T. A. Chase

Anubis

Anubis copyright c. 2015 T.A. Chase

Part Two-

He rubbed his sweaty palms over his thighs, grimacing at how even the thought of Petra made him nervous. He shouldn’t be upset about going back. Nothing could touch him now. All the truly evil people who betrayed and killed him were long dead themselves while he still lived.

“Anubis, I’m going to have to send you there alone to begin with. I have smaller jobs for the others to do before they can come help you.” Isis tapped his fingers on his chin while he eyed Anubis. “The name of the archaeologist is in the file. You’ll be using your usual cover as a consultant for UNESCO on their World Heritage sites. We need to find out what artifacts they found and if they’re important to our mission.”

He nodded. “Of course.”

“Wait. Are you an consultant for UNESCO?” Kellan spoke up. “It wouldn’t be good to go in impersonating someone like that.”

They all looked at Kellan and he ducked his head, but Bastet caressed his neck.

“Yes, he really is a consultant for them. We all have jobs as covers for what we really do. Sometimes we don’t have any emergencies or bad guys to fight, so we work at other stuff.” Bastet chuckled. “You’ll start going with me when I visit museums and universities since you’re almost as knowledge of ancient Egyptian cults as I am.”

Kellan’s eyes lit up and Anubis lowered his head to hide his smile. The guy wanted to be useful beyond organizing their library. While they still had enemies out there, Anubis knew Bastet had been teaching Kellan how to protect himself. It was time to let him off the leash.

“Is that all you need me for right now?” He asked Isis.

Narrowing his dark brown eyes, Isis studied him for a second, then nodded. “Yes. Plan on leaving tomorrow in the morning. I’ll meet you before you go to over a few other things with you.”

“Good. I’m going for a run.” He glanced at the others. “You’re welcome to come with me if you wish.”

None of them took him up on his offer, which made him happy. He liked his brothers, but there were times when he wanted to run the moors alone. It wasn’t the same as running the deserts of Egypt and Jordan, yet he’d take what he could get.

He wandered to the back of the house to the small mudroom off the kitchen. After stripping his clothes off, Anubis hung them up neatly before stepping just outside the back door.

Taking a deep breath, he allowed his shift to overtake him. When it was done, he stood on four paws, was covered with fur and had a tail. He wagged it a few times to get used to it being there, then he took off.

His long legs drove him over the moors as his lungs took in the fragrance of heather. It was strange how his animal equated that scent with home now, instead of the dusty smell of sand and heat. A rare surge of homesickness swept through him and Anubis found himself almost looking forward to returning to Jordan and Petra.

No matter what terrible things had been done to him there, for decades it had been the one place he called home. It was where his family had lived until their enemies killed them as well.

Sadness swept through him and Anubis stopped at the top of a hill to lift his muzzle to the sky and sing. Oh, he didn’t howl. Not like Isis could when he was in wolf form, but he yipped and barked, letting his sorrow drift from him on the night air.

An answer came out of the darkness, though it wasn’t from a canine. No, it was the roar of a lion and Anubis jumped to his feet. All of his jackal’s instincts screamed for him to run, but he controlled the creature inside him.

In the wild, lions could—and did—kill jackals, and Anubis had spent more than a few hours racing away from them when he was in Africa. But in Scotland, there was only one lion out on the moors that he knew of, and it wasn’t going to kill him.

At least not yet. Sekhmet rarely showed his face to the others any more. Only Isis spent any time with him, and it worried Anubis that the oldest of his brothers was withdrawing more and more every day. Would there come a time when Sekhment didn’t even come to visit Isis? Would he bury himself in a cave somewhere in the wilds of the Amazon or the deserts of Africa?

::Don’t fear for my mind yet, brother. I’m still around and keeping an eye on all of you.::

Anubis didn’t react to the voice in his head as he dashed down the hill in pursuit of a rabbit he’d seen trying to sneak from its burrow. He let his jackal take over while he answered Sekhmet. ::Does Isis know you’re around?::

::That’s none of your concern, Anubis. Petra holds as many fond memories for you as it does bad, but it’s up to you how you deal with them when you get there.::

He sent a mental image of him exposing his throat to show his submission to Sekhmet. The one topic none of the brother spoke about was the relationship—or whatever they wanted to call it—between Isis and Sekhmet. Anubis knew there was something more than them just being very old friends. He could see it in Isis’s eyes and hear it when he spoke about Sekhmet. But again, it wasn’t his place to give advice or worry about it.

::I ran away from there when I was given over to Anubis for this mission of ours. I vowed I’d never return.::

Pouncing on the rabbit, he killed it with one quick bite to the back of the neck. He settled down by some scrubby trees to eat his dinner.

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