Blueblood 3: The Others - 10. Exodus

We were definitely in another world now. We were underground, but we contacted Stan and Mark and told them we were fine. There was nothing in these rocks to prevent us from making contact. They reported no problem on their end. Colin sat up and stretched.

“Do you get a cup of coffee in Egypt?” He asked worriedly.

I grinned. “They do now, but I don’t think they had it back then.” I smiled at the look on his face. He was worried about that. I shook my head. “I’m afraid they may not. This is going back about two to three thousand years.” I smiled even more at the realization hit home with Colin.

“No coffee!?”

I shook my head. “Not two thousand years ago. No.”

Colin almost looked like he was going to cry.

I leaned into him kissing him gently. “Do you think I wouldn’t prepare for this?” I looked in his eyes as I smiled.

Colin shook his head. “Don’t toy with me.” He said in a pitiful voice. “Did you?”

I smiled. “Yes, I did.” I waved at packs we carried down with clothes and other needed essentials like the extra battery packs. I looked around. “Where do they pee?”

Colin chuckled. “Look for an urn or something.” He grinned. “If it’s something else, I have no clue.”

I nodded. “Right now? Just pee.”

I did find what I needed and Colin ended up using it, too. I would worry about the other when I needed to.

Colin brought out the bag of coffee. “Yes!” He said happily. “And you brought Death Wish! I love you!” Then he looked again worried. “There’s no coffee pot!”

I laughed. “That I can’t help you with.”

Then someone was at the chamber’s entrance, knocking. Amir looked carefully in and then smiled. “Good, you’re awakened.”

“Hi, Amir.” I greeted as I pulled my shirt on.

Amir looked a little hesitant. “I thought you might need help.” He looked over to where we had found the urn. “I see you found that.” He grinned. “We have other facilities if needed.”

Colin walked determined to Amir. “Do you have coffee pots? That’s what I need now.”

Amir smiled. “I am aware of your love for coffee.” He shrugged. “I worked with your house a few days. I have a solution for you.” He chuckled. “Follow me.”

We followed Amir through the corridors…or tunnels…after thousands of years of habitation, it was looking more like a hall and corridor than a simple cave tunnel.

“All this was made?” I asked.

Amir gave a shrug and nod. “Both naturally and created by man. These tunnels were originally created by water. There was a river that ran underground a long time ago. We just continued the process widening and making it more capable of travel by people. It took several hundred years; almost a thousand people to create this.”

I nodded. “This is the afterlife?”

Amir looked at me calmly. “It is for Amasis.”

“But not for you?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Not for me. I was born in a village accessed by the tunnels.” He waved his hand in the direction of the village.

“This isn’t your afterlife?” I asked.

Amir shook his head. “My next life is determined by how well I serve this god.”

I nodded. “And your mother?”

Amir smiled. “She was granted admission to this afterlife by the kiss of Amasis.”

This was going to be an interesting search for vampires. What did I say to them without destroying thousands of years of beliefs? “I’m sorry for all the questions, but…”

Amir turned with a smile. The smile was almost angelic and innocent; like a child’s. Who was I to take that away? “Is this a test?”

I thought quickly. “I suppose it is.” I smiled.

“Question me all you like,” Amir said gesturing for me to continue.

“You know who your father is?” I asked.

Amir nodded. “I am the son of Eamon. He is now in his afterlife.”

“That was when?”

Amir gave a shrug. “Before I was born.”

“Your mother is very pretty,” I said.

Amir nodded with a smile. “She is. That’s how she became a goddess.”

“And you’re okay with this?” I asked.

Amir looked me puzzled. “Of course. She was chosen by Amasis.”

Colin got his coffee. They had water and they boiled it. When I saw what they did, I smiled. In an earthen pot, they dipped a cloth of sheer material with the coffee in the cloth like a pouch. A few minutes later they placed a metal weight in the coffee to squeeze it out.

“An Egyptian French press!” I marveled with a nod.

Colin was just thankful for his precious coffee. We were joined by all of our team. Mom leaned into me.

“Gabriella and I will try to speak again to Nabia.” She said. “She’s a sweet woman, but seems afraid in many ways.”

“Maybe you can find out what she’s afraid of,” I said.

“That’s part of it.” Mom said. “I get the feeling she feels trapped.”

“Trapped? By Amasis?”

She shrugged. “I think she regrets giving herself to Amasis. This is not the life she envisioned…or the afterlife she hoped for.”

“Yet, Amasis has lived if for millennia.” I nodded. “She’s only had it for twenty years or more.”

Colin pushed his plate back with a sigh. “That…was good.” He looked at Amir. “What did I just eat?”

Amir chuckled. “Camel.” He remembered Colin’s reaction the day before when Amir said he’d had it for lunch.

Colin nodded. “Okay.” He said letting his mind adjust to this idea. “It was good like you said.” He sniffed and then held his arm up. “Amir? Is it possible for a man to get a shower here?”

Amir’s eyebrows rose. “No. We do bathe, but it is in water. You get in. A hot bath.”

Colin smiled. “Sounds good to me.”

“You will not bathe alone,” Amir said cautiously.

“Who all will be joining us?” Colin asked.

Amir waved at the others in our group. “The male members of these people.” He looked to understand. “Is that a problem?”

Colin shook his head. “No, just wanted to know.”

“Amir, you’re English is pretty good. Who taught it to you?” I asked.

“There have been others that have visited. Some spoke English and taught it to my mother and father, their mothers and fathers.” Amir explained. He shrugged. “I got better when we started to receive the messages.”

“You have to go somewhere to get these messages?” I asked.

Amir nodded. “I have a place in the village I was born. I have the messenger there.”

“You have electricity there?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I have a generator I use.”

“So what’s your tie to the network?” I asked. “You have to log on, correct?”

He nodded. “We have the tower in the village. If needed, I have a password to connect to the…network?” He said hoping he got it right.

I smiled. “I’d love to see your village. You have vehicles there?”

He nodded again. “They were left in some cases and pretty old. I used some of the treasure we have to get one to use…with permission, of course.” He explained. “That’s how we get supplies for this place. Caravans used to be camels and horses, now we have the mechanized versions to go back and forth.” He chuckled. “In some ways, the camels and horses are easier. They don’t get stuck in the sand.”

Colin looked around. “Where is Amasis? And your mother?”

“It is too soon after it became dark. There are preparations they do.” Amir said.

Bathing was very…interesting. Okay, I’m gay and yes men attracted me. Now I got them all naked with Colin and me. Now all the men of our group were naked in the big recessed area in a very large tub; enough room for many people. Willie was known to me, Wayne was also known to me. I grinned as Chuck looked wary as he approached the steaming water. He was in good shape and he worked hard to be fit to do his job. He was handsome! There was George, Burke, me and Colin who were in relationships that were gay.

I grinned at Chuck’s expression. “It’s okay, Chuck. We don’t bite.”

Burke chuckled. “Unless asked to.” He added.

Wayne smiled. “We all have the same things. The only time I noticed really was when what’s supposed to be there…wasn’t there.”

I smiled at that. “We have to be careful with these people.” I cautioned. “Their whole meaning for living surrounds Amasis. He is a god to them. We don’t want to educate them too fast and too much at once.”

That’s when Amasis came in. “I see no…” he searched for a word in English. “…the magic to know I said.” It was in broken English.

I jumped up and went to our pile of clothes and brought one over. “No, we do.” I looked at everyone. “No splashing. I don’t know how this will be if wet.”

I got salutes from all of them. I was surprised when Amasis was pulling his clothes off.

“As we are all…” he smiled, “…alike.” He nodded to Chuck. “You have not been given the gift yet. A god can share a bath with you?” He chuckled. “Water is still very precious.”

Colin smiled. “We have room for ten more.”

Amasis nodded. “Just me…” he looked up as Amir came in, “…and Amir.”

Ordinarily, I’d enjoy seeing them as well…okay, I did enjoy it. They were handsome men so I did look. One was a vampire, but he was a very nice looking vampire. He had nothing missing on him anywhere, believe me. Except for the hair, no hair on their chests. Armpits had hair and the groins. That was it.

“How many from the outside world have been down here?” Colin asked.

Amasis thought. “There have been many. The world where my afterlife is, has conflict, too. There was a few that came…it’s been a recent while back.” He pointed to Burke and Chuck. “The last ones had hair your color.” He frowned. “They had strange language. I could not understand them, but seemed to think what I have here was theirs to take.” He frowned. “I think they were from Ammit, the Devourer of Souls. They looked like men, but did not behave as men.” He made a couple of stripes on his own arm. “They had this letter on their clothing. Crisscrossed.”

“A swastika.” I nodded. We all looked at the translator did not have a word for that word.

“A swastika?” Amasis repeated. “That is a new word for me, but you recognize it easily when I tell you what it is.”

I nodded and ventured ahead. “The…part of this world these men were from is well known in the outer world. They are very few now.”

Amasis nodded. “I will admit. This isn’t how I thought the afterlife in the Otherworld would be. Conflict and new demons or gods I don’t know. I knew of Ammit, Apep, and Shezmu, but these were new.”

I nodded. “Are there other new demons or creatures that are evil here?”

He nodded. “There are some.” He frowned. “There were times I questioned this Otherworld. At times I thought my trip was to the Underworld.”

Colin smiled seeing an opportunity. “We can teach you about this world.”

Amasis looked up with a smile. “I was afraid to ask for that. You might see me as unworthy.”

“No way you’re unworthy. Why shouldn’t we teach you about it?” I asked. “You’ve been here a long, long time. Things change. The world changes.”

Colin nodded. “That was why we sought you out. To bring that change to you.”

“We can start whenever you’re ready,” I said. “But it may change how you see things,” I warned.

Amasis nodded. “I understand.” He sighed. “I’ll let you know.”

“Has no one ever told you about the outside world?” George asked.

Amasis nodded. “They tell me about many things. Amir has told me some things are hard to believe about it.” He smiled at Amir. “I guess I wasn’t ready.”

“Just tell us when you are ready to listen,” I said. “But remember to be openminded.”

Colin toward the end of our bath looked at his pile of clothes. “Is there a laundry here?”

I grinned. “I know you’re not asking me.”

Colin raised his arms. “I’m just asking! In general.”

I smiled. “You’re asking someone that has no answers!”

Amir came over chuckling. “I can have them laundered. I can also get some clothing for you until they’re clean.”

Colin looked at what Amir had on. “Like that?” He pointed to Amir’s white waist cloth, I found out they called a kilt. I knew my Scottish Clan had kilts, but not Egyptians.

Amir looked down at himself and looked up nodding. “You don’t like it?”

Colin frowned. “I just never imaged I’d wear a skirt.”

I reached over and pinched him lightly, making Colin yelp in surprise. “It’s not a skirt, you barbarian.” I grinned.

Colin waved at Amir. “If it waddles and quacks, it’s a duck!” He sighed. “We need to get our things from the house.”

I nodded. “And check in with Tad Morsi.”

“And I need to take the used battery packs to the surface and charge them with the solar charger.” Chuck reminded.

We put on what Amir had given us to wear, including the sandals.

Going into the corridor, I met my mother, Gabriella and Queen Nabia come from where they had apparently bathed. Mom and Gabriella were wearing nice Egyptian gowns. And of course, Gabriella’s was light blue. Naturally.

Gabriella grinned and whistled at me. “Nice legs!” She smiled.

Then Colin came up behind me.

“You, too, Daddy,” Gabriella added. “Showing all that chest hair, very sexy.”

I saw Nabia smile and hid it from us. I bowed to her. “Is something wrong, your majesty?”

She shook her head. “I am amazed by how the women behave in your group.”

I smiled. “They’re kind of brazen, aren’t they?” I grinned, chuckling.

The queen looked puzzled, but hearing the word in old Arabic, she nodded. “Free.”

“They are free,” I said. “You’re queen. Aren’t you free?”

She shook her head. “No. I belong to Amasis.”

“And that’s not good?” Colin asked.

She looked terribly guilty to say something. “It was nice at first. I can never go anywhere or do anything. I get up, take my nourishment and sit by Amasis.” She held her hands up. “Forgive me. I didn’t mean to sound…”

I looked at her hands. “Am I allowed to touch Amasis’ wife? I know from stories and history; that is sometimes against the law.”

She looked confused. “But you’re a god. That doesn’t apply to you.”

I nodded. “And if I tell you I’m not, what would you feel?” I watched her look alarmed. “I am like Amasis. I am.” I hurried on. “If you believe that makes me a god, then I am. So, are Colin and Gabriella and my mother. We’re the same. Do I even mention that maybe Amasis isn’t a god? Making me not a god or them?” I saw panic in her eyes. “Okay, okay…” said in a hurry. “This was a test. A test. Your husband and we are the same.” I assured her. “We are, but listen, your majesty. My views about women are like this: they are the same as we are. The same freedom we have, they also have.” I looked at her vampire eyes. I could only imagine what they looked like when she was human. She was beautiful. I could see where a lot of Amir got his looks. She was slowly smiling. I grinned. “They can also be a great pain in the backside!” I watched as Nabia laughed in a hushed way. “It’s okay to laugh. It’s okay to disagree with me. Be yourself!”

Colin nodded. “That goes for all of the men in our group.” He smiled as he waved at her. “We’re just the same as you are.” He looked at her with compassion. “Didn’t Amasis make you a goddess when he…” he felt my nudge to his abdomen, “…when he kissed you?”

She nodded. “Yes, but…he is Amasis. He has always been. I am much less a god than he is.” She said looking at me to understand.

“We’ll deal with that, too.” I smiled. “Know this. You can tell us anything. About you or even about Amasis, we won’t punish you or make you feel less.” I pointed at my mother. “Or tell her! She’s a good listener. How do you think I became a good listener?”

Mom nodded at Nabia. “That’s right. I taught him all he knows.”

Nabia nodded. “I’ll…” she thought, “…do that.”

After Nabia headed off to do whatever a queen did that had nothing to do…Colin frowned. “That’s why she’s so quiet? I thought Egyptian women were treated as equals.”

“Think about it, Colin,” I said to him. “They might be Egyptian, but she is from the outside world. Views about women in this part of the world are influenced by religion and other factors. Be it Christianity, Islam or any other religion. Women often have to wear Burkas! Burkas! They have no rights. For generations, these people lived outside, even though they worked and lived here. They might be isolated, but they are made up by men that had a thousand years of views on what woman can and can’t do. She is a queen, but she’s still a woman.” I smiled and bounced a little. “But I feel we’re making headway with them!”

“Oh?” Colin asked.

“Amasis is a victim,” I said. “So, is she.” I waved at the path Nabia took. “He’s a victim of beliefs he held to for so long and tried to fit in this…” I waved to the surrounding cave, “…this world. He doesn’t know he’s not a god. He doesn’t know he is a vampire.” But I turned to Colin. “He’s opened the chance we can tell him.”

“Will it upset him?”

I nodded. “Probably.”

Colin grinned pulling me in and kissed me. “You know?” He waved down at his kilt. “I’m kind of liking this.” He chuckled as he moved. “It’s kind of…freeing?”

I chuckled. “I like seeing you in it.” I ran my fingers over his free chest hair. “No extra layer to have to go through.” I grinned kissing him again. “It’s sexy on you.”

Colin nodded. “I think it’s sexy on you!” He grinned kissing me on the neck.

I chuckled as he hit a sensitive spot. “I think if you keep that up, we’ll need another bath.”

Colin smiled and stood up a little. “So? We take another bath.” He shrugged. “Do you think Amasis was talking about those other vampires?”

“When I asked him about demons and evil creatures?” I shrugged. “Maybe. He’s been alive a long time, if anyone’s seen them, he would be the one.” I smiled again at Colin and ran my fingers again over his chest. “Damn, that’s sure a turn on for me!”

Colin chuckled. “I grew it just for you.” He grinned evilly. “So, seeing everything Amasis had didn’t make you see him differently?”

I shrugged. “I saw him as a man.” I looked at Colin in his emerald eyes. “Wait, you’re not jealous of him, are you?” I pushed him away a little. “Are you worried about ME?”

Now, Colin looked guilty. “Well…no, but…”

I threw my hands up. “Here we go again!” I said as I pushed him against the wall. It was rocky and probably hurt a little more than just a wall. “Listen, Colin Wentworth. I love you, damn it! These insecurities you have about me and other handsome men are getting old! I would never…and I will never cheat on you! I hope I never give you a reason to question if I would!”

Colin was raising his hands to stop me. “I didn’t say you…”

“Yes! You did! Just now!” I argued pointing that out. “You owe me at least an hour of undisturbed play time with that gorgeous chest of yours,” I said. “I mean no interruptions and no manscaping allowed. Got it?”

Colin was smiling as he nodded. “Absolutely! I got that. You can have it!” I began to walk on. He looked suddenly curious. “When have I ever manscaped anything?” He asked hurrying after me.

We checked in with Stan and Mark.

Mark looked at us through the screen. “It’s been…interesting here.”

Colin frowned. “Interesting how?”

“Well, Dr. Morsi was by,” Mark reported.

“He knew we had left! Why did he come by?” Colin asked.

Mark nodded. “That’s what I asked him.” He now looked concerned. “If I didn’t know better…” he grinned, “…and I don’t know any better. I think he was coming for the Delkenzie program.” He smiled. “Of course, it could also be because of those things I was looking for that you said you hoped they saw you…” he waved his hand at us, “…and Devon doing whatever you guys do. He couldn’t see us as we were in the room with the computer.”

I looked surprised. “You didn’t leave the room unlocked?”

"Really, Devon?" Mark looked offended. “We had a job to do! Of course, we didn’t leave the room unlocked or without someone in here! Except when nature called we took turns. They don’t have a bathroom in here. If they have any knowledge of the vampires you’re spending time with now, they might be looking for information about that.” He looked with narrowed eyes. “I’d almost bet my paycheck it is about that.”

Colin looked at me. “I need to go get the computer and all the information we keep there.”

I nodded. “Okay. You’ll do it at night? You’d be harder to track.”

Colin nodded. “Mark, you and Stan get ready. It will be sunup soon. I’ll be there tonight and we’ll get you and our things out of there.” He looked at me again and shrugged. “I can bring more coffee back here.” He grinned. “I’ll bring Gabriella, Chuck, Wayne, and Shelly. We’ll get everything from the house and bring it here.”

“Talk with Amir. Find out if it’s better to come through where we parked the vehicles or better in his village.” I sighed. “There are some parts of that passage that’s narrow.”

Colin nodded. “I’ll do that.” He looked at Mark. “I’ll be there about five in the evening. That way we have time to load up and get our stuff out of there.”

Mark made a victory thrust with his arm. “At last! We’re part of the team!!”

“You’re part of the team!” I said quickly.

Mark nodded. “Uh, huh.” He said grimly. “Always left behind. You guys have all the fun. Now Stan and I will in on it, too!”