Against All Odds

Chapter 11- Prisoner

When La Muerte next awoke, she realized she was no longer in Aztlan, but she didn't know where she was either. Everything around her was dark and silent, with not a single sound. Instinctively, she brought her hands down to the bump in her belly to make sure her baby was safe; thank heavens, the unborn child was alright, but then La Muerte noticed something… her hands were tied up, as well as her feet; the ties were connected to one another, so she couldn't bring up her hands to her face. She tried to cry out, but there was something in her mouth, between her teeth, that prevented her from speaking. She was gagged too!

Alarmed, La Muerte tried to move, but her restrained feet unable her to do so. What had happened? She remembered finding Xibalba dying in the gardens, with Aimé on top of him, also in her last moments. By poisoning. She recalled the god called Veneno offering her a deal; he'd save Xibalba's life if she went with him.

God, had she…?

"You're awake."

La Muerte jumped at the familiar voice, and looked around the place with a fast-beating heart; her child squirmed in her womb, sensing her fear. The Goddess froze when she caught sight of a pair of serpentine eyes staring at her.

"You're awake." Veneno chirped, oblivious to her terror. "It's been a few hours since we arrived."

La Muerte attempted to scramble backwards but her back met the stonewall. It became worse when Veneno approached her.

"You must be wondering where we are, mi amor, but it doesn't matter." Veneno placed a hand on her hand. "All that matters is that we're together now."

La Muerte moved her hand away from Veneno and shot him a venomous glare, trying to scramble further into the wall like it would protect her from this beast.

"Oh, disculpa, mi amor. You haven't recognized me yet. And since we're no longer in Aztlan, there's no reason for me to keep wearing this silly disguise." A beaming light, so bright La Muerte had to close her eyes shut, surrounded Veneno. When it subsided, La Muerte let out a muffled scream of fright. Veneno was gone, and instead in his place was a red-scaled snake that was looking at her with lust-filled eyes.

"V´Vbor…" she managed to speak his name through the gag.

"Sí, mi vida, I came back for you, just like I said I would." Víbora smiled tenderly at her, slithering to her side and wrapping himself around her to try and make her comfortable; La Muerte shivered in repulsion and tried to move away to no avail. "Remember?" his smile suddenly vanished and was replaced by a scowl, though it was not directed at her. "The day when Xibalba stole you from me."

"MMPH!" La Muerte let out a muffled yell of protest. She wanted to tell him she was never his to begin with, but there was not much she could do.

"Shh, don't worry, Muertita, he'll never find us here…" Víbora whispered into her ear, digging his nose into her hair, inhaling her scent of marigolds with closed eyes.

Again, La Muerte tried to pull away from him, but it was to no avail. She shivered when Víbora caressed her cheek with the tip of his tail. Finally, she managed to take the gag off her mouth.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed, trying to dig her nails into the blood snake's face. "You disgust me! What did you do to my Balby?!"

"Forget about him." Víbora replied simply. "You don't need him. He didn't deserve you."

"And you do?!"

"I suffered for you, La Muerte! I did everything to win your heart but you never paid me any heed! You were always fawning over the damn tar head while I would have sold my own eyes for a glance from you!"

"That doesn't give you the right to kidnap me-!"

She couldn't continue, for Víbora pressed his mouth against hers. It was rough and cold, colder than any ice floe that ever existed. La Muerte screamed into the kiss, flailing and kicking her tied up hands and feet as she tried to push him away. Víbora was on the other side of the spectrum; finally, he could taste the sugary taste of his love's lips, and his tongue immediately went into her palate to taste the kiss further, but then he felt an excruciating pain as La Muerte bit into his tongue; this made the blood serpent scream in pain and pull away from the kiss.

"Get away from me." La Muerte trembled with fear and rage, spitting Víbora's saliva off her mouth.

"Don't worry, mi amor, I know you didn't mean it." He simply said, tenderly as always. "I don't expect you to love me right away, but one can get used to things if they want to. I know you'll learn to love me with time."

"NO! I'll never love someone like you!"

"But you can love someone like Xibalba?" Víbora snapped out of sudden, his pupils turning into slits, his tone darkening. "What does he have that I don't?! He is a liar, a cheater, a heartless sack of tar! What makes him better than me in your eyes?!"

"He never forced me to love him! He won me over with beautiful words and actions! He only loved me, that's how he won my heart!" La Muerte replied with a growl.

Víbora didn't reply; his gaze had rifted downwards. Oh, no. She had unconsciously wrapped her tied up arms around her baby. Víbora tapped her stomach with the tip of his tail. The baby squirmed within her, frightened as much as her mother was. Damn it, in his joy he had forgotten that Xibalba's spawn was still growing inside the woman he loved!

"I forgot about this… How did this happen…?" Víbora snapped.

"We just expressed our love for each other, and then we conceived her. She's the fruit of our love."

"It's wasn't supposed to be like this. It's supposed to be just you and me!"

La Muerte's eyes widened in horror. Did he mean…? Would he be capable of doing such a thing? Her mind raced as she cradled her little one. She couldn't let him hurt her unborn baby. "Please, Víbora, don't hurt my baby!" she pleaded.

"I would never hurt you, mi amor…" Víbora glanced at her bump of a belly. "That, on the other hand… I don't want anything that has to do with Xibalba, and that thing carries his blood."

"Víbora, please! I'll do anything you ask of me! Just don't hurt my baby!"

The blood snake thought for a moment, staring at the unborn child with cold eyes, before he grinned. Maybe he could use this to his advantage. "Anything?"

"I'll give you anything for my child's life!"

"How about your love? If I let your offspring live, you will love me as much as I love you. You will start a new life with me, where he can never find us again. But the brat will stay, I don't want it near you."

La Muerte was looking at him like he was insane, and she was clutching her stomach like the most precious thing in the world it was. She would never get to see her Balby nor her child again? But if it meant her baby would live, maybe it was worth the risk. Besides, she was certain Xibalba would surely come to rescue them, and he'd take them back home, so she wouldn't have to keep that promise.

La Muerte closed her eyes shut. "I will do it. If you let my baby live, I'll do what you ask of me."

Víbora's expression brightened. "You mean it?"

She nodded, refusing to look at him.

"That's wonderful! You don't know how happy you make me!" Víbora embraced her with his body. "I'll make you the happiest of women, amor mio. I promise."

She remained limp in his hold. "I'm still Xibalba's wife."

"Not for long." He moved away from her, gagged her again and slithered away into the darkness. There was the sound of a door closing and locking.

When he was gone, La Muerte broke out in tears, but the gag muffled her sobs. She took her hands to her belly and stroked it tenderly; she could feel her baby squirming and kicking violently, as if she were crying too. I want papi. I want to go home. That's what La Muerte thought her little one was saying.

"Shhh, it's okay, mi Chiquita. Don't cry." The Goddess directed her thoughts at her baby. "Papi will come for us. He will, I'm certain of it." La Muerte felt her eyes tearing up at the idea of never seeing her husband again. "Balby, please help us…" La Muerte took her hands up to her neck, and her fingers touched the pendant he had given her as a gift for their first anniversary; he commissioned it especially for her. She had never taken it off ever since, not even during their estrangement, no.

He would come for them. He would.

"What are we going to do?!" Toci yelled in the Meeting hall. "We have to do something! We can't just stand here with crossed arms!"

"I agree with Toci!" Ehécatl stated. "If we wait any longer, both La Muerte and her child's lives could be in grave danger!"

"What can we do?! We don't know where that demon took her!" Tláloc retorted.

"Let's calm down!" Quetzalcóatl raised his voice, shushing all the deities present. "We have to think! Where would Víbora Colorada have taken La Muerte?"

"Wherever it is, it must be a secluded place where no one would ever think to look in." Tezcatlipoca added. "Does anyone here have an idea?"

"By the time you're done listing it down, my friend could have already died!" Xochiquétzal snapped with gnashing teeth. "We have no time! What's going to happen if she goes into labor! That beast is capable of harming her!"

"No, no, no, he wouldn't!" the Candlemaker suddenly brought out. "Víbora is madly in love with La Muerte, he would never lay a harmful… errr, tail on her." The Book of Life nodded.

"Can't you simply take a look at that damn book and see where he has taken her?!" Tlaloc inquired matter-of-factly. "It must be in there!"

"I tried, but Book won't let me." The Candlemaker replied with a shrug and an apologetic look, before receiving a whack from the Book of Life.

"It's Xibalba I'm worried about!" Toci snapped, earning glances of surprise form the other gods. "As incredible as it sounds."

Ehécatl agreed with the old goddess. "Me too. How is he going to react if something happens to La Muerte or the baby?"

"Or BOTH?!" Xochiquétzal roared

"It would certainly kill him emotionally." Quetzalcóatl shook his head sadly. "That's why we must find Víbora's whereabouts immediately, and hope with all our might that La Muerte will be safe and sound."

"I hate to interrupt, but I still think one of us should have stayed behind with Xibalba to make sure he didn't do anything stupid… again." Zipacna stated, lifting a feathery arm. "He's capable of running away in the middle of the night to go and try to find La Muerte by himself."

"He wouldn't dare, he's still weak because of the poison." Xochiquétzal retorted.

"I know my brother. If his wife is in danger, he's capable of breaking through earth, sea and heaven to save her."

Suddenly, the doors burst open and a God of the stars flew in with an alarmed expression. "Lord Xibalba is missing!"

The whole room trembled with the Gods and Goddesses' yell. "WHAT?!"

"I took supper to his room and he wasn't there! The vines Lady Toci used to restrain him were all torn with fang marks."

"I should have put that damn snake in a cage…" Xochiquétzal muttered under her breath, referring to Ponzoña.

"That idiot…!" Tezcatlipoca growled.

"Find him!" Quetzalcóatl yelled, extending his feathered wings. "Split up and look for him under the stones if necessary, but do not allow him to leave. Use force if necessary!"

As the other deities either transported or ran out of the room in a hurry, the Candlemaker remained still. He glanced at the Book of Life, and then at the doors to make sure no one was around. "I think I might have an idea of where he is right now… Would you mind if I took a look?"

The Book of Life would have usually responded with a whack on the head, but the situation had changed. It made no sound of protest as the Candlemaker flipped through the pages looking for Xibalba's Story. When he found it, he went to the recently written page.

Meanwhile, the other Gods were so frantic none of them thought about looking in the stables. Xibalba was saddling Medianoche up as quickly yet silently as he could, with barely the strength to stand, but if he wanted something nothing stopped him. The dark god was just tightening the cinchas when suddenly he yelped in pain and grabbed firmly unto his horse's mane to keep himself from falling to the ground. Medianoche bent his neck to the right and neighed softly, worried about his master's condition.

"Estoy bien, chico." Xibalba patted his horse's neck reassuringly, but in truth he felt on the verge of collapsing. As he was on the last touches, he felt a presence.

"Don't tell me you're actually going by yourself!" Zipacna stared at the weakened god in disbelief.

"Yes, I am, and you're not going to stop me." Xibalba replied with a growl, buckling the cincha of the saddle.

"What are you thinking?! You're still weak! You stand no chance against Víbora in that condition!"

Xibalba turned around and glared at his older brother. "I don't care! I'm not sitting by while my wife and child are in danger!"

"We know Víbora! You know he'd never harm La Muerte-"

"And what about my child?! He would harm her just because she's my flesh and blood! What will happen if La Muerte goes into labor with that demon?!"

"Listen to the voice of reason, por todos los cielos!" Zipacna lifted up his arms in exasperation, spreading out his wings. "We need to wait until we have found their whereabouts!"

"What if its too late?! I won't be able to live knowing both my second baby and my wife died because of me!"

Silence. Zipacna just stared wide-eyed at Xibalba, who by then was on the verge of tears.

"What do you mean?"

"This all happened because I couldn't protect them." Xibalba's voice was shaking. "She left with that demon to save my life. I can't just abandon her or our child; I would never forgive myself if something happened to either of them. I've already lost one baby, I wouldn't be able to live knowing I lost both my wife and my baby this time. That's why I have to save her life even if it costs my own!"

Zipacna saw the determination in the dark god's eyes, but also the pleading he never thought he'd ever see in them. He truly felt guilty about what was happening, and wanted to fix it. Would the other Gods get angry? Oh, well, what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them, right?

"I understand you, Xibalba." The caiman-headed God sighed, and stepped away. "I know what you're feeling. Go, I won't stop you; you need to go through this."

Xibalba was surprised by his brother's agreement to what he was doing, but he had no time to ask him why. Immediately, Xibalba climbed unto his horse, but before he could gallop out, Zipacna called out for him once more.

"Balby!"

Despite his annoyance that his brother had used the childhood nickname only his wife could call him, Xibalba simply looked down at him. "What?"

"Be careful."

Xibalba simply nodded, before kicking his horse's sides; Medianoche neighed loudly and galloped out of the stable, then out of the city, and into the night. As he left Aztlan behind, Xibalba didn't look back; he had to get away as soon as possible.

"I'm coming, La Muerte."