Chapter Eight

"We must stop him from regenerating. Who opened that chest?" Evy demanded, when they were all back in Evy and Lillian's hotel room. They had decided to go back there to regroup, and collect their thoughts and maybe…just maybe come up with a plan to kill the damn creature, before he could sacrifice Lillian and take over the world.

"Well, there's me and Daniels here. And Burns, of course." Henderson informed her, though Lillian already knew exactly who had opened the chest. They all had the canopic jars and she had warned them.

"And the Egyptologist fella!" Daniels added, from his seat around the small, round table. He, Jonathon and Lillian sat at the table,

"What about my buddy Beni?" O'Connell questioned, and Lillian rolled her eyes. Despite the amount of nastiness between the pair, O'Connell was still concerned over Beni and whether or not the con artist lived still.

"Naw, he scrammed outta there before we could open the damn thing." Daniels answered.

"Yeah, he was the smart one." Henderson added, smiling slightly, in spite of his misfortunes.

"Yeah that sounds like Beni." Rick said, as he approached the table. He had been standing near the window, staring out at the dark sun, his body tense. Lillian had found herself staring at him at one point, until she caught herself and forced her eyes away. What was it about that American that just drew her to him?

"We must find the Egyptologist and bring him back to the safety of the fort before the creature can get to him." Evy said, and Rick seemed to agree with her. But when Lillian went to stand, his words both angered and shocked her.

"Right. The women stay here. You three, come with me." Rick said, signalling to the men with a waggle of his finger.

But all he was met with was protests; Evy and Lillian were outraged that he was leaving them behind, especially Lillian, and the three men were - though they'd never admit to it out loud - afraid of leaving the safety of the apartment.

"You can't leave me behind here like some old carpetbag! I mean, who put you in charge?" Evy said, walking towards him. Rick strode towards her, lifting her over his shoulder and opening the double doors that led into Lillian's room. "What do you think you are doing?"

O'Connell just ignored her protests, and dumped her on Lillian's bed, closing the doors behind him and locking them. He then turned to Lillian, and she arched a brow at him.

"If you're thinking of doing the same to me, then you'll find a knife in your back, sir. I won't be treated like a sack of garbage. I'll stay, but only because I'm not overly excited about that creature finding us and having it trying to force itself on me again." Lillian said, as she opened the doors to her room, shoving her sister back inside it, and closed the door again.

Rick grinned at the space she had been, glad that she hadn't put up a fight like Evelyn had. He wasn't certain he would have won against Lillian. She was a fierce broad. He grabbed Daniels and pulled him over to the door, glaring down at the shorter man.

"This door doesn't open. They don't come out, and no one goes in."

"O'Connell, make sure one of them brings me a drink!" Lillian called through the door, raising her voice to be heard over Evy's complaints.

"And bring her a drink. She'll probably want some hard liquor, not something weak or lady-like," Rick said, still gripping the man's shirt. "But other than that…the door doesn't open. Right?"

"Right." Daniels repeated, almost gulping at the fierce expression on Rick's face. He knew then that O'Connell was sweet on that broad. The elder one, not the loud, bossy younger one. He wasn't surprised to be honest. The woman was different than most others.

Rick then turned his attention to Henderson, without letting Daniels go.

"Right?"

"Right." Henderson mimicked, and Rick finally let Daniels go, stepping away from him.

"O'Connell! Jonathon!" Evy called through the door, as she pounded her fists against the wood. And then they heard Evy complaining to her sister, telling her to let her go. Rick deduced that since the knocking had stopped, Lillian had dragged Evy away from the door.

"Let's go, Jonathon." Rick said, straightening his shoulder holsters, as he strode towards the door. The Carnahan brother made no move to get up and follow him, staying in his seat at the table with his flask in hand.

"Um, I thought I could say at the fort and reconnoiter." Jonathon suggested, but knew that he wouldn't get his way. He never got his way.

"Now!" Rick called from down the hallway, and Jonathon was quick to get to his feet. O'Connell could kill him if he really wanted to, and Jonathon still remembered how hard he had punched him when he was behind bars in that Cairo prison.

"Right. We're just gonna rescue the Egyptologist." Jonathon muttered, as he followed dutifully after O'Connell, leaving behind the two Americans in charge of protecting his two baby sisters. It was a comforting thought knowing that he had two crack shots here to defend the two women in his family should they need it. Though Lillian could probably kill both of them in her sleep, which would leave her defenceless against the creature should it arrive…

Jonathon shook his morbid thoughts away as he caught up to O'Connell. They had an Egyptologist to find.

Lillian convinced her sister to borrow one of her nightgowns and get into bed, so her Evy was now sleeping. Lillian herself was lying on the left side of the bed, still completely dressed, and was halfway towards sleep. She kept thinking of O'Connell and Jonathon and whether or not they were safe, and the damn drink she had asked for that hadn't arrived. Those stupid American men….so unreliable, she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

But just before she reached deep sleep, she felt a pressure on her mouth that she was only half sure wasn't a dream. So she forced her eyes to open and screamed into the mummified mouth of Imhotep. He had clearly almost finished regeneration, because most of him looked human, except for his mouth. Which was still attached to hers.

Evy woke up and screamed, rolling off the bed and kneeling beside it, as Lillian struggled to reach for her knife that was beneath her pillow. She had a knife and her two pistols strapped to her body, but the creature had cut off her access to those, so she just had to hope that the one she had placed under the pillow was still there. Once her fingers curled round it, she shoved it between its ribs.

And then the door burst open and O'Connell and Jonathon stepped in, almost casually. O'Connell moved a little further into the room and the creature looked at him, like a giant would a fly, but leant slightly away from Lillian. This gave her space to shuffle across the bed towards Evy, who pulled her off the bed and into her arms, and began stoking her hair as though she was about to break down. Which wasn't that unlikely. Imhotep, a still slightly mummified creature of the undead, had just forced his mouth on hers while she slept. She felt violated in the worst way.

"Get your ugly face off of her!" O'Connell yelled, and the creature replied something in Ancient Egyptian that the American didn't understand, but he figured that most of it was threatening, so held up his secret weapon. "Look what I got."

The mummy saw the white cat, which hissed at him, and screeched in fear, before turning himself into a sandstorm, which covered the whole room, causing all four of them to shield their eyes. When the window slammed shut, and the horrendous shrieking had stopped, they knew the creature was gone. Lillian lifted her head above the edge of the bed, and stared at the two men.

"I could use that bloody drink now." She breathed, before she furiously wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, in an attempt to get the feel of the creature's 'mouth' off of hers. She didn't think anything could remove the feel of the mummy's mouth from hers at any point in time. She would be feeling it on her death bed.

"You all right?" Rick questioned, concerned for her.

"I'm not sure." Her brother replied, and both Lillian and Rick glared at him.

"Of course she's not all right! A creature of the undead just forced himself on her while she was asleep!" Evy shouted at the thoughtless American. He looked affronted but didn't say anything, because technically the youngest Carnahan had a point.

"I'm fine, Evy. It was just a kiss," Lillian said, as she rose to her feet and walked around the bed until she was on her right side again.. "Yes, I was asleep. And yes, it wasn't a living person. And yes, it was a mummy who has been trying to kill us. But I am fine. I won't lose my head about this. I'm just going to move on, grab my weapons and blow the bastard up with some dynamite."

"That's my girl!" Jonathon said, as he moved towards her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "But what do we do before then?"

"We go back to the museum obviously. We need to kill the creature, ergo we need to find the key to killing him. And then we'll find that we need the Book of Amun-Ra to send his soul back to the underworld, which we will find directions to in the museum." Lillian said, as she leaned into her brother's embrace. Jonathon may be a coward, and a cheat, and a liar, and a thief, but he was her older brother and he was always there to comfort her when she really needed him. Which in truth was more often then she cared to admit.

"Then let's go." Rick said, expecting them to all follow him out the room, but when he realised that only two out of three of the Carnahan's had followed him, he back-pedalled to Lillian's bedroom.

He looked around the room as he couldn't see her, until he looked down and spotted her legs poking out from underneath the bed. He stared at them for a moment. She was giving him a wonderful view of her ass, but he quickly tore his eyes away, remembering that he was trying to be a gentleman with her. He cleared his throat before he spoke, so she knew that he was in the room with her.

"What are you doing?" He questioned, smirking in amusement at the curse that tumbled out of the woman's mouth as she hit her head on the bottom of the bed. Obviously the throat clearing wasn't much of a warning.

"I'm grabbing my weapons. We'll need them." Lillian's voice murmured, as she wriggled backwards, slinging the bag across the room until it stopped by his feet. Lillian's face emerged and she sighed, as Rick held out a hand to help her up. She took it, and he hauled her to her feet. She gave him a grateful smile, before she picked up her weapons bag.

"Are you sure you're fine? It's okay if you're not…you did just get kissed by a gooey mummy." Rick said, stopping her from leaving the room by a firm hand on the arm.

"I'm fine, Rick," Lillian snapped, yanking her arm out of his grip before storming towards the door. Rick watched her, and was about to follow her when she stopped, and smiled at him. This woman was going to give him whiplash with her mood swings. "But in case you're really worried, you're the better kisser."

And with that she breezed out the door, leaving the American to trail behind her, grinning to himself in victory. Though if he had thought about it more, he would have realised that it wasn't much of a victory to win against a mummy who had basically defiled her mouth while she slept.

The pair caught up to Evy, Jonathon, and Daniels, all of whom were lamenting the end of Henderson. His dried up body was just dumped on the floor, and Lillian felt sorry for the dead man. Henderson was a nice guy, and no one deserved to die in such a way in her opinion.

Once they had finished mourning the loss of another one of the Americans, the group of five rushed out of the hotel, into Jonathan's car and headed to the museum.

As soon as Jonathon pulled the car up outside the museum, Rick, Lillian and Daniels jumped out. Lillian helped Evy out the car, and then as soon as Jonathan had finished parking, they all raced inside.

They caused such a commotion that the curator and the leader of the Mejai appeared from nowhere brandishing swords. Those were quickly put away at the sight of the group, and Evy speedily explained what had happened. The pair of Mejai warriors understood now the urgency they were in, and the curator ushered the group up a couple of flights of stairs, as Evy gave a commentary to the three men who didn't fully understand exactly what they were looking for.

"According to legend, the black book found by the Americans at Hamunaptra can bring people back from the dead. Until now I did not believe it." Evy said, and Lillian almost scoffed. Well there was no doubting the legends now, was there? Not when three of their friends were sucked dry by the same undead mummy that had tried to kiss her.

"Well believe it, sister. That's what brought our buddy back to life." O'Connell sniped at Lillian's younger sister. And normally, Lillian would have gone to Evy's defence, but in this scenario, she was the object of a 3,000 year old mummy's misplaced love, and that same mummy was going to take over the world.

"Yes, and Lillian and I have both deduced that if the black book can bring people back to life, then-" Evy began to explain, but Rick cut her off, his mind already at the finish line of her own thoughts.

"Then maybe the gold book can kill him." The American said unenthusiastically. They didn't have the gold book. No one had the gold book. So that wasn't exactly a viable option.

"That's the myth. Now we just have to find out where the gold book is hidden." Lillian said, as they reached the top of the stairs.

Yet when they did, their ears began to pick up the soft chanting of a large crowd in the distance. The group moved towards a window and Evy gasped at the sight. There had to be hundreds of sick, poor people marching on the museum with torches, chanting 'Imhotep' over and over again.

"Last but not least, my favourite plague…boils and sores." Jonathon said, as the crowd got closer.

"They have become his slaves. So it has begun, the beginning of the end." The younger Mejai warrior lamented, and Lillian frowned at that.

"It will be with that attitude. You're not the one who's going to get sacrificed, so stop with your 'woe is me' routine. It's frankly rather tiring. Not let's go and find the inscription that will lead us to the right book. Come on." Lillian snapped, walking away from the window to a giant rock slab that had hieroglyphics inscribed all over it.

The other six people exchanged a very brief glance before they followed her over to the tablet, which she was already skimming through. Evy and the curator began trying to find the location as well, while the other four stood around them.

"According to the Bembridge scholars the golden Book of Amun-Ra was located inside the statue of Anubis." Evy said, as she read the hieroglyphs as she traced them with her fingers. Both her sister and the curator were doing the same, though silently. They were trying to focus completely on the ancient Egyptian glyphs, so didn't speak so they didn't break their focus.

"That's where we found the black book." Daniels said.

"Exactly." Evy replied.

"Looks like the old boys at Bembridge were wrong." Jonathan commented, as he stood just behind his sisters, watching over their shoulders as they skimmed the ancient Egyptian text.

"They mixed the books up. Mixed up where they were buried." Evy started, and Lillian caught up to her line of thought and fleshed it out and continued it.

"So if the black book is inside the statue of Anubis…then the golden book is inside…" Lillian trailed off as she tried to find the answer on the tablet.

She heard the sound of the door being broken down, the chanting of victorious slaves and the thundering of a hundred footsteps.

"Come on, Evy, Lily. Faster." Jonathon urged, as the three other men look over the balcony at the swarming mass that had entered the museum.

"Patience is a virtue." Evy replied simply, neither of the two sisters or the curator didn't take their eyes away from the stone slab of inscriptions to address the Carnahan man properly.

"Not right now it isn't." Rick said, and Lillian started to read more rapidly, as though his words seeped into her more than her brother's own urgings. She could hear Imhotep's slaves getting closer, and knew that they would die if they didn't find the directions to the Book of Amun-Ra very, very quickly.

"Uh, I think I'll go get the car started." Jonathon said, turning on his heel and rushing away.

And just seconds later, Evy found their answer.

"I've got it! The Book of Amun-Ra is at Hamunaptra inside the statue of Horus. Take that, Bembridge scholars." She said, grinning as all three of the archaeologists stepped away from the tablet.

Lillian smiled at her, tiredly and tensely, before she grabbed her arm and started yanking her in the direction that Jonathon had gone.

"We'll rub it in their faces later, sweetheart, okay? Right now, it's time to go." Lillian said, as O'Connell grabbed her hand. She didn't think anything of it as they ran out the building and headed to Jonathon's car. Not only was it not the first time he had held her hand, but it was not the appropriate time to ponder whether or not the significance of it had changed.

"Let's go, let's go!" Jonathon shouted to them, as they all skidded round the corner and got into his sights.

Daniels broke apart from the rest of them and started shouting at Jonathon to get the car into gear, as he dove into the car.

"Up you go, Evy." Lillian muttered, as she and O'Connell lifted Evy into the second part of the car in between the curator and Ardeth. Rick then hoisted Lillian by her waist into the front of the car, and then climbed in after, but didn't get to sit down as something made him pause.

"Imhotep!" They heard a familiar nasal voice shout, and they turned to see Beni on the steps of the museum entrance, shouting upwards. Lillian followed his line of sight, and there was the undead bastard standing in front of the very window they had looked out of mere moments ago.

Imhotep let out a might screech, and then his slaves started to race out of the museum doors.

"You're gonna get yours, Beni! You hear me?" O'Connell shouted at the weasel of a man, pointing at him angrily, as Jonathon pealed away. "You're gonna get yours!"

They didn't get to hear the skinny traitors reply as they sped away, because it was drowned out by the shouts and chants of the boil covered minions of Imhotep that chased after them on foot.

Jonathon drove through the markets of the Fort, and he and Rick exchanged a quick glance of relief once the American was sure that they had outrun the hoard. And then Jonathon turned his attention back to the road in front of him, and quickly braked to avoid running into the large mass of mindless slaves that seemed to have formed from nowhere. They stared at Imhotep's minions, and they stared back, but neither made any move whatsoever.

Until Rick got impatient, and stamped on the gas himself, and Jonathon's foot, and forced the car to speed forward. As they raced forward, the slaves started to run towards them again.

"Hang on!" Rick shouted, as the car drove into the hoard of slaves.

Lillian winced as these men just bounced off their car as they kept throwing themselves at it. Until one managed to stay on…and then more, until the car was covered with these men. Lillian immediately got to her feet, and helped O'Connell beat them off the car as Jonathon drove forward. Even Evy helped by poking one of them in the eye, allowing the curator to shove him off as he began to cradle his eye.

But while the others were distracted trying to get these men off the car, two slaves who were hanging off the back, managed to grab Daniels from behind and started to pull him out of the car.

"O'Connell!" He called, but it was too late. The two slaves yanked him out of the car, and the last that Rick and Lillian saw of him was him rolling to his feet and shooting at the mass of slaves that were after them.

Jonathon drove forward, until he crashed the car into a water fountain, successfully shaking off the slaves. Rick, Lillian and the Mejai leader jumped out first, with the Mejai leader helping Evy out, and the others followed them.

"Okay! Go, go!" Rick urged as they abandoned the car and started to run as the hoard of Imhotep's minions rushed towards them. Lillian had her bag of weapons slung across her shoulder, and her pistols out as they were backed into a corner.

There was no where to run. No way of escape. Rick grabbed a lit torch from the ground and waved it around as the slaves stopped in a semi-circle around them, and began to chant Imhotep's name over and over again. The six moved closer together with Evy and Lillian at the back of them. Lillian knew it was because she was the one that Imhotep wanted and Evy was a defenceless woman, so she didn't scowl at the fact that she was being protected. O'Connell stood directly in front of Lillian, still wielding his torch as his eyes darted about everywhere, wondering why they weren't attacking.

The crowd in front of them parted, and Imhotep and Beni walked forwards. Lillian felt ice crawl its way into her heart. He no longer looked like a mummy, which meant…

"It's the creature. He's fully regenerated." The curator said quietly, and Lillian heard Evy gasp beside her.

Imhotep seemed to stare at her, looking past Rick and at her, as though he was staring into her soul. Lillian shivered involuntarily despite the Egyptian heat, and felt incredibly uncomfortable.

He started to speak in Ancient Egyptian, and though Lillian and Evy understood what he said, Beni translated it for the others.

"'Come with me, my princess. It is time to make you mine forever.'" Beni said, smugly.

"'For all eternity,' idiot." Evy said, causing Lillian to stare at her bug-eyed..

"That's really not the issue right now, Evy!" Lillian hissed at her, before the creature began to speak again, and he held out his hand towards her.

"'Take my hand and I will spare your friends.'." Beni translated.

Lillian lowered her guns and sighed, dropping her weapons bag off her shoulder.

"Have you got any bright ideas?" Evy questioned Rick, as she stared at her sister, who was remoistening her guns, with worry.

"I'm thinking. I'm thinking." Rick replied, looking back at the two women.

"Well, you'd better think of something fast, because if he turns me into a mummy, you're the first one I'm coming after, Rick." Lillian said, handing Evy her bag as she stepped forward, and took Imhotep's hand.

"No." Rick said, his voice thick with emotion, as he pulled out one of his pistols and aimed it at Imhotep.

"Don't!" Lillian cried, as the Mejai leader tried to force Rick's arm down so he couldn't shoot at the creature. "He'll take me to Hamunaptra to perform the ritual."

"She is right. Live today, fight tomorrow." The Mejai warrior said, as Lillian and Rick stared at each other meaningfully. She was telling him not to mess things up, and he reluctantly put away his gun.

And then Lillian did something that surprised everyone. She wrenched her arm away from Imhotep and walked back over to Rick, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"If it's too late to save me, and he turns me into her, I need you to…kill me, and then look after my brother and sister. I won't make you promise, because that's not fair, but that is my last request, O'Connell." She whispered in his ear, and then she pulled away, quickly pressing a slow kiss to his cheek, before she let Imhotep grab her again.

"I'll be seeing you again." Rick said to Imhotep, his eyes glistening with tears at Lillian's words.

Imhotep just smirked and led Lillian away.

"Lillian!" Rick said, as he tried to go after her, but the Mejai leader held him back, knowing that the woman had sacrificed herself to save them and it would do no good for the American to throw it back in her face.

Lillian kept looking back at him and her siblings, and watched as Beni stole the key from Jonathon, but then her attention was in turn stolen by Imhotep as he said something that filled her with pure animalistic rage.

"Kill them all!" He said in ancient Egyptian, and she stared at him with wide eyes. He had said he would spare them if she gave herself up.

"No! Let me go! Let go of me!" Lillian cried as she watched the crowd start to move again towards her friends and her brother and sister, but then she couldn't see them anymore, and her cries were ignored.

Tears rolled down her cheek, as she was led away kicking and screaming, because she didn't know whether or not the people she loved still lived. They could have escaped but the didn't seem likely to her. So she failed them, especially her siblings. She had vowed to protect them from anything, and now they were most likely dead.

Then Lillian realised that they were most likely dead…her brother and sister were her reason for living. She had no one else…well O'Connell, maybe, but he would be dead with them, so she was still alone. So Lillian stopped fighting Imhotep, and just accepted her fate. Especially now since she had nothing left to lose.