Jude; The Fallen (The Fallen Series, Book 2) (22 page)

He lowered his arm, and Coriander slipped her hand into his, squeezing softly. “Isn’t it beautiful?” Her voice held a touch of wistful nostalgia. He looked down at her and squeezed back.

“Yeah,” he managed, not looking at the scenery. “Beautiful.”

Her resultant blush pinked her cheeks through the slight windburn. “Stop it,” she chided. “Let’s go.” She took off, dragging him along toward the slivers of civilization.

The horizon was dappled in shades of orange and gray as the sun dipped lower. Night was coming. And where night came, demons followed. Jude stiffened.

“Sun’s going down. It will be dark soon,” she said. “That will be our best chance to slip in.” She pointed in the distance. “The tomb complex is this way. It should be full dark by the time we get there.”

“You know what that means, don’t you?” he asked.

Coriander nodded. “I do. But I’m ready. And I’m here. I refuse to wait any longer. Every moment we wait, Ash could still be in danger. I’ll be in that tomb before he can lay a finger on her.” She dropped his hand and headed off.

"Wait!” he called after her. “You can't just go charging into pyramids, Coriander. We need a plan. I know it's hard, but try to look at this rationally-"

His words cut off as she shoved him roughly and he tumbled backwards to land on his ass in the sand. Fire blazed in her eyes as she scooped up a handful of sand and threw it at his head. He spluttered, shaking the grit out of his hair, and swore loudly.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Jude growled.

Her impertinence was back in spades as she shifted the pack onto her shoulder and planted her hands on her hips. "I've just moved heaven and earth, you giant ass. Now, let's go find my baby."

He got to his feet and grabbed his bag to trail after her. As Amarna loomed in the distance, the chasm in his gut grew wider. The sun continued to set, turning the sky in swirls of orange and purple. As they came closer, they bypassed the city streets, winding their way through side paths and covered walkways, until at last, the tomb complex came into full view. Here, the desert sprawled, wide and open, behind the tiny constructs of somewhat-modern civilization, and the ancient pull of dunes and gods beckoned underneath the darkened sky. They trudged along in silence, and as the last rays of sunlight dipped on the horizon, Jude’s fingers reached out for her. Coriander’s hand slipped into his with a light squeeze. He smiled at the flutter in his chest and walked on.

The warm wind that had been circulating had grown cooler with the onset of night, as stars peeked out and twinkled against the inky backdrop of the heavens.

Jude raised his head to peer up at the crumbling stones. “Are we going to just walk right in?”

Coriander stopped, adjusting the backpack, before turning her head to survey the area. She frowned. “I don’t understand. We shouldn’t have been able to get this close without spotting a guard or two. I mean, it’s not Fort Knox, but they’re pretty vigilant about keeping people out after dark.”

The wind stilled and the tiny hairs on the back of Jude’s neck prickled to attention. This was wrong. There was something off. He instinctively reached for Coriander to draw her back, but she slipped free of him and trotted forward instead.

“Cori, wait! Let me at least take a look around-”

Jude’s words cut off as the scent of sulfur washed over him.
Brimstone. Demons.
And they were out in the open.

He dropped to one knee and scrambled to dig out one of the .45s. Gun in hand, Jude was back on his feet just in time to hear Coriander scream into the darkness.

“Cori!” he yelled, taking off to the sound of her voice. His steps brought him close to the tomb complex. He felt the edges of the edifice looming in the distance even if he couldn’t see it yet. But no Coriander. “Cori!” he called again, louder this time, and the only rejoinder was the sound of evil hissing.

Yellow points of light peeked out the darkness, and the brief glimpse was enough to put him headed in the right direction. He shot forward when they disappeared. Jude stumbled ahead, throwing the pack over his shoulder and steadying the .45 with both hands. As he got closer, his night vision improved somewhat, allowing him to see the outlines of stone in the dark. Coriander’s name was on the tip of his tongue and he wanted to yell for her again, but he kept quiet, lest he give away his position.

He faltered as he hit steps, ascending slowly, the gun trained downward. If he popped one off accidentally, he ran the risk of hitting Coriander. He knew from experience that demons had no qualms about using humans as shields, and blowing a hole in Coriander would definitely put a damper on his endgame of getting them all back alive. They were alone here, and without Elijah to heal, injuries needed to be kept to a minimum.

Jude breached a doorway, slipping further into the blackness. It was cooler inside, and the scent of sulfur was now tinged with the smell of old sand and the heavy cling of ancient musk. A scraping noise ahead brought his head up at an angle as his ears craned to pinpoint the sound. He heard muffled words and the shuffle of bodies, and his eyes narrowed as he realized what was happening. He was being lured. It was using Coriander, stifling her cries just enough to keep him moving. There was no doubt it was a trap, and he was following along as planned. The scant hint of a smile curled the corner of his lips. This was a game he knew well.

Jude wondered how the demon would react when it realized the hunted was hunting the hunter.

He needed light. With light came shadows, and with shadows, he had the opportunity to conceal himself and better his advantage. There was no telling how much farther ahead they were, but since it was drawing him in, it wouldn’t be by much. If it were him, he’d want enough distance to see an attack coming, but not enough to lose sight of his prey completely. Demons were often slow on the uptake, but they were killing machines and not to be underestimated.

Jude blinked twice into the darkness, focusing his eyes on the rough outline of the walls. His nostrils twitched as something new filtered in over the sulfur and sand.

Kerosene. Bingo.

Carefully, he shifted his weight back, making sure his feet didn’t scrape on the floor. He moved until his back rested against the wall. He eased down to a crouch, setting down the pack. His fingers maneuvered the zipper and reached inside, finally digging around to curl around his cell phone.

He pulled it out and tapped the power button, coaxing the screen to life. His hand swept out, the dim light arcing around the room long enough for him to find the source of the fuel smell. A forgotten kerosene lantern sat in the corner across the room on its side, the flammable liquid seeping out onto the floor. Jude shut the phone off and jammed it in his pocket, reaching back in the bag. He set the gun down and pulled out the box of matches from the bottom of the bag.

Jude took a deep breath, centered himself, and lit a match, tossing it across the way and retrieving the .45 in one go. Flames erupted from the corner of the room, bathing the chamber in flickering light. He whirled around the doorway, back out into the opening, and peeked his head around. The demon came into view, and the minute Coriander laid eyes on him she began to struggle.

It growled, pressing its hand across her mouth, but the firelight gave him the opening he needed.

“Down, Cori!” he yelled, and she thrust her elbow back sharply, making the demon falter and lose its hold. She dropped to the ground and Jude raised the .45, squeezing off one shot. The demon’s head exploded in a shower of gore, and crumpled to the ground.

Coriander cried out as bits of the demon made contact with her skin. He knew how it burned, and lurched forward to grab at her and pull her away from the corpse.

“Christ, that hurts!” she howled.

Jude pulled out the bottle of water, muttered a few words and unscrewed the cap, and poured it over her. She sighed with evident relief.

Coriander raked her hands down her arms, ridding herself of the excess water. “What is that? Just water?”

“Sort of. It’s holy water.”

She stared at him. “When in the hell did you get holy water?”

“Just now,” he said with a smile. “I may have blessed it before I drenched you.”

“Well, isn’t that handy?” she huffed.

Jude shrugged. “It’s been useful on occasion.”

Coriander wiped her hands over her face and squeezed out her ponytail. “Come on, then. Let’s go further.” She glanced at the muck on the ground. “I think we’re on the right track.”

He grabbed the pack and eased her away from the dying flames. Coriander grabbed for his hand and led the way, slinking around corners with a sure-footedness that made him wonder if she didn’t have the layout etched in her brain. Scattered along the walls, small torches were lit, reaffirming the notion that someone or something was definitely expecting them.

Alex stepped off the plane onto the jet-way, ignoring the itching at the base of his skull. He tightened his grip on his bag and walked into the terminal, passing easily through the thinning crowd. When he made his way out of the airport to the rental car stand, the itching subsided, replaced by a dull ache in the center of his chest once his feet hit the concrete outside.
Damn.
It was beginning.

He swallowed, pushing aside the fear and apprehension, and forced himself to focus on an image of little Ashtiru’s face. Each step weighed heavier and heavier, and by the time he unlocked the car, his heart felt like a rock lodged in his sternum. Somewhere within, the jackal growled in response. Alex raked a hand through his hair as he slid into the sedan, taking a deep breath as he curled his fingers around the steering wheel.

Images assaulted him and he closed his eyes, unable and unwilling to sort through them for clarity. Lives passed him by in flashes. Birth and death, love and war, rage and anger, all wrapped in burning sands and the convictions of faith that didn’t belong to him. Before he could take another moment to process it all, he turned the key and threw the car into gear, pealing out in a squeal of tires. He didn’t dare try to figure it out now. It was far too late for that. The only thing he could do now was follow his instincts, and hope like hell it was going to be enough to save his child.

The jackal growled again, and Alex turned the car south for Amarna.

Jude followed behind Coriander, the glow of her flashlight adding more light to their path as it mixed with the interspersed torches on the walls. She ducked into a side alcove and pulled him inside, her breath catching as the beam of the flashlight hit the edge of a large object in the center of the room.

“Is that what I think it is?” he asked.

“Don’t tell me this creeps you out?” she snorted as her eyes scanned the hieroglyphics on the walls. “But yes, this is a tomb.”

“Wonderful. Anybody I know?” he quipped.

“I don’t think so,” Coriander snapped. “Unless you’re long lost pen pals with Setepenre.”

“Who?”

He heard the eye roll in her huff of escaped breath as she examined the wall further. “Setepenre. One of Akhenaten’s daughters, sister to Meketaten.” Coriander turned to face him. “She died before her sister, so most likely we need to go further in.”

Jude glanced at the object. “And is that, you know,
her
?” He gestured at the sarcophagus.

“Doubtful,” she replied. “The body is probably long gone, but yeah,” she squinted at the rectangular stone tomb, “that looks like it could be hers.”