Chapter Two

Taking a moment to truly say goodbye, Carolina stood in the center of the room and spun slowly. Breathing deeply and slowly, she took in everything around her one last time.

This space, where Carolina had been working with some of Kim’s students for weeks now, seemed creepier now that she was alone. All the worthwhile artifacts had either been taken to labs or were tagged for removal.

Caro had to admit the subject of the remaining objects, carvings mostly, was very interesting. Rare hieroglyphics from the Book of the Dead, as well as a few paintings and a half a dozen stone shelves containing sacred jars and a small puzzle box of sorts, remained.

They were all carrying the same unusual symbol. One that made her blush wildly whenever she spied it. Biting her lip, she could only wonder what had inspired that particular symbol on so many artifacts.

Exceedingly fragile, and thoroughly fascinating, Carolina could not understand why the people in charge had not taken those items yet. If it were up to her, someone would get their ass handed to them for their carelessness.

Didn’t matter though, she was leaving. The rest of this stuff was being packed off to the university’s archeology department. As for the carvings on the walls, Carolina had done a few rubbings, and had carefully catalogued and photographed them for her own records.

She had a contact who specialized in ancient languages, and he said he’d have a translation by the end of the week. He had recognized one hieroglyph in particular, the one that made her blush and was repeated on most of those items she was currently committing to memory. It was the symbol for a creature believed to be a Demon.

Medjed.

She mulled the name over in her mind, one eyebrow raised as she thought what he would have been like if real. Carolina was a sucker for myths. Her contact had given her one more snippet of info on the legendary Demon.

One of Ancient Egypt’s most reclusive Osirian soldiers, Medjed, was believed to be a guard, an elite warrior, who would smite Osiris’ enemies, and anyone seeking to enter the realm of the dead falsely.

There was not a lot of information about him online, regardless of how interesting the story was . These artifacts could very well tell his tale for the first time in thousands of years.

Eeek! So exciting.

Impatience was sort of her middle name, but it had waited, buried here for who knew how many centuries, and Caro supposed it could wait another week.

Sigh.

“Hmm, that’s odd,” she murmured as she moved to exit the room and spied one of the aged stone tablets just sitting on the floor.

Certain Kim had packed that same ancient tome just a few hours earlier inside one of the wooden crates marked with the university’s logo and shipping information on it, she crept forward.

The tablet was about the size and thickness of a five subject notebook. Right away, Caro recognized one spell from the Book of the Dead etched along the perimeter.

“You again,” she mused, tsking at the hieroglyph that seemed to follow her.

Such prominent eyes and feet, and the telltale conical body that symbolized Medjed seemed to stand out among the other less noteworthy markings.

Okay, fine, while alone, Caro could admit here, by herself, that the Demon’s glyph was one of her favorites because, well, it resembled a giant phallus.

True, she was intrigued there was so very little known about him. But mainly it was because she got a chuckle every single time, she looked at the massive dildo-like icon that represented the guy.

“There, stay in that box,” she murmured, tucking the tablet back inside the crate and tossing some straw on top.

She didn’t notice the indent in the piece of stone that she’d innocently brushed against when she’d lifted the thing. She also did not hear the tiny rumble that had been growing steadily.

Carolina hummed as she took her final turn around the site, gathering her belongings in her canvas shoulder bag. This was the end of her self-healing journey, and it was time to go back to the real world. The boring one without myths and legends.

Sigh.

“Bye-bye dust and grime, heat and sweat, bad translations, and enormous bugs, I’ll miss you,” she called out to no one in particular and laughed at her own fanciful thoughts.

Caro placed her cap on her head before she headed out into the strong afternoon sun. Thank goodness she’d brought it. The Giza sun was unforgiving to those who doubted its strength. No wonder the ancients had worshiped it as a god.

Carolina turned to leave, already planning a series of sculptures to commemorate her time there, when suddenly the room trembled and shake. Fear had her gasping and sweat broke out along her forehead.

What was happening? She squeaked as she slid on the shaking cobblestones and almost hit the ground, but managed to catch herself before she did. A deep, low rumble began.

It was a deep, dark, stretching sort of noise, pushing the limits of her human hearing. Sort of like a dark, gravelly, and too fucking loud to be a real yawn, only intensified as if the very cavern itself was just waking up.

“What the hell is that?” Carolina whimpered and slipped.

This time, she landed with a hard thwack right on her butt, silently thanking the extra cushion she’d picked up after her divorce. Her bastard ex had come down on her about her weight pretty hard the last year they’d been married, and she’d never been so miserable.

A naturally chubby chick, Caro did not appreciate someone managing her diet. Of course, the famine had ended the second she’d left, and those few pounds she lost had come back soon after, and had just then saved her ass from a harsh landing.

Hurray for snack packs.

The tablet she had only just replaced flew out of the wooden crate labeled for the university. The stone glowed as it floated, as if it had some sort of back light. Her mouth hung open as it shook and spun, already levitating in the air.

“This can’t be happening!”

More light emanated from the hieroglyphs themselves, and they started moving along with what looked like a button, like an indent in the stone. She gasped, shielding her eyes as the glow grew too bright and a sudden wind picked up.

Now that she thought about it, Carolina’s finger had felt something when she’d lifted the stone. She must have pushed that hidden depression and caused this—whatever this was.

Little by little, smoke spiraled out of the tablet, growing in size and intensity. Dust motes flew around her, and the deafening sound seemed to increase as the smoke took shape, swirling until it resembled a cloaked man.

Only his eyes—outlined in dark kohl, and feet, which were covered in black sandals with metal shin guards and leather straps, were visible. The shroud he wore was the color of midnight, but it did nothing to hide the rippling muscles or menacing frown in his black eyes.

“Holyfuckingshitwhatthefuckingfuckareyou?”

Carolina scrambled backwards on her hands and feet. She hit the wall with her back, might have bumped her head as well, but who could tell? She almost hoped she hit her head. Maybe that could explain this vivid hallucination.

Her eyes went wide, and she was whimpering. This was not a proud moment for her. But really, who could blame her?

What the actual fuck was happening?

“Dewa netjer en etj,” the entity’s deep, guttural voice reached her ears.

He stepped—no, that was wrong—he glided closer, and Carolina almost peed her pants.

“English is better? I thank you for waking me, sweet princess. I am Medjed, and you are fortunate to be my chosen bride,” the giant male being spoke again.

Carolina could not believe her ears. And if that was not enough, she certainly could not believe her eyes. They were riveted to his body—his barely clothed body—as he seemed to wink in and out of existence.

What did he say? He was Medjed. The Demon? Oh fuck.

Caro might be a lot of things. Joffrey certainly seemed to find her lacking in all of them, but the one thing she was not was stupid. Whatever was happening, there seemed to be one irrevocable truth. Carolina was in big trouble.

She scrambled to stand, eyes wide as he blinked back into existence, sans shroud this time.

Gulp.

“Well, now I know why they drew you like a huge dildo,” Carolina muttered and closed her eyes against the sight of his freakishly enormous man parts.

“I am not familiar with this word dildo, my princess bride. You will teach me,” he grumbled, and helllooo, certain parts of him seemed to like the idea very much.

OMG! Even with half a stiffy, that fucking thing is huge.

“Shit,” she muttered, closing her eyes.

She would admit she was a pervert later, but it wasn’t all her fault. These past two months, Carolina had wondered why the Demon had been depicted without a real body, just a cone-shaped form with eyes and feet.

Now she knew. Medjed was hung—like a mountain-sized horse.

But even his enormous man bits could not distract her from the raised scars and cruel warrior’s features. She was an artist, and her trained eye picked up on those traits immediately.

Poor guy. He must have suffered something terrible, but there were no records or legends of his trials. Just that he was a guard and a warrior for Osiris, God of the dead.

“You have questions, bride?”

“So fucking many,” she whispered, before catching herself.

Okay, so she set an ancient Egyptian Demon free. How bad could it be? She blinked her eyes and tried to smile, but fear made it more of a grimace.

“Once my power is returned, I will compile an army,” he said, his form waning once more.

“An army?” she asked the darkness before he returned once more.

“The world will be shrouded in darkness, and I shall bring back the rule of my masters who will have you to thank. As your mate, I shall take the rewards and be named King, and you will reign beside me as my most beautiful queen!”

“Um, yeah, I don’t think that will work,” she said, shaking her head.

“Women should not think. Only listen,” he nodded, as if agreeing with her.

The fuck?

None of what he said appealed. Especially that last insult. In fact, all of it sounded really fucking bad. Joffrey, her ex, had always told Carolina that she had no tact. Hopefully, he was wrong.

She straightened her back and wore her most businesslike expression. Offering a small prayer that the Demon wouldn’t smite her ass for being so bold.

“Come, it is time to be my bride,” Medjed said, offering his dark hand to her.

“Um, about that,” she said, tucking her dust-covered hair behind her ears. “I am afraid I have to decline⁠—”

“Decline?”

“That’s right⁠—”

“You do not wish to be my bride?”

“Um, no. No, thank you,” she repeated, and faux laughed for good measure.

“You insult me!”

“What?” she said, shaking her head and stepping back. “Not at all! I, uh, just got out of a bad relationship, and I’m sort of staying away from guys at the moment.”

“I am not a guy, I am Medjed, mighty warrior of Osiris, half-God, Demon soldier⁠—”

“And that all sounds great. But I have to say no. Uhhh—It’s not you, it’s me!” Caro called out.

She felt behind her for the opening to the stairwell, hoping like fuck he was still too weak to chase her.

“I will turn your former lovers to dust, my princess. You will be rewarded for setting me free. You will enjoy being my bride, my fair-skinned dove.”

“No, but thank you. Um, I have to go.”

“I will build my strength, and I will come for you, fear not,” he growled.

“Oh, shit,” Carolina squeaked, and reached the stairs.

She turned around and ran without looking back.

Once outside, she sucked in a breath and hauled ass across the lot. Carolina Moore was a lot of things, but she never thought of herself as a coward.

Seriously though, what else could she do? A Demon with a massive dick said he wanted her as his bride. Running seemed pretty fucking logical.

She’d never believed in the myths she so loved to study. Maybe she was crazy? Only time would tell.

Carolina hardly paid attention to the beautiful Egyptian skies or the spicy scented air as she ran into the hotel and headed straight to her room. Forget mailing her work. She would pay extra to bring it on board.

How long would it take an Ancient Demon to get his strength back, anyway? She had no idea. All Caro knew was she needed to get the fuck out of Egypt—but not before making one last call.

“Jennifer? This is Carolina. I need your help!”