by Lisa Kessler
Mulac took a breath to speak, but the Guardian clamped a large hand over his mouth. “Enough poison from you.” The Guardian’s pace intensified. “The sun is coming, and we cannot wait.”
…
Issa approached the ceremonial stone altar with a heavy heart. Even after countless nights under the sand in Egypt, the memories of this place never ceased haunting him. No words could measure the dread building inside of him, to stand there, to see it again, touch it, and know what must be done by his hand.
“Time is short. We should begin.” Colin gathered the roots and jungle flowers needed to conjure the smoke and fire for the ceremony with one hand, careful to keep his other arm in close to his body.
Kane reached for Ch’en.
Issa grasped Kane’s wrist. “Mulac will be our sacrifice. Her blood will not stain my hands. Not this time.”
Kane pulled free of his grip. “We only have one chance. What if Mulac’s sacrifice is not enough? We cannot afford to fail in this, Issa. The coming dawn and the possibility that the Demon could reproduce demand that we act now. I do not wish to harm Kate, either, but events are in motion that must be halted at all costs. Do not be foolish.”
Issa looked at Kate. Their eyes met, and in that moment he felt like he could see into her soul. He saw music and love and laughter—caring, compassion, and courage. His love for Ch’en remained an open wound, never allowed to heal, and yet bitterness had never filled the void. He’d never known another spirit like her, and now, against all odds, she lived again. How could he steal her from this world again?
“I am not being foolish.” Issa straightened, meeting his brother’s eyes. “I know what I can and cannot do, and I cannot sacrifice her. Kate did not call the Demon. Mulac did. He simply used her voice.” He looked over his shoulder to the Guardian. “Prepare him.”
The Guardian hauled Mulac to the altar. The God of the North struggled in his arms, kicking and tearing into the Guardian’s flesh with his sharp teeth. The Guardian wrestled him closer to the altar and finally slammed his head against the stone. With a hollow thud, the white-haired immortal went slack in his arms.
“He will heal, but for now he will not trouble us.”
Marguerite nodded and helped her large friend position Mulac lengthwise on the ancient altar. Lightning pierced across the sky, brightening the night as they rushed to bind his wrists and ankles to the altar. Colin adorned Mulac’s body with the ritual flowers and lit the torches to open the door to other worlds.
Issa approached them with Kane at his side. “We will have to act quickly. Once Mulac awakens, he will break these bonds. Unlike Ch’en, he is not a willing sacrifice.”
Kane took his place at Mulac’s left side, symbolizing his upholding of the East, and Colin took his place at Mulac’s feet, symbolizing his rule over the South. Issa took his position at Mulac’s right and growled in frustration. “We need a fourth to uphold the North. The magic will not work unless all four corners of this world stand united around the altar.”
The brothers glanced between one another as Issa ran his fingers back through his long black mane with an agitated sigh. Why hadn’t he considered this before? They were so busy placing blame on who called the Demon that they hadn’t thought it through. They couldn’t sacrifice Mulac. They needed him. Maybe his own destiny was already cast. He was fated not to be Ch’en’s lover, but her executioner, throughout time.
An irreversible destiny. An inescapable fate.
“I will stand.” They all turned to see Lukas lowering Gretchen carefully to the ground and stepping forward.
Issa frowned. “You are not a god.”
“I’m a male, and I’m a Night Walker. I’ve been studying these glyphs for ages.” He took his position at Mulac’s head. “And at this point, I’m the only immortal here who knows anything about this ceremony. I don’t see that you have a lot of other choices, do you?”
Kane sighed, glancing at Issa. “He does not know the ceremonial chants. We have only one chance. Please Issa, rethink this choice.”
Issa shook his head. “There is no other choice.”
…
The tumultuous night sky raged above them. Thunder roared and the rain fell over them like a thick, wet blanket of steamy heat. Gretchen stood in the shadows with Calisto and Kate. In spite of her dizziness and fatigue, the tension in the air kept her alert. She had no idea what to expect.
What would the Demon look like? Would there be a fight?
Worry gnawed at her as she watched Lukas. She didn’t want to consider the danger he’d just gotten himself into. She took a deep breath, watching the four men standing around the altar. The three immortal brothers chanted, passing the lit torches over Mulac’s body, bathing him in thick smoke.
Gretchen glanced to the right of the altar, to the large cenote. It resembled a deep well, but according to the glyphs, this cenote led directly to the center of the earth. Near the edge, the Guardian stood tall, with Marguerite at his side. The blond woman looked tiny next to his hulking form. A gust of wind stung Gretchen’s face as electricity and tension swirled around them. Nature felt…furious. Charged with anger.
Mulac stirred on the altar, drawing her attention back to the sacrificial ceremony.
“Now!” Kane screamed to the Guardian over the howling wind.
On command, the Guardian’s deep voice boomed through the night as he chanted ancient words over and over again. “Ko’oten in tial Camalotz.”
“What’s he saying?” Kate asked.
“He’s calling the Demon.” Gretchen met Kate’s eyes. “He’s saying, ‘Come to me, my Camalotz.’”
…
After sending out the call for his mate, the Guardian turned his eyeless gaze down to Marguerite. “We must say goodbye.”
Her voice trembled with her plea. “You will be trapped with her. Forever.”
He cupped her cheek with his large hand. “You have been a friend to me. Now let me be one to you. Go wait with the others.”
Her hesitation to retreat made something in his chest ache. She knew there was no other way, no one else to call the Demon, and yet, she still stood at his side. He’d been created for this moment, but this porcelain-skinned Night Walker treated him as an equal.
Finally, he heard her move away, but in an instant she returned and wrapped her arms around him. Again, something in his chest tightened, but this time he recognized it.
The Guardian lifted her from the ground, embracing her tightly. “Thank you,” he whispered into her hair.
“I am the thankful one. You saved my life.”
“And you gave my existence life. They created me, but I never lived. You changed that, my friend.”
She kissed his cheek, and for a brief moment, he wished he could stay in this world. But there was no other way.
He lowered her to the ground. “Now go.”
The moment her feet touched the soil, the entire jungle trembled, the earth shook with a powerful tremor. A deafening screech of pure evil pierced through the roar of the storm.
His deep voice rumbled like thunder. “Run!”
…
Gretchen caught movement out of the corner of her eye, just as the earth tilted. The ground shook, knocking her over, as a high-pitch shriek deafened her ears. In the distance, Marguerite ran toward her, but the mud and sideways rain slowed her down, causing her to stumble.
“Hurry!” Gretchen screamed into the storm.
Thick smoke from the ritual stung Gretchen’s eyes and nose. She heard pieces of the chants from Lukas and the immortal brothers, then the wind would howl and steal the sound of their voices. Lightning, fire, rain—it all combined into pure chaos.
Another tremor shook the jungle, and Marguerite fell to the ground. A roar rumbled from the thick vegetation, and an enormous black jaguar with bright-red eyes leapt into the clearing. It swung its large head toward the altar, back toward the Guardian, growling and exposing sharp, white teeth. The ultimate predator.
; Marguerite scrambled across the ground, but the jaguar struck with a large paw, her claws impaling Rita’s leg like daggers.
Gretchen gasped. She wanted to rush to the rescue, but her anemic muscles refused to respond. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Calisto leaning on Kate to stay upright, and her heart sank.
Marguerite kicked at the jaguar’s head, struggling to break free, but the beast retaliated, burying its claws in her other leg. She stopped fighting.
Marguerite wasn’t going anywhere.
…
“Rita, no!” Kane halted his chanting and started to rush to her aid, but Issa’s hand caught his arm in an iron grip.
Issa’s eyes burned with intensity. “We only have one chance, Kane. We need you here.”
Kane maintained his position beside Mulac, forcing out the ancient words, but his stare was not on the altar. Issa twisted to see over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes to see through the thick, perfumed smoke. The huge black jaguar kept Rita pinned on the ground, but that was only half the horror.
The Demon’s abdomen was swollen. Camalotz had truly used his brother to impregnate her, and the immortal offspring was growing at an inhuman rate.
The jaguar bent her large head toward the back of Rita’s neck, her lethal jaws stretching open as Rita screamed and struggled for freedom. The scent of her blood hung thick in the air. Sensing Kane’s urge to rush to her side, Issa caught his wrist again, forcing him to meet his eyes.
“Help me finish Camalotz. This is the only way to save your mate now.”
…
The Guardian felt the Demon’s presence the moment she came out of the jungle, but without his eyes, he couldn’t find her. The sound of Marguerite’s screams changed all that.
With a growl of fury, his body mutated until he, too, became a monstrous black jaguar of his own. He lunged forward, sinking his sharp, feline teeth into the Demon’s neck, drawing her away from her prey.
The two jaguars wrestled, rolling over one another. He fought viciously in the darkness, hoping he had intervened quickly enough to save his friend. The Guardian clawed blindly, reaching for the eyes that were once his own. Pain ripped through his entire body as she tore open his chest, gnawing at his exposed muscles and tendons. He roared and slashed through her silken coat. When he connected with her head, he felt her body rapidly shift back to her natural form. Her human shrieks confirmed her transformation.
The Guardian remained in his Jaguar body and paced around Camalotz, using the sound of her voice to keep himself close enough to pounce if it became necessary.
Are you clear of her?
Yes. Marguerite’s voice whispered into his mind. And you are no longer the only one who is blind.
He had successfully taken the eyes she had stolen. He gave a nod of approval and felt his rage lessen enough for him to cage the beast within. He transformed back to his human-like form.
Opening his arms to her, he growled softly, “Ko’oten in tial yaah.”
…
Gretchen stood, awestruck, unable to pull her gaze from the scene. The Demon was no longer a black jaguar—she looked like a woman. A beautiful, almost too perfect, pregnant woman. Camalotz’s rich mocha skin was marred only by the deep lacerations the Guardian had dealt her, but Gretchen could see those were already beginning to heal. Except where her eyes had been. There, the skin healed, but like the Guardian, there were no longer orbs for the eyelids to cover.
Squinting through the driving rain, she watched the obviously pregnant, bleeding creature stumble toward her mate. After their bloody battle, after the Guardian slashed her eyes out, blinding her, Camalotz still rushed to his arms when he beckoned her to come, and his words were not those of an adversary, but a lover.
He had called her “my love” in the ancient language of the Maya.
This wasn’t love in any form that Gretchen could relate to, but she didn’t have time to ponder the notion. Marguerite wasn’t moving.
Blood puddled on the moist earth, and Gretchen crawled over to Marguerite, trying to assess her injuries as best she could during the brief flashes of lightning. Marguerite’s calf still oozed blood, and the white of bone was visible in the deep crevices on her other leg, gashes left behind from Camalotz’s razor-sharp claws.
“Help me. Before she comes back,” Marguerite gasped.
Gretchen nodded, but her own blood loss still left her too dizzy to get back up. She groaned at her own weakness and took Marguerite’s hand, yelling over her shoulder to Calisto and Kate. “I can’t get her up.”
Gretchen almost screamed when Kate suddenly appeared at her side. With Kate’s help, Gretchen got to her feet again and waited for Kate to lift Marguerite. They brought the wounded Night Walker into the shadows, and Kate carefully set Marguerite down beside Calisto.
While Kate offered her wrist to Marguerite, Gretchen fought to see through the thick sheets of tropical rain. She could barely make out the familiar silhouette of Lukas and the others. The wind howled through the jungle trees, stealing the sound of the ancient chants Lukas and the immortal brothers spoke.
With a loud crack of thunder, lightning arced through the black sky, illuminating the sacrificial table. Mulac regained consciousness, and hatred contorted his timeless features as Issa slowly raised his hand and pulled his arm back in preparation.
To the left of the altar, the Guardian caressed and kissed his lover’s blind face. Each step took them closer to the edge of the cenote, the well that led to the center of the earth. Neither of them could see the bottomless hole, but maybe they both sensed its location.
Part of her still couldn’t believe the scene playing out before her. It was something out of a folktale or a myth. It couldn’t be real, but it was. Gretchen really was soaking wet in the middle of the rainforest, watching an ancient ritual sacrifice to banish a Mayan Demon from the world of men.
…
Issa raised his executioner’s hand toward the heavens, preparing for its gory descent into Mulac’s chest. He watched Kane’s face for the signal, waited for the Guardian to maneuver Camalotz closer to the edge of the cenote.
They had only performed this ceremony once before, and this time there was no one to command the Demon into the earth. Mulac would not utter the words to banish her, so the Guardian would need to force her into her prison.
Issa stood, breathing heavy. Being the executioner was his burden to bear, his place in this world, but taking Ch’en’s heart all those centuries ago had changed him forever. The raw pain and guilt left him hollow inside. Issa never spoke of that night again. Instead, he had been the first of his brothers to board a ship and abandon their homeland after the Spanish began slaughtering their culture and conquering their people. Issa never looked back.
He forced his mind back to the present. In order for the blood magic to work, they needed to pluck the heart of the one who called the Demon just as she descended into the cenote, away from this world and into her prison. The blood of the one who called her would flow into the earth with Camalotz, the magic binding them together and imprisoning the Demon until the immortal who commanded her lived again to call her back.
Blood from his head wound dripped down Issa’s wet forehead. He still wasn’t certain that Mulac’s sacrifice in Ch’en’s place would imprison Camalotz, but he refused to take her life again. He had to believe Mulac’s blood would seal the door. The world depended on it.
Their chanting reached a fevered pitch as the moment drew near. Issa’s muscles tensed, ready to plunge his hand down. But before the Guardian could step off the edge and pull the Demon into the cenote, her piercing shriek cut through the roar of the storm around them.
Kane craned his head to see, and Issa lowered his hand, turning to see the struggle going on behind them. He frowned. “He must get her inside the earth,” he shouted over the storm.
“Camalotz will never go willingly into the earth, and I will not command her!” Mulac cackled, his wild eyes glowing in the darkness. “You have alread
y lost this world, my Brothers. Help me rule in the next one.”
Kane’s hands flew to Mulac’s throat, squeezing it until his brother’s windpipe collapsed under his fingers. Issa reached for him, pulling his hands away from their sacrifice. “We need his heart still beating.”
Kane jerked back, hatred burning in his eyes. “It will not kill him, but it will keep him silent…” His words died away as his brow furrowed.
Issa looked over his shoulder, following Kane’s stare. Marguerite stumbled out of the shadows, limping toward the cenote, where the battle between the Demon and the Guardian raged on.
“No!” Kane bellowed. “Rita, go back!”
His eyes widened as she lumbered closer.
Issa growled at his brother. “Stay focused. We need you here.”
The Guardian shoved Camalotz blindly, her body hitting the ground just short of the opening. He crawled toward her, his hands searching for what his eyes could no longer see.
Meanwhile, Rita moved even closer.
They started their chants again, and Issa raised his mighty arm once more, awaiting the moment Camalotz fell into the pit. But instead of falling into the cenote, the Demon scrambled to her feet just as the Guardian grabbed her in his arms. Her powerful hand exploded through his chest, plucking out the huge shard of enchanted jade they had used to construct his heart.
A gasp escaped the Guardian’s lips as his body gradually transformed into lifeless stone once more. His arms were still wrapped tightly around his mate, and Camalotz struggled to break free of his now-stone grasp.
Marguerite screamed, running toward them in spite of her injured leg. Her shoulder connected with the Demon’s back, knocking Camalotz off-balance. The Demon let out a furious hiss as the weight of the Guardian pulled her over the edge.
In the blink of an eye, Issa’s hand plunged deep into Mulac’s chest, extracting his still-beating heart and yanking it free. Issa held the organ high above his head and uttered the sacred rites as Mulac’s body contracted and then went limp. His immortal blood poured down the altar, soaking into the earth, sealing the Demon inside.
