Shadows of the Gods (The Unbreakable Sword Series Book 1)

by S. M. Schmitz

  “Ok,” Selena coughed. The camp was filling with so much smoke, her eyes and lungs burned. Cameron pulled his mask on then put his arms around her again and kicked the door open and pulled her into the fresh air outside where the tall blonde man spotted them immediately.

  “God, you’re annoying!” he yelled at Cameron.

  Cameron shrugged. “You have no idea.”

  An explosion behind them sent them both flying off the porch; Selena didn’t have a chance to look for anything she could move into their path to break their fall. Cameron twisted his body around hers and landed on his back. She felt every muscle in his body tense with the impact and he grunted in pain, but he had covered himself again; even if she’d had time to heal him, she didn’t have easy access to his body. And there were four pissed off gods pursuing them.

  “Bring it down,” he breathed.

  Selena glanced at the burning camp and it broke apart, sending fiery shrapnel around the men who had to deflect the blazing pieces of wood and furniture. Cameron forced himself to his feet and pulled her up with him. “We have to run. Now!”

  Selena risked once last glance in the direction of his camp and blew the debris on the ground toward the gods who would follow them into the marsh. They would never be able to buy themselves enough time to escape this way. She ran with him into the thick grove of trees anyway.

  “Watch your step,” he warned her. “The ground will suddenly turn to three-feet deep water without warning. And there are snakes everywhere.”

  “Venomous?”

  “Some.”

  Selena watched him as he led her deeper into the marsh, studying the way he walked, searching for any hint of injury. He wasn’t limping and he wasn’t moving slower than she’d expected after such a hard impact. She looked over her shoulder again to see if the gods were following them yet. She could still hear his camp burning and smell the smoke. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to wash the smell of smoke off of her after the past twelve hours.

  “See them yet?” Cameron asked.

  “No. Any chance you’re hiding a psychic power, too?”

  “Um… no.”

  Selena eyed his perfectly normal gait again and sighed. “All right, Bruce Cameron Wayne. You’re a sun god who can’t get hurt?”

  “I get hurt,” he countered. “Being thrown by a gas stove exploding twelve feet off the ground and having a woman fall on top of me hurts. I don’t recommend it.”

  Selena stepped over a fallen cypress log and glared at the black fabric on his back. “I didn’t have time to find anything to break our fall,” she insisted. “And you don’t seem hurt at all.”

  Cameron glanced over his shoulder at her and she imagined his beautiful eyes dancing, his lips curving into a sexy smile. Cut it out, Selena. He’s hiding something from you; he probably is psychic and knows you’re fantasizing about him now.

  Fantastic.

  She was attracted to the man who may or may not be one of the gods trying to kidnap her and who had so many skeletons in his closet, she would be crazy not to try to get away from him as soon as she could.

  Or maybe she was being far too judgmental because she’d chosen a different path in life, one in which she refused to hide behind such literal masks. But she still couldn’t imagine how he’d known she was running from the New Pantheon and how he’d been able to follow her to New Orleans. Something wasn’t adding up, and if she’d listened to that nagging little voice in her head more often, she may not have ended up in Greece with Alan to begin with.

  “So…” Cameron said slowly. “Is now a good time to tell you that I think there’s some scary ass snake-like creature living in this swamp?”

  Selena stopped walking and glared even harder at his back. Cameron took a few more steps before seeming to realize she was no longer following him.

  “You’re messing with me, right?” she asked.

  “Uh… no. But now you know why I don’t like snakes.”

  Selena threw her arms in the air and sighed loudly. “What the hell is out here?”

  Cameron turned around and pulled his mask off, running his fingers through his dark hair to smooth it back down. “Ever heard of Quetzalcoatl?”

  “Quet… Cameron, what?”

  “The Mesoamerican god. Feathered serpent. You should probably look it up.”

  Selena groaned and looked around uneasily. “You think Quetza… snake god is living here?”

  Cameron shrugged and motioned for her to keep walking. “I’m just saying I’ve seen a huge ass snake with teeth and what may or may not be feathers and I don’t think there’s any normal animal that fits that description.”

  “And were you sober?” Selena asked, but she watched her step far more carefully as her shoes hit the muddy ground of the marsh.

  “I don’t drink, so yeah.”

  Selena peeked into the grove of cypress trees to her left and walked a little faster to catch up to Cameron. “How big was this snake god?”

  “Pretty big. Like… could-swallow-me-whole big.”

  “And aggressive?”

  One corner of Cameron’s lips turned up in a sexy smirk, and Selena blushed and looked into the marsh again to see if she could spot a feathered snake preparing to eat them.

  “Well, he didn’t seem happy about me trespassing into what he obviously considered his territory.”

  “We are so going to die out here,” Selena mumbled.

  Cameron just nodded. “Possibly. This is actually a pretty good hiding place for a lot of gods, especially those who can take an animal form. And I’m pretty sure Quetzalcoatl isn’t out here alone.”

  Selena groaned then yelped as something buzzed near her ear. Cameron shushed her and told her she needed to be quiet; the New Pantheon probably wasn’t that far behind.

  “You don’t get to scare the shit out of me by telling me about giant snake gods then expect me to be quiet when something flies in my ear,” Selena hissed.

  “I can actually,” Cameron said. “I’m not surrendering to them. I’d rather die than become one of them.”

  Selena watched her feet as they sank into the gray-brown mud of the marshy land.

  “Would you kill me, Cameron?” Selena asked quietly.

  Cameron abruptly stopped walking and Selena bumped into him. She mumbled an apology and pulled her foot out of the mud. “Why the hell do you think I’d do that after risking my life twice to save yours?”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Selena said. She was too close to him. She felt like a teenager again: a young, naïve, awkward child. She backed away and lowered her eyes, pretending to study the floor of the basin they were trekking through. “I meant if they catch us. I don’t want to be forced to work for them either. If it comes down to it, would you kill me to keep me out of their hands? Please?”

  She heard Cameron inhale a sharp, quick breath and she risked peeking at him. She wasn’t sure what his expression meant. If he were telling her the truth, he had to understand why it was so important for her to stay out of the New Pantheon’s hands, even if it meant her death. He would only refuse if he were misleading her, lying to her, deceiving her into trusting him so she could fall for him, too, and follow him willingly wherever he led.

  She didn’t do it for Alan and she wouldn’t do it for him.

  Nobody was worth the cost of granting gods immortality.

  “Selena… I can’t do that,” he breathed.

  “I knew it,” Selena snapped. “You can’t let me die because you are one of them!”

  She tried to walk away from him, but there was no walking quickly through a marsh. The sticky ground and thick growth of trees wouldn’t allow her to run. Judging by his physique, he could outrun her anyway.

  “Selena,” he sighed. “You didn’t just ask me to let you die. You asked me to kill you. There’s a big difference.”

  Selena kept her arms crossed indignantly and kept walking. She had no intention of turning around and playing his game. He still hadn�
�t explained to her how he’d known she was in New Orleans, or how he even knew who she was.

  “Selena, would you just listen?” he pleaded.

  “I don’t want to hear anything else from you. Just… put your mask back on and disappear. I’ll find my own way out of this swamp.”

  “But Selena…”

  “Just shut up, Cameron!”

  Selena’s foot landed in a black pool of water and she tumbled into the algae covered swamp in front of her. She shrieked when she felt something slide past her fingers and she shrieked again when she realized she was in a shallow pool of filthy, stagnant water that was probably filled with venomous snakes and maybe even a feathered one with supernatural powers who was going to be pissed off about being woken up by a shrieking woman falling in his house.

  Cameron stood at the edge of the swamp and put his hands on his hips. “I was trying to warn you.”

  “Never mind,” Selena moaned. “This is going to kill me. I don’t need your help after all.”

  Cameron snorted and reached for her hand. She eyed it for a few seconds before deciding she’d rather get out of this swamp than continue sulking in it. Cameron pulled her from the murky water and Selena shivered as she pulled slimy strands of green and brown algae off of her skin and clothes.

  “Worst two days of my life,” she muttered.

  “I tend to have that effect on people’s lives,” Cameron joked.

  Selena didn’t think he was funny.

  “I’m soaking wet and now I stink like a combination of swamp water and smoke. Do I look like I’m in the mood for jokes?”

  Cameron looked her over quickly then nodded. “You look like you could use a laugh.”

  “Yeah, except you’re not funny.”

  “Batman doesn’t have to be funny. He’s fabulously wealthy and drives a cool car.”

  “You’re not rich and you drive a Jetta that isn’t even paid for. This still isn’t looking good for you, Cameron.”

  “Huh,” Cameron said, “too bad. You make a good Robin. Because let’s face it: this is totally something that would happen to Robin.”

  Selena squinted at him and retorted, “I’m calling you Snake Eyes from now on.”

  Selena may have actually followed through on her threat if she hadn’t heard a loud rustling and hissing behind her. She spun around and felt Cameron’s hand reach around her arm, pulling her back from the swamp where the water slowly rippled into wider waves as something rose to the surface.

  And not just any something: she’d awakened Quetzalcoatl and he looked pissed.

  Chapter Four

  Selena watched the large reptilian head rise from the water, its vermillion eyes fixed on her as she backed farther away from the swamp. Around its head, what appeared to be slick feathers lay flat against its scales. It opened its mouth and hissed at her again, its long bifurcated tongue slithering between its thick yellow-white teeth.

  “What do we do?” Selena whispered.

  Cameron’s fingers gripped her arm tighter as he continued to back away from the angry god. “Any chance you speak Nahuatl?”

  “What?” Selena cried.

  “Didn’t think so.”

  Quetzalcoatl moved his large body onto the muddy ground but rather than slithering toward them, he lifted his head and hissed again, the feathers around his face arcing around him in a brilliant display of red and gold. Selena had never been so terrified in her life.

  “Now I know why you hate snakes,” she whispered.

  “Man, I hope he doesn’t speak English.”

  Quetzalcoatl jerked his body forward and Selena screamed. She waited to feel those massive jaws surrounding her as this giant serpent swallowed her, but a flash of bright light blinded her and she blinked as purple and black spots replaced the angry serpent in front of her. She thought she smelled smoke.

  “We should probably run,” Cameron told her.

  “I can’t!” Selena yelled. “Cameron, I can’t see!”

  “Goddamn it,” he muttered. She felt his strong arms slip beneath her legs then she was off the ground, air rushing past her and hitting her cold, damp skin. She shivered and wrapped her arms around Cameron’s neck as he tried to run away from six angry gods now.

  Selena didn’t like their odds.

  Somewhere in the distance, she thought she heard a loud hissing and cracking sound. She squeezed her eyes shut then opened them again, but she still couldn’t see. Her world had transformed into blackness punctuated by bright purple floating dots.

  “I can’t stop it if I can’t see it,” she whimpered.

  “Just bring the whole damn grove down!” Cameron shouted.

  Selena closed her eyes again and concentrated on pulling the trees toward the sound of the serpent chasing them. She wondered aloud if those feathers meant it could fly.

  “Don’t tell me that now,” Cameron groaned.

  Selena focused on the trees again, but without her sight, she had no idea if they were falling where she wanted them. She could hear the roots of the cypress trees pulling through the muddy terrain then cracks and snaps as they landed on top of each other. Cameron slowed down and she could feel his hot breath on her neck as he panted and turned around.

  A roaring whoosh and the heat of another fire told her he’d tried to slow Quetzalcoatl down again, but somehow, the god had escaped the first blaze. She doubted this one would be much of a deterrent either. Maybe he had flown over it.

  Cameron picked up his pace again and Selena buried her face against his shoulder. She could hear voices now, men’s voices speaking English. The other gods were following the fires Cameron had started to try to escape from Quetzalcoatl.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Cameron complained.

  He stopped running and turned in a slow circle again. Selena strained to hear the voices of the gods over the fires surrounding them. She lifted her head and unclenched her fingers to point in the direction where she could hear pieces of a conversation filtering through the noise all around them. Her hand moved slowly to the east.

  “We’re surrounded,” she breathed.

  “Don’t do that,” Cameron warned. “Don’t give up.”

  “You’re carrying a blind woman covered in swamp water through the marsh and being chased by a pissed off god who looks like a cross between an anaconda and a peacock and five pissed off gods who want to turn me into a slave for their pantheon! I think now’s the perfect time to give up!”

  “Ok, it’s not looking good. Plus, I lost my mask…”

  “Oh, that’s the tragedy here?” Selena retorted.

  “Hey,” Cameron countered, “I made that myself. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to make lenses that can switch from night to day vision?”

  “Cameron!” Selena shouted. “We’re going to die!”

  “Are you always this pessimistic?” he sighed.

  “Only in the moments before my death,” Selena shot back.

  “What kind of goddess of healing can’t heal herself?”

  “Oh, for God’s sake, put me down.”

  Cameron shifted her weight but didn’t set her down. “You should figure out which god you’re talking to. That’s probably part of your problem.”

  “You are annoying,” Selena muttered.

  “I know. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not a liar.”

  The voices grew louder and Cameron stepped backward. She felt him bump against a tree and her fingers brushed against a rougher bark than the bald cypress she’d touched along the edges of the swamp. Cameron must have run farther inland and away from whatever water source this part of the Refuge was near.

  “Twenty-seven years of obscurity, and I lose my anonymity virginity in a swamp,” Cameron sighed.

  “Won’t matter,” Selena pointed out. “They’ll kill you first anyway.”

  “Good point.”

  Cameron shifted her weight again and Selena heard a thunderous crack, as if the fallen trees had been splintered into fragment
s.

  “Oh, great,” Cameron quipped. “The snake is here, too.”

  Selena tightened her arms around his neck and told him, “Don’t you dare put me down now.”

  “You’re awfully fickle.”

  A hiss prevented her from making another smartass comment. Even though she still couldn’t see, she buried her face against his neck and closed her eyes.

  “What the hell is that?” a familiar voice asked. Selena knew that voice well. It belonged to the god with the blonde hair.

  “Pretty sure it’s Quetzalcoatl,” Cameron answered.

  “Oh, you can’t be serious.”

  Cameron sighed impatiently. “Dude, does it look like it’s just an alligator or something to you?”

  Quetzalcoatl answered them both with another angry hiss.

  “You’re not touching her, Dinosaur,” the blonde man said.

  “Ouch,” Cameron interjected.

  “Shut up,” the blonde man told him.

  Selena listened as Cameron inhaled quickly again then mumbled, “Holy shit.”

  “What?” she asked breathlessly.

  “Um… the serpent just morphed into a guy.”

  “Shut up,” the new voice sighed.

  “Well, that answers that question. He does speak English,” Cameron said only somewhat quieter.

  Selena couldn’t be sure but she thought she heard all of the gods sighing.

  “You’re all trespassing,” Quetzalcoatl said.

  “Technically,” Cameron interrupted and Selena groaned. “This is a National Refuge. And you’re not even a U.S. citizen, so you’re the one who’s trespassing.”

  “What is wrong with you?” the blonde man asked.

  “Not actually sure,” Cameron replied. “But you’re the one who called him a dinosaur. So what is wrong with you?”

  “You’re awfully cocky for a man surrounded by gods who want to kill you,” the blonde man snapped.

  “Why do you want him dead?” Quetzalcoatl asked.

  “He kidnapped her.”

  “No, he didn’t!” Selena shouted. “You’re the ones trying to kidnap me! We were just trying to get away from these guys when I fell into your swamp, and I’m sorry.”