His calm, low voice goaded me to action. I grabbed a pair of jeans, a few pairs of underwear and socks, my toothbrush, and jammed it all into my smaller carryon. I already had my pack that I used instead of a purse.
My life, reduced to two little bags. It almost made me cry, until I realized what that bloody, thumping chunk of meat had to be. And whose.
Then I vomited into the toilet.
We strode out of the beautiful historic hotel at a composed but determined pace. Técun held my arm, supporting me when my feet didn’t cooperate. He’d draped my jacket over the bloody bundle in his other arm. In the distance, I heard police sirens. Someone must have called them after my scream.
There was a crowd of people by the fountain in the courtyard. Hotel employees in white were trying to keep the gawkers back. I didn’t want to look but my eyes were helplessly drawn to the trauma. A body lay broken, torn apart, blood staining the water where I’d played with Técun. Last night? The night before? I couldn’t remember.
“Keep walking,” he growled with just enough force to keep some steel in my knees. “Alvarado must have remained close, watching and waiting until we left the fountain so he could leave us a present. It’s Angel Rojas, not her.”
Fear hollowed me out into an empty shell. “Where are we going?”
Evidently, he didn’t either, because he tightened his hold on my arm and pulled me closer to him. A dark car waited for us at the curb. I was so happy to see José that I gave him a hug and then slid into the backseat with Técun. I curled against him, drawing my feet up into the seat, not bothering with my seat belt. “We’ll stop at the Rojas hacienda first, but I don’t think we’ll stay the night.”
He dropped his chin against my head and tightened his arms around me. His heart beat strong and steady against my cheek, his sweet tropical scent filling my nose, easing some of the horrendous emotion and guilt tearing me up.
I’d brought Natalie to this place and now… Tears spilled from my eyes and I allowed myself to think through the implications of what had happened. “That was her, wasn’t it? Her heart.”
His breath was a soft sigh of regret. “Yes.”
My throat ached. All I wanted to do was throw my head back and scream and scream, beating my fists on his chest, tearing my hair. But how would that help? “It moved. It’s still…beating.”
“She’s not dead, Cassie.”
Hope made me lift my head, but seeing the grief in his eyes made my tears pour faster.
“You must understand that only the Lords of Xibalba have such power, demons of death and disease that rule the underworld. They call it the Caged Heart and have perfected how to remove a still-beating heart from a sacrifice and keep them living, bound in suffering to feed the demon power. Alvarado deliberately hurt her to hurt you in order to draw you out. He needs you to break the Tecubalsi curse. For him to manage this type of ritual means he’s gained so much power he might as well be a Xibalban lord and not a Spanish conquistador. How he accomplished it I don’t know. He’s no risen corpse, but a high-ranking demon.”
“How did he even know about us?”
Técun blew out his breath in a heavy sigh. “It’s possible that he’s been watching you ever since you arrived in Antigua. He senses your magic…and mine. To him, you must shine like a beacon in the night.” Breathing deeply, he crushed me against his side. “I regret exposing both you and your friend to this danger. Forgive me, lady, for this pain I have brought you both.”
I sniffled and dropped my head against his shoulder. “It’s not your fault. So what does he hope to accomplish with all this?”
“He took Natalie’s heart and gained power from her pain and terror, yes. But he didn’t sacrifice her, not completely. She lies trapped between this world and the next. As long as her heart continues to beat, she feeds him power with her suffering. The human desire to live is great, so she will continue to suffer until we retrieve her body.”
“I’m assuming he has it, then. That’s the trap.”
“Yes.”
I didn’t like the distant, stark look on his face. This was the untouchable statue, not the man I’d taken to my bed. Yet I couldn’t find a way to breach that coldness. In a way, it was like he’d already passed through the portal to his world.
“And if we retrieve her body…”
“One of my brothers in our world may be able to pull her back from the White Road she travels through Xibalba and return her to life. I won’t have the ability to do so myself. He wants to draw you out so he may complete his sacrifice and win his freedom for all time. Not to mention unlimited power. How better to cripple his great nemesis than to torture her best friend?”
“I’m not his nemesis.” I shook with horror at the thought. I didn’t want anything to do with the infamous conquistador from beyond the grave. “You are!”
“He defeated me in our last battle. Yet your ancestor managed to lock him into a hell from which he couldn’t escape. Now he has one of her blood within his grasp, and if he manages to sacrifice you…”
Staring out the window into the night, he growled so low and deep that the hair rose on the back of my neck. “As a man, Alvarado killed me before. Now he possesses one of the darkest powers I’ve ever known. I need my full power or I have no hope of protecting you from him.”
“What do you need to gain your power? You said there were rituals of sacrifice. You wouldn’t have to…to…”
He whipped his head around to glare at me, a deep furrow between his eyes. “I would indeed kill to protect you. But the sacrifice required is not…” His shoulders slumped and he turned back to the dark landscape rushing by outside. “I’m not willing to make this sacrifice and risk losing you. I’d rather let Alvarado kill me again and lock me beyond for all time than risk you.”
Chills crept down my spine but I didn’t back away. Danger lurked in the darkness, more horrible than I could possibly understand. If he had the power to force that darkness back… I tried to imagine him on his gleaming black pyramid on the other side of the portal, with a screaming captive bound hand and foot, stretching out across the altar.
“That’s not how we sacrifice,” he said, not bothering to even turn his head to look at me. “The dark creatures of the underworld will sacrifice the innocent without thought, and thereby gain power from their fear and pain. That is not where my power lies. My sacrifice must be willing.”
Hands trembling, I fished the journal out of my backpack. Pages rustled as I smoothed the early entries that had been translated not once but twice. It was dark in the car but I didn’t need to see the words. My fingers smoothed over the strange glyphs Luisa had first written and I didn’t need to understand them to quote. “Sacrifice comes to the top of the pyramid. I am the willing sacrifice. My love is strong.”
Técun flinched but kept his body locked away from me. As though he feared one touch would shatter me. Or persuade me to do something which I might later regret.
Closing my eyes, I could almost feel the ridges of ink and paints, elegant swirls of magic that made my heartbeat quicken. Not with fear, but with the heavy pulse of magic and desire.
“My heart is safe tonight. My heart is always safe with him. Oh, my lover, my mighty priest. With our power rising, you are like a god of old. Técun…” His name came out of my mouth on a low, ragged moan that embarrassed me until I saw how it affected him.
He shuddered, his shoulders straining. He pressed his face against the glass.
“Is that how it would be for you if I was your willing sacrifice? Would your power rise like a god of old?”
“You don’t understand what’s required,” he said in a voice that sounded like he’d swallowed shards of glass.
“Then explain it to me. If there’s any way to save Natalie, then I’ll do it without question.”
“This isn’t about Natalie. You can’t make this kind of sacrifice for her.”
I laid my fingers on his straining arm and he jumped as though I’d slapped h
im. “But I would make this sacrifice for you. Tell me what you need.”
Wordlessly, he shook his head, refusing to even look at me. Irritated and scared both, I dug my fingernails into his forearm, gouging his skin until he finally snarled and jerked his head around to glare at me.
His eyes smoldered like pits of hell, but his face was grim, carved from stone. “My captive must be bound hand and foot, completely helpless before me. She’s given to me to do with as I will, whatever that entails.”
He didn’t touch me, but the leather creaked ominously as he shifted on the seat. Fighting the urge to comfort me…or drag me to the bloody altar? Releasing him, I clutched my hands together so hard my nails bit into my palms and fine hairs tickled up and down my arms, but I wasn’t afraid. Or at least I wasn’t afraid of him.
Here we sat in the back of a car racing against dark demonic powers to save my best friend from torture, and my panties were stuck to me, damp against my hot flesh. Goose bumps rose on my arms, and my nipples were painfully hard. My skin chilled with nervous sweat. Just thinking about being bound and helpless for him…
When he’d taken me last night, I’d been powerless. I’d used all my strength, all my determination, to escape, but I couldn’t. I’d never be able to escape him. He was too powerful, too big, too assured of his ability as warrior and conqueror.
If I were bound, I wouldn’t be able to fight at all.
I would be his sexual sacrifice.
I shuddered on another low moan that made his jaws grind and his hands clench into fists.
Still raw and painful, he whispered so low I strained to hear. “I’ve never taken the woman I love as sacrifice. I fear I will go too far.”
His words melted like fine chocolate in my stomach. On one hand, it seemed crazy to talk about love. Just days ago I’d been sure I would be committed for believing my crazy dreams, and now I was seriously considering letting this man bind me hand and foot and carry me to the top of his pyramid.
“It’s not an easy thing, Cassie. Even a woman who grew up with our ways would have been afraid I would take her heart in the end and toss her lifeless body down the steps. Although I have always been a warrior when I walk your earth, I have more power than a normal man. I lived as a priest, a king, a leader of warriors. People knew my power and they feared me, rightfully so. A woman might be brave enough to come to my sleeping chamber, but I never had a woman brave enough to come to the altar in my name.”
“Técun…”
“No,” he retorted, his eyes glittering like chips of obsidian. “Don’t you understand? If you’re bound, you won’t be able to resist physically. The battle that we both enjoy will become something else entirely. It will be in your mind and in your heart, Cassie. You will begin to doubt me. You will fear me—not in a sexual way but with real, life-threatening fear—and that I cannot bear!”
I wanted to save Natalie, no matter what that meant. A terrible demon meant to torture and kill both me and my lover in unspeakable ways. I didn’t want to lose Técun, especially to Alvarado all over again. All the reasons I even considered this fluttered away like frantic birds escaping a cage, leaving behind only one thing.
The truth.
“You’re afraid you will like my fear too much.”
His breath rushed out as though I’d stabbed him with Alvarado’s spear. His eyes flared wide, dark with guilt and shame.
“That’s it, isn’t it? You want my fear. You like it when I cry out and struggle.” I didn’t have to drop my gaze to know that his jeans would be tight and straining over his crotch. “You like making me helpless and hearing the sounds I make when I’m trapped beneath you.”
“Fear is the battle we both crave,” he admitted hoarsely. “But I want your love and trust more.”
Fear trembled through me, yes, but his reluctance gave me the courage to push ahead. “I trust you, Técun. I know you would never truly hurt me.”
“Even if you’re bound and helpless with the cold stone of an altar digging into your back? Even if I hold a blade in my hand? And you can’t stop me?”
My teeth chattered, my fingers so cold I couldn’t feel them any longer. Yet my blood pumped heavy and hot through my body. “I still trust you.”
“Every time you feel release, my power will grow.” His voice dropped an octave, rumbling my bones like distant thunder, but he didn’t touch me. Still determined to make the choice entirely mine. “So I’ll take my time. You’ll climax so many times that you’ll begin to wonder if I don’t intend to kill you with pleasure. I will take you as far as you can go, Cassie. Over and over and over, until you can’t walk, you can’t even see for the pleasure exploding in your mind.”
My heartbeat thudded in my ears. Shivering, I fought to make my tongue work. “I don’t want to mess up your ritual, but if I get too scared…”
“Just like last night, I’ll stop.” My reluctance eased the worry tightening his eyes into calm determination. I could almost hear his solemn oath to protect me no matter what. Even from himself. “Call me noyollotl and I’ll stop immediately.”
“But if you aren’t strong enough…”
He interrupted gently but firmly. “Whatever you give me is a gift I will cherish the rest of my life whether on this world or mine. There is no requirement other than I shall give you as much pleasure as you can stand, and I shall stop when you’ve had enough.”
“I want to do it.” My voice only trembled a little. Hopefully he couldn’t tell that my stomach was jumping around like a whole flock of jackrabbits. “Take me as your sacrifice.”
He drew me close, and I burrowed against him, seeking his heat and protection. I wanted his big arms locked around me, his heartbeat in my ear, his scent in my nose. Not just for one night, but forever. So many nights, I’d jerked awake from his dream and sobbed, aching for him to hold me just like this. If I lost him…
He kissed my forehead. “You will never lose me. Even when I die from this earth, we will still have our dreams.”
“I don’t want dreams—I want you! The real you. Forever.”
“If the time comes for me to die, I won’t risk you.”
I pulled back and glared up into his eyes. “If you leave my world, take me with you.”
He whispered, “The passage will be through water.”
Panic tightened my throat, but I refused to back down. “I mean it. Take me with you. Even if I have to drown again, I want to be where you are. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life dreaming about you!”
“As you wish.” He drew me back into his arms, but fear still rattled about in my mind. The thought of deep water over my head made me want to throw up, but I couldn’t bear the thought of staying here without him. “José, take us to Lake Atitlán instead. Call our men and have them meet us there.”
My stomach pitched harder. “Why Lake Atitlán?”
“My place of greatest power will be at Chichén Itza on the pyramid dedicated to me. We go there tonight.”
I didn’t have to pull out my color-coordinated map to know that Chichén Itza was up on the Mexican Yucatán, and we were in Guatemala…
I swallowed hard and willed my stomach to behave.
“Hold on to me tightly, Cassie, and I swear no harm shall come to you. If it will help this fear, I can make you my captive before we pass through the gate.”
Oh, hell no. Tied up, bound, helpless, while tossed into the deepest lake in the world?
But then I really thought about his offer. If I was going to do this, I was going to be completely helpless to his whim as soon as we got there. I was going to have to trust him without question…so what better test could there possibly be? If I couldn’t trust him to pull me through the water to safety, then I sure wouldn’t be able to go through with the whole pyramid sacrifice thing.
“Okay.”
He smiled, a wide, brilliant flash of pride that made his whole face light up. He clamped his big hand on my wrists, effortlessly trapping me in seconds. Without lookin
g away from my face, he said to José, “Tell them to bring something soft that I can use to bind my captive.” Lowering his voice, he gave me a wicked wink. “I shall need my hands free for other purposes.”
Chapter Eleven
This time when I visited the shores of Lake Atitlán, I found it easier to stare at the water than the man tying my hands together. His fingers were fast but sure, not hard or threatening in any way, but my head still felt like it was a hot-air balloon that was going to float away. I couldn’t imagine what the Rojases thought about all of this, let alone cousin José.
They didn’t say a word. Had they known all along? Had they planned my sacrifice in some way? I glanced at José and tears streaked his cheeks again, making me feel both better and worse. He truly feared for me, but at least he hadn’t set me up to be sacrificed to their legendary warrior.
“The passage through the gate will be quick.” Técun knelt before me so he could tie my ankles together. His fingers were hot on my bare legs, but he didn’t linger on my skin. “It will be a good test for you. Look at me, Cassie.”
Turning, I looked into his face, and the gentleness in his eyes brought my head back down to attach to my body. His big palms cupped the back of my knees, his thumbs gently kneading my hamstrings.
“Say noyollotl.”
I repeated the word, stumbling a bit over the pronunciation.
“If you need me to stop at any time, say this word. I give you my most solemn oath that you are safe in my hands. No harm shall come to you as my captive. Are you sure you still want to go through with this?”
I nodded, but I could see the need in his eyes. He wanted words. “Yes. I’ll be your captive. But couldn’t we do the ritual now? I’m sure there’s a perfectly hard and uncomfortable altar that we could use around here. I really don’t want to have to take a swim in the lake.”
“There’s no other way for me to get us quickly where we need to be.”
“I know,” I sighed. “I don’t know what I’ll do when it closes over my head. I trust you to not let me drown, but I might flake out on you for a while.”
The Bloodgate Warrior Page 10
