Gunmetal Magic: A Novel in the World of Kate Daniels

understand it. “I’m sure we can scrape enough brain cells together between the three of us. Indulge us.”
    “There is no need for such hostility, Andrea Marie. I’m not your enemy. Well, not yet.”
    So he knew my middle name. So what.
    Anapa shrugged. “I suppose I will explain this to you, so you will stop wondering about it. We have important subjects to discuss and I’ll need your full attention. When magic began to fade from the world, I took a mortal form and fathered a child, pouring all my essence into it. Then I fell asleep. My child in turn had a child, and he had a child, and on and on, my lineage stretched throughout time, until the returning magic awoke me. As I became aware, I hovered on the verge of existence until my descendant decided to do as most men do and bred with a charming woman. I called to my essence within the bloodline and merged with the beginning life during the moment of conception. In a sense, I fathered myself into being. You could say I am an avatar. Neat trick, huh?” He winked at us.
    The human part of him kept him alive during the tech. That also meant he was weak while the magic was gone. Weak was good. “I thought you’d look more Egyptian,” I told him.
    “And how do you think the original Egyptians looked?” Anapa raised his eyebrows. “What do you know of us? Were you there at the birth of the glory that was Egypt? Were you there to watch as we mixed with Nubians, Hittites, Libyans, Assyrians, Persians, and Greeks, you dumb little puppy? Colors, pigments, texture of skin and hair, those things are mere glaze. The vessel underneath is always clay.”
    This was above my pay grade. “Roman?”
    “He might be a nut job,” Roman said. “If he’s telling the truth, he isn’t at full strength.”
    Anapa sighed. “So tiresome. Very well.”
    Wind swept through the office, streaming from behind Anapa—hot, heavy with moisture, streaked with decay, the odor of spiced wine, and heady aromas of resins. The flamesbent away from Anapa. A jackal howled, a long eerie wail that gripped my throat in a ghostly fist and squeezed.
    The man on the chair leaned forward. A translucent outline shimmered along his skin, expanded, and a different creature sat in Anapa’s place. He was tall, long-limbed, and lean. A network of muscle bound his torso, crisply defined, but far from bulky. His skin was a warm, rich brown with a touch of terra-cotta. His face with its wide brown eyes was beautiful, but it wasn’t the kind of beauty you wanted to touch—it radiated too much power, too much regal disdain. As he looked at us, the contours of his head flowed like molten wax. His nose and jaw protruded forward and narrowed to a dark nose. Two long ears thrust up. Black and gray fur sheathed his face. The flash of white fangs in his mouth was like lightning.
    Magic streamed from him, potent, powerful, overwhelming.
    He rose from the chair, an impossibility, a man with a human torso and a jackal head. Outside, the two Ammit roared in unison. The press of his magic was impossible to bear.
    The illusion shattered. I realized I had forgotten to breathe and sucked in air in a hoarse gulp.
    Anapa smiled at me, sitting in his chair again, languid and mildly amused. “Now, that we have that settled, let’s talk. I have a bone to pick with you. All three of you, as a matter of fact.”
    Raphael took a step forward. “I will reimburse you for the beast.”
    “The one you killed?” Anapa’s animated face turned puzzled. “Oh, there was no need. I resurrected her the moment the magic wave appeared. I did very much enjoy your battle. A stunning display of strategic thinking.” He looked at me and then at Raphael. “You and you, you work well together.” He turned to Raphael. “Except at the end when both of you went a little mad.”
    A muscle jerked in Raphael’s face.
    “Don’t worry.” Anapa wrinkled his nose. “Happens to the best of us.”
    Raphael took a step forward. I put my hand on his forearm.
    Anapa rubbed his hands together. “Now we’ll have ourselves a bit of show-and-tell, shall we?”
    The floor of the office between him and us turned lighter. Stylized figures formed on its surface.
    “Neat, isn’t it?” Anapa grinned. “I got an idea from an old movie. So, listen and watch. Please feel free to sit down if you wish.”
    Brown figures came down from the hills toward the blue river.
    “That would be the ancient Egyptian cattle herders. The climate changed, and all