Hey everyone. Here's the second chapter. I hope you enjoy it. I'm such an idiot I forgot to put in characters when I submitted the book… all well they have characters now so it's fine.

She opened her eyes and saw that she was still wearing her white blouse, her blue jeans, and of course, her Khepri necklace from her date with Carter. She lifted them and looked around. She was standing on the edge of a large precipice that jutted out from the wall of stone and above a huge hole. She looked down and realized what a mistake it was to do that. Less than a foot away the precipice ended and below was nothingness- an abyss. Her head wobbled as she looked down and saw that she couldn't see the bottom, only darkness.

She tried to jump away and when something held her back and she dropped to the floor. Her head hit a rock on the way down and she landed on the cold hard stone. She opened her mouth to breathe and try and distract herself from the pain but inhaled sand. She started coughing and hacking trying to get the sand out. She tried to move her arm to push herself up when something held that back as well. That's when she noticed the chains holding her back but they weren't chains of metal- they were chains made of shed snake skin.

She started panic; anything to do with snakes was usually a bad thing.

"Ha-di!" she yelled. But she didn't feel any energy drain, the chains were restricting her magic. Then she heard a voice.

"Zia!" she heard from a familiar voice call

She lifted her head and looked through the darkness. Through the gloom a figure appeared. It lifted her to her feet and she looked up to see Carter's face staring back at her.

"Carter?"

"Yeah." He replied

"Where are we?"

"I'm not sure. Some sort of cavern." He said

"Carter I think we're in some level of the Duat where Apophis was powerful", my chains are made of snakeskin… and I can't break it" her voice shaking as she said it. "We need to get out of here."

Carter took her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. "We can't do that Zia."

"Why not?" she asked

He smiled a wicked smile as his face started to change. He started to squeeze her head when she panicked and started to hit him- or rather it. It laughed and drew it's head back and smacked her so hard she fell over the abyss but her chains held her. She was lying parallel with the precipice, her body directly over the giant hole.

She screamed and tried to rise but didn't move any closer to the precipice. It sauntered over and grabbed her by the neck with a slimy, cold, loose fitted grip and started to slowly pull her up. She couldn't breathe, it's fingers digging into her neck. This thing was going to kill her. It kept pulling her up, antagonizing slowly while she ran out of breath. She started hitting it's arm, while struggling to breathe. When it was holding her directly above the precipice, while her face was almost purple it said "I could kill you right now" it chuckled "but I like to play with my prey."

"Drop her!" a ragged voice called out of the darkness

"Ahhh Carter Kane. I was wondering when you'd speak up, but you see I can't drop her" He held her away from the precipice, over the abyss. " as then she would die."

She struggled against his iron yet lose grip, as if he could casually drop her any second. She thrashed around but it was no use, she started seeing stars. "Beg me Carter Kane, beg me to spare her miserable life."

"Leave her." He whispered

"What?"

"Leave her." He sobbed

"What's the magic word?"

She started seeing black as tears threatened to spill out her eyes because she was sure she was going to die.

"Please!" Carter shouted

It dropped her on the precipice. She breathed in a beautiful lung full of air before she was coughing and hacking again.

"Now was that so hard?" it asked Carter

Eventually she looked up to see a shirtless man trapped in chains, just like hers, with bruises all over his body, looking at her concerfully. It was Carter.

"Thank the gods." He said

"Don't thank them yet Carter Kane because I'm not done playing with you." She saw a sudden flash as the demon's wing connected with Carter's face. He cried out in pain as he was knocked to the floor and the demons foot repeatedly connected with his body and head. It slowly lifted him up by the scruff of his neck until he was higher than the demon's face and chucked him against a rock. Carter groaned in pain and crumpled to the floor.

"No." she moaned but no one heard her because she was still recovering from her lack of air.

It took something sharp from it's pocket and inserted it in it's boot. It walked over to Carter and kicked him in the ribs.

"Get up!" it shouted. "The mortal who killed Apophis should be stronger than this!" it shouted as it kicked him again and again and again.

Carter slowly rose to his feet. Blood oozing out of the multiple wounds in his side where the knife had penetrated, and faced the demon.

"Excellent." It said

It rushed towards him and grabbed him under the arms and blue arcs of electricity flowed through his arms and up into his body.

"Aghh!" Carter yelled as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body jerked back and forth.

"Stop!" she yelled. She was standing defiantly in her chains, practically fuming in anger.

It dropped Carter and he slumped on the floor. "Ahhh… Zia I was hoping you'd want your turn soon. Very well I'll play with you now." it said with a wicked grin on its face. Suddenly she saw a huge shape rush towards her and split seconds later she was on the ground, once again, coughing sand out of her mouth.

She tried to rise but it kicked her face and she fell back down. It bent down and started hitting and kicking her all over. She tried to fight back but her chains kept holding her body, securing her in place. Once she did manage to slap it's face, or whatever passed for it, but that just made it angrier. It slammed her head against the stone floor and she felt pain, so much pain. It did it again and again and again until she heard something crack and she fell, defeated.

She felt those cold, slimy arms wrap around her and lift her to her feet. She looked into his dark eyes full of malice and hate and felt fear, the likes of which she hasn't felt in over three months. It smiled as it plunged the knife into the soft flesh of her skin. She gasped but not in pain, more in surprise at how cold it felt in her body. It drew back and plunged it into her again and again. It only stopped when she was almost unconscious and her entrails were practically falling out. She was about to collapse when it grabbed her under the arms and shocked her like it did with Carter. She felt waves and waves of pain wash through her body as she convulsed and, again, fell to the ground.

She looked up into it's face as it raised it's fist to finish her off, strike her down for the last time when something hit it's face. It turned and looked at Carter and again something hit it's face. She looked up to see Carter, one hand clutching his side while the other leant down to pick up another rock. It rushed towards him once again. "You dare try and hurt me with… rocks?" it asked incredulously. It hit him repeatedly, giving him no mercy. She looked away, not being able to bear watching the torture anymore.

"Zia." Carter said. She looked up. It was standing behind him, it's right hand holding him against it's body, it left behind his back poised to strike. Carter locked eyes with her, his deep brown connecting with her amber ones.

"I love you" as if he knew what was about to happen. The demon drew back it's hand and punched straight through the place where Carter's heart had been seconds before.

"NOOO!" she shouted but it was to late. It laughed and released her from her chains. Carter lay on the ground in a pool of his own blood, sputtering for air. She charged the demon, sent all the spells in her disposal at it even as so much blood was leaving her body. She threw fireballs, made rocks fall where it was standing and even conjured a car sized scarab beetle that charged it as well but when everything was about to hit it, it vanished.

"Your time will come as well Zia Rashid" a voice echoed all around her.

She ran to Carter and knelt next to him. Picking up his torso and leaning it against her. She put each of her hands on the holes that were punched through Carter's body.

"Carter you're not going to die, you can't." she sobbed. "I'll get you to Brooklyn house, they'll heal you."

Carter opened his eyes and slowly shook his head, still heaving for air. His eyes dived deep into her soul one last time. "I love you." He gasped. "I love you too." She said. He nodded in relief as his body went limp and he fell from her hands.

She woke up screaming.

Yeah, again I hope you liked it and I hope to have the next chapter posted in tree days. Please, if you have time, remember to review.

Sonyvaio