“My daughter will not die. There will be no mourning her. Magdalena will live forever.”
Was this her sacrifice? Was this the outer limit of maternal love? Was I supposed to think highly of the mother for making this sacrifice?
“It’s not a sacrifice,” she said as though she’d been reading my mind. “I am here because of Magda. But I am also here for my own pleasure. I want to make sure you know that.”
I recovered my speech then like a bull that has been lanced in the nape of its neck so that it charges all the harder.
“I spoke with that evil old creature,” I said.
“Zurinaga? You spoke to Zurinaga?”
This confused me. “Yes, I spoke to Zurinaga too, but I was talking about that other old creature, Vlad. .”
“I made the deal with Zurinaga,” she continued. “Zurinaga was the middleman. He sent Magdalena’s picture to Vlad. He offered me the deal in Vladimiro’s name. .”
“Vladimiro,” I tried to smile. “He tricked Zurinaga, you know. He offered him eternal life and then sent him straight to hell. The same thing is going to happen to you two.”
“He offered me the deal in Vladimiro’s name,” Asunción continued, ignoring me. “Eternal life for my daughter. Zurinaga knew about my fear. He told Vladimiro all about it.”
“In exchange,” I interrupted, “you would have sex with Vlad.”
For the first time she gave a hint of a smile. Saliva ran down her chin.
“No, even without the girl, I’d choose to be here. .”
“Asunción,” I said, upset. “My adored Asunción, my wife, my love. .”
“Your love, adored and bored,” she said with eyes of black diamond. “Your wife, prisoner of daily tedium.”
“Love,” I said almost with desperation, certainly with disbelief. “Remember our passionate nights together. How can you say that? You and I, we’ve loved each other with passion.”
“Those are the first moments that are forgotten,” she said without moving a muscle in her face. “Your repetitious love is tiresome; your faithfulness, a bore. I’ve spent years preparing myself for Vladimiro, without knowing it. None of this just happens, as you seem to think, all of a sudden.”
Because I had no new words, I repeated the ones I already knew:
“Remember our passion.”
“You’re so ordinary,” she spat out along with the foam that leaked from her lips. “I don’t want ordinary.”
“Asunción, you’re headed for horror, you’re going to live in horror, I don’t understand you, you’re going to be horribly miserable. .”
She looked at me as if to say “I know,” but then she took another tack:
“Yes, I want a man who can hurt me. And you’re way too good for that.”
She allowed herself a dreadful pause.
“Your faithfulness is a plague.”
Having recovered from my astonishment, I played another card. This gambit involved swallowing my pride, its injury overcome thanks to my steadfast love, the true love that celebrates its own limits and loves despite imperfection.
“You’re saying all this so that I’ll get angry with you, darling, and leave embittered but resigned. .”
“I’m not a prisoner here,” she said, shaking her long lustrous mane, so similar now to the magnificence of Vlad’s replenished hair. “No, I have escaped from your prison.”
A hissing fury seized her tongue, spreading thick saliva:
“I enjoy being with Vlad. He’s a man who instantly knows all a woman’s weaknesses. .”
But that snake’s voice ceased as soon as she repeated that she was unable to resist Vlad’s attraction. Vlad had broken our life of tedious habit.
“And I’m on fire for him, even though he’s only using me, even though he wants the girl and not me. .”
Her eyes were shiny with unshed tears.
“Go, Yves, while you still can. You can’t stop what’s already happening. If you like, you can imagine that, even if I’m hurting you, I will still be fond of you. But get out of here, and as you go on living, ask yourself, which of us has lost more? Did I take more away from you, or you from me? As long as you can’t answer that question, you won’t know anything about me. .”
She laughed impudently.
“Go,” she said. “Vlad doesn’t tolerate shared loyalties.”
But I didn’t want to give up. I didn’t understand the forces I was up against.
“For me, you will always be beautiful, desirable, Asunción. .”
“No,” she lowered her head, “no, not anymore, not for anyone. .”
“I’m sorry to interrupt this tender domestic scene,” Vlad said, appearing suddenly. “The night marches on, and we have duties, my dear Asunción. .”
At that moment, blood bubbled up from every drain in the living room.
My wife rose and quickly left the room, lifting her skirt over the red puddles.
Vlad looked at me with polite irony.
“May I escort you to the door, Mr. Navarro?”
The automatic responses of my education and my ancestral courtesy cumulatively overcame my weakened resistance. I sat up and walked, led by the Count, to the mansion’s door in Bosques de las Lomas.
We crossed the space between the front door and the wrought-iron gate facing the street.
“Don’t fight it anymore, Navarro. Ignore the endless advance of death. Be content. Go back to the curse of work, which for you is a blessing. I know and I understand. You live life. I covet life. That’s an important distinction. What we have in common is that, in this world, we all use each other. Some of us win, others lose. Accept this.”
He put his hand on my shoulder. I shuddered.
“Or join us, Navarro. Yes, why not become a part of my wandering tribe? Look at what I’m offering you, despite your incorruptible pride: stay here with your wife and daughter forever. . Think about it. If you don’t stay with us, you won’t see your wife and daughter ever again, you know. Nobody will see them. Nobody but me. .”
We were in front of the gate, between the street and the house.
“That’s not what you want. You’ll die without ever seeing them again. Navarro, think it over.”
He raised a glassy-fingernailed hand.
“And hurry. Tomorrow we’ll be gone. If you go now, you might never see us again. But, then again, do bear in mind that my absence is often deceptive. I always find a weakness, a crack through which I can slip back in, if need be. If such a friend as you, so highly regarded, were to summon me, I would return. I assure you, I’d be there. .”
My whole being, yes, my schooling, my habits, my entire life, impelled me to choose the work, health, and pleasure that are permitted us human beings. Here was only sickness. Death. Yet, struggling against everything inside me was an intolerable and uncertain tenderness toward this poor creature. He wasn’t the origin of evil. He was a victim. He was not born a monster; they turned him into a vampire. . He was a creature of his daughter, Minea, just another victim, poor Vlad. .
The cursed Count played his last card.
“Your wife and daughter will live forever. If that alone is of no interest to you, wouldn’t you like your son to come back to life too? Would you despise that possibility as well? Don’t look at me like that, Navarro. I’m not in the habit of joking about matters of life and death. Look, your car is parked over there. Take a good look and make up your mind quickly. I’m in a hurry to leave.”
I looked at him inquiringly.
“You’re leaving?”
Vlad answered coldly: “You will forget this place and this day. You were never in this house. Never.”
“You’re leaving Mexico City?” I asked again, my voice sounding distant and anesthetized.