Warriors of Poseidon 03 - Atlantis Unleashed

fantasy of flight. Keely gasped at the sight of fiercely scolding monkeys and laughed in delight at the brightly colored birds who flew along with them, clearly wondering what kind of new strange cousin shared their skies.
    “Archaeology was never as much fun as this before,” she sang out, hoping he could understand her in that state, somehow sure that he could. She couldn‟t take in everything fast enough, and her head whipped back and forth on her neck so rapidly as she gazed around that she‟d probably give herself whiplash.
    We’re very nearly there .
    She nodded absently, staring down through an opening between treetops at a sleek jaguar pair crossing the ground, fluid muscles moving under their dappled coats. “They‟re so beautiful.”
    Beautiful and deadly, he said in her mind.
    “Rather like you,” she replied, smiling.
    In retaliation, he tossed her into the air so that for a moment she was falling, unsupported, shrieking with surprise, but he caught her again so quickly she never had a chance to become afraid. “Now that‟s just mean,” she scolded. “Wait till I get a chance to—”
    The sight of the smoke stopped her midsentence. Thick clouds of rolling, ominous black smoke a little ways in front of them. Finding the Star might not be as simple as they‟d hoped.
    The jungle was burning.
     
    Justice smelled the smoke before he saw it. He immediately took them back down to the ground, a safe distance from the jaguar pair, and rematerialized. Automatically, his hand checked to see that his sword had made the transition with him. Reassured, he pulled it from its sheath.
    “Keely, I need for you to stay here while I check it out.”
    She shook her head. “That‟s not happening. The two of us will investigate together.”
    He glared down at her, giving her the fierce look that had caused many warriors to quail before him. “This is my area of expertise, Dr. McDermott. You will do as I say and stay out of the path of danger.”
    The obstinate set to her jaw told him that he didn‟t intimidate her in the slightest. By all the gods, she was magnificent.
    “Yes, well, my area of expertise involves not getting myself killed on expeditions,” she snapped. “You‟re the one with the fighting skills and the weapons. I‟m the one who is not going to wait alone for you here, in the path of who knows how many hungry jaguars or raiding mobs of criminals. The State Department doesn‟t issue travel warnings about Guatemala for no reason, you know. This is a lovely country with wonderful people, but it holds real danger, and I don‟t even have my passport with me to back up my identity.”
    She was right. He hated to admit it, but to leave her there might expose her to even more danger than to take her with him. “Fine, but you do exactly what I say when I say it. I will be very unhappy with anyone who puts you in any danger, and that includes you.”
    She lifted her chin. “I‟m not an idiot or a stupid coed from a cheap horror flick. I‟m not going to run screaming into the arms of the guy with the chain saw. I‟ll do what you say, as long as it makes sense.”
    He wanted to shake some sense into her. He wanted to kiss the sense out of her. He‟d finally found his true mate, and she was annoying the miertus out of him.
    “Fine. Let‟s go. Stay behind me.” He took off, nearly running. Something about that smoke raised a sense of dread in his gut. He‟d seen too many burning battlefields, too many towns and villages razed by predators intent on herding the humans into the waiting jaws of vampires and shape-shifters.
    She‟d said vampires had taken over the San Bartolo site. Maybe they‟d decided to expand their territory. After all, a formerly lost Mayan temple wouldn‟t offer them any chances to feed, but a Guatemalan village, cut off from any governmental protection, would.
    He turned, still running, and lifted Keely into his arms. They‟d move faster this way, and suddenly he had an urgent need for speed.

Chapter 33
    Keely stared in shock at the scene that lay before them when Justice stopped running and put her down. A small village—or what was left of the village—lay in ruins, smoldering and still burning in places.
    “What happened here?” she whispered.
    “More like who happened here, I‟d guess,” Justice said flatly, his fury-darkened eyes scanning the area. “It‟s a common vamp trick; burn out your prey when they try to hide out.
    Vamps can‟t enter