22. My brothers will likely leave you to your fate.
TWENTY-TWO
My brothers will likely leave you to your fate.
In a swampy meadow within the Amazon, the Columbian military brought seven helicopters to rendezvous with us.
Someone worked magic to provide us with safe walkways, preventing us from disturbing the local wildlife more than necessary.
A few curious snakes observed us from nearby, as did a rather large reptile with a mouth full of sharp, pointy teeth.
It left us alone, and as such, we left it alone.
My father spoke to the leader of the Columbian force in yet another language while I spluttered.
Alheen laughed at my reaction and said, “Your father has always been the best of us at languages, and the Americas are his domain. I mean, he has operations all around the world, but he was the first in our family to come to the New World. Some days, I think he did it to get away from us.”
“I did no such thing,” my father replied before resuming his conversation with the Columbian.
Diego laughed. “They are speaking in Wayuunaiki, from the northeast of Columbia. You father knows numerous Amerindian languages, and the governments he works with tend to make certain someone fluent in one of them is in a leadership role. I was selected to represent Mexico as I speak numerous Amerindian languages across three different countries. I speak one Columbian Amerindian language, but not Wayuunaiki. This helps preserve secrecy. Once you’re in good hands with the Columbians, my team will be returning to your casa and making certain everyone is able to settle, has the appropriate diet, and is registered as part of your father’s operations.
Your father is having you registered as the heiress of his operations, which puts you at almost the same social standing as him. ”
As my father had turned his back to me, I waved my fist at him. “Alheen, control your nephew.”
He laughed. “Alas, that is beyond even me. But I will discuss the matter with my brothers and see if we can calm him down a little so your sanity is not as cruelly tested.” After a moment, he shrugged. “My brothers will likely leave you to your fate.”
I stared at the majority of the brothers in question, who huddled together and schemed, likely about how best to embarrass me when the time for the ball did come around.
“You’re right. How foolish of me to hope for mercy.
” I broke down, laughed, and shook my head. “Emerick, I require consoling later.”
“I’m sure I can assist you with that. I’ll admit, the more I see your father in action, the more worried I become. I was really going to take him and his entire empire on for you.”
Alheen reached over and patted my husband’s shoulder.
“Your determination in the face of impossibility was rather cute, and to handle my little great-niece, you will need a great deal of determination and spunk. With Clarke’s help, you may have inconvenienced us briefly, which is better than most. I’ll allow it. ”
My husband sighed while I snickered. “Poor Mr. Lowrance, bested by your in-laws.”
“Poor Mrs. Lowrance, forced to accept gifts from your in-laws,” he countered, and he raised a brow my way.
How rude. “You will pay for that, sir.”
“I am prepared to issue payments in the privacy of our bedroom.”
While the rest of my day was about to suck, my evening plans were worth the hassle. “Alheen, please get this party started. I have people to rescue, a jungle to conquer, and a spouse to receive payments from.”
“I recommend conquering the jungle before rescuing the people,” Alheen replied.
“Emerick, do make sure she actually gets proper sleep tomorrow during the day. We should, if all goes well, be done here by the middle of the night. That will give you sufficient time to tame her before tucking her into bed. And Pepper? Just because you have figured out the trick to staying awake during the day does not mean you should skip out on sleeping. While this is important, your health matters, and in vampire terms, you are still a baby. Go home and be babied.”
Diego snickered and left us, joining my father and the Columbians before saying something in Spanish. The whole lot of them looked my way, and they laughed.
“Women who are babied get hot turkey sandwiches,” Emerick reminded me.
“I’m holding you to that. After this? I’m going to need an entire turkey to myself and an entire loaf of bread to crush between my volcano ambitions.
Let’s just get this show on the road. I’m worried about those women.
What if Breckenan has turned them? He’s clearly figured out how to turn children and men, and he’s turned at least one woman.
What if he’s been turning numerous women here successfully? ”
“Experimenting on the women of his enemies while building his empire is something he would do,” Alheen conceded while Emerick grimaced at my question.
“I suspect you are correct. The Columbians have brought plenty of blood with them if that is the case; I overheard Diego making the request while we were boarding. He made the request in Spanish, so I understood him.”
“Spanish is on our to-do list, Emerick.”
“I’m fluent in Spanish, and I can help teach it to you.” My husband paused long enough to kiss my cheek before joining the fray.
Alheen listened before saying, “He is suggesting that we get a move on before you give us a demonstration of why it is wise to be wary of women on a warpath. I will suggest to Diego that he work with the Columbians in case the women have been turned. We will need a great deal of help if they are—and more helicopters. There are at least thirty missing women from the casa in Oaxaca.”
I sighed at that. “Killing him a thousand times would not be even close to sufficient justice and retribution for his crimes.”
“Alas, little one, we will have to be satisfied with his sole but permanent demise. Soon enough, his ambitions will be fully tattered, and we will have to accept that is all we are getting out of him. Focus on what is important, which is reuniting the families Breckenan broke. I cannot promise we will find any happy endings at the end of this road, but at least we can say we tried.”
“For the sake of those at the casa, we need to.” I’d recognized the look in their eyes.
They held on by a frayed thread of hope.
I also wanted to return to the twins with their parents and give them the joy they deserved.
“And should things not work out the way we want, well, we will find a way to make these senseless deaths the beginning of a new journey. I’m not disagreeing with you, by the way. I’m just being a realist about the situation.”
After all the rest of the death and misery we’d found on the journey, expecting—no, even hoping—for anything else counted as a fool’s folly.
I accepted my status as a fool with a shrug.
“Tell my father to hurry it up. We’ve had enough talk for now.
It’s time to get on to the doing portion of this venture. ”
Breckenan’s fortress proved to be the ruins of an ancient stone temple, and upon seeing the place in person, the Columbians lost their minds.
I didn’t need to speak their language to understand they cursed, ranted, and raved about the defilement of their history.
Once the men calmed down enough I could get a word in edgewise, I said, “Isn’t it unusual that the structure seems intact?
There are a lot of vines and growth around it, but the building itself looks to be in excellent condition. ”
“Necromancy,” the reformed necromancer informed me. “He has, using the power of death, rewound time on this temple to before its ruined state. That is what I was sensing. The temple has been imbued with significant necromantic force. Some of it is new. Much of it is old.”
One of the Columbians said something, which my father listened to, before he translated, “Thiago, our pilot, says that this was once a temple dedicated to Chiminigagua and Sué; the Muisca people had not been known to venture this far; they are from the central highlands, and they did not build from stone—not like this. But Chiminigagua is the creator god of the Muisca people, and Sué is their sun god. The Muisca were less likely to sacrifice humans, but it did happen. They have historical records of such sacrifices being done, but they do not have much in the way of archaeological evidence. Most of the temples were destroyed or went to ruin and have since been rebuilt. Look below at the ziggurat’s peak.
Idols to the gods can be seen there; Sué has been positioned on the east and west faces of the ziggurat, and Chiminigagua has center, north, and south.
The ziggurat itself has been positioned with the alignment of the sun. ”
“Like the Temple of the Sun in Peru?” I asked.
My father translated my question, and after listening to the reply, he said, “Exactly so.”
“Is the cultural human sacrifice the likely cause of the old necromancy?”
After making a thoughtful sound, the reformed necromancer nodded.
“That is a sound theory, quite probable—and it might be that this temple has been here, preserved by those magics for all this time. The vines and foliage do an excellent job of hiding the temple, and much of the plant life has been recently removed. The imprint of much insubstantial death, like those of plants, is present. In good news, there are no imprints of significant life lost recently—and I sense the presence of vampires.”
I worried. “Anyone else?”
“No, only vampires. The energy is different.”
“This could become interesting,” my father predicted. “We will drop onto the top of the temple. The steps of the ziggurat will be easy enough for us to manage. Pepper, I will go first, and I will help you down. The rest of us are more experienced with such things.”
As the last thing I wanted was to take a tumble off the temple, I nodded my agreement.