Mayan Afterglow (2 page)

He grinned. “It’s a long story. Get some sleep,” he said.

He knelt down before her and tugged at the laces of her
leather boot. Once it gave way he touched the fur lining and felt the heat from
her body. Putting it aside he worked on the other boot.

When he looked up she was still watching him.

He immediately averted his eyes and moved to build a fire in
the pit he’d dug months before when he found the cave.

“You can have a fire in here?” she asked.

He nodded. “The ceiling has another cave entrance. It vents
as good as any flue and the cave stays pretty warm.”

“Amazing,” she said and gazed up into the darkness of the
rock.

“I’m Ian,” he said hoping she would respond with her name.
His heart clenched, creating a painful tightness in his chest. He was desperate
to know her name, to know her and who she was. When she didn’t immediately
respond he added, “Ian Scott.”

She smiled but he didn’t know why his name should please her.

“Aileen Grant,” she said.

He was smiling, too.
Idiot,
he thought to himself.
You’re
an idiot to think this woman could be interested in you.
He frowned and
turned away.

She was asleep by the time he had a good fire burning. He
sat on the edge of the bed and watched her sleep for a long time before he,
too, crawled into bed and slept.

Chapter Two

The chill seeped into her feet first. It made its way up her
legs and sank deep into her belly causing her entire body to shake. Something
warm wrapped around her and she buried herself in it. In the back of her mind
she knew the warmth was a man. Her good sense told her to wake herself and move
away from his embrace. He was so easy though. His body was warm and he
willingly gave of himself.
Ian Scott,
she thought. She felt content and
remained engulfed in his arms allowing her sleep to return.

The fire was only embers when she woke up. Still it gave off
enough heat for comfort. She was alone in the bed and immediately scanned the
cave for her companion.

She found him standing at the mouth of the cave watching the
morning come. There was no sun. There had not been sun since the Winter
Solstice of the previous year. She could hear the wind blowing hard through the
trees and down the mountain.

“You should let me have a look at that leg,” she said.

“It’s fine,” he said, glancing down at the offending limb.

“What are you looking at?” she asked as her legs swung over
the side of the bed.

He turned. “Nothing.”

She pulled her boots on. “For nothing, it sure had your
attention.”

A sad smile lifted the corners of his full mouth. He was
more handsome than she had realized the night before. His hair was dark blond
and full of waves, and he somehow managed to keep it short and neat. His eyes
were a deep green that in another time she might have taken for colored contact
lenses. Now though, people could not be bothered with that kind of vanity.
Ignoring his claims she moved toward where he stood and knelt down to look at
the wound.

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 alone
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.”