Shadow Visions: Shadow Warriors, Book 2 Read Free Page A

swirled in the alley, creating a minitornado.
    From high above, the eagle screeched. Galante’s head whipped up. Beyond him, Ixa saw a large shape diving toward them, riding on the wind she had inadvertently summoned.
    Sharp talons aimed right for the two of them.
     
    With the precision of an advanced weapon, Manuel tucked his wings in at his sides and bulleted toward the pair on the ground. His eagle spirit eyed the target and let out a sharp cry, anticipating sinking its talons into the demon.
    He felt the hunger consuming his spirit, the need to devour the demon. More and more with each hunt and each kill, Manuel watched his humanity slip away, his animal spirit fighting him for control. It was the price he paid for his immortality and service to his god. Manuel knew he had little time left before he succumbed to his beast. As a tribe leader, he had picked and chosen his battles, and as an eternal warrior of Huitzilopochtli he did the same. He never took on a mission just for the hunt. He chose the ones that posed the most risk.
    Like the demon below.
    At the last moment, he pulled up and reversed. His talons stretched towards the evil abomination pinning the woman to the ground. The demon lifted its arm up to protect its head. Manuel never paused. He plucked the demon off the woman and launched skyward.
    The demon hissed and cursed and then spewed a stream of fire.
    Manuel dropped the creature, taking satisfaction in the loud thud when the demon hit the asphalt and lay in a stunned heap.
    He flew up high before plunging once again towards the ground, his target always in sight.
    He thought of the two dead women. Each of them bearing a hummingbird tattoo. Each of them a possible spirit mate to a shadow warrior.
    Shadow warriors had long given up hope of finding a woman marked with the sign of Huitzilopochtli. But Tomás, another shadow warrior, recently found Carolina, a guardian marked with the tattoo. She nearly died at the hands of a demon trying to kill the water goddess. Together Tomás and Carolina fought off the serpent god bent on destroying the Earth. For their love and bravery, the sun god made them spirit mates for all eternity. With their union, Tomás regained his humanity, never to fear losing himself to his beast.
    Either of the dead women could have been a spirit mate, the one woman with the ability to save a shadow warrior from losing his humanity completely.
    Manuel had arrived too late to save them. He’d failed.
    The eagle didn’t care about spirit mates or Manuel’s battle to hang on to his humanity. It was hungry. The demon was a meal he intended to drag back to the netherworld and devour.
    At the last second, Manuel veered to the left and landed close by, shifting to human form. Bones crunched and reshaped until he stood straight on human legs. He clothed himself in traditional Aztec dress, a white cotton loincloth embroidered with gold as befitted his elite status, a former tribal chief. Feathers adorned his hair and hung like a mantle over his chest and back. In his hand he carried his atlatl, a tool which enabled him to throw his spear and darts great distances.
    Manuel spared a glance for the woman still on the ground. She stared at him wide-eyed, her mouth open. Even disheveled and bruised, he could not deny her beauty. Dark strands of hair whipped around her face. Almond eyes rimmed in dark lashes framed equally dark irises that seemed fathomless and full of secrets. For a moment, he forgot the demon. He stepped toward her, wanting to reach out and brush aside her hair to get a deeper look into her eyes. The eagle inside pressed outward to grab his attention, but he pushed the beast back down. Briefly, they battled for control and Manuel doubled over in pain. The eagle would not be denied its meal. His animal spirit screeched in his head, making its thoughts clear—if it could not have the demon it would satiate its hunger with the flesh of the wounded cihuatl .
    Manuel stood up and raged