Under Wraps: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Werewolves vs. Mummies Book 1) Read Online Free Page A
Author: J.A. Cipriano
Tags: Fantasy
wasn’t going to have to do a mummy-sectomy… this time. If I had a nickel for every time a mummy tried to swallow his pendant, I’d have an ass load of nickels.
He sputtered, spraying blood and saliva across my face. My stomach revolted as I resisted the urge to wipe myself. He bit me. Pain exploded in my fingers. I howled in frustration, my hand transforming into a mass of muscle, fur, and sinew without me realizing it.
“Look out!” Aziza cried from behind me as I grabbed hold of the pendant’s chain and tore my hand sideways out of the mummy’s jaws, ripping apart his face in a cloud of blood and flesh.
“What?” I asked, glancing over at her as a curved Egyptian sword tore into my back and burst through my chest in a spray of blood and thicker bits. I toppled forward, my body forgetting to breathe as the beast inside me raged.
I turned my head, trying to see my attacker as the world went sideways. A fist hit me in the side of the head, and I flopped uselessly onto my side, still in too much shock to really feel the pain. Instead, it felt more like a foreign object had been wedged into me. The pendant slipped from my grip and hit the sticky sand with a plop.
The mummy released his hold on the khopesh still embedded in my back and seized his pendant. Metallic silver light spilled through his fingers. His flesh flowed back together like watery clay, forming back into his normally ugly features. He stood, brushing my bleeding body aside like I was a gnat. He looked down on me, his huge pink lips curled into a hideous smile. Then he spat on me and a warm gooey glob of saliva smacked into my cheek.
“Aziza, did you think it would be so easy to take me down? I am Amon, first guard to the great pharaoh Imhotep. I am not some peasant for you to extinguish. Not some whelp to be locked in a cage.” He bent down and tore his curved khopesh from my body, and I screamed, agony shooting through me like molten lead.
He flicked his blade outward, spattering my blood on the sand beside him. “Nothing to say for yourself, girl?”
“Watch out,” Aziza said, not even raising her staff to defend herself.
“Watch out?” the mummy said, confusion filling his voice. “For what?”
“Him,” she replied, pointing her gleaming golden staff at me.
Amon glanced at me and snorted. “What is he going to do, jailer? Bleed on me to death?”
I gritted my teeth as the beast inside me raged, and thrashed, and screamed. I pushed one hand into the sand, gripping it as hard as I could. The smell of the forest hit me like I was standing in the middle of a Smokey the bear commercial. The wolf within me growled, and my own mouth elicited the same sound.
The mummy’s eyes widened as my flesh rippled. Things beneath my skin shifted and squirmed. It wasn’t painful, I know it always looked like it was, but it was quite the opposite. A strange sense of euphoria overtook me as fur cascaded down over my body, my skin filling out with the hard, lithe muscle of a predator. I craned my head up and howled at the blue sky above. Already, the wounds had stopped bleeding. In another moment, they would be gone.
I stood, flexing my claws, adrenaline coursing through my body, filling me up, making me feel invincible. I snarled, and my lips curled back to reveal my fangs. I took a step forward, my claws sinking into the sand.
The mummy backed up so quickly he fell on his butt in the sand. I licked my lips, the smell of his fear pungent and sweet. I tore forward, closing the distance in a single bound. I seized the mummy by the throat, tearing into his flesh with my teeth. Hot, warm blood filled my mouth.
I bit down and shook, the sound of tearing meat filling my ears like sweet music. A huge chunk of flesh came free in my jaws, and the mummy collapsed to the ground. He scrambled backward in a pool of blood and gore, one arm hanging uselessly at his side.
The taste of tin and sour rot filled my mouth. My vision went red around the edges as I
He sputtered, spraying blood and saliva across my face. My stomach revolted as I resisted the urge to wipe myself. He bit me. Pain exploded in my fingers. I howled in frustration, my hand transforming into a mass of muscle, fur, and sinew without me realizing it.
“Look out!” Aziza cried from behind me as I grabbed hold of the pendant’s chain and tore my hand sideways out of the mummy’s jaws, ripping apart his face in a cloud of blood and flesh.
“What?” I asked, glancing over at her as a curved Egyptian sword tore into my back and burst through my chest in a spray of blood and thicker bits. I toppled forward, my body forgetting to breathe as the beast inside me raged.
I turned my head, trying to see my attacker as the world went sideways. A fist hit me in the side of the head, and I flopped uselessly onto my side, still in too much shock to really feel the pain. Instead, it felt more like a foreign object had been wedged into me. The pendant slipped from my grip and hit the sticky sand with a plop.
The mummy released his hold on the khopesh still embedded in my back and seized his pendant. Metallic silver light spilled through his fingers. His flesh flowed back together like watery clay, forming back into his normally ugly features. He stood, brushing my bleeding body aside like I was a gnat. He looked down on me, his huge pink lips curled into a hideous smile. Then he spat on me and a warm gooey glob of saliva smacked into my cheek.
“Aziza, did you think it would be so easy to take me down? I am Amon, first guard to the great pharaoh Imhotep. I am not some peasant for you to extinguish. Not some whelp to be locked in a cage.” He bent down and tore his curved khopesh from my body, and I screamed, agony shooting through me like molten lead.
He flicked his blade outward, spattering my blood on the sand beside him. “Nothing to say for yourself, girl?”
“Watch out,” Aziza said, not even raising her staff to defend herself.
“Watch out?” the mummy said, confusion filling his voice. “For what?”
“Him,” she replied, pointing her gleaming golden staff at me.
Amon glanced at me and snorted. “What is he going to do, jailer? Bleed on me to death?”
I gritted my teeth as the beast inside me raged, and thrashed, and screamed. I pushed one hand into the sand, gripping it as hard as I could. The smell of the forest hit me like I was standing in the middle of a Smokey the bear commercial. The wolf within me growled, and my own mouth elicited the same sound.
The mummy’s eyes widened as my flesh rippled. Things beneath my skin shifted and squirmed. It wasn’t painful, I know it always looked like it was, but it was quite the opposite. A strange sense of euphoria overtook me as fur cascaded down over my body, my skin filling out with the hard, lithe muscle of a predator. I craned my head up and howled at the blue sky above. Already, the wounds had stopped bleeding. In another moment, they would be gone.
I stood, flexing my claws, adrenaline coursing through my body, filling me up, making me feel invincible. I snarled, and my lips curled back to reveal my fangs. I took a step forward, my claws sinking into the sand.
The mummy backed up so quickly he fell on his butt in the sand. I licked my lips, the smell of his fear pungent and sweet. I tore forward, closing the distance in a single bound. I seized the mummy by the throat, tearing into his flesh with my teeth. Hot, warm blood filled my mouth.
I bit down and shook, the sound of tearing meat filling my ears like sweet music. A huge chunk of flesh came free in my jaws, and the mummy collapsed to the ground. He scrambled backward in a pool of blood and gore, one arm hanging uselessly at his side.
The taste of tin and sour rot filled my mouth. My vision went red around the edges as I
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