Mayan Afterglow Read online

  Carefully she unwrapped the bandage from the night before. The cut was deep but it was mending and though it probably should have had stitches, her magic had helped to join the skin. She mumbled a few words and held her hand over his calf.

  Everyone that Aileen tried to help produced a certain amount of heat or energy. She felt the burning coming from Ian’s leg and she knew he was in a great deal of pain. She recognized the throbbing of the damaged cells and concentrated on easing his discomfort while knitting his flesh back together. When the pounding receded from her hand she knew his pain was undetectable.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  She looked up. “Aileen Grant.”

  He scoffed. “You say that as if I should know what it means. Are you a witch?”

  “No, but I have a gift.” She shook her head. “Though most of the time it’s a curse.”

  She glanced at his leg. “This should be bound back up. Do you have any bandages?”

  He nodded and moved off to the back of the cave where he picked up a large clear plastic bag filled with medical supplies.

  “How’d you do it?” he asked.

  “What?”

  He raised his eyebrows and pointed to his nearly healed leg. “And how did you do that thing with the lightning? And who was that with you?”

  She shrugged. “I’ve always been able to heal. The lightning is new. I pray for it, and it happens. It’s very painful and afterward I’m exhausted and weak. I imagine that getting struck by lightning feels similar.”

  His eyes were wide. “You act as if it’s normal to shoot lightning from your hand. Who was the man?” he asked again.

  “Nothing is normal anymore, Ian Scott. Normal was living with my parents in the house where you found me. On Sundays my two older sisters would visit with their husbands and children. Normal ended back in December.” She quickly brushed a stray tear from her cheek.

  “I still don’t have an answer to the last question, Aileen Grant. Why do I get the impression you don’t want to tell me?” he asked.

  “You won’t believe me.”

  “Maybe I won’t, but I saved you, so you owe me,” he said, his hands on his hips.

  It was obvious that he was trying to intimidate her, but she just said, “I’ll tell you what I can. His name is Mictlantecuhtli.”

  “Mictlan…what?”

  “Some call him the Lord of the Dead.”

  “Okay,” Ian said turning away.

  Even though she’d known he would not believe her, somehow his instant dismissal hurt. “I told you that you wouldn’t believe me. I’m not crazy.”

  “I didn’t say you were,” he said looking at her.

  “You didn’t have to say it. I can see it written on your face. You’re already thinking about how you can get rid of the crazy woman you mistakenly saved. But just think about how you saved me and from what. You don’t believe me but you know what you saw in the bolt. You know what creatures have risen since the End of Days. Don’t you believe your own eyes?” she mocked him.

  He stared at her for a long time before he sat down near the fire and asked, “So this Mictlan—whatever, did he cause the End of Days?”

  She sat across from him. “I don’t think he caused the disasters, but it’s his purpose to take advantage of it.”

  “What is he?”

  “He is everything evil. He’s the end of humanity and a distortion of everything good,” she said, shivering in spite of the warm fire.

  Ian watched her carefully. “How did you come to be with him?”

  “He captured me some time ago.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “He needs my power to get into this world,” she explained. “My strength is greatest in the home where I was born so he brought me back there. There are other places too.”

  “What if I just killed you now? That would solve the problem,” Ian said poking at the fire with a stick but never taking his eyes off her.

  “He would just find another way through,” she said without any concern for her own safety. “Besides, I don’t think that’s the kind of man you are or you wouldn’t have rescued me in the first place.”

  “You don’t know me,” he said. In a sudden burst of anger he threw the stick into the fire. Sparks flew up and he moved back toward the cave opening.

  She inspected her surroundings. The cave was filled with all kinds of items. A small box overflowed with jewelry that appeared expensive. In the corner was a pile of neatly folded women’s clothing. Another pile held men’s clothes. There was a large stack of books and she moved closer to read the titles. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Bronte, Austen, Sagan, and even Stephen King were among the volumes.

  She looked at Ian and then at a pile of silk scarves and a pile of wool coats and another of hats and gloves. She studied him again.

  The Harley Davidson leaned near the entrance. It was worn and beaten up, but she could still see that the bike would have been expensive.

  “What is all of this?” she asked.

  “It’s how I stay alive,” he said.

  “You took all of this?”

  His eyes narrowed. “I took worse from the living before December. Now I take from the dead. I don’t owe you an explanation for my life or my ways. You needed help and I helped. My responsibility is met as far as I’m concerned. I don’t owe you anything.”

  She was surprised by the hurt that she could hear in his voice. She crossed to him and bound his wound. He made no move to stop her. Once that was done she stood in the cave opening.

  She missed the sun. It was obvious to her that he also missed the days when the sun rose each morning. Spring came followed by summer and fall. Now the world was in an endless winter. The trees had all gone dormant. No grass grew. Roads were muddy and the pavement broken with no one to repair them. The land had died and with it all the hope of mankind.

  That thought brought her back to her purpose, her only purpose. Without Ian’s help she would have already failed. Without this wandering thief she would now be the possession of a devil. The thought sent a shiver up her spine.

  She touched his arm. “Ian. Forgive me,” she continued. “I have no right to judge you. You saved me, and I’m grateful. I do have a question though.”

  He turned. “What question?”

  His eyes were so direct and so green. No woman could look at his chiseled features and not be attracted to him. He was beautiful and dangerous.

  Still she had to know. “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why did you rescue me? How’d you know where to find me? Where’d you come from? How’d you come to be at the house at the moment Mictlantecuhtli was trying to drain my power and break through?”

  He laughed. “That’s more than one question.”

  He picked up a stick and stoked the fire before adding another piece of wood.

  Aileen moved toward the fire and put her hands out to absorb its warmth. She sat on a low stool near the pit he’d made and the fire took hold and began to warm her. The wind howled outside warning them of the coming winter.

  As if he’d heard her thoughts he said, “The snow will come soon. I plan to get out of the mountains before that happens. If not, we’ll be trapped here until spring.”

  The idea of being trapped with him through a long winter didn’t sound so terrible. That is not your destiny, her conscience warned. She sighed.

  “Can you take me with you?” she asked.

  He stopped stoking the fire. “You don’t know me and you have no idea where I might be going. Why would you want to go with me?”

  Her thin shoulders lifted in a shrug. “You saved me when you didn’t have to, and I have to get away. Now. Anywhere west and south will work for me.”

  “Since we’re in the northeast corner of the country, that’s a very nondescript direction. Where’re you headed?” he asked.

  “Mexico,” she said flatly.

  He whistled. “That’s a long way for a woman to travel alon
e without any resources.”

  “Are you offering yourself as a traveling companion?” she asked, half hoping he’d say no but knowing she needed his help.

  “I didn’t say that,” he responded gruffly and returned to idly moving the ashes with his stick.

  Changing the subject, she said, “You didn’t answer my question.”

  He frown deepened to a scowl. “I don’t know why I did it. My instincts told me to run, but I couldn’t leave you when you needed help.” His eyes locked with hers. “I have no explanation. As for the rest…” He shrugged.

  “So you don’t go around saving maidens in distress?”

  He laughed. The sound was rich and deep and when it ended she yearned to hear more of it.

  “I’m the bastard son of a Las Vegas prostitute. I steal for a living. While I never took from anyone less fortunate than myself, I would not exactly call myself a hero.”

  “Is that where you were in December? Las Vegas?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “So you saw the city destroyed?” She tried to imagine the horrors he must have witnessed.

  “I was in the desert on the twenty-first. I saw the explosion from miles away.”

  “Was your mother in the city?” Aileen asked softly.

  He was shaking his head. “She died a long time ago, when I was a boy.”

  “What did you do?”

  “After the explosion?”

  She nodded.

  “I drove close to the site. There was nothing left of the city. That meteor left a hole in the ground twice as big as the Vegas strip. It was like God reached down and wiped Sodom off the map.” He snorted. “That’s what I was thinking standing at the edge of the crater—this is biblical. I heard Los Angeles was swept into the ocean with most of California and New York City met a similar fate.”

  She shook her head. “And so many people,” she said.

  “Yeah. I was in my house and the woman in the bed next to me was just gone. No trace of her body. All that was left was the indentation on the pillow.”

  “I’m sorry. Was she someone special?”

  “No, just a woman,” he said.

  “How did you come to be at Lake George?” she asked.

  “I worked my way across the country.”

  “Amazing. How did you get fuel?” Her eyes were wide with interest.

  He spread his arms indicating the things he’d taken. “I barter when I have to. In a lot of the smaller towns the stations still have gas. I just siphon it out and get on my way.”

  “So you didn’t know that Mictlantecuhtli would be trying to break through?”

  Ian’s brow furrowed. He tossed the stick into the low flames. “Look, I have no idea who you are, and I never heard of this Mictlan you were kissing. You appeared to be in trouble, so I helped. That’s all. Don’t make more of it than it is.”

  “But it is more,” she said. “It’s so much more.”

  He didn’t say anything. She watched him stand up and rummage through a bag. He extracted a coffee can and opened it.

  “It was not a kiss,” she mumbled.

  He turned. “Are you hungry?” He handed her a granola bar and some beef jerky that were stored in the can.

  She tore immediately into the granola package. It was sweet and a little stale but it was the first food she’d had in a long time and she devoured it.

  He gave an amused snort. “I guess you’re hungry. Sorry it’s not much.”

  Not even looking up from her food she said, “It’s wonderful.”

  “You’re a cheap date,” he said taking some jerky for himself.

  They ate in silence.

  Again, it was as if he had been reading her thoughts when he asked, “How do you plan to get all the way to Mexico?”

  She turned her head. “That all depends,” she said smiling.

  “On what?”

  “On you, of course.”

  Chapter Three

  “Me. I’m not going to Mexico.”

  She frowned. “Oh. I see.” Getting up she moved toward the entrance and wrapped her arms around herself against the cold.

  He stood up. “Don’t ‘I see’ me. I don’t owe you a trip to Mexico. I don’t owe you anything.” His gut twisted. Who did she think she was?

  “No, you don’t,” she said shivering.

  He began to pace the cavern. He moved back and forth stomping as he went. “I saved you. Isn’t that enough?”

  “Yes, of course it is, but don’t you wonder why you were even there to save me, Ian?”

  The sound of his name on her lips caused the muscles in his chest to clench. He turned toward the back of the cave and kept his eyes on anything but her. “It was just a coincidence.”

  “Do you know that the bolt should have killed you?”

  That got his attention.

  “That’s right. No one should be able to survive thrusting their hand though a jump bolt. You should have been killed. Still I wonder why you would even do such a thing. You’re a criminal not a hero, right?”

  She was still at the entrance to the cave, but now she was facing inward. Behind her a storm was gathering. Snow would come soon. He had to get out of these mountains and get her as far away from him as possible. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was dangerous. Her hands were on her slim hips. Her breath raced and her chest rose and fell. The tunic clung to all her curves. He couldn’t help it. The woman’s anger just made her more magnificent. Even though he was fuming, his groin immediately responded, painfully pressing against his button-fly jeans.

  “That’s right. I’m a criminal. Why would you even want to travel with me?” He turned away again but not before she glanced down and saw his condition.

  He didn’t look back. He could hear her moving toward him. “I don’t know why I did it. I already told you,” he said like a pouting child.

  She touched his back.

  He spun around and grabbed her roughly, pressing her hard against his arousal.

  He saw no anger in her eyes or even distress when she asked, “Is that what it would take, Ian?”

  “Maybe.” His mouth came down hard on hers.

  She didn’t fight him, just allowed him to plunder her mouth. His fingers gripped her upper arms so hard that she would have bruises. He continued to kiss her brutally. She opened her mouth for him, but she didn’t join the kiss. After a moment his grip softened as did his kiss. He nipped at the corner of her mouth. “I’m sorry,” he said. He kissed her cheek and then her eyelids one after another. “I’m sorry.” His hands fell away.

  Their eyes locked.

  She smiled. “I have to admit I liked that last part quite a bit more than the first.”

  She touched his cheek.

  He took her hand and kissed the palm. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s all right. You’re not the first man to take what he wants from me, but you may be the kindest and most remorseful,” she admitted.

  His frown deepened. “I don’t want to hurt you, Aileen.” He dropped her hand and turned away. “I’ll take you down the mountain and find transportation for you to get yourself to Mexico or wherever it is you want to go.”

  “Thank you, Ian.”

  Never glancing back at her, he yanked a parka over the leather jacket he wore and rushed out into the mountain air. The biting wind helped cool his arousal. He tried to think about the task at hand. A small, diamond-plate trailer hidden in the trees was his first task. He pulled the front end out and then backed it up to the cave entrance before walking into the woods to the left of the cave. He pushed aside several pine trees, which immediately fell to the ground behind a Chevy Silverado pickup.

  He climbed inside and turned the key. The engine complained for only a moment before growling to life. Slowly Ian drove the truck out of the woods and backed it up to the trailer hitch. He cut the engine and jumped out before finalizing the hitch for his motorcycle.

  Inside the cave the fire dwindled to ash. Aileen stood nea
r it going through some clothes.

  “May I take some warmer clothes?” she asked, not bothering to turn toward him.

  “Take what you need,” he said. “Then help me put some of this in the truck. We may need to barter.”

  “What should I pack?” she asked.

  He lifted two ten-gallon gas cans. “Let me get all the fuel loaded and then we’ll see how much room we have left. You can put the jewelry inside the cab and that brown bag in the corner has pharmaceuticals. We may need them.”

  “Drugs?” she asked, picking up the bag.

  He casually lifted his shoulders. “The pain killers for sale and the antibiotics just in case.” He thought of Jane for a moment before wiping the thought away. No time for being sentimental now. The snow would be here soon.

  Aileen tugged a pair of jeans on over her leggings and took a hooded ski coat for warmth. Then she did as she was told. They managed to pack up most of the loot from the cave in less than an hour. Besides the drugs and the jewelry, Ian loaded several guns and knives into the back of the truck.

  He watched her tuck a long, sheathed knife into her right boot. When she looked up, he inclined his head in approval.

  “I guess you’re taking the motorcycle,” she said looking at the trailer.

  “That bike is a classic. It’s a Heritage Softail.” Seeing her blank look he shook his head. “That bike has gotten me out of a lot of tough spots. I’m not leaving it behind unless I have to.”

  He stood over the bike and rolled it toward the trailer, up the ramp and into place. Once it was secure he jumped in the cab and they headed west just as a light snow began falling.

  As soon as they moved away from the cave entrance, a wolf leapt onto the hood of the truck. It snarled and snapped at the windshield and drool dripping off its teeth splattered the glass.

  Aileen screamed, “Werewolf!”

  Ian turned sharply side to side, trying to shake the monster from the hood. It held on with its claws cutting through the steel truck. “Are you telling me that these things are human?”