souls,” Granny answered.
“Gotcha but it might be a good idea to get a couple of really big mirrors and let the ghosts’ own reflections scare them back to their watery grave.
I’m tired of them trying to drown me on dry land.”
“A wise move; the spirits are very angry.”
Homicidal was more like it. “Did Uncle Aldo get the Vatican to provide him with holy water and blessed crosses?”
“He did. We should have everything in twelve hours.”
Derek walked back in with the first aid kit.
“Twelve hours is too long. I have some contacts that can get them here sooner.”
“I will let Aldo know,” Granny said and vanished.
My husband stuck his head out the door and bellowed, “Ed.”
A very soggy Ed hurried up with a container of salt in one hand. “Yes, sir?
“See if you can track Lanford down and tell him I’m calling in that favor he owes me.”
“Yes, sir.” He saluted sharply and marched off.
“Hoorah,” I muttered.
My Tomb Raider kneeled in front of me and growled, “You could use some military discipline.”
“In your dreams.”
“I’ve whipped a lot of sorry recruits into shape.” He cleaned the blood off my wrist and sprayed a disinfectant on the cut.
“You don’t bang your recruits do you?”
Derek grinned and wrapped a bandage around the laceration. “No, ma’am. I’m strictly a one woman man.”
“Good answer.” I pressed a gentle kiss on his battered cheek. “Confronted with things that go bump in the night, most men would pee their pants and run screaming in the opposite direction.”
“I’m not most men.” His mouth captured mine.
A hungry, out-of-control rush of need hit me.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I kissed him back in a heated duel of tongues.
Derek’s big, callused hands stroked up my body to cup my breasts and his hot mouth closed around a nipple, sending shock waves cascading straight to my clit.
“Dios Mio,” Fabian chided. “You are like two bunnies. I would have never guessed you would be a screamer, bella. ”
A blush staining my cheeks, I stared at my cousin in horror. A screamer? Omigod! Was I that loud? “Go the hell away.”
My cousin held out his satellite phone. “Aldo wishes to speak with your husband.”
That couldn’t be good. “We’re busy, he’ll call him later.”
“Bella,” my uncle’s voice scolded from the phone.
A visibly frightened Granny Annabel popped into the bathroom. “Dante has tracked you to Kanab.”
Fear slammed into me and I could feel the color draining from my face. Battling the spirits had left me utterly drained and I was in no shape to fight him. Running was my only option. “Let me have your car keys. I‘ll lead him away.”
“Like hell,” Derek snapped. “I‘ll deal with him.”
“We will both deal with him,” Fabian corrected. “Dante has much to answer for.”
Looking up at Granny hovering just below the ceiling, I asked, “Is that little troll, Bruno, with him?”
“He is.”
“Shit!” I leaned my forehead against Derek’s chest. “We are so screwed.”
Derek tilted my head up. “Why?”
“Because Bruno is a powerful psychic,” Fabian answered for me.
“And since we just had one big ass psychic battle, Bruno knows exactly where we are.”
My husband smiled, one of his truly scary predator’s smiles. “Then we’ll set a trap for them.”
The sun slowly slid below the jagged edges of the mesa, casting an almost mystical glow over the shimmering red rock.
Voices whispered in the wind creating a wailing melody of death.
My body coiled with tension I cast a circle of salt around a card table loaded down by two big mirrors ripped from the bathroom walls. With a cautious look at the gathering clouds, I poured a second line of defense with what little holy water I had left.
I could still taste Derek’s fierce kiss on my lips and hear his stern command of, “No matter what, you don’t step out of that fucking circle.”
To ease the lines of worry creasing his forehead, I made a solemn vow that I wouldn’t step one foot out of the circle until he came for me. No matter what I heard or saw. Clinging to him, I had whispered, “Don’t get dead on me, sugar.” Derek the invincible just laughed and kissed me again.
Throwing a quick glance at the ledge where Ed lay hidden with a sniper’s rifle, I pulled out the piece of paper with the protection spell Uncle Aldo had gotten from the Pope himself. Color me impressed.
Taking a deep, calming breath, I fought down the jitters and chanted, “Tempore. Cuidamn.
Monstrata. Desopsuit de cruce, mirabilis visio!”
A clap of thunder resounded off the mesa and energy crackled wildly around me. Whoa! The Pope knew his stuff. The circle was set and the trap baited.
Right on cue, Bruno, a little troll of a man with a bulbous nose and a really bad comb-over, walked out of the shadows. The wind lifted his hair and it flapped like a flea ridden flag. The man was going bald. Did he really think the comb-over hid that fact?
His gaze slid over me with a sexual menace that was both frightening and repellent. “That won’t keep me out.”
No shit Sherlock. It’s to keep the nasty Aztec spirits who are coming to eat your ugly ass out. I stared at him with utter loathing. “If you’re a smart man, you’ll leave, now.”
A cold lustful gleam filled his eyes. “Dante said I could have you.”
I held up my left hand. “I’m married.”
He shrugged. “Not for long. Dante has your man.”
My stomach clenched in horror. “Granny?”
“He lies,” she responded in my head .
“I think Dante will find my husband is more than he can handle.”
On the mesa, a barrage of gunfire erupted.
Bruno laughed. “You think one man can take Dante down?”
“Without a doubt but you should be more worried about what’s going to happen to you.”
“You’re not strong enough to take me,” Bruno sneered. “If Granny Annabel makes an appearance, I will send her straight to hell.”
Shadows twisted, contorted and rippled.
“The only one going to hell is you,” I announced, absolutely, positively sure that at any second now all hell would break loose. When nothing happened, I looked around in disbelief. Aw, c’mon.
The shadows frolicked gleefully behind the little troll.
“Ha. Ha. You guys are a riot,” I muttered under my breath.
Bruno kept getting closer and closer and they still didn’t pounce. I bet the second I stepped out of the circle they would be all over me; trying to drown me, zapping me with lightning and blowing me into the next county.
A smirk on his ugly face, Bruno strutted toward me like a little banty rooster. “I’m gonna fuck you till you bleed.”
“No, you won’t,” I snarled, shifting into a combat stance; I pulled out the knife Derek had given me and pointed it at him. “Touch me and you’ll be dickless.”
The bastard started laughing.
Hundreds of skeletal limbs suddenly tore through the ground and wrapped bony fingers around his legs. Bruno’s laughter turned into a high pitched squeals of terror as he was dragged down into the shattered earth.
About friggin’ time. I shoved the knife back in its sheath.
Thousands of disembodied skulls flew out of the boiling black clouds and tore at Bruno’s exposed torso.
I flinched as his hot blood splattered over my face.
Bruno’s agonized screams mixed with the Aztec warrior’s banshee-like shrieks.
The shield sparked brightly as the vengeful wraiths tried to cross my circle.
Granny urgent voice cried, “Use the mirrors now.”
I quickly pulled the mirrors off the table propped one against my back and held the other in front of me.
Shrill keening wails broke from the spirits as the mirrors reflected their ghastly images back at them.
It was working!
Red coils of lightning danced wildly across the sky and slammed into my shields.
“The prayer,” Granny urged.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I prayed, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie
down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters.”
The Aztec’s furious howls grew in volume.
I prayed louder. “He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
The ground shuddered under my feet.
Grabbing my cross, I shouted, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anoinest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
With a thunderous cracking boom an eerie silence fell.
The wind stopped.
I cracked open one eye. Had it worked?
Granny Annabel’s ghostly arms closed around me in a comforting hug. “You are safe, bella, they have been banished to the underworld.”
A shudder shook me. “And their souls?”
“Could not be saved.”
“Bruno…?” I wiped his blood off my face. “What happened to him?”
“His soul was taken, too.”
I dropped the mirrors and gaped in horrified disbelief. Thousands of skeletons littered the ground around me, along with gory pieces of Bruno.
Swallowing down the nausea rising in my throat, I turned to Granny Annabel. “The Pope doesn’t mess around.”
“The Holy One is a warrior in the battle against evil.”
“That old guy?”
“Age has nothing to do with it,” Granny huffed indignantly.
With a wince, I hurriedly added, “Sorry, I meant I couldn’t see his Holiness going toe-to-toe with a demon.”
“He has done so many times,” Granny sniffed, “as I have.”
“You’re the best demon slayer ever.”
Another volley of gunfire sounded.
Anxiety knotted my stomach as I stared up at the mesa. I had soaked my men in holy water, loaded them down with salt and reinforced the blood spell but had it been enough?
The gunfire stopped abruptly.
Was the battle over? Derek and Fabian were very good at the G.I. Joe stuff but Uncle Dante always traveled with a small army of well-trained goons. “Could you check on the guys?”
“Certainly.” She vanished.
Someone clapped loudly and a harsh voice congratulated, “Well done, you’ve come into your powers.”
I spun around.
Uncle Dante stood a few feet away, a tall scarecrow figure silhouetted by the setting sun.
My gaze settled on the gun pointed at my chest. “You gonna shoot me?”
Dante stepped into the fading light. His soulless slate-gray eyes stared coldly at me from a badly battered face. “Not unless it’s necessary. I want Montezuma’s treasure and you will find it for me.”
“Not a chance. I will never work for you again.”
He laughed. “You don’t have a choice. I have your husband.”
“He does not,” Granny inserted.
“Derek and Fabian are okay?”
“Si, they are both unharmed.”
Relief flooded me and I let my gaze rove over Uncle Dante. Something was off about him but what? “God, you’re such a liar.”
A growl rumbled deep in Dante chest. “Am I?”
I frowned. His lips hadn’t moved. My uncle’s normally immaculate black hair stood out wildly and his scalp seemed to slide about unnaturally.
“Derek’s fine and you got your ass handed to you.”
Uncle Dante carefully straightened his blood soaked suit. “The battle has not yet been won and your insolence will be punished.”
My unease grew. There was way too much blood on his suit
“Step out of the circle,” my uncle commanded.
I could feel his rage beating at me. “No and if I were you, I’d put the gun down.”
A merciless smile pulled at Dante’s mouth.
“Your sniper is dead.”
“Granny?”
“I will check.”
“Step out of the circle.”
A cold prickling ran up my spine and I warily surveyed the mounds of bones. Had something survived?
I opened my mind’s eye and the breath froze in my lungs. Holy Mother of God, that wasn’t Uncle Dante. It was Asmoday. “Don’t you ever get tired of wearing other people’s skin?”
A bellow of fury broke from Asmoday. “Step out of the circle or I will send you straight to hell.”
“If I leave the circle, I die.”
“You’re dead either way.” Asmoday raised the pistol and fired.
Something slammed into my chest and hurled me back on the table. It toppled over and I fell to the cold, cold earth. Struggling to breathe, a terrible roaring filled my ears and everything faded to black.
“Welcome to hell,” a raspy voice gloated.
Welcome to hell, welcome to hell echoed over and over again in my head, shocking me back to consciousness.
I shot upright, groaned and clamped a hand to my chest. Sonvabitch! Getting shot hurt like a mother.
My eyes widened in horror as an unending blackness stared back. Had I gone blind? The only sound was an eerie moaning, like a chorus of lost souls wailing a dirge.
A light flared in the darkness, then another and another and another until I could make out a vast cavern. Strange contorted rocks reared from the floor. Some seemed to writhe in nameless agony, while others clawed at the air as if to escape some unspeakable horror.
Shit! What was I doing back in the Cavern of Damned? I never left the circle. Was I dead? I didn’t feel dead. Then again, I had met some ghosts who didn’t know they were dead either. If I was dead, I shouldn’t feel any pain, right? I wiped blood off my cut lip. Or bleed?
I rubbed my throbbing chest. Man it hurt. It felt like I had been kicked by a mule. A very angry mule. I pulled up my t-shirt and examined the
bullet lodged in my borrowed vest. Nope. The bullet hadn’t killed me. “So, what the freak am I doing here?”
“My master sent you here,” Aunt Sophie hissed with glee.
I was absofuckinglutely screwed. Climbing to my feet, I watched as she slithered towards me.
My aunt’s demon side had definitely taken over. Her body had transformed into a creepy half-human, half-snake monstrosity with yellow puss oozing from what was left of her face.