(DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING! Except my character Katherine, of course.)

-Ravyne

Death Becomes Her

Chapter 9:

"You sure you want to stay here?" Rick asks his sister who leans against the railing by the stairs. "You don't have to. I can-."

"Rick," Kat smiles warmly up at him, grabbing his hand that rests on her arm, "I'm fine. Really. Plus there are books here I found that have a lot of information about this curse stuff. The more I can find out, the better prepared we'll be when we face this mummy guy again. So don't worry about me; go get that Egyptology guy and keep him safe until I can get some more information."

She starts to push him gently towards the stairs where everyone else is beginning to descend and he stops abruptly, "Fine. One hour and I'm coming back."

Kat sighs and closes her eyes to calm herself, "Three."

"Two and that's as high as I'm going."

Kat glares at him but smiles regardless, "Okay, two hours. Go."

She watches him follow his friends back downstairs and towards the entrance. Her throat tightens as a wave of panic washes over her, "Rick."

He and Evie pause looking up at her.

"Be careful."

Rick nods and salutes her while Evie smiles at him, "Love you too."

"Evie," Kat calls again to stop the woman. "Look after him for me."

"I will."

The group leaves, the heavy door closing shut with a heavy, finalized thud and the sound reverberates through her chest. Her smile all but immediately vanishes from her face as she stares at the door. Maybe she should've gone with them. Her brother has been known for his recklessness sometimes.

"He will return to you."

Kat turns to look over her left shoulder at Ardeth. He stands in the doorway to the room where their strategy meeting had been held not too long ago.

Taking a few easy strides towards her, he joins her at the railing to stare down at the door, "He loves you very much."

Kat follows his gaze back to the door with a small smile, "I know."

"Terence is ready when you are."

He turns to head back to the room and Kat spins, "Ardeth." The madjai's eyes find hers again and she swallows down her dry throat, "I wasn't able to finish my apology earlier. I really am-."

"My forgiveness has already been given."

Her breath stops in her chest.

"I should have been more understanding of your position; I was careless with my words."

"You only spoke the truth."

"I spoke it too harshly."

Kat opens her mouth to argue but snaps it shut again. Smiling, Kat walks to his side and pauses, "You're right, you did, but I responded back too harshly as well."

"You were upset-."

Kat grabs his arm to shut him up, trying not to notice the strength of it, "Let's just agree that words have way too much power than they should have." With that she lets go of his arm and holds out her hand to him.

He glances down at it and then up at her through his unusually dark lashes before placing his hand in hers, "Agreed."

His palm all but swallows hers and Kat can't help but enjoy the feeling of comfort that settles over her. Taking a deep breath, she shifts her gaze away from his when the moment starts to turn too intense for her to handle.

"Are you two coming?"

Kat jumps, jerking her hand back to grab the blanket and pull it back around her snuggly when the curator unexpectedly appears out of nowhere, "Sorry. We're coming right now."

"Of course," Ardeth replies just as rapidly. He steps away around the curator and into the room.

Terence turns back to Kat and raises an eyebrow at her in question. She shrugs, "W-what?"

"Of the many years I have known that boy, I have never once seen him so flustered," Terence smiles slightly as he turns to look at Ardeth who now stands at a table filled with books that have been brought up from the basement storeroom.

"W-what's…got him…flustered?" she asks, genuinely curious.

Terence throws her a look before ushering her inside. Once there, he joins Ardeth at the table on the opposite side and starts flipping through pages. Kat takes her place at the table as well and sighs in disgust down at all the stacks of records and files and manuscripts filling the tabletop.

"I always hated history," she grumbles.

"'Study the past to define the future'," Ardeth quotes.

Kat drops the book in her hands like a weight and stares at him in surprise, "You know Confucius?"

He meets her gaze with his own dark one, "Did you think me uneducated?"

She quickly shakes her head before hurriedly flipping through books to hide her mortification, "N-no. Not at all. Just surprised…is all I was going to say."

They file through book after book and all they seem to find is the same information over and over. The weapon was made by the gods Anubis, Horus, Seth, Isis, and Bastet as a shield for the whole of humanity. The weapon's sole purpose was to ensure the death of the high priest Imhotep should he ever be awakened. The curse on the weapon would allow the body to be sustained without sleep, food, or water to ensure there would be no need to distract it from its one task. The weapon was even given the ability to absorb all knowledge of war.

Kat wasn't too sure what that meant but Terence believes it meant that the weapon could adapt to the use of any weapon that it came upon. That theory has yet to be agreed with by all of them yet.

After about thirty minutes of reading they had all headed to another room downstairs filled with more books and started their research anew there until the clock somewhere in the building strikes the hour. Kat stretches out her arms above her head, restlessly.

One hour down. I wonder how Rick's doing…, she thinks. "I'm going to go stretch my legs and give my eyes a break."

Both of the men nod but don't give her much more of a response than that so she leaves them to their tireless studies and decides to take a walk down the hall. As she strolls, Kat rubs her sore neck and pulls the blanket higher up onto her shoulders. She'd give anything to run a hot bath and just soak for a few hours; that would really ease the tension in her shoulders. That or a good sparring session. She always felt better when she and Rick got into a good arm wrestling match.

Turning the corner, Kat heads up the two flights of stairs to the second story and then to her left where a huge round window decorates the wall. She leans against the wall and stares out up at the dark sky above. No stars twinkle tonight like they have been the last couple of nights; probably hiding away from the terror going on right now.

Rick, please be okay, she prays silently.

There's a loud thud that echoes from somewhere in the building but she pays it no mind. It's probably Terence dropping a book down a bit too heavily again from all the frustration; he's done it three times since they've started researching. Strangely enough, the thud is followed by strange humming that, minute by minute, slowly forms words as it gets closer to her location. Kat is about to investigate but notices movement below outside coming up the street towards the museum.

Her eyes widen in horror.

"Yes, well, according to legend, the black book that the Americans found at Hamunaptra is supposed to bring people back from the dead. Until now, it was a notion I was unwilling to believe," Evie discusses as they follow Ardeth and Terence up the marble stairs of the museum.

"Believe it, sister. That's what brought our buddy back to life," Rick grumbles sourly.

"Yes, and I'm thinking that if the black book can bring dead people to life then-."

"Then maybe the gold book can kill him," Rick finishes and glances at her.

She nods, catching his gaze, "That's the myth. Now we just have to find out where the gold book is hidden."

"Rick."

Ardeth and Terence stop at the strange voice, followed by Rick and his crew as they all turn towards the large, circle window down the hall they had just passed. Kat stands there at it, staring out at something outside below her. The blanket has fallen to the floor around her feet and her body is still as stone.

Rick takes a step towards her slowly, eyes narrowing worriedly, "Kat?"

His sister slowly turns to look over her shoulder and they all freeze. Her emerald green eyes are spiraling, almost glowing like live wires, and her face is paler. She speaks again and her voice sounds off, "We're running out of time."

She turns back to the window and they all go to stand beside her to find out what's going on. Ardeth steps up beside Kat but doesn't have a chance to ask if she's alright for the horrors he finds outside. A horde of people with torches and weapons are marching towards the museum chanting a name they all know too well.

"Imhotep…Imhotep…Imhotep…Imhotep…Imhotep."

"Last but not least, my favorite plague: boils and sores," Jonathan sighs in defeat.

"They have become his slaves," Ardeth stares down at the horde below of walking mind-controlled servants prepared to rip this place apart if they must to please their master. "So it has begun—the beginning of the end."

"Not quite yet it hasn't," Evie states positively.

Ardeth spies a large gap in the crowd, a circle of people huddled around a single form, and he narrows his gaze expectantly. It's the creature. Kat must've seen him as well because she suddenly hisses like a feral creature and spins around so suddenly to press her back against the wall beside the window that Ardeth jerks in surprise.

Her arms circle around her stomach and her fists tighten at her sides as her jaw clenches shut in agony. When her eyes open, the spiraling light in her emerald irises has gotten brighter, spinning faster as she gazes off down the hall, "If you've got a plan I suggest you get to it fast."

Evie nods at her before rushing quickly to the giant slab of polished black stone that stands a few paces away from the top of the stairs overlooking the floor below. Everyone follows suit and takes up look out positions by the banister as Evie and Terence start deciphering the hieroglyphics on the stone.

"According to Bembridge scholars, the golden book of Amun-Ra is located inside the statue of Anubis," Evie recalls as her fingers skim across the stone.

"That's where we found the black book," Mr. Daniels remarks.

"Exactly."

"Well, it looks like the old boys at Bembridge were mistaken," Jonathan adds.

"Yes, they mixed the books up, mixed up where they were buried, so if the black book was inside the statue of Anubis, the golden book must be inside…"

The banging on the front door finally does a number on the entrance and the horde breaks through into the museum, filling the hall downstairs almost instantly with screams and yells of the multitudes of people filing in angrily, torches blazing.

Rick, Daniels, and Ardeth all move to the banister opposite the stairs to look down below and Kat glances down with them.

"Come on, Evie, faster!" Jonathan urges his sister.

"Patience is a virtue," she hums anxiously as her eyes skim faster.

"Not right now it isn't!" Rick argues from beside his sister, Ardeth looking back impatiently as well from her opposite side.

"Uh…I think I'll go get the car started," Jonathan laughs nervously as he takes a peek at the roaring crowd tearing in from below.

Kat growls, making everyone jerk suddenly at the feral sound, and the girl doubles over for a split second before slamming the back of her head against the pillar she leans against by the banister, breathing heavily through her teeth, "Evie, I know patience is a virtue and all…BUT HURRY UP!"

Evie flinches back as the young woman's voice floods with angry power and her eyes tear open to reveal fully glowing green eyes. Before Kat can say anything else she flashes forward, flipping over the railing and freefalling to the floor below with a graceful flip of her body. When she lands, the marble floors split with a loud crack!

"What the hell…" Rick breathes as he and Ardeth look over the banister at his sister below.

Looking up from her crouch, her glowing green eyes target the mob moving in to attack her and she opens her mouth clad with fangs and growls out like a wild-cat.

Rick just stare speechlessly at the woman below, no longer his sister but something else. Ardeth glances up at him, wondering how he's taking the sight before him. The brother is pale and a sweat is breaking out on his forehead. He's not sure how much longer Rick will hold out.

"We must leave!" Ardeth orders as he spins back to Evie who is still skimming through the Egyptian writing on the stone.

"I've got it! The golden book of Amun-Ra is at Hamunaptra inside the statue of Horus!" Evie exclaims excitedly, practically glowing with pride. "Take that, Bembridge scholars!"

Ardeth grabs Rick by the arm and tries to move his stiff form but the man is frozen. "She is your sister," he says to Rick in an attempt to break him out of the horror of his sister's condition, "She is strong. She will stay alive until she finds you again. Until then, we must leave. Do not let her sacrifice be in vain."

"Sacrifice?!" Rick snaps as he glares at the madjai.

"She has taken it upon herself to buy us time to escape," Ardeth jerks on his arm. "If you die here, she will lose you and it will all be for nothing. Now go!"

Below, the young woman snarls again and brings to life the glowing green whips from her finger tips which slash forward and take out the line of people closing in on her from behind. They fly into the wall and slunk to the floor limply.

Whipping her head around, her glowing green eyes stare up at Rick from the floor below for only a split second and in that second he can almost swear he sees a small piece of his sister staring back at him. But the cat-like human creature jerks her eyes towards something across the room and takes off after it like a jaguar running down its prey. Rick finally lets Ardeth pull him away down the hall.