Chapter 5

“I guess I should start from the beginning.” she said, easing into a sitting position.
“I think that would be a good change of pace.”
She gave him the haughtiest look she could achieve at the moment but doubted it did any good.
“My brother, Nicky,” her voice caught and her eyes misted when she spoke his name, she missed him so much she ached. Closing her eyes and swallowing the lump in her throat she continued, trying not to let her voice crack with emotion.
“Nicholas was an Archeologist. It was something he had dreamed about as a small child growing up and finally he had made his dream come true and had become damn good at it. He told me he was hot on the trail of a pure crystal artifact that once belonged to the ancients of Mu.”
“Supposedly the first civilization to be recorded by man.” Jake asked with interest.
“Yes, something like that. But once he got to the site, it wasn’t the crystal any longer that drew his interest. He had found another more ancient hieroglyph that mentioned the Key of Shan-da.”
“What is that? I don‘t recall hearing anything about any key of Shan-da and believe me, I‘ve been around for awhile now.”
“You probably would not have heard about it unless you were part of the Alusian clan. The Key of Shan-da is an artifact of the highest quality that is wrapped deeply within the spiritual realm of the Alusian culture. It is said that the wearer will absorb all the knowledge of the ancestors.“ Among other things, she thought silently to herself.
Jake whistled softly. “That is quite a piece of jewelry. What’s it made of?“
“Legend says its made of the purest Amethyst. Its speculated that it is the divine light vehicle used by ascended masters of the Shan-da faith which helped them
connect with those from a higher realm.” She took her hands in front of her and tried to describe what it should look like. “The spirit/body is surrounded by counter rotating fields of light, something like wheels within wheels. The spirals of energy somewhat like DNA, is suppose to transport the spirit/body from one dimension to another. It has been missing from memory for over a thousand years.”
“Hmmm and if it falls into the wrong hands, that would definitely not be a good thing.” Jake said more to himself than to her.
“No it would not. Anyway, Nicky told me he had been approached by two demons. Each at different times. One was Dimitri, the catalyst soul keeper, the other was Tin-nak-qua.”
Well, hell, this was just getting better by the minute! Now there were two factions after the artifact, Jake thought with disgust, but he kept his thoughts to himself and said, “Tin-nak-qua does not sound like someone I want to get to know, but can you clarify that deity for me? I don’t recall him in my history lessons either.”
“That is because he is the Alusian God of War.”
“I should have known. Not only do you have a demon from the underworld on your tail but an Alusian mystical god of war as well?”
“It would seem so.” she sighed heavily and leaned back against the cushion and tried to get comfortable.
Jake said nothing but his mind was fiercely piecing this puzzle together. What did the Alusian God of War want with the Shan-da artifact? Chances were he was already a very powerful god that should already know most of what the universe had to offer, even the prospect of Immortality would already be his, but Dimitri, that was a different aspect all together.
Granted Dimitri was a demon and demon’s were not necessarily immortal but if he became immortal and possessed the powers of the universe, he would be the most powerful demon in the underworld. Hell, in the whole world.
“Not a pretty picture is it Jake.” Serena stated as she turned and laid back down on the couch. Her strength still had not returned and she found it hard to just sit there. Laying felt much better.
“No it’s not. There is no way we can allow either one of them to get their hands on that artifact.”
“Does that mean you will help me?” she was almost afraid to hope.
“I don’t have any choice. Dimitri is the Soul Keeper to the underworld. He has quite a few followers. Being a night stalker, I’ve had a few run in’s with him myself, though not quite on this magnitude. Now Tin-nak-qua, I’m not real sure about that one. What can you tell me about him?”
“Tin-nak-qua needs the artifact to enter the state of enlightenment along with the High Priestess of the Shan-da faith. Once he couples with her in a ritual ceremony, he will capture her strength and spirit, infuse it into the artifact then shed his mortality cloak and advance into the ethers.”
“So he is mortal? If he is mortal then he can die.”
“True, but he is not a normal mortal. He carries the sword of protection that enables him to live without fear of death by mortal means.”
“Hmmm, any ideas where to start looking? What about this High Priestess you mentioned? I take it she is a virgin and in order to reach the ascension that you spoke of, Tin-nak-qua would have to spill her virgin blood to obtain it.”
“Yes he would. In order to fulfill his destiny, once he couples the High Priestess, he must shed her blood in order to reach his ascension.“
“In other words she has to die for this to take place.“
“Yes.“ she stated softly, her breathing becoming shallow. “Find Tin-nak-qua and you will find the High Priestess. As for the rest, Nicky found the hieroglyphs on the wall of an ancient temple down in the jungles of Mexico. I’m sorry but he did not tell me which one before they killed him.”
“That brings me back to a complete circle. I was just down there hunting an Alusian male. No offense.” he looked at her.
“None taken. But let me ask you a question.” she sighed heavily.
“What?”
“Are all werewolves bad?”
“No, but what does that,”
“Well, neither are all Alusian’s.” she said not letting him finish the sentence.
She was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open. She could feel her body trying to regenerate, but she needed sleep in order for it to fully take over the regeneration process.
Jake said nothing as he watched her with half closed lids. He supposed she had a point but still, he would stay on his guard at all times. Can‘t be letting her get under his skin.
“First thing in the morning we will have to plan our next move.” he said, changing the subject and walking over to the balcony doors. “We will need to gather everything we can find of your brothers work. Anything that mentions the artifact or this Tin-nak-qua or Shan-da priestess. Then we will have to figure out exactly where we need to go from there. Is that agreed?”
When Serena didn’t answer him, Jake turned around and put down his empty glass he’d been holding for the past few minutes. He’d been twirling it around in his hand while he’d been thinking of what they should do. Softly he walked over to the couch where she lay. Just as he thought. She was sound asleep. Already he could see the regeneration taking over. The bruises on her cheeks and the cuts on her lips were not as prominent as before. He walked to the hall closet and pulled out a sheet then returned to her and covered her with it. The night was too hot and sultry for anything heavier even with the air conditioner on.
He sat down on the coffee table and smoothed back a lock of hair that had fallen over her face. Black with tips of silver shined in the soft glow of the lamp. He loved the way it looked. She moaned in her sleep when he touched her but other than that she did not awaken.
Just being this close to her was driving him crazy and making him hard in all the right places. There were only two things stopping him from bending down and kissing those luscious pink lips. One, she was an Alusian. He’d sworn to never get involved with another one. His track record with them was not a good one. Two, Never! Ever! get involved with a client! Though technically he supposed she wasn’t a client. But he would be safer remembering the ‘not get involved aspect’ of his rules.
Taking a deep breath, he reached over and turned off the light. Morning would soon be upon them.