Jared Padalecki and the Faith of the Feathered Serpent (Chapter Eight)
Title: Jared Padalecki and the Faith of the Feathered Serpent
Author: hunters_retreat
Fandom: J2 (CWRPS)
Pairings: Jared Padalecki/Jensen Ackles
Summary: They were legend, the Egyptologist with a love of mysteries and the General with a love of adventure. Over the years they'd faced everything Egypt had to offer, never backing down and never giving in, until they'd tamed her secrets. What happens when they find themselves leaving their home for the wonders of the new world in search of a missing colleague? What happens when Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are surrounded by jungles and ruins and find the faith of the fallen serpent?
“It’s time Jared.”
Jensen stood over him and Jared blinked his eyes open, mind already rushing to catch up to their situation. Jensen was already moving away from him, his eyes going to the fire that was already lit at the top of the acropolis.
“Chris,” Jared reached out and grabbed at Chris’s arm. His friend’s eyes came open quickly. He’d always been a light sleeper. “Jensen says it’s time.”
“Time for what?”
Jared didn’t answer as he stood up and moved over to Jensen. He came up behind him, letting his chin rest of Jensen’s shoulder as he followed Jensen’s line of sight to the top of the ruins. Jensen turned slightly, looking at him with a small smile on his lips. Jared knew he understood what he was telling him, that Chris knew about them, that it was alright to be affectionate in front of him, that if he died on top of some ancient ruin he was glad to have Jensen there at his side through it all. There were no words for the joy and love and peace he’d felt in the last five years of his life, but Jensen’s smile said it all.
“Now what are we going to do?”
Jensen turned his eyes back to the ruins as Chris came to stand next to Jared.
“Wait for them to come.”
“You think they will?”
“They’ve been watching us all night,” Jensen said softly. “They’re coming for us, whether it’s Jared because of his visions or they just want one of us to sacrifice, they’re coming.”
“Tell me again why we aren’t running?” Chris asked.
“We can’t get close to the Priest unless we’re part of the sacrifice.”
“You got a funny way of sharing a plan.”
Jensen stepped away from Jared and rolled his neck from side to side as if to loosen the building tension. “Learned it somewhere down the line.”
“Yeah?” Chris asked, his temper flaring. Jared knew he couldn’t stop it. He knew there was something building between Jensen and Chris but he was at a loss and even if it wasn’t the time for it, he stepped back to watch it run its course. “From who?”
“Maybe from Jared when he traveled across the desert to cut my heart out and give it to the gods.” Jensen snarled at Chris.
“And yet you still have a beating heart,” Chris pushed into Jensen’s space. “Seems like your plan is just gonna get him killed. Maybe you don’t give a damn about what happens to him-“
Jensen struck forward, his fist coming hard and fast into Chris’s jaw. He staggered back at the shock of the blow and Jensen didn’t wait, he followed it up with a hand to Chris’s throat, pushing him back into the trunk of a massive tree.
“I walked into a tomb knowing I would lose my immortal soul because he asked it. I’ve crossed deserts and oceans to be with him and I crossed time to find him. Do not think you know who I am and what I am willing to do to keep him alive,” the General said, his anger pulsing with a power that Jensen rarely allowed others to feel. “Stand down scribe, before I find it any harder to remember you are important to him.”
Chris’s eyes were wide as Jensen took a step back. Jensen didn’t allow him to speak though. He looked over at Jared, somehow knowing that Chris wouldn’t take advantage and jump him when his back was turned. “They will come for us and take us to the Priest. When they do, don’t touch anything Jared. I still feel the warnings here. Whatever they’re trying to incite, the old gods are watching.”
Jared nodded as Jensen walked to the farthest edge of their camp. Chris came to stand beside him again, anger in his stance but Jared knew him well enough to see that he was forcing it down. “A good dinner, a better bourbon, and a long story Jared,” Chris reminded him. He wasn’t letting Jared off the hook for all of this, but he knew when to push something and when to let it rest.
“Better plan on staying the week if you want it all.”
“I’ll stay a damn month if I have to. No secrets from now on Jared.”
“Yeah, I know.”
There was movement on the acropolis and they all tensed.
“Jared?” Jensen turned to look at him, his back to whatever was coming their way. “You know I’ll protect you.”
The words weren’t a question but there was a need for reassurance and Jared nodded. “Yeah I know. You’ll protect Chris too, right?”
Jensen smiled and he was himself again, Jared’s companion, his lover, the Green-Eyed. “The things I do for you,” he said with a roll of his eyes.
They didn’t have long to wait before their camp was surrounded. The men were in regular clothes, torn and dirty from the night’s activity in the jungle. They didn’t wear elaborate face painting or jewelry, nothing that would distinguish them as part of the ceremony. They held dart guns in their hands, obviously at ease with the use of them. Jensen was the first to hold his hands up in gesture of surrender. Jared followed immediately after but it was obvious Chris was having a hard time with it.
Jensen turned his head slightly, never taking his eyes from the man that walked into their camp, his bearing and mannerisms marking him as the man in charge. His brain immediately translated Jensen’s words from the Hebrew to English. Chris jolted at Jensen’s use of the language, but his hands went up as he translated as well. ‘You can’t protect him later if you get hurt now.’ He had no idea what Jensen was planning, but he was clearly expecting Chris to go along with it and to make sure Jared wasn’t hurt later.
One of these days he was going to have to find a way to make his lover and his best friend realize he could take care of himself.
The men started herding them out of their camp and out into the cleaning. They were walking towards the acropolis and Jared shivered at their approach. He’d felt it in his visions, but whatever it was that waited atop the ruins was almost alive with need and hunger.
Jensen looked over his shoulder as he took to the first step. “Don’t touch anything.”
Jared smiled, doing his best to look harmless and innocent but Jensen’s smirk just proved how well he knew him.
“Something you ain’t telling me?” Chris asked as he came to walk beside Jared.
“Just that I have a problem keeping my hands to myself sometimes.”
Chris shook his head. “Knew that since I got you drunk the first time.”
Jensen laughed ahead of them and Jared shook his head. Trust the two of them to make jokes at his expense as they faced certain death. The fact that they were made him feel better. If they could joke there was hope and Jared wasn’t ready to die, no matter who was at his side.
As dark as everything was, as much as he knew the circumstances, it wasn’t until they reached the top of the acropolis that fear finally hit him. He trusted Jensen to get him free, to get him out when things got too bad. Now though, facing the sacrificial table that the men had brought up, seeing the dark brown stains of blood that had seeped into the surface, he knew they meant to hold him down and kill him. They meant to light a fire in his chest and use it to bring about the old religion. They meant to sacrifice him to the dark presence that had been haunting his dreams since he’d first touched Chris’s picture.
He took a step back and was pushed brutally forward by one of the men. He swallowed against his fear and took a deep breath. The top of the acropolis wasn’t huge but there were fifteen men at the top, all watching the three of them with a sense of focus that was terrifying. These men had sacrificed innocent people in some sort of lust for the old ways and Jared couldn’t understand that.
A murmur went up around them as a man came up from the small building where Jared had first seen the god bowls. Unlike the others, he wore face paint and an archaic headdress. The man turned to look at Jared and his eyes burned with an intensity that had him stepping back again.
His smile was malicious and Jared felt his arm gripped from the side, Chris holding him close as Jensen stepped up between Jared and the priest.
“The time has come at last,” the priest spoke, his words thick. It took Jared a few minutes to translate the words though he could see Chris was following along without pause. He couldn’t see enough of Jensen to know if he was able to take what little he knew of the language and make sense of it. “We were going to sacrifice the first one,” he continued, nodding towards Chris, “but then the great Kukulkan spoke to us and said another would come, a man who could see worlds not longer in existence, so we held on, hoping you would arrive in time. The great Kukulkan was not wrong and when you arrived we knew it was your life that would bring his power to full bloom again. You should not fear vision-bearer. You will make a fitting sacrifice.”
“Over my dead body,” Chris said at his side.
The man smiled. “Then your sacrifice will be a boon to this day. The serpent has need of strong blood. You will help him rise from among the fallen gods.”
Two men step closer to Jared and Chris and the others begin moving around the top of the acropolis, dousing the torches they’d carried. Jensen looked back at Jared and closed his eyes and Jared understood. It got harder to see as the afterimage of each torch burned into his retina as they disappeared. When the last torch went out they were all slightly blinded by the lack of light. Except Jensen.
“Jen,” he breathed the name, but it was all he needed. Jensen went into motion, knocking into the guard in front of him. He went down into a heap with two others that had been in the way. Chris pushed Jared forward a few steps into the emptiness that Jensen had left in his wake. Chris pushed one guard down the long flight of stairs that led up to the acropolis and his fist was flying for the second. His aim was slightly off, still fighting for his vision but he’d been in enough brawls that his motions were practiced and he hit the man hard in the stomach. He doubled over and Chris gave him an uppercut to the chin that kicked him out of the fight.
Jensen had the priest backed up against the table and somewhere a knife had come into play. Jared started to move towards him but another man blocked his path. Jared wasn’t the fighter that Chris and Jensen were, but he wasn’t inexperienced either. He ducked a fist, moving faster than most people thought he could because of his height. He followed it up with a blow of his own to the kidney. He ignored the sting of his hand and looked for his next combatant.
“Jay!” Chris yelled and Jared ducked to the side, scrambling out of the way of another of the cult members. He landed a fist in Jared’s stomach and he was doubled over. The next fist never came though. Chris was standing over him, the other guard pushed back as Chris protected him.
“Thanks man,” he said as he straightened up to his full height again.
“Think we’re even now,” he grinned over his shoulder.
Jared nodded as he looked over at Jensen. He had a horrifying moment of panic as a knife blade came rushing down, but as he turned to stop it, he realized Jensen was no longer on the table, but standing over the priest.
There was a primal scream as the knife found its way home and Jared felt the whole of the acropolis still with him. Jensen was panting through the exertions and Chris grabbed at Jared’s arm, his back to Jared’s as he continued to watch the men around them.
Jensen’s eyes turned up and he found Jared, the moonlight giving enough light now to make out the details that he hadn’t been able to see before. There was a slice across the front of his white shirt where the knife must have come close to catching skin. His fingers itched with the need to see if that was true or if there was a stream of blood running down his chest to pool in the dark fabric of his pants, unseen in the pale light.
Jensen came out from around the table and he was there at Jared’s side, his fingers moving over Jared’s skin, looking for injury. Jared did the same, his hands coming away from Jensen’s shirt with a dark wetness. “Jensen, you’re hurt.”
“I’m fine Jared,” He said softly.
“Jared,” Chris grabbed his arm and as Jared looked up, he saw the priest moving on the table, a lighter lit in his hand as he dropped it to his chest. His shirt immediately caught fire and though he screamed, his body didn’t thrash around with the pain. Jared’s eyes turned up as he watched the smoke rising, the feeling of hungry eyes watching them.
Jared’s felt the world shifting under him and knew it was an earthquake. He felt Chris grab his arm and Jensen had the other as they stumbled, trying to move away from the stairs. Jensen pulled Jared closer and Chris lurched, trying to keep up with them. He pushed them forward as he moved, Jared and Chris both going down in a heap. Jensen pulled at them, trying to get them up, but then Jared reached out, grabbing something to help haul himself up and keep his balance as the whole of the acropolis danced under them.
The quake stopped suddenly and Jared heard the whisper of Jensen’s angry retort of, “Damn it Jared, I said not to touch anything,” before the world shifted once more.
They stood under the full moon, the acropolis no longer a ruin in an uninhabited part of the jungle, but rather the heart of a community at its height. The portable table that the priest had been using was replaced by the original stone table, the marks of blood and ash still fresh against its porous surface. The sacrificial knife sat on the table, gleaming with the cold blue reflection of the moon’s light.
Jared felt Jensen still standing before him, Jensen moving quickly to press his back to Jared’s chest, keeping him close against whatever was to come.
“This is never a good sign,” Jensen said softly.
Jared would have laughed if someone hadn’t grabbed his arm. He turned as much as he could with Jensen glued to his chest and found Chris beside him.
“Really not good,” Jared answered his lover. “Chris?”
“What the hell just happened?”
“We’re in Jared’s vision,” Jensen answered. His voice was harder the way Jared remembered it when he had protected him the night Jensen swore he hadn’t been in the vision. His shoulders were squared and his body tense with the rigid discipline that marked him so different from the man that Jared knew.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I’m sorry Chris. It’s never taken anyone else except Jensen and I always thought that was because of the circumstances. It shouldn’t have caught either of you this time.”
The General gave a small huff in front of him. “I told you before I wasn’t about to let you go off into danger without me. Did you think I would protect your soul any less passionately than you protected mine?”
Jared didn’t have time to answer when a figure came forward from the dark. He gaped at the sight of the creature that slithered out from behind the stone table. A serpent with wide eyes, snapping jaw, and feathered wings, the god Kukulkan eyed them all as if deciding which of them would make the best snack. In all his experience with the written word coming to life, he’d never expected the feathered serpent to look like the creature the Mayans had depicted in their art, but it was exactly what he was seeing.
“You, I cannot touch,” The serpent spoke softly, as it looked at Jensen. “We are not the only old gods and yours are no more forgiving than we are.”
Jensen stood straighter, pulling Jared behind him. “You cannot have him.”
The serpent’s mouth pulled up at the corners in a mockery of a smile. “Your gods protect you, not him. His perfect sight, his visions of worlds that no longer rule, he is one of mine.”
“No,” Chris said coming out from behind the two of them. He walked away from them, pulling Kukulkan’s attention from them. “This isn’t the world you knew. You can’t just come sweeping in and try to make it like it was.”
Jared had no idea what he was supposed to do but Jensen was edging them away from the serpent god.
“These are my people,” the serpent was close to Chris, far closer than Jared liked, but it was obvious he’d already decided on Jared. He didn’t think the god was likely to strike Chris now. “I will decide when it is time to return.”
“The world won’t accept you,” Chris tried again, “the world doesn’t need you.”
Jared realized they were standing on the other side of the table and he looked down, seeing the knife before him. He took the knife in hand, the handle feeling too warm to his touch. He looked at Jensen who’d gone still when Jared touched the weapon. Jensen looked at the knife and back at the serpent and Jared could see a plan forming in those eyes. A plan that, years of getting in and out of trouble together, Jared could read plainly.
Jensen moved to the other side of the table and Jared waited only until he was clear before he yelled. “Hey! If you want me, here I am. If you think I’m going to go willingly though, you really do need a seer to help you see.”
The serpent turned to look at him, hissing as it swung into motion. Jared brandished the knife to taunt him and the god was moving. Chris was coming up to Jensen’s side and that was all Jared had the time to notice before Kukulkan was in front of him.
“Do you think you are strong enough to kill a god?”
Jared smiled, though he was terrified. “Why don’t we find out?”
The serpent god hissed as it reared back and then Jensen was moving forward. As it lashed forward trying to get to Jared, Jensen threw himself across the neck. Chris moved with him and the two of them held on as the serpent god tried to buck them free.
“Now Jared!”
Jared was already moving, the knife raised as he reached the section of the snake before him. The knife cut deep as he swung down. The snake god tried to rear back but Jensen and Chris held it close. The tail tried to slash at them but Jared was able to duck before it hit. He continued to slash at the snake’s body until it was severed but he didn’t stop. The snake god stopped moving but he knew he couldn’t stop yet. It might be out but it was a god. The physical body underneath him wasn’t what it seemed.
Jensen moved over to him, his hands directing Jared as he slit the serpent open, looking for the heart.
“You know a lot about snake anatomy,” Jared said as they found the organ.
Jensen smiled, but it was tight. “The Pharaoh had a lot of enemies and snakes were a common adversary.”
Jared didn’t ask anymore. He brought the knife across the muscles and flesh until the heart was finally free. He pulled the heart out and moved away as Jensen and Chris pushed the body out of the way. Jensen pulled the knife out of the snake’s body and as Jared placed the still beating heart on the sacrificial table, Jensen slammed the knife into it, pinning it there.
They stepped back away from it, Jensen reaching for Jared as he came around the other side of the table. Jensen pushed both Jared and Chris behind him and they watched as other figures began to come out of the dark. A Jaguar came forward, eyeing them all as it strutted past the serpent body. It began to twitch and the jaguar gave it one look before snarling at the three of them. Jared felt himself falling backward, his vision spinning. His last glance showed him the jaguar snapping his jaws around the serpent, rending flesh and drinking blood.
Author: hunters_retreat
Fandom: J2 (CWRPS)
Pairings: Jared Padalecki/Jensen Ackles
Summary: They were legend, the Egyptologist with a love of mysteries and the General with a love of adventure. Over the years they'd faced everything Egypt had to offer, never backing down and never giving in, until they'd tamed her secrets. What happens when they find themselves leaving their home for the wonders of the new world in search of a missing colleague? What happens when Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are surrounded by jungles and ruins and find the faith of the fallen serpent?
“It’s time Jared.”
Jensen stood over him and Jared blinked his eyes open, mind already rushing to catch up to their situation. Jensen was already moving away from him, his eyes going to the fire that was already lit at the top of the acropolis.
“Chris,” Jared reached out and grabbed at Chris’s arm. His friend’s eyes came open quickly. He’d always been a light sleeper. “Jensen says it’s time.”
“Time for what?”
Jared didn’t answer as he stood up and moved over to Jensen. He came up behind him, letting his chin rest of Jensen’s shoulder as he followed Jensen’s line of sight to the top of the ruins. Jensen turned slightly, looking at him with a small smile on his lips. Jared knew he understood what he was telling him, that Chris knew about them, that it was alright to be affectionate in front of him, that if he died on top of some ancient ruin he was glad to have Jensen there at his side through it all. There were no words for the joy and love and peace he’d felt in the last five years of his life, but Jensen’s smile said it all.
“Now what are we going to do?”
Jensen turned his eyes back to the ruins as Chris came to stand next to Jared.
“Wait for them to come.”
“You think they will?”
“They’ve been watching us all night,” Jensen said softly. “They’re coming for us, whether it’s Jared because of his visions or they just want one of us to sacrifice, they’re coming.”
“Tell me again why we aren’t running?” Chris asked.
“We can’t get close to the Priest unless we’re part of the sacrifice.”
“You got a funny way of sharing a plan.”
Jensen stepped away from Jared and rolled his neck from side to side as if to loosen the building tension. “Learned it somewhere down the line.”
“Yeah?” Chris asked, his temper flaring. Jared knew he couldn’t stop it. He knew there was something building between Jensen and Chris but he was at a loss and even if it wasn’t the time for it, he stepped back to watch it run its course. “From who?”
“Maybe from Jared when he traveled across the desert to cut my heart out and give it to the gods.” Jensen snarled at Chris.
“And yet you still have a beating heart,” Chris pushed into Jensen’s space. “Seems like your plan is just gonna get him killed. Maybe you don’t give a damn about what happens to him-“
Jensen struck forward, his fist coming hard and fast into Chris’s jaw. He staggered back at the shock of the blow and Jensen didn’t wait, he followed it up with a hand to Chris’s throat, pushing him back into the trunk of a massive tree.
“I walked into a tomb knowing I would lose my immortal soul because he asked it. I’ve crossed deserts and oceans to be with him and I crossed time to find him. Do not think you know who I am and what I am willing to do to keep him alive,” the General said, his anger pulsing with a power that Jensen rarely allowed others to feel. “Stand down scribe, before I find it any harder to remember you are important to him.”
Chris’s eyes were wide as Jensen took a step back. Jensen didn’t allow him to speak though. He looked over at Jared, somehow knowing that Chris wouldn’t take advantage and jump him when his back was turned. “They will come for us and take us to the Priest. When they do, don’t touch anything Jared. I still feel the warnings here. Whatever they’re trying to incite, the old gods are watching.”
Jared nodded as Jensen walked to the farthest edge of their camp. Chris came to stand beside him again, anger in his stance but Jared knew him well enough to see that he was forcing it down. “A good dinner, a better bourbon, and a long story Jared,” Chris reminded him. He wasn’t letting Jared off the hook for all of this, but he knew when to push something and when to let it rest.
“Better plan on staying the week if you want it all.”
“I’ll stay a damn month if I have to. No secrets from now on Jared.”
“Yeah, I know.”
There was movement on the acropolis and they all tensed.
“Jared?” Jensen turned to look at him, his back to whatever was coming their way. “You know I’ll protect you.”
The words weren’t a question but there was a need for reassurance and Jared nodded. “Yeah I know. You’ll protect Chris too, right?”
Jensen smiled and he was himself again, Jared’s companion, his lover, the Green-Eyed. “The things I do for you,” he said with a roll of his eyes.
They didn’t have long to wait before their camp was surrounded. The men were in regular clothes, torn and dirty from the night’s activity in the jungle. They didn’t wear elaborate face painting or jewelry, nothing that would distinguish them as part of the ceremony. They held dart guns in their hands, obviously at ease with the use of them. Jensen was the first to hold his hands up in gesture of surrender. Jared followed immediately after but it was obvious Chris was having a hard time with it.
Jensen turned his head slightly, never taking his eyes from the man that walked into their camp, his bearing and mannerisms marking him as the man in charge. His brain immediately translated Jensen’s words from the Hebrew to English. Chris jolted at Jensen’s use of the language, but his hands went up as he translated as well. ‘You can’t protect him later if you get hurt now.’ He had no idea what Jensen was planning, but he was clearly expecting Chris to go along with it and to make sure Jared wasn’t hurt later.
One of these days he was going to have to find a way to make his lover and his best friend realize he could take care of himself.
The men started herding them out of their camp and out into the cleaning. They were walking towards the acropolis and Jared shivered at their approach. He’d felt it in his visions, but whatever it was that waited atop the ruins was almost alive with need and hunger.
Jensen looked over his shoulder as he took to the first step. “Don’t touch anything.”
Jared smiled, doing his best to look harmless and innocent but Jensen’s smirk just proved how well he knew him.
“Something you ain’t telling me?” Chris asked as he came to walk beside Jared.
“Just that I have a problem keeping my hands to myself sometimes.”
Chris shook his head. “Knew that since I got you drunk the first time.”
Jensen laughed ahead of them and Jared shook his head. Trust the two of them to make jokes at his expense as they faced certain death. The fact that they were made him feel better. If they could joke there was hope and Jared wasn’t ready to die, no matter who was at his side.
As dark as everything was, as much as he knew the circumstances, it wasn’t until they reached the top of the acropolis that fear finally hit him. He trusted Jensen to get him free, to get him out when things got too bad. Now though, facing the sacrificial table that the men had brought up, seeing the dark brown stains of blood that had seeped into the surface, he knew they meant to hold him down and kill him. They meant to light a fire in his chest and use it to bring about the old religion. They meant to sacrifice him to the dark presence that had been haunting his dreams since he’d first touched Chris’s picture.
He took a step back and was pushed brutally forward by one of the men. He swallowed against his fear and took a deep breath. The top of the acropolis wasn’t huge but there were fifteen men at the top, all watching the three of them with a sense of focus that was terrifying. These men had sacrificed innocent people in some sort of lust for the old ways and Jared couldn’t understand that.
A murmur went up around them as a man came up from the small building where Jared had first seen the god bowls. Unlike the others, he wore face paint and an archaic headdress. The man turned to look at Jared and his eyes burned with an intensity that had him stepping back again.
His smile was malicious and Jared felt his arm gripped from the side, Chris holding him close as Jensen stepped up between Jared and the priest.
“The time has come at last,” the priest spoke, his words thick. It took Jared a few minutes to translate the words though he could see Chris was following along without pause. He couldn’t see enough of Jensen to know if he was able to take what little he knew of the language and make sense of it. “We were going to sacrifice the first one,” he continued, nodding towards Chris, “but then the great Kukulkan spoke to us and said another would come, a man who could see worlds not longer in existence, so we held on, hoping you would arrive in time. The great Kukulkan was not wrong and when you arrived we knew it was your life that would bring his power to full bloom again. You should not fear vision-bearer. You will make a fitting sacrifice.”
“Over my dead body,” Chris said at his side.
The man smiled. “Then your sacrifice will be a boon to this day. The serpent has need of strong blood. You will help him rise from among the fallen gods.”
Two men step closer to Jared and Chris and the others begin moving around the top of the acropolis, dousing the torches they’d carried. Jensen looked back at Jared and closed his eyes and Jared understood. It got harder to see as the afterimage of each torch burned into his retina as they disappeared. When the last torch went out they were all slightly blinded by the lack of light. Except Jensen.
“Jen,” he breathed the name, but it was all he needed. Jensen went into motion, knocking into the guard in front of him. He went down into a heap with two others that had been in the way. Chris pushed Jared forward a few steps into the emptiness that Jensen had left in his wake. Chris pushed one guard down the long flight of stairs that led up to the acropolis and his fist was flying for the second. His aim was slightly off, still fighting for his vision but he’d been in enough brawls that his motions were practiced and he hit the man hard in the stomach. He doubled over and Chris gave him an uppercut to the chin that kicked him out of the fight.
Jensen had the priest backed up against the table and somewhere a knife had come into play. Jared started to move towards him but another man blocked his path. Jared wasn’t the fighter that Chris and Jensen were, but he wasn’t inexperienced either. He ducked a fist, moving faster than most people thought he could because of his height. He followed it up with a blow of his own to the kidney. He ignored the sting of his hand and looked for his next combatant.
“Jay!” Chris yelled and Jared ducked to the side, scrambling out of the way of another of the cult members. He landed a fist in Jared’s stomach and he was doubled over. The next fist never came though. Chris was standing over him, the other guard pushed back as Chris protected him.
“Thanks man,” he said as he straightened up to his full height again.
“Think we’re even now,” he grinned over his shoulder.
Jared nodded as he looked over at Jensen. He had a horrifying moment of panic as a knife blade came rushing down, but as he turned to stop it, he realized Jensen was no longer on the table, but standing over the priest.
There was a primal scream as the knife found its way home and Jared felt the whole of the acropolis still with him. Jensen was panting through the exertions and Chris grabbed at Jared’s arm, his back to Jared’s as he continued to watch the men around them.
Jensen’s eyes turned up and he found Jared, the moonlight giving enough light now to make out the details that he hadn’t been able to see before. There was a slice across the front of his white shirt where the knife must have come close to catching skin. His fingers itched with the need to see if that was true or if there was a stream of blood running down his chest to pool in the dark fabric of his pants, unseen in the pale light.
Jensen came out from around the table and he was there at Jared’s side, his fingers moving over Jared’s skin, looking for injury. Jared did the same, his hands coming away from Jensen’s shirt with a dark wetness. “Jensen, you’re hurt.”
“I’m fine Jared,” He said softly.
“Jared,” Chris grabbed his arm and as Jared looked up, he saw the priest moving on the table, a lighter lit in his hand as he dropped it to his chest. His shirt immediately caught fire and though he screamed, his body didn’t thrash around with the pain. Jared’s eyes turned up as he watched the smoke rising, the feeling of hungry eyes watching them.
Jared’s felt the world shifting under him and knew it was an earthquake. He felt Chris grab his arm and Jensen had the other as they stumbled, trying to move away from the stairs. Jensen pulled Jared closer and Chris lurched, trying to keep up with them. He pushed them forward as he moved, Jared and Chris both going down in a heap. Jensen pulled at them, trying to get them up, but then Jared reached out, grabbing something to help haul himself up and keep his balance as the whole of the acropolis danced under them.
The quake stopped suddenly and Jared heard the whisper of Jensen’s angry retort of, “Damn it Jared, I said not to touch anything,” before the world shifted once more.
They stood under the full moon, the acropolis no longer a ruin in an uninhabited part of the jungle, but rather the heart of a community at its height. The portable table that the priest had been using was replaced by the original stone table, the marks of blood and ash still fresh against its porous surface. The sacrificial knife sat on the table, gleaming with the cold blue reflection of the moon’s light.
Jared felt Jensen still standing before him, Jensen moving quickly to press his back to Jared’s chest, keeping him close against whatever was to come.
“This is never a good sign,” Jensen said softly.
Jared would have laughed if someone hadn’t grabbed his arm. He turned as much as he could with Jensen glued to his chest and found Chris beside him.
“Really not good,” Jared answered his lover. “Chris?”
“What the hell just happened?”
“We’re in Jared’s vision,” Jensen answered. His voice was harder the way Jared remembered it when he had protected him the night Jensen swore he hadn’t been in the vision. His shoulders were squared and his body tense with the rigid discipline that marked him so different from the man that Jared knew.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I’m sorry Chris. It’s never taken anyone else except Jensen and I always thought that was because of the circumstances. It shouldn’t have caught either of you this time.”
The General gave a small huff in front of him. “I told you before I wasn’t about to let you go off into danger without me. Did you think I would protect your soul any less passionately than you protected mine?”
Jared didn’t have time to answer when a figure came forward from the dark. He gaped at the sight of the creature that slithered out from behind the stone table. A serpent with wide eyes, snapping jaw, and feathered wings, the god Kukulkan eyed them all as if deciding which of them would make the best snack. In all his experience with the written word coming to life, he’d never expected the feathered serpent to look like the creature the Mayans had depicted in their art, but it was exactly what he was seeing.
“You, I cannot touch,” The serpent spoke softly, as it looked at Jensen. “We are not the only old gods and yours are no more forgiving than we are.”
Jensen stood straighter, pulling Jared behind him. “You cannot have him.”
The serpent’s mouth pulled up at the corners in a mockery of a smile. “Your gods protect you, not him. His perfect sight, his visions of worlds that no longer rule, he is one of mine.”
“No,” Chris said coming out from behind the two of them. He walked away from them, pulling Kukulkan’s attention from them. “This isn’t the world you knew. You can’t just come sweeping in and try to make it like it was.”
Jared had no idea what he was supposed to do but Jensen was edging them away from the serpent god.
“These are my people,” the serpent was close to Chris, far closer than Jared liked, but it was obvious he’d already decided on Jared. He didn’t think the god was likely to strike Chris now. “I will decide when it is time to return.”
“The world won’t accept you,” Chris tried again, “the world doesn’t need you.”
Jared realized they were standing on the other side of the table and he looked down, seeing the knife before him. He took the knife in hand, the handle feeling too warm to his touch. He looked at Jensen who’d gone still when Jared touched the weapon. Jensen looked at the knife and back at the serpent and Jared could see a plan forming in those eyes. A plan that, years of getting in and out of trouble together, Jared could read plainly.
Jensen moved to the other side of the table and Jared waited only until he was clear before he yelled. “Hey! If you want me, here I am. If you think I’m going to go willingly though, you really do need a seer to help you see.”
The serpent turned to look at him, hissing as it swung into motion. Jared brandished the knife to taunt him and the god was moving. Chris was coming up to Jensen’s side and that was all Jared had the time to notice before Kukulkan was in front of him.
“Do you think you are strong enough to kill a god?”
Jared smiled, though he was terrified. “Why don’t we find out?”
The serpent god hissed as it reared back and then Jensen was moving forward. As it lashed forward trying to get to Jared, Jensen threw himself across the neck. Chris moved with him and the two of them held on as the serpent god tried to buck them free.
“Now Jared!”
Jared was already moving, the knife raised as he reached the section of the snake before him. The knife cut deep as he swung down. The snake god tried to rear back but Jensen and Chris held it close. The tail tried to slash at them but Jared was able to duck before it hit. He continued to slash at the snake’s body until it was severed but he didn’t stop. The snake god stopped moving but he knew he couldn’t stop yet. It might be out but it was a god. The physical body underneath him wasn’t what it seemed.
Jensen moved over to him, his hands directing Jared as he slit the serpent open, looking for the heart.
“You know a lot about snake anatomy,” Jared said as they found the organ.
Jensen smiled, but it was tight. “The Pharaoh had a lot of enemies and snakes were a common adversary.”
Jared didn’t ask anymore. He brought the knife across the muscles and flesh until the heart was finally free. He pulled the heart out and moved away as Jensen and Chris pushed the body out of the way. Jensen pulled the knife out of the snake’s body and as Jared placed the still beating heart on the sacrificial table, Jensen slammed the knife into it, pinning it there.
They stepped back away from it, Jensen reaching for Jared as he came around the other side of the table. Jensen pushed both Jared and Chris behind him and they watched as other figures began to come out of the dark. A Jaguar came forward, eyeing them all as it strutted past the serpent body. It began to twitch and the jaguar gave it one look before snarling at the three of them. Jared felt himself falling backward, his vision spinning. His last glance showed him the jaguar snapping his jaws around the serpent, rending flesh and drinking blood.