The Doc said she would accompany us back to the dig, just to make sure the guys were going to be ok, and that she would catch a ride back into the city in the morning with me. I had to suffer from all the looks and winks Professor Harmon kept shooting me on the way back to camp as he looked between Olivia and me, the dirty old man.
Once we had the guys tucked in, Rafa hamming up his doctor prescribed twenty-four hours of convalescence, Olivia was dragging me out of the community tents, asking, “Where is your tent, is it private?”
I pointed but shook my head and gave an apologetic look, she looked around and saw the excavation on the hill in the twilight of the evening, she smirked in mischief and grabbed my hands and walked backward as she pulled me along. “Come on, we can talk there.”
I was still wondering why I wasn't freaking out more about everything. I was in a confused daze, was it shock? I wasn't sure, but all the day's events just kept playing over and over in my head.
When she climbed down the ladder and then grabbed my waist when I got mostly down behind her to help me hop down, I finally realized that I was alone with her, and her bewitching smile. And we... we had kissed before my hand had... I went to push my hair over my shoulder as my cheeks heated, but realized again that I had cut it all off.
She looked around the excavation, and she seemed to blink twice, first vertically then horizontally as her eyes took on a golden hue. “So this is Anubis's palace?”
I froze as she turned those sparkling gold, slitted eyes toward me, and instead of panicking like I knew logically that I should, I reached a hand halfway to her face and just looked at those amazing eyes. She smiled and caught my hand between hers, then she lifted it up to press against her cheek.
She sighed and closed her eyes a moment, then chuckled. “I've wanted to get you alone since the Professor first introduced us when you arrived in Egypt. But now it seems it is to talk instead of... other more interesting pursuits.”
Ok, now I was truly and fully blushing.
Then she paused and spun, looking back at the ladder then back at me. “Anubis was the god of funerary rites among, other things... those men who were killed? You?”
I started to deny it but then hesitated. Then I blurted, “No. I had dreams. Dreams of a jackal-headed woman who was killing the wicked. But that wasn't me... I saw her.”
She cocked her head and whispered, “Your powers haven't fully been realized then.” She giggled and said, “So, you're a virgin.”
Ok, I thought I had been blushing before, I think all my blood was now burning in my face as I muttered while I crossed my arms across my chest. “I'm not a virgin.” Then I realized what I said and wanted to bury my head in the sand. Indiana Jones, I was not. I couldn't even talk to a girl without making a fool of myself.
She looked concerned when she looked at me and grabbed my hands again, leading me to a toppled column to sit down, “Aya, it's ok. There's just a lot that we need to talk about.”
I exhaled and said shakily as I nodded my head, and chuckled out nervously, “Not what I had in mind for a second date.”
She barked out that adorable laugh of hers then shook her head. “Me either, lady.”
Then before I knew I was talking, I blurted out in a scared tone, “What's happening to me?” She was right there, hugging me to her, and I held on desperately, getting myself back under control. Lord, she smelled really, really good.
She held me at arm's length and studied me as we sat there. “Your shepherd hasn't explained everything to you yet? Prepared you for when your powers manifest?”
“My what?”
She blinked at me again, first one set of lids then the other. “Your shepherd. Oh by the grace of Horus. You really didn't know? Then how did...” Her eyes snapped to the dais. “But the lodestones have to have tasted your blood to infuse you with your birthright. It was an accident then? You didn't know you were from the Jackal Maiden bloodline? From the first vassal of the man-god Anubis? She held another name, but I just can't quite remember. My mother taught me everything as my Shepherd.” She hesitated and then her eyes widened as she looked to pull a memory forward and blurted, “Death's Mistress!”
My eyes shot to her's. “That was part of the inscription on the idols. Death's Mistress.”
She looked to the dais again and whispered, “The idols... the lodestones were carved into idols?” She smirked and looked up to the sky. “Very clever you old dog.”
She turned her gaze back to me. “And the idols had tasted your blood. If they are the lodestones, then that explains why a Jackal Maiden hasn't been seen in centuries if the lodestones had been claimed by the desert all this time when the temples to the old gods fell.”
She looked at my hand and explained, “This is too big a coincidence that you just happened to be of the proper bloodline to be infused by the lodestones.” She looked to the sky again and accused, “It's as if the long-dead magics have reawakened to meddle in the affairs of the mortal realm again. The old gods were certainly a wily lot.”
I was gathering her general gist, but she had been mostly speaking to herself and speculating about impossible things. I assured her, “If you don't start talking sense to me, I swear woman, I will lose it again.”
Even though she was looking at me, she was lost in her thoughts, and I saw her eyes focus on me, and she smiled and chuckled in apology. “Of course. This must all be frightening to you if you had no idea what has happened to you.”
She squeezed my hand and asked, “In your studies, have you heard of the Jackal Maidens of Anubis, or the Sky Maidens of Horus, the Fire Maidens of Ra, or Snake Maidens of Apophis?”
I shook my head. “Not that I can recall.” I perked up and said, “Though there was that woman in New York a couple weeks back, who was with a bunch of other unknowns that caused a ruckus at a warehouse. I think it burned down. But everyone assumed they were people dressed in costumes since none were apprehended. A fireman had sworn he saw a woman who looked like a snake.”
She shook her head slowly. “I hadn't heard about that one. I try to stay abreast of sightings of... unexplainable women. It is possible, but I don't know how since we now know that all the lodestones are here in Cairo. All of them except Anubis' and Isis', but now we now know Anubis' are here, and this Lazarus Group has two of them now.”
She explained, not releasing my hand, “The ancient gods walked among the people of the Nile with extraordinary gifts of power, which they could only access when they manifested a representational form of their abilities.”
She scrunched her lips up as she looked to be thinking of the best way to explain. “For example, since jackals raided the graves of the dead, Anubis' power, since it is to send the souls of the wicked to the underworld, would manifest a Jackal's head on his body when he used his powers. The same was true for the others. Just as my patron is Horus, who strived for justice, manifested with the head of a falcon.”
Then she got a mischievous glint in her eyes. “These gods... they were half man. As men, they were easily seduced by the wiles of women, who begot children of the gods. Half god, half human. And the firstborn are always girls... as only a female who can bring life into this world could wield the powers of their patrons.”
She sat back a bit, looking again at the altar. “These children were the best-kept secret of the gods, as were their children, and so on. When they hunted the evil of the world they called the 'wicked', their kills would be attributed to the gods. That is why there are virtually no writings surviving today that give the maidens a mention. I should have caught it when you had deciphered the idol inscriptions earlier, mentioning Death's Mistress.”
Moving her lips to one side, she studied me. “That still doesn't explain how you happened to be at the right place at the right time to become a vassal. You are quite a mystery that I'd love to unfold, Aya Bane.”
I swallowed. “You mean. This woman I've been seeing in my dreams, the one with a jackal's head. The one killing people... that's me? But why am I seeing her from afar? Oh lord... am I the serial killer? The Pharaoh?”
She sighed and said, “I believe so. Especially after I saw you partially manifest when you batted those darts away. But if nobody has instructed you... it must be your subconscious acting when you sense the wicked.”
I put my face in my hands and shook my head. “Mother always warned me not to come to Egypt. Now when I ignore that warning, and on my first visit here... oh lord. Mother knew.”
Olivia's face took on a look of compassion and understanding. “It would be a compulsion, the closer you... or she got to the lodestones. But being buried by the sands, it must have driven generation after generation mad trying to find them.”
She whispered, “Distance... she must have known the urges would be diminished by distance. She was protecting you from the madness of not being able to fulfill your destiny. How were you supposed to know the lodestones had been found when Professor Harmon called you to Cairo?”
I growled, “There is no such thing as destiny. People attribute coincidence and happenstance to destiny like it has some sort of power over us.”
She smiled sadly. “Yet here you are, and your birthright claimed, even if by accident.”
I sighed and closed my eyes, repeating as I nodded in resignation, “Yet here I am.”
Then my eyes widened. “Wait. You said you were a Sky Maiden? I can see your eyes, why are they gold? Can you, what did you say? Manifest?”
She smiled at me and looked back at the ladders then said, “Don't be alarmed.” She stood, and sort of kept standing, her body seeming to stretch as she did. She was already taller than me, having at least six inches on my five foot three. And when she looked up at me, she had to have been six foot five or six.
I gasped, my eyes wide in amazement. I know I should have been screaming and running off into the desert, half out of my mind. But I was calm and looking on in wonder at the woman before me with a large falcon's head and those spectacular golden eyes of Olivia's.
I stammered out, “Doc... you're... you're beautiful.” My cheeks ached I was smiling so wide.
Her cheeks dimpled and eyes twinkled, telling me she was smiling since I couldn't tell by looking at the majestic and dangerous looking beak. I realized she had feathers all down her arms which ended in claws which looked to be a cross between hands and talons. “Thank you, Aya.”
I realized my hand was reached halfway out to her feathered cheek before I stopped, looked at my hand then her and asked, “May I?”
She nodded and cocked her head at an oddly avian angle, and I placed my hand on the light feathers of her cheek which were a contrast to the darker feathers all around. They were soft as... well soft as a feather, and her cheek radiated an unnatural warmth. She made a sound that was a cross between a coo and a purr as I stroked my hand along it.
I asked in wonder, “I... I can do this?”
She nodded as I reluctantly withdrew my hand. I thought she had been breathtaking before, but this... this was simply majestic. She took my hands ever so gently in her half talons, treating me like I was made of tissue paper. Her voice seemed to undulate, as she said, “You've no Shepherd. I can help, but perhaps my mother can instruct you better.”
Her cheeks dimpled again. “Close those obsidian eyes of yours and try to center your thoughts on nothing.”
I closed my eyes then opened one, “Obsidian?”
Ok, I can tell a bird smirk when I see one. She almost teased, “Yes, you've manifested your Maiden's eyes. That's how you see in this almost pitch black here with me.”
I glanced around, realizing the sun had already set when we started up here, I hadn't realized the twilight had never given way to night. I gave her a squinty look for being so smug, then closed my eyes and tried to center myself.
I was aware of her words guiding me. “Reach out into the darkness inside you and touch your Jackal. She hides in that darkness looking out through your eyes, ever vigilant.” I nodded. I could see something blinking in the darkness. “Entreat her to step out into the world with you. Pull her forward with your mind. When you touch her, you will feel the flames engulf you, don't fight them or they will burn until she is out. Relax and let yourself become, and they will burn away your facade to reveal your true form.”
I mentally reached a hand out to that animal stalking the shadows of my mind, and she stopped pacing, peering at me before that beautiful Anubis woman stepped out of the shadows and took my hand with the grace of that long dead hunter. She smiled, and I started to burn. I began to panic and realized I was fighting it, I did as Olivia said and relaxed, letting immeasurable power flow through my veins. Then it was over.
I opened my eyes to tell her it hadn't worked when the whole world hit me from all angles. I could hear all the creatures of the night for miles around, hear the men talking in the tents over a hundred yards away. The world was bright, and the colors were so rich. And the scents, the smells of all the life around me, even in this desert, invigorated me.
I froze when another scent seemed to envelop me, igniting such urgency and desire in me that I knew I needed more. It was like a fire had been ignited in my loins, and I could feel my most interesting parts heating in my pants, which now felt two sizes too small.
I sniffed the air and swung my head toward Olivia, barely aware I saw my elongated snout and jaws in my vision. I growled like some sort of beast as I reached an obsidian arm out to her and with need and urgency I slammed her up against a column, the force of it shaking the ground and cracking the column. And I buried my nose in the crook of her neck and inhaled deep and long, filling my very being with that intoxicating scent that had me salivating and panting in desire.
She actually giggled, and I could hear her heart-rate rise and breathing get shallower, as that scent was joined by the smell of her sex. All I wanted at that moment was to... “Aya. Aya... it's your animal aspect. Calm yourself.”
She spun us in a graceful move, with a strength that mirrored mine as she slammed me into the column, pieces falling down around us. She pinned my arms against the column and then buried her face in my neck and inhaled deeply. “God you're aroused... damn it, now I am too. Calm yourself. Take smaller breaths. We're releasing enough pheromones to drown in right now.”
I lowered my jaw to her again and growled a challenge. “Mine.”
She chuckled again as I tried to rein in the freight train that was driving my libido. I wasn't an animal who couldn't control her urges, I was a woman. She said, “We'll see. I've no complaints yet. But you have to control yourself.”
I nodded, and she released me, though she didn't step back. Our bodies were pressed tight against each other's, the heat was almost enough to break my resolve again. She made her own little growling sound as she pressed a leg against my nether region for a moment before taking a step back and panting, shaking her head as if to clear it.
She seemed to get smaller with that step back, and I realized I was looking at her as I have always seen her now. She stood on her tippy toes, and her hot breath tickled my ear and stoked my arousal as she said, “Bad puppy. I'm supposed to be helping you control your Anubis aspect. Us rolling around on the sand doing the naughty is not conducive to that end.”
She chuckled and shrugged. “Not that that would be a bad thing mind you. Bloody hell woman, your scent is...” She shuddered in the most sexual way I have ever seen anyone do. Making me growl in want again.
I took a step back taking small breaths through my mouth instead of my nose and found I could control myself a little better, though my body was burning for hers. Then I lifted an arm, it was smooth as porcelain, almost like pottery that was black as midnight, no fur like I would have expected. The wicked looking claws that tipped my much longer fingers, I had seen earlier that day.
I swallowed then asked, “Am... I?”
She snickered, looking far too cute as she offered, “One hot bitch? Yes. You did it.” She got almost bashful as she added, “Then we almost did it. I didn't expect your animal nature to be quite so... overwhelming.” She smirked and sighed as she shrugged. “There'll be time enough for that later. First, we need to get you back to you.”
I nodded, reaching a clawed hand out to gently cup her cheek. She closed her eyes and leaned into it, then kissed my palm. I heard the voice of the Anubis woman in my head repeating my assertion, “Mine,” only... it was in my voice.
She said, still basking in the heat of our contact, “Ok, now this is a little more difficult. Your animal aspect will not want to return. Instead, it will want to hunt the wicked we can feel all around us.”
I hesitated and realized she was right. I could feel people for miles around, all had hints of wicked in them, but some were beacons calling me. The most wicked who perpetrated vile acts against their fellow man. The ones I had a need to make pay for their transgressions.
She said, “Just lull her in your mind with gentle thoughts, Imagine leading her by the hand back to those shadows that embrace her, that make her feel safe.”
I nodded and thought of this. I was about to admit defeat when I realized I was looking back up in the beautiful Doc's face. I looked down, and my cheeks burned. Then I realized what I had done... what we had almost done and was ready to just lay down and let the desert take me, I was so embarrassed.
She closed the gap, and it was her turn to cup my cheek as she said quickly, “Hey now. No need to get all bashful again. We're past that now aren't we? What happened to that confidence you just had that had me purring?”
I almost whispered, “It was her.”
She gave me one of her explosive barks of laughter, and then she booped my nose and said, “She... is you. You are the same person, just different aspects of your psyche. It was invigorating to find you had that in you. Now I'm doubly attracted and fascinated with you.”
I was feeling so awkward but then she made an exasperated sound, and we were kissing. It only took a moment for me to get over the initial shock of it, to melt into it, returning the need in her lips with my own. We broke the kiss panting, as I gazed into her eyes. I'm sure I had a goofy smile on my face. I was feeling sly, so tipped my hat to her, humming, “Dun da dun da, dun da dunnn.” Huh, I wonder where the hat went when I changed.
She giggled. “There she is. You're a hopeless geek, Aya.” Then she assured me. “She won't be inclined to hunt on her own anymore if you let her out every once in a while like that.”
I countered, “She? But you just now said that we are the same person, just different aspects.”
She sighed and said, “I'm just trying to put it in the best context for you to understand. Think of her as your animal instincts. As long as you stay in the driver's seat, they won't overwhelm you and force their own way to the surface. It isn't science, it's more... nature than anything.”
I nodded and then asked as I started to wring my hands, “Mind if I... umm... kiss you again?”
She smiled and dragged me back down to sit, “Yes, please. We'll have time to discuss this later.”
Then I found myself in heaven again. Kissing Doctor Olivia Nazari.