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  “Then she laughed with joy, and her laughter was like the roar of a lioness hungry for the kill. Thinking that it was indeed blood, she stooped and drank. Again and yet again she drank, laughing with delight; and the strength of the beer mounted to her brain, so that she could no longer slay.

  “At last she came reeling back to where Ra was waiting; that day she had not killed even a single man.

  “Then Ra said, ‘You come in peace, sweet one.’ And her name was changed to Hathor, and her nature was changed also to the sweetness of love and the strength of desire. And henceforth Hathor laid low men and women only with the great power of love. But for ever after her priestesses drank in her honour of the beer of Heliopolis coloured with the red ochre of Elephantine when they celebrated her festival each New Year. So mankind was saved, and Ra continued to rule old though he was.”

  Owain looked at Colette, realizing she wasn’t getting the shift between goddesses too well. “We know that Sekhmet continued to be because she’s also the patron deity of the physicians.”

  “Na’am. Yes, but this is one of the myths that speaks on the aspect of blood letting as well as dealing with the warrior spirit of the lion goddess.” Ola made a sign with her fingers, one that Colette recognized from her time with Riana.

  “You and Riana have given to Sekhmet, haven’t you?” The knowledge was clear in her head as if she had opened up the book and read it. “That’s how come you’re familiar with the vampire mythology of Egypt.”

  “Beyond that tale, there’s very little dealing with vampirism. I, myself, became a vampire through my time serving as a priestess for Sekhmet. Only a rare few were chosen for the pleasure of war and retribution.” Her small smile was one of acceptance. “Though it’s been a long time, I do not worry much over the fact that I have lived this long.”

  “So, you keep tabs on the wrong people, I take it?” Owain asked. “Galeb al Maw’t?”

  “Ah, you know the name by which her chosen go by, the Bringer of Death.” Her smile belied just how dangerous Ola truly was. “You and yours shall not be harmed. You serve another lady of the vampires, as do I.”

  Owain blinked. “What do you mean?”

  Colette nodded. “You mean The Morrigan in one of her more bloody aspects.”

  “Yes, Riana and I have compared our goddesses and we found much in common.” Ola answered. “Before you think of the whole idea of the generic pantheons and the stories being spread by travel, you have to understand the independent growth factor.”

  “Oh yes, trust me, I’m well versed in that. Riana makes sure all of us in the nemeton are well versed in the pantheons.”

  “But how did the vampires come to be?” Owain’s voice was steady.

  Ola didn’t speak, but went from her desk to a small square box that rested on a nearby table. Dialing the combination, she opened the safe and lifted out some glass-covered papyri. Bringing them to the desk, she sat down. “This is something that’s known only to those of us who serve Sekhmet.”

  Colette saw the papyri, and wondered at the meaning of the hieroglyphs. Some of them looked vaguely familiar, but that was rare. Riana read hieroglyphs and had tried to teach Colette, but she had more important things to do at the time. Now she was wishing she had listened and learned.

  Owain pointed to a sequence on the papyri. “They met? The goddesses?”

  “Yes. So it says. This papyrus is from the time of Cleopatra VII. She had over 300 Celtic warriors to help guard and protect her. They spent time speaking to the various priests in order to find a place to have their sacrifices.”

  “Is this the earliest ones you have in your keeping, Hakim Sitt?”

  “Lady doctor? How quaint and how accurate in some levels.” Ola pulled out another papyrus from under the top one. “This is one of the oldest we have. It deals with the myth in another light, that which is known only to the priests and priestesses.”

  Owain scanned through the document and muttered under his breath while Colette tried to understand it. Ola, noticing her difficulty, motioned to the side of the desk, allowing Owain full access to the papyrus.

  “You’re doing okay, Colette?”

  “I wish I had learned to read hieroglyphs and demotic.”

  With laughter like silver rain, Ola smiled. “You don’t need to. It’s not much to it, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it.”

  Ola gestured to the chairs that Colette and Owain had vacated. “Let me tell you what the papyrus says and my own experience.”

  “Please. I get the idea that she’s one of the first blood suckers, I mean vampires in history.”

  Ola chuckled. “Not quite. That’s where the problem lays. In the original text, she slaughters, reveling in the spilling of blood. In some of the other translations it has her drinking the blood from the opponents instead of licking it like a lion does.”

  “Ah, so they took the feeding of blood, like a lion does to eventually mean to drink blood, ala Dracula style.”

  “Exactly. Reality is, even among those of us who are vampires now in Sekhmet’s service, we are as she is. We lap at the blood. Killing is done to exact retribution, not for the need of blood.”

  Owain interrupted, his finger tapping on the glass. “It says here that Sekhmet met the gods of other places and times. You mean the pantheons met?”

  “Yes. That’s the thing that they often kept quiet except to those who serve in the priesthood. We knew there were other cultures and other gods, but the whole idea of supremacy, as you know, remains the cultures above the foreign gods.”

  “So, we’ve got Sekhmet visiting other gods. Do you know who?”

  “We surmise that it’d be the other blood gods.” Ola’s face took on a pensive look. “See, we were all blood drinkers until she came back. Then some of us began feeding in other ways, but always exacting retribution.”

  The three of them were quiet as they considered the implications. Colette was the first to speak. “This would mean that the gods she met were vampiric in ideas, but not necessarily as a blood drinker.”

  “I think you’re right, Col,” Owain stated, his face thoughtful. “If we consider The Morrigan as one of the goddesses involved, she’d be bloodshed, but she wouldn’t drink it. It was the emotion of warfare she loves most.”

  “Yes. She revels in the emotions caused by wars, battles, even arguments. It’s that whole discord and dissension thing.”

  “How many gods do you think there were?”

  Ola spoke. “At least three. There might have been others, perhaps similar in nature, but at least three for the three types of vampires that walk this world.”

  Colette rubbed her head. “If you kill others who break the law, even your own people, which would include vampires, why on earth did the Helsingers come into play?”

  Ola and Owain exchanged looks. The Egyptian vampire priestess shrugged as if to say, “This is your field, not mine.” Colette looked from one to another. “Okay, fess up one of you. I want to know why and how the Helsingers got started.”

  “How to start this,” Owain muttered, running his hands through his dark hair. “The Helsingers in a way started way before the Bram Stoker story came along. Originally, they were humans who worked in conjunction with one of the vampires who enforced the Vampiric Codex.”

  “This is getting too Anne Rice for me,” Colette warned. “Definitely not Anne Rice.” Owain looked at Ola. “This is hard to explain as the Helsingers

  started before my time.” As Ola began to tell the story, there was a knock at the door. “Dr. Mahdi?” She opened the door and spoke swiftly with the woman there. Turning to them both she made an

  apologetic gesture. “I must go back and watch over the workers. There’s some difficulty and they’ve

  asked for my assistance.” “Thanks so much for the time you gave us, Ola. I’ll let Riana know you’re okay.” “Please do and stop by some other time and see me.” Colette and Ola embraced then Ola hugged Owain. She whispere
d something into his ear that

  Colette couldn’t hear. He responded in Egyptian with a chuckle. “C’mon Col. It’s about time we get us

  some food.” “Take care. May the gods smile upon your search.” They left the museum, noticing the crowds had gotten less intrusive. As they climbed in the car,

  Colette shot Owain a look. “You were involved with her at one time, weren’t you?” “Huh?” “You and her. You were an item once, right?” Owain stopped and looked at Colette. “An item?” “Let me put this succinctly then. You fucked her.” Owain sighed. “We’ll talk when we get some food.”

  Chapter Five

  >The ride to the restaurant was quiet, damnably quiet in Colette’s mind. Why it bothered her that Owain slept with the Egyptian vampire wasn’t sensible, but there it was. She was upset by it.

  “It was one time, over three hundred years ago.”

  “What?” She looked at Owain as he parked the car.

  “You heard me. I’m not going into details. That’s all there is to it. She preferred my brother to me.”

  “Niam? I don’t see why, you’re much hotter—“

  “No, not Niam. Miach.”

  Colette gaped. “What? Him? The ghost?”

  “Wraith. Yes, him.” Owain turned off the engine and looked at her. “You are okay now with this?”

  “I don’t understand why you slept with her.”

  Owain sighed. “It’s a long story. It deals with a time when the choice was sleep with her or be put to death. Neither of us wanted to die. We both knew we had more to do, thus we did it.”

  “But then to choose the ghost over you? Was she nuts?” Colette shook her head. Why would any woman give up this hot-blooded vampire for a ghost?

  “He has more power, plus there was once a spark between them.” Owain grinned. “He was a known high priest, thus a worthy recipient of a high priestess.” She rolled her eyes at his answer. His chuckle warmed her heart and body. “Afterwards, she got to know that our dear brother could be an ass.”

  “Miach? No… you don’t say,” Colette teased.

  “Let’s eat. This place has some great cuisine. I know the owner.” Owain opened his car door, waiting for Colette. She exited the car and headed into the restaurant. He followed behind her, watching the traffic of people as they wandered by.

  Walking inside, the smells of roasted meat, fragrant herbs and more assaulted their senses. A man spoke rapidly in Egyptian, herding them to a small area near a window. Owain sat with his back to the wall while Colette looked around her, making sure she scoped out the exit routes in case of an emergency. Once she was sure of the exits, she allowed herself to sit back.

  “What is this place?”

  “It’s a restaurant that caters to various types of people.”

  “I see.” And she did as she noticed the bowls of raw meat, blood red soup, and regular food being served to various people. “I take it the people who run this place know you?”

  “Something like that.” Owain smiled at her. “Trust me, the moment you walked in the door, they knew what you are and who you are. The meal will be enjoyable for us both.”

  A young man approached the table with two plates of food and two glasses of liquid. “Sahim, good to see you again. How is your mother?”

  The dark haired, dark eyed youth smiled at Owain. “She is very well, thank you, Owain, sir. I have brought you your food and mother told me to remind you that you cannot pay this time. She owes you for saving her life last month.”

  Owain waved the boy’s words away. “No she does not. It was my fault she was put in danger. Tell her I shall pay and that I’m sending my doctor friend to do a check up as well on you both. How is schooling going?”

  “My tutor is fantastic, Owain. I enjoy his teaching much. He prepares me for the changes that’ll come when I’m older. He said that with knowledge of how the world works, my skills, and what my inheritance is, I shall be able to bring my people forward.”

  Owain ruffled the boy’s hair. “Just remember that when you don’t want to study anything but the cool stuff. The math, science, and grammar will help you more, as well as learning various languages, Sahim.”

  “What do you wish to do when you grow up, Sahim? My name is Colette.” She spoke softly as not to frighten the young man.

  “Miss Colette, I wish to lead my people to health. I shall be a doctor or a businessman in the health industry, thus able to supply low cost medicines to help them heal.”

  “That’s great, Sahim. I know you’ll succeed in all of your dreams.” Colette smiled at him as he blushed and scurried away. “He seems like a great kid.”

  “He is. His older brother was torn apart by a disease that runs rampant among his kind. I was too late to bring him any help, but in enough time to save his mother and Sahim.” Owain sipped his drink and sighed softly. “I pay for Sahim’s tutor and get regular reports.”

  “He’s a shifter, right? I noticed his eyes had a hint of amber in them,” she said quietly, her tone lowering to match the muttering around them.

  “Yes. As is his mother and brother. His father was a vampire. Sahim has some vampiric tendencies, but he’s more shifter in his DNA.”

  “How incompatible are the two DNA?”

  “They’re not. Well not completely. There’s a trigger in the last half of the DNA code for the shifters that accepts mutations like vampirism, wraiths, etcetera.”

  “So, basically, they can multiply and depending on the recessive and dominant genes, it’s a toss up who they take after?” Colette ate her food, enjoying the spicy flavours as they coated her tongue.

  “For some reason, it seems that all the preternaturals can multiply, though it’s like having one member slightly infertile. When they mate with humans, however, many times there are miscarriages due to DNA incompatibilities. It’s nature’s way of making sure that they don’t take over the world, I guess.” Owain ate absentmindedly as he continued speaking. “What makes it interesting is that you can be one kind of vampire, but your progeny can be another. I’ve yet to isolate the sequence involving vampires into what makes each different.”

  Her fork paused midway to her mouth. “What do you mean? That a blood drinker can reproduce an energy drinker? How is that even possible?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ve torn apart the genetic markers that make up vampires and I can’t find what causes it.”

  “What about those who are made vampires? Do you have the shifts that occur in their DNA structure?”

  Owain stabbed at a piece of meat on Colette’s plate and stuffed it in his mouth before answering. “Yes. There becomes an iron deficiency, the slightly pallid complexions in some due to the red blood cells not carrying enough oxygen. In the energy vampires, they become more distant, their hearing increases, mineral deficiencies develop, causing them to feed, and in the genetic code, it’s just a couple of markers, as you know.” He ate a few more bites of the food in front of him. Wiping his mouth, he looked at her. “Then comes the emotion feeder. Usually it’s either happy or sad emotions they get the most from, but in turn it’s almost like they’re apathetic in emotions unless they feed. Medically, they have a variation of the iron and mineral deficiency though. “

  “Anything specific on the DNA chain?” Colette sipped her juice as she gestured. “Sounds like most of these are symptoms of the problem. Similar to diseases, but not necessarily on the chain itself.”

  “There’s an extra link on the chain that happens for each vampire, wraith, shifter. Yet, I’ve noticed on some people they have a slight variant in their blood that makes it easier to convert.”

  Colette’s fork hit the plate with a clatter. “What?” She paused. “Did I just hear you say that some people have the genetic tendency towards vampirism, etcetera?”

  “Yup. I know, it’s a pretty wild and shitty thing at the same time, but we discovered it among the cûntoír.”

  Suddenly a large growl erupted to the right of them. Five men, a bit ragged i
n looks, but definitely vampire in the air they radiated, brushed by a shifter, knocking his food off the table. Ignoring him, they headed towards Owain and Colette.

  Colette pushed back her chair and undid the sheath clip at her waist. “Friends of yours?”

  “No, dear. Friends of yours. Recognize the marks on their arms?” Owain stood up and away from the table, his eyes directed at the five vampires. “What do you want?”

  “Give us the bitch and no one else has to die in here.”

  Colette’s brow lifted, her stance shifting to a slightly more aggressive, defensive stand. “What have I done to you? Though I recognize your markings as being part of the Lightning Clan, I want to know what your issue is.”

  The tallest one with a pierced nose and a scar on his right cheek moved forward, his hand playing with a knife. “You killed our friend and now we’re going to kill you. Stupid vampire killing bitch.”

  Owain stepped out and in front of Colette. “No, she didn’t. I did. Didn’t you see the marks on him? Or are you that fucking stupid you can’t figure out what another vampire’s marks are?”

  The men stopped and finally looked at Owain, who flashed his fangs at them. The big bulky man behind the ringleader commented. “He’s with the Helsinger. He’s one of us.”

  “No, he isn’t, but as long as he’s ridding us of her…”

  “No, she’s not going to be killed because your strega leader defied the ancient laws. She became Helsinger to avenge her family’s brutal murder with no chance of recompense. Now leave or die.” Owain’s face hardened, his features becoming like ice.

  Her hand shoved hard against his back, letting him know she was behind him. A fight in a place with innocents. This was not going to be fun at all. “Let’s roll,” she growled.

  “Back down, she-man,” Owain whispered back with a hint of humour. “We don’t want a fight here. Not now, not here, not without backup.”

  “Fuck back up, let me take them out, we’ll finish our meal—“

  “And you’ll be hunted from this moment on.”