“Of course.” Tanit sat on a bamboo mat and posed the question to Ajay in Thai.
Ajay nodded, then responded in the same language.
Tanit grew pale as he listened. Carlos glanced at Caitlyn, knowing she could also understand what Ajay said. Her face was carefully blank, but her hands were clenched together.
“Ajay has not seen a panther for several months,” Tanit reported. “But he says there is a creature to the north of here, a man-eating creature.”
“How does he know it eats men?” Carlos asked.
“Because the men do not return,” Tanit explained with a shaky voice. “There was a man from the village who went north, hunting for wild boar, but he never returned. A week later his cousin went looking for him, but he disappeared, too. Now, no one from the village will go north.”
Ajay spoke some more, then Tanit translated. “There are rumors that the man-eating creature is a giant cat. Others say he is an evil creature of the night.”
“We should check it out,” Carlos said.
Tanit’s eyes bulged. “We can’t go into the jungle, looking for man-eating cats.”
Carlos frowned at him. “I thought you understood what this mission was about.”
“Yes, but—” Tanit wiped beads of sweat from his brow. “What if they’re not cat shifters? What if they’re not human at all, but like to eat humans?”
“Maybe we should spend a few days here,” Caitlyn suggested. “The cats might come to us.”
Ajay spoke some more.
Tanit jumped to his feet. “This is too dangerous. I—I can’t do this.” He ran from the workshop.
Ajay snorted and said something in the Akha language.
“He says our guide is too fearful,” Caitlyn translated. “That he’s hiding something.”
Ajay talked some more while she listened. Her eyes widened and she gulped a few times.
“What did he say?” Carlos asked.
“There’s a legend in these hills,” she began. “All the tribes whisper the tale in the dark, but none have dared to report it to the government. Men have been disappearing for forty years. Some say it is the tigers or the panthers, but everyone agrees it is evil. The Yao say it is a supernatural creature who steals the breath of a man and leaves him as a soulless body to roam the night. They call it by its Chinese name, chiang-shih.”
“What is that?” Carlos asked.
She gave him a worried look. “It’s the Chinese equivalent of a vampire.”
He sat back. “Are you serious?”
“The tribes haven’t reported it because they don’t think any authorities would believe them. And they probably wouldn’t. No one thinks vampires are real.”
Carlos nodded. “But we know better. We should check it out.”
She winced. “I was afraid you’d say that. This means a trek through the jungle, doesn’t it?”
“You don’t have to go. You can stay here while I go with Tanit.”
She grimaced. “I don’t trust him. I’m coming with you.”
Carlos stood and offered a hand to help her up. “You’re the bravest woman I’ve ever known.”
She snorted. “Or the most foolish.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll just think of it as an adventure. I love adventure. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.”
Ajay stood and spoke again. He raised his hands in the air, then rested a hand on each of their shoulders.
“He’s praying for God to protect us,” she whispered.
Carlos nodded. “We’re going to need it.”
Chapter Twenty-one
C arlos glanced up at the sun. If the rumor was true and a vampire lurked about these hills, he needed to find it before sundown. He looked at his watch. Almost three in the afternoon. They’d been hiking along this path, headed north, for four hours. He’d kept the pace slow for Caitlyn’s sake, but she looked exhausted.
That was actually an improvement. She’d spent the first two hours looking terrified. The first time he stopped to let a cobra slither across the path, she cowered behind him with her hands clenched in his T-shirt.
They’d left the village about eleven in the morning, getting a late start after Tanit abruptly announced he was going with them. He had no backpack or gear, so it took some time for the villagers to prepare one for him. Ajay provided them with food and rolled bamboo mats to sleep on.
Arnush had pulled Carlos aside to warn him that their guide had changed his mind about going with them after making a cell phone call. But it was clear that Tanit didn’t want to be with them. Every time they saw a snake or scorpion, he begged them to return to the village.
Carlos wondered if Pat had ordered Tanit to go with them. Caitlyn had been right to suspect them both.
A snap of a twig in the distance pricked Carlos’s extra sensitive hearing. Sounds in the jungle were common, what with all the animals that lived there, but these sounds kept recurring. For the past thirty minutes something had been following them. In the last ten minutes he’d heard the sound more often. Whatever was following them had grown in number. He inhaled deeply to try to catch their scent, but they were staying downwind.
The path took them downhill, and he quickened their pace. Down in the valley, they discovered a creek dissecting a green pasture. Carlos leaned over to cup some water and splash it on his face. He straightened and looked around. Long grass was dotted with clumps of green ferns. On the other side of the valley the trail cut a jagged path straight uphill.
“Oh God.” Caitlyn grimaced. “I need a break before we do that.” She dropped her backpack on the ground and pulled a water bottle from an outside pocket.
Carlos swiveled, scanning the tree line.
Tanit dumped his backpack on the ground. “We’d better head back to the village, or we’ll be stuck out here for the night.”
Caitlyn sighed. “I don’t think there are any cats in the area. They would have come to me by now.”
“I believe they have.” Carlos pointed to the tree line, where two tigers emerged. “We have company.”
“Man-eaters!” Tanit squealed, and pulled the knife from his belt.
Carlos moved in front of Caitlyn and drew his pistol.
“No!” She stepped away. “Don’t shoot.”
Carlos lowered his weapon. “If one of them charges, I’m shooting.”
“Don’t hurt them.” She faced the tigers, frowning with concentration.
Carlos had never seen such huge tigers. They seemed content to keep a distance, sitting on their haunches and studying them with golden eyes. They were still downwind, so he couldn’t get a good sniff.
“They’re warning us of danger,” Caitlyn whispered.
“Of course we’re in danger,” Tanit snapped. “They’re going to eat us!”
“You can communicate with them?” Carlos asked her.
“Sorta.” She remained focused on them. “It’s hard to explain. I don’t get actual words, but the ideas form in my head. They clearly believe we’re in danger. And they want us to know that they’re not man-eaters.”
Tanit snorted. “You’re crazy. You can’t talk to a tiger.”
“Can you ask them if they know about any panthers in the area?” Carlos asked.
Caitlyn was silent a moment, then answered. “They say this is their territory. The panthers are south of the Akha village.”
Carlos felt a surge of hope. He could be close to finding more of his kind. If he could discover that his species wasn’t endangered after all, he might be able to stay with Caitlyn. They could have a normal mortal marriage with mortal children. She’d be safe as long as he didn’t bite her while in panther form.
But before he went hunting for were-panthers, he needed to make sure the hill tribes were free from the curse of a local vampire. “Do the tigers know anything about a vampire?”
Tanit flinched, then swatted at a mosquito to try to cover up his reaction.
Caitlyn was quiet once more as she communicated with the giant cats
.
Tanit shifted nervously from one foot to another. “We need to go back. We shouldn’t be out here at night.”
Carlos turned to him. “What do you know that you’re not telling us?”
“Nothing.” He shook his head nervously. “Anyone could tell you that you don’t spend the night in the jungle.”
“The tigers say there is an evil cave to the north, but we should stay away from it.” Caitlyn shuddered. “Humans go in, but they never come out.”
“We can’t do it,” Tanit hissed. “We can’t go!”
Carlos glanced at the sun. “We’ll be fine as long as we get there before sundown.”
“I refuse to go!” Tanit yelled.
Carlos scowled at him. “Then go back to the village. I’m sure the tigers would love to escort you.”
Tanit turned pale.
“If there’s been a vampire in these hills for forty years, terrorizing the people and killing them, then I’m getting rid of him,” Carlos announced. “It’ll be easy enough to do if we find him before sundown.”
“If,” Caitlyn whispered. She took a deep breath, then shouldered her backpack. “We’d better get going, then.”
Carlos’s heart expanded in his chest. She was the bravest woman he’d ever met. She cowered in fear every time they saw a snake but still pressed forward.
She raised a hand in farewell to the tigers. “They say this is as far as they will go. We’ll know we’re coming close to the cave when we see the prayers.”
“Prayers?” Carlos asked as the two tigers slipped back into the jungle.
She shrugged. “I’m not sure what they meant.”
Carlos jumped over the narrow creek, then helped Caitlyn over. “You lead the way,” he told Tanit. He wasn’t turning his back on their guide.
With a scowl, Tanit put on his backpack and trudged up the mountain path.
Caitlyn groaned as they headed uphill once again. Almost two hours had passed since she’d communicated with the tigers. She’d sensed a true concern and friendliness from the giant cats that didn’t seem to jibe with their supposed wildness. She wished she could discuss it with Carlos, but didn’t feel comfortable talking about cat shifters in front of Tanit.
They’d figured out what the tigers meant about prayers. At the top of the mountain, they’d spotted a big boulder with a symbol painted on it. With a shudder, Tanit had explained it was a prayer for protection.
As they wound downhill, they noticed several other boulders with the same symbol. Now, as they trudged uphill again, Caitlyn winced with each step. Her legs felt like wet noodles, but with pain.
Finally, they neared the summit and ran into a vertical slab of rock fifteen feet high. The path fell off into a ravine to the left. To the right, the rock wall stretched as far as she could see.
“Looks like a dead end,” she muttered.
“It is.” Tanit pointed to the symbol painted on the rock. “It means death.”
“It might refer to the vampire since he’s dead during the day,” Carlos said impatiently. “The cave should be close by. Let’s hurry before the sun goes down.”
Tanit moved slowly to the right on a narrow path in front of the rock wall.
“Faster,” Carlos ordered.
Caitlyn glanced at the sun. It was nearing the horizon in the distance.
The path suddenly widened, and the black hole of a cave gaped in the rock wall. Symbols had been painted in red on either side of the cave opening.
“We can’t go in,” Tanit whispered. He lowered his backpack to the ground. “The symbols are a warning. Whoever enters will die.”
“We’ll be fine as long as the sun is still up.” Carlos dropped his backpack and pulled out a flashlight. “So who wants to be first to go inside the dark, scary cave?”
Caitlyn snorted, then dropped her backpack so she could remove her flashlight. Suddenly, she was grabbed from behind and jerked into an elbow lock. She gasped when Tanit pressed a knife to her throat.
In a flash Carlos dropped his flashlight and pulled his revolver.
Tanit stiffened, his arm tightening around her neck. “How did you move so fast?”
“I’m an excellent shot,” Carlos growled. “I can kill you without harming a hair on Caitlyn’s head. Let her go.”
“No.” Tanit stepped back, dragging her with him. “You can’t go inside. It’s forbidden.”
Caitlyn’s mind raced as she tried to remember her martial-arts training. Could she double over and flip Tanit onto his back? No, she couldn’t lean forward without slitting her own throat. Maybe backward?
She reared back, throwing all her weight against Tanit. He stumbled back, and Carlos leaped forward, wrenching the knife from Tanit’s hand. Caitlyn scrambled out of their way. By the time she regained her footing, Carlos had Tanit pinned to the ground with the knife at his throat.
“Are you all right?” Carlos glanced at her. When she nodded, he said, “Get my gun. I dropped it.”
She ran to pick up his pistol.
“Please,” Tanit breathed. “I don’t want to die.”
“Talk,” Carlos growled. “Whose orders are you following?”
Tanit gulped. “If I disobey, they’ll kill me.”
“Disobey whom?” Caitlyn ventured closer. “The Master?”
Tanit’s eyes bulged. “How do you know about him? It is forbidden to speak of him except to the Guardians.”
“Is the professor a Guardian?” Carlos asked.
Tanit nodded. “The Master will be very angry if we defile the temple.”
“What temple?” Carlos asked.
Tanit looked toward the cave. “It’s a Temple of Death. Only the Master is allowed inside.” He trembled with fear. “Master Han is a great and powerful chiang-shih. He has killed thousands. We will die if we go inside. Please. We must—”
“Look at me,” Carlos interrupted. “Your master cannot harm us during the day. We’ll stake him, and then you’ll be free.”
Tanit’s eyes filled with tears. “It’s too late. I saw you shift into a cat, and I told the professor. He ordered me to stay with you until the Guardians come for you.”
Caitlyn exchanged a worried look with Carlos. Why would a vampire want a were-panther?
Carlos stood and dragged Tanit to his feet. “It doesn’t matter. By the time the Guardians find me, your master will already be dead. The game will be over.”
Tanit whimpered. “It is impossible to kill Master Han. He can live forever.”
“We shall see.” Carlos shoved him toward the mouth of the cave. He skidded to a stop in the pebbles.
Carlos wedged Tanit’s knife under his belt. Caitlyn handed him the gun, and he holstered it. He picked up the flashlight and shouldered his backpack.
She did the same while her heart raced. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was as scared as Tanit.
“Ready?” Carlos asked her.
She glanced at the sun. It was low enough to paint the sky pink and gold. “We’d better hurry.” And get this over with.
Carlos grabbed Tanit by the arm and escorted him inside the cave.
Caitlyn followed. The setting sun shone inside for a short distance. The interior was a large room, wide and deep. Far in the distance, her light picked out a narrow opening. This room might be the first of many.
“What’s all this?” Carlos shone his flashlight overhead. Ropes crisscrossed the ceiling over them, and yellow strips of paper dangled from the ropes.
“Those are prayers,” Tanit whispered. “Buddhist prayers to keep the evil in this cave from escaping.”
Caitlyn looked around the empty cave. “Who left them?”
“Him.” Carlos’s flashlight beam landed on a man’s skeleton. His tattered orange robes identified him as a Buddhist monk.
Caitlyn drew in a sharp breath. A spear protruded from the monk’s rib cage. “Someone murdered him.”
“I told you!” Tanit cried. “Any who enter this cave will die!”
“
Relax. It looks like it happened years ago.” Carlos shone his flashlight at the narrow opening in the distance. “We need to go through there.” He walked forward.
Caitlyn followed closely. Tanit hung back, his face deathly white.
Carlos took a step and froze when a metallic click echoed through the cave. “Booby-trapped.”
“What?” Caitlyn didn’t have time to think or react. The ground shuddered under her feet. Carlos grabbed her and leaped forward, much farther than any human could have. They landed, falling forward.
She glanced back and saw the ground caving in, taking Tanit with it. He screamed, then disappeared. A cloud of dust rose from a ditch that now divided the cave room into two halves.
“Tanit!” She crawled to the edge of the ditch and gasped. Iron spikes shot up from the bottom of the ditch, and Tanit was impaled on one of them.
She screamed and looked away.
Carlos grabbed her and held her tight. “It’s all right.”
“He’s dead!”
Carlos grabbed her by the upper arms. “Caitlyn, we have to stay calm. The cave is booby-trapped. I think we made it past the first one because the Buddhist monk set it off.”
She drew in a shaky breath. “We wouldn’t have survived the second one if you couldn’t leap like a cat.”
“There could be a third one. We have to be careful.”
She started to shake. They could no longer get to the cave entrance. It was cut off by the ditch with spikes. And they couldn’t move forward without setting off another death trap. “How can we move?”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart.” He squeezed her arms. “I’ll get you through this.” He took off his backpack and tossed it forward a few feet, angled to the right.
Nothing happened.
“Okay, that space is safe.” Carlos stepped close to the backpack and picked it up. He held out his hand to Caitlyn.
She grabbed his hand and stepped close to him. Just a few feet more and they could slip through the narrow gap. “Do you think the next room is safe?”
“Probably so. That ditch was designed to take out an entire group.”
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