The Story of Bella Montez: Stories from the Book of Bella

By Ricardo Martinez

The Story of Bella Montez begins when she sets out on a journey looking for a place to settle in. She was looking for a place to live a normal life away from sorcery and a relentless powerful witch-hunter. Her wish was to find peace in a place where she would be among good people and a desire to have a family of her own to love...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669821281

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Copyright © 2022 by Ricardo Martinez.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 11/15/2022

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

826458

Special thanks to a very special friend, Jose

Martinez, who inspired me to write.

A very special partner who has helped me through

thick and thin, my wife Dorothy Martinez.

CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1 Curiosity, Uncertainty, and My Venture

Chapter 2 The year 1786

Chapter 3 Azul

Chapter 4 George’s Family

Chapter 5 The Voyage

Chapter 6 Bella in New York

Chapter 7 The Puppet

Chapter 8 Tim

Chapter 9 The Barn

Chapter 10 The Lady in Purple

Chapter 11 Bella Finds a Place in Cuesta, Nuevo Mexico

Chapter 12 The Bear

Chapter 13 Bella Is With Child

Chapter 14 Bella’s Death

Chapter 15 Back to 1938

Chapter 16 Clarita’s Accident

Chapter 17 World War II

Chapter 18 Cracking Unsolved Cold Cases

PROLOGUE

Today is July 31, 1970. In a couple of weeks, I am leaving for Pueblo, Colorado. I must meet a couple who are having problems. They claim that their house is possessed by a force that haunts them wherever they go. I thought I would write a little before I go to meet them in Colorado. The story of Bella Montez’s life is what I have been waiting for. For a long time, Maria de la Luz wanted me to join her on a venture and journey to the past. I had time-traveled to the 1800s before, but this time I am going into the late-1700s—to see Bella. She had the power and knowledge to take me back to the time when she was a spirit looming around her son Vittorio and Bella as they went on with their lives. What fascinated me is that I was about to see Bella . . . one hundred years before I released her spirit from limbo. I had to know why she did not want to live forever even though she had a natural resistance against death—but she chose to die. What excited me was that Maria was going to take me back in time to 1786 when Bella had turned eighteen . . . and the way life was for her and what she had to go through with her life in Europe. Maria told me that there was one particular time in her adventure where her granddaughter Bella went through a bad experience and was helpless. She said there was nothing she could do! She did not have a body. She was a soul looming around as a spirit searching for a way to communicate with her son and granddaughter. At one point, she told me that she wanted to rewrite a part of Bella’s history, where part of her life was stolen from her. I did not understand what she meant to rewrite her history. But Maria was clever, she never ceased to amaze me with her supernatural powers. Maria wanted to prove that her granddaughter was a good person and wanted to be accepted by God to live a normal life with children and a husband of her own . . . until her life was ended at the ruins in Questa, New Mexico. At the time in 1700s the Spanish community of Cuesta later changed its name to Questa in the 1800s. The US postmaster misspelled the name, as it should have been spelled Cuesta, which is Spanish for ridge or slope.

CHAPTER 1

Curiosity, Uncertainty,

and My Venture

It was September 21, 1938. We were supposed to meet at the Coney Island Café. When my sisters arrived, we ordered a footlong chili cheese dog with french fries. Olivia and Camila each had a Coke. I had a Coke and a vanilla float. We talked about many things I had missed because I was not here. Something I did not mention was the Great Depression. My father told me that the Great Depression started in 1929. It gradually got better by the time I got here in 1937. Just after I left the Silvas and the Salgados in 1837. I could not tell the difference whether there was a depression going on until my parents talked about it. Camila told me that it was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world. My family said that it lasted for many years. Camila said that it began after the stock market crashed in October 1929. She said that millions of investors lost their businesses when Wall Street crashed. The United States had been doing good after I got here in 1937, and it seems to be doing good now. We went back home; it was late at night. Mom and Dad were asleep; we tiptoed into our bedrooms . . . I was tired and fell asleep.

The next day, right after breakfast, I went to see Maria. I thought I would go check on Doña Kika to see how she was doing. I stopped and parked the car on the side of her small store and home. As I was going in, a man had just bought a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes and was walking out. He nodded his head and said hi. I replied kindly likewise as he walked out. Juan, what are you doing up so early? Doña Kika asked. I just opened up the store.

I need to go see a friend, I answered. I will have the usual Coke and candy.

I will get your Coke from the ice chest, she said.

As she walked to get my Coke, I saw that she had one webbed foot, and the other was her regular foot with her shoe. She came back with my Coke and candy. That will be ten cents, and do not forget I close at seven o-quack.

I know, I will remember just in case I need a Coke later today. Goodbye.

I left to meet Maria at her place. Soon I was at the door. Pablo opened the door and welcomed me in. I told Maria, Sophia, and Pablo that I was happy to see them. Super Mio, Maria’s owl, was on the top door of the little barn. I felt that I was among my family who were in the same league to help release lost souls and to fight evil demonism. I wanted to see about Bella Montez’s life. I wanted to know why she did not want to have powers. I will be learning a lot when I go see real evil and see why witches get powers like Olga. As I came to find out, the demon that held Juan de Dios was created for Barcelo. Maria and I had discussed that the same thing might be happening with Olga. She started obtaining shadow demons from Abraxas for lost souls when she chose to be closer to Abraxas. I was curious about how this power was used to create a demon to deliver evil powers. I do not think Olga gets direct powers from Abraxas, I said. I have a feeling that she Is getting her powers from a demon she created. Just like Barcelo del Moneo created Fernando.

Olga might have thought that Abraxas was one of the ten horns of Satan, Maria said. Or, maybe, she is really that good, like Fernando’s demon said, ‘You would never be able to afford Beelzebub’s services. Not in your lifetime,’ he said. ‘You would have to be someone as good as Olga who is merely a witch crying for her soul to keep.’ That is what made me think. Does she receive demons from Abraxas?

That is how we found out when the demon Fernando had lied to Abraxas, I said. That is why I was able to break the spell that possessed Juan de Dios for one hundred years.

There has to be a connection between Doña Kika and Olga, Maria said. Every time we save a soul or spirit, Olga loses a part of her body, and it seems that Doña Kika gains back her body parts.

It seems that Olga is turning into the duck she gave to her demon, I said. If Olga loses the spirits she possessed, she will lose a part of her and will be replaced by parts of a duck or some other animal.

She is dealing body parts of people for animal parts as a guarantee that he has a soul, body, or a spirit coming to him soon, Maria said. In the white bag, she takes the animal and human body parts to her demon.

I realize now that the white bag I saw Olga take from Doña Kika was Doña Kika’s feet and parts of her mind, I said She took the bag to the demon she created."

If Olga fails to fulfill Abraxas, or the demon he produced for her, Maria said, the evil compact will be turned against her. The demon will collect Olga’s human parts and will replace her body with animal parts. She has to pay back what she owes. She has to honor her compact.

We need to keep an eye out for the dead bodies, I said. Olga will not get any help from whatever evil she has a connection with, because they are trying to get to her.

Well, that is because I have her put away where no one not even the forces can get to her, Maria said. If she stops creating, she will lose her soul, body, and spirit to the demon.

I want to go see Clarita. I feel like I must see her before we go on our venture to see Bella, I said. I was hoping I could go see Clarita for an hour before we time travel to see Bella.

I still need to go over some instructions with Pablo, Maria said. There are certain things I want Sofia to do while we’re gone. Okay, how about one hour before we go on our venture?

Is it all right if I sit on the chair in the living room? I asked. So I can concentrate.

You go right ahead, Maria answered. I will be here talking to Pablo and Sofia. I will explain everything to you when you come back.

I sat on the cozy chair where it was quiet and comfortable. It is always calm here at Maria’s. I thought about what I needed to do. I concentrated in my mind’s eye . . . I wanted to see myself walking on the trail to Don Francisco and Vicente’s house. There I was . . . I walked up to the big trees where I saw Clarita sitting by the creek. I walked up to her, and she let out a surprised and unexpected cry! Juan! What are you doing here?

I came to see you before I go to see about Bella, I answered. Maria is taking me there to learn more about her.

How did you get here with your whole spirit, soul, and body? Clarita asked. It is like before . . . when you were here with us.

I wanted to find out if the power of time travel would work, so I came to see you.

I told Clarita about the Coney Island Café, a place where they had the best Cokes and 7 Up floats, ice cream sundaes and ice cream cones. I told her about some pastries, beverages, and ice cream desserts that we ate. She was curious and asked how it was made.

I would like to visit your world, Clarita said. I want to see all those cars that Flor, Amadeo, Daniel, and Benito talk about. I am so excited to see you!

I reached behind my pocket and pulled out my wallet. I showed her a picture of my family and my car. She was amazed. This is your family and a car? she asked. How do you get a picture of a family in a little window?

It is called a camera and there is a film in it, I answered. You need to take the film to have it developed.

She seemed confused, but that was about as much as I knew about cameras. I am so curious that I want to see all these things you talk about, Clarita said.

I can come to see you . . . almost any time! I had to let her know. What I am trying to tell you is . . . I took an antidote and recited some sentences from Maria’s book to be able to time travel.

Can I do it too?

I don’t know, I answered. For you it is like going to the future. I myself have not gone there, because I do not want to see my folks and family die before I die. That has been one of my biggest fears. I would have to ask Maria.

I myself do not want to see my family die, Clarita said, but that day will come for all of us. I was born here . . . my time is now.

What do you mean . . . your time is now? I asked.

Your time is over there, where your family is at, Clarita answered. I belong here, to the time where you brought Flor, Daniel, Amadeo, and Benito back to their families. You will have to find me in another time. Maybe there is some other way to make it possible to go straight to the future, only to visit that moment.

I do not know, I said. but I will ask her. I will let you know as soon as we come back from our venture with Bella.

I hugged her and kissed her lips gently. I came back to my chair. I saw Maria talking to Pablo and Sofia. I walked up to her, and I told her about the problem with Clarita wanting to take the antidote to time travel. She can travel back in time, Maria said, but she cannot go to the future. There must be a way that is natural. Everyone has a double somewhere, someone that resembles them and is from a third generation. Like you, you met your great-grandfather, Angelo Aguilar. Everyone that knew him agreed that you were the spitting image of him.

Yes, but can she take the potion and read from the Alchemy Book, like I did?

Yes, but she would have erased every genetic part of herself. She will not be here. If I would have given you the antidote to time travel back in the 1800s, you would not be here, genetically. Your father, mother, sisters, and brother would be here, but not you. You would probably be someone else. A brother to your family but it would not be you. You must find Clarita’s family tree and trace her family names. You will find her just like you found Lucky.

Just like I found Lucky? I asked. I wondered if by finding every family in Santa Fe would be a way to end the portal in the ruins close to Questa.

We would have to find all the generations of the people you knew there in the 1800s, Maria answered. You have to find them here in your time, in 1937.

Now I am curious, I said. We have to look into this matter when we come back from seeing Bella.

Are you ready to go on our venture? Maria asked.

Yes! I answered.

Follow me, Maria replied. We are going to the little barn.

We walked out the house to the barn. Inside was Mio sitting on the beam by the door of the loft. He looked at us and uttered a hoot, as I followed her to the furthest door on the west side. When she opened the door, we sat in a room that was different. I had never seen a floor and walls like that before. They were made from rocks and lights that came out of the crevices and gave a very soothing light throughout the whole room. There was also a strange object in the room. It was active and spoke only when spoken to. Maria talked to the person. Carry on, do what you need to do. There are robots that look like humans and do anything a human can do, and more. That is the way people live in that time of the future.

I sat on a chair with no bottom on it . . . nothing was holding the seat. I sat on the seat that lowered itself so that I would just ease on it as it started to rise to the right level of the table where the Book of Bella was. It was a beautiful blue book with intricate carvings of seventeenth-century material. I had never seen anything like this before. I told Maria, This furniture material is something different. I have never seen this kind of fabric. The floating chairs and little lights on the walls.

These are things that I brought from the future, Maria said. The floating chairs are magnetic from the floor to the chairs. The walls are special rocks that cool or heat the room. It also lets out a soothing smell that changes the ambiance or mood within you. The robots that are as smart look like humans . . . they come from the year 2080.

Wow! I exclaimed. That is more than 140 years into the future!

We do not have a problem going back to the past, Maria said, but to go to the future you need to live eternally.

It would be interesting to see what it is like in that time, I said. You know how I feel about eternal life!

I know! Maria said. But maybe I can take you on a small adventure into the future. Well, we will talk about all that, when we get back from seeing Bella.

I responded, I am ready whenever you are.

This journey with Bella will take a few days, Maria said. We can take a break every two days so that you can be with your parents. I can come back to be with Sofia and Pablo. In her story, we will be there. You will be a spirit just like I was when I was there. You will see everything that happened to Bella, and you will find out why she did not want her powers. You will see her story the way I saw it. My great-granddaughter will describe her story when you read it. She wrote her story because she was confused about her life and was afraid because she thought Luciano del Valle and God were after her. I saw her mother Mariana give birth. I was a spirit roaming and drifting but mostly lingering around my granddaughter until her death. My granddaughter Mariana gave birth to Bella, who was nurtured and raised by my son Vittorio Montes until she left Spain to escape Luciano, the witch-hunter. She left at the age of eighteen. When we read the story of Bella, we will hear, feel, and see her as if she is telling us her story. Because I have the archives of the stories, I thought it would be important.

I sat on the floating chair as the backrest adjusted and conformed to my back. Maria opened the book. On the first page I read, My name is Bella Montez. This is a story I wanted to share with my family and friends. For the love of God. I wanted to understand God’s ways and to know why I was different. I wanted to have a normal life, but I was afraid of Luciano del Valle, who had powers to destroy sorcery of any kind in the name of God. Luciano del Valle was sent by a cardinal from Rome. He was a minister and a witch-hunter who had God on his side. I feared him because people were using God as an instrument to destroy us. I was born this way, and I learned that life without love is lonely especially where it is forbidden to have powers that I inherited. I wanted for the rest of the world to learn that people with special abilities are bad for criminals because we can reveal their intentions, especially when they hurt people. But for the sake of my life, I had to run from Luciano del Valle. And now for the sake of my spirit, I had to abandon my powers. That is why I wrote about myself; in the Book of Bella, I sacrificed my life and the lives of my children for the love of God. As a promise to my late husband Carlos Montez, I promised that I would not use my powers, and I hope you understand that without my powers I could not help my children.

CHAPTER 2

The year 1786

Maria turned the pages to the time we were going to. Maria told me to touch the front page and start to read from the beginning. I touched the page, and my finger started to turn to feathers. My hand and arms became wings as our appearances started to change. As I started to read, we became two eagles; we flew into the first page of the Book of Bella. We flew into the blue of the sky. Young Eagle and Dolores Durango came from the sky and rendezvoused with us for a while until we flew our separate ways. We glided away deep into the dark blue of the sky, getting closer to the village in Loma Verde.

Maria started to transmit messages to me. We glided away through the forest of a village next to Loma Verde, in Spain. We flew and landed on a small trail; as we walked, our bodies started to take a human form but invisible. I quickly got used to the feeling of being invisible, like a ghost. It was the same when we went to save Clarita and her brothers. All those other times I went as a ghost, until I took the antidote and had read the words from the Alchemy Book of Knowledge. I can time travel to the past with my spirit, soul, and body. But in this time travel adventure, the only way to see Bella was the way Maria de La Luz saw her granddaughter’s story take place when she was a spirit. I was a spirit that could walk and go wherever I motivated my thoughts. I followed Maria, who knew everything that happened to Bella in her book. We came to the year 1786.

As we walked behind Bella and Vittorio, we watched as they went into a small castle. There were some strange stone structures with carved faces that lined the outside the wall. Stone tables and chairs lined the cobblestone road with beautiful tree shrubs and flowers that led to the entrance of the small castle. We walked until we came to a doorway. We walked to a room where Vittorio stopped and looked at Bella, an eighteen-year-old young lady. She was talking to her grandfather, who looked like he was in his fifties to sixties. Maria told me that Vittorio was 175 years old.

I could hear a conversation going on between Vittorio Montez and Bella. Bella feared that something was going to happen to her grandfather. The people of Loma Verde are confused with their government, Vittorio said. They do not understand where the real evil is coming from, you can see it everywhere. There is a group of foot soldiers that were involved in a conspiracy to remove a mayor accused of sorcery. But the real story is that Mayor Bartolome de Baca resigned because he did not want to deal with a government that was using witchcraft as an excuse to torture people. What they are after is their wealth and much-needed slaves to build their bridges, roads, and castles.

Maria communicated with me using mental telepathy. I received her thoughts explaining the time, the setting, and the situation going on. We walked around Bella and Vittorio. Maria explained what her son was going through and why they were in a situation where he had no choice but to fight back the corrupt church and government. It was in 1786 when the foot soldiers had wagons with people chained to the racks of the vessel. Maria pointed out to me, as I saw the soldiers with their shields and swords taking people off the streets, The people of the church claimed that they were taking them to the witch trials going on in the southern part of Loma Verde, near the border of France and Spain, Vittorio said. Some of the victims were wealthy people that were gathered to stand trial for sorcery. Some of the farmers were tried and found guilty and executed. Their houses, farms, land, and animals were confiscated and are in the hands of the governor who is the new owner.

Vittorio walked over and sat on his chair. He was mad . . . he was quiet for a few seconds . . . he hit the armchair with the palms of his hands as if he were going to get up . . . then he eased back to his chair. The governor and Friar Rojas are in control of the church, Vittorio continued to tell Bella, who was standing next to his chair. They do not have the devil working with them, but Rojas is plain bad. He is wrong to use God in the church to torture people because he is perverted. The governor is wrong to give support to the church because he is greedy and will do anything to take their properties and their young sons and daughters. They are acting more like evil witches with bad skills. Especially because they are torturing innocent people and forcing them to admit that they are witches. They took and tortured people that had nothing to do with sorcery.

My grandfather was telling the warlocks and the witches that everything about Rojas’s church and the governor is out in the open. He told them that everyone in the town can see the evil that the friar and the governor of Loma Verde have created. He said that a group of church people killed my mother, who was his beloved daughter, Mariana—and that this would be the perfect opportunity for his warlocks and sorcerers to go after the governor and mayor of Loma Verde. There is a large group of supporters who followed Friar Roja’s church. He said that more than half of his followers had lost their faith in him. People started to hear about his perverted torture. The separation of church believers started happening because they have had enough of his ways. After a big fight broke out among the true believers, more than half of the actual believers who lived in the village were afraid to choose or to speak out. The others decided to be on the same side of Friar Rojas even though they knew he was torturing people to make them slaves.

Grandfather, I know how much it means to you wanting to torture Friar Rojas, I said. I know you hate the thought of the friar going after young men and women to torture. I can feel the pain and anger you are going through with Friar Rojas.

A sorcerer should not care or mind the torture and pain he is inflicting on them, Vittorio said. but it bothers me to see a leader of God doing that, and yet he seems to turn a blind eye as if nothing was going on. But had it been me torturing the people. I am afraid he would strike me dead! That is why I want Friar Rojas’s soul. He is the one I want to seal in a bottle right next to Umberto Ramos, the mayor of Loma Verde. I want him because he and his people stoned my daughter and her husband to death.

I know that my grandfather Vittorio would prefer for me to be powerful and was concerned about my safety, but he thought that I had a big heart and was a lot like my mother. I believe what they did to my father and mother was wrong, I said. I want to find a way to bring peace and freedom to everyone so that we can work and live together. I cannot live this way. All I want is peace and goodwill.

There is no such thing as peace, responded Vittorio. I have been working on it, but there is this Luciano del Valle who has been getting close to my domain.

I could sense my grandfather Vittorio was worried. I could see that he was thinking about Luciano and his troops gaining while he was losing momentum. Luciano, with the help of God, was getting close. The hunt was shifting in his favor while my grandfather Vittorio kept Umberto’s soul in a giant four-foot-high, tightly sealed, thick crystal-clear bubble that he invented.