The tempestuous wind had made violence of the sea, but Anubis walked down the shore unaffected, his bare feet sinking into the sand. The squalls that whipped around him roared in his ears, but it was no match for the thoughts crowding his mind. He tried not to think, for he knew all was handled, but the emotion trapped in his throat begged for release.
Before he realized where he was going, his legs instinctively carried him to a grotto, one he hadn’t entered for many years. The steady drip of water was a welcome reprieve from the billowing wind, but the scent of cool, dank earth and stale sea water brought him back to the time when he was human.
He could almost see her silhouette against the candlelight, almost feel her heated breath on his skin. He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for yet another intrusive memory that refused to stay buried. Soon the revolting stench of burning flesh bit his nose, tortured screams filling his ears. Too tired to resist, he slipped to the ground, succumbing to the obstinate pull of memory.
It was the moment he turned.
He hadn’t realized he’d died, for it wasn’t unusual for him to visit the spirit world unintentionally. But when his eyes opened to see the three doors and gray walls, he felt disoriented and confused, as if it had been a mistake. The feeling was compounded by the presence of Mama Mawu, who wore a youthful facade of fresh, unlined skin and supple lips as she looked down at him with love in her eyes.
“Why are you here?” Anubis was groggy, unable to lift his head off the stone floor she knelt upon.
“Be still, we only have moments,” Mama told him. “Your body is dying, but your soul will remain.”
Her words confused him until he remembered the plague, the raging fever that had gripped him, burning out his consciousness as he lay helplessly in the French compound among the sick and dying. “Helena,” he remembered, bolting upright.
“It is too late for her,” Mama told him sadly. “You must listen to me, child. When you wake up, you will no longer be human. You will be like the adze, a creature who needs blood to survive.”
His jackal crept forward from the shadows, a welcome familiarity as it settled down next to Mama, its eyes aglow.
“I don’t understand…” Anubis murmured. “Are you dead?”
“Shokpana’s sickness took me long before the woman blood drinker killed you and gave you her blood,” she replied. “Now hear me. When you rise, you will feel a hunger grip you unlike any other. Find an animal to eat so you can control yourself. Return to the village and save as many of our people as you can. There is madness there. King Agaja’s army has swept through, thinking the kingdom weak with death. But the sickness created monsters, which drew the attention of wicked spirits. The humans are being forced to fight them all. You must save them.”
“Wicked spirits?”
“Trust in me, child,” Mama said. “You will see when you rise. Now it is time for you to know who you truly are and what you have left behind.”
The jackal crept closer with no Legba to stop him.
“You will have your answers.” She rose to her feet, stepping backwards with a sad smile. “Until we meet again.”
Anubis tried to move forward to kiss her cheek, but the eyes of the jackal grabbed his attention, shining hematite stones penetrating his own. He gasped as he saw the pyramids of Egypt, heard the shriek of a kite, smelled the rushing black rivers of the Underworld. Every memory he’d ever lost came rushing back to him, assaulting his mind as he staggered, trying to make sense of it all. The jackal’s howl echoed in his mind, finally succeeding in bringing him to his knees. And then the hunger hit, jolting him back to consciousness.
The craving burned every part of his body, demanding submission. His mind wanted to piece together all that had transpired but the thirst was stronger, lifting him out of the sand and catapulting him forward to the plains. He was shocked at how fast he moved, arriving at his destination in a matter of minutes with little exertion. Although it was night, everything around him seemed vivid, as if it had been infused with moonlight though the sky above held only distant stars. He found the herd of antelopes before they had a chance to sense him and he lunged clumsily, hearing Mama’s words as he sunk his teeth into one of the poor beasts, sucking it dry and chucking it aside before chasing after another. The thirst did not quench until the last animal fell to the dirt, Anubis heaving for breath as the leftover blood dripped down his chin.
Then he remembered Helena.
He raced back towards the village, away from his carnage, realizing he’d become like David, like Lucius, like his mother once was. He was one of them—a blood drinking immortal, his past restored and at war with his human present. He was Anubis, the god of the Underworld, but he was also Helena’s husband, and he was just as frantic now to find her as when he stumbled his way to her chambers, dying in his fevered human shell. He heard screaming and the laughter of hyenas before he saw billowing smoke, the entire village ablaze.
He saw glimpses of Agaja’s warriors fighting what looked like beasts obscured by the thick smoke, but he rushed past them all into the French compound. Fire had yet to climb over its walls, but he had to fight through swarms of flies to reach her chambers, the smell of waste and decaying flesh souring the air. Even with heightened senses, he struggled to distinguish between which bodies carelessly thrown across the floor were dead and which were still alive. Skin both light and dark, French and African, all thrown together, dying in a heap of misery. The lack of human dignity made him sick but he pushed on, finding the door to her room still bolted shut. He used his weight to push it open, revealing her laying still on her bed, a slip of arm hanging out of the blanket, her hand already stiff. A dark liquid had dripped through the mattress and pooled on the floor. He rushed to her side regardless, and gathered her lifeless body into his arms.
The groan that escaped his lips sounded otherworldly, laced with a heart-shattering pain that transcended his immortality. He held her to his chest as his body shook, unable to reconcile his sorrow. Mama was right—he was too late. He tried not to picture her on the day they married, how the candlelit grotto brought warmth to her ghostly visage in lacey stays, since she’d refused to wear anything that looked like a formal gown. She’d let her light hair fall loose around her shoulders, twisting around layers of his beaded necklaces.
“We are not following my traditions or yours,” had been her first stipulation when he asked her to be his wife. “No witnesses, no spirits, no recitations. Just you and I.”
He had agreed, letting her plan it all, delighted to see the grotto she found and filled with flowers and candles. It brought a smile to his face that did not leave as they spoke promises to each other, nor when they made love afterwards on the damp, wax speckled floor.
He didn’t want to let go of her now, but he heard a groan behind him and remembered Mama’s instruction. He laid down the disease-ravaged body that had once held his wife’s soul, draping her blanket back over her and kissing where it lay over her eyes.
He went to the heap of blankets across the room to find Thomas, emaciated with painful sores riddling his skin, remembering him now as his dear friend, Thoth. Anubis bit his neck immediately, before his mind started to wonder how he felt hunger where he once felt disgust, letting him fall back before cutting his own wrists as he’d seen others do, dripping blackened blood into his friend’s open mouth.
Anubis fell back to gather his bearings. He wondered how long it would take, but the crackling sound of an approaching fire let him know they couldn’t chance a lengthy wait. He lifted the still unconscious Thomas onto his shoulders, refusing to look back at Helena’s corpse, and hurdled himself out the window of the compound.
The fire raged around the palace, slowly melting the mudbrick and going wild when it reached the straw rooftops. Anubis broke into a run, searching for a place where they could find refuge. He saw the convent still intact and hurried inside. The interior was dark and lifeless, untouched by the outside calamity. He laid Thomas gently down on the ground, and rose to begin searching to see if any priests survived.
“Leave this place,” a haggard voice tried to sound intimidating, but failed.
Anubis saw Xevi’s scrawny frame, barely able to stand. His hollowed face was covered in sores, sweat coursing down his skin. He held a knife loosely in his hand.
“Xevi, it’s Anubis,” he told him gently. “I’ve come back to save those I can.”
“I do not need you to save me,” Xevi insisted, though he swayed where he stood. Sickly yellow surrounded his dark eyes.
Anubis rushed to help him to the ground. “Reveal to me the wicked souls who fight us,” he said.
“Can you not hear their laughter?” Xevi said through chattering lips, though his skin burned to the touch. “They are hyenas, possessed by magic to attack both the living and the dead.”
Anubis frowned. “The dead?”
“The dead have risen to attack the living,” Xevi said, closing his eyes. “The hyenas came to make sure no one is left alive, so the dead can rise again as mindless creatures, able to be controlled by dark magic. Someone has cursed this land.” He erupted, spewing blood and froth onto the dirt.
The sight of it stirred Anubis, the hunger pangs from earlier creeping back into the forefront of his mind. Did it ever cease? he wondered as his eyes drifted towards Xevi’s exposed neck, hearing the sweet song of blood in his veins.
“I will stop them,” Anubis promised, although he’d begun to salivate, his eyes fixed on the throbbing vein in his neck. “But first, I must save you.”
Before Xevi could protest, Anubis clamped down on his neck, releasing his fevered blood into his mouth. Xevi barely stirred. He drank deep before he returned the favor, splattering his immortal blood into the open mouth of his fellow priest.
No sooner had he pulled back than he was interrupted by the largest hyena he had ever seen hurtling into the room. Anubis immediately ducked out of the way, his newly developed speed causing the beast to slam against the wall. It shook off the blow, allowing him time to observe its manic black eyes and gore-splattered fur as it licked blood off jagged teeth. It lunged again but Anubis was quicker, pouncing to land on top of its back. He grabbed its grotesque, cackling head and pulled until he heard a sick, juicy pop. Anubis jumped off, throwing the freshly severed head aside as its body crumpled to the floor. He paused to catch his breath, watching the bleeding lump shrink back to its normal size. Someone enchanted the animals, he realized.
He startled as another beast came stampeding through the door, but this time, he saw Thomas, fully revived, with his teeth in the beast’s neck. It fell, skidding across the floor as it tried to thrash him off. Finally, it stilled, letting Thomas take his fill before he broke away with a satisfied slurp. He stood, wiping hyena blood from his lips. “Hello,” he panted.
“Forgive me, it was the only way I could save you,” Anubis explained hurriedly. “I will tell you everything, but first we must save what is left of the village. Someone has unleashed a curse upon us.”
“Where is Helena?”
Anubis found he couldn’t say the words. Fortunately, the crestfallen look upon Thomas’s face let him know he didn’t need to.
“You villain!” Xevi interrupted, taking them by surprise as he threw Anubis to the floor.
“Please forgive me,” Anubis said, shielding himself from Xevi’s blows. “It was the only way to save you.”
“I wanted to die!” Xevi growled. “I wanted to take my place with the other gods in the spirit world. You have made me a demon!”
Thomas grabbed his wrist midswing. “This is not the time,” he said firmly. “Our village is in ruins. We must stop the walking corpses and beasts before they spread to the rest of the continent.”
Xevi still shook with rage, but he nodded. The three withdrew from the convent and were immediately met with sparring bodies. Xevi did not stay near them for long, disappearing into the mass of fighting limbs. Anubis squinted into the smoke, observing the reanimated corpses in a languid shuffle. One of the creatures paused to tear a limb from a dying warrior, chewing the flesh from his bones as the dying man screamed. The possessed beasts finished off the rest.
“You can control them,” Thomas’s voice came from beside him. “Your power is magnified now. Guide them into the blazing palace!”
Anubis didn’t have to question if he was right. He shut his eyes, picturing his life before humanity. He saw the jackal in his mind—his jackal—its amber eyes glowing and rows of pointed teeth turned up into a snarl. He heard the whispers and groans of the dead filling the air with sludge, slowing down the world with their presence. He watched as a shadow of dread crawled over every face around him—human, immortal, creature—for nothing in this world was absolved of death. It was forever constant, and it was his. He pulled the reanimated corpses towards him, attracting them with the aubergine light that now surrounded him, fulfilling their desire to be guided home.
Anubis focused on the building inferno and pushed them towards its open mouth. They lumbered over willingly, trailed by the hexed hyenas, who didn’t even scream as their fur caught fire. Anubis relaxed only after the last one was swallowed by flame.
“They cannot truly die that way,” a voice said, breaking through his thoughts. Legba had heard his call, standing next to him in his young man visage, his hair still coiled silver around his ears.
“Where were you?” Anubis demanded.
“We were blocked,” he replied. “Shokpana turned his back on us all, bringing plague back to our homeland as revenge. The sickness takes their souls, but their bodies never rot. Won’t catch fire neither. They will be trapped under the earth ‘til you call them again. Shokpana is a blood drinker now. He works for a group that wants to absorb all gods’ powers. He tried to create a death army and intended to use your power to guide them. But Medusa killed him, right after she saved you.”
“Why did she leave?”
“She killed one of ours,” another voice explained. Anubis turned to see the spirit form of Okanu, the god of dreams, dressed in shimmering white robes. His pristine dress was terribly out of place amongst the devastated village. “She is no longer welcome here.”
“After all Shokpana did, you punish her?” Anubis sputtered.
“You should not question our ways,” Xevi spoke up from beside him.
Anubis blinked. “You see the spirits now, too?”
“Of course,” Xevi huffed. “You are not the only one with powers—I have always spoken to them. They just chose you over me.”
“Tell him the rest.”
Anubis’s heart seized. He turned to see an apparition, none other than Helena. Although she had never been much for affection, he rushed towards her, pulling her into his arms. “Forgive me for not saving you.”
She gently drew away. “We will talk, but first Legba must tell you the truth.”
Legba scowled. “It does not involve us.”
“It involves him,” she shot back.
“I want no part,” Legba asserted and with a pop, he disappeared. Okanu followed suit, leaving Xevi the last one standing.
“I want no part of your struggle, either,” he said with a sneer. “I will be helping make sure the living stay that way.” Then he too disappeared.
Thomas approached from the shadows, up to where Helena stood. “Oh, my dear friend,” he said sadly.
“You both are immortal,” Helena observed.
“I could not get to you in time,” Anubis told her, “or you would be, too.”
“I can do more for us in the Middleworld,” she assured him. “I can travel through what is left of the realms and eavesdrop when I need to.” She turned towards Anubis. “There are other blood drinkers besides the one who turned you and the Ancient Ones you left behind.”
“David.” Anubis nodded. “And my brother, Libraean.”
“There are others who have cropped up as a force against you, who are destroying the realms, and who seek to destroy your Egyptian family. You need to find David and warn him.”
Anubis heard crashing and turned to see the last of the structures crumble in the flames. The entire village was lost. “We need somewhere to go until the humans can rebuild. There we can figure out how to contact him.”
“I know a place,” she said.
The memory faded, leaving him in darkness. Anubis rose to his feet, startled to see Helena standing where he once married her, so long ago. They no longer needed candles, two dead things walking around the land of the living.
“You really have been trapped in memory,” she commented softly. “You were lost in a trance for hours.”
“Since they arrived, I seem to be pulled back towards my former life,” he admitted. He fell back down onto the rock he’d been sitting on. The thin stream that once wound through the grotto had split in two, its soothing trickle amplified within the dome of rocks.
She followed suit, sitting between his legs so he could rest his chin on the top of her head as he hugged her. “Did you know Lucius was my father?”
“I actually did not,” she replied. “Apparently there are some secrets even I cannot uncover.”
“What do you remember most? Your life as the goddess Hel or your brief life as a human?”
“So you are not only nostalgic, you are speculative,” she remarked.
“I think I am finished with my human life,” he told her.
“Honey, you have been finished with this life since you got here,” she laughed.
“I am serious.”
She turned to face him, squinting as she studied his eyes. “When this is over, we will find a place to store your body. Then I will take your soul.”
Anubis was surprised. “Is it that easy?”
“I’ve always known how to bring you to the Middleworld,” she said. “I simply waited for you to be ready. You put your people first, and I respect that about you. But I did make a deal with Legba long ago that your soul will belong to me.”
Anubis struggled to find words, touched by the gesture. He’d long accepted her sarcasm and aloofness, they were qualities he liked about her. But this felt like something quite different. He cleared his throat. “Where will we store my body, then?”
She stood and smiled. “When this is done, I will show you.”