King of the Gods

by J. A. Cipriano

  I turned, raised my head to the air and inhaled. Aziza’s scent filled my being, wafting over me along with the tinny smell of blood. Only it was different. This was someone else’s blood.

  I peered over the edge of the balcony and saw nothing but oppressive darkness. Fear roiled in my gut as I stared out. It was the only way to reach her in time. I gritted my teeth together and leaped over the edge.

  The ground slammed into me a moment later, hard enough to break things inside of me as I collapsed. I pushed down the pain and stood, spinning in a slow circle as my broken bones wove themselves back together.

  Something moved to my left, and I pounced, claws extended. My body slammed into a furry shape. Its hair was like coarse thread, thick, shaggy, and long. It made it impossible for my claws to find purchase. It reached back, grabbed me by the left arm, and flung me away. I whipped around in the air, my feet smacking into the stone, and I pushed off.

  My shoulder slammed into the creature’s chest, and it collapsed under my weight. I reared back, my claws raised to rip into its flesh and spill its hot slick blood when something hard smashed into the back of my head.

  I wobbled, the world spinning as I tried to turn toward it. It hit me again, and I fell sideways, crashing to the ground. My vision swam so I shut my eyes and listened. The wind whistled next to me, and I moved, lunging toward the sound. Something sharp tore through my leg as I landed.

  I howled, pain leaping through me and fading just as quickly as my claws slashed, finding purchase in something. Boiling fluid spilled out over me, melting my skin, but I seized hold of the thing and jerked it toward my mouth. I bit down, clamping onto its too warm flesh and shaking until the thing went limp beneath my jaws.

  23

  “I can’t believe you killed the sphinx,” Aziza said, awe filling her voice.

  “I didn’t know it was a big deal,” I said. I rubbed my eyes with my hand and stared at the torn corpse of the sphinx lying on the floor. I had ripped out its throat, and blood was fast spreading around its body in an ever-expanding pool of golden ichor. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  “Well, it is, and I appreciate it, Luke,” Aziza said, nudging the fallen creature with her toe before reaching past me and pressing on one of the bricks beside my head. The door on our right shuddered, and the sound of breaking rock and turning gears filled my ears, reverberating in the tiny room so it numbed my brain. The door screeched open, sliding sideways into the wall like we were in some sort of sci-fi movie.

  Bright yellow light spilled into the room and chased away all the shadows. I put one hand over my eyes to shield them from the glare. I was about to say something when Aziza put a finger to her lips to silence me like she hadn’t just opened the loudest door in the world, but I decided to follow her lead. She took a couple quick steps forward and leaned toward the opening, peering out into the blinding light outside.

  She waved at me, gesturing for me to come forward, and as I did, she held out her hand, signaling me to stop. She turned back toward me, eyes squinted nearly shut and put a finger to her lips. She made two of her fingers walk across her palm before making a fist and smacking it into her open hand. She nodded at me, and I nodded back.

  I was pretty sure someone was coming, and we were to crush him with our fists or something. That I could do. Since I was still in werewolf form, I squatted down so I could pounce on the intruder the moment he showed himself. My muscles tensed, and my blood began to pound in my ears. Every sound came alive, and the smell of dust and lizards filled my nostrils.

  Aziza smirked at me and turned back, one hand held up above her head. Very slowly, she began counting down with her fingers. Five… four… three…

  I crept forward so tense, I was like a bowstring. Two… one…

  I leaped as a shadow crossed in front of the threshold. My arms were outstretched, fingers curled into claws as I landed right on top of a giant scorpion. My bare feet slammed into its hard, obsidian carapace with a crack that dropped it flat on its belly, legs splaying out to its sides with a snap.

  A piercing cry filled my ears as I rolled, barely avoiding the spine on the end of its tail as it lashed out at me. I hit the dirt, sending up a cloud of golden dust as the creature righted itself, dragging several broken limbs along the sand as it whirled to face me, huge pincers snapping through the air. Each clack-clack of its claws was like thunder in my ears.

  I rolled backward to create distance as it struck again, burying its huge sword-like tail in the dirt. Steam hissed from the sand, and the smell of melting plastic filled my nose as it withdrew its tail. The movement was so quick that I could scarcely follow it. Black ichor dripped from the tip, splattering across the sand and sizzling.

  Aziza pounced, the khopesh she’d gotten from Anubis during their mummy hunt gleaming through the air as she landed just behind the creature and swung. Her blade smacked into the side of the creature’s tail with a sound like shattering glass. The plated chiton shattered in a spray of coppery goo. The embedded weapon began to spark and bubble as the creature spun, tearing it from her hands.

  It threw her off-balance, and she hit the sand in a heap. The scorpion dragged itself toward her as she scrambled to her feet. I leaped forward, grabbed hold of the sizzling khopesh buried in the creature’s tail and braced my feet against its carapace. I pulled, muscles cording with effort, and the blade came free with a pop. The creature juked, trying to throw me off, but before it could, I drove the khopesh downward into its back as I fell. The metal shrieked and shattered under the force, breaking off into a jagged shard that pierced its shell.

  Ichor sprayed from the wound, coating the hilt of the weapon in copper-colored slime, and making my hands slip off. I fell, landing hard on my back. The air shot out of me as the creature reached back, trying to pull the broken sword from its back with one pincer. I was on my feet in an instant, one hand extended toward the creature. Air began to whip around me as I turned my attention and my magic to the giant statue of a lion-headed goddess to our left.

  With a jerk of willpower, I flung my hand toward it, and a lasso of purple fire exploded from my hand. It wrapped around the statue until it was burning so brightly there was no way you couldn’t see it from space. I ignored the glare as I jerked my hand backward in a sweeping gesture that caused the statue's legs to shatter as I pulled it toward me.

  The huge stone lion-woman toppled over, slamming down on the wounded scorpion with a sound that reminded me of stepping on a cockroach, only a million times louder.

  Goo splattered out across the sound, covering me and my tunic in slime that smelled like rancid pork. I wiped my face, turning to look at Aziza. She beamed at me, her legs and torso covered in the same foul-smelling gunk.

  “Well, that was easy,” she called as the ground beneath our feet began to shake.

  A falcon cried out, high above our heads, and I glanced toward it as the statue of the lion-goddess began to move. It reached out, its stone hands hitting the ground and pushing it off the splattered scorpion. It craned its head toward me and frowned.

  “You dare to destroy my statue, wolf?” it asked, voice like a rumbling mountain crossed with a raging inferno. “Does your disrespect know no limits?”

  The statue tried to get up but couldn’t do so with its broken legs. It struck the ground with its fist, shattering its hand and throwing a wave of burning sand into the air.

  “Sekhmet,” Aziza called, fear lacing her words. “We meant no disrespect.” She backpedaled, hands out in front of her to ward off a blow.

  “Silence, girl!” the goddess cried moments before the statue exploded, flinging shards of rock outward in every direction. I hit the ground, shielding my neck and head with my hands like they taught me to do in school. You know, in case of an earthquake.

  When I finally looked up, a girl who looked no older than twenty stepped out of the cloud of debris. Somehow, despite how angry she looked, she was gorgeous. Her armor gleamed like the sun. It was painted w
ith reds and blues that depicted a lion tearing the head from a snake. Her hair was neon-blue and matched her eyes. Little wisps of electricity danced across her ebony skin as she moved toward us, though her bare feet left no footprints on the sand.

  I’m not sure how, but the next moment, she had Aziza by the throat and was holding her aloft. Aziza’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her skull, and both of her hands reached up to grab Sekhmet’s wrist.

  “I am She Who Mauls,” Sekhmet cried, voice like an active volcano. “I am She Before Whom Evil Trembles, the Mistress of Dread. I am the Lady of Slaughter. I am the goddess who leads Egypt’s armies to victory! And you have dared to defend one who would destroy my statue?”

  “We’re trying to find Khufu,” I cried, finally shaking myself into action as I scrambled to my feet.

  Sekhmet turned to look at me. She sniffed, her nostrils flaring outward for a second as she regarded me with rage-filled ice blue eyes. “Wolf,” she nodded at me, a barely perceptible movement of the chin in my direction. “How are things?”

  “Um …” I swallowed. Was the Egyptian deification of war really standing there making small talk while holding Aziza by the throat? Was that really happening?

  “What’s the matter, Bast got your tongue?” she asked, blood-red lips curling into a smile that revealed her teeth like a flash of diamond in the sunlight.

  “No, not this time anyway,” I replied, shrugging. “See, we came here to stop Khufu. Aziza is helping me do that. I didn’t mean to break your statue, but there was a giant scorpion …” I trailed off because her eyes were taking on a bored quality. “You don’t care about what I’m saying, do you?”

  “Not really,” she affirmed and tossed Aziza on the ground in front of me. She hit once, bounced, and lay there unmoving, her eyes staring blankly up at the blue sky.

  “Well, why did you ask then?” I glanced up at her and narrowed my eyes.

  “It was the polite thing to do.” She shrugged at me. “Politeness never costs you anything, wolf.”

  I smirked, and it must have annoyed her because she narrowed her eyes at me. “Do you mock me?” she asked, voice like the desert wind. It was hot enough to scald your throat and relentless enough to sear the flesh from your bones. “Is destroying my statue not enough?”

  “No, no, not at all. My dad has told me that same thing a million times,” I replied, putting my hands up in the universal sign for surrender.

  “Perhaps you need another lesson in being polite?” she asked, crossing the distance between us in the space of a heartbeat and running one crimson-nailed finger across my chest. “I could teach you many things, wolf. How would you like that?” She looked up at me because she was only about five feet tall and licked her lips. “What do you say, Lucas?” She bit down on her bottom lip and let it scrape against her teeth.

  Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed me by the back of the head, pulling me down toward her. Her breath was warm on my flesh, making me shiver. Her lips parted as she stared up into my eyes, and admittedly, that made some very bad thoughts fill my brain.

  She stepped into me, pressing her body against mine, and despite her being nearly a foot shorter than me, she fit against me perfectly. Her other hand trailed down my chest, blood-red nails lightly scratching my skin. “Many things,” she whispered, voice heady and thick. “You cannot even imagine …”

  “How do you know my name?” I blurted, and as the words left my lips, she took a step backward, releasing me. Her eyes hardened into granite, and her lips twisted into a grimace.

  “I’m a goddess,” she snapped, and actual flames danced across her eyes. “Knowing your name is hardly beyond my power!”

  “Fair point,” I said, shrugging. “So, what do you want?”

  “What do I want?” Sekhmet’s face twisted into a snarl as she took a step forward, hands clenched into angry fists at her sides. “To make you pay for breaking my statue.”

  24

  “Now prepare yourself for my wrath, wolf. Try and make it worth my time.” As Sekhmet finished speaking, golden fur flowed over her features until I was staring face to face with an angry lioness.

  “Fine,” I growled, feeling my own magic rush up inside me. Purple sparks began to spark off my fur as I bared my teeth and growled.

  Before I could blink, Sekhmet was on me, one hand lashing out through the air. I barely dodged. As her fist sailed through where my head would be, I shifted my weight, sliding by her and driving my elbow into her side.

  The force of the blow rang through my arm, shattering my elbow as she wobbled sideways. The pain in my arm died away almost instantly, and I knew I only needed a few moments for it to heal, but that wouldn’t help me now.

  Sekhmet spun, somehow regaining her balance and pushing off the ground with both feet. Her hands went out, flinging gobs of fire right at me. My own hands rose up, summoning a magical shield, but instead of trying to block the attacks, I angled the barrier, causing the fireballs to hit and immediately divert around me.

  They slammed into the city behind me with an explosion that shook the ground, and as debris rained down around me, I realized Sekhmet had played me. Or tried to play me anyway.

  She rushed right toward me, pouncing over my magic shield to come down right on top of me. Wreathed in flame, her fist came right at my face, and I did the only thing I could think of. I blocked. My arm went down, and even though I felt my forearm crack from the force, I twisted with it, using an aikido move to divert her momentum and use it against her. As I swept my arm around, her arm popped from the socket with an earsplitting crack.

  Sekhmet didn’t seem deterred though. Instead, her other hand came around in an instant. Her claws rent across my chest, tearing through my flesh and spilling my blood across the ground. Still, if there was one nice thing about being a werewolf, it was healing and pain suppression. I ignored what would have been a killing blow and went for her throat. My teeth latched around her neck, and I bit down while tearing outward.

  Her golden blood sprayed across me, and as it did, I felt it go down my mouth. A surge of power went through me, unlike anything I’d ever felt. My wounds instantly healed as my fur took on a gold tinge.

  Unfortunately, that moment of euphoria cost me, and Sekhmet slipped from my grip. She backpedaled, one hand clasping her ruined throat. As her eyes met mine and I knew she was about to come at me again, an obsidian-headed spear burst through Sekhmet’s chest, spraying me with warm, sticky ichor.

  The goddess looked down, uncomprehending as the weapon twisted and jerked out of her, leaving a huge bleeding cavern in the spot between her breasts. Metallic blood spilled out of the ragged hole in her armor and gushed down over her body, painting the front of her gold.

  Her mouth opened and closed like a dying fish as she slowly turned her head. A booted foot caught her full in the face. She hit the sand with an empty-sounding thwap. I looked up, my sudden surprise fading in a split second as I recognized who had helped me.

  Khufu.

  Even though he was only about as tall as Sekhmet, he was huge and muscled, reminding me of a bodybuilder who had undergone a little too much chemical enhancement. His bloody spear dripped in the sand as he held it lazily in one of his huge hands.

  “Hello, Luke,” he said, offering me his other hand. His fingers glittered with so many rings it made it hard to look at. “Thanks for lining up that shot for me.” He grinned and raised his spear. “I put this right into her heart. Should keep her down for a bit.”

  “Bastard …” Sekhmet coughed, spattering bloody spray across his leg as she tried to push herself to her feet and failed.

  “Actually not,” he replied, absently driving his spear through the back of her neck and pinning her to the ground. A horrible wheezing gasp filled the air as she tried to reach back and wrap her fingers around the weapon. Her hands only succeeded in brushing limply against it before falling emptily to her sides. “My parents were quite happily married, unlike yours. Do you M
enhit even know who your parents are?”

  He turned back toward me, apparently unconcerned that he’d just speared a goddess through the throat. While she seemed pretty well incapacitated, she had been pissed at me for breaking her statue. What would she do as vengeance for this? Call down a meteor?

  “I’m pretty sure they spawn in the water like frogs. The gods I mean.” Khufu shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his goatee with one hand. “Who is to say? Now, where were we? Oh yes, Luke, you need to come with me if you want to live.”

  “Uh … why is that?” I asked, glaring at him. “I came here to capture you, not help you.”

  “If you don’t come with me, I’m going to kill you.” He shrugged, and the twinkle in his dark eyes told me that the possibility didn’t bother him all that much. “And, unlike the Lady of Slaughter, I don’t think you’ll recover from being stabbed in the throat with this.” His lips curled into a smile that was way too toothy. “This spear is a guardian weapon and is designed to take down supernatural beings.” He gestured at me with it. “That about sums you up, right?” He smiled at me again.

  “But again, that’s not what I want. What I want is to help you.” He waved a hand toward me. “Just hear me out, and afterward, well, if you still want to fight about it, we can, okay?”

  I stared at the mummy for a long moment. I had come here to capture him, but at the same time, he had helped me with Sekhmet, and while I didn’t think I’d needed his help, it had been a nice gesture. Maybe I should hear him out? My dad would have, and my dad was the smartest guy I knew.

  “Okay, what do you want?” I asked, glancing around the city. I didn’t see Aziza anywhere. Was she still incapacitated from Sekhmet’s attack, or had this guy done something to her?

  “I want the book of Thoth, and unfortunately for both of us, it’s inside you.” Khufu tapped his chin with his knuckles. “I thought about trying to cut it out of you, but now that I see you, I can tell that it's actually part of your essence, so I’m not quite sure how to get it out of you.” He sighed, a single explosive burst of breath. “You’ll just have to perform the ritual. Think you can manage that?”