Anubis Nights (24 page)

“But I’m here now,” she said, placing her palm on my cheek.

My anger battled my shame, and I fought to keep from crying.

“If I died, how is it that I’m here?” she asked.

“I found a way to go back. It took five years, but I did it. And as soon as that bitch Persephone showed her face, I killed her.”

“So you saved me. You saved us all.”

She kissed my cheek. Then she slowly turned my face toward her, and she kissed my lips.

It felt good but I felt undeserving. I pulled away but she held me firm and kissed me again. She started to pull me down to the blankets. “You could have told me this sooner,” she said. “You saved my life, Jonathan.”

“I took away an honorable death, something you’ve always wanted.”

“I’d rather be alive,” she said. “It means I get to spend more time with you. Let me thank you.”

She kept kissing me. I’d been so worried that she’d be upset and see me as a failure. Someone who needed a do-over and cheated to get it. And here she was, kissing me. She wasn’t upset at all. She was happy to be alive.

She kissed me again, and this time I returned it. I needed her acceptance. I needed her.

I’m ashamed to say I didn’t even think of Rayna. Kelly was all I wanted and all I needed.

BRAND EASTON

“This body is strong,” Edward said. “Far stronger than I ever was.”

Priscilla smiled at him. “We were fortunate to run across a man like Brand.”

Brand didn’t see it that way. Brand watched everything as a paralyzed passenger in his own body. He tried to exert control over anything—raising an eyebrow—with no luck whatsoever. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t move.

“What about that irritating ghost?”

“She won’t be getting free anytime soon. Don’t worry about her. I can keep her spellbound. She won’t be able to move or speak. We’ll just leave her here.”

Brand wanted to cry out to Esther. He didn’t know what she could do if Priscilla had her magically bound, though. He wished Jonathan and Kelly would hurry up. Jonathan could take down the witch with ease.

Of course, for Jonathan and Kelly to get here, they would need to defeat Winslow’s first aspect. And as they hadn’t arrived yet, Brand didn’t know how long that might take. They were already later than he expected. Brand certainly didn’t want to play ride-along while Edward and Priscilla made up for lost time in the bedroom.

“Shall we return to New York?” Priscilla asked as she ran a hand along Brand’s cheek. “We can switch trains tomorrow.”

“I don’t care where we go as long as I’m with you,” Edward said.

“Then I choose New York.”

“Excellent. First thing I want to do is buy some new clothes. Your friend Brand has no sense of fashion.”

“There will be a layover in Council Bluffs. We can buy you some new clothes there.”

Brand considered this. If Edward ditched Brand’s clothes, he wasn’t likely to take the keychain, and without that, Esther would be left behind in Iowa. As long as he still had that typewriter key, Esther would be nearby. But how could he get Edward to keep it?

RAYNA NOBLE

Rayna stared at the pistol in Carlton’s hand. She knew it was a small gun, but it looked huge when it was pointed at her. Lincoln saw it too, and he put his hands up.

“Lower your hands,” Carlton said. “You’re both going to do exactly as I say, or I’m going to start putting holes in the lovely Miss Noble, and none of us want that to happen.”

There were other people on the street, so someone should have noticed them, but everyone seemed to be lost in his or her own little world.

“What do you want?” Rayna asked.

“A nice steak topped with mushrooms sounds good at the moment. I shouldn’t have skipped breakfast.”

“That’s not what—”

“I know what you meant, Miss Noble. You’ll find out soon enough. Both of you, turn around and go back the way you came.”

“And if we refuse?” Rayna asked.

“Don’t argue with the man,” Lincoln said. “I don’t want to see you shot.”

“He won’t shoot me,” Rayna said. “I’m the one he wants.”

Carlton smiled. “You’re too perceptive, Miss Noble. You are correct, of course. You are the one I want. That makes Mr. Parker here superfluous.”

“You won’t do anything in broad daylight,” Rayna said.

“You really don’t know me,” Carlton said. He shot Lincoln between the eyes.

Lincoln fell backward and was dead before he hit the sidewalk.

Rayna froze. She didn’t know what to do. Her hands shook and she couldn’t speak. When she found her motor control again, she knelt by Lincoln, stunned. “What did you do?”

People turned at the sound of the gunshot. Some people ran away, a few ducked, but nobody approached Carlton, who seemed bored by the entire event. There were no policemen nearby. No one would help. Rayna placed a hand on Lincoln’s chest as tears welled in her eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, and the words felt empty. Lincoln was dead because of her.

Carlton grabbed her arm with his left hand, pulled her to her feet, and turned her. She tried to reach back to Lincoln, but Carlton was too strong. He held the gun at waist level in his right hand, aimed at her, but not positioned where she could reach it. “Walk,” he said.

“We can’t leave him here.”

“I said walk.” He pushed her forward.

Rayna felt tears run down her cheeks. She wanted to do something, but she didn’t want to get shot in the process. She stepped over Lincoln’s corpse. She didn’t want to leave him, but her mind wouldn’t work properly. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be! When they turned the corner, the man who’d been following Lincoln exited the building.

Carlton smiled. “Hello, Mr. Baker. Look who I found.”

“Sorry, boss.”

“There’s a body around the corner. Make it disappear before the police arrive. I’ll see you back at the temple.”

“Yes, sir.”

Carlton dragged Rayna down the street. A yellow and black checker cab turned the corner. Carlton stuck his gun in his pocket then flagged the cab down. The driver wheeled over to the curb.

“Get in,” he said.

Rayna’s mind swam back to the reality of the situation. Jonathan had told Rayna that the worst thing a person could do in a kidnapping was to allow oneself to be transported to a secondary location where the kidnapper controlled everything. A person could be raped and tortured for weeks or more if the abductor was skilled. She knew her survival depended on getting away right then.

Carlton smiled at her. He leaned close and whispered, “Don’t even think it. Get in or I’ll shoot the cab driver. I’ll still get you into the car, and I’ll drive it myself. The driver’s life is in your hands now. Do you want another man to die for your disobedience?”

Rayna didn’t want to be responsible for anyone else’s death. She closed her eyes and wished she had Kelly’s skill set. She might be able to fight this guy, but from the way he carried himself, Rayna knew he was a professional and she didn’t stand a chance. If she had time, she could call on her fire, but time was something she did not have.

She wished Jonathan were there. Where was he? What was he doing? She missed him as a lover, of course, but now she missed him as a protector. She had no choice, so she climbed into the cab.

JONATHAN SHADE

Sometimes you see a person one way, and it seems impossible to change that. For years, I’d seen Kelly as a friend, and our relationship was really more a sibling kind of thing even though we weren’t related.

Kelly was beautiful. She was also deadly, but tonight she was all woman. We kissed and at first it seemed wrong in a forbidden pleasures kind of way. That was all right. We kissed and I caressed her cheek. She ran her hands down my back and pulled me close. I placed a line of kisses down her neck.

She pulled my shirt off and kissed my chest. Then she took off her shirt. I kissed my way down her collarbone to her chest. I cupped her left breast with my right hand and I stopped.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“You look amazing,” I said.

She smiled. “So do you.”

“Are you feeling what I’m feeling?” I asked.

“That depends on what you’re feeling.”

“We’re at a turning point here. We can go forward and—”

“That’s exactly what we’re going to do,” she said. “I’ve wanted you for so long.”

I may not be the quickest on the uptake when it comes to recognizing when women like me, but when a beautiful woman says she’s wanted me for a long time, that deal is ready to be closed, so that’s exactly what I did.

As cold as the night was, we were soon hot and sweaty. I won’t give you the play-by-play since this isn’t a sex instruction manual. I won’t brag about how good I was or how amazing she was, so use your imagination.

Keep going. You still haven’t reached the level we did.

Okay, maybe I will brag a bit. It’s not everyone who can legitimately claim to have slept with a Sekutar warrior and lived to tell the tale.

Afterward, lying in each other’s arms, I knew there was no place I’d rather be. The only thing missing was the soundtrack, so I imagined U2’s “All I Want Is You” playing softly in the background.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

JONATHAN SHADE

The next morning, I woke up with Kelly in my arms. She was already awake, just gazing at me. When I opened my eyes, she kissed me. “How are you doing this morning?”

In response, I simply took her in my arms and kissed her with passion.

When I pulled away, she smiled and her smile lit up my world. “That good, huh?”

“Oh, yeah,” I said.

Khattusa-zita walked over to us. “Food is ready. After we eat, we’ll resume our journey.” He seemed a bit gruff this morning, but he didn’t get any the night before, and I suspect he heard us, so he may have been jealous.

“Thank you, Khattusa-zita,” I said.

He gave me a nod and a slight bow. “We are preparing your favorite,” he said with just the hint of a grin.

I turned to Kelly. “Let me guess. Fish?”

She grinned. “You were expecting Chinese? If so, I’m not on the menu this morning.”

“Damn it.”

“Look at it this way,” she said. “You have something to look forward to for tonight.”

“Promise?”

Kelly laughed and took my hand, and we walked over to where the oarsmen and servants were gathered. The smell of fish reached us and I sighed. “You’re right. It’s not Chinese.”

***

The next few days brought more meals of fish. If I never ate fish again, it would be too soon. The nights were colder, but Kelly and I managed to stay warm and happy. That leg of the journey was by far the best. We made eyes at one another in the daytime, stole kisses when we could, and spent the nights making love under the stars. Who could ask for more?

I felt the occasional twinge of guilt, but I hadn’t seen Rayna in more than a month, and while I still loved her, I also loved Kelly. The truth was that Kelly and I just felt right. So yeah, I felt a bit like a jerk, but when I held Kelly in my arms, all of that went away and I thought of nothing but her. We were living in a different world, and everything felt right.

I remembered the old song by England Dan and John Ford Copley “It’s Sad to Belong,” but in my case, the right one had been there the entire time. I simply hadn’t realized it. And my belief was that if the right one does come along, I’d be a fool not to rearrange my life to make things work. Maybe it’s selfish but to not do so would be hurting the one I truly loved and needed too. And if I felt I wasn’t with the right one, how could I give my all to the wrong one?

***

Hattusa was a big city surrounded by massive walls to keep their enemies out. We’d left the oarsmen and servants with the boat, and Khattusa-zita had horses in a stable to take us across the land. This leg of the journey was just the four of us—Khattusa-zita, Hani, Kelly, and me.

The journey along the coast then inland took a few days. Khattusa-zita led us to a gate decorated with elaborate reliefs depicting sphinxes, lions, and warriors. We dismounted and walked the horses up to the gateway, where Khattusa-zita talked to the sentries. Once we gained admittance to the city, I was impressed by the timber-and-mud buildings that lined the streets. Hani looked bored. He was a quiet little guy, and even on this last leg of the journey, he hadn’t said more than three words to me.

In the distance, on a ridge, stood the acropolis, a royal residence. Khattusa-zita pointed it out.

“That is our destination,” he said. “We will report to the king in the morning, and he will make a decision. If he believes us, he will certainly choose one of his sons to marry the queen of Egypt.”

“And if he doesn’t believe us?”

“We will be put to death.”

“Seriously?” I asked.

He laughed. “No. I just wanted to see your reaction.”

“Aren’t you the funny one.”

His smile and nod suggested that he certainly thought so. “I will arrange lodging for Hani, you, and your wife, but first we need to tend to the horses.”

The smell of food cooking with interesting spices wafted through the streets, and my stomach rumbled. For the past several days, we’d been eating mostly bread, which was better than the steady diet of fish, but I was worried about grinding my teeth to nothing.

“Is there an inn where we can get some food?” I asked.

“I have bread in my pack along with some dried fish. There will always be fish,” Khattusa-zita said. He slapped me on the back. “I jest with you, Jonathan. We will get food for you. Meats and cheeses and beer.”

“Now you’re talking.”

“Of course I’m talking. How else could I tell you about the food?”

Kelly laughed.

I shook my head and followed Khattusa-zita to the stables. People gave us odd looks, but we were foreigners, so that stood to reason. I was glad we were with Khattusa-zita, though. The people didn’t look pleased to have strangers in town.

Once the horses were cared for, Khattusa-zita led us to a tavern, where we had a good meal for the first time since we’d left Thebes. Hani left after the meal, saying he needed his rest. Khattusa-zita agreed that was a good plan, so we got a room.