His aggression changed, tumbled into fierce desire, and then became joy.

Yes, we will have each other, the Nereid said.

Yes, I am yours as much as you are mine, Justice said.

Their voices swirled together in the colors of Justice's soul, and Keely laughed and cried and crashed through her last fragile bit of hesitation into love.

Finally, finally coming back to some sense of reality, she realized she was still clasped in his arms and his penis was still inside her. She lifted her head from his shoulder and started laughing. "We're stark naked in the middle of the jungle. This is something that has never happened to me before on any expedition. Not to mention that I have no idea how your legs are still holding both of us up."

He gently lifted her just a little ways and she felt his penis hardening again as he slid her back down his shaft. "Strong legs from long years of warrior training will serve me well, because I find I need you again."

She laughed again and pulled off her gloves. "I kind of forgot these before."

He bent his head and stared intently at her breasts, and heat rose in Keely again, shocking her since she would have guessed she wouldn't have the strength to feel desire again for at least a week.

"How is it that I did not take the time to taste these lovely breasts?" he murmured, and then lifted her high enough that only the very tip of him was still inside her. As she squirmed, wanting him, needing him back, he caught her nipple in his mouth and sucked hard.

Keely cried out, and her hot cream bathed the head of his cock. He needed her again and again and again; he would never have enough. He lifted his head long enough to spot a pile of their clothes and strode over to it, still holding her, his cock thrusting deeper with every step. Then he pulled out just long enough to lay her gently down on the clothes, rearranging them so that her delicate skin wasn't touching the vegetation. She stared up at him, her lovely emerald eyes glazed with passion, and he wondered for an instant if he were caught in some magical spell where every dream he'd ever had was coming true in the form of this lovely human.

If dream or fantasy, he decided he didn't care. She'd touched his very soul and tamed the Nereid side of him, and he needed no reality except the one where he was so far inside her she could never forget him.

He lifted her knees, positioned the head of his cock at her glistening entrance, and drove himself home, sheathing himself to the hilt until his sac smacked into her lovely ass and she cried out. Resting his weight on one forearm, he reached between their bodies and touched her, rubbed her own slickness against the center of her nerve endings until she cried out again. "I can't take any more," she said, panting and whipping her head from side to side. "Justice, it's too much. Too much pleasure."

"Never," he said, entranced by the way her nipples had hardened into two rosy peaks. "Never too much."

She lifted her hips, matching every stroke, making delicious moaning sounds that drove him insane with hunger, and he rode her-they rode each other-in a frenzied rhythm. He felt the exact moment her body tightened around his and knew she was on the edge, so he thrust harder and faster, murmuring endearments to her in a stream of frantic Atlantean. She had to know how much he wanted her.

How much he needed her.

This time, he yelled her name as he came, shuddering with her in a blinding explosion of power and heat and color that drove him to the edge of consciousness. As he collapsed, careful to roll to the side a little and avoid crushing her, he started laughing. "I think you may have accomplished what no enemy has been able to do in all these centuries. I think you've killed me."

She lay panting, holding him tightly. Finally she caught her breath and she, too, started laughing. "That makes two of us. If it's always like this, we're in trouble."

Her laughter faded and she turned her head to look into his eyes. "What was that with the colors? Justice, I . . . I felt like I was inside your soul."

"It was the soul-meld, Keely. The soul-meld is a gift from Poseidon and allows an Atlantean and his true mate to see inside each other's souls. When you said you saw the flame of Poseidon-the blue-green flame-in my eyes, I knew. The soul-meld brands a warrior's heart as permanently as the mark of Poseidon marks our bodies."

She traced the brand on his arm. "This? What does it mean?"

"Poseidon's Trident bisects the circle representing all the peoples of the world. The triangle is for the pyramid of knowledge from the ancients. All of Poseidon's warriors bear this mark as testimony to our vow to serve Poseidon and protect humanity."

She kissed the mark and then his chest, nestling against him for a moment. Then she pulled away from him and sat up.

"You know, I hate to be mundane at a time like this, but we're in the jungle with no clothes on, and there are bugs. I really, really don't want bug bites on my butt."

He blinked at her, stunned by her matter-of-fact practicality, then started laughing again. "Not to mention any moment your stomach is going to rumble, isn't it?"

She grinned. "Well, now that you mention it . . ."

Chapter 32.

He called water again and they showered, unable to keep from touching each other. Keely knew from what she'd seen in Justice's soul that the truce with the Nereid was temporary. He'd have to find a more permanent way to incorporate both sides of himself into a cohesive whole. Maybe the Star of Artemis really could help with that.

She felt like she was pinning all her hopes on a magic rock, which was way out there in fairy-tale land. But, as she kept reminding herself, she'd just traveled through space and time to the Guatemalan jungle with an Atlantean. Hard to stay in denial after that.

"We need to go," she said finally, after they were both dressed.

He kissed her until she was breathless and then released her, a look of grim resolve on his face. "Yes, we do. We need to find the Star of Artemis for far greater reasons than merely my own. Although I do feel some hope for the future since the glory of your lovemaking has tamed even the Nereid inside me."

She felt the heat climb into her cheeks. "You're pretty glorious yourself, but if we start talking about lovemaking, we'll never get out of this patch of jungle."

He closed his eyes and held his hands up into the air, and she knew he was using his senses to reach out and try to feel the Star of Artemis again. It only took a few seconds.

"I feel it. Its call is stronger now. I must be gaining strength." He pointed in a northeast direction. "It's coming from there."

She nodded, hoping her shaky legs would carry her on another long walk. Her entire body felt limp and sore in unusual places after their intense lovemaking. She just hoped there wouldn't be chafing.

She laughed out loud. Practical Keely was right. Justice would crack up if he heard her thoughts now. He turned and raised a quizzical eyebrow, which only made her laugh harder. "Nothing. Just a random thought. Lead on, then. It's going to be a long, hot walk."

"We're not walking," he said, beckoning to her. "We're traveling in style. Atlantean style."

She could only watch, dazzled, as he transformed into a sparkling rainbow of mist that somehow had form and substance enough to lift her into the air.

We're going to fly, he said in her mind, and she soared up through the canopy of trees on a magical carpet of water droplets that contained the shape and consciousness of the man she'd just held inside her body.

Magic rocks would seem mundane after this.

They flew over the jungle, skimming the treetops like a child's fantasy of flight. Keely gasped at the sight of fiercely scolding monkeys and laughed in delight at the brightly colored birds who flew along with them, clearly wondering what kind of new strange cousin shared their skies.

"Archaeology was never as much fun as this before," she sang out, hoping he could understand her in that state, somehow sure that he could. She couldn't take in everything fast enough, and her head whipped back and forth on her neck so rapidly as she gazed around that she'd probably give herself whiplash.

We're very nearly there.

She nodded absently, staring down through an opening between treetops at a sleek jaguar pair crossing the ground, fluid muscles moving under their dappled coats. "They're so beautiful."

Beautiful and deadly, he said in her mind.

"Rather like you," she replied, smiling.

In retaliation, he tossed her into the air so that for a moment she was falling, unsupported, shrieking with surprise, but he caught her again so quickly she never had a chance to become afraid. "Now that's just mean," she scolded. "Wait till I get a chance to-"

The sight of the smoke stopped her midsentence. Thick clouds of rolling, ominous black smoke a little ways in front of them. Finding the Star might not be as simple as they'd hoped.

The jungle was burning.

Justice smelled the smoke before he saw it. He immediately took them back down to the ground, a safe distance from the jaguar pair, and rematerialized. Automatically, his hand checked to see that his sword had made the transition with him. Reassured, he pulled it from its sheath.

"Keely, I need for you to stay here while I check it out."

She shook her head. "That's not happening. The two of us will investigate together."

He glared down at her, giving her the fierce look that had caused many warriors to quail before him. "This is my area of expertise, Dr. McDermott. You will do as I say and stay out of the path of danger."

The obstinate set to her jaw told him that he didn't intimidate her in the slightest. By all the gods, she was magnificent.

"Yes, well, my area of expertise involves not getting myself killed on expeditions," she snapped. "You're the one with the fighting skills and the weapons. I'm the one who is not going to wait alone for you here, in the path of who knows how many hungry jaguars or raiding mobs of criminals. The State Department doesn't issue travel warnings about Guatemala for no reason, you know. This is a lovely country with wonderful people, but it holds real danger, and I don't even have my passport with me to back up my identity."

She was right. He hated to admit it, but to leave her there might expose her to even more danger than to take her with him. "Fine, but you do exactly what I say when I say it. I will be very unhappy with anyone who puts you in any danger, and that includes you."

She lifted her chin. "I'm not an idiot or a stupid coed from a cheap horror flick. I'm not going to run screaming into the arms of the guy with the chain saw. I'll do what you say, as long as it makes sense."

He wanted to shake some sense into her. He wanted to kiss the sense out of her. He'd finally found his true mate, and she was annoying the miertus out of him.

"Fine. Let's go. Stay behind me." He took off, nearly running. Something about that smoke raised a sense of dread in his gut. He'd seen too many burning battlefields, too many towns and villages razed by predators intent on herding the humans into the waiting jaws of vampires and shape-shifters.

She'd said vampires had taken over the San Bartolo site. Maybe they'd decided to expand their territory. After all, a formerly lost Mayan temple wouldn't offer them any chances to feed, but a Guatemalan village, cut off from any governmental protection, would.

He turned, still running, and lifted Keely into his arms. They'd move faster this way, and suddenly he had an urgent need for speed.

Chapter 33.

Keely stared in shock at the scene that lay before them when Justice stopped running and put her down. A small village-or what was left of the village-lay in ruins, smoldering and still burning in places.

"What happened here?" she whispered.

"More like who happened here, I'd guess," Justice said flatly, his fury-darkened eyes scanning the area. "It's a common vamp trick; burn out your prey when they try to hide out. Vamps can't enter sanctified places, as you probably know. So they burn the churches first."

He indicated the largest of the smoking piles of rubble, and Keely gasped when she saw the charred remains of a large wooden cross.

"But . . . the people? Do you think they got them all?" Tears ran down her face, unheeded, at the thought of the villagers being burned alive in the church.

The unmistakable sound of a shotgun shell being cham bered came from behind them. "No, senora, they did not get us all. Do you and your friend intend on finishing us off?"

Justice snarled a string of words so harsh and guttural that she was sure she never wanted to understand what he'd said.

He whirled around, placing himself between her and the man with the shotgun.

"We are not your enemies, but if you threaten my woman, you will welcome the return of the bloodsuckers in comparison to what I will do to you and yours," Justice growled. "What is your name and what is the name of your village?"

Keely peered over his shoulder at the man with the gun. He was lean, with shaggy dark hair falling into his eyes. He wore jeans and a torn white shirt that gleamed against his bronze skin. His facial features bore the clear evidence of his Mayan heritage.

The man shrugged, either unimpressed or too weary of violence to respond to Justice's threat. "My name is Alejandro and you are in Las Pinturas. As to the rest, I care little for your threats, sword or no. However, I do not harm women, unlike those vampire bastards who attack us again and again."

"Why are you still here?" Justice asked. "You're fools if you think they won't come back again and again."

Alejandro's eyes turned to ice. "You think I would not have removed my people from danger if I could? The first things they destroyed were our vehicles." He indicated a smoking pile of metal nearly hidden behind one of the buildings. "We have our radio, and we've radioed for help, but there is apparently a wave of violence occurring right now and we are low on the priority list."

"We'll help, won't we?" Keely said, putting a hand on Justice's arm. "We have to do what we can."

Justice said nothing but gave a slight nod, his expressionless face giving away nothing of his feelings. Keely tentatively tried to reach out with her emotions or her mind, but encountered nothing but darkness. He'd shielded his mind from her, and she didn't know enough about the soul-meld to understand how to break through. She moved her hand to clasp his, anyway, and the slight pressure of his fingers reassured her. He'd gone into protective warrior mode; that was all.

Looking around at the destruction, she couldn't exactly blame him.

Alejandro's gaze skimmed over Keely and Justice, and whatever he saw seemed to reassure him, because he lowered the gun and called out, "They are safe enough. You can come out now."

At first one, then another, then finally nearly twenty adults came out from wherever they'd been hiding behind the smoking burnings. Only after they had completely surrounded Keely and Justice did six children cautiously appear to join their parents.

Keely's heart plunged at the sight of the children's terrified faces. "We won't hurt you," she called out in fluent Spanish. "Somos amigos."

One small girl, no older than five or six, pushed between the rank of adults and stood staring up at Keely with enormous dark eyes, clutching a dirty stuffed animal in her arms. None of the villagers rushed to claim her; in fact, many of them looked at her with varying degrees of suspicion, and one old woman even surreptitiously made the sign against the evil eye and then spat on the ground. The girl flinched and Keely suddenly, fiercely, wanted to slap the superstitious old bat's face.

"Eleni," Alejandro called sharply. "Don't get too close to them."

"But Justice will put the fires out with his water," Eleni said. "And Dr. Keely will help us find Mama."

Keely gasped. "How did you know our names?"

"Eleni often . . . knows things," Alejandro said in English. "She doesn't speak any English, though, so I will use your language to tell you that her father died long ago and her mother has been dead for several weeks. The vampires took her and left her head for me to find. We have tried to tell her this, but she either cannot or does not want to understand."

The lines on Alejandro's handsome face deepened and the fury in his eyes promised vengeance. Justice wore a matching expression on his face. The two warriors were nearly a mirror of each other, though from vastly disparate cultures.

Or, perhaps not. If the Atlanteans had settled in Mayan lands more than eleven thousand years ago . . . Keely shook her head to clear it of the random musings. Now was certainly not the time to lose focus.

Eleni made some small sound and looked up at Keely, deep wells of loss and sadness in her eyes. The girl made no move to come closer, but just huddled into herself as though fearing a rebuff. Keely was completely unable to maintain any kind of detachment looking at this poor child who reminded her of another little girl, so long ago.

A little girl whose own parents were afraid of what she was.

But at least Keely had had parents, even though they were unable to provide much in the way of emotional support. Poor Eleni had lost both of hers. Keely dropped to her knees and held out her arms to the girl, who came willingly to her and laid her small head on Keely's shoulder and held up the stuffed animal for Keely to see. Keely felt a sharp wrench in her stomach when she realized it wasn't a toy at all, but a fuzzy, well-worn slipper matted and stained with blood.

"Mama left her slipper, you see," Eleni confided trustingly. "I'm worried that her poor feet are getting cold."

Las Pinturas, twilight Justice carried the last load of useable goods to the single house that had been left relatively unscathed by the vampires' destruction and handed them to the women who were organizing the stores. Some of the canned goods had survived. Several charred-at-the-edges but still serviceable blankets. Various personal items that the villagers had pulled from the wreckage.

What the fires hadn't ruined, he had. He walked back to look at what was left of the village, and self-disgust roiled like acid in his gut. He'd had no choice but to call water to put out the fires. They'd have lost everything if he hadn't. But the sight of that little boy clutching his soaking-wet collection of half-burned baseball cards had turned his stomach.

Or wrenched an organ further up in his chest, not that he'd admit it.