by Ben Zackheim
“We don’t work for you anymore,” Rebel growled. I waved her off. I didn’t want to burn any bridges. If Spirit needed our help, then we’d be happy to join forces. On our terms.
My partner wisely kept me between her and her beloved sibling. I got to be the thin layer of protection between the two of them. There were a few million other places I’d rather have been. As we descended, a silence took over. The last time we’d been together, Ronin was our boss at Spirit, and the world was fine. Fucked up, but not undead fucked up. The thought probably hit us all at the same time. Suddenly, the hostility dialed down a few notches. It was still there, but it wouldn’t burn a hole in the floor.
In the calm of the moment, I found something to be worried about. Things had been too crazy since the fight with the temple spider and the vampire rebellion, so I’d forgotten to check in with Lucas. I needed to use the comm to ask the demon how our multi-front battle plan was going. Odin and Pandora should have been in the middle of whatever mess they were making. I threw a few insults at myself when I realized I couldn’t speak with him while we were at Spirit. It was too risky. Ronin had ways of listening in on comm chatter.
And, as if to verify my worst fears, Ronin cleared her throat and said, “You two have been in Paris.”
“Is that a question?” I asked. I wasn’t going to tell her where we’d been, or what we’d been doing. Not yet. She’d just find a way to leverage it for her own needs.
“No,” she said with a small sigh. “I know it was you. We have satellites of our own, agent. We spotted the explosion at the Republique. The Leviathans abandoned the area, and helped secure some cities in South America.” Our silence was all she needed to verify her suspicion.“I don’t know how you did it, but good job.”
“Glad you approve,” Rebel said as the elevator doors opened on a room of desks. It was a simple space. It was something between one of those nightmare open-office configurations, and a 1960s NASA control room. Monitors and dashboards lined up next to each other, and zig-zagged through the room.
The screens were dark.
The room was empty.
One set of fluorescents dangled over us. They cast a green pallor over everything.
Spirit really was gutted.
“Looks like you guys could use some help,” I said, following Ronin down the middle aisle.
“Like I said, we could put you to good use if you’d put away the chip on your shoulder.”
“That would be a lot easier to do if you hadn’t put the chip there and misplaced our friends,” Rebel growled.
“We’re busy in Paris,” I added. “We can’t help you.”
“Are there survivors?”
“We’re up to a thousand.”
“Where are you keeping them?”
We were interrupted by the same roar that prompted us to tear down the front door. That was fine with me. I wasn’t going to answer her question anyway. Not yet. Not until I had some leverage.
“One of your pets?” I asked, as the roar died down.
Ronin opened a door, and a flood of white light poured into the dim control room. Her silhouette turned to me.
“It’s a piece of Set,” Ronin said. I couldn’t see her, but I could hear the cocky smirk in her voice.
Chapter 15
My brain stuck on that one.
I had no idea what it could mean. Even in my crazy world, I couldn’t make her sentence make sense.
Luckily, Rebel found a way to respond. “Which piece?”
“A small one. It’s a Lamassu.”
The Lamassu were Egyptian guardians with the heads of humans, bodies of lions, and wings of eagles. The last time I’d seen them, they were in Set’s Wound.
“How is a Lamassu a piece of Set?”
“He created them.”
“From his rib?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
The Egyptian lore came to me. Set needed to protect his kingdom, and the Lamassu were his ace in the hole. They could protect everything from the magical, to the valuable, to a prince’s virginity.
“How did you get your hands on it?” I asked.
“It’s a long story.”
“It’s the end of the world, Ronin. I don’t have any lunch dates. You, Rebel?”
“I was going to do my nails, but I’ll stick around for this.”
Ronin sighed, and walked ahead of us. She slapped the buttons on a keypad, and some steel double doors swung open.
“In here,” she said, gesturing for us to walk past her.
It was a long, thin room. Dimly lit like everything else in that place. It looked like a morgue, but the medical supplies on the shelves meant it was a more hopeful place than that.
A red glow on the other side of the room caught my eye. The long piece of glass covered the furthest wall, like one of those super aquariums. But instead of fish, it housed a Lamassu. I could only see the torso, legs, and wings. Its head broke the surface of the pool near the top of the tank.
“We let it up once a day,” Ronin said. “It needs to stay connected to this reality or it’ll go poof.”
“Is that the technical term?”
“There is no technical term, so yeah, I just made it official.”
“How many did you capture?”
“Three. This is the last one.”
“Why?”
“Excuse me?”
“Why? What’s the plan? Are you going to interrogate it? Torture it for shits and giggles?”
“We don’t know yet. We grabbed them by accident. They showed up when we still had some agents left. Armed agents. One of them was a werewolf and there was something about it that threw them off. Somehow, the agent’s presence was a surprise to them.”
She stopped, and looked straight ahead. It was like she could see the memory in front of her eyes, right then and there.
“What?” her sister asked. “What are you hiding from us?”
Ronin blinked and glanced at her sister like she’d forgotten she was there. “The Lamassu looked confused. It was like they didn’t know why they were there. Something’s been bugging me about the whole fucking thing since it happened. I think I know what it is.”
“What is it?”
“I think someone sent them to us.”
“Someone wanted you to capture a few of Set’s guardians?”
“I don’t know. But it sure does seem that way.”
“Where did they appear?”
“We were stocking up the caravan at Colorado HQ, and the three of them just popped in front of us. It’s hard to read their faces. They don’t show emotion. But they moved around like they were trying to get their bearings. Like they were as surprised as we were.”
“So you took them down with traditional weapons?”
“Kind of. Agent Herald…”
“The werewolf,” Rebel said, quickly.
“Yeah. He transformed into a wolf and that made them back up. The bullets weren’t working, so I ordered the agents to try to take one alive. There was a big one. Bigger than the others. We focused our firepower on it but it just seemed to get bigger and stronger.”
“Did you try electricity?” I asked.
Ronin looked at me like I had a squirrel growing on my face. “How did you know?”
“It’s a disruption in space. That’s the kind of thing that usually confuses gods and their cronies. They made sure they were immune to our spears and bullets long ago. But if you use forces of nature against them, you stand a better chance. Fire hoses also work well.”
Ronin looked at me like we’d just been introduced for the first time. “Too bad we didn’t have you there. Maybe we wouldn’t have lost two of our agents to these fucks.”
I walked up to the tank. The Lamassu glanced down at me, and its black stone eyes stuck on my face. I tried to meet its glare, but that shit was creepy to the core. I examined the rest of its body. It was decrepit. It was falling apart. Chunks of its stone veneer were chipped off. A few shards brok
e away from its torso, and drifted to the bottom of the tank.
“You look like shit,” I mumbled.
Its black eyes flashed white.
Was that supposed to be a response?
I didn’t like the Lamassu when I first met them in Egypt. I liked them even less now. They could have sided with Isis, but instead they went for…
Wait a minute.
Shit.
In the chaos of the last few weeks, I’d forgotten that the Lamassu worked for Tabitha’s sister, Nephthys.
Not Set.
“Let him out of that cage,” I said to Ronin. “Now.”
Chapter 16
“The first response that comes to mind is, fuck you, Kane,” Ronin growled.
I knew I’d have to be careful about sharing too much with her, but I couldn’t slip out of that moment easily. “The Lamassu don’t work for Set, Ronin. Not anymore.”
“Yeah? Who do they work for?”
I wasn’t going to answer that question. I had to hold a solid hand of cards when this reunion with Ronin reached its climax.
So, of course, Rebel answered instead.
“Nephthys,” Rebel said. The answer landed with a thud. I shot my partner one of my ‘what the hell did you do that for’ looks. Rebel frowned back at me.
“Nephthys?” Ronin asked. “The Egyptian protector of the dead?”
Rebel rolled her eyes. “No, the girl that works in the taco truck on 6th Avenue and 13th Street.”
I ignored her. “Maybe she sent the Lamassu here to help Spirit.”
“That would suck,” Ronin said, glancing at her prisoner.
“Look, let it out and I’ll be responsible for it.”
“It’s pretty sick, from what I can tell,” Rebel said. “It probably can’t put up much of a fight.”
“Probably?” Ronin asked, crossing her arms.
“Most likely,” her sister shot back. “He won’t be a match for all of us, even if he did try something.”
“You have no plan for him, Ronin,” I said. “But I do.”
“Enlighten me then, oh Plan-Master,” my former boss leaked from her mouth. No one could ooze sarcasm like Ronin.
“Can it hear us?” I asked.
“No way. That tank is sealed up. It’s a she, by the way.”
“Good. Then the plan is to tell her why she’s here.”
“We don’t know why she’s here, Kane,” Ronin said.
“Then we make something up.”
The sisters looked at each other.
“We tell her, I don’t know, we tell her she was sent here by Nephthys. I show her the Sceptre, and she bows down, and does what we say.”
“At least until she figures out we’re lying to her,” Rebel added.
“Maybe we’re not lying. Maybe Nephthys sent her to help us crawl out from under Set’s thumb.”
“We killed the Lamassu’s comrades,” Ronin said, shaking her head. “No way. She’ll want revenge.”
“I’ll tell her you overreacted. I’m sure it’s the truth.”
Apparently, that did the trick. “Okay, smart guy,” Ronin said, her eyes going wide with frustration. “Go ahead and let the nice lion bird thing go free.”
“Thanks, boss,” I said.
“Don’t you ‘boss’ me, jerk-off.”
I checked out the environmental controls on the wall pad. It didn’t make much sense to me, but I wasn’t about to admit that to Ronin.
“Need a hand, Arkwright?” she asked.
“If I had a dime for every time I heard that…”
“You’d be a billionaire? I thought you already were one.”
I pressed a few buttons that looked about right, and said, “We’re all billionaires now, Ronin. Just walk into a few banks and take all the time you need.” The top of the submersion tank hissed as the vacuum was broken. The creature looked around, and moved cautiously to the edge of the tank. She shoved the top off, and pulled herself out.
She dropped to the floor in front of me with a sick crunch, and a few more pieces rolled away from her wings. She managed to push herself up against the wall. She leaned on it, and studied us with those black eyes.
“We’re not going to hurt you,” I said.
She didn’t respond. In fact, she was completely still. It occurred to me in a flash of heat that she might be dead.
But then she moved her head a little to the left, and met Ronin’s eyes.
A soft gurgle emerged from her throat. It sounded like stones being bounced around a bucket of water.
Rebel, Ronin, and I took turns looking at each other.
“What’s that sound?” Rebel asked.
Which is when the sound fell and rose. Fell and rose.
“She’s laughing,” I said.
The Lamassu’s head tilted back, and the laughter got louder.
“Hey!” Ronin yelled at her. She didn’t like laughter as a general rule, especially when she thought it was directed at her. I held up my hand to shush her. The Lamassu was communicating. It was annoying communication, but I’d settle for that. It was a good start. The last thing I needed was Ronin’s temper killing our chances for a happy ending.
“What’s funny?” I asked the beast.
Slowly, she stopped making the noise, and settled her gaze on me. Her head jerked forward once. Twice.
“She’s choking,” Rebel said. She was right. It sounded like she was having a hard time breathing. Her mouth opened and closed. I didn’t want to stick my fingers down that stone throat, but I realized it might be necessary.
Did I think she was important enough to us to lose a few fingers? Or even a whole hand? I stepped toward her. She gasped, and slammed back against the wall so hard that she cracked the glass of her prison cell.
“I am Fa,” Ronin said.
Rebel and I looked back and forth between the Lamassu, and Ronin. The Lamassu was communicating through my ex-boss. Ronin’s eyes were wide in surprise. She was fully aware of being used as the creature’s vocal chords.
And she did not like it.
She started slapping her throat. Rebel had to restrain her from hurting herself.
“We’d better make this fast, before your host body tries to cut you out of her.”
“It is not pleasant for me, either,” the Lamassu said. “Why am I here?”
“That’s what we wanted to talk to you about,” I said. “You’ve been sent here to help us.”
“Help you with what?”
“To help us beat Set.”
Ronin started to laugh. I’d never heard her laugh before. It figures it would take possession by another being to get it out of her.
Ronin held on tight as she struggled to free herself. She was ready to go mining in this creature’s ass until she got her own laughter back. Then she’d probably pull her stone guts out as she laughed some more.
I had to make this fast.
I opened my Vault Portal and hoped it would behave itself.
The blue light glowed in the air beside me. I reached into it, and pulled out the Sceptre.
That shut Fa up, good and fast.
She bowed her head, and crawled to my feet.
“Sire of the Nile,” she said. “Tower of Masmalad and Master Baiter.” But her voice didn’t come from Ronin’s mouth this time.
This time, it came from inside my head.
Chapter 17
The fucking thing bowed down so low she hit her head on the floor.
“Get up,” I said, urgently. I waited about .00001 seconds to hiss, “Get up!” again.
I knew what was about to happen. I knew the next voice I heard would be Rebel’s. She just couldn’t resist.
“Well, lookee at that,” Rebel said with a joyful coo. “Kane found a worshiper.”
“Rebel, so help me Thor…”
“Thor’s got nothing to do with it this time.”
“Why is she kneeling for you?” Ronin asked while rubbing her throat.
“How should I know? My g
uess is that it’s the Sceptre, being that I whipped it out and she dropped to her knees.”
“Whipped it out and she dropped to her knees, huh? There’s a first time for everything,” Rebel had to say, because she’s an asshole.
“Will you please get up, Fa?”
The creature stood up straight, and I realized for the first time just how huge she was. She loomed over us. She tilted to the right a little bit. She was trying to stay upright.
“Like I was saying before you gave me a headache,” I said. “You’re here to help us defeat Set.”
“My apologies, master,” Fa said in my head.
“Okay, first, stop talking in my head. That shit won’t fly with me.”
“She’s talking to you?” Ronin asked. She had that tone to her voice that told me she was turning on her administrative, paranoid, red-tape brain. I was always afraid to share info with her when she was my boss because she could overthink 2+2 with a mathematician until they were talking calculus. “What is she saying?”
I held up my hand to shush her, and turned to Fa. “Second, do not call me that.”
“Call you what?” Rebel broke in. “What did she call you?”
“Sire of the Nile,” Fa said in a gravelly, loud voice that shook my eardrums. “Tower of Masmalad and Master Baiter.”
There was a moment where us mortals had to recover from the discomfort of Fa’s voice. But I knew what Rebel thought of my new titles.
“You got that last part right,” Rebel said.
“What the hell is a Master Baiter?” I yelled, throwing my arms in the air.
Fa regarded me as if I were a school boy ready for his lesson. “The wielder of the Sceptre starts wars over the hills to keep the wars from the valley. The Master Baiter gets the enemy to do what he wants. The Sceptre is clever and strong.”
We all had to shake our ears out from that long explanation.
“Okay, go back to talking in my head,” I ordered.
“Why would you need Fa to defeat Set? Set is all-powerful and Fa is but a stone.”
“We need information, Fa,” I said out loud. Rebel and Ronin looked lost.
Good.
I needed to have a moment’s peace from any interruptions.