The Bloodgate Warrior by Joely Sue Burkhart

didn’t care. That I wouldn’t miss him, wouldn’t ache for his arms or strain to hear his voice. I’d already lived like that for months while he tormented me in dreams. We’d talked for hours—all in my sleep—until I felt like I’d known him all my life. How much worse would it be now that I’d held him in the flesh? If I knew he was alive and breathing, walking on this earth, and I couldn’t have him?
    Or worse, what if he died in this battle?
    Would he go back to his world for another thousand years?
    Crippled at the thought, I leaned against a tumbled chunk of stone and tried to breathe through the pain crushing my chest. Wordlessly, I watched him sift through the rubble, heaving huge stones and crumbled pillars out of his way.
    The other men watched as unabashedly as I did because a legend walked among them again. From the look in the Rojases’ eyes, they’d follow him anywhere, even to the darkest pit of hell. José gave me a worshipful look that made my stomach quiver.
    I didn’t belong in a legend. I was just an American woman tracing my family roots. I was on vacation . I certainly wasn’t trying to save the world from God only knew what. I just wanted to go home. To my empty apartment, my long work-filled days…
    Lies. I’d been lying to myself for years, telling myself I had it all, when I was empty inside.
    Empty until him.
    Técun heaved a massive chunk of building out of the way, revealing steps that led down into a black hole. My heart sank and my stomach churned uneasily, so I could only imagine what Natalie was feeling at the prospect of another spelunking adventure.
    “You really were serious.” Natalie glared at me like I’d personally hidden Alvarado’s presumably stately tomb in a dungeon. “I was expecting a graveyard with gorgeous old stones. Not a hole . In the ground . Don’t you remember what happened at the last cave you dragged me to? You can’t do this again!”
    I didn’t want to go down into another hole either, but I didn’t want to let Técun down. Or José, gazing at me like I was some kind of goddess.
    “What else is down there?” In my attempt to sound brave, I spoke louder than I’d intended and my words echoed in the ruins.
    “Something with enough power to raise a corpse from its grave,” Técun replied. “How many more we may find or how they’ve risen, I have no idea. Yet.”
    “Could it be Alvarado?”
    “I am called back through the gate by a distant descendant of the very man who killed me. I have his spear with my blood on it and Tecubalsi magic pulses in your blood, the same that bound me to fulfill Xicoténcatl’s revenge against him. I think it likely he’s at the center of this, don’t you?”
    My heart pounded violently, like he’d cracked open my rib cage so he could yank it out. “You’re going to fight him again, even if he’s some kind of zombie?” When he killed you last time?
    “You confirmed he’s buried here. I must ensure that his resting place is undisturbed. The creature that attacked last night could be one of his minions.”
    “You’re saying that Alvarado is going to be a fucking zombie just like that thing last night?” Natalie retorted. “You’re insane. Cass, don’t go down there. Once was bad enough, but this time there might be zombies! It’s like a bad B-movie and you’re the heroine venturing into the basement armed only with a flashlight because you thought you heard a noise. You know how that cheesy movie’s going to end!”
    I tried to delay making a decision by asking questions. “How could Alvarado have that kind of power? He’s dead! It doesn’t make any sense.” Unfortunately, that line of reasoning could be answered only by me. “Wait, the journal. When Leonor had him moved here forty years after his death in Mexico, she did something to lock him in…in…” I had no idea how to pronounce the strange word. “What’s the name of your underworld again?”
    Although José’s hand trembled