Mythical creatures, p.1
Mythical Creatures, page 1
Mythical Creatures
A Limited Edition Collection of Young Adult Fantasy
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Acknowledgement
Signature Page
From Greatness to Stone
Between Realms
Whispers of Ebony
Saving Her Selkie
Dragon Marked: Axton
Dragon Marked: Jaden
Kiss of the Scorpion
Bound
Sea Monster’s Song
Dragon Bond
Ariel: The Mischievous Fairy
Cascade
Darkest Delights
Encantado
Tarnished Halo
The Daemon’s Stone Heart
Birdie and the Beast
To Love a Unicorn
Mythical Creatures: A Limited Edition Collection of Young Adult Fantasy
Cover Design by Adriatic Creations
Interior formatting by Kris Jacen www.krisjacen.com/three-hearts
Coordinated by Tonya Nagle, PhD
Published by N2: Nagle-North Press
Copyright © 2022 All authors retain rights to their work and granted limited rights for the publication of their story in this anthology.
Names, Characters, and incidents depicted in this book are the products of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the authors.
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From Greatness to Stone
An Intern Diaries Novelette
D. C. Gomez
Chapter One
Present Day, Texarkana, Texas
Blood filled the inside of Bob’s mouth, as he bit down on the inside of his inner cheek for the fifth time, to avoid replying to his boss. Bob leaned against the driver’s side door of his new F-150, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. His window was down, and the cool winter breeze played with his dirty blond hair.
It was the middle of December, and the temperature finally dropped to the fifties. The hot, humid nights of summer were gone, giving Bob a break from sweating to death during their nightly patrols of Texarkana. On most days, he enjoyed the company of his boss, Constantine. The five-thousand-year-old talking cat was full of witty commentary on the state of the world. His mood this evening was dangerously fickle.
Bob cast a sideways glance at the passenger side of the truck, where Constantine lie with his head dangling off the seat. Constantine switched between humming Beck’s song Loser to the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine. Bob took a deep breath before addressing him.
“You know, this too shall pass.” Bob stared at the window as he spoke.
“Pass.” Constantine lifted his head. “That’s the stuff you hear all the religious fanatics say when all hell breaks loose and they can’t explain the madness. Death is planning to suspend my accounts.”
“That’s not what I heard,” Bob whispered more to himself than the cat.
“When your ride-or-die says they want to have a talk with you, it can only mean trouble.” Constantine dropped his head back down. “I’m just going to hang myself here.”
“That’s not how hanging actually works,” Bob spoke without thinking, as Constantine spun around to glare.
“Are you making fun of my pain and suffering?” Without waiting for a reply, Constantine did a backflip.
He landed on the seat and pushed the button to open the window with his paw.
“Boss, I’m not the enemy here.” Bob raised both of his hands in a sign of peace. “But you did weaponize a group of teenagers to go off and kill vampires.”
“I’m going to jump off and just kill myself here.” Constantine climbed onto the ledge of the window.
Bob bit his lower lip to avoid speaking or, worse, laughing. Instead, he coughed and faced the windshield.
“That’s less than four feet tall,” Bob told him. “I have a horrible feeling you will just land on your paws. Besides, can you even die?”
“Let’s not get technical here, smarty-pants,” Constantine replied, but climbed back down. “And no, I can’t die or be killed. Unless you kill Death himself and that’s very unlikely. But this is bad. I haven’t been in this much trouble in centuries. What’s the big deal?”
“Besides the fact that they are teenagers and we have child labor laws in the states?” Bob scratched his jaw as his five o’clock shadow itched.
“It was absolutely brilliant,” Constantine announced. “Teenagers can go anywhere, and nobody is asking questions. They blend in with other kids. And everyone expects them to act a fool.”
“Except you sent them against the deadliest of the supernatural beings with only six months of training,” Bob reminded his boss.
“Interns have less time than that when Death recruits them.” Constantine rolled on his back and dropped his head off the seat again.
“True,” Bob said cautiously. “But we also get Death’s power and the ability to see the supernatural world. Not to mention with Isis and Bartholomew now being Reapers, we have an entire team to back us up.”
With the ascension of Isis Black, Death’s former North America Intern, to the status of immortal Reaper, Bob had taken over her old job. Death had also given Bartholomew the power, but he was a special circumstance that the team tried to avoid discussing. Death had interns in each continent to assist with the delivery of souls to their next destination. Isis had worked hard over the last year to develop better communication between all the interns. She took her job as leader of the group seriously, and Bob couldn’t have been prouder. While he was in his late forties, Isis had been in her twenties before the transformation. To him, both Isis and Bart were the children he never had.
Silence filled the truck as Bob thought of his newly formed family. He smiled as he wondered how a group of misfits, former outcasts, and homeless now ran the only supernatural community in the world. Haven was open to everyone as long as they kept the peace.
“Are you paying attention to me?” Constantine chastised his friend. “This happened to Harmakhet. He sacrificed everything for the good of his people, and they have forgotten him.”
“Harma what?” Bob turned to give the cat his undivided attention. “Who’s that?”
“The Sphinx.” Constantine covered his face with his paws in an overly dramatic gesture of suffering.
“The Spanx?” Bob scrunched his eyebrows together. “What do you know about Spanx?”
“Not Spanx.” Constantine popped back on the seat. “The Sphinx. As in the great Sphinx of Egypt.”
“The statue has a name,” Bob asked, looking around the truck for a potential answer.
“He wasn’t always a statue,” Constantine clarified. “My dear friend, I have failed you. All the history that I have not conveyed.”
“No offense boss, but you have five thousand years of history. I might not be alive long enough to hear it all.” Bob sat back in the seat, making himself comfortable. “Besides, that’s ancient history. I’m pretty sure nobody but you know it.”
“That’s very true.” Constantine tucked his legs underneath his body and arranged himself in the same pose as the infamous statue. “Let me tell you a story. Since this might be my last night of freedom.”
Constantine stared out the windshield as Bob shook his head. Bob bit his lower lip again, this time to avoid truly laughing. A story he could handle if it distracted his boss from his endless wailing.
“The year was 2610 B.C., back in the days when Death was known as the god Anubis. Egypt was in chaos . . .” Constantine closed his eyes as he started his tale.
Chapter Two
2610 B.C., Men-nefer (commonly known as Memphis),
Ancient Egypt
Ships came and went in the middle of the day along the Nile River. The sun reflected in the calm waters as the sun god himself, Horus, admired the people oblivious to the surrounding troubles. The feathers of his falcon head glowed as they seemed to soak in the rays of the sun.
The god Anubis stood to his right, kicking rocks into the river. The jackal was out of place in the middle of the day on the quiet banks of the Nile. Anubis cracked his neck, avoiding looking at the sun god. Constantine, in the shape of a jackal, lie by his side in between the gods.
“Do you always have to travel with this one?” Horus pointed at Constantine.
“Do you always have to drag me into your petty problems?” Anubis glared.
“You are a god of Egypt.” Horus puffed up his chest. “You have a responsibility to its people.”
“Last time I checked this was Ptah’s city
Constantine growled in support.
“We have a situation that requires your unique . . .” Horus faced Anubis and his golden eyes shone like the sun itself, “expertise.”
“You seem to assume that somehow that is going to make me care.” Anubis bent over to pet Constantine.
“Something is stealing the souls of the living, starting with the kids,” Horus informed Anubis, who continued to pet the jackal version of Constantine. “By the time I arrive, they’re always gone. You are the Lord of the Dead, and nighttime is your domain.”
“Oh, now I’m the Lord of the Dead.” Anubis stood and faced the other god. “Where is the all-powerful god, Osiris? Isn’t he the undisputable Lord in that area?”
“You know as well as I do Osiris cannot leave his post,” Horus reminded Anubis. “I need your help, my old friend.”
“Your friendship seems to be based on convenience or when you run out of gods?” Anubis fired back.
“I let you down.” Horus bowed his head. “And if you help me, I will owe you a debt. You know I’m good at my word.”
“A debt from the sun god.” Anubis rubbed his human hand down his muzzle. “Egypt must be doomed for you to make such a claim.”
“I have my limitations being tied to the sun. I must complete my journey each day.” He pointed to the sun boat floating above the Nile. “It appears the madness starts upon my departure. Can I entrust you to find the culprit and free my kingdom?”
Anubis took a deep breath and waited. None of the gods were his friends. His only friend was the shape-shifting cat by his side. But to have a favor owed by one of the most powerful gods was something he couldn’t pass on. Even if he never used it.
“Fine,” Anubis agreed, staring at the river. “We’ll get rid of your problem.”
Constantine’s head snapped up to stare at Anubis, who ignored him. Horus clapped him on the shoulder.
“This will be great for Egypt.” Without waiting for Anubis’ reply, he transformed back into a falcon and took off toward his boat.
“Why are you dragging us into this?” Constantine asked the god.
“Aren’t you curious about what is plaguing this city?” Anubis watched as the sun god sailed away on his ship.
“No.” Constantine morphed back into his cat self. “Wondering about the affairs of humans only leads to trouble. You know that as well as I do. Add a bunch of demented gods to that combination and it’s just disaster. You don’t even like them.”
Constantine paced between Anubis’ legs. The feisty cat marched around, shaking his head.
“True.” Anubis looked down to follow the cat’s movement but spun around in circles, trying to keep up. “But we would have the sun god owing us a favor.”
“And what kind of favor do you need from him?” Constantine stopped and glanced up at the god.
“I don’t know yet,” Anubis confessed. “But it never hurts to have a god owe you one.”
Constantine threw his head back and let out a long sigh. Closing his eyes, he spoke between clenched teeth. “We are going to die here.”
“Stop being dramatic. We can’t die,” Anubis reminded him. “What we need to do is figure out what is going on and start there.”
“Fine,” Constantine conceded. “But you will get me fresh fish for a full moon cycle for putting up with this.”
“For a being who doesn’t need to eat, you do that a lot.” Anubis bent down and picked up the cat.
Securing Constantine on his shoulder like a small bundle of clothes, he sauntered toward the city.
“I better be getting fish or you won’t be able to close your eyes, ever.” Constantine ran the sharp tip of one of his claws down the side of Anubis’ face.
“Stop that.” Anubis swatted the paw away from his eyeball. “Instead of being difficult, pay attention to anything out of the ordinary.”
“What we really need to do is avoid this whole thing, but no.” Constantine adjusted himself around Anubis’ neck to face forward. “Are you planning to change your look?”
“Oh great.” Anubis slapped his forehead and slowly shifted to his full human form. “Better?”
The jackal head was gone, replaced with the head of a young handsome man with dark brown hair.
“Almost.” Constantine leaned back on Anubis, making sure not to fall. “Adjust your eyes or that silver glow is going to scare every kid away.”
Anubis blinked several times before opening his eyes again. Constantine smirked and nodded.
“Much better,” Constantine told him. “Let’s go spy on your humans.”
Anubis rubbed the top of the cat’s soft head but didn’t answer. There was no winning with Constantine, so fighting was futile. Instead, Anubis let the feline focus on the city as he tested the energy level of the area.
Chapter Three
It was a long and painful day for the god and the cat. They had spent all day roaming the streets and found nothing. As the sun set on the Nile, they took a break on top of Ptah’s grand temple; the best location to observe the entire city. Anubis swung his legs over the edge while Constantine devoured his third fish of the day.
“I think Horus was playing a trick on us,” said Anubis, leaning down to lie flat on his back.
“Us?” Constantine mumbled in between bites. “I did not agree with this plan. This was all your great idea. We have wasted most of the day marching around this city, looking in alleys, and . . .”
Constantine stopped his tirade. His ears perked up, and he searched the night. Anubis sat up and scanned the night air.
“Are you feeling that?” Anubis inhaled a breath.
“I heard a scream,” Constantine replied. His senses were even more magnified than even the god’s.
They both snapped their heads to the left.
“The fishermen’s quarters!” Anubis announced and leaped to his feet.
Constantine had dropped the fish and jumped off the temple by the time Anubis adjusted his clothes. Anubis didn’t waste any time questioning the cat, instead took off after the feline who moved like the wind through the city.
Children’s screams filled the air as they approached the fishermen’s community. Constantine took a sharp right at the entrance of a small alley, forcing Anubis to slam into the side of a house. The god barely noticed the impact and merely bounced off the wall to continue his chase.
The alley was dark except for the faint flow of candles coming from a few houses. Constantine stood in the middle of the alley, hissing with claws extended and the fur on his back standing straight up. Cautiously, Anubis made his way to his side making no sound.
“What is that?” Constantine growled.
A large bird with the head of a feline stood in front of them. In one of his claws, he was holding a small comatose child. Constantine moved forward, but the bird snapped his beak, barely missing the head of the child.
“Easy, Constantine,” Anubis warned him. “We don’t want him to hurt the boy. If the demon takes a bite out of him, he will devour his soul.”
Constantine glanced up at Anubis without moving his face away from the demon. “What is it about you people and this soul-devouring obsession?”
“Human souls are the most powerful thing in this world.” Anubis moved toward the demon, who flapped his wings lazily. “Without them, humans can’t transition to their next life. Souls are the key to existence.”
“Of course, they are,” Constantine hissed, moving in the opposite direction from Anubis.
They stood on opposite sides of each other, with the demon and the child in the middle. The demon moved its feline head from side to side, watching the two beings.
Aim for the head and I’ll catch the boy. Anubis whispered to Constantine using their mind connection.
Try not to drop him now, we don’t need a squashed boy. Constantine replied, without losing track of the bird. Now!
The words barely crossed his mind when Constantine leaped for the demon. Anubis moved from his side, sliding underneath the demon, ready to save the child. Claws out Constantine collided with the demon. The demon tried to protect his eyes from the attacking cat and dropped the boy. Just as Anubis had hoped. Constantine took the demon down while Anubis secured the boy to safety. Demon and cat rolled on the ground, Constantine taking chunks of feather off the demon’s body.
