Adult-FanFiction.org : Movies

The Akeh	By : Keen Category: G through L > Hellboy Views: 10083 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Hellboy, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 16
- 17
- 18
�� Forward,�
SefuOnure ordered softly.
�� Tamara stumbled in the direction he nudged
her and opened her eyes. A cursory inspect of the room said whoever lived or
worked here was wealthy. Extremely wealthy. Century
old tapestries hung from the walls that also boasted oil paintings. The
furniture was silk and the finest wood, carved by hand and weathered by the
years, and the view of the New York Skyline glittered like a picture from the
nearly panoramic windows.
�� In here, Priest�� a Southern
accented voice summoned.
�� SefuOnure
followed the voice into a smaller room with solid wood walls and jacquard print
couches and seats. In one of them, at the head of a small rounded table with a
gleaming silver tea set atop it sat a man Tamara had never seen before. An average looking man with vibrant, fiery, red hair and light
green eyes. He smiled friendly as he saw them enter, standing like a
gentlemen to offer a seat. Not that SefuOnure let her
accept it like a lady. He shoved her into the chair and held her down with a
firm hand.
�� The genteel Southerner tsked, �Ahemait, I would think
you�d be gentler with your bounty.� He rounded the table, his head cocked.
Tamara jerked away from him when his hands fell on hers. �Be still, lovely. I
only want to undo these binds so you may join me in having some tea.�
�� True to his word, the man undid the
silken ropes around her wrists, sliding them off her with ease. He returned to
his seat with little to do and poured the piping hot tea into a fragile
porcelain cup. Pouring some for himself, he took a sip before asking she do the
same.
�� Tamara shook her head and refused
politely. �No thank you.�
�� The man swirled his cup in his
hands, his eyes hungrily roaming over her as he did. �One
sip, lovely.� He purred with his jaunty Southern lilt. �Worse things
could happen.�
�� He motioned over her shoulder and Sefu gripped her, his fingers digging hard and unmercifully
into her collar bone. Under the man�s pitiless stare Tamara reached for the cup
with trembling. Bringing the stuff to her mouth, the smell hit her fully. She
had to hold her breath to huff the stuff down but she managed. Still her body
knew how foul it was and would not let her swallow. And who said she had to?
They were going to kill her anyway, why help them?
�� Tamara pitched forward ready to spit
the liquid out when a big hand clamped over her mouth. SefuOnure
pulled her head back against his belly and pinched her nose. She struggled in
place a moment but it was useless. He could hold her like this longer than she
could her breath. Still she tried in vain until her body betrayed her.
�� Her brain, an organ so starved of
oxygen, forced her to open her mouth to breath and the putrid gulp slid down
her throat with a sound. The Priest released her with a tossing shove, sending
her falling against the table, hacking and rasping. ��She swallowed the bitter pang with a grimace
and set the fanciful cup back on its golden-rimmed dish with a shaking clatter.
�� The Southerner laughed as she
coughed and sputtered like a teenager taking their first drag of a cigarette.
But just like that teenager, he watched her slowly grow to accept the taste and
take another sip. Tamara couldn�t explain it, it was beyond her reasoning, but
the bitter tasting stuff that smelled like raw meat mixed with honey, calmed
her. It quelled the internal anxiety inside her, washing her in peace she
thought would be forever lost to her, making her desirous of more.
�� As she emptied the cup, she saw the
man reach across the table to refill it. Tamara noticed the wicked black marks
on his hands that seemed to disappear under his crisply pressed cuff. The
Southerner balked feeling her grabbed his hand and pushed up his shirt sleeve,
smoothing over his skin with her marked hand, comparing the black scrawling. SefuOnure pulled her back in her seat with a disapproving
glare and smirked when the Southerner pulled away just as quickly, looking
shook up by her touch.
�� I�m sorry,� she began nervously. �I
could not help myself. You are like me.�
�� In what way?�
�� You have the mark,� she said,
touching the garish black scrawl that ran from her hand to her neck and
shoulder. �You are struggling with your own evil spirit.�
�� His dispassionate chuckle sent a
chill through her. �No, you silly girl,� he smiled. �I am the evil sprit.�
�� At will, a demonstration of his
control in of itself, his eyes flashed black and Tamara pushed away from the
table with a whimper. SefuOnure instinctively put a
protective arm around her, but kept her firmly in place as well.
�� The man born into this body is gone.
Firmly set under my thumb and control, like you should be.� He lectured
haughtily. �But my brother is weak and impetuous and hell bent on destroying what has taken us so long to
build!�
�� The Southerner slammed his fist on
the small table and Tamara jumped in her seat. The strike rattled and
overturning everything atop the small surface. As the tea seeped into the white
tablecloth she could see the colour of the stuff was different. Reddish even.
�� Blood��
�� Nek�kem
relished the taste and rippled warmly inside her suddenly flushed skin. There
was an aphrodisiac mixed in as well and Tamara�s eyes lulled under its
influence. If she would only allow him to tap into one of her baser desires,
the entity could manifest fully now. Seat her body and her mind completely. Nek�kem gave her a mental push as his brother neared,
making her part her thighs.
�� Stimulate her,� the Southerner
ordered.
�� SefuOnure
shook his head, indignant. �I will do no such thing, Apris.�
�� Would you rather I do it?� he said,
spreading his black hand, springing sharpened talons from his fingertips. �I
know I will enjoy her screams. Will you?�
�� SefuOnure
ground his teeth, glowering at the evil that stood grinning at him. He clamped
a heavy hand on her shoulder and reached into the neck of her dress like he
dropped something in it, cupping her breast.
�� He was rough at first, grabbing and
pinching at will, but her soft whimpers reminded him how he was supposed to
touch a female. Caress a female. Sefu smoothed the
skin under his hand and whispered to himself. Forgive me, he pleaded bending over the
woman.
�� The Priest pushed both hands over
her breasts and strongly massaged them, rolling her nipples in the centre of
his palms. The tiny points of flesh beaded up hard, jutting from the soft
mounds. Each pass of his soft skin sent electricity zinging through her, shuddering her petite body. He felt himself grow shamefully
hard as she reached for him, stretching her arms backward to hold his thick
waist. Her head pressed against his cock and her soft moans made it thicken.
�� Tamara arched in the seat, pressing
her chest against his capable hands with a breathy sigh. She had not forgotten
this was not Abe who touched her but she could not stop him. The sensation was
too intense and pleasurable. Even when she opened her mouth to protest, nothing
but moans spilled past her painted lips. Sefu�s
fingers pinched at her sensitive tips, pulled them taught and then laved them
with soft attention, rubbing soft circles. Her only thought at the moment was
that he would be as skilled with his cock as he was with his hands.
�� Sefu�s
brows furrowed as her hands pushed into his cloths, rubbing his flesh with
purpose. She stroked him. From the base of his balls to the tip of his shaft,
her hands rhythmically fondled his heavy erection, milking a tiny pearl of cum
from his tip. His hips jerked involuntarily as she circled the head of his
dick.
�� Stuff your fingers in her pussy,� Apris demanded.
�� He leaned against the table, his
glittering black eyes travelling with hungry appraisal over them. More so
Tamara�s shifting body. Between her parted thighs he could see her lips,
swollen and wet. Her hips moved like there was a phantom cock working inside
her, pumping slowly in and out. It seemed only right that she should have something
there ride against.
�� Apris
glanced at the Priest and nodded his head encouragingly. He returned his
attention on the woman as she gave another breathy gasp. She gripped the edges
of her seat and moved her legs apart further as Sefu�s
fingers trailed down her shuddering stomach. Her hand slid across his chiselled
cheek and Tamara gazed into the Priest�s eyes as he cupped her. Sefu stared back as he slid his fingers between her sopping
wet folds, stroking her once�twice�, pushing deep inside before pulling his
hand away all together.
�� SefuOnure
tore his eyes away from hers in shame and held his head down, shaking it
furiously. �I cannot do this.�
�� You must!� Apris
grit, his irritation with the goody-two shoes growing. Things were just getting
interesting. �We had an agreement, Priest! You must make my brother manifest in
this vessel!�
�� I cannot. There is too much of the
woman�s soul still there�.in her eyes.�
�� Apris
snarled, �Weakling.� He crossed the space in ire and gripped Tamara by the
scruff of her neck. He pulled her head forward, pressing her forehead against
his own, as he pressed his hand between her thighs.
�� He watched her eyes roll and flutter behind
her heavy black lashes.� Relished the
pained sounds she made as he stuffed his fingers inside her with one rough
thrust. The noise told him his roughness hurt, but not as much as it
pleasured�some of from the pain itself. It amused him that such a seemingly
quiet and mousy creature could be so sexually deviant. So much so, Apris decided he would take his time to enjoy her.
�� Come to me, girl,� he whispered,
pulling her against his chest.
�� Tamara let go of the chair with a moan
and clutched at the man�s arms. His fingers surged in and out of her with
steady force. Stroking that tiny bud every time he slid out and crushing
against it when he pushed in. Her entire body jerked as she neared release,
rolling with the motion of his furiously working fingers until the inevitable
happened. She tried to hold it back, she didn�t want this, this man was not her
Abe�but the thought of her love, who she wanted to be inside her�would be her
undoing. A quiet apology to him was Tamara�s final conscious
thought as her body burst hotly with pleasure.
�� Her eyes flew open and met Apris�. He tightened his grip on her neck, making him face
him as her walls lewdly pulled at his fingers. �He pinched her clit with his thumb, the tip of
his wickedly curved finger piercing her skin. He could smell the fact that he
had broken her skin, but yet still she clamoured to hold him tighter, her hands
clasping his face, her mouth nearly touching his as she orgasmed
with a beautifully agonised sound.�
�� Sefu watched
on uncomfortably, as the woman huddled in the arms of the Ba,
her face, lips pressed against it�s thick neck, rode
the last vestiges of her pleasure. Her hips continued to roll towards the
creature, her bottom bouncing up and down on its wet-with-her-essences fingers.
Slowly she eased back to lay limp in the seat, panting, her breasts bouncing up
and down through the sheer fabric with each laboured breath.
�� It would have been a lie to say the
Priest did not wish that had been him in the creature�s place. The female was
sweet to the taste as well as the touch and it had been what seemed like eons
since he held a woman. And there was enough of her soul there that he could
call her that again�a woman. It unsettled him to see how clearly she was
present in her body still and how intensely she looked at him. In the troubling
moment of clarity, he wondered if her eyes where what distracted Djer in his final moments. If he had seen he made an error
all too late as well. With his head down and brow furrowed, Sefu
was deep in thought�but when the older Ba moved, his
focus attuned immediately. �
�� Standing over the spent female, Apris almost lovingly admired his work, studying the
flitting emotion on her face and her twitching body. He ran a taloned finger over her lips and Sefu
took a step forward, his hand balled into a fist. It seemed as if the Ba was almost going to kiss her, press his foul mouth
against her undeserving lips when suddenly he backed away. As her head rolled
forward, the creature�s face hardened immediately, expression colder than any
windswept tundra. Tamara eyes opened the same pitch black colour as his own.
�� Welcome back, Brother.� �
�� Nek�kem
entered with an angry roar, a blend of his true voice and that of his host, the
sheer hoarseness of it making the veins in her slender neck stand out against
her sweat slicked skin. �Blood,� he bellowed. �Give me more!�
�� Apris worked
an embroidered cloth over his fingers, wiping away the woman�s distracting
scent. �No.�
�� What do you mean no?!� Nek�kem rose out of the seat but Sefu
was at his back. This time he had no problem executing Apris�
orders. The woman was truly gone now.
�� The Priest forced the creature
forward against the table and bound its hands behind its back. Another pair of
cuffs linked it to the chair where it sat. His hand fisted in the soft black
strands of hair and ripped its head up to face a grinning Apris.
�� Nek�kem
growled lowly, �What is the meaning of this, Brother?�
�� I am sick of cleaning your messes, Nekai. So I have decided to get rid of you.�
�� You cannot kill me, Apri. Nor can this pathetic Priest!� He thrashed and Sefu pulled back harder, ripping stands of hair between his
fingers. Nek�kem hissed in defiance. �Do your worst!�
he snarled. �When real help finds me, you will rue this day! Family will always
deal with family, sen.�
�� Apris snickered
at the passionate threat. �I suppose you mean Sekmet?�
he glanced to the Priest at his back. �Ahemait, would
you be so kind as to show him why that is an impossibility?�
�� Sefu
reached in his jacket collar and pulled out the chain that circled his neck. On
the end of the golden strand, there was a vial that glittered with onyx shards.
Nek�kem hissed as it was shown to him, his gums split
in half as his teeth lengthened hearing the faint echo of his sister�s voice
from within the charm.
�� Impossible!� he snarled. �Impossible!�
�� Ripping the cuff that latched him to
it in half, Nek�kem burst from the chair and lunged
at the Priest with a roar. He nearly touched him before Apris
blind sided him with a punch, knocking him clear through the wooden partition
and onto his back.
�� Nek�kem,
still reeling from the blow, warily struggled to sit on his knees, his hands
slipping over broken wood and plaster. He glowered at his brother through the
strands of black hair. �How can you defend an Ahemait?! An Ahemait
that has destroyed our sister?
Our family, our blood!�
�� Apris knelt
beside him, touching his cheek with gentleness, smoothing the soft skin with
his fingers. �Because...� he paused. �He will help me
do the same with my annoying baby brother.�
�� Nek�kem
growled deep in his throat, the beautiful face he hid behind pinching into a
scowl. Apris held his head up to the light in a show
of force and smiled evilly. ��I must
thank you for preparing her so well, Priest,� he began. �In that body, he will
make for a very beautiful statue. Armless�as per our agreement, I know you must
have your proof�but like the Venus de Milo, a joy to look at still. �
�� Apris
dragged Nek�kem by the scruff of his neck back into
the room�s centre and held his head up again. Sefu swiftly
ripped the onxy necklace from his throat and moved
behind them both. �The Priest could
understand now why Apris insisted he only bring one
chain; the temptation to ensnare them both as he faced their backs was indeed
great. But he given his word to only take the one crumpled at the elder Ba�s feet.
�� If I could hold the necklace of binding I
would do it myself, dear sen
but since I cannot, I have made a deal with the Ahemait.
Two lives for my own. Quite a steal I believe.�
�� Nek�kem struggled,
thrashed but Apris held him firm, shaking his head
before bashing it on the ground. Nek�kem rolled
lamely onto his back and watched his brother circle him. �You...you will let
this happen?� he asked.
�� I do not see why not,� Apris shrugged. �I watched when they destroyed Sekmet, now I will watch as they destroy you.�
�� The Ba snapped
his fingers and Sefu moved forward, chain in hand. As
he neared, Nek�kem�s could hear his sister�s pained
screams from the vial that dangled across the Priest�s neck. They whispered her
story to him. How she was beaten, plugged full of holes and left to bleed on
the mountainous road before they finally entombed her. And his brother, once
their greatest protector, had watched all of that from the fold of pines and
did nothing? Nothing?! His unwillingness to act had
caused all this chaos?!
�� Unacceptable��
�� Sefu lay
his arms on the creature�s shoulders , ready to drape
the necklace over Nek�kem�s collar when suddenly a
muted pop could be heard. The Priest looked down and saw a suddenly free arm
swing up to clamp around his neck.
�� It surprised Nek�kem
to hear his vessel whisper in anger as well. Her rage at being violated and
abused twined like a rope with his. �But
he was thankful she stepped in, her mortal action the only reason he was able
to break the enchanted binds that held him.
�� Nek�kem latched
onto the Priest�s throat and tossed him forward with a grunt, sending him
crashing into the wall, tumbling onto his back into the foyer.
�� His body slid to rest at Ra�neb�s feet and the warrior reached for the blades at his
side. �Now?!� he asked.
�� Now!� Sefu shouted, sending the warriors surging forward.
�� Niuserre
was the first to rush into the room and was thoroughly surprised to see the
red-headed judge there. Apris was surprised as well.
�� What of our deal?!� he shouted to Sefu who stepped in behind Niuserre.
�� Broken,� the Priest answered. �You
could not hold up your end. The chains you gave me did not restrain him did
they?�
�� You made a deal with a Ba?� Niuserre eyes volleyed
between the two and the creature that crouched snarling in the room�s centre.
�� Sefu kept
his hard glittering black gaze forward, the muscles of his jaw twitching. �I
did what I had to do to ensure a victory for Ma�at.�
�� Ra�neb
stepped forward, butting Sefu out of the way. �We
will deal with you after we deal with
them,� he growled. �Attack, brothers!�
�� Apris
watched as a hulking warrior sprint forward, swinging the golden sledgehammer
in his thick veined hands. Nek�kem dodged the swipe in
a snap, artfully bending and then leaping high like a cat from danger. The
older Ba ground his teeth as he watched the two battle. He realised he had sorely underestimated his brother
and the vessel that housed him as all the power and movement he saw before him
did not belong solely to the younger Ba.
�� Ra�neb
swung again and dashed the tea table to silvers, embedding in the wooden panels
of the floor. Nek�kem bounded back and stamped its
foot on the mallet�s head, holding it in place. No matter how mightily Ra�neb tugged, it would not loose and as he came to realise
it, he lifted his eyes to the creature. Nek�kem
arched his arm back and threw a punch so heavy it cracked bone as well as sending
the warrior sailing backward through the air.
�� Ra�neb
fell through a wall and Niuserre leapt forward with
his remaining brothers. He found it upsetting as well as strange that the littlest
creature swatted them all away while fighting with its own kind. As they tore
at Nek�kem, he slashed at his brother. Chasing Apris around the entire luxury suite until the floor itself
could no longer contain the supernatural brawl. Niuserre
froze in place as the ground beneath his feet groaned and bent like wet
cardboard.
�� The floor, weakened from heavy falls
and strikes suddenly opened up. It cracked down the centre like an egg, dumping
the combatants into the floor below through sparking wire and plumes of dust. Niuserre shut his eyes tightly as he plummeted. He expected
to land hard and painfully�but his body collided with soft and fluffy. He
bounced as he landed and cracked open his eyes�surprised to find two pairs staring
back at him. �
�� He turned and the old couple that
sat at the top of the bed clutched each other that much more desperately. Then
the old woman began to scream. Niuserre wished he
spoke enough English to mutter an apology before he leapt for the door. Not that
it would have mattered. The elderly pair shot pillows and bobbles from their
nightstand as he skittered from the bed. The old man in his long gown and
wobbly legs hobbled after him with his fists raised and then a cane�snapped up
from an umbrella hold�before the warrior fell into the hallway.
�� Over the shrieks of the old couple
and some equally startled tenants nearby, Niuserre
could hear that the fighting continued somewhere�but he could not pin point it.
The echoes from the maze of dwellings made tracking by ear a nightmare and his
nose still tingled from the old man�s crack across the face. Niuserre felt dead in the water until a call, the sound of
a falcon, made him turn.
�� His Ahemait
Brother Dalviv stood at the hall�s end. With hand
motions they decided to split up, Dalviv taking the
east and Niuserre the west. They moved with such
speed, thighs pumping, muscles flexing in concert�but neither would move fast
enough to be able to save one of their own.

�� From his luxury penthouse suite, Apris fell two floors down rather than one. He collided
with some weak boarding in a janitor�s closet and plummeted straight through a
second landing before spilling into the hall below. Broken leg aside, he
immediately took to his feet running. It knitted whole and new again as he
skirted through the labyrinth of hallways, popping and squishing until every
piece of his vessel moved back into its proper place. He would need more blood
to replenish himself soon, an aloof bystander or nosey
neighbour peeking their head from their apartment looked appetising, but he
could not stop. Something stalked him in these halls.
�� Apris,
running in his tailored suit and Italian leather shoes, skidded round a corner
and yet another, right into a fist that struck his gut. The strike knocked him
into a lower suite, straight through a solid wall of brick and plaster. He
skidded across the living room to rest against the sliding glass doors of the
patio. Across the room, in the darkness, Nek�kem rose
from the ground. His fingertips sharpened black talons, his chest raggedly
heaving.
�� Apris clamoured
to stand, snarling as he did, discarding his suit coat with a thrash. The
younger Ba stepped into the light and Apris could see the black marking criss-cross the entire
shapely body of the female. The arms were dipped in black and it ran in a
diamond shape down her curving back, the thatching fading at her thighs and
calves, and becoming solid black again at her feet. It both angered and
embarrassed the older Ba that Nek�kem
had not even fully seated his vessel and yet still bested him like this. But it
mostly angered him. Enraged him
even...
�� Apris flexed
with all his might, bowing his arms in front of his chest. The skin on his
vessel tore down the centre, splitting, falling away in clumps of fine tailored
clothing and flesh to reveal the beast underneath. Muscles inflated from
seemingly nowhere, rippling down his broadening shoulders and thickening back,
strapping over his once moderately sized biceps like fleshy amour.
�� Apris
stretched his arms out at his sides and roared, dripping sticky yellow fluid
from his jagged and wildly swinging jowls which lengthened and sharpened to
something like the snout of Anubis. Crouched on his hands and knees he glowered
at his baby brother with piercing yellow eyes, waiting for him to answer the
challenge he had issued. As ancient as it was and as long as it had been since
either one had seen it, they knew what it meant: war. A fight
�til the death.
�� With a kick, Nek�kem
hiked up his skirts and crouched as well, answering with a howl. Apris only saw a shadow as he leapt forward, thudding into
his chest with claws extended.

II

�� Romping through room after room, the
pair of warring Baw all but destroyed the home as they battled. Even in full
form, as soon as Apris moved, Nek�kem
was on top of him, cutting him down with a kick or a slashing swipe. Through
the billowing curtains of the front room, his hands swiped for him. Over the
couches and armoires, behind the bookcases and entertainment systems, he snapped
at him.
�� Nek�kem
moved with the speed of the wind, like one of the Ahemait
warriors and in a glance he was at Apris� side
cutting his face open with his claws and then he was across the room, pouncing
from an angle.
�� Falling into a nearby hallway, Apris turned to run, to lead the fight into a larger, more
open area. He thought of the rooftop and went deeper into the suite, searching
for a rear exit. He was rounding a corner with speed when a fist struck him
from the other side of it. �The uppercut
punch blew him into a laundry room and on his back, nearly every limb broken, Apris watched as his executioner, Nek�kem, �slunk inside to
finish him off. Now firmly with the upper hand, there seemed to be nothing that
would stop Nek�kem now�except for a little old lady?
A housekeeper who cowered behind the broken laundry room door, pressing
trembling kisses into the gold cross around her neck. She shivered like a leaf
in the wind as Nek�kem stood over her. �To feast on her no doubt.
�� Nearly two thousand years and he
still cannot keep focus�.� Apris snickered, reaching
for the exit behind him.
�� He took advantage of his brother�s
temporary fascination and turned on his belly. His claws rooted into the ground
as he pulled himself out into the hall. He slithered into another room of the
suite when a �pair
of golden sandals stepped�crushed�his left hand.
�� Traitorous old fool, only I can
stop him, you will surely dieeeeeeeeeeee��
�� Nek�kem stormed
into the room with purpose and latched onto his brother�s legs with a growl. �He dragged him back some distance when Apris flipped over, kicking him with every bit of residual
strength he could muster, planting his feet right in the centre of the vessel�s
stomach. Nek�kem went flying through brick and wall,
finally coming to rest in a crumple heap on the living room floor. SefuOnure rushed after him, the onyx charm in one hand and
his blade in the next.
�� Crouching down, he sheathed his
blade to lay the necklace over the creature�s throat and was surprised to have
a hand shackle his wrist. The blackened petite fist squeezed and Sefu winced, pulling backward as it rose slowly rose from
the floor.
�� Staring in its eyes he knew what was
coming next but it didn�t help him cope with the pain any. The creature bent
his arm back with a snap and the chain of glittering carved stones fell from
his limp hand.
�� The jewellery sizzled as it fell on the
creature�s leg and it discarded the Priest immediately to snatch it up. Sefu expected it to crush the jewellery into a fine black
powder, destroy it in one powerful hand�but it took it almost gingerly with
both hands, pausing in the room�s centre to let it hiss and steam the flesh. As
it laid the thing around the slender column of its neck, Sefu
knew the Sheshei was in charge again. The woman
forced her arms to rise up and with shaking, clasped the chain around her neck.
She shrieked as her skin burned�sizzled�as the ribbon of onxy
stone sank down into the flesh of her collar. The chain and charm literally ate
a space into her skin, embedding deep in her tissues.

�� Still shaking, Tamara pushed herself
from the floor and looked around the room her eyes widening to the destruction
around her. She knew she had caused a fair amount of damage, she could sense it
and see it through the tainted lenses Nek�kem viewed
the world with, but she was still paled to see what she actually wrought. She
turned in place. All around her there were gaping holes, pipes deeply set in
walls that hissed and steamed, torn electrical wires that crackled and snapped,
all of which vied to match the sounds of panicked occupants of the building. Tamara
turned and held her breath to meet eyes with SefuOnure.
He made no motion toward her�but she still practiced caution, stepping backward,
her back bumping up against a wall.
�� Apris
emerged from the laundry room, his body twisting and popping as it struggled to
repair itself.
�� Hold her down!� he boomed, hobbling
forward. �She may take it off!�
�� Sefu kept
his eyes locked with the woman as he shook his head no. �She would rather be
stone than be like you.�
�� Apris
prattled low in his throat as the female nodded, still edging backward to the
corner behind her. She clasped her hands at her back to stop from tearing off
the bind around her neck and the older Ba let out a
mocking snort.
�� Then my brother was right to summon
for help after all,� he said moving toward her. She stood absolutely still as
the change started to work through her, replacing her soft skin with hard
polished black stone. Her chest nearly engulfed, Apris
felt safe enough to turn his back on the female and face the Priest.
�� Then this is the end of our
partnership, Ahemait. It is time for you to come
through on your end of the bargain.�
�� SefuOnure
looked away from the woman to pull a pouch from his side, undoing the leather
lacing that held it against his hip. He opened the sack and held out the charm
inside, a golden serpent cuff with eyes of black and scales of red and
turquoise.
�� The Asp,� Apris
smiled. �Do you even know how long I have searched for this?� Sefu shook his head and Apris
snorted. �Since I was dragged through the portal by idiot Priest
and his royal harlot.� Apris took the cuff in
his hands and his monstrous smile widened, splitting his face with jagged
yellow teeth. �With this I am truly unstoppable. No weapon formed against me
will harm me. Not even your precious charms.�
�� I figured as much,� SefuOnure said dejectedly.
�� Apris gave
an amused snort, �So you thought giving this to the evil you know was better
than having it fall into the hands of one you did not?�
�� Something like
that.�
�� Apris
tucked the charm back into his pouch and looked at the priest, his yellow eyes
narrowing on his tall form. �You understand this means I must kill you. I
cannot let you live knowing the powers the Asp grants.�
�� I expected no less,� he said
coolly. He turned and lowered himself to his knees, gazing into the woman�s
eyes as he did. Her eyes widened with fright as Apris
moved behind him but SefuOnure made a motion for her
to calm herself, a wry smile on his lips. The gesture made Apris
tilt his head in question.
�� Why are you so smug, Priest?� he
demanded, shoving at him. �The Ahemait understand you
have betrayed them. Your sacrifice here will mean nothing.�
�� Betrayed them how?� Sefu asked, his voice a rich and rolling timber. �Do you
think I gave you the real Asp?�
�� Apris tore
the bag open and pushed on the cuff. Walking over to the woman he reached for
her necklace and growled when it sizzled his skin. He
looked at his hand with barely contained rage as the Priest continued to speak.
�� Even with Ma�at�s
blessing it took us two hundred years to destroy our first Baw,� Sefu smiled. �I have destroyed twice as much in the space
of a year. They will remember me fondly, Beast, while you will be shunned
forever by your kind. That is�if you
escape.�
�� The steady drum of running footsteps
toward the suite made Apris� ears twitch. He roared
in frustration realising more than the four remaining warriors now thundered a
path to the suite. Apris snarled in the face of the kneeling
Priest but Sefu was unfazed. He spoke without fear or
trepidation, a smile on his mouth.
�� We are the Ahemait,
Beast. We never travel alone and there always be others to finish what I have
started here.�
��
�� Niuserre
approached the dilapidated archway just as the creature bellowed in triumph.
Turning the corner he was taken back to see his master fall at the beast�s
feet, a flap of his throat torn open like a door. Hunched over him stood the Ba itself, hands dripping in blood, jowls furiously chewing
on the heart it pulled from SefuOnure chest.
�� Its black claw fisted the back of
the Priest�s head and twisted it, popping it off the column of bones and
tearing it from his shoulders. Niuserre dropped his
blade to catch it as the creature lobbed it toward him with a rasping cackle.
�� Niuserre
turned the head in his hands and looked at SefuOnure
lifeless eyes. �His rage reached such a
height the warrior could not even scream. First his baby brother and now the
man he considered a father had fallen to these creatures. Only revenge would
make things right again.
�� Niuserre
tightened his grip on the head in his hands and snarled. �I want Its head,� he hissed through his clenched teeth.
�� The command was softly spoken but
his Brothers heard him and shot forward after the arrogant Ba.
Apris let them all cross the threshold before he took
a step back. He kicked up a lamp from the ground and swung it like a bat,
crashing the delicate glass globe against the wall. Sparks burst from the shattered filament and
glass and danced between the exposed and fuming gas pipes, birthing a fireball
that consumed the room and blew out every window in the suite. Shattered glass
sparkled as fire billowed in bright yellow orange clouds through the French
doors and panoramic panels, spitting hot glass and debris on to the street
below.
�� Ra�neb,
body still smouldering, stood with his hammer in his hands, looking through the
roaring flames for the creature. His Brothers stood in watch too. A few of them
loped after the beast, realising it had escaped in the fury, but the hulking
warrior remained. He joined the others who stayed behind and now moved to surround
the headless corpse of their master. Niuserre was the
first to kneel at his side and roll him over, crossing his left arm over his
chest and then his right, like the great pharaohs of Egypt.
�� Ra�neb
flung the arms apart with a hiss. �You cannot possibly think he still deserves
an honourable burial!� he snarled. �He obviously made a deal to bring these two
together and caused all this destruction. He betrayed us, Niuserre!
He betrayed our code!�
�� Look around you, Brother.� Niuserre said. �This was no betrayal but a sacrifice.�
�� The imposing warrior looked to the
smouldering room, his khol
rimmed black eyes slowly rolling over the charred and blackened landscape.� He gave a heavy rumble of a sigh at seeing the
burnt remnants of the Asp by his master�s side the pieces warped and bent under
the high temperatures. It dawned on the warrior then this was why his master
did not save the Sheshi. He could not. The Asp they
stole was a fake and Sefu knew it�which is why he
took care to hide it even from them.
�� The others bent to help Niuserre and after a moment, Ra�neb
crouched to help him as well, loading the body into sheet that inexplicably
wasn�t vaporised in the flaming explosion.
�� As they carried out the father
figure, loaded on their shoulders, Ra�neb paused. Niuserre and the others halted as well and turned to look
at what he saw. In the corner, near a blown out window, was a black statue,
almost hidden by a tattered and flaming curtain.
�� Niuserre
stared at her a moment, studying the soft expression and sightless eyes. She
almost looked at peace. So much so he hated to give the order, but he did
nevertheless.
�� Destroy it,� he said sombrely. �And
scatter the pieces.�
�� Ra�neb
nodded and hefted the weight off his shoulder, taking the sledgehammer from the
cradle between his meaty shoulder blades. Hefting in his hands he swung back,
the muscles in his arms and neck flexing in concert to move the mass swiftly. Ra�neb sliced through the air with force but the mallet
fell short of grazing her frozen visage.
�� A single pop echoed through the room
and the warrior fell with his weapon, back and out the open window, falling the
fifty something stories to the street below. There was muffled crunch and the
sounds of screams as he landed and then Hellboy stepped inside. He stood where
the warrior once did and looked back down the hall to where Abe was, his arm
still raised and the gun in his hand ever smoking.
�� Hellboy whistled, �Gawdamn, Blue. I didn�t even know you could shoot like
that.�
�� Nor did I,� Abe said, blinkingly
lowering his weapon. He looked at the gun with surprise before carefully
holstering it at his side. From a doorway at the opposite end, the other
B.P.R.D. agents surged past both he and Hellboy as they scoured the scene.
��
�� Clay, as Head Agent on scene, was
quick to isolate the area and start his investigation but there was no one to
detain except frazzled occupants of the Olympia Towers.
However, through them and the trail of destruction, it was not long before the
senior Agent got an idea of what happened in the luxury condominium. One
employee of the Towers was especially helpful.
�� After she stopped screaming seeing
the overwhelming manpower and guns, the older woman rattled off in Spanish so
quick Clay couldn�t even catch a few words he should have known. Fortunately
Hellboy, with his gift of languages, could understand her just fine. Through a
two-way walky-talkie�to spare the old woman of the
sight of the demon agent�the interview continued. Hellboy casually surveyed the
crime scene while Clay kept the housekeeper in the adjacent hall.
�� Ask her what she saw,� Clay said,
flipping over a fresh page to in his notebook.
�� Hellboy asked the question and the
woman answered him a mile a minute.
�� She didn�t see much because she was
folding sheets at the time�but she heard a lot of noise...and when she realised
it was inside the house she tried to hide in the laundry room but they found
her��
�� Who are �they�?� Clay asked,
intrigued.
�� A devil or the devil,� Hellboy said falling out of translating mode for a
second. �I couldn�t quite catch that one�hey! Hold on lady! �Esperar!�
�� The woman paused,
threading the necklace around her throat impatiently a moment until Hellboy
told her to continue. Slowly.
�� There was the devil-like
thingy�.and a woman, marked in black. Tamara,� he concluded, to which Clay
nodded. �The other beast fell on the floor and the devil was going to attack
her when all the sudden she just stopped.�
�� Clay raised a questioning eyebrow,
�Stopped?� he asked.
�� Hellboy shrugged his heavy
shoulders. �One minute, her eyes were black as the devil, hard and cold. Murderous. And then the next, they were soft,� Hellboy translated,
�She stopped talking like a beast and spoke to her in the voice of a woman. She
told her to run and hide, so she did.�
�� Does she know what happened to her
after that?� Clay prodded. He waited expectantly for an answer but the old lady
shook her head. But she did offer another piece of information as an
afterthought.
�� What did she say?� Clay asked.
�� That there was a man who came. Good
looking. Tall. Bald. He
helped her to the door.�
�� Clay tapped at the pad in his hand, �Who
the hell could that be?� he wondered aloud.
�� SefuOnure�
Abe stood in the room with Hellboy. He stared at the floor where the Priest was
decapitated, his naked blue hand spread over the spot, fingers wiggling. �He
was killed here�he died staring at�.,� the man looked up and his voice was
caught.
�� Abe was operating on instinct when
he shot the big male with a sledgehammer. Something, an impulse, a pull, told
him to do it and now he understood why. �Standing before the sculpture propped against
the wall, draped in a tattered curtain he could see the likeness of it.
Pulling away
the singed fabric, Abe�s hand slid down her cheek and he shut his eyes with a
shiver. For once he was privy to her thoughts but only a final fleeting one.
�� Hellboy stepped behind him, watching
his friend�s body sag pitifully. �He did that to her?�
�� Abe woefully shook his head, his
hand sliding from her chin. �She was afraid she could not win against Nek�kem a second time. She saw what she would become if she
didn�t...� Images of a hulking black beast with a long snout battered his
thoughts, made his eyelids flutter. �She made a choice,� he said finally.
�� Hellboy took a deep breath and lay his hand on his friend�s shoulder. �Abe�Buddy, I�m
sorry��
�� Abe moved away, twisting out of Hellboy�s reach. �Just help me lift her, will you Red?� he
said softly.
�� Hellboy watched his friend amble
forward, scraping a path with his foot as he neared the statue. As Abe reclined
her against him, crossing an arm over her cold chest and arms, Hellboy knelt to
take her feet.

Kensington, London, England, United Kingdom

�� Niuserre watched
the upmarket shops breeze by the tinted windows of the Rolls Royce. Deshret�s personal car cut a path through the thick of affluent
homes of the Kensington district. It was a breathtaking sight. The proper
vendors with their boxy blue canvas overhangs, gorgeous cut crystal bobbles
twisting in floor to ceiling windows, capturing and twisting spots of coloured light.
Tapestries, oil paintings, wooden antiques and vintage phonographs, the objects
crowded the store windows, vying to catch the eyes of passer-byes and
succeeding�save the sullen warrior.
�� With his fist tucked under his jaw, Niuserre fingered the blade at his side, running his index
finger over the swooping curve, bumping along the fanciful etching that curled
and twisted like a breath of smoke. The golden weapon belonged to Sefu and it was all he had to remember his master by�or all
he cared to remember him by. Across the seat in a long black case were the Hem Netjer�s remains.
�� Niuserre
tucked the blade away and sat up, flapping his coat on his side. The limousine
started up the winding path to Deshret�s sprawling
mansion, passing the creaking black wrought iron gates and crunching the bone white
gravel under its wheels. As the car pulled to a stop, a pair
of ornately decorated stained glass doors set in the buildings front promptly
opened.
�� Two slender women with neatly bobbed
black wigs of horse hair and gossamer thin dresses stepped through them,
seemingly gliding down the white marble steps toward him. Their feet moved, the
warrior could see their golden sandals gleam in the sunlight, studded with red
and green stones, but it did not appear as if they touched the ground. Even
when they opened the doors of the Rolls Royce and bowed, ushering him to exit,
it seemed as if they hovered just above the floor.
�� Moments passed and still the women
held their submissive positions until they realised the warrior refused to
move. The House Guardians who followed down the steps
behind them, opened the opposite side of cab and began sliding out the fallen
Warrior�s remains. The Young Ahemait inside fought
them immediately. He tore the box away and slapped his hand atop it with a
growl.
�� I
will move him.�
�� The House Guardians backed away as the
Young Warrior strode from the cab, the long case clutched between his hands. The ashes. Being buried whole was for the Pharaohs and
noblemen. The Priests, the honoured warriors of Ma�at,
were sent back to the goddess in a flame and their earthly ashes poured into
the Nile. Modern Egypt forbade such a thing today,
but that still did not mean the tradition died with its decree.

�� Niuserre followed
the lead of the women and climbed the steps of the lavish estate. �From the outside, the architecture was decisively
English. Fanciful scrolled columns made of plaster, red brick and stained glass, reflected the history of the land on which it stood
but the inside, however, was like the people who stood in its vast space, wholly
Egyptian. Solid stone slabs made of churned sand and hay covered the floor and
walls, etched and painted with stories and legacies only known to the
Brotherhood.
�� The doors closed behind him and Niuserre moved forward, led by the neatly dressed women and
flanked by muscled guards that could dwarf even his brother Ra�neb.
Past wide and smooth pillars and hall after hall, they led him to the belly of
the mansion where Deshret, the Great Hem Netjer and Elder of the Ahemait,
waited patiently.
�� Cloistered by the other high ranking
warriors of the Brotherhood, the Elder looked up. �His old and wrinkled khol
rimmed eyes lifted to his face and Niuserre took a
sharp breath, lowering his head. Sefu was the only
warrior among them privileged enough to meet eyes with the Elder as he
accidentally had. Everyone else came before the Great Hem Netjer
with eyes downcast, knees and head touching the floor. It was either a great
honour or disgrace to be brought before the Elder and Niuserre
was not sure for which he had been summoned.
�� The Elder nodded to the men around
him and they dispersed with speed, moving in their pleated white wraps and
robes to the doors at the back of the spacious and fire lit room. The doors
groaned shut and Niuserre heard a voice call him
forward, echoing in the hall.
�� Why has he not been prepared?� the
Elder inquired harshly, striding toward the kneeling warrior. His face creased
deeply with his frown, the hieroglyphs that lined his brow crumpled and
furrowed as he inspected the male. He flicked the tattered leather amour on the
young warrior�s shoulders with disgust. �He looks like he has just left
battle.�
�� I suspect he has, Bahsa.� One of
the female House Guardians knelt at the Hem Netjer�s
feet spoke, but her eyes never left the floor. �He would not let us take the warrior
from him, therefore he could not be prepared.�
�� The Elder looked at Niuserre from the side of his eyes and slowly turned to
face him. �Take the remains and do as you were instructed,� he ordered to the
woman. The guards sprang from the floor and took a side of the case. They
pulled and Niuserre reluctantly let go under the
pressing weight of the Elder�s stare.
�� Niuserre
watched the men hurry down the steps. In the absolute centre of the hall, there
was a rectangular pool of water, black as the night, the still face of it glittering
with the red and orange light of the torches around it. The guards carefully
opened the case, sliding the top off and tipping it on its side, pouring the
ashes inside into the water with the softest whisper.
�� Niuserre
found himself transfixed as the fountain of poured remains turned into glowing
column of pale blue light. So spellbound was he, he did not notice the women at
his side now stood, carefully stripping him naked before the Elder. They pulled
at the leather skirt and painted shin guards as Deshret
began a circular path around him.
�� You are obstinate�much like he
was,� he said thickly. �That is why your failure in the Americas took us all by such
surprise.�
�� Failure?� Niuserre echoed.
�� The Elder paused on a dime. Danger
was suddenly in the air. �What should I call it then?�
�� Niuserre
thought a moment. He did not know, but he certainly did not want to chalk it up
to something as pitiful as failure. Sefu did not
sacrifice himself for a failure. Even so, he remembered who he was talking to
and reined his tone, lowering his head.
�� Whatever you like, Great Hem Netjer,�
�� The Elder gave a murmur of amusement
and then cleared his throat. �I am not un-sympathetic. I know the lot of you
tried your hardest, but what else do I call a situation in which the Asp is not
in our possession and Apris still walks as a man.�
�� Niuserre
clenched his teeth hearing the name. His lips rippled with his growl, �It is
only a matter of time before we find him. We always do.�
�� Sefu
always did. Not you.�
�� But he has taught me well.� Niuserre grit.
�I will find Apris
again and you will have a shard for your necklace, Great Hem Netjer.�
�� The Elder raised his voice, �Why do
I not have a piece now?!� he shouted. �Nek�kem was
interred, was he not?�
�� American authorities took it before
we had a chance to dispose of it properly. I will search for them when I
return�if I return.�
�� The Elder continued to step around
him in silence, ignoring the man�s indirect question on weather his life would
be spared. �It is of little consequence,� he said calmly. �So long as they do
not have The Asp, there is nothing they can do to reverse what was done. That
will be our priority from this moment on. Of all of them that remain, Apris is the most
dangerous and he seeks the cuff now. He knows of it�s
true power.� The Elder came full circle and looked him in the eye, straining
his neck to peer up at the tall warrior. �You do know that is why SefuOnure made the ultimate sacrifice, Niuserre.�
�� The warrior gave a snort and the
Elder clasped his hands behind his back. �You disagree?�
�� Yes,� Niuserre
hissed. �Had he told us, we could have made better preparations.�
�� And Apris
would not have noticed?�
�� Perhaps. After I slit his throat open.�
�� I was mistaken,� The Elder smirked.
�You are more stubborn than Sefu ever was. But the
waters will temper your blood lust, imbue you with wisdom and give you back
what you want most.�
�� And that is?�
�� The old Priest smiled warmly, �I
will let it be a surprise.�
He stepped away
from the young warrior and moved to the smoking pit to the left of him. The
Elder took the sleeve of his garment and wrapped it around a slender golden rod
buried under the glowing coals.
�� Niuserre�s
eyes darted at the steaming white hot thing as it hung by the old one�s side and
then to the Great Hem Netjer himself who looked at
him like he had lost his mind. �Why do you not kneel
boy? I am too short to reach your chest from here.�
�� Niuserre lowered
himself to the ground and looked forward as the Elder approached. He sucked air
in through his teeth as the poker kissed his skin.
�� Do not scream,� the old one warned him. �Do
not move or breathe...�
�� The pitcher of water at the Elder�s
side was poured over the brand and wound, letting the old man peel it off
without taking a chunk of skin. He had been performing the ceremony for over a
thousand years and it was important that the symbol cut in the skin was exactly
like all the others.
�� More water was poured and the Elder
Priest stood back, approving his work. A flacon, its wings spread, arched so
the tips touched above its left facing head. Each feather clear as if were
drawn, representing each of the fallen warriors who�s wisdom the young Priest
would now carry.
�� The Elder touched the wound with
black ash and told him to rise. �Wade in the water, my son,� he said continuing
to dust him, �and emerge reborn on the other side.�
�� Niuserre
winced as he lifted himself up. Fortunately one of the House Guardians was
nearby to hold him upright and lead him to the long rectangular bath that
dominated the hall. He was reeling from the pain but as soon as the woman led
him to the pool, it was but a memory.
�� The water crested over the wound and
Niuserre�s breath was stolen. He continued to move
forward just because his body�s momentum pulled him that way, not because he
took a single step�he could not take a step. He was seized by crippling cold.
�� The light bloomed brighter blinding
him, swirling past his head and body like billowing fog. It carried him now,
propelling him forward. Hand upon hand, materialising from the mist, grasping
at his arms, his sides, his neck, legs and feet. But he did not fight them.
There was no fear. There couldn�t be. He was filled with the ease that only
came with knowing. Knowing all the sprits that now swirled
around him.
�� Niuserre
opened his eyes and all their faces formed from the icy mist, touching him in
greeting and congratulating before dissipating into nothing, except a precious
few. His lost brothers. His family.
�� The Elder�s words suddenly echoed in
his mind, What you wanted most�.
�� The sprits let Niuserre
pause as Sefu came to stand at the front, Djer and the others at his back. They touched him as the
others did, one after the other, clasping his shoulder and then fading away.
Gone from sight but that was all. Niuserre could feel
them still around him and then in
him, forever a part of the skin and body.
�� Sefu
clasped his hand over his breast and pushed forward, pushing through his
apprentice, melding into him�opening the passage for them all to join with him.
Niuserre�s skin tightened at the sudden surge, his
body near bursting as they all rushed inside filling him completely and just as
suddenly as it began it ended, his flesh easing to normal once more.
He sank then,
falling to the bottom of the darkening waters until hands pulled him forward.
He broke the surface with a staggered gasp and blindly followed the women as
they lead him up the steps out. When he reached the top, he looked at his arms
and legs. Water ran in rivulets over new, stronger muscles. Over a body
fortified with so many souls.
�� The Elder Priest came to stand
before him and Niuserre took a knee. He dipped his
head to the floor as the man draped a heavy cloak over his shoulders. Opening
his eyes, Niuserre saw it was the garment SefuOnure wore and after walking through the pool, he knew
others had called it their own as well. He was one in a long line of proud
protectors to carry it on his shoulders, one of many to continue its legacy.
�� The door at the hall�s end creaked
open, servants pushing back the heavy slabs of concrete before taking one knee.
Inside, a long row of bodies lined a lavish gold and onyx hall. At its end, a
sculpture of the goddess Ma�at and her faithful
servant, the Ahemait both surrounded by robed and
bejewelled men and women who stood at attention. The Elder backed toward them
and motioned for the warrior at his feet to follow, his blackened finger tips
curling.
�� You are Niuserre no
more, but many,� the Elder said quietly. �Stand Sword
of Onuris, sworn enemy of Set, warrior and protector
of Ma�at. There is no one above you now but myself. �
�� Niuserre
pulled himself from the ground and strode forward. As the doors closed behind
him, the other men and women inside, dressed in similar garb to his own came to
greet Niuserre, the new SefuOnure.
Keeper of fallen warriors and champion of Ma�at.

A/N: Illness made this difficult to get out in a timely fashion but here it
is�my most massive chapter to date. The next instalment will be the last, so
tune in this time next week or earlier, to say goodbye!
kayla:
Thank you! I�m humbled
to think I�ve made your top five as I have seen you comment like crazy
everywhere on AFF. Especially since this was a PWP at first and I had to revamp
it to fix a flimsy story line. Glad the hard work paid off.
- 16
- 17
- 18
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The Akeh