Chapter 14
Chapter fourteen
Luna
“You do understand this is suicide, yes?” Eduardo Vega’s weathered face creased as he examined our equipment on the rickety dock. “The Gap doesn’t forgive mistakes, especially not from outsiders.”
Panama City’s humidity clung to my skin like a second layer as I double-checked my waterproof pack.
We’d spent the afternoon locating Felix’s contact—a process that had involved three different bars, an uncomfortable conversation with a parrot-keeping fortune teller, and more cash than I liked to think about.
“We’re aware of the risks,” Damien replied, his voice carrying that particular blend of aristocratic boredom and subtle threat.
His attention remained focused on the small, flat-bottomed boat bobbing in the murky water. He’d been increasingly tense since receiving yet another call during our flight. He even snapped at me for having to go to the bathroom at the airport.
“Fine, I’ll just go right here, then.” I’d thrown my head back and pretended to go right in the middle of the baggage claim.
Needless to say, I’d won that battle, and he hadn’t complained about my tiny bladder since.
Eduardo laughed, a sound like gravel in a tin can.
“No, senor, you are not aware of the risks. Nobody is aware of The Gap’s risks until they’re already dead from them.
” He tapped his scarred left temple. “I’ve lost thirty-two men in those jungles over the years.
Good men who knew the terrain. You are tourists with expensive toys. ”
“Yet you’re still willing to take us,” I said, pointing to the boat.
Eduardo shrugged. “The fee you’re paying will support my sister’s children for years. If you wish to die, who am I to refuse such generosity?”
We had offered triple his asking price, not double as Theo suggested—partly to ensure his cooperation and partly because the gleam in his eye when we’d mentioned our destination suggested he might sell our location to less savory interests otherwise. Like Marcel.
Of course, he might do that anyway.
“We don’t plan on dying,” I said, strapping a machete to my hip.
“Nobody does, bonita.” Eduardo’s gaze lingered on my face. “You have shifter eyes. Wolf?”
I stiffened and looked away. “Once upon a time.”
“That might help you. The old magic in The Gap responds differently to different bloods.” His attention turned to Damien, his eyes narrowing. “But you, senor… The jungle does not welcome your kind.”
Damien moved closer, his presence suddenly filling the dock space as though the air itself had condensed around him. When he spoke, his voice had dropped to a register that raised goose bumps along my arms.
“Tell me exactly what happened to the last vampire who entered The Gap.”
Eduardo took an instinctive step back. “I guided a Russian blood drinker five years ago. Arrogant, like you. Powerful, like you.” His eyes darted nervously to the jungle beyond the dock.
“The Gap took him piece by piece. First his strength failed. Then his mind. By the third day, he was begging me to end him.”
“And did you?” Damien asked, winging up a dark eyebrow.
“The jungle saved me the trouble.” Eduardo made a warding gesture. “We found only his clothes and boots. The rest, The Gap consumed.”
Damien’s jaw tightened, but his voice remained calm. “Then I’ll be certain not to repeat his mistakes.”
“Well, on that cheerful note, let’s scoot.” I threw my bag into the boat, desperate to get this show on the road.
While Eduardo arranged our equipment for proper balance inside the boat, I moved closer to Damien, keeping my voice low.
“Are you going to be okay? That story about the Russian—“
“Is meant to frighten us into paying him more,” Damien said, though his eyes remained fixed on the green wall of jungle ahead. “Or perhaps to discourage us entirely.”
“Just don’t die on me,” I warned. “I’d hate to drag your corpse out of the jungle.”
His mouth curved into a smile, the first I’d seen from him all day. “Your concern is touching.”
“Not concern. Self-interest. Dead partners are useless partners.”
“I’ll bear that in mind,” he replied dryly.
We stepped aboard the boat. It had a temperamental outboard motor that Eduardo coaxed to life with a lot of cursing and punching.
As we pulled away from the dock, the last signs of civilization receded with alarming speed.
Within thirty minutes, the skyline of Panama City had vanished behind us, replaced by the looming green wall of the rainforest.
“We follow the river as far as possible,” Eduardo explained, navigating around submerged logs in the muddy water. “Perhaps three hours.”
I settled on a bench near the bow, breathing in the heavy, vital scent of the approaching jungle.
Despite everything—the danger, the uncertainty, the life-or-death pressure—a familiar excitement built.
This was the part of my job I lived for, the moment before discovery, when possibility stretched before me.
I might have lost my pack and my ability to shift, but I’d never lost my love for pushing boundaries.
“You’re smiling,” Damien said as he took a seat beside me, his thigh brushing against mine.
The contact sent a ridiculous tingle up my leg.
“Force of habit at the start of a hunt,” I admitted. “My friend Jade always said I had the self-preservation instincts of a lemming with a death wish.”
“Yet you’ve survived,” he said, his gaze assessing. “That suggests exceptional skill, not a death wish.”
“That’s because it’s not a death wish,” I said. “It’s anticipation. The best discoveries are always on the other side of fear.”
He smiled. “A philosophical tomb raider. How unexpected.”
“Yeah, well, that’s me. I play by my own rules. I always have.”
His gaze didn’t waver, didn’t do anything beyond ratcheting up my pulse. “I can see that.”
I turned back to watch the approaching shoreline. “Is that why you’re staring?”
“No,” he said simply.
I grinned. I couldn’t help it.
“Is there anything else on the other side of fear?”
I shrugged. “Luck, I suppose.”
“I don’t believe in luck,” Damien said.
“Then what do you believe in?”
“Preparation. Adaptability. And the occasional strategic alliance with someone whose abilities complement my own.” The intensity in his blue eyes made me swallow hard. “Even if that someone drives me crazy.”
Heat crawled up my neck. “I do not drive you crazy.”
“Evidence suggests otherwise.” With a small smile, he turned his attention toward the water ahead.
“Well, I can’t help it if I have a small bladder,” I blurted, but I wasn’t so sure that’s what he was referring to.
His knee nudged mine, casually or on purpose, I didn’t know. “I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier.”
“It’s fine.” The heat spreading up my face reached the tips of my ears.
The jungle heat, obviously.
The river narrowed as we ventured deeper, the vegetation growing denser until it formed a natural canopy overhead, dappling the water with shifting shadows.
Monkeys chattered in the branches, their calls punctuated by the screech of unseen birds.
Eduardo pointed out landmarks in a mixture of Spanish and English—places where the river grew treacherous, sectors controlled by different smuggling operations, areas where migrant groups had disappeared.
“The Gap has been a barrier since before recorded history,” he explained, steering around a partially submerged tree. “Even the indigenous peoples created their villages on either side, never within. They say the gods made this place as a boundary not just between lands, but between worlds.”
I fingered the amulet Theo had given me, feeling its subtle vibration growing stronger as we penetrated deeper. “What do the locals say about the Wolf Queen?”
Eduardo’s hands tightened on the tiller. “La Reina de Lobos is not discussed casually, senorita. The old tribes believe she still walks these jungles in animal form, collecting souls who trespass without offering proper respect.”
“And what constitutes proper respect?” Damien asked.
Eduardo barked a laugh. “For you, senor? Turning around immediately. The Queen had special hatred for blood drinkers. The stories say she captured seven vampire princes and buried them alive beneath her throne, feeding them only enough blood to keep them conscious while they slowly went mad over centuries.”
“Holy shit,” I breathed.
“So her hospitality leaves something to be desired, I suppose,” he said with a nod.
Despite the grim topic, I found myself smothering a smile at his deadpan delivery.
The river narrowed further, forcing Eduardo to reduce speed as we navigated increasingly treacherous waters.
The jungle pressed closer, its green intensity almost overwhelming.
I found myself listening more intently, straining for information.
Something felt…different. A pressure in the air, a subtle change in the quality of light filtering through the canopy.
“We’re crossing a boundary,” I said, the realization sudden and certain.
Damien’s entire demeanor changed in an instant, his posture straightening, his eyes scanning our surroundings with predatory focus. “What kind?”
“I don’t know. But can you feel it? The air is…” I struggled to describe the sensation.
“Watching,” Eduardo finished for me. “Yes. We have entered the old territories. From here, we must be more careful with words and actions. The jungle listens.”
As if to emphasize his point, the ambient sounds—insects, birds, monkeys—abruptly ceased, leaving only the gentle lapping of water against the boat’s hull and the muted purr of the motor. The silence felt deliberate, expectant.
Eduardo muttered something that might have been a prayer and increased our speed slightly, scanning the shoreline.
The river had widened again into a small lagoon surrounded by massive trees draped in vines and moss.
Their roots emerged from the water like grasping fingers, creating a maze of natural obstacles.
“Not much farther by boat,” Eduardo said. “The river becomes unnavigable beyond the next bend.”
As we rounded the curve, I noticed something strange about the water ahead—a subtle shift in color, from muddy brown to a deeper, almost metallic blue. The boundary between the two was unnaturally distinct, a clear line bisecting the river.
Eduardo cut the engine, letting us drift toward the color change. “You see it, yes? The Queen’s tears, they call it. Where normal water meets her domain.”
Damien stood, maintaining the boat’s balance as he studied the water. “It’s not a natural sediment difference,” he said, his voice tight with strain. “It’s a magical barrier.”
I glanced up at him in alarm. Though his expression remained composed, a fine sheen of sweat had appeared on his forehead.
“The boundary is affecting you?” I asked.
He gave a barely perceptible nod. “I can feel it pushing against me. Testing.”
I’d given him the second amulet from Theo, which he wore around his neck, but if the boundary wards were still affecting him so early in our journey, that wasn’t a good sign.
“No, senor,” Eduardo said. “Not testing. Rejecting. Beyond that line, different rules apply. The jungle there belongs to her. The Wolf Queen.”
Eduardo used a long pole to maneuver us closer to the shore, well before the color change.
“This is where I leave you,” he announced, guiding the boat toward a small, muddy embankment. “The old walking path begins here and continues toward the mountains.” He pointed southeast. “Four days on foot to where you want to go, if the jungle permits passage.”
“Wait, what?” I balked. “We paid you to guide us all the way to the crypt’s location.”
Eduardo shook his head. “My agreement was to bring you to the Wolf Queen’s territory. We have arrived.” He gestured to the blue water. “I do not cross that boundary. Ever. No sane person does.”
I opened my mouth to argue further when Damien laid a restraining hand on my arm. Despite his obvious discomfort, his grip was firm.
“He won’t be persuaded,” he said. “And we won’t force him.”
His pragmatism surprised me. I’d expected him to be as furious as me at the change in our arrangement. Instead, he appeared to be calculating our options.
“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth, turning back to Eduardo. “But we might need the boat when we return. If you hear from us, will you wait for us at this spot?”
Eduardo laughed without humor. “If you return, senorita, I will be here. But prepare yourselves. Those who enter her domain rarely come back as themselves.”
As if to punctuate his warning, a violent splash erupted from about fifteen feet away on the opposite shore. A large crocodile had launched into a death roll to drown its next meal.
Okay, well, here was as good a place as any to get out of the water. I sucked in a shaky breath and scrambled out of the boat.