a cough. But it kept going and going, and gaining in strength until it echoed loudly around the chamber. And even then, it took me a moment to identify it, because it was so strange under the circumstances.
But yes, I realized.
Hassani was laughing.
“I was so afraid of you!” he yelled. “So afraid! And look at you now! Dead and dusted and gone, like all the gods’ children, while ours—ours are still here. Who inherits the Earth now, you bastard? Who rules now?”
There was no answer, unless you counted Hassani’s own devilish cackling. The kid and I looked at each other, and then back at the boss, who had found a piece of snake skin he liked and was holding it to the lantern flame. And shit!
The dry old stuff went up like a torch, but Hassani didn’t drop it. He wrapped the end in a piece of his robe and shook the heavily burning taper around the room, giggling like a madman as he did so. Soon, the whole place was burning.
Flames ran up the walls, finding pieces of shed skin that I hadn’t even noticed, and forming garlands of fire. It ate across the huge skin on the floor, making it twist and writhe as it was consumed, as if, in its last moments, it lived once more. The fire consumed the main part of the skin, then swept the ground, setting all the smaller pieces aflame, too.
And threatening Hassani himself.
I turned to Lantern Boy, because it was definitely save-the-boss time, but he had clearly had enough. He must have understood some English, or perhaps he just decided that the consul had gone crazy, and the better part of valor was called for. He ran.
I, unfortunately, did not have that option. I was a shitty ambassador, but allowing a consul and ally to die on my watch was a bit much. Not to mention that I had no idea how to get out of here alone. This place was huge; I could end up wandering around for days.
So, I womaned the hell up, threw an arm over my face and went to rescue a possibly crazy and certainly disturbed master vamp.
Which is when things got weird.
Chapter Eleven
Dory, Cairo
Hassani was just standing there, surrounded by flames, I had no idea why. And then I realized why. The snakeskin was burning up, but as it did so, it was throwing out more than just sparks.
Two chariots raced, neck to neck, the black flanks of their horses gleaming, the sun on the golden armbands of the drivers blinding, the sand spraying from under the wheels like waves in the air. A crowd roared as one chariot pulled ahead, crossing a line in the sand a split second before the other. But the winner did not look pleased.
Instead, he jumped off his vehicle before the horses had even stopped, hit the ground and rolled, but not to his feet. He knelt, despite the fact that the burning sand must have been all but cooking his flesh. “Please,” he begged.
It was not enough. The whole point of these games was to remind the people who ruled—and why. Seeing a human best a god at anything might lead to the idea that the gods could be bested at other things, could even be driven out.
No, not close to enough.
The god glanced up at the sun, his father’s symbol, boiling hot and brilliant overhead. And then just as hot down here, as a column of blinding white light surged earthward. The charioteer’s screams echoed around the racetrack, turning to shrieks and then to gurgles as his skin sloughed off, as the meat cooked on his bones, as he fell over, toppling to the ground as his pharaoh lifted a hand.
And the handlers released the lord’s favorite dogs, free now to enjoy their freshly cooked meal.
The vision shattered and I stared around blindly for a moment, before realizing that my left sleeve was on fire. I shook it out and grabbed Hassani. “Come on! Come on, we’ve got to go!”
But we weren’t fast enough.
The pool sparkled dimly in the lantern light, throwing golden ripples on the dark water. Inside, a dozen hand selected girls bathed under the watchful eyes of the harem eunuchs. The women came from all over Egypt and beyond: nubile temptresses from Ta-Seti and Punt, their skin as dark as midnight and lustrous with lotions and perfumes; golden skinned beauties from Canaan and Lebanon, with rippling tresses that almost reached to their feet; and