“Why would Enrique release the vampire? Someone or something must have forced him to do it.”
“Then who wrote the address?”
Tuco grabbed his hair. “The child could have for all we know.”
Lorelai shook her head, red curls bouncing. “No, I know children. Emily is only four. She couldn’t have written this.”
Tuco grabbed the book. “Maybe Jax or Shelly wrote it down while they were on the phone or something.”
She placed her fingers on the book and closed her eyes. “I think we need to go here.”
He threw up his hands. “It’s all we have, so what the hell?”
* * * *
Jax stood next to Martha and watched Shelly holding little William. The look of love on his face made Jax’s heart ache.
“Isn’t he beautiful?” Shelly said. Pia hung over his shoulder. “Hey, I get to hold him next.”
Martha looked tired. “Where the fuck is the fairy? All her little golden blessings are gone and I feel like hammered shit. What did they do to me down there, anyway?”
“Give the baby to Pia, Shelly,” Jax said. “We need to get back to the apartment. Remember? We left a little unfinished business there.”
Shelly’s eyes slowly refocused. “You’re right. We have to go. Emily is asleep on the chair.”
They drove home through the early morning traffic, arriving about nine-thirty. Jax knew the minute he got out of the car something was wrong. He could feel it. “You wait here with Emily.”
Shelly laid his hand on Jax’s arm. “What’s wrong? You’re feeling something.”
He squeezed Shelly’s shoulders. “I don’t know. Just wait until I’m sure everything is safe.”
He bounded up the stairs to their two-story apartment. Stubby was on the other side of the door, yapping like he was losing his tiny mind. Jax threw open the door and the dog leaped into his arms shaking. “What’s wrong, buddy?”
He entered slowly, saw the open glass doors and smelled the worst smell in the world—ancient vampire. A plant was knocked over and his armchair was on its side. There had been a struggle. Targ and Enrique were both gone. The silver chain lay on the kitchen table.
Enrique must have released Targ. He put the dog down, closed his eyes and sniffed. He smelled sex and blood beneath the overpowering stench of old vampire. One of Emmy’s coloring books sat on the table next to the silver chain with the cover torn off.
As he walked back out to get Shelly, he ran scenarios over in his head. Enrique was gay. Theoretically, Targ was not. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t been seduced by Enrique. How could a vampire hunter have sex with a vampire? It defied logic. However, the scents in the house and the evidence left behind told him that’s what had happened. The big question was where did the ancient one fit into all this? Was he the killer they were after? His odor was familiar. He could be the Mayan priest. And where did they all go?
With more questions than answers rolling around in his head, he told Shelly the apartment was safe and led him and Emily inside.
Chapter 17
Enrique woke up when Balam leaped off a tall building and jostled him. He struggled to escape but Balam’s strength was too much for him. He was helpless to stop Balam from dragging him into his house and down a steep set of stairs.
At the bottom of the stairs they were met by a small dark man wearing as little as Balam. His body was covered with more tattoos of fanciful Mayan gods. On his back, a ritual sacrifice was graphically depicted in red and black.
“Ik’ Achin,” Balam said to his acolyte. “I have found the jaguar.”
“I’m not a jaguar, I’m a panther, a big, black panther,” Enrique growled and tried to shift. If he could just assume his panther form, he could escape.
Balam held his hand over Enrique’s head. “You will not be able to shift here, panther man. I placed a spell on you that prevents it.”
Enrique groaned as they dragged him down a concrete corridor and through a door made of dark wood. There was a primitive altar built into the small room complete with a stone sacrificial altar. Dark stains dripped down the sides of the stone. Braziers burned copal, an incense made from tree sap found only in the Central American jungle. The scent of it tickled Enrique’s nose and reminded him of time spent with his brother on archeological digs in Guatemala. Copal was an offering to the gods. It purified the sacrifice.
Balam shoved Enrique, who was trussed with a strange cord made from golden threads as thin as spider silk, against the stone altar. “You are lucky, my friend. I will not sacrifice you here. You, I will save for Naj Tunich. You will buy me a trip through Xibalba and into the afterlife.”
Balam pointed to a painting on the wall depicting the entrance to a cave. “Naj Tunich.”
The cave entrance was squared off in a wall of rock that seemed to be melting. Thick jungle surrounded the wall. Enrique recognized Naj Tunich, a huge network of recently discovered caverns that had barely been explored. They contained many Mayan artifacts and altars so the owner had closed the cave system to the public. Only authorized archeologists were allowed inside. It was rumored that at the end of the tunnels there was a deep hole that went so far into the heart of the earth, no one had been able to plumb its depths.
“You’ll never get into heaven, Balam. You’re a demon. God will deny you. Both the gods of the Mayans and my God, the God of Christians, will see to it you never find peace in the afterlife.”
Balam exploded. Grabbing Enrique’s throat in one hand, he squeezed. “You are nothing. I feed off humans and shifters. You exist only to be sacrificed and to feed my kind. What do you know about Xibalba? Nothing. I will pass through and exit in the place Christians call heaven.” He squeezed harder and Enrique felt himself passing out. But he refused to make a noise or show fear. “My soul will live forever in heaven with my people. They have but gone before me to prepare a place for my eternal rest.”
Enrique wished he had enough air to snort, but thought better of it. There was no point in enraging Balam any further. He was clearly insane. Living as long as he had could probably drive you crazy, especially someone as egomaniacal as Balam. And if he’d been a priest of the Mayans before he was changed into a vampire, he would already have had his hands stained with the blood of many.
Balam leaned his head back and his fangs slid into view. He grabbed the shorter man in an embrace and kissed him. “I would take you now, Ik’ Achin,” Balam whispered.
Ik’ Achin meant moon man in ancient Mayan. Enrique had learned a lot from Tuco and many of the local people of Guatemala still spoke Mayan.
On the cold, concrete floor next to Enrique, Balam pushed his acolyte to his knees, opened his loin cloth and mounted him from behind. The two rutted next to him as though he did not exist. Enrique turned his head. The sight of the two going at it, grunting and moaning was disturbing. Lit by the flickering light of the fires in the braziers, it was both surreal and unreal, like a terrible horror movie.
When they were done, Balam dropped his loin cloth over his huge, strangely-shaped penis and stood up. The acolyte rose slower. Balam had fed off him. He had two bleeding red holes on his neck. Balam licked his finger and ran saliva over the holes. The bleeding stopped.
“Go into the house and call our pilot,” Balam said to Ik’ Achin. “We are ready to go. I cannot hope to capture both twins. His brother must surely know I want him, but if I can’t capture both, perhaps I can lure one with the other.”
He leaned close to Enrique’s face. “Is it true twins can speak to each other through a mind connection?”
Horror flooded Enrique. The monster knew. Tuco would feel his distress and follow him. He closed his eyes and Balam crowed in triumph. “I knew it. See, Moon Man, we will take this one to Naj Tunich and wait. The second of my pair will follow and I will sacrifice both. The gods will be beyond satisfied; they will be ecstatic. They will welcome me with open arms and I will pass into heaven.”
“Yes, Master,” Moon Man answered
in a subdued voice.
“The sun is up, but I cannot sleep. I will wear the bloodstone amulet.”
Moon Man nodded.
“Tell the pilot to have the plane ready to depart but it may take us some time to get there. We have to drive to the airport and the traffic in Seattle is always terrible.”
* * * *
Lorelai and Tuco pulled into the driveway of a two-story, modern, concrete and stone house. The structure was built in two levels that were not directly over each other. The top level shot out toward Lake Union and had massive windows. Lorelai didn’t like the way it felt at all.
“There is an evil presence here,” she said as she climbed out of the car. “Something horrible. Darkness has defiled this lovely house.”
Tuco nodded. “Yes, yes, I feel it, too. But is the dark and evil force still around?”
She closed her violet eyes and hovered inches off the ground. Finally, she spoke. “Nope, it’s gone, but it left a dreadful residue.” She touched her throat. “I feel fear and death—and blood. Lots of blood.”
“Do you feel Enrique?”
“Do you?”
Tuco scraped his fingers through thick hair. “Yes, my brother was here. I don’t think he’s here now.” Tuco rotated slowly to the south. “He’s headed that way.”
Lorelai grabbed his hand and led him toward the back of the strange house. “Let’s check this place out and see if we can discover where they went.”
The back door of the house opened easily. It wasn’t locked. The door entered on yet a third level, this one a basement built into the hill beneath the structure. When Lorelai opened it, she stepped back. A cloud of awfulness spewed forth. “Duck!” she yelled to Tuco.
He wasn’t in time and began screaming and slapping his face and neck. Lorelai grabbed him and held her hands over his head. “Do not shift,” she said. “We don’t have time.”
He fell to his knees and she pushed his face into the dirt. “No wonder it wasn’t locked.”
The dark cloud rolled toward the lake, the interior roiling with frightening black specks of energy. “What the hell was that?” Tuco gasped as he gingerly touched his neck.
“Wasps, a cloud of deadly black tarantula wasps. If we hadn’t ducked, they’d have attacked. Their sting is the most painful in the world.”
“Tell me about it. Did you do something to alleviate my pain?”
She kissed him. “Of course.”
Tuco stared after the horde of wasps. The bites on his neck were red and swollen. “Who leaves a bunch of bugs to watch over their house?”
“Vampires,” Lorelai answered as she peeked inside. “Mayan vampires from Guatemala.”
The dark tunnel into the earth looked empty. She sniffed and smelled copal. Mayans.
“This is the right place. I smell ancient incense burned only by Mayans to placate their hideous blood-starved gods.”
Tuco sniffed. “Yes, I smelled it many times in Tikal and saw the soot stains where it was burned in offering. Copal is fossilized tree resin, the stage before it turns to amber. This smells like the white resin, the most expensive and hardest to find.”
They entered the tunnel slowly, one foot at a time, emerging at a steep flight of stairs leading up to the house. But Lorelai felt whatever they needed to find would not be up there. “Balam has been here recently, down here.”
They found another tunnel leading down. At the end was a low door of dark wood. Lorelai carefully opened it. Clouds of copal smoke floated into the corridor. When it cleared, they entered.
A stone altar sat in front of a complicated painting of the Mayan sun god. The altar was stained with blood and the fairy smelled fresh blood. Tuco stood in the center of the room staring. “I sense my brother. He was here.”
Coals smoldered in two braziers. The copal smoke drifted into the room from them. Lorelai rotated, examining each wall of the room. “What’s that?” She pointed to a painting of a cave entrance.
Tuco turned to look. “Naj Tunich, a system of caves in Guatemala. The Mayans believed it was the entrance to the underworld.”
“Do you think that’s where they took Enrique?”
When he closed his eyes and concentrated, his face changed into a panther’s, his glowing green eyes bright inside his black fur. “Yes.” His voice was a snarl. “That is where he is taking my brother.”
“If we want to save him, we have to follow.”
“I’ll book a flight to Guatemala City.”
“I have a better idea.”
Tuco frowned. “What?”
“I’ll call Al. He owes me.”
Chapter 18
Jax woke up to the insistent chirp of his cell phone. He glanced at the clock. It was after nine. Shelly should be at work, Emmy at preschool. He grabbed the phone. “Sequeros here.”
“Hey, Jax, it’s Al.”
“What’s going on?”
“Plenty from the sound of it. I got a freak call from Lorelai. Your Mayan killer apparently snagged one of the shifter twins and flew to or is in the process of flying to Guatemala. She has the other twin in tow,” he snorted, “and wants me to help them follow the priest. Should I do this thing?”
Jax groaned. “Yeah, and I’m going with you. We need to nail this guy. He’s going to sacrifice Enrique. Oh, man, Shelly’s gonna freak.”
The bedroom door opened and Shelly pushed through carrying a tray filled with breakfast. “Why is Shelly going to freak?” he asked in his lilting Russian accent.
Jax shook his head. Oh, no. “Go ahead and get us a plane,” he said to Al. “I’ll head to SeaTac shortly.”
“Got it,” Al said. “Looks like another adventure. Can’t wait.”
When Jax clicked the phone shut, he glanced up into Shelly’s huge brown eyes. “I have to go. Lives depend on it.”
“Where? I must have missed something.”
“The Mayan priest grabbed Enrique Valdavar and is taking him to Guatemala. To sacrifice, I imagine.”
“And you’re going? Why, Jax? Don’t go, please. Let his twin handle this. It’s too dangerous.” Tears dripped down Shelly’s cheeks and his voice cracked.
Jax opened his arms and Shelly fell into them. He wrapped Shelly in a tight embrace and pressed his face into soft, brown hair. “I have to. Balam is a vampire and I’m a vampire hunter. I was born to do this. Please don’t ask me to set aside my birthright.”
Sobs tore through Shelly and Jax patted him softly on the back. “I love you so much. I’ll die if anything happens to you.”
“This is what I was born to do, Shelly. There will be more vampires after this. I will probably die living up to the expectations of the Sangue Cacadore. But my life will have had meaning and I’ll die for my beliefs.”
Shelly moaned into his chest. “It’s so hard to do…letting you go, I mean. What will I do if you don’t come back?”
“I trust you to take care of Emmy. You have to be strong for her and for me. One day, she’ll carry on the traditions of our brotherhood.”
Shelly grabbed the sides of his face and stared into his eyes. “Stay here with us. Don’t go.”
Jax groaned. “You know I can’t.” He felt his organ stir, rolled Shelly under him and they kissed. When he broke the kiss, he whispered into Shelly’s ear. “Where’s Emmy?”
“School. I called in.”
They kissed again and Jax unzipped Shelly’s jeans. His lover’s cock sprang out fully erect. He stroked it and Shelly groaned. “I love what you do to me.”
Jax pushed the covers down. He was naked. “Suck,” he said.
Shelly’s eyes widened as he slithered down the bed. He spread Jax’s legs and began rolling the head of his organ around his mouth. His practiced caresses soon had Jax close to spewing. “I want you,” he growled. During sex, his panther self often emerged. He writhed beneath Shelly’s hands and mouth.
“Fuck me,” Shelly said. “I need you.” He rolled onto his side and opened his buttocks with his hands. Jax grabbed a lube
d condom out of the drawer beside the table, slid it on and penetrated Shelly. When he was inside his lover, his crotch pressed against Shelly’s ass, he embraced him. Holding him tightly, he kissed his neck and gently pinched Shelly’s nipples.
Impaled on his shaft, Shelly wriggled and panted. “Fuck me, Jax. Make love to me like this is our last time.”
“Don’t say that,” he snarled into Shelly’s hair as he began slowly pumping his throbbing cock in and out of Shelly’s tight passage. “I’ll come back. I swear it.”
“Oh, God, that’s so good,” Shelly cried.
Jax reached down and found Shelly’s hard dick. He held the head, squeezing hard. Shelly whimpered his excitement as they neared completion together. “Now,” Jax commanded.
“I love you, Jax,” Shelly screamed as he filled Jax’s hand with semen.
Jax thrust once hard and froze as his cock pumped its load into the condom. When they were finished, Jax slid out, turned Shelly in his arms and held him. They kissed, a long, soft, lips-on-lips with no tongue that was filled with love. Shelly held his face and stared into his eyes. “I can’t go this time. I have to work and care for Emmy. Who’s got your back? Who’s going to keep you safe?”
“I’m taking Al, Lorelai and Enrique’s brother.”
“Take your partner. Targ’s important. Somehow, I know you’ll need him.”
Jax rolled onto his back and put his arms behind his head. “I have no idea where he is.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll find you.”
“But the sun is up. He’ll have gone to ground. And he’s a vampire, Shelly. I can barely restrain the urge to kill him. I only refrain because he’s my partner…and because of Pia.”
Shelly’s lips firmed in an expression Jax recognized. “You need him. In my heart, I feel this. Find him. Ask Pia to help.”
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