“What?” Rickie demanded.
Targ patted him on the shoulder as they switched positions in the front seat. “Tell you later,” he said. “It’s only a dream…but a nice one.”
He opened the door of the speeding Rover and leaped. Landing lightly on his feet, he shot in a dead run at the Jeep. The stunned Federales had no time to react as he yanked the driver out of his seat. The driver-less vehicle careened across the road and crashed into a ditch as Targ sank his fangs in the soldier’s neck. Conscious of Al’s warning, he controlled his need, drinking only enough to sate his hunger he dropped the unconscious man to the floor of the jungle. The other two were groaning and climbing out of the wreckage. He glanced at them once and sped after the Rover.
When Targ caught up to the Rover, Tuco slowed and let him get back in. “I only stopped because Rickie asked me to,” he said with a frown. Snorting, he turned away and tromped his foot hard on the accelerator. “There’s no accounting for taste.”
The rest of the ride was uneventful. The trucks carrying the remaining soldiers must have fallen way behind. As they approached Tikal slowly, Targ hung out the window sniffing the wind. “I smell something strange.”
Rickie leaned in beside him and sniffed. “I’ve smelled this before. Ancient vampire.”
“We can’t worry about it right now,” Lorelai said. “Balam has Jax here somewhere or he’s coming up from the south. We need to find a place and wait for him.”
“What road is this?” Al asked from the rear seat.
“Highway 1,” Tuco said.
“Is every road in Guatemala Highway 1? Because it looks that way on the map.”
Tuco chuckled. “They have very limited imaginations and the highway system is atrocious. I think Highway 1 just means it’s paved.”
When they passed the entrance to Tikal, the buildings were dark. Tuco steered the four-wheel-drive vehicle onto a dirt track and neatly avoided the guard shack out front. “Don’t know if it’s manned at this hour. It’s best not to take any chances,” Tuco said. “We’re in enough hot water with the authorities.”
“Good plan,” Rickie said. “Big brother is always thinking.”
“I’m only four and a half minutes older than you,” Tuco returned.
“I know, and that makes you my big brother.”
The jungle was a living presence surrounding everything and encroaching on roads and buildings. It appeared as though the main job of the park was to keep it from swallowing the site again. The tiny track Tuco guided the Rover down was inside a tube of overhanging vines and tree limbs. Wet leaves slid across the roof of the Rover leaving a slime trail. The narrow track opened into the Central Acropolis where two gigantic pyramids thrust upwards towards the dark sky and the moon.
“That’s the pyramid you see above the jungle in Return of the Jedi.” Tuco pointed out.
Targ’s alarm system was working overtime. He sensed something very old and very dangerous in the jungle surrounding them.
“The area surrounding us is very swampy, though this spot is higher and dryer, which is why the ancient Mayans chose to build here. They also built drainage systems, canals and causeways to overcome the swamp.” Tuco pointed. “The biggest pyramid is the Jaguar Temple. Over there is the Temple of the Moon. If Balam decides to come here and we’re in el Mundo Perdido we could miss him altogether.”
“Want me to stay and watch for him?” Targ asked. He’d feel better if he was on his own. It was hard to be close to Al, who reeked, and Lorelai. For some reason the fairy made him uncomfortable. He longed to be with Rickie, but while he was still a vampire, their relationship had no future. It was difficult to think about anything but that. The elora potion could change him back or it could kill him. At this moment, Targ was willing to take that chance, but not until Balam was captured.
“Come with us to el Mundo Perdido so you can see the layout and understand where we are,” Al said as Tuco stopped the Rover in a dense thicket under two huge Ceiba trees, their strange limbs twisting and turning into the night. Al went to the rear of the vehicle and opened the back gate. He handed Tuco a coil of silver chain.
“Last time Jax and I fought vampires together, we swore we would never be without silver chain. Lots of uses.”
Tuco coiled it over one shoulder and wrapped it around his trunk.
“Take the sword.” Al handed Tuco the weapon with the red stone in the hilt. Al grabbed his crossbow and a handful of bolts. He stuffed the bolts in a quiver over his shoulder and hung the bow on the same shoulder by its leather cord. Rickie strapped on a belt with another sword and hung a harness with two long knives over his shoulders. Targ stood by and watched. He didn’t need weapons. He was one.
When they finished arming themselves, they set out along an overgrown path emerging moments later at the base of the Jaguar Temple. There was a large open area around this temple that led to the huge pyramid facing it—Temple II, the Temple to the Moon. Stelae and altars dotted the open area. A small woven roof covered one of the stelae. Tuco pointed to the dark shadows under the structure. “Hide there. If Balam shows up with Jax, don’t try to take him out yourself. Come get us. You can slide out the back and down that path over there. Come on, I’ll show you.”
He led them out of the open area down another path winding through dense jungle. It wound behind another acropolis and then opened in front of what Tuco clearly recognized as a really old pyramid. The stone steps were worn to nubs and moss-covered. Climbing it after a rain would be a dangerous, slippery undertaking.
“This temple was built on top of many others. It’s the oldest thing in Tikal, and that,” he pointed, is el Mundo Perdido, the Lost World.”
All Targ saw was a pile of stones overgrown with more jungle.
“The temple was built as an astronomical base. At the top, you get insanely great views of the sunrise and sunset.” Tuco tapped his watch. “Sunrise, by the way, is only two hours away. Balam better get here soon because the moon is getting ready to go bye-bye.”
“I’m going to head back to that first temple,” Tuco said. “I’ll come get you guys if Balam shows up.”
All the way back down the path, his skin crawled. Something was watching him. He took up a position under the woven canopy and began his wait. The weight of the blood stone around his neck reminded him that Balam could no longer comfortably day walk. If he was coming, he’d be here soon.
Chapter 26
Jax gave up struggling as Balam easily ran the fifty kilometers to Tikal. When they got there, and Balam tried to sacrifice him, he’d make a stand. There had to be something he could do to escape.
The vampire slipped through dense jungle like a big cat, making no noise and covering ground as fast as a car in open areas. When the jungle suddenly opened beneath a huge temple, Jax knew they had arrived.
The moon overhead illuminated the open square in front of the temple. Stelae littered the area with altar stones in front of them. Many people had died here, probably sacrificed by Balam himself.
Balam dropped him on one of the altars and began a slow, deliberate search of the grassy area between the two temples. He wandered between the stelae, sniffing the air. When he seemed satisfied there was no one waiting for them or hiding to ambush him, he picked Jax up, tossed him easily over his shoulder and headed for the south side of the acropolis. He located a small trail leading into the jungle and broke into a trot.
He ran down the trail, passed a reservoir of some kind, through a cleared area and by another huge temple. The pathway twisted and turned. They came out of the jungle in front of a massive temple shooting into the sky toward the moon. At its base was an ancient stela, the carvings ruined by the years must have been very intricate. At the base of the stela was a rock altar overgrown with moss. Balam tossed him on top of the altar and reached into a pouch hanging from his waist. He removed a glass vial filled with red liquid. Pressing back on Jax’s head, he forced his mouth open.
Jax tried to fight, thrashin
g and twisting. Balam held his hand over Jax and he felt the overwhelming need to sleep. He fought the urge, keeping his eyes open. But the lassitude engendered by Balam’s spell overcame him and he allowed the vampire to pour the liquid into his mouth.
* * * *
Targ saw Balam enter the clearing and froze. On his chest, the blood stone warmed as it sensed the vampire’s presence. Balam must have worn the amulet for centuries and somehow it was keyed to him. When he looked down, he gasped; the stone was glowing.
He slapped a hand over it to cover its tell-tale light and fell on his face under the canopy of woven palm fronds. The stela next to him hid his body from view as Balam strode around the clearing, literally sniffing the air. When Targ looked up, he saw Balam’s bare foot only twelve inches away from his face. Surely, Balam would discover him and send him to his true death.
But he didn’t. He stayed close to Targ for several minutes and then walked to the base of the temple where he stood searching the area with all his senses. Targ’s level of fear was as high as it could go. He lay frozen with his face in the dirt for what seemed like an hour but was only ten minutes. When Balam decided to leave, Targ rolled onto his back and closed his eyes. That was close.
Balam shot by Targ carrying Jax. He ran down a narrow path into the bush heavily overhung with bread nut trees. It didn’t look like he was heading to Tuco’s Lost World at all. That path was on the other side of the open area in front of the temples.
Targ debated about going to alert his friends. He decided to follow Balam first to see where he was going. He lagged behind, giving Balam plenty of room and then entered the overgrown trail.
A reservoir opened up on the left side of the path, then a temple appeared on the right with an incredible wall built onto the top of it. The straight wall on top of the pyramid shot high into the night sky.
Balam kept heading down the path and Targ worried he wouldn’t be able to find his way to the Lost World complex to get help. But he’d committed to this plan so he kept following.
The trail opened on a sprawling structure on the right that looked recently restored and two twin pyramids after. Up ahead, he saw a larger pyramid. In fact, it looked bigger than the Jaguar Temple or the Moon Temple. Where the heck was he?
He almost stumbled over Balam and Jax. The vampire looked up when Targ burst down the path. He’d been pouring something down Jax’s throat. Startled, he spilled most of it on Jax’s face. Then he leaped to his feet and shot straight for Targ. Knowing he’d been seen filled Targ with terrible fear. He turned to his left and exploded into thick jungle.
Structures and piles of rubble buried beneath layers of growth created huge obstacles. He wove between them trying to keep a general idea in his head of where Tuco and Rickie were waiting. He knew he had to go left and then turn away from the setting moon, but the jungle was so thick he couldn’t see the sky.
Behind him, he heard Balam crashing through thick brush. The bloodstone amulet lent him strength and speed. He leaped into the trees and began jumping from branch to branch, but Balam was close behind, flying. The leaves and limbs of the vine-covered trees grew so thickly, Balam made little progress catching him even through the air, and, Targ, who was leaping from branch to branch, pulled ahead.
He spotted another pyramid and prayed it was the one Tuco had spoken of in the Lost World complex and that they were ready because he’d brought Balam to them.
When he dropped out of the trees an arrow smacked into the trunk of the biggest bread nut tree only three inches away from his head. Al stepped out of deep cover. He was almost impossible to see covered from head to toe in leaves.
“Balam, he’s right behind me,” Targ shouted.
“Move,” Al commanded and Targ did as he was told, streaking past Al.
Tuco and Rickie appeared, also covered in the camouflage of leaves. Each held a huge sword. “We’re ready for him,” Rickie said. “Where’s Jax?”
“He’s strapped to an altar back there somewhere by a huge temple covered in vines and moss.”
“Temple of the Two-headed Snake,” Tuco said. “It hasn’t been fully cleared from the jungle. There’s a really old altar in front of a stela.”
“That’s where Jax is,” Targ said as Balam burst into the clearing.
The vampire was stunned to find all of them. Al fired a bolt but it missed and Balam launched himself at Tuco. Tuco swung the sword catching Balam high on the shoulder. Vampire blood spurted over his chest, but the wound healed while Balam attacked again.
Al moved closer. He had the silver chain off his chest and was swinging it around and around it over his head like a lariat. “Circle him,” Al shouted. “Move in with those two swords.”
The two shifters slowly did as Al ordered. Swords high in the air, they circled Balam. Lorelai appeared next to Tuco. She spotted Balam and switched into tiny fairy and attacked the vampire. Balam smacked at her fluttering body like she was a pesky fly. She flapped her wings in his face and distracted him. He almost had her in his fist when Tuco attacked, slashing one of Balam’s legs in half.
When Balam shrieked and tried to fly, Al threw the chain over him. The coils of silver wrapped around his body while he screamed in pain. His skin smoked and sizzled wherever the pure silver touched. Al leaped on top of him and wound the silver chain around the vampire’s thrashing body. A few yards away, the severed leg twitched on the grass.
Breathing heavily, Al, Tuco and Rickie stood over Balam. “I knew we’d need that chain,” Al said.
Rickie pounded Al on the back. “You’re a genius.”
Al laid his crossbow on a rock and wiped sweat off his brow. “No, just experienced. Did this last year with Jax. We learned a few things.”
“What do we do with him now?” Targ asked. “We can’t kill him. I’ll die.”
“We could take him to Naj Tunich and throw him down one of the deep holes bound in the silver chain. He’d never get out.”
“Don’t count on that,” Al said.
Targ stared at Rickie. If his heart still functioned, it would be hammering inside his chest. “I have an idea.”
“What?” Rickie said. “I don’t like the look on your face. What are you thinking?”
“Give me the elora potion,” Targ said to Al.
Al dug in his pouch and came up with the ancient vial. “You sure you want to do this?”
Targ took the vial and stared at it. If he died now, Rickie would be safe. They’d captured Balam. And if he was dead, Rickie and Tuco could kill the Mayan vampire. If he survived and regained his humanity, he and Rickie could be together. Otherwise, their love was doomed. It looked like a no-brainer to him.
He unstoppered the small clay vial and Rickie grabbed his hand. “What will happen if you drink this?”
“I love you, Rickie,” Targ whispered. “I have to make this choice. If the elora potion works, I’ll be human again.”
“But what if it doesn’t?”
“Then I’ll die and you kill Balam.”
Rickie grabbed him in a crushing embrace. “Don’t do it. I can’t risk losing you. We’ll think of something to do with Balam.”
Targ gently pushed his lover away. “No, Rickie, I want to be with you always. I can’t risk you looking at me one day and hating me for what I am. This is our only hope.” He held up the vial. “Al says it will either kill me or change me back into a man. I want to be a man for you…a real man.”
Rickie covered his mouth with his hand and nodded. Tears rolled out of his expressive emerald eyes.
Targ stared at Rickie, absorbing his beauty, his kind face, his thick hair, his sweet body, and prepared to toss the contents of the vial down his throat. Al grabbed his hand. “Carefully, just a few drops is all you need.”
Targ tilted the vial and allowed several drops to fall onto his tongue. The stench of the potion gagged him as it burned its way into his stomach. The forest began to spin. His skin rippled with wave after wave of electric currents just under the skin.
He screamed and tried to make them stop, clawing at his arms. Rickie grabbed him and tried to hold him still as he collapsed, his legs no longer able to support him. “I’m dying,” he gasped.
“No,” Rickie cried. “I won’t let you.”
His vision began to fade. The rippling under his skin stopped. Rickie held him in his arms, rocking him. A steady stream of tears dropped onto Targ’s face. He reached up. “I can’t see you.”
Rickie took his hand and pressed it to his cheek. “Don’t leave me,” Rickie sobbed.
Targ couldn’t answer. His tongue wouldn’t work. As darkness claimed him, his last thought was of how much he loved Rickie Valdavar.
* * * *
Rickie clutched Targ’s unconscious body tightly to his chest. Tuco leaned down and tried to disengage him. “He’s dead, Rickie. Let him go.”
Rickie shook his head. “No, I can’t. He did this for me. So we could be together.”
“Let him go,” Lorelai stroked his cheek and then touched Targ’s still face.
Startled, she looked into Rickie’s eyes. “He’s warm.”
Rickie dropped Targ and knelt over him. “Is he breathing?” He pressed his ear to Targ’s chest. “I hear something.”
Al pushed everyone aside. “If he has any life at all in his body, maybe I can save him.”
Lorelai pulled Rickie away. “Let Al work. He’s a healer.”
Tuco hugged him as he stood up and took a place in the half circle surrounding Targ, watching while Al worked. From behind them, Balam spoke up. “What’s happening? Did he live? Did the potion turn him back into a human?”
“Shut up, vampire,” Tuco snarled. “You’re this close,” he held up two fingers separated by a tiny space, “from being truly dead.”
“If he’s a human again, I want to know,” Balam whined. “I only wanted to sacrifice you and your brother so I could join my people in heaven. I want to be human, too. I’ve lived so many years without a single friend.” Then he snarled. “Tell me the truth. Is he human?”
Tuco turned and grabbed Balam’s topknot. He shook the vampire. “I’m warning you. Shut the fuck up!”
The Virgin Vampire Page 16