Cult of the Black Jaguar Read Online Free PDF

we can drag you to her on bloody stumps.”
    Ethan glanced back at Amos. “Do as he says.” He stepped through the door, arms raised. Luz and Popi stood outside, both armed with pistols. Ethan’s hopes sank further. Attempting an escape at that point would be pointless; they’d all end up dead. Their only hope now would be if one or more of the guards got distracted on the march towards the temple.
    With the coming of night, Ah Puch took on an entirely different atmosphere, no longer an abandoned city but a supernatural metropolis filled with the ghosts of dead priests and their rabid cult of followers. Pots of flaming oil lined the wide main avenue, creating shadows that danced and threatened the procession of outsiders. In the jungle, jaguars howled and wailed as the men marched towards their appointment with death.
    Towering above everything, the Temple de Sangre stood sentinel over its evil domain. Torches blazed around the base of the temple and up the stairs. More flickered at the top of the pyramid, where a square stone chamber with wide windows held the sacrificial altar. Incenses of various types filled the air with pungent odors that masked the smells of rotting plant life and wet soil emanating from the jungle.
    The dark, starry skies and sputtering torchlight brought the ruins to life. Ethan had no trouble picturing how it must have looked hundreds of years in the past, when thousands of men and women would have stood around their foul temple, praying to the Priests and Priestesses as innocent lives were cut short just to appease their abominable gods.
    As they walked, Heathcliff Pascal stumbled and Elton Harrison put an arm around him to help keep him upright. Seeing the movement, Popi rush forward and separated them.
    â€œThe man is bloody sick, you ignorant savage!” Harrison spat.
    Veracruz spoke something in the Mayan tongue and Popi backed away. “He is ill?” Veracruz asked Ethan.
    â€œHis heart. He needs his medicine. In his pack. Just one pill—”
    â€œNo.” Veracruz cut him off. “You are all going to die tonight. What is the point in taking medicine first?”
    â€œYou’re a real bastard, Hector. I’m going to enjoy killing you.” Ethan wished he could be as sure as he sounded. It would be difficult—no, impossible—to do what needed doing without revealing the secret he and Heathcliff had kept for so long.
    â€œShut up and keep walking!” Veracruz shoved Ethan forward.
    Ethan had expected Veracruz to lead them to the top of the pyramid. Instead, the procession halted at the base of the temple. A chorus of yowling jaguar cries rose up from thick tropical forest surrounding Ah Puch.
    â€œBehold, the High Priestess comes.”
    Hector pointed to the top of the temple and his men raised their gazes to the pyramid’s peak. Ethan followed suit, stunned by the revelation that the natives weren’t crazy, that someone still occupied the temple and was leading them in the ancient ways.
    A figure emerged from the altar chamber and began to descend the stairs. As it drew closer, details became visible to Ethan. A woman, cloaked in a long, flowing cape made from black jaguar hide. The beast’s head was intact and sat atop the Priestess’s own like a crown.
    She took each step with regal precision, her lithe legs never slowing or faltering, her bare feet never slipping or missing a step. Ethan had climbed other temples, knew how the steep, narrow stairs could cramp even the strongest of calf muscles. Clearly the Priestess kept herself strong.
    But for who?
    The Priestess stopped at the bottom of the pyramid, twenty feet from the prisoners. Long, slender arms emerged from under the cape and lifted the animal-head hood back and away.
    Revealing one of the most beautiful women Ethan had ever seen in his life.
    The Priestess, who looked no more than eighteen, curled one finger in a slow, languid gesture. Immediately,