I sniffed, tasting the air for clues. It reminded me of sweat, old socks, and rotten eggs. I crinkled my nostrils in disgust and took a step forward, my feet padding silently along the stone. It was brittle beneath my talons, and I moved slowly so that I wouldn’t alert anyone.
I went down into the deep dark, ears straining to hear, but getting nothing. I moved further, claws trailing lightly along the walls on either side to feel for a trap door or other surprise.
A scream exploded through the darkness. It tasted of fear and pain. I leapt, loping forward down the stairs, relying on my reflexes to keep me from falling. I slammed into a landing a moment later, my shoulder smashing into the unforgiving rock. A loud crack echoed through the cavern.
I turned, raised my head to the air and inhaled. Aziza’s scent filled my being, wafting over me along with the tinny smell of blood. Only it was different. This was someone else’s blood.
I peered over the edge of the balcony and saw nothing but oppressive darkness. Fear roiled in my gut as I stared out. It was the only way to reach her in time. I gritted my teeth together and leapt over the edge.
The ground slammed into me a moment later, hard enough to break things inside of me as I collapsed. I pushed down the pain and stood, spinning in a slow circle. There, to the left!
I pounced, claws extended, and slammed into a furry shape. Its hair was like coarse thread, thick, shaggy, and long. It made it impossible for my claws to find purchase. It reached back, grabbing me by the left arm and flinging me away. I whipped around in the air, my feet smacking into the stone, and I pushed off.
My shoulder slammed into the creature’s chest, and it collapsed under my weight. I reared back, my claws raised to rip into its flesh and spill its hot slick blood when something hard smashed into the back of my head.
I wobbled, the world spinning as I tried to turn toward it. It hit me again, and I fell sideways, crashing to the ground. My vision swam so I shut my eyes and listened. The wind whistled next to me, and I moved, lunging toward the sound. Something sharp tore through my leg as I landed.
I howled, pain leaping through me and fading just as quickly as my claws slashed, finding purchase in something. Boiling fluid spilled out over me, melting my skin, but I seized hold of the thing and jerked it toward my mouth. I bit down, clamping onto its too warm flesh and shaking until the thing went limp beneath my jaws.
Chapter 15
“I can’t believe you killed the sphinx,” Aziza said for perhaps the hundredth time as though it hadn’t been about to tear her in half… which apparently it hadn’t.
“I didn’t know he was your friend,” I said, sighing. I rubbed my eyes with my hand and stared at the torn corpse of the sphinx lying on the floor. I had ripped out its throat and blood was fast spreading around its body in an ever expanding pool of golden ichor.
“You don’t have to tear apart every single thing that jumps out at you in the dark,” Aziza said, nudging the fallen creature with her toe. Her face was twisted into a sad frown that seemed sort of brittle around the edges, like at any moment it might shatter and release a torrent of emotion. “Not everything is a bad guy.”
“I thought it was trying to kidnap you,” I replied, getting annoyed. “Let’s recap here. It grabbed you in a dark scary tunnel in a magic city filled with who knows what and then all the lights went out. How wouldn’t I get the wrong idea?”
“You could have tried, I don’t know, calling my name,” she said, her back still turned toward me.
“Look, I’m sorry.” I swallowed and reached out toward her but stopped before I touched her. “I was just worried, okay? I was worried that thing was going to hurt you.”
“I know,” she replied. “That’s the problem, Thes.”
“How is that a problem? I mean, okay, apparently the creepy monster trying to hurt you was actually trying to help us, but it’s not like he was friendly about it. He grabbed you. There was screaming.” I threw my hands up in exasperation.
“Yeah from the guards he incapacitated,” she said, spinning to face me. Her face was almost perfectly blank, which for her was unusual. It made a lump form in my throat. “You just killed the only person in all of Saqqara that was willing to help us. And I’m supposed to feel better because you were worried about me?” She poked me hard in the chest with her index finger. “News flash, Thes. I don’t need you to protect me.”
“I didn’t think you did.” I dropped my eyes to my feet and shook my head. “That’s not what I thought at all… I just…”
“Thes, you killed one of our allies. Don’t you understand that?” she asked, fixing me with a glare that rendered me into a puddle of jelly.
“Yes.” I realized that, but I’d been trying to ignore that particular elephant in the room. I knew that nothing could be done to help it, but that didn’t make it okay… not by a long shot. Still… still, some part of me had liked it. Had enjoyed the battle, the killing the tearing… I swallowed down that part of myself, forcing myself to ignore the entire thing because that part of me made me sick to my stomach. It worked… a little.
“Whatever,” she said, reaching past me and pressing on one of the bricks beside my head. The door on our right shuddered, and the sound of breaking rock and turning gears filled my ears, reverberating in the tiny room so that it numbed my brain. The door screeched open, sliding sideways into the wall like we were in some sort of sci-fi movie.
Bright yellow light spilled into the room and chased away all the shadows. I put one hand over my eyes to shield them from the glare. I was about to say something when Aziza put a finger to her lips to silence me like we hadn’t just been in a shouting match and then opened the loudest door in the world. She took a couple quick steps forward and leaned toward the opening, peering out into the blinding light outside.
She waved at me, gesturing for me to come forward, and as I did, she held out her hand, signaling me to stop. She turned back toward me, eyes squinted nearly shut and put a finger to her lips. She made two of her fingers walk across her palm before making a fist and smacking it into her open hand. She nodded at me, and I nodded back.
I was pretty sure someone was coming, and we were to crush him with our fists or something. I squatted down so I could pounce upon the intruder the moment he showed himself. My muscles tensed, and my blood began to pound in my ears. The wolf cocked its ears, jaw clenched as we stared out. Every sound came alive, and the smell of dust and lizards filled my nostrils.
Aziza smirked at me and turned back, one hand held up above her head. Very slowly, she began counting down with her fingers. Five… four… three…
I crept forward so tense, I was like a bowstring. Two… one… I leapt as a shadow crossed in front of the threshold. My arms were outstretched, fingers curled into claws as I landed right on top of a giant scorpion. My bare feet slammed into its hard, obsidian carapace with a crack that dropped it flat on its belly, legs splaying out to its sides with a snap.
A piercing cry filled my ears as I rolled, barely avoiding the spine on the end of its tail as it struck at me. I hit the dirt, sending up a cloud of golden dust as the creature righted itself, dragging several broken limbs along the sand as it whirled to face me, huge pincers snapping through the air. Each clack-clack of its claws was like thunder in my ears.
I rolled backward to create distance as it struck again, burying its huge sword-like tail in the dirt. Steam hissed from the sand, and the smell of melting plastic filled my nose as it withdrew its tail. The movement was so quick that I could scarcely follow it. Black ichor dripped from the tip, splattering across the sand and sizzling.
Aziza pounced, her khopesh gleaming through the air as she landed just behind the creature and swung. Her blade smacked into the side of the creature’s tail with a sound like shattering glass. The plated chiton shattered in a spray of coppery goo. The still embedded weapon in her hand began to spark and bubble as the creature spun, tearing it from her hands.
It threw her off-balance, and
she hit the sand in a heap. The scorpion dragged itself toward her as she scrambled to her feet. I leapt forward, grabbed hold of the sizzling khopesh buried in the creature’s tail and braced my feet against its carapace. I pulled, muscles cording with effort, and the blade came free with a pop. The creature juked, trying to throw me off, but since I’d already planned to lose my balance, I managed to drive the khopesh downward into its back as I fell. The metal shrieked and shattered under the force, breaking off into a jagged shard that pierced its shell.
Ichor sprayed from the wound, coating the hilt of the weapon in copper-colored slime, making my hands slip off. I fell, landing hard on my back. The air shot out of me as the creature reached back, trying to pull the broken sword from its back with one pincer. Aziza was on her feet, one hand extended toward the creature. Her eyes had gone solid purple, resembling a couple of amethyst orbs. Air began to whip around her. A cracking sound filled my ears.
The legs of a giant statue of a lion-headed goddess to our left splintered. The sound of it was like lightning crashing through the air. Aziza flung her hand upward, and a lasso of purple fire exploded from her hand. It wrapped around the stature until it was burning so brightly there was no way you couldn’t see it from space. I covered my eyes with my arm as she jerked her hand backward in a sweeping gesture that pulled the statue off its broken legs.
The huge stone lion-woman toppled over, slamming down on the wounded scorpion with a sound that reminded me of the time I’d accidently stepped on Connor’s hissing cockroach when it had escaped from its cage. Only this was a million times louder.
Goo splattered out across the sound, covering me, and my tunic, in slime that smelled like rancid pork. I wiped my face, turning to look at Aziza. She beamed at me, her legs and torso covered in the same foul-smelling gunk.
“Well that was easy,” she called as the ground beneath our feet began to shake.
A falcon cried out, high above our heads, and I glanced toward it as the statue of the lion-goddess began to move. It reached out, its stone hands hitting the ground and pushing it off the splattered scorpion. It craned its head toward Aziza and frowned.
“You dare to destroy my statue, jailer?” it asked, voice like a rumbling mountain crossed with a raging inferno. “Does your disrespect know no limits?”
The statue tried to get up, but couldn’t do so with its broken legs. It struck the ground with its fist, shattering its hand and sending up a wave of burning sand.
“Sekhmet,” Aziza called, fear lacing her words. “I meant no disrespect.” She backpedaled, hands out in front of her to ward off a blow.
“Silence, girl!” the goddess cried moments before the statue exploded, flinging shards of rock outward in every direction. I hit the ground, shielding my neck and head with my hands like they taught me to do in school. You know, in case of an earthquake.
When I finally looked up, a girl who looked no older than fifteen stepped out of the cloud of debris. Somehow, despite how angry she looked, she was gorgeous. Her armor gleamed like the sun. It was painted with reds and blues that depicted a lion tearing the head from a snake. Her hair was neon-blue and matched her eyes. Little wisps of electricity danced across her ebony skin as she moved toward us, though her bare feet left no footprints on the sand.
I’m not sure how, but the next moment she had Aziza by the throat and was holding her aloft. Aziza’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her skull, and both of her hands reached up to grab Sekhmet’s wrist.
“I am She Who Mauls,” Sekhmet cried, voice like an active volcano. “I am She Before Whom Evil Trembles, the Mistress of Dread. I am the Lady of Slaughter. I am the goddess who leads Egypt’s armies to victory! And you have dared to destroy my statue? Why have you come here? Surely, you’re not trying to incur my wrath!”
“We’re trying to find my friend Connor’s soul,” I cried, finally shaking myself into action as I scrambled to my feet.
Sekhmet turned to look at me, one eyebrow cocked upward as though she hadn’t really noticed me before. She sniffed, her nostrils flaring outward for a second as she regarded me with frozen blue eyes that made my blood turn to ice.
“Wolf,” she nodded at me, a barely perceptible movement of the chin in my direction. “How are things?”
“Um…” I swallowed. Was the Egyptian deification of war really standing there making small talk while holding Aziza by the throat? Was that really happening?
“What’s the matter, Bast got your tongue?” she asked, blood-red lips curling into a smile that revealed her teeth like a flash of diamond in the sunlight.
“No, not this time anyway,” I replied, shrugging. “See we came here to rescue my friend’s soul. Aziza is helping me do that. We didn’t mean to break your statue, but there was a giant scorpion…” I trailed off because her eyes were taking on a bored quality. “You don’t care about what I’m saying, do you?”
“Not really,” she affirmed and tossed Aziza on the ground in front of me. She hit once, bounced, and lay there unmoving, her eyes staring blankly up at the blue sky.
“Well, why did you ask then?” I glanced up at her and narrowed my eyes. Already the wolf within me was starting to stir, starting to bare its teeth. I shushed it with a mental swat. Transforming into a werewolf and attacking Sekhmet was likely a terrible idea. Didn’t my wolf know that?
“It was the polite thing to do.” She shrugged at me. “Politeness never costs you anything, wolf.”
I smirked, and it must have annoyed her because she narrowed her eyes at me. “Do you mock me?” she asked, voice like the desert wind. It was hot enough to scald your throat and relentless enough to sear the flesh from your bones.
“No, no, not at all. My mom has told me that same thing a million times,” I replied, putting my hands up in the universal sign for surrender even as things began to writhe beneath my flesh. My wolf wasn’t listening. It was scared, and it was really hard to keep it at bay. It wanted to take control, to attack before it was too late. That was crazy… unless… unless it thought it could win. But this was Sekhmet, so that was out of the question, right?
“Perhaps you need another lesson in being polite?” she asked, crossing the distance between us in the space of a heartbeat and running one crimson-nailed finger across my chest. “I could teach you many things, wolf. How would you like that?” She looked up at me because she was only about five feet tall, and licked her lips. “What do you say, Theseus?” She bit down on her bottom lip and let it scrape against her teeth.
Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed me by the back of the head, pulling me down toward her. Her breath was warm on my flesh, making me shiver. My knees went a little weak and my pulse began to race. Her lips parted as she stared up into my eyes, and admittedly, that made some very bad thoughts fill my brain.
She stepped into me, pressing her body against mine, and despite her being nearly a foot shorter than me, she fit against me perfectly. Her other hand trailed down my chest, blood-red nails lightly scratching my skin. “Many things,” she whispered, voice heady and thick. “You cannot even imagine…”
“How do you know my name?” I blurted, and as the words left my lips, she took a step backward, releasing me. Her eyes hardened into granite, and her lips twisted into a grimace.
“I’m a goddess,” she snapped, and I swear to god, actual flames danced across her eyes. “Knowing your name is hardly beyond my power!”
“Fair point,” I said, swallowing, and the wolf within me snarled.
Sekhmet took a step forward, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “I can offer you untold pleasure and you ask me stupid questions?” She cocked an angry eyebrow at me, her left index finger poking me hard in the chest. “You smell like an alpha. Why do you not act like one? Why do you not throw me down and have your way with me?” Her lips settled into a hard line as she stared at me with such force, I felt like I was falling into a lake of blue fire. “Do you not find me attractive?”
She ran
her hands over her body, caressing herself. “Am I not animal enough for you, wolf?” Her face twisted into a disgusting snarl. “Am I not furry enough for the great Thes Mercer? Is that the problem?”
Her hand closed around my shirt, and the next thing I knew, I was laying on my back on the dirt with her standing over me. She dropped down, pinning my arms in place beneath her knees as she straddled me. She reached down and ran one hand across my cheek until it trailed over my lips. “Maybe I’ll just take you anyway. It’s not like you could stop me.” As she said the words, golden fur flowed over her features until I was staring face to face with an angry lioness.
Chapter 16
An obsidian-headed spear burst through Sekhmet’s chest, spraying me with warm, sticky ichor. She looked down, uncomprehending as the weapon twisted and jerked out of her, leaving a huge bleeding cavern in spot between her breasts. Metallic blood spilled out of the ragged hole in her armor and gushed down over her body, painting the front of her gold.
Her mouth opened and closed like a dying fish as she slowly turned her head. A booted foot caught her full in the face, throwing her off of me. She hit the sand with an empty-sounding thwap. I looked up, my sudden relief fading in a split second as Khufu stood over me.
Even though he was only about as tall as Sekhmet, he was huge and muscled, reminding me of a body builder who had undergone a little too much chemical enhancement. His bloody spear dripped in the sand beside my head as he held it lazily in one of his huge hands.
“Hello, Thes,” he said, leaning down and offering me his other hand. His fingers glittered with so many rings it made it hard to look at. “Let me help you up.”
“Um… I’m okay,” I replied, trying to scurry backward away from him in the sand. He stopped me by placing that massive golden boot on my crotch and pressing down enough with just enough force to let me know he could hurt me very badly if he wanted to do so.
“Bastard…” Sekhmet coughed, spattering bloody spray across his leg as she tried to push herself to her feet.
Under Wraps: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Werewolves vs. Mummies Book 1) Page 9
