Authors: L. Shannon
He sighed. “I don’t know what these pendants are or what having one bound to you will do.”
“So where can I find the answers? If they already shipped out any artifacts, I’ll just steal them and problem solved.” I didn’t like the idea of extending my schedule but I liked it a hell of a lot more than losing control of my life to an ancient prophecy.
“There were no other dragon artifacts at this temple.
Trust me, I’ve looked.” He dragged his fingers through his hair, leaving the curls ruffled out at odd angles. “Since you know next to nothing about the artifacts, I take it you were hired by someone else. We’ll have to go back to the one who hired you. He or she might know more than we do.”
I let his words sink in and swirl through my blood.
He’d paired us together in this problem. Even though I did everything alone, this time I was oddly grateful at the thought of having him on my side. While facing down the end of the world,
we
sounded a lot better than little ol’ me by myself. But of course his idea of going back to grill Weaver was out of the question. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“I’m just guessing, but I don’t think he wanted one of the pendants glued to my chest.” For two million dollars or the sake of my sanity I might eventually consider cutting the pendant off myself, but I wasn’t to that point 16
Amethyst Bound
just yet.
“That may be true.” His gaze dropped to my chest, leaving me tingling in response. “But I don’t see any other choice.”
“Then let’s just call that the last option.” I slid past him and looked into the box. “Until then, I have to get out of here.”
Davis’s hand wrapped firmly around my wrist, stilling my reach, before I’d done more than brush the side of the box. His touch sent a flurry of need through me that settled low as a moist heat. His hand was gentle but his voice was steel. “Not with that, you don’t.” I glanced past where our skin connected and gasped at the sight. “Where are the other pendants?” I tugged my wrist free and reached in, moving the ones around that were still there. “There were more before, but now only three.”
“How would I know where they are? I’m not the thief.
For all I know, you have them glued all over your body.”
“Whatever.” I wasn’t about to take much offense, especially seeing as I’d been sent to steal what he put so much work into preserving. “The only pendant I can account for is the one stuck to my chest. I left the others in the box where they’d be safe.”
“What the hell…”
From what I could tell, Davis wasn’t into swearing idly, so I couldn’t help but follow his gaze back to the box. What I saw stopped my heart. The sapphire pendant faded into nothing and was gone. Just like that. Gone.
“Looks like your chest problem might disappear soon.”
I reached in for the remaining two pendants, but he beat me to them and snatched up the jade and opal jewels L. Shannon
17
only to have the opal one fade away from his palm.
He raised the chain for the jade dragon and started to slip it over his head.
“No!” I grabbed his hands and stopped the motion.
“You can’t.” The jade dragon faded away just like the others.
“Yeah, I could have, but now I can’t.” Davis accused me of another fault when all I’d wanted was to keep him from getting stuck like I was.
“At least we still have the box.” Though I was pretty sure Weaver hadn’t cared about the box, at least if I had something to hand him, the damn thing might save my ass. My bigger concern was thinking up some brilliant way I could explain blowing the job that wouldn’t end up with the last pendant cut from my dead corpse. Yeah, I had nothing yet. I’d have to think on it more before admitting my utter failure.
Davis picked up the box only to have it crumble to powder and sift through his fingers.
Never mind Davis’s lost toy or even the loss of the rest of the glyphs. There went my last hope for appeasing Weaver.
Chapter Three
“Why did you stop me from putting the pendant on?” I looked at Davis for a minute wondering why his voice had an odd hitch. “I didn’t want you to get stuck like me, and just on the off chance that I’m about to destroy the world, you are so far the only one who might be able to figure out how to stop me.” As much as I usually thought the world sucked, I didn’t actually want it destroyed, though toasting a few of the bigger assholes from my past might be kind of fun.
“I don’t know what help I’ll be without the
Tawasuyus
. I’ve never heard of this specific prophecy before.”
“Never? Isn’t it an Incan thing?”
“No, it’s not an Incan thing. This temple is from an older culture than the Inca, and I’m not sure the
Tawasuyus
even belongs to this find. There are few records of dragons in the history or mythology related to the Incan or Tiahuanaco cultures. Serpents, yes, but not dragons. And in this much earlier temple—only one—the
Tawasuyus
.” He sighed. “That one artifact was actually why I was here. Dragons are my specialty.”
“Really?” That could prove useful if I turned into Puff at any point. “So any idea how we can find out more about the prophecy or the pendants?” Or how to get it unattached?
“Not offhand, but I have more reference books and L. Shannon
19
materials back at the Hotel Rosita in La Paz, where I’m staying. We can start there.”
The far-off look in Davis’s eyes took a little heat from the invitation back to his hotel. A player he wasn’t. But at least he was willing to help me with my little chest problem, as he’d put it, and as long as we were heading to his hotel room, I might get a chance to grab his cute behind yet.
Davis returned to gathering his things as if this were any normal evening and he wasn’t helping a thief get a magical pendant unstuck from between her breasts. I couldn’t help watching his hands move smoothly from one item to the next as he carefully packed each into the proper place in his cloth bag. He organized the bag with an almost mindless rhythm, as if he’d done the task so often his thoughts could wander to other things. Before he’d finished packing, the guards were making another pass through the room.
I was so caught up in watching Davis that at first I didn’t notice the increased pace of the guards’ footsteps or the slapping tread of more than the usual two men heading our way.
Grabbing Davis, I dragged him back just as four strange men burst into the room and spread out in a scouting pattern.
“Shh,” I whispered into Davis’s ear as I eased my fingers away from the warmth of his lips and reached down for my knife.
Davis stilled my motion and drew up my sleeve enough to point out that my skin was back to its normal nonglowing shade of ivory. Apparently my self-preservation skills worked to control that new talent. My blending had always been that way. When threatened, I 20
Amethyst Bound
faded into the background. During those times it actually took concentration to keep it from happening. Now, with the threat of being hunted, the blend came easily, and strongly enough that I shared it over Davis.
The men moved through the shadows like longtime lovers of the night. The dark caressed and protected their bodies, but not well enough to hide from me. I too knew the dark and all her secrets. And what she told me right now was that these men were professionals and they were more than passing serious about whatever they’d come for.
With a tap to Davis’s arm and a motion for him to follow, I moved slowly to my right. A bit of insight told me the men might be after what I’d already stolen, so we needed to move back from where the box had been stored.
After two slow, creeping steps, I looked back and saw Davis hesitating. His eyes scanned over where he’d left his bag on the table.
I mouthed “no” but knew my warning came too late.
He reached up and caught the strap of his bag, sliding it from the table in a slow, almost noiseless motion.
Almost.
The quiet rasp was enough.
The sudden stillness from the men hunting us was the only clue that they’d heard. I looked around and found only two of them in the darkness. The other two were a big concern. When I was being hunted, I wanted to know where my hunters were at all times. These ones were scenting blood, and I didn’t like it one bit. Thank goodness I wasn’t glowing like a firefly. Thanks to Davis, their job was easy enough without us adding that or any other mistakes to the list.
A motion to the left was my only warning.
I grabbed Davis’s hand and pulled him hard behind L. Shannon
21
me. The time for hiding was gone. The chinking impact of bullets hit where I’d pulled Davis from.
Damn.
They were very serious.
I dragged Davis several yards and shoved him behind a pile of storage boxes. Then I spun, taking a throwing stance and sending my knife hurtling toward the man who’d shot at us. I didn’t wait to see what, if anything, I’d hit. It was meant only as a distraction. My pretty knife wasn’t balanced well enough for throwing. I pushed Davis toward the main exit even as I drew one of my smaller knives.
One of the men remained hidden and I had a sneaking suspicion I wouldn’t be happy when he finally chose to reveal himself. We’d almost reached the room’s exit when a shot hit between Davis and me, taking a small puff of stone wall with its ricochet. I ducked backward, right into the arms of the fourth man. Bastards had more skill than I’d given them credit for. He’d been waiting for my move and crushed me in a hold that left almost no wiggle room.
Fortunately I was small and didn’t need much room.
I twisted and struck with my knife, driving it down into the man’s thigh just as Davis punched the guy in the jaw. The well-timed combined attack set me free and we both fled through the doorway. The quiet chinks of shots chased us down the short hallway.
Halfway out of the temple, Davis stumbled as we passed the bodies of the two usual guards.
“Grieve later. Run now…” I dragged him toward the exit.
We ran on and reached the exit even as the shouts of the men followed us out. By now Davis seemed to understand that they were definitely bad guys and their bullets would kill him. He kept up and didn’t once let go 22
Amethyst Bound
of my hand. For some bizarre reason, his large hand wrapped around mine made the run-for-our-lives race easier to handle.
Or at least it did until the bastards shot me in the ass.
Chapter Four
“Yooowww!” Pain radiated through my body in wave after wave, leaving me gasping and all but falling on the ground when I needed to be running.
“What the hell?” This time it was Davis pulling me forward.
The pain subsided but so did the strength in my legs.
And then my vision started getting all funky. The light from the setting sun danced and blurred so brilliantly that I was left squinting to make out the stone floor where it flooded out around the temple.
And stupid Davis was going to get himself killed trying to play hero.
“I’m shot. You need to run.” I growled out the words between gritted teeth.
“I’m not leaving you…” His arm slid around my waist and he hauled me along on his hip. “I don’t even know your name, but I’ll be damned if I’m leaving you behind to die like Frank and Harry.”
“Be calm and I will take your pain away.”
The words trilled into my mind like the tinkling of raindrops. And with each tiny drop, it eased my pain away.
“What the…” Now I was hearing voices.
“Be calm.”
“I am calm.” Whoever was crazy enough to crawl inside my head had better see me as calm. I never lost my cool. Not the night I’d run away from home, not stealing 24
Amethyst Bound
twelve million dollars’ worth of diamonds, and not now, with a bullet lodged in my right ass cheek.
“You are far from calm. I will show you calm…”
What the hell did that mean? And then I had a very bad feeling, a feeling even worse than being shot in the ass. The voice took on a shape inside me, something slick and sinuous. And the beast grew, stretching within me until I was sure I’d burst open like an overfilled tire.
“Breathe.”
And without my permission, the air whooshed into my lungs. Dimly I heard Davis yelling something. I couldn’t make out what he said but I knew he had to get away from me and had to do it now. “Run…” I tried to say, but the word was little more than a flutter of air.
I struck out and shoved Davis hard enough to throw him from his feet, knocking him off the top terrace of the temple.
And then all hell broke loose. Suddenly I was a passenger in my body—or whatever body this was that moved like melted wax, flowing outward to form glistening scale-covered flesh.
“He comes with us.”
I watched in horror as long-fingered claws reached out and captured Davis. They were so huge the grip wrapped around his waist and had room enough to be gentle. He didn’t seem hurt but then my wayward body moved toward the cliff steps and leaped off the edge.
Oh shit…I was about to die, and the best I could think of was that at least I knew how to go out in style. This put the usual delusions of grandeur to shame. If I was going to imagine myself bigger than life, why shouldn’t I be a dragon?
“I am not imagined.”
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25
“Of course you are… Oh great, now I’m talking to
myself.”
Obviously I was either six leagues off the deep end, or forces I didn’t understand had somehow turned my body into a dragon. I wouldn’t pick which truth just yet, but for now, with the Andes Mountains far below, I might as well go with the dragon option as a temporary choice.
“Very wise.”
“Thank you.”
As long as I was letting reality slide, I should figure out just what my scaly half had in mind.
“We should go somewhere safe.”
That made sense. Would Davis’s hotel be safe enough? Even if it wasn’t safe, his materials were there.
The materials that might lead to removing a certain pendant and keeping me in human form would be good about now. Or rather it would once we’d landed.
“The
Hotel Rosita?”