Conquer the Dark (25 page)

Bath Kol nodded. “Unfortunately Mr. Salahuddin was out of his league. Had we known that … hey.”

Nazir jumped up. “Let me make some calls. I do not believe the item has been recovered. I have a cousin in Edfu who works with stone and who at times serves as a courier—”

“We can go to Edfu,” Isda said, gaining nods from the group. “We like to know who we’re dealing with.”

This time when they
boarded the bus, they waited until they pulled away from the curb before erupting into pandemonium.

“Okay, this is taking shape in my mind, folks,” Bath Kol said, too wired to sit as Isda drove at breakneck speed to make it back to the ship on time. “You’ve got these exhibit dudes, like our man back at Karnak, Hakim. They look for wealthy foreigners who look like they could drop some nice coin for original artifacts. With so many people finding their homes have been built on top of ruins and the government only offering them a pittance for what-ever’s found there, there’s a lot of stuff moving illegally
across borders. Add in general theft from sacred sites, and you have a nice little cottage industry going.”

“So, Hakim sees us poking around and figures a bunch of rich Americans are trying to smuggle home a keepsake,” Celeste said. “So he calls his boy, Nazir, and says, ‘I’ve got a hot one for you.’ “

“Right,” Azrael added, glancing around the group. “And at Nazir’s we learn that he’d heard about this tablet someone with a lot of money was searching for and had possibly killed a man over … no doubt the enemy was going around saying they needed their tablet returned—which is why Nazir assumed someone had stolen it from whoever was looking for it.”

“But I didn’t get the feeling that he had actually ever brokered a deal of that magnitude or even had the tablet,” Aziza said.

“I’m with you, lady.” Celeste shook her head. “No, this guy was about to pee his pants when Az put eight figures on the table. These guys don’t have it.”

“But they have ears to the ground, and more importantly, if we go talk to this cousin of Nazir’s down in Edfu—Omar the stoneworker—then maybe we can find out who helped get poor Daoud into the sanctuary of the Precinct of Mut. It had to be one of the guys he was working with to move the piece.”

Celeste stared out the window at the approaching dock. “If I was Daoud and I knew everybody around me was dirty or could possibly be paid off … like Hakim … dude probably let Daoud in for a price on the side without telling Nazir. Right?”

“I’m right dere wit you, sis,” Isda said.

“Okay,” she said, turning back to the group, “I would tell them I had found a buyer and would give them a way bigger cut if they didn’t tell Nazir. Those guys probably said yes, knowing that if things went south, Daoud could run but he couldn’t hide forever, especially with no way to get a passport out of the country without their network knowing about it. So, the deal was, Daoud would go get the cash from some rich guy, split it with them for a hefty cut—higher than what Nazir pays … under the table and off Nazir’s radar. But then Daoud, an honest man with no buyer, hides the tablet and never brings them their cut.”

“So they round him up and take his ass to Nazir and claim that they found him poaching,” Bath Kol said.

“And Daoud gets tortured and his family gets threatened, so he gives them one piece. Something bigger than what he so-called stole. Imhotep,” Isda said quietly.

Bath Kol released a forlorn sigh as he leaned back against his seat. “But the poor bastard was probably so beat up and had lost so much blood that he expired right out there in the tomb that me and Aziza went down into.”

Aziza nodded. “That version of the story resonates with me.”

“Me, too,” Celeste said, gaining nods from Maggie and Melissa.

“It sits right in my gut as well,” Azrael said, standing. “I still want to go to Edfu. This stoneworker concerns me. When they captured Daoud, who knows what information they extracted from him that could be useful to us. This Omar might also lead us to the full group that initially moved that altar.”

Isda reached back and slapped Azrael five, but Celeste
leaned forward and rubbed her temples, her head pounding, something pushing at her mind.

“I saw something when we were at the site … but it fled my mind and I’ve felt like I’ve got something metal stuck in my head ever since.” Breathing shallow sips of air, Celeste closed her eyes. “It’s getting worse now.”

“Give me your hands,” Aziza said, and turned around in her seat on her knees.

Weakly, Celeste complied as everyone looked on. But as soon as their hands touched, both women drew back from each other.

“You’re carrying something dark on your person,” Aziza said in a tight voice.

Celeste stared at her and swallowed hard, paralyzed by Aziza’s statement. “Get it off me, sis. I could feel it crawling all over me as soon as you said it.”

Azrael got up and grabbed her fanny pack. “What did that guard give you—he handed something to you!”

“A phone number so I could call him back later tonight.”

“Why would you do that?” Azrael frowned, unzipping her pack.

“For a booty call,” Celeste said, squinting.

“A what?”

“A rendezvous, man,” Isda said, frowning.

Azrael extracted the piece of paper, and as soon as he held it between his fingers, it burned. Celeste slumped into a seat and released her breath.

“The headache … damn, it’s gone,” she murmured.

“They tracked her. Sent a black vibration out through the airwaves to cover the mortals in our group at all of the
sites where we’d most likely go searching for the tablet and sarcophagus,” Bath Kol said, punching a seat. “They can only do that to humans or beings with human DNA in them. Shit!”

“Den they’ll let us be their little hunting dogs and go find the tablet for them, and then ambush us,” said Isda.

“Did anyone else touch that guard or accept anything from him?” Azrael looked around. “Does anyone else have a headache or feel nauseated?”

Everyone murmured in a confused manner as though they couldn’t remember, and Azrael scanned them visually for any signs of additional fatigue.

“You do not break bread or eat with a demon. You do not share water, the most mutable substance on the planet, with a demon. The piece of paper he gave you had numbers on it … a dark code containing a scrying spell. And—”

“His eyes turned coal black,” Celeste suddenly shouted. “I couldn’t remember before! Everything became cloudy.”

“And I became irrational … and we argued. We don’t argue. A demon’s foundation is dissension and anger.”

“Oh, Az … I’m so sorry—I was just trying to run a little game to get us in.” She went to him and he hugged her.

“You did the right thing. You were following the plan we’d all agreed upon. I allowed you to be placed in harm’s way.”

“BK, check your ’oman.” Isda looked at Aziza hard. “She walked over desecration, man. She could have been black-tagged, too.”

“I haven’t felt right since I went to that tomb,” Aziza said quietly. “But I’ve got something for that.”

Bath Kol’s hands began to glow as his eyes narrowed to a furious glare. “So do I,” he said, frowning. “You get a spiritual white bath readied when we get back on that ship—I mean the full monty … holy water, frankincense, myrrh, and any herbal medicinals in your bag. If they tried to tag you with anything, we’ll get rid of it.”

I
nstinctively Celeste took Azrael’s
hand and threaded her fingers through his as they crossed the gangplank back to the ship. His energy was running so high right now that she could tell he was ready to take flight and dive-bomb into a demon battle at any moment. He needed a ground wire. If she could do that for him, so be it.

Dinner wouldn’t be served until eight, which gave them a little decompression time. Celeste looked forward to escaping the group dynamics for just a little while.

It was as though everyone was on the same wavelength when they boarded the ship. They didn’t even speak to each other; members of the group simply coupled off and headed directly to their rooms. Isda went straight upstairs in the direction of the top-deck bars.

“Hey … I’m sorry,” Celeste said as she closed the door behind her.

Azrael shook his head so slowly, not even looking at her but contemplating the floor. “It is I who am very sorry, Celeste.” When he looked up, his eyes were glowing pure white—which was never a good sign. “They sent a demon to despoil you?” His voice was low and ominous. “And it touched you …”

He walked away from her toward the sliding-glass doors and she hugged herself. “I feel so unclean,” she said quietly, so upset that she had allowed something like that to happen. What she’d done was something people did every day—exchange a phone number on the back of a matchbook. But common sense should have told her that nothing was normal about normal.

Again he shook his head but didn’t turn around. “You will never be unclean to me, Celeste.
Never
. And it would taunt me … actually challenge my affection and true intent for you by invoking the subject of marriage?”

“Az—”

With a loud bang, he flung the sliding-glass door open so hard she feared it had come off its hinges. Before she could even yell no, he’d stripped his shirt over his head, had taken two forceful steps, spread his wings, and hurled himself into the air like a rocket.

She ran to the window calling after him, leaning as far over the ship rail as she could. He was climbing in altitude so fast that she had to shield her eyes against the setting sun to watch him.

Panic sent her back into the room to lock the window and bolt from the room. Instead of going deeper into the cabin area, she headed across the lobby at a breakneck speed, hit the steps, and ran four flights up to the rooftop
bar. Isda met her with a beer in his hand. The two nearly collided.

“He’s so pissed off, I don’t know where’s he’s going,” she said, out of breath.

Isda held her by the shoulder. “I saw him battle-rocket out a damned balcony with no shield, no cloak? What happened?”

She shook her head. “He said I would never be unclean and was so upset about the demon tag—even though it’s over, it’s off me. I don’t know what it was that set him off like that … he—”

“He took exception to Asmodeus putting that shit on his ’oman, is whot is was. I was gwan get Bath Kol, but he ain’t in no better frame of mind.” Isda handed her his beer, looked around, then stripped his shirt over his head and gave it to her. “Don’t worry. They won’t see me.” He took a running leap and swan-dived off the star bow.

Azrael headed toward the
sun, barreling through the sky, fury propelling him faster and faster until he ripped the barrier between time and space in the temporal realm. Gleaming battle-axes filled his fists as he descended into a cave that was deeper than the Great Pyramid was tall.

Bats screeched a sentry warning at his arrival. His feet slammed down upon mudstone and bat guano. Steep, fallen debris cones and outwash fans would have made his footing unsure were it not for his intense outrage. He was not just the Angel of Death, but the
Avenging
Angel.

“Asmodeus!” he shouted into the dark cavern. “I challenge you here in your old lair where we did battle before!
I feel your energy has recently been here—show yourself now! Or do you want to do this like old times, on Mount Hermon, where two hundred thousand of your fallen were sacked to two hundred, and now pitifully twenty-two! Tonight you have gone too far! Thus tonight we shall finish this man-to-man!”

Azrael threw open his arms within the seemingly dead cave, sending a blue-white current of light from his locks to run down his arms and then to blanket the cave floor. Screeching, frying, furious demons lifted from the embers, some popping and burning before they could escape. They came at him from every crevice and from behind huge stalactites and stalagmites, baring fangs and claws.

Using his wings as razor-sharp blades, the delicate plumage turned into twin death dealers as he hacked at the onslaught, his eyes now casting a burning white ray. Demons scrambled to get out of his line of vision and tried to attack from behind, to no avail. Gray-green gargoyle bodies littered the cave floor and acid-slobbering mutations screamed and writhed clutching at severed limbs.