Bathed Silver in Mercury

XVIII. Elerie

Elerie and Nick sat up on the mezzanine overlooking where Ahmanet was being held. Neither spoke for a long time, still shocked, still shaken.

"Are you okay?" she finally asked, her voice gentle and soft.

"Yeah," he breathed, but was obviously still shaken.

"Good.  I'm glad." There was silence, broken by her heavy sigh.  "Look, despite what I may think – my, my better judgement – I care about you." She chuckled softly and tucked some hair behind her ear.  "Believe it or not, I don't hate you.  Sometimes I wish I did, it would make things easier. It would make all this easier. But I don't." Now she looked at him.  "Somewhere in there, fighting to get out, is a good man."

He shook his head.  "You don't know that."

"I do.  You saved my life on that plane Nick.  You gave me the last parachute without hesitation."

There was a pause.  "I thought there was another one," he admitted.

Her jaw tightened.  "Well, you gave one to me first, instead of taking it yourself.   Somewhere in there is the man I married, the man I remember, the man I fell in love with." She spoke this last part softly. Then she chuckled.  "We've had our moments, had our share of crazy times, but this is definitely that wildest.  You're cursed by a five-thousand-year-old mummy, and I'm a witch."

"Oh I could have told you that before." Now he was smiling little.

"Oh shut up." She nudged him.  "Right, your wife the wicked witch."

"I never said wicked." 

"You used to tease me to no end." She chuckled.

"Only cause I love you."  

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After some consideration, Elerie stood before the still chained-up mummy. She spoke to her in her own native language.

"I have studied the language of the old gods," she explained.  "In my job, I study ancient civilizations." 

Ahmanet looked back at her, confused. "The 'old gods'?" she said in English. "You're language is simple," she said to Elerie's look of shock and confusion. "You stand between My Chosen and me."

"How?"

The mummy smirked.  "You know how. You care about him, despite what you say. Despite what you think..."

"You overheard us talking."

The mummy smirked. "And I can see it. You love  him..."

"I don't. Maybe I once did, but I don't now." 

Suddenly, multiple images filled her mind, old memories resurfacing, resurfacing from where she had buried them away, deep down, out of reach, memories too painful that she wished not to recall. Or at least she thought she had. 

Snapshots from her and Nick's life together, the happy times spent together. 

"I love you, Ellie"

"I love you too, Nick."

"How sweet..." Ahmanet's voice broke into the memory - Elerie didn't realize she had been smiling contentedly until that smile fell.

"Get out of my head."

The mummy only continued to smirk.  Elerie wanted to wipe that infuriating smirk right off her face. 

"It's your curse, messing with us."

"He's cursed. You're not," Ahmanet reminded her.

"It's your fault!"

"See, you do still care." The mummy gave a low chuckle. "And that will be your undoing.  Because you care too much..." 

Her words, cryptic as they were, still sent a chill sweeping through Elerie's spine.  

"What I'm interested in, is why you're so intrigued by death..." She paused; Elerie said nothing. Ahmanet continued, her voice low and chilling.  "You wish to know what lies beyond the veil of death? The secrets of what I have seen, the supernatural, the magic, the myth?"

"Yes..."

A smile crawled up her lips.  "And you will find out - when I kill you."

Well, at least someone was being truthful.

(Whew, it's been so long since I've updated this story, I know, and I apologize! I've been focusing on my other stories but I'm trying to use this time to finish up some of my old stories so I don't feel quite so guilty about starting new ones - I've got some new stories and sequels planned, but I'm still determined to see my old stories through! 

I also wanted to say thank you for your continued support of this story – this is definitely one of my more popular stories, so thank you!

Thank you so much for reading this chapter and I hope it was worth the long wait! :))