Chapter Fourteen

Life After Death

Khamari

I’m dead.

There’s no other way I could be here in the Netherworld. The temple guardians hadn’t taken out my heart and mummified me. They didn’t need to because, according to them, vampires are not living things.

Ammit, the creature who looked spliced with half a dozen different species, taunted me. It prowled and growled while the gods argued over my fate.

The gods made their decision, shoving me to the Underworld. Just before my descension, Ptah had given me advice.

“Your heart is the compass. Listen to it, and you will win.”

All I know is this is not paradise. No rolling fields of gold. After I arrived a few days ago, I found what looks like an abandoned great hall with no ceiling. A shallow river streams along the middle. A curved ship made of dark-brown wood rocks near the edge of the river. From scent and sight, no one else occupies the ship, but lit torches line the small boat. It’s tempting to hop on and let it sail, but there are too many things slithering within sight that can swallow me whole. Things like a gigantic snake that I already sliced to pieces only for its body to snap back together like magnets.

No. I’ll stick to the shadows, to the varying shades of black wedged between fallen columns. I’ll use the thick, cloaking fog and stumble over the crumbling hieroglyphic rocks.

I don’t need a heart to survive the trials like Ptah had advised. So far, I’ve needed agility and endurance. Being constantly on the run from nightmarish creatures left no time to think, let alone use my heart.

“Go to her.”

“Go to who?” I’ve learned quickly everything could kill me. Even a harmless plant.

“Find her.”

Find her? I look up, scanning the sky. Certain parts are violet, some patches of pitch black that make the sky look like a nightmarish quilt.

“Go back to the beginning. Find her. Your slayer.”

Texas.

I hop the rocks near the boat, then secure the sword and the blade I’d found along the way. After leaping inside, the boat sways violently under my weight.

I sail back—back to the beginning.

The spiked ridges of what looks like a crocodile peep just above the surface of the water. I use the rows and paddle quietly and quickly, hoping to avoid another battle.

No wonder Alexander hates this place. Nothing seemed to respond to his “spells” from his funerary text. And I feel like this is all a setup.

I see her, my slayer, as the god had called her, stepping through a portal.

“No! Go back!” I hop off the boat and run toward her.

What is she thinking?

Something looms over her body. Long tentacles swirl like a cyclone over her head, threatening to engulf her. I pull out my sword, running at full speed.

She narrows her eyes. They spark with fury. “Seriously?”

“Get down!”

I jump into the mouth of the beast and split it open. Black ink drenches our bodies. The beast remains motionless near the shore, but I don’t move until I’m certain of its death. Then something from the water, the crocodile creature, jumps out and snatches the creature below the surface.

Slowly, I back away from the edge near Texas. “What are you doing here?” I try to keep my tone even, try to keep my shit together.

She wipes the sludge from her face with the back of her hand. “I’m here to save you.”

“Is that right?” I raise my eyebrows and wave at the slain monster with half its body sinking below the water.

She shrugs like one of its tentacles wasn’t by her neck just a second ago.

“So I owe you one. Anyway…” She scans the area, and I imagine what she sees.

This isn’t the epic Field of Reeds I’ve read about in tomes. Maybe this is Hell.

Pockets of darkness, so black that even my eyesight can detect what’s around me. Then there’s the smell of rotten eggs, of sulfur. Creatures—large, small, and dangerous—skitter like insects.

“You shouldn’t have come here.”

“Well, I’m here,” she says in a there’s-nothing-you-can-do tone.

“Why?”

“To stop Alexander from finding the tablet. Why else?”

“I thought—”

“Whatever it is, you thought wrong. I’m not here for you. That ship has sailed and crashed. Now let’s find paradise or whatever the heck it is and return to our bodies. After that, you’re my enemy again. Got it?”

“Trust me. I know how you feel about me.”

“Good.” She exhales for a good while. “Where are we?”

“Hell.”

“You see Hell, I see potential.” She claps her hands and turns her head from side to side.

“What?”

“Just need a few Boomers to drive up the price, add a Starbucks, and it can go for at least half a mil.”

“I don’t think the Starbucks can survive over tar lakes and marshlands.”

“I disagree. A little pumpkin spice and throw pillows will spruce up the place.”

A large squawk booms above us.

Grabbing her hand, I pull us out of the opening and don’t stop until we’re under the cover of a gnarly branched tree near the river. Her eyes are wide, her lips drawn tight. I place a finger over my lips.

“Don’t speak,” I mouth.

A chorus of shrieks pierces my eardrums, a noise that will always haunt my memories if I survive this place. Another memory is the pound of flesh the creature had torn along my shoulder. The menacing screech makes my arm throb in memory.

The wind from its wings whips the blood-red leaves on the tree. Texas cranes her neck, peeking through the red, leafy canopy. She jerks her head back and squeezes my forearm—the injured one.

I clench my fist to offset the pain.

Finally, it screeches one last time in what sounds like a fit of rage and then flies away.

“What was that? An eagle or something?”

“An eagle?” I’d shout if I wasn’t paranoid about what could pop out of nowhere. “Is that what it looked like?”

“Well, the head of an eagle. Or maybe a vulture? But with like a spiked tail or something. And the claws.” She curves her fingers and claws the air.

“I don’t know what it’s called, but it tears and feasts off the flesh of whatever it can get its claws on.” I roll up my sleeve and show her its handiwork.

“Damn.” She reaches toward the three slash marks covered by putrid purple welts. But she must have had second thoughts because before she touches me, she squeezes her hand into a tight fist. “I don’t think Neosporin’s going to fix that.”

She turns away, walking toward the river. “We are getting out of here. Trust me.”

“We will.” I grab her waist and swing her over the boat’s deck.

It’s the size of a speed boat but without the motor and speed. There’s next to nothing to protect us from above, though she could crawl underneath a small opening to hide.

“We’ve just got to survive, solve a bunch of riddles, and keep our heads on our necks, right?”

“Right. Simple.” I sigh. “Except for the spells in Alexander’s funerary text don’t seem to work. Last time I thought I solved a riddle, an enormous snake tried to make me its midnight snack.”

She laughs. “Of course they don’t. The gods hate him. But lucky for you, I’ve got a few aces in the hole.” She waves her hand, showing off her Philosopher’s Stone.

“Your stone may not work here. These things don’t…die. They just get pissed off and regenerate. It’s like that Jumanji movie, and there’s a million ways to die in the afterlife.”

“So how have you survived?”

“Run. Duck. Hide. I’m strong enough to kill them, but I don’t have the endurance to kill a thousand iterations of the same thing.”

“We keep moving,” she mutters. “Have you seen any temples or guardians?”

“One temple. As for guardians, no.”

“Let’s face it head on. We can’t stay down here forever. We’re on borrowed time, and hopefully there’s a place for us to wash off this gunk.”

“I don’t even know how long I’ve been here.”

“Three days,” she quickly replies. “That’s the last time you spoke with Anton.”

I dip the oar into the murky river and hope like hell nothing pops from the water. “Surprised he told you what happened.”

She rolls her eyes. “Not soon enough.”

“And where is Anton now?”

“Defending our honor on the other side. You see that?” She points to a square temple. “Looks like we have a first stop.”

I stop paddling and stare. “This place wasn’t here before.”

“Then that means we have to stop.”

“Could be dangerous.”

She snorts. “We’re going to have to take some risks.”

It’s not me I’m worried about. But she’s not ready for that conversation.

Not yet.

Her eyes drift shut. Her body slumps against the carved bench.

“Are you tired?”

“Very.” She lifts her arms in the air and arches her back.

“Let’s dock and then take a rest up there.” I point to the halfway point. “Looks like the land is drier up there. We should at least rest before we go knocking on their doors.”

She gives me the okay sign. “I just need thirty minutes or an hour, tops.”

I row the boat near the bank of the river. When I turn around to grab her hand, she slaps it away and hops out of the boat onto the sandy shore.

She cranes her neck and squints. A human action because she can see just as clearly as I can.

“Is it me or does it seem…farther than what it was before?”

“Another fun thing about stuff down here. Nothing is as it seems.”

We walk in silence up the hill until I break it. “Tell me about Khaven.”

“Tell you about…” She sighs. “Fine, I won’t give you a hard time about your asking skills.”

“Pretty please?” I say in a voice I used before when I needed to convince her to let me spoil her with a gift or good food.

“Oh…well. Fine, then.” She clears her throat. “I healed him, and he was just starting to walk around. He’s good now. At one of our safe houses, I think, but they aren’t sharing his location, so don’t ask.”

The news stops me in my tracks. “He’s walking again?”

A proud smile spreads across her pretty face. “Yeah, it’s cool. He was trying to stick around Alexander, but something must’ve tipped him off. He said his power is jumping or something.”

“Leaping. Damn.” When a vampire’s powers leap, the others take notice.

“What’s that mean?”

“There’s a ranking system among the vampires in their clans and even outside of it. We…know when there’s been a change. It’s like feeling the hairs on the back of your neck stiffen when you’re in the crosshairs of an apex predator. So everyone takes notice. And usually there’s a lot of in-fighting to figure out the new rankings.”

“I’m sorry I…I didn’t realize healing him would jack up his powers.”

“Don’t be sorry. I asked you to save his life, and you did.”

She smiles. “I did, didn’t I?” Her smile morphs into a frown. “Now I just have to save a few eight billion more lives.”

I groan inwardly, grunt externally. “Alexander has powers we don’t quite understand yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, he has even more powers that he hasn’t revealed.”

“We know he can teleport. He has mind control,” she ticks off.

“He can’t dreamwalk. At least I can’t confirm that just yet.”

“Ah, yes, he can, actually. That’s how he found out about Khaven.”

I stop walking, jolted from the news. “Khaven was supposed to sleep during the night.”

“Your fang daddy drugged him.”

“Damn. That’s diabolical.”

She tilts her head. “You’re one to talk. You may not drug your victims, but you don’t exactly ring the doorbell before you step all into someone’s subconscious.”

“I get it. But I’m not a sociopath. I want to save the world, not destroy it.”

“No, you don’t want to destroy it. But you won’t stand up to fight.”

I stop moving, my feet stuck in the land’s muck, the muck of my feelings. “What are you talking about?”

“You know what I mean.” She balls her fists to her side. “You…being Alexander’s yes man . You ran out here to Egypt to find the Emerald Tablet.”

I did. And I plan to use it, too. I look down at my feet and finally allow my eyes to travel up and settle on her. “What if—?”

“What if?” Her voice is breathless.

“What if there’s a way to destroy all vampires? All in one swoop.”

“You mean like Thanos and kill them all with a snap of the finger?” She mimics the action.

“I don’t know. Maybe.” I shrug. “Something like that.”

“Would they instantly die or turn human?”

“I don’t know—”

“Because if they turned back human, they’d still want to kill, right? So they’d become murderous humans, maybe?” She’s frowning, but I can tell her mind’s running through a dozen scenarios.

“I don’t think we should wipe out all vampires. We aren’t all bad,” I say, thinking of myself and Khaven. There are a few others in the clans that aren’t monsters.

She shrugs. “Yeah, but it won’t be that easy. Nothing ever is. But…it would be nice to retire from slaying. Even with my genes as a slayer, I could live in peace. And Grandma Lou wouldn’t have to be in hiding anymore and—”

“Grandma Lou?”

“She was a slayer, you know.”

“Grandma Lou? The lady who baked me pies.” I remember the last time I saw her, I erased her memories.

“Oh, shit. How did she find you—”

“She pretended when you tried to erase her memories. I don’t know how she did it, but she’s stronger than you…and me. She told me to tell you hi and that she forgives you.” She says it like it’s no big deal, but Grandma Lou’s forgiveness means the world to me. I still have a lot of guilt, erasing the memories we shared.

“That doesn’t mean I’m not still mad about it,” Texas says, killing the small happiness that dared to grow.

I turn around, walk away.

“Hey! Where are you going?” she yells at my back.

“I’m scoping out our area. Making sure our conversation didn’t attract unwanted visitors. I won’t be long.”

I walk around our perimeter. Lots of creepy crawlers, some animals I’ll never be able to name, but nothing that seems to want to kill us. Yet.

When I return, Texas has her back against a tree. For once, she relaxes a bit when she sees me. “I’ll sleep for an hour, and you sleep for an hour, and then we’ll head up to the temple.”

“You got it,” I agree.

“Let me know if—”

“Just rest.”

“Fine.” She squeezes her eyes shut, but it’s a while before the muscles around her eyes relax.

While she’s sleeping and unguarded, I drink her in.

Her physical appearance hasn’t changed much—her hair has slightly increased in length, but her curls are less defined, possibly because she has tied her hair back into a bun.

Even under the dirt, her face is still a smooth ebony. The rounded apples of her cheeks are hollow, and her face is slender, compared to when I first met her in high school. Her body is different, too. Like her face, her body was soft and curvy, but now everything from her hips, thighs, even her ass is tight.

It’s like the innocence of life before monsters—before me—melted all the softness away.

A whimper escapes her lips. I want to touch her, hold her, give her sweet dreams. I cross my arms, hold myself tight. She doesn’t want my touch.

The whimpers fill the night. I don’t move. I don’t sleep. I just watch, let her rest, hoping like hell those whimpers fall silent.

Then I wonder…wonder if she has space in her heart to forgive me again when I hand over the tablet to Alexander.

While she’s sleeping, I review Alexander’s notes in my notebook.

There are rules and a rhythm to this place. Figure out the pattern, follow the rules, and you will discover the tablet.

Befriend Aphosis. He will know what to do.

Texas clears her throat and frowns when I scramble to stuff the notebook back into the inside pocket of my jacket.

“What’s that?” she asks, her eyes on my jacket.

“Research.” I stand.

“About?”

“The Netherworld.”

The sleepy look on her face is overtaken by suspicion. “Why would you have research about the Underworld? Weren’t you captured?”

Shit. “Yes, but Alexander told me about his experience. I was hoping there’s something that could help us, but it’s nothing. Let’s get going. No telling how long we’ve been down here.”

“There’s something up with you. Something you aren’t telling me, and I know it.”

She always knew me too well. And all this time, I’ve been trying to suppress it. To hide the complexity of the trials.

“I’m here for a purpose. A test.”

“Yeah, I know. The gods want to see if we’re worthy or whatever.” She rolls her eyes. “I would’ve told them to kiss my ass, but I knew I couldn’t get down here without them.” She crosses her legs and pats the ground beside me. “Tell me what’s up. I can’t help you if I don’t know.”

“What if I don’t want you to know? What if…what if it’s better if I’m down here, and you’re up there, keeping the world safe? Keeping Khaven safe.”

“You planned to give up, huh?” She looks away. “Which is why you haven’t tried to go through the trials.”

“They weighed my heart. It wasn’t light as a feather.”

“No shit.” She chuckles. “That’s why I hurried.”

I laugh, despite the heaviness of the situation. She has no idea what Alexander plans. After meeting the gods, I could finally make sense of everything. Now I know why he hasn’t killed me and why he’s holding my brother hostage.

“You are right. I’m holding something back. I wanted to be captured, and I…I came here for a reason. I want the Emerald Tablet.”

She jumps to her feet. “What do you mean, you want the tablet?”

“Like I said earlier, what if vampires don’t exist at all? I can use the tablet and take their power.”

“We don’t even know how to use it, Khamari.”

“Alexander knows. He has a script, and—”

She grabs my shoulders and shakes me. “You…are going to trust the word of a psychotic killer?”

“Of course not!”

“Then what’s the plan? You gonna wrestle it out of his hands after he cures vampirism? Right before he uses it to gain untapped power to control the rest of the world? Be all omnipotent or whatever?”

“I have…I have someone who specializes in Egyptology who might help me figure out how to do it on my own.”

She releases my shoulder. Now she’s shaking her head. “And you think Alexander isn’t expecting your deception? Especially since he knows about me and Khaven? Geez, Khamari. I thought you were smarter than that.”

“Once I have the tablet, I’ll protect it. I’ll figure it out.”

“No. I’m not letting you have it.” She paces the ground with her hands fisted in her pockets. She mutters something under her breath but then yells out loud.

“I can’t believe this! I came here, but you’re just here to screw the world over, yet again.”

“That’s not true. Think about it. A world without monsters. You wouldn’t have to constantly train or fight or hear those voices.”

She stops pacing. “Speaking of…I haven’t heard from them since I got here.” She shakes her head. “Beside the point. You aren’t getting that tablet, Khamari. I can’t believe you’re making selfish decisions for the world, no less.”

I stop moving, my feet stuck in the land’s muck, the muck of my feelings. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you thinking you know best, like you did for me and Grandma Lou. Now you think you can outsmart a centuries-old vampire who eats lies and sucks blood for breakfast?”

“Why are you here?”

“To stop you—”

“You didn’t even know what my plans were until now. So what is it, really?”

“If you find the tablet, the world—”

“Stop lying to me and to yourself!” I squeeze my fists, trying to control my frustration. “Sorry, but I…I want to know the real reason.” I lower my voice. “Why did you follow me all the way to the Netherworld? Do you want to make me feel like shit for all eternity?” I scrub my hands over my face.

The steam that fuels my anger scatters. “You didn’t have to come all the way here to make me feel guilty. I already feel it. Every day. Every time you frown at me, roll your eyes, tighten up like you can’t ever relax or trust me. You should’ve just left me here to die.”

“I…” She lifts her head to the sky and sighs. “Let’s stop fighting. We have to get out of here. We’ll take it one step at a time, but just know you aren’t leaving here with the tablet.”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree.”

“Last time we disagreed, I almost killed you.” She says it softly like it’s a confession. I was there. I felt her anger, her pain, her bloodlust.

“I won’t fight you.” I shake my head.

“I don’t want to fight you, either. So don’t force my hand, okay?”

“Okay, Texas.”

Her face softens. “You got it right this time.”

“I told you I would—”

A bird caws from above us.

“What the hell is that?” she says, looking up.

The bird is small with white feathers, brown clawed feet, but its head…its head looks like a human head—a brown face, black hair, and a small golden disk perched perfectly on its head.

“I’m gonna need so much therapy,” Texas whispers.

“It’s the ba,” I whisper back.

“You mean a bird, a like human-slash-bird? Like a birdman. I’m gonna call him Harvey.”

“No. Ba-bird, it’s someone’s spirit. And it nests near tombs…” I point to the temple up ahead. “That’s someone’s tomb.”

“Okay, that’s our first mission. Go to the tomb, figure out what Harvey wants.”

“Why do you keep calling it Harvey?”

“You know, like the show, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law ?”

“Never seen it.” I smile, just like old times when Raven asked me if I’d seen something obscure that she and Grandma Lou watched together.

She catches my smile, looks away, and shrugs. “Rose got me into it.”

We fall into silence for the next hour. Occasionally, we see Harvey fly up ahead, as if guiding us to the temple. Both of us keep a blistering pace and make it up the hill within what seems like a few hours.

“Whew.” She bends over, clutching her knees. “That was…tough. Aren’t you tired?”

“A little.” Normally I would’ve been just a little tired, but adrenaline pumps through my veins. The sand-colored temple is a square with a hundred tiny windows. Harvey caws from the rooftop, flapping its wings.

Texas stands and takes a deep breath. “All right, let’s figure out… Oh my God.”

Two large, canine-looking creatures, eight feet in height, march like robots out of the temple. They both hold striped blue-and-gold canes that look like toothpicks in their enormous paws.

“Only the worthy can pass.” One of them twirls the cane while the other growls.

The smell of blood hits my nostrils.

White light emits from her hands. She looks at me and grins. “I was wondering when we’d get to fight.”