Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

" H uh?" Paige wrinkled her nose and scratched her head as she tried to determine what a Mummy Lord was and why Dewey thought it was so dangerous.

Drucinda rolled her eyes before she stalked away from the house. "We'll talk about it on the plane. Unless you'd prefer to stand just outside the Delacroix compound and have a casual conversation."

Paige hurried after her as Devon brought up the rear. "No, I'd rather get out of here. Why did they bring us to New Orleans?"

"Ivy likes to bring her victims here where she can have free rein over them without her mother's involvement."

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing," Paige murmured.

"Could go either way," Devon said. "Ivy's mom is kind of a…well, you know."

"A witch?" Dewey asked, craning his neck to stare at Devon. "Because Paige is a witch. So, that's kind of insulting."

"That's not what I was going to say, but– "

"But what, Dimples? We have bigger problems than Ivy and her clan. We'll never get the scepter of shadows."

"Are you always this dramatic?" Drucinda asked as she pointed a key fob toward a bush. Yellow lights flashed from behind the green leaves.

"Usually, yes," Dewey answered as they piled into the car. "I'm a writer. It comes with the territory."

Drucinda fired the engine and tugged the shifter into gear. "Oh, really? And what do you write, little man?"

"Nothing," Paige answered. "He writes scientific articles and stuff."

"You're a dramatic nonfiction writer?" Drucinda sped down the road, leaving the sprawling New Orleans mansion in the rearview mirror.

"No," Dewey called from his backseat as he scrambled to stand and fly up to sit on the console, leaving Paige alone. "I'm a fiction writer. I write–"

"A fantasy book called Malice in Wonderland which sounds fantastic. I can't wait to read it," Paige answered.

Dewey glared at her over his shoulder.

"When will it be done?" Drucinda flicked on her turn signal and pulled onto another road.

"Not for a while. I abandoned it."

"Writer's block, eh, little man?"

"Nope. I've been cranking out words on a new trilogy idea that I had."

"Another fantasy?"

"Paranormal romance."

"Steamy, I hope," Drucinda said with a devilish grin.

"You know it," Dewey answered.

She pulled onto a dirt road heading toward a few buildings that housed small airplanes. "Tell me more."

"Well, it's about–"

Paige wagged her head back and forth. "That's not important, we should discuss this Mummy Lord which sounds like a huge problem."

"We have plenty of time to talk about that on the plane," Drucinda said with a wave of her hand.

"Yeah, I really want to hear about this PNR book. I love romance novels," Devon said.

Dewey narrowed his eyes at the man. "You would, Six Pack."

Paige desperately tried to stop the conversation. "We really shouldn't talk about an author's unfinished work."

"Sounds like the author is fine with it," Drucinda answered as they bumped along the road toward one of the buildings.

"I am. It's a fun little story about a hot vampire…we'll call him Devon."

Drucinda grinned as she swung around a pothole. "I'm liking it already."

"And a woman new to the paranormal world, we'll call her…Paige."

Paige slapped a hand against her forehead. "I wish Ivy would have killed me."

"And they–"

"Wait, wait, wait." Drucinda shot him a glance before she flicked her eyes back to the dirt road. "Is this a story about Paige and Devon?"

"No," Paige said with a shake of her head. "He's just not creative with names."

"Let's say it's inspired by Paige and Devon," Dewey answered.

Drucinda brought the car to a stop outside of a hangar, throwing it into park and shutting off the engine. "What's it called?"

"Nothing. Untitled work," Paige answered as Dewey said, " Taming his Royal Biteness. "

Heat rose in Paige's cheeks as she let her head bang against the headrest in the back. "Unbelievable."

"Well, sign me up for a preorder. I can't wait to read it, little man." Drucinda swung her door open and stepped into the warm night air.

"Yeah, me too, buddy," Devon said with a grin. "And if you need any shots for the cover, I've got a few lying around you could use."

"Hmmm, are any of them shirtless?"

"A few," Devon answered.

"Send them to my email and I'll forward them to my cover designer with the pictures of Paige."

"The what?" Paige cried as Devon exited the car and Dewey flew out after him.

"Calm down, Paige, they'll be heavily edited. The first thing she did was remove your glasses. Thank goodness."

"She doesn't wear glasses anymore," Drucinda said, "you should have sent new pictures after Grandmother fixed her eyes."

"Yeah, I haven't been able to get any discreet pictures that could be used since then. I had a few nice sleeping shots that, when modified slightly by the designer, look like she's being tugged backward toward a shirtless hunk and loving it."

"I am going to kill you if this Mummy Lord doesn't," Paige growled at the dragon.

"What are you going on about?" Drucinda asked as they strode toward the waiting plane. "Take your fifteen minutes of fame and be happy someone wrote a book about you."

"I'm not thrilled someone wrote a steamy romance about the time Devon kidnapped me and I almost died."

"Please tell me you gave us an HEA?" Devon said as they boarded the plane.

"What?" Paige asked with a wrinkled nose. What the heck was an HEA ?

Dewey offered a dramatic sigh as he landed on the couch and sprawled out. "How do you claim to be a reader?"

Paige plopped down next to him while Drucinda gave the pilots their orders before she joined Devon on the loveseat.

Paige held her chin higher. "I read the classic. Not soft porn."

"Whatever," Dewey said. "I'll laugh my way to the bank with my non-classic paranormal romance which has an HFN if you must know. I plan a series."

"I always need my phone right after someone kidnaps me and takes all my stuff." Paige grabbed the RP from the table in front of her and poked around on it.

"Are you seriously looking up what those mean?" Drucinda asked. "For heaven's sake, even I know that."

"Of course you would."

Drucinda leaned forward with an annoyed expression. "HEA is Happily Ever After and HFN is Happy For Now. Honestly, Paige."

"How would I know that?"

"Either way, it's a lot better than what happened in real life. An HFN would have been a vast improvement over Paige laughing at me when I proposed."

"Seriously? You kidnapped me. I lived through a car accident and woke up drugged in your castle and you're going to pout about how I didn't accept the out-of-nowhere proposal? After, by the way, you–"

"Yeah, almost killed you, I know."

Paige rolled her eyes at him before she flopped back on the couch, dumping the RP on the cushion next to her.

Devon leaned forward, his features pinched. "It's just that–"

"No," Paige said with a flick of her hand. "We're not talking about this now. Let's just…find this Mummy Lord, ge t the scepter, find my mom, and then maybe we can discuss this."

Devon's lips curled up at the corners. "Really? Do you mean it? Maybe over a nice dinner. Moonlight. A little wine."

Dewey snatched the RP and tapped on it.

"What are you doing?" Paige asked.

"Taking notes," he answered.

Paige shook her head. "Let's just do our business and stop talking about HEAs and HFNs and crazy paranormal romance books based on weird things that have happened in my life, okay? Now…why was everyone so upset about this Mummy Lord?"

Dewey let the RP flop onto his legs with a huff. "Seriously, Paige, it's like you've lived under a rock for most of your life."

"Close, in a convent." Drucinda heaved a sigh. "It would have been so much better had your Mum given you to me to raise. Obviously, not for me. Saddled with a child? It would have been horrid, but you'd have been all the better for it."

Paige let her head flop back against the couch cushion. Her patience wore thinner than a gnat's whisker. "I really hate living with nonhumans sometimes."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dewey asked, a puff of smoke escaping his nostrils and betraying his annoyance.

"It means that it stinks being thirty-five while everyone is like three-hundred and thirty-five."

"Hey, I'm nowhere near three hundred."

"Yeah," Devon answered. "That's sort of harsh. Do I look three-hundred and thirty-five?"

"What? No, you look–"

"And I suppose you think this one gray hair I have at my temple puts me at nearly three hundred and fifty?" Drucinda poked a finger at her hairline as she scowled.

Dewey grimaced at her. "I wouldn't judge, Paige. You've got a few wrinkles yourself, and I'm pretty sure I see more than one of those flaming red hairs that have lost their fire."

"I didn't judge." She slid her eyes closed as she tried to prepare her defense. "Okay, everyone stop being so sensitive. No one looks old. Obviously, Drucinda you are very pretty and you look younger than me. And Dewey, you still look like a young dragon. And clearly, Devon you are hot."

Devon gave her a dimple-ridden grin. "Aw, thanks, Paige. That means a lot to me."

"It's just weird because you knew my mother when my mother was young. You knew me as a baby. I was almost raised by Drucinda and my uncle Devon who would then have asked me to marry him which would have been super creepy."

"I was literally nowhere near being Uncle Devon."

"Well, darling, I mean had I raised her, you could have been."

"Oh, good point. Right, you would have needed help raising a kid."

"Well, I could have depended on Mother and Grandmother. Grandmother would have had loads of fun with a new baby."

"Also," Dewey chimed in, "you may not be fully human. We have to figure out how to activate your powers."

"That's what I can't understand," Drucinda said with a crinkle of her forehead. "How does this happen? Reed didn't know anything about it."

"No, but the woman we met who was a dead ringer for Paige in the 1200s must have been her ancestor. She had the same bracelet, and she had super cool magical powers. She could float."

"Which means she wasn't human. Though her life expectancy may be human-like."

"I would have guessed it was except how is Paige's mother still living with her red hair? That was thirty-five years ago. And since Paige already has a few grays that we know of–"

"Hey!" Paige interjected.

Dewey shushed her. "It seems unlikely Reed wouldn't. How is she maintaining her youthfulness?"

"Perhaps they have time and a half with life expectancy once their powers are active. That would slow it enough, but not enough for people to notice they are living well beyond their time."

"This is definitely something we'll have to look into. Paige would be far more useful if she had her magical powers."

"Or more dangerous." Drucinda shrugged.

"That would be good."

Drucinda wrinkled her nose. "Yes, unless you're just more dangerous to yourself. You wielding magical powers is a frightening thought."

"It really is," Dewey agreed.

"Thanks so much for all your faith in me," Paige said with a groan.

"I believe in you, Paige," Devon answered with a nod.

Paige crossed her arms as she let her features settle into a frown. Drucinda grabbed the RP and tapped on the screen. "We should prepare for our asset retrieval."

"Finally, something I can agree with," Paige said, her face brightening as the conversation shifted off of her.

"You won't think that way once we are stuck in the middle of the desert with a Mummy Lord following us. Say, where is this clue leading us anyway?"

"Please don't say Cleopatra's tomb. Because if I have another run-in with that poor Emma woman, and she ends up passed out again–"

"It's not there," Drucinda responded before she flipped the RP around to show them a map.

"It's here. Middle of the desert. There must be some ruins there. We'll have to do a little excavating to find the tomb or whatever is buried there."

"Oh, great," Paige groaned. "Are we going to have to bail out of the plane to get there?"

"No, that would be ridiculous. We'll go on camel. I've already spoken with the library network's contact there. Fellow by the name of–"

"Tarik," Paige repeated.

"Yes, that's him. Very knowledgeable about that area. We were lucky to get hold of him, he is in the process of moving to a small town in the States." Drucinda returned to studying the RP before she tapped on it again.

"Okay, so somehow we got a tip about this scepter being in this random location in the desert. And all we need to do is figure out where it is in that general area. I mean, it could take days, but that's not too bad."

"And battle with the Mummy Lord," Dewey reminded her.

"Yeah, what's their deal? Why are they so scary? If they come after us, can't we just unravel them and leave them lying in a heap?" Paige snorted a laugh at her own joke.

"Sometimes, Paige, sometimes," Dewey said with a shake of his head.

"Mummy Lords are not mummies, nitwit. Mummies are zombie-like creatures who are relatively easy to defeat or even avoid. Mummy Lords are quite different."

Drucinda handed the RP to Paige with an article loaded about the supernatural creature. Paige scanned the details. Mummy Lords were cursed beings who were once Egyptian Pharaohs. Unlike regular mummies, their supernatural powers and intelligence were retained after death and even enhanced. They guarded their tombs and any artifacts inside with an unwavering determination.

Mummy Lords would fight to the death to protect an artifact entrusted to them and would employ a variety of techniques to defeat their challenger, including tricks of the mind and transformations into terrifying creatures with deep reserves of strength.

Paige wrinkled her nose at the description. "Okay, these things sound…difficult."

"Difficult is not the word, Paige." Dewey snatched the RP from her hands and called up a few images, thrusting the screen back toward her.

She stared down at the beastly forms of Mummy Lords that had been documented in drawings or photographs, raising her eyebrow as she studied one that had conjured itself into a massive scorpion with a human face.

"First, we'll have to find the tomb he guards, then we'll have to navigate the traps successfully to find his lair, and then we'll have to fight him for the right to take the scepter. Good luck. This guy is going to eat us alive. We're doomed."