TWENTY-FIVE

Temple Maidens

For a week, the team combed Cairo for any trace the Nephilim, hunting down every lead they could find, but it was as if the demon-born had vanished into the air. As each avenue proved fruitless, and the days went by with no resolution or progress, Schuyler decided it meant they were going about it the wrong way. She still felt sick to her stomach and nauseated in the mornings, and the smell of meat could make her vomit.

But her head was clear. She had a feeling she knew what her sickness was, but she kept her hopes to herself. She did not want to tell Jack until she was sure. In the meantime, they had a job to do.

If they could not find the Nephilim, they would have to find a way to make the enemy come to them. She remembered something that Sam had told them when they’d first met—that they had tracked the Nephilim to the City of the Dead because they were working on a hunch that the girls who had been disappearing from the necropolis were being taken to the underworld.

The girls who were kidnapped were followers of the temple of Anubis, the ancient Egyptian god of the dead. While modern Egypt had moved on from the old ways, the people of the cemeteries had never forgotten, and a crew of temple maidens still kept the sacred flames alive. Schuyler formulated a plan and shared it with the team, and they spent an evening hashing out all the details. When they were satisfied, everyone went home.

“I don’t like this,” Jack said, the next morning. “It’s too dangerous. You’re putting yourself at too much risk.”

“There’s no other way to find the gate unless they take me there,” she reminded him. “I’ll be fine.” There was no more time to question or wait. They had to act now, before the hidden Silver Blood broke down the barrier.

“But you’re still sick,” Jack argued. “It’s not safe.”

“It comes and goes,” she said with a smile. “I’ll be okay.

I’ll have Deming and Dehua with me. They’re a match for any demon.” She put on the white robes of the temple maidens and hid her face behind a veil. “Besides, you’re going to be right behind us. Once they bring us to the gate, you and the rest of the team will be able to take them down.”

Schuyler had asked the priest who manned the temple not to send any other girls that day, as she and the two Venators planned to perform all the duties. They’d learned that the girls were usually abducted at night, when they walked from the temple to the outskirts of the southern cemetery, where they gathered firewood for the next morning.

The temple was located in a busy part of the cemetery, next to shops and cafés. It was a simple square structure, with a forecourt where the public gathered, and an inner sanctum where only the priests and maidens were allowed. In ancient Egypt, only the pharaohs and ordained priests could offer gifts to the jackal-headed god, but in the nineteenth century, the rules had changed so that girls as young as fourteen were called into service to perform many of the rituals of cleansing and prayer, as it was believed that only the prayers of the pure and virginal would be answered by the god of the tombs.

When Schuyler and the Venators arrived, they dipped their hands and feet into the shallow pool at the base of the temple, a cleansing practice that was mostly metaphorical in nature (in the past, the pool was deep and the priests bathed in it before entering the temple). Schuyler washed as quickly as she could and followed Deming and Dehua into a massive hallway lined with great stone columns. The temple dated from the Ptolemy era, and was painstakingly preserved by the people of the cemeteries.

Since Schuyler and the girls were pretending to be dis-ciples, they had to do everything ordinary temple maidens would have done so that in the event that the Nephilim were watching, they would not suspect anything was awry. The first order of business was to light the candles and cleanse the air, and the three of them proceeded into the inner chambers with their candles lit, chanting softly as they made their way to the chapel that housed the statue of Anubis. They placed their candles in the holders and waited a few moments before beginning to clean the statue.

Anubis had the body of a man and the head of a beast, and Schuyler felt a little uneasy as they began to wipe and oil down the stone. Deming brought the folded linen from the back room and dressed the statue, while Dehua was in charge of rubbing rouge on his cheeks and applying sacred oil on his forehead.

Schuyler brought in the gifts of food and drink—baskets of bread and a few bottles of wine that that been left at the temple as offerings—and placed them in front of the statue.

“What now?” Dehua asked, inspecting their handiwork.

The statue shone in the dim light.

“The faithful are waiting,” Schuyler said. “Let’s get to work.”

They spent the whole day in the forecourt, leading prayers, keeping the fire lit, anointing worshippers with holy oil.

Schuyler had asked the priest to tell his flock not to schedule a funeral or memorial on this day, as she did not feel right about leading the incantations and prayers for true believers.

“Hot in here,” she said, when the three were alone in the inner chamber. She was sweaty underneath her layers.

But the twins only shrugged, since, as vampires, they were able to regulate their body temperature.

Schuyler began to feel a bit woozy and light-headed, and wondered if Jack was right in worrying about her on this un-dertaking. She’d convinced herself she had no choice. While Deming and Dehua were trained fighters, she was the one who had to carry out her grandfather’s legacy. She could not let them find the gate without her.

How’s it going in there? Jack sent.

Quiet, she replied. You guys see anything?

Not a thing.

The Venators were edgy, regarding each worshipper with suspicion. But the day passed uneventfully, and then it was sunset, and they had to set off to collect the firewood. Jack and the Lennox brothers would follow a few steps behind.

The girls walked slowly through the dark uninhabited streets. most people lived in the northern part of the necropolis, and it was not a good idea to walk the southern area at night, which was said to be the home of drug dealers and thieves. There were no streetlamps, and there was a hushed quiet that was unnerving. The girls did not whisper to each other, and Schuyler felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise.

But they arrived at the woodpile undisturbed, gathered what they needed for kindling, and returned to the temple unharmed.

“What now?” Dehua asked, setting her bundle of wood by the grate.

Schuyler shrugged. Were they doing something wrong?

Did the Nephilim suspect something was different?

They’re not taking the bait, Jack sent. He and the boys were back to guarding the temple from a rooftop across the way.

No, they will come for us, I can feel it, Schuyler sent. She closed her eyes and listened to the wind. She could sense something in the air, expectation maybe, like the quiet before a battle; everyone tense until the first shot was fired.

Deming exchanged a skeptical look with her sister.

“Maybe they’ve gone. They’ve destroyed the blood spirits and the Coven’s gone underground. What more do they want? We should move on. Mahrus thinks they’re out to target Jerus-alem next.”

Schuyler was about to protest when a strong wind blew out all the candles in the temple, plunging the room into darkness. This is it, she sent. Don’t fight, she reminded the girls.

Don’t move. Let them take us. Remember, for this purpose we are human and weak.

A group of men surrounded them—appearing out of the mist. Schuyler was surprised to find that their captors were human and did not have the forked tongues and glowing crimson eyes of the Hell-born. Rough hands held her on both sides. She screamed in terror, as did the Chinese twins. It was a good performance. The room rang with their panicked cries.

Schuyler did not have to try to pretend very hard, as a cold fear gripped her soul—but she trusted the Venators and her beloved to find them.

“The zaniyat will have her kindred!” their leader announced, and the group cheered lustily. Their laughter had a sickening, crazed quality, like that of hyenas howling at a car-cass, and Schuyler shivered.

She noticed the men had tattoos on their arms—the tri-glyph symbol she had seen on MariElena. The mark of Lucifer along with the Blue Blood symbol for humankind, to symbol-ize the unholy union of the two races.

“Let us go!” she cried. “Leave us alone!”

Deming and Dehua pretended to resist as well, struggling against their attackers.

The men ignored them, and the leader cackled as he struck his spear into the fireplace and the floor of the temple fell away. Schuyler gave out a real scream this time, as they all disappeared into a hole in the ground, and tumbled straight through the living glom into the underworld.

Jack! Can you hear me! They’re here! she sent, but she knew it was useless. They were out of sight and out of reach.

She could fight, and she would fight, she thought. maybe there was still away to use their weakness to an advantage.

The Nephilim servants believed they had kidnapped three helpless human girls. It was always good to be underestimated.