The Mayan Temple

by Preston William Child

  “You're making a lot of assumptions about me...all of which are wrong. You spend a little while in my bed and act like you and I have known each other for years.”

  He took a step forward and Kendra glanced down over the edge of the temple, contemplating if she could maybe slide down it or even survive the fall. She was in a corner now. All she had left was trying to play her little head games.

  “You don't know me, Kendra. I've been through hell for years. The only things that have kept me upright and still functioning were my friends. I was in a very bad place. I could have gone looking for purpose like you have, joined some ass hat secret society of lunatics like you did, but instead I toughed it out and stayed true to myself, until real friends and real purpose came along.”

  Kendra just broke down laughing. “Do you have any idea how pathetic that sounds? All of that nonsense about having a good heart and staying true to one's self. You read that shit in some self-help book, Sammy? No, life is about opportunities. People are either brave enough to take them, or they aren't. You want to stay true to yourself, good, but the only way to do that is to accept that you can only rely on yourself. There is no we. There is no us. Relationships are garbage lies where two people convince themselves that they need the other. No. It's all lies. People are much, much better off on their own. With themselves. Just themselves!”

  “Do you seem better off right now?” Nina cut in, acknowledging that Kendra was standing on the edge of a long fall while she and Sam had the advantage. “Because it doesn't look like you are. The order you joined aren't going to try to help you because all of them are just like you. They all think about themselves, and only themselves first. So congratulations. You're on your own, just like you wanted. So show us how powerful being on your own makes you then.”

  “Shut up you tramp!” Kendra snapped. “You all are going to lose!”

  “No we're not,” Sam said. “We're stopping the Order of the Black Sun right now. Just like we always have. Your boss got a few good licks in, I'll give him that. But because we've stuck together, even when we were across the world from each other, we're going to pull out a win.”

  Sam took a step forward toward Kendra and she waved the knife around again. “Stay back! Stay back!”

  Sam raised his arms in surrender. “I'm not going to hurt you, Kendra. I should, but I won't. Just throw the knife off the edge, and step away. We're not going to kill you.”

  “You want to, though! You want to!”

  Kendra was sounding crazed now, a far cry from the sweet woman who always gave him such helpful and wise advice in those late hours of the night before bed. Tears rolled down her face and he saw that she was starting to break. Everything that she was, all of those lies and deceptions, was worthless now that the truth was out and she wasn't going to win. That sweet and beautiful facade she wore was gone and now even the face beneath that was peeling away.

  “I...I don't know who I really am, Sam. I don't I couldn't tell you my favorite color or my favorite food. I'm not even sure if I have one...I couldn't tell you anything personal about me because there is no me! Not really. I could tell you the things about the girl I was with you. That girl you so stupidly fell for. But she's not me. She never was. And I don't...there are so many times when I look at myself in the mirror and I have no idea who I am seeing. There have been so many girls with this face. Nice girls. Mean girls. Patient girls. Stubborn girls. Smart girls. Dumb girls. So, so many wonderful young women to give life to. They're all so different. I made them...they're...I...they're all so unique. But one thing I can tell you, yes one thing I can tell you...is that all of those beautiful girls are liars. All of them. They're all liars. They're not as real as they want you to think!”

  It was killing Sam to have to see this disturbed human being that had played her tricks on him. It was still hard to believe that she was even the same woman that he had loved spending time with. It was all fake, everything about her, and now she was realizing it too. Kendra had never had a real life, she just lived tons of other lives and none of them were real either.

  She was gasping for air, trying to catch her breath in her hysteria but she wasn't calming down. She was looking back and forth from Sam to the edge of the temple's roof.

  “You have your own wants! Don't you!? Your own personality! Your own identity! I don't! I never have! I'm not a person at all. I'm just a piece of many different ones! I loved it for a while but now...now I wish I had something, anything at all, for myself! But I don't! I never will because there is no me at all! There is no mine. There is no myself. And there is no us! There never was! Stop looking at me like I'm here! I'm not!”

  “Calm down, Kendra,” Sam said. “So you wanted the Order of the Black Sun to give you more roles to play and you thought that...what...eventually one of those roles would stick? Or that maybe if you kept piecing together different people, at some point you would have enough knowledge to stitch up your own? That's not how it works. That's not how any of it works. Life isn't about playing a role. It's about being true to yourself and what you want out of it--”

  “True to myself!? Have you been listening to anything I've been saying!? There is nothing for me to be true to? Which self should I be true to? The girl that you loved? Is that what you want!?”

  “No...” Sam said and dared to move a little closer, much to Kendra's fury.

  “Stay away! You're lying! You're going to kill me!”

  “I'm not lying,” Sam said, taking another cautious step. “That's not my way. That's Julian's way. We're not the Black Sun, Kendra. We're not. You chose the wrong side but we can get you help, make sure that no one else needs to get hurt.”

  “Or I could gut you!” Kendra suddenly hissed.

  “You could, yes, but what exactly would that accomplish?”

  Kendra slashed her knife through the air and Sam stopped his approach. He could probably disarm her but on the edge like that, it was too risky. She was wild right now, and reasoning wasn't helping anything. In her thrashing, Kendra swung too hard and her foot slipped. She careened backwards toward open air, off the temple roof.

  Sam ran forward and caught hold of her as she hung off the side. He clung onto her free hand while the other dangled away, still holding the knife. She was sobbing hysterically, gasping so hard that she couldn't even catch her own breath.

  “Don't love me, Sam.”

  “I don't,” Sam said bluntly, still trying to reel the rest of her in. “Trust me. You've proven that you are definitely not my type.”

  “I don't love you...I don't love anyone, really. I don't know why. I just never have. Ever. Not my family. Not all of the boys that threw themselves at me every chance they had. I just felt...empty all the time. All the time. All the time. All the time...”

  She was trailing off, lost in her own ramblings.

  Sam tried to pull her back to the roof but she seemed to be pulling her own body weight in the opposite direction. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Why don't I love anyone!?” She shrieked loudly and suddenly.

  Her eyes went wide with mania and she swiped at him with the knife in her other hand. The blade grazed Sam's arm and he instinctively pulled back, releasing her. Kendra screamed and fell from the top of the temple, crashing down to the earth far below.

  Sam stood and peered over the edge, holding the scratch on his arm. He was glad that the knife hadn't found some place more vital in her attack, but felt some sadness that he hadn't been able to keep her from dying. A hand touched his shoulder and Nina stood beside him.

  “There was nothing we could do. She was far too gone...honestly I don't think she was ever really here at all. She just had to act like she was. Couldn't have been easy.”

  “This whole trip, I thought I would be seeing her sleeping in my bed when I got back. That's definitely not happening...it still doesn't feel like the same person. Like...maybe she is still back there. The Kendra I knew.”

  “She's not,” Nina said bluntly
. “This was her. The real her. And frankly, you have terrible taste in women.”

  15

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN - THE SACRIFICE AND THE SERVANT

  The sacrificial chamber had become a battleground.

  Black Sun agents poured into the chamber. Julian might have been knocked unconscious but his commands were obviously still being carried out—and those commands involved killing the people trying to bring the order down. All of the operatives were armed and were being led by that buffoon Boris. Boris raised his gun to shoot at Jean but Jean was already finishing an incantation for one of the book of shadows' spells. Boris' body popped like a balloon and his leftovers splashed all over his comrades.

  Purdue felt a bit jealous that Jean got to use the spell that he wanted to use on Boris. That should have been Purdue casting that spell but unfortunately, he was awful and scared of that magic. Jean made it look easy. Purdue would have probably just accidentally killed himself with that particular spell.

  There were too many Black Sun agents though and many just ignored Jean, who was still trying to stop more of them with magic. They all raised their weapons and those guns were pointed at Purdue. Evidently, even the lowest of the order knew who he was and that if they had to kill someone, it should be Purdue. He stared straight down the many barrels of those weapons

  The Black Sun operatives opened fired and Purdue braced himself. The bullets never reached him. Charles had stepped in front of him, forming a human barrier and shielded Purdue from the gunfire. Purdue let out a yell of concern as Jean-Luc disarmed the guards with another spell. Purdue expected the old man to be on the floor riddled with bullets, but he was still standing. When Purdue stepped in front of him to examine him, he found that the holes in Charles' body were mending themselves. It was just like with Julian's own body.

  “What...?”

  “It has been quite some time indeed, sir,” Charles said bashfully. “You have missed some things since our separation. That monster, Julian Corvus, tested that spear of his on me. He wanted to know if his immortality was a one-time occurrence or if the spear really could bestow everlasting life. As you can see...when he stabbed me with it...he learned that it could give anyone that power.”

  “You're immortal?” Purdue could hardly believe it. Charles had always been a good ally to have at his side but he was just his butler, and now he was one of the two people on the planet that couldn't be killed and might even live forever. “You?”

  “Yes, sir,” Charles said with a little smile. “It seems I will be serving your house for some time to come. So you best start having some children.”

  “Unlikely,” Purdue said and pulled his butler into a hug. “I'm just glad you're not dead.”

  “He never will be,” Jean said beside them. “But we're not as invulnerable, are we? We need to get the hell out of here. Now.”

  Something struck Jean hard from behind and knocked him onto the floor, unconscious. Julian stood over him, having gotten up from the floor, shaking off whatever painful hex had been crippling him on the floor. He looked more than furious—he wanted to rip all of them into tiny little pieces and make it as painful as possible.

  “Get back to the altar. You will be sacrificed,” Julian hissed.

  “You could have just killed anyone to get your wish,” Purdue said with a shrug. “You just had to make it personal. This vendetta you have got in the way of getting whatever wish you wanted granted. That's just a bit pathetic, aye? It's over, Julian. Enough of this.”

  “It's not over at all. You haven't won anything.”

  Charles took a protective step in front of Purdue. Purdue would usually never have wanted his old butler to try and fight for him, but he knew now that Charles had a far better chance than he did. He had the same power as Julian, so would actually be able to put up a fight. Two immortal beings—it could be a very long fight.

  “I should never have tested the spear on you,” Julian growled. “Honestly, I was hoping you would stay dead. Not only would that assure me that I'm the only one who should have this gift...but it would also have been a nice thing to throw in Purdue's face.”

  “If you didn't want to be immortal, then you shouldn't have even stabbed me with the spear. A truly foolish gambit, sir. And now you have to deal with the consequences.”

  “Consequences?” Julian laughed. “What consequences? Immortality or not, you're still a fragile old man. You won't suddenly be able to beat me in a fight, you know that right? All it will do will make it easier for me to beat you for even longer.”

  Charles surprisingly waved Julian on, taunting him to come at him. Suddenly, Purdue wasn't looking at an older man that usually just cleaned his house, served him food, and drove him around. No, now he was seeing a true friend and ally standing up against one of their greatest enemies. Charles had lost almost just as much to the Black Sun as Purdue had. He'd lost the house that he took care of, his own freedom when he was taken prisoner, and apparently even his normal life during those experiments that Julian performed on him with the holy lance. He wanted to win this fight too, and for a moment, Purdue really believed that the old man could.

  Julian's surprise was apparent. He obviously didn't expect Charles to be much of anything, certainly not a threat. But now he saw that the butler was serious about taking him on.

  “No matter.” Julian picked up the Spear of Destiny from the floor. “It seems this spear gave you more than everlasting life. It gave you a spine, maybe a little bit of youth, hm? Interesting. It really is full of surprises, isn't it? I was shocked when it brought me back from death. Try to imagine it, waking up with this thing sticking out of your heart. Yes, it's full of surprises, but I'm not fond of surprises. So I've been studying it constantly since taking it out of my body. In that research, you were nothing more than a lab rat, that was all. But contrary to what you believe, you were not the only one that I tested it on.”

  Julian raised the spear's tip in front of his face and flashed a huge Cheshire grin.

  “No. After my test worked on you, I plunged this spear into two others' chests. Two workers of mine. They were incompetent and most of all, expendable. Just like you and me, they were given immortality...but then I had another idea...I stabbed them each again after their resurrections. This time, they didn't heal...they stayed dead for good. You see, we aren't entirely invulnerable. Like all things, we have a weakness. The Spear of Destiny may have blessed us with eternal life...but it can also take it away.”

  Purdue couldn't believe what he was hearing. The Spear of Destiny could actually kill someone who had been given its power. It could actually slay someone who was otherwise immortal—someone like Julian. Julian had made a far bigger mistake than he realized, bringing the one thing that could hurt him with him on this mission, and Purdue was going to make sure that he paid for that mistake dearly. He would make sure that the spear found its way into Julian's heart.

  Before he could even begin to think of a way to get that spear from Julian and turn it on him, the Order of the Black Sun's leader was advancing on Charles. Suddenly, Purdue realized that the situation was much more precarious than he thought. If it could kill Julian, then it could kill anyone else who also shared his immortality—and that included his butler.

  “So, as you can see, there's only one way we can really settle this conundrum.”

  Charles stood his ground but even with all of his stubborn desires to protect Purdue, he was looking nervous now too.

  Julian rushed Charles, charging at him with the spear held out in front of him.

  Purdue wanted to jump in the way. At least if he got stabbed by the Spear of Destiny, then he would be given its power. If Charles was stabbed, then that would it be for him. It would actually kill him for good.

  But he couldn't move quick enough.

  Charles tried to get out of the way but Julian moved with too much agility. The Spear of Destiny's blade found its mark in the old butler's chest. Julian speared Charles like a fish and drove the holy lanc
e deep into the man's chest. He skewered him, continuing his run forward until he pushed the impaled butler onto the altar at the center of the chamber.

  Charles let out a gasp as all of the air was sucked out of him, his immortal life spilling out into the air. He crashed hard onto the altar, wincing and groaning from the sudden attack. Purdue let out a roar and went to run at Julian but his body froze as he realized just how bad the situation was. Charles was dying on the sacred altar, his blood spilling out onto the stone slab just as the Black Sun planned to happen to Purdue.

  Purdue couldn't move. He was trembling at the sight of Julian completing his objective. A man was dying at the altar, being offered as a sacrifice for Julian to make his wish. It was over. After everything he'd been through to reclaim his life from the Order of the Black Sun, they still won. He still couldn't beat them even after getting so close.

  “You weren't my ideal choice,” Julian hissed down at the dying man, still pushing the shaft of the spear into him. “But you will make for a fine sacrifice nonetheless.” Julian's head craned to his right to stare at the dumbstruck Purdue. “I actually prefer this. You get to watch such an old friend die and I get my wish...and I can promise you, Mr. Purdue, my wish is going to include a fate far worse than death for you.”

  Purdue took a clumsy step forward, reaching for Charles who was gasping and bleeding on the altar. The butler reached out for Purdue, choking on his own blood. Charles had always been there for him, always there to support all of his ventures. And even on the quiet days, was there to help him with whatever he needed. He was one of his best friends, but so often he treated him like he was just a servant.

  “Charles...I...”

  It was too late.