God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also-Genesis 1:16
When he enters the church, all hell breaks loose. The smell of acrid blood burns his nostrils, and the first thing he sees a dark woman shoving her hand through Freddie's chest. Margret screams, and Seth scrambles for his gun, aiming it at the dark woman.
He shoots her once before she tears Freddie's family apart.
Dust billows past him through the open doorway, and its only when he notices Scott missing that it's ashes. Before he can blink, the dark woman-Amaru, a desperate and ancient part of him howls-impales her hand through his sternum.
"Seth Gecko," she hisses. "Shame Brasa couldn't have taken your body. I've grown rather fond of you because of her." She turns him, ripping her hand out of him and he slumps back against her chest.
"Kate," his voice breaks when he sees his girl staring blankly at him, surrounded by an ocean of blood.
"I knew her every thought," Amaru says softly, as if consoling him. "And I saw into your soul-I know how much you loved her." She shoves him forward and he stumbles, falling to his knees in a cruel mockery of prayer. He begins to crawl toward Kate, drowning out Amaru's voice.
"Become nothing together in death, free from the longing for forgiveness."
"Kate," he breathes, blood flooding his mouth. "Oh sweet Jesus, Kate." Kate's looking up at him, a glassy eyed stare devoid of love, longing, even hatred. She's empty and he breaks down at the sight of her, weeping in a way he hadn't since he was a child. He pulls her to him, clinging to her even though his own life his rapidly draining from him. Shit. It wasn't Guns of Navarone. No Butch and Cassidy freezeframe. It was Dirty fucking Dozen mixed with Cannibal Holocaust.
The Gecko brothers, and everyone they loved or even remotely liked, get consumed by Xibalba.
Time suddenly freezes-he can no longer hear his own blood splashing on the wood floor beneath him. He hears echoing footsteps past the lightness in head. Every second feels like an eternity as looks up to see a woman clothed in an incandescent rainbow dress. She looked like Lupe Velez, ala The Girl From Mexico- but she wasn't human. She wasn't Xibalban either. He knew that much for sure. She smiled.
"Los Hermanos Gecko," she tsks softly. "One job, Hunaphu-one fucking job. Save the world from annihilation."
He tries to speak, but can't find his voice. He feels heavy, and his eyes slowly cut over to Amaru, her face frozen in rage.
"This world found their four horseman in you," she says. She jerks her head north, and he knows that's where his brother is. "Pestilence, burning in the sun." She motions to Freddie, bleeding out in the doorway. "War, ripped apart by a seething rage."
"Famine," she says, her voice kinder as she kneels down beside him. She touches his check, not caring that blood spills over his lips over her fingers. "So starved for love that it consumes his very being." Here, her hand reaches down to close Kate's lifeless blue eyes.
"And death, all out of love to give." The woman sighs, patting Kate on the head as though she were a sleeping child. "She was destined to become death, ever since her mother decided to embrace it. Poor thing." Shaking herself, as if lost in reverie, stands up and becomes stern once more.
"Luckily for you, not all of El Rey wants Amaru to succeed," she says. She holds her hand out, spreading her fingers and a blinding white light shines from her palm. "I'm sending you back, Hunaphu, to where it went wrong in this lifetime."
"Who knows if you and Xbalanque will do better this time, but try not to fuck up so badly this time," is the last thing he hears before everything became a blinding brilliant white."
"What the fuck," is the first thing he says when he's able to breathe. The brilliant whiteness fades, leaving only the light of the moon. He's behind the wheel of a stolen corvette, breathing in the night air like it's saving his life. He feels jittery, shaking like he needs a fix and bandages cover his flame tattoo. He sees a figure stop almost hopefully in his rearview mirror, and his heart catches in his throat.
"Kate," he breathes, drunkenly stumbling out of the car. "KATE!" She turns, her brow furrowed in the crinkled way that lets him know she's upset, and, mother Mary, she feels achingly real in his arms.
"Jesus, Kate, I thought I lost you," he says into her hair.
"How high are you?" she says flatly, more upset than angry, but he can't bring himself to judge her.
"Jesus," he says again, shutting his eyes against the tears. "I'm gonna keep you safe this time-I promise."
"Seth," she says, her small hands pushing against his chest. "You're scaring me." He forces himself away from her, breathing heavily. He stares at her, meeting her blue eyes in the moonlight, and marveling at the human blush in her cheeks, and the breaths that cause her to tremble.
"I'm sorry," he says. "I'm so sorry. Please don't leave."
"Give me a reason," she says, almost tiredly defiant. He holds his hand up, motioning for her to wait, and almost runs back to the car. He grabs his heroin kit-his venom, his mind taunts-and throws it to the side of the highway.
"I-I can't promise I'll be pleasant for the next few days," he says. "But if you can help me through, it'll-" he stops. Like it was? Like how he's wanted it to be, but was only too busy drowning in alternating storms of self-pity and self-hatred to take care of the ones he loved?
"I'll be better," he says softly. "Please stay." She looks at him doubtfully, and he's terrified she'll tell him to fuck off. Her eyes cut to the side of the road then back to him, as if expecting him to go after his kit. He swallows-he's NOT looking forward to detoxing again-but steadily holds her gaze.
"And just like that, you aren't mad anymore?" she says. "You don't want little miss Sunshine to go play in the darkness?"
"The darkness can go to hell," he says. "We're partners." She walks up to him, and he restrains himself from hugging her. She holds her hand out, a tiny smile on her lips. Unsure of what to do, he intertwines her fingers with his.
"Keys, asshole," she says. "We're find a motel and getting some much needed sleep."