She shook her head as she held her bag close. “Nothing. I just forgot for a moment…”
“That I’m as old as dirt?” I smirked, but the bland look she gave me told me that she was not amused. “Not funny. I know. But in this case, it worked for us. I’ve spent so much time here I didn’t have to think hard about a location. And this is a place of strong faith. It’ll take them a while to locate us.”
Brenna’s eyes lit up for a moment. “A place of faith. Can we hide the diamond here?”
It was an excellent idea, but I still had to shoot it down with a shake of my head. “Too much conflict over the location. The strife has sunk into the ground. Makes it magically unstable. It’s the only reason why I can even stand here.”
Well, that and I had worked with a man who had the place built. It hadn’t been comfortable, but since I’d had the king’s permission, I had been able to endure it. There were still enough residual energies from that time thanks to pieces of the original temple scattered all over that I was able to draw on that now.
“So now what?” Uncertainty joined fear in Brenna’s eyes, paled her face again.
I wanted to gather her into my arms, kiss her hair, and tell her everything was going to be alright. But I couldn’t lie to her like that. Not anymore.
“The containments won’t be ready for another two days.”
I ran our options over in my mind. There weren’t many, but we had a few. I didn’t like them, but they were the best we had before the Fallen found us again. They wouldn’t waste any time now, and they probably still had locator spells running, which meant we needed to make quick choices.
“We need a place of strong faith. An old place with generations of belief and ritual sunk into the foundation. An old church or something. Notre Dame would have been perfect, but the fire…” I decided to think out loud. Brenna had a quick and clever mind. If she had something to add I wanted to hear it, but she had to know which track my mind was on. “I…won’t be able to get into it. It would have wards and protections against things like me so the faithful have a safe haven. It means you’ll have to go in alone.”
I walked closer to Brenna as she stared wide eyed. Those lovely lips were parted, and I wanted to kiss them so badly. Instead, I looked down at her as I put my fingers under her chin.
“I can buy you time. Keep any of the fallen that show up busy. They won’t be able to get in either, but they’d wait for you to come back out.” I did kiss her now and could feel her calm down through the touch of our lips. I kept it brief, though. The smile I gave her when I broke it was a bit on the vicious side. “Remember. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
The smile she gave me in return was so trusting it almost hurt to see. I didn’t deserve that kind of trust from her. Or anyone, really. And yet there it was turned directly at me. I couldn’t deny that Brenna had her own mind about things. I remembered how stubborn she had gotten about being returned to her life in New York.
Was it flattering that she wanted to be with me? Hell, yes. Was it practical? Not in the least. Was I going to continue to argue with her about it? No, and for a few reasons. She wanted it, and it was getting more difficult to deny her what she wanted. If my conclusion about her being my redemption was correct, I needed her with me.
But mostly, I wanted to be with her.
“Oh!” Brenna’s face suddenly lit up as she got excited about something. “I have an idea. It’ll work.” I felt my brows lift as she bounced in place with a big grin on her face. “Egypt. The Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza.”
I didn’t follow and tilted my head. For some reason that made her laugh.
“Listen. There are hundreds if not thousands of items on display and in their inventory that all have seals and protection spells on them. Curses, too. I could put the diamond in any one of them and they’d never be released even if it were found. Someone would consider it part of the collection without so much as a second glance.” Brenna reached out to put her hand on my arm and gave me an intense look. “They still believe in the inscriptions there. There’s enough faith to protect the diamond. And with how their belief works, it would be the dead that own The Ingress. You try getting them to give it up.”
“Are you sure?” I knew I sounded hesitant. “We only have one shot at this.”
Brenna nodded. “You would even be able to get in. The curses only work if you try to take anything away so it’s perfect for this.”
I still wasn’t sold. The Egyptian magic was something I had avoided at all costs. I had never understood how it worked, but Brenna seemed confident. I was going to have to trust her this time.
“We’ll have to break in,” I said by way of letting her know I accepted her plan.
“No, we won’t,” she said as she beamed a smile up at me.
She seemed awfully proud of herself. It was adorable. Amusement filtered into my sense of urgency but didn’t override it. I watched her dig into her bag.
“The museum gave me full security access which carries over to any other museum connected to it. It’s a way for the museums to all have access to each other’s research.” She pulled out her plastic ID card, then held it up with that smug smile lighting up her face. “Which includes The Grand Egyptian Museum.”
I grinned as I hoisted Brenna off her feet and into my arms.
“That’s my girl. My clever, clever girl.”
As if pulling her into an embrace wasn’t enough to let her know that I approved, I gave her a deep and thorough kiss.
I kept her in my arms after I let her up for air. She wasn’t complaining. She just looked a little out of breath. Dazed, but pleasantly so if I judged by the look on her face.
I felt as smug as she had seemed a few moments ago for having put her in that stunned state. I only had a handful of talents, and this was one that I didn’t get to brag about very often. The last time had been before electricity. I was due a bit of pride in myself so that feeling remained as I put my hand over the diamond, flexed some power, and took us to Giza.
THIRTEEN
BRENNA
I was never going to get used to being teleported around. It didn’t seem to bother March at all, but I was always left feeling as if I’d been turned upside down and shaken. This had only been the third time, and I realized that didn’t make me an expert on the subject, but the queasiness I had made me not want to make a habit of it. For that reason alone, I was more than willing to give one hundred and ten percent effort into hiding The Ingress away.
Maybe if it hadn’t been so unpleasant, I might have picked March’s brain for how to reproduce it. It would’ve been nice to be rid of traffic jams and long flights for good. But even if it could be duplicated it came with the side effect of attracting demons. Nausea and hell beasts. No thanks.
We appeared in the main courtyard of the museum grounds. Off in the distance, the pyramids could be seen lit up in the night. The main entrance was closest, and I could see a security guard idly pacing around just inside the door. It would have been easier to gain access through an employee entrance, but I didn’t know where they were, and the place was too big to go looking for one. Time wasn’t something we had a lot of.
If the guard gave me any trouble, I still had my pepper spray. Or March could knock him out. Yeesh. I was getting a little vicious these days.
March had let me go as soon as we appeared. I placed my hand on his arm to get his attention.
“There’s a guard,” I whispered. “My ID should be enough, but with it being after hours I’ll have to come up with a story. Let me do the talking, okay?”
“Why don’t I just knock him out?” March suggested.
I gave him a bland look. “Trying to avoid damaging people, here. If I can get us in, great.” This time he gave me the look that said I should know better. I sighed. “If he starts giving us a hard time you can knock him out.” I grimaced. “Just…try not to kill him.”
“Yes, dear,” came March’s sarcastic reply. I couldn’t ke
ep the smirk contained. March saw it and snickered. I rolled my eyes.
“Come on,” I said then walked toward the entrance.
The night was quiet which raised the hairs on the back of my neck. I lived in New York for so long now that I was used to noise all day and night. The island had no buildings, so I hadn’t expected any commotion there. That had been what I was used to on the ranch growing up. But Giza was a city. Buildings and roads were all around the museum complex, with the exception of the Nile River side. There should have been sounds of life, but it was as quiet as it had been on the island. That was absolutely unnatural as far as I was concerned. There was the occasional motorist, but they seemed far away.
It didn’t help my nerves any that March walked right next to me. He had his sword out despite our agreement not to hurt the security guard. He also had hold of my arm. It was like having my own bodyguard. My own almost seven-foot-tall bodyguard. He was pretty intimidating in stature alone, but with the sword in his hand the guard would no doubt see him as a threat. I was about to suggest that he put the sword in the sheath on his back when March pulled me to an abrupt halt.
I started to ask what was wrong, but he hushed me before I could even form a word. I felt my heart rate speed up when I noticed March’s eyes begin to give a golden glow. I figured out by now that he was using some kind of power whenever that happened.
Something had gotten his attention and not in a good way.
I stayed still and quiet as I waited for him to tell me what was going on.
Then I heard it.
And felt it and smelled it.
There was a sound similar to the pop and whoosh when you open a can of soda, only louder and faster. Five of them, actually. Accompanying the sound was the feeling of someone not just walking over your grave but holding a tailgate on it. Goosebumps went up my spine and down my arms. It made me shudder even in the heat of Egypt. Then the smell. I had thought teleporting made me nauseous. This was downright gag inducing. Nothing was worse than the smell of burnt sulfur. Brimstone. Rotten eggs. It made me cough for the want of fresh air.
But it was what had caused the assault on my senses that made my heart stop. Five of the fallen had appeared in a semi-circle behind us, right about where we had arrived. They all looked similar to March: overly tall, broad shoulders, builds like bricks, long hair of various dark colors that I couldn’t quite make out in the night, and each of them carried a sword. They wore modern day clothing. If not for their unusual height and build they might have blended in with a crowd. Until I got a look at their eyes. Unlike March, they didn’t bother to hide or dismiss the golden glow their eyes emitted. That would give them away as not human. They advanced on us quickly. Not a run, but they probably felt they had us cornered.
They weren’t entirely wrong.
“They must have picked up on the last jump,” March said in a fast, clipped tone. He pushed me behind him. “When I give you the word, you run for the door as fast as you can. I’ll hold them off.”
I had anticipated his instructions. The diamond got shoved into my bag, then the straps were hooked cross-bodied over my shoulder. My ID card was clutched firmly in my hand to get me inside, and I walked backward toward the main entrance of the museum, coincidentally away from the five fallen.
March took a few steps forward to get their attention on him instead of me. It didn’t quite work, though, since one of them let out with a roar that I felt in my bones.
There didn’t seem to be a thing about these guys that wasn’t unpleasant. That sound he made was straight out of a nightmare. Anything that looked that human shouldn’t have been able to make a sound like that. The best way I could describe it would be to take the sound of a motorcycle being revved but without a tailpipe, combined with the wail of an old air raid siren, then add a bass note so low it only registered by being felt. Fingernails down a chalkboard would’ve sounded like an aria by comparison. And now the creature that it came from ran toward me.
“Run!” came the shout from March that I had been waiting for.
I didn’t hesitate. Granted, having a giant demon dude running at me with a big sword was enough incentive to put on speed. Fortunately, March was faster than he was. He got between me and the Ffallen. Sword hit sword in a loud clash that was soon drowned out by the shouts of the rest of the fallen. My hands flew to my ears to block out the roars as best I could as I ran while March put himself into position so they would have to go through him to get to me.
I got to the main entrance and took a moment to look back. My heart sank when I saw March facing off against the five fallen on his own. He was good. I’d seen him in action with the one that had attacked me in the parking garage. But the odds were against him. I wished I had a gun. I thought of the security guard but looking to the door showed me that he’d run off. Five giant guys with swords and those hellish noises would do that to any sane person.
So, what did that say about me? Regardless, the guard and his gun were gone. I would have to trust that March would break away if it looked as if he would lose in a very permanent sense.
My hands shook as I put my ID card to the scanner next to the door. It seemed to take forever for the light to turn green. The door gave a click as it unlocked, and I didn’t waste any more time. I hauled it open then darted inside. I ran through the foyer before the door closed and locked, but my anxiety was relieved to hear that instead of a big crash of glass as a fallen burst through.
A large statue of Ramses II stood prominently in the main lobby. I felt as if it watched me as I ran past.
“Ramses, step on them for me, will ya?” I said to the statue.
I had to make the joke, or I was going to start screaming.
Now that I was away from the main fight, my instincts told me to find a deep, remote corner to hide in and stay there until this was all over. It was what I called the magic blanket defense. Every little kid believed that if you pulled your blanket up over your head the monsters couldn’t get you. I likened my urge to hide with that childish belief in the magic blanket.
Neither would work in actual practice, only there had never actually been any monsters when I was a child. There were five very real ones outside that wanted to rip my guts out. Needless to say, I kept running.
The museum wasn’t finished. There was still construction going on which meant I would have to be careful. Half-finished flooring, equipment, and power cords that were left out were just the beginning of potential obstacles that could trip me up. I would have to be mindful of my surroundings if I didn’t want this to end in a spectacularly stupid and messy way.
I had seen plans for the finished project which meant I had a general idea of where everything would be, but once inside I realized that meant little to nothing. I had to stop at the lobby’s map to figure out where I had to go, and I was fortunate that there was one. The contractors probably needed it, too.
What I was looking for wasn’t on the map, but I knew where it most likely would be. I found the best spot for what I needed then mapped my route in my head. I nodded as I chanted the turns under my breath, then took off running once more.
The lighting was minimal. Shadows cast ominous shapes and darkened corners. Being that the museum was desert-themed, the lights were a soft amber yellow which made the ambiance that much more menacing. The contractors had left some of their flood lights on which hardened the edges of the shadows, and painted alcoves pitch black. My imagination populated those places with all manner of nasties from Hell. I avoided them as much as possible even though I was almost certain there was nothing to fear.
Almost.
Why take the chance?
A grand staircase led from the main lobby up to the exhibits. It was designed so that displays that lined the walls on either side would take the visitors from modern day Cairo then progressively back in time through the ages. The bottom of the staircase was the widest point, then led upward with landings at various levels for the items that would be placed there.
Normally, I would have appreciated the design and metaphor of traveling back in time. Right now, however, there were just too many damn stairs.
The amber lights cast V shaped patterns up the walls to the glass ceiling several stories above me. Inverted pyramids of light with dark ones between. Good versus evil. The metaphors just didn’t stop.
The exhibit rooms would pick up from there at the top of the stairs. They would start from pre-history then proceed through Egypt’s history to Greco-Roman. I honestly didn’t care what point in time I picked. I just needed the right room with the right door.
I still chanted the turns to myself as I took a right into a hallway. There were no lights to guide me, but the large floor to ceiling glass windows to the right let the lights from the city paint the hallway a muted blue. From there, I could see the fight going on in the courtyard, and I slowed to get a look.
One of the fallen was motionless on the ground. He looked dead from where I was, but it was dark, and I was half a football field away. Another fallen had retreated and was holding his side. March must’ve gotten a good hit on him. That left three that March was fighting. His left arm seemed to hang strangely. I frowned as I put my hands to the glass and leaned forward as if I could get a better look.
But then I was spotted.
One of the fallen saw me at the window. His mouth opened, and I didn’t have to imagine that bone rattling roar since I could feel the vibrations of it through the glass beneath my hands. He gave March a hard shove toward his brothers then ran in my direction. At first, I wasn’t worried. I was a few levels up, but then I realized the landscaping was a slight incline from their level to high enough to make this guy a real threat. I jumped back from the window.
“Shit.”
I didn’t look to see how close he was. I just took off running down the hall and picked up my internal GPS navigation chant.
Being as familiar with museums as I was, I knew that all exhibit rooms were connected, or at least dumped you out into a lobby area shared with other rooms. I could improvise my route if necessary. I ducked into the first room on my route with that in mind just as I heard a loud crash of glass back down the hall. I squeaked in fear and definitely improvised. Anything to put walls between me and that fallen.
Demons Are a Girl's Best Friend (Good Girls & Demons) Page 11
