Unwrapped: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Werewolves vs. Mummies Book 3)

by J. A. Cipriano

  “Dumpy? Uninspired? Old?” Osiris offered, dragging the unconscious bird god toward the chair. “That’s because it’s been empty for a while. Ra hasn’t sat here in ages. He’s been too weak, and the throne is just an extension of his power.” He shot me a conspiring look. “For the moment at least.” He knocked Horus upside the head. “I’m sure my son can power it up.”

  He said the words casually, but only then did it dawn on me that Horus was Osiris’s son. It made sense, especially since I knew Isis to be his wife, but still. No wonder he had been so interested in helping me rescue his offspring.

  “Is this you just realizing feather-brain here is my son?” Osiris asked, raising an eyebrow in my general direction.

  “Well, yeah, actually,” I mumbled, glancing away sheepishly as Osiris sat his son on the wicker chair. At first nothing happened. Then it grew eerily quiet, and I could almost hear the wind whistling through the clouds. The sunlight grew hotter on my face, and as I turned toward where I felt it, a shadow fell across me.

  I spun back around. The most non-descript man I’d ever seen walked toward us. He was about five feet tall with a bald head and skin darkened by years of work outside. His mouth was compressed into a tight line, and his muscles were wiry, reminding me of a swimmer who hadn’t eaten quite enough to support his activity level. As the man moved across the clouds, Osiris smacked his son hard enough to rattle the falcon god’s teeth.

  “Wake up!” Osiris cried, but the only sound I heard in response was the man’s soft footsteps upon the clouds.

  “What’s wrong? Who is that?” I asked, peering closer at the man but seeing nothing particularly interesting about him. He wasn’t even wearing anything that special, just an old loin cloth.

  “Stay back, destroyer!” Osiris brandished his flail at the man, but it would have been more encouraging if he wasn’t shaking like a leaf. My blood turned to ice as the realization of who this was filled me. This was the destroyer, and as powerful as Osiris was, he was so scared he was shaking. That wasn’t good, not at all. How was I supposed to beat someone who made deities quake in their godly britches?

  Still, knowing I was finally face to face with him brought me a strange sense of closure. This was it. All I had to do was stop him, and I’d get Sekhmet back and be able to reunite Connor with his soul. If all I had to do was take out a mythical force bent on killing gods and heroes alike, well, I could do that. For Sekhmet, I would do that.

  “No.” The destroyer’s one word reply was strangely neutral despite the weight it carried. Power flowed out toward me, making my hair stand up and my knees shake. I’d had been in the presence of power before, and his one word made all of those powers seem weak beyond comparison.

  Osiris glanced at me, and I could tell he was on the edge of hysteria. “I’ll hold him off. You must awaken Horus before—” His words were cut off as the man appeared between us, having crossed several hundred feet of distance in the space of a heartbeat. Before Osiris could even finish speaking, the destroyer drove his palm through the death god’s chest and tore Osiris’s heart free.

  I couldn’t even form a coherent sentence as everything around me seemed to slow down. He had just torn the still beating heart from Osiris’s chest with no more effort than it would take me to breathe under normal circumstances. Doubt crept into me as I watched him eye me like an unwanted appetizer. How was I supposed to stop him when Osiris couldn’t even live for more than a few seconds in the destroyer’s presence? What hope did I possibly have?

  “I cannot be held off, Thes Mercer. This is inevitability.” He tossed the heart over his shoulder. It fell through the clouds like a stone as Osiris collapsed to his knees, golden blood spilling from the wound. “You would be better to just return home.” The destroyer gestured in front of me, and the air tore itself asunder. Through the tear I could see the outline of my backyard. It was the very place where I’d been sucked into Hades with my friend Lillim. It seemed like forever ago. “Go home.”

  It was a tempting offer, all things considered. I had Connor’s soul, after all. Every minute I stayed here just delayed me returning home to restore him. And then there was the teensy weensy little fact that he’d ripped out Osiris’s heart with about as much effort as it’d take me to crack an egg. Still, I couldn’t leave like this, not with Sekhmet still a prisoner, her heart torn from her body. For her, I had to try. No, I had to succeed!

  “No!” I cried and charged at him.

  He broke my face with his fist, and I got the distinct feeling he’d slowed enough for me to see it coming, but not enough for me to have done anything about it. My snout snapped backward, a shattered mess of bone and gore. Pain exploded through every ounce of my being, and my vision went blurry. As my feet left the clouds, and I started to fly backward, he grabbed me by the throat, arresting my flight with a jerk that nearly snapped my neck. He began walking toward the portal, dragging me along like a werewolf-sized stuffed animal.

  “Goodbye, Mr. Mercer. Your services are no longer required,” he said in that horrible neutral voice and flung me at the portal like I weighed less than nothing. “Say hello to the Dioscuri for me. I’ll be coming for them next.”

  Chapter 19

  This is where I’m tempted to tell you the destroyer succeeded in banishing me back to my world, and honestly, I really want to even though it would be a lie. That isn’t what happened at all. Only now, in retrospect, I wish it was what had happened.

  Instead, as I careened toward the portal like a bloody comet, the heavens exploded with blinding sunlight. Spots danced before my eyes as something grabbed me out of midair, enveloping me in the warm wash of the morning’s first rays.

  I landed gently onto the clouds which were as soft as, well, clouds. I lay there stunned as my jaw healed back to normal faster than even I could have managed. Ra stood between me and the portal in armor that looked like sunlight hammered into shape. But how was that possible? The last time I’d seen him, he’d been sucked into a black hole by Apep.

  Ra strode forward, apparently heedless of the fact he was supposed to be captured by the Egyptian deification of darkness, and as he did so, the clouds around him roiled like stormy ocean water. Gods began to spring into being with each step he took, falling into line behind him.

  Bast appeared first, her razor-sharp claws glinting in the sunlight as she flexed them. She was clad in a leather jumpsuit that, despite looking thick and impenetrable, left little to the imagination. Sobek followed next. His crocodile-headed body was bare-chested. He had a spear of solid sunlight in one hand and a khopesh in the other.

  Two more footsteps later, Set and Nephthys sprung forth from the clouds, both of them looking like they’d just been patched back together following a fight with a werewolf, but before I could even acknowledged them, Bes appeared. He was naked as a jaybird, displaying his ugly little body for all to see as he smashed a small cylindrical shield made of stretched animal hide against a stone axe.

  “So you’ve brought the entirely heavenly host to bear? I wonder, will it be enough, sun god?” the destroyer asked, tapping his chin with one bloody finger as Anubis appeared, his jackal teeth bared and menacing. “I’m thinking, no, not so much, but thanks for making it so much easier to wipe you all out at once.”

  Before the sun god could even take another step, the destroyer was upon him. Ra was flung backward across the clouds in a burst of gilded metal. The destroyer spun on his heel as he retracted his foot and grabbed Bes’s axe as it soared through the air. He spun, flinging the weapon back at the dwarf god. The blade hit Bes in the chest, splitting him open like a cantaloupe as it plunged out his back and disappeared into the clouds.

  As Ra’s back struck the heavens with a crash of thunder, the rest of the gods surged forward, attacking with all the inhuman strength and speed at their disposal. And it didn’t matter. The destroyer was too fast, too furious to be stopped by them. It struck me as odd that all of these beings had nearly infinite power at their disposal, but
in the end, could do little more than fight amongst each other like squabbling humans. I guess punching one another was strangely satisfying.

  I clenched my hands into fists, about to join the melee myself when the destroyer’s fist lashed out, catching Set beneath the chin. The blow tore the storm god’s head from his neck. As Set slumped forward, gore spraying from his ruined neck, Sobek hit the destroyer mid-back with a tackle.

  They struck the ground as the heavens exploded with lightning. Each drop of Set’s golden blood tore the sky asunder. Bolts of crimson crashed down on both Sobek and the destroyer, but even from where I was, I could see the lightning sliding off of the destroyer like water off a duck’s back. It was almost as if his presence neutralized their godly powers. If that was true, we were screwed.

  Bast lunged forward, raking her claws into the destroyer’s flesh. They only cut him superficially as he twisted out of the way, but the truly amazing thing was what happening next. Instead of blood pouring from his wounds, black smoke burst from his torn flesh. It uncoiled out of his body like a smoky serpent and hit Bast in the face like a cyclone.

  She staggered backward, struggling against the smoke as her flesh hardened into stone. Bast fell, hit the clouds, and shattered into rubble. A strange silence filled the air for a moment and time seemed to stop as Anubis took one pathetic step toward the debris that had once been his wife, one hand outstretched toward her. A scream of rage and agony ripped out of him as he spun on his heel and charged the destroyer.

  Laughter filled the air, making gooseflesh sprout on my skin as the destroyer rolled, flinging Sobek into the air as he came to his feet. The crocodile god hit Anubis in the chest, knocking the death god off balance and sending them both sprawling to the ground.

  The destroyer spun as Nephthys unleashed a blast of fiery breath at him. The flames not only died before they reached his outstretched palm, but they flew backward at her. It was sort of like watching someone press down a geyser with a manhole cover. The destroyer strode forward toward her, pressing the flames back with his palm, eyes set in determination.

  “Why are you doing this?” I cried before I could stop myself. I knew I had to join the fight, but what was the point? It seemed like the strength of nearly the entire Egyptian Pantheon was nothing before the might of the destroyer.

  “Because,” the destroyer said as his other hand reached out and grabbed Nephthys by the throat. He flicked his wrist, and the sound of snapping bone filled the air. He turned toward me, dropping her limp body to the clouds. “The gods promise things to people like me, but they never deliver. They would leave me as a slave forever, forced to toil for the betterment of their chosen few. Well, no more.” The destroyer gestured at the fallen gods. “Now, they will know better.”

  Rage filled his voice as he spoke, and I was almost thankful for it. Emotion I could deal with. Cold unfeeling neutrality on the other hand…

  Wait. This wasn’t he who cannot be named speaking. No, this was the host. Did that mean the host could be convinced to stop this? Was that even possible? As I had that thought, everything fell into place. The host was drawing upon the power of he who cannot be named to fulfil his destiny, to destroy everything. But the host was still mortal, still some guy. And some guy could be stopped. No matter how strong and fast he appeared to be.

  “Not if they are all dead,” I replied as the destroyer took a step toward me. His bare feet were so quiet upon the clouds I almost didn’t hear them even with my werewolf enhanced hearing.

  “That is why I will leave you alive, Thes. So you can tell the world of me, and they will know who I am.” He smiled, showing me his teeth. “It’s all part of the plan.”

  “How can I do that if I don’t know who you are?” I asked, shrugging my shoulders. “You’re just some guy. Everything special about you is from that thing lying to you inside your head.” I gestured to our surroundings. “You think this is to the benefit of Egypt?”

  He stopped, quirking his head toward me, realization spreading across his features. “You make a good point—”

  Ra slammed into the destroyer from behind, grabbing him up under the shoulders and wrenching him down into the clouds. Sunlight exploded from Ra’s body, so bright I could scarcely even look at him. And for a moment, I thought the king of the Egyptian gods might win. That is, until I heard a moan from the wicker chair. Something about that sound filled me with dread, though I wasn’t quite sure why until I turned my head toward it and saw Horus stirring. Power was beginning to swell around him, floating toward him like thin rivulets of sunlight. I’d seen him absorb Ra’s power mid-battle before, and this time he was seated upon the throne. If he disrupted the sun god now, we were all going to die.

  Horus’s eyes blinked open like he was trying to wake himself up. The chair beneath him burst into flames every color of the rainbow. As the throne turned into a funeral pyre with the falcon god slumped upon it as the sunlight flowing into him doubled, then tripled.

  Ra began to shrivel, his body disintegrating before my eyes as Horus grew steadily stronger. Their power exchange couldn’t have come at a worse time.

  “No!” I cried, sprinting toward Horus, intent to fling him from the chair as Ra withered away. Before I made it halfway there, Ra’s body turned to dust as he held onto the struggling destroyer. The heavens cried out in pain as the god king broke apart and blew away in the wind. Then the destroyer stood and brushed himself off. Golden dust fell off of his nearly naked body as he set his eyes upon me.

  “Now then, Thes.” He grinned and began walking toward Horus, who lay against the chair panting, his body only partially restored. “Where were we? Oh yes, I was making an example for you to witness and share with the world.”

  As I watched him heading toward Horus, I knew with an absolute certainty that it would be impossible for the falcon god to win. I had to do something, but what? I looked around, desperate for an answer, and as my gaze settled on Set’s lifeless body, a horrible idea filled my head. Time was running out, and I couldn’t think of any other way.

  “Screw it,” I muttered and spun on my heel, running toward the storm god’s corpse. It was simple really. In Egyptian mythology, Horus had eventually supplanted Ra as king of the gods. But, the same was true of Set and Apep. And Set was down for the count, but that didn’t necessarily mean Apep was down as well. He’d merely been banished to wherever it was he came from.

  The destroyer’s horrible, mocking laughter filled my ears as he reached out and grabbed Horus by the throat. He pulled the falcon god free of the flaming throne, and the heavens dimmed, spiraling into stormy gray. The sun above turned into a silver sphere casting unfeeling metallic light down upon us.

  To his credit, Horus didn’t back down. Instead, he lashed out with the full fury of a caged hunting bird finally released upon prey. His hands turned into falcon claws, which was as weird looking as it sounds. He lashed out at the destroyer, slashing open the man’s chest and spilling more smoke into the air. The destroyer staggered back, releasing his hold on the falcon god who kicked him backward across the heavens.

  “My fellow gods, I am fine! Get the destroyer! Break him before your might!” Authority filled Horus’s voice as took a step forward. Sunlight wrapped around him like armor and a sword of light filled his hand. He waved it through the smoke circling him and it evaporated. As I watched the display, I wondered for the first time if I had the falcon god all wrong. With any luck, I was wrong and he could defeat the destroyer.

  The sun above burst back to life, and the sunlight seemed to bolster both Sobek and Anubis as they both got to their feet and rushed at the destroyer. He was struggling to rise, smoke pouring from his wounds, but even though he was clearly hurt, he was smiling. No, something was wrong!

  “It’s a trap!” I cried, reaching out toward the twin gods, wishing I could force pull them out of the way. My cry was drowned out by the destroyer’s laughter as he gestured toward Sobek. Black smoke spiraled from his fingertips and struck the cloud
s beneath the crocodile’s feet. They shuddered violently before burning away, and Sobek plummeted downward like a rock. The hole beneath where he’d been standing widened further and further as black ash rained from the sky.

  Anubis threw himself sideways as another blast of smoke obliterated the spot where his feet had been. He caught hold of the burning edge of the clouds, his body dangling above the abyss as Horus pointed his sword at the destroyer and unleashed a blast of pure sunlight.

  The destroyer caught the blast in his outstretched hand, and even though the force of it jerked him to his feet and pain flashed across his features, it congealed in his palm until it was a glowing, radioactive mass the size of a softball. Then he opened his mouth and swallowed it. Golden energy exploded along his length as his wounds closed and the torrents of smoke pouring from him ceased.

  “Silly god,” the destroyer muttered, sprinting toward Horus. “Let’s see how well you fly with your wings clipped.”

  I reached Set’s body as the sounds of their blows, like slabs of meat smacking each other, filled my ears. I ignored it as best I could as I stared down at the storm god’s decapitated body. He lay there unmoving, golden blood spreading out around in him an ever-widening pool. The Was-staff was still clasped in one cold, unmoving hand, and it struck me as odd because he was a god. Decapitating him shouldn’t have killed him. So why did it seem like he was out for the count? I shoved the thought away and wrapped my hand around the Was-staff.

  As I touched the weapon, a rush of power ripped through me, zigzagging across my brain and searing me to my core. I cried out in pain, unable to ignore how holding the staff was melting the flesh off my hand. I reached down deep inside myself, burying as much agony as I could in the recesses of my throbbing brain and thrust the staff above my head. Crimson light cascaded off of me as I buried the weapon within Set’s chest and said the words I knew I might regret.

  “Apep, if you can hear me, I beg you. Come now!” I drew up every image of the snake god I could, and as I did so, the twinge of his consciousness awoke within the Was-staff. Hot, moist air whipped around me, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up straight as the world was plunged into absolute darkness. “I offer what remains of Set and the Was-staff as tribute to you!”