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“You were afraid. I understand. Maybe a part of you just didn’t want to know. I take it, then, you have never heard of the goddess Sekhmet?” The red dot was still floating over the ceiling where I had been hiding a few minutes before.
I didn’t answer him, wanting to hide my location a little longer, but I did search my memory. My mind seemed to bubble and stir, unable to grasp at any concrete memory. A vague thought of a lion-headed goddess floated to mind from university lectures. A temple at Memphis, I thought. I remembered the temple more than her.
“Luckily I have my own personal Discovery Channel killer to fill me in,” I taunted.
“She was a warrior goddess, a lioness. The daughter of Ra, created to protect him and lay waste to his enemies. She became known as the Eye of Ra, a battle goddess dripping with the blood of those she slew. She even defeated the serpent Apophis.”
Recognition channelled through me like an electric charge as I heard the truth in his words. Memories washed through me, the screams and blood and bodies piling up. I curled up on the floor, pressing my knuckles into my eyes as if that would stop the images that flashed through my mind.
Down below, Jabari continued, unaware of the pain that flowed through me as he raised my past from the dead. “Ra released her on Earth to destroy those who had risen against him, the followers of Apophis, and she cut through their armies like a scythe cuts through wheat. She feasted on their blood, and her bloodlust became unstoppable. His enemies were defeated, but she carried on slaying, and eventually Ra sent her priests to stop her.
“The story goes that they brewed large vats of wine and beer, dyeing them red with pomegranate juice to look like blood. She drank and drank and became so drunk that she passed out and lay unconscious for three days. When she awoke, her bloodlust had passed, and she escaped into the night.”
I took a shuddering breath, my voice cracking as I spoke again. “What has all this got to do with me?”
Jabari turned, letting off a shot that hit six inches from my foot. I pulled myself in tighter behind the machine I hid behind.
“Don’t interrupt. It’s rude. Clearly, Sekhmet could not be allowed to roam free, so Ra turned to me, Onuris, the greatest of all hunters, slayer of enemies, and defender of Ra.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s quite some name. You must really like it.”
The gun went off again, but this time instead of a round narrowly missing my body, I heard a yelp from below. Rolling over and inching towards the edge of the platform, I saw Zayn’s body still lying on the floor, but now a small pool of blood was collecting under him. My nails dug into the metal grate and my claws extended as my anger surged. In my head, I heard Zayn urging me to be silent and stealthy, so I closed my eyes and retreated back into the shadows.
“It really is a stupid idea to antagonise me,” Jabari warned calmly. “They are all going to die, of course, but I can make it quick or painfully slow. Now, where was I? Oh yes, I pursued the goddess in her leonine form all the way to Nubia. I hunted her through deserts and mountains until I finally found her. We fought, but I emerged victorious. I subdued her and took her back to Egypt to deliver her into the hands of the gods. Before I left, I performed a ritual to remove her bloodlust and her powers. Her form changed, and she became Bast—pliable and submissive as a female should be.”
“Didn’t last long,” I muttered quietly, but he still heard me. I cringed, anticipating a shot, but none came.
“No, it did not. The gods returned her to her priests, who were devastated at what I had done. So instead of destroying her, as they should have done, they banished me from the temple, threatening me with death. They found a way to lift the curse, to return her power, though they could not lift it completely.”
He fell silent, and my mind churned over his words. Memories still rushed through me, snatches of another life, the roaring fury and the bloodlust of my lioness, and the indulgent pleasure of my human form. Reality hit me and I turned, vomiting onto the floor. Jabari waited patiently. When the retching stopped, I moved behind another machine farther along. The red dot didn’t follow me.
“I am both,” I stated, the truth washing over me of what my priests had kept for me—the ugly, bloody truth of who and what I was. I was the lion and the cat, the goddess of war and the goddess of pleasure and prosperity.
“Indeed. But the goddess Sekhmet still resides within you. It is her who gives you power, and it is her who craves blood. I saw you in the bar, I saw how much you ached to rip out those men’s throats and feast on their blood.”
“I—”
He laughed, the sound cruel. “Don’t deny it. I could see it in your eyes.”
“I’m not denying it, but I can control it. I was drugged,” I insisted, praying I was right. I had only lost control because of the drugs. It was what I had been telling myself since that night.
“Yes, I know. I was the one who drugged you.”
I crept closer to the edge to look down at him. “Why? If you didn’t want me to hurt humans, why did you risk it by drugging me?”
He looked up, though I didn’t think he could see me in the darkness. “I wanted to see if I could control your desire for blood. I wanted to give you a chance.”
“How the hell did that control me? You pushed me the other way!”
“Because I used something else to try and control you, an enchanted item to subdue your power and hopefully your dark lust.”
“That’s just...” My thoughts drifted back to that night and then to the pile of clothes currently sitting on the passenger seat of Zayn’s car. “The bracelet.”
“Clever girl. I was ordered to try and recruit you first and foremost, but if there was no way to control you, then I should eliminate the threat. The blue gemstones were created with a substance called blue lily. It’s a sedative, and it induces a light euphoria. It’s slightly hallucinogenic too, but that’s an unfortunate side effect. It meant I could keep you under control until I got you where I wanted you.”
That explained the fucking snakes then. “You haven’t got me yet. I can still shift, and I can still outrun you,” I called down, sounding more confident than I felt.
Jabari laughed. “But will you? I mean, I’m all for another hunting game. You’re worthy prey indeed, but will you leave your priests at my mercy?”
