by Jean Murray
“Actually, the Egyptian’s embalming was advanced for their time,” Kendra said. “The preparation lent to very little decay. When done properly, it was thought that the soul which resided in the heart would be reunited with the body in the afterlife.”
“Someone should tell those bastards we kill every night to go peacefully into their little afterlife.” Kit chugged her wine and wiped her hand across her lips. “It would make my life a whole lot more enjoyable.”
Lilly leaned back along the bookcase and twirled a blonde strand of her hair. “Well, considering this all started when a tomb was exhumed, we can only assume it was cursed.”
Kit rolled her eyes. “You’re not going to start that theory again are you?”
Lilly threw a piece of bread at her sister. “I think our boss is right. Curses were created to keep tombs safe from looters or rivals. They didn’t think the world would scatter their burial sites around the world in museums or private collections.”
“The myth of curses just plays on peoples’ fears.”
“You don’t believe in curses. Really? And this coming from someone who kills revens every night and had a snake imbedded in her spine by an ancient conversion spell. That’s not enough proof for you?”
Kit shrugged. “I didn’t think it would actually work.”
“I didn’t believe it at first. I still have nothing tangible to support why revens exist,” Kendra said, and refilled her glass. “I’m still hoping to find a scientific reason. Some new virus or genetic mutation. It may have been the reason for the mass graves that were found in South America. Some long hibernating virus, just waiting for a new host without herd immunity. A new pandemic.”
“It’s probably some government’s experiment gone awry, but regardless here we are stuck under Mother’s thumb,” Kit complained. “She has Kendra chasing an empty tale of an ancient talisman that will cure the entire world — pining her life away making love to books instead of men. She’s still a virgin for hell’s sake.”
“Hey, I made it to third base with Jimmy what’s-his-name.”
Kit laughed. “That was in high school.”
“Well, when is the last time you had sex, Kit?”
“Yesterday.” Kit blew a kiss over her shoulder and sauntered to the bathroom.
Kendra turned her doe eyes Lilly’s direction. “What about you?”
Lilly sighed. She’d been purposely quiet during the whole discussion. “I don’t keep track, unlike our slut of a sister.”
“Hey, I heard that.” Kit yelled out over the flush of the toilet. She zipped up her pants as she exited. “Lil hasn’t gotten laid since before her last boyfriend turned into a raging flesh eater.”
“Shut up, Kit.” Lilly snapped. Her sister had hit on a very sore subject, one she didn’t want to talk about. With enough dead bodies on her conscious, she didn’t want to be reminded about the ones she cared about.
“Well, it’s true. You’re gun shy. Come on, it’s not that you haven’t had the chance to spread your legs.”
Lilly grunted. “Really, Kit! Do you have to be so crude? Our little sister is here.”
Kendra laughed. “It’s okay. I’ve already heard all her dirty jokes.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of,” Lilly huffed, pushing up off the floor. She absently rubbed the chain in her pocket. Her fingertips tingled at the contact.
“I can fix your cold spell. I have just the guy in mind.” Kit sat on the edge of the desk. “That’s, if you don’t mind that he already slept with a Carrigan sister?”
“Gross, Kit, really. Shut up!”
“I’m just saying. Live it up now, it may be your last.”
Lilly took a big gulp of her wine and stalked off.
“Way to go, big mouth,” she heard Kendra hiss.
Lilly walked up to the main level of the museum. There was no human security these days, only electronic. She needed to work off her agitation before she went back to her sisters. Opening the main panel, she switched off the internal motion sensors. All the other grids remained green and active.
Out of habit, she looked out the barred windows. The streets were empty, as they should be with the mandatory curfew. Hopefully there’d be no new victims come morning. She turned her back to the window and swirled her wine in the glass before taking another sip. The museum and the fortress were the only two places she felt safe enough not to wear a weapon. It was liberating not have the weight on her body.
In the center of the room, she lay on the marble floor. Bars over the small skylights in the roof prevented entry into the museum, but still allowed natural light. Stars twinkled in the distance. When had she last lain in the grass and looked at the constellations and majestic Milky Way galaxy?
She pulled out the thick gold braid and held it up in front of her eyes. It was surprisingly cool to the touch, especially at the point at which the gold cord thickened and shaped into a lion’s head and moon medallion. She turned the medallion over and found it was the exact mirror of the front.
She didn’t recall seeing it on the dark reven’s body, but it had been wearing dark clothing that matched its black skin.
“What would a reven want with jewelry?” she mumbled to herself.
Lilly jumped up and headed to the Egyptian exhibit to do a little research of her own. She dashed up the steps carrying her wine glass in one hand and the necklace in the other. If this was worn by the dark reven and the symbols on his arms referenced the underworld, there was only one place she needed to look.
Holding up the necklace, she compared it to the various artifacts contained behind glass cases in the tomb hall. “A usekh collar? No. A pectoral necklace? Yes, a pectoral.” With more excitement she walked to the great wall that had hieroglyphics spanning the entire space. She placed her hand against the stone and brushed the texture of each glyph against her fingertips. No lions or moons. Turning in a circle, she scanned the exhibit. The symbol wasn’t anywhere to be found. “Where are you?”
Without realizing, she had let the necklace slip from her fingertips. The sound of heavy medallion hitting the floor drew her attention downward. “Shit.” Annoyed by her clumsiness, she quickly dropped to her knees. The necklace had landed in the center of an enormous engraving that spanned the entire floor. Two eyes stared back at her from the black marble.
She jumped to her feet and back away. Holy hell—she had been standing on it the whole time. “Kit, get your ass up here!”
Her forceful voice resonated off the hard stone walls. Hopefully her sisters would hear her all the way down in the basement.
Footfalls echoed out in the corridor. Kit stormed into the room with her sword drawn. Her sister grasped her chest and blew out a hard breath. “Jesus, you scared the hell out of me.”
“Look!” Lilly pointed to the statue and then the floor.
“What? I’m not following you. Care to share a little more detail?” Kit asked, annoyed.
Lilly smiled and handed her sister the pectoral necklace.
“Where the hell did you get this?”
“The aqueduct. I think it belonged to the dark reven.”
Kit’s eyebrows shot up, which only made Lilly grin. She never broke Mother’s rules, and this was a big one.
“Look.” Lilly jumped up onto the statue and rubbed her palm against the pectoral necklace that lay against its chest. The museum replica had a crude resemblance to the necklace Kit had in her hand, but with much less ornate detail. She leapt down and laughed. Her hands rubbed the engraving on the floor. An enormous engraving of a lion’s head and small moons.
“It looks similar. So what?”
“Step back and look where we are.” Lilly gestured her arms out and around. The room depicted the underworld with the various gods that ruled the afterlife. “Look where we’re standing.”
“The gateway to the underworld,” Kendra said behind them.
Kit whirled around and glared at their sister. “I thought I told you to wait downstairs.”
Kendra shrugged. “I didn’t hear any screaming so I figured it was okay to come out.”
“Can I kill her now?”
Lilly got up and brushed off her knees. “Maybe later. Right now we need her expertise.” She pulled Kendra over to the statue with the matching pectoral necklace. “Who is this?”
“It’s Akar or Asar. There are several spellings of his name. He guards the entrance and exit to the underworld, protecting it from evil spirits. Upon their death, Egyptians had to request to enter the gates. Asar would pass judgment based on the weight of their heart, which contains the soul. Similar to Saint Peter at the gates of heaven. Asar determined if the soul could pass into the afterlife to be reunited with their body and live the rest of their life in paradise. If they were turned away…” Kendra shrugged. “Well, let’s just say it was the equivalent of being sent to hell.”
Lilly pushed Kendra closer toward the statue. “What is he holding in his hand?”
“It’s a key. I had a replica made of the one dad found in Alexandria.”
“The key that was stolen from the site?” Kit asked.
Kendra nodded. “Dad made a drawing of it in his journal.” Her younger sister’s eyes widened as she looked at Kit’s hands. “Ah, Kit. Where did you get that?”
Kit glanced at the pectoral necklace still in her hands and pointed at Lilly.
“It belongs to the dark reven. I found it at the aqueduct.”
“You do realize that is the talisman Mother has been looking for, don’t you?” Kendra held her trembling hand out to take the necklace.
“What?”
Kendra rubbed her thumb across the gold medallion. “This is the artifact that was stolen from the excavation site in South America. The site with the mass grave. The very one Mother had me researching. The symbols are slightly different, but this is it.”
The hair on the back of Lilly’s neck stood up. The dark revens were even closer to this curse than she thought. Her father had discovered the South American site about the same time he found the goddess’ tomb in Alexandria. It was just by coincidence the paperwork on the Egyptian site had been approved before the South American excavation. Lilly’s father had been in Egypt when the outbreak occurred. A year later, a team of archeologist opened the South American site.
Lilly’s head spun with the possibilities. “Okay, let’s walk through this.” She rubbed her forehead as she paced back and forth in front of the statue of Underworld god. “This necklace, which is Egyptian, was found in a Mayan temple? What are the chances of that?”
“Looters, maybe?” Kendra offered. “A multitude of Egyptian artifacts were stolen from the pharaohs’ tombs and temples.”
Lilly stopped mid-step to face her little sister. “Tell me about the mass grave at this site.”
Kendra smiled and rubbed her palms together. “Well, here’s where it gets interesting. The archeology team arrived at the site. It was perfectly undisturbed. No one had been there for over a year. They were using ground penetrating equipment to see if there were any buried chambers or artifacts. That’s when they found the bodies—twenty of them. At first, they thought the grave contained Mayan remains, but when they exhumed the mummified bodies, they were dressed in modern clothes. Most were criminals from the local area. A forensics team was brought in, thinking it was a homicide scene. A colleague of mine, Dr. Steven Jones, was assisting at the site when he found the necklace. His notes stated he found it inside the temple ruins, an area that was hidden with no entry or exit. He had to bust through a six foot stone to even get into the chamber. The chamber appeared to be inhabited, but there were no bones or skeleton to account for the scrolling on the walls.”
Lilly looked from one sister to the other. “Let me guess. Egyptian hieroglyphics.”
“Bingo. Mother was interested in the glyphs that were scrolled repeatedly on the walls of that chamber. She thought it was the key to the curse.” Kendra touched the medallion. “Lions and moons.”
Lilly chewed on her fingernail. “Where is Dr. Jones? Can we call him?”
“He’s dead.”
“How did I know you were going to say that?” Kit scoffed. “See, back to dead and rotting.”
“How did he die?” Lilly asked.
Kendra frowned. “He died in his tent during the investigation. Coroner’s report said natural causes, but the guy was a marathon runner.”
“And the necklace ended up missing. Stolen.”
“Yep.”
Lilly turned to look at the statue. Her sisters stood on either side of her. “How the hell does a reven come to have an Egyptian necklace?”
Kendra gasped. “Lilly, the sketches of the tattoos you gave me!” She dashed out of the room.
Lilly didn’t hesitate to follow her, knowing she was onto something. She stopped once to glance at the security panel and reengaged the motion detectors, ensuring they were locked safely inside. By the time she got down to the basement, Kendra had the safe open. Lilly took the pectoral necklace from her sister’s shaking hands.
Kendra opened their father’s journal and turned it so that Lilly could see the entry. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it. The necklace, tattoos and the key from dad’s dig. They’re connected.”
Lilly gasped. “The symbols from the reven’s tattoos are on the key. And the necklace matches the hieroglyphics on the Mayan temple.”
Kendra leafed through a few more pages. “I remember Dad saying the symbols on the key seemed out of place with everything else in that tomb. It was unique. The pectoral necklace shares one of the symbols.”
“It was shortly after that Dad got sick.” Kit’s face turned green and she dashed to the bathroom.
“What does the key symbolize?” Lilly asked.
“It’s the key to the underworld,” she said. “It opens the gate between this world and the afterlife.”
“Dad and I removed that key from the goddess’ tomb.” Lilly rubbed at what was the beginning of a raging headache. “What if we accidently opened the gates? Or maybe they are permanently closed and the bodies can’t reunite with the souls.”
Kendra smiled and shook her head. “Lil, that’s just an ancient culture’s religion. In all my studies I have never found proof that we exist beyond the organic nature of ourselves. These artifacts are only symbols not actual instruments.”
“How can you hold onto scientific arguments when we have zombies roaming our streets and dark revens that have no physical means to support life?”
“Asar isn’t a reven. He is an Egyptian d—”
“Deity,” a deep voice finished from behind Lilly’s back.
CHAPTER seven
Lilly’s face tightened. In a defensive posture in front of the small pixie of a human, the huntress looked like a mother protecting her child.
The young female had to be important for his blonde huntress to guard her so fiercely.
Asar tilted his head. “I think you have something of mine.” He did not even look when the other sister stumbled in from the bathroom and cursed.
Lilly’s quivering hand turned slowly, revealing the gold necklace. His eyes narrowed when he followed her line of sight to her weapons belt.
“There will be no need for those.”
The black-headed sister lurched for the weapons only to run into Kamen. His brother growled when her warm hands hit his chest, burning his skin instantly, but the big brut did not budge.
“Come forward,” Asar commanded.
Lilly shrank in on herself as she approached — all confidence with which she killed conspicuously absent. This was the response to which he was accustomed.
His skin tingled with her warmth.
“Now, return what you have taken.” He inclined his head, indicating for her to replace the pectoral necklace to its rightful place around his neck. A light flickered in her eyes as she raised her arms and leaned into his body.
A painful heat rippled across his skin where her hands brushed his neck. Instea
d of releasing the thick gold cord, she pulled it down taut so her mouth was a millimeter from his ear. His muscles tightened.
“You hurt them, and I will tear your heart out,” she hissed, and then backed away.
Asar bared his teeth, partly because of the pain her touch caused, but also because she had put space between them. Her eyes glowed with fierce anger and hatred—an emotion he was all too familiar with. “Tell me what you know about the gate key.”
The small pixie of a woman stepped around Lilly. “We don’t have it, if that’s what you’re looking for. It was stolen from a dig over five years ago.”
Lilly stepped to the right blocking Asar’s view of the young girl. His gaze came to rest on her intense green eyes.
“Are you responsible for the revens? For the outbreaks?”
Her accusation bit deep, and bitterness boiled in his chest. He looked away briefly to remind himself that this fair human was not the one responsible for his situation. He was saving his fury for those who released the goddess, and more importantly the goddess, herself. She had betrayed him in the most heinous way, stripping him of his soul, his gate key and his son. He had nothing left but a hollow chest filled with hatred and the taste of vengeance.
Lilly stepped closer. “I asked you a question.”
Kamen moved on Lilly. “You will not address him in that manner, human.”
Asar raised his hand. “She has a right to know.” His eyes locked onto her. “Humans are responsible for the unleashing the curse when they unearthed a tomb and released a malevolent goddess from her prison. My key is now in the hands of my enemy because of your kind.”
His words had the desired effect. Lilly’s already pale skin lightened in color. She swallowed before she spoke again. This time in a more humble tone. “Will returning the key stop the spread of the revens?”
“No,” Asar barked.
The pixie stepped forward out of the office. “If it follows Egyptian belief, the goddess must be returned to the tomb and a ritual binding performed. That’s if you believe in curses.”
He narrowed his eyes. “How do you know that little one?”