She untied Juana first and asked her to help untie the other children. Then she had all the children work together to untie the adults while she stood back. "Ya niños, vengan aquí," she called when she saw everyone was untied.
The children from her town all went running to her and forced her into the middle of a group hug. She couldn't hold back her laugh. But she noticed about a dozen or more other children standing still. While maybe only four or five went over to the adults who were released. She finally looked to the adults. She could hear their heartbeats accelerate due to her looking at them. She picked up a young boy from her town and had her other arm around Juana's shoulder to hopefully make them realize she wasn't a threat.
"I'm taking my children home. But do you know them? Are any from your towns?" she raised her chin towards the group of children who stood together, afraid and confused.
"No, I don't recognize them." One man spoke up and she noticed the other adults shaking their heads as no.
"Then I'm taking them with me. You, children, come here." She called. The group of children looked to each other. Then back at Serafina and the group of children she had around her. "It's alright," she told them, "I'll take you to my town. You'll be safe there. Then we'll look for your parents, está bien?" She pushed Juana forward a bit and she understood.
"Really, it's okay! She's really nice and she'll protect us from all the bad people!" Juana excitedly yelled.
"Juana, you and the others find the cart and horses from town. Do you know how to get the horses ready? And stay on that side! Don't look past these tents, alright?" Serafina called, she had to quickly stop the children from going to the side of the tents where the bodies were strewn about.
"¡Sí, Doña! ¡Mi papá me enseñó!" she responded, gathering the other children to help and staying towards the backs of the tents near the carts, supplies, and horses. Serafina watched them get everything ready. Juana was a very good leader, and they were done very quickly. "Doña, mi papá only puts two horses to pull the cart. But we have three horses that we still need to bring home. I don't know what to do with them." Juana informed Serafina.
"Who here can ride a horse?" she asked all the children. There were two young boys, about fourteen or fifteen, from the new group of children who raised their hands along with Juana and her younger sister Teresa. "You young men, get a horse and ride alongside the cart, or behind. Your choice. Teresa, you take the other horse and lead, it's a straight drive home for the most part, I'll tell you when we need to turn but I think you'll recognize it by then. Juana, you'll be responsible for the cart and all the little ones alright?" The children nodded in agreement.
"Aren't you coming with us?" one of the young men asked with a confused expression on his face, "I thought you said she'd keep us safe?" he directed at Juana. He was frightened, but he felt better knowing the ghost would be with them; when she no longer was, he didn't like the plan anymore. His friend, the other young man, didn't seem to care either way.
"Animals don't really like La Doña now that I think about it," Juana said with her own confusion showing now after the realization.
"They don't, I think I scare them," she smiled. Casting a quick glance to the adults. Bringing chills to all of them when they realized she could tell they were afraid and that even animals were afraid of her too. "But don't worry. I'll be right behind you all. You'll be safe. If you feel I'm not there and want to make sure you can always just call out to me. I'll answer."
"¿Podemos ir a casa también?" one of the men asked, avoiding eye contact.
"I don't care what you do." She said, "Help yourselves to whatever is here. Now that my children have their things, we're going to leave. Adiós." Then she nodded to the children to start. "Not too fast, be careful," she shouted as they left the rest of the rescued prisoners behind.
They had been traveling for several hours, but Serafina noticed the children had gotten sluggish. "¡Ay niños, lo siento mucho! Olvidé que ustedes no han dormido. Sigue adelante y acomódate cerca de esos árboles. Let's stop to rest by those trees down that path!" she called. Startling the children due to the sudden sound in the silent night.
"Doña we can keep going!" Juana insisted, followed by a yawn. She blushed in embarrassment when she realized La Doña probably saw, even if she was far away.
Serafina had seen it, and it brought her smile up, "No, stop. The little ones are already sleeping. You need to sleep as well. You're still growing, and you only grow in your sleep!" She teased.
Serafina had chosen that particular set of trees due to hearing the gurgling of a creek nearby. The children pulled over to the side of the road and walked up to the creek bed and tied the horses nearby allowing the horses to drink freely. When one of the children bent over to drink, she stopped them. She got the cooking pot they had from the cart, filled it with water, then boiled it with her abilities. Once it cooled, she allowed everyone to drink. She had to fill it about three times before their thirst was sated. She still filled some canteens for later. Thankfully, the cart also still had the goods that they were going to trade, which included dried meats. So she had the children eat that before sleeping.
In the middle of the night, one of the older boys who had ridden the horses got up and slowly crept to the cart, pocketing some trinkets he had seen. Then went to the horses to untie the one he had ridden before to make his escape. Just as he lifted his foot to leave, he heard a voice from the shadows.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Serafina whispered from her spot on a branch way above his line of sight. He froze. Then drew his eyes upward to see her lazily lying on the branch. She was laying on her back, one leg bent, the other dangling off the edge, and her hat blocking her face from the moonlight.
He shook but then forced himself calm. Attempting to feign bravery, he replied with only a slight shake to his voice, "you don't hurt children." He attempted to act as though he were untouchable because of her personal morals.
She sat herself up and scooted back so her back was against the tree, legs in the same position, but tilted her hat up and then looked him in the eye, "Do you know why I don't hurt children?" she asked with a mischievous smile on her face.
Staring into her red eyes and seeing her smile, the fear in his heart intensified, and he couldn't utter a word. He shook his head no.
"Because children are pure. They're innocent. They don't have fear of someone's eyes a different color than their own. Or distrust of someone whose skin is a different shade than they're used to. They don't have the greed that adults have. That greed that makes them want to take what isn't theirs. Even ignoring the kindness given to them, they have no problem spitting on that kindness to get what they want. Children don't have that. Do you remember what I called you before?" she continued to question.
He shook his head no again.
"Young man," she whispered, smile disappearing. "I don't really consider you a child anymore. If you keep doing what you're doing. I'll treat you as a young man. A young adult. A greedy one at that." She dropped from that branch and landed on her feet with her legs bent. She never averted her eyes as she dropped and stood up straight. She was tall for a woman, always had been. So even on the ground she was still looking down at him, even with the distance between them. She was a fair distance away so as not to frighten the horse after all. "I like giving people a choice. So will you return the things you took from the cart and retie that horse? Or will I have to do it? The first option has you going to town where I'll ask the people there to send you on your way if you should wish. While the second option has you never seeing sunrise." For emphasis, she allowed her eyes to glow.
"I'm sorry! I choose option one! Please!" he began crying.
"Good, I'll be watching. Try to make better decisions in the future. It's good to look out for yourself, but you don't have to be ungrateful to those that are only trying to help you," She smiled again, glow in her eyes dimming, "now go on and put things back. I doubt you can sleep now, so just wait patiently for sunrise. Should be in an hour or so. Enjoy it. This could've ended differently." She walked back towards the cart to wait for the children to wake up.
She had gotten the water ready for them to drink when they got up. Once they did, they ate more goods from the cart, then left. The children began speaking about their town to the new children. Serafina could hear the chit-chat and laughter. She smiled as they rolled into town.
The townspeople must've heard it as well. They all began leaving their homes to the sound of the horses and cart entering town. She heard the exclamations of "it's the children!" being shouted from the townspeople. More and more people came out. They seemed surprised at how many children were actually there. But she enjoyed the happy reunion. She had found some shade where she could watch the whole thing. She overheard all the different children's versions of what happened start to come from their little mouths. But then she heard a couple start to say that Juana should tell the story. That La Doña had specially praised her storytelling skills. Juana was so proud of herself that she got up and started to recount the whole thing from the beginning for everyone to hear.
When she got to the part about her telling the story of La Llorona and it being La Doña, she heard several people gasp. They asked how she knew of the story. Serafina spoke up from the shadows near the building where she was standing leaning back with arms crossed, "children hear everything. Just something to think about when you think you're being quiet, gossiping with your neighbors." She smirked, "I hear it too, but I like hearing the gossip. Especially about myself. I find it entertaining, so don't worry." She nodded to Juana to continue telling her story. Ignoring the blood draining from the townspeople's faces.
"But what happened to all the bandits?" One of the younger men asked. The older crowd gave each other a look, fairly certain of what happened to them, but still looked to La Doña to hear her response.
"I said you wouldn't have to worry about them anymore. Just think of it as retribution for what they did to Diego," Serafina grinned, "Oh, before I forget! I'm going to be leaving soon. I promised those bandits I'd look for their children. So I want to get these children, here settled, for now, then I'm going home to bathe and I'll be off."
They expressed their shock, "why would you help them?"
"Because the children are innocent. I don't know if they're alive or not. But I promised those men just before they died that I would look. It wouldn't be right to ignore the wishes of the dead." She replied as though it were obvious.
The people shivered in their fear, realizing she had actually killed all the bandits by herself in a matter of hours. Josefina remembered La Doña had a friend, but she was still terrified, remembering how even he deferred to La Doña's judgment. But even if they were afraid, the people were grateful. They began thanking her. Then they listened to her instructions for the new children. They were to set up a shelter for them, help them all get cleaned up, and let them rest comfortably. Then she asked them to take the children to the next town over to see if they could find any relatives. If not, to spread the word of where the town was and how to find them.
Serafina realized she was asking a lot, so she offered them all the money she had pickpocketed from the bandits while killing them. She was skilled when alive; she had only gotten better after death. She knew the money would come in handy. This situation proved her right. But just in case, she also offered a few homemade gold coins.
Her father had a large sum of gold bars and cash put away for her and her brother for when he passed away as an inheritance. It would've been enough for her and her brother to be considered well off after dividing. But since it was just her, she could now be considered filthy rich. She made some coin molds and melted a couple of the gold bars down herself. The money her father had obtained wasn't obtained legally so she thought it best to melt the bars down so there was no way they could be traced. She etched a design with her nail. Her father had drawn up the design when she was younger, and she never forgot it.
Angel wings around a small flame for Serafina with a heart around it, obviously for Hart. Her brother's was just angel wings with a halo for his middle name, Angel and a heart around it. The front of her coins had the flame and angel wings, and the back had the heart by itself. Her father made the designs for them when he made them their own brands for their horses' years and years ago. She shook her head to get rid of those memories. Then offered the money to the townspeople.
The townspeople refused to accept her money at first. But she demanded that the shelter they made for the children be made of the best quality. At least as good as the homes the townspeople lived in. Separated for boys and girls. She also reminded them that they would also need to clothe and feed the children. She also reminded them that she was actually on her way to look for more children so they would need to make the shelter bigger than what they initially were thinking about, just in case.
The people readily agreed after hearing her requests. La Doña called Teresa over to give her the money. She turned herself from the townspeople so they could only see her back and pulled the bills and coins from her secret pocket sewn in her bodice. She gave Teresa the shush gesture and winked. Teresa just giggled and went back to her parents.
Then Serafina gave one last look to the young man that she had brought, "remember what I said? Show these people respect; they're my people," he shrank his neck but still nodded. "Good," she smiled. With that done. She sped through the shadows home. To the people- she vanished into thin air again.
Although she was careful to avoid the blood in her massacre, it seemed she wasn't careful enough. She could smell some droplets of blood and even a bit of saliva and sweat on her outfit, so she decided to bathe and change prior to heading out to meet the other vampires. She thought it was best to make a good first impression.
She then settled in the tub, which was just an overly large barrel she made, and allowed the heat to escape her into the water. The water boiled, and although she knew she couldn't sleep, she still closed her eyes to relax for the day to come. She wasn't even sure how far south she would have to go, but she figured it would be like when she met Red; she'd somehow sense them when she arrived.
She looked forward to it and dreaded it at the same time. She wasn't sure how this meeting would go. But if anything, she was prepared to just burn them all.