Damn hurricanes are starting to piss me off. Does anyone else think that God is pissed off or something? What is it Jeanne and Carl now? They shoulda named those first two Bonnie and Clyde cuz that's what I kept calling them. Anyhow, the next chapter might take awhile in getting in cuz I've gotta work on my btvs/hp story and balance my school work and whatnot. This chapter is dedicated to Malli who passed away recently. She was the author of "The Phoenix Child", a brilliant story, for those that know of her and it is such a shame for such a talented author to die. I don't know how it happened so if anyone wants to enlighten me, be my guest. I was in shock when I found out on someone else's fic. Thanks a lot to my reviewers.
Faerie of Egypt: Well, she could have a crush on him, but beyond that is a no no. I see Ardeth more as a mentor figure or sort of like Elizabeth's own personal Giles. What will exist between them is a mutual respect of fellow warriors. Yeah, I loved Ardeth too. He rocks my world. Jonathan is also a favorite of mine because he is hilarious.
Thanks also to Saxifrage, lilylynn, and the-almight-berry.
Chapter Eight Title: Seeing Red
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Soaked to the bone and rather battered, the rescue party emerged from the wreckage alive and mostly in one piece. That was more than could be said for Izzy's dirigible. Elizabeth, unsurprisingly, had come out the least battered of all. She was still a little dizzy as she staggered out of the wreckage and stumbled about looking for her weapons.
Izzy was assessing the damage as everyone else rummaged through the wreckage to salvage weapons and provisions.
Rick spouted at orders as they worked. "All right, first we're going to get my son, then we're gonna want to make a quick getaway, so make it work Izzy."
Izzy was sputtering in disbelief. "What?! Look at this, O'Connell! The bloody thing is filled with gas, not hot air. Where the hell am I going to find the gas around here to get this thing off the ground?" He looked around and sighed. "Even if I could fill it up with hot air, do you know how many cubic meters of hot air I would need?"
Rick hoisted a pack onto his back and clapped Izzy on the back heartily. "If anyone can fill this thing up with hot air, Izzy, it's you."
Elizabeth hoped her father's confidence was well-placed because if it wasn't then this trip would basically be for naught. They would be stranded in this forsaken oasis with the Scorpion King and Imhotep. She didn't even want to think about the minions at the two lords' disposal. She didn't have the heart to tell her parents that even after they found Alex she couldn't leave. Like Ardeth Bay, she had a job to do and that was to vanquish evil.
Walking towards Izzy's pack while warily eyeing everyone else, Jonathan snatched his gold scepter out of there and hid it in his jacket. "Come to Daddy."
Ardeth held out his arm for Horus to perch and attached a message to his brethren to the falcon's legs. The bird launched into the sky and the five rescuers began their trek through the jungle.
The sound of a gunshot and resulting screech caused everyone to halt in their tracks and look upwards.
"Horus!" Ardeth Bay screamed in anguish for his friend.
"Oh no, they shot the bird," Elizabeth murmured. She had become rather fond of that handsome falcon.
Ardeth walked up to Rick and said, "I must go. I must let the commanders know where we are. If the Army of Anubis arises—"
"Wait! I need you! We need you to help us find my son," Rick pleaded.
Ardeth looked from Rick to Evelyn and Elizabeth who were pleading with him silently with their identical eyes. The desert warrior relented and nodded. "Then first, I shall help you."
"Thank you," Rick said gratefully.
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The Oasis of Ahm Shere was eerily silent. No nocturnal sounds graced the night. A jungle like this should teem with life. There should be sounds of night birds, creatures on the ground, in the trees. Yet there was nothing. And it unnerved the mortals of Imhotep's group.
Alex was sweating partly from fear and partly from the sultry jungle air that pressed down upon the small eight-year-old mercilessly. He was being dragged through the jungle by his captors as they marched to the gold temple. Alex prayed they would reach it in time because in a few hours by his calculations the sun would rise and if he was not in that gold temple by then, he would die.
Yet, it seemed inevitable that he would die anyway. His captors would most likely kill him afterwards and if his family was dead what did Alex have to go back to? No one was coming to rescue him. Imhotep had killed them all. Nevertheless, he couldn't succumb to the despair of his family's demise. A small part of him held onto a belief that they had survived and were coming for him. He saw in his mind's eye his sister: brave, beautiful, and deadly smiting all of his oppressors with her bare hands and carrying him away. He saw his father: strong, tough, and courageous wielding his twin revolvers. He smiled when he saw his mother: fearless, unwavering, and determined wielding that Roman sword like she was born to do it. It was odd how his mother and older sister suddenly seemed to develop extraordinary fighting skills. Alex had only started to train with his father, but he doubted he would ever reach their levels.
Thoughts of his family kept the eight-year-old above the abyss of misery as he trudged on. Red-turbaned men surrounded him on all sides. Red. He was always seeing red. They came upon a clearing where skeletons clad in armor and some grasping shields were hung from nets. Alex felt a pit drop down into his stomach.
"Roman legionnaires," the Curator informed them.
He then pointed to other skeletons wreathed in half-rotted blue uniforms. "And there, turn-of-the-century French. Napoleon's troops."
Several skeletons were hung from fire pits showing that they had been barbecued alive. Alex wanted to get out of this place. Now. Unfortunately, with guards every which way and death looming in the other direction he didn't have much choice in the matter.
Up ahead of Alex walking beside the Curator Lock-Nah grimaced in disgust at the carnage around him. "What in the name of Anubis did this?" He withdrew his scimitar.
Imhotep was the lone unperturbed member of the party.
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Rick had resigned himself to following Elizabeth since her senses were superior to his own and not to mention she had a nifty sixth sense. She stopped the group at a small rise and held up her hands. She figured the rise would offer a clear line of sight to the pyramid and a good view below. Everyone else seemed to agree.
On the rise everyone did his or her part in preparation for the upcoming skirmish. Evelyn and Rick loaded and stacked rifles while Ardeth Bay and Elizabeth inspected their less technically suave, but no less deadly array of weapons. Elizabeth let them all pick from the contents of her three black bags.
"You hear that?" Rick asked his daughter and Ardeth Bay. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. "This place reeks of death. No birds. No animals at all. It's making my slayer sense go off its rocker."
Apparently that wasn't the only thing making her slayer sense go off its rocker. Elizabeth paused in her task of sorting through her weapons as a prickling sensation started at the back of her neck and spread throughout all her limbs. Her dark blue eyes widened in recognition and fear. A sinking sensation was added to the prickling sensation and she subconsciously gripped the sword in her hand tighter. She was experiencing the same feeling, the same warning, that she did whenever she did battle with demons. No. Not now. Please not now. Alas, the instincts of a slayer are rarely mistaken and unfortunately, it was not one of those times where it would be an exception.
Rick spared a glance at his daughter as he loaded his shotgun and frowned when he noticed the sudden alertness to her entire body. The muscles of her arm were taut and riddled with tension and the look on her face was very discouraging. "Lizzie? What's wrong?"
Before answering, the Slayer rose to her feet while sweeping the entire area with a sharp eye. She turned back to her perplexed family and Ardeth Bay. "Stay here."
Rick jumped to his feet and declared indignantly. "Hold up! What the hell is going on?"
"Lizzie, where are you going?" Evelyn asked anxiously.
Elizabeth turned her troubled gaze back to her parents and said quietly, "Demons. They're in the jungle."
"How do you know?" Jonathan asked, fervently hoping his niece was wrong.
Elizabeth closed her eyes and murmured, "I can feel them. They're close but I don't know how many there are." She sighed and slung a crossbow onto her shoulder and picked up a quiver of bolts to hang there as well. "I have to scout about to find them and figure the risk they pose. If I'm not back in time, go ahead to get Alex without me, but be wary. Some of these buggers will do worse things to you than soldier-mummies if they get hold of you. If there aren't too many for me to take out, then I'll go ahead and...take them out. If not, I'll try to lead them away from here; away from you lot."
Ardeth Bay nodded to her in approval. "That is a good plan."
"Good plan? No way you're doing that. You're in a place you know nothing about, Lizzie. You can't play cat and mouse here!" Rick protested.
Elizabeth looked anxiously behind her. "You have a better one? None of you can certainly go after the demons and it's my job. Listen, I don't have time to come up with a better one, but you need to get to Alex and stop Imhotep from killing the Scorpion King. I'll meet you at the pyramid if I'm not back before then." She stopped for a moment in contemplation and grabbed one of the loaded rifles. Though slayers normally did not use guns since those weapons wouldn't kill vampires, Elizabeth was also her father's daughter. And it was better to use than a crossbow, which would take more time to reload.
Rick and Evelyn stood there speechless both trying to come up with reasons for their daughter to stay, but not being able to voice any others besides the fact that they feared greatly for her safety. They could only watch solemnly as Elizabeth gave them an encouraging smile and flew off into the night without saying goodbye. Perhaps it was best she did not say goodbye, for then it would have scared Rick and Evelyn more.
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With a grace and agility only a slayer could boast Elizabeth navigated through the towering trees and swooping vines. Her tread upon the ground could barely be heard. She had switched into slayer mode, the mode for searching and destroying. As she got closer to the demons her alarm system sent more and more signals to her brain. She stopped right behind a particularly thick tree, sheathed her sword, and jumped upwards to grasp a branch and swung herself gymnast style onto another branch. From her vantage point, she cursed silently when she spotted a small entourage of six green-skinned creatures. They were stocky and short, and also had rather lean bodies with not much muscle mass that belied a small amount of strength with skulls that were peppered with small black horns.
The demons were conversing with one another in a demonic language that Elizabeth had never heard before. She never saw this particular breed of demon before, but there was a first time for everything. Their voices were guttural and low and while she could not understand the words the evocativeness of their expressions and their voices told her that they were not here on a vacation. Her instincts were telling her they were malevolent and that was all she needed before aiming her rifle and firing. The bullet smashed through the skull of one of the demons and sent it crashing to the ground while splattering its brethren with luminescent blue ichor, which Elizabeth could only assume was its blood.
Before the demons could react Elizabeth took out another one in the face. Two down, four more to go. The creatures let out ferocious howls of fury and began scattering about to find who had killed two of their own so quickly. Not wanting to lose them in the jungle she nailed another one in the chest before jumping down from her perch brandishing her sword. The remaining creatures snarled viciously and one growled, "Slayer!".
"Thank god, you do speak English," Elizabeth muttered as they rushed her. She ducked as the first one came barreling towards her and used its own momentum to fling it up and over her back and crashing into another demon.
One demon tackled her from behind and she grunted in pain as she collided with the ground. She rolled over and unsheathed a dagger on her hip and drove it into its side and then gave it a powerful upward kick that sent the demon flying. She kick flipped back to her feet and grabbed her sword to sink into the chest of one demon. Having taken her attention off the other two one creature was able to get an opening and dug one of its claws into Elizabeth's side. She screamed in pain and elbowed it in the face, which only sufficed to add on to her pain as its face was armored quite well. Well, at least the bullets can get through.
She blocked a blow from the demon that she had stabbed in the side and still had its dagger sticking out of it and did a somersault under its swinging arm stabbing upwards with her sword. She rose to her feet and turned to face the last demon alive, her dark brown hair in disarray, her face covered in dirt, her side bleeding and her suit ripped. The demon's glowing violet eyes appraised her with undisguised contempt. The demon charged at the Slayer, and she quickly used that to her advantage. She sprang aside but grabbed its arm and threw it down to the ground while holding its arm behind its back in a very painful position. She pointed the tip of her sword right at the back of the creature's neck giving it fair warning.
"Since I'm on a rather tight schedule here, it would be wise not to tempt me and just go ahead and spill. Why are you here?" she spat.
The demon mumbled something that Elizabeth didn't quite understand so she responded by twisting its arm even harder. "You are aware that I possess the physical strength to rip your bloody arm right out of your socket? That won't be the first limb you lose if you keep secrets from me. And I'm not a squeamish girl when it comes to dismembering."
The demon began to laugh maniacally and Elizabeth didn't take that as a good sign. "Slayer, your world will go up in flames when my mistress takes control of the Scorpion King's army. It matters not what you do to me."
Elizabeth cursed over and over again in her mind and was hoping her mother didn't possess supernatural mind-reading powers because she would have been in an understatement of trouble had she uttered any of that aloud. She subconsciously made the mistake of releasing her grip on the demon as she grasped the implications of that admission. Now she not only had Imhotep to contend with, there was also some demonic yahoo that wanted to kill the Scorpion King and control his army. Oh this is just lovely.
The demon, feeling the Slayer's strong grip lessen, wrestled out of it and swiped her away. It ran off into the thick jungle trees leaving an extremely pissed of slayer behind.
"Hey! Get back here so I can dismember you!" Elizabeth yelled indignantly as she stumbled off after it.
Fortunately for Elizabeth and unfortunately for the demon it was a rather slow runner. Slayers were built for speed and endurance, a sort of mixing of cheetah and antelope aspects, which enabled the girl warrior to catch up to the creature and jump on its back. Slayer and demon rolled down a steep incline locked in each other's arms, trying fruilessly as they rolled down the hill to gain a hold over the other.
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Imhotep's entourage was getting close to the gold pyramid. A break in the jungle allowed them a glimpse of the wonder with the diamond on its tip.
Lock-Nah whispered to the Curator, "Now may I kill him?"
The Curator said to Imhotep, "My lord, there is no longer any need for the boy."
Imhotep waved his hand dismissively. "Do with him as you please."
Lock-Nah grinned evilly and murmured, "With pleasure." He stalked over to Alex.
Alex saw the strange expression on Lock-Nah's face and paled. He knew now that he would never reach the gold pyramid for they would kill him before then.
"Cripes, I'm in trouble now."
Before Lock-Nah could reach Alex, however, a breeze fluttered through the jungle followed by an eerie whistling sound. The party was halted when Imhotep stopped.
The Curator whispered, "Something is coming."
And come something did, although it was far beyond what the Curator had expected. A strange green creature with black spikes on its head and a young woman, a mere girl really, came tumbling out of the jungle and right into their pathway. All the men backed away, startled and shocked. The girl didn't even register their presence as she elegantly flipped onto her feet and took hold of the monster's neck effectively twisting it until a loud crack could be heard. It fell limp to the ground and the girl breathed a sigh of relief, until she realized that there were others around her.
The Curator gasped when he saw the daughter of the O'Connells staring at him in surprise and anger. She was a true vision of deadly loveliness to the red-turbaned men with her studded leather armor and the sword she held in her hands that she had retrieved from the ground after breaking the creature's neck. Her dark brown hair was in disarray and her dark blue eyes glittered darkly with malice towards him and his men.
"Lizzie!" a small voice cried out.
"Alex!" the girl cried feeling almost overwhelmed by relief.
Lock-Nah wasted no time after figuring who she was. "Shoot her!" he ordered his men.
"Oh cripes." Elizabeth quickly dodged out of the way of the spray of bullets sent towards her. She spun and backhanded a man that was trying to gut her with his scimitar. She kept her eyes forever searching for the familiar golden head among the red, but she had lost sight of her little brother among the fray. Suddenly she felt her senses undulate in a way she had never felt, which never presaged anything good. Some new threat was out there and it was getting close. Just what I need, some new beastie to battle.
Her head whipped around as a man suddenly cried out and vanished as if the ground had swallowed him up. That sealed the deal, Elizabeth had to get Alex out of here now.
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Atop the rise brother and sister awaited the procession of Imhotep's group with tense anticipation. Evelyn stared stonily down below. Her blue eyes had hardened severely and were completely devoid of the warmth that they usually held. She would allow no mercy for those that had hurt her family. Her husband had already left with Ardeth Bay to rescue her son and her daughter had still not returned from finding those demons.
"Jonathan, that's my husband and my children down there," Evelyn told her brother flatly. "Make me proud."
Jonathan drew in a deep breath and tightened his grip on his rifle. Without looking at his younger sister he vowed softly, "Today will be that day, Evy."
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Without warning another threat assailed the followers of Imhotep in the form of two men, Rick O'Connell and Ardeth Bay. The two split up and cut through the red-turbaned men like a ram inadvertently helping Elizabeth gain an upper hand.
When Rick saw his daughter alive and literally kicking he sighed in relief, but didn't slow down his assault upon the men that had stolen his son from him.
While she battled her foes the Slayer kept her eyes pealed for a familiar blonde head and her ears pealed for the cries of her brother. She hoped against hope that he was still alive. Anything less was unacceptable.
A red-turbaned man swung his scimitar at her which she easily deflected with her sword. She didn't have time to get into full battle with the man so she instead kicked his weapon out of his hands, knocked him out with a single punch, and proceeded to use him as a human shield against the bullets being sent her way.
Why do these arseholes always have to wear red? All I see is bloody red. As of now red is my least favorite color. She quickly took up another human shield to block her other side as she darted through the jungle in search of Alex. Her mother and uncle were doing great rifle work from up above and as far as she could tell no one noticed them or if they had they were dead before they could do anything.
Her human shields were riddled with bullets, but she had yet to be hit. A fact that she was thoroughly relieved about, but she didn't want to push her luck. When she saw some remaining red turbans about to shoot her father she launched one of her lifeless shields and threw their aim off course causing them to shoot either into trees and shrubbery or at their own brethren.
The presence she had felt moments earlier was still there in its elusive form. She had not yet figured out what exactly it was and figured that the immediate threat was all the men with their stupid guns. Yet, when she saw a creepy looking, skeleton midget jump in her path all thoughts of said presence were brought back and answered as to what its origin was. With barely a second thought she threw her last shield at the pygmy thing with such force she could hear the thing's bones crush beneath the weight.
"Cripes! What the bloody hell was that thing?" she asked aloud.
"Dad! Somebody help me!" a voice cried out in terror. She recognized that voice. It was Alex.
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Alex wasn't exactly sure when, but somewhere between the man disappearing into the tall grass, his sister appearing out of nowhere in a tussle with a strange monster thing, and the gunshots he had gotten free of his captors and was completely forgotten for the moment. Or so he hoped. He knew which way the pyramid was instinctively, courtesy of the thing upon his wrist. When he saw his sister, it was like being doused in a downpour of joy and relief. He had been so afraid his entire family was gone, having been killed by Imhotep's hocus pocus bit. But it seemed at least Elizabeth had survived, and when he heard the gunshots he knew his father had come for him as well. His family had not perished after all thus giving Alex a new incentive to live.
If he had had time he would have dwelled on his sister's eye-popping entrance and amazing skills. It only strengthened Alex's theory that there was something slightly different about his sister that set her apart from other girls. If they got out of this fiasco alive, he would nag her to death about it until she told him.
Much to his chagrin, one man in particular had not forgotten him. Lock-Nah found him and began to advance on him again with the same cruel gleam in his eye and malicious smirk upon his dark face. With a squeak of alarm Alex began to run away from the man in a futile attempt to escape the blade of his scimitar coming down upon his neck and cleaving his head from his body. At least, that was one way he imagined his death by Lock-Nah's hand would be like. He had the feeling that his version was supremely less painful and a lot more merciful.
"Dad! Somebody help me!" he screamed, stumbling through tree roots and tall grass. "Dad! Lizzie!"
Alex seemed to be stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. Whatever had gotten those men the first time could get him, Lock-Nah could finish him, or he could never reach the gold pyramid by dawn—which was quickly approaching—and he would die anyway. The full impact of his situation suddenly bore down onto the eight-year-old at the most inconvenient time. He wasn't ready to die. He was only eight! He still had loads more to accomplish! This wasn't fair!
By the time he realized he was pretty much stumbling backwards from Lock-Nah he had run up against a tree and Lock-Nah was getting closer. Even if Alex had run, the man—having the advantage of longer legs—would catch him.
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"Alex!" Rick cried when he heard his son's scream.
He saw Elizabeth thankfully unharmed from not far off yelling for the boy as well.
"Alex! Where are you?!" she screamed.
Another scream of terror pointed father and daughter in the right direction and they both barreled through the human barriers as if they were nothing but featherweights. Elizabeth hit a man so hard he was thrown into the air and smacked against a tree. She didn't stop to see if she had killed him because frankly, she really didn't give a bloody damn.
Her heart literally froze in her chest when she saw a dark-skinned man about to drive his scimitar into her brother's body. Wasting no time, the Slayer emitted a feral scream, leaped into the air and tackled the man to the ground while her father whisked Alex away to safety.
She rolled away from the struggling form and kick flipped back to her feet and unsheathed her sword. This man had dared to lay a finger upon the body of her eight-year-old brother? She appraised the dark-skinned—rather handsome the female part of her claimed, but that was beside the point—muscled warrior with cobalt eyes darkened with righteous ire. As far as she was concerned this bastard was no better than the blood-sucking, half-demon, undeads she was charged to slay. He grinned saucily and picked up his scimitar, but before he could lunge towards her Ardeth Bay knocked him into a tree.
"Ardeth!" Elizabeth yelled, wanting to kill this man on her own.
"Go Elizabeth. You must go to your family. Lock-Nah is mine," the desert warrior declared, gripping tightly in his hand his scimitar.
Elizabeth opened her mouth to protest, but she snapped it shut. Ardeth seemed to know this man and obviously there was a mutual loathing between them. She sighed and turned to leave with a barely perceptible nod of farewell to the man she regarded as a close friend despite knowing him for less than a week. He was an admirable warrior; strong, courageous, honorable, loyal, and dependable. He was a fellow comrade of light in the ever pitched battle against the darkness.
"Do not fear, Slayer. We shall meet again," he replied.
She smiled and took off into the jungle at top neck speed. She caught up to her father and brother having just halted in their escape in a clearing. Her father looked near to collapse from exhaustion, but otherwise all right. Alex also looked unharmed. That is, until she engulfed the boy in a near literal bone-breaking hug causing him to gasp for air.
"You little scoundrel! Do you have any idea how much of a heart attack you gave everyone? I am going to bloody kill you when we get home!" she cried, a flood of tears fueled by relieved happiness streaming down her face.
She had never felt such a wellspring of emotion burst forth. All she could do right now was keep from kissing her brother's head all over. All the tension in her body seemed to dissipate upon contact with her brother. He was alive. He was safe. Elizabeth didn't seem to care how much he annoyed her. He could annoy her all he wanted now. Hell, she would insist he take her knickknacks without asking and make his bizarre contraptions with them.
Alex knew that the angry act his older sister was putting on was something she inherited from their mother. It was partly anger, but mostly false anger to cover up the tidal wave of relief. He for one felt relieved to be in her arms. He almost forgot about his time ticking away.
"Alex!"
Evelyn and Jonathan came to meet them in the clearing Alex was transferred from his sister's arms into his mother's. His mother wept into his hair and whispered his name over and over. After allowing a few moments of hugging he pulled away from his mother's hold.
"Come on! We have to get to the gold pyramid! I have to get this bracelet off now!" he exclaimed anxiously.
"Leave it on, Alex. It looks good on you.," Jonathan said, panting from exertion.
"No, you don't understand! The mummy said it would kill me if I don't reach the pyramid by sunrise! Today!" the boy urged.
"Oh my god," Evelyn whimpered.
"Son of a—" Elizabeth murmured. Despair flared up again. Why couldn't she have her cake and eat it too this time? Was that too much to ask?
Elizabeth hoisted Alex onto her back advising him to hold on tight, but not to strangle her. To Rick, Evelyn, and Jonathan she said, "Don't bother trying to keep up. Just meet us there. I'll have him in there before the sun rises, I swear it."
With his heart making deafening poundings Rick nodded. "Be careful. Be fast."
"Which way is it, Alex?" she asked.
"That way," Alex replied, pointing diagonal towards the right.
With that she took off at a speed that was inhuman. To her family she was nothing but a blur running away from them as she slipped into full slayer mode and zipped through the jungle. She gave in completely to who and what she was. A hunter. A slayer. A mortal gifted with attributes others would sell their souls to Satan for. She intended to take full advantage of what she had been bestowed. The only thing on her mind was that she had to reach that pyramid before the sun rose and her senses were telling her the sun was minutes away from doing so. If she was too late....
Pygmy mummies blocked her pathway with harsh, shrill shrieks. She leaped over them while flipping Alex over to her front and clasping him close against her chest in case those creatures began to blow darts her way. The Slayer continued to sprint through the oasis desperately racing against the clock of nature. She ran for the sake of the life of the child she held in her arms. A life that if extinguished would leave irreparable stains on her conscience, heart and soul. This could not come to pass.
Alex watched the jungle fly by in the form of fuzzy, unfocused green as his sister ran towards the pyramid. He didn't know Elizabeth could run so fast. He didn't know anyone could run so fast. Anyone human, that was. Looking over her shoulder he gasped when he saw the top of the sun rising over the trees.
"Lizzie! The sun is rising!" he bellowed shrilly.
Elizabeth didn't bother looking, but from some inner wellspring of hidden strength fueled by desperate need increased her already maximized speed. The golden pyramid was in view...if only she could just...but she wouldn't reach it in time even with that burst of fear-induced adrenaline. Unless....
Like she had done many times before, Elizabeth more or less cheated. In this case, she cheated death and in this case it was her brother's. She sprang across the entire length of the golden ramp lined with gold statues of lions and dove into the pyramid at the exact same moment the rising sun shined its light on the pyramid causing the diamond on top to twinkle merrily in the golden rays.
With her eyes squeezed shut and her arms still wrapped painfully tight around her brother she heard the click of a bracelet being opened. She cracked open an eyelid and saw the boy grabbing the thing and hurling it away. She let out a laugh of relief and hugged the boy to her reveling in the up and down movement of his chest and the beating of his heart.
"You know, you really have to stop this...you'll scare me into an early grave. I swear," Elizabeth choked out.
Alex grinned a grin that was eerily identical to their father's. "That was the plan."
"Alex! Lizzie!" came their father's voice as he broke through the jungle and pounded up the ramp. He dropped to his knees when he saw that both his children were alive and well. He crawled over to them both.
Elizabeth smiled tiredly. She felt a strange euphoria engulf her and almost forgot about the battles to come. Almost. "Told you I'd get him here. I think I might have strained every muscle in my body doing it, but I suppose that's worth it."
Rick nodded, his throat too constricted with emotion to reply. He hugged his daughter and son tightly thanking God or whatever deity had protected them. Elizabeth nestled against her father's chest and felt like sleeping for a week or more. She had probably gotten an accumulated two and a half hours of sleep in the past five days. Slayers were built for sleep-deprived lives, but only to an extent. They had to at least get some rest to let their bodies recuperate. Elizabeth had nearly pushed herself to the limit of slayer endurance. She didn't intend to overstep her bounds.
She barely registered her mother and uncle emerging from the woods panting and staggering. Evelyn saw her husband and children alive in the pyramid and felt dizzy with relief. The tension that permeated her body dissipated the moment she saw her husband and children alive and embracing in the pyramid.
"They made it!" she cried ecstatically.
"Yeah," Jonathan murmured, his green-brown eyes trained on the gold pyramid in wonder and lust.
What happened next would give the O'Connell children nightmares for the rest of their lives. Too late did Elizabeth notice with her sixth sense the presence of Imhotep. Too late did she stagger to her feet and out the entrance of the pyramid to defend her mother and uncle. Too slow and weary to reach her uncle before Imhotep grabbed Jonathan by the throat and threw him out of the way. Too exhausted and unprepared to reach her mother before the harlot in the black dress(Elizabeth had never caught her name) drove a dagger into her stomach.
"Mum!" Her voice was a raspy howl.
She barely heard her father scream "No!" and dart past her as she gripped the side of the entrance. She felt frozen to the spot, unable to make her legs work, unable to run to her mother's side. She watched as if detached from her body and everything connected to it—the sand beneath her feet, the boy running ahead of her, the gold stone she gripped, the antagonists walking right past her, the woman swinging a black book to and fro—as her mother blinked once and then twice in disbelief and confusion before falling to her knees, her hands clasped against her abdomen with blood oozing between her fingers. No. It's a mortal wound. There's so much blood. So much red. Why do I keep seeing red?
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Gosh, cliffhangers are fun, aren't they? Tee-hee.