Fixation (15 page)

I’m not sure what I expected as far as grand entrances once I left Evaki’s cauldron. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure how I got out of the whirlwind in the first place. The last minute or so was one big blur. But all of a sudden I just found myself standing in front of Evaki’s cauldron again, still clutching Balam’s totem in one hand and wondering what my hair looked like after my wild ride.

Everyone was still pretty much in the same place and position they’d been right before I’d thrown myself into the cauldron: Anani glaring up at the cauldron still dripping blood; Balam lying on the ground, Jaguar Boy a few feet behind him; and Jaguar Baby crouched at the dais. This made me think this was one of those ”different passages of time” situations, like mortals who wander into a fairy mound and lose a century or two.

Me, on the hand?

Oh, things had changed.

I could feel raw power coursing through my body, as if lightning had taken the place of the blood flowing through my veins. I looked down at my hands and wondered at the sparks of blue fire crackling from my fingertips.

Balam’s face lit up when he saw me. Jaguar Baby capered in glee, chasing his tail and making that funny burbling, chuckling noise of his.

Anani, on the other hand, looked at me with a hatred that should have melted me where I stood.

“You stupid little bitch,” she hissed. “I have had enough of you!” She raised her hands, firing magical mojo at me with both barrels. Without even thinking, I waved one hand in front of me and deflected her puny fire harmlessly off into the trees.

“William Shatner had a much better line delivery in
Star Trek III
,” I said observed. “Plus, he won. You’re not going to win.” I stared at Anani, letting her see the power that was now mine, holding my hands up and letting raw energy play in my palms.

Read it and weep, bitch.

Her expression registered uncertainty for the first time since I’d had the misfortune to know her.

“No!” Anani shot another bolt of magical fire at me. I laughed and batted it aside with ease. I could have hit her with fire of my own, but I chose not to.

“You can’t win, you know,” I said, walking down the ziggurat to the ground and approaching her.

Anani flung another bolt at me and shrieked, “I will destroy you!”

“No,” I replied calmly. “You won’t.” I let the fire run through me as I walked steadily towards her, my entire body outlined with blue flame like the Human Torch. “You are finished. No one here wants what you have to sell.”

As if on cue, the six shamans stepped out of the shadowed jungle and formed a half circle around Anani. She shrieked in fury and fear as they approached her, the power that she’d stolen now fully returned to them. Any escape to the left or right was cut off by the now fully recovered Jaguar Warrior, Jaguar Boy, and Jaguar Shaman. The latter growled, a low rumble in his throat and chest, his gaze fixed on Anani without mercy and with singular intent.

She cowered back towards the dais and I moved out of the way so the shamans and Jaguar Guardians had a clear path. Anani continued to back up until she hit the ziggurat. Jaguar Baby leapt down onto the ground next to me as Anani gave another cry, this time of pure fear, and scrambled up the stairs until she crouched on the dais in front of Evaki’s cauldron.

“You will all die,” she shrieked.

I shook my head. “I don’t think so.” I looked at the shamans, who all nodded. I turned to the cauldron and focused all of my energy on it, telling it what I wanted it to do. Suddenly the bas relief carvings on the cauldron began to move, the faces animating with agonized expressions as the basalt surface started oozing what looked like blood until the entire thing was writhing and bloody. Nasty.

Anani turned and saw the altered cauldron. She started to throw herself away from it when arms and hands emerged from the undulating gore and seized her, hands clasping her wrists and ankles, and arms wrapping around her waist. She fought like a wild thing, her magic sparking out of her like fireworks. But she was no longer any match for me. I was a goddess of destruction, of vengeance, and I would see this bitch pay for what she did and what she tried to do.

“No.
No! Nonono no noooooo—”

Anani’s terrified scream cut off as she was dragged into the very fabric of the cauldron itself, her limbs and body sinking into the bloody basalt.

Within seconds the surface of the cauldron returned to normal. All that was left of Anani was the side of her face, mouth open in a perpetual scream of terror.

“Well,” I said to no one in particular. “That’s done.”

Then I sat down on the ground hard, all the power I used suddenly washing through and out of my body like water running down a drain when the plug’s been pulled. I put my head between my knees and tried not to puke, feeling less like a vengeful goddess and more like someone who’d drunk a pitcher of margaritas on an empty stomach.

Ugh. No margaritas.

I shut my eyes and let the world shimmy and shake as I tried to decide if I was going to pass out or not.

Before I could make that decision, however, strong arms, at least four of them, wrapped around me, holding me tightly against strong bodies, and letting the warmth and energy they contained permeate my body and soul, recharging and nourishing me.

After what might have been minutes or hours, I opened my eyes and found myself once more in the arms of Balam and Jaguar Warrior, both cradling me as if I was the most precious thing in the world. I smiled at both of them.

Jaguar Warrior reached out a clawed hand and gently touched my face before relinquishing me to Balam, who gazed at me with a mixture of admiration and concern that warmed my heart even more.

I heaved a huge sigh of relief and said the first words that came into my mind. “I’m hungry. Can we order pizza?”

Balam gave a laugh and hugged me to him in a fierce embrace.

“You willingly sacrificed yourself to save the world, Maya. I will certainly buy you pizza.”

“Oh, yeah? How about chocolate?”

“Maya...” Balam took my hands in his, expression totally serious. “Have you not learned by now that I would give you anything? I would sacrifice my life to protect you, Maya. We are mated. We are as one. I would die rather than lose you.”

Whoa.

As far as declarations of passion went, this one took the prize. The look in Balam’s eyes burned into my heart and soul. I reached out with my mind, tentative at first for fear he’d shut himself off, but this time he opened himself up to me, letting me inside so I could entwine his psyche with mine and read his thoughts and intentions.

He was telling the truth.

The last protective barrier around my heart crumbled and a wide, uninhibited smile spread across my face. I laughed as Balam swept me up in his arms, kissing me with fierce joy. The Jaguars all watched in approval, Jaguar Baby capering happily around our feet.

I gave a sigh of total satisfaction.

“Excellent. Pizza party at my place.” I looked at the shamans and the Jaguars. “And you’re all invited.”

THE END

Inara Lavey is the romance-writing nom de plume of a San Francisco mystery writer and former B-movie actress who has lived many of the experiences she writes about in her sensuous fiction. She has traveled throughout Europe, and worked in the uncharted wilds of Hollywood as a screenwriter, a script doctor, an award-winning documentary producer, a stunt woman (her background is in theatrical sword-fighting), and actress in more than one cult classic. Along with her best friend, she created a mystery-oriented theatrical troupe in San Diego, which formed the basis for her Murder for Hire mysteries.

She’s written numerous published articles, essays and shorts, and is active in the Northern California chapter of Sisters in Crime. She has a deep passion for all things feline, and for many years has worked with her beloved tigers, leopards, jaguars and other exotic cats at an exotic feline conservation center. Another love is the sea; she adores living by the beach, surfing, strolling the strand and beachcombing. Her many friends know she can always be tempted by bad movies or good wine, preferably combined. When she is not hard at work writing or preparing for the coming zombie apocalypse, she can be found doting on her cats or swordfighting with her Irish lover.

A Ravenous Romance© Original Publication
www.ravenousromance.com

Fixation

Copyright © 2012 by Inara LaVey

Ravenous Romance
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60777-494-5

This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.