I found myself in jackal form, reaching a hand back for my was-scepter, but halted as the two snakelike women came skidding to a stop as a very human Olivia stepped between them, arms outstretched, and snapped out in English, “Ladies! Behave! We're all on the same side here!”
The snake heads turned to her, blinking, and the huge cobra hood deflated. The woman was covered in scales like Steph, but she was... stunning. The word not doing her justice. The scales almost glowed in pearlescent colors and seemed to accentuate her femininity the way they flowed down her neck to disappear under the olive tank top which looked painted on her form.
The newcomer said in English, “Apologiess, Olivia, I thought it wass...” Then she stumbled back a step and a half when she finally saw me standing there, my jackal still manifested, and hissed out in Arabic, “Apophiss presserve me! A Jackal Maiden of Anubiss?!”
The shock in her wide eyes remained as she stared at me in disbelief while she became human, a very petite human. Are all of these vassals of the old gods so fetching? She looked even more stunning in human form, her clothing fitting her better now, leaving more to the imagination.
The Doc said in English to her, with pride and wonder in her tone, “Yes, Kissa, isn't she spectacular?” Then her voice chilled a little and chastised as she indicated our new companion, “And this woman is not an it, she's Lieutenant Stephanie Grier. A friend of ours. We came here to see if you could determine how this was done to her, and if so, how to reverse it.”
Kissa looked between Stephanie and me, looking hesitant as to who to give her attention to. I bled back into my human form to make the decision for her. She stepped toward Steph, who rose up on her tail menacingly, fangs showing again as her tongue snicked out to taste the air while Kissa's did the same.
The look of revulsion she displayed when she looked at Stephanie's deformed face, bled away to wonder as she stepped into our friend's personal space, looking at the tail that was curling up beneath our friend, in the same manner a snake about to strike would, as she reared up even higher. Then Steph hesitated when Kissa said in wonder in accented English, “You've a tail. It's beautiful!”
Then Steph was slithering backward, flat against a wall when the other woman bent, holding a hand out. “May I touch it?” There was more wonder in her tone than when she had seen me in my jackal form.
The woman stepped up to our cornered friend who was looking at us pleadingly, not knowing what to do. Olivia snapped out in Arabic, “Kissa, she's not a circus attraction. She's a human being like us.”
The woman didn't take her eyes off of our friend's tail, looking mesmerized as she almost whined out in Arabic, “But... a tail. She has a tail, and it is wondrous.” She sounded like she meant it.
I couldn't help the little smirk on my lips at how almost terrified Stephanie looked. She was such a badass fighter, but here this other Snake Maiden wanted to touch her tail, and she was panicking. I nudged my eyes to her. We weren't going to get anywhere if this seemingly random woman didn't get what she wanted.
I almost chuckled at the betrayed look on our snake lady's face as she exhaled long and loud, lowering her feet to the floor, then allowed her tail to slither out. She moved the tip near the other woman's hand. She surprised me by hissing out in Arabic, “Jusst for a moment.” The lieutenant was full of surprises.
We watched the woman reach out like she was going to touch something as delicate as a Faberge egg, and then she seemed to shudder as her fingers glided along the scales while she whispered in English, sounding full of envy, “A tail, and you've full control of it.” She withdrew her hand reticently, her eyes looking almost longingly at the tail as our Lieutenant withdrew it to coil around her waist under her garments, hiding it away.
Then she hesitated and looked back up to Steph's face, trying to hide the wince, “Apologies. I'm Kissa Amari.”
She offered her hand, and Steph looked first at me, then Olivia, then reached one of her deformed hands to shake, and was surprised when the woman clasped forearms with her. “Umm... pleassed to meet you.” Then the cocky, self-assured attitude was back as she noted with a smug smirk, “You didn't have a tail in your other form.”
The other woman looked almost hurt, and Stephanie's smirk faded fast as she quickly added, “But that cobra hood... now that wass intimidating.”
Kiss smiled sheepishly and said, “Not intimidating enough it seems, you were charging right back at me.”
Good lord, they were starting to banter almost flirtatiously over their snake-y parts. My grin threatened to split my face. Olivia looked ready to start chuckling as she cleared her throat to get the women's attention.
They turned to us and Olivia captured my arm possessively, hugging it to her as she said, “Kissa, this is Professor Aya Bane. She's newly made. The first vassal of Anubis in two thousand years.”
The other woman's eyes lit up, and she blurted out, “You've found the Anubis lodestones and his bloodline?”
The Doc shook her head as the snake maiden, and I grasped forearms, “She sort of found me, and I thank Allah for that day.” She kissed my cheek and grinned as I blushed myself into a puddle.
Steph offered helpfully, “They're like thiss all the time, it's ssickeningly ssweet. You can't esscape it.”
I shook a finger at the smirky snake.
The Snake Maiden said absently to nobody in particular, “Aya. Fitting. It means an angel who knows magic.”
I felt myself blush at that. Aya had many meanings and definitions throughout the Arabic world, but that was the definition my mother had shared with me when I was younger.
Then Kissa cocked her head, her tongue tasting the air around Steph and she asked in curiosity, “Why haven't you changed back? I'm no threat to anyone the silly Falcon claims as a friend.”
The thin lines of Stephanie's mouth were pressed even thinner, and I shared, “She's stuck in that form. A group called Lazarus did this to her. We were hoping, that since our inner beasts see her as familiar, as kin, that you might know how to fix her.”
Our friend's snakeish brow furrowed, eyes hopeful... it broke my heart.
The other woman just seemed to study her, her own brow furrowed... then she almost whispered, “But... why would you? Except for your half-formed face... sorry... you're spectacular, and you've a tail.” She said the last with reverence. “No Snake Maiden has ever manifested so completely as to have a tail.”
Steph took a long moment to study the woman just like I was doing, and I sensed no lack of sincerity, she was in awe of what my friend had, even at the cost of her disfigurement. Then Stephanie almost asked, “Ass you ssaid, my face... my... handss? I'm a monsster. Can you help?”
Then she glurked as she found herself being dragged by the hand by the Snake Maiden. “I do not know. I sense my ancestors in you somehow, but there can only be one maiden per generation. We can pray to Apophis for guidance.”
The lieutenant looked over her shoulder almost pleadingly at us, and we chuckled at her plight then followed them deeper into the pump house. I asked my bird-brain, “Unpredictable?”
She chuckled at me and hugged my arm, and said like it explained everything, “That's Kissa.”
Chapter 11 – Stephanie
We found ourselves in a room that looked like some sort of office near the front of the building. There looked to be what almost resembled a large nest in the middle of it, dozens of blankets arranged in a circle and interwoven to make curved sides. I had to blink at it, then I looked around. There didn't seem to be anything else in the space. Did... did Kissa live here?
We all moved into that nest and sat when she indicated we should. I asked carefully, “Do you really believe you can commune with long-dead gods?”
She didn't even look as she countered, “Can you explain turning into a Jackal Maiden?”
“Touche.”
She looked my way with a satisfied smirk. Then she brought all of her attention to Steph and was onl
y distracted when our friend's tail flowed out to wrap around her own legs as she sat cross-legged. The Snake Maiden shook herself out of it to refocus on our girl, warning her, “I'm going to manifest, don't be alarmed.” Then her eyes drifted down again as she shook her head and whispered in Arabic, “A tail...”
Then she was that huge cobra-headed woman again, her tongue snicking out as she blinked first one set then the other set of eyelids over her slitted eyes. She put her hands out expectantly. Steph again looked to me for some reason, I nudged my chin, and she exhaled and placed her hands in Kissa's.
Then we all just sat there as the woman seemed to look through our snake-y lady. I could feel something... like static electricity charging the air, making the tiny hairs on my arm and the back of my neck stand on end. Her eyes, they were pulsating with golden, swirling light. It was almost hypnotic, and the power in the air seemed to double.
What was she doing? I glanced at Olivia, but she didn't seem concerned. Instead, she looked almost excited as she smiled at the sight and took my hand to kiss the back of it as Kissa did whatever it was she was doing.
The power continued to build, and I bit my lower lip in anticipation as Kissa seemed to close her eyes in concentration. She faded back to human and her hair started to float around her like a silken halo as energy built. Was she communing with Apophis? It was as if things were building to a powerful crescendo as we leaned forward, knowing that something huge was about to happen as we looked on in wonder.
Then a small sound came from Kissa. We all blinked and looked at each other. Then it happened again. Umm... I looked at the others and whispered, “Is... is she snoring?”
They blinked at me, speechless as a much louder snore came from the Snake Maiden who was still grasping Stephanie's hands. I looked over to Olivia who had mashed her lips to one side as she stared at her friend, and I started to ask, “Is this...”
She shrugged then reached out to gently shake the apparently sleeping woman, “Kissa?”
The woman's eyes flew open, and she sat taller as she blurted, “Huh? I'm up!” She looked around with hooded eyes and yawned a little as her hair slowly lowered to her back and the static charge in the air dissipated. “What did I miss?” Her eyes widened when she saw Steph sitting across from her, grasping her hands. “Oh yes, the one with the gorgeous tail. We should pray to Apophis for guidance.”
Stephanie cocked her head like she was looking at a crazy woman. “I thought that'ss what we were doing.”
The woman sitting across from her chuckled, “Oh, heavens no. I was just catching a quick nap, I was up all night partying.”
Our friend asked, as the Doc and I just stared gape-mouthed at the seemingly random woman, “Then why are we holding handss?”
Another shrugged reply. “You looked like you could use it.”
I did note that Steph made no move to let go, and I mouthed to her, “Unpredictable.” Ok, so that was apparently the understatement of the millennium.
Just to prove that point, the woman smiled almost cutely at our snake lady and repeated, “You've a tail.”
“Yess... I do. Doess thiss have anything to do with contacting your...”
Kissa blurted, “Shush now. We must prepare.” She let go of our friend and manifested her cobra form. It was just as intimidating now as the first time.
Before she could do anything, I heard my own traitorous voice blurting out, “Wait. You said you were partying all night?”
She looked at me with the approximation of a cocked eyebrow, though she had none in this form and she said in Arabic, “The girlss ssay I need to...” She cocked her head and looked at Olivia.
The Doc sighed and said, “Get out and join the world every once in a while.”
“Yess, that. Sso Neith takess me out dancing once a month. We went to a delightful dissco club and danced the night away. I lured a sserial rapisst into the alley, and Neith burned him to assh for the windss to take. Then we danced and drank.” She gave a silly snake grin.
Olivia whispered to me an explanation, “Neith is the Fire Maiden of Ra. And this isn't exactly what we meant when we said Kissa should get out and live a little.”
The Snake Maiden lowered her voice, “I wass sso drunk I don't even remember how I got back home to my nesst. I had only had a couple hourss ssleep when I heard you pull up outside.”
Stephanie spoke up, “Hold on, rewind. You killed a rapisst?”
The cobra lady nodded in excitement and stated like it were obvious, “Yess. We alwayss hunt when we go dancing.”
Again, my mouth was moving, “Disco? I thought that died in the seventies.” Of all the things I could have asked. Even with me being as shocked as Steph that they had taken out a serial rapist.
The Doc asked with a crooked smile as she shook her head, “That's what you took away from this, Aya?” I lowered my gaze, and she pulled me to her and kissed the top of my head as she chuckled.
Kissa sounded animated as she shared, “Dissco iss big in Cairo.” Then she turned to Steph and swayed, very snakelike, in a mesmerizing manner. “Yess, we take only the mosst wicked.”
Then she waved us all off. “Let uss assk Apophiss for guidance.”
I was a little unnerved that I wasn't freaking out about how cavalierly they spoke of killing, and how my jackal seemed to close her eyes in my mind in approval of them ridding the world of the wicked. It felt as if I finally knew who and what I was. And I was among my kind.
I asked as she closed her eyes again. “That's how you go out to have fun?”
She opened one eye to look at me and flared her intimidating hood for a moment as Doc pulled me back away from them. I swear the snake was smirking at me. She certainly was a different sort, wasn't she?
Kissa closed her eyes again, and we felt that power building and the sand on the floor around us started to float. Steph looked at her, moved her face in just inches from the Snake Maiden and asked in hushed tones, “Hey, are you assleep again?”
The other woman smiled and made a hissy chuckle and said without opening her eyes. “No, I'm gathering my witss. I will need to conssult the sstoness on thiss.”
Olivia's eyes widened, and she hauled me back as she said, “Eww!”
I was about to ask what she meant by that, but Kissa's snakehead reared back, and she made a heaving sound. I gave an involuntarily sympathetic heave, tasting bile in my throat. Then the lieutenant's eyes widened in panic when she realized what was happening, and she tried to pull her hands away, but she was too late as the Snake Maiden heaved again and vomited up what looked like nine or ten glowing orbs the size of a fist in a spray of mucus and slime. All over Stephanie.
I turned my head, and Doc instinctively held my hair back as I spewed onto the dusty and sandy floorboards. I turned back sheepishly as I wiped my mouth on my sleeve.
Steph was just sitting there, stock still, looking appalled as slime dripped from her face. I looked from her to the slightly glowing orbs sitting in the makeshift nest between the two in a puddle of mucus. Were those the lodestones? I whispered, “She... ate the lodestones?”
Olivia was looking sideways at the scene with one squinted eye as she whispered to me, “The best place to hide them where nobody can ever find them, nor detect them, especially when she is not manifested, so they don't reside on this plane.”
I whispered again as the cobra woman shrank back down into her human form, looking innocent as she let go of the stunned lieutenant and started sifting through the stones and pulled out one that pulsated a light yellow at her touch. “Ah, here we are.”
She looked up to Steph and held it up with two hands like it were a shiny bauble, a big smile on her face. “Now let me see if he has any guidance for us.” She paused and said, “Hon? You have a little something, right there.” She mimicked wiping a little spot on her cheek.
The slime covered Steph just blinked, speechless. And I stifled a giggle. Was Kissa all the way there, you know, up the
re? My scaly friend turned to me with a patient look. I tried not to grin, I really did. She rolled her eyes and turned back to the other woman who looked to be asleep again, her eyes shut and hair flowing in an unseen wind.
The power emanating from her and the stone in her hand seemed to push away the slime that had splashed on her. She looked like some goddess of old about to smite the unclean. Just when Steph started to raise a hand to shake her to see if she was still with us, Kissa gasped and her eyes opened, flaring gold and yellow... then it vanished, and the stone stopped glowing.
I was about to ask what happened when the Snake Maiden whispered, “Impossible.”
She sat the stone on her legs as she reached out to take Steph's hands again while she said, “We can feel our ancestors in you, but your blood is impure. You are not of our bloodline yet you are partially manifested. How can my ancestors be a part of you?”
Our friend looked down first at the pile of orbs, then at their clasped hands and shrugged. “I don't know. The volunteerss were heavily ssedated before they placed uss in the Genessiss Chamber. I only remember ssnippetss of converssationss ass they injected me with dozenss of ssolutionss in vialss before they clossed the chamber and the sscreaming began.”
She closed her eyes, and I could see the pain, anguish and raw hatred on her face as it contorted. “There wass ssome mention of boness, sshadow binding, and then that Truit woman wass arguing with Commander Xerxess that her way wass better, that the ssubjectss would be more obedient.”
She exhaled the took in a long deep breath and shrugged again. “That'ss all I remember, then there wass pain for dayss before I could open my eyess again. I wass caged and collared like an animal when I came to... and I wass like thiss...” She said the last with a self-loathing that hurt my heart.
Then Kissa asked in Arabic, “Bones? The bones of my ancestors? But how did they infuse you with our birthright? Did this Genesis Chamber do that?”
Anubis Page 10
