Under Wraps: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Werewolves vs. Mummies Book 1) (12 page)

“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.

“Actually not,” he replied, absently driving his spear though the back of her neck and pinning her to the ground. A horrible wheezing gasp filled the air as she tried to reach back and wrap her fingers around the weapon. Her hands only succeeded in brushing limply against it before falling emptily to her sides. “My parents were quite happily married, unlike yours. Do you Menhit even know who your parents are?”

He turned back toward me, apparently unconcerned that he’d just speared a goddess through the throat. While she seemed pretty well incapacitated, I was more than a little worried she was going to call down a meteor to kill everyone in the vicinity.

“I’m pretty sure they spawn in the water like frogs.” He shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his goatee with one hand. “Who is to say? Now where were we? Oh yes, Thes, you need to come with me if you want to live.”

“Uh… why is that?” I asked, trying to swallow my fear. It was then that I realized I couldn’t feel my wolf. It was like when Aziza had stabbed me after I’d gotten the book of Thoth. Did Khufu have some weird way of making it so I couldn’t call on my wolf? My eyes opened wide. Was he behind what happened when Aziza stabbed me? Was that why I couldn’t call my wolf? Or was it something else?

“If you don’t come with me, I’m going to kill you.” He shrugged, and the twinkle in his dark eyes told me that the possibility didn’t bother him all that much. “And, unlike the Lady of Slaughter, I don’t think you’ll recover from being stabbed in the throat.” His lips curled into a smile that was way too toothy. “At least not without your wolf because let’s face it, you’re nothing without it.”

He was right, but he didn’t have to say it like that. Most werewolves were nothing without their wolves. It was what gave us strength, power, and the ability to tank unreasonable amounts of damage. There were very few of us who were good at kicking ass and taking names without our wolves. Sure, some of us could draw upon our wolf while in human form, but I wasn’t one of them. And well, let’s just say that I’d never even met a shifter who’d even taken a beginners lesson in karate.

I wasn’t exactly sure why that was, but somehow, it’d become a faux pas to actually train to fight among the shapeshifting community.

“Okay, what do you want?” I asked, trying my best to think of what to do, and where the hell was Aziza? Was she still knocked out from Sekhmet’s attack? Hadn’t that been hours ago?

“I want the book of Thoth, and unfortunately for both of us, it’s inside you.” He tapped his chin with his knuckles. “I thought about trying to cut it out of you, but now that I see you, I can tell that its actually part of your essence, so I’m not quite sure how to get it out of you.” He sighed, a single explosive burst of breath. “You’ll just have to perform the ritual. Think you can manage that?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a bad idea since I have no idea how to perform said ritual,” I replied. “Besides I’m not sure it’s a good idea to help you anyway. You’re the bad guy.”

“Feh, like you have much of a choice. It’s either help me or take a dirt nap. There is no third option. Besides, it’s not like the ritual is beyond the ken of mortal men or anything.” He moved to let me up. “All you have to do is seize the Staff of Ra from its dais. It’s really not that hard, but only someone with the book of Thoth will be able to perceive its location within this city.”

“You mean the staff is here?” I asked, still lying on my back like an idiot. I forced myself to start moving, but it was tougher than I’d expected as hunger and fatigue washed over me. Without my wolf to keep silly things like the fact that I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten at bay, it was hitting me full force, despite the magic ring Aziza had given me.

“Yes, that’s why I brought your friend Connor’s soul here and hid it. I wanted you to come here, to grab the staff for me. I knew that Aziza would take you to find the book, so I hedged my bet by making you come to me.” Khufu grinned that toothy grin at me. “If you get the staff for me, I’ll give his soul to you, and you can go back home. No harm, no foul.”

I was suddenly very glad I hadn’t destroyed the book. If I had, I was pretty sure this guy would have destroyed Connor’s soul. Hell, he still might, but I could wait until I found the staff before I crossed that bridge. Besides, his offer didn’t seem that bad. It’s not like I was here to rescue Egypt or anything. I was here to get Connor’s soul back. Still, could I really find the staff and hand it over to Khufu? Could I really bail out on Aziza’s ridiculous quest and leave Egypt to sort itself out? Was that how I, Thes Mercer, wanted to leave things? Not really.

“I just don’t think that’s going to happen,” I said, fixing Khufu with my best glare. “I don’t trust you.”

“Why not?” he asked, puzzlement filling his features. “Is it because of the jailer? Has she been spreading lies about me?” He turned and gestured at Aziza. She was still lying in the same spot she’d been in after Sekhmet had tossed her to the ground like a broken doll. Her eyes were rolled up in her head, and her tongue fell out of her mouth so that a trail of slobber slid over her cheek and pooled on the sand. “I don’t think she’ll mind. Promise.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a lie since she’s been trying to capture you this entire time,” I replied, crossing my arms over my chest.

“That’s true.” Khufu sighed, his shoulders slumping as he stared at Aziza. “She is under the misguided notion that we are enemies. That, however, isn’t true, Thes.” He turned to face me, and he looked totally sane. Great. I hated when insane people looked sane. Even worse, he didn’t smell like he was lying. So that meant he thought he was telling the truth. Great. He would be a lot easier to ignore if he was lying to me. “But you can trust me, Thes. I only have your best interests at heart.”

“You punched a hole in me and got me stuck in Ancient Egypt. That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in you.” I touched the spot on my chest where he’d hit me way back in Hades’ tomb.

Khufu waved me off. “You’re a werewolf. Isn’t that how you say ‘hello’ in werewolf?” A smirk crossed his lips as he reached out toward me, but stopped just short of actually touching me. “The truth is, I’m on your side. You just don’t know it yet.” He walked past me toward Sekhmet and leaned down so that his knee was braced against her back. “Most of the gods have been weakened to the point that they’re mere shells of their former glory. And those are the ones we can find.” He licked his finger and stuck it in Sekhmet’s ear. “Do you really think I could do this if she was at even a sliver of her true power? No, she would rain down fire from the sky and cover this land in blood.” He looked at me, eyes filled with cold certainty.