Jekyll & Hyde Inc.

The mummy backhanded her across the face. There was a terrible vicious strength in the blow, and Tina’s head rocked under the impact. But she didn’t fall back a step, and after a moment she turned her head back to face the mummy, and smiled slowly. Daniel decided he was going to stay right where he was. Because he was just dying to see what Tina was going to do next.

The mummy stared blankly at Tina. “You dare defy us?”

“It’s what I live for,” said Tina. “Mummy dearest.”

She punched him so hard in the face that dust flew from the mummy’s head, and some of the bandages broke and fell away. He staggered backward, crying out loudly with shock as much as anything else. The other mummies rose up out of their chairs. Tina’s mummy quickly regained his balance and turned angrily to face her. Daniel aimed his flare pistol at the mummy he would never call Lord, and pulled the trigger.

The flare shot toward the mummy, and he snatched it out of midair at the last moment. The mummy examined the flare curiously, and then cried out again as the flare suddenly exploded, splashing flames all over the bandaged chest and face. The mummy screamed and staggered blindly round the circle, struggling to beat out the flames with his hands. The bandaged arms immediately caught alight, and flames from the burning body leapt even higher. A flaring orange red light filled the circle, sending shadows dancing madly. The burning shape turned to face the other mummies, reaching out to them with imploring arms, but they were all frozen in place, unable to believe what they were seeing. One did finally take a step forward, but couldn’t force itself any closer. The awful heat just pushed it back. The burning mummy staggered away, stumbling blindly around the circle, as though trying to find some place where the flames weren’t destroying it.

The other mummies turned their heads away, ignoring the burning figure. They fixed their gazes on Daniel and Tina and then headed straight for them, their bandaged feet slapping softly against the floor.

Tina aimed her flare gun at the nearest mummy, but it moved quickly to avoid her, no matter how fast she changed her aim. Tina scowled, as she realized her only real hope was to shoot the mummy at point-blank range. She walked straight at it, her extended arm perfectly steady, closing in until there was nowhere left for the mummy to go. And then the mummy suddenly reached out and slapped the flare gun out of Tina’s hand with contemptuous ease. The gun skidded away across the floor and disappeared into the shadows. Tina took a step after it and the mummy was immediately standing before her, blocking her way. Tina snarled at him, and dropped back to stand with Daniel.

A fierce crimson light leapt and flared in the circle as the burning mummy was consumed by rising flames. Every bit of it was alight now, and it was hard to make out a human shape inside the flames; just a column of fire that reached almost to the ceiling. Normally, so much heat would have set off the automatic sprinklers and put the figure out, but the mummies had turned off all the power earlier. The burning figure fell to its knees, no longer screaming, no longer moving, just burning steadily in the middle of the circle like some ancient beacon. The other mummies ignored it, giving all their attention to the Hydes. They closed in, slowly and inexorably, as though they carried with them the force of ages and the inevitability of history.

Daniel had already put his flare gun away. There didn’t seem any point in reloading. He’d caught the first mummy off guard, but after what happened with Tina it was clear that wasn’t going to happen again. He looked at Tina, and she shot him her usual reckless grin. He grinned back, and they raised their fists and went to meet the mummies, putting their faith in the Hyde strength and power that had never failed them before.

Daniel strode right up to the nearest mummy and punched it in the face with all his strength. But his fist just glanced away, and the mummy’s head didn’t even rock under the impact. Daniel tried again, slamming his fist into the bandaged throat, but all he did was hurt his hand. Whatever drugs the mummies had taken in the distant past to protect them from the ravages of time had made them unstoppable. Daniel kept lashing out, even as he was forced to back away, but the mummy took no damage and felt no pain. Daniel’s thoughts spun helplessly as he realized he didn’t have a backup plan. This wasn’t like the vampires, where he’d had several weapons to choose from. Everyone had thought the flare guns would be enough.