“We need to leave, Teresa,” Rune told her, face grim but determined as he narrowed his eyes on the man still screaming threats and obscenities at Teresa. “I’m going out there to clear the danger. Then I’ll come back for you.”
But she grabbed his hand and shook her head. “No, there’s a better way.” Threading her fingers through his, she looked up at him and let him read the idea in her eyes. Rune glanced at the sunlit, grassy area, then back at her. When he nodded, he squeezed her hand tight, stepped to one side and waited.
Teresa inhaled sharply, deeply, and lifted her free hand. With Rune’s and her powers recharged from the temple, with the strength of her mate pushing through her as a focus, she drew down the lightning.
A tremendous jagged bolt shot from the sky with unerring accuracy. It slammed into the ground beside the group of thugs huddled together and three of them dropped instantly, dead before they hit the ground. Another bolt chased the first, but by that time the survivors were on the run.
Men screamed.
Miguel cursed.
Chico whistled and shrieked, his cries audible above the furious blast of the lightning.
Teresa filled the area with lightning. Her power sang inside her as it never had before. Magic coursed through her veins, alive, bristling with energy. Rune was her stalwart. Beside her, clutching her hand, he gave her the focus and concentration she needed to target her magic with efficiency. She felt his pride in her abilities. Felt his strength. His faith.
The sizzling bolts crashed to earth one after another, cutting off escape routes, driving the men as if they were being herded. And still she called for more, filling the heavens with her fury. With her need for justice. With the magic that was the very core of her.
As for Miguel, another wicked bolt of energy hit too close to where he continued to attempt to force his way into the temple. He slapped both fisted hands against the barrier keeping him from what he most wanted. “You bitch! This isn’t over, Teresa! I’ll find a way to end you!”
Teresa watched with a cool detachment and sent another jagged bolt toward him that slammed into the ground by his feet. Knocked over by the powerful blast, Miguel screamed. Fury claimed her and with that emotion spiking inside her, Teresa’s ability to aim was compromised.
Finally, he seemed to realize that if he stayed, he wouldn’t survive. So he ran like the dog he was and Teresa’s lightning chased after him, crashing again and again into the earth and trees.
When the esplanade was empty, Teresa quieted the lightning and all that was left was the sun, shining down on the ancient site. Hands still locked together, she and Rune stepped outside the temple. The dead lay scattered on the grassy surface and the others—like Miguel—were gone.
She hated that the man who had killed her grandmother had escaped. But she wouldn’t waste precious time chasing him down. Miguel had said himself that if he failed, his superiors would finish him. She didn’t wish death for anyone—but she couldn’t bring herself to feel sorrow for him, either.
“Wait for me here,” Rune said tightly, gaze narrowed in the direction that Miguel had fled. “I’m going to finish this.”
“No,” Teresa told him, releasing his hand long enough to wind her arms about his waist and hold on. Grief for her grandmother was still welling inside her. She felt the burden of what she’d done here with her magic. Men were dead. Yes, they were evil and probably would have killed her with no remorse if given the chance. She had done the only thing she could do to save both herself and Rune. To make sure they lived to complete the quest that was so important, not just to them but to the world. Still, guilt and regret pinged around the pit of her stomach like steel balls in an old pinball game.
Defending themselves was one thing. Deliberately chasing someone down—even Miguel—just to kill him was something else.
“Don’t, Rune. Just … let Miguel go to whatever end is waiting for him. He’ll be in hell soon enough.”
He shook his head and blew out a breath. “It’s a mistake to let him go. He’ll only report to whoever’s in charge of this mess exactly what happened.”
“Let him,” Teresa argued, burrowing closer to Rune’s solid strength. Tears filled her eyes and choked her voice. Grief for her grandmother warred with pride in what the old woman had done for them. She’d sent them here, knowing that Palenque’s magic would be enough to free them.
Although her
abuela
had known that the cost would be her life, she had set Teresa on the path she needed to walk.
“It doesn’t matter what Miguel does anymore,” she said, swallowing back the tears. She wouldn’t dishonor her grandmother’s sacrifice by weeping and wailing over it. Teresa knew that her
abuela
was now on another plane and wherever she was, the old woman was watching.
Teresa would make her proud.
She looked up at her mate and waited until his gaze met hers. Those gray eyes swirling with power and emotion stared back at her.
“Miguel means nothing,” Teresa said. “It’s more important that we go to retrieve the black silver. The Artifact is out there and until we get it back, no one will be safe.”
The warrior in him wanted to argue. She could see that easily in his clenched jaw and the flash of his eyes. But after a long moment of tense, strained silence, Rune bowed his head briefly. “You’re right, of course. Your grandmother sacrificed herself to see that we could do what we must do.”
Teresa smiled, loving that he understood her so well and that he was willing to set aside his own need for retribution.
Chico swooped in, landed on her shoulder and screeched,
“Run for it!”
Rune frowned at the creature.
Teresa grinned and reached to stroke its brightly colored chest.
“So,” he said, “Spain?”
“Spain,” she agreed, hooking her arms around his neck. “Get us out of here, Eternal.”
He called on the fire and first took them to the van where their duffel bag had been abandoned. Rune wasn’t going anywhere without his knives.
When he was armed and ready again, he flashed them away from the ancient site of death and renewal.
Chapter 56
T
hey didn’t go far.
Rune ended the jump just a few miles from Palenque, landing them in a deserted area of the rain forest. Monkeys chattered, a jaguar roared from somewhere nearby and a waterfall surged down a cliff, cool mist spraying into the air.
“Where are we?” Teresa asked, surprised that he’d ended their jump so quickly.
He didn’t answer. Instead, his mouth a grim slash, he grabbed the bird off her shoulder and wrung its small neck with a twist of his hands.
Horrified, Teresa screamed and lunged for him just as a thick twist of black smoke lifted from the dead bird and quickly dissipated in the breeze. “Oh, my God.”
Rune dropped the dead animal to the jungle floor and reached for her. Instinctively, she took a step back, shaking her head in disbelief. What had she just seen?
“What? What’s happening? What was that smoke? How … ?”
He let his empty hands fall to his sides. Pity swirled in his gray eyes as he met her gaze. “I’m sorry, Teresa. At the temple, when Miguel tried to get past the barrier— your bird tried, too. It hit the energy field and bounced away. It couldn’t pass.”
She looked down at the bright, colorful bird that had been her companion for two years and an empty, hollow feeling opened up inside her.
“It was possessed by a demon. A familiar,” he said, his voice so gentle that his words were nearly lost in the rush of the nearby waterfall. “When I saw that it couldn’t enter the temple, I knew. Teresa, every time it flew off, it must have been reporting to someone. It explains how Miguel knew exactly where we were.”
Shaking her head, Teresa pressed one hand to her churning stomach. The sense of betrayal was so deep, so keenly edged, she felt as if she were bleeding internally. She had talked to Chico, told him her fears, her hopes. She’d had him with her when she went to visit her grandmother and practice her magical skills. He had been with her when she did spells, when she visited Elena—“Oh, God, he must have sent whoever killed her to Elena’s place.”
“Probably.” He reached out for her again and this time she didn’t sidestep.
Instead she moved into the circle of his arms and let his strength surround her. Memories flooded her mind. Chico had been a gift from Miguel. Had he known even then what he would do? Of course he had, she told herself. He’d planted the demon familiar with her to keep an eye on her and report on what she was up to.
Then something else occurred to her. She leaned back, looked up into Rune’s eyes and said, “Chico was with us in the van. When I told you about Tía Carmen and about Barcelona.” She looked down at the broken little body and felt anger stir. “He flew off as soon as we got to Palenque, remember? So he probably already reported what he heard.”
“Probably.” His expression didn’t change, which told Teresa that he had already realized that truth.
“That means—”
“—we’ll have enemies waiting for us in Spain.” Rune finished for her. “I know. But that changes nothing.”
“No,” she agreed, “it doesn’t. We’ll still go. And we’ll still claim the Artifact.”
“Damn right we will,” he murmured, smoothing her hair back from her face with a gentle touch.
Teresa had now officially lost everything. Her home. Her best friend. Her grandmother. Even her pet had been taken from her by an evil that still wasn’t finished with her. Her old life was shattered and lay in ruins at her feet.
But looking up into Rune’s gray eyes, she could feel his fierce strength and unswerving loyalty surrounding her, and she knew a new life was being born. Rising up from the ashes, her own personal phoenix was becoming something else. Something formidable. Her spirit lifted to the challenge. Her heart soared as she admitted to the deep and abiding love she felt for this Eternal. This immortal who made her feel more alive than ever before.
Whatever came next, she would be prepared for it.
With Rune at her side, no enemy was strong enough to defeat them.
“You ready?” he asked, one corner of his mouth lifting into a half smile.
“Yeah,” she said, hooking her arms around his neck. “Take me to Spain, Rune.”
Chapter 57
M
iguel made it out of the rain forest.
With his skin still buzzing from the electrical charge in the air, he raced down the hilly incline to where they’d left the cars. The van he ignored. If the others survived, they could take it. He jumped into his jeep, fired up the engine and floored it. Spinning the wheels, he did a quick turnaround and headed out of Palenque as fast as he could.
His gaze studied the view in the rearview mirror, but as far as he could tell, no one was following him. And the lightning had stopped. Was Teresa really responsible for that? Damn. The continuous blasts of lightning bolts slamming into the earth had left him partially deaf. His ears were ringing and his heart crashed crazily in his chest.
He wasn’t safe. Miguel knew that. He wouldn’t put it past the big Eternal to come after him, and if he did, then it wouldn’t matter how fast and far Miguel traveled. The man made of fire would find him.
“Fuck!”
He punched the steering wheel a couple of times and didn’t feel any better.
The jeep jolted and bounced over impediments in the road, but kept on going. Just like him, Miguel assured himself. There were problems, sure. But he’d keep going. Parnell still needed him. He’d be able to explain. Hell, who would have known that the damn temple was magically protected?
Teresa
, that’s who, he told himself with a furious glower. She must have known what was going on. She’d done it deliberately. Her and that fucking old woman. They’d tricked him. Anyone could see that. It wasn’t his fault. Hell, if it was anyone’s fault, it was Parnell’s for not expecting this to happen.
Yeah. That was it. Parnell’s fault.
“But I won’t tell him that,” Miguel murmured. “I won’t blame him, so he won’t blame me. He’ll see I did everything I was supposed to. Not my fault it didn’t work. Fuck it—we can catch up to them. We’ll stop them. We can still get the damn Artifact.”
The Artifact.
Ever since he’d first learned of that magical shard of black silver, Miguel had hungered for it. Who wouldn’t? Immeasurable power locked inside a hunk of metal? The key to controlling whatever the hell you wanted to control? If Miguel could only get his hands on it, he could be a king. He could live as he was meant to live.
Not in a damn desert or rain forest, either. He was thinking penthouse. Acapulco, maybe, to start. But with the Artifact, he could go anywhere, do anything.
It was still within his reach.
He would just make Parnell understand the situation. The farther he got from Palenque, the better he felt. In fact, he could almost convince himself that he’d done Parnell a favor. The lightning had killed off most of Miguel’s men and the others wouldn’t last a day in the rain forest.
Something
was sure to eat them. Another problem solved.
He drove for hours, finally arriving back at the tavern where he’d left Parnell the day before. In the pit of his belly, nerves were alive and churning, but he didn’t let them show. A real man was nothing if not confident.
Miguel wasn’t looking forward to this confrontation, but he knew he could talk the boss around. This was the kind of stuff he was good at. Spinning a well-crafted load of bullshit was Miguel’s specialty.
Smiling, nodding, he silently encouraged himself and hopped out of the car like a man without a care in the world.
“It’s all about attitude,” he told himself, plastering a self-assured smile on his face as he headed for the tavern.
Before he had gone more than a few steps, though, he heard powerful engines roaring up behind him. He turned to watch as three black SUVs skidded to a stop behind his battered jeep. Dust flew into the air in waves thick enough to make Miguel cough and turn his face away.