Moon Man scuttled off into the darkness and Balam climbed back beside Enrique to wait. “He will come,” Balam whispered into Enrique’s ear. “Your brother will come.”
“And he’ll kill you,” Enrique said. “He’ll bring help and together my brother and his friends will destroy you.”
Balam laughed. “It is not that easy of a task. I am very old. The older a vampire grows, the stronger he becomes.”
“And the crazier,” Rickie said under his breath.
Balam hissed and would have attacked Rickie but Moon Man ran up to the car dragging a chubby woman. She screamed once and Balam was on her. He held his hand in front of her face and she quieted. Enrique’s heart ached. The hideous monster would kill her and there was nothing he could do. He threw the woman into the car beside Rickie and pushed in after her. “This is what I will do to your brother…after I sacrifice him.”
Balam pushed the woman’s head back and buried his fangs in her throat. The sound of him sucking and swallowing sickened Enrique. He pushed his door open and retched into the mud under the car as Balam laughed hysterically.
Chapter 22
Enrique was in a fatigued stupor when the limo stopped at the end of a barely detectable dirt road. It was high noon. Somehow Balam was able to walk in the light. The blood-red stone gleamed from the center of his amulet. Enrique had heard Balam refer to this stone and day-walking before. Somehow, it was this stone that made it possible for the vampire to come out during the day. If he could just snatch it away, Balam would fry. He closed his eyes. He had a better chance of flying.
The strange, stocky driver climbed out of the stopped vehicle and bowed before Balam. “This is as far as I can take you, master.”
Balam waved him away. “I know this. Unload the sacrifice, Ik' Achin. We walk from here.”
They trudged through mud and thick jungle, climbing rocky slopes and steep cliffs. The terrain was mountainous with dangerous drops and slippery paths. No one had been down it in some time. It was overgrown with hanging vines and brush. Enrique dragged behind Balam prodded on by Moon Man. “You must keep up,” Moon Man said. “Or I will be forced to carry you.”
“I won’t put that burden on you,” Enrique said and picked up his pace. He was so tired his head buzzed with fatigue. He hadn’t slept soundly for days, napping occasionally, but too terrified to sink into deep sleep.
They scrambled down a narrow rock-strewn path and popped out of the jungle in a clearing surrounded by huge tree ferns and tall Ceiba trees. Enrique turned in a circle. Behind him was the high rock wall they’d just descended. Vines, branches and roots hung across its face. At the bottom, shielded by more tree ferns, a square of blackness beckoned—the mouth of Naj Tunich. Enrique shuddered.
Balam walked the edges of the clearing with his head thrown back. He was hunting, searching for something. He sped back to Enrique and laughed. “Your boyfriend, my child, is sleeping close by. I imagine he expects to rescue you, but he will be too late. Your brother is nearing as we speak. I feel him and his group of protectors on the trail.” He prodded Enrique. “Tell me what he plans.”
Enrique shrugged. “I can sense him but I can’t read his mind. You’re the vampire. You read it.”
Balam pouted. “I can’t. Shifters are fuzzy for me and fairies and elves impossible.”
Enrique’s heart soared. Tuco had brought help. He closed his eyes, reached out in a tenuous search for his twin and found him. They were close—too close. Balam would kill them all.
When he opened his eyes, Balam was smiling at him. “I see you found him as well.” Balam grabbed him by the shoulder. “Moon Man, take him to the altar.”
Moon Man pushed him toward the mouth of the cave. When they reached the shadows under the cliff, Enrique glanced up. High in the branches of a tree hanging over the cliff, he spotted a black cat. It wasn’t Tuco; it was Jax. The cat sprang out of the tree and the branches bounced up and down.
Moon Man grabbed his arm and pulled. “Do not look at them or the master will see,” he hissed.
Enrique tilted his head and stared at Moon Man as the squat Mayan jerked him into the cave. They walked down a moist path flattened by the soles of many feet, weaving to avoid tumbled rocks. It was chilly inside and smelled of centuries of bat guano and dampness. A vaulted chamber opened around them with a dark tunnel leading off to the left. Moon Man tugged him into the tunnel. When the tunnel opened into another vaulted room, Enrique spotted the altar.
A large flat stone surrounded by candles and offering bowls squatted in the center of the chamber. The candles were burnt and the bowls empty. No one had visited the altar in some time. Beside the stone altar a Chac Mul figure waited for his heart. Mayan priests cut out the beating hearts of their sacrifices and placed the organ into the stomach of the Chac Mul, a hideous demon carved of rock, lying on its back with a hollowed stomach.
High above in the chamber’s ceiling two circles of blue sent shafts of sunlight onto the altar. Two holes opened in the rock ceiling to the sky. Moon Man saw him staring. “The moon will be full tonight. When the moon rises it will fill the first hole. This often happens. But tonight, Venus will appear in the second hole. This event is much rarer.”
“What happens when Venus is visible?”
Moon Man shrugged. “I’ve never seen it so I have no idea. Mayans revere the two as twins in the sky. Balam has picked this night because the two celestial bodies will be in the correct positions to shine on the altar as he sacrifices you and your brother. He will do everything in his power to make it happen.” Moon Man shuddered. “He will find and capture your brother. He doesn’t have a chance.”
“I’m supposed to strap you down on the rock,” Moon Man said. “But until the master has your twin, he will not come inside. He will lie in wait in the jungle and try to trap your brother.”
“Let me go, Moon Man,” Enrique begged. “Help me kill Balam and you will be free.”
“I can’t,” Moon Man said. “As much as I wish it, I fear Balam more.”
* * * *
Tuco perched on a branch high above the entrance to Naj Tunich. Beside him, Jax—also in his panther form—licked a paw. He’d seen the short Mayan haul his twin into the caves and knew exactly where they were. He’d been on two separate explorations of the cave system and helped map some of the tunnels. He knew about the altar inside the left fork. That’s where Balam would have Enrique. Mayans feared caves. They also revered them as the entrance to the underworld. Even Balam would be wary of descending too deeply into the system.
He leaped from his branch, shifted into human form and headed for the camp Lorelai and Al manned a short distance away. After yanking on a pair of khakis, he walked into the clearing. Al squatted by the fire feeding branches into the flames. Lorelai was not there.
He hunkered down beside Al. “Where’s Lorelai?”
Al grinned. The elf was ridiculously handsome. With his blond goatee, long hair, green eyes and perfect body, he would have been a chick magnet if he wasn’t gay. Even Tuco felt drawn to him. He had an odor surrounding him that reminded Tuco of vanilla, forests and fresh herbs. “She’s off in the bushes yakking. What’d you do to her?”
Tuco shook his head. “Nothing, amigo. She was car sick all the way here. Maybe that’s it.”
“What did you see?”
“The Mayan took Enrique into the caves. I know where they are.”
“Should we try to rescue him?”
“No. Balam will be watching. Somehow he can daywalk.”
“He has a bloodstone.”
“What?”
“It’s a gem that is mined in very few places in the world. The gem lends all supernatural creatures strength and it allows vampires to walk under the sun.”
“Wow. Does its power ever fail?”
Al shrugged. “Some stones are stronger than others. The purer the stone, the more power. Inclusions and flaws make it weaker. Balam must have a very powerful stone to walk in broad daylight, though
it will sap his strength if he doesn’t rest.”
“He’s been out there all day.”
“Then we have to wait until dark to try him. He’ll be tired.”
“Have you made a plan?”
“Our only hope is to get him to bite on a diversion. One of us will draw him away from the entrance while the other two go get Enrique. We’ll use Lorelai. She can blink into a tiny fairy and disappear right before his eyes after she’s lured him into the jungle.”
Tuco nodded. “I’m worried about her.” He got up and headed for the bushes. He heard Lorelai gagging some distance away and followed the noise. She was bent over dry-heaving. “Lorelai,” he said as he laid his hand on her hair. “Chica, are you okay?”
She rolled onto her back and smiled up at him. “You did it, you stud.”
“What?”
“You did what no man or shifter has ever been able to do.”
“What’d I do?”
She placed her hand over her belly. “I am with child.”
Tuco leaped to his feet with both hands on his face. “I’m to be a father?”
She smiled. “Yes, my love.”
He fell to the floor of the forest beside her and pulled her into his arms. “I’m a shifter and you a fairy. What will the child be?”
She shrugged. “Wonderful and a fairy. It will be able to make itself small, like I do. That’s why we must breed with a shifter. We need the gene to be able to reduce in size. My father was a werewolf. Back when I was bred, they were more plentiful and not all bad.”
Tuco kissed her red hair. “I hope it has hair just like yours and eyes the same color of violet.”
Lorelai nodded. “If the child is a girl, she will. If I bear a male child, it could have black hair and green eyes.”
He held her close and smiled over her head. He was to be a father. It was a sobering thought but it filled his heart with warmth and love. “I think I’m falling in love with you, Chica,” he whispered into her hair.
She pushed him back and touched his cheek. Her eyes sparkled in a special way. “I will always love you, my darling. You gave me my heart’s desire, something no man has ever been able to do.”
Suddenly, Tuco realized Al’s plan was no longer viable. He couldn’t risk Lorelai and his child by using her as the diversion. They’d have to come up with another plan.
* * * *
When the sun set, Targ’s eyes flew open. He knew immediately that Balam was near. Fear burned into his belly, along with the familiar need for blood. The hunger was a constant companion, leaving when he’d fed, but returning shortly after. It nagged at him and weakened him. Only when he was full of fresh blood, did his head feel clear and his body strong.
Fully awake, Targ shook the covering of dirt and leaf mold off his body and slithered out of the narrow cave where he’d spent the night. He closed his eyes for a minute and realized there were shifters nearby. One would be Enrique. He yearned to be with his lover. But before that could happen, he would have to save him from Balam. And to do that, he would have to go against his maker. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs. He hoped he had the strength. Balam would know he was here and he would be ready.
He wasn’t sure who the other shifter was. It might be Enrique’s twin. Or, it could be Jax. He couldn’t tell.
Targ moved through the dense underbrush toward the caves. The moon would soon rise full and fat over the tops of the trees. It made sense that would be when Balam tried to sacrifice Enrique. His maker must know the other shifters were close. Would he try to catch them as well? Targ believed he would. And Balam’s hesitation would give Al and Jax more time to rescue Enrique.
He focused his senses on the faint whisper emitted by the shifters. Moving swiftly, Targ followed it. He climbed the cliff above the cave entrance and smelled smoke. From there it was easy to find the camp.
When he stepped out of the jungle, Al didn’t even turn around. “Vampire’s smell bad,” the elf said. “I scented you five minutes ago.”
Targ smelled the elf as well. His odor disturbed him. The elf smelled like flowers, but the floral scent was frightening. “You stink too, elf.”
“Elora flowers. Poison to vampires.”
Targ’s interest was captured. “There’s something that poisons a vampire?”
Al turned and stared at Targ. His green eyes glowed in the firelight. “The flowers are rare, but they’re deadly to vampires.” He looked thoughtful. “Though the legend says the flowers kill vampires, the wording is pretty vague. It’s in ancient elfin, a language older than the human race. Some translations say that when a vampire eats of the elora flower, it is returned to its human form thus stealing the vampire’s immortality. Either way, for most vampires that is the true death.”
“So if I found some of the flowers and ate them I might become human again?”
“It’s just a rumor, Targ. No one has seen even one of these flowers for centuries. And even if you found an elora blossom, would you really want to take the chance of dying?”
Targ pursed his lips. For a moment, he’d had the hope of ending his vampire existence by returning to human form. But it was just a dream. He was stuck where he was. The best chance he had of ending this torture was to die the true death. And if he was going out, he wanted it to be saving Rickie. “Where are the shifters?”
“Tuco is with his fairy and Jax is watching the cave. I’m glad you showed. We need someone to provide a diversion. I wanted the fairy, but Tuco says she can’t because she’s pregnant.”
Targ tilted his head. “That’s interesting.”
“Yes, but very untimely. Can you draw Balam away from the cave? We need to do this before the moon reaches its zenith.”
“I can try.”
“You realize if you’re successful and you kill your maker, you will die, too.”
Targ had been staring into the flames. He looked up. “What do I have to live for? I’m dead already. I can’t return to my old life. I might as well die trying to save someone I love.”
The elf lifted one golden eyebrow.
“Yes, I love Rickie. What do you want me to do?”
“You’ll have to make the sacrifice. Balam must die. If you can do it.”
“Is there some way we can kill him without me croaking, too?”
Al’s green eyes glowed in the firelight. “Only one, you have to kill his maker. He will die and you will live. But who knows where or what his maker is.”
“I know. Balam thinks his maker is the world’s first vampire, a demon named Camazotz, the blood drinking demon of Xibalba. Or at least that’s what Balam believes. He was made close by. It’s possible Camazotz lives near here.” The thought of a vampire even older than Balam lurking somewhere in the world, possibly this jungle, was terrifying.
“If he’s as old as you say, he’ll have abilities and powers beyond our ability to comprehend. He could also be as nutty as a fruitcake. Living that long has the tendency to make you crazy.”
“I can believe that. Drinking blood for thousands of years can’t be good for your sanity either.” Targ sat beside Al, ignoring the stench of the flowers. “Why doesn’t Balam attack you? He must know where you are. The fire drew me.”
“He’s waiting for us to try to rescue Enrique. He also might be a little afraid of us. Together, we are a powerful force. He’s not stupid. And the moon will soon rise along with its partner Venus. Balam will wait for the right moment to sacrifice the shifter. In his crazy mind, he’ll have a plan for the timing. When that moment draws closer, we better be ready, because he won’t wait any longer. If he doesn’t possess Tuco, he’ll sacrifice the one panther shifter in his possession.”
Targ stared up at the velvety night sky. The rain was gone, the sky filled with twinkling stars. On the far eastern horizon, the moon glowed as it began its ascent. They didn’t have much time.
Chapter 23
“I’m sorry, Enrique,” Moon Man said. “It is time. I must strap you to the altar.”
/> Above them, the edge of the moon had crept into the hole in the cave’s ceiling. Its light hit the altar, illuminating the rust-colored stains in the stone.
Moon Man helped Enrique to his feet and pushed him toward the altar. Fear filled his stomach and his throat. He felt close to vomiting. “You don’t have to do this. Escape with me. Run.” His voice cracked with terror as his heart hammered like a frightened bird trapped inside his chest. “Don’t do it,” he pleaded with Moon Man. “Free me and I’ll take you with me.”
“You don’t understand. I was pledged to Balam’s service over a thousand years ago by my mother’s father, Camazotz. I have no choice but to obey Balam’s commands.” His gaze fell to the floor. “I truly wish I could help you. I rarely spend time with humans. I procure them for the master and then, well, then they die. You’re the first man I’ve been able to talk to. You’re the first one who’s been kind to me in return.”
Enrique grabbed Moon Man and hugged him. “I forgive you,” he said. “I know the power of Balam.”
Moon Man tore himself away from Enrique and pushed him to the altar. Tears stained his brown cheeks as he bent over him, moving his shoulders into the center of the altar. Rough rope straps were anchored in the stone. As soon as Enrique settled on the hard surface, Moon Man wrapped them around his body, threaded them through iron eyes set into the altar and tied them tightly.
Balam appeared in the cave. “I sense your brother,” he said as he walked slowly around Enrique, examining each cord to make sure it was secure. He glanced at the roof of the cave. “There is a full hour left before Venus is visible through the aperture. I’m going hunting.”
Enrique struggled wildly to escape his bonds. The fibrous rope gouged furrows in his skin as he fought. “Please, just kill me. Leave Tuco alone.”
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