Undeath by Chocolate

Like Blood For Chocolate - Holly Gonzalez (Paranormal)

Holly Gonzalez is the award-winning author of the retro-futuristic "Family Of Earth" science fiction series, which has been published in 3.574,266 languages throughout the galaxy. She is currently writing a trilogy of hyperspace-media screenplays for Positron Cinematix. When she isn't gallivanting across spacetime with her trusty singularity engine, she enjoys sipping coffee and listening to classic Siouxsie And The Banshees tracks at her orbital Jovian estate. Holly can be found at @Holly_Gonzalez on Wattpad.

The November wind carries joyful music through the kitchen window, and the candles flicker among effigies of skulls and weeping saints. Día de los Muertos is my favorite holiday, when life and death swirl in a colorful dance.

Across the street, an elderly curandera weaves garlands of marigolds and cockscomb onto her ancestral altar. Petals drift around her billowed green skirt. In the distance, human laughter transforms into coyote howls. Sounds like the local nahuales are having fun at the cantina.

"Ay, so much noise. Cierra la ventana, por favor," my grandmother says. "We don't want those pesky chaneques snooping about. They've been drinking tequila for two days."

"Sí, 'Lita." When I reach for the shutters, a small creature scurries to my hand.

Sure enough, we have an eavesdropper. It's an alux, a nature sprite from the surrounding hills. Spindly fingers clutch the windowsill, and its knobby bald head peers in. "Seora and Seorita Rojas, may I, please?" Huge eyes and ears swivel toward me. "May I have a crumb of your magical chocolate? In return, I will bless your house and your garden and your health and your wealth and your--"

Abuelita Galleta swats, her bracelets clattering. "Wait until the village ceremony, cabrón. You'll get plenty. Shoo! Out of my kitchen. This is a holy place."

"Thank you. Kind, kind Seora. I wait." The alux sprints away on backward feet and disappears into the shadows.

I join Abuelita by the hearth. There's so many pretty reagents for our chocolate brew. Spicy peppers, vanilla extract, dried locust wings, amber dust, and fresh ground cacao grace the table.

Sharp metal objects frighten supernaturals like me, so Abuelita has hidden her knives in the cabinet. She keeps her garlic outside for the same reason.

The delightful scents of pan de muerto, cinnamon, and cigarillo smoke distract me from what I really crave--human blood. A baby's blood would satisfy me most, but even the life flowing in Abuelita's veins mocks me tonight.

When I'm hungry, my keen sense of smell is a curse. Well, it's a part of my curse. I can't change what I am. I was born a tlahuelpuchi. Some call us brujas, others say we're vampires. I'm actually a little of both.

Abuelita sets a kettle onto the stove and stirs it with a wooden spoon. Her jade-inlaid teeth gleam when she smiles. "Watch closely, Melosa. It has to be just right."

"Will there be enough for everyone at the ceremony?" I ask. I only have one piece of chocolate left, and I don't want to run out. A frenzied tlahuelpuchi is the worst kind of trouble.

"There's always enough." She drops a few chili slices into the brew. "But we have important work tonight. It's time you learn to prepare your own."

"You'll teach me to harvest the cacao?" I glance at the door on the far wall. Only Abuelita can open it, and it's protected by our bound spirit and a barrage of curses.

"Yes. You're old enough now, and someday you'll take my place." She wipes her fingers on her apron and hands me the spoon. "Here, stir the brew while I invoke the portal."

My heart pounds. I've waited for this moment. When I can make the chocolate myself, I'll stock up and travel for a while. After I finish school online, of course. I can't tell Abuelita about my plans yet. She's counting on me to become the next steward of the cacao tree.

I came here to Puesta Del Sol when I was only thirteen. After I'd fallen into a coma-like trance called 'encanto' for three days, I awoke as a full-fledged bloodsucking shapeshifter. Confused and superstitious, my Mamá and Papá sent me to live with Abuelita.

I consider myself lucky. 'Lita is the tiniest, spunkiest old woman I know, and the most powerful bruja in the village. She understands what I am and, thanks to her incredible chocolate, I can live like any other seventeen-year-old.

Abuelita puffs her cigarillo into a fragrant smolder. She blows smoke at the shrine door, chants to her saints and diablos, and sprinkles sea salt across the threshold.

Eerie groans and taps echo from the other side. The smoke ripples into a transparent hand. Luminous fingers spread outward, and an arm emerges from the doorknob. With a loud yelp, an apparition in old-fashioned clothing stumbles into view.