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

by J. A. Cipriano

  “You don’t speak when spoken to?” the man asked, one flaming eyebrow quirked upward on his forehead. “That’s really quite rude.”

  “Sorry,” I said though I wasn’t sure how because my mouth had gone dry. Was this… was this Set himself? A veritable king of the gods. The one who had slain his brother, chopped him into pieces, and tossed the remains in the Nile? And I was here talking to him? Was I stupid?

  “I accept your apology.” He nodded and looked toward the sky as the man and serpent fought in the sky. It was weird because it was like watching a gradient of red flow back and forth between them as they moved in a constant state of motion. Every time one of them seemed to gain the upper hand, red would flow out of him, staining his opponent darker and the tables would turn. It happened over and over, and the struggle of it became depressing as I watched. I couldn’t imagine being locked in an endless battle that could have no winner…

  “Thanks,” I replied, shaking myself into action. If this was Set, well, I needed to ask him about his staff. If it wasn’t, well… I’d cross that bridge in a moment.

  “So why have you come to me, young wolf?” he asked, glancing back at me. He sniffed, his nostrils flaring and he shook his head angrily. “You smell like my wife.” He shook his head, letting loose a sigh that licked the moisture from my flesh. “No good can come from that. What is her plan? Why has she sent you to me?”

  A bad feeling rippled down my spine, turning my knees to jelly. Did he think I had done something with his wife? What would he do if he thought I had? I felt my cheeks start to burn as he stared at me.

  I must have taken too long to respond because he shook his head. “You never really learned how to carry on a conversation, did you?”

  “No, sir. I mean, yes…” I sighed. “I know how to keep up a conversation.” I smiled sheepishly and he grinned at me.

  “So…” He made a move it along gesture with one red-nailed hand. “Why has my wife sent you to me, here, in my special place where I do not like to be disturbed by anyone not female and wearing very little?” He smirked at me. “You only got it half right.”

  I looked down at myself and felt my flush fall down to my chest. I was standing there naked. I wasn’t sure what the deal was with me constantly being naked in ancient Egypt was, but when I got home, I was going to wear six layers of clothing, and a parka, everywhere.

  I took a deep breath, and just as he opened his mouth to speak, I said. “I’m sorry, Lord Set.” I swallowed. “Here’s the deal. I came to find you because we need you to help us stop Apep, only when we got to your temple, everyone was dead and your wife pounded me into a flapjack.”

  “Is that so?” he asked, amusement lacing his words as he reached out and with a flick of his wrist. The space in front of us opened up so it was like peering down at the temple through a skylight. Bodies still littered the ground, and Nephthys sat next to my unconscious body, idly trailing one hand along my chest.

  Set’s face darkened as he watched the scene before waving it away. “Imhotep has grown bold and my wife bolder still.” He huffed in annoyance. “Never marry your sister. No good comes from it.”

  “Um… noted,” I said as the thought made bile rise in my throat. I mean I loved my sister and all, but not in that way. Ugh.

  Set sighed. “Unfortunately, I cannot help you. At least not directly.” With those words, he reached out and touched my forehead. Flame leapt over my body, whirling around me like a tornado of scarlet fire. I realized Set was right. He couldn’t help us, not because he didn’t want to do so, but because Imhotep already possessed the Was-Staff. Without it, there was no way for Set to enter our world. It made everything seem a little… hopeless.

  Chapter 11

  “What have you learned, wolf?” Nephthys asked, her nails running over my flesh and making me shiver as she stared at me with her looming scarlet eyes. “Where the Was-staff is, perhaps?” Her lips curled into an eerie smile, and I had the sudden urge to lie to her, to tell her anything but the truth…

  “Yes,” I squawked, trying to scoot back out of her reach, but as I did so, she gripped my thigh, and her blood red nails pierced the flesh. Not hard enough to make me scream, but hard enough to be just on this side of drawing serious blood. I stopped, and she nodded once at me. It was funny. I’d actually been in the company of two feline-based Egyptian deities before, but neither of them had made me feel as much like a mouse in the company of a cat as Nephthys did.

  “Good, tell me what you have learned,” she said, tongue flicking out over her lips as she spoke, the gesture reminding me of how someone looked at a chocolate sundae before digging into it with gusto.

  “Well,” I said slightly worried she’d turn back into an ape and pound me. “That’s the thing. See, Imhotep actually already has the staff. He got it when he came here. This was all done as a diversion.” I waved my hand to the surrounding room as Nephthys’ ebony face burst into literal flame. Fire licked across her cheeks as her eyes narrowed. “Evidently, Imhotep knew you would seek to thwart him so he did this as a distraction.” I swallowed as she leaned in close to me, teeth bared. The heat coming off of her singed my flesh, and I could feel my skin starting to crack and blister.

  “If what you say is true, why should I not end your miserable life and thwart Imhotep myself?” She shook as her misdirected rage settled over me, and even though I was suddenly very afraid she was going to kill the messenger, a plan sprung into my mind.

  “Well, I know where Imhotep is located. Set knows where he is because the priest is in possession of the Was-staff, and your dear husband shared that information with me. Second, you won’t be able to do it alone, but I think, together, we can both do it.” The words came out of me in a rush and when I was done the Egyptian goddess stared at me for a long time. She stayed still in that complete absence of movement way I’d seen deities use before, and like always, it creeped me out.

  “Okay, explain,” she said, sitting up and releasing me. She waved her hand, and I was at once healed, which was pretty freaking cool since I’d have had to shift to heal the damage and even then it would have been iffy. Werewolves like to spread the rumor that shifting heals all wounds, but in reality, sometimes the injuries from human form stayed anyway, healing at normal speed. I wasn’t quite sure why this was, but I wasn’t looking forward to moving around with second degree burns on my face.

  “Well, it seems Imhotep has taken the staff to the temple of Horus in Nekhen. He’s going to use the staff to steal all of Set’s power and give it to Apep, which will render your husband too weak to do much of anything. Already, he’s become too weak to actually enter our world and is trapped within the Duat.”

  “But why would he take the staff to Horus…” Nephthys mused, rubbing her chin with one perfect finger. Then her eyes opened wide in realization before narrowing once more. “Is that bird-brained idiot doing what I think he’s doing?” she asked, and while I wasn’t sure if she actually wanted an answer, I decided to tell her what I thought anyway.

  “Horus will protect him because while he sees Apep as a threat, that’s more Ra’s thing, and unfortunately, Set is his main enemy. With Set vanquished and Ra indisposed, Horus will be free to take Egypt for himself,” I replied, and as the words left my mouth, Nephthys stood and walked past me.

  “We don’t have a lot of time then,” she said, still shaking her head as she knelt beside Khufu and pressed her left hand against the huge golden lock holding him in chains. It burst open before dissolving into a puddle of gilded goo. Emerald flames rippled across the chains, turning them into slag that congealed beneath the pharaoh’s body. He lay there, unmoving as Nephthys drove her hand into his chest, bursting through his flesh. Khufu’s eyes shot open as the goddess withdrew her gore-covered hand.

  “Did you seriously just massage my heart from within my chest?” Khufu asked, the words tumbling out of him as he stared at her in horror. The sight of it made me smirk, though I was able to keep myself from laughing at h
is plight.

  “You don’t have a heart anymore, mummy,” the goddess replied, standing and turning toward me. Evidently, Khufu wasn’t worth much trouble after all. “But it’s a similar idea.”

  “Where’s my sword,” Khufu said, ignoring her jab as he scrambled to his feet, looking around, panic-stricken.

  “I have it with me.” Nephthys patted her side, and as she did so, Khufu’s sword materialized on her hip. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep it safe.” Her lips twisted into an evil grin. Khufu swallowed loud enough for me to hear it from across the room.

  He looked like he was about to say something but thought better of it and nodded once. His gaze shifted to me, and as we made eye contact, I had the distinct feeling he didn’t trust Nephthys very much. Well, duh. Khufu didn’t trust anyone, and she was a crazy goddess. Still, I wasn’t quite sure why her taking his khopesh was such a big deal. The hall was littered with them, and while his was probably crafted by some ancient blacksmith or something, I wasn’t sure why it mattered.

  “Let us go,” Nephthys said, beckoning us toward her and holding her hands out like she wanted us to take them. “I shall bring us to Horus. Once we get there, I’ll keep the flacon busy while you two get the staff.” She raised an eyebrow. “And don’t fail or my wrath will be terrible and will last for a time that can only be counted in eons. Am I clear?”

  “You know,” I replied, trying to ignore how much I believed her words. “You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.”

  She stared at me for a moment, lips curling into a cruel smile. “But if you tear their wings off, they’ll eat whatever you give them.” She gripped my hand so hard my bones creaked, but before I could protest, flame split the space in front of us, burning in the air itself and reducing a space the size of a small elephant to ash. As the cinders fell to the ground in clumps, another place was visible through the debris. A temple adorned with falcons loomed large through the opening.

  Nephthys stepped forward, pulling us through the ashen entrance, and the change in temperature was immediately apparent. Heat blazed so hot in the sand, the scenery was hazy and distorted. The sun at my back seared my flesh, and I was instantly annoyed I was still naked. I was about to say something about it when Nephthys released my hand and turned to look at us. She gestured at me, and I found myself clothed. Instantly.

  Not in a tunic but in crimson armor resembling the garb I’d seen Khufu wearing. The image of the baboon on the breastplate seemed to move as I did, its limbs reflecting my every gesture as I ran my fingers over the armor. It didn’t feel like metal per se, but I wasn’t quite sure what else it could be. Hopefully, it was something stronger than steel.

  My hand curled around the hilt of a weapon at my hip, and without thinking, I drew it from the scabbard. It looked like a standard short sword with a hilt of solid gold and a blade the color of freshly spilled blood. It practically shimmered as the sunlight played off its surface.

  “That doesn’t look Egyptian,” Khufu said, glancing at me. I turned toward him to see him wearing armor similar to mine, though instead of having a short sword, he had a gleaming khopesh in each of his massive hands. The blades were as black as coal and the hilts were as white as snow.

  “I pulled the image from Thes’s mind,” the goddess said as she turned back toward the entrance, a golden longbow in her hands. Her garb had changed into a flowing blood red dress that appeared to be made of chainmail instead of fabric. She took a step forward, her sandaled feet leaving no mark on the sand beneath her. The garment flowed around her body like the surface was made from still wet blood. She reached back, pulling a scarlet arrow from the quiver on her back and knocked it to the bow.

  “Couldn’t you have pulled a tommy gun or a rocket launcher from my mind?” I asked because I couldn’t help myself. Nephthys glanced over her shoulder at me and quirked an eyebrow at me.

  “I thought about it.” She shrugged. “But weaponry isn’t really my thing.”

  Khufu laughed as I made my way toward the goddess. The entrance to the temple loomed in front of us. An immense stone falcon sat perched over the doorway, its massive eyes staring down at us, and I got the distinct feeling it was following our every movement.

  I swallowed and took a deep breath as I got ready to charge into a mystical temple and accuse a god of siding with Apep to destroy Egypt. While that wasn’t quite true, it was true enough for me to realize our plan was not well thought out. I wasn’t exactly sure what Horus could do, but Nephthys, who wasn’t even a battle goddess, had knocked me on my ass in a second. What would a war god do?

  That wasn’t even mentioning Imhotep who seemed hell bent on helping the serpent god take over the world. Hell, he’d gotten a goddess as payment for helping regain the staff along with his youth and strength returned. What was he getting for this?

  My hand clenched around the short sword as I stepped past the goddess and stood before the falcon. I hadn’t even realized she had stopped moving, and when I did, my heart hammered in my chest. I whirled around to see what had happened and found, much to my horror, both she and Khufu were gone.

  Standing in their place was Apep, dressed in a rather dapper looking white suit. He reached up, straightening his red tie with one milk-white hand and grinned at me.

  “Hello, Thes,” he said and his voice flowed over me like too-warm honey, making each word thick and cloying. “How are things?”

  “Been better,” I growled, raising my sword, and he regarded it with a smirk.

  “You know, there’s still time for you to go home.” Apep gestured, and an image flickered to life in front of me. My friend Connor lay in a hospital bed, his body hooked to a variety of very expensive machines.

  Connor’s mom turned away from him, her face swollen from crying and placed her hand on her husband’s chest, her pink nail polish cracked and worn, which as someone who knew the socialite, seemed a little odd. I’d never seen her look less than stunning.

  “Bill,” she said, swallowing and putting her head against him as he wrapped her with one huge arm. “I’m not sure how much longer I can watch my baby like this.”

  “Mary,” Connor’s father said, patting her once. “We just need to give it more time. Connor will wake up from this coma soon…”

  “That’s not what the doctors are saying.” She stepped back and looked up at her husband, tears leaking from his cheeks. “They’re saying he’s just an empty husk. That he’s never going to wake up.”

  “He is going to wake up,” Bill replied, face growing hard as he gripped his wife by the shoulders. “I don’t care how long it takes. He will wake up.”

  “And if he doesn’t?” she asked, turning away from him and running her hand along Connor’s lifeless cheek. “Do we keep doing this, month after month?”

  “Yes.” Connor’s father grabbed his wife’s arms and pulled her back toward him. “You’re not suggesting…”

  “No, I’m not.” She swallowed. “But we should think about it.”

  Her words chilled me to my bones. Were his parents seriously trying to decide whether or not to pull the plug on their son? Argh. Conner was the whole reason I was here, and with everything, I had lost sight of that. I needed to get his soul back home, but what had I been doing? Playing hero with Khufu trying to stop a god? That was just nuts.

  Apep stepped in front of the vision, and it fell away behind him, dissolving into a dust cloud as he leered at me. “You know they’re going to pull the plug eventually. And the longer you stay here playing hero, well let’s just say that soul you’ve been carting around won’t be a whole lot of good then. If you really want to save him, you should leave now.”

  Before I could respond, he snapped his fingers, vanishing from sight and leaving me standing in front of Nephthys and Khufu, but near as I could tell, they hadn’t even noticed I’d been gone. A shiver overtook me, and I fell to my knees because I knew one thing. Apep was right. If I took too long to return home, the chances Connor would get the
plug pulled on him were a lot higher than if I left now. I’d promised to save him, to return his soul to his body, but as I looked around, I knew one thing to be true I’d been struggling to ignore this whole time.

  If I stayed here too long playing the hero, I might not get back in time to save Connor, and as long as I had his soul in my possession, his death would be on my hands. Sadly, that didn’t bother me as much as it should have. Some friend I was.

  Chapter 12

  “Thes! What’s wrong?” Khufu cried, rushing toward me and pulling me to my feet. He stared into my face and something unreadable swam through his eyes as he stared at me.

  “He had a visit from the snake,” Nephthys said, her lips compressing into a thin line as she pursed each word. “Now his resolve is shaken, isn’t it?”

  “What do you mean?” Khufu said, whirling to look at the goddess, and as he did so, an arrow pierced her shoulder. She toppled backward in a spray of golden ichor as she fired her own bow into the air. The arrow soared through the air as Khufu pulled me to the ground.

  There was a heavy thwack above us as Nephthys jerked the arrow free of her flesh. Golden god-blood poured down her armored gown as she knocked the arrow to her bow. A creature with the head of a falcon and giant bird wings slammed into her, tackling her and driving her backward across the sand. He reared back and drove one bronze fist into the goddess’ head, snapping her chin backward. Her bow slipped from her hands as another blow came.

  Khufu leapt to his feet, sprinting toward the scuffle. He flung one of his khopesh through the air. The blade caught the falcon-headed man in the back, spraying more golden god-blood into the air.

  The man screamed, whirling around as his wings faded like they had never been there at all. His hawkish eyes narrowed as he jerked the khopesh from his back and strode forward toward us like an angry god.