Earth, Sun, and Moon Saga Ch. 08

Dakota here with chapter 8 of my smutty fantasy adventure series where a vampire, a witch, a selkie, and some dude face off against ancient gods. If you're a new reader, I recommend that you start with chapter 1, as this is an ongoing series with little in the way of synopsis.

Returning reader? Welcome back! This chapter is a bit light on the "smutty" side of the series and heavier on the "adventure" side. Basically, shit's about to get real.

Enjoy!

Gwendolyn, daughter of King Prasutagus and near-immortal druidess of the earthly realm, dropped the game controller in frustration.

"I don't understand when these quibbling amusements became so difficult," she said with a huff.

"Aww, don't be a sore loser," Ash said.

On the big screen of the living room, Ash's heavily muscled demon monster had just finished stomping Gwen's katana-wielding ninja into the ground. WINNER in giant, bold letters crawled across the screen while Ash's character did a physics-defying backflip in celebration.

The selkie lay upside down on the sofa, with her head hanging off and her human legs resting on the back. Her blonde hair, streaked unnaturally with blues and pinks, brushed the floor as she played.

"If you played more, you'd get better," Ash explained. "Besides you picked, like, the worst character."

"Humf," Gwen grunted. "Well, I think it's a silly thing to be good at."

"One more round," Ash insisted. "Please? Pick the guy in the space armor. He shoots lasers from his eyes!"

"Urg, fine."

They played another match, this time with Ash playing a lithe, acrobatic schoolgirl that jumped a lot and threw knives. Gwen won far too easily.

"Are you letting me win?"

"What? Of course not!" Ash was indigent but obviously lying.

In the second round, they were more evenly matched, until Ash's character threw a car at Gwen's, knocking him through a building and off-screen.

Ash was so obviously trying to lose the third round, that she dropped the controller halfway through, allowing Gwen to get a short combination of punches and kicks in before she recovered. Gwen won when she finally button-mashed enough to cause her space soldier to shoot a missile out of his chest and explode Ash's schoolgirl character as she jumped through the air.

"See! You're getting better!"

"You absolutely let me win."

"Did not!" Ash insisted.

"Did to."

"Oh, don't be grumpy. Hey, you want to play Cuphead together?" Ash asked, hopefully. "It's a co-op."

"Ugh." Gwen rolled her eyes. "That one is even worse. No. I better get some work done."

Gwen left Ash to her mind-numbing but admittedly fun entertainment.

Truth be told, video games were just another thing that had come about and changed so rapidly in the modern world. She wasn't opposed to change or of learning new skills but the pace of that change had become dizzying in recent years. Hell, she'd only just gotten used to airplanes as a reliable mode of travel. That hadn't even been a possibility for the first, oh, eighteen hundred years of her life.

By the time she reached her apothecary, the game was forgotten. She had more pressing concerns.

The room was half-kitchen, half-laboratory and, despite the preconceived notions of Hollywood, no cauldron was present. She did, however, have a mini-fridge and small freezer, both delightful inventions that made her work easier.

Bookshelves held centuries of distilled knowledge, painstakingly collected, while various cabinets, drawers, and cubbies kept her reagents neatly organized.

She selected a few items and laid them out on the table. Then she retrieved her newest vial: a sample of James Faraday's semen. She plucked it from the fridge, and placed the vial in her cleavage, warming it with her body heat.

Truth be told, much of what ignorant medieval peasants referred to as witchcraft was merely skilled cooking. The potion she gave the new mother for "vitality" after giving birth was merely a herb-rich bone broth that replaced vital nutrients for a peasant woman with an otherwise poor diet. A tonic she made desperate men as a "love potion" was a distilled mint and rosemary mouthwash. Stewing vitamin-rich organ meat was great as a cure for rickets in often underfed children, when their parents were brave enough to seek her out.

Most magic was nutrition, it turned out.

But she had other means.

Using a mortar and pestle, she first ground a small, raw emerald into a fine dust. She removed the dust and then added an acorn, grinding that as well. She added freshly harvested fish eggs that Ash had brought her that morning, along with dried fetal tissue from the afterbirth of a cat.

When those ingredients were combined to make a fairly foul-smelling paste, she added first a drop of James' semen, then a sprinkle of the crushed emerald.

It sizzled.

She wasn't expecting that.

Gwen regarded the bubbling paste for a moment, not quite believing what she was seeing.

After her palaver with James in the garden, where he'd so easily been able to tap into her magic, she suspected an innate ability in him.

Her experiment here was meant to gauge how strong that ability might be; she already found herself fantasizing about taking him on as an apprentice.

She tossed the still-bubbling concoction and cleaned her equipment. Then she repeated the experiment.

Three times.

Each time she got the same result: as soon as the gem dust touched the paste containing the reproductive essences of multiple creatures and James' semen, it sizzled like fat on a frying pan.

The thing was, it shouldn't have done much at all. Gwen had intended to put a drop of the resulting mixture on a slide and read it under a microscope like she used to with oracle bones.

But a reaction that potent . . . Well, in her experience, that could only mean one thing.

James was god-touched.

***

The Burke was situated on the northwest corner of the University of Washington's Seattle campus. It was a rectangular, industrial building that looked better designed for trendy loft apartments than as a natural history museum.

Even though it was overcast, Lenore was dressed in the previous evening's clothes: jeans, knee-high boots, and her black leather jacket. She'd borrowed a ball cap and sunglasses from James and kept her hands stuffed in her pockets during their brief time outside.

"Sure you don't want sunscreen?" James asked.

"I'll be fine," Lenore replied. "Thanks."

Signs outside advertised "The Nile Underworld: Journey to Egypt's Afterlife" complete with pictures of a sarcophagus.

Lenore saw the signs too and instinctively squeezed his arm.

It was a weekday, so the museum wasn't very busy. Most in attendance were retirees and a few couples who, like them, had the day off. There were almost no children present as it was a school day.

"We're here for reconnaissance only," James said. "We're trying to figure out if Anubis is even here. If we can figure out his tether, that's a bonus. But, even if we find it, we do nothing. We'll get back to your sisters and make a plan of attack."

"If I have an opportunity to act, I'm not wasting it."

James stopped under the shade of a nearby tree, just outside the entrance, and spun Lenore around to face him.

"Look, I get that you want revenge but, and correct me if I'm wrong, last time you faced him he paralyzed you, nearly killed Gwen, and did kill her apprentice. Right?"

Lenore pursed her lips. "We didn't understand what we were dealing with then. We do now."

"That's just it. This is your chance to get the drop on him. In revealing himself to you the other night, he gave away the element of surprise. But that's something we still have. If we're smart about it."

Lenore grumbled but admitted he was right. "We still have to identify the tether."

"But you can see magical energy, can't you?"

"Yes. Sort of. I'm nowhere near Gwen but I've picked up a few tricks from her. Her magic taps into the very nature of life and its energies. I'm technically dead so it's a bit different."

James nodded, looking past her to the building's entrance.

"I still think you should sit this one out," he said, already knowing this was a losing proposition. "You said he can shapeshift? Look human? Well, he knows you but he doesn't know me."

"Yeah, well, unless you're secretly a wizard, you won't know what to look for."

James had to admit she was right.

"Okay. New plan."

***

Lenore bought her ticket first. James waited outside while pretending to look at his phone.

When she was far enough ahead, he walked to the counter, bought his ticket, and began trailing her.

He was good, she had to admit.

Back at his house, he traded his hiking boots for a more military pair and wore a light plaid jacket. Now, he looked like every damn hipster in this city.

If Lenore hadn't been able to recognize his heartbeat—that slow, strong thumping—she didn't think she'd have realized she was being followed.

Through the first floor, past displays of native Northwestern art and culture, he followed her without following her. Every time she glanced back at him, he seemed utterly preoccupied with some display or placard, occasionally taking out his phone to type a note or take a picture. He hunched his shoulders too, purposely making his posture bad, and looking much more like an academic type just by his body language.

James fucking Faraday. The memory of their date was still fresh in her thoughts, complete with the mind-shattering orgasms she had under his hand. He'd played her body—no, her soul—like an instrument. Even now, in daylight no less, she felt safe with him watching over her. It was a silly, ridiculous notion, and she chided herself for feeling like a schoolgirl with a crush.

She slowly made their way through the first floor, then up the far stairs to the special exhibit hall. The doors were decorated with flat, two-dimensional pictures and hieroglyphics depicting ancient people interacting with various gods.

Anubis was prominently displayed.

It was dark inside, with small lights illuminating placards and displays of various artifacts.

A museum worker handed her a pamphlet as soon as she entered. It was a small map of the exhibit with a QR code inviting her to enter for a trip to Egypt.

She snorted at that and walked through the exhibit down a labyrinthine path, hemmed in by large infographics about life and death in ancient Egypt.

An old man and his wife were in front of her and it was too narrow to just shove past them, so Lenore took her time to read the displays.

She'd never been much interested in what humans wrote about the past. Like Gwen, she'd lived through many eras and personally watched the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires. The theories of scholars as to why this or that event happened were often so utterly surface-level as to be almost painful to read.

But ancient Egypt was so much older than her that it commanded her interest. The usual, lackluster, two-dimensional detail about that ancient society was all she had to go on.

Several display cases featured small artifacts: embalming tools, perfume jars, pieces of jewelry—but Lenore couldn't sense a lick of magic from any of them.

She read, with honest interest, about life and death around the Nile, hoping to glean some new detail that might provide insight.

She stopped at one entitled, "Gods of the Dead."

"In the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150-2613 BCE) and Old Kingdom (c. 2613-2181 BCE) Anubis was the principal god of the dead and righteous judge of the soul, but as the Osiris myth became more popular, the latter god took on more and more of Anubis' attributes. Anubis remained a very popular god, however, and so was assimilated into the Osiris myth. In it, he was regulated to the god of funerary rites, the weigher of hearts, and the protector of tombs.

Anubis was considered the son of Ra and Hesat but after his assimilation into the Osiris myth he was held to be the son of Osiris and his sister-in-law Nephthys. He is the earliest Egyptian deity depicted on tomb walls and was invoked for the protection of the dead.

A popular image of Anubis is as a standing or kneeling man with the jackal's head holding the golden scales on which the heart of the soul was weighed against the white feather of truth. His daughter is Qebhet and she brings cool water to the souls of the dead in the Hall of Truth and comforts the newly deceased. Anubis' association with Nephthys (known as "Friend to the Dead") and Qebhet emphasizes his long-standing role as protector of the dead and a guide for the souls in the afterlife."

Eventually, the corridor of infographics opened up to the main floor of the exhibit.

The adverts boasted that this was the largest traveling collection of Egyptian mummies in the world, and it seemed that was no boast.

Glass-encased sarcophagi were arranged in a grid on the open floor, four rows of five. Next to each one was a large placard telling the known history of these mummies.

It was a popular exhibit and she wasn't alone. About a dozen people moved around the rows but the chatter was minimal.

There were no sarcophagi of pharaohs here. A common misconception, one of the infographics explained, was that only royalty were mummified. As more and more mummies were found and modern scanning techniques were utilized, it was now clear that almost anyone with a bit of wealth could be mummified and placed in large family tombs.

The sarcophagi ranged from simple wooden boxes to the extravagantly engraved stone and cedar layers of the upper classes.

She walked down the rows, reading placards, and trying to discern any magical signature about the various artifacts. For her, magical energy glowed in a faint iridescent light, as if the object was highlighted with an unseen penlight. It was easy to miss if she didn't pay attention.

Lenore froze when she saw it.

Tucked at one end of the middle row was one of the more elaborate sarcophagi.

She read the placard with uneasy horror:

Sarcophagus of the High Priestess of Bastet.

Egypt, Unknown.

Cedar, plaster, paint.

Old Kingdom, 6th dynasty (c. 2254 BCE)

"This sarcophagi depicts the life and death of Ty-Tenophet, the high priestess of the cult of Bastet. Though women often took a central role in the Egyptian religion, it is rare to find one in such an elaborate resting place. It has been theorized that Ty-Tenophet was a consort or otherwise involved with the royal family of that era, which corresponds to the reign of Pepi II Neferkare, who had possibly the longest reign in human history.

The hieroglyphics and pictures describe a life led in the service of the fertility cult of Bastet as the cat-headed goddess is depicted repeatedly in the company of Ty-Tenophet.

Discovered in the late 19th century from a now-unknown location and brought to London, this sarcophagus was opened and the remains were autopsied in a late-Victorian practice known as an unwrapping party. Unfortunately, the remains of the priestess were never recovered."

Lenore looked around, suddenly aware that she'd been nearly frozen in place reading about the occupant that Anubis had been so intent on resurrecting.

This was the same sarcophagus from the unwrapping party from over 130 years before. The stone outer shell was missing but that didn't change what Lenore was seeing. She looked around, at the other sarcophagi, and not one was anything like this one belonging to . . . she read the name again; Ty-Tenophet.

She shuddered at the memory of that mummy reaching for her, needing her brain to complete a resurrection ritual she still didn't understand.

She struggled with the implications that the presence of this sarcophagus posed. Anubis was here and looking for her. She didn't believe for a moment that the body of Ty-Tenophet was lost. It would be in a secure location until the ritual could be completed.

"Fuck," she said, louder than intended.

The older couple glanced at her, the old man shaking his head. "Kids these days," he muttered to his wife.

Another old man, this one wearing the blue vest that designated him a museum tour guide, approached her. His name tag read Francis.

"I feel the same way about history," he said in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Sorry," Lenore muttered. "I'm worse at movies."

The tour guide chuckled. "Quite all right." He pointed at the sarcophagus. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"It is," Lenore agreed, studying the tour guide's face. Francis looked nothing like the vestige Anubis used on the roof the night before; just an old, overweight white guy with an audibly bad heart. "Why is this one so different from the others?" she asked. "It's so much more ornate."

"Ahh, you noticed that too," he said. He pointed to the outside rim of the sarcophagus. "Look here. See this grouping of hieroglyphs circled in the oval? That's called a cartouche. It's her name, phonetically. Like a signature. But that odd thing about hieroglyphs is that the same symbols were used for both phonetic and idiomatic speech and certain words or phrases often had a double meaning."

Lenore frowned. "So this cartouche says her name is Ty-Tenophet but it also means the symbols themselves?

Francis' eyes flashed with excitement that she understood. "Exactly."

"So what does it say?"

"See the flag symbol next to the cup? Well, the flag represents god. And the cup—"

"Is a vessel."

"That's right."

"A vessel for a god . . ." The realization was so damn abrupt it made Lenore dizzy.

"Well," Francis said, smiling. "The exact translation isn't known. But something like that. She wasn't merely a priestess. She was likely the head of an entire religious sect, a very important person during her life."

Lenore stared at the sarcophagus, dumbfounded. In London, it was clear that Anubis was trying to raise this priestess from the dead. But it was unclear why. But if the priestess herself was a tether for a god . . . Then resurrecting the priestess would bring about the god.

Anubis might be the least of their problems.

"You know what," the fat tour guide announced. "My colleague knows more about hieroglyphics than I do. Hey, Anthony. Can I borrow you?"

Lenore barely registered that the tour guide was speaking again. When she looked up, she saw they were joined by another man, this one in slacks and a sportscoat.

His angular face, handsome, was framed by wire glasses.

Lenore froze again.

The human form of Anubis looked at her with piercing hazel eyes. He was smiling.

"This is Dr. Anthony Mansour, head of the collection. Anthony, we were just talking about cartouches and how they have multiple meanings," the tour guide explained, pointing to the side of Ty-Tenophet's sarcophagus. "This one in particular. Can you speak to that further?"

"Of course," Anthony said, still smiling broadly. "Fascinating artifact, this one."

He stepped close to Lenore, looking her in the eyes, and causing her to instinctively take a step back.

"You see, those that lived along the Nile were a noble and respectful people. They respected the gods and were subservient to them. They knew their place. They understood how to worship the gods. Sometimes, a priest or priestess would dedicate their very body to the service of a god, believing that their god would walk the earthly plane in their stead. It was quite the sacrifice, as you can imagine."

Lenore didn't dare look away from the human form in front of her. "Is that how you're here?"

His smile narrowed to a grin. "That's not the right question."