Blood of Gato

William stood there, breath ragged, gesturing wildly with his hands as though trying to fling his anger into the air.

"Do you even realize how far I walked? From that goddamn gas station. On foot. In a puddle of blood, mind you! Soaked to the bone, feet raw, starving to death by the end of it… so yeah—thanks a hell of a lot!"

Leticia stared at him like he wasn't a man at all but some apparition—a holy vision draped in a torn jacket.

"Wait…" She blinked slow, eyes narrowing as if her brain outright refused to catch up. "You mean… you ain't here t'cut off my head?"

"Les!" He rolled his eyes so hard it was practically audible. "If I'd wanted to kill you, believe me, I would have done it out on the highway, back when you ditched me."

"So you're… not mad?" she asked, almost naïve in how the question trembled out of her, her accent dripping through the cracks like honey on broken glass.

William tilted his head, eyes locking firmly onto hers.

"Oh, I'm mad. Don't doubt that. Because you and Cain left me as bait for the wendigo, and that alone deserves about three metric tons of cursing in your face. But…" He flicked his hand, lips curling into something bitter but honest. "Truth is, Leticia, I can't pretend I wouldn't have done the same. When the beast has a choice between you and someone else, well… your own skin always weighs more."

He sagged back against the trailer wall, brushing rain-soaked hair from his eyes. When he spoke again, his voice had lost its edge, almost surrendering:

"And all that crap about murder? Screw it. I've already had enough for one night."

Inside, Leticia felt heat rise like wildfire—pure joy that William was alive. But reflex smothered it, burying the surge beneath her usual mask of worn-out cynicism.

"Then maybe you can explain somethin', bébé," she said, rolling one shoulder, eyes gleaming sharp in the lamplight. "If ya didn't come here t'take my pretty little head off, then what the hell is it you do want? A thank-you note for leavin' ya? Or maybe…" Her lips twisted into that crooked smirk of hers. "Maybe you missed me, hm? Oh, wait." She tilted her head like a snake sizing its prey. "If you're standin' here alive, that means ya really put that wendigo down, didn't ya?"

William cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck—so awkwardly guilty it gave him away instantly.

"Well, see… um… about that…" His eyes darted away, skimming the floorboards as though praying for a hole to open and swallow him.

And then the trailer door banged open.

She stepped inside.

Tall. Too tall. Skin ashen to the point of translucence under the dim yellow bulb. Wrapped in strips of filthy bandages, flesh charred as though clawed straight out of a fire. Her body was thin, hollow, as if something had burned her out from within.

Leticia's pupils shrank, her mouth falling open before words broke loose, shaky and uneven:

"Alligator's… ass. William—what the hell did ya do? I can barely feel her aura. She's… empty."

Her eyes lit up with their poisonous green glow, empathy flooding outward like a net cast wide—but there was nothing to catch. No resonance, no heartbeat warmth. Just a cold void starin' back at her.

She stepped toward the girl, desperate to read her closer, to brush against even the faintest breath of a soul, but the emptiness clamped down with the chill of a tomb.

William shifted from foot to foot, restless, fumbling, avoiding her gaze.

"Yeah. Umm… that's actually why I came…" he muttered, scratching the back of his neck like some kid caught stealin' cigarettes behind the schoolyard.

But Leticia wasn't listenin'. She was already in front of the stranger, eyes fixed on the ruined flesh, followin' the pattern of scars and burns, fingertips twitching just shy of touchin'.

Suddenly, the girl snapped.

Her lips peeled back in a feral snarl, her voice a beast's raw growl:

"Keep your claws off me, Lamia!"

Leticia stopped, but instead of bristling, she smiled—calm. Almost tender. Her voice, when she spoke, surprised even herself with its softness, dripping with that slow Cajun drawl.

"Easy now, sha. I don't mean ya no harm. Ain't nothin' here for you t'fear."

The answer was a low growl—a fresh snap of fury.

"I said, don't touch me!"

Leticia jerked her hand back fast and covered her nose, wrinkling it in exaggerated disgust.

"Oh, Lord have mercy… girl, you smell like you been brushin' yo' teeth with dead rats. Sweetheart, ya mouth's basically the back end o' eternity."

Milagros narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth in a more savage snarl.

"So this is the famous Leticia you talked about, Cat?" she sneered, jabbing a finger at the redheaded lamia. "This clown woman is supposed to help me?"

Leticia arched one brow high, all theatrical offense, before slowly swingin' her head toward William.

"You couldn't do no better than this?" she drawled, voice sharp as a blade wrapped in honey. "Draggin' this mess into my house? Cher, yo' taste gotta be busted clean in half."

"Don't call me Cat," William snapped at Milagros. "For the last damn time—I'm William."

"Stupid name," Milagros rasped, then spat something wet and red onto the carpet.

"HEY!" Leticia screeched, voice so sharp it scared every stray cat outside into silence. "That's a Persian carpet, bébé! Do you got any idea how much that cost me?!"

She stomped her foot with a hiss, lookin' liable to combust.

"William, what in God's holy name possessed you t'drag THIS filth under my roof?!"

"Filth?" Milagros laughed, flashing her middle finger. "And what's this trailer supposed to be? A royal palace? Please. A lamia's nest is just a dumpster with curtains, sweetheart."

Leticia held her smile, tight and glitterin', though in her head she was already picturin' herself snappin' this girl like a dry reed.

William threw his hands in the air, desperate, tryin' to captain a ship that was already sinkin'.

"Stop—both of you! Just LISTEN! Les, after we fought—well… I kinda…" He winced. "Look, I might've singed her. A bit."

"Singed?" Leticia's voice dropped into a thundercloud, green eyes narrowing to venomous slits.

"Just a little!" William blurted out quick, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. Milagros hissed like a feral cat. "And now—according to her—she's lost her bond with her Alpha."

Leticia froze. Those green eyes of hers blazed sudden, sharp as swampfire. Slowly—painfully slow—she turned back toward him, face twisted like he'd just confessed to dancin' naked on her maw-maw's grave.

"What. Did. You. Do. T'her?"

Her voice doubled, strange and unholy, two layers tumblin' over each other till the trailer walls hummed like they wanted to peel apart. That poisonous green light spilled hard through her pupils, paintin' the walls like fever-glow.

"You—" She stabbed a finger at William like an angry teacher about to fail the dumbest kid in school. "You severed a wendigo's bond t'her Alpha?"

The light flared so bright it set the whole room ghost-green.

"And what?" Her voice went soft, each word dropped low and calm as sinking water—scarier than shoutin' could ever be. "That was accidental, huh, couyon? You even realize the consequences?"

Her hand slammed down against the table, hard enough to scatter the half-pieced shards of the mug like teeth, bits pingin' across counter and linoleum. The whole trailer shuddered like it wanted to pack up and run.

William raised his hands higher, palms out, voice crackin' at the edges though he fought to keep it even.

"Les, I know I screwed up! But what was I supposed to do? She was trying to tear my throat out, okay? I defended myself! And besides…" He gestured wildly, helpless, near breaking. "She's alive! She should be grateful for that much!"

"Grateful?!" Leticia exploded, lungin' forward so fast William bumped back against the wall. Her nail jabbed him dead in the chest, her voice drippin' venom that burned hotter than fire.

"Do you have any damn clue what you've done?!" she roared, breath ghostin' green between her teeth.

Her nail pressed harder into him as she spat each word, fury drawn sharp as a blade:

"Now her pack gon' feel it—the bond rippin' apart. Her Alpha gon' unravel. And every other beast out there? They gon' rise, they gon' come sniffin' here."

One sharp shove pinned him harder to the wall.

"And it's all. Because. Of YOU."

William swayed, voice rasping from his throat like gravel.

"Better consequences than my insides on her teeth."

"Oh!" Milagros cut in, slapping a hand against her wrapped ribs, her tone dripping with venomous amusement.

"See, kitty? Even your little snake agrees with me. You only think about yourself—leaving me without an Alpha but hey, at least you kept your guts."

She spat on the floor again—this time right by Leticia's boots—and bared her teeth in a predatory grin.

"And if his little stunt stirs up the rest of them… well, let it. This world could use a quake or two. I'll enjoy watching when the beasts rip you both to pieces."

Leticia's green eyes narrowed to sharp slits.

"You stupid brat." Her voice was quiet, cold, every word honed to a knife-edge, dripping in a slow Southern drawl. "You don't even know what it means livin' cut off from your Alpha. Soon enough, your mind gon' rot, your heart gon' eat itself inside-out, an' you'll turn into a starvin' little beast not even a dog would spit on."

She smiled thinly, almost tenderly cruel. "Believe me, chère…I seen 'em. Nothin' in this world sadder than a half-dead wendigo crawlin' like some lost pup."

Milagros curled her lips back until the bandages strained against her teeth, claws jutting through the fabric of her fingers.

"Kiss my ass, Lamia," she hissed, stepping closer, "but if you lay one more finger on me—I'll tear your heart out and eat it right here."

The silence that followed wasn't dead. It was alive, snapping, crackling—like the air itself was seconds from catching fire.

Leticia arched one brow, lips curling into a sly smirk.

"My heart?" she echoed, mockingly sweet, the lilt rolling like honey poured over coals. "Darlin', I'm flattered you think I even got one, mhm."

William felt the heat boiling between the two women, the atmosphere so charged it could combust in his lungs. He threw himself forward, hands out as if he could physically hold violence back.

"Enough! Both of you! We barely managed not to kill each other on the road, I'm not letting it happen here. Les—come on, be straight with me. Can you help her? That's why I dragged her here—because I can't do this alone. You know what you're dealing with?"

"How gallant!" Milagros cackled, stabbing a finger at him like an accusation. "First he sets me on fire, then drags me bleeding to his neighbor like—'Here, hold this little gift!' What a gentleman."

William flushed, fists clenching.

"I saved you!"

"Ha!" she spat. "You saved yourself. From me! That's all. But soon enough, we'll see if it was worth the trouble."

Leticia leaned back against her chair, steepling her fingers. Her stare burned straight through both of them, green light flickering in her pupils like embers. She shifted her gaze between William and Milagros, lips curling into a razor's grin.

"So lemme see if I got this straight." Her voice was soft, calm, and all the more dangerous for it—rolling like a stormcloud over bayou water.

"Sit down in my house tonight, I got me a boy who cain't keep his britches dry, an' a wendigo cut clean from her pack." Her head tilted, smile spreading slow, sharp, and wolfish.

"Mm-mm-mm. What a charmant lil' company we done turned out to be."