Captain Redux

…and it didn’t go well for either of them. They were apart for five years after Seth did a job over his brother’s objections and ended up in prison, and when they reunited to do the Abilene job it was over by the next morning – Richie was transformed into a culebra and chose a life with Santanico over a life of pulling down scores with his brother, and when he offered to visit Seth if he ever found that beach he was looking for, his brother told him not to bother. It was another six months before they would meet again, eventually joining forces to take down the culebra crime boss responsible for the death of Uncle Eddie, their dad’s old partner, however it took the tragic death of Kate Fuller, the urging of a departing Santanico and a brutal fist fight before the brothers agreed to a permanent reunion, taking over Malvado’s operation and running it together. 

The seven remaining Lords of Night had other plans. Rather than taking Malvado’s place as the Pochtecatl, the Gecko Brothers were given the low-level position of Oztomeca and the task of extracting payments from culebra bosses who were late with their tribute to the Lords of Night. Seth was scornful of their role as bagmen from the start, restless after being at it for six months and claimed the only reason he stuck around as long as he did was for Richie’s sake. Richie was thriving in the role, embracing his culebra nature, and hurt that his brother didn’t seem to care about what they’d built together.

Until they lost it. After the attacks on the Gecko’s operation and then the Lords themselves, there was nothing to collect and no one to collect it for.  Instead they were conscripted into a war with the forces of Hell itself, and in return Seth demanded a reward that would take him away from his brother forever – free passage to El Rey. He tried to warn Kisa that her new life would be taken from her like his was if she ignored the threat of the Xibalbans, and blamed Amaru for fucking up his life – a life he’d complained about endlessly but that apparently meant more to him than he’d been willing to admit. 

Still, the distance between the brothers remained as they clashed over how to deal with the Xibalban threat. Seth wanted to recruit Santanico but Richie knew she wasn’t going to want to come back. Richie wanted to recruit an ancient warrior whose location he’d found buried in The Ancient Word, but Seth wanted to take the fight to the Xibalbans instead of wasting time chasing footnotes. Richie wanted to share blood with Amaru to see if Kate was still there but Seth called her as a rabid dog that needed to put down before she could hurt his brother. Richie wanted to warn Freddie about his encounter with Dakota McGraw but Seth didn’t want to deal with the fallout while they investigated the locust swarm in Shady Glen.  

But Amaru wasn’t done taking things away from Seth. Intrigued by Richie’s abilities after their encounter at Kisa’s fight club, Amaru dragged him away from Shady Glen after he interrupted her kidnapping of the mother and child identified by the Cipactli as pure of heart. She held him hostage for three days, torturing him until his shadow-self was awakened.  Seth was overwhelmed with relief when he found Richie at the asylum, but that relief soon turned to horror as he realized his brother was once again being manipulated and controlled by dark forces. Richie should have been loyal to Amaru and obeyed her commands to kill them all, including Seth, but his loyalty to his brother was stronger than even the gates of Hell, and his adjustments to her plan gave Seth the time he needed to free his brother from her control.

It was their ordeal in the Titty Twister all over again except that when it was over, instead of going their separate ways the brothers were more united than they had been since before Seth went to prison. As Richie tried to understand the consequences of what Amaru had done to him, his brother was desperate to make sure she never did it again. He was worried about Richie and eager to take on Amaru. She took advantage of that eagerness, allowing herself to be taken captive so Itzpa could learn the whereabouts of Freddie’s wife and child. Richie was irritated by Seth’s over-protectiveness and frustrated by his single-minded focus on Amaru, but he set that aside and learned what he needed to know about his link to the Xibalbans so he could uncover Amaru’s plans. It was too late to prevent Margaret and Billie from being taken, but it might be exactly what they need to defeat Amaru for good.