All Wrapped Up: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Werewolves vs. Mummies Book 2)

by J. A. Cipriano

  He got up, sauntering over to me as he sheathed his bloody khopesh and knelt down next to me. “Did you have a nice break?”

  “I hate you,” I muttered, rolling onto my back and staring up into the darkness above.

  “Well, while you were down there doing god knows what, I killed the remaining six guardians by myself in a no-holds-barred six-on-one handicap match.” He shrugged. “You know, just to put things in perspective.”

  “What perspective is that, exactly?” I asked, willing myself into a sitting position and barely succeeding. I was a little annoyed because I hadn’t even realized the mustached old man was a guardian.

  “The ‘I’m awesome’ perspective of course,” Khufu said, hopping to his feet and grabbing me by the wrist in an attempt to pull me to my feet. My hands felt raw and bloody as I let him help me up.

  “Is this where you tell me everything is awesome?” I asked, and he squinched his face up at me.

  “Um… no. Only I’m awesome,” he replied, walking over to one of the corpses and kneeling down next to it as he rummaged through its linen tunic. When he found what he was looking for, he glanced at me over his shoulder and held up what looked like a jade key. “And I don’t follow instructions either.”

  I shook my head in frustration as he placed the key delicately in the center of the platform. It began to glow like it was filled with nuclear radiation before exploding into a cloud of emerald sparks that rained down around us before petering out on the stone.

  “Well that wasn’t supposed to happen,” Khufu mumbled just before a being with a long red beard and a completely shaved head descended from the darkness above. He was wearing a linen sky blue satchel etched with fluffy white clouds over one shoulder, and as his sandaled feet touched down, he grinned at Khufu, revealing a toothless, gummy mouth.

  “Lord Shu,” Khufu said, and for the first time ever, I head awe in his voice. “Why… no…” He rubbed his face with his hands as he stood there, open-mouthed. The sight of him so obviously dumbstruck made me smile. It wasn’t often someone managed to surprise the crafty old mummy, and I was glad I was there to see it happen.

  Shu reached out and patted the pharaoh on the shoulder with one ebony hand before turning his gaze on me. Each of his eyes looked like the actual planet Earth swimming in a sea of darkness. It was pretty much the creepiest thing I’d ever seen. Still, what unnerved me more was Khufu’s rampant fanboyism. Maybe I’d gotten used to meeting Egyptian deities or something, but somehow Shu didn’t exactly strike me as very impressive despite his weird, planetoid eyes. Then again, I had no idea who he was, so there was that.

  “You don’t know who I am, do you, Thes Mercer?” Shu asked, his voice like the whipping desert winds. My fur ruffled in an unseen breeze. I swear.

  “Um… no,” I replied, feeling my cheeks heat up. “Is it that obvious?”

  “You’re also not going to ask how I knew your name, are you?” he added, winking at me, his red eyelashes covering the earth in his eye in a wash of crimson. I don’t know why, but the image gave me the willies.

  “No.” I shook my head. “You’re clearly some sort of deity judging by his reaction.” I nodded to Khufu who still stood there like a slack-jawed yokel. “You probably know things beyond the ken of mortal men.”

  “I do, but that isn’t how I learned your name, young wolf.” He grinned at me and took my arm in his, guiding me toward Khufu like I was a damsel and he was a proper southern gentleman. “So you should ask.”

  “Okay, I’ll bite,” I said, suddenly worried I’d pissed off someone immensely powerful and didn’t even remember doing it. “Why do you know my name?”

  “Because you save me a few thousand years from now.” He peered at me as his other arm entangled Khufu’s even though the mummy remained too awestruck to actually, you know, move. “From an active volcano no less.”

  I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Great peals of laughter rippled from my throat as he marched us toward the edge of the platform. His statement was absolutely ridiculous. “I saved you, a god, from an active volcano?” I asked, tears streaming down my cheeks as I shook my head. “In the future, no less. And you know this now, in the past, how?”

  “I’m a god. I know things beyond the ken of mortal men,” he replied as he stepped off the platform, taking both Khufu and I with him. My heart leapt into my throat as I seized onto him, which was stupid because we were falling to our death. Except… except we weren’t falling to our deaths. We hovered there in midair like it was the most natural thing in the world.

  Winds buffeted us from all around as Shu stepped upward into the air like he was climbing stairs, and we went along with him, the ground strangely solid beneath our feet. I swallowed and stared at the god as he dragged us ever upward.

  “Neat truck, eh?” he asked after about thirty paces straight up, but all I could do was nod. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m pretty terrified of heights. So, it was all I could do to keep from peeing in my werewolf britches as we floated through the air above what seemed like a bottomless pit. I wasn’t sure why being on the platform hadn’t bothered me earlier, but here and now, I was so scared I could barely breathe.

  I’m not sure what my face looked like, but my fear must have been evident in my features because Shu’s smile faltered as he stared at me. Then he sighed, letting loose an explosion of breath that was more like a tornado than not. “I’d forgotten you were afraid of heights,” he said in a low voice I barely heard over the blood pounding in my ears. “I was just trying to be, well, impressive. My bad.”

  We were instantly standing on a raised platform of solid gold. In front of us was a car-sized sphere of liquid metal. Images flickered across its surface as I looked around, trying to figure out where the hell we were and what had just happened.

  “I teleported us,” Shu said, releasing my arm and taking a few steps forward before whirling around so his back was to the sphere. “See, I always pay my debts.” He leaned in close so his eyes were inches from mine, and I swear I could make out individual waves sloshing in the oceans of his twin earths. “And I never forget.”

  He was gone so suddenly, it spooked the hell out of me. I stumbled forward in surprise as Khufu finally regained his composure beside me.

  “Wait, don’t go!” Khufu cried, reaching out one hand toward the empty space where the god had been.

  “Khufu, what was that about?” I called after I regained my balance, but before I started whistling nonchalantly.

  Khufu quirked an irritated glance in my direction before crossing his massive arms over his chest. “I don’t normally get flustered around people, but at least when I do, it’s because I’m speaking to the god who helped create the universe and not because the person I’m speaking to has large breasts.”

  “That was a god who created the universe? And he thinks I saved him?” I asked in awe as annoyance flashed briefly across Khufu’s face before being hidden under a mask of jovial humor.

  “Uh, yeah?” Khufu said, pushing past me, and I’m pretty sure hitting me with his shoulder was purposeful. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much right now though, because Imhotep’s tomb is through that wormhole.”

  “You know, something has been bugging me ever since I spoke with the spiders. Why can I understand you? Shouldn’t you be speaking Egyptian, not English?” I scratched my cheek, not sure why I didn’t bother to ask a while ago, like when I first got here.

  “I am speaking Ancient Egyptian. Your mind is just translating it into English.” He reached out and ran the back of his hand over the spot where Aziza had touched me on the chest when we first arrived. “Whatever Aziza did to you has been helping translate. I’d worry it’s contagious, knowing her.”

  As he said the words, Aziza’s face popped into my head, and with it, rage overcame me. She had betrayed me to the God, Apep. Hell, she had been working for him the whole time. I’d thought maybe she liked me, but she’d just been using me. My jaw clenched as I
recalled our last interaction where I had tossed her into a portal to who knows where. It had been strangely satisfying. As I had the thought, her pendant, still around my neck, pulsed like the last beat of a dying heart.

  See, that was the thing. Even though she’d betrayed me, I hadn’t had it in me to destroy her pendant. Like all mummies, her power was tied up in her magical amulet. Destroying it wouldn’t kill her per se, but it would end her unlife in a hurry. She’d go back to being an unfeeling, unthinking corpse. So why hadn’t I done it? I wasn’t sure. I just knew somewhere in the back of my mind, now wasn’t the right time.

  “Are you wondering why people keep referring to her as a princess, even though she was obviously a peasant?” Khufu asked as he patted my shoulder, emotion flitting across his dark eyes for a split second. “It’s because she was the gatekeeper and therefore considered royalty by the gods. But she isn’t royalty in the classic sense.”

  “Yeah, I hadn’t been thinking that at all,” I murmured, turning away from him because I’d somehow gotten something in my eyes and they were tearing up.

  “Well, you should have been.” Khufu shook his head. “You know, sometimes I feel like you’re a little dense.”

  “Yeah, I get that a lot,” I muttered, turning back to him and looking past him toward the sphere. “So why is it spherical? The gateway, I mean.”

  “It’s complicated.” Khufu said, stepping past me and putting his hand into the ball of liquid metal. His face scrunched up in horror, and he let loose a howl of pain. I stared at him impassively until he was done, and he sighed.

  “Done that one too many times?” he asked, mouth quirked into a considering expression.

  “Yeah, you might say you’ve cried wolf one too many times,” I replied, and as I did so, he shook his head at me.

  “You will regret that, sir,” he said and leapt through the wormhole. There was a flash of emerald light, and he vanished without a trace. I took a deep breath and followed him.

  I wished I hadn’t because travel through the magical wormhole sort of felt like having my insides sucked out through a straw. I mean, I wasn’t positive because I’d never had that happen to me though I knew someone who had on a dare. Really.

  I landed on the other side on my hands and knees, sweat dripping down my body. As my stomach slowly unwound itself from the knot it was in, I sat up and stared at the surroundings. My heart sank. We were in a small chamber, no bigger than a barn. The walls were made of fire, and above us, giant predatory falcons flitted through the air. Their gazes seized upon us as Khufu pulled me to my feet. Fear vaulted through me, making my mouth dry and my knees shake. Those birds were freaking huge.

  “I suggest we run away, post haste,” he said, unsheathing his khopesh and gesturing at the circling birds above.

  “Noted,” I replied and took off running though I wasn’t quite sure where we were going since there were no obvious exits. It was then I realized one minor detail. I was no longer in wolf-man form. I was just plain old Thes. And, unfortunately, plain-old-Thes wasn’t going to outrun the giant falcon racing through the air toward him with its talons out.

  Chapter 6

  I darted to the left, not sure of what else to do as the falcon’s mammoth claws gouged into the red dirt beneath my feet. The creature was so close, I could have reached out and touched it if I’d been so inclined. Which I wasn’t because I was too busy scrambling to my feet as the creature turned toward me and regarded me with its beady eyes. It took one menacing step forward as battle cries from other birds sounded off to my right.

  I tried to call upon my wolf to help me, but there was no response, and it sort of reminded me of yelling into a long empty hallway and hearing only the echo of my own voice. That was no good, no good at all. Where had my wolf gone?

  The bird’s beak slashed at me, cleaving through the air as I dove forward, scrambling between its legs before its claws could turn me into minced meat. I’ll admit, heading toward its talons wasn’t my brightest idea ever, but I was sort of banking on something I’d heard as a little kid. If you could pour salt on a bird’s tail, it wouldn’t be able to fly. So how did that help me? Well, I was sweaty and sweat was water and salt right? It had to count for something.

  I tried to ignore the voice in the back of my head telling me I was an idiot as I leapt on the bird’s back. It bucked like a raging bronco, its head swiveling around to glare at me as it flapped its massive wings. Its legs tensed beneath me, and I barely had a moment to contemplate how wrong my old wives’ tale was when the thing leapt into the air.

  It soared high above the ground, banking and weaving through the sky as I hung on with all the strength my tired muscles could muster. Thankfully, my adrenaline was pumping otherwise I’m not sure if I’d have managed to last long at all. I gritted my teeth together and pulled myself forward onto the creature’s back, one handful of feathers at a time. At least they were nearly as big as tree branches so it wasn’t too difficult to grip them.

  When I was nearly to its neck, I stopped because I wasn’t sure if the thing could turn around and stab me with its wickedly sharp beak. I lay there, clinging to its back as I forced myself to take a couple deep breaths. Now that I wasn’t actively fearing for my life, at least not in the ‘oh god a giant early bird is going to get my worm’ way, I noticed there was a lot of structure beyond the barn of fire we’d just left.

  “Neat trick,” Khufu called from beside me, his words mostly muffled by the wind. I looked over to see him riding his own falcon, his huge hands grabbing the bird on either side of its head. He jerked it hard to the left and his raptor came angling toward me

  Not one to be outdone, I gripped my bird in the same way and pulled as hard as I could to my right. The falcon squealed as it flapped its mighty wings, jerking us hard to the side, moving toward Khufu. I tossed a glance at him, and he smiled at me and nodded like I was a new pup who had just learned to play fetch.

  “So what’s the plan?” I yelled, hoping my voice wasn’t drowned out by the wind whipping by us and the beating of huge falcon wings.

  Khufu must have heard me because he pointed off into the distance. I craned my head toward the spot and saw what looked like an ebony pyramid. I wasn’t quite sure how large it was because we were so high… in… the… air…

  My heart leapt into my throat as I realized I could easily fall to my doom. I screamed and buried my face in the bird’s feathered hide, trying to ignore the fact I’d just looked down and the ground was just a distant spec. Thankfully, when I opened my eyes a moment later, my stomach sloshing like I was going to puke up my nonexistent lunch, we were nearly to the pyramid.

  I pushed as hard as I could on the bird’s head, and we fell into a dive that nearly had me calling for my mommy… which I totally didn’t do despite what you may have heard from a certain ancient mummified pharaoh.

  A second later, we were on the ground, and I realized the pyramid wasn’t as big as I’d thought. It was only about twenty feet tall. The blocks were made of what looked like obsidian and had a sort of flaked look to them that reminded me of the way people used to make spearheads by chipping away at rock.

  I sat there on the back of my falcon, partially waiting for my heart to stop trying to flee my body, and partially waiting for Khufu to land as he circled above me in a slow dive. After what felt like an eternity, he landed beside me and shot me a wry grin.

  “Well, we’re here.” Khufu gestured toward the building, which was sort of funny because as soon as he released his hold on his giant bird, the creature bucked him off. He hit the ground with a thud, laying there for a moment dazed as the falcon eyed him. It sort of snorted, scratching at the ground for a second before leaping in the air, and I’ll admit, I was a little surprised it hadn’t slashed him into twain.

  Either way, as Khufu got to his feet, shook himself like a giant dog, and motioned for me to get down, I was a little hesitant. What if my bird didn’t decide to just leave? I took a deep breath and leaned in close
to the beast.

  “I promise if you don’t try and eat me, I won’t fly on your back again. Deal?” I asked as I tentatively released it. When it didn’t throw me to the dirt immediately, I took that as a good sign and leapt off its back.

  The earth was strangely spongey beneath my feet even though it was the color of freshly spilled blood just like the ground had been in the place where we first arrived. I was about to remark at it when my bird attacked, slashing at me with its huge golden beak. I dove forward as it tore through my tunic and sharp pain shot through my back. I hit the ground in a roll, trying to ignore the rage welling up inside me because my stupid bird had decided to try and eat me. What a jerk.

  I came to my feet and sprinted toward Khufu. He was standing just inside an archway that was just big enough for a man to walk through, which was good because I was pretty sure the falcon wouldn’t be able to come after me.

  The creature landed just behind me with enough force for the ground to shake beneath my feet. I stumbled through the entrance, colliding with the inside of the wall and splitting my lip on the sharp stone. The bird screeched behind me, eliciting a sound that made the hairs on the back of my neck not only stand up straight but dance a jig as well.

  The monstrous raptor put one beady eye against the entryway and stared at me. It was unnerving. It was almost like it was telling me that if it ever saw me again, it would eat me. But hey, that could have just been in my head.

  I turned away from the creature and glanced at Khufu who had an oddly blank expression on his face. I followed his gaze toward an ornate golden statue of Apep, or at least of Apep if he was dressed like a 1920’s gangster complete with fedora, pinstriped suit, and tommy gun. It was a little disconcerting because I was reasonably sure guns and suits hadn’t been invented yet.

  “Well, that’s a strange outfit,” Khufu said, finally tearing his gaze from the statue and shrugging at me. “It sort of looks like the guy from the tunnel.”