Secrets of the Jaguar (Crimson Romance) (20 page)

But the mural to which Moon Jaguar pointed seemed to explain everything. After the sacrifice of the jaguar to the sun, the rays shot down onto the bat warriors. Elaborately painted soldiers wearing bat pelts ran from the rays and sought darkness from within the jungle. The moon resided like a captor over the jungle, keeping the warriors of the bat within. The warriors’ eyes glowed red against the dark pigment of night.

Michelle hadn’t noticed, but Moon Jaguar had been standing behind her. He pushed his thoughts into her mind and for the first time, Michelle experienced what it was like to communicate with were-jaguar.

“Ixchel is the name your true parents gave to you. But you were in danger — we all were. In the mural you see our ancient ancestors worshipped the half-jaguar. Those of us who were born charmed held a very special place; we were shamans, warriors, leaders. But we weren’t the only ones. Out of Xibalba, the underworld, came two warriors.

“The Zozt, the bat warriors, were made by Zotzilaha Chimalman, the God of Darkness who was rival to the God of the Sun. Over time the Zozt became our enemies, slaughtering whole cities, feeding off so much of our lifeblood they became immortal. Our small village was more gifted by the jaguar than others, and my ancestor cursed the race of the Zozt so they could not see the light of the sun. It took the blood of a Balam Centehua, a chosen jaguar shifter to place the curse, and the Zozt need the blood of another Balam Centehua to undo it. This is why Tzinacan searches for you now.

“I was away on a spiritual journey when Tzinacan attacked our village seventeen years ago. He took the lifeblood of everyone in the village, bled everybody atop the Aztec Sun Stone, seeking to please the Sun God and undo the curse. He was looking for the Balam Centehua, he was looking for you. But I had taken you on a journey so you could learn the ways of the Maya shaman. You were young, but it was the ancient way of our people. But I returned to a massacre. I had no choice but to hide you from Tzinacan, so I took you to an orphanage far away from our village. And I have been living as a jaguar in this jungle since.

“Your friend tells me Tzinacan has found you. I would never have imagined that you would return, and with a blood-sucker.”

For the first time in the lengthy dialogue, Michelle broke the silence with a low growl of warning.

Meztil continued.

“But he has kept you protected. He is not cursed like the Zozt, he has the advantage of daylight but Tzinacan will stop at nothing to bleed your heart upon the Sun Stone. Now that I have found you, I will not let this happen. You have returned. Now you must vow to learn about your family and to live life in honor of them. Your parents loved you very much.”

Michelle shifted back into human form and sank to her knees. Tears escaped freely as she finally grieved her true parents. She had thought her parents might have actually loved her. Distraught with loss and sadness, Michelle felt Moon Jaguar palm rest on her shoulder. He said nothing but offered a calming presence that gradually stopped her tears.

“Your father was a warrior. You must also be a warrior now. Tzinacan knows this place. The jungle ceiba trees and vines have grown over our Sun Stone but it is still here. I can feel the ominous whispers of the trees around us. He will come, he does not have to wait for darkness because the jungle has grown thick here and there is much cover.”

Almost as if on cue, a sound reminiscent of thunder sounded near the entrance of the pyramid.

Duncan stood, still as a monument, listening. Michelle had been inside the pyramid for some time, but he knew she had much to hear. The same secrets he’d learned from Moon Jaguar when they’d met: “Tzinacan is so crazy with bloodlust; he does not realize his curse will never be broken. He has murdered too many worshippers of the sun and now he will forever be only in darkness.”

At the time, Duncan hadn’t been positive Tzinacan was bound to the dark, since most modern vampires he had seen could come and go in the daylight. But Moon Jaguar’s words made sense, and Duncan quickly realized that the treasure Tzinacan sought was not gold, but shimmering daylight, complete freedom.

A vampire’s hearing was sharp, and so Duncan picked up on many critters moving about in the Ceiba tree fortress, but an ominous presence lurked. He was almost positive Tzinacan approached. He could hear Michelle and Moon Jaguar inside of the pyramid. Duncan worried that as an ancient, his foe could also hear from wherever he was hiding in the dense jungle. Focusing in on the malicious presence that was becoming more familiar to him, Duncan willed his body to leave, to get closer to the source.

Before he realized it, Duncan had misted directly into Tzinacan’s path. The ancient vampire grinned evilly. “Nice trick,” he said just before he heaved Duncan fifty yards through the dense jungle, branches breaking along the way, until finally his back collided against the flora-covered pyramid.

Duncan felt the stones crack under the force of his collision. Pain like he had never known made the world a momentary haze. Duncan was pretty sure every bone in his body was broken, but he needed to focus.

Tzinacan stalked into the clearing and smiled once again, obviously thrilled at the sight of Duncan slumped on the ground. “It’s been some time, but I have returned. I’ll create new, fond memories here indeed.”

Ignoring the pain, Duncan appeared in a mist before Tzinacan and wiped the smirk off his face. Duncan might not have the age of the ancient vampire, but rage flooded his senses. Raining down on Tzinacan in a flurry of blows, he never heard the army of Zozt vampires descending on the clearing.

Blood soaked Tzinacan’s face from the impact of Duncan’s fury, but a laugh escaped him, and Duncan cringed as he realized what Tzinacan heard.

• • •

“Duncan!” Michelle cried out as she appeared at the mouth of the pyramid. Still naked from her shift, Michelle took one look at the situation and quickly shifted into jaguar form. Leaping forward, Michelle meant to maul the vampire while Duncan had him down, but strong arms immediately came down on the length of her feline body. The crushing weight of what felt like granite squeezed the air out of her lungs.

Zozt vampire!
Moon Jaguar’s voice erupted in Michelle’s thoughts and then suddenly his jaws clamped down on her captor’s arm. But the Zozt never loosened its grip and instead flung the jaguar off like a fly. Michelle was helpless as more of the Zozt surrounded Moon Jaguar.

Michelle wondered if she might slip out of the vampire’s grip by shifting into human form. But she never got the chance. Duncan misted behind the Zotz and snapped its thick neck before immediately grabbing Michelle tightly by the fur and disappearing once again.

Duncan misted to the top of the flora-covered pyramid that poked above the jungle canopy.

“Oh my god!” Michelle teetered on top of the pyramid in human form. She was hundreds of feet high — in fact, she couldn’t even see the ground, just the thick jungle canopy below her.

Duncan’s eyes were black, twisted, with flickering red embers, the underlying characteristics of his vampire side brought out by the battle. But he pressed a kiss to her lips, reassuring her. “Stay here, the Zotz can’t come into the sun. I need to finish this.” But before Duncan could fade into a mist, Michelle grabbed him.

“Wait! Drink some of my blood first — you said it made you strong,” she pleaded, her thick dark hair whipping around them as the high winds swirled around them. Michelle tilted her head to the side allowing Duncan intimate access to her jugular. Instead, Duncan grabbed Michelle’s wrist and sank his teeth into the skin. Duncan withdrew only a couple gulps, his face angled upward as if to soothe her with his loving gaze. Without pause he misted below the jungle canopy where all hell was breaking loose.

Meztil was still in jaguar form, but a Zozt held him by the throat, his paws dangling off the ground. Tzinacan and nine Zozt warriors surrounded Moon Jaguar. Tzinacan interrogated the jaguar in a language Duncan couldn’t understand. He had slashed the jaguar across the ribs many times trying to force Moon jaguar to shift back to human form.

When Tzinacan felt Duncan’s presence on the edge of the clearing he roared, “You can’t keep her from me much longer, filth! I will have her bleeding upon the stone and I will make you watch!”

Duncan’s body shook with anger, but he relished in his ability to mist when he knew they could not. Disappearing to a boulder out of sight, Duncan brought his fist down hard, causing a large shard to break. Grabbing it, Duncan returned in a flash to Tzinacan.

He had caught the ancient vampire only slightly off guard, not enough to prevent Tzinacan from grabbing his throat, but Duncan drove the sharp granite shard into his enemy’s chest, and then disappeared in a mist again to grab Meztil from the Zozt warrior, who still dangled, bleeding, in jaguar form.

Duncan relocated them both deeper into the jungle, and Moon Jaguar shifted into human form. Blood gurgled from his lips as he mumbled in Spanish, “
Ella esta segura?
” Is she safe?

There was a dangerous glint in Duncan’s eyes. “Not as safe as I’d like.”

“They cannot disappear as you do, but they are still faster than any being. And once the sun disappears, they will have the ability to shift into half-man, half-bats with enormous strength.”

Duncan’s patience dwindled. “I’ve already seen it. Stay here while I handle them.”

“No! You need me to show you where the stone is. If you can bleed Tzinacan to death upon that stone, his Zozt warriors will die as well.”

Without hesitation, Duncan grabbed Meztil again and brought them back into the clearing where the Zozt were ravaging the landscape, their strength ripping up thick vines like noodles in search of the stone.

Before the Zozt realized they had returned, Moon Jaguar quietly pointed to the other side of the pyramid and Duncan misted them there. Unfortunately, the warriors were hacking apart flora on every side of the pyramid and one of them was standing almost directly above where Moon Jaguar pointed.

Duncan ran at the vampire in a blur of speed and slammed it down, snapping the head with such force that vampire became a ragdoll. A nearby Zotz took notice and used the same speed to confront Duncan. But Duncan could feel Michelle’s blood coursing through his veins and he, too, rushed the Zozt vampire. In a speed that would have been nearly invisible to a human eye, the two vampires met in a disastrous collision of fists and fangs. Duncan used his teeth to rip out his opponent’s jugular.

For a moment, Duncan stood over the body of the fallen Zotz warrior. Never before had Duncan lost himself to the vampire side of his nature. It made him wary of going too far — how could he ever return to face Michelle as such a monster. But Duncan’s moment of thought was disrupted.

“Since you’re all I’ve got … ” Tzinacan yelled proudly, and with supernatural speed, grabbed Moon Jaguar and sank his fangs deep. Duncan ran toward them, but Tzinacan also became a blur and dragged Moon Jaguar to where the stone lay hidden. Zotz warriors were right by Tzinacan’s side to yank up the flora revealing the gigantic stone.

The area was cleared in the blink of an eye. A gigantic limestone monument lay at the foot of the pyramid. Duncan quickly misted to the nearest Zozt warrior and began snapping necks before the warriors had a chance to fight back, but he halted when he heard the scream.

There was Michelle, huddled midway on the steps of the pyramid. Tzinacan had slammed Moon Jaguar down on the stone so hard, blood was bubbling up from his mouth and the elderly form seemed lifeless. Duncan’s whole body seized up, he knew what came next: Tzinacan would rip out Moon Jaguar’s heart and let his body bleed out.

Duncan misted to where Tzinacan held Meztil, but the Zotz had gotten used to Duncan’s tricks and Duncan felt a dagger sink into his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Michelle, naked and crawling down the stairs of the pyramid. If she came any lower, the Zotz would surely go after her. Fury emanated from his pores.

“Dammit!” Duncan pulled out the dagger and heaved a breath before disappearing. As Tzinacan plunged his fist down toward Moon Jaguar’s body, Michelle’s scream permeated the distance. Duncan misted directly in front of Tzinacan and drove the dagger through the vampire’s heart. Hindered momentarily by the wound, Tzinacan couldn’t stop Duncan from misting Moon Jaguar away.

In another moment, Duncan had placed Moon Jaguar in a safe location and was at Michelle’s side on the stairs. “What the hell are you thinking? Do you know how fast those warriors could be up here if they thought it was sheltered enough from the sun?” Before Michelle could protest, he whisked her to the top of the pyramid again.

Duncan focused to mist, but felt dizzy instead. The blood he had lost and the constant flashing was beginning to wear on him.

“You’re hurt!” Michelle said as; she put her wrist up against his lips. “Have another drink.”

“Quit trying to feed me, damnit! Can’t you tell I’m a monster enough already?”

He knew that should have hurt her feelings, but instead Michelle threw herself against Duncan, her lips seeking his in a passionate frenzy. Duncan felt her naked body mold against his and for a moment, all the violence around them was forgotten and he was whole again.

When the kiss ended, he smiled at Michelle who still looked distraught. “Don’t worry, baby, I just got my second wind.” Duncan smiled and then disappeared, leaving Michelle to catch herself from falling off the top of the pyramid.

Below the jungle canopy at the stone of the sun, partially soaked in Moon Jaguar’s blood, only five of the Zotz vampires were still alive and Tzinacan was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly Duncan was thrown from behind. “I bet you’ve got plenty of that whore’s jaguar blood within you. Perhaps it will give me a head start until the sun sets.” Tzinacan grabbed Duncan in a blur of speed to apply his now-signature body slam onto the ancient monument, but Duncan misted before his back hit the stone. He would not give the ancient vampire that satisfaction.