Anubis

by Erik Schubach

  She was looking between Kissa and the Cobra headed woman now standing beside her. Then her eyes went from the lieutenant's face to the tail swishing around behind her, and she looked almost ready to bow as she asked, “Apophis reincarnated?”

  Kissa giggled and said, “No, Stephanie came to us for help. The group we hunt had disfigured her trying to create a Snake Maiden out of the bones of my ancestors. We communed with Apophis for guidance. He let chaos choose. Now she is one of us, but can fully manifest.” She was literally drooling, looking at our friend's tail. The Snake Maiden wiped her mouth with her sleeve, then Steph became human.

  Neith was shaking her head. “Amazing.” Kissa looked far too cute as she scrunched her nose and reclaimed Steph's arm and laid her head on her shoulder.

  As the woman was filled in on the occurrences to date, Stephanie had virtually screamed to stop the car when we passed by, of all things, one of the many McDonalds that have slowly been invading Cairo from the States. She looked to be salivating, and she asked me with hopeful eyes, “Can we? I've not eaten anything that wasn't alive and wriggling in two years.”

  Why did the badass soldier keep deferring to me?

  It was a different experience as we all watched her as she dove into one of the bags once Olivia and I got back to the car. I had bought enough to feed a small army. We all had a good laugh after the initial scare we had when she almost choked, stuffing a whole hamburger in her mouth and tried swallowing.

  She had gotten it back out... eww... and looked around with her eyes down, a sheepish look on her face as she said, “I forgot to chew.” Through no fault of her own, we found her to be such an odd platypus, like the rest of us. Then we were all silent as it looked as if she was having the greatest sexual experience of her life while she moaned as she ate. I swallowed hard when it looked like she had an honest to god foodgasm. She ate four burgers and half a bag full of fries, washing it all down with a Coke.

  We stopped two blocks from a Lazarus safe house. Steph said she needed some gear and told us she'd be back in ten if it was empty, and fifteen if she met any resistance. She was back in ten, and we all just stared at her, our jaws slack as the model from Soldiers of Fortune Monthly jogged up to where we waited behind a warehouse near a street market, with a duffel bag in her hand.

  Good lord. She was all in black, with full military gear including black body armor and two automatic rifles, a sidearm, and like seven knives on various points on her body. Her reptilian eyes were hidden behind mirrored aviator's glasses. She looked scarier than hell and apparently like sex on two legs for Kissa, who I swear was moments away from clapping in glee.

  Stephanie smirked at Olivia and me, reaching up to close our mouths. Then she handed the white sunglasses back to my falcon-girl, and then two long, flat throwing daggers to Neith who blurted out, “These are mine! How did you...”

  I stopped her with a smirk. “She does that. It's better to not ask questions.”

  We formulated the plan where I was the cheese, and the University was the trap. Then we saddled up, and I had to turn around when Olivia grinned and nudged my arm as she looked in the rearview mirror. I grinned at a terrified-looking Stephanie, as Kissa straddled her lap, playing with the glasses, flipping them up and down to look at her eyes. That girl was on some sort of wavelength of her own, and heaven help me if I didn't think she was cute.

  I gave my friend a “Suck it up buttercup,” look. And she rolled her eyes then gave Kissa the attention she needed.

  Neith was just covering her mouth and chuckling at the whole thing. She tried to explain, “Sorry everyone, Kissa is a little bit...”

  We all offered in unison, “Unpredictable.”

  She nodded and smiled. “Yes, that's it, unpredictable.” Then she added, “I think it's all that chaos of her patron, it messes with her mind.”

  The Snake-Maiden didn't even look as her hand shot out to shove Neith's shoulder causing us to chuckle again. I realized they all acted like siblings, and Stephanie and I were the odd men out. But then I sighed when Olivia turned to me like she could hear my thoughts, and she gave me a quick peck on the cheek and then laced our fingers on my free hand. She knew just how to make me feel included.

  Now here we were, getting ready to put Stephanie's plan into motion. I looked at the four women who would travel the last block on the rooftops, to wait for Lazarus to take the bait. Doc gave me a heated kiss and a wink, then I started down the road. Humming that damn theme song again. I don't remember Indy ever setting himself up as bait.

  I took a deep breath and then drove up to the University. We figured it would look too convenient if I used the loading dock entrance like before, especially if I was alone, so I used the main campus entrance and drove into the staff parking garage using my temporary, 'Visiting Professor,' adjunct pass.

  I circled up, passing some open spots until I got near the top where the cars were sparse, and I pulled up next to a support column. Ok. Let the games begin. I had to force my eyes to remain normal, though jackal me was inside, staring out through our eyes and listening with our enhanced hearing.

  Lifting out an empty case from the back, I started toward the stairs. If they thought they could get a two-fer, believing I had the last idol in the case, it would make me an even more tasty target. JackAya was doing something, and an odd sensation spread over me. I could... feel movement everywhere. I realized I was feeling all the people and animals and insects all around the area. The more wicked the life, the more brilliantly they flared as they moved.

  I must have stood there for ten seconds or more, getting my equilibrium settled, almost watching in awe as life moved around me. Is this what Anubis felt all the time when he strode the lands of ancient Egypt so very long ago? The sensation was so closely linked to what I would say was my vision, that it 'felt' like I saw this motion.

  To an outside observer, I probably looked like I was hesitant, gathering my nerves as I stood by the Jeep. A rabbit ready to bolt. I'm sure it looked like I had a caption floating over me which read, 'victim.' I shook my head and steeled myself as I turned and started marching toward the stairs again as I complained in my head. “You could at least give a girl a little warning.” Was my jackal chuckling at me? That bitch!

  I snickered at the insult I had thrown at my other self since in this case, it was a literal descriptor as well as a slight. I was going to need therapy for years after this, wasn't I?

  I was halfway down to the ground floor when a hotspot I had been feeling approaching the parking structure stepped into the stairwell at the bottom, the door closing behind him. He wore the same camouflage uniform as the other Lazarus men. The soft click of the latch on the door was almost deafening. It was all I could do to stop from panicking and letting JackAya out.

  I felt another person, less wicked than this man, take position outside the door. We had expected the University to be under observation, and that they'd come for me when I arrived, but not this quickly. But a moment later, there was only one. I didn't want to know what had happened to this man's support. There was just an overwhelming feeling of energy like my own surrounding us. My girls were here, manifested since I couldn't feel their power in their human forms.

  The man saw something in my eyes, probably recognition, and he drew a tranquilizer gun slowly and deliberately. I dove at him, smirking as I realized he wasn't moving slow, time had slowed down around us, well, around my perception of him. I was fully manifested in mid-leap, moving so fast it seemed the man was barely moving as he fired over and over.

  I slashed my claws, knocking three of the four projectiles out of the air and catching the fourth just as it left the barrel of the gun as I reached him, and I jammed it in his neck. “Lights out, fuck face.”

  The man's eyes, which were wide as saucers, grew heavy as he closed his eyes, slumping over. I caught him easily with one arm and pulled him off his feet like a limp rag doll as the girls moved into the stairwell from the door and the
upper floor. Two cobras dropped from directly above us. Gah! I wish they'd stop doing that!

  Kissa cocked her head, poked the man's forehead a couple times with a clawed finger, then peeled an eyelid back to see his blank stare as her snake's tongue snicked out to taste the air. I swallowed. I got the impression she wanted to eat him.

  Steph grabbed the man from me and slung him over her shoulder as she became human. She didn't need her augmented strength to handle him like a sack of potatoes.

  Olivia reverted to human as she smirked at me and stood on her tiptoes to kiss my jackal cheek. “Did you really just call him fuck face, Aya?”

  I felt the burn of a blush on my cheeks as I whined out, “I wanted to say something badass... but that came out instead.”

  Stephanie said as she started running up the stairs, two at a time with the soldier on her shoulder, “Works for me, Lassie.”

  Lassie? I blurted, “Hey!” And the others chuckled, and we all followed Steph back to the Jeep as I reverted to human again, my hand in the Doc's. I asked the group, “Do I want to know what happened to the other lackey?” When nobody replied, I had my answer. I shuddered.

  A little part of me asking myself if we were any better than the bad guys if we could take someone out so easily. I'm not sure if I should be concerned or not that my jackal assuring me we were, actually relived me.

  That's how we found ourselves back at Kissa's nest as the sun was setting. Stephanie walked up to me from the man who was tied to a chair, making the first sounds of rousing. “Aya. Go for a walk.”

  “What?”

  She looked almost sad, self-recrimination in her voice as she said, “Please. Go for a walk. You don't want to be here while I question this man.”

  I could see her fear, that I would think less of her if I watched. I didn't know how to explain to her that I had already come to peace with what was about to happen. My jackal aspect had already weighed and measured the man's soul. He was beyond redemption, the wicked was infused in every cell of him, and I felt the need to drag his soul to the underworld. It belonged to Anubis already.

  Olivia looped an arm in mine and said sadly as she placed a hand on the lieutenant's arm, “Come on Aya. It is a beautiful night for a stroll.” The others watched us go, and turned back to the man in the chair who was awake now, silently staring at us all, as I stepped out with my obsession.

  I'll remember the screams, all the days of my life. Sound travels on the wind in Egypt, even to normal human hearing.

  Chapter 13 – Camp Alpha

  The next afternoon, after hiding our vehicle, we found ourselves running through the desert near Mount Catherine after we crossed under the Suez Canal, via the appropriately named Tunnel Road, to pass into the Sinai Peninsula.

  The soldier had told Stephanie, after a long, drawn out interrogation, that Xerxes and Truit had retreated to a base on the peninsula called, Camp Alpha, after news of 'potentials' stopping the raid at the excavation reached them. Ten men were left in Cairo to watch the locations I most frequented like the university and the archeological dig. They were ordered to bring me and Olivia in, and anyone with us was to be treated as collateral damage.

  Most of the day as we traveled, Kissa had her eye on the sky. High above, a large white bird seemed to be tracking us. It was far too high for even our enhanced eyesight to identify what kind of bird it was.

  Olivia postulated that it was some sort of bird of prey since we had woke up in the morning, surrounded by a ring of scorpions, snakes, and scarabs. Like they were guarding our group. She explained that they weren't entirely sure since a Jackal Maiden hasn't been seen for so long, but the rumors said that those who deal out death, or the aftermath of it like the Scarabs, sought kinship with the vassals of Anubis.

  That explained all the freaky things happening around me with insects and snakes. It felt as if they were following me because they were everywhere I looked. They saw me as one of their own. They thought they were... protecting me?

  I don't know how to explain the feeling of running through the heat of the afternoon with the other vassals. Even though I had technically been awoken just weeks before, I was still senior to Stephanie, as she was, as Kissa said, “A baby snake.” The terrain would have been daunting had I been fully human, but with Jackal-Butt driving, it was effortless as we leapt and ran through treacherous rocks and canyons.

  I felt... free, and the thrill of the hunt sang in my bones. That was the only thing that kept me from fully immersing myself into it. Was it right to be excited about hunting our prey? They were human... well some were partially human, but was it right to run them into the ground and dispatch their souls for their gods to sort them out? What made us better than them?

  I hissed in my head, “They are the wicked. We face the evils of the world and hand out the justice they have brought down upon themselves. If we do nothing, more innocents will be hurt or worse.” Ok, I make a persuasive argument.

  I glanced around at our group. Olivia and Neith almost glided across the landscape, their avian aspects lending to the observation. Where Neith seemed to flow like a golden flame, the Doc seemed so graceful and surefooted that her feet barely touched the ground as she leapt and took effortless strides over terrain that would have a human scrambling with a fraction of the progress. She caught my attention on her and her bird cheeks dimpled, telling me she was smiling.

  The other two were a little frightening. Kissa seemed to sway as she ran, weaving between outcroppings like flowing liquid, giving the impression of the snake she represented.

  Stephanie... well she slithered with a grace that belied her huge snake form. Her feet hung just above the ground as her tail propelled her effortlessly. And as intimidating as she looked in that form, the human portion of her wore that black military armor and all the weapons, which just magnified the threat she projected. Her tongue tasting the air, and slitted eyes flicking all around in front of us, taking in everything with the skill of a trained killer.

  We were badass. In my distraction, I tripped over one of my own long paws and fell flat on my face. Oh for fuck's sake. I looked up, blew sand out of my nose and let out a canine whimper. I was so glad they couldn't see me blushing under my smooth obsidian skin in this form. They had gathered around me, all looking amused at my lack of the kind of grace they had all been displaying.

  Kissa must have thought it looked fun because she dove face first into the gritty sand and came up giggle-hissing. I doubt the woman could be any more random if she tried. But I found myself smiling at the silly snake.

  My bird-girl offered a hand, saying tongue in cheek, “Professor.” I let the smug beak-face help me up. She offered as I dusted myself off, “We could slow down for...”

  I snapped at her with my fangs, and she let out that bark of laughter I loved.

  Neith inquired in Arabic, “Are you alright, Aya? What happened?”

  I bled back into my human form for a moment to sit down on a rock and dust the sand off of my hat. Wait, how did it get caked with sand? It was in whatever alternate reality it went to when I changed, it wasn't here when I face planted. I shook the line of thought out of my head and looked at them all, “I'm fine. I'm just a klutz. I was just observing how graceful and dangerous we all looked as we moved, and... well, I sort of Aya-ed.”

  My now human falcon was all grins as she bit her inner cheek, but couldn't help herself. “Aya-ed? I'm going to have to remember that one for...”

  I shut her up with a quick kiss on her lips. “Zip it, lady.”

  She told the others behind her hand like I couldn't hear, “I love it when she's assertive.”

  Ok, I shifted quickly, before they could all see the blush that burned down to my toes. I glanced around, all the others were in their human form now, and I wasn't about to let them see my embarrassment.

  Neith offered to the group, “I thought if I ever met a Jackal-Maiden of Anubis, Death's Mistress herself, I would be terrified. It is so
disconcerting that I find her... cute.”

  Gah!

  I held my head high, and Olivia let me have my faux pride and looked to Stephanie, who was looking between a compass and the sun. “How much farther?” We all turned to her, and she smirked and put the compass away and pulled out the satellite phone she picked up at the safe house with her gear and pulled up an app. “Three point two miles, south, southeast.”

  I prompted as I absently returned to human, “Isn't that cheating? I thought you'd be able to like judge the camp's location by the length of the shadows, sunspots, insect excrement, or some shit like that. Isn't GPS sort of cheating for you special forces types?”

  She reached up and wrapped one of her well-toned arms around my neck, pulling me down against her bosom as she patted my jackal head like I were her poor, slow niece. “Or some shit? That's about the least scholarly thing I've heard you say, short stuff.” She released me and patted my butt to shoo me toward my amused looking girl.

  The Lieutenant said as her forked human tongue thinned and lengthened into her reptilian tongue as it flicked out, tasting the air, “We're trained to usse the toolss at our disspossal. Google mapss happenss to be at my disspossal.” Then she took on a more serious tone as her tongue reformed, “There are men, lots of them in that direction, and that death stench that follows Truit around...” Her hesitation made me nervous, before she supplied, “...and hybrids.”

  Her and Kissa's ability to taste the scents on the wind that were even faint to my canine senses was amazing to me. I heard myself asking, “So I didn't imagine that smell of decay around Abigail Truit when we met at the University?”

  She shook her head and said to the group, “She's into voodoo. Normally I wouldn't buy into this magic and voodoo shit... but Lazarus had turned me into a monster, so it was hard for me to doubt other things like voodoo. And I've seen her wake and control the dead. Even control the living like puppets for a short time with dust she carries with her. She's the real deal.”