But that water had flowed past the dreary-goddess bridge thousands of moons ago. This water had yet to pass and was coming fast and furious and its name was Antonio Acero, the keystone to opening the portal. And her bond with the Universe would always dictate she put humanity first.
Goddammit. The tears squeezed from her body like a lemon in a press as her muscles strained under his weight. She’d been given many gifts, but the gift of strength? Not a chance.
I hate you, Universe! Don’t do this to me! Don’t you dare make me choose! she mentally scorned with every flicker of her immortal soul. Please, please, reverse.
“Aaah!!Teen uk’al k’iinam. Teen uk’al yah. Teen uk’al k’iinam. Teen uk’al yah. Teen uk’al k’iinam. Teen uk’al yah…”
Kinich’s body went limp. Had it worked?
Ixtab gritted her teeth and pulled up, but two hundred and fifty–plus pounds of pure ex–Sun God was more than her frame could support.
His heel slipped a centimeter. She flexed her nails and penetrated his skin, but she was losing her grip. How long could she hold on? And every second lost was another ounce of blood loss closer to death for Antonio.
Her eyes flipped down. Would a vampire survive the fall? She had seen them survive far worse over thousands of years. She’d also seen a few die from lesser injuries.
“Kinich, can you hear me? Goddammit, you have to grab on to something.” There was a small ledge below that led to a window in the downstairs apartment.
Kinich didn’t respond.
She yanked one more time, but it was useless, too heavy. “Kinich, I don’t know if you can hear me, brother, but I love you. You’re the only family I’ve ever had, and for this I will never forget you. But if I don’t save Antonio, the portal will not open, Guy and Niccolo will remain trapped, and the Maaskab will exterminate us all—your precious Penelope and baby included. I have to choose. I have to. And my heart chooses you, but my duty chooses…”
Sobbing, she clenched her eyes shut and released his ankle.
“Nooo!”
At that exact moment, Ixtab looked up only to see Penelope’s face witness Kinich’s fall to earth.
Oh, Gods. No. No…
There simply weren’t enough souls, evil or good, to cleanse the pain and darkness she witnessed in Penelope’s eyes.
Chapter Once
“Please, Viktor.” Ixtab paced across Kinich’s living room. “Don’t tell me this is a cluster. I know it—”
“Well, it is,” he replied. “The biggest cluster I’ve ever seen.” Seven feet of pure angry Nordic vampire crossed his leather-clad arms over his chest. He wore a deep blue turtleneck sweater and black leather pants that matched his black leather duster. His long blond hair was elaborately braided down his back with strips of brown leather woven in.
“Honey, don’t dwell on the things we cannot change,” said the petite blonde woman with wide hazel eyes at his side, better known as Julie, Penelope’s mother and—well, fallen angel recently turned vampire. Confusing? Oh yeah. Someone might have even written a book about it.
Viktor beamed down at Julie with his cobalt-blue eyes and then patted her cheek. “Yes, my angel. As usual, you are right.”
Pacing frantically across Kinich’s living room, Penelope glanced at them both with a directness that emphasized this was the end of her rope. “Please, Mom. Viktor. Do something fast. Please? For me?”
“What a cluster.” Viktor turned toward the heap of twisted muscles and broken bones on the couch. “Fine. I will give Kinich my blood to keep him alive, but he will require massive amounts of human blood to heal—if he’s going to heal. Unfortunately, he’s unable to feed so I suggest we start an IV.” He looked at Penelope. “Please retrieve the blood bags from the refrigerator and bring me the emergency kit from Helena’s kitchen upstairs.”
“Thank you, Viktor. Thank you,” Penelope said and scrambled out the door.
“And keep him out of the sun! It will weaken him!” Viktor yelled toward the door.
“What about the physicist?” Ixtab asked.
Viktor gave her a stern look. “Turning a mortal into a vampire isn’t something we do simply because the person is dying.”
Ixtab was about to go kamikaze on this crowd. “This isn’t a normal mortal. If he dies, we all die. Just do it and get it over with.”
Viktor’s eyes flipped her the middle finger.
Like she cared. She’d been “blessed” with the “gift” of suicide, which pretty much meant she’d been given the middle finger by life itself.
“And are you going to take personal accountability? Are you?” Viktor asked Ixtab. “Will you teach him about the Pact and how not to kill innocent mortals, Ixtab? We just got rid of evil vampires. I don’t want to be responsible for making new ones. I like my neighborhood Obscuro-free.”
Ixtab rolled her eyes. “Why do all vampires have to be on vacay, and I get stuck with Mr. Vampy Rogers who wants a beautiful neighborhood?”
“Yes or no, Ixtab?” he prodded.
Ixtab nodded. “Yes! Yes! You idiot! Save him!”
Viktor’s attention moved to Antonio who lay on the floor with a bandage wrapped around his neck. The bleeding had slowed, but the wound was severe, and to Ixtab’s estimation, he wouldn’t last much longer. “He needs to drink my blood before his heart stops.”
“No. I do not want to be like him. I don’t want to be a monster,” a low voice mumbled.
All eyes moved to Antonio.
* * *
Trapped in a nightmare of pain, Antonio’s mind flickered on and off again like a waning lightbulb dangling from the ceiling of a third world interrogation room. Each time his awareness illuminated, the ugliness of his reality—the pain of having his throat ripped open—was more terrifying than death.
Vampires were real? This was what the voices said. No. A dream. A crazy dream.
“Antonio,” a soft voice cut through the darkness, “you can’t give up; we need you.” A soft and soothing warm hand stroked his wrist, and the feeling of pure levity embraced him. The scent of vanilla and daisies filled the air. “That’s right. Let go of those thoughts of death. Give them to me.”
The woman then spoke to someone else in the room—a man with a deep voice and a European accent. “Turn him now, he’s slipping away,” she begged.
“He does not want to be a vampire. You heard him. He called me a monster,” the accented man replied.
“My father… I…” I don’t want to be a monster like my father, Antonio thought, but could not manage to say the words.
“See! He’s trying to say he doesn’t want to die. He wants to see his father.”
“That’s not what he said,” the man argued.
“Oh. Crapola!” she hissed. “Can we just get this over with? It’s for the greater good.”
God, he loved this woman’s voice. It was like sweet, warm nectar dribbled in his ears.
“Spoken like a deity,” the man said. “You’re a bunch of sick bastards, you know that don’t you? The man does not want immortality, so find another way to open the portal.”
“Please,” the woman whispered in Antonio’s ear, stroking his cheek. “Do it for me.”
“No compelling!” The strange man scowled.
“I’m not!” she barked and then returned to touching Antonio’s cheek—it felt so heavenly, soothing.
“Antonio, this is important,” she said. “You must say yes.”
Antonio suddenly wanted to. And just like that first time he’d heard her voice in the hospital, he didn’t want to separate from her. She was like a drug.
His mind whirled and sputtered, dancing in and out of conscious thought. Dream and reality mingled into an inseparable murky soup. “I wish I could see you. Just once,” he mumbled. “Are you as beautiful as you sound?”
She snickered. “Entire armies have fallen to their deaths for a peek.”
“And you will not leave me? Ever?” he whispered.
Emptiness filled a l
ong stretch of time, and then, “I will not leave you.”
The word yes bubbled from his lips.
“Ha! You heard him! Do it!” the woman cheered.
The strange man groaned. “All right, I hope you know what you’re in for.” Hot, salty liquid poured into Antonio’s mouth and slid down his throat. It spread like a raging wildfire through his veins. Antonio peered through the lavalike pain scalding his throat into the haze. A pair of luminescent eyes gazed back.
“Relax, mad scientist. Let go. I’ll be waiting for you on the other side,” she whispered.
Antonio felt the life slip from his body and hurtle toward the stars. It was as if gravity had relinquished the claim on his soul and sent it to unite with the cosmos. He let out one final breath and slid into oblivion.
Chapter Doce
After two days of sitting beside Antonio’s dead body, Ixtab had reached her threshold of despair and went out to cleanse the negative energy flowing in her veins. Not every vampire transformation ended successfully, and the thought of Antonio dying brought her right back to the night of Francisco’s deathbed when she’d helplessly watched his body succumb to the poison he’d ingested. It had been too much to bear then, and it was too much watching a near replica die once more. Ixtab’s cells burst at the seams with sadness, and unfortunately, she couldn’t find sufficient country-club members at that hour, so she had to go after a few less-charismatic creatures. Park services were going to have about one hundred trees to replant in the spring.
Exhausted and needing to lie down, Ixtab made her way to the penthouse. Voices poured into the hallway, bantering back and forth as she stepped off the elevator.
Zac. It was Zac. What the hell is he doing here? she wondered, listening through the door.
“Penelope,” he said, “you are being ridiculous. Kinich does not care for you like I do. I would never toss you aside like that.”
“I love Kinich, and that’s not going to change.”
“Did he tell you his bond broke?”
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“When he was in Sedona, that night he became a vampire, I spent hours with him. He told me his bond with the Universe had broken. He has been free for some time now, no longer a slave to humanity’s well-being.”
“So, what are you saying?” Penelope asked.
“I’m saying that again and again, even before he became a vampire, he had the choice to stay with you, to put you first, but he didn’t. He tossed you aside.”
“Yes. It’s true; he put humankind first before his own wants and needs, but that makes him a hero,” she argued.
“No. It makes him selfish. He can’t stand the thought of letting someone else save the day because he wants the glory all for himself.”
Silence.
“I would have found a way,” Zac said, “not to hurt you and to do my job. My brother is a blind fool for letting you go. And regardless of if he wakes up, he will always hurt you again because he will never put you first.”
Ouch. He’s going for Penelope’s jugular, Ixtab thought, unable to believe Zac’s cruelty.
“I can’t help how I feel, Zac. I just can’t.”
“Yes, you can. Look at me,” Zac commanded.
Uh-oh…
“What are you doing, Zac?” Penelope whimpered.
“You will forget him, Penelope. You want to be with m—”
Ixtab burst through the door. “Zac, stop.”
Zac’s turquoise eyes broke with Penelope’s absent gaze and then fixed on Ixtab.
“What the hell are you doing?” Ixtab growled.
He looked at Penelope and released her. “We were talking.”
“Like hell you were.” Ixtab stormed between the two, careful not to touch Penelope. She removed her veil to stare up into her brother’s irate face. “You were using your gift on her, weren’t you?”
“No. It’s okay, Ixtab,” Penelope said from behind.
Zac was a good foot taller and infinitely stronger, but Ixtab had other gifts. Ones her brothers and sisters knew not to mess with. And she didn’t mean knitting.
Ignoring Penelope, Ixtab stood on her tiptoes. “You weren’t just talking, and we both know it.”
Zac made a little shrug and crossed his arms over his chest.
“How long have you known your gift?” Ixtab asked.
He smiled and his eyes twinkled. No wonder Penelope couldn’t resist him. His smell. His body. He was like honey and human women were like bees. How could they, the gods, have missed it? Zac’s attractiveness and magnetism were ten times that of any normal deity, which said a lot considering how humans threw themselves at the gods. But Zac, he had an extra helping of irresistibility.
“Zac, go home. Now!” Ixtab commanded.
“I’m not leaving without Penelope. I love her, and she’s mine,” he said.
“No. You want to possess her. That’s not love. And if you try to take her, then you’ll have to go through me, and it won’t be pretty.” Ixtab raised her hands, and Zac backed away.
“Then you’ll go down with me if you use your powers against my will,” he said smugly.
Ixtab shrugged. “Ask me if I give a rat’s ass. Remember, I’ve got nothing to lose, and I hate my role. Let them banish me and take away my powers. It would be the vacay I’ve been praying for.”
To prove her point, she swiped at Zac’s chest.
Zac jumped back and growled as he turned for the front door. “This isn’t over, Ixtab.” He slammed the door behind him.
Ixtab swiped her veil and covered her head before turning to Penelope. “You okay?”
Penelope shook her head and placed her hand over her stomach. “I don’t know. I don’t feel… right.”
“It’ll wear off in a few hours.” Ixtab turned and glared at the front door.
Idiot. She’d have to bring this up at the next summit. Zac had gone too far. Not only had he known his gift and not told the others, but he used it on Penelope without permission. This was a violation of their most sacred law. Yep, right up there with no time travel. And wearing pants at the summit table. Okay, maybe that last one isn’t sacred, but it should be.
Penelope turned and headed for the door. “I need to go after him. I need to talk to Zac—”
“Penelope, it’s not real. Zac used his powers on you and likely has been doing it for a while.”
Penelope reached the door, ignoring Ixtab, and pulled the handle.
“Zac isn’t the God of Love as we suspected, he’s the God of Temptation,” Ixtab blurted out. “And I’d bet my best pair of flip-flops, he compelled Kinich to want your blood more than anything on the planet.”
* * *
“I did what you asked, Cimil. And not only didn’t it work, but Ixtab discovered us.” Zac stared out the tinted window from the back of the limo at the passing cars, talking into his phone.
“Hmmm. That does sound like a furry pickle,” Cimil replied.
“This isn’t a fucking joke! I’ve lost her. And I’ll be tried for treason. This is all your fucking fault. Why the hell did I listen to you?”
“Roberto! The microwave is beeping!” Cimil cleared her throat. “Sorry, Zac, my potpie is ready. Where was I?”
Cimil was so damned lucky he didn’t know where she was. Otherwise, he’d go there now and squeeze the life right out of her.
“Let me think. I’ve lost the only woman I’ve ever loved!” Zac bellowed. “That’s where we fucking were! And after seventy thousand years, I finally discovered my gift only to face banishment. Oh yeah. And they’ll strip away my powers!”
“Banishment? Strip power? That sounds awful. What the heck did you do?” she asked.
She was going to play the “I’m Stupid” game, was she? “I’m going to kill you, Cimil. And then, when you get a new body, I’ll kill you again.”
“Now, now, brother. Calm down. You don’t see Minky getting in a tizzy when things don’t go her way.”
“Minky is a
unicorn.” Strangle, strangle, strangle her…
“Shhhh… She might hear you. Minky thinks she’s a vampire who turns into a bat. How else would she be able to fly? Anyhooooo, the truth is that I didn’t want to tell you.”
“Tell me what?” he asked.
“The truth. I didn’t want to tell you the truth.”
“Which is?” he asked reluctantly.
“Roberto! Potpie! Now!” Cimil barked and then returned to her conversation. “You think a vampire with that sort of hearing would get that the microwave’s beckoning him to bring me my savory snack.”
“Cimiiil? Truth!” Zac growled.
“Truth? Truth? Oh, shucks. Where did I put it this time? Hold on, brother. Now let me see… Oh, look! I found an original bionic man doll!”
Zac heard clanks and crashing in the background.
“Where the hell are you, Cimil?”
“Popping tags with Roberto,” she replied.
“Popping what?” he asked.
Cimil growled. “You shame Macklemore—I’m at a thrift store. Where else would a goddess find a microwave for her potpie and new pair of pink hot pants? And a Lee Majors doll! Score!”
Zac felt his face simmer with red-hot anger. “I’m going to hunt you. Then I’m going to rip out your—”
“Truth! I found it! Here is it. The truth is that everything is going according to plan,” she said.
“You mean I won’t be tried for treason? I still have a chance to win Penelope away from that prick of a brother?”
“No. Not that plan. The other plan.”
What the fuck? “Mind explaining.” Now Zac wanted to retch.
“Yes. I mind. But I will tell you this: everything will work out as it should, brother. Now, do you remember when I told you to make sure you had a safe place to hide and to tell no one of its whereabouts? Where is it?” she asked.
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