Free Night Walker by Lisa Kessler Page B

Diego.
    If she could immerse herself in a job search and dealing with her parents’ estate, Calisto Terana would fade into a distant memory. She was certain of it.
    Her thumb unconsciously traced over the back of her other hand where his lips brushed her skin a couple of hours earlier, and her pulse pounded at the memory of his touch. Kate rolled her eyes and sighed. Get a grip.
    After polishing off her dinner, Kate sipped her iced tea and surfed the websites of the county’s many school districts. There Night Walker 61
    weren’t many openings, but she had a few options, including an opening for a position on an east county reservation. When she clicked the link for more information, the page loaded a photo of Calisto and described the grant he created to fund cultural music and art teachers for the school. She stared too long at the photo, thinking about how he looked at her. With a start, she realized she’d lost track of time again.
    Really, this was getting ridiculous.
    She stabbed at the keyboard to shut down the computer.
    Tomorrow, she would polish her resume and research local private schools. For now, she wanted to play the piano, possibly for the last time. Maybe if she played something, she’d be able to think about something other than Calisto.
    But the longer she played, the more she wondered what he would do with her mother’s instrument. Betty told her he was an accomplished pianist. Would his fingers touch these keys?
    It was hopeless. Kate closed the cover over the keyboard and grabbed her purse. She was going to a movie. It didn’t matter what was showing, as long as it gave her something else to think about.
    §
    Word of Father De Cardina’s death traveled quickly back to Spain. The monsignor let out a sigh, crumbling the courier’s letter. He had hoped to avoid more bloodshed.
    For centuries, the Fraternidad Del Fuego Santo kept a quiet watch over the Night Walker, a monster who had once been one of their own.
    During the Alcala Massacre, a lone monk had watched the carnage from the shadows. He witnessed the Night Walker feeding, drinking the blood of one of the guards, and rewrote history. Father Jayme was named the first Catholic martyr in the New World, and Father Salvador, along with his lover, Tala, were erased from all written records in the Catholic Church, but not forgotten.
    The Fraternidad del Fuego Santo hid the story of the native woman with the moon in the iris of her right eye and the creature with a thirst for blood.
    62 LISA KESSLER
    They still hadn’t found a way to kill the unholy abomination. In recent years they resigned to keeping a sentinel on the Pacific coast to observe his movements and be certain he did not spread his curse.
    The truth behind the Mission de Alcala uprising had been buried for centuries. They could not risk allowing the world to discover what the Church had unknowingly unleashed. From Brother Cardina’s communications, they learned the Night Walker had met a woman with a strange marking in her right eye. Brother Cardina seemed convinced the abomination believed the woman to be the reincarnation of his Native American lover.
    Of course she would have no memories of Father Gregorio Salvador. Reincarnation was a fallacy. But if the Night Walker believed she lived again and sought to make her immortal, the consequences would be dire. The Night Walker was formidable enough alone, but if Satan took the woman’s soul, too, the threat to the flock would be mighty. If only they understood the unholy races better.
    Over the years, the Fraternidad collected files of research on the Night Walkers, but the creatures had remained secretive. The Church still had more questions than avenues for answers. Most people remained unaware of their existence, and that was the best the Fraternidad had managed.
    They still weren’t sure if his life could be ended, and the moral implications of the Church ordering such an action were endless.
    Murder, though justified, had been