Chapter 3 Allies

THIRD PERSON POV

"What a pungent smell. What is that?" Keres covered her nose when she was hit with unfavourable scent when she walks towards the living room.

"That is what I like to call a hearty breakfast. I would normally ask my guest to have breakfast with me, but my students haven't come with your food yet. Since the pet shop still closes at this hour, they said they know a guy who provides food for pet snakes and other exotic animals that humans care for." Keres raised an eyebrow.

"When did we been reduced to animals?" Imperia clear her throat when she walks behind her advisor.

"We asked for food from humans, Keres. We are animals." Imperia takes a seat as Miss Kingston gives both of the vampires a cup of hot blood that she was having trouble with due to her microwave.

"We're back," Caleb announced when he walks into the living carrying life rodent that he manages to get from his friend. Evangeline and Daphne appeared behind him carrying a cooler that contents more supply of blood for the vampires.

"I feel like we're doing some kind of illegal business now. I mean, we're actually carrying bottles of blood in here." Daphne whispered to her friend as they immediately went to Miss Kingston refrigerator to store the vampire's source of food.

"Either this or they kill us? As gentle as the 'queen' seems to be, I don't think Keres has the same approach as her. She legit would kill us on the spot if we decided to anger and the 'queen'." Daphne sighs.

"I didn't expect that on our senior year we have to be servants for creatures that aren't supposed to exist." As they were storing the bottles of blood, Caleb went into the kitchen and grabs a knife while securing the life rodent on the countertop.

"I suppose you ladies would be so kind as to kill this rodent for them?" both girls shake their head violently. Caleb sighs heavily. As he looks straight into the rodent's eyes, it reminds him of his pet hamster back at home. Caleb let go of the knife and looks up to the girls.

"I can't do it! It reminds me of Meow, and I can't simply kill it without any sense of remorse!" the girls were confused to what is Meow Caleb's referring to. As he was debating with himself if she should just let the rodent escape and gets in trouble with the vampires or just kill it like it's a healthy thing to do, Keres walk in the kitchen, wondering where did their food go to.

"You haven't killed the rodent yet? It's not bad enough that we, a respectable pureblood vampire, have to eat rodents, we have to kill our own food as well?" Keres grabbed the rodent with her bare hands and effortlessly twist the rodent in half. Blood squirted all over the countertop and on her clothes as well on Caleb's face, but Keres doesn't care as she begins to lick her bloody hands.

"I was once a commander of an army. Things like this never faze me one bit. Have you ever slaughter a creature-eating dragon while riding on its back? Have you ever spar one on one with a demon who wish nothing but to destroy your kind? Or have you ever faced an angel that wants to 'clean' the unclean? I guess not." Keres handed half of the rodent to Caleb.

"Here. Give this to Imperia while I enjoyed my meal in the kitchen." Caleb instinctively vomits all over the counter when he suddenly came face to face with the dead rodent's head.

"I forgot that humans don't have that strong of a stomach with this kind of stuff," Keres turns to one of the girls who pretended to be busy staking the blood into the refrigerator. Keres rolled her eyes and went to Imperia herself. When the vampire walks into the kitchen again, Caleb was cleaning his own vomit while the girls decided to help him.

"You three remind me of the human servants that we had back in Gotus. One of the females even managed to seduce the queen and made her one of her mistresses. The human was and still is a good source of food, but their way of bringing themselves was horrible." Daphne suddenly had a thought.

"What was your position back when the queen was still a ruler?" Daphne asked. Evangeline gave her the eye.

"I was her advisor and commander of her army. After I lost my home, Imperia took me in under her care and grant me everything that I ever desire. Even though her father was the sole reason for my kingdom and family's demise, Imperia was different." Daphne finally looks up to the vampire who enjoys the rodent after taste in her mouth.

"So you were lovers? You make it sound like you two have a history together, intimately." Keres smiled.

"I was one of her many bedmates if you were wondering. But we were never going to the extent of into a romantic relationship. Imperia was a queen after all. Promiscuous act without the sense of love is normal for royalty." Daphne admired the vampire's way of letting it go.

"But your tone of voice tells me something else. You were in love with the queen, but you have no choice but to let her do whatever she wants because you have no right to be jealous of the other mistresses." Evangeline nudges her friend's side when Keres seems annoyed by her deduction.

"I was. But being jealous of the queen's other mistresses, never. We were never official back in the day. So, why would I feel jealous?" Imperia suddenly walked into the kitchen and announced their next move.

"We're going to Egypt?!" Caleb's eyes widen and so the girls.

"We were just watching the news. There was a whole segment for the mysterious burial ground for an unknown ancient Egyptian princess. It's rare since every Egyptian royalty preserved their family history but not for this one. The queen said she knows who the person resides inside the sarcophagus after seeing a familiar symbol on the artefacts. She said she was an old friend." Miss Kingston explains to the students.

"How did they come across this mysterious Egyptian princess? And why now; after the 'queen' of 'Gotus' went back to life?" Evangeline asked low enough for Miss Kingston to hear.

"A team of modern grave robbers stumble upon this burial ground while they were looking for precious ancient artefact around the forbidden valley. For whatever reason, I was told that it's important for us to be the first to open this sarcophagus." Miss Kingston can't help but wonder how they are supposed to go to Egypt.

***

"This is not how Egypt was back in our day. Where did all the sands go?" Keres asked when they step foot outside of Cairo's International Airport. Miss Kingston turned to Caleb and asks him to rent a car from the dealer that will fit them all. Evangeline offered to help him to converse the native.

"Did you manage to book us a hotel?" Miss Kingston asked Daphne, who seems busy with her phone.

"I did," Daphne replied without looking up from her phone.

"We should be going to the site first before going to this hotel you mentioned. We don't have the leisure of time when it comes to this matter." Imperia pressed. Miss Kingston wanted to retort, but Daphne beats her to it.

"We're humans. We don't have that many energy, to begin with. It was a long flight, and we wish to rest before continuing with this pointless journey you forced us to go with you." Imperia placed her hand on Keres's shoulder when Keres about to grabbed Daphne by the head.

"I don't think you have any idea how dire the situation really is right now. But as we speak, your kind is trying to open that sarcophagus, and if they manage to open it, it would be too late for me to do anything to save you." Imperia was calm while Keres tried to attack Daphne when she rolled her eyes.

"Here we go again with the curses. I'm beginning to wonder if that's just your way of forcing us to follow your bidding. We're tired, please let us rest." Imperia raised an eyebrow at Miss Kingston.

"Imperia, let's just go. They don't have any idea how important it is for Hotep to wake up in front of you. They are too worried that they might not get enough sleep!" As the vampires were about to leave, Miss Kingston stops them midway.

"Did you just say Hotep?" Miss Kingston asked.

"I did. Have you heard of her tale by any chance?" Miss Kingston tried to think back to her school days when she took the ancient Egypt class by mistake. She knows that she heard of that name before.

"Hotep was a princess who became too hungry with power. There was hardly a story about her because she killed her own family for the throne. There was a whole text about Hotep at one of the stone tablets that was believed to be written by the royal priest. They believed that their princess has indulged herself in dark magic to gained power, but it backfired and resulting her to be buried in an unmarked burial ground." Miss Kingston rethinks of her decision to go to the hotel.

"Daphne, if you're that tired, you may have your rest at the hotel. Now that I know who reside on this site, I need to see it with my own eyes." When Caleb and Evangeline came back with the keys to their chartered car, Daphne explained to them that she's going to the hotel.

"Are you sure you? It's not every day you get to see a real-life mummy in Egypt. Come on!" Evangeline tried to persuade her friend, but it's futile. Daphne decided to hail a cab and went to her own way.

Their journey through the harsh wasteland of Egypt was time-consuming, but for the researcher, they know it will be rewarding in the end. While Evangeline looks at the map and guides Caleb through the desert, Miss Kingston takes time to ask more information about Hotep from the queen herself.

"The period I've known Hotep, she is far from what her parents describe her to be. We first met when she suddenly finds her way to my kingdom after her father had announced the birth of his newborn son. Hotep was supposed to be the next ruler but with the birth of her stepbrother, it all changes in one night." Imperia started to tell the story of her old friend.

"In anger, she seeks my help to turn her to one of my kind. I was of course bewildered by such request from a human. As the queen of Gotus, to have a princess implored that I turned her into my kind was the first for me. Besides, turning a human into a vampire was not easy like what humans had portrayed in their writing and arts. To change someone's nature into something that they aren't born with require energy, forbidden rituals and of course, pain." Imperia started to chuckle.

"But for Hotep, her desire was driven by revenge, and logical explanation doesn't work on her anymore. I tried to change her mindset, but it seems like she had chosen to be immortal." Miss Kingston was listening while writing in her book for future notes.

"A few days after her arrival, I proceed with the ritual to change her into the monster she wants to be. Using my own blood and my resources, I carried out the ritual myself and almost died in the process. Without knowing that she possessed such a tremendous amount of spiritual power, the ritual backfired. Still, in the end, because of her desire to acquired dark powers, that spiritual power simply corrupted in her body." Miss Kingston as so intrigued to know more but they had arrived at the burial ground.

When they arrive at the site, the crew were experiencing a mild sand storm that forced them to leave the ground and seek refuge in the tent. But when Imperia steps her foot on to the sand of Egypt's forbidden land, the storm seems to disperse immediately.

The humans, especially Rita Waters, Miss Kingston old friend, was surprised by the phenomenon.

"Rita!" Miss Kingston greets her friend. Miss Waters was excited to see her friend but still curious about the two mysterious figures that seem to be dressing inappropriately for fieldwork.

"Rita, about my request, I hope that we get to see the site first before your boss does. Is that okay?" Since Miss Kingston was an old friend that had helped her in the past, Miss Waters did what she can do fulfil the request.

"You only have half an hour to explore the burial ground. That's all that I can do for you." Miss Kingston smile from ear to ear.

"That's more than enough." Miss Kingston nods her head to her students. Imperia smiled and decided to let Miss Waters guide her into the tunnel that will lead them to Hotep's final resting place. When Imperia and the rest find themselves inside a royal burial ground, Imperia decided to walk towards the sarcophagus.

"When the grave robbers first stumbled upon this site, they were the happiest men alive until something happened to one of their crew." Miss Waters showed them the place where one of the robbers suffered a heart attack.

"And that man never had any problem with his health before. To add the cherry on the sundae, another one of their crew suffered from an extensive nose bleed. He was announced dead minutes after losing so much blood. As you can see, we tried to clean the blood, but it's futile." Imperia chuckle as she walks around the sarcophagus, trying to find a way to pull the golden spear that prevents her from opening the top cover.

"Hotep," Like what happened to Keres, the sarcophagus seems to be responded to Imperia's voice. Out of nowhere, the ground suddenly shook as if they were experiencing an earthquake. The humans were worried they might cave in as a result, but the vampires fear something else.

There, in the shadows of the cave; a golden statue of Anubis suddenly appears to be walking towards Imperia.

"Who dares to disturb the princess's ever-lasting slumber?" Anubis asked when he's close enough o see the intruder.

"I am queen Imperia of the Gotus Kingdom. Kneel as you are talking to someone far greater than you are." Anubis did kneel, and that action shocked the researchers.

"I'm sorry, my queen. But your action to release princess Hotep from her cage is not permitted. She is bound to be inside her cage, and that is she shall remain." Imperia grabbed hold of the spear that was meant to keep Hotep inside the sarcophagus.

Anubis looks up.

"What will happen if I choose to free her from her punishment?" Imperia challenged Anubis.

"Death, sorrow, dark ages as it was thousands of years ago." Imperia smiled from ear to ear before pulling the spear with ease.

"And so it shall be." Anubis was immediately killed by Hotep who rises from her sarcophagus and takes the spear into her hands.

"Hotep, listen to my voice!" Imperia shouted to gained Hotep's attention when she's about to kill the humans.

"Imperia is that you?!" Hotep was surprised.