Page 68 of Defying the Relic Hunter

“You’re such a liar,” Xenia exclaimed.

“I don’t want them to panic and do something stupid.”

I glanced over my shoulder as a slew of engines roared to life. “It might be a little late for that.” I winced at the repeated crunch of metal on metal. It was like a demolition derby as the fear-crazed people made their getaway. “We’re gonna need more salt and a couple of really big mirrors.”

“Mirrors? What do we need mirrors for?” Ethan demanded.

“Believe it or not, once the ghosts see their own reflections it’ll scare them back to their watery grave. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of them trying to kill us.”

“The spirits are very angry,” Granny concurred.

Ethan snarled, “Homicidal is more like it.”

“If you had been trapped in an unending hell for centuries, you’d be cranky too.” I tapped on my bracelet. “We’re in luck. There’s a hardware store down the street.”

“Asmoday slaughtered the warriors and magically bound their lifeforce to the jade snake. None can touch it, but him. The Thunder God feared Asmoday’s growing powers and tricked him into the figurine,”Adan said as he climbed to his feet.

Xenia blew out a long breath.“That answers a few of our questions.

“He is mine to kill,”Adan declared.

“No one has a problem with that. We know Asmoday will return for the jade snake and we need to be prepared,”I said.

Ethan stated firmly,“The Aztec warriors must be dealt with first.”

“Agreed,”Adan said.

Chapter Eighteen

The sun slowly slid below the jagged edges of the mesa, casting an almost mystical glow over the shimmering red rock.

Voices whispered in the wind creating a wailing melody of death.

My body coiled with tension I cast a circle of salt around a card table loaded down by two big mirrors. With a cautious look at the gathering clouds, I poured a second line of defense with the holy water I had gotten from a Catholic priest in Kanab.

Our bad luck continued. One of the townsfolk had recorded our fight with the Aztec warriors and gave it to the news vids. An hour later Bjarke warriors were spotted in Kanab. It made me wonder how long it would take Luigi’s assassins to show up too.

A word to the wise. Pissing off General Jones is a bad idea. He was intent on annihilating Asmoday and his army of Aztec ghosts. Quinn and Ethan managed to talk him into concentrating on the Bjarke mercenaries, while Granny and I dealt with things that went bump in the night. Adan would handle Asmoday.

I could still taste Ethan’s fierce kiss on my lips and hear his stern command of, “No matter what, you don’t step out of that fucking circle.”

To ease the lines of worry creasing his forehead, I made a solemn vow that I wouldn’t step one foot out of the circle until he came for me. No matter what I heard or saw. Clinging to him, I had whispered, “Don’t get dead on me, sugar.” Ethan, the invincible, just laughed and kissed me again.

Throwing a quick glance at the ledge where Ethan lay hidden with a laser rifle, I pulled out the piece of paper with the protection spell Zarek had gotten from the Pope himself. I would have loved to attend that meeting.

Taking a deep, calming breath, I fought down the jitters and chanted, “Tempore. Cuidamn. Monstrata. Desopsuit de cruce, mirabilis visio!”

A clap of thunder resounded off the mesa and energy crackled wildly around me. Whoa! The Pope knew his stuff. The circle was set, and the trap baited.

Right on cue, a little troll of a man with a bulbous nose and a bad comb over, walked out of the shadows. The wind lifted his hair and it flapped like a flea ridden flag. This was the guy Asmoday decided to possess?

His gaze slid over me with a sexual menace that was both frightening and repellent. “That won’t keep me out.”

No shit, Sherlock. The circle was to keep the nasty Aztec spirits away. Granny had gleefully told us Asmoday’s possession hadn’t worked the way it should, and he was gonna be in for a big surprise. I stared at him with utter loathing. “If you’re a smart man, alien, or whatever, you’ll leave now.”

A cold lustful gleam filled his eyes. “I’ve never had a human female before.”

Oh ick! “And you’re not starting with me.”

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