Page 81 of Deathless
Still, it was enough for the woman in front of me to turn toward the sound. I was on her before she had the chance to call her friend’s name, probably before she fully realized her fellow guard was no longer at her post.
One hand covered her mouth while my machete sliced cleanly through her neck like butter. She collapsed like her strings had been cut. I caught her fall, eased her to the ground, and moved on without a second thought.
The remaining patrol knew something was happening now. Their headlamps whipped around like fireflies in the night. But Devin and I were both nimble enough to stay out of range of those lights. We were as quiet as shadows and moved just as quickly. Systematically, we disposed of the patrolling women one by one, before they had a chance to wake anybody. Devin nodded at me once he laid the final body on the ground. It was time for phase two of our assault.
With a returned nod, I pulled the small flashlight from my pocket and pointed it toward the darkness away from the settlement. I clicked the light on and off in a distinct pattern--our signal for success. The sky was lightening to a rich, dusty blue as I repeated the signal two more times. Dawn would be here soon.
A small, flickering light came alive in the darkness, clicking on and off in an answering pattern.
“They know we’re good,” I told Devin. “They’re coming.”
A flutter of wings brought our gazes skyward to the white dove flying overhead.
“Hey, paloma,” I whispered. Somehow I knew it was Rori up there, watching over us and looking for the best direction to launch an attack.
A shot rang out, shattering the peaceful quiet of the pre-dawn day.
“Shit!” The white bird veered sharply off course, wings beating in panicked desperation. Another shot fired, the sound’s echo crackling like lightning, and the bird dropped like a stone from the sky.
“Someone’s awake. They know we’re here.” Devin grabbed my shoulder in a rough squeeze, bringing me back to focus. “Let’s take care of that shooter.”
“Rori,” I choked. “If she was up there—”
“She’s fine. She’s back in her own body,” he insisted. “The bird is just a vessel. Astarte is still here too.” He shook my shoulder harder. “Don’t choke on me, Santos. This is it. Let’s do our job, okay?”
I nodded, rolling my wrists to swing my blades, to feel the weight of those weapons like extensions of my arms again. “Yeah, let’s go.”
We headed for the heart of the settlement, which was just a corridor between the two rows of structures. As Devin had said, they were mostly mobile homes plus some RVs and pop-up campers. Some spaces were made, marked with stakes and nylon rope like they were planning foundations for more permanent homes. Too bad that would never happen for these people.
Devin and I stayed out of view of windows and doors, creeping in the narrow alleys between structures. The shooter had to have been sitting on a roof or something—
The sound of something large dragging through the main corridor made me freeze, locking up every muscle in my body while I listened hard. Devin and I were back-flatted against the side of a house, the source of the sound just around a corner. He took a peek first and then made a noise that sounded distinctively like a snort.
“What?” I demanded.
He resumed his position next to me, grinning. Then he jerked his head to the side as if to say,Take a look.
I peeled off the wall, placing my feet carefully so as to not make a sound. What I saw around that corner was Tezca in plain view of all the homes, sitting calmly in the center of the temporary village.
His jaws were clamped around the throat of a woman, pale, limp, and unmoving. She still had the rifle strapped around her torso.
“That was our kill, damn cat,” Devin muttered.
“No,” I said, the understanding hitting me. “He’s a vengeful god, and that woman in his jaws just killed Astarte’s vessel.”
Beyond the black jaguar proudly displaying his kill for all to see, there was a flurry of movement behind windows and doors. People were rousing, shouting at each other inside their homes. A window slid open and a rifle barrel poked through the crack.
“Tezca!” I shouted.
But he was already gone, tearing off like a shadow. The barrel lifted to point at me, and I darted around the corner just as a chunk of siding broke off from the house.
The roar of a dozen engines was a constant hum in the air now, a vibration that energized my blood. More shots fired, and I knew some of them had to be our people.
“Which direction are they coming from?” I asked Devin, eying that rifle now lying unused in the middle of everything.
“Sounds like it’s directly east.” He cocked his head from one side to the other. “Yeah, behind those houses.” He indicated the row opposite from ours.
“Perfect.”
