The Serpent Mask

A short story

I

Had it not been for his son, his benefactors, he wouldn’t have found it in the first place. As much as the blood-bond between him and the representative was what triggered the overwhelming surge of relief and happiness at the discovery of the chamber, even without the blood-bond, coming here had been one of Professor Ashford’s lifelong dreams. He shone the flashlight around the dark chamber, his eyes darting from the hieroglyphics on the wall to the golden sarcophagus at the very end of the huge chamber, then to the pedestal in the center of the room. Behind him, the representative stirred impatiently.

“Is she here?” the man asked in a thick British accent.

“This is her temple, my lord,” Ashford reminded him. “There can be no one else inside the sarcophagus.”

The representative put on a pleased smile. “Well,” he said. “This one of her possible temples. If we were certain it was hers, the Elders would have flown in by now, and I would’ve turned you. This is, after all, our Holy Grail.” He couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he said this. Will Carrington, like the other clan members of the Children of Apophis had started out as a fanatic to the cause. After so many disappointing results over the past forty years, he couldn’t help but wonder why he kept on doing this- coming out to places in the middle of nowhere with blood-bound humans to find things that were never truly what the clan was searching for.

Had his sire still been alive, and his own blood-bond to him still been strong, Will wouldn’t have thought of such things. But as it was, he was one of the few vampires in his clan who had the liberty of not following a sire around hungrily like a dog. He’d done at least thirty years of that, and that had been enough. Not that the experience had been a bad one. Like everyone subjected to a blood-bond, throughout the period when he’d been kept leashed by his sire, he’d enjoyed it. Every drop of blood had been ecstasy. It had started out with one drink- the first giving him life as a vampire. Then the second- and he’d found himself drawn to his sire, trusting him with his life. After the third, he had given himself to his sire, bound to himself by an invisible chain consisting of a mixture of his sire’s hold over him and his craving for his sire’s blood.

“Well open it,” Will sighed impatiently. “Let’s get disappointed quickly, so we can go home. We’ve wasted months out here already. I’ll bet the diggers are getting restless to go home.”

Ashford walked over to the sarcophagus, examining it closely. He then searched it with his hands, looking for a way to open it.

It took him a while to give up. Finally, he sighed and looked over his shoulder. “It’s locked,” he said.

Will rolled his eyes again. He pushed the human out of the way before walking over to the coffin. “Humans,” he spat.

When even he couldn’t open it, he gave a questioning look towards the professor, who was now peering intently at the pedestal in the center of the room. The human reached forth, cautiously, before he grabbed the thing that had been laying waiting on it, shining his flashlight on it as he brought it closer to his face to examine.

“What the hell is that?” Will asked impatiently. “And can we just focus on opening the damn coffin?”

But the professor didn’t seem to be listening to him.

The professor held it in front of him for Will to see, shining his flashlight on it. From where Will stood, it looked like a mask, made out of gold. Though Will was no professor when it came to Egyptology, he knew it enough to be a death-mask of sorts- the kind normally put on mummies before burying them. Will had seen a number of them before, but there was something different about this one.

Its eyes. They didn’t look at all human.

“We should take this back with us,” Ashford said. “We’ll come back and try to open the sarcophagus later. Preferably I wouldn’t want to force it open, and I doubt your superiors would want that either, my Lord.”

Will didn’t take his eyes off the mask. “No… I suppose they wouldn’t” he muttered.

Indeed, they wouldn’t. If what they were looking for was inside that sarcophagus, then they had to be very careful with it. Somehow though, Will couldn’t stop thinking about the mask. Like it was calling to him somehow. As far as he’d studied the Tome of Blood, he vaguely recalled the mask being mentioned. A Serpent Mask.

But if this indeed was the mask they were looking for, then Ankhis, daughter of the Serpent God Aphophis would be in there. The long search of his clan members would finally be over.

They would finally be forgiven, and Apophis would once again smile upon them all.

Opening the sarcophagus would begin the end of the current world, and signal the birth of the new. The one they had been promised since the beginning.

II

“You wanted to see me?” Professor Ashford asked as he stepped into the tent. As he did, Ryan studied him from head to toe, as though trying to confirm that he was dealing with the right person. Ryan had only seen pictures of the professor before, and he was more familiar with the professor’s works than the person himself, but then that really matter, because Ryan knew well enough that this was not going to be just another business trip.

At least, until anything happened though, he would have to keep his head to himself.

The professor looked younger than he’d expected him to be. Though his hair was completely gray, he had the face of a person in his early forties, with a muscular frame and a rather large build, which he found rather surprising. He’d only seen pictures of the person’s face, actually, and he hadn’t expected the man to be that big.

‘Akhekh, he’s even taller than me,’ Ryan thought to himself. ‘What happened to the days when professors were all old, frail people who died of heart attacks?’

“Excuse me,” Ashford repeated, looking severely annoyed. “But I’m in the middle of something. My people said that the Egyptian Government, sent you?” Then, as though he’d just noticed, he added, “You don’t look Egyptian to me.”

“I was born in America,” Ryan admitted. “Came here when I was very young.”

The older man didn’t seem convinced, though, staring at him as though he was a nuisance. Ryan had half a mind to just draw his weapon and end everything there and then, but then that might just land him in more trouble. According to Lord Ahmose, these people were working for a vampire clan, meaning that somewhere in this camp, there would be at least one vampire to deal with before it was all over.

“Fine, so what is it that made you drive out here to the middle of nowhere?” Ashford sighed, pouring himself a cup of tea.

“It’s about this dig,” Ryan said. “It hasn’t been authorized by the Egyptian Government, therefore meaning its illegal. Any items that you have excavated will have to be confiscated.”

Ashford’s eyes widened with surprise. “But we’ve done all the paperwork!” he gasped. “Even before we left the university-

“Stay calm, Professor. This man isn’t really from the government.”

The new voice interrupted so suddenly that Ryan found himself almost leaping to his feet. Behind the professor, a figure stepped out from the shadows, wearing a cloak over his entire body to shield him from the setting sun’s rays outside. Once he was deep inside in the tent, safe enough from the light outside, he lowered his hood to reveal the youthful face of a pale man with long blonde hair tied into a ponytail behind the back of his head. He wore a grin on his face, baring his two fangs that gave away what he was completely- a vampire.

“You’re a hunter,” the vampire said simply. “Sent in by the mysterious ‘sorcerers’, no doubt. If they’re sending in hunters now, either this is the place we’re looking for or we’re really getting that much closer.”

And Ryan made his move, leaping towards the vampire as he drew out a wooden stake from his coat. The vampire was quicker than most, though, and managed to swerve out of the way before punching him square in the jaw, sending a white flash of pain up Ryan’s face. The hunter staggered slightly, before whipping back with a roundhouse kick, towards the vampire’s stomach. This strike landed home, however, and now it was the vampire’s turn to stagger, clutching his winded stomach.

Wanting to take the opportunity immediately, Ryan stepped forward, the stake raised-

And the professor tackled him down, holding him down with his weight as the stake tumbled helplessly out of his hands.

‘Miscalculation,’ Ryan thought to himself. ‘Should’ve known that the professor’s blood-bound. The Children of Aphophis aren’t as rich as the Order to fund expeditions like this- they’d have to buy loyalty with blood.’

Ryan somehow managed to shove the older man off him, just as the sound of gunfire erupted from outside the tent.

Taking that immediately as a sign of trouble, Ryan scrambled to his feet and ran out of the tent. The first thing he saw as he stepped outside was the body of his driver lying in the sand, his body covered with bullet holes. Not too far from where he was lying, Ryan saw them- at least three armed men with rifles. Their ka were tainted- each and everyone having a blood-bond to the vampire in the tent.

Without waiting for them to spot him, he quickly made a beeline for the jeep, jumping into the driver’s seat to find, thankfully, that the keys were in the ignition. He looked into the side mirrors, almost expecting to see the vampire chasing after him, but he only saw the professor coming out of the tent, barking orders at the armed men.

Ryan floored it, ducking slightly as a bullet or two whizzed past him, one into a side mirror, the other missing completely.

‘The lord priest won’t be happy about this,’ he though to himself. ‘But at least he’ll send me back here with reinforcements. Damnit, Akhekh knows how much time we have left before they figure a way to release her…and if they do…’

III

The hunter had been a skilled one, one who was serious about his job, but not stupid enough to get himself killed immediately for it. Either he had decided that the job wasn’t worth the money, or he was coming back with reinforcements. If it was the latter, Will guessed that he was the kind of hunter who didn’t take money as a reward. Details about how the sorcerers worked were mostly sketchy at best, as far as vampire history was concerned, but there were stories circulating around, that sorcerers had the ability to brainwash humans, which was why they were able to manipulate even governments sometimes. Will sighed as he thought of this. Politics. Manipulation. The sorcerers felt quite similar to the Order.

‘Not that we’re not without our own tricks,’ he mused to himself as he pulled back the sleeve of his shirt, making a shallow cut at the palm of his right hand, enough for blood to start trickling out.

The professor fell to his knees at the vampire’s feet, and started drinking greedily.

Will looked away as he did this. He always did whenever he formed blood bonds with humans. Looking at them reminded him too much of how he used to be with his sire- a memory that shamed him somewhat.

As his servant drank from him, he thought about what was about to transpire soon. His clan was about to achieve eternal glory- their deity was about to rise, and the members of the Order and the Pathfinders would be convinced at last of the truth that to survive in this world you need to be strong. The strong will survive and the weak will perish. In the world recreated by Apophis, there would not be any room for politics, there would not be any room for weakness, and there would not be any room for morals.

When he thought about morals, he thought about how he had almost joined the Church of the Pathfinders when he’d first been turned. He’d actually almost believed in redemption, in finding a way to Heaven by being good. He had been a man of God as a human, so naturally it seemed like the most appropriate road to follow. If it had not been for his sire, who had formed a blood-bond with him to keep him loyal to the Children of Aphophis, he would now be spending his days lighting candles in church, listening to sermons, and feeding off animals instead of humans. As much as his sire would’ve believed that the blood-bond was what kept him from joining the Church, the truth was that even before that, Will had begun to question his own faith in God. He’d been a Catholic in life- and God hadn’t saved him from death at the hands of his sire. Why then should he believe in him now?

If the God, if Christ truly did exist, Will wanted to set this foreign god upon his world, one which didn’t make promises that it did not keep.

“That’s enough,” he said, withdrawing his hand. Annoyed by the pleading look on the professor’s face, he added, more sternly, “Enough. Go get some rest. Tomorrow we work on opening that sarcophagus.”

“Yes, my Lord,” the professor replied, backing off slowly. His chin was smeared with blood, blood that he wiped off with his white sleeve before leaving the vampire alone in the tent.

‘Tomorrow,’ Will thought to himself as he made his way for bed. ‘And if the hunter comes back, I’ll make him wish he hadn’t.’

IV

“I only saw one vampire, Master,” Ryan said, keeping his head bowed towards the image in his hotel mirror. “The ka of every other human in the excavation camp was tainted with the color of his, meaning they’re all blood-bound.”

‘Then that confirms that we are dealing with the Children of Apophis,’ the priest replied in grave tone. ‘It is just as I have feared. If it had been any of the other vampire clans, they would probably destroy her instead of realizing her.’

“If you wish it, Master, I could go back there and try again,” Ryan suggested.

‘I will spare other hunters,’ Ahmose replied. ‘Ekhela, you should go back there and attempt to demolish the temple. Though Amon had planned to extract Ankhis’ ka for our Lord, Akhekh, we cannot afford to risk her escaping. In the meantime keep her from awakening- the others shall assist you in destroying the temple when they arrive. I shall speak to the High Priest Amon about this. Akhekh willing, he will might be able to spare enough ka to help you from New York.’

“As you command, Master,” Ryan replied, backing away from the mirror. “I shall leave immediately.”

‘May Akhekh watch over you, Ekhela,’ the priest replied. And at that, the vision in the mirror blurred and slid out of focus until, in the end, it showed Ryan’s reflection again. Sighing deeply, Ryan turned around to face the rest of the cheap hotel room, which really only consisted of a bed, a toilet, a closet, and some worn-down curtains. Lying on the bed was a wooden trunk which he took with him everywhere.

He opened it, and started withdrawing stakes and vials of holy water, tucking them safely into his coat. He also took out magazines for his handgun, and tucked them alongside. He reached for the holster at his belt to make sure that the .45 was still there, and finally walked up to the mirror again, picking up a pendant in the shape of an ankh before putting it round his neck.

‘The followers of Akhekh have ka that burn brighter than the suns of Egypt,’ he remembered being told as he fingered the small ankh. It didn’t really mean anything now, the only thing it did for him was to make him think of the past as he silently walked down the stairs towards the front lobby of the hotel.

As he drove out of the small town, following the river up to the campsite where he’d almost lost his life earlier today, alone, save for his god who was always with him no matter where he went.

‘That is why we are going to win,’ he thought to himself. ‘Because Akhekh loves us as his children, and we fight for his will, which is peace. The vampire fights for chaos, destruction, and a God who will bring nothing but terror to mankind. And so I’m going to stop them because I have to. There is no other option.’

The moon felt like a watchful eye over him, though it wouldn’t be of much help. If he wanted to fight a vampire, he’d prefer doing it in broad daylight, especially here in Egypt, where there weren’t really a lot of places to take shelter from the suns scorching rays.

Sunlight was, after all, what had saved him during his first encounter with a vampire- the day that he had lost his family. The vampire had been a member of the Order, he suspected, being the owner of the hotel and all. Hungry and in desperate need of strength after a brawl with a werewolf, he had taken Ryan’s parents, and would’ve taken him too had he not out of fury rushed towards the vampire and pushed him out the window.

He hadn’t believed that they’d existed until then. He was then taken in by a hunter named Biggs, who taught him everything he’d needed to know about them. Everything, meaning how to hurt them, how to kill them. Ryan had only been about 18 then, but by 20 years old he had become a proficient hunter, working alongside his mentor for the profit, and for the pleasure.

Ryan converted to Akhekh’s cause after three years of earning money from Lord Ahmose, the Egyptian priest who paid hunters to do their jobs. Converting meant that he now worked for the cause instead of the money- which was what led to him parting ways with Biggs, who died less than a month later, killed by a werewolf. Given the name ‘Ekhela’ by the priest, he also learned how to see a person’s ka, or soul. An ability that helped him distinguish humans from werewolves and vampires more easily. He was allowed to live in the temple, where everything was provided for. Though he didn’t earn money anymore, somehow it didn’t matter. Killing monsters seemed to have more meaning now.

He’d keep on doing it, he’d decided a long time ago, until the day he died. And when that happened, when his ka was brought back and he was reincarnated, he’d keep killing them. It was, after all, the only thing he was good for.

V

Finally awake.

How long had it been since her chambers had been disturbed? She’d lost count of the passing centuries, knowing only darkness and the slumber that brought it in which she had been dreaming the whole time. Dreaming of Change. Dreaming of blood. Dreaming of the one that would set her free, and the revenge she would exact upon Amon and his pet werewolf, Anubis, assuming that it was still alive now.

For so long she had been unable to glimpse at what the surface had become. Now, finally, that the mask had been removed, it gave her a bit more freedom, though it did not make much of a difference- like a small slit in a wall through which she could put her fingers through, nothing more. Still she reveled in what little knowledge she could gain, looking into the minds of the humans within proximity of how far her powers could extend- which was just above the ground under which her temple had been buried.

There was a temporary human settlement there. Most of the humans were asleep at this time, she found as she passed through. Most of them were strong-bodied, all of them men. She guessed that they were slaves of some sort, which meant that though they would provide suitable warriors for her brood, none of them would have a mind powerful enough to be her champion. She found a vampire, lying awake in one of the main temporary structures. The vampire seemed powerful, even if he was quite young by her standards, and he would have chosen him were it not for the fact that she was only allowed to choose humans.

But what was a vampire doing here? Was he a descendant of the ones who served her long ago? If so, she’d devour him. She’d need his ka in order to have enough strength to leave her prison, and after that she’d seek the rest of his clan out. They had proved useful long ago and she would need them now if she wanted to take back the world that had been promised to her.

Then she found the tent where the mask had been taken, and found another human inside it, the only one awake, poring over tomes and scrolls as though desperately searching for something.

Though he was probably a servant to the vampire, he wasn’t a slave laborer like the rest. As far as humans went, he was probably one of a higher rank. A wizard, perhaps, or a scribe.

He would do.

The effort to get him to put on the mask would drain her severely, but he would be well worth it.

The human stopped moving as she began to weave her web around his ka. As she did, she brushed his memories slightly, learning his true name. Using that name, she whispered to him, her words like tendrils of venom snaking into his brain.

As the man rose and started to move, jerkily, towards the mask which lay on a table not too far away from him, she had to marvel at how remarkably easy it had been. Back then, a person’s true name wouldn’t have been very easily removed, especially if the person was a wizard. Humans who worshipped Akhekh were known to have at least some degree of protection over their own ka, established only after Akhekh’s priests were done with it.

Of course, this meant that one, this man wasn’t a wizard- magic was probably long gone in this time and age, and two, this man wasn’t sworn to Akhekh- which meant that her fall hadn’t led to Akhekh’s rise after all. Amon must have somehow been defeated by someone else.

Which meant that the human world was now ripe for the taking.

The human didn’t hesitate. As soon as the mask covered his face, he let out a gasp as it started to fuse with his flesh, burning her mark into his ka. The transformation would take a while to finish, but for now, he was already hers.

She called for him, and he would come. The one who would set her free.

VI

Dawn was near.

Checking his watch, Ryan got out of the jeep, and picked up a pair of binoculars from the passenger seat. Until the sun came up, he guessed that most of the humans would be asleep anyway. He’d find a spot he could sneak past and get into the temple to plant the explosives safely waiting in the trunk of the jeep. By then, the sun would’ve probably come up, turning the odds in his favor. Until then, he saw no reason to engage the vampire. His main priority was the temple, anyway. Now that it had been discovered, the only solution left would be to destroy it before she could awaken, or worse, escape.

If he was lucky, he might even be able to blow it up before help arrived.

As he peered through his binoculars, however, that he realized that things were about to get a lot more complicated.

The diggers were being led into the temple, being led by a man who was wearing some sort of mask. Before he could get a good look at the leader though, the man had disappeared into the temple.

Was it the vampire? Had they broken the seal? His heart pounding, Ryan quickly dropped the binoculars and got back into the jeep, cursing under his breath.

‘If she gets out, not even an army of hunters is going to make a difference. Amon himself is going to have to come down here.’

As soon as the jeep roared to life, he pressed down on the accelerator as though his life depended on it.

VII

Will opened his eyes to silence. Complete and total silence.

‘Something’s wrong.’

He reached for the gun on his desk, pocketing it before putting his cloak on. It seemed like it was still dark outside, but he preferred to have it with him anyway. He could already sense the sun coming.

“Professor!” he called out loud as he marched out of the tent.

No one answered. In fact, there was no one around as far as he could see. Where were the people who were supposed to be on guard duty?

‘They were blood-bound. They couldn’t have went off to sleep,’ he whispered to himself. He went into Ashford’s tent and found that the professor wasn’t there anymore. He went into the other tent beside it, and another one, and they were all empty.

It was as he was coming out of the last tent that the bullet went through his chest.

He staggered, his eyes widening as he saw the hunter from yesterday striding calmly towards him with a handgun in one hand, and a wooden stake in another. The wind blowing against him pushed his long brown coat up, revealing the rest of the arsenal he carried with him, proving that this time, he really meant business.

Counting his blessings that the bullet he’d just been shot with wasn’t silver, Will regained his composure, drawing his gun out to return fire. Silver or not, his opponent was a human. It would kill him all the same.

The hunter fired his second shot before he could even point it at him.

This bullet hit him right above his wrist. The sharp lance of pain caused him to drop his weapon as the hunter broke into a run.

The first lunge with the stake was easy enough to avoid. Will had fought his fair share of hunters before, and knew that, even if they knew how to kill him, they still had one glaring weakness that he could exploit-

His fingers closing around the stake, he gave one forceful yank and the weapon was his. Tossing it far enough away, he then rammed his other fist into the human’s face, grabbing his left hand to avoid the human from toppling over. In one fluid motion, he twisted the arm around back, and pulled.

The reward was the sound of bones breaking, accompanied by the human’s screams.

-Hunters were nothing without weapons.

He on the other hand, didn’t need weapons. His body, his blood, his fangs, those were the only things he truly needed, and they weren’t things that his opponent could deprive him of so easily.

Will let go of the hunter’s hand, shoving the hunter forward. He set his right foot on the human’s back just as the human crashed headfirst into the sand, groaning with pain.

“I don’t know how long you’ve been around,” Will said. “But you must be pretty daft to charge at me head-on like that. If it had been a bloke from the Order or the Church you might have been able to pull it off, but vampires like me, we live on fighting. And we’ve been around doing it far longer than you-

And he stopped, mid-sentence as he realized the sun’s first rays were reaching towards him from across the desert horizon.

That was when the human made his move. With a sudden burst of strength, he pressed himself up with his one good hand. Catching the vampire off guard, he quickly swiped at Will’s left leg as the vampire staggered back. As the vampire fell, he grabbed the vampire’s cloak and pulled.

And a blind panic overtook Will. He could already feel his skin starting to smoke as he scrambled towards the temple entrance, not bothering to pick up his gun or to take back his cloak from the hunter. Cursing under his breath, he swore to make sure that when he drank the hunter, he’d drink slowly.

-

Grateful to be where the sun wouldn’t reach him, he sank on his back as soon as he had ran a good distance into the temple to catch his breath. He looked up the corridor leading deeper ahead- and saw that the torches lining the corridor had all been lit. And in the sand covering the ground, he saw footsteps. An entire crowd of people had just gone through here.

‘So they went through here,’ he concluded. ‘But why? Ashford wasn’t supposed to act on anything without consulting me. I made that pretty clear. And the others were blood-bound as well. They wouldn’t have abandoned their posts without a good reason… and as menacing as that hunter looked, I don’t think he was scary enough to send six armed men running.’

Unless if there was some form of magic involved, which was again unlikely. Hunters worked for the sorcerers. They weren’t supposed to be able to use magic.

“I expected you to run away.”

Will looked up to see the hunter coming towards him- armed with a new stake- and he quickly got up on his feet again.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll beat you up than drag you back out again for you to burn.”

The vampire had to smile as he heard this. The hunter was talking big, considering the fact that he had one broken arm and that they were now in a place where the sun wouldn’t interfere to save his life.

He clenched his fists, ready to return the favor for what had happened outside, and to finish breaking off the other hand before he’d have his fun.

Will had barely taken his first step forward when the hunter had been knocked down, slumping to the ground unconscious.

Standing behind the hunter, was Professor Ashford.

‘What the hell?’

Only he wasn’t anymore. Well, at least by first glance, Will could tell that he was most certainly not human anymore.

His torn khaki pants were the only piece of clothing he had left on, and even that had a hole behind it from which protruded a long, scale-covered tail. His boots were gone, revealing where his toes had elongated and his nails and turned to claws. His hands, his torso and his bare chest were the only parts that were still made of human flesh.

It was his head though, that would have made the vampire’s blood run cold if it hadn’t been cold to begin with.

It was the head of a serpent of some sort, covered with black scales that ran up to the neck where they met flesh again. There were vaguely any human features left in the face, as it had now elongated and changed so much that it looked like a head of a giant snake glued to a human body, with an Egyptian headdress crowning his head. He clutched a long staff that twisted at the end to form a hook-like shape- it was probably the weapon that had been used to knock the human unconscious.

“Professor Ashford,” Will stepped forward. “Is that-

“I am, though I am no longer a blood-bound slave anymore. I am the Champion and High Priest of Queen Akhis, and she has renamed me Apep.”

The serpent’s mouth didn’t move with the deep voice that had traces of Ashford’s voice in it, which probably meant that it was using magic to communicate. Whatever it was that he had been turned into, Will guessed that it had something to do with the mask they’d found earlier, which subsequently meant that Akhis had had a hand in all this.

Even if Ashford was no longer his servant, he was at least an ally.

The thing that had once been Ashford bent down and picked up the unconscious hunter in his arms.

“Come,” he said as he walked past the vampire, leading them deeper into the temple.

VIII

The huge chamber where they’d first found the sarcophagus now alive and lit by the live torches on the walls. As Will stepped in, led by Apep, the first thing he saw were the pale yellow semi-translucent giant orbs lying at one corner of the room. They looked like eggs of some sort, and he thought he could count at least thirty of them.

There had been more or less thirty people with him on the dig. As curious as he was to draw closer and examine them to make sure that his theory was correct, he had other things to attend to.

Like the huge serpent that lay coiled around the spot where the sarcophagus was supposed to be.

When he first saw her, his eyes widened with disbelief. He’d expected the offspring of a God to be big, but not this big. From the way it looked, he guessed that if she got out of the temple, there was no way that she would be able to go anywhere without making her regal, divine presence known.

“Queen Akhis,” Will said, falling to his knees. He’d never truly expected this day to ever come, but now that it had, he would treat her in the manner that would be expected of him when in the face of a God.

“Vampire,” the serpent responded in a deep, silky voice. She only regarded him for a short while, her attention quickly drawn to the human that Apep was laying down on the ground in front of her.

“Another human, my Queen,” Apep announced. “He is a strong fighter. I trust he will be useful to the brood.”

Akhis loomed her giant head closer to the unconscious hunter, as though studying him intently. Then, she raised her head back and said, “A follower of Akhekh. His ka is sworn to Akhekh. I shall enjoy breaking him before taking him into my womb.”

That confirmed it, Will thought to himself. The eggs had humans inside of them. Though what they’d be when they hatched was anyone’s guess. He almost felt annoyed now, looking at the hunter. He’d hoped to be the one to kill him but now…

The form of the giant serpent seemed to shrink, melting away until it solidified into the shape and size of a human- a woman with long, straight black hair and dark eyes, dressed in a traditional Egyptian garment. As she finished her transformation, she turned her attention away from the hunter towards him, and started advancing on him with a hungry look in her eyes.

“I will need your ka first, vampire,” she said in a now-human voice. “Come to me.”

The fangs she bared with her feral grin told him that whatever she wanted from him, it wasn’t something he’d be able to just give. The word ka was only vaguely familiar to him, though what bits and pieces he did know about it was that it was something connected to his very life, something he wouldn’t be alive without.

In short, she wanted him to sacrifice himself to her.

In those precious few moments he had before she was touching him, a lot of thoughts and memories raced through his mind.

He’d been disappointed by God before, when he’d been left to be killed and sired as a vampire. He’d decided to follow that path anymore then, and decided to follow this one. It had seemed to make more sense- survival of the fittest, ruled by a God who would rule the world as it was supposed to be. Nature itself dictated that those who were weak were only food to those who were strong.

The same way that he, now, was food to her.

IX

The first thing Ryan saw when his vision returned was the vampire he’d been fighting earlier, punching a human-looking woman square in the jaw. The woman hadn’t so much as flinched as she backhanded him with a force so great that the vampire all but flew across the room.

“Apep, bring him to me,” the woman said, regarding the mask-wearing man to her right. Now, in this light, Ryan realized that the thing on the man’s head wasn’t a mask. It was an actual serpent’s head, grafted to an all too human body.

‘Akhekh, what the fuck is going on here?’

The thing called Apep charged towards the vampire, staff raised in front of him. By then the vampire had leaped back onto his feet, fending off the first blow before countering with a punch to the gut. The vampire then swept the thing off its feet and-

Their eyes met. The vampire knew he was awake.

“Make yourself useful!” the vampire called in his thick British accent. He then reached into his coat before pulling out a handgun which he tossed towards Ryan. The hunter immediately got up on his feet, catching the gun before firing it at the woman.

The bullet seemed to bounce right off her.

In that instant, Ryan knew what he was dealing with.

And bullets wouldn’t be enough to stop her. But from what he could see, her ka was still relatively weak. She would need to devour someone powerful to get enough power to break the final seals that kept her a prisoner in the temple.

So that was why the vampire was helping him.

It was a dishonorable reason, but it was good enough.

“She’s a God!” the vampire shouted. “Bullets aren’t going to help!”

Akhis stepped forward, her eyes turning serpentine again as she bared her fangs in a snarl towards the vampire. “Leech!” she hissed. “You’ve sworn your ka to Apophis, and yet you defy me!”

The vampire was looking genuinely ticked off now.

“Well that’s just the thing, isn’t it?” he exclaimed. “We’re all just pawns in the end. It doesn’t bloody matter who I fucking follow, in the end, it never amounts up to anything, does it?”

“I believed in the ways of Apophis, and Christ even before I jumped ship,” the vampire continued. “But in the end its never the system that fucks me- it’s the higher ‘powers.’ And why does it always end up that way? I say its because you all aren’t as powerful as you claim you are to us. Without followers, you’re nothing.”

And just as he finished saying this, Apep had gotten up on his feet and immediately threw a punch at the vampire’s face.

“Insolence!” he hissed.

The two started fighting, exchanging kicks and blows while Akhis advanced towards Ryan, who was running out of ammunition.

“You’re out of your league, human,” she warned him. “You’re the most fragile thing in this chamber right now. Are your priests too afraid to come and face me themselves?”

“We do not fear the enemies of Akhekh.”

The source of the voice, loud and firm came from the entrance to the chamber. Three tall, strong figures were walking into the light of the room, striding in with such confidence, such power that Ryan stopped cold, backing off and bowing towards them.

One of them was Lord Ahmose, the Priest who’d raised him. The other he recognized as the Priest who was stationed to watch over the followers of Akhekh in Europe. It was the one in the center, however, that Ryan was bowing to.

‘High Priest Amon, Akhekh’s beloved.’

The three of them were wearing white loincloths, with similar golden headdresses. Amon was the only one wearing a pleated tunic above his chest, with the symbol of the Eye on it. Apart from the High Priest, who was carrying a staff, they were in all respects, unarmed. Not that it made them any less threatening. Being the ones favored by Akhekh entitled them to certain powers which made them more than human. Ryan had seen Ahmose take on a pack of seven werewolves before, and he’d come out unscathed. If anyone could stop Akhis now, it would be them.

Akhis had stopped advancing on Ryan, and was now facing the three priests.

“Amon,” she spat. “I was hoping to see you again.”

“I had to sacrifice a dear friend’s ka along with the ka of a hundred men to seal you last time,” Amon said with a sad look in his eyes. “But as you can see, I’m not alone this time. The Priests of Apophis have awoken, and this time, we will make sure that you stay buried.”

“A friend? You mean the werewolf you named Anubis? He was no more than your puppet to begin with,” Akhis said. “The same way you pitiful things are puppets of Akhekh.”

“Akhekh does not rule us by fear, nor does he change what we already are,” Amon replied. “Do not compare him to Apophis. Now Akhis, you can either go about this peacefully or not. Either way we’re still going to win.”

There was a fleeting look of fear on the woman’s face now. She tensed as though she were about to strike, then, suddenly she turned towards Apep with an urgent look on her face. She hissed something in a language that Ryan couldn’t understand.

Whatever it was she had said, Apep didn’t seem happy to hear it.

“But, my Queen,” he said, beginning to protest.

“Do not question me!” she snapped.

That was when Apep stepped back, as though he’d been slapped. Then, abruptly, he turned towards the exit and started running.

Amon was about to move in pursuit when Akhis called his name, her voice deepening as she grew in size, transforming into a giant serpent.

“I wouldn’t worry about Apep, if I were you,” she hissed. “It’s me you’re dealing with now.”

The High Priest stopped, and turned towards her. Behind him, Ahmose motioned for Ryan to move.

“Ekhela!” he shouted. “Do not let it escape, or it will just come back later to release her again!”

Ryan didn’t need to be told twice. Immediately, he charged for the exit. He could hear the sound of Akhis’ hissing behind him, followed by the sound of an explosion.

Still he didn’t stop to turn around and look. He kept on running.

X

Will didn’t know why he was bothering as he ran behind the hunter. Maybe it was because he just didn’t like the idea of Akhis coming back if those men in skirts could seal her. Maybe it was because he needed to pound on something he could hurt. Either way, it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered much to him anymore. Again he was left faithless, without something to believe in. His loyalty had been again not enough to satisfy his deity.

The hunter and the other men from the chamber (whom he suspected to be sorcerers), on the other hand were now fighting, risking their lives for what they believed in. He was fighting for himself, because for the second time now, he was left with only that.

He envied them somewhat. The unity of purpose, their single-mindedness in everything reflected what he’d had twice but failed to keep.

For that nostalgic reason, he decided that he wouldn’t fight them today- apart from the fact that he didn’t know how much he could do against them alone. If he were to join another vampire clan later, they would be interested to know about what transpired here.

“I have no time to fight you, vampire,” the hunter said as he realized that Will was running behind him.

“I’m not going to fight you,” Will replied. “I’m going to help.”

The hunter didn’t reply. He just kept on running.

Then, suddenly, their quarry stopped in his tracks, and turned to face them.

They clashed head-on. Will found himself fighting side-by-side with a human who was not blood-bound for once in his life. Though the hunter wasn’t as reliable as a vampire would have been (at least, the way Will saw it), he at least had someone to watch his back now, even if that someone was the same person who’d tried to stake him twice before. They’d been enemies before, for having different beliefs, different paths and Gods to follow (not that they were exactly friends now), now, as far as Will was concerned, they didn’t have any differing beliefs because he had no beliefs to hold on to.

As they fought, the dark, sand-covered hallway they fought in shook with every explosion and shout echoing from the chamber they’d just left behind. Pieces of sandstone were starting to fall from the ceiling- a sure sign that the place was coming down.

Will took his last blow to the face after what felt like an eternity of trading punches, before he spun around and swept Apep off his feet. On the other side, behind Apep, the hunter had drawn his stake- and though it was clear that they were not fighting a vampire- and brought it down to pierce the thing that was once Ashford through the heart.

True enough, Apep didn’t disintegrate into a cloud of ash or dust. But he just stopped moving as blood started flowing freely from where the stake had met human flesh. The hunter withdrew his blood-stained stake and stared at it for a while, before tossing it over his shoulder.

“It’s done,” he said. “Let’s get out of here before the temple collapses.”

Just as Will was about to protest due to the fact that it would still be light out, the hunter took off his coat and handed it to Will.

“Name’s Ryan,” he said, introducing himself.

“Will,” the vampire responded.

And the two started running as fast as their feet could carry them, with the exit not far off anymore. Behind them the hallway was collapsing entirely as pillars fell, bringing down piles of rubble and debris with them. Will thought he could hear the woman’s voice screaming, though he didn’t give it much thought as he raised the hunter’s coat above his head to shield him from the sunlight that was waiting to greet him at the door.

When they were well outside the temple, the entire thing came down behind them, sending up a thick cloud of sand and dust into the air.

Will ran on just far enough to get into a tent before discarding his coat, panting heavily. He had just settled down onto the mat beneath him to catch his breath when the hunter came in, also panting.

“We made it,” Ryan said, a ghost of a smile on his face.

“Yeah,” Will agreed. “In typical Indiana Jones fashion.”

Ryan made an attempt to laugh, but as his fatigue didn’t allow him to, he settled for smiling instead. He sat down on a nearby chair and lay back. “So,” he said. “You realized that your deity was a monster, and switched sides at the last minute.”

Will shook his head, his eyes narrowing. “I did not exactly switch sides,” he argued. “And I didn’t betray her because I didn’t believe in her ways anymore. I did it because she tried to kill me.”

“A good enough reason,” Ryan smiled. “A sacrifice needs to be made willingly, not forced.”

“You don’t make sacrifices to yours?” Will asked.

“Only those who offer themselves are sacrificed to Akhekh,” Ryan explained. “He is not as thirsty for blood as Apophis is.”

‘That’s what they all say,’ Will thought to himself bitterly. Then, deciding to change the subject, he asked, “Those men, from earlier…were they sorcerers? Do you think they managed to seal that bitch?”

Ryan nodded. “Well, at least that’s what everyone else calls them. They’re really Priests,” he said. “And yes, I’d say they did.”

“Too bad they had to die for it, then,” Will said, not sounding sympathetic at all.

At this, Ryan laughed. “They’re not so easily killed as you and I are, vampire. You’ll see. So where are you going after this? Your clan members will probably kill you if you go back to them. Will you join a different clan?”

Will sighed deeply. “Probably not. I don’t know… Why are we even talking about this, anyway? We’re not friends or anything- we’re only not killing each other because we’re both too tired for it.”

“We aren’t friends,” Ryan echoed. “But then we’re just killing time, after all. Everyone needs something to believe in, vampire, you know that full well. Without any beliefs to unite us, we’re pretty much just lone drifters, living lives for ourselves. It may sound good if you say it now, but at the end of the day, you’ll regret it. Because your life won’t have any meaning.”

Will kept silent, drumming his fingers on the mat as he looked away from the hunter.

XI

Amon and the other two priests appeared outside the tent around nightfall. Will had fallen asleep by then, and Ryan was alone to greet them then. They looked as though they had been through hell, or worse, Ryan noticed. They usually had a calm, peaceful manner about them, but now, they were covered in blood, and they were burnt in some places. Either way it wouldn’t last long- most of their wounds were already healing. Akhekh had decreed them immortal, after all. That was why he had found it amusing when the vampire had thought them dead.

“Ekhela,” Amon said. “We must be returning to our temples now to replenish our ka. Did you manage to dispatch Akhis’ servant?”

Ryan bowed. “I have, Lord Amon,” he answered. “I had help from a vampire.”

“Ah, yes,” Amon nodded, as though just remembering the vampire’s presence in Akhis’ chamber earlier. “The vampire. Have you killed him? Though he may have betrayed Apophis, he is still an enemy.”

Ryan shook his head. “He will be returning to the temple at Cairo with me,” he said.

At this, Amon raised an eyebrow. “Willingly?” he asked, the tone of disbelief in his voice clear.

“Yes,” Ryan answered. “Though he didn’t say he would join us. He said he’d consider it first. I thought I’d convince him with Lord Ahmose’s help when we get to Cairo.”

Amon smiled at him, and Ryan couldn’t help but smile back. To even meet the High Priest face to face, after all, was already an honor.

“I pray that he shall decide to join us, then,” Amon said.

Ryan did too. Truthfully wasn’t really convinced that Will would choose that path in the end. In the end the vampire was after all, a vampire- the cursed race that had brought an end to the Age of Peace. But then Ryan believed in change as well. So in the end, there was nothing else to do but just wait and see.

And if Will couldn’t make the right choice, then Ryan would stake him. It didn’t really matter all that much anyway.

He was just glad that the whole deal with Akhis was over.

XII

Orlan sighed as he looked at the clock on the wall, noticing that it was almost midnight. He would’ve stayed all night on campus if he could, but then he’d promised his wife that he’d come home tonight. He shut down his computer before deciding, what the heck, she’d have to understand anyway. With his colleague Ashford still missing without a trace, he finally had permission to pick up and continue the study Ashford had stolen from him.

His other colleagues had joked, saying that Ashford had went down to Egypt on his own, releasing a mummy who had then killed him, sucking his organs out- like Imhotep from the all-American ‘The Mummy’.

He’d found Ashford’s old research notes as he’d spent the whole day cleaning up the place. It didn’t bring him as much joy as he thought it would. As much as he hated Ashford, they’d been friends a long time ago. Now, if he was truly dead, they would never ever make their peace.

Just as he was about to sit back at Ashford’s computer, he noticed a small, wooden crate on a table at the center of the room. It had been there since as long as he could remember- a package mailed directly to Ashford from Egypt. He’d ignored it up until now, thinking that it would be nothing more than jars or ceramics, the only things Ashford ever found on his digs.

He walked up to it, grabbing a crowbar which had been lying in wait on the table as though it had known Orlan would be coming. Carefully, he pried the crate open.

Lying inside, was a golden Egyptian mask.