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

by J. A. Cipriano

  “What do you expect to do to me little pharaoh?” the man cried, swinging the khopesh through the air so fast it was like watching a helicopter blade.

  “Buy time, Horus,” Khufu said, glancing back at me and smirking even though his eyes were full of fear. “Thes, do what we came here to do.” The words had barely left his mouth when Horus drove the gleaming khopesh through Khufu’s torso in a burst of gore.

  Khufu’s face twisted in rage as he slammed his own blade into the god’s chest, dousing them in liquid gold.

  I threw one last look at them and ran for the entrance of the temple. Part of me felt like I was abandoning my ally to certain doom, mostly because there was no way Khufu was going to take on Horus, at least not in a straight fight. Still, as I swallowed the knowledge I was abandoning him, I knew I’d only have a few seconds to find Imhotep and stop him. If I didn’t succeed, Khufu’s sacrifice would really be in vain. Besides, that was what Khufu wanted.

  The temple shook as something slammed into the wall outside and dust fell from the ceiling. A pair of stairs was just visible through the cloud of debris in front of me. Two huge falcons sat on either side of it, staring at me with avian eyes. The guards next to the immense birds readied their weapons as I called on my wolf and leapt.

  I crashed into the ground between them, lashing out with my short sword. The first guard caught it easily on his spear. It didn’t matter because my blade sliced cleanly through his weapon and into him, splitting open his chest in a fountain of blood.

  I felt the bite of a spear as the head of the weapon burst through my back and came out the other side as I whirled, the pain swallowed under the rage of my wolf. Wepwawet snarled as my claws struck out, tearing the man’s throat from his body as he scrambled backward in fear. Blood spurted into the air, dousing me in hot, sticky ichor as I made my way down the stairs.

  Part of me should have been bothered by the slaughter, but I just… wasn’t. As I jerked the spear from my body and tossed it to the ground, I knew only one thing. I had to get to Imhotep even if I had to kill everyone in this place. If I didn’t everyone’s sacrifice would be for naught, Connor would never get his soul back, and worst of all, Sekhmet would never be free.

  I surged down the stairs, taking them two and three at a time, and a strange thing happened, I felt the power of Set all around me, like the first hint of humidity before a summer storm. I lifted my head and sniffed. The smell of campfires filled my nostrils, and I knew, just knew, exactly where Imhotep was located.

  Leaping down the stairs, I skidded on the slick white marble platform, my nails scrabbling on the surface in a way that made me feel like a dog on tile. I hit the wall hard, my shoulder crashing into the white stone as I reached out and grabbed hold of the nearest falcon statue and, gripping it as hard as I could, flung myself forward. I slid forward along the floor as the smell of campfires grew stronger.

  Unfortunately, when I came to another set of stairs, I couldn’t stop myself in time and wound up tumbling down them. I wasn’t sure how far I fell, but when I reached the bottom there was little I could do but lay there and recover. Even though I knew each breath cost me valuable time, it was several moments before I could hoist myself to my feet.

  The platform led to a fork that split off into twin hallways. I was glad I could sense Set because otherwise I’d have been confused. I strode into the left hallway and as I moved, torches burst to life all around me, sending shadows skittering across the walls and floor.

  The temple shook again, and I tried to push the vision of Khufu being pounded into mincemeat from my mind. After what felt like hours but was only second, I came to a gilded door emblazoned with the Eye of Horus. As I reached out toward it, the door exploded outward, peppering me with gilded shrapnel. It seared my flesh, burning the spots where it didn’t hit armor, and I shielded my face with my arm. As the dust settled, three Apepians burst from the doorway and slammed into me like one well-oiled mass of strength.

  I crashed to the ground a couple meters away as they sprinted toward me. My wolf snarled in my head as I flung my short sword through the air. The weapon caught the middle creature in the chest and punched through his flesh like he was made of tissue paper. He stumbled, clasping the hole in his chest before exploding into a black cloud like the snake guarding Sekhmet had done.

  The other two creatures reached me as I got to my feet. I lashed out with all my strength, not so much attacking them as barreling through them like they were the defensive line and I was one yard from a touchdown. I hit the spot vacated by the middle monster and spun my body. Their claws slipped harmlessly off my armor as I surged passed them. I snatched my short sword from the ground as I reached the entrance they’d come through.

  A moment later, I was on the other side. I stood at the edge of a huge bowl that traveled deep into the earth. About fifty feet below me, I spied a man holding a staff of crimson. The smell of campfires was so strong, I could barely focus. All around him, black shadows danced in the light of a thousand emerald torches, casting a sickly hue across the room.

  I whirled, slashing through the air and caught the two Apepians in mid-leap as they came through the entrance. They vanished into dust. My weapon pulsed as I stared down at the priest.

  “Imhotep!” I cried, readying myself to leap from the edge, knowing the fall would hurt like the dickens, but also that I’d heal. “Stop now!”

  The priest spun and smiled at me. Then he pointed the Was-staff at me. Crimson flame shot from the tip of it, reminding me of how Ra’s own staff had worked when I’d used it on Apep. That’s when it hit me. Set’s Was-staff was the actual counterpart to Ra’s own staff. If that was true, there was no way I could let Imhotep keep it.

  I threw myself to the side as red flame liquefied the wall behind me. I scrambled to my feet as more Apepians surged upward from the bowl. Perhaps it had been too dark to see them, but it honestly seemed like they just materialized from the shadows themselves.

  My blade lashed out, cutting them down so quickly the air was soon filled with so much black dust I could barely breathe. It also didn’t hurt that their claws seemed to have no effect on my armor, turning insubstantial as they attacked. I smiled as my knee connected with the crotch of a rather large creature, its snake eyes bugging out of its viper’s head as it fell backward into others.

  “You can’t win, wolf!” Imhotep cried as my muscles tensed. I leapt, clearing the lip of the bowl and falling down toward him into the darkness below when I was jerked to a stop by my collar.

  The suddenness of it was enough to knock the breath from my body. Even still, I managed to spin, swinging my short sword through the air as I did so.

  Horus caught my weapon barehanded and with a flick of his wrist, shattered it into a million pieces. He was covered in golden ichor, though I wasn’t sure how much of it was his. “I’m sorry, Thes, but I can’t let you stop Imhotep,” he said and drove his free hand through my chest, puncturing my armor like it was made of eggshell. His fist exploded out my back as my entire world filled with agony.

  Chapter 13

  Horus flung me backward. I hit the ground like a broken puppet as blood gushed out of me, staining the stone around me crimson. He cocked his bird head toward me, beak opening wide as his tongue flicked out reminding me more of a serpent than a bird. The Apepians around us backed up, giving us a wide berth as I struggled to keep my vision focused, but I’ll be damned if everything wasn’t blurry and opaque.

  “You should not have come here.” Horus shook his head as he stood over me, shadow cast over me like that of a circling hawk high above.

  “Screw you!” I tried to say but all that came out of my mouth was a rough sort of gurgle. I shut my eyes and focused on not bleeding to death, and as I did so, I could see Wepwawet clearly.

  He stood far off, limbs covered in blood as he stared at me with his amber eyes. “Rise, Thes,” he said, and as his words scrambled across the distance between us, the smell of pine trees and streams filled
my nostrils.

  My eyes snapped open to find myself standing and somehow, already healed. My claws flexed as I took a step forward. Horus stopped in his tracks. I wasn’t sure if he’d backed up or had always been a few steps away, but he seemed far away now.

  “Horus, you are making a mistake,” Wepwawet spoke through my mouth, and the sound of his voice was like mine but deeper and angrier.

  “No, I am not.” Horus shook his head. “I am the King of the Gods and you are merely a wolf.” Horus strode forward, and his fist flashed through the air.

  I caught it, and it seemed small and puny in my grip. It was then that I realized I was taller than the deity. Not only that, I was just plain bigger. I squeezed, and my claws pierced his flesh, spilling his golden god-blood. It hit the ground like acid, bubbling against the slick stone as I twisted, using my leverage to fling the god sideways.

  Horus crashed into the Apepians, and they exploded into dust beneath his weight as he hit the ground. His falcon head faded away, leaving behind the face of a teen about my age. His emerald eyes flashed in anger as he stood and brushed himself off.

  “I’d heard the rumors,” Horus growled. “But I did not believe them. I see I have been a fool.” It seemed like he was about to say more, but instead he shook his head. A spear of silver appeared in his hand.

  I stumbled backward as the silver threatened to overwhelm me. I dropped to my knees as he held the weapon out, and my wolf snarled so loudly the room around us shook.

  “It’s okay, wolf,” Horus said, reaching out and pressing my chin up with the butt of his spear. It burned like holy fire along my face, and I would have cried out if the electric shock of it hadn’t spasmed through me and clenched my jaw together. “We can’t all be heroes.”

  I hit the ground and rolled away as my wolf receded beneath my flesh, leaving me alone as it huddled back inside of me. The moment it was gone and I was reduced to mere mortal status, the pain caused by the silver faded, leaving me able to do simple things like talk and move.

  Horus knelt down next to me and grabbed my ponytail, jerking my head backward so I was staring into his eyes as he pressed the tip of the silver spear into my throat. “It doesn’t have to be like this, Thes Mercer. You could join me.” He dropped the spear, and it clattered to the ground next to us as he held out his hand to me, already healed from the damage I’d done.

  I thought about taking it. As much as I hated him at that moment, I still thought about it. This was a god who was threatening to kill me. In my time, he was seen as just and a good ruler, even if he seemed like a petulant brat now. Maybe… maybe I should side with him.

  I opened my mouth to agree when a flare of crimson light exploded from within the bowl. It threw us backward, and we slammed into the wall, the silver spear evaporating into atoms as we crashed to the ground. Blood dripped from my lips as I got to my hands and knees and scrambled to the lip of the cliff.

  Imhotep stood in the center, ringed in crimson flames. He held Set’s Was-staff over his head and scarlet light spilled forth from it, dousing the chamber in every shade of red imaginable. Set’s burning, animal-headed form lay on the ground at the priest’s feet bound in chains of black mist.

  Horus stirred behind me, and I knew he would be back on top of me in a moment. And, even though it was one of the dumbest things I’d ever done, I flung myself over the edge. I plummeted through the air and tried to call upon my wolf. Wepwawet mewled inside me, and I saw the vision of a scarred and burned wolf limping toward me. Patches of his fur were burned away. My body changed just as we slammed into the stone below.

  Bone crushing force screamed through my barely changed body, but I pushed myself forward toward the priest anyway, leaving bloody prints on the hard stone. Imhotep turned toward me, regarding me with cool silver eyes like I was an annoying child. He pointed the Was-staff at me and crimson fire leapt across the distance between us. It hit me full in the chest and slid off my armor, falling to the ground as ash.

  Behind the priest, Set grinned and began to rise to his feet, fiery eyes blazing. Dark mist encircled him, struggling to pull him back to earth as Horus crashed into the stone between the priest and me, splintering it beneath him. He was back in his falcon-headed form, and he strode forward in silver armor. The glare of it was so harsh I could barely look at it.

  I took a step backward as Imhotep turned back toward Set and struck him across the face with the butt of the Was-staff. Wepwawet screamed within me, and before I realized it, I had leapt through the air. I landed full on Horus’s chest, my claws digging into his body even as silver body licked up my skin. The god crashed backward to the stone, and I threw myself at Imhotep as Set’s body began to fade.

  Translucent black tentacles wrapped around Set as the priest turned toward me. Behind him, Set became more and more insubstantial by the moment. “You’ve failed, Thes Mercer. I cannot be defeated.” He narrowed his silver eyes at me as I struck out at him. “Even by you.”

  He stepped back as my claws slashed through the air and drove the Was-staff into my stomach. My breath shot from me in a spray of spittle as he stepped inward and smashed me upside the head with the staff. My skull cracked as I slumped sideways, falling to the ground as the world went seven kinds of blurry.

  Imhotep’s leering face appeared above me as I reached out through the murk to seize him by the throat. He grabbed me by the wrist with his free hand and with a smirk, twisted. The bones in my arm snapped and pain flared through me.

  I screamed, and the sound of a thousand howling wolves ripped from my throat. My gilded fur turned crimson as my other hand seized the Was-staff and jerked it from the priest’s grip.

  He stared at me wide-eyed as flame licked upward across my body, burning me from the outside and nearly reduced me to ash in the space of a moment. My body fell backward as a hand reached through the fire and ash. My hair turned to flames as the Was-staff slipped from my grip and clattered across the stone.

  Horus grabbed me by the ponytail and tugged me backward out of the blaze. I hit the ground on my back, and as I tried to roll to my feet, I felt the cold kiss of silver lance through my abdomen and pin me to the ground. My breath shot from me as my wolf screamed in agony.

  Imhotep leaned down and picked up the Was-staff, and as he did, Horus stepped on my chest. My ribs snapped.

  I cried out, unable to do anything as the god ground his heel into me. Imhotep turned away from us and strode over to Set. “Thanks,” he said, and what was left of the ethereal god, vanished into a cloud of scarlet dust. It fell to the ground as Imhotep turned toward me.

  “At least be happy that you tried, Thes,” Imhotep said, grinning at me. “But even you can’t win all the time.” His words hung in the air like the last breath of finality as he vanished in a flash of darkness, leaving behind only a burned pair of footprints on the stone floor. Horus stared down at me, his falcon-face twisted into a grin as he slowly lifted his bloody foot from my chest and placed it eerily close to my head.

  “Now then,” he said, squatting down next to me. “How about you leave my temple?” He pressed one huge hand over my face and the next thing I knew, I was laying on the sand outside with the sun beating down on me.

  “I’m guessing you didn’t win,” Khufu said, his voice hard and strained. I turned toward him to see him impaled through the arms and legs by golden rods, leaving his body splayed on the burning sand.

  I tried to say something, but it was all I could do to breathe as my ribs slowly unpunctured my lungs, and my body healed with all the tenacity it could muster.

  Chapter 14

  “So what happened to Nephthys?” I asked as I pulled the last golden rod from Khufu’s body. He grunted in pain and slumped forward against me, clasping my shoulder for balance.

  “Horus banished her to the Duat. I’m not quite sure how he managed to do it, but I somehow doubt she’ll be making an appearance anytime soon.” Khufu looked up to me, anger rimming his eyes. “Whatever Horus did actually tor
e her essence asunder. It’ll take her a while just to put all her pieces back together again.”

  “Awesome,” I grumbled, staring up at the slowly darkening sky. It’d been a bit past midday when Horus had flung me outside, but even with my accelerated healing, it had taken a good deal of time for me to heal enough to do more than lay on the ground bleeding. Why? I was too hungry. Yeah, my wolf could stave off hunger, and it could heal me. But usually it didn’t do both at the same time, and especially not for days at a time. To say I was running on fumes would have been an understatement.

  “Khufu, I need to eat something,” I gestured down at the bruises covering my body in the spots where my armor had been torn asunder. “This should heal, but I just don’t have the energy anymore. I’m not even sure I could fight for very long if something dicey happened.”

  “Well, let’s just stop at a freaking diner then,” Khufu growled as he walked away from me on shaky legs until he reached a spot where the sand had been melted into glass. He knelt down and began rummaging through it, not even looking at me. I stared at him for a while as his gestures became more and more frantic.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, moving toward him.

  “I’m trying to find my khopesh,” he growled, not bothering to look at me. “Nephthys had it when Horus discombobulated her so it should be here, right?”

  “Unless it’s still with her,” I replied, totally stating the obvious.

  “I’m hoping that didn’t happen,” he said, turning to look at me and for the first time in, well ever, he seemed genuinely terrified.

  “It’s just a sword—”

  “It’s not just a sword,” he snapped, leaping to his feet and shoving me. “It’s my symbol of power. If it gets destroyed, I go bye, bye.”

  Everything clicked into place all at once as he stared at me, seething like an angry gorilla. I absently touched Aziza’s pendant still hanging around my neck and sighed. Every single mummy had an object that granted them their unique sort of unlife. If it was destroyed, they turned back into corpses. If Khufu’s khopesh was the source of his power, I could see why he’d be concerned about its disappearance. I know I would be.