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

by J. A. Cipriano

  “You’ve tried to eat six of the mummies we fought and a cat.” She shrugged. “I don’t even know why you would try to eat a cat in ancient Egypt.”

  “That’s nothing. You should have been there the time I went to India.”

  She glanced at me, giving me a look that told me she didn’t find me even slightly funny. Which was a lie of course. I was hilarious.

  “Besides, it isn’t like I’ve actually eaten anything. I’m hungry.” I rubbed my stomach. As a werewolf, I actually needed to eat less than the average person because my wolf could sustain me for a while. I knew it had something to do with absorbing magical ether from the air or something, but I wasn’t exactly sure of the details.

  “You’re not actually hungry. That ring I gave you is more than capable of sustaining your body for months before needing to be recharged. It’s only been a couple days.”

  “It’s not the same,” I replied, fingering the tiny golden band she’d taken from one of the mummies. It was warm to the touch, like a little ring of lukewarm bathwater, and while it had kept the worst of the hunger away, it was no substitute for actually eating.

  “Stop being such a baby. We’re on a time table. Unless you’d like to take even longer to find your friend’s soul? I’m sure he won’t mind while we find food, cook it, and eat it.”

  “Whatever!” I snapped. She’d used that argument several times already and it was starting to piss me off. I glared at her as she sank up to her hips in the murky river. “Maybe you should get out of the water. I don’t want to have to save you from a giant crocodile when it tries to eats you.”

  “Just come in here. It will be fine.”

  I sighed as loudly as I could and kicked off my sandals. The sand burned beneath my feet as I moved into the water. My clothing, unfortunately, did not transform itself into magical swimwear though, and I was immediately struck by how ridiculous I must look wading into the Nile in a blood drenched toga.

  “So… uh… how come the priests didn’t mention the fact that I was covered in the blood of the fallen?” I asked as the water around me turned pinkish. I wasn’t sure if that would summon crocodiles or not, but if there were any sharks, I was in trouble.

  “Maybe you should have asked them,” Aziza said, rolling her eyes at me.

  Yeah, I forgot to mention she was miffed at me about that. Evidently, if I would have told her I knew about the book to begin with, we could have saved ourselves some priestly trouble.

  But… she never freaking told me we needed the book so how was I supposed to know to bring it up? Mind reading wasn’t exactly my strong suit. Besides, mind readers were creepy, and well, embarrassing. Especially, when they were really hot chicks in low cut dresses.

  I shook my head, dismissing the thought as muddy water seeped into places I’d rather it not be, and plastered my bloody clothes against my body. I looked down at myself and blushed because my clothing had become nearly transparent. Swell.

  Fortunately, Aziza wasn’t looking at me. No, she was nearly up to her shoulders in the murky water, one hand balancing the jar on the top of her head. She turned, looked me over with a wicked gleam in her eye, and pointed.

  “Maybe you should have just taken that off,” she said, winking at me. “It’s not really leaving a lot to the imagination.”

  So that was when I dropped down into the water up to my neck. I would have gone even farther, but something brushed by me, and I screamed like a little girl. Some big tough werewolf I was. I whirled, thrashing in the water like a wounded seal, which probably wasn’t the best thing to seem like. A huge black shape sped away from me so quickly that it about made my heart stop. Was that… was that a crocodile?

  “So, um, what’s the plan exactly?” I asked, swallowing my fear as the shape veered toward the middle of the river. “I hope it isn’t wait in the water until a croc tries to come eat us.”

  “That’s exactly the plan.” She smirked at me in a way that made her dimples stand out. “You heal instantly, and I’m undead. It’s not like a croc is going to kill us.”

  “That is the worst plan ever, and besides, I heal instantly in wolf form. Not in human form,” I snapped as the shape turned and began heading toward Aziza. Did she not see it? And what the hell was wrong with her.

  “Stop being a wuss,” she said just before she was pulled completely under the water in a spray of foam and bubbles. The jar toppled into the water, spilling black gelatinous goo into the river. It spread outward like an angry cloud as I stared at the spot too shocked to even move.

  “Aziza?” I said, taking a step forward. I’d barely made it half a step when a thirteen foot tall man with a crocodile head exploded from the water. He was covered in thick, black sludge. It ran down over his golden armor as he hoisted Aziza into the air by her ankle. Aziza dangled upside down from his left fist, arms flailing wildly. His hand was so large that it was nearly the size of her entire lower leg.

  “Why have you summoned me?” the crocodile-headed man snapped, his flat empty eyes boring holes into my friend.

  “I didn’t know,” Aziza squealed, her hands scratching at the surface of the river. Crocodiles appeared all around us, multiplying on the banks like they were water-doused gremlins. I swallowed, and as I took a step toward Aziza, the crocodile man shot me a look that said, “stay out of this, wolf.”

  “How could you not have known that throwing your dark water on one of my brethren would summon me? That is always how the priests of Ra summon me.” His voice was low, and well, reptilian sounding. It reminded me of the voice of a dragon from one of those old movies.

  “Lord Sobek, I’m sorry!” Aziza cried. As she said those words, my heart stopped working and sort of sputtered lamely in my chest. This was Sobek? Like the Sobek? The Egyptian god of strength?

  “You’re Sobek?” I whispered, my voice a tiny little squeak. It was odd because I was pretty sure I knew how to talk, but as I opened my mouth to say more, words didn’t come out. I swallowed, trying to say something else. Sobek turned his crocodile eyes at me, his huge mouth opening very slightly.

  “Yes. I am Sobek,” he replied, tilting his head to get a better look at me. “What is it you want, wolf?”

  “I… um… erm…” I mumbled, trying to figure out what the hell it was I wanted. I knew it was something important, but sadly, I was so star-struck, I couldn’t even think. It sort of pissed me off because a few minutes from now I was going to feel really embarrassed.

  “We need to go down into the Duat so we can get the book of Thoth. Only a crocodile can take us to the entrance to Neferkaptah’s tomb,” Aziza said before Sobek dunked her head into the water like she was a naughty puppy that needed to be taught a lesson.

  He pulled her up, sputtering, a moment later. Then he flung her at me, or in my direction rather, because she didn’t hit me so much as she skipped along the water next to me until she hit the bank with a thud.

  “If you go to the tomb and retrieve the book, Neferkaptah’s spirit will haunt you until you die,” Sobek said, plunging one huge hand into the water between us. The river surged around us, reminding me of those feeding frenzies for piranha that you see on television. Only instead of crimson, the water was sickly yellow.

  A huge crocodile head surfaced from the Nile, its maw open wide to reveal rows of dangerous-looking teeth. It was so large that I was pretty sure I could have stepped into its gullet and still had room to park my van inside. You know, if I had a van.

  I glanced over my shoulder to see Aziza getting to her feet. Her face and clothing were smeared with black river mud, and she was giving me a look that could melt stone.

  “Some help you are,” she muttered, stomping past me toward the crocodile.

  “W-what are you doing?” I asked, looking from her to the croc and back again. “That thing’s mouth is huge.”

  “How else do you expect it to take us down? In a saddle?” Aziza climbed into the crocodile’s waiting jaws and made a ‘come here right now’ gesture. “Thi
s is how it’s done.”

  “Are you being serious?” I swallowed.

  Sobek nodded at me, a strange gleam in his eye. “Don’t worry,” he said, patting the huge creature on the snout. “You’ll be fine, I promise.” The sky above us crackled, thunder booming from the cloudless sky, and for some reason, I knew Sobek’s promise would be kept. Still, as I stared into the gaping maw of a ginormous crocodile, a bad feeling sweltered in the pit of my stomach.

  “Why are you helping us?” I asked, making my way toward the open maw of the giant croc. The hair on the back of my neck stood up straight, and the wolf inside me bared its teeth. It did not like this idea, not one bit. “What’s in it for you?”

  “I have my reasons,” Sobek said, and I could have sworn he was grinning at me.

  I sighed, hoping he wasn’t trying to deceive me. Still, he had promised I would be fine. That was worth something, right? Besides, he was a god. If he wanted me dead, I was pretty sure he could just snap his fingers and I’d explode. I shook my head and grabbed onto two of the crocodile’s huge teeth. They were warm and slimy in my hands, and as I pulled myself into its gaping jaws, a warm breath that stank of decaying meat and fish hit me full in the face.

  “Bye,” Sobek said. I glanced over my shoulder at the river god. He waved at me, actually waved at me, as the crocodile shut its mouth, trapping us inside.

  Chapter 7

  “You see one ancient tomb, you’ve seen ‘em all,” Aziza said, running her fingers along the golden pharaoh statue at the entrance of the tomb. It was nearly twenty feet tall and had eyes that glittered like sparkling rubies in the torchlight. The rest of it was covered in hieroglyphics I couldn’t even begin to understand.

  I still wasn’t quite sure where we were. The crocodile had spit us out on the bank of an underground river a few yards behind us before disappearing back into the ether. The sand down here was the color of soot, reminding me of those Hawaiian beaches my parents took my sister and me to visit when we were younger.

  I didn’t see any volcanos, but that didn’t make me feel any better. For all I knew, I was standing in the mouth of a volcano people only thought was dormant. Then again, I could be dead. I had just traveled to who knows where in the mouth of a giant crocodile that had been summoned by the god Sobek. Maybe I was dreaming and was, in reality, being devoured by reptilian stomach acid.

  “Should you be touching that?” I asked, walking up to her. “Isn’t that how booby traps are sprung? What if you summon a giant fireball or a huge rolling rock to crush us?”

  All the color drained from Aziza’s face as she snatched her hand back and examined it like she was worried it would fall off. “Sorry,” she said, nodding at me. “I wasn’t thinking.”

  “It’s okay. It’s about time I wasn’t the one to bungle things.” I smirked. I couldn’t help it. “But no harm, no foul.”

  She looked at me for a long time before turning back to the statue. “I’m trying to figure out what these hieroglyphics mean. I can understand what they say, but it’s more like someone just picked random words and strung them together. I think it’s some kind of code.” Her long ebony hair swished behind her as she began walking around the statue, looking for clues. To what? I wasn’t sure.

  I was about to ask her about it when a stench like rotting fish and ozone filled my nose and turned my stomach. I swung my head toward it. Off in the far corner was a lone torch. I moved toward it, and as I got closer, the smell grew stronger. No longer was it just a faint whisper in the air, no… no it was definitely getting more…

  I was nearly in front of the torch now. Like all the others, it sat clutched in a golden claw that reminded me of a bird of prey. Rings of blue and red spiraled up its base going all the way to the lip of the torch. I couldn’t see over the lip because it was too high on the wall, but now that I was examining it closely, it didn’t seem like the torch was actually burning. It seemed more like fire was being shot out of its mouth from a fuel source within. But how was that possible?

  I tried to reach out and touch it, but thought better of it. Hadn’t I just scolded Aziza for doing just that? I turned and gestured at Aziza, trying to get her attention, but instead of looking up at me, she was bent over the statues huge feet, studying something.

  “Aziza!” I called, my voice echoing in the space.

  She looked up at me, confusion on her face. “What?”

  “This thing is weird, come check it out,” I said, turning back to it and pointing… only it wasn’t there anymore. The smell was still there, stronger than ever, but the torch was gone.

  “What’s weird? I don’t see anything,” she replied, but she sounded closer.

  “Hmm…” I muttered, squatting down to examine the wall. Now that shadows weren’t dancing across its surface like flickering ballerinas, I could see something dark along the bottom that sort of looked like a handle. I reached out, running a tentative finger along its edge.

  “Ow!” I cried, yanking back my finger as blood welled from the tip. “It bit me.”

  No response. I glanced over my shoulder. “Zeez?” I asked, but as my eyes scanned the room, I didn’t see her anywhere. My stomach clenched in horror as I hopped to my feet, spinning in a slow circle. “Aziza, where are you? This isn’t funny.”

  The torches around the room puffed out in little bursts of sulfur-smelling smoke. It started off behind me and circled outward like a cascading ring of dominoes until I was left in nearly total darkness.

  “You seek the book, don’t you? I would advise against it,” a low, angry voice said from behind me. I spun around and found myself face to face with a guy who stood within a beam of white light. He looked about my age only way shorter. He had long black hair tied in a braid that fell down his back and huge brown eyes that seemed to take up most of his face. He was wearing thick white pants and had a gleaming khopesh strapped to his leg, but was otherwise unclothed.

  “What did you do with Aziza?” I asked, trying to decide whether or not this guy was a mummy.

  “I have done nothing with the jailer. I am not her quarry, and thus, do not fear her presence.” He shrugged at me. “But they might.” He pointed behind me.

  I felt water hit me in the back as the sound of creatures bursting from the river filled my ears. I whirled, my heart racing, to see several men splashing toward me. The bloody, torn carcasses of crocodiles filled the water behind them, staining the river crimson. They were all dressed in similar linen tunics, but that wasn’t what concerned me. What concerned me were the spears in their hands, and the angry, murderous looks on their faces.

  “Who are they?” I asked.

  “Setne, why are you helping him?” the lead one asked, pointing at me with his spear. The tip of it sparkled like obsidian in the relative darkness. Now that the torches had gone out, the cavern was illuminated by pale blue algae that seemed to cover every surface.

  “I’m not helping anyone. None of you should be here,” the guy behind me said. I fought the urge to look at him even though I was slightly concerned he’d stab me in the back.

  “What did you guys do with Aziza?” I asked, but my words came out like a growl. Already, I could feel the wolf inside me stretching and yawning. He looked out through my eyes and licked his lips.

  “We have done nothing with her, but that shouldn’t concern you,” the leader said, running one hand over his bald head.

  “I disagree,” I said, fighting to stay calm as my hands clenched into fists. I consciously unclenched them. “I think you should return her and get the hell out of here before I kill you all.”

  They laughed, actually laughed. Well, everyone except Setne who I could hear moving slowly away from me. Maybe he could see things starting to writhe beneath my skin.

  “Are you laughing at me?” I roared, lunging forward as the wolf took over. The smell of forest and earth filled me up. The darkness of the cave faded away in an instant, everything snapping into surreal focus as we landed on top of the center goon, ou
r feet planting into his chest and knocking him to the floor with a loud, wet crunch.

  His friends spun, but they were slow. So very slow. We drove our heel downward as hard as we could on the man’s amulet. It shattered beneath us. Crimson light exploded from his chest as the man thrashed and writhed. We were already moving, muscles and senses working in perfect harmony. We dodged a spear thrust and grabbed hold of the shaft.

  We whirled, using our weight to tear the weapon from the thug’s grip and drive it through the chest of another. The point of the weapon pierced his dragon-shaped pendant. A scream like a raging inferno filled our ears as we released the spear and flexed our claws. Something slashed through our thigh as we threw ourselves backward. It hurt like a thousand rusty fishhooks tearing out our flesh for a split second before it was pushed down and away.

  We landed hard on our back and rolled to our feet without stopping to take a breath. Our hands clenched and unclenched as the remaining four guys stared at us in amazement and shock, two golden sarcophagi gleaming next to them.

  We snarled, words more animal than not. “Where is Aziza?”

  Without saying a word, they dove back into the water, grabbed hold of the bloody crocodilian corpses, and vanished beneath its surface in a flurry of bloody foam. We were already moving, crossing the distance to the river’s edge in a single bound that threw up a spray of muddy water.

  “Don’t,” Setne said, one hand on our shoulder. How had he gotten to us so quickly? He squeezed, but not hard. “They don’t have her, anyway.”

  We swallowed, barely resisting the urge to tear off his arm as we sucked in a deep breath. “What?”

  “I said they don’t have your friend. She was pulled into the tomb.” He pointed to a spot below where the horrible smelling torch had been. “There’s a button there that releases a trap door. You must have hit it by accident.”

  My rage died away, forcing the wolf into the back of my mind as panic overwhelmed me. “W-what?” I cried, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him. “How do I get her back?”