Visions of Fire and Ice (The Petiri) (36 page)

“
Daumutef, Maat, and Sokar
,”

She spread her arms wide and gathered the power she’d called. Then her voice softened, tears flowed from her eyes. “
Osiris, God of the Netherworld, lend me your strength, Isis, Mother of Magic, hear my cry. Join with us to banish this evil
!”

Struggling behind the flames encasing him, the dark entity fought to maintain control of the body he’d stolen. Shadows moved. Darkness reigned for a few moments behind the flames and then seeped from Amunkha’s body.

Relieved, Tamara began a new chant.

“Contained within this jar dear

Designed to hold the hearts of love

The evil we have expressed here

Contain him with the power above.”

A cloud of darkness dragged itself from the body encircled within the flames. A light speared the room, shooting from Amunkha’s chest, and he collapsed to the floor. The image of a golden phoenix flew from within the light and circled frantically above his fallen shape.

Tamara glanced toward the canopic jar she’d placed upon the table. The darkness flew inside it. Taking a deep breath, she let her hand cool, pushing away the heat from her fingers. Once human again, she screwed the lid in place.

“Seal within the evil here

No longer will you besmear

The ones we all hold close and dear.”

A glowing line appeared around the neck of the bottle. It faded, leaving in its place a waxy substance. The fire surrounding Amunkha’s body slowly dissipated.

Tamara pulled back, only the fire remained. It burned hotter and hotter. She tried to extinguish it, but nothing happened. The hot, orange flames burned out of control. She brought up her hands, playing with the fire, the way she did when she became frustrated.

Nothing.

Fear gripped her heart. She stood, encased in flames, her heat building. What would happen if she couldn’t stop it?

Just as she began to panic, icy, cold air surrounded her. She opened her eyes. Ramose. He stood in front of her, his hands pushing a cold wave of air toward her.

At first, the new oxygen only fanned the flames, but, then, the cold breeze settled against her flesh. He moved closer, pulling her into his arms.
No
! She struggled, trying to free herself. After all this, she would not burn Ramose.

But he didn’t let her go. He, instead, tightened his hold.

Like a sandstorm, cold whipped around her, spinning, fighting against the heat surging from her. The fire inside slowed its rise and even began to descend. At last, her flames dissipated.

She stared into Ramose’s green eyes until she knew the fire had dissipated.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

He hugged her close, leaving a kiss on her brow. “No need,
Kha-Ib
. You’re safe.”

They stood in almost darkness, the only light from a golden phoenix which circled about the chamber, its wings burning hot.

After a full circle, the bird returned to the fallen man.

It nestled into Amunkha’s arm, taking its place as his
Napshua.
His Kha had returned home.

Silence reigned. Both Tamara and Ramose held their breath.

She’d saved them. Both of them.

Ramose was thousands of years old. Surely, he could handle her use of non-Petiri magick. But a tiny pebble of fear seemed to ripple inside herself. What she had done could only be called witch magick. Or maybe Native American. She didn’t really know.

Then she had lost control of her fire. He’d had to save her from destroying them all.

Once again, Tamara remembered the word he’d used.
Axriad
. Child.

Tamara pulled from his arms and looked at the bottle in her hand. Nothing else remained of the entity that had ripped apart so many lives. Just the dark shadow in this jar. The spirit of a god once so powerful he’d ruled the deserts. Tears of exhaustion and emotions she couldn’t begin to name trickled down her cheeks. She turned toward Ramose, but he stood looking at his brother.

* * * *

With his hand gripping Tamara’s, Ramose stared at the man as if seeing him for the first time. Amunkha lay silent and still. His long strawberry blonde hair still shone with the purity he’d always seen when looking at his brother. His eyes were closed, and, from here, he looked just like the boy Ramose remembered. But would he be? What damage had Set done?

Ramose turned to Tamara. Tears streamed from her eyes, and her skin as pale as the snow he’d tried to use to stop his brother. She’d saved them. All of them. Nothing he’d done had more than slowed down the god. Petiri magick at its best, and he’d been useless.

“Interesting spells,” Ramose said.

“Ha ha. Very funny.” she said. “It isn’t like I do this every single day. Never said I was a poet.”

He wanted to hold her, to thank her, but she held herself aloof. She pulled her hand from his then gripped the edges of the velvet-covered table as though to hold herself up. Alone.

He stepped toward her, but she shook her head, nodding toward Amunkha.

“See to him. He’s your brother.”

He wanted to say
and you’re my Kha-Ib
.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Tamara stared out over the city of Cairo. The night breeze dragged at the silk robe she wore, the soft cloth fluttering around her. It was hard to believe the danger was past. Amunkha was himself again. Well, as much of himself as he could be under the circumstances. Mereruka another of Ramose’s friends had come and taken the canopic jar, burying it out in the desert in hopes no one would ever find it. Ramose and his people were safe.

She should be happy, yet a layer of melancholy settled over her like the dust from the desert sands.

“It’s so different here from home,” she murmured, more to herself than anything. And probably so different from Ramose’s past. He’d lived more than four thousand years.

Axriad
. The word wouldn’t seem to leave her mind. Compared to him, she was an infant. A child who needed guidance and training. It was that odd thought which fed the melancholy.

“How so?” Ramose asked, startling her. He stepped up behind her, resting his hands on her shoulders.

Tamara ignored the ache of longing at his touch.
Child
, she reminded herself. A child who would be old and gray before he so much as aged another year.

“Well, the shapes of the buildings. Plus, I see there is so much left undone. Almost like they stopped mid-construction. It’s really strange.”

He chuckled, and, once again, Tamara remembered the sensation of warm silky chocolate running down her spine she’d felt when he first spoke to her. She bit her lip.

“That’s so they don’t have to pay high taxes on the building. If it’s unfinished, the taxes are much lower.”

“Odd.” She smiled at his use of contractions. His language skills had improved quite a bit over the last few days.

“Come,” he said, backing into the apartment. “I have a place I wish to show you.”

“More pictures?” she asked, remembering the images of his home world.

He quirked a smile at her. “No. Another home where I sometimes live. I need to get some tests from there and thought you would like to see it.”

“Tests?”

He nodded. “Yes. The tests Selket ran with yours and your cousin’s DNA. I’m curious as to what she has found.”

Tamara shrugged. “Okay. Just give me a minute to get dressed.”

She gathered her clothes and moved into the bathroom to change.

* * * *

Worry ate away his confidence. She wasn’t acting like a woman happy to have found her match. She wasn’t even acting the part of a woman happy to have saved his brother from evil. Instead, she had the air of a woman on the verge of goodbye.

When she came out, dressed in a beautiful skirt, he grabbed her hand, not giving her a chance to escape. He needed her touch as much as he needed the air to breathe. In a few short days, he’d come to love her. A woman. Part human, and he was sure, part Petiri. Hell, even if she was all human, he didn’t care.

“Are you sure you know how to drive?” she asked as he helped her into the BMW. “I mean, Jakkar usually drives for you.”

He grinned. “Oh, yes. Just remember to hang on.” He drove with all due speed. Like a native. He glanced toward her. Her eyes were wide, and her fingers clenched around the armrest on the door. “I didn’t mean that literally,” he said, with a laugh.

She glanced at him and gave a tight smile. “I didn’t know you drove like a true Egyptian. Shit, Ramose, you’re going to get us killed.”

He veered around the next corner, exiting out onto the desert. “Well, I did learn to drive here, so, of course, I drive like a local.”

“So what is this place?”

“It is what we call a safe house. We have it hidden in the desert, designed to look like a sheikh’s mansion. It’s where we keep our medical equipment and even, sometimes, our weapons. It is in a beautiful location, though. You’ll love it.”

She nodded, but didn’t smile. Ramose struggled to keep control. He wanted her to do something. Anything. She showed no other emotion than fear of his driving. Maybe once the DNA results were released, her fears would be put to rest. She had said she loved him. Love was a given for a
Kha-Ib,
so he hadn’t acknowledged her words, but he’d felt the emotion in her message. Yet since the battle with Set, everything changed. Had she lost her love for him? Had saving Amunkha been too much for her?

She’d told him of the dream where his brother had visited her, but he doubted she acted only because of Amunkha. She’d saved him as much as she’d saved his brother. Yet she’d barely let him touch her since yesterday when they’d brought Amunkha to Selket’s.

“So, why did you put this place out so far in the desert?”

Good. Curiosity showed she cared even if she wasn’t willing to admit it.

“Years ago, we learned living together could be dangerous. It brought too much attention to our gifts. Many of our people have made their homes throughout the world. But we keep here, Egypt, as our central focus. It’s here where we come when we need to gather as a group, or when one person is preparing to change identities. At one time, we used this for when the council meets, but we now have an underground facility for such things.”

“So you change identities?”

“We must. After so long, someone is bound to ask why we don’t age. Before computers, changing identities meant disappearing into the desert for a time. Now, with technology as it is,” he shrugged, “it gets harder. We have set up safe houses in other countries as well. There is even one in the United States. In North Carolina.”

“North Carolina? That’s where my family lives.”

He nodded. “I don’t know how close to your family it is. I have not been there. It’s located in a small town and is a non-descript home I understand. This one, the one in Egypt, is the largest, probably because we consider this more or less our home land.”

She nodded and turned to face the window. Ramose frowned. He tried to remember exactly when she changed. She’d been her normal self when he’d come back with the food, and then Set had taken her. Since the moment she’d freed his brother, she’d become distant. Could she be mourning the priestess? Or did his being Petiri play a part in her change? Now the danger was out of the way, she had only their relationship on which to concentrate.

Ramose turned into the circular driveway and held his breath.

“This is huge!” she exclaimed. “You didn’t say it was a castle.”

He chuckled softly at her comment. The building, despite its age, had survived the harsh desert storms with an uncommon grandeur. There were no paint chips missing and no damage to the walls from the sand storms.

“Wait here,” he whispered as he got out of the car.

He couldn’t wait to show her the home he’d designed all those years ago. It was nothing like the one he’d built for her on Petiri, but he’d still built it with hope in his heart. Hope that he could keep his people safe. She had brought that hope back to him and even helped when he would have failed.

He circled the front of the car and opened her door, pulling her into his arms. He had to have one more kiss before bringing her inside. He ignored the flash of trepidation in her beautiful gold and blue eyes and kissed her soundly upon the lips. Ignoring the desire to ask for more, he pulled away and waved a hand toward the house.

“Welcome to my home away from home.”

In seconds, he brought her up the wide entry staircase and into the foyer. Green marble welcomed them, her shoes clicking on the hard surface. He smiled when she studied the area, her lips curving into a smile. Her eyes widened as her gaze trailed up the staircase above.

“I worked very hard on that,” he said, fighting the urge to run up them to show her every detail of the home. “The technology on this planet didn’t really exist yet, and it was difficult to get them built to my specifications.”

“You built this?”

He nodded. “Yes, I designed the entire home, and the rest of the crew helped with the construction. Through the years, we’ve updated with more beautiful furniture, such as what’s in the dining room.” He motioned toward it, and she stepped in and took in the rich cherry finish of the furniture and elegant crystal and china, all glimmering beneath the huge crystal chandelier.

“It’s beautiful.” She peeked into the living room before turning to face him. “You are very talented.”

Ramose tried to hide the sudden surge of warmth and pride he felt at her words. “I had good teachers is all,” he smiled. “Take a look around.” He motioned toward the living room. “I will be right back.” Ramose forced himself to leave her and ducked into the kitchen.

* * * *

Once he departed, Tamara took in her surroundings. This place was a huge mansion. No, more like a palace. Her quick perusal of the living room before he sent her inside had been nothing to what she saw now. She grinned, forgetting her worries the instant she stepped inside. “Now, this is my kind of room,” she muttered. A large, flat screen television stood at one end of the room, flanked by huge speakers, dotted with couches and chairs and even a beanbag for comfort.