs in Harper Rock were very different to this club. It was like an Indian meets Hispanic club, and the dance floor seemed….tiny? It was still a beautiful setup, multiple floor layers, with the lowest of the floors being the dance floor, and the others were seating spots for people to sit and enjoy drinks, or conversations without feeling like they needed to dance.

Red lighted chandeliers hung from the ceilings, along with the strobe lights and disco balls she had seen the night before in the cab. Towards the back of the club, and closest to the dance floor was the bar, and next to that were booths on a slightly higher level, indicating that those spots were the better spots to be. Adelita would guess it was the V.I.P booths, judging from how very little you could see inside those booths, due to a small cut out in the walls that made those booths secluded from the rest of the activities going on in the club.

Had Adelita been looking for drugs, or someone to actually screw tonight-that was where she would have gone to first. But since she was just looking for numbers and a tally count to beat Wynifred, every place needed to be worked and utilized to the best of the Lantina’s capabilities. Lita decided she would hit the bar first-drunk people tended to share a lot. Even their numbers.”Game on.” Lita smacked Wynifred’s slightly rounder butt, than Lita’s after unlinking their arms. ”Later, puta.” Adelita waved to the woman with quick fingers before she descended each step to get to the dance floor and to the bar. Adelita glanced back to see Wynifred circling around the dance floor, taking each row, or level, one at a time.

Adelita was still at the bar, sitting between two women, having a couple conversations with both women she was sandwiched between. Occasionally, the woman’s boyfriend who was sitting at the right side of Adelita would also engage in their conversations and put his two cents in, or crack a joke. She had already gotten the number from the bar tender about half an hour prior to sitting between both women who hadn’t know the other from adam before Adelita instigated a conversation and included them all in it. Wynifred joined the small gathering and when Lita made eye contact with her, Whinny held up two scraps of papers, gloating about the numbers she already got in just a little over an hours time. Adelita only had the single slip of paper, but she wasn’t ready to admit defeat yet. There were still a couple hours left until it was last call, so plenty of time to attain more numbers.

Adelita finishes her drink, then excuses herself, eyes now on the dance floor. She decided to let Whinny get her sloppy seconds, and to move because Wynifred has now ruined her chances, or at least split the possibilities in half, now that she was at the bad. Lita waved quick, and frail fingers to Whinny before taking part in her signature trademark air kiss. The woman starts to feel the beat as she approaches the dance floor. Adelita has never professed to being a very good dancer, but she isn’t the most horrible dancer. However, for gameplay, she’s going to be a horrible dancer. This way, she can bump into cute girls and hot guys and start a conversation and phone number exchange that way. And she would do this for the rest of the night, spreading each accidental bump or trip by forty-five minutes to an hour increment. There was a methodology, she couldn’t let other people see her doing the same thing to anyone else, as she had done to them.

“Liiiiiiiita!” Her nickname caught the woman’s attention as she heard it being screamed at her from near the bar area. The woman knew who it was, but the shrieking of her name and turned to look for Whinny. Who was surprisingly in one of the VIP booths besides the bar. The Mexican woman could barely contain her surprise and shock when seeing not only that, but a pretty attractive male-hispanic, with his hand on Whinny’s butt and looking towards Adelita from around Wynifred’s body, right about where the woman’s hip was at. Adelita held a hand that held a bright blue liquor in it to Wynifred and then nodded her head approvingly at the woman, before showing off a total of five fingers. Whinny held up the three middle fingers, but shrugged her shoulders as she nudged Lita over to join the group she was with, with a welcoming hand.

Deciding she had won-because the name of the game wasn’t ‘slut yourself up to the VIP room,’ Lita conceded and moved to the VIP book on the right side of the bar. When she got there, her eyes circled around the tiny space, looking at three men, Whinny and some other unknown female. ”Hola everyone. My name is Melete.” Dark tinted eyes moved to Whinny, who was bouncing around in front of the guy she had more or less claimed as hers for the night, attempting to remind the woman who was half inebriated that her name was Melete to everyone else but her. Lita’s honey colored irises moved to the other woman who was sitting on a teal colored high back chair between a male on a white high back chair, and the other stood against the right wall, probably to get a better glimpse of the woman’s heaving chest. Lita couldn’t fault him, her eyes had roamed there too for a moment. ”Who are all your new friends, Whinny?” Adelita pressed for proper introductions before sipping at her drink.

Whinny turned to face the man, her abdomen now in his face as she pointed to him. “This is Manuel. And that one is Ivan.” Whinny pointed to the one who was sitting to the left of the unnamed woman still, before pointing to her. “That’s Sofia and he is…” Whinny looked to the guy and squinted her eyes as she thought about his name. “Oh! That’s Roberto.” Whinny tried to say each of their names, the way she had probably been told by the men themselves. ”Hola, everyone.” Adelita said once again, before sliding into a chair near the door, a leg crossed at her knees as she watched the interactions between everyone in the smaller, secluded room. From what Adelita could judge, Sofia didn’t seem to know who to focus on, which led Lita to believe, she wanted what Whinny had. ”Are you all friends?” Adelita decided to ignore the somewhat brooding female, eyes bouncing between the two men who weren’t occupied. Roberto tells Lita that they’ve all been friends for over a handful of years. But he doesn’t go into anything really specific. Not that she was expecting more than that.

The night passes, much like the genre of music in the club, every hour, on the hour, and Whinny is now sitting in Manuel’s lap, arms draped around his shoulders, as a hand came to rest on the opposite shoulder, clinging to it, as if he was holding her up from toppling on her ***. And that probably was the very reason-Lita assumed. Adelita had made no moves to indicate what, if any male she preferred and so, both men got bored with Lita and decided to give their attention to Sofia. After the announcement of bar close, Lita stood and smoothed the skin tight blue patterned dress from her breasts down to her thighs and made eye contact with Wynifred. ”See you tomorrow. Do everything I would do. And don’t do.” Adelita laughed, set her drink down on a glass semi-circle table between her chair and the wall Roberto was standing against and left the VIP booth. When she got to the door of the club, Adelita turned around one last time to see Whinny laughing and having a good time, which brought Lita a smile on her red lips. Whinny deserved to have some fun after the last few weeks.

Adelita wakes up about eight at night, stretches out and then turns on her side, grabs her pink encased cell phone and opens her messenger app. She frowns, disappointed because there’s not a single message from anyone-most of all Wynifred. Lita scoots up so that her bed is against the base board, pulls up the last round of messages between the two and starts sending a slew of texts.

Soooo...did you have fun last night? Was the first message the woman sent before grabbing the remote and flicking the channel for the Novela’s on the flat screen television. Lita was only ten minutes into Quien es quien?-Who is Who? When her eyes glanced to her ever quiet phone. Lita collected the phone in her hands again and sent another text to Wynifred. Are you still screwing, you dirty puta? Once again the phone found a home on a pillow, right at the time a commercial came on about Avocados from Mexico, followed by a Burger King commercial and some type of chips they didn’t have in Canada and she had never heard of before. Adelita made a shopping list in her phone after grabbing it again, hopeful Wynifred had contacted her, but seen she hadn’t, so Lita made a list of things to pick up for the last couple nights they were in Mexico-booze being high on the list of priorities, followed by those chips and other snacky foods.

You better get dressed before I come to your room. Unless you want a threesome. Another text to Wynifred before Adelita got bored with the show about two twin brothers who were reunited and switched places. She slid off the bed, moved to the bathroom and started her routine, expecting a call or text from Wynifred by the time Adelita got out.

Only, there wasn’t. No missed call, no message from the woman as Lita looked at her phone, while still wrapped in one of the hotel towels. Adelita was beyond annoyed with her thrall. She had ignored Adelita sometimes, but not this often. You’re dead. The angry woman sent her thrall the message as Lita practically ripped off the towel, tossed it on the bed and changed into a tank top, a light bubblegum colored velour pants and was storming down the hallway, hair still wrapped in a towel before pounding on the door. The Mexican woman did this three times before kicking at it with her bare feet, before demanding the woman open the door.

This lasted for five minutes before Lita sighed and gave up. Anger was replaced with worry for a second time, before Lita retreated to her room and snatched the phone up to see a missed call, but no message from Wynifred’s cell phone. Lita pressed the call back option on her phone and the second it was picked up, she was seething at the woman.

”Why have you been ignoring my calls, you puta? Where-?” Adelita was cut off before she could continue to tear into Wynifred about her lack of care in how Adelita felt about being ignored by the woman. Lita didn't personally care that she had been ignored-it was the fact they were in a foreign country (well, Wynifred was), where anything could happen. The woman could get lost, hurt, anything and everything was possible when someone was a tourist, in a land they had never been to and knew where nothing was.

”This is not your ‘puta.’ The males accent was defined to the land he lived in-which was Mexico. Anyone and everyone could know it without actually ever visiting Mexico or speaking to a Latino in their life. The movies defined it very well, as did any and all novelas on the television. ”Are you listening now, you puta?” The male asked Lita, using her own phrase against the woman, while she moved to the bed and took a seat on the corner of it. ”I hear. What do you want with my friend?” Adelita’s tone was strained and harsh sounding at the word ‘friend.’

“Cállate. Prestar atención.” Adelita went silent, if not for his request, then for the fact her vampire senses, primarily her hearing, to see what she could pick up on the call, while he was talking to her. Lita could hear nothing, but quiet and the sound of another, muffled voice. When she strained to hear better, Lita could tell it was another guy, telling the caller what to say and do. ”I find it strange you introduce yourself as Melete last night, but today you are Adelita. I know it’s you because she has your picture on her phone and shows up when you message or call her.” Adelita rolled her eyes, no longer caring who knew her name; most of all in Mexico. ”So I ask my friend why someone pretends to be someone they’re not. He tells me for two reasons. The first is, you are famous or very rich and don’t want someone to know who you really are. The second is you are a very desired person in a not so good way. Wanted, he tells me. But, I tell him you are too pretty to be a bad girl. You’re not a bad girl, are you, Adelita?”

”Wouldn’t you like to know?” The Latina asked him in a snarky, snappy tone before circling back to her original question. ”What do you want for my friend?” Adelita asked, a clear, definitive tone of annoyance in her question as she waited to hear where this conversation was going and how bad it was going to end depending on what the guy wanted from her.

He chuckled and then made a repetitive clicking noise at Adelita through the phone. ”See. I told him you are good girl. Now listen up like a good girl.” Adelita decided she was going to kill the guy behind the call, once she found out where he was. ”In forty-eight hours, I want one hundred thousand American dollars.” The woman’s jaw dropped, resting slightly agape as she listened to him. ”An hour before, I will call you again. Tell you where you meet us. No cops. No funny business. You hear? Or I kill your friend like the puta you say she is and dump her *** like garbage on the side of a road somewhere.” Yes, Lita understood very well what he was saying and what he was expecting. However, she also knew that he would end up killing one, if not both women.

Adelita wasn’t a dumb tourist that was about to get conned. Not a chance in hell. ”I want to know my...merchandise is in good condition. Take a picture of her. With a watch, a clock, a paper-whatever, as proof. Shouldn’t take longer than ten minutes. Then we will progress from there-otherwise, no money.” Adelita disconnected the call then. It was risky-but she knew that if they wanted the money-they would keep Wynifred alive until the very end. And if Adelita didn’t believe them, they would be wasting not only her time, but theirs as well, by not even entertaining their suggestion.

She was pacing, watching the minutes go by and as the clocked changed, leaving two minutes left, a picture of Wynifred with the same time as the time on the alarm clock near the bed stand was pressed against the picture, with Wynifred in the background, sitting on the floor, tied at the arms and ankles, with a makeup smeared face. Other than that, the woman looked to be in good condition. Along with the picture came a single sentence. ‘Forty-seven hours and thirty-two minutes left. Tick, Tock.’

< Adelita > ‘rat-tat-tat’ would be how Montez would describe the sound of gunfire the first time he had heard it. He was at his friend's Fredrico’s wedding the first time he heard it, not heard of it. For months everyone could feel the changes in the city, the foreshadowing of death looming over everyone while they worked, spent time with family, and went to bars and clubs. Essentially, no one felt safe anywhere in Mexico with the attempt of a power shift going down in the city.

While Fredrico and his wife opened their wedding gifts, Fredrico’s best man and father were gunned down before the gunman himself met the same fate. Situations like these were becoming more and more of an occurrence-but were never so bold and so brazen. Not until Fredrico’s wife took a bullet to the shoulder.

It was believed that the bullet was intended for Fredrico himself, but that didn't matter. It was always understood that affairs of men stayed between men. The shot should not have been taken if the gunman was not positive his bullet would hit the right target. And that was how the war between two families started. Over a woman. Just like many feuds before this one.

After the phone conversation with Whinny’s ‘captives,’ Lita sat on the chair by the computer desk, sitting in complete, somber silence. It would be so easy for Adelita to lose herself in all her rage and fury she felt, but what good what that accomplish? Nada.

Did she have the one hundred thousand dollars the gruff male on the other side of the phone demanded for Wynifred’s release? Absolutely. But that wasn’t the point. The point was, was that no one should touch anything that was Adelita’s. No one should demand anything of her for her own possession and property.

The Mexican woman pulled her legs around from the front of the chair, and kicked them over the side as she thought about her options. Pay the ransom. Don’t and hear about a dead Wynifred on the side of the road, like a hooker or some roadside kill. Lita knew the woman would break like a pencil if pressed hard enough and so she would have no problemas telling them where they were staying and their numbered hotel rooms. Or...Lita could seek outside assistance. But...who?

And that was when Lita’s mind went to the only person who might have some backing in Mexico. With a sigh, Lita pulled the cellular phone up to eye level and scrolled for the male’s number, pressed it and initiated a call. When it was picked up, Lita only said four words. “Godric, I need you.” She did. She needed his presence and his insights on all things gorey in the crime world of Mexico.