He throws his hands up, locking eyes with Demon Lady.
This is your fault, Pell, join him, I command myself.
But self-preservation and rational, scientific thought make me slow.
Do it, Pell. Stop being a damn chicken and join him.
I force my feet forward. Who’s acting crazy now?
“Back away. I need her full attention,” Harpoc tells the guys, never looking away from the menace.
The trio hesitates.
“Do as he says,” I growl, finally stopping beside him. Thank the gods, my warning sees the three retreat.
I only barely stifle a shriek as I take in the sphinx’s full measure. It’s even bigger than I remember. I feel like that mouse in the fairy tale, dwarfed by some big-ass lion. The fairy tale mouse gnaws the lion free of its bonds, and they become fast friends in the end. Can this situation turn out equally benign?
I can only hope.
My gaze takes in more of the creature. While bearing a human face, the sphinx’s coat is of fur, tinged pink in the moonlight, perhaps a holdover from the pink granite it’s been, who knows. I press fists to the sides of my head. Inanimate really has become animate. How?
The Egyptian headdress I saw as it flew is the traditional striped cloth of blue and gold worn by the pharaohs, but the usual uraeus, the cobra emblem of divinity and right-to-rule, on the forehead is missing.
“Hey, Lady.” Harpoc speaks in a soothing tone, hands still raised.
The sphinx growls as it stares him down with its big yellow eyes. The trapped man still doesn’t move, but a pool of red that isn’t from the beast grows beneath its stump. The guy needs medical attention, and fast.
“That’s it, girl.” Harpoc takes a step closer, then another.
I only barely stifle a yip. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.
My feet stay firmly planted; they won’t move even if I beg, this close.
The sphinx flicks its tail, eyes still locked with Harpoc, slow step after slow step.
A tremor rocks my body as terror shoots through me. This is far worse than any damn rollercoaster. How close will he get?
Harpoc narrows the gap to four feet when the beast flares its nostrils—I suck in a breath—and scents the air.
My limbs tremble as the creature draws several long draughts of Harpoc’s citrus-with-a-hint-of-cloves smell that I find so seductive.
“That’s it. Scent me,” Harpoc says.
Why does he want her to scent him?
In an instant, her eyes narrow and she roars, then leaps up on three paws, and lunges.
Harpoc pivots.
I barely hold in a screech as the beast unfurls her wings, eyes intent on my secretive companion.
He calls something over his shoulder that I miss and takes off running.
Wings appear on Harpoc’s back and he launches, but not before the sphinx is nearly on him.
I stand transfixed with horror until movement in my periphery draws my attention. The three guys are back and racing for their companion.
Harpoc’s drawn the sphinx off so they can attend to their friend. The thought makes my knees weak. He’s been so mysterious, but he really does have a heart, a good one it seems. I’ve seen it twice now.
The three kneel and administer aide to their friend whose legs are now jerking about, and I exhale. He’s alive.
I swing my gaze in the opposite direction, the way Harpoc heads, and my heart climbs into my throat. The beast flies at his heels at the far end of the field, where we originally stopped.
I whimper, biting my nails.
Don’t be a damn wimp, Pell, I scold. You caused this.
I take off at a sprint.
I start panting from running as Harpoc lands up ahead with the roaring sphinx still nearly on him.
What’s he doing? Don’t stop! I want to scream.
He spins around and both he and his wings disappear in a dark cloud of swirling shadows making me suck in a breath.
He reappears behind the creature, who whirls around on its one good paw and lunges for him again.
Shadows consume him anew, long enough for him to reappear several feet away.
The beast roars its fury and makes to attack once more.
I slow to a walk, sucking in air, disbelief hypnotizing me as the scene repeats itself time and again until the sphinx’s vocalizations rise, but its movements slacken.
Harpoc reappears and his chest wheezes like a secondhand bicycle pump as he draws his hands forward, calming, placating the creature as I near, speaking to it in labored pants.
I can’t make out the words until I’m maybe fifteen feet away, but even then, I furrow my brow. He’s speaking in a language I’ve never heard, and in my field I’ve heard plenty, but the phonetics and word endings are completely foreign to me.
At least the sphinx stills, although it’s still clearly pissed because it flicks its tail erratically and its gaze never leaves him.
Small mercy, it ignores me. I’ll just be a fly on that fallen temple wall.
“Join us, Pell,” Harpoc calls, motioning me forward but never dropping his gaze from the beast’s piercing yellow eyes.
Crap! I swallow hard. You did this, Pell. It’s your fault this creature is alive, I remind myself.
Harpoc continues his monologue with the thing in whatever that language is. I’ve no idea how many languages he knows, but if the thing calms because of it, I don’t really care. It’s probably more his tone than the words anyway; I just hope it keeps working as I inch my way toward him, my heart beating wildly every step of the way.
As I reach his side he says, “Approach her slowly, Pell. Let her scent you.”
My eyes go wide. “You can’t be serious. I’m not getting any closer to that thing.”
“I’ve told her you mean her no harm.”
“She
