Midnight Shadows

by Nancy Gideon

  And then she saw it, rising up out of the forest green, a pyramid of ancient stone thickly cloaked in decades of smothering growth.

  The temple of the Fanged Deity.

  "I've been here before."

  Rosa turned at her hoarse claim. The glare of the powerful flashlight beam made ghastly jack-o'lantern-like patterns upon her face.

  "So, you do remember."

  "Not all, not yet. But everything here is so familiar. It's like it happened yesterday. Ruperto said it would come back to me in a rush if just the right spark was struck. When we were in the jungle, it was my dream come to life. The sounds, the ... smells."

  The scent overwhelmed her. The strong, sweet odor of gardenias. The smell that permeated her every nightmare.

  The fragrance that had clung to Rosa Kelly for as long as she'd known her.

  Understanding must have dawned like a sunrise in her expression, for suddenly she was facing Frank's pistol.

  "It was you."

  Rosa smiled thinly. “It's always been me. Me and Sam at first, then just me. You see, Sam forgot the golden rule of thievery. You never get involved with the mark."

  Frank Cobb's exact sentiments.

  Sheba fought off her choking anguish to put the pieces together.

  "Cipriana Lemos."

  "We had it planned out so perfectly. We'd heard the legends about this place and the treasure concealed inside. Sam was just supposed to romance her long enough to find the location and to steal the medallion. But he ended up being seduced by that insipid little twit. He couldn't even see that she stayed a virgin long enough to—"

  "You were going to sacrifice her because of some silly legend?"

  Rosa shrugged philosophically. “Not because we believed but because others did. If they thought we controlled their ancient god, we could control them."

  Sheba shuddered at the horrible simplicity of it.

  "So what happened to your perfect plan?"

  "Sam nearly ruined it by marrying her. Then he refused to have anything more to do with me. I couldn't let him just walk away. It was just a phase, just a passing lust for her pretty face. I knew he'd get over it when he focused on the treasure again."

  "You arranged for Cipriana's death, didn't you?"

  "I paid well to have it look like an accident. She was out of the way, and I had the medallion. But I still didn't know where the temple was."

  Sickness stabbed through Sheba's belly. “But my mother did."

  "Yes, she did. And she was very obliging about leading me right to it.” Rosa gestured with the barrel of the gun. “Let's go inside, shall we?"

  Sheba took an involuntary step back and found her arms caught in a crushingly powerful grip. She flung her head back to look into the face of Frank Cobb's demon.

  "I thought it was time we were properly introduced. Or perhaps you don't recognize me without the limp."

  "Cross. But how—"

  "Magic. I'm at your service."

  "Really? Then let me go."

  "'Fraid not, doll. Let's go inside and take a look-see, shall we?” He propelled her forward, almost driving her to her knees. It was then Sheba realized the hopelessness of her situation. She was going to die here in the same place her parents’ lost their lives and for the same purpose: Greed.

  Rosa pulled down a tangle of overgrown vines, revealing a black hole leading into the heart of the tomb. With the lantern to light the way, she guided them inside where the air tasted of timelessness and an eternal wait.

  Waiting for Sheba's return.

  "So it was the two of you working together to scare the natives out of the forest.” Get them talking long enough and maybe she could figure a way out of her dilemma.

  "A stroke of good fortune, actually,” Rosa boasted. “I was in Seattle, visiting Paulo. I'd grown tired of waiting for your return and decided I'd go track you down. Sam, damn him, would never tell me where you were. He must have suspected my motives went beyond mere fondness. So I figured I'd worm the information out of Paulo, the stupid boy. But I got distracted from that goal by a certain scandal whispering through the lab where Paulo worked. Whispers of a creature they'd captured in order to research immortality. Mr. Alexander, here."

  The monster behind her gave a quiet chuckle. “Imagine my surprise when the ingenious and oh, so avaricious Ms. Kelly hunted me down and made me an offer I couldn't refuse: escape from my current and rather dangerous situation to a place where I would become a god."

  "By pretending to be our people's resurrected deity. Very clever."

  The sarcasm in her tone had him jerking her arms up higher behind her back, but she refused to cry out.

  "You see, my naive little friend,” Rosa continued, “this jungle has always been ripe for the picking, and I planned to pluck a king's ransom. Sam and I used your parents for our own gain, did you know that? No? We hid artifacts in the useless junk they sent back to the States. Who'd think to search gifts sent by godly missionaries. Don't look so shocked. You're as ignorant as they were."

  Sheba's glare grew as hard as the surrounding stone. “Not any longer."

  "There. I've completed your education at last. You were always so eager to learn all there was to know about worldly matters, much to your godfearing parents’ dismay. After Sam and the Reynards were out of the picture, I kept my little industry going by threatening the silly natives with their own folklore. If they didn't appease their god with gifts of gold and treasure, he would return and slay them ... the way he did that missionary couple."

  "What?"

  "In due time, my dear. Be patient. Your mind has conveniently locked out the truth for twenty years. Don't rush my story now. Anyway, they brought riches beyond belief, except the fools would only leave them in the place for traditional offerings, a very annoying little slide that shoots their gifts right into the heart of the temple."

  "Where you couldn't get to it.” Now Sheba laughed. “My ancestors prepared for vultures like you."

  Rosa smiled bitterly. “Yes, they did. For years, my treasure has been safely growing, until those huaqueros exposed my new partner here where we had him safely hidden away. We had to move fast then, lest the curious start swarming. I enlisted Paulo's help, all very innocently on his part, of course. I had him bring you here by building up his hopes of romance."

  Pain twisted through Sheba's heart. Hopes she'd cruelly crushed. She tried to distract herself by concentrating on the other pieces of the puzzle.

  "So you paid off the two tomb robbers?"

  "No. That must have been Sam. He didn't want the secret exposed any more than I did. And he tried his best to keep you away. But you couldn't stay away forever, could you?"

  Sheba turned away from the smug look on Rosa's face.

  "I knew you had the key, but the trouble was, you didn't remember. The tricky part was getting you to recall the past without exposing my part in it first. Quinn here was doing a wonderful job at keeping the unwanted out of the area to give us more time."

  "And then my old pal Cobb tries to throw in the monkey wrench by seeing through my disguise.” Alexander's tone held a grudging admiration.

  "You killed him.” Her voice shook with eddies of suppressed agony.

  "I'd always planned to, but the time wasn't right the last time we met. I rather enjoyed the challenge he presented. But it was time to remove him from the equation."

  Sheba winced at his callous dismissal of the man she'd loved. Her tone strengthened. “Because you knew he would have beaten you eventually."

  "He would have tried."

  "But why Paulo? Why did you have to kill him?"

  "That was Rosa's idea completely. And they call me bloodthirsty. Not that I wasn't happy to oblige her."

  The other woman paused to convey her vile logic. “That was to get back at Sam for deserting me. He and I were supposed to share this adventure together, but he chose family and sentimentality over wealth."

  "And that was impossible for someone like you to unders
tand."

  She laughed at Sheba's scorn. “Fortunately, I suffer from no pangs of conscience or regret.” Her smile grew malicious. “You've only yourself to blame for this turn of events. You had to display that medallion over dinner. I couldn't risk Sam's guilt getting the better of him. I couldn't let him spoil everything by spilling his guts, so we had to move fast."

  They stepped into the huge central chamber. Rosa took out her lighter and touched off the torches bracketed upon the walls to illuminate the cavernous room and the monstrosity it contained.

  Sheba cried out, sagging against the demon at her back. Horrible images assailed her, not dreams, not nightmares but memories more terrible than any imagined scene. This place lit by torches, a much younger Rosa using the medallion to open the lock at the base of the statue. Her poor unwitting parents leaning in close out of fatal curiosity as the pedestal opened and hell was released once more.

  Sheba squeezed her eyes shut, but she couldn't block the graphic visuals that came pouring back across the barriers of time. Her mother's screams. Rosa falling to her knees in abject horror. As the monster worshiped by her people for centuries sprang from his imprisoning tomb to hungrily leap upon Reynard to feast upon his blood.

  Sheba had seen it all from where she crouched in the shadowed corridor.

  As the demon drained away her father's life, Rosa peered into the crypt, her features aglow with lust for the gold glittering just beyond her reach. And then ... and then as she watched in silent horror, Sheba saw her mother's sacrifice. Not at Rosa's hands, but at her own.

  "That bitch,” Rosa spat out. “That sanctimonious bitch. She cut her own throat and threw herself into the creature's lair just to spite me and deny me what was mine."

  Standing taller, prouder now that she understood it all, Sheba said, “No, not for you. For our people. It was her duty as our guardian to keep the beast contained. She knew the only way to return him to his rest was with the sacrificing of her own blood. And after witnessing my father's death, her grief overcame her reluctance to do that duty, no matter how awful. It was a time to be brave."

  No matter who it left behind. A young girl hiding in the shadows who saw her whole world collapse in an instant as the monster dove back into the tomb, her father's emptied body still impaled upon its claws, to claim it's royal blood offering.

  Sheba saw that girl in her mind's eye racing across the chamber, screaming her mother's name. In her anguish and terror as she saw the opening begin to close, she gripped the medallion key, trying to turn it, so she could join her family. But the key wouldn't turn. It came loose in her hand. And that's when Rosa saw her.

  "It was you chasing me that night."

  "And I would have caught you, too, you brat, if I hadn't twisted my hip when I fell.” Then the flash of fierceness was gone from her expression and she smiled, all benign and totally false charity once more. “But I caught you this time, now didn't I?"

  At last, Sheba understood everything. It all made a horrible kind of sense. Peyton's guilt, Paulo's unexpected passion spurred on by Rosa's goading, even the memories that had escaped her. The shock of what she'd witnessed combined with the illogical idea that her mother chose to join her father in death rather than life with her, topped by Rosa's betrayal, had driven all knowledge of the event from her adolescent mind. And while she had spent her life lonely, separated from family and the comfort of the truth, Rosa Kelly waited like a giant spider spinning her web of lies and murder to reap her reward.

  Well, she wouldn't profit from the death of those Sheba loved.

  "Give me the medallion."

  Rosa extended her hand, impatient now after her twenty-year wait.

  "Why? So you can wallow in your riches?” She twisted to look at the vampire behind her. “Is that what she told you? That this key opens the door to wealth untold?"

  Quinton Alexander frowned suspiciously at her sudden, hearty laughter.

  "Did you think she'd be honest with you after she's lied to everyone else she's ever known? Then you are a fool."

  His grip tightened on her arms as he leaned closer. His breath brushed cold as impending death upon her cheek. “Fool, am I? And why is that? Tell me so I might share the joke."

  "Don't listen to her, Quinn. She's just trying to make trouble."

  "Then what harm can her words do?” he snapped, and Sheba saw a possible way out of her dire situation.

  Divide and conquer.

  "Why do you think she brought you all the way down here? Just to scare a few natives? For pure humanitarian reasons? So she could split her treasure with you? Think about it."

  Alexander had no quick and cocky answer. That was good. He was thinking. Sheba pushed harder.

  "She brought you here to do her dirty work, to take all the risks, to be her fall guy. Did you really think she was going to make you into a god? And share the power she's hungered for all her life? I don't think so. What do you think?"

  Alexander looked from her to the increasingly agitated Rosa. “Why did you bring me here? Just so you'll have a trophy body to show while you hoard all the gold to yourself?"

  "Don't be ridiculous. She's playing with your weak little mind."

  "No more than you, I suspect.” He hugged Sheba up close. “So what's your theory, smart girl?” His icy cheek rubbed against hers. “Cobb, for all his annoyances, did have excellent taste in women, did I tell you that?"

  Sheba shut her eyes. Now wasn't the time to give in to her mourning for Frank. She had a lifetime to grieve for him, and that time would be painfully short if she lost her focus now. She had her people to protect. She opened her eyes to glare at Rosa, concentrating on the treacherous female who had abused her trust, stole her family and her future but who would not feed off the superstitions of her mother's heritage.

  But they weren't just superstitions, were they?

  And now she knew why Alexander was here.

  Her laugh was short with the irony of it.

  "What?” Alexander demanded. “I grow tired of your games."

  "Rosa brought you down here to distract a demon while she made off with the gold. You've been her expendable pawn since the start. You're the monster they'll hunt down when she's finished here. You'll be the scapegoat if you manage to defeat what waits inside that tomb of stone."

  He took an anxious breath. “What's in there?"

  "If it was just gold, why do you think she's waited so long to go after it?"

  "She needed the key,” he explained weakly.

  "She needed me and she needed a way to stay alive long enough to use me. There's a monster inside there, and when the door is opened, it's coming out for you. Then, while it's tearing you to pieces, Rosa will use me as an offering to gain control of it. Her virgin sacrifice."

  "She's lying to you, fool,” Rosa insisted angrily. “Why are you laughing, stupid girl?"

  Sheba smiled tightly. “Because I gave Frank Cobb more than my trust ... and my love."

  "Bitch!"

  Rosa's fisted blow rocked Sheba's senses. While she tried to shake off the pindots of pain and disorientation, the medallion was snatched from around her neck.

  "Nothing but trouble, your whole damn family. Cipriana with her naivete and harlot's body tempting Sam away from our plans, your mother with her grand gesture of martyrdom. And now you think to steal away my future for a few minutes of blind rutting with a stranger. What a waste."

  "You're the fool if you believe that,” was Sheba's soft reply. “Obviously you know nothing about love, or you'd understand why the women of my family acted the way they did, the way I plan to."

  "What, by dying well in the name of nobility? In the name of love? Fine. I won't stop you. But die, you will. And now."

  With that, Rosa strode across the chamber to insert the medallion at the base of the statue.

  And turned.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  "Wait!” Alexander squealed as the stone began to rumble and shift upon the dirt floor.

 
; Rosa stepped back, her features flushed with greed and eagerness. She pointed the gun with its silver bullets at her former partner. “Let her go, Quinn and get ready to meet your match. Thanks for all your help, but you're one loose end I don't want to have to deal with later."

  Sheba stumbled free as Alexander watched the black hole yawning wider and wider as the stone rolled back. Fear panted from him in short, harsh bursts. Rosa gestured to her with the pistol.

  "Come over here, Sheba. While Quinn keeps the creature busy, you'll help me remove the treasure."

  "And as a reward for my help, you'll cut my throat and throw me in that hole so the monster will return and leave you with its riches?"

  "That's the plan."

  "Your plan stinks."

  "I agree."

  The sound of the intruding voice nearly brought Sheba to her knees.

  "Frank."

  Before Quinton Alexander had a chance to turn in amazement to greet a nemesis surely resurrected from the dead, he winced at a sudden sting in the side of his neck. Stumbling back in surprise and dismay, he put his hand to his throat and glared at his enemy.

  "What was that?” He staggered, expression contorting as he felt the first stirrings of change burning through his body. He went down to the dirt floor on hands and knees, snarling in rage and pain.

  "A little gift from Stacy Kimball. Enjoy.” To Sheba, he said, “Always ready, but unfortunately not quite as punctual as I'd like to be."

  A silly smile spread across her face as his marred but oh, so beloved features blurred through the veil of her tears. “You're forgiven, this time."

  "No!” Rosa stood by the still-opening stone, looking from the portal leading to riches to the interlopers bent on snatching it from her. She pointed the pistol at Sheba's breast. “You will not keep me from what is mine!"

  The shot echoed in the cavernous chamber, but it was Rosa who clutched at a mortal wound, not the equally startled ethnologist. Through rapidly glazing eyes, Rosa stared at Peyton Samuels.

  "Nothing's keeping you now,” he said softly. “You've gotten what you deserved."

  As Rosa collapsed back against the foot of the altar, Sheba ran into Frank Cobb's open arms, hugging to him with a desperate possessiveness. For a long moment neither said anything, then she leaned back to strike his chest with her fist and complain in a wobbly voice, “You scared the hell out of me."