CHAPTER 3

Med-Jai Village

Egypt 1933

Hazanah felt the ground shaking. All the women and children of all the 12 tribes of Med-Jai had felt the same thing for the past 3 days. All the men had gone to find Ahm-Shere and prepared to fight the Army of Anubis.

They knew well that the source of the quake came from the burial site of Imhotep. He had been resurrected, and all the people had left Hamunaptra, but something was still there. They knew, and they were afraid of it. Especially now, when all the men were not here to protect them from evil.

Hazanah was a young woman of 23. She was considered the most beautiful woman around. People called her The Dessert Rose. She was not only beautiful, but smart also, very dynamic too. She surprisingly had mastered the martial arts at young age. However, people believed that she might never get the chance to join in a battle like a true Med-Jai warrior. For until that day, a female Med-Jai warrior never existed. Instead, people of the tribe were sure that she might win Ardeth’s heart one day, and became his bride.

The people had noticed that the quake happened more and more frequent. They were afraid when they realized that the dessert storm was now closing in. Tonight it would certainly hit the area. It was exactly like what had been prophesied.

The prophecy was about the greatest disaster that would destroy mankind. It began when the ground trembled for days. Then came the greatest storm of the century that would wipe the sand and revealed the resting-place of the dead. From there the demons would appear. The spirit of the Great Ananka would wipe mankind from the surface of the earth, before finally swallowed the earth.

Hazanah shivered as she remembered it. Was now the time? She thought to herself. They had left the village this afternoon and seek refuge on the mountains, inside the caves. They would be safe from the storm, but most likely their village would be wiped out entirely.

The wind was gushing outside. It blew the sands away, causing zero visibility. It was the first sign of the storm coming their way…

CHAPTER 4

Hamunaptra Resort

Earth, Sol Sector

Princess Salvia walked inside the huge room. It was quite dark. She looked around looking for Ardeth, but she couldn’t find him.

"Are we going to play hide and seek, human?" She shouted. No one answered.

She kept on walking, gazing around the display of weapons. She locked her eyes in a pair of swords. The shape of the sword was similar to ancient Dnunian weapons. She took one off the stand and swung it. She played with it for a while then took a few steps backwards. She swung the swords in a graceful way as she was making some moves. Dnunian martial arts was not only powerful, but also beautiful to look at. She jumped up, swooped down, bent her back thrusting the sword forward. The sword was too light for her, because she was used a heavier one. She was lost in her dance of death and momentarily forgot where she was.

Suddenly she saw something moved behind her but when she spun around it was too late. A similar sword was placed by her neck.

"You’re dead, Your Highness." A deep male’s voice whispered in the dark.

"Lights on." He said again.

The room was suddenly filled with bright light that reached until the very corner of the room. It was a big room supported by 2 huge pillars in the middle, decorated with relief of Egyptian Gods and hieroglyphs. The whole room was filled with various weapons, big and small. Some were hung by the walls, and some more stood on their stands in the middle of the room. There were old paintings and pictures decorating the walls of open up area. It was more like an arena.

Salvia realized that she was standing in the middle of the circle of the arena. She smiled when she understood the game Ardeth was playing on her. She quickly bent her head down and jumped forward. Ardeth, surprised by her move stood in front of her with his scimitar ready.

Salvia charged forward, wasting no time to wait further. She thrust her scimitar towards Ardeth’s chest. Ardeth was ready for the blow and blocked the attack with his scimitar. A loud clang echoing in the room as their weapons hit one another. Salvia suddenly somersaulted above Ardeth’s head. With a smile on his face, Ardeth anticipated her attack and in two moves later he was succeeded once again placing his scimitar next to her neck.

"You’re dead again, Princess." He said.

Salvia threw the weapon away. It hit the floor in a loud clang. Her face didn’t seem too happy as she walked towards Ardeth.

"The weapon is too light for me, Mr. Bey. It’s not of a good quality." She said haughtily.

Ardeth chuckled and took the weapon from the floor and walked away from her to put it back to the stand in the middle of the room.

"These are replica. But if you want, I can lend you the real one and we can see how good you are." He walked back to her.

"I have my own sword, thank you. Strega is the best sword there is. Too bad I departed in a hurry and left home without it." She said.

She was standing still in the middle of the arena as Ardeth walked closer and closer to her. He finally stood in front of her, looking intensely into her green/orange eyes. She was tall, comparing with average human females. She was only 3 inches shorter than Ardeth. She was standing, looking at him with a challenging look in her eyes, but her lips were beginning to form a smile.

Ardeth suddenly took her and held her tight. He hugged her tightly against his body, kissing her hair and whispering some words over and over again.

"I miss you, Salvia. I miss you so much." He whispered.

Salvia whispered back, "I want you, Ardeth Bay." She put her arms around his back and opened her mouth for him.

Ardeth kissed her violently, unable to control himself. He missed her terribly for the last 7 months and now when he had her in his arms he could hardly behave anymore. Salvia welcomed the kisses and starting to moan as she felt his tongue exploring her mouth. Ardeth was used to kissing her that his tongue instinctively knew to evade her 4 sharp fangs.

"I want you, Ardeth." She said breaking the kiss.

"Not that fast, Princess." He said still holding her in his arms. His hands squeezing her behind.

"Now! I want you now!" She said as she started to rip his clothes off with her sharp fingernails taking some of Ardeth’s skin and flesh.

"Don’t…." He hardly finished the words as Salvia’s lips claiming his while she clung to him tightly. She kissed him more violently, making him hard to breathe.

Ardeth broke the kiss to inhale some oxygen. Salvia screamed in annoyance as she tried to take him back to her.

"All right, all right, don’t get mad, my love. Patience…just let me take off my pants. I don’t want you to rip it open." He said giggling.

Salvia took off all her clothes and charging towards him again. But this time Ardeth was ready. He took her waist with his hands and led his manhood inside her femininity. Salvia got wilder as she felt him inside her. Ardeth pushed her against the wall and Salvia lifted both her legs, clinging her arms around his neck. Ardeth supported her weight with his hands. He pushed and pulled his manhood fast, making her screaming as ecstasy drowned her.

The lovemaking ended as fast as it had begun. Salvia leaned against the wall licking her fingernails that was stained with Ardeth’s blood.

"Sweet." She said smiling temptingly.

"You enjoyed hurting me, didn’t you?" Ardeth said while checking the wounds on his chest. They were three scratches along his chest and one on his back. Not much, but it would leave scars if he didn’t treat them quick.

"What can I say? Human’s blood tastes sweet… it’s… well… it’s juicy." She answered.

"Get dress, Salvia. We can’t stay here all day."

"Why should I follow your order, eh? I’m not one of your stupid staff." She walked away from him, slowly.

Ardeth caught her from behind, holding her, kissing her neck.

"Because, my love. In another 5 minutes, the security camera will be turned on automatically. I only put it to sleep mode for half an hour. It didn’t occur to me that we were going to have sex in this place." He whispered to her ear.

"Holly Yagnar! Why didn’t you say so!" She broke free from him and immediately got dressed.

"Half an hour you said? She asked again as they walked hand in hand out of the room.

"Yes." Ardeth replied.

"What if it was already on while we were still having sex?" She asked worriedly.

They stopped in front of the turbo lift. Ardeth held her close to him, his arm around her waist. His face buried in her red hair, inhaling her sweet, unique scent.

"Don’t worry, my love. It wasn’t on. Besides, it was the fastest sex I’ve ever had in my life." He suddenly laughed out loud as he remembered the scene in the weapon room. They had been acting like animals.

The turbo lift door whooshed open and they both entered. Ardeth still laughing.

"Penthouse." Ardeth stated their destination to the turbo lift computer in the middle of his laugh.

"Cut it out, Ardeth. What so funny about it?" Salvia began to get annoyed.

Ardeth smiled to her and kissed her cheek lightly. "You were, my love. You were so very funny back there. I never thought that you missed me that much." He kissed her cheek again.

"You…" Salvia never finished her sentence because Ardeth’s lips claimed hers. She felt her heart leap and she returned his kiss. They held each other tight and both closed their eyes, feeling the warmth of each other as their kiss deepened. This time they kissed in a different way. Unlike the violent kiss they had back in the weapon room, this time their kiss had a deeper meaning. One exploring the other’s mouth passionately.

They forgot their whole surrounding as they both drowned to the heavenly feelings of love and tenderness. The turbo lift computer had announced their arrival for the third time. The computer then automatically relayed the scenes to the central monitoring system that was connected to the security office. The protocol system took over as emergency procedure, in case the passenger in the turbo lift passed out or fainted unable to respond to the computer.

The Chief Security Personnel’s eyes widened as he looked into the monitor and saw the owner of the Resort kissing the Princess of Dnunia passionately. His shirt was torn in some places, revealing part of his back. Blood was dripping from a long wound on his back. It looked like he had been scratched by animal or something. He realized that this was beyond his authority. He didn’t know what to do, so instead he relayed the emergency situation to the hotel manager’s office, who felt the same way about the delicate matter and then re-relayed it to Monica Bleeth’s office.

Monica was so embarrassed as she picked up the relay from him. She opened the communication channel to the turbo lift.

"Ardeth." She called. But both were still kissing, apparently not realizing that they had made a scene.

"Ardeth Bay, respond. This is Monica Bleeth." She said again to no avail.

"ARDETH!!!" She practically shouted the name. This time it worked.

They broke the kiss in a sudden and Ardeth pushed the button of the comm. channel.

"Yes, Monica. What’s up?" He asked breathlessly, obviously still not realizing his mistake and totally forgotten about his torn shirt.

"Just step out of the turbo lift." She said softly, with an embarrassed expression on her face.

Ardeth frowned and glanced at the button beside the monitor. The light was red on the emergency status. He suddenly had the idea why Monica asked him to step out of the turbo lift. He simply nodded, unable to say another word and grabbed Salvia’s arm. She was leaning lazily against the turbo lift side. He dragged her out of the place. She looked confused by the sudden change of his behavior.

For the rest of the day, non-of the staff had seen Ardeth Bay nor the Princess left the Penthouse. The Princess didn’t even check in the suite room that had been prepared for her. For the first time in 2 years, they understood what was going on between the two people. They had heard about his reputation as the best negotiator in The Soul Foundation, but they understood now, why Ardeth Bay rarely came home and let Monica Bleeth managed the place. The scene soon became the hottest subject around the resort.