Immortal Dynasty (17 page)
Darius heard what she was not saying. She was admitting to being weak, but she was refusing to say that she was vulnerable. How could he think of taking her into a place filled with demons when she wasn’t at her best? That was a risk he would need to consider.
“I have something that will help you with that.” Bakari shifted a small painting on the wall behind the desk, revealing an old-fashioned safe. The dial began to spin even without being touched. It spun back and forth several times before a slight click sounded from within. Reaching inside the safe, he withdrew a small leather bag. He poured a few round wafers into Shaila’s hand. “Remember the
mannah
that we would give to the pharaohs for energy and enlightenment? This is a modern version. Take them sparingly, for they are more potent.”
Darius thought they looked just like the wafers used in church to place on the tongues of the faithful receiving the Sacrament, the bread of life. These wafers were embossed with an ankh, the Egyptian symbol for life. He wanted to ask questions about the wafers and everything else, but they were out of time. Wind gusts were beginning to pound on the windows more frequently.
“Thank you, Bakari.” Shaila bowed low in gratitude. Then, they embraced, kissing each cheek. With great effort, Darius squashed the urge to yank her out of the man’s arms.
The rain still held to the sky, but all around them the air colored with a strange eerie yellow.
“Hurry, my friends.” Bakari called out in the sudden calm. “The darkness waits for no one.”
They reached home just as the first squall line pounded the city. In moments, Boston became a dark gray battlefield, barraged by nature’s arsenal of wind and rain.
Shaila followed Darius to Papa Shadi’s private study, which was a lot messier and dustier than Bakari’s private room. Stacks of old books were piled everywhere. Thin wooden shelves bowed under the weight of scrolls, books, and small relics. A lamp with dark glass lit the room with an orange glow. Dust motes danced in front of them, swirling on light air currents.
Darius climbed over several stacks of files and reached for an immense rug hanging on the wall opposite the window. As he peeled back one of the bottom corners, he revealed a spell hastily scratched into the wall.
It wasn’t particularly long, but she was frustrated that she could not read it. “You expected something different?”
“I was expecting it to be written in hieroglyphics or English. I guess I didn’t expect it to be in Arabic.”
“Are you frightened, Darius?”
He hesitated, drawing in a deep breath. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t.” He dug out a blank piece of papyrus and a writing stick, which he flicked in the air a few times to get it working.
“What makes you scared?”
“I feel so unprepared for all of this wicked shit going on!” He let out a heavy sigh. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to shout, but I don’t really feel like talking. I want to go through the layouts of Lilith’s estate again, and then I want a stiff drink. In that order.”
“Preparation is important to you?”
“Absolutely.” His writing stick flew across the papyrus as he translated the spell. “When it comes to things like safety, it only takes one time. One unguarded moment and you could lose everything…everything that was dear to you.”
Shaila could see the red aura of anger building around him.
“Papa Shadi is special to me too.” She used the title Darius was familiar with.
“So special, that while my grandfather…your priest…is being held hostage by your sworn enemy, you keep secrets about the very thing that could secure his freedom?” The venom hit its mark this time.
“It is not as simple as you say! There is more at stake here than one man. Shadiki knew this.” She gave him credit for his pain, but how could he not understand his own grandfather’s sacrifice. Not just this one, but all of those given in the centuries he lived through as he waited for the prophecy to begin. He could have given up at any time, yet he had not.
A wave of dizziness forced her to sit down. She could feel the blood draining from her face.
“If I asked you where the amulet is, would you tell me?” She heard the brittle sound of bitterness. He did not trust her. She was too tired to try to change his opinion.
“Darius, do not make the mistake of underestimating Lilith. She is not likely to keep her end of the bargain. If she is rebuilding the army of Apophis, then she has gained more strength than she ever had before.”
“It sounds like I’m not the only one who needs to admit they’re scared.”
“Probably.” She pulled a wafer out of the pouch to study it. “Bakari said that it is stronger than the
mannah
from our time.”
“What does it do for you?”
“It renews and builds our strength. It enhances our energies.” Exhausted, she closed her her eyes, clutching the pouch to her chest.
“Wow. Drugs in ancient Egypt. Who would have thought that?” He was looking intently at her face, pity clearly written across his. “You need that, don’t you?”
She hated seeing the judgment in his eyes, but there was no time to fight that right now. “I do. Goddess, I do.”
* * *
Shaila felt some of her tension begin to melt away. The tranquility she felt in this simple sleeping room would aid her in her meditation. That and the energy boost from the wafer should finally connect her to the astral plane.
Deep rumbling announced the cat’s arrival. Bessie transformed into her human form, again wearing her
steam punk
style of clothing, as she had called it.
“Where did you get this, sister?” Bessie’s eyes were wide with interest as she fingered the ankh impression on the thin white wafer.
“Bakari gave that to me today. Do you need one?”
“Nope. You need it more than I do. Besides, I get some from Papa Shadi from time to time.” Bessie sniffed the air. “But you can bring me a cup of that coffee I smell.”
Shaila ignored the request. “Why have you not told me about Papa Shadi? That it is my own priest who is held captive by Lilith?”
Bessie snorted with impatience. “Because I know you. You are so driven to completing your mission that I you’d blow the whole thing by rushing over there to get him back.”
“What makes you think I would do something so foolish?”
“You are full of questions and he’s the only one with all of the answers. You would have been hell bent to get to those answers. I can tell you that Lilith has no idea you’re here, and that is the best thing going for us.”
Shaila could not argue with Bessie’s logic, although Shaila now felt calmer since meeting with Bakari. Yesterday she could easily have chosen to leave the house to search for her priest. Being cut off from the world for so long felt disorienting. She wanted and needed his guidance.
“Bess, what was it like living through all this time?”
“Nothing very remarkable. I basically watched the world grow up. After you left, I traveled to England. I found that I liked hanging out with science geeks. Sir Isaac Newton was my favorite.” Bessie snuggled on the plush chair in the corner. “You know, he discovered the law of gravity. Most people said he discovered it when an apple fell on his head. I’m here to tell you, the tree didn’t drop it. I did. He deserved it. He was ignoring me.”
Shaila found a fat candle and placed it on the floor. She willed a flame onto the wick. The scent of jasmine filled the air, as a tiny curl of smoke drifted upward.
“Coming over here was...different. The people here were more liberal. They love their freedoms, and they don’t hesitate to show it. They even like to share it if they can.”
“You mean these people of Boston?”
“I meant the people of this country. Americans.”
“Do you like it here? It is very different from Egypt.”
“Very. Just wait until you experience your first winter nor’easter. That’s when I’m thankful for having fur.” She nearly purred the last word. Footsteps thumped above them. Bessie flashed back into her feline form.
Shaila stood in front of a tall mirror and watched her reflection. Silently, her leather clothes melted away. As she stood naked for a moment, she found Darius watching her through the mirror. He hesitated just outside the doorway. Pure desire glittered in his golden eyes. She felt a strong pull to go to him. His energies showed that emotions warred inside him. Anger clashed with desire.
Her lids dropped slowly and she willed her body to be clothed in the ancient white robes of her family. Sitting cross-legged upon the floor, she balanced her energies and cleared all thought. Her Anunnaki spirit existed on a different plane, and her survival depended upon her connecting with it.
She placed the wafer on her tongue. It tingled as it dissolved slowly in her mouth. She left everything behind. The room. The man. The house. Her soul soared through the darkness, searching for the light that would be her. Shaila a’k’Hemet, the Lady of Flame. The daughter of Inanna, and granddaughter of Tia’Mat, the Great Dragon Queen.
She would need to keep her search short if she did not want to be detected by Lilith. This dimension once held millions of spirit lights. Now, the darkness of the astral plane scared her. The sacred knowledge of the ancients had faded. The people of this time did not understand the danger they were in of losing their power…and their lives.
Oh goddess, the spirit lights are so dim.
But there were some she could see. There were astonishingly few of her kind left. They were weak, but they did exist. She would need to find them. The humans should not have been left so unprotected. Could she have made a difference, if she had not chosen to skip across time? She hoped there was still time to lead the way.
The current shifted ahead, curving into a strange section, nearly void of light. She hesitated, unable to continue on her search tonight. She still held the element of surprise as long as they were not tuned in to her arrival.
A sudden coldness speared through her soul. Back in the direction she had come from, a swirl of dark spirits shrouded in fog fingered through the plane.
Shadow walkers!
Her stomach twisted with horror. Someone had awakened Apophis’ elite death squad. These were no simple soul-sucking demons. These demon beasts would mutilate their victims. They were pure malevolence. And they were crawling in her direction.
Lilith, what have you done?
* * *
Fernando Mendez forced his way through the driving wind and rain. He wasn’t going to miss this opportunity of a lifetime. The Alpha-Z’s were throwing a party at their fraternity house, which they did almost every night. The difference this time was that he’d been invited. Sort of.
The Alpha Zeta fraternity had been banned officially from the Boston U campus, but they still had their unofficial brownstone along Commonwealth Avenue. The property, and actually the whole block, was owned by a very old Boston family, one of whom had been an original member of the fraternity decades ago.
Nestled in between an art school and a modeling agency, the boys found plenty of fish in the proverbial sea. And fish they did, nightly. The rumor mill said that just walking inside their place was like walking through the Pearly Gates themselves. Everyone wanted to get into heaven, and everyone wanted to get into the Alpha-Z House.
Fernando Mendez was no exception.
He’d been accepted to Boston University on a full scholarship, making his family very proud. He was the first one in his family to go to college, earning that distinction by spending his whole life studying hard and making the right choices along the way.
At the age of four he’d begun his complete fascination with dinosaurs. His life’s passion led him to the prestigious programs here. He especially loved Professor Marcus’ classes. Professor Marcus never stopped reading about dinosaurs and anything that had to do with them. His current studies on soil were totally dry to others, but Fernando understood the passion. He was thrilled that the professor asked him to work with him on a special study for NASA.
Recently, his passion for his studies had been eclipsed by a girl. Julia McNair, the beautiful, auburn-haired daughter of a local politician, and from one of the oldest families in Boston. So out of his league. He was the son of a humble truck driver from Puerto Rico. Two people from very different worlds.
But last week, after class, she’d smiled at him. How his world had tilted from a simple smile. She’d broken up with the president of the Alpha Zeta fraternity. As they were studying for Professor Marcus’ midterm, she’d asked him to join her at the fraternity house for their mid-week party.
Now, he’d found himself standing on the steps of the infamous Alpha-Z House. He felt like a major life shift was about to happen. A new world was opening up to him. The front door of the brownstone swung inward.
“Yeah. Who are you?” A girl in striped tights and a black leather sheath dress sipped from a tall glass of beer.
“I-I’m Fernando. I’m supposed to meet Julia McNair here at ten o’clock tonight.”
The girl looked skeptical for a moment, but then her eyes lit up. “Wicked righteous tie, Fern. Come on in. Haven’t seen Julia, but she usually shows up about midnight. Sometimes she has to wait until her dad goes to sleep, ya know.”
He followed her through hallways and rooms so jammed with coeds he thought the fire codes were likely being broken here.
He nearly ran the girl over when she stopped so suddenly. She swiveled around with a fresh beer for him. He accepted it. She sipped hers again, and absently ran a finger down his tie. “I liked dinosaurs when I was girl. I really liked the raptors. I used to pretend I was one, and I’d sneak into my little brother’s room and scare him.”
A nearby door swung open with a bang and a couple stumbled inside, seeking a few private moments to hook up.
Fernando gulped down some beer while she looked him up and down. Her eyes showed clearly that she was evaluating and probably finding him wanting. Instead, he felt her arms snaking around his neck and her tongue in his mouth. Her lips were soft, but they tasted like strong beer. The girl giggled as he pried her arms away.