Chapter 42 24
“Um. Just a major movie. Very popular. Big time actors were in it.” Tristan was looking at me like I’d grown a second head or something. “Who knew Captain Kirk could sing?”
“Sing? It’s a musical?” Disgust filled my voice and my lip curled up. “As in grown ass people running around singing and dancing?”
“Yeah.” Tristan still had that puzzled look on his face. I turned on Connor.
“You knew the song. Why did you know a song from a musical?”
“We’ve been over this. You think musicals are the work of demons. I enjoy them.”
“I’m so performing an exorcism on you when this all over and done with. “ We walked a few yard before Tristan broke the silence.
“So is sword fighting part of the vampire package?” I rolled my eyes at his question. I shook my head but before I could answer Connor jumped in.
“Cole’s sire was a Spartan. He taught her everything he knows.” He said while wiggling his eyebrows and dodging my foot when I tried to kick him.
A knowing grin swept across Tristan’s face. “So, he, uh, taught her how to handle his sword?”
“Oh yeah. You know he taught her all kinds of techniques for sword play.” Connor was busying trading grins with Tristan so he failed to see the elbow I gauged into his stomach. “Oomph.”
“What are you guys, five?” I rolled my eyes again and sighed. Tristan at least looked contrite. Connor kept wiggling his eyebrows at me. “That would explain why you didn’t mention anything about proper sheathing techniques for swords.”
“So all vampires don’t magically know how to fight with swords and know ninjutsu?” The pup sounded disappointed. Connor doubled over laughing at the thought. I shoved him into a tree.
“Cole’s not a martial artist. Her fighting style is more bar room brawl. She’ll hit you over the head with a beer bottle after she throws sand in your face.” Connor was still rubbing his face where it had bounced off the tree.
“Sand? What kind of bars have you been hanging out in? Tiki huts in Kokomo while living out your beach boys’ clichés?” In response to Connor narrowing his eyes and scowling at me I continued. “Where you true to your school? Tell everyone the reason you never had a girlfriend in high school was so you didn’t leave the best girl home on a Saturday night?”
“Amusing. Weren’t you the inspiration for The Steve Miller Band’s The Joker?”
Huh. That one stumped me. I didn’t remember ever meeting them. But, then again, the seventies were a bit of blur for me. Thankfully we reached the corner before I had to respond.
Connor placed the first stone carefully on the dirt with the tip pointed towards the town. I dropped down my fangs and used them to slice the heel of my palm. Carefully I dripped three drops of blood on the stone while chanting.
“What language is that?” Tristan asked when I finished.
“Nahuati. Language of the Aztecs.” I answered while wrapping my bleeding hand with the cloth I kept in the box. “These stones were used to protect the city of gold from the Spaniards when they invaded the Yucatan peninsula.”
“That explains why it sounded familiar. Some people still speak it in Mexico.”
“Yeah, um. If you hear them chanting” I paused for effect while rubbing my uninjured hand over my mouth. “runaway little doggy. The few Aztec magics left have a helluva lot of power. They pack a big punch. Do not piss them off.”
“Cole, are those the Cibola stones?” Connor seemed genuinely shocked at the idea. “The same stones that disappeared after the last war and that the councils are still trying to locate?”
I cleared my throat and looked at him wide eyed. “The councils looking for them? I had no idea.” With a huge smile and perky tone of voice I continued. “On the bright side, they’ve been found.”
“You took them from Cibola didn’t you? That’s how you know what kind of punch the Aztecs still pack.” He shook his head and muttered to himself a moment while I looked on with amusement. It was always entertaining to watch him realize that there was nothing he could do about my actions. “I should confiscate these and turn them in you know.”
“Um just to clarify, the Nahualli gave them to me. So back off 5-0.” I rolled my eyes at him as we set off for the next corner of town.
“What’s a nahualli?” Tristan butchered the pronunciation.
“Aztec medicine man. It’s what the magics of Aztec descent call themselves. The ones that still guard their people’s cities anyways. Those that have gone main stream call themselves magics like the rest of us.”
“I thought all the Aztec temples had been found?” Oh poor puppy. How ignorant being raised human had left him. Next he was going to say something really crazy like fairies weren’t real or that humans built the pyramids in Giza.
“Yeah about that. Um. There’s roughly a third of the world no human has laid eyes on since the dark ages. When they started chasing us with torches and pitchforks…..and the occasional flaming arrow. And lets not forget about the whole burning us at the stake…..and oh yeah, the beheadings.” A shiver shot down my spine as I remembered those days. I’d out ran more than one mob. You were always welcome in a town until they caught you dining on one of their neighbors. Then the yelling and running started. Anticipating Tristan’s next question I explained how some towns were cloaked to look like deep valleys, rock cliffs and other natural deterrents with wards on them that made humans take the long way around. In those towns, magic was openly practiced, vampires could walk into a bar and order a pint of O neg, and members of the magically community that couldn’t blend in the human world sought refuge in these towns. I finished explaining as we reached the northern most corner of town.
I completed the ritual quickly while the boys watched on. Tristan seemed to be taking a moment to absorb all the new info I had given. Connor was still debating on the ethical implications of using stones he thought were stolen to protect a town of innocents.
“If you didn’t steal from them, how do you know they still pack a “helluva” punch?” Oh I knew he couldn’t leave it alone for long.