The Red Rose

Chapter XII

Arriving in Taltal, Sebastian finally asked me about those strange tourists.

"What happened, Miguel? What's up with that odd couple?"

I replied, "Maybe I'm wrong, but from all the signs I noticed, it seems like they are vampires, or some kind of undead. I caught a certain strange aroma from them and couldn't hear any heartbeats or pulses."

Sebastian raised his eyebrows, all this supernatural stuff was already making him dizzy, and he seemed to be starting to stress out.

After a pause, Juanpi finally arrived and interrupted us, quite eager to know the news about my encounter with the Alicanto, but upon seeing the tension between Sebastian and me, he frowned and asked:

"Uh... Is something wrong? It seems like things didn't go as expected."

I shook it off and replied, "Nah, everything went fine. I think I got what I needed, but we had a little encounter on the way back."

"What encounter?" Juanpi asked, intrigued.

I recounted the story about the strange tourists and my encounter with the woman at the bus stop. I also mentioned the bird's feathers and the rose, an object I didn't expect to receive from the Alicanto.

"Hmm..." Juanpi said as he examined the feathers. "They look like arrows, it must be some new weapon, but I have no idea what the rose could be for. Does it have some symbolic value? Gratitude?"

"They're probably edible, you could make yourself a salad," Sebastian joked.

We laughed for a while, but I actually thought about it. If the woman with amethyst eyes paid so much attention to it, it must have some supernatural value.

"And aren't we going to talk about the bloodsuckers? What if they come for us? Juanpi, our family could be in danger! This is serious!" Sebastian said seriously.

The three of us looked at each other and went inside the house. Sebastian was right, I couldn't leave yet, not while those guys were lurking around. While I could deal with them, Juanpi and his family would be in danger, as vampires are much more intelligent than creatures like Chupacabras.

We entered the attic, and while Juanpi worked on his laptop, jotting down more information and updating his "Bestiary," he also began typing furiously, searching for something. Sebastian started to look at him seriously, then got up and said to me:

"Well, Micky, tell me what we need to deal with the bloodsuckers, and tell me exactly what we're up against, no sugarcoating, spit it all out!"

"Um... Well..." I took a pause. I was really hesitant to tell him everything, unsure of how they would react.

"Come on, come on! We might not have much time, buddy! There are grandparents and children living in this house, and we can't involve more people!" Sebastian demanded.

"OK... OK..." I said. "It's very unlikely they'll attack during the day; if I remember correctly, the sun weakens them a lot, but they can come out on cloudy days. From what I know, decapitating them does the job. And if the sun affects them, probably fire does too, or very high temperatures..."

Sebastian watched intently as he muttered, "Like the Chupacabras..."

Juanpi interrupted the conversation and spoke while still typing:

"Stakes don't work, neither do religious symbols, nor garlic... It's because their hearts don't actually beat, and the garlic thing might be more about their heightened senses. From what I can deduce, their sense of smell is the sharpest they have; the symbols are more for literature than reality."