Myths and Gargoyles by Jamie Hawke (interesting books to read in english txt) 📕

Hekate tried a new tactic now, turning at the sight of skeletons in the corner, and I understood why she’d been called the goddess of necromancy. With a flash of her hand the skeletons were up, joining in the fight.

Dammit, this wasn’t going as I’d hoped.

Sekhmet came at me again while the others were fighting each other and the skeletons. She pushed me to the wall with a powerful kick, had her tail around one wrist as she turned to plunge one of her blades into my chest. The strike would’ve gotten me, too, if in that moment Hekate hadn’t succeeded in managing to get the lid of the sarcophagus pushed open a bit more.

The motion caused a screeching sound that sent another tremor of darkness through us.

When I blinked, trying to clear my eyes, I wondered at first if I was imagining the spotted cat with purple magic around it, leaping for the sarcophagus. It pounced and the lid moved back slightly into place. A hiss from the cat caused Sekhmet to pull back, to leap up onto the sarcophagus.

I led the attack, this time, not ready to let her kill one of my teammates. She was fighting me off while Pucky used her massive rifle to repeatedly blow the skeletons to bits and occasionally hit Sharon, sending her back, while Red and the cat—who I assumed to be Bastet—fought Hekate.

When Bastet hissed toward Sekhmet, the latter growled back and said, “Kill them now, ask questions later.”

Nobody was allowed to talk of killing my friends. Anger at the thought gave me the courage to get in close with Sekhmet, even joining her on the sarcophagus before she managed to slice open my cheek and send me stumbling off.

In a burst of flames she was on me now, pushing me back with strikes that were fast and deadly, but my shield met each of them in turn. My runes glowed brighter with each blow, Excalibur too, and soon it was sparking—as if it was connected to the shield and I was saving up the energy from those strikes. Feeling a surge like I was at the edge of my bursting point, I returned the attack and swung out, thrusting even as I saw her step out of range. Too much power was flowing through me to stop, so I let it go, let it flow through me and into my hands, out through the sword. The light exploded, illuminating the room and knocking the skeletons back so that they fell lifeless to the floor.

Even something about Sekhmet had changed, though I didn’t realize what at first. Then I saw that her eyes had stopped glowing, but were staring at me like a normal lioness’s eyes would when belonging to a goddess.

“You… you really do have the power.” She paused, listening, and then we heard it too—a distant rumbling. “And they sense it now, too.”

“They?” I asked.

Hekate spun, paused at a look from Bastet, and then said, “I know.”

“Care to fill us in?” Elisa said, standing with hands outspread, all of our eyes darting about, wondering what was happening, what would happen next. Hekate had pressed herself up against a wall, eyes wide, hands trembling, while Sharon was on all fours and back to her human form.

“My sister thinks I shouldn’t kill you,” Sekhmet said.

“Funny,” I said, glancing at the cat but then remembering that maybe they could talk—magic and all.

Sekhmet gave me a confused glance, then motioned to the hall opposite the way we’d come in. “You’re Myths? On the side of good and righteousness and all that? Prove it. Your arrival here has unlocked an evil that has been asleep for a long time, though never long enough. See that it doesn’t enter this room, and I’ll consider not killing you all.”

“You’ll do us one better,” Red said, and for the first time she revealed the scepter.

Sekhmet’s eyes went wider and flared green, and for a moment she seemed to lose herself. “Leave it here when you go out to fight. It can’t fall into their hands.”

“Nor yours,” Red replied. “Not until you’ve agreed to help us find someone for us, you and your sister.”

Sekhmet bared her teeth, but the cat at her side stepped forward, eyes intently on Elisa, and then let out a meow.

“My sister would like to hear more,” Sekhmet said. “After.”

“Am I the only one who wants to know what the fuck happened here?” I asked, then gestured to Sharon and Hekate in turn. “To them?”

“The force within,” Sekhmet said, eyes still on the scepter. “It is powerful, calls upon others, brings them to this place. When they are close, it reveals their darkest sides.”

I nodded, kneeling next to Sharon and helping her up. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Sharon’s eyes rose to meet mine. “It always is.”

“She’s right,” Hekate said. “The darkness is within… we need to fight, to keep it out.”

“It’s without,” Sekhmet said, “like an evil flame that can and must be extinguished.

“What exactly are we fighting here?” I asked.

Sekhmet glanced over at Hekate, disdain in her voice as she said, “You saw what she was capable of, with the skeletons? That, but far worse.”

Fighting evil Legends was one thing. Going up against an army of the undead? That freaked me the fuck out.

Still, I held Excalibur at the ready, and nodded. No point in delaying any further.

“Oh, and when this is over,” Sekhmet said, leaping off of the sarcophagus and giving me an appraising look, “put your shirt back on. I’ve been hundreds of years without a man, and the sight of you half-naked is bound to cause some trouble, if you know what I mean.”

I stared after her as she exited, quite confused by that remark and even more so by the way she—from the back—looked like a normal, petite and scantily clothed, Egyptian woman. And let’s all be honest about the fact that Egyptian women can be damn fine. Damn. Fine. It was a weird thought, knowing