I swept debris off the front porch, my butt swishing and swaying to the beat of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” as I worked. There was no way I could get through my list of chores without a distraction. I’d been leaning too heavily on my resident ghosts to take care of basic household tasks, so I woke up this morning determined to remedy the situation.
My swishing butt vibrated. I tucked the broomstick under my arm and wrestled the phone from my back pocket.
“What’s up, Paulie?”
“We need you at the crossroads.”
“Now? I’m cleaning.”
“Nice try. Everybody knows you get your ghosts to do your dirty work.”
I held the phone next to the broom as I made a sweeping motion across the floorboards. “Do you hear that? That’s the sound of me doing my own dirty work.”
“Hop on your broomstick and fly over. This is more important.”
“For your sake, I’m going to pretend you didn’t just confuse me with a witch.”
He released an exasperated sigh. “Just hurry up. There’s something here you need to see.”
“Because it’s so pretty that you can’t help but share its beauty with the world?”
“Because we don’t know what the hell they are, and they look too disgusting to touch.”
“Not much of a guard, are you?”
“I’m calling you, aren’t I? My job is to report; your job is to protect.”
I cursed the day I ever agreed to become the liminal deity of the Fairhaven crossroads. What had I been thinking?
“I’ll be there in a few minutes. Keep them contained if you can.”
“They don’t seem interested in going anywhere at the moment. I can’t decide if they think we’re friends or food.”
Shit. That sounded dangerous. “Longsword or katana?”
“How should I know? I’m strictly a claws and fangs guy.”
Spoken like a true werewolf.
I dropped the broom and ran upstairs to my bedroom where I stored my weapons. I pushed up the lid of the trunk and selected two throwing knives and a longsword.
“Lorelei, I need you to come out to the cemetery this instant,” Nana Pratt said.
I spun to face the elderly ghost. “I’m kind of in the middle of a crisis.”
Her gaze dropped to the blades on the floor. “Gee, must be Tuesday.”
“I could say the same to you. What’s the problem now?” With each passing day, I was beginning to regret my decision to appoint Nana Pratt as the property manager. She left no stone unturned, and my yard had a lot of stones.
“I guess I’ll show you on your way out, since you’re clearly in such a hurry.”
“Fine.” I sheathed the knives and hooked the longsword to my hip, then rushed downstairs to meet her at the adjacent cemetery.
Nana Pratt stood in the middle of the headstones and pointed. “Look at the state of my grave. The weeds are sprouting.”
“How disrespectful of them.”
She ignored my snarky tone. “Why aren’t there any weeds on theirs?” She waved a hand at the neighboring headstones. “This seems like a deliberate slight.”
“By whom? Mother Nature?”
“I don’t know. I just wondered if maybe I was being punished.”
“For what?”
The ghost snuck a peek at me. “For still being here.”
I hadn’t realized until this moment that she might harbor an afterlife version of survivor’s guilt.
“Are there weeds around Ray’s headstone?” Nana Pratt and Ray Bauer had been the only two spirits that asked to stay when I helped the rest cross over.
“No.”
“Then I wouldn’t take it personally.”
Her head bobbed slowly. “Yes, that makes sense.” Her gaze dropped to the weeds. “Sorry to interrupt your crisis. I’ll take care of these. Carry on.”
I ran to my ancient truck, affectionally known as Gary. I set the sword on the passenger seat and settled behind the wheel. The truck started easily thanks to the temperature, which currently hovered in the fifties. Spring was almost here, and I was ready for milder weather after the long winter.
I put the pedal to the metal and sped to the edge of the forest, parking as near as I could get to the crossroads, which wasn’t very close. It helped that I was a fast runner, even with a longsword attached to my hip.
I slowed my pace as I reached the crossroads. I wasn’t sure what to expect; it was hard to imagine creatures that were considered “too disgusting to touch” by a werewolf whom I knew for a fact bit his own toenails—which, to be fair, was probably better than biting someone else’s.
I stopped short at the clearing. The two guards, Paulie and Xander, were huddled together by the large oak tree to the right of the crossroads. Between us lay approximately twenty shiny black serpents, each one about nine feet long. They’d left a trail of purplish-black goo in their wake. The monsters were perfectly still; not a single one slithered toward me or even twitched in response to my presence.
“See?” Paulie yelled as he caught sight of me. “They aren’t ordinary snakes.”
“Gee, what gave them away?”
“Do you know what they are?” Xander asked.
I shook my head. There were no discernible markings. Despite their stillness, I approached with caution.
“Aren’t you going to draw your weapon?” Paulie asked.
“They don’t appear hostile. I’d rather give them the benefit of the doubt.”
“I thought you were the expert,” Xander said. “The benefit of the doubt is the sign of a newb.”
Ignoring him, I took a few more steps. No reaction.
A loud scratching sound drew my attention to the two large oak trees that flanked the crossroads. Dozens of scarab beetles scampered through the entrance. A bug stampede. I was beginning to think I’d inadvertently dropped into somebody’s nightmare. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Xander clutched Paulie’s sleeve.
The scarabs filled in the gaps between the serpents and came to a halt.
“I don’t think that longsword is going to help you anyway,” Paulie said.
“Why are they all frozen?” Xander asked.
I observed the newcomers. “They’re not frozen. They’re waiting.”
“I know the obvious next question is ‘for what?’” Paulie said, “but I don’t think I want to know the answer.”
“You two might want to climb to safety.” I tilted my head toward one of the sturdy branches. “I think we’re about to receive an esteemed visitor.”
The leaves stopped rustling as the air grew still. Shadows seeped from the crossroads, blanketing the clearing in darkness.
“You might want to get that sword ready,” Paulie said, as he climbed the tree.
I shushed him. “No commentary from the Greek chorus.”
“I’m Italian,” Paulie shot back.
I held my breath as a thick grey mist rolled across the clearing. The serpents and scarabs moved aside to create a path for their leader. A large serpentine silhouette sliced through the haze. A shiver ran through me as the serpent-devil’s dark eyes fixed on me.
Apep. Egyptian god of darkness and ruler of their underworld.
I left my weapons untouched. If I was lucky, Apep would recognize me as one of their own—not as Egyptian, of course, but as another deity of the dead.
“Greetings, Apep.” I bowed my head. “Or would you rather I call you Apophis?”
“Are those the only two you know?” The words sounded as though they were being scraped off his tongue.
“Yes,” I lied, not wanting him to perceive me as a threat. To destroy him, one needed to curse him by all his names.
“In that case, Apep will do.” His forked tongue tasted the air. “There is a child of darkness in you.” Apep’s beady eyes surveyed the area. “Yet I sense order and control here.”
I laughed. “You should swing by on a Saturday night.”
The god’s face remained stoic. “We have tried our best to maintain order, but we’ve lost control, which is an ironic complaint given my own penchant for unruliness.”
“Sounds like they need somebody like you, Lorelei,” Paulie said.
Except they had somebody like me. Their own guardian of the Duat. “Where’s Anubis?”
“Gone. Without him to protect our dead, chaos has erupted.”
“Why come here?”
“His trail leads to this realm,” Apep said. “We tried another entry point, but it was unavailable to us.”
“Another crossroads?”
“I know nothing of it, only that the evidence suggests Anubis passed through that doorway, never to return.”
That didn’t sound ominous, nope. Not at all.
“I thought it was impossible to seal off a crossroads,” Paulie said.
I thought so, too, unless, of course, Anubis didn’t pass through a crossroads, but a makeshift gateway that belonged to the most powerful organization in the human world.
“You might want to seek out The Corporation,” I told him. “They’re an organization in this realm that’s been known to keep a god or two against their will.”
Apep’s eyes gleamed with pure hatred. “How is such a thing even possible? We are gods.”
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Pops had said those words to me more times than I could count.
“Then I will find this Corporation and demand the return of Anubis,” he seethed.
“There’s a chance Anubis left of his own accord.” Other gods had opted for a change in scenery; it was possible Anubis also decided to take a break from the Duat.
“Nonsense,” Apep rasped. “He is our guardian. He would never leave his post unattended without good reason.”
It seemed unwise to argue with a giant serpent-devil. “Then I would go home and develop a plan first. If your underworld is already in chaos, your prolonged absence will make the situation even worse.” And those consequences could spill over into other realms like ours.
“You reside here, yet The Corporation has not captured you.” His tone dripped with suspicion.
“Not for lack of trying. They’re hampered by their own bureaucracy.”
Apep nodded sagely. “It would be wise to return home to strategize first.”
I bit back a smile. Even male giant serpent-devils co-opted ideas as their own. “Smart plan. You’ll take your friends with you when you leave, right? We don’t really have the right climate for them.”
Apep contemplated the serpents and scarabs around him. “I promised some of my followers a reward for their service.”
My pulse quickened at his change in tone. It seemed our meeting of the minds was over. The deity of darkness had returned.
“What kind of reward?”
“You have nothing to fear from them,” he said. “It is only the lower forms they desire.”
The lower forms.
My gaze slid to Paulie and Xander, still seated on the branch of an oak tree, oblivious to this discussion of their fate.
“No,” I said, injecting as much authority into my voice as I could muster.
Apep regarded me. “Their venom is potent. They offer a quick death.”
“This land is under my protection, and that includes its inhabitants. Those werewolves are to remain unharmed.” I rested my hand on my sword. “If they attack, I’ll have no choice but to respond in kind.”
“Then so be it.” Apep swiveled toward the crossroads and slithered away, accompanied by the scarabs and more than half the serpents. The mist gathered behind them to form a thick grey wall.
The remaining five serpents turned their attention to the werewolves.
“Climb higher,” I shouted.
The werewolves scampered upward as a chorus of hisses filled the air.
“Follow your leader now,” I told the serpents. “If you stay, the only reward is death.”
They slithered toward the oak tree and began to wrap themselves around the trunk. Climbing higher would buy the werewolves time, nothing more.
“Last chance,” I said.
Three of them coiled around the tree in pursuit of their prey while the other two faced me.
“So this is how it’s going to be, huh?”
The serpents hissed in response. The one on the left struck first, its fangs narrowly missing my arm.
“Just for the record, I take no pleasure in this.” My blade whistled through the air, cutting off their heads in quick succession. Purplish-black goo spilled to the ground and pooled at my feet.
“Lorelei, a little help,” Paulie yelled.
I glanced up to see the other three serpents halfway up the tree. Two throwing knives. Three targets.
Stupid math.
I hurled the first knife, and the point sank straight through a serpent’s eye. Its body twitched and uncurled from the tree, but the lodged blade kept it from falling to the ground. It hung awkwardly, swinging casually in the breeze.
I threw the second knife and buried the blade in the next serpent’s tail. It tried to keep moving but to no avail. The same thick purplish-black liquid oozed from the wound and soaked the bark of the tree.
One to go.
The last serpent was winding its way around the branch that Paulie and Xander had settled on. I only had the longsword available to me now.
A cracking sound echoed in the clearing. The branch wasn’t going to hold. Trying to shift now would only make their situation worse.
Paulie looked down. “Should we jump?”
The branch split in half, plummeting all three occupants to the ground. The serpent landed between us and reared up to claim its prize. Bonus points for determination.
I rushed forward, thrust the longsword into its body, and was rewarded with globs of thick, purplish-black goop all over my face and clothing. My vision blurred.
“Is it dead?” I asked.
“Unless it can live without its internal organs, then yes,” Paulie said.
I blinked away the goop from my eyes. Yep, definitely dead. I removed a cloth from my pocket and wiped off the blade. “Thanks so much for your help.”
“What? Didn’t you hear us cheering for you?” Paulie asked.
“It was hard to hear anything over the sound of your teeth rattling.”
Xander took a few steps back from the oozing puddle. “I like the purple stripes it’s added to your hair. Very artsy.”
“Yes, artsy is exactly the look I was going for.” I waved a hand at the tree. “Can one of you get my knives?”
Xander scrambled up the trunk to retrieve them.
“What are we supposed to do with the carcasses?” Paulie asked.
“Well, I’m wearing half of them, so I’ll let you deal with the rest.”
“So generous,” Paulie remarked. “Do we need to worry if we accidentally touch the goo?”
“No, only their bite is venomous, although I wouldn’t recommend bathing in goo like I did. It could still have side effects.”
“What about Apep?” Xander asked, returning my knives.
“What about him?”
“Will he come back?”
“If he does, it won’t be to Fairhaven.” He’d be The Corporation’s problem now. You’re welcome, Mathis and friends.
I wrapped the throwing knives in the cloth and walked back to my truck. Despite the victory, I didn’t feel good about it. I just kept reminding myself that they would’ve killed Paulie and Xander if I hadn’t intervened. The werewolves weren’t put on this earth to be tasty treats for Apep’s followers.
I started the truck and cranked up the radio to drown my guilty thoughts. At nine in the morning, country music seemed better than beer. ...
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