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

craved it, had never wanted to be anything other than mortal.
    Ix Chel’s gift was different, but no less monstrous. The professor would be bound to her forever.
    â€œNo.” The Priestess shook her head. “He is not yet mine. I have the power to bring life from death. All I need is blood. One more sacrifice, and anyone who shares my blood”—she spread her arms at the mummified corpses around them—“will rise again. When they do, your friend will be young and healthy once more, as I have already given him some of myself.”
    A musky scent filled the air, full of dark promises. Ethan struggled against the primeval lust it raised in him.
    â€œSo to save the father you must kill the daughter? I can’t allow that.”
    â€œI can.” Hearing Jenny’s voice cleared his head. She descended the last few steps into the chamber, Amos and Harrison behind her.
    â€œNo, my child,” Heathcliff gasped. “I couldn’t live with myself knowing it was your death that gave me life.”
    â€œAnd I couldn’t go on, knowing you died because of me,” she said.
    Ethan watched as she went to her father. Even Ix Chel’s animal magnetism was no match for Jenny’s beauty. She’d tied one remnant of her robe around her waist in a makeshift skirt, while another draped over her chest, a reverse cape that did little to hide any of her secrets.
    He fought to turn his attention away from her.
    â€œThere must be another way. If it’s blood you need, why not take mine?” He held out his arm to the Mayan Priestess.
    She shook her head, and he could almost believe true sadness shone in her eyes. “It is not just the blood. It is the life energy. Only a virgin will do, for theirs is the most powerful life force.”
    â€œWhat happens if you can’t make your sacrifice?”
    â€œYour friend will die. My people will die. There are limits to what even I can do. Until you came to me, I feared I would live out the rest of my life in solitude.”
    â€œNo, Priestess, I will not fail you!” Hector Veracruz stumbled forward, an obsidian blade in his hand, blood running from his chest. “Her blood shall be yours!”
    Ethan moved as fast as he could, but the distance was too far. Hector lunged. Someone screamed.
    Ethan reached out and twisted Hector’s head back and to the side. There was a wet snap, and the man fell to the floor.
    Next to the body of Elton Harrison.
    The obsidian knife stuck out of Harrison’s chest. Bright blood pumped out, spilling across his shirt.
    Ethan knelt down by the body, touched his fingers to the neck. “No pulse. He was braver than we gave him credit for.”
    â€œOh, shit.” Amos’s curse made Ethan look up.
    All around them, the mummies were rising to their feet. Like a film played at twice-normal speed, their dried, wrinkled flesh filled out and grew smooth. Brittle hair regained its youthful luster, and skeletal faces turned into human visages.
    Two dozen sets of amber-colored eyes stared at them, and then the reborn priests and soldiers knelt and bowed to their priestess.
    Ethan turned to Ix Chel. “You said it had to be Jenny.”
    The priestess appeared as surprised as anyone. “No. I said the sacrifice needed to be a virgin. Your friend…” She stopped speaking, waved a hand at Harrison’s body. “I did not know.”
    â€œEthan.” Heathcliff Pascal’s voice, strong and full of vigor, drew everyone’s attention.
    â€œProfessor?”
    â€œFather!”
    The man Jenny Pascal threw herself against looked much as he had when Ethan first met him, more than thirty-five years earlier. With one small difference.
    His previously sky-blue eyes were now a rich honey-golden color, with tall, narrow pupils.
    The eyes of a jaguar.
    Heathcliff pulled himself away from Jenny’s enthusiastic embrace. “Ethan, we must speak. Alone.”
    Ethan’s