Anubis

by Erik Schubach

  Again Steph shrugged.

  The Snake Maiden regarded our friend and said with a bit of envy again, “The process was incomplete, but even failed, it gave you more of the pure essence of how Apophis imagined us. That tail...” She reached partially toward it in longing. Our poor slimed friend looked terrified again. She really didn't like being touched.

  Then Stephanie asked hopefully. “Did your umm... god, tell you how to fix thiss?”

  The other woman smirked at her and rolled her eyes. “I didn't speak with Apophis, silly woman, he's long since left the mortal world. The stones just give me insight as to his greater plan. It felt as if his lodestones are drawn toward our essence in you. I believe they can pull it from you. But then you wouldn't be so beautiful.” Her hand did touch Steph's tail this time as she stroked it with her fingertips.

  My friend almost shouted in excitement, “Do it!” Then she settled down a bit and asked in a more controlled tone, “Pleasse.”

  Kissa looked at her sadly and nodded once as she dug around the slime to pull out the other two stones that glowed yellow at her touch. She cautioned as she assembled them in a triangle, “This may not work at all, I'm just going by the impression that the stones are reaching out to the part of you that doesn't belong. It may kill you.”

  Our friend looked at us, almost in apology then back to the woman before her and nodded once. “Pleasse.”

  The other woman raised her hand to cup Stephanie's cheek. I almost looked away when a tear rolled down the lieutenant's cheek. Then Kissa explained, “Place your hands down upon the lodestones palm down. You must connect with the essence of what we are, and the stones will guide you with the will of Apophis.”

  I covered my mouth, fighting off tears as Olivia hugged me to her while Stephanie reached out slowly, her hands shaking. She placed them on the stones, and in a huge flash of light, we were all someplace else, gathered around Steph as she screamed as if her soul was being torn from her violently. I was unable to move, aware that I could, but time seemed to be slowed to nothing so this moment was taking an eternity.

  We were in some sort of temple, only it wasn't ruined, it was new and spectacular. Men and women stood by columns watching us, all wore golden cobra head masks. And a huge muscular man in flowing robes with gold filaments woven into them stepped up, apparently not affected by this frozen fragment of time we all seemed trapped in.

  His head was that of a cobra, just like Kissa's only this one was both terrifying and mesmerizing in its beauty. I knew instinctively that this was Apophis or some sort of lucid memory of him. I lowered my eyes in respect.

  This god from another time seemed to regard us like we were some curiosity, then he stepped up to Stephanie. Her head tipped back in that never-ending scream as her body was frozen in contortions of pain. He crouched between her and Kissa, his reptilian face somehow giving a fond look to the Snake Maiden, his vassal from this time. He caressed her cheek, and even though time had no meaning where we were, a tear rolled down her cheek.

  Then he turned his attention to the lieutenant, his eyes wide in fascination. I could tell by his reaction that our friend was something that shouldn't be possible in his world, and it was intriguing to him. He seemed just as amazed by our friend's tail as Kissa had been. Must be a snake thing.

  Then this man-god seemed to make a decision and reached a hand out to touch Stephanie's forehead, and we were back in the pump house, our friend screaming in blood-curdling agony. Kissa was trying to pry her hands off the lodestones in a panic as we rushed forward.

  The intensity of the light and power bursting forth from the stones in a deafening roar had us shielding our eyes, but we couldn't get close even though we had all manifested at some point. Kissa was thrown back, and we caught her. Then I looked on hopelessly as Stephanie's body seemed to desiccate and crack, power and golden light streaming out from those cracks as her skin withered.

  I reached a hand out in desperation and cried out, “Stephanie!”

  Then it was over. I saw spots before my eyes, and my ears were ringing, the absence of the chaos was unnerving in the silence. I made a distressed sound as the husk that was my friend just tipped onto the floor.

  I screamed out, “No!” Then ran to her. Kissa was there in human form, tears on her face as she whispered, “He wished for chaos to choose her fate.” She reached out a hand but looked afraid to touch the withered scales.

  I turned away, just to find Olivia there, and I buried my face in her shoulder while she held me to her and shushed me as she stroked my hair.

  It was a brittle cracking sound that had us all looking up and staring at the remains when they started moving. The jaws were cracking and stretching, and then two hands grabbed the upper and lower jaw and pulled. A mass of auburn hair made its way out, then a shoulder.

  I let go of my Falcon girl and almost dove on the writhing mass on the floor, crying out in hope as I realized what was happening, “She's shedding her skin like a snake! Help her!”

  We were all there helping to pull Stephanie from the withered mass of scales. We pulled her free, and she gasped and looked up.

  Then it was our turn to let out a collective gasp as our eyes bulged out.

  Sitting before us, staring at her quite human hands, was a femininely muscular woman with thick, lightly curling auburn hair which hung just below her shoulders. Her entire body was one of an athlete or... a soldier, down to the toned arms and six-pack abs. She looked dangerous and stunning.

  I squeaked out, “Stephanie?” Her eyes snapped up to mine, and the illusion of humanity was broken when I saw her golden slitted eyes. But she smiled from me to her hands. Then she just nodded as her eyes started welling up in tears.

  I wish I could train my mouth to speak only when I want it to, instead of it just wandering off on its own. I was squeaking out, “You're nekkid.”

  She smiled wider, then turned to Kissa whose eyes were still as big as saucers as she stared at our restored friend. Then Steph launched at her, blurting, “Thank you!” As she put Kissa into a lip lock that looked to have the Snake Maiden melting.

  Stephanie released her and sprang to her feet and almost stumbled as she lurched to us to engulf Olivia and me in a hug, a nekkid hug, while a stunned Kissa just sat on the floor, raising a hand to her lips.

  I was blushing head to toe as I reminded her, “Um, sweetie, you don't have any clothes on.”

  Doc chuckled at my embarrassment.

  Then we all turned to Kissa once our formerly snake-y friend released us. The woman uttering a mournful, “Her tail.”

  Stephanie stumbled toward her, then seemed to catch herself and walked to her in powerful strides. Her coordination while walking seemed off, and my eyes widened slightly in realization. She must have been trying to use her tail to move around like she did in that hybrid form she had been locked in for so long.

  A long, powerful yet graceful looking hand reaching out to grasp Kissa's arm. “I don't know how I can ever thank you. I've only ever dreamed of being human again, I thought I'd be dead and buried before it ever happened.” She stopped and flicked her tongue along her teeth like she was feeling them for the first time. I blinked, seeing that though it was human, it was split still like a snake's as she smirked and went on, “And I lost my lisp.”

  I was about to say something when Olivia actually twapped the top of my head and whispered, “Bad dog. Let her have this for a moment. You're always blurting the first thing that pops up in your head.” She looked amused, and I growled.

  Kissa looked quite resigned and said, almost in apology, “Don't thank me yet. Apophis is quite fond of chaos, so any gift always has unintended consequences attached that can be seen more a curse than not.”

  Then without warning, the Snake Maiden manifested and slammed her hands on Stephanie's chest, flared her hood and hissed like she was about to bite our friend with her menacing fangs. I started forward, but Stephanie seemed to explode outwards to
meet the attack, a matching cobra hood flared as a tail seemed to grow out in an instant to wrap around the Snake Maiden. I blinked. There were two imposing seven-foot Snake Maidens faced off as one was held in the iron grasp of Steph's tail, their snake faces almost touching as they hissed.

  Then Kissa's snake seemed to smile, retracting her fangs as her tongue darted out to tickle across the lieutenant's reptilian nose. I saw it almost as a snake kiss in my mind. “Yess, I knew I felt the power of Apophiss courssing through your veinss. It sseems chaoss hass played the ultimate trick on you. But by the old godss, your tail iss even longer now that you can fully manifesst.” She was stroking the constricting tail that was wrapped around her lovingly.

  Steph hissed at her, “Are you inssane? I could have killed you!” Then she swallowed, distracted, and then quickly retracted her tail and took a step of separation as she looked at the random Snake Maiden.

  Then our friend looked at her hands and arms, her eyes tracing her form. Scales covered every inch of her, and not a single one of those inches were deformed, quite to the contrary. I asked nobody in particular, “Am I the only one who has a problem with our friend being naked?” Then I added, “Can... can you change back?”

  Both women seemed to shrink as their pearlescent scales faded to flesh. I pointed at my eyes, “Steph, your eyes are still slitted.”

  She blinked at me and raised a hand halfway to her face, but got distracted by her human hand that she seemed amazed with as she wiggled her fingers. Then she looked up at me. “Can I pass for human now?”

  I nodded and shrugged. “If not for your eyes.”

  She nodded and waved that off. “Nothing sunglasses or contacts can't solve. This is like a dream I don't want to wake up from.”

  She ran her hands along her curvaceous and well-sculpted form, I started reciting the Declaration of Independence in my head as I tried to look away from the display. Olivia barked out her peal of laughter, and she said, “Maybe we should get you covered up before poor little Aya has a coronary, Lieutenant.”

  Hey! I slapped the Doc's arm then thought of something better I could do to stop her from teasing me for my discomfort in seeing a gorgeous woman exploring her body like it were something new to her. I stood on tiptoes and gave the smirky Falcon-girl a firm kiss on the lips. I can do that now you know? And I just loved kissing Doctor Olivia Nazari, because I can. She looked amused.

  Kissa rummaged in a rucksack off in a corner and returned with some clothes. “This is all I have that might fit. You're taller and more muscular than me so they may be tight.”

  Ok, all three of us may have been drooling over the woman after she pulled on what looked like clubbing gear. Jeans so tight they looked painted on, and a pink and black tee that had in English, “I'm Nobody's Princess,” printed on it where her cleavage seemed to be straining to tear out of the fabric. It looked like a belly shirt on her.

  She looked at all of us as if to ask, “Really?” as she slipped on some sandals. I couldn't help it, I started giggling, which got the others giggling and we started laughing uncontrollably. Steph tried to look cross, but her full lips curled into a smile, and she joined in.

  We must have laughed for five minutes until my gut ached and I had to wipe happy tears from my face as I gasped for air. It was such a cathartic release that all of us apparently had needed. Then Steph looked at us and her eyes watered as she stepped up to us to gather the two of us in her powerful arms. She whispered, “Thank you for treating me like a person.”

  I nodded and tried to fight off tears. Kissa came up and joined in the hug like she was feeling left out. Olivia chuckled at her and wrapped her in an arm to pull her into the cuddle scrum. It wasn't lost on me or the doc when we were released and stepped away that she was still leaning her cheek against one of Steph's sculpted biceps.

  Then the Lieutenant got serious and said to the group. “You like the hunt? Well, it's time to take down Xerxes and make sure nobody can ever use that damn Genesis Chamber again.”

  Kissa's eyes lit up like a child's on Christmas morning. Olivia stated my mind, “We don't know where to find them, as you said, their base is empty.”

  She smiled in a very reptilian manner, as she said, “All we need is one of their soldiers alive, I can get the information out of them.”

  I shivered and swallowed, knowing without a doubt she could, and would.

  Olivia again prompted, “But we don't know where to find one.”

  Steph almost sauntered up to me seductively. “Oh, but we do, gorgeous. And I have the perfect bait to set in the trap to catch the mouse.” Eeep. She looked down at me with a mischievous smirk, “Hiya, short stuff.”

  I pointed at myself in question, catching the implication. She intended to draw them out by dangling me out in front of them. Then she looked down at her hands and clenched them into fists, “But first I'll need gear and a change of clothes.”

  I snickered at the clothing remark then squeaked out, “Then we better get going... princess.” I squeaked and dove behind Olivia, just barely dodging the backhand from the snake-y lady.

  Kissa chuckled at our teasing and hugged onto Stephanie's arm possessively, saying, “We'll need Neith. She'd kill us if we went on a hunt without her.”

  Then she reluctantly released our friend and asked, “You've the lodestones of Anubis?” As she manifested and started swallowing all the other orbs whole. Steph brought her the one idol we had while I explained, “Lazarus stole the other two.”

  She hissed loudly at that then looked at the idol, and I made a distressed sound as she smashed it against the floor, the limestone breaking and sloughing off of an orb that seemed to absorb the light around it instead of glowing. I blinked and looked at Olivia. We had x-rayed these, and the orbs weren't revealed. She shrugged then we both winced as Kissa ate it then reverted back to human.

  Moments later we were all heading to the Jeep. It was time for me to be offered up as bait. I shook a finger at Olivia who seemed to know what was going through my head. “One dog-meat joke and you're walking, woman.”

  I grinned back at Steph when she jammed my hat on my head from behind, and she donned the oversize white sunglasses, which just seemed to enhance her revealing outfit while Kissa seemed to sigh into her, hugging her arm and playing with her muscles.

  What a ragtag group we made. I exhaled as I started the Jeep while humming Indiana Jones.

  Chapter 12 – Dangled Like Bait

  It was twilight out by the time we arrived a block from the University, everyone but me getting out of the Jeep. Kissa was hanging on Steph's arm. Then there was Falcon-girl and Neith, who the girls had us pick up at her law firm in the city core.

  The woman looked like a young twenty-something dressed in sexy boardroom attire. A neatly pressed suit, the skirt hanging just above her knees, complete with thick black rimmed glasses which I'm told are just for show since all of us Maidens have perfect eyesight. Her shiny black hair was put up in a bun, and she had impractical kitten heels on. She looked posh and sophisticated, especially with the leather satchel briefcase she carried.

  She had manifested when we were all alone after Olivia told her we were vassals like them. Olivia explained that is was customary for the maidens meeting the first time to expose their inner animals by way of introduction.

  I was so stunned at her transformation that I had to be prompted by the Doc to manifest in turn. I had already reasoned that Neith would be a falcon like Olivia, since both Horus and Ra's forms are men with falcon heads in most of their mythology, though not all, as each dynasty built upon... oh, right, sorry, not a time for a lecture.

  Anyway, I wasn't prepared for her falcon to have feathers that actually burned with an unnatural golden fire. It was as if the sun itself were creating a mane of flame for her. My jackal wasn't as impressed as I was, she just said in my head in my voice, “Our falcon is more spectacular.” She was right, Olivia still took my breath away, and I blamed my inner be
ast for my agreement that she was ours.

  When I manifested, Neith had taken a couple quick steps back as she covered her mouth, Kissa moved so fast I almost couldn't follow as she steadied Neith who stumbled over a box in the alleyway the Jeep was parked in.

  The Fire Maiden blurted in Arabic to the others, her eyes wide as she took me in. “A jackal! She's a Jackal Maiden of Anubis! I thought them lost to time.”

  I grinned sheepishly as I shrugged in apology. Olivia hugged me from behind, placing her lips next to my canine face and whispering like she was sharing a secret, “She possesses the was-scepter.” She nudged me as she moved up beside me.

  What? Was this like, show and tell? I sighed and reached behind me to my empty back and pulled forth the staff. I thought for a moment the fiery bird woman was about to fall to her knees as she gasped in disbelief. She moved forward and raised a hand tentatively, then whispered, “May I?”

  I nodded, and she reached out and ran a hand along the scepter her eyes and fiery feathers flaring when she came in contact with it. She smiled almost seductively at me. “With this, you could command the battlefield. Call forth all Anubis can bring to bear.”

  Another falcon was hissing in her face, slapping her hand away from the staff, growling out, “She's mine.”

  Kissa said in English to her, “Those two are hopeless. They're always making puppy-dog eyes at each other and flirting incessantly.”

  I had to cock an accusing dog brow at how she was hanging off Stephanie's arm. Wasn't that the pot calling the kettle black? Steph keeps giving us pleading glances. I don't think the soldier girl knows what to do with someone doting after her. But I catch the smiles when we aren't looking. Then again, Steph had mentioned earlier that she was sexually frustrated, not having intimate contact with any man or woman in two years.

  Those of us in animal form reverted to human, and I tipped my hat to Neith. Then the Fire Maiden turned to Stephanie. “Don't tell me, you're one of the missing Winged Maidens of the goddess Isis? If a Jackal Maiden exists, then it would be poetic if the two lost maidens had finally made their way... Ra preserve us!”