Then she remembered the swirling pit of energy and mumbling ‘The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.’ Next came hazy white noise and nothing.
Reign? Did he follow her in? He had to be near. The tether wouldn’t allow them to be separated. Alexis rolled onto her side. Her stomach revolted at the sudden movement and she had to wait before sitting up and swinging her legs over the edge. Her gray matter had turned into cement and her skull threatened to snap right off. She grabbed it to keep it balanced on her neck until the room stopped spinning.
A chill streaked down her spine, raising her hackles. From the corner of her eye, she spotted a shadow sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed, watching. Through the curtain of her hair, Alexis slid her gaze that way for a better look.
A woman studied her every movement. A quick visual sweep and Alexis processed her sky-blue hair, pale skin, and white linen sheath trimmed in blue.
“And who are you?” Alexis eased off the edge of the bed and ignored the warmth seeping from the marble into her bare feet. Glancing around the circular room, she searched for an exit.
“I am the god that is going to kill you, though not presently.” She rose from her seated position and approached. Her gown moved like a living being against her skin.
A petite, dainty thing, no more than 5’1”, pretty in an obvious sort of way. It was almost comical to think this blue-haired, waif-like woman could inflict anything but scorn from anyone taller than her.
“And your name is?” Alexis asked with a tilt of her head.
The woman stopped inches from her. A thin halo, similar to the barrier Reign used to shield them on the golf course, shimmered around her. Faster than Alexis could blink, a hand seized her neck and squeezed. Alexis couldn’t move, couldn’t defend herself. And she couldn’t breathe.
“Killing you would give me no greater pleasure. But having Reign kill you will be better.”
Fourth of July sparklers danced in Alexis’s vision and the woman seemed to swim.
“I will command my champion to slay you. Then I will judge you. You will remain in the deepest pit of the underworld.” The hand on her throat eased and Alexis sucked in sulfur-tainted air. Rough fingers snagged her hair and tilted her head up. “I am Nephythys, Goddess of the Dead.”
This is the goddess that tortured Reign. Alexis wanted a piece of her. Make that a hunk!
“You know of me. I can see it in your eyes. Reign spoke of me?”
“No.” She wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.
Nephythys’s lips thinned. “No matter.”
The tinge of despair that replaced the bud of hope in Nephythys’s voice frightened Alexis more than her paralyzed body and the hand fisted in her hair.
“You are not pretty enough to satisfy a man’s desire. Not a warrior.” Her gaze raked over Alexis.
The hand holding Alexis released slowly and trailed across her bare shoulders and arms.
“You are not the young flower I imagined. Many have slid between your thighs. You are unworthy.”
Excuse me! I can count the total on one hand. Thank you much, Alexis fumed. Delight sparkled in Nephythys’s eyes. The goddess knew her barbs had hit bone.
“Come,” Nephythys ordered and a doorway appeared.
Against her will, Alexis stood. Jerky, erratic movements propelled her out of the bedroom and she followed Nephythys. She wasn’t afraid. She was pissed. Each step she fought, exhausting her. Now she understood why Pinocchio wanted to be free. After a short tour through a palace—which she would’ve loved under different circumstances—they stopped in a large room. At one end, a single ornate chair and a raised dais waited. She spotted her gun resting on a matching table against the wall.
Nephythys glided to the table and stopped in front of a large golden bowl. After a few chants and a wave of her hand, she sighed and murmured, “Reign, there you are.”
Alexis stopped fighting the strings pulling her along and rushed forward. A frigid glance from Nephythys and Alexis’s muscles seized. Her body trembled in protest.
“Do you believe he loves you?” Nephythys purred, gliding around her.
Alexis had no intention of answering the question.
“Come. Peer into the bowl and see who Reign loves.”
She didn’t want to, but she wouldn’t give the goddess the pleasure of seeing her struggle. Besides, her gun was next to the bowl. She stepped close, her heart doing double time, afraid of what she would see. Onyx layered with hieroglyphics coated the inside of the bowl. This priceless antique belonged in a museum. Then again, this place could pass for one.
Who puts muddy water in an antique?
Nephythys’ finger stroked the rim of the bowl. The waters swirled and images flickered by like a movie on fast forward until it slowed and settled on Reign’s face.
Alexis’s heart swelled painfully. His hair was long, flowing past his shoulders, the way she liked it. A shadow of a beard dusted his jawline. His eyes had that dreamy, sex-dazed appearance she’d seen twice, but wanted to see again. Nephythys lay in his arms. He kissed her, stroked his hands down her naked body.
Alexis nearly looked away, but her gaze caught on the shimmering aura surrounding the goddess, not both of them. Just the goddess.
“He does not love you. Why would he love you, a withering, diseased human when he has had a goddess?” Nephythys smirked and strolled toward the chair on the dais.
“Has he had you?” Alexis whispered through bruised vocal cords.
The question stopped Nephythys in her tracks. Her head whipped around and the tips of her hair flamed. Nostrils flaring, hatred warped her lovely face and she trembled. “You know nothing.” Her voice echoed in the cavernous space.
Alexis glanced at her palm. From touching and sifting him, she knew enough. “I know he loved you, once. I know how he hungered for you. A touch, a simple caress, you’ve never even kissed him. Felt his lips pressed to yours, took his breath into your body. You’ve never taken any of him inside you…like I have.”
The backhand came from nowhere and flung Alexis into the wall above the table. Ribs snapped against the marble. Boneless, she slid down the wall and rolled off the table to the floor. Curled into a fetal position, she didn’t move. She couldn’t. Pain stabbed her with every breath.
Her ear pressed to the marble, the goddess’s soft footstep reverberated in Alexis’s head. She tried to turn, but coughed up a mouthful of blood on the beautiful floor.
Nephythys’s feet stopped inches from the cooling splatter. “Our love has lasted twenty of your lifetimes. The few moments he spent with you amount to nothing. A speck of time he will quickly forget once he returns to my arms.”
“He…hates…you. Disgust…is all he feels…when he sees you,” she rasped and coughed droplets of red on the blue hem of Nephythys’s gown.
“You lie!” Her hair flamed and writhed like a living being.
“He hasn’t loved you in a thousand years. I saw what happened the last time you were together. You, on your knees. Him, flaccid in your mouth.” Alexis enjoyed the shock on Nephythys’ face. “You know it’s true, that’s why I’m such a threat.”
“You are not my equal.” Nephythys spat.
“My love for him makes me more than your equal. Reign is mine,” she said with more confidence than she had a right to.
Energy wrapped around Alexis again and she rose from the cool floor. She quelled the bud of excitement pulsing in her chest and waited until her body rose to the perfect level. One chance was all she would have.
Everything inside her stilled. By the confused stare draping Nephythys’s face, she felt the strangeness too. Then the air sucked out of the room and Alexis’s lungs, pulling at her clothes and whipping her around. Just as her lungs spasmed, a shock wave knocked her flat. The room heaved and fractured the marble beneath her. Too weak to scramble away, she waited for the floor to swallow her and end her torture.
A keening wail lifted the hairs on Alexis’s body and caused a shud
der of despair to crawl down her spine. The wail didn’t cease but evolved into a lamentation that her voice lifted and joined. She cried out all of her anguish, at her job, Gloria, her father, every hurt, every disappointment and failure, all of it fused into a desperate exclamation that lingered like a forgotten lover, until it finally drifted away.
***
The bastard tried to evade him, flashing repeatedly across New York City. Reign followed the tiny spark of energy left behind from each flash. Each time, he got a bit closer until he caught him back at the factory collecting canopic jars.
“Going somewhere without me?”
No longer able to sustain his form, Alamut devolved into a weakened Daniel. “That was the plan.” He shrugged his shoulder and then collapsed on the concrete floor.
This boy tried his patience. Reign snatched Daniel from the ground. Holding him aloft, he easily deflected the knife aimed at his heart. “I am not a novice at this game. Fulfill your promise now.” His blade hummed in tune with his rising fury.
Daniel quivered. “All right! We’ll go, but I think we should bring along some help.” He pointed to the pit with the sleeping quimaera.
Activate the army and have to wonder when they would turn on him? No. As soon as this was over, he would return here and—
what? Slaughter them? He remembered the horror on Alexis’s face. “The only aid I need is for you to open the vortex to Chemmis, now.” He shook Daniel by his throat.
“Okay,” Daniel wheezed.
Reign dropped him and watched him retrieve a wooden box hidden under a canvas tarp in a corner of the factory. A flip of the lid revealed a bowl, oil, and strange herbs.
“What is all this?” Reign studied Daniel’s every move while he mixed the items.
“When Anubis summons me, this transfer is automatic. When I request an audience there are rituals I must observe to make the trip. So strip.” Daniel yanked his shirt over his head and toed his shoes off. Then unzipped his jeans.
“Stop,” Reign ordered. There had to be another way. “Say the words and I will repeat them.”
Daniel sighed. “Without the ritual, they won't work.” He pulled his jeans off.
“For you, no, perhaps they will for me. Say the words.” Envy flared in the depths of Daniel’s eyes. Reign readied his sword. He couldn’t kill him, not yet. “Begin.”
Daniel chanted. His words low and hollow. Reign repeated each phrase, concentrating on Chemmis and Alexis’s sun-freckled face. His vis’Ra coalesced around each phrase, giving the words life. A breeze kicked up, swirled around the enclosed space of the factory. Dirt and debris momentarily blinded him.
Then everything stilled, the air in his lungs, the blood rushing through his veins, his heart beating in his chest, even the dust hung motionless in the air, waiting for this pregnant pause to pass.
The shadows lurking in the corners of the room moved, grew, and stretched towards them.
“What magic is this?” Reign forced himself not to retreat.
“Are you afraid of the dark? You can kill your brother without a thought, but this scares you?” Daniel chuckled.
Reign wrapped his hand around Daniel’s throat.
“You're not as cold as I thought.” Daniel’s irises went vertical. “I wanted to kill Roman.”
“You tried. You failed. Too late for regrets.” A bit more pressure and Daniel’s eyes bulged.
“Relax,” Daniel croaked. “And let the dark take you. Don’t fight it.”
The darkness crept closer, blotting out the moonlight speckled through the damaged roof and shattered windows, casting everything in an inky cloak. Reign struggled to quell the rising tide of fear. It wasn’t the darkness he feared, just being entombed, no light, slowly going mad, again. He thanked Nephythys for that also.
The darkness reached his boots and crawled over his feet, up his leg and thigh, steadily coating him with a thick tarry layer. The weight of it nearly buckled him. Up his arms and abdomen, his neck and chin, blanketing his hair until it rushed across his face and covered his nostrils. He opened his mouth to breathe—maybe to scream—and it rushed in to fill that last void.
Reign forgot to blink as he stared at the strange sky above him. A flat, starless gray ceiling hovered oppressively low. Too low. He stretched a hand up and thought he could touch the wet grayness. That simple movement caused something to crunch and rattle beneath him. He rolled over and stared at the suspicious landscape. It took a moment, but when he finally realized what cushioned him, he lurched to his feet.
Bones, bleached white by a non-existent sun, mountains of them surrounded him while he stood in a valley of fragments. He caught movement out of the corner of his eyes. It was Daniel running toward a cathedral miles away. He flashed, but nothing happened. He tried again to separate his atoms and send them hurtling across the distance which kept him from his prey. Nothing. He glared at Daniel’s fleeing back.
Damnation! Reign started after him.
The ground shuddered, swelled, and contracted. He paused, unsure of what lay beneath, but certain Daniel had an idea. That’s why he’d left him here. Reign sprinted through the boneyard in the same direction as the traitorous bastard.
The ground surged. Bones and debris flew into the air and he along with it. Cartwheeling haphazardly, he saw a creature.
Reign slammed into the boneyard and stayed. Above him, a monstrosity hovered. Shaped somewhat like a dog, it stood as tall as a three-story house. Empty eye sockets stared down from an ill-shaped head. Bones peeked between bits of flesh and muscle. Rows of teeth, more than any canine should have, grinned. Though no tongue appeared in its hollowed jaw, saliva dripped freely from its jowls. He tried to flash again. Nothing happened.
He didn’t move, didn’t dare. Bobbing back and forth, the head weaved. It couldn’t see him. This dead thing's eyes had decayed long ago, leaving rotting flesh in vacant sockets. The bit of fresh meat clinging between its teeth didn’t mean it couldn’t still locate him. Could it kill a god or a demi-god? Did he even have any of his powers here?
His sword appeared in his hand, reassuring him he wasn’t alone. The bones lunged. Reign faded and hoped this time the jaws would pass through him. They didn’t. Scooped up, he bounced around the hollowed out mouth not understanding how he could still have his sword, but not his powers to evade this thing.
He sliced into the bones surrounding him. His blows had no consequence while each toss of the thing’s head moved him from the back of its mouth closer to the three-inch teeth.
Reign grabbed onto the edge of a jawbone. Balancing precariously on the smooth surface, he managed to pull himself up and climb to the back of the throat to where the head met the neck. The first bone that joined the two sections together was dainty compared to the other bones around it. He grabbed the bone that was twice the size of his hand, braced his feet on the flat base of its skull, and pulled. The thing thrashed as if it knew what Reign attempted. Reign held tight, feeling the critical piece of the jigsaw puzzle wiggle, then move and finally, give way and fall with him back into the mouth.
The head separated from the body and the animal collapsed, scattering bones everywhere. Bruised and slightly dazed, he climbed free of the jowls, still holding the linchpin to the creature’s demise. He surveyed the wreckage. It wasn’t hard to tell beast from battlefield. Though separated, and jumbled, the animal’s bones still had life to them. They moved to reform the structure of the thing only to collapse again when the piece he held clasped tightly in his hand couldn’t reattach.
I have wasted too much time.
Reign turned to the cathedral. Daniel was nowhere in sight.
CHAPTER FORTY
Dear Ra in all his perfection.
Shaken to her essence, Nephythys stumbled to her feet. The vis’Ra that roiled Chemmis was undeniable. Nu had returned.
A chime sounded. The council gathered and commanded the presence of all of the gods. She glanced at the worthless woman bleeding on her destroyed floor. Nephyt
hys preferred Alexis dead, but she had to keep her part of the bargain until Reign returned.
Alexis’s eyes opened. She stared at Nephythys. The woman had more strength than she gave her credit for.
A sharp noise echoed through the chamber and Nephythys’s body jerked. Her gaze leveled on Alexis and the object she held in her hand. A gun? How useless.
She glanced down and at the holes in her linen. “You foolish girl. Bullets? Did you really think a bullet could stop a god?” Her laughter peeled across the room. “Worthless human. Reign does not understand the service I am rendering him by removing you from existence.”
“He’ll never love you,” Alexis murmured. Nephythys’s hair flamed and her skin mottled. “You, Alexis Lever, stand judged. I cast you to the lowest level of hell where your own desires shall burn you for all eternity. The more you love him, the more you will suffer.”
The chime sounded again, more strident than before. Nephythys couldn’t linger. She waved her hand and sent her nemesis to the bowels of Duat.
From the different corners of the island, twenty gods came together in the solar chamber. Situated in the center of Chemmis, the golden floor reflected the sunlight burning overhead. Gold obelisks thirty feet tall circled the room at twenty-degree intervals. Symbols of the seasons, harvest and famine, desert and the Nile, beast, and man, decorated the eighteen obelisks. And above them, hovered the great symbols of Ra. The one that was always present though no longer seen.
By the time Nephythys appeared, the immense chamber had nearly filled. Still, she paused beneath the symbol of Ra and reveled in the golden shower of light. All were born of the sun. It gave them strength. It gave them life and longevity. It renewed. Even the dark ones gained sustenance from the sun, sought its loving rays.
Nephythys never felt the warmth of Ra. The Goddess of the Dead never basked in the heat of the sun. The dead knew no warmth, no love, and little kindness. She spent most of her life in darkness with her beloved family hounding her heels.
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