Nick found himself in a tight street, between the confused and troubled staff of the Prodigium. He hid the dagger under his shirt and quickly went away from there.
He didn't know where to go now, he lived in New York, not in London. He didn't know so well that city too, he just did a travel or two there. So, for now, the better thing he could do was taking a room in an hotel. It wasn't the best choice, but nothing else came to his mind, and he didn't have so much time. Prodigium's men surely had the resources to find him, but with the chaos he roused in their base, they would have been busy for a long time. Or so he hoped.
Nick still had his wallet with him, his documents, money, and credit card, so he went to a shop to buy something to eat. He took different kinds of food, not knowing what Ahmanet liked, but smiled when he saw some fruits she surely would have appreciated. He took them too and when he paid, he asked to the seller for an hotel. The man told him many names, and Nick chose one of them that wasn't too near to the Prodigium's base, but neither too far.
He exited the shop and started walking towards the hotel, but suddendly he heared a big crash. He turned to the direction of the noise, as the crowd did, but couldn't see anything.
"Ahmanet's escaped" Nick thought, but he didn't smiled. The princess didn't know that city, that new world, and how to behave in there, and neither she would cared about it. All she wanted to do in that moment was finding the stone, and it didn't matter if she hurted someone in doing it. She had rush to take the stone, and she was angry for the treatement Prodigium's men had reserved to her. She wasn't in the best mood to pay attention on who her actions could harm. Some innocents could have die. And Nick couldn't allow that. He didn't want her to be like this. He would have saved her from the evil that tried to controll her.
With a new determination in him, he run towards the source of that noise.
Ahmanet got out to the Prodigium's base, and observed the outside.
"So this is the new world" she said.
Her gaze went from the high skyscrapers which sparkled at the sun light, to the strange clothes people wore, to the even stranger means of transport they used. She didn't see horses or carts, just a lot of metallic vehicols that made a great noise. But that wasn't the Egypt. Maybe her homeland would have looked like how it was at her time. She didn't know that, but she wanted to find it out. And she had more important things to do than admire the new world.
She turned to the direction of the stone, but noticed that a little crowd had stopped to watch her with curiosity. They pointed to her some strange, metallic, little objects that sometimes flashed. She didn't have the foggiest idea of what they were, they didn't harm her, but she still didn't like them. She was tired and very, very angry. Her patiente lost, the princess lifted an hand to use her power against those stupid mortals, when a voice stopped her. HIS voice.
"Ahmanet! Wait!" Her chosen was running towards her. It was the first time he called her with her name. It sounded so right. She smiled and lowered her hand, waiting for him to reach her.
He stopped before her, and asked "Please, don't harm these people, they don't know anything at all, they are innocents, out of this story."
"*What is going on here?*" asked one of them, watching her and what remained of the wall behind her, puzzled.
She didn't understand a word, but her chosen answered "*Nothing, we are just shooting a new movie. I have to ask you all to clear the area, please.*" Those people seemed pleased by his answer, and also a little bit excited.
Then, her chosen turned to her, and said "We have to go away from here. I'll take a room for us, come."
He took her for an hand and started to walk, but Ahmanet stopped him.
"I still haven't taken the stone."
"Don't worry about it, we will take it later, now we have to move" he probably saw that she wasn't totally convinced, because he added "Trust me."
That words made her to smile and soften her gaze as she answered "Always, my chosen." Then she followed him.
They walked quickly through the streets, till they entered an high and large building. A man behind a desk seemed to be waiting for them.
"Let me talk to him" whispered her chosen.
Ahmanet simply nodded, she couldn't speak their language.
"*We wish a room for two, the name is Morton. We will stay one day*" said her chosen, giving the man a silver card.
"*Yes sir, the number is 22*" he passed that card into a metallic box and gave it back to her chosen with a key. Then he launched Ahmanet a strange and curious look.
"*She is doing a cosplay*" explained her chosen.
"*I didn't know there was an event for cosplayer in the city*" said the man, surprised. "*It's very beautiful and realistic by the way*" he added.
"*It's a friend's private party*" her chosen smiled to him, then took her for an hand again and directed to two metallic doors. He pressed a button, and they opened. Ahmanet observed them surprised, and her chosen smiled and told her "I don't think there is a word for this in your language. In mine, it's called an *elevator*. It took people up and down in a building. Our room is at the third floor, we can reach it by the stairs or by this."
He pressed a button and the elevator's doors closed, then Ahmanet felt a little thrust upwards and the object started moving. She unawares tightened her grip on his hand, a bit nervous.
"Don't worry, it's safe, and it won't last for long." He hadn't even finished to talk, that they heard a little noise, and the doors opened. "See? We are already arrived." He said, and started walking with her in the corridor.
Ahmanet followed him slowly, with caution, and her chosen said "Don't worry, we are safe here, for the moment."
She snorted and said "I'm not one of those girls who need to be saved, you know. But the fact is that this world is totally new for me. And except for you, all the things I saw of it harmed me. I'm not the princess of Egypt anymore, no one knows me, no one will bend down before me and serve me. For now, at least. So I have to be careful with things I don't know. Except if I can use my power, but I take it that we are moving in disguise, aren't we?"
"We are, in fact. I'm sorry if I treated you as a woman in danger who needs help. Obviusly you are not that kind of woman. I know it, I have seen it." He stopped in front of a door and opened it, smiling at her. Ahmanet reciprocated, grateful.
"Here we are" he said, inviting her to enter the room for first, and so she did.
The room was quite big, with large windows, some furniture, a bathroom and a big bed, clearly made for two people. Ahmanet sat on it and asked "What are we doing here?" She was impatient to go and take the stone.
Her chosen looked at her, a little bit surprised by the question "You need to rest, or better, to sleep."
"I have slept for five thousand years. I am tired to rest." She answered, firm.
"Yes, but Prodigium's men tortured you. Do you not even feel a little weak?" he insisted.
"My power is stronger than ever. I am ready to take back what is mine, and to fight for that." She answered back.
Her chosen rolled his eyes at her stubborness and Ahmanet observed that spontaneous movement slightly surprised. No one would had ever dared to do it before her when she was a mortal princess. But now that she had Seth's power, she have thought that people wouldn't have behaved like that even more. She inclined her head, knowing that she was very wrong about her chosen. He probably would have kept on behaving like he always did, because he was by her side, he wasn't afraid of her. So he would have been still himself, or, at least, since Ahmanet had concluded the ritual. Then he would have changed, and probably totally devoted his life to her. The princess craved that moment, craved the total and unconditional love of someone. She had been so closed to have it with her previous chosen. She remembered to have taken a man who was her servitor, yes, but who also desired the absolute power of Seth, it was obvious. And that was the real reason for what he had chosen her path. But with the ritual, that would have changed, she was sure of it.
"At least eat something" her chosen's voice took her mind back to reality, and she looked at him. "Please" he added. In that very moment Ahmanet realised how hungry was her. She nodded, surprised, and watched him to go and take something from some bags.
That man was different. The realisation hit Ahmanet like a sudden lightning in a clear sky. That man worried for her, cared about her. He didn't crave the power, he just wanted to help her. He hadn't said anything about it, but she had seen the truth in his eyes, and she could still see it in how she behave with her. Furthermore, when she had showed him her story she had felt him to understand her pain, and to share it. She had felt somehing to break inside him. Ahmanet didn't know the man he was before that moment, but she knew the man he had become after it. And Ahmanet liked him, also because she knew that he didn't make that shift because of her power, but he did it by himself, and for her. And the princess really didn't know if she wanted to loose that man in Seth's power.
"I didn't know what to buy, but I thought you surely would have appreciated these." Her chosen's voice interrupted her thoughts once more. He was handing her some dates.
Her jaw dropped and she could feel her eyes to shine. Dates were her favourite fruit, and she didn't think she could have eaten them again.
Her chosen saw her happiness and said "I hope you like them, even if they didn't come from Egypt" giving the dates to her with a smile.
She tasted them, closing her eyes, savouring them deeply. That was the first food she had eaten since she had been mummified. Ahmanet didn't know how it was possible that they didn't come from her homeland, but they were almost as sweet as she remembered. The princess ate them all, feeling almost completely alive again. Almost. One other thing came to her mind, one that she had thought to do after the ritual. But seeing how her chosen worried for her just heated up her heart. Ahmanet stood and came closer to him.
He put the dagger on the bed and said "You need to eat something more. And to rest."
Ahmanet approached him and answered "I'm not tired" with a strange voice.
Nick looked at her, noticed her intense gaze, and his heart quickened. That wasn't a vision, that was the reality. The princess was there, right in front of him, and she was coming closer.
"Okay" he swallowed "I'm glad you liked the dates."
Ahmanet caressed his hair, and her hand lowered till stopping on his cheeck. Nick wouldn't ever said her four amber eyes could look so beautiful, sensual and...tempters. But they did.
The princess smiled dearly, looking deeply into his wonderful blue eyes, and retyped "I like you and your worry for me so much more" her gaze dropped on his lips.
"Ahmanet..." her chosen whispered, as if he feared to break the feel. The princess had never heard a better sound than her name whispered so sweetly by her chosen.
They didn't know who was the first to move on, but the following moment they were kissing each other. It was slow and sweet at the beginning, but soon Ahmanet took the controll, and their tongues met. She put in the kiss all her tension, all her rage and pain, but also all her relief and her need of love. And Nick was ready and very happy to please her.
Jenny was very angry. She had been liberated from that bathroom after what seemed hours to her, but actually had been just half an hour.
The chaos reigned on the Prodigium's base.
She had heard about the short circuit, and an idea of what had really happened started to form in her mind.
Jenny shook her head and went right to Henry's office. They had unlocked the room because there hadn't been any emergency. Yes, Ahmanet had escaped, and they couldn't find Seth's dagger anywhere, but the base wasn't in danger. The princess had harmed no one, just two man. One had been subjugated by her power, and she had sucked the vital essence of the other. But it could have been worse than that, considerating what those "humans" did to Ahmanet.
Jenny shook her head again, she couldn't defende that mummy.
She entered Henry's office, and asked "How could it happen?" Her voice sound a little hysterical, but she didn't care. Ahmanet was a great danger, and she had no idea of where Nick could be.
Henry arched both his eyebrows and answered "Ask to your soldier friend. The diversion he created has allowed Ahmanet to escape undisturbed. We couldn't do anything to stop her! And now she is free!"
"So it had been Nick?" She asked, lowering her voice and her eyes.
"Yes, I saw the cameras shooting, he closed you in the bathroom and then he went right to the generator's room. How could he know it was there?" Henry looked at her deeply in her eyes.
"I told him" she admitted "He wanted to know the emergency proceeding, so I told him."
"Wonderful. Because after his little joke, he took Seth's dagger and escaped." Henry sighed tiredly and sat.
"This is in part my fault, I should have been more detached to him, especially after what he did to me. But what if Ahmanet is controlling him?" Jenny asked with an allarmed voice.
"If she is, we will find it out soon enough" answered Henry, calm.
"What are you talking about?" Asked the woman, puzzled.
"We have traced our dear Nick Morton." Henry smiled, affable "My men are already going to take him."
