Cult of the Black Jaguar by JG Faherty Read Free Book Online

unnatural angle.
    Harrison brought his own torch down for a closer look, then jumped back when the body opened its eyes.
    â€œDiablo,” Veracruz whispered, before falling back into unconsciousness.
    â€œLeave him,” Rory said. “We need to get to the top before it’s too late.”
    They moved across the wide chamber, their torches revealing pictographs depicting violent, bloody scenes of battle, jaguars and humans fighting side-by-side against other tribes. The flickering firelight gave the impression of movement and made the brutal carvings come to life. Always in the background of each scene, looming over everything, was the Temple de Sangre.
    The two men ducked through an archway and emerged into a smaller chamber. Dark shapes lay strewn about the floor.
    â€œNow what the hell?” Harrison muttered. He bent for a closer look. “Jesus! They’re dead bodies. Mummies.”
    â€œForget them, I found the way up,” Rory said, motioning towards a staircase carved into the inside walls of the pyramid.
    Unlike the exterior stairs with their narrow, high steps, the interior stairs were of normal dimensions.
    The spiraling ascent left them winded and with shaking legs. Rory was the first to emerge into the sacrificial chamber, and then had to duck as two monstrous shapes rolled past him, locked in combat.
    â€œHurry!” He reached down and helped Harrison from the stairs. They hid behind the altar.
    â€œNow what?” Harrison asked.
    Before Amos could answer, the jaguar creature rose up on its hind legs and dove forward, driving the demon into the staircase opening.
    Together they fell through, their furious cries diminishing as they tumbled into space.
    â€œNow we untie Jenny and get the hell out of here.”
    Ix Chel’s grip prevented Ethan from unfurling his wings as they plummeted down through the pyramid. With the ground coming up fast, he managed to twist their bodies so he landed to one side instead of beneath her.
    Even so, the impact knocked him senseless. He fought the blackness, knowing that if Ix Chel recovered before him, he was finished.
    He pulled himself to his knees and fought for breath. Around him lay the mummified bodies of ancient Mayans. He also smelled fresh blood. Hector’s.
    â€œDon’t kill her.”
    The hoarse whisper startled Ethan. He looked around the room until he saw Heathcliff Pascal leaning against a wall.
    â€œProfessor?” Ethan wasn’t sure he could believe his eyes. The smell of the man was different.
    Feline.
    â€œEthan, listen to me. I was wrong. She is the last of her kind. Leave her. Take Jenny and others, and just go.”
    â€œProfessor, what did she do to you?” Ethan let his body return to his human form as he moved across the room.
    â€œThe one thing I’d never allowed you to do.” Pascal shook his head. “Hurry. I can feel the changes taking place inside me. Soon I won’t be…I won’t be my own man.”
    Heathcliff held out something. “Here.” It was Ethan’s long-barrel Colt. “Do it, before she awakens.”
    â€œNo. If I kill her now…”
    â€œYou care for the historian.”
    Ix Chel’s voice turned Ethan around. She stood near the stone staircase. Human again, she’d pulled her long hair forward over her shoulders to cover her nakedness.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œHe was dying.” She walked slowly around the staircase, keeping her distance. Each step revealed, and then hid, portions of her body.
    Ethan knew it for the truth. He said nothing.
    â€œI saved him.”
    â€œYou made him a slave.” Ethan’s hand tightened on the gun. Every gift came with a price; Ethan’s was the beast within him, the demon that craved hot, fresh blood. The granting of immortality was a long and painful process for both parties, one he’d have gladly endured to keep his old friend around forever. Except the professor had never