The Demon of Egypt: Imhotep's Story by Amber Riel (reading an ebook TXT) 📕

          “What about you?  Do you have your eye on anyone?”

          “No….” I sighed.  “My job is hard enough already…. I don’t need a woman to distract me right now…. Dealing with the princess is hard enough…. She’s always getting into trouble that I have to keep an eye out for and practically babysit her as if she were still a little child.”

          I watched as Antinique frowned at my words.  “Oh…. That’s too bad then.”

          “Well I’m sure if the right woman came into my life then I would---”

          “Imhotep,” Niki said as he popped out of nowhere, eyeing both me and Antinique, “Nala’s roaming the town again and father wants you to go fetch her.”

          “I’m busy at the moment Niki,” I told the prince.

          “Yea right,” Niki retorted as he looked over at Antinique.  “Who’s this damn woman?”

          “Language, your highness, and this is your step-mother to be.”

          “Step-mother?” Niki asked as he eyed Antinique.  “I heard what Nala said and I have to agree with her…. You do look like a prostitute.”

          “That’s no way to speak to a woman,” I told the prince.

          “She’s not a woman…. She’s a tramp, clearly just look at her outfit.”

          Antinique kept her mouth closed.

          “Your father isn’t going to like hearing you disrespect his bride to be,” I said as anger flared in my voice.

          “I don’t care…. My father found himself a who---”

          “Language…. Stop disrespecting her.”

          “Why should I care?  You disrespect me…. You think my sister is a demon…. You don’t like us….”

          “That’s me, not Antinique…. You have a problem with me then take it out on me…. This has nothing to deal with us….”

          Niki kind of laughed.  “When I say, ‘You,’ I don’t actually mean you…. I’m talking about the whole human race which involves you two…. Therefore I have a problem with all of you so I can talk to her or you however I want whenever I want…. If I want to disrespect her then I will disrespect her…. Nala and I both hate the humans…. That’s coming from me and my sister….” He looked over at Antinique.  “You look tasty…. Food wise…. Not human desire….” He left without another word.

          Antinique stood there shaking in fear.

          “Don’t listen to him…. Both him and Nala haven’t attacked a human for food…. I wouldn’t worry about either of them.”

          “Have they threatened you like that?”

          I thought back to the night before when I watched Nala finish off that cat.  “By Nala…. She would be glad to eat me….” I sighed.  “Look I have to go see if I can find the princess.  Will you be okay by yourself?”

          Antinique kind of nodded.

          I wondered the streets of the city, unable to find Nala when I ran into a snake charming who was sitting next to the hooded stranger I kept running into.  “Why do you keep showing up everywhere?”

          The snake charmer removed his piccolo or whatever instrument he was using from his mouth and looked at me funny.

          “I’m not talking to you,” I told the man.  “I’m talking to him,” I said as I pointed at the hooded man.

          The snake charmer looked around as if he didn’t see anyone then shrugged it off as if he could care less.

          “Walk with me, Imhotep,” the hooded man told me.

          “How do you know my name?”

          “Just come with me,” he replied, ignoring my words.  He began walking and I followed behind.  This guy was starting to annoy me as much as he was confusing me.  “I had a conversation with Nala today…. I am trying to convince her that she is heading down the wrong path…. You are heading down the same path as she is…. You both are going to suffer for your sins….”

          “Why should I listen to you?  You can’t seem to even tell me who you are or answer any of my questions….”

          “You want to know who I am?”

          “Yes….”

          The man stopped and turned to face me.  “I am known as the Grim Reaper…. I am the angel of death…. You touch me, you die….”

          I laughed.  I didn’t believe anything he was telling me.  At least until I watched him remove his hood, revealing his skull with eyeless sockets and nothing but bones.

          “Laughing now, Imhotep?” he asked in an eerie serious tone.

          I felt my heart drop as I shook my head.

          “I am here to warn you and Nala of what will happen but the both of you seem to have a rather odd sense of ignorance.”  With that he vanished.

          I felt as if I had been running for miles, trying to catch my breath.  He’s dead?  Or…. He said that he was the angel of death…. Was he even a living being at one time? I shook my head as fear began to feel my thoughts.  I wasn’t even as afraid of Nala as I was of that being.

          “Grim isn’t evil,” Eva’s voice came from behind me.

          I turned to see the ghost standing there, staring back at me.  “You’re dead….”

          “Yes you killed me…. I think we already had that conversation…. Remember?”

          I kind of nodded, confused.  “If he isn’t evil then why is he telling me about taking the wrong path….”

          “Your ignorance keeps you from Heaven’s gate….” She closed her eyes for a moment.  “You will suffer in Hell for your sins…. That is if you don’t change and find God but until then you will suffer gravely after death and the pain after death is far worse than anything that could happen here on Earth.”

          “What does that mean?”

          “You don’t want to know…. Believe me…. But right now Nala is the one who needs to be stopped…. She will suffer….”

          “Come, Eva,” Grim said as he reappeared.  “It is time to go back for now.”

          Eva nodded and before I had time to blink my eyes they were gone.  It didn’t even take a second for them to vanish.

          I wondered the palace, knowing I had failed in trying to find the princess.  I decided that I should check her quarter just to see if maybe she had wondered back.

          “You’re on my land, in my home, and I will do anything to get you thrown out of here…. Even if I have to kill you,” I had arrived in time to hear the threat Nala made toward Antinique.

          “Princess Nala,” I spoke with anger as I stood in the doorway.

          “What do you want?” Nala said as she looked over at me.

          “Respect your future step mother.”

          “Why?  You’re not my boss…. You’re just food that I will eat when I get the chance.”  Nala growled.

          I noticed as Antinique looked over at Nala then to me.

          “Both of you out of my room.”

          Antinique’s attention turned back toward Nala.  “You should have more respect for your elders.”

          A smile grew on Nala’s face.  “Okay then.”  As she licked her upper lip I knew she was up to something and sure enough she pounced.  She grabbed Antinique’s right arm, slamming the woman against the floor.  She held up Antinique’s arm and the moment she opened her mouth and revealed her inhuman fangs I knew she was going to actually try to bite down.  I couldn’t take any more of it.  As Nala’s teeth were about to touch Antinique’s soft silky skin I jumped and knocked the princess to her back toward the balcony.  I watched as she stood up and transformed into half human and half wolf.  She eyed me, growling with anger.

          “That’s enough,” I spoke harshly.

          Nala kept growling.

          I helped Antinique up off of the ground and had her leave the room.  “Wait ‘til your father hears about this, young lady.”  I left the room and closed the door behind me.  I locked it even though I knew she could teleport but I was too ticked off to really care.

          I walked along a long hall, glancing into the rooms to see if I could find her highness anywhere.  Of course, she wasn’t in the rooms until I came to the door on my left which led to a room filled with swords and knives along the walls.  There she was in the middle of the room, fiddling with two daggers.  Her back was turned toward me and I had a feeling she was too involved in fighting the air to even realize I was standing there.  I watched her for a few minutes, trying to figure out why she would use weapons in she didn’t need them.  “Your highness,” I began to ask, “what are you doing?”

          “Training,” she answered as she continued to fight, so to speak.

          “Why?  You don’t need swords---”

          “So, it’s nice to have a backup plan just in case.  Are you going to just stand there?  Or are you going to help me train?”

          I sighed.  “I’ll help you train.”

          She stopped as she turned to face me.

          I walked over to a wall and picked up two more daggers then turned and walked over to Nala.  “Play fair, your highness.”

          She raised an eyebrow, questioning my words.

          “No transforming into a creature…. No flying…. No teleporting…. Nothing that I as a human can’t do…. It’s not fair.”

          “Just fight,” she replied, spinning the two daggers in her hands, waiting for me to prepare.

          “Ready?” I asked, looking at the princess.

          “Of course, moron.”

          I swung a dagger toward Nala, ticked off but of course she was too quick and blocked my attack.  She went to stab my side with the second dagger but I blocked it without hesitation, knowing she was going to try and play dirty.  “Oh and no killing me.”

          She growled, swinging the other dagger toward me which I blocked.  I watched her take the dagger in her left hand and went to knock one out of my hand but I caught on and knocked hers to the ground.  She quickly snatched mine out of my hand until eventually we dropped all of the daggers on the floor with a kind of clunking noise as they fell.  She placed her human like nails in my neck, choking me.

          I held up my hands, trying to surrender.  She’s actually going to kill me that cheating---

          “Bravo, bravo,” Niki said, walking into the room, clapping his hands.  “Show that jerk who’s boss, sis.”

          An evil smile grew on Nala’s face.

          “This is cheating, Nala,” I choked out with anger.

          “But I’m being human, Imhotep.”

          “A girl your age choking a man my age isn’t normal.”

          “It is if the girl is stronger than the man.”  She threw me to the ground.  “Pity…. Tell your friends you’ve lost to a girl…. That’ll get you a good laugh.”

          “Not if I tell them that it was you…. Everyone knows about your inhuman abilities.” I hurried out of the room as Niki walked over to his sister.  I held my neck, feeling the cuts from Nala’s nails.

          I walked into my room where I found