The Holy Death

Chapter 21

"Jesse, shut up," Scott said. "We want some information."

"Well, of course you do. I mean, why else would the Boy Wonder want to hang out with ol' Jesse here, huh?"

"That's about the only reason I can think of, and I wouldn't exactly call it 'hanging out'."

"What can you tell us about a creature known as the Santa Muerte?" Asked Jeremiah. Leave it to him to cut to the chase.

"Santa who?"

"Santa Muerte," Scott repeated.

"Let's see," Jesse thumped his head with his index finger, "Santa Muerte, Santa Muerte... Muerte... Oh, okay. Yeah. She's the patron saint of death. Got a big following down in old Mexico. Yeah. That's it."

"Not that Santa Muerte. The other Santa Muerte."

"Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about. My memory has gaps, you know what I'm saying?"

Jeremiah grabbed Jesse by the collar and pushed him against the brick wall. Jesse's cigarette fell to the ground. "We think you do have an idea, Jesse," Scott said, "And we think you're holding out on us. Don't we, Jeremiah?"

"Hey! You're gonna have to jog my memory, you know? I gotta make a living, pal!"

"I hope you have cash on you," Jeremiah said to Scott, "I am quite out. I'm sorry."

"I preferred the route we were already going," Scott pulled out his wallet and handed Jesse forty dollars (he'd initially withdrawn that money to buy Dawn lunch, but oh well, their lunch date would probably have to be postponed anyway). "Here. Now, the Santa Muerte. And please tell us something we don't already know, okay?"

"Fine, fine," Jesse said as Jeremiah released him. "Okay, so, you're gonna be a bit disappointed, but I don't know much."

"Then what the hell am I paying you for?"

"Hey! I said I don't know much, that don't mean I don't know nothin', capisce? Anyway, so, this Santa Muerte is a vampire, I guess like you or me, 'cept he has this real big reputation. He's basically the enforcer for the Calderon family, only now, the Calderon family controls the trade in illicit pharmaceuticals down along the border."

"We already know that, Jesse. Remember, I asked for stuff I don't know."

"Okay, apparently, he has this big thing about honor and justice and shit like that. And here's the real fun part, no mortal outside House Calderon has ever seen him. They say that for a mortal to even look upon the Santa Muerte means death."

"And what of immortals?" Jeremiah asked. "Do you know of any beings such as ourselves who have seen him?"

"Sorry, the same goes for most of them, too. I don't know of any."

Scott sighed. "Why did I not figure that this would be a dead end? Oh, Jeremiah, Doug is dead!"

"Do not lose hope, Scott," Jeremiah said, "Surely there will be another way."

"Hey, hey, wait! Come to think of it, there's one guy I know for sure who's seen, and in fact has met, this Santa Muerte fellow. One guy," Suddenly, the pale, gaunt vampire turned a couple shades grayer, if that were possible. "Yeah. Yeah, one guy who knows the Santa Muerte pretty damn well."

"Is he in town? Who is he?"

"Oh! Oh, yeah, he's in town, that's for sure," Jesse looked down and away from them. Scott knew that the news wasn't going to be pretty.