A shadow unwrapped itself from his and peeled itself from the wall. As full figured as a man, it walked toward him to stand behind his shoulder and whisper in his ear. "I told you so, didn't I? Women are ever fickle. There's no man who can keep one forever satisfied."
"Butterfly is different. She is all things good."
"And you are not."
No, he wasn't. He was a warrior, and his skin had been bathed in blood more times than he could count. It didn't pay for him to show mercy or patience. He wasn't supposed to.
At the right hand of his chief, he had slain innocents aplenty. It was his job. But now that they were at peace, he was lost.
Until he'd seen the Butterfly. She had tamed the savage inside him. Made it content to sit before hearth and watch her gentle ways. He didn't understand it. But so long as she was with him, he had no desire to pick up knife or spear.
He wanted only to please her.
Abigail blinked as the vision faded. When it was gone completely, she realized she was still standing in front of the wall with Choo Co La Tah behind her.
"Now you know," he said quietly.
Baffled, she turned to meet his kind gaze. "Know what?"
"Who you really are. Who Jess is."
More images flashed in her mind like a short-circuiting strobe trying to drive her mad. They came so fast that she could barely see them, and yet somehow her mind registered it all. "I don't understand."
He placed his hands on each of her arms. "You are the Butterfly, and Jess is the Buffalo. Peace and war. Two halves who were supposed to make one."
She shook her head in denial. "What have you been smoking or snorting or inhaling?"
"Do you not feel the connection here?"
Weirdly enough, she did. But that only freaked her out more.
Choo Co La Tah sighed as he realized she still wasn't ready for the truth. For all these centuries, he'd hidden her and waited for her to find a way to free herself from the curse. And still she was bound.
What a pity.
Maybe in her next life ...
"Come." He gestured toward the rock in the center of the room that lay like a bed beneath a cluster of shimmering stalactites. She was strong in this lifetime. Stronger than she'd ever been before. He saw the rebellion in her eyes that he'd waited a millennium for.
She squelched it and then went to obey. Even so, it was obvious that her submission grated against every part of her being. Her teeth thoroughly clenched, she climbed up and lay back against the cold stone slab.
Choo Co La Tah began chanting as he summoned the sacred breath to cleanse them both.
Abigail listened to his song, but she zoned out as she conjured an image of Jess in her mind. A smile spread across her face as she saw him in the car again. As she felt the memory of his touch on her body. She cupped his pocket watch in her hands and held it on her stomach.
"Choo Co La Tah?" She hated to interrupt his ceremony, but this needed to be done.
"Yes?"
"Once I'm dead, would you please return Jess's watch to him?"
"Why?"
She ran the pad of her thumb over the engraved scrollwork. "He loves it."
"Is his happiness all that matters to you?"
"No. But I don't want him to have any regrets. Not about me."
He inclined his head to her, then went back to his chanting.
Abigail was patient at first, but as it dragged on and on, it began to wear on her nerves. Why couldn't he kill her already? Was the torture part of it?
Perv.
When he started on another chant with no letup in sight, she lost all semblance of manners.
"Choo? Really? Is all this necessary?"
He paused midsyllable. "You're ready to die, then?"
Oh ... there was that.
She turned her head to look at him. "May I have what's behind door number two?"
He actually laughed. "You already chose."
"I know." She swallowed hard and closed her eyes. "I'm ready."
She felt Choo Co La Tah move to stand by her shoulder. The faintest whisper of metal scraping leather let her know he was drawing a knife. Bracing herself, she conjured Jess's face and imagined herself in his arms.
No, on a beach. A little difficult, granted, since he couldn't be in daylight without bursting into flames, but she'd loved the beach when she was a kid. And since the Apollites had the same spontaneous combustion issue with the silken sands, she hadn't been on one since her mother took her there for her fourth birthday.
But she was there now. Jess in a Speedo.
Just kidding. That was too bold a look even for him. Maybe a ...
Naked. Yeah, naked. She liked that best of all. The two of them lying in the surf like the old movie her mother had loved, From Here to Eternity.
Something cold and sharp touched her throat. Tensing, she braced herself for the cut that would end her life.
"Do you not want to fight me to live?"
Hold on to Jess. Naked. Beach. Naked.
"Answer me, Abigail. Do you want to live?"
"Of course I do." What kind of question was that?
"Then why don't you fight me?"
Abigail didn't answer. She had to hold on to Jess's face or she would be fighting him with everything she had.
"Why don't you fight?"
She opened her eyes to glare at him. "Don't you understand? I am saving my life."
"I don't follow. You're doing this to save the world?"
She shook her head. "I'm doing this to save Jess."
"For him I can cut your throat?" He laid the knife across her neck. So close, she couldn't swallow without cutting herself. She kept her eyes open this time.
Screw it. If he was going to kill her, he could do it looking at her.
"Yes."
His gaze softened immediately as a slow smile spread across his face. "That's the right answer." He pulled the knife away.
Completely confused, she scowled at him. "What are you doing?"
"You made your sacrifice. You can get up now."
She still didn't understand. "I have to die. Don't I?"
"Not all sacrifices involve death, child. As the Enapay used to say, the noblest sacrifice of all is to open your heart up completely to another person and give them the dagger with which to slay you.... You were willing to die for Jess. Bravely. You proved it. That's enough for the Spirit to see and be appeased."
Incredulous, she gaped at him. "Get out." Could it really be that easy?
"No getting out, I'm afraid, my dear. All we need to do now is make your offering and then locate those jars to protect them."
She bolted upright. "I really don't have to die?"
"Are we going to be doing this all night? Should I book us a reservation at Redundancy?"
She laughed. Until her gaze went past his shoulder to ...
It took a moment for her eyes to see it again and then to realize what it was....
That familiar shadow she'd seen on her wall as a child. The one that had whispered to Buffalo.
And before she could make a single sound of warning, it attacked.