She was about to pull the trigger when voices from below made her pause. She turned and peered down into the gloom. She saw Morgan Watts and Eun Jiwon approaching together, deep in conversation.
Miya uttered a curse in Japanese under her breath. She could still fulfill her mission but then she’d have to evade the two men from Assistance Unlimited. She was confident that she could do so but there was a part of her that wanted to avoid any conflict that could identify her. Though she knew that Lazarus was now the enemy, she was much like Kelly in that she still harbored feelings for him. She wondered how a man who was so emotionally stunted could stir such fierce passion in so many women.
“I think it would be smarter to leave all these hangers-on at home,” Eun was saying as they passed beneath the balcony. “I know that Kelly is a smart girl but Agnes is just going to slow us down. There’s no reason to put them in harm’s way.”
Morgan stopped just outside the front door. Neither man seemed aware that they were being watched. “Lazarus is the boss and he says Agnes gets to go because it’s her sister we’re looking for. And Kelly’s got experience in Mongolia that could prove invaluable.”
“I still don’t like it,” Eun said petulantly. “And I don’t like having to play babysitter tonight.”
“Agnes is safe enough back at headquarters but there’s always a chance that The Illuminati might strike at the Emersons,” Morgan responded. “Stop your pouting and focus on the job.”
Eun’s cheeks reddened but he didn’t argue any further. Morgan rapped on the front door and, after the Professor opened it and greeted them, both men stepped inside.
Miya looked back into the house and groaned. Kelly was gone, obviously having moved downstairs to greet their visitors.
With a snarl, Miya threw herself over the balcony’s edge and descended back to the ground below. Lunt wouldn’t be happy but that would be nothing new.
Without a backwards glance, she disappeared into the night.
The Museum was quiet at this hour but Lunt couldn’t avoid feeling that it was unsafe to be here. There were workers present until very late in the evening, trying to clear up the debris from the fallen whale, but from all appearances, everyone else was long gone. They had left a solitary security guard on duty but he’d been easily dealt with.
Lunt was reasonably certain that Miya was going to fail in her mission. It wasn’t that she lacked skill — in fact, she was one of The Illuminati’s best assets. But whenever Lazarus Gray entered the picture, she seemed to lose her way. Lunt had accused her multiple times of harboring romantic feelings for her former lover but she denied it.
Lunt entered the Egyptian exhibit, letting his eyes travel over the mummies propped against the wall, the Pharaoh’s throne and the antique art that was on display. He had been fascinated with Egypt as a boy and since becoming a high-ranking member of The Illuminati, he’d made it a point to involve himself in many of their cases involving such things.
Not all that long ago, Assistance Unlimited had found themselves confronted with a cult known as The Undying. Along the way, an Egyptian princess named Femi had been resurrected, though she’d returned with a foul hunger upon her: she’d desired human flesh and great quantities of it. Lazarus had finally returned her to the grave but Lunt knew that there was more to the tale.
Cursed by the priesthood of her time, who feared Femi’s speaking out against the power of the gods, Femi had been placed into eternal un-death. It was a state of perpetual dreaming, kept from returning to life by the presence of an ancient pendant. That pendant was now gone, residing in a vault in Assistance Unlimited’s headquarters… and the dusty remains of Femi now lay in an urn, proudly displayed behind the faux throne.
Lunt approached the urn, moving carefully in the darkness. He held a little flashlight perfected by The Illuminati. Its beam was far brighter than anything the rest of the world possessed. Trapped within its confines was a tiny fairy, a creature dismissed as myth by most of the world. The Illuminati had captured a small batch of the winged figures and kept a breeding program in place. They could be ground down to make a potent hallucinogenic and the glow that typically surrounded them was enough to cut through the most stygian of environments. Lunt also knew that fairy blood could be used as a potent aphrodisiac.
Removing the urn’s lid, Lunt carefully poured Femi’s remains on the floor. He then knelt amongst them, whispering several words in an ancient, nearly forgotten tongue. When The Undying had resurrected Femi, they had used a blood spell to do so, sacrificing the life of a young woman in the process. But such things were fairly weak in strength and often would simply lose their power over time, reducing the revived entity to death once more.
This time, Lunt sought to restore her more permanently. He called upon several elder creatures that had worked with The Illuminati before. He invoked their power and before he’d even finished the words, Femi’s remains had begun to glow with a blue fire.
Lunt quickly stepped back, watching with mounting pleasure as the remains flew into the air, circling about in the midst of the flames. A shape began to form, skeletal at first but quickly gaining flesh and strength. The body of a woman was at last revealed to him, firm and youthful. She was nude, her midnight-black hair hanging straight down her back. Her breasts were full and ripe, topped by cherry-pink nipples. Lunt’s eyes traveled hungrily down her flat stomach, lingering in the dark curls above her sex. He was so lost in the potential pleasures of her body that he barely heard the words that escaped her lips, “God Is Dead.”
“State your name,” Femi said louder, shocking him back to reality. The flames were dying now, skittering along her limbs before vanishing completely. She made no move to hide her body from his gaze. She was royalty and cared nothing for the petty lusts of those who were below her station.
Lunt smiled, pleased that the spell had successfully twisted her words into something approximating modern English. Ordinarily, he would have revived her with German as her new tongue but in this case, he felt English would be best suited. The language of Britain and America was spreading like wildfire across the globe. “My name is Walther Lunt. I have revived you so that you may assist me.”
“And why would I want to do that?” Femi asked, swaying her hips as she moved closer. Lunt took a step back, knowing that she was probably ravenous with hunger. Given that she was now a cannibal, he had no desire to linger within her reach.
“Because I can offer you a guarantee that you’ll live forever… and that you’ll never be returned to that state of un-death that tormented you.”
“I live now,” she pointed out. “And I can protect myself from this point forward.”
“It’s only been a few months since Lazarus Gray killed you,” he pointed out. “Left to your own devices, you’ll come to his attention again. I can help you deal with him. I can help you familiarize yourself with the 20th Century. And, if you desire, I can help you reclaim the throne in your homeland.”
Femi hesitated, her full lips parting in a smile. “Bold promises. And what do you want in return for all this service?”
Lunt gestured to the mummies in the room. “Two years ago, I made a mistake. I unleashed something into this world that I could not control. And now we’re all going to suffer for it. The only way to stop it… is for me to raise an army. An army that never grows tired or weak.”