A range of emotions washed over me. She had killed me many times through the ages—why, then, did I feel regret for Carolyn’s probable fate now?
But my regret vanished when I finally reached close enough to see who the priest was actually holding.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
I stared at the knife that was resting against Eve’s throat, its sharp blade a threat to her life.
Beside her stood Carolyn and her mother. Carolyn’s mother didn’t have a knife, but she had a firm hold on Eme. Behind them was the pale violet of the jaguar throne, its eyes gleaming with reflections of the faint light.
“Let them go!” I ordered.
“Not your call,” said Carolyn, who was standing behind the priest and Eve.
“I will make it my call.”
“How? You have two knife wounds and are bleeding profusely. How long do you have unless someone stops the bleeding? Maybe thirty minutes?”
“Long enough to handle you. My bleeding has almost stopped.”
She laughed, and I thought I heard the priest laugh too.
“Unless you want to go flying down the stairs, I’d let her go,” I told him, edging a step closer. Now I was only two steps below him. He didn’t move.
I’d always felt that Eme could read my mind, so I looked at her and nodded. Eme reacted instantly, kicking her heel into Carolyn’s mother’s shin, then twisting away.
Eme’s attack distracted the priest, and I reached up and grabbed his right leg with my uninjured left arm and jerked. The priest lost his balance, and as he fell backward he tried to slice Eve’s neck but missed as she twisted out of his grasp.
The priest tumbled down the stairwell, bouncing about three steps with each tumble, finally stopping about halfway down. He stayed where he landed, not moving at all.
After the priest fell, Eve ran down the temple steps past me, holding Eme’s hand. I chased after them. I could hear footsteps behind me, guessing it was Carolyn and not her mother; I doubted that the older woman could dash down the steps that fast.
At the bottom of the steps, the darkness intensified as I escaped through the doorway into the expanse of the plaza.
But I wasn’t alone. I felt as if a thousand people surrounded me, dancing in the plaza, their white gowns and leather loincloths moving in and out of my vision. Sometimes the people were right in front of me, and then they were gone and the plaza was empty. And then they were back. It felt as though I was wobbling in and out of numerous time periods.
Where had Eve and Eme gone?
I saw two figures moving rapidly toward the Great Ball Court.
I hobbled after them. I couldn’t keep up no matter how hard I tried. Every step brought a stab of pain in my leg and a struggle to retain my balance. And when I moved my right shoulder as I stumbled along, it hurt too.
People bumped into me as I ran, shifting me from side to side. When I looked at each stranger directly, he or she vanished. Were they remnants of past lives?
Eve and Eme disappeared into the large ball court.
As I was jostled going after them, I felt blood oozing from my two wounds. I stopped, tore off my shirt, and used pieces of it to bandage my leg and shoulder. That seemed to stop most of the oozing.
When I rounded the corner into the open middle of the near end of the ball court, I was alone. The lighting was brighter here, so I could see reasonably clearly between the two long walls. Halfway down each wall was a metal ring perhaps twenty feet off the ground.
Where had they gone?
Then I looked up into the seats. Someone sat in the middle seat where the Divine King and his successors used to sit. It was Eve’s mother, surrounded by four thugs, two of whom I didn’t recognize. Though darkness surrounded them, I could still see them somehow. Maybe they were more in my mind than in my actual vision? I was no longer sure what was real and what was a haunting from the past.
Not sure of which time period I was in, I half expected the thugs to have bows and arrows or spears, but I could clearly see that all four of them had handguns, as did Eve’s mother. Footsteps behind me made me turn around. I didn’t know where Eve had gone, but Eme was behind me. She stopped, saw her grandmother in the seats with her thugs, started to cry, and ran to me. She clutched my legs, sending a spasm of pain up my left leg, though I really didn’t care as long as she was safe.
The thugs raised their guns.
“NO!” shouted Eve’s mother. “She must live.”
No one seemed to know how to react, so I took Eme’s hand and slowly began to pull her with me as I walked down the middle of the ball court toward the end I had just come from, also easing toward the opposite wall of the court as I went.
Meandering over to the ring on the far wall, I passed below it with Eme, imagining all the thousands of Mayans over the distant years who had tried to knock a hard rubber ball through the ring high above their heads without touching the ball with their hands.
One of the thugs fired, and the shot smashed into a stone right above me.
“Stop!” Eve’s mother yelled, but another gunshot followed. Then I heard a third gunshot and a groan; the last shot was probably Eve’s mother killing the thug who kept shooting at us. She didn’t want Eme harmed.
I took the distraction to move faster, soon arriving at the distant end of the ball court, where the pathway to the Sacred Cenote awaited us.
Here the darkness was thicker, more malevolent. I could feel it deep inside me.
“Where’s my mother?” Eme asked.
“I have no idea,” I said.
“She’s with me,” said a voice in the darkness beyond the end of the ball court.
Carolyn.
Eme continued to hold my hand as I walked toward the voice.
Now there was a glimmer of light from a lamp on the outside of the wall of the ball court.
Standing at the edge of the light were two figures.
“Momma!” shouted Eme, breaking away from me and running toward her mother and Carolyn.
“I can kill you too,” said Carolyn to Eme.
Eme stopped, not knowing what to do. She looked from Carolyn to her mother, then back to me. I walked closer to them.
Suddenly I was overcome with a feeling that I was surrounded by evil. The throng of people was back, with my three companions now hidden in the masses. I couldn’t tell who was of this era and who belonged to long ago. I was experiencing the simultaneity of time that Eve had described. Through the mass of people I felt the strong evil oozing from Carolyn. I couldn’t see her, but I sensed her.
“If you move any closer, I will kill both of them,” I heard Carolyn say.
“And then I will kill you,” I said.
“Don’t be so sure,” she said. My vision cleared and I saw her stab Eve, who cried out in pain and tumbled to the ground. Eme dashed toward me. I wasn’t sure she knew her mother was down. Adrenalin can cover a lot of sounds.
I rushed Carolyn, but before I got to her, a gunshot exploded in the darkness and Carolyn fell.
“Hide!” I whispered to Eme, then turned toward the source of the gunshot as Eme vanished.
Eve’s mother and her remaining three thugs were standing behind me. In the faint light, I could see that she was holding a gun. She probably thought Carolyn was threatening Eme. And though she hated me, she probably loathed Carolyn even more.
In the darkness, I felt that I had the advantage. Time would tell whether I was right or wrong.
The thugs were standing near the end of the ball court, at the edge of the court’s light. Carolyn and Eve were lying just beyond the end of the long
wall, deeper in darkness.
I ran toward them, and the thugs fired a few shots but the light was too dim to easily hit a moving target. But I knew the closer I came to them, the more likely I was to encounter a bullet, so I dashed to their left, between them and the Temple of the North, around to the far side of the western wall of the Great Ball Court. I ran along the back of the western wall until I arrived at the far end, then circled around and made my way up the middle of the court, finally arriving to Eve and Carolyn’s location. I should have been behind the thugs, but they were gone, probably looking for me in the woods around the cenote.
Then Eme was beside me again as I knelt to check Eve. She was still breathing. When I arrived, she opened her eyes.
“Save Eme,” she moaned.
I grabbed her and carried her further beyond the edge of the light, toward the path to the cenote. Because of the pain in my shoulder and leg from the knife wounds, it was one of the most difficult things I’d ever done. But I was determined.
To my right was the pathway to the Sacred Cenote, though it was well lighted, so I hoped the thugs weren’t too near us. I stumbled along the path, Eve in my arms. When we reached the edge of the cenote, I put her down, kissing her on the forehead. The light was faint where I stopped, but I could see her face. She opened her eyes again and smiled, but she looked so very tired that I feared she couldn’t last long. I had to settle this quickly.
I couldn’t see the thugs coming, but they were hardly in stealth mode, so I could easily hear them.
Wishing I’d brought a gun, I picked up a large piece of limestone lying on the ground, ducked behind a bushy tree, and hid in the darkest shadows. When the first thug approached, I smashed him in the head. As he stumbled from the blow, he lost his balance and fell into the cenote, though I must admit, I helped him fall in that direction. The second one I kicked in the stomach, then grabbed his arm and swung him over the edge of the cenote and tossed him into the water below, pain exploding in my leg and shoulder as I did. I fell to the ground in agony.
One left. But he didn’t attack, and neither did Eve’s mother. Where had they gone? I wished I’d had one of the thugs’ guns, but apparently, they’d both taken their weapons with them into the cenote. But I kept the rock in my hand. It was my only weapon.
I would have to go after the two left, which I didn’t want to do, since I felt I had an advantage here by the cenote. I tried to stand, but my leg buckled, tumbling me back to the ground.
I knew I had to get up or Eve, Eme, and I were all dead, so I took a few deep breaths and willed myself to ignore the pain and rise.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
When I hobbled back toward the ball court, biting my lip to keep from moaning in pain, Carolyn’s body was gone, though I saw no evidence of anyone else around. I hoped that Eme had hidden herself well.
Where had Carolyn gone? Where had the other thug gone? And Eve’s mother?
My leg continued to complain with every step. I started to creep along the inner side of the ball court wall toward the other end, then thought better of it. Retreating to the end I had come from, I followed the lighted path back to the cenote. Let them find me!
I hid behind the branches of my friendly tree and waited.
I tried to glance beyond the light of the pathway into the darkness of the ball court but saw nothing. Where was everyone?
My question was soon answered.
“Ready to die in this life?” Carolyn said behind me. I turned. She was holding something, one of the thug’s guns, I suspected. Had she not been hit by the shot? If not, why had she fallen?
“You sure are determined to kill me,” I said. “What purpose does it serve?”
“I told you that it was ordained that you marry me, not anyone else. The gods made up their minds and we must obey them, throughout the ages. If you are alive and I am alive and we are not husband and wife, one of us must die.” Then she gasped, and I realized that she had indeed been wounded by the gunshot.
“But if I didn’t marry you all those years ago, what good does it do to kill me now?”
“You are not capable of understanding.”
“I guess not. But neither am I capable of allowing you to kill me.”
“I have succeeded every time so far. Why should this time be different?”
“Maybe because now I understand our histories better than I have in times past.” I certainly didn’t know if that was true, but it made sense to me. I doubted that I had penetrated to the heart of the mystery in most of the lives I’d lived. Maybe this was the first time in all those ages that I truly understood why I was being hunted. I suspected that in many lives, I had no clue anything was wrong before I was killed. Surprise attacks.
This life was different. I knew that. And I also knew that in every life I had loved the woman who was Eve in this life. And Eme, too, in every life in which she existed.
And somehow, I knew that the cycle would be over if I killed Carolyn in this life.
“Besides,” I went on, remembering her gasp, “you’re wounded.”
“So are you,” Carolyn said.
“I bandaged my wound. The bleeding has stopped.” I wondered if that was true and reached down to touch the bandage on my leg. It didn’t feel damp, so maybe the wound was only oozing a little. The shoulder wound hadn’t been as bad and hadn’t bled as much as the thigh.
“How do you know my wound is bothering me?”
“I heard you gasp when you moved a moment ago.”
“I’m tough. I’ll make it.”
“Maybe you will,” I replied. “Then again, maybe not.”
“I can use your clothes to bandage my wound after I shoot you.”
“Assuming you can hit me before I get you.”
“It’s a shame we never seem to be able to get together in any life, because we’d make a great team. We’re both tough.”
She’d confirmed that she had a gun, so I threw the rock I’d smashed into the first thug. I must’ve hit her because I heard another gasp, but I didn’t put her out of commission. She fired and missed. I didn’t hear a bullet whistle by me, so she must’ve missed badly. Still, it was time for me to take command. Carolyn hadn’t found Eve, but she would soon. I certainly had to take care of our enemies before I could help her, but my worry was intensifying. I heard the shuffling of feet. How many feet? At least four.
Eve’s mother and the remaining thug?
What about Eme? I knew she was smart enough to stay alive. Besides, Eve’s mother was on her side.
In the faint light, I could see the thug coming my way, with Eve’s mother right behind him.
But where was Carolyn now? She worried me more than these two did. She was the nidus of evil. And she always knew where I was.
When the thug had approached to within twenty feet of me, he finally saw me. So did Eve’s mother. “Kill him!” she ordered.
I rolled to the right, stood up in spite of the pain in my leg, and rushed them, picking up another rock as I rolled.
Shots hit the ground where I’d been, then followed where I’d rolled to, but couldn’t keep up with me in the faint light.
I reached their location and, figuring that the bigger figure was the thug with the gun, I hit him in the face with the rock. He fell.
Gunshots whistled around me. Stumbling to my right, I saw Eve’s mother moving in my direction. Hoping that she couldn’t see me very well, I charged her. A bullet whistled past my left ear, answering that question.
But now I was near enough. I slugged her with my left hand. The pain in my fist thrilled me.
She was out. I bent over and took the pistol out of
her hand, then struck her across the head with it. She was tough, but I doubted that she would awaken for a long time. Just to make sure, I hit her again. This time I was doubtful she would ever awaken. Ismalda would be happy.
A groan sprang out of the thug lying not far away. I fired twice in his direction and the groaning stopped.
I stuck the gun in my belt and raced over to Eve. I would worry about Carolyn later. She had to find me to kill me and the darkness was still in my favor. I needed to help Eve first.
Eme was already there, kneeling over her mother when I arrived. I didn’t ask where she’d hidden but dropped down to the ground to examine Eve.
She was still breathing. I started to pick her up, but a voice in the darkness stopped me.
“Don’t move. Give her a hug if you want, because now you get the chance to die together,” Carolyn said.
What she didn’t know was that I had the witch’s gun, but I couldn’t see her, so I had nothing to aim at. Of course, she would have trouble coming at me as well.
“Momma, Momma!” Eme cried, standing up.
“Run!!” I screamed at her.
Carolyn fired, but Eme was gone.
I saw where the gunshot had come from and fired three times at the site of the flashes. A thump on the ground told me I’d succeeded.
I dashed over to Carolyn, felt no pulse, then returned to Eve. Eme was already back, sobbing quietly.
Eve’s eyes were open, barely visible in the faint light.
“We need to get her to a hospital,” I told Eme.
“Remember how much I will always love you,” Eve said, her eyes closing. “Both of you.”
“Momma, momma,” Eme sobbed.
I fell back to my knees beside Eve and felt her chest. She still had a faint pulse, and when I whispered her name, she opened her eyes again.
“Hang on,” I begged her. “I need you. We need you.”
She reached over and weakly grabbed my right hand. “It’s not over, you know,” she said. “We will meet again. Maybe you will remember me then, and we will join together in joy. I will see you then. You will be my beloved forever. The eons of time will become our friend, not our enemy as before.”
The Hauntings of Scott Remington Page 18