Heart of a Dragon

Chapter Thirty-Four

Donovan and Amethyst returned to the park where Anya Cabrera's fires had burned only short hours before, but this time they traveled on foot. There was no way to know where the Escorpiones trapped in the portals might have gone, or if they'd gone anywhere at all. It seemed prudent to avoid that confrontation for the moment.

They stuck to the shadows, but there was no activity. Darkness had fallen, and though the street lights glimmered dimly, they weren't bright enough to provide more than small pools of illumination, surrounded by deep shadows.

The park was deserted. They stopped on the far side of the street and studied the scene of the ritual carefully. There were few trees in the park, and most of them were Palms. There was nowhere to hide. Nothing moved, and the only sign of the ritual that had taken place was a drift of smoke from the spot where the central bonfire had burned.

"They're gone," Donovan said. "But where?"

"That's not the only question," Amethyst added, stepping into the street and heading across toward the park. "I was the sacrifice for that ritual — but we don't know if they managed to complete it without me. We have to find them, but first we have to know what we're up against."

Donovan followed her, scanning the street a final time before stepping into the park. Whatever had happened here, it was over. Anya Cabrera and her minions had disappeared completely, taking Los Escorpiones with them. In fact, they'd taken everything with them, cleaning the area so thoroughly it was difficult to believe they'd been there at all.

Donovan moved to the remnant of the central fire. He grabbed a branch and dug around in the ashes. There were bits and pieces of wood and charcoal, but though he circled the entire pit, nothing else came to light.

"The ritual burned it out," Donovan said. "If there was anything in that fire that might have helped us, it's gone now."

Amethyst walked to the top of the circle, where the post had been driven into the ground. It was gone, and the hole where it had stood had been filled with soot and ashes. She leaned in and looked more closely.

"There's something here," she said.

Donovan stepped over and was about to poke the end of his stick into the hole, when she laid a hand on his arm and stopped him.

"Wait. I don't mean there's something you can find in the ashes. Something happened here — something…"

Amethyst pulled a thin, silver chain up over her head. A blood-red crystal dangled from the end of it. She held it cupped in her hands, breathed on it, and then let the chain slip through her grip until the crystal dangled from her fingers. She spun it in a slow circle around the circumference of the posthole. At first, nothing happened. Then the ashes near the center of the hole shifted lifted and spun, as if caught in a wind, spreading out in a wider and wider circle as Amethyst widened the arc of the crystal's motion.

"What…" Donovan clamped his mouth shut as the ashes shimmered, and turned red.

Where the hole had been, a bright, wet circle had formed. It looked as if it was a puddle of fresh blood. Ripples began near the center, spreading outward. Then they cracked and broke like ice on a pond. The ridges and crevasses formed lines and then knit into an ever-sharpening image. Amethyst concentrated. Donovan stepped back for a better view. Before the image was complete, he knew the answer.

"My God," he said. "It's Anya Cabrera. She was the sacrifice."

Amethyst stood quickly. As she drew the crystal away, the bloody image shattered to ash and dust as if had never existed. She dropped the necklace back over heard head and tucked the crystal out of sight.

"What does it mean?" she asked.

Donovan had already turned, and was headed back toward the street at a run.

"If she sacrificed herself, it means they completed the ritual. If that's true, then the Loa are trapped in this dimension in human form. That's what we feared. Now it's worse."

"Worse?"

"The worst that we feared was that Anya Cabrera would control an army of dark spirits and use them to take over the Barrio. Now those spirits are here, but there is no one to control them. I'm not sure what has happened, but we have to find Anya's followers, and we have to find Los Escorpiones, before it's too late, and not just for the Barrio. If those spirits get loose in the city, we may never track them down."

"Where are we going?"

"We have to try and find Martinez." Donovan said. "And I think we'll have to chance the portals. If whatever he's planning has already begun, they need to know what happened here. If not, it seems likely that Anya's people will act against the Dragons."

"They'll be slaughtered," Anya said.

"I don't know about that. Martinez has something up his sleeve. Whatever happens, it isn't going to be good for the Dragons, Los Escorpiones, or The Barrio."

They entered the alley at a run. Donovan leaped down onto the stone steps. This time, instead of carefully taking steps up and back, his feet moved so quickly it was like a dance. Within moments the portal opened, and they leaped through.

"This way," he cried.

They turned right and pounded down the corridor. They passed rows of doors to either side so quickly there was no time to take in details. Amethyst glanced over her shoulder several times, but whatever had become of the Loa they'd trapped in the passage earlier, neither they, nor their human hosts were in sight.

Donovan led her up a set of stairs on the left, and moments later they stepped out onto the street. They stood outside an abandoned warehouse. There was nothing to indicate that this set of stairs had been used in the last fifty years. The building was run down with boards covering what remained of the windows. The bricks were painted in bright colors by graffiti artists. There was no one in sight.

"This way," Donovan said.

He hurried down the street and around a corner. Not too far in the distance, a single home was lit up. It looked as though a party was taking place in the back, but there was no sound.

"That's the Dragons' clubhouse," Donovan said. "There are lights; maybe we're not too late."

They ran the few blocks to the clubhouse, but before they arrived, Donovan's heart sank. There were no bikes out front. The door was closed, and though firelight flickered out in back, no shadows moved in that light, and there were no voices. As they reached the front door, Martinez stepped from the shadows.

"They are gone," he said. "They are heading back to Santini Park."

"We have to get over there," Donovan said. "Anya Cabrera completed her ritual, but she sacrificed herself in the process. I don't know what is waiting in that park, or if Anya's spirits will even answer the call with her dead, but if they are there, it's going to be bad. Much worse than last time."

"I sensed that something had shifted," Martinez said.

The old man looked exhausted. He seemed thinner, and older. His snow-white hair floated about his face like a gray cloud. His shoulders were stooped.

"I have done what I can," he said. "I gave them a chance. Salvatore is with them. He bears their standard into battle. You saw what the dragons he painted on their jackets could do. This one was painted with the Rojo Fuego. The boy is very powerful. He is connected to another place…a place where dragons are more than men. I cannot say that it will be enough, but I can say that I do not think Anya Cabrera's dark spirits will find it an easy battle to win."

"Can the boy control it?" Amethyst asked.

Martinez shrugged. "As well as it can be contained, he can. I can't help but think that if Anya gave her life for this battle, there is still something we're missing. I can't believe she would just perish and leave the world to its own devices. Her intention was to rule, not just to destroy."

"You could be right," Donovan said. "In any case, we have to get over there. I don't know what we can do to help, but we have to try."

"Go then," Martinez said. "It isn't far. I'm afraid I'm too old, and too weary, to make a good run of it. You'll have to tell me the story, when it's done."

"I hope there's someone left to tell it," Donovan said.

He turned, and ran down the street, his jacket trailing behind him. Amethyst followed. Martinez stood and watched them go until all there was to see was mist and shadow. Then, slowly, he turned back to the clubhouse, opened the door, and stepped inside. The empty street returned to shadows, and to silence.