“Diego invited us to stay with him. Their summer was just coming to an end, and he knew his family would be at their hacienda in the north, where the temperatures were still cool. So, we stayed at the one in Malaga and began making plans on how we would survive and, of course, deciding when or if we would tell our families. And then, of course, there was the question of money. We’d been gone for nearly six years. We had no idea what we were going to face, and we couldn’t very well show up dressed as paupers with our hair in dreadlocks and beards inches below our chins and expect anyone to open their arms to us. So, we became highwaymen. The rich were easy to spot, easy to see in their fancy carriages flanked by guards on steeds, and eventually, there wasn’t an area in southern Spain safe from our looting.

“We cut our hair and shaved our faces, and with the jewels and coin we had stolen, we purchased clothes for gentlemen, rich, successful…and deadly gentlemen.”

***

They walked silently along, and when they reached the driveway, Max veered to the left. “Let me accompany you to your car. I’ll answer what questions I can along the way.”

“All right,” Bennett said, following Max’s lead. “What happened to Diego?”

“In 1558, which was…um…thirty-six years after we returned to Spain, he was murdered by one of our own.”

“One of our own? Why do you think that?”

“Because a mortal would have stabbed him in the heart, or anywhere else for that matter. They wouldn’t have taken off his head. That type of brutality isn’t one often displayed by robbers or thieves,” Max said. “And at first, we thought Concepcion had done it, except she had an alibi for that night.”

“How did she become a vampire?”

“Diego turned her. After Concepcion learned the truth about us, she was appalled until about five years had passed, and she realized her husband hadn’t aged a day. Concepcion changed her tune posthaste,” Max said, chortling. “Oh, how she loves her beauty, as well you know.”

“Yes, I do,” Bennett said, flicking her gaze to the stars.

“Anyway, Diego and Concepcion had what they now call an open marriage. Both had countless affairs, and on the night Diego was killed, Concepcion was…um…overindulging with several people, all of whom confirmed her alibi, which meant we had a murderer in our midst.”

“Did you ever find out who did it?”