Under Wraps: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Werewolves vs. Mummies Book 1)

by J. A. Cipriano

  “I don’t care.” I replied as my stomach tightened. She was right, after all. Most clothing, unless it was magically treated, would be destroyed if I shifted. When I didn’t say more, she huffed again and shook her head.

  “Boys,” she murmured. “Can’t live with ‘em, can’t get ‘em to fight mummies…”

  Chapter 3

  “How do you even fight a mummy?” I asked as we stood in front of a massive cave. Its mouth yawned open like the maw of a great beast as it extended downward into the butter-yellow earth. It was a little weird because I didn’t even know Egypt had caves. I’d been pretty sure it was all sand with a river running through it. Maybe a palm tree? “Like, let’s say we find the mummy, and we want to recapture him. What’s the plan, exactly?”

  Aziza glanced at me, eyes narrowed into slits so all I saw were compressed slivers of purple. “So you finally ask a useful question?” she huffed. “It’s about time you got on board with this.”

  She was mad at me. I’ll admit I probably could have bitched a little less, but I’d really wanted some clothing. I still couldn’t believe that she expected me to go monster hunting naked. Who does that? Savages? I mean, okay even if my clothing was destroyed when I shifted, that didn’t mean I wanted to tromp through the desert in my birthday suit. It wasn’t like I was going to be in wolf form the whole time.

  Thankfully, she’d managed to scrounge up some clothing for me from one of the slave camps on the way. It was scratchy and didn’t fit very well, but it was better than tromping across the dunes in my birthday suit.

  “That doesn’t answer my question,” I said, trying to sound as happy as possible. “I’m not exactly a ghost buster, so unless you have one of those traps and a proton pack, I’m not sure what to do…”

  “Ghosts aren’t real,” Aziza said, reaching up and tapping the amethyst scarab around her neck. “All mummies have a necklace like this. It’s what keeps us animated. Destroy it and our wrappings will cinch down on us and render us immobile.”

  “That seems a little… easy?” I offered. “Are you sure there’s not something you aren’t telling me?”

  “It is a little more complicated, but basically, no. That’s it. Break the pendant, and they’ll fall back asleep.” She smiled at me for the first time in a while, and the sight of it made my heart forget how to beat in my chest. “It’s, as your people would say, ‘not rocket science.’”

  “Okay smarty pants, what do we do with sleeping mummies? Let them lie?” I asked, smirking at my own joke. You know because I was a werewolf.

  “I’ll summon a sarcophagus from the Duat and imprison them. Trust me, once you get the pendant, I’ll take it from there. Now let’s go.” She pointed into the cave, and a tiny shiver shook her. I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been watching her very closely.

  “So I fight the raging mummy, and when I’m done, you bag ‘em and tag ‘em?” I asked, stepping in front of her and staring down into the cave. It smelled like damp sewer, but beneath that there was a faint odor of flowers. Jasmine, maybe?

  I stepped down into the cave, and the air breathed over me in a warm wave. Every step was like treading deeper into the maw of some great beast. Hell, if I hadn’t actually been to Tartarus before, I’d say it probably felt like that. The cool, golden stone glistened all around me. Bits of water collected along the roof and dripped down to form multi-hued stalactites that seemed to grow as I descended. I shivered, trying to dismiss the notion that fangs were distending all around me.

  “Yep, definitely the mouth of some giant monster,” I murmured to myself.

  Aziza nodded next to me, her face a dim outline in the darkness of the cave. Even with my extra-ordinary vision it was hard to see. Then again, I hadn’t changed. If I did, I’d probably be able to see just fine. Still, I didn’t like changing. I knew some other wolves that spent the majority of their time in fighting form, you know half-man, half-wolf, and more still, who liked full on four-pawed wolf form.

  Me? I preferred to be human. There was just something about changing I’d never liked. Maybe it was the bloodlust, or the lack of control, but every time I changed, I felt more like an animal and less like a person. I could definitely see why some people enjoyed it. You became strong, fast, and pretty much invincible, but it had a cost. Change too much and you might start taking on characteristics that wouldn’t exactly do well in day to day society.

  I’d known a guy once who had gone pretty much feral and wound up raiding a convenience store and eating everyone inside. Guys like him were the reason to play it cool. Besides, no one wanted a hunter after them. Especially me. Still, here in the bowels of some Egyptian cave, I was half-tempted to change just to make myself feel better. A little supernatural chutzpah could be just the thing to make the tremors stop ricocheting down my spine.

  I pushed down the thought. I should transform, I knew that, but I needed to fight the urge. I couldn’t let myself change if I didn’t absolutely need to do it. If I gave in every single time I was a little scared, I’d be calling upon my wolf a lot over this little adventure. While that wasn’t bad, per se, it was a slippery slope to always being in wolf form. That was not a road I wanted to travel down if I could help it.

  I rubbed my clammy hands together, glancing around the cave, and wishing I could see just a little better. Already the entrance had faded to a small pinprick of light behind us. If we didn’t find the mummy soon, I was pretty sure we weren’t going to be able to see anything. The prospect of encountering a shambling mummy in total darkness wasn’t exactly appealing.

  “So…” I whispered, trying not to be loud enough to be heard by anyone other than Aziza. “I don’t suppose you have a flashlight or something?”

  She shook her head. “That’d give our location away,” she replied.

  “How do you even know what a flashlight is?” I asked as I stepped in something sticky and my stomach lurched. “Or what rocket science is?”

  I looked down, trying to wipe my toes off on the sand, but whatever goop I’d stepped on stuck to me with gooey tenacity. Awesome.

  “I’m not sure.” She shrugged, fingers touching her pendant. “I know lots of things I probably shouldn’t.”

  Something just beyond her moved. I wasn’t sure how I could tell, but the shadows twitched. My heart began to pound in my chest, and my hands clenched themselves into fists. I stared at the spot, trying to tell myself I was just seeing things, that my mind was playing tricks on me.

  “What?” she asked, looking at me, wide-eyed. “What is it?”

  “Nothing,” I said, shaking my head. “I thought I saw something.”

  “You thought you saw something?” she asked, and the words sort of caught on her teeth and spun out into the space between us.

  “Yeah.” I shrugged. The shadow hadn’t moved, and though everything inside of me told me to run the hell out of the cave, I started walking toward it anyway. It wasn’t like it was far away. The whole cave was only a few meters wide. As I approached, a strange smell hit my nose. It was still flowers, but they were almost sickly sweet, like rotting fruit.

  Something struck me in the back of the head. I toppled forward, my already obscured vision going even darker around the edges. I hit the ground hard on my hands and knees as fingers tore into the flesh of my right bicep. I tried to move, tried to fight off my attacker, but the next thing I knew, I was flying sideways through the air.

  I smashed into the cave wall. My breath whooshed out of me as I slid brokenly to the floor. I lay there, unable to do more than wheeze. Aziza’s face lit up in the distance, her scarab pendant glowing bright enough to fill the cave with lavender light.

  In front of me stood a woman with long ebony hair and skin the color of charcoal. She was wearing a skintight dress of solid gold that fell to her ankles. Her back was to me, but even from here, I could see blood dripping down her fingers so they looked like gory claws. She wasn’t watching me anymore, her head craned toward Aziza.

 
; I sucked in a breath that tasted like pennies and gritted my teeth together. I was going to get up and help… any second now.

  “Jailer,” the woman said in a rich and sultry voice that melted over me like warm chocolate. “Why have you come for me?” She took a step forward, her dress glittering like a golden disco ball as she moved, all sashaying hips and firelight. “Surely there is someone else you can go bother?”

  Aziza’s face clammed up, going stony and unreadable as she wrapped her hand around her pendant. “Nas,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “You should come quietly.”

  Even though the woman’s back was to me, I was suddenly blinded by a flare of pale blue light that exploded from something on her chest. It cast shadows along the ceiling that skittered across the cave like a swarm of bugs.

  “Or not,” Nas said, anger turning her words caustic. The sound of millions of tiny scurrying legs filled my ears as I hoisted myself to my feet, blood dripping from the corner of my mouth. I was a big guy who towered over everyone, and this girl was no exception. It was time to use my size to my advantage.

  I reached out, grabbing Nas by the shoulder and jerking her around. She spun, losing her balance and toppling to the sandy ground in a cloud of dust. I threw myself on top of her, pinning her beneath my two hundred fifty pound body. I expected air to whoosh out of her or something, but instead she just glared at me, hatred distorting her otherwise pretty features into an animalistic mask. With one, quick movement, she smacked me across the face with the back of her left fist.

  My head snapped back, and I was pretty sure a few teeth came loose. Her knee came up then, striking me between the legs and breaking everything inside me. All sensation distilled down to a single point of indescribable agony. I collapsed, rolling off of her as nausea swelled up within me, my stomach clenching so hard that I was pretty sure I was going to die.

  Nas scrambled to her feet just as Aziza’s giant golden staff whipped through the air and caught her broadside across the temple with a thud. She careened sideway, smacking into the rocky wall and falling forward onto her knees. Her blue sapphire wasp pendant hung loose in the air, wings flapping and legs thrashing as it tried to climb back into Nas’ dress.

  Before Nas could even get to her feet, Aziza grabbed the writhing insect and yanked. The golden chain snapped free with a shriek that made me cringe. With a sound like cracking thunder, blue light exploded from a spot in the center of Nas’ forehead, filling the small cave like an arc flash.

  “No!” Nas screamed, her words shriveled and dry sounding. Her clothes vanished in an instant, as musty wrappings snaked up her body and cinched down on her like an invisible spider was wrapping her up.

  In the time it took me to blink, Nas was completely ensconced in mummy chic. Aziza tossed the wasp pendant to the ground and muttered a few words I didn’t understand. They were probably Egyptian.

  The wasp exploded into a million scintillating shards of metal that circled Nas like spinning, whirring bits of sapphire shrapnel. It collapsed in on itself in a flash of color that made spots dance in front of my eyes.

  I turned away, shielding my face until the glare died down. When I looked a moment later, a golden sarcophagus etched with a billion hieroglyphics stood in the spot where Nas had been. Aziza smirked at me. Her face was shrouded in amethyst light as she placed her outstretched hand on the metal lid. There was a shriek that reminded me of a clarion call. The entire thing vanished. No wisp of smoke, no flash of light. One second it was there, the next it wasn’t.

  “Wow,” I said, a little too much awe in my voice.

  “You’re more of a lover than a fighter, aren’t you?” she asked, glancing at me, cheeks flushed.

  “What?” I replied, fire spreading along my own cheeks. “What’s that supposed to mean.”

  “It’s supposed to mean you’re a pretty horrible warrior. You’re a werewolf. You’re supposed to be able to beat up one tiny girl without help.” Aziza put her hands on her hips and stared at me, amusement in her eyes. “Who trained you, a one-armed baboon?”

  I sighed, shaking my head as I got to my feet and wobbled toward the wall, my family jewels still aching. I knew that in a few minutes I’d be all healed up, but right now that didn’t make me feel any better. Why? She was right. I was a pretty terrible fighter without my wolf.

  My Alpha had tried to train me in the ways of Wolf-Fu, and no, it wasn’t actually called that. I sucked at it. I sucked at fighting in general when I wasn’t in werewolf form. To be fair, most werewolves did. When you can transform into an eight foot tall beast with near-unlimited healing, razor-sharp claws, and a mouth full of dagger-like teeth, you usually didn’t need training. You usually just ate whatever was trying to beat you up. Especially since you had twice your normal strength and speed in wolf form.

  “It’s polite to respond when people speak to you,” Aziza said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. You’ve never fought a mummy before, and you didn’t change.” She grinned at me. “But don’t worry, you’ll get another shot.”

  Chapter 4

  Aziza was right, but don’t tell her I said that… ever. I had gotten pretty good at fighting mummies once I learned a couple things. They didn’t need to breathe, and they didn’t feel pain, not in the traditional sense. Unfortunately, that was where the similarities between them ended. Depending on how they had been mummified, they might have vastly different strengths and weaknesses. It made fighting the last twenty mummies a unique experience I didn’t particularly enjoy.

  I smashed my fist down on the mummy’s face, shattering his snapping teeth into fragments that tore into my knuckles and left a crimson smear across his cheek. The mummy’s head snapped backward, bouncing off the stone entrance to the pyramid with a sharp crack.

  “Stop struggling,” I growled, my voice low and feral as I thrust my hand into his mouth, trying to grab onto the pendant he had swallowed a moment before. Thankfully, I could still see the chain dangling from the corner of his mouth. I wasn’t going to have to do a mummy-sectomy… this time. If I had a nickel for every time a mummy tried to swallow his pendant, I’d have an ass load of nickels.

  He sputtered, spraying blood and saliva across my face. My stomach revolted as I resisted the urge to wipe myself. He bit me. Pain exploded in my fingers. I howled in frustration, my hand transforming into a mass of muscle, fur, and sinew without me realizing it.

  “Look out!” Aziza cried from behind me as I grabbed hold of the pendant’s chain and tore my hand sideways out of the mummy’s jaws, ripping apart his face in a cloud of blood and flesh.

  “What?” I asked, glancing over at her as a curved Egyptian sword tore into my back and burst through my chest in a spray of blood and thicker bits. I toppled forward, my body forgetting to breathe as the beast inside me raged.

  I turned my head, trying to see my attacker as the world went sideways. A fist hit me in the side of the head, and I flopped uselessly onto my side, still in too much shock to really feel the pain. Instead, it felt more like a foreign object had been wedged into me. The pendant slipped from my grip and hit the sticky sand with a plop.

  The mummy released his hold on the khopesh still embedded in my back and seized his pendant. Metallic silver light spilled through his fingers. His flesh flowed back together like watery clay, forming back into his normally ugly features. He stood, brushing my bleeding body aside like I was a gnat. He looked down on me, his huge pink lips curled into a hideous smile. Then he spat on me and a warm gooey glob of saliva smacked into my cheek.

  “Aziza, did you think it would be so easy to take me down? I am Amon, first guard to the great pharaoh Imhotep. I am not some peasant for you to extinguish. Not some whelp to be locked in a cage.” He bent down and tore his curved khopesh from my body, and I screamed, agony shooting through me like molten lead.

  He flicked his blade outward, spattering my blood on the sand beside him. “Nothing to say for yourself, girl?”

  “Watch out,”
Aziza said, not even raising her staff to defend herself.

  “Watch out?” the mummy said, confusion filling his voice. “For what?”

  “Him,” she replied, pointing her gleaming golden staff at me.

  Amon glanced at me and snorted. “What is he going to do, jailer? Bleed on me to death?”

  I gritted my teeth as the beast inside me raged, and thrashed, and screamed. I pushed one hand into the sand, gripping it as hard as I could. The smell of the forest hit me like I was standing in the middle of a Smokey the bear commercial. The wolf within me growled, and my own mouth elicited the same sound.

  The mummy’s eyes widened as my flesh rippled. Things beneath my skin shifted and squirmed. It wasn’t painful, I know it always looked like it was, but it was quite the opposite. A strange sense of euphoria overtook me as fur cascaded down over my body, my skin filling out with the hard, lithe muscle of a predator. I craned my head up and howled at the blue sky above. Already, the wounds had stopped bleeding. In another moment, they would be gone.

  I stood, flexing my claws, adrenaline coursing through my body, filling me up, making me feel invincible. I snarled, and my lips curled back to reveal my fangs. I took a step forward, my claws sinking into the sand.

  The mummy backed up so quickly he fell on his butt in the sand. I licked my lips, the smell of his fear pungent and sweet. I tore forward, closing the distance in a single bound. I seized the mummy by the throat, tearing into his flesh with my teeth. Hot, warm blood filled my mouth.

  I bit down and shook, the sound of tearing meat filling my ears like sweet music. A huge chunk of flesh came free in my jaws, and the mummy collapsed to the ground. He scrambled backward in a pool of blood and gore, one arm hanging uselessly at his side.