Free Mayan Afterglow by A. S. Fenichel

she
screamed again, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and shoulders with
her nails biting into his skin.
    He collapsed for a moment, but then worried that he was
crushing her petite body. He lifted his torso up onto his elbows and looked
down at her. Her eyes were closed but her mouth was drawn up in a satisfied
grin. With one hand he brushed a stray curl off her cheek.
    “You okay?” he asked.
    “Mmmm, you?”
    His lips pressed against hers. “I feel good.”
    He sat up and pulled his jeans on before retrieving her
clothes from across the room where she’d flung them.
    “Do you think Asher heard us?” she asked blushing dark red.
    Ian laughed. “It probably was the only thing that kept him
awake.”
    Her blush deepened.
    Settling back down on the worn couch, he pulled her against
his chest and kissed her head. “Get some sleep, sweetheart,” he said, closing
his eyes and reveling in the feel of her weight against him.
    * * * * *
    Ian watched the ruby darkness thinking of the hours that had
preceded it. Even after being attacked twice in one day, holding Aileen in his
arms righted his world. She gave everything even though he suspected she knew
he held back.
    At dawn he moved inside and shook the boy’s shoulder. “Get
the plane ready. I’ll see what I can find to fill the tank.”

Chapter Eight
     
    It was late morning by the time they’d drained the bad fuel
from the tanks and pumped one hundred gallons of gas into the Cessna.
    Watching the sky from her seat behind the pilot became
routine in the hours they spent just below the burnt clouds. Now and then
Aileen looked at Ian. She could see by his green-tinged skin that he had not
gotten used to the bumpy flight.
    The Mississippi River was just below them and Asher followed
the snaking ribbon south.
    “I have a theory,” the boy said.
    Ian turned to the left. “Oh?”
    “Yeah. I think every time we win a battle that dude has to
regroup,” Asher said.
    Both passengers were listening now.
    “Why do you say that?” Ian asked.
    He shrugged. “No attack last night.”
    “That’s not exactly conclusive.” Ian’s voice was doubtful
but he was still listening.
    “Aileen told me about the attack in that lodge in New York.”
    Ian frowned and she wondered what he was thinking.
    Asher continued. “After you whacked that guy with the
rotting flesh in the head, did anything else attack?”
    “No,” Aileen answered.
    “See what I mean?”
    She shook her head. “But the demon came only a few hours
after the crows.”
    “Yeah, but we didn’t kill the crows. We only avoided them
killing us,” he countered.
    “It’s a good theory,” Ian said.
    Asher’s face lit up with the compliment.
    “Better be ready for anything today. If you’re right, he
could be about to throw something else at us and each attack seems to be getting
worse.”
    Both the pilot and Aileen nodded and they returned to
scanning the sky.
    “Who is he, Aileen?” Asher asked.
    “What do you think?” she asked.
    “The Devil?” His voice was like a small child’s. She could
hear the fear under the surface.
    “Maybe. He’s pure evil, I know that.”
    “What does he need you for?”
    “He needs my power to enter our world.”
    She had not lied to Ian the night before. When she had been
held by Mictlan she had given up the will to live. She had no one and nothing
that she cared about enough to continue to fight him. He had worn her down and
taken everything. Contact with Ian and now Asher made her want to win this
battle. She cared what happened to them. She wanted to see the boy mature and
fall in love. And Ian, she needed to love him. He might never love her as she
loved him but he wanted her. That much she knew for sure. It was enough of a
reason to live.
    That and revenge for what Mictlan had done to her in the
darkness of his hell.
    By late afternoon they were in East Texas searching for a
place to land.
    “There,” Ian said pointing off toward the right.
    “Good