by Jean Murray
Facing east, Bomani closed his eyes. A mere five hours and the sun would reclaim the sky, forcing him to find shelter from the morning’s light. A small fire would dry things out and he could warm up again.
The cramp in his chest and stomach bore deeper into his body. The prolonged lack of nourishment obviously dulled his powers, enough a damn human snuck up on him. Since being away from Aaru, he no longer had the constant availability of living energy released by the souls crossing over into the afterlife.
Another curse of sorts. A balance between life and death. The Creation gods exuded life while the Underworld descendants absorbed it.
Pulling his hood up, he trudged down the street without any particular destination in mind. The sound of the city boomed louder and humans crowded the streets. He could not blend in very well with the indigenous population. His size alone, not to mention his morphed features of black eyes and fanged teeth set him apart from anything in this world. Hunching over, he pulled his hood down to conceal his face. He could dematerialize, if it became necessary.
The wonderful smell of food raised his head. Although not as sustaining, staples would lessen the cramp in his stomach and boost his energy for a short time. He slid back into the shadows. Across the street a brightly lit restaurant beckoned him with a blinking red neon sign and silver siding. Bomani suppressed his stomach’s protest. The human world was a commerce driven society.
No money. No service.
Yet if he got desperate, he could always take what he needed. He turned to leave, but another sensation tickled his senses.
Power rippled in statically charged waves, raising the hairs all over his scalp.
He evaporated into a black mist. Had Bast lost her patience? If so, he had nothing to show for himself.
The weight of power grew heavier, well beyond Bast’s essence. A female two heads taller than the other pedestrians walked up the street, easily snaking her way through the crowded sidewalk. Her hood concealed her face, but a dark brown braid of hair exited the hood and draped her shoulder like a scarf. The goddess bound up the steps of the food establishment and paused at the door. She looked over her shoulder, enough he could see the break in her hood, but not much else. The goddess pulled the door open and walked inside. Disheveled blinds block part of his view, but the female hugged the hostess. The lady’s cackle of laughter echoed across the road.
Bomani rematerialized but stuck to the shadows. Interaction with humans was forbidden. This goddess not only engaged but appeared to have a relationship with them. Could this be the one? His curiosity stayed his feet. The goddess harnessed an incredible amount of power, even stronger than Bast. He did not know of gods stronger than a Protector besides his father and the Mother Goddess. The woman pulled her hood back, her silhouette fuzzed by the damn blinds. She chose a seat facing the door but close to the side exit, and her back remained unnaturally straight, even after she sat down in the booth.
Warriors of the legion stowed their weapons along their spine and usually had additional armaments hidden about their waist. A long broad sword would straighten the posture of the wearer. There was not much her cloak could not hide. Stupid of him to leave Aaru without even a simple dagger to wield. He would need to keep his energy masked if he wanted to observe her undetected.
The blinds split open and sharp eyes framed by dark brown hair scanned the street. He jerked back. Did she sense him? Bomani remained cloaked and shifted in the darkness to the end of the road before reappearing in an alleyway.
A boy slammed into his chest. With the amount of speed, the youth, no more than fifteen, bounced off and fell to the mud slick pavement. Bomani met the kid’s wild and panic stricken eyes. The boy launched up, his bare feet slipping against the ground before he gained leverage. A youngling from the looks of it, dressed in ragged clothes. Yet despite looking average, he was anything but. He was a full bred god.
What in duat was going on here? Before he could snatch the boy to ask, the youngling sprinted down the street. Shouts and heavy footfalls echoed from the direction from which the boy came. Bomani shifted into a dark mist just as three human youths ran into the alleyway.
“Which way,” the tallest of the boys asked. The street lamp illuminated the gold cross hanging around his neck.
“Down here,” the other called out.
The young god had a hard lesson in survival awaiting him. Builds character, Bomani thought bitterly and moved in the opposite direction. He hunkered down and followed the less populated path, attempting to circle around the diner and wait for the goddess to exit. Maybe he could collect enough information to keep Bast happy. He crossed the street to avoid a line of scantily clad women. At the next alleyway he pushed through a door to cut through to the parallel street.
The smell of urine burned his nose. Several humans lay curled on the floor. One sat on a mattress with a needle hanging from her arm. Her out-of-focus eyes stared through him.
Sickened, Bomani scowled and exited the building. If this was humanity, why were they fighting to save it?
Chapter Four
“Thanks, Fay. The pie was delicious. Can you package a piece to go?” Siya smiled at the overworked waitress. Despite her gray hair and heavy stature, the Jamaican woman worked from morning until midnight.
“You’ve been away too long, Siya,” Fay chastised and tucked her pencil behind her ear. “Earl feared you may have gone to the new diner uptown.”
“How could you think that, Earl? After all we have been through?” Siya gasped.
Earl leaned down to look through the open window. A spatula in one hand and lid in the other, the man winked. His dark brown skin wrinkled at the corners. After hours of cooking, his cheeks shined like a mirror. “You’re not cheating on me, are you sweetheart?”
“How can I be cheating on you? We are not married.”
“Wanna be?”
“You are married, Earl.” Siya smirked when Fay rolled her eyes. The old woman wobbled down the aisle and set Siya’s to-go box on the table.
Fay squeezed into the seat opposite Siya. “Earl, lock up,” she called over her shoulder, apparently planning to stay seated for a while.
“Damn woman, you are right there,” Earl complained but yanked off his apron. He shuffled from the back and engaged the deadbolt on the door. Heavy shutters slammed down over the windows and front door. Earl flicked the sign off. The flashing neon lights dimmed and then finally extinguished.
Siya rubbed her eyes. The light always gave her a headache, but it added to the charm of the place. She looked around the dingy little diner. The luster of the silver and red Naugahyde on the stools and booths had dulled and cracked with age. The asbestos tile had black wear marks from years of foot traffic. The yellowed countertop brandished multiple cigarette burns. Yet despite its setbacks, Siya loved this place.
Fay’s brown eyes ringed with bluish halos focused on Siya. “You seem out of sorts. Everything okay?”
Siya nodded, despite the ache in her chest. Fay had a sixth sense about her. Siya wondered if she had been blessed by the gods in some way. “How are things here? No troubles?”
“Nothing for a month.” Fay’s crooked smile and missing tooth chased the chill from Siya’s bones. The woman had an endearing quality. Siya couldn’t get enough of this place and the emotional warmth bathing the worn out diner booths.
“I am glad to hear that.” Siya had given half her savings to help fund the metal security shutters. It was one of the few areas reclaimed after the quarantine. Curfews had been lifted over a month ago. Unbeknownst to Fay and Earl, she and the younglings had patrolled the streets to keep the revens at bay. If not for their efforts, the diner and surrounding area would have been infested with the undead.
Despite the victory over the revens, crime polluted the streets. The human police rarely frequented this side of town. This diner with its red glaring light was a beacon among the darkness, filled with hardworking humans who wished for a better world and trudged forward despite
the carnage around them. Maybe that was what kept her landlocked. Who would protect Fay and Earl when they moved on?
It would be harder to say goodbye when the time came. Siya could not afford the emotional connection, yet found herself unable to break away. “How are your boys?” she asked. The woman had raised five boys as a single parent. Her first husband had died of a heart attack fifteen years earlier when the last boy was born.
“Oh, you know. Getting along in life. I worry about Edwin, though. He’s hanging out with boys who are up to no good.” Fay touched her forehead, chest and both shoulders in the outline of a cross. “Herold would be turning over in his grave, God bless him.”
“I am sorry to hear that.” Siya ached for the woman. Fay worked so hard for what little she had, and to have the extra stress of a rogue offspring, only made matters worse.
Without thinking, Siya touched Fay’s hand, yearning to comfort the woman in some way. Usually she was careful not to touch humans because her power could harm, or worse, kill them. But Fay captured her hand before Siya could correct her mistake.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” She patted Siya’s hand, refusing to relinquish her hold.
“I should get going.” Siya forced her hand free, despite a part of her wishing not to. “Thank you for the pie.”
“I’ll let you out, sweetheart.” Earl leaned the broom against the wall and pulled the ring of keys from his pocket while hiking up the waistband. “You sure you’ll be okay?” He regarded the break in her coat.
Earl had seen her dagger before but had assumed she was prior military. She towered over and had more muscle mass than the average human, so she never dissuaded his beliefs. “I will be fine. It’s a short walk.”
He inserted the key into the keyhole and pushed open the iron gate. “Don’t hurt anyone,” he said with a raise of his eyebrow.
“I will try not to.” Siya stepped clear of the door and waited for him to reengage the deadbolt. She scanned the alleyway in both directions before pulling up her hood and stepping off. The cold air filtered down her back through the opening at the neck. The sacred sword chilled the length of her spine.
Her feet found their natural pace along a route she had walked many times before. The crunch of the pavement underneath her hard soles bounced off the brick walls. She crossed the street and ducked down a dimly lit alleyway.
Dark energy lashed at her like a whip. She froze, her breath taken from her. She reached towards the base of her neck and wrapped her palm around the hilt of her weapon then freed her other hand of the to-go box. The security lights dimmed and plunged the alleyway into darkness.
No matter.
A full spectrum of color based on the heat signature lit up the landscape before her.
“Reveal yourself.” She unsheathed her sword. With her knees bent she turned in a circle, zeroing in on the malevolent presence. She hissed with the surge of power in her body. The rush fed a craving in the deepest sense.
“You are losing your edge, Sekhmet.”
“Do not call me that.” Siya pointed the tip of her blade at the darkness. Although there was no physical form, the threat was very real.
Lethal.
“It is the name I gave you.” Menthu solidified and smacked the point of her blade away.
Siya’s heart pounded in her chest. She had not seen her father in five thousand years. Rumblings of his treachery, even his death, had reached her ears.
Too bad the rumor was false.
The War god shifted among the shadows, never quite revealing himself.
“What do you want?” she sneered. Her father’s appearance did not bode well.
He stopped, his red eyes flaring brighter in the darkness. “A father cannot visit his daughter?” His statement resonated something darker than concern because he never gave two shits about her.
“Father?” She snorted. “Hardly.” Unfortunately, she could not wish the fact away. She lowered her sword. For all her power, she would never be able to defeat him. He played by a different, more wicked set of rules. “You should not be here.” He should be in Horem, the prison of the Underworld.
“Is that a threat or a warning?” Menthu stepped forward. The moonlight shimmered against his black and white mottled skin, a huge beast created for war, carved from both sides of life and death. She’d forgotten how gruesome he looked. It was hard to believe she was his daughter. On many levels.
Her very blood.
Black power along with the smell of bitter almonds rolled off of him. Open flesh ran the length of his jaw and cheek and black blood glistened against his chest. She retreated a few steps as he filled the street. Now would not be the time for humans to happen by.
“So does he have it all?” Siya asked, glancing at Menthu’s chest, where his soul flickered a dark red. Very little white light remained. Her heart sank, realizing her instincts were right. Apep was amassing his army and he had found his General.
Menthu stopped and loomed over her. “You cannot save these pitiful humans.”
“I have and I will again.” Fury burned through her veins. If she was not careful it would take control of her. Instability and a predilection for anger were a loving gift from her father.
“Yes, you did.”
Siya glared at him. Her victory in the ancient war against Apep was the only reason he sought her out after her mother’s death. It was not fatherly concern, but his need to gloat.
“And you have been rewarded richly.” Menthu smiled, his jagged teeth showing between the lacerations in his cheek.
The insult burned deep, but she did not back down. Her father would destroy her if he sensed any weakness. “At least I still have my soul,” she hissed through her now fanged teeth. Only around him did her control falter. Her grip tightened around her sword’s handle.
“Why do you fight it? We were born to dominate this realm. The Mother Goddess has weakened your mind with empathy for these humans. They are but mere scarabs to be squashed beneath our boots. You are made for war, just as I am. It is in our blood to command, to conquer, to destroy. It is why you succeeded in the war when everyone else failed.”
“So, that is why you are here. To recruit me? To give up my soul to Apep and plead my allegiance to the Dark Lord as you have?” Siya’s gaze flicked to the gaping wound in his chest. “Have you been richly rewarded for your obedience?”
She held her ground even as the back of his hand cracked across her jaw. Her head recoiled with the power of his blow. Shards of pain tracked down her spine as her neck torqued to the left. She stayed on her feet at least, but her recovery was not quick enough. Large hands seized her by the throat.
“It is because of me that you still draw breath,” he hissed in her ear and tightened his grip.
She suppressed her defensive urges and met his gaze, even as the stars twinkled in her vision. “Fuck you.”
“Soon you will have no choice, daughter. Your darkness will overtake you.”
Blood flowed from the corner of her lip and filled her mouth with the coppery taste. She reared back when he leaned in, but he cinched his hold tighter.
His nostrils flared. “You smell like your mother.” He caught the drip of blood from her chin with his tongue. “And taste like her too.”
Her anger erupted into an explosive volcano of dark power. She slammed her fist into his face, followed by her boot planted in his abdomen. He stumbled back, a queer mix of surprise and fury contorting his disfigured face. Rendering her blade at his chest, she backed him up against the brick building.
“Now that she would never do.” Menthu sneered and wiped his thick thumb against his mouth.
Siya’s vision blurred red. “What the hell do you know about my mother, you gods damn rapist.”
“Is that what they told you? I claimed her against her will?” Menthu snarled.
“Do you deny it?” Siya slammed the hilt of the sword along his jaw. Black blood spattered against the wall. She swung her other hand and met solid bric
k.
Large arms clamped around her shoulders and chest, immobilizing her with arms pinned to her sides. Siya bucked and struggled for leverage.
“It is far easier to believe Anuket had been forced against her will. A beautiful princess could never fall in love with a monster. She killed herself over the trauma of her captivity, not the forced separation from her mate.”
Siya stilled. No, she refused to believe his words. Bast had been at her mother’s side when she succumbed to the poison. Her mother hated Menthu. Her father wanted to confuse her.
“Liar!”
His now black eyes bore into her. “The Creation Pantheon will face my fury. They will bow before my blade until the heavens run red with their blood. They will pay for her death.”
She could not breathe for the amount of hatred suffocating his words. Could it be his own disillusions of her mother’s affections towards him? He was right. It was easier to hate him than believe her mother had cared for him. Gods, it could not be true.
Yet, pain shadowed his eyes, clear and true. Her conviction faltered. The Mother Goddess would have never allowed Menthu to bear an offspring unless she blessed the union. She shook her head, not wanting to believe it.
“No,” she whispered. The alternative was too painful to accept as truth.
“They fear us. It is the very reason they took her from me. Why you languish here, exiled. Punished for what we were created to be. They will learn their actions have consequences.” He shoved her away. “You must join me or be destroyed with them.”
She whirled around to face her father. The monster standing before her was replaced by a male wounded and destroyed. She blinked, registering the change. Pity flickered in a barren place in her soul. Little was left of the god that would have turned her mother’s gaze. Hate and vengeance had made a home in his soul, filling the part he may have lost in her death.
Could she blame him when Siya had almost fallen down the same path? She would have if not for the Mother Goddess. The Mother of the Gods had taken her in and saved her soul. She shook her head. “I will not.”