Part 13 (1/2)

When a molar creaked, he made himself relax his jaw.

She wasn't as fast as he was, didn't heal like he did, didn't have s.h.i.+eld magic or lightning. Worse, she was still stupid-brave. She might think she had grown up and slowed down, but she was wrong. She would still be the first one through any door if he didn't push her out of the way. Seeing her locked inside Iago's s.h.i.+eld had just about killed him, as had watching the makol squadron advance on her.

Blank wall. Blank mind. Drift. Breathe.

This so wasn't working. He really, really sucked at this.

A knock at his apartment door had him lunging to his feet. ”Thank Christ.” It wasn't until he had his hand on the doork.n.o.b that he realized the thrum of his blood wasn't just coming from relief. The knock had been the syncopated four-tap that had been his and Reese's old signal for: It's me. All clear.

Except nothing was clear. He knew that for d.a.m.n sure the moment he opened the door.

She was wearing dark jeans and a stretchy top that clung to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and had desire hammering through him, racing on the afterburn of magic. He wanted to touch her, kiss her, back her up against the far wall and imprint his body on hers. Electric heat flared at the thought, saying yes, this is right, this is what was meant to happen, with a certainty as incontrovertible as the writs themselves. But back in the day, he'd thought the same about buying her that ring because he wanted to get laid, hadn't he?

Knowing that he couldn't trust his motives when it came to her, he made himself step out into the hall and let the door swing shut behind him. ”Hey. Everything okay?”

She met his eyes, looking thoughtful and seeming oblivious to the ozone crackle that heated the air around them. ”I was thinking . . . Skywatch is at the middle of the compa.s.s cross made by the other locations, right? So where better to hide the fifth artifact than inside the Nightkeepers' center of ops?”

That so wasn't where his brain had been that it took him a second to reorient, another to see that she might very well have nailed it. Because the pattern fit. The logic played. And he was d.a.m.n grateful to have something else to focus on other than the heat that burned inside him.

Maybe keeping her close wasn't so self-indulgent after all.

He grinned fiercely. ”I always said you were more than a pretty face.” Keep it light, he told himself when his blood continued to hum in his veins and his body attuned itself to hers.

She stuck out her tongue at him, then lifted a flashlight. ”Want to do some exploring?”

Caution said he shouldn't go off alone with her, not now when he was running so hot. But, d.a.m.n it, this was their search and the compa.s.s artifacts were the responsibility of the serpent bloodline. And he might be tempted, but he was in control. He could handle himself. So, deciding caution could go f.u.c.k itself, he ducked back inside his apartment and grabbed his jacket. ”Lead the way,” he said.

But as they headed off, he couldn't help wondering where the slippery slide began. And how far he could let it go before there was too much momentum to stop.

Reese filled Dez in as he steered the Jeep along the looping trail that followed the perimeter of the box canyon. ”The center of the compa.s.s is a.s.sociated with the color green, and with-get this-lightning.” When he shot her a look, she nodded. ”I s.h.i.+t you not. The Hopi medicine wheel has a similar color arrangement, except that they connect the green center with their end-time prophecy, which says that the savior will return to save them. He's supposed to be a big, white-skinned G.o.d who wears a red cape and appears following a series of signs that include multiple earthquakes.” Like the ones that had hit the previous year, courtesy of the earthquake demon, Cabrakan.

As they climbed out of the Jeep at the back of the canyon, he pointed out, ”Only the royal bloodline wears red for ceremonies, which suggests that Strike is the guy they're looking for. Maybe it's his job to destroy the weapon.” His tone was matter-of-fact, his expression anything but.

The intensity of his gaze, like the heat that had kindled in his eyes as they had stood together in the hallway, sent a s.h.i.+ver down the back of her neck and kicked her instincts into overdrive. Since their return to Skywatch, he had seemed . . . different somehow. He was darker and more closed off than he had been, yet at the same time she had caught him watching her possessively, with a feral, predatory gleam in his eyes. She wasn't afraid of him-she wouldn't have come out here alone with him if she had been. But the fragile trust that had started growing between them while they staked out the ice cave had disappeared, as had any easiness between them. Maybe encouraging him to return to Skywatch had been a mistake, after all. Or maybe you're overa.n.a.lyzing, she thought sourly.

He looked up at the cliff face, to the triple row of dark openings that led into a small Puebloan ruin. ”Why are we starting here?”

”Since the other artifacts were all hidden at local native sites, I called down to Rabbit, who knows these ruins better than anyone. He was pretty sure that a few of the rooms have zigzag decorations suggesting serpent wors.h.i.+p.” She paused. ”Granted, the compa.s.s points aren't exact, so the fifth artifact could be hidden in one of the main Chacoan ruins. Heck, given that Keban told you there were only two hidden artifacts left-the G.o.d's head and the two-faced mask-number five may be in a museum somewhere. And there's no guarantee you'll be able to sense it . . . But we've got to start somewhere.”

An hour later, though, they were forced to admit defeat. The zigzags may or may not be snakes, but the surrounding stones were solid, with no evidence of anything being hidden there.

”It was worth a try,” Dez said as he parked the Jeep back in its spot near the training hall, which was a short walk from the mansion. ”Tomorrow we can start checking the Chacoan sites-Pueblo Bonito and whatnot.”

The sun was setting, the sky going from salmon to bloodred as it filtered through the high canopy of the huge ceiba tree that had magically grown from the ashes of the winikin and children who had died in the Solstice Ma.s.sacre. A grove of leafy cacao trees spread out beneath the bigger tree, forming a magical, out-of-place mini-rain-forest ecosystem that flourished between the training hall and the mansion.

Reese hopped out of the Jeep and walked partway to the picnic area near the cacao, her mental wheels still turning. ”How about planting some of those magic sensors around the Chacoan ruins? That way we'll know if Iago 'ports in to dig something up.”

”We'll have to check if there are any left. Last I knew, Rabbit had set up most of them in the highlands.”

It was a sobering reminder of the bigger picture. And the fact that they needed to find some answers, fast. ”What about-” She broke off at a twig-snap. Her instincts flared. ”Did you hear that?”

Still over by the Jeep, Dez looked over. ”Hear what?”

She squinted through the half-light at the cacao grove, and raised her voice. ”Is someone there?”

A shadow moved. Then luminous green flashed, followed by a high-pitched whine.

”Makol!” Reese spun and bolted, then screamed in pain when something slash-thudded into her shoulder. Another blow impacted low on her back, and then the creature was on top of her, tearing at her, growling vicious words in a language she didn't know. She heard Dez's furious bellow, saw a blast of lightning magic, felt the makol being ripped away and turned to ash. Then it was all pain and blackness. Then nothing at all.

”No!” Dez roared, dropping down beside her. ”Reese!”

His s.h.i.+eld sparked around them both as he dragged her up. He saw her blood, smelled it, felt it on his hands when he grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder, his heart pounding a sick litany of: Not Reese. Please no. Not Reese.

In the cacao grove, dark magic rattled and air whoomped with the sound of an outgoing 'port. Moments later, leaves parted and more makol poured through: men and women wearing the mix of loomed textiles and modern clothes favored by the highland Maya.

Pulse slamming, Dez reinforced the s.h.i.+t out of his s.h.i.+eld and went for his armband, nailing the emergency alarms on every available channel. ”We've got makol by the big training hall, repeat by the f.u.c.king training hall. Reese is hurt. I need Sasha here, now. And for f.u.c.k's sake put somebody on the star demon. I think Iago's here.” The magic of the outgoing teleport had felt different, bigger.

Then he spun as a big makol with a nose ring and the robes of a village shaman-priest came out of the trees and lunged, slas.h.i.+ng. The buzz-sword bit into and through Dez's s.h.i.+eld. He felt the blow not just in his s.h.i.+eld but in his body; pain roared in his shoulder and chest and he staggered back, went down. He landed hard and lost hold of Reese. And his G.o.dsd.a.m.ned s.h.i.+eld shorted out.

”f.u.c.k!” He launched to his feet, putting himself in front of her as the big makol raised his buzz-sword for the killing blow. He tried to call his s.h.i.+eld. Failed. Tried to call lightning. Failed. Went for his .44, but it was too late. The buzz-sword sliced the air and- Foliage whipped suddenly as a furry grayish blur erupted from the cacao grove and leaped on the makol.

Dez froze for a split second, surprised as h.e.l.l when the dog-wolf? coyote?-clamped its teeth on the shaman's sword arm and twisted. Inertia spun them around, and then the huge canine was on top of the makol , snarling horribly as it tore out the demon's throat and then bit down on its face with a terrible crunch.

More makol raced out of the grove and the big dog spun to face them with a chilling snarl, its jaws dripping blood and saliva. Then it leaped over the attackers, raced back into the cacao. And disappeared.

Whump! Air displaced as Strike and six more magi appeared in the middle of the fight. Immediately, they slammed s.h.i.+eld magic into place and started blasting away. Rabbit and Michael were in front, wielding fire and muk. The deadly magical flows scythed through the bulk of the makol while the others napalmed with fireb.a.l.l.s, then followed up with head-and-heart magic.

”Don't let them at your s.h.i.+elds,” Dez snapped. ”One of them shorted mine out.” He couldn't explain that. Couldn't explain the coyote. Couldn't explain how Iago had gotten inside the ward. Impossible, all of it.

Yet it had happened. And Reese had taken the brunt.

f.u.c.k.

He dropped down beside her, gathered her up, cursed when he felt the feverish heat pouring off her body and heard the way her breath sobbed in her lungs, strange and rattling. ”Sasha!” he called harshly. ”Now. She took a buzz-sword blade to the shoulder.”

But Reese shook her head weakly and rasped, ”The shoulder's just a cut. That's not . . .” She swallowed hard, then pushed up her sleeve and said faintly, ”This is worse.”

Her right wrist was swollen and angry, the flesh dimpled in a semicircular bite that was blackened at the edges and wept clear fluid from the center. The sight sledgehammered Dez in the gut and chilled him down to his very soul. ”Son of a b.i.t.c.h.”

The magi had been lucky so far-none of them had been bitten-but they all knew what it said in the library about makol bites: They had to act immediately. And even then, the odds weren't good for a mage.

For a human, they were even worse.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

Strike zapped the entire fighting force straight to the sacred chamber in the center of the mansion, both because Reese would need all the help she could get, and because it was a defensible position.