King of the Gods

by J. A. Cipriano

  I caught her a second later, pouring my magic into her as Aziza’s face went perfectly blank. Power exploded out of me, slamming into the dark mist and destroying it in an instant.

  “Aziza, are you okay?” I asked, pulling her close to me.

  “Yes.” Aziza stared up at me. “Thank you for saving me, Luke.”

  “You’re welcome,” I said, even though it seemed inadequate. “What do we do now?”

  “I think we go with your plan and destroy the book—”

  Only, before she could say more, the Book of Thoth burst into a million golden beetles that scurried across the ground, up my legs, and into my body.

  18

  “We’re not going to talk about anything that happened, are we?” The words tumbled out of my mouth, though I wasn’t quite sure I’d said them aloud until Aziza turned and looked at me, eyes half-staring into the distance as thoughts writhed beneath their surface. “You know, with the beetles?”

  “I don’t know how to explain it.” She nodded toward the distance. “If I did, I’d tell you.”

  We had been walking along the bank of the Nile for almost an hour. Thick mud squelched as I moved, covering my feet in the stuff.

  “You know we’re going to stop Khufu, right?” I said because I didn’t know what else to say. “We’ll pay him back for everything.”

  “I know that,” she said, and I got the feeling she was leaving something unsaid. I’d gotten that feeling a lot since the beetle thing had happened.

  “Say, Zeez …” I said, but before I could say more, she cut me off.

  “What did you call me?” she asked, glancing at me. “Zeez is not my name.”

  “It’s just a nickname,” I replied, shrugging, “If it bugs you, I could go back to calling you Aziza.”

  “I don’t know if we’re close enough for you to be giving me a nickname.” The barest hint of a smile crossed her face. It was the first smile I’d seen since the beetle thing had happened.

  “Actually, you’ve been calling me by a nickname the whole time. My name is Lucas. It's why I go by Luke, though. You might not understand what it’s like to be named after the hero of Star Wars, but where I come from, it’s the best name to have.”

  “I can see that.” She nodded. “If your name belonged to a hero, it must be a strong name.”

  “My sentiments exactly.” I shrugged.

  “What were you going to ask me?” she asked, batting her long black eyelashes at me. I wasn’t sure if she did it on purpose, but it made my stomach do a little flip-flop.

  “Um …” I said because I didn’t have anything better to say right then. I shook my head and looked off into the distance. It was nothing but desolate sand for miles and miles. I sighed. There was no good way to ask, really. “Do you know what happened with the book? I mean, I know you said you couldn’t explain it, but that makes me think you know.”

  As I spoke, Aziza seemed to deflate just a touch. She bit her lip and looked away from me, staring out over the waters of the Nile. “Okay.” The word had an ominous quality to it, like the crackle of distant thunder in a grey sky. “Luke, you’re going to die.”

  It took me a moment to process what she said. Even then, it didn’t seem right.

  “How could I die?” I asked, reaching out toward her and spinning her so that I was staring into her face. Tears lined the edges of her eyes, threatening to spill out at any time and my heart wrenched. Was she telling the truth? No … she couldn’t be.

  “Anyone who uses the book of Thoth dies.” She looked away, not meeting my eyes as she stared past me into the distance. “And before you ask why we went after it, remember that I am already dead. So is Khufu. It cannot harm us.” She swallowed. “But you? You absorbed the book, so how could you not die?”

  “So, you don’t know for sure?” I asked, and an undeserved feeling of relief washed over me. “You’re just assuming then?”

  “Well … yes, but—”

  “If it’s just a rumor, I’m not worried. I’m not a normal guy, remember? I’m a half-guardian werewolf who absorbed a sacred heart.” I smiled as I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her against my chest. She felt good pressed there, fitting against me like a puzzle piece, her body warm and soft. I inhaled a breath that smelled of lavender and cinnamon.

  “Perhaps you should be,” said a low, gravelly voice behind me.

  I spun so quickly that I actually pulled Aziza off her feet and wound up toppling to the ground with her on top of me. I looked up, and my heart leaped into my throat. Shrouded against the sun so that he was like a black statue, a tall, bronze-skinned man stood. In one hand, he held a spear that glittered like polished obsidian. He bent down toward me, his other hand reaching out as if to help me up.

  But he wasn’t a man at all. Instead of a face, he had the head of a black-furred jackal. His huge jaws were curled into a smile that reminded me of my dad the moment before he taught me some kind of painful lesson. It was a smile that made my wolf leap to his feet, ears straight up, jaws just on the edge of curling into a snarl.

  “Anubis …” Aziza growled, and the anger in her voice left me unable to speak. This was Anubis? The god of death? Why was he here, why now? Was he coming to claim me like Aziza said? And why was she so mad at him? Shouldn’t she be nice to him, so he didn’t, I don’t know, turn her into a toad?

  He reached out and gripped my wrist, pulling me to my feet like I was weightless. It was sort of weird because Aziza was on top of me, and she tumbled to the ground in an annoyed heap. I was about to say something about it, but his eyes glowed like a pair of enormous rubies with flames flickering around the edges.

  “Hello, Luke.” He nodded toward Aziza who was still lying on the ground, mouth clenched together so hard, her jaw-muscles stood out against her flesh. “Jailer.”

  “Um … hello,” I said. You would think that by now I would have gotten used to meeting Egyptian Deities, but really, I hadn’t. Every time it happened, I sort of got a little star struck.

  “I have a problem, Luke.” Anubis smiled, baring his huge, dagger-like teeth, and the wolf inside me raised its hackles. “There seems to be a number of mummies on the loose within my realm. I would stop them, but unfortunately, Osiris has disappeared, leaving me to deal with the entirety of the underworld myself.”

  “What a jerk,” I murmured as Aziza got to her feet. She nodded once, but I don’t think she was referring to Osiris.

  “Indeed. You go and ask for one day off and instead of that bastard granting it, he just takes off like a jackass, leaving me with even more work.” Anubis shook his head. “Anyway, as we both know, the jailer had one job, to keep the mummies locked up. She’s obviously failed at her only task since there’s a full-on mummy invasion going on down below.” A faint glimmer passed through his eyes as he gestured toward Aziza’s still seething form. “I want to bring you down there, so you can stop them before they release even more prisoners. What do you say?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

  I glanced over at Aziza, but her face was perfectly blank. Still, her scent had changed, and her hands were curled into fists. She was angry, why? Was it with Anubis, or how he had dismissed her? No, it seemed like something more than that.

  Anubis followed my gaze until his eyes rested on Aziza. He sighed and waved his hand. “I’ll even let you bring her along. You know, so she can pretend like she’s helping.”

  I was about to tell him how he shouldn’t talk to her that way when Aziza shot me a look that made me clamp my mouth shut.

  “We’d be honored to assist you, oh great and wise Anubis.” It looked like she was about to say more, but even though her mouth kept moving, no sound came out. She reached up and rubbed her throat with one hand, her eyes burning with hatred.

  I tried to say something, to protest, but I found that I couldn’t talk. Every word stuck in my mouth like peanut butter.

  “Excellent,” Anubis replied and waved his hand in front of us. The air between us shimmered, taking on a h
aziness that swirled like the surface of a lake after dust had been kicked up. “After you,” he added, gesturing toward the spot. “Step right up. Don’t be afraid.”

  19

  We stood in a landscape that didn’t scream underworld to me. I mean, maybe it should have, but it was all polished sky-blue stone. Huge pillars reached so high into the sky that I couldn’t see the ceiling they supported. The ground beneath our feet was like the surface of a pond on a perfect spring day. The scent of wildflowers filled the air as we followed behind Anubis. It would have been a great place for a photoshoot or a picnic.

  Anubis’ huge, eight-foot-tall form chewed up the distance so quickly, I had to jog to keep up with him. The trip through his portal had been relatively uneventful. In fact, it was more like stepping through a doorway. One moment we were on the bank of the Nile, and the next we were here, wherever here was.

  “This looks a little strange to be the underworld,” I said, murmuring to myself. “Where are all the skulls and stuff?”

  “We’re not in the underworld,” Aziza whispered. She was breathing hard, which was odd because I didn’t think mummies needed to breathe. “This is the Duat. Anubis isn’t powerful enough to take us directly to the underworld, so he’s taking us through the spirit realm.”

  “Why does it seem like the two of you don’t really get along?” I asked when she wasn’t immediately stuck down by a bolt of lightning.

  She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. Was there some kind of history between her and the god of death? If there was, did I really want to know about it? Not really. Getting into the middle of a spat between anyone and Anubis seemed like a horrible idea.

  “We’ll be in the underworld shortly,” Anubis said, and just as the words left his mouth, a badly painted red door appeared in front of him. A small white-pawed tabby lay in front it, napping. When it saw us, it stretched, paws reaching out toward us as its mouth opened into a yawn.

  Anubis stopped, standing stock still as he stared at the feline. It reminded me of a deer the moment before it bolted. Very slowly, the cat rose and sauntered forward, tail up in the air like a lazy question mark. It rubbed its furry face against Anubis’ leg, all the while staring directly at Aziza. Anubis swallowed, glancing from the cat to Aziza and back again.

  “Hello, Bast,” Aziza said, words clipped and angry. “How are you?”

  “Purrfect,” the cat replied in a voice that made me think of rich cream and blood. It smirked, leaning back on its haunches and licking itself, tongue dragging along its fur in an almost obscene way.

  Aziza turned her glare from the cat to Anubis, her hands on her hips. “Seriously?”

  “I didn’t know she would be here,” Anubis said, voice very careful sounding. His arrogance seemed to have vanished into smoke. His head swiveled back and forth between Aziza and Bast, and for a moment, it was like watching a jackal-faced bobblehead.

  “Um … is there a problem?” I asked, unsure of what to do.

  “No,” Anubis and Aziza said at the same time. The cat kept licking itself. The sound of its tongue on its fur was like sandpaper scraping on flesh, and while I wasn’t positive, it seemed like it was getting louder. But how was that possible?

  “Well, can we go through the door and kill mummies then? I have shit to do,” and as I said the words, a thought popped into my werewolf brain. “Say, can you help us find Khufu?”

  Anubis looked at me for a long time before inclining his head very slightly in a gesture that seemed to say he was sorry. “No,” he said several seconds later. “But I’ll check around and let you know what I find.”

  “Sweet, thanks a lot,” I said, and a huge weight felt like it lifted from my shoulders. This was Anubis, one of the rulers of the underworld. If he was going to look for Khufu, the mummy was as good as found, right?

  “Don’t mention it,” Anubis replied, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s the least I could do since you guys are going to rid the underworld of renegade mummies.”

  “That sounds suspiciously like a promise,” Bast said, looking up at him, her yellow cat eyes filled with amusement.

  “It does,” Aziza seconded. Anubis glanced at the two of them, and his shoulders slumped.

  “I liked it better when you two didn’t talk to each other,” Anubis replied. “Rid the place of mummies, and I’ll try to find Khufu. I promise.” As he said the words, lightning crackled through the sky and thunder boomed. The ground shook beneath us, and the door teetered open a crack. The smell of swamp gas filled the air, making me crinkle my nose.

  “Ugh, what’s that smell?” I asked, covering my nose with my hand.

  “Him,” Aziza said, jerking her thumb at the Egyptian god of death.

  “It isn’t me,” Anubis said, kneeling down and scooping the cat into his arms. He held it there like an obscenely large, struggling baby. “That’s what the underworld smells like. It helps keep out intruders. You’ll get used to it once your nostrils go numb.”

  “I don’t think she likes that,” I said as the cat slowly unfurled its claws. “I saw on a television show that cats don’t like being held like babies.”

  “The mortal is correct,” Bast hissed, one claw flashing out but striking air as Anubis grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and tossed her through the door. Then, without waiting for a response, he entered the door himself, disappearing into its dark, dank depths.

  “He’s really not very nice to his cat,” I said, taking a step toward the door as my wolf scanned for danger.

  “That’s not his cat, you moron. It’s his wife, the goddess Bast.” Without waiting for me to reply, Aziza vanished into the doorway, leaving me to stand there by myself.

  I wasn’t quite sure what was worse. That he’d treated his wife like that or that I’d met another god and hadn’t even known it. I sighed. I really should have brought an autograph book with me. I bet I could have sold it for a fortune online when I got home.

  I stepped through the doorway and was greeted by alternating blasts of cool and warm air. It reminded me of the time my dad couldn’t make up his mind about the temperature in the house. He wound up running the air conditioner full blast with the fireplace eating wood like it was going out of style.

  Both Anubis and Aziza were standing there arguing, but they stopped as soon as they saw me. Behind them stood a seven-foot tall, athletic-looking woman with skin like polished volcanic glass and hair that fell down to her ankles in a sweeping ebony wave. Golden bangles covered her arms, legs, and neck. Golden wire was actually woven through her ears so that it spiraled upward like a gilded serpent.

  She glanced at me. As my cheeks burst into flames because she’d caught me staring, she batted her long black eyelashes at me and placed one slender finger against her lips. The look in her eyes made some very uncomfortable thoughts swim through my mind.

  “I don’t think your friend will mind if I tag along.” Bast’s voice was like having satin gently dragged across my skin. It made goosebumps rise on my flesh, and my knees go a little weak.

  Aziza glanced at me and smirked. “Something tells me you’re right.”

  “Well, I’m glad we’re all in agreement then,” Bast murmured, sashaying over to me before putting one slender arm around my waist and pulling me against her. She was warm ... so warm that I couldn’t think about anything but snuggling up against her. “I’ll pair up with Lucas, and you two can go do whatever it is you need to do about the mummies.”

  “Wait, what?” Anubis asked, glancing at his wife, confusion and horror snaking across his jackal-face. Was there a reason this was a bad idea? I’m pretty sure there was, but as she ran the tips of her fingers along my spine, I decided I didn’t much care.

  “I don’t want to go anywhere with him,” Aziza said, but it didn’t matter because Bast was already leading me away from them.

  “So, what do you want to do first?” Bast asked, her hand drifting just a touch lower so her fingers rested just above my butt.

&
nbsp; 20

  “This is not going according to plan,” I said, my words carefully neutral so I wouldn’t offend my host. I was sitting on a soft pink cushion in the middle of a room where every object resembled some kind of bed. Bast was in front of me, lounging backward across a fuchsia loveseat, but she was so tall that her bare feet draped over the side.

  I glanced down at the table, staring at the gilded goblet filled with milk and honey for a moment before moving to get up. “I think I should go and help Aziza.”

  “I wouldn’t if I were you,” Bast said, her voice the faint edge of a feline purr. She looked at me lazily, one hand thrown back across her forehead as her yellow-cat eyes watched me. “Those two have centuries of issues to deal with. Getting into a good tussle will help them sort it out.” Bast stretched, her chest straining against her grey tiger-striped blouse.

  I swallowed, staring hard at her as I sat back down on my too-soft cushion. “Are you suggesting that Aziza and Anubis have a sordid past?”

  “Yes,” Bast said in her purr voice. The word hung in the air, drifting between us like an amorphous blob.

  “He’s your husband, right? Doesn’t that upset you?” I asked, feeling crazy because I was the voice of reason.

  She shifted, burying her shoulders into the couch and hugging onto one of the pillows so that her eyes were barely visible. “I’m a god, Lucas. Gods do things like that. Our sex lives are all kinds of screwed up.” She glanced at me. “The thing you’re not understanding is that gods actually have a lot less control over our destinies than you’d think. We’re bound by what people think of us. I’ve gone from being Anubis’ mother to his wife, and I’m sure I’ll have some new incarnation soon. Whatever people believe about us is what is. It’s why some of the aging gods combine together.” She shrugged dismissively, but the edge of sadness in her voice touched something deep inside me, scratching at a wound I didn’t even know I had.