Blueblood

Story: Blueblood

Chapter 31 Another Exodus

Author: Eric McQueen (mcqueen.richarderic@gmail.com)

Adult Readers, Sexual Situations, Sex

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Another Exodus

Now we risked usage but kept it at key times, but Mark was poised in front of a computer often watching this group move. Amasis was just...fascinated by the computer.

"This..." he pointed at the screen, "...isn't magic?" He asked with a sound that it was incredible and had to be magic. "There is a magic window here. You see them, but they can't see you. They are so far away! How can you do this?"

I nodded. "It is magic." I smiled at Amasis. "It's the magic of science." I put an arm around his shoulder. "And I'll be happy to explain, and I will, but it's sort of involved and we don't have time. So, yes, it's magic." I nodded.

Amasis nodded. "Just tell me, how can we see so far away?" He wanted to know.

I thought a minute how to explain simply. "There's a magic eye in the sky that can see them. We see them through that." I watched as he was very uncertain. "It's not hard to understand, but there are some foundations you need to understand. You'll get it. You're a smart man."

Amasis gave a shrug and nod. "I have a lot to learn."

I smiled. "And you have friends that will help you," I assured. "We won't leave you, Amasis."

He looked at me and now, I saw the emotion in his eyes. "For the first time in all the seasonal cycles, I believe you will be with me." He said as he hugged me. "You are my friends. You and Colin and all the others. You are my friends."

I nodded. "We are. In fact, I feel we're family."

Amasis smiled at that and nodded. "Not brothers."

"Not brothers?" I frowned.

He shook his head as I saw a twinkle in his eyes. "I love you and Colin." He explained. "I don't remember a lot about my past and family, but I had a brother." He said smiling. "I do remember not liking him at all."

My eyes widened. "Why?"

"He was less intelligent than..."

He said a word and I heard a beep when the translator didn't know a word. Usually, I just thought about the word in context, but...I tapped the translator. "I didn't get that."

He grinned. "It looks like a small horse. It is about this high..." he held his hand up about midway on his body.

I looked surprised at him. "I think you just called your brother an ass."

Amasis shrugged. "If you say so."

I grinned at him. "You know enough English! I bet you knew exactly what you were saying!" I shook my head. "No matter the language, there is always a word for people that are an ass."

Then he said in accented, but clearly English. "You prove?" He challenged and hurried down the corridor as he laughed. "He was ass!!" Again, in accented, but clearly in English.

Stan also monitored the Internet to see if he could find out what was happening outside just ten to fifteen miles away. We didn't dare start up Buddy here. The power drain and the signals we sent to the satellite would be too high and tell them exactly where we were.

The next sunrise came. George, Burke, Colin, and I stood with Amasis on the hilltop above Amasis' City. He had not ventured outside at all in over two thousand years! Not even at night. So, we took him out an hour before the sun would rise. Amasis was shaking as he was both excited and scared.

"You know I am just like you," I reassured Amasis. "So are Colin, Burke, and George...all the ones you know are vampires. You feel it. We're fine. It will tingle for the first few times, but it won't hurt you."

Amasis was beyond words at this point and just nodded. He reached out suddenly and grabbed my hand and in a whisper almost, he said. "I never dared to be out here."

"We'll be right here with you," I said again. "If there's a problem, we'll get you back in. The tunnel entrance is right there." I pointed on the hill.

He again didn't say much but nodded, but his eyes widened with terror as the sky lightened.

The desert was in many ways beautiful with its own charms. Looking east, we felt the chill of air was changing to the desert heat as the sun was about to break the horizon. I knew Amasis was feeling it, but I looked as the first rays of the sun broke that rocky horizon and the first sunrise for him began. Just as with other vampires, as he began to cry. He grabbed Colin's hand with his other. I knew he was feeling the tingle. He let go of mine a few seconds to rub his hand over his arm and body. He took my hand again. "Khepri." He said reverently. "I thought I'd never see this again."

Colin frowned whispering to Amasis. "I thought he was Ra."

Amasis chuckled and rubbed his and my hand over his face nodding. He held our hands too tight to let go. "He is...Ra-Atum-Khepri is his full name. Khepri is the name of the rising sun. Atum for the setting sun." He said as more of the sun rose higher. He shook his head. "I wish Nabia had stayed to see this."

Colin nodded. "I wish she had, too." He let Amasis' hand go and wrapped his arm around Amasis' shoulders. "I'm so glad we can at least touch you now. I can't do that with any other god."

Amasis chuckled hearing it again. "We're all the same, so why not?" He smiled. "I like being touched..." he looked from Colin to me. "...by friends."

"I'm a big toucher, so get used to it," I said with a smile.

The sun was rising more and I could see the tingling was becoming more...annoying to Amasis. I said we should go back in.

"There will be many sun rises for you in the future." I chuckled. "You'll see a lot of Atum and Khepri. I promise you."

There was another giving Amasis a meal which he devoured quickly and was reaching for more. He smiled at Colin and me. "I have never..." he said chewing, "...or at least I don't remember eating something this good!"

I chuckled. "There's a whole world of tastes and flavors."

Amasis shook his head. "I look forward to tasting it all!"

I went into the chamber where Stan was again hunched over a computer. Mark was standing behind him looking over his shoulder at the screen as Stan went through various emails. Stan was shaking his head. "There is nothing," Stan said sadly. "If there is anything, it's encrypted, but there's nothing to find! Buddy is finding nothing to try to sift through."

"There may be nothing," Colin said sadly.

Mark shook his head. "Not that I can figure." He said sourly. "I'll bet my next paycheck those guys are connected with a nonpolitical group, but what group. I can't say." He turned to me. "The group feels less about a certain country."

"Militia for hire?" I asked.

Mark nodded. "Most assuredly." He looked at the images they got from all the members of this group.

I shook my head. "With no ideology or government backing, they are more dangerous."

Mark nodded again. "They're following a paycheck for a job to do. Laws and ethics are not going to be followed to get that job done."

Stan let out another grunt and slammed his fists down on the desk. "This is so...frustrating!" He waved again at the computer. "Buddy can probably do it, but the speed for these laptops is limited. The file transfer and connection can work, but I would rather be in New York or England, using Buddy directly." He waved at an image. "I have the face of one of them. Using facial recognition, I might be able to find out who they are. This is too slow!"

Mark grinned and started squeezing Stan's shoulders in a message. "Easy there, Lightning Man. It's gonna be fine." Mark looked at me again. "With no government backing and no political agendas, we don't know how deep the pockets of the people backing them are. They could be well equipped, even better than we are." He grinned. "Not that Holms Laboratories is skimping on anything, but..."

"They could be well armed." I nodded. "And we're not."

"Against vampires, we are." Mark waved at the screen again, "Against them and guns...no." He grinned at me. "They could have better computers."

Stan lifted his head quickly as his eyes flew wide. "What!? No way! Buddy is the best! There is no system that can break in through his firewalls and encrypted files." Stan looked at the screen again. "I'll get this guy's identity using the FBI and Interpol databases and whatever...he has to have a record." He began typing again. "I'll find him!"

Mark nodded at me and winked at me. "I know you can, baby." He said giving Stan a quick squeeze on the shoulder for encouragement.

I chuckled at Mark and patted his arm. Leaning in so only he could hear. "Good motivating."

Mark shrugged. "It's a gift."

Colin and I met with Willie and Alex. They had military backgrounds as we told them what was happening and understood the danger. Amasis and Amir were also there. Amir had a working knowledge of English, more than Amasis, but to make sure we were understood, we had Amir fitted with an earpiece and translator to convert English to his language and he told Amasis what was said.

Willie groaned as he and Alex went over what actions they should take. "The problem is the people of Amasis' City. It isn't that they aren't willing to lay down their lives; they are going against men with guns...machine guns and bombs! They live outside, yes, but they are swords, spears, and brute force! We don't have weapons for this!"

Colin grunted understanding, but Amasis held up a finger. He began in broken English. "You don't." He said slowly. "I may." Then he began in his own language. "We have raided many groups...warriors and others. A treasure was not our only plunder." His eyebrows waggled and he motioned for us to follow him.

We followed him a good way through the tunnels until at last, we came to a chamber we would never have found without him.

"These were taken over the years," Amasis said waving at the many boxes and containers. "I wasn't sure what they were, but I kept them. Fearing they could be dangerous, I kept them away from the people."

Now Alex and Willie were looking at guns and a lot of munitions. The labels were written in several languages. Some were old and I thought they were from World War II. There were other crates and boxes that were newer from more recent conflicts.

"There is a good supply of guns," Willie said. "They need to be cleaned." He said picking up a gun I was sure was a rapid-fire machine gun.

Colin opened a crate and stepped back instantly in fear. "Devon, look at this!"

I walked over to the crate. This was clearly marked. "This is C4! This is a powerful explosive!"

Colin nodded. "This amount of explosives could level the whole mountain!" He smiled at my surprised expression. "I've seen my share of movies. I know what Hollywood says can happen." He looked at Willie. "Can we use this?"

Willie and Alex looked at several similar crate which was packed with quite a number of the explosives. "I don't know how to use this," Alex said and Willie shook his head.

I smiled. "I bet Chuck, Mark, and Shelly know how." I shook Amasis' shoulder. "And I bet Stan could help create the detonators."

Amasis' eyes became confused. "I do not know...detonator."

I chuckled. "A big boom!" I said using my hands to show the blasting. "We can make it a big boom!"

Amasis was nodded, but it was still not clearly understood. He may not have known "boom."

Colin smiled. "We can put some at the tunnel entrances and blow the whole tunnel." He looked at me and frowned. "I know you want to save these people. I know you don't want to destroy this city, but..."

"Yes." I agreed reluctantly. "But we need to tell Amasis. He must understand and know what the consequences are."

Colin looked at Amasis who was trying to understand what we were saying. "I guess you need to tell him. He'll listen to you." Colin put his hand on my shoulder. "We're not blowing up the city, just the entrances to it. It will protect it closing access to it. We know where it is now."

"You don't think," I said. "This could cause the whole mountain to come down?"

Colin nodded. "It could, but it would be protected if we block the entrances."

"We're really going to do this?" I asked no one in particular.

Colin didn't like saying it, but... "I don't see another choice. Those men will find their way down here. Everything will be lost when they do. Alex, Willie, Mark, Chuck and Shelly will set up the C4."

I looked at Amasis. "We need to talk," I said and led him back out of the storage chamber to catch him up with all of it. Gunpowder, explosives and what we hoped to do and he needed to understand and approved of in a few days.

I explained about the explosions and gun powder and touched lightly on ballistics and the destruction that the C4 could wield. Amasis listened but was having a hard time accepting the scale of destruction.

"You're talking about the power of a god!" He said as he stood and began thinking and working it out in his mind.

"Yes, I suppose I am." I stood up and looked at Amasis. "They are just tools. They can do good things, too: make big rocks into smaller rocks. Unclog a river or...the can make tunnels made of rock collapse."

He looked around the chamber we were in and I knew he was thinking of the surrounding city. "We will get the people out first?"

I nodded. "Absolutely. We don't want to hurt anyone. You know that." I touched Amasis gently. "You will be with us." I sighed. "There will be more you will see that you won't understand, but Colin, me and the others will be there to help. I swear." I smiled. "You're almost done with the serum. George will be able to make something that can slip under your skin. The pain will go away and you can be outside all day."

Amasis nodded as he smiled at that. "It's worth losing this to be able to do that."

The trick with satellite images, you had to move a satellite to where you want to see. That was a major production, we didn't try that. We used a satellite in a rotating orbit and we only got images so often, but often enough to keep tabs on where this militia was. Suddenly we heard Stan let out a shout of victory.

"I got him!" Stan said coming over quickly carrying the laptop. "I got him! He's Yuri Smirnov," he looked up, "he was named after vodka? Or that vodka was named after his family?" He shook his head. "He's thirty-six and boy..." he chuckled, "this guy was not a nice person."

Colin nodded. "Did you expect him to be?"

Stan just let that go. "He's Russian by his daddy, but Ukrainian by his mommy. He was born and raised in Kiev. Educated in Moscow and joined the military there. He's freelanced since he left the service." He shook his head reading. "He was questioned about some...activities that were basically war crimes." He hit a button and showed us the screen. He smiled. "This Delkenzie program worked well with the Russian language. It read through that pretty easy."

Colin chuckled. "Well, Mitch did say that Russian was a bitch for him. It was one of the first languages the program learned to read and translate for him." He looked at me. "Something about their alphabet drove him crazy."

Stan nodded. "Well, this guy is definitely is a gun for hire. I'm doing a search now to find out more."

We gathered again in the dining chamber. The thing was, now, Amasis was dining with us. On food! He was proving to have nearly as good an appetite as Colin!

Willie chuckled as Amasis was enjoying his dinner. "George, I think you created a monster."

George grinned as he looked over at Amasis. "Let the man enjoy his meal. It's been a long time since he's eaten!"

"When are you inserting the disc?" Colin asked smiling at Amasis.

"Tonight," George said looking at Amasis. "Amasis, the pain will stop from now on."

"As long as you stay on the serum," I stressed to Amasis.

Amasis nodded. "The pain the last two days wasn't long. I'm just..." he waved at what he was eating, "...not believing how good this is!" He looked up at us. "I think you need to move those chariots from the above tunnel entrance. You should take it to one of the villages. Not Amir's village, but one of the others. We'll hide them there." He took a deep breath. "And...I need to tell the people what's going to happen. I want to be sure everyone is out of here before you do...that big boom."

Colin nodded and looked at the others of our team. "That means, you all pack and be ready to leave."

"We'll be ready." Mark nodded.

George created the disc using Amasis' blood and inserted it under his skin on the back of his arm. Colin and I were there as this last step was done.

Amasis sat up looking at the site where George had inserted the serum disc. "That didn't hurt at all." He touched his own arm. "I still don't have any feeling yet in my arm." He smiled at George. "You are a good doctor."

George smiled and bowed slightly. "Thank you."

Amasis now had a dark covering of hair seen without his headdress and that was growing and it was getting soft now. He rubbed his own head. "Well, I guess I need to address the people soon." He said to Colin and me.

I nodded. "And we need to find you some clothes."

Amasis looked down at his kilt. "Why?" His hand went to his headdress.

Colin chuckled. "People don't wear that too much out there. I'm sure between all the other men, we can find you something."

Amasis nodded and then shrugged.

Stan shook his head at the images he got from the satellite. "They're not giving up."

"They're not hurrying down here," Colin said looking at the image as well.

Stan nodded. "Because they don't know where Amir's village is! It's not on any map." He said. "The only signal being fed to and from the satellite now is this one. Those other signals stopped. It's a big empty desert and they only know approximately where to look, but not exact. They are getting closer."

"How long?" I asked and saw Stan's eyes grow. "Just guestimate."

Stan thought. "A few days?"

Colin nodded. "We need to get everyone packed and able to leave."

The largest chamber was the temple to hold everyone at once. I frowned when I saw the people gathered. They had numbered in the thousands or so I was told. There were a few hundred, but not the numbers that used to be. Amasis got up on the raised portion of the temple as people looked at him and spoke to each other. I didn't need the Delkenzie program to know they were talking about how different Amasis looked. Gone was his kilt, he wore jeans and a t-shirt with mountain boots and he removed the ball cap that said Mets. Amasis raised his hands and they stopped talking.

"I told you over the last few days, I begin a new chapter in my life soon," Amasis said, but this time, there was sadness clearly in his voice. "I have lived down here a long time." He smiled. "I knew your parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents." Now that there was the moisture in his eyes, I saw the tears come down his face. "I have loved all of you. I would not be here if you had not been here to care for me. You worshiped me as a god. I am no god." He stopped and caught himself. "I owe all of you everything. I am so grateful to each and every one of you." He looked at the temple and now he was crying more. "I'm not going forever." He looked over at Amir. "My son and I will be starting a life in the outside world." He said raising his arm to Amir who came and stood beside him. "This will also be a time for each of you to start a new life. I hope the little I gave you..." He smiled. "My treasury has some things left. I gave each of you something from that." He said. "It's not a lot, but I'm told the gold alone will be enough for you to start that new life."

Mark came running in the temple. "They are in Amir's village!" He shouted. "It won't be long before they find the tunnel entrance!"

Colin jumped up beside Amasis. "Sorry." He said to Amasis. "People!" He said and the translator said it in their language. "The men are coming. You need to leave now! Go out the other two tunnels! You can go to the other village after we do...this thing we must!" He waved again. "Go!" Amasis also said go in their language and now the people started to hurry out, not screaming, but very frightened.

Colin and I rushed over to Mark. "Where are Gabriella and our mother?"

Mark worked on a device he held. "They are already heading down the tunnel to the other village where the vehicles are." He held the device up to Colin. "This is a remote." He said. "I rigged it to detonate all the C4 at once in an area."

I smiled. "Wow, you knew how to do that!?"

Mark grinned. "Like I tell Stan, I'm not just a pretty face." He held the device that looked like a cell phone. One of those flip phones. "Enter 111 and hit Send 1, Send 2, Send 3 and Send 4. Send 1 is Amir's village tunnel." He smiled. "And then..." he threw his hands away. "...boom!!" He frowned. "There was enough C4 to cover the entrances of the tunnel a good way on all four tunnels."

"Four?" I asked.

"The one we came in is to be blown as well," Mark said. "It's the one not connected to any village."

Stan came over quickly. "The cameras we set up...they are getting closer!" He pointed to the screen as the men were looking in the tunnel. "They found the tunnel entrance!"

Colin grabbed my arm. "We need to go."

What was interesting was Stan looking at his computer as he hurried with us down a tunnel.

Amasis was pulling on his jeans. "How do you men wear this?" He pulled on the crotch again. "The undergarment pinches!" He stumbled lifting a foot. "...and these sandals!" He said in disgust.

I chuckled. "We just got used to it," I said to him with a shrug. "And those are boots, not sandals."

Amasis frowned. "They are pains!"

Stan looked startled. "They're coming in the tunnel entrance!"

Colin stopped and held his hand out to Stan. "I see you have the camera set up, did we rig the speakers?"

Stan nodded and pointed to the top of the screen. "Here's the microphone."

"Enter here and you will die," Colin said. "You have sixty seconds to leave. Starting now." What they heard was in Russian, Ukrainian, Arabic and the local dialect. We saw the men stop and look at who was speaking and didn't proceed further. "This is no idle threat!" Colin said and did a count down and when he dialed the 111 and hit send 1. We were miles away down a tunnel, but noise travels. At the speed of sound, we finally heard the blast! And the cave itself shook only the tiniest bit. Amasis looked back surprised at the blasting sound with wide eyes. The camera quit sending the image.

"Come on!" I said to Amasis pulling on his arm. "This is going to go boom, too!"

We made to the end of the tunnel and out to the village. They were right when they said it was a village of mostly tents. No real permanent buildings. There were the camels a few children or young adults tending them and a goose or something.

Colin hit a few keys and saw the people were out of the other tunnel and hit the buttons and that camera quit sending images. He hit the other code and the tunnel we just left had a deafening blast. I could hear the crumbling of rock as the tunnel walls were collapsing. He hit one more...we all looked at the mountain in the distance and heard a more distant blast like a volcano erupting with one single blast.

Amasis looked horrified as he watched everyone cower. So, did he.

Amasis was staring at the destruction in disbelief.

Colin came up behind Amasis and put his hands on Amasis' shoulders. "It's not gone. It's just secured."

I came up also and took Amasis' hand. "We need to go," I said calmly and led him further toward the SUVs. That was another thing Amasis wasn't ready for.

Amir came up and got behind Amasis. "I told you about these chariots that didn't need horses." He waved at one of the vehicles.

Amasis nodded. "You did, son," Amasis said in a near whisper. "I heard what you said." He touched his own chest. "It's so unbelievable."

I nodded. "I can't know how you're feeling. I can imagine, but no one can know how this affecting you." I waved at the SUVs. "For a while...until you adjust." I said and hurried forward. "And you will adjust. You're very smart." I touched the nearest SUV. "It's a machine. It's not magic, but it will get us out of here." I looked at Colin. "Are we going back to Cairo?"

Colin shook his head. "No, we'd be in danger there." He looked at Stan. "Is there anything on the satellite images?"

Stan was shaking his head. "I'm waiting for another pass. It will be overhead in a few minutes." He said again walking and looking at the laptop at the same time.

"Where will we go?" I waved at Amasis. "He doesn't have a passport!"

Colin nodded. "We're going to Israel."

"Why Israel?"

"We're allies," Colin said. "There's an embassy in Tel Aviv. We're going there." He looked at Amasis. "It's a little travel to get there, it will take several hours." He looked at Mark and Chuck. "Someone needs to call Ruben. Talk with him and have him call Senator Cook or Congresswoman Chance or both. Have them call Israel and get us cleared to cross the border there."

Chuck nodded and pulled out his satellite phone. "I got it." He dialed.

Amasis was listening and trying to understand our quick conversations and all that was happening. "It really is...happening."

I nodded. "It's really happening."

Stan let out one of his victory shouts. "Yes!" He said smiling. "Okay, it looks like they survived." He counted. "Yes, they all live."

Colin nodded and shrugged. "I guess that's good." He smiled at me.

"Yes, Colin. Life good. Death bad." I said bringing him into a kiss.

Colin smiled. "Which means we need to go because they are alive."

I looked again Amasis and waved at the SUV. "There will be many instances where you won't understand what's going on. That's fine, but you trust us, don't you?"

Amasis nodded. "I do."

This was all too new for Amasis, but I got him to sit in front on the passenger side. Everything was fascinating to him; from the comfortable seat to when Colin started the SUV and the engine came to life, startling Amasis and the air conditioning came on once it started. We liked music and the SUV's satellite stereo came on, too.

Colin touched his ear. "Can you hear me, Alex?" He nodded at the voice in his ear. "Let Ruben know we'll be entering Israel through the border at Nizzana. We're going through the desert. It's a rocky path we're taking, so we'll go carefully."

I sat right behind Colin. Stan sat in the middle seat and plugged the power cord into the socket. Mark was beside Stan on his other side.

Stan patted the computer. "There you go, Buddy. Power." He said to the computer. I didn't have to see Mark roll his eyes to know he did it.

Amasis said from the front passenger side. "This has been..." he looked at his surroundings. "This is a chariot?"

Colin nodded as we started to move. "It is."

Amasis had no idea what to expect, but he was trying to accept it. "This music..." he said looking at the dashboard. "...is from invisible musicians?" He held his hands up to the vent. "Cool air is breathed by this chariot!?" He waved. "We're moving with no horses and I don't see anything pulling it!"

Colin shrugged. "But we're moving. It will be a few hours' ride. So, sit back and relax." He looked in the rearview mirror at me. "Do you know what day is coming?"

I hadn't thought of it, but I remembered. "I do. We missed Thanksgiving. Where are we going now? We haven't found The Others."

Colin nodded. "We found out about The Others. We're coming back, but for now, we need to go back to the United States." His emerald eyes in the mirror told me what he meant. "We need to go home."

"The plane in Cairo?" I asked.

"I had them go back after we got here," Colin said a shrugged. "I didn't know how long we'd be here."

Going was...it wasn't difficult, but it was slow. The ballooned tires helped as we went. Stan worked out a route using the satellite imaging. We were a caravan of three SUVs and two cargo vans, also with those balloon tires. It was because of this length of time that was a good thing. The border station on the Egyptian side was first. We arrived from a southwest direction of the town. What pleased me were the military vehicles waiting with US flags. Border guards from both sides were there waiting with the military from the United States. We went through the passport checks and there was a question about Amasis and Amir, but a man in a suit came up and presented papers from a briefcase that told of political refugee status and Amasis and Amir were allowed in to be in the custody of the US Embassy. I grinned as we were then escorted by the military all the way to Tel Aviv. Amasis was looking the whole way once we got to Nizzana. I watched as Amasis got sadder and sadder. When we got to the fertile areas of En Sharuhen he wasn't even looking anymore. I think it was just too much, too soon.

Once at the embassy, there were some things to go over before we got to a hotel making it late in the afternoon. We got a suite with connecting rooms for Amasis and Colin and me. Now Amasis was very despondent. He did grab the walls of the elevator when the door shut and began to move, but seeing we weren't upset he settled down.

I went in after we checked in to check on him. He was looking out the window at the beach below. The hotel was a luxury hotel on the beach and we were on an upper floor. He stood with his arms behind his back as he just stared. I walked over to him and he didn't move.

It was a few minutes before he said anything. "This is not my world." He said softly and sadly.

I thought about how best to answer. "It's not mine either," I said which caused him to look at me surprised. I shrugged. "What the world is, is the world. It doesn't belong to anyone. It simply is." I turned to look at him. "Should we have left you? Sealed you in your wonderful city? Or should we have just killed you?"

He gave a shaking nod. "I don't know. Maybe." He waved at what he saw below the people and the cars that drove on the street he could see and the city lit for the evening. "I don't know any of this." He said sadly. "Since we left my city, I haven't really understood anything."

I nodded. "It's all new," I said. "You need time. It will become familiar eventually."

He walked away and sat on the bed. His eyes widened as he bounced on the mattress. "Even this!" He patted the bed. "What's this stuffed with? It's very springy."

I smiled as I came in and sat by him. "There are air pockets in it. Foam filled and made to make sleep more comfortable." I smiled. "Humans are very resourceful and finding ways to be comfortable. When we got in the vehicle...the horseless chariot...we as people found a way to make even that travel more comfortable. We came up with ways to entertain ourselves and make travel more comfortable by making it cooler or warmer as needed. You experienced that the first time today."

Amasis nodded. "Enclosed and even the ride itself had no real jolts."

"I don't want you feeling overwhelmed by this world. Gabriella had the same problem when we rescued her." I said. "Technology changed a lot recently. Colin, as long as he has been alive, progressed on the edge of society, so it was easier for him."

"I shouldn't exist!"

I nodded. "No, you shouldn't, but here you are!" I smiled. "Most of them shouldn't be here. Burke, Alex, Willie, Gabriella, and Colin should be dead by now. Relationships that are relationships now, should never be. Mom and Willie, Gabriella and Alex, George and Burke and certainly not Colin and me, but Colin and I are married. My mother is married to a man that should have died of old age when she was a baby. Gabriella should have died of old age or been an old lady when Alex was born. George and Burke should never have even met..." I touched his arm. "You should just be a boring notation in history books I have read at school. We shouldn't know each other at all, let alone be friends! I have a good friend who was a pharaoh in ancient Egypt! That's something in itself. Not many can claim that."

Amasis nodded smiling. "And you? You didn't say you shouldn't be here."

I grinned. "I was born in it this world. There was no adjustment for me."

Amasis looked startled. "You were born in this world? How old are you?"

"I was born only thirty some season cycles ago."

Now, Amasis' eyes widened. "You're barely older than Amir!"

I nodded. "That's right." How did I make this easy? I couldn't. "You can choose ways to look at this. It can defeat you, or you can look at it as a challenge. You have lived longer than any human being I ever heard of." I shrugged. "Some might view that as a curse, others see it as a blessing. The advantage here is you have people here that are the same as you. We won't necessarily die on you. We can and probably will, but it's not certain when." I smiled at him. "Soon, we'll be taking another kind of chariot."

Amasis looked wary at me. "Oh? What's special about this one?"

I chuckled. "It flies."

Amasis looked at me wide-eyed. "I was told there were strange things moving in the sky over the past cycles. Those are chariots?"

I nodded. "With hundreds of people on it. You'll be one of them soon." I got up. "Now, the best thing we can do...it will help you adjust. In the morning...we're going shopping."

"Shopping?" Amasis asked.

I nodded. "You need clothes," I said. "Chuck will want his pants and hat back. Colin will want his shirt back and shoes."

Amasis grinned and stood up. He pulled on his crotch again. "The undergarment?"

I chuckled. "I don't think Colin cares if you keep it."

Amasis shook his head. "No, no...I want to give them back." He pulled again. "It binds and pinches. They sell garments that might not?"

I patted his arm. "We can shop for those you may like, too." I reached over and grabbed a remote. "Now, I'll introduce you to the fabulous world of modern toileting!" I watched his eyebrows rise. He was fascinated! Like many people I heard about from remote areas in the rural South that had outhouses to use, he was flushing just to see the water come in and out. Then I showed him about TV and how to use the remote, about the channels and even how to use the translator to understand the languages if he didn't know them. We finally had to leave when Colin came in complaining about being hungry again. It had been several hours, so he was hungry. So was Amasis.

When Colin and I settled in for the night, Colin came to me as we got in bed.

"How's he handling all this?" Colin asked.

I nodded. "He'll be okay. He just feels out of place here right now."

Colin smiled. "We have a few days as the government offices discuss what to do." He chuckled. "What do they need to do? He's coming with us, but he needs permission to stay in the United States."

"Do you think there will be a problem?"

He shook his head. "We have two powerful people agreeing to let him in. It's just the red tape." He stretched next to me and started to come closer and stopped. "Should we...do this?" He asked.

"Do this what?"

Colin rolled his eyes. "You know what I'm asking about. It's our nightly thing! I don't think there have been too many nights when we didn't make love." He thumbed to the door behind which was Amasis. "He may come in."

I laughed. "He's not a child. He knows what we'd be doing if he saw us making love."

Colin frowned and gave me a sardonic look. "Oh, you don't mind if he sees?"

"He's been alive a long time, I'm sure it will be nothing new to him. I'm sure as many times as he married to both male and female, he probably did it all and could give us tips!" I said pulling Colin close. "He's already seen us naked, and we've seen him, but he's pretty tired. He's fascinated with the TV. I don't think he'll be up for a few more hours. He's pretty tired." I said running my hands over Colin's chest. "A few hours enjoying each other?" I asked.

Colin smiled kissing me. "I like that idea." He began kissing me deeper and with more longing.

It was the next morning when we went to get breakfast Amasis knew a little more and was sharing what he'd found out.

"So, this is a country of Hebrews?" He asked. "They were nomadic before!"

I nodded. "This has been a country for a while now." I looked at him. "They were once slaves to the people of Egypt."

Amasis nodded. "Not for a few thousand cycles..." he smiled. "...years." He grinned. "I am trying to learn more English." He tapped his translator. "I was seeing...watching that magic window...what you say is TV. I was listening and understood some...the languages changed a lot, but I realized, they were Hebrew here. This is Israel. A country made up of Hebrews."

Colin nodded. "You got it."

I watched as both of them were eating well. "We're going to get Amasis and Amir some clothes. Want to come?"

Colin nodded. "Sure. We won't be leaving for a few more days."

Amasis looked again a little wary. "Then we will take the flying chariot?"

Colin nodded smiling. "It's called a plane. We're taking you to where we live far across the ocean."

Amasis smiled. "You two are very kind. Thank you for doing all this."

The mall was also fascinating to Amasis. He looked at everything. He marveled at a lot of what he saw we had in this world now. Electronic gadgets must hit all males in our very DNA, he was spellbound looking at all the TV, stereos, computers and all those things. I showed him where there was music like he heard in the SUV he could get and play anytime he wanted on a stereo. Even Amir was a little unprepared for a lot he was seeing. The most important thing was for Amasis was he found some undergarments that didn't pinch or bind. The shoes he would just have to get used to.

It was at the mall as we got something to eat that Colin breached a subject.

"We came to your city originally, Amasis, because of the Others," Colin said. "Those you called The Old Ones."

Amasis nodded. "They were pretty well taken care of. I hadn't seen one in a hundred cycles."

"But they didn't originate in your city?" Colin said.

Amasis shook his head. "No. We had the records about them, but they originated elsewhere. A place near the original capital of..." he said a word, but the translator beeped. "...later it was called Thinis. They were taken to many places and released in the wilds north of Egypt. From what I understand, in what you now call...Europe. They were some released to go North, South, East, and West. They knew how to survive. They were primitive but resourceful." He thought. "From what I understand, the creator of these creatures wanted a force that would overtake an enemy; providing that our own people would be immune to these creatures."

"They would go, attack the people in these countries, wipe them out..." Colin said.

Amasis nodded. "The people would die he thought," Amasis said. "They would die in simple sunlight." He shrugged. "Some would live, but they would attack his own people."

I nodded. "They pretty much did that. These creatures don't attack us because we already are vampires. He wasn't making a race of vampires, was he?"

"I don't think that was his intent," Amasis said.

Colin frowned. "How did you become a victim?"

Amasis frowned. "I really can't remember." He said. "It was so many cycles ago. I remember I fought in a fierce battle. I was wounded and when I woke up..." he shrugged. "...I just thought I'd fallen in that battle and I was in the afterlife. I was making that afterlife better. I survived because I was stashed away in what was going to be my tomb. It wasn't finished. I was sealed in, but I was there, couldn't go out, so I didn't."

I smiled. "You were in battle?"

Amasis nodded with a smile. "I was a warrior! I was not just Pharaoh! I would never lead a campaign I wasn't involved in."

Colin nodded. "That explains why we probably never have seen The Others in the United States."

I nodded. "We have wild vampires, but those are the ones that have given up." I sighed. "The Others..." I waved at Amasis, "...the ones he calls the Old Ones never were taken to the New World."

Colin sat back as he thought. "The danger is far from over." He said to us. "Those men...the militia....whoever sent them know who we are. They know where we live. We'll see them again."

"Are we moving on?" I asked.

"We need to see what Stan has gotten from those scrolls," Colin said.

"He did get them all, right?" I asked.

"All the ones that were there, yes." Colin nodded. "Now, we'll find out if that builds a database we can use."

I grinned at Amasis. "And you'll be with us. You get to be part of a big celebration in the United States."

Amasis raised his eyebrows. "Oh? Celebrating what?"

"Christmas!"

We were finally cleared to leave Israel. We were given the papers needed for Amasis and Amir complete with pictures and documentation needed. The camera flash startled Amasis, but he weathered it well. Amasis looked as we arrived at the airport and looked at a plane for the first time.

He nodded. "Okay, it does sort of look like a bird."

Colin slapped Amasis on the back. "That's because it is a bird! Now, we'll be riding in one."

It was the Holms Laboratories plane again, so less hassle with the authorities. I showed Amasis and Amir what to do when we got onboard. I showed them the seatbelts and told them what they can expect. I spoke of turbulence and Amasis' and Amir's eyes widened when I talked about that. Chuck, Shelly, Mark, and Stan were flying commercial to New York. They had lives other than chasing vampires. I sat by Colin and put my seatbelt on.

"I felt like a stewardess or whatever they call them...flight attendant?" I went into the voice I'd heard many times as the flight safeties were given. "In case of loss of cabin pressure, the masks will come down and put the mask on yourself before attaching one to your child..."

Colin chuckled. "I'd listen to you." He smiled at me.

We were good until the plane's engines suddenly got louder and we began to move. I watched with a grin as Amasis' eyes widened the faster we went and kept getting faster. When the nose of the airplane left the ground Amasis let out a slow sound that got louder to become a small yelp with the rear wheels left the ground and we began rising. Then he started breathing faster as his grip on the arm of the seat became tighter, his knuckles were white.

I reached over and pried his hand free. "It's okay," I said. "We're flying and will do that for a long time."

Amasis nodded too rapidly, but couldn't say a thing. George came offered to give him a light sedative.

Amasis didn't answer. I walked to George. "Give him a few more minutes. When he realizes what he fears never happens; he might calm down."

George nodded and promised to watch him.

Colin smiled as I sat down beside him again. "Some people never get used to flying." He shrugged.

"But they know about planes," I said. "He never heard of one or even knew what they were until a few days ago."

Amasis finally went to sleep and I relaxed.

Mom reached over to me. "Son, William and I..."

I looked up at her and smiled. "You mean...my Dad and you."

Willie chuckled beside her. "Well, you had a father."

"And I remember, but you have that job now," I said. "You're Dad now."

Mom smiled at Willie and looked at me again. "Your Dad and I have some news."

I sat back a little in my seat. "I'm not going to be a big brother."

Mom swatted me lightly on the arm. "No, not that kind of news." She smiled shaking her head. "We're moving out."

"What!?" I asked in shock. "You're going to leave Wentworth!?"

Now Colin was listening. "You want to leave Wentworth Manor?"

Mom frowned, but Willie shook his head. "We're not leaving the two of you, we're just moving to a place of our own."

Willie nodded. "We want a place of our own. Besides, the house is getting crowded. You have Amasis and Amir now..."

"I still have the house on James Island. The lease will be up at the first of the year. We'll move in there." Mom said logically.

Then Gabriella leaned over from her seat. "We're moving out, too." She said holding Alex's hand who rose beside her. "It's better for all of us."

Colin looked from Gabriella and to Mom. "Everyone is in danger now that those people are after us."

"Are we more safe at Wentworth?" Gabriella asked. "You two were kidnapped right from Wentworth! On your wedding day!!"

"Which we knew that would probably happen!" I protested. I looked over at Burke who was about to say something. "...and we've already been through that, Burke, don't reopen that." Burke gave a shrug and settled back next to George.

"Assign what security you think best, Daddy." Gabriella said as she smiled at Alex. "I have my protection here."

"We land in Charleston." Mom said. "But Willie and I will be checking into a resident's hotel there until the lease is up."

"Alex and I will be checking in there, too," Gabriella said and looked at Mom. "I seem to remember a woman that was in the real estate business." She smiled. "Care to help us look for a house?"

Mom smiled. "I'd be happy to!"

Colin was slowly letting it sink into his mind. "Fine." He sighed. "I guess they all move on eventually."

I looked at Colin and waved at my mother. "That's what I'm supposed to do, that was my job! I was her child. She's not supposed to move out. I'm supposed to grow up and move out. Not her!"

Colin patted me on the hand. "Well, she is."

"My mother got married and is moving out." I sighed.

"So is my Gabby," Colin said sadly.

I looked at Colin. "Are we supposed to cry or something now?" I frowned. "I wouldn't have minded a little version of Willie, that would have been fun..." I smiled at Colin, "...or another me."

Mom laughed. "Oh, no, the world could not handle another you, Devon."

Colin pulled me kissing my temple. "I don't think that would be so bad."

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