#As brasas

[cristianemagalhaes]

As brasas – Sándor Márai

Um livro que é quase um monólogo... Muito bom!!! Um general espera 41 anos para rever um amigo -inseparável na infância – para tentar entender o que aconteceu na última vez em que se viram. Ele, naturalmente, vai passando por todos os seus pensamentos sobre o assunto e, ao longo desse caminho, certas perguntas que queria fazer já não são mais necessárias.... E ele explica cada pensamento e conclusão ao visitante, de forma muito bem pensada e explicada.

“Viveram lado a lado desde o primeiro instante, ... quando decidem pela primeira vez arrancar do resto do mundo o corpo e a alma de outra pessoa para possuí-la com exclusividade. O sentido do amor e da amizade estava todo ali. A amizade deles era séria e silenciosa como todos os grandes sentimentos destinados a durar a vida inteira. E como todos os grandes sentimentos, também continha certa dose de puder e de culpa. Ninguém pode se apropriar impunemente de uma pessoa, subtraindo-a de todas as outras.”

“Fico pensando, prossegue o general como se estivesse falando consigo mesmo, se a amizade existe realmente ... Às vezes acho que ela representa a relação mais íntima que existe na vida ... Talvez por isso seja tão rara. E então, em que se funda? Na simpatia? ... não se pode dizer que a simpatia seja suficiente para levar duas pessoas a se responsabilizarem uma pela outra nas situações mais críticas de suas vidas .. Não haverá talvez uma pitada de Eros no fundo de todas as relações humanas? ... O Eros da amizade não precisa dos corpos ... estes, ao contrário, o perturbam mais do que o atraem ... Imagina-se que a amizade é um serviço que se preta. Mas o amigo, assim como o apaixonado, não deve esperar uma recompensa para seus sentimentos. Não tem que exigir contrapartidas por seus serviços, não deve considerar que a pessoa eleita é uma criatura fantástica, deve conhecer seus defeitos e aceita-la como é, com todas as consequências...

“A gente vai envelhecendo aos poucos: numa primeira fase, atenua-se a vontade de viver e de ver nossos semelhantes. Vai prevalecendo o sentido da realidade, vai-se esclarecendo o significado das coisas, você acha que os acontecimentos se repetem monótona e fastidiosamente. Isso também é um sinal de velhice. Finalmente, você percebe que um corpo é apenas um corpo e que os homens, pouco importa o que façam, são apenas criaturas mortais. Depois seu corpo envelhece, não todo de uma vez, é verdade... A gente envelhece assim, pedaço por pedaço. E então, de repente, sua alma envelhece: mesmo sendo o corpo efêmero e mortal, a alma ainda é movida por desejos e recordações, ainda procura a alegria. E quando também ela desaparece esse desejo de alegria, só restam as recordações e a inutilidade de todas as coisas; nesse estágio, estamos irremediavelmente velhos. Um dia você acorda e esfrega os olhos e não sabe porque acordou. Já sabe exatamente o que o dia apresentará a seus olhos: ... Nada de surpreendente pode acontecer: não o surpreendem nem sequer os fatos inesperados, insólitos ou horripilantes, porque você conhece todas as probabilidades... e esta é a verdadeira velhice.... O homem compreende o mundo um pouco de cada vez, e depois morre ..."

[meusgrifos]

Durante a noite, veados e corças saíam do bosque, paravam no meio da neve, sob o luar, e ali ficavam a observar as janelas iluminadas, com seus extraordinários olhos atentos e graves, de reflexos azulados, a cabeça inclinada de lado e os ouvidos atentos à música que filtrava do castelo. “Está vendo?…”, perguntava a mulher sentada ao piano, e ria. Em fevereiro, o gelo desentocou os lobos que desceram das montanhas, os criados e os guardas florestais acenderam uma fogueira de gravetos no parque e as feras, atraídas pelo fogo, começaram a girar ao redor, uivando como que enfeitiçadas. O oficial da Guarda desceu para enfrentá-los com o facão; sua mulher ficou a observá-lo da janela. Em algum ponto, ele e ela não conseguiam se entender. E no entanto se amavam.

— Sandor Marai, em "As brasas".

[sintoj]

Tapão gives the first slice of his birthday cake to Brasa.

In Brazilian tradition, the first slice of your birthday cake goes to the person you love the most.

[kottaniq]

Tristan & Companhia!

[decaf-lesbian]

i love volleyball

[lapazdelmar]

Y ahí te veo, inclinado sobre tu poesía, en la esquina de una tarde noche sofocada. Quiero y deseo que esas brasas no agonicen, aunque tengan que esquivar de por vida la escarcha de la ausencia.

Un beso

[downwiththeficness]

The Usurper-Chapter Six

Summary: Lilah McNamara stole things for a living. It was tedious work and often dangerous, which made it just exciting enough to keep her interested. After botching a routine job, Lilah finds herself standing amid monsters. Wholly unprepared for the horror of living under Amaru’s reign, Lilah decides to use her well honed skills to thwart the queen’s plans and prevent the end of the world.

Word Count: ~3,000

Disclaimer: I do not consent to this work being copied or posted to other sites of blogs.

Start at the Beginning Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Read on AO3 Masterlist

Lilah sat in the booth of the diner, aware that she looked like a sullen teenager and not giving a single fuck about it. She was bleary from a night spent trying to figure out how to escape and failing so totally in her first attempt that she hadn’t made a second. Climbing out the window of the bathroom was a lot more difficult than she anticipated. Especially in a dress and sandals. By the time her feet touched the ground, her ever present guard was already waiting patiently behind her.

Javier, as he insisted he be called, smiled genially when Lilah turned around. He leaned on a lacquered wood cane and waited for her to catch her breath before warning her that he had excellent hearing despite his age. He was also pretty spry, though he understood if she wanted to throw a few punches to test her might against his.

Lilah rested against the wall of the hotel and regarded him with angry eyes before turning and walking silently around to the front of the building. He followed her to the room and resumed his position in front of her door as if nothing at all happened. That’s where he stood, nearly unmoving, for the rest of the night.

“Coffee?”

She looked up at the waitress, “Yes, please.”

The waitress directed the same question to Javier, who shook his head. He sat across from her reading an actual fucking newspaper like it was Sunday morning. She scanned it covertly for an article about Raul’s murder and found nothing. The killing of a maintenance man in a town so small it barely had its own zip code probably wouldn’t make national news, but she’d been surprised before.

Javier turned the page. Lilah refused to speak to him and barely deigned to look in his direction. The only reason she agreed to sit down at the table was that he was paying the tab. Lilah wasn’t about to turn down a free meal, especially when her stomach was rumbling in her belly. Add to it that Javier hadn’t been forthcoming about the plan for the day and she figured she would need all the fuel she could get.

Her attention turned to a large group of people seated not too far away. They were young, possibly in their mid-twenties. Their clothes made her think they were either coming out of or headed to Sunday Mass. Nine men and women dressed in their Sunday best talking animatedly among themselves while she was sitting across from a grandfatherly man who was almost certainly not what he appeared. She stared at them with envy. Even when she was in high school, Lilah never had such a large group of friends. Over the years, she’d lost touch with the friends she did have and the life of an international thief didn’t exactly lend itself to making new ones.

The coffee arrived and the waitress wrote down Lilah’s order. Javier demurred, saying that he never ate so early in the morning. Lilah caught the self-satisfied smirk on his lips as he said it. The waitress took it in stride with a cheery ‘suit yourself’ and walked away. Lilah watched her, wondering what she might think of an extremely well dressed older gentleman sitting across from a disheveled and petulant woman with circles under her eyes. Did they make as strange a pair as Lilah imagined?

“I don’t believe you understand what kind of danger you’re in.”

Lilah glared at Javier from over the rim of her coffee mug, “I think I have some idea.”

He hummed and flipped the paper to read below the fold, “You humans are so confident. Its one of the things I love about you.” When Lilah continued to glare, he added, “I also love your tenacity. Centuries of being preyed upon by culebras and you still fight back.”

“What’s a culebra?” Even as she asked the question, Lilah felt a kind of reluctant resignation wash over her. She wasn’t in any kind of mood for more bullshit, but was willing to acknowledge that there were things she needed to know for her own survival. If she had to sit through a terribly awkward breakfast to get enough leverage to make a getaway, Lilah was prepared to sit there all morning.

Javier’s eyes never left the paper. “Very much like the vampire you accused Brasa of being. Impulsive creatures that we created to serve us in Xibalba.”

She blinked, “Okay.”

At this, Javier looked up, “You’re very calm.”

“I’m exhausted.”

A nod, “I assumed as much. I’ve already informed Brasa that you refused rest.”

“Refused is a strong word.”

“Call it whatever you want. You need rest.”

“I need to get out of the country,” Lilah retorted. “I have people who will be looking for me.” Not exactly true, but close enough. Mr. Pickerelle would assume she cut and ran on the job and he’d dispatch another contractor to show the rest of his employees why that was such a bad idea. She would have to eat some major crow in order to keep her head right where it was when he found her.

Javier closed the newspaper and set it deliberately aside, “You should hope they don’t find you. I can’t imagine what Brasa will do to anyone who tries to take you from him.”

The waitress arrived with her food and, sensing the tension between them, had the good grace to walk away. Lilah let her get out of earshot before she sneered, “Right. Because I’m his bondmate, or whatever.”

“Yes, It is too serious a thing for you to turn your nose up at.”

“Oh, bullshit. I’ve heard more creative stories come out of the CW.”

His brows drew together, “What is… nevermind, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are the bondmate to Queen Amaru’s second in command. What you do reflects directly back on him.” He pointed a finger at him, “If the queen sees you as a weakness, she will kill you both. I’ve worked too long in his service to see Brasa fall because of whims of a child.”

Lilah drew back, “I haven’t been a child in a long time.”

“Then, act like an adult. Yes, this situation is strange and new. Yes, you are probably very scared. But, we cannot change it. Listen, and learn, and hope that Her Majesty never looks your way.”

In Javier’s little speech, Lilah found her opening, “You care for him—Brasa, I mean.”

“I do.”

“And you think I’m his...weakness.”

“I do.”

She leaned forward, “Then, help me escape. If I’m not around, I can’t be used against him. I can walk away. I’m very good at disappearing.”

“Yes,” Javier drawled, “I’ve seen the evidence of that.”

“That’s not what I mean,” she countered with fervor, “I have skills...useful skills. I can erase every bit of evidence I ever existed. You and Brasa can forget all about me. I’ll never come back to Mexico. Hell, I’ll never come back to this hemisphere.”

Javier’s expression softened, “If only it was that simple. He would go the ends of the earth for you. Search every plane of existence until he found you again.”

Lilah sat back, deflated, “I don’t understand.”

“I know. But, you will soon.”

“The fuck am I supposed to do with this, Javier?”

He very nearly gave a shrug, “As I said. Listen and learn.”

Lilah picked up her fork, “Alright, Mr. Miyagi. I’ll eat, you talk.”

In the twenty minutes or so that it took for Lilah to eat through a truly enormous breakfast, Javier filled her in on the basics of what she would need to know to survive the near future. She would be surrounded by culebras—vampiric snakes—that were ruled by Queen Amaru and kept in line by Brasa, with Javier’s assistance. Culebras were made in Xibalba and found their way to Lilah’s dimension to escape enslavement centuries ago. Since then, they made their home in the places where they could best survive. Hot, dry land with deep, unending caverns. For much of that time, the Lords kept their numbers deliberately low so as to not draw attention. When Amaru, Brasa, and Javier were dispatched to bring the errant culebras to heel, the Lords imprisoned them underground for their trouble.

Amaru escaped first. Then, Brasa. Then, Javier. The queen was filled with furious anger and hadn’t just taken up her original mission. She was searching for something that would solidify their power permanently. If she found what she was looking for, it would spell disaster for humanity. Lilah assumed that Javier wouldn’t use the word, ‘apocalypse’ lightly.

“You’re not going to stop her since you love us humans so much?”

Javier’s brows lifted, “She is stronger than I am.”

Lilah was unconvinced, “What about you and Brasa together? Could the two of you stop her?”

He looked away, “Brasa can’t act against her.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Can’t.”

“Why?”

“Its not my story to tell.”

Gazing at him with eyes narrowed in suspicion, Lilah drank down the last of her coffee and signaled the waitress for another. This was...a lot of information. Not only were there literal species of monsters roaming Mexico, but there was also at least one other dimension where even worse monsters lived. Lilah was sitting in the middle of what sounded like some kind of war.

“No.”

Javier tilted his head to the side, “No?”

“No,” Lilah repeated. “I’m not doing this. I don’t care about your stupid little squabbles or your power drunk queen with a vendetta.” She took a breath, “How much money do you have in your wallet?”

“I—.”

“How much?”

Javier’s mouth quirked and he reached into his jacket. From his wallet, he pulled a surprising amount of bills. Lilah raised a brow at him and he said, “Its harder to track cash.”

“Good thinking. Hand it to me.” Lilah left enough on the table for the food with a large tip. “Keys.” Javier handed her a key fob for a Mercedes. “Phone.” From another pocket, he produced a phone and gave it to her. “Thanks. Wish I could say I had fun, but I didn’t.” Then, “Don’t follow me.”

Lilah stood and walked out of the diner as casually as she could. She pressed the fob beneath her chin and dug her finger into the lock button. The Mercedes beeped at her from the far side of the lot. With a significantly less casual step, Lilah bee lined for it and threw herself into the driver’s seat. The engine turned over easily and she felt the first gasp of relief push into her lungs as she backed the car out of the spot.

On the highway, she dug into her purse and pulled out her phone. She powered it on to find a hundred or so messages and voicemails from Mr. Pickerelle. In all the excitement, Lilah hadn’t forgotten about the other danger in her life. She dialed his number and prepared herself to lie like she’d never lied before.

“You better have my staff,” came the answer.

“I don’t,” Lilah replied. “I was ambushed.”

There was a short pause, “By who?”

“I don’t know. There was...collateral damage. I had to find a place to stash the staff before they got to me.”

“Where did you stash it?”

Lilah frowned, “Its safe, for now. But, they grabbed me and I had to figure out how to get away.”

“You know, McNamara, you’re usually so professional. And now, two fuck ups on an easy job.”

Her lip curled, “With respect, there were things about this job you didn’t fill me in on. There was...some kind of gang—maybe a cartel—that was involved with the church. You can imagine how happy they were to find a thief in their midst.”

Another pause, “What would a cartel want with a thousand year old artifact?”

“How should I know?” Lilah bit out. “Fact is, they had their eyes on it, too. And, it almost cost me my life.”

She looked into the rearview mirror, half expecting to find Javier driving directly behind her. He’d let her go a little too easy for her taste and her gut was telling her that her escape wasn’t assured. She couldn’t go back for the staff, couldn’t go back for her car, couldn’t risk being seen anywhere someone might know her face.

From across the line, there was a deep sigh, “Alright. I’ll add on an extra hundred thousand to your fee. But, I want the staff immediately.”

Lilah didn’t even consider the offer. Her priority was to make it as if she never set foot in that church, as if she never set foot on the earth, period. “No dice. I’m canceling your order. I’m not going to answer this phone again, Mr. Pickerelle.”

“You’re making a very, very serious mistake.”

“I’m not. And, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll forget about the staff.”

The phone in her hand beeped. Lilah looked at the screen and found that Mr. Pickerelle had ended the call. She cursed and jabbed her finger into the car’s window button. Then, she tossed her phone and Javier’s phone out onto the asphalt.

She drove while the sun rose high in the sky. Then, she stopped at a gas station and asked the attendant where to find the nearest airport while she wrote the directions on a napkin. After that, it was just a matter of getting there and booking a flight to Canada. She could regroup on her home turf.

Lilah’s strength began to flag as the afternoon wore on. She rolled the window down, hoping that the wind would keep her awake long enough to reach the airport. It was only a few miles away. Just a few miles, and she would be that much closer to getting away.

The car hit something hard. Lilah blinked her eyes open, not sure when they had closed. Her hands turned the wheel, but not in time to keep the car from flipping over on its side and skidding across the asphalt. Glass and metal sprayed her face and arms. Her body slammed against the side of the car and white hot pain speared through her shoulder and leg. Lilah covered her eyes and cried out. The scream lasted until the car came to a stop.

Shaking all over, Lilah unbuckled her seat belt and began the arduous task of crawling out of the car through the front windshield. On the way, she grabbed her purse from where it lay on the dash and threw it ahead. She did her best to keep from pressing her palms and knees into the shards of glass sprinkled over every surface. Despite all her effort, blood began to mix with the dirt and oil below.

Free of the car, Lilah rolled to her back and stared at the perfectly blue sky. The ground was hot against her back and it soothed the piercing ache in her body. Her shoulder felt out of place and her hip was swelling beneath her skirt. “I fucking hate this place,” she groused, thinking that she was never coming to Mexico again.

The good news was that someone was bound to come by soon. Even though she was laying on a side road, it led directly to the airport. It was kind of weird that it was empty at the moment, but Lilah didn’t have enough brain function to think about why. In her delirium, Lilah thought she heard an animal growl from somewhere nearby. She couldn’t see one in her periphery, but it hurt too much to turn her head so that she could get a better look. Wouldn’t it be just the best to get eaten by a wild creature while also running from a wild creature?

A cloud passed over the sun. Lilah’s eyes simply wouldn’t open past halfway, anymore, so she couldn’t be sure. The cloud moved away quickly—too quickly. The cool touch of fear swept over her. It didn’t matter that she was tired and hurt or that she could barely move. Lilah’s will to live pushed right through all the pain to bring her back into focus. She forced herself to look up, to see what was above her.

Brasa.

“You little idiot,” he muttered through gritted teeth.

“Fuck you, too,” she rasped.

Brasa threw down his coat and knelt next to her. He rolled up the sleeve of his shirt and pushed his face into his forearm. Lilah watched him, unable to do much more than breathe—even that hurt. Everything hurt. Blinking hurt.

Suddenly, Brasa’s arm was blocking the entirety of her vision and something was dripping onto her face. His free hand tugged gently at her jaw, holding it open. Blood poured into her mouth freely. It was instinct that had her swallowing it down against her will.

This is so unsanitary, wafted through her thoughts before Lilah’s tongue registered how it tasted. Sweet. Very, sweet. Like something she’d eaten as a child. Did everything about Brasa taste sweet? It poured freely into her mouth from a wound that felt dangerously deep against her lips. Above, Brasa eyed her silently. His expression was half shielded by the dark lenses of his sunglasses. She could see her own reflection—bruised and dirty—looking back at her.

Lilah’s body seized. Power and sensation burst through her very veins. It snapped at her wounds, her bruised organs. More pain sliced through her, exacerbating nerves that were far too battered, already. She groaned and tried to curl in on herself. Brasa’s hand on her belly held her down, “Easy. You’ll hurt yourself more.”

“Fuck. You.”

She squirmed painfully, until his blood reached her shoulder and squeezed it back into place. It hurt so much more than the crash. So much more than anything she’d ever felt before. The pain blinded her, subdued her completely. Lilah passed out with her teeth bared and a curse on her lips.

[idrislibrary]

Las malas acciones se cometen por elección o por las circunstancias. Nunca por naturaleza.

[artesiasblog]

Brasas

Quero perder meus dedos nas ondas dos seus cabelos, enquanto me sinto arrepiar. Na sua boca encontrei refúgio, fonte do meu desejo mais singular. Na sua pele minhas unhas ora tateiam, ora arranham, enquanto da sua boca saem palavras inaudíveis que minha mente se delicia ao imaginar. Por fora tento me manter intacta mas por dentro eu ardo em brasas difíceis de apagar.

[useless-catalanfacts]

Artichokes are one of the most popular winter season products. They can be made as part of many dishes but probably the most common and simple one is cooked on embers (charcoal barbecue) or baked in the oven with a bit of ham or bacon inside.

Photo from Catalunya cuina, Gastroranking, TripAdvisor.

[girlpornparadise]

[baby-imaginary]

brasil esta amassando nas paralimpiadas, devia ter mais reconhecimento

[sintoj]

I’ve been meaning to try a different style after painting for so long. This one felt like a breath of fresh air!

[txigreman]

Pulpijo a la brasa 😋😋

Venga, que enfría

[bonnielass23]

[downwiththeficness]

The Usurper-Chapter Thirteen

Summary: Lilah McNamara stole things for a living. It was tedious work and often dangerous, which made it just exciting enough to keep her interested. After botching a routine job, Lilah finds herself standing amid monsters. Wholly unprepared for the horror of living under Amaru’s reign, Lilah decides to use her well honed skills to thwart the queen’s plans and prevent the end of the world.

Word Count: ~ 3,700

Disclaimer: I do not consent to this work being copied or posted to other sites of blogs.

Start at the Beginning Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Read on AO3 Masterlist

How did they run the wires for electricity down here? The thought sort of floats through her brain. Its there and then suddenly it dissolves, as if Lilah hadn’t thought it at all. A lot of her thoughts were like that, lately. After her destructive rampage and subsequent break down in the cave, Lilah trudged back to this room and lay down on the floor of the bathroom. At first, she just wanted the space to think, to come up with a plan to destroy Amaru. Three days later, she was doing everything in her power not to think at all.

Brasa left her alone, which was a good decision. Any time Lilah caught an errant memory centered on him, she had the urge to set fire to something. Him, probably. Would a sun god burn? Lilah didn’t know and she didn’t want to think about it. She swiped a mental hand over the question and pushed it out of her mind with the others.

Javier visited her regularly. He didn’t try to muscle his way through the locked door, but he did knock and let her know that there was a plate of food waiting for her at the threshold. Lilah never responded and she never opened the door to take the food. She didn’t want to eat anything she hadn’t made with her own two hands. Over time, the feeling of hunger overpowered her rage. Then, gradually, even that went away. Lilah wallowed in the nothing-feeling that was left behind. It was a kind of bliss to feel nothing after everything that had happened.

Javier was back. Lilah could hear him calling her name. She closed her eyes and ignored him. In a few seconds, he would go away and she could get back to wallowing.

“Lady Lilah,” he said loudly, “its time to come out now.” She set her jaw and refused to reply. “You’ve had your tantrum. Open the door. I have food for you.” A pause, “I’m not above breaking this door down.”

She continued to lay there, uncaring about Javier’s threat. He could crack the door into splinters and it wouldn’t matter. Lilah had picked a spot to lay down and she wasn’t getting up from it until she was good and damn well ready. Movement from the other side of the door reached her ears. A shuffle. A clink. The scratch of metal against metal. Lilah’s eyes opened but she didn’t have the energy to lift her head. At the very edge of her periphery, she saw the glint of the doorknob turning.

Javier strolled into the room. He was holding a tray in one hand while the other pushed what she assumed was a key into the pocket of his jacket. He was dressed casually today—no tie to match his immaculately pressed white button up and cream linen suit. He set the tray on the bathroom counter and regarded her with a frown. Lilah’s eyes met his, rolled in agitation, and closed.

“That can’t be comfortable,” he muttered while Lilah suppressed the urge to sigh. “He told me what happened. I thought you should know that it was me who encouraged him to give you his blood in that way. He was against it, at first, but I convinced him.”

Lilah didn’t think that it mattered how Brasa made the decision. What mattered was that he’d made the decision and then acted on it. There was no way of knowing how much of his blood she had in her system, or what that might mean for her. She didn’t have a clear count on the number of bottles she drank. Whenever she finished one, another seemed to magically take its place. Lilah never questioned where they came from while she was filling her glass.

“I have to say I was impressed by your reaction,” Javier continued, undaunted by her silence. “We still haven’t cleaned up the damage.”

Good, Lilah thought bitterly. She hoped it took ages to get the smell of smoke out of everything. She hoped there would always be ash in the air.

“The queen was fond of that chair,” he said lightly. “She was...unhappy that it had to be thrown out.”

At this, Lilah opened her eyes and fixed Javier with a look that conveyed how little she cared about Amaru’s feelings. She could die mad about it—Lilah actually hoped she would die mad about it, whenever death decided to come for the ageless queen. The only benefit to drinking Brasa’s blood was that Lilah might actually get to be there when it happened.

Javier moved to sit on the edge of the tub to her left, “Brasa lied, of course. If Amaru knew you were the one who set fire to it...well, you can guess what might come of that.” He took a breath, “Five of our people were killed for your anger.”

She didn’t like the idea of people taking the fall for her actions. She’d been through that before and it didn’t sit well with her then, either. Lilah allowed herself to feel bad for them. Their deaths were likely gruesome and painful—and, totally undeserved. She wished Brasa had just told Amaru the truth.

“It is a lie he would tell again, if he had to. I know you’re angry with him, but he is still protecting you.”

At this, Lilah snorted. None of this would have happened if Brasa had just been up front with her. Not that asking would have gone particularly well for them. Lilah knew she would have attempted to negotiate with him or wriggle out of agreeing to drink his blood. Brasa would likely become irritated with her and they would almost definitely end in an impasse, accomplishing nothing. Still, he should have asked.

Javier leaned his elbows on his thighs hands folded in the space between his knees, “Would you like to hear about how we passed into this dimension?” He didn’t wait for her to reply, “I was the first to notice the culebra numbers dwindle. In the beginning, it was just a small group here and there. I explained it away as one warring faction doing away with another. Soon, they were disappearing by the dozens. Then, fifty or so at a time.

“I kept close watch on the ones I thought might be leading the exodus. Not long after that, I got lucky. I was able to follow a pair of stragglers until they showed me the way to the door. After that, it was a matter of taking one of their leaders prisoner and questioning her for information.”

Here, he paused for several seconds, “I always considered culebras a lesser species. They were too driven by hunger to truly come together as a group. Those that tried to rise above their baser instincts were often culled from the flock. Violently.

“In any case, we finally learned how they got the door opened. It was a long, complicated process. Very bloody. We failed a few times before we perfected the ritual. Afterwards, it was easy to replicate the process.” Javier smiled wide, “I kept meticulous notes.”

Lilah didn’t smile back. She didn’t know why he was telling her this. It wouldn’t change her situation with Brasa and it certainly wouldn’t make her think better of Javier. If anything, it made her want to side with the culebras. Their violence was, at least, honest.

“Back then, Amaru was the reigning monarch for most of the realm. There were other generals who sat on a council, but they were largely figureheads. The real power was Amaru. She controlled every aspect of Xibalba, especially if it had to do with the culebras. I remember her fury when she realized so many had slipped her grasp. It was...incandescent. A living thing that ate at her from the inside. I think it was the rage that made her go after them, herself.

“Brasa went with her because she trusted him above all others on the council. I only went because I feared Brasa would need help once he crossed the boundary from one world to the next. Everything about this felt like a trap. In fact, it was a trap, but not one set by the culebras. Once we were through the door, it closed behind us and sealed. Amaru’s generals finally had enough of her tantrums. We have lived here ever since.”

Lilah wasn’t at all surprised that Amaru’s generals betrayed her. She’d seen what Amaru’s style of governing was like and would have done the same thing. Living under her rule sounded like a nightmare.

“I tell you this to show you that Amaru can be dealt with,” Javier said. “You’ll need to be very careful in the trap you set, but it can be done.”

“I’m not going to deal with Amaru,” Lilah groused, moved to speak by the audacity of his assumption even though she’d had the exact same thoughts not three days ago.

Javier laughed, “Of course you are. You’ve already started to plan it.”

“The fuck I have.”

There was—possibly, maybe, sort of—a plan rolling around in her head. Not that Lilah was going to act on it. The only plans she had for the foreseeable future was to lay right where she was until she rotted.

Another laugh, “What do you think all that research is for? You’re looking for a weakness.”

Lilah couldn’t help but take the bait, “Do she even have a weakness?”

“Of course she does,” he replied with frustration touching his tone. “Haven’t you been listening?”

Lilah found the energy to lift up onto her elbows and scowl at him, “How does a history lesson amount to revealing her weakness?”

Javier leaned forward and the light caught strangely in his eyes. The pupils fluttered, forming a dark, abnormal shape, “Pride, Lilah. Pride is her weakness.”

“Pride,” she deadpanned back at him. What was this? An afternoon special?

He straightened, “Yes. Pride. I’m told it is a particularly nasty sin for you humans, too.”

Lilah shrugged, “For some people.”

“Then, you should be familiar with how it can topple the powerful.”

She was familiar. Lilah had definitely seen that movie several times over. She’d also read it in the news a few times, too. Shaking her head, Lilah muttered, “I’m not plotting to take Amaru down. Not only do I not care enough to put in that kind of effort, but she’d squash me like a bug the second I did anything.”

Three days of thinking had stopped her plans cold. Lilah simply didn’t have the smarts to take down Amaru, and she certainly didn’t have the strength.

Javier cast her a sardonic look, “You set fire to her throne, Lilah. Here you are, not squashed.”

“Because Brasa lied,” she retorted angrily. “In any other case, I would already be dead.”

He would not be deterred, “Given the time to look at the situation from all angles, I’m confident you would succeed. Besides, you weren’t thinking rationally when you decided to commit your little act of arson.”

Lilah felt her eyes narrow dangerously, “You are not going to call me irrational. What I did was justified.”

Javier held up his hands, “I don’t disagree.”

She dropped back down on the floor and went back to staring at the ceiling, “Thanks for the story.”

“You need to get up, Lilah,” Javier said gently. “You need to eat and you need to plan.”

“I don’t need to do anything.”

“You do if you want to survive what is coming.”

After an absolutely giant sigh, Lilah asked, “What is coming?”

“Another endless night,” Javier replied. “Another kingdom like what we had in Xibalba.”

“I guess you’ll feel right at home, then, won’t you?”

He hissed a breath through his teeth, “It wasn’t me that brought the darkness. I was very content to live in the sunlight.”

“Then, kill her yourself,” she shot back. None of this was her fault and she wasn’t going to be a superhero. Only idiots thought they could swoop in and save the day.

“I can’t,” he asserted firmly. “I am sworn to Brasa and he is sworn to Amaru.”

“So I’ve heard,” Lilah said. “How did that happen again?”

“You know I can’t tell you.”

“Aw,” she drawled in a mocking sing-song, “I thought you were in a story telling mood.”

The movement was so fast that Lilah was standing on her feet before she even felt the way his hand caught her around the throat. Javier’s face was inches from hers and it was angry. The pupils of his eyes were blown so wide that they encompassed the white and she could see the points of his fangs peeking out from snarling lips. She held her breath—she had to hold it. Javier’s grip was tight and it partially cut off the amount of air she could draw into her lungs.

“Listen to me, you silly child,” he ground out. “There are bigger things than your ego at play. The whole of this world will be subsumed beneath the bloody fist of Amaru’s vengeance if you don’t grow up and do something about it.”

Lilah had already seen ‘Amaru’s vengeance’. A field of bodies lying prostrate and bleeding with Brasa looking over the work of his hands. Lilah had no doubt that Amaru would do anything she thought necessary to accomplish her goals. She knew that there would be nothing too horrific, nothing too heinous, for the queen.

“Why me?” Lilah wheezed.

Javier loosed her and took a step back, “Because you’re human. Well, mostly. Amaru only thinks of humans as food. She’ll never see you coming.”

Unsteady on her feet, Lilah managed to frown at him, “You’re rooting for me because she thinks I’m food?”

A nod, “She thinks you’re food. What she doesn’t know is that you managed to steal a priceless sapphire from around the neck of a diplomat’s wife. Or, that you found a clay tablet that was rumored to have been carved by Christ. Or, that you spent a year as the secretary of an art dealer just so you could get access to their private collection. You stole a lost Renoir and walked out of his home with it rolled up in your laptop case.”

Lilah’s jaw dropped, “How did you hear about the painting?”

Javier laughed, “I couldn’t be sure it was you. The man I sat next to at the bar was adamant that the thief had to be the driver. No one even suspected the blonde sitting behind the receptionist’s desk at the gallery.”

He was right. Not a single person suspected her. She made sure of it by continuing to work at the gallery for another month before submitting her notice, claiming that she wanted to travel a bit before settling into a career. Lilah got a very nice watch on her last day along with a short speech about how grateful her boss was that she’d worked there even if it was short-lived.

“So,” she said, “you’re rooting for me because I’m a good thief.”

“I’m rooting for you because you are goal-oriented. Because you are careful. Most importantly, I’m rooting for you because you are patient. The fire notwithstanding, every job I could connect to you was thoroughly planned and slow. You took your time to make sure you never got caught.”

Lilah nodded, “What’s the point of stealing something if you’re going to go to jail for it?”

“What’s the point of knowing everything there is to know about Xibalba if you’re going to ignore the fact that Amaru wants to destroy your world and replace it with hers?”

She looked away and sighed, “I can’t beat her, Javier. She’s ridiculously strong and completely insane. Its an unstoppable combination of personality traits.”

He rolled his eyes, “You don’t have to beat her. Just give her the rope she needs to hang herself.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“Keep doing what you’re doing,” Javier answered confidently, “You’ll figure it out soon enough.”

Lilah ran her hands down her face, trying to smooth away the feeling irritation, “I don’t want to figure it out, Javier. I want to forget Amaru even exists.”

His expression softened, “I know. I will help you as much as I am able. And, I know you’re angry with Brasa, but he is a powerful ally in this fight.”

“A lying ally,” she snipped.

Javier nodded, “True. He lied and you have every right to feel wronged by that. It was an act of fear, Lilah. He knows the world he is opening your eyes to and he knows how terrifying it is. He also knows that you will have to be strong to survive if Amaru does open the door to Xibalba.”

“Yeah, its going to be a shit show. I know it, you know it, everybody knows it. Hell on Earth, and all that. But, I won’t need strength to get through it. I’ll need people that I can fucking trust. Brasa obliterated what little trust I had in him. You did, too.”

“I’m sorry, Lilah,” he said sincerely.

“Sure.”

Javier stared at her for a second or two, then said, “Eat. Mope around, if you must.” He held up a finger, “Think, Lilah. Think and plan.”

He turned and left without waiting for her response. Lilah flipped the bird at his back while her eyes fell to the side. The tray on the counter was covered, but she could smell something spicy and delicious wafting towards her. Lilah considered leaving it outside the bedroom door as a further act of protest, but her stomach cramped with hunger.

Resigned, Lilah grabbed the tray and walked over to the bed where she perched on the mattress. The meal was still warm and gently steaming when she lifted the lid. She leaned down and inhaled, steak and vegetables gently fried in spices and a sauce that she couldn’t name. The small tortillas were soaked in the sauce, too, leaving them with a faintly orange color. Lilah ate with fervor, barely tasting what had to be a beautifully prepared dish.

Somewhere between her third and fourth taco, Lilah heard the door to Brasa’s private office open. She froze and stared at him as he appeared from the room. “Have you been in there the whole time?”

He looked down at the book in his hand, “I was reading.”

Lilah looked down at the food. She didn’t know what to say to him. Three days of hiding in the bathroom and she hadn’t come up with anything to say when she saw Brasa again. Her feelings were raw in her chest. The undercurrent of anger and resentment undeniably stilled her tongue.

Brasa stepped forward tentatively, “Are you hurt?” When Lilah squinted at him in confusion, he added, “Your shirt...did the fire burn you?”

Before ensconcing herself in the bathroom, Lilah had thrown off her burned shirt and pulled on another. The singed wad of fabric was still lying on the floor near the wardrobe. “No, I’m not hurt,” she said, eventually.

Lilah had been burned, but only a little. Lying face down on the tile helped soothe the reddened heat of her skin those first few hours. The pain faded between bouts of banging her head against the floor and berating herself. Lilah rolled over and stared at her unblemished stomach in disgust, knowing that it was the handiwork of Brasa’s blood.

“Good,” Brasa replied. He shifted the book from hand to hand, “I worried about…”

Lilah waited a moment for him to continue. When he didn’t, she sighed and set the tray on the nightstand, “We need to come to an understanding.”

“Oh?”

She debated, then dismissed, the urge to gesture for him to sit, “Javier seems to think that I’m supposed to find a way to take Amaru out.”

He looked a little bit shocked, “Does he?”

Lilah nodded, “Personally, I don’t give a shit about her. But, I also don’t want her tearing off my head or pulling my heart out of my chest.” Or destroying the Earth.

Brasa’s face hardened, “She won’t get the chance.”

“Let me finish,” she cut in, holding up her hand. “I know I can’t beat her, so I’m not going to try. All I want is to survive this incredibly fucked up situation.”

His expression softened marginally, “I will make sure that happens.”

“I’m sure you will.” There was ice in her tone and she didn’t try to hide it. “But, this thing that we’re doing? Its not going to go on like it has been. You’re not going to hide things from me and I won’t hide things from you. I need to know the truth about what I’m dealing with at all times. Is that clear?”

Brasa took a slow breath and nodded. Lilah searched his face for signs of deception and couldn’t find any. It wasn’t enough for her to decide to lower her guard, but it was a start. Javier was right. Brasa was a powerful ally, but they had to be playing on the same team. Lilah couldn’t made good decisions if she was guessing every step of the way. Speaking of which…

“I need to know why you can’t hurt her.”

He flinched and Lilah knew he understood what she was getting at, “Its a long story.”

“I think I can make the time to hear it.”

Brasa looked away, “It is also an embarrassing story.”

“I accidentally caught myself on fire and had to stop, drop, and roll into a stream a few days ago,” Lilah said. “I think I can handle some embarrassment.”

“Its not you handling it that I am worried about,” he replied around an airy laugh.

“Call it an olive branch, then. An act of peacemaking.”

His eyes closed briefly before he laid the book down on the mattress and sat down opposite her, “I used to bask in the sun.”

“You told me.”

Brasa hummed lowly, “I used to bask. That was how Amaru found me. Basking in the sun as I had done since the morning I came to consciousness in Xibalba. I sometimes think it was how she trapped me.”

“She used...the sun against you?”

He thought about it, “Maybe it was the other way around. She used me against the sun.”