Nosferatu dragged the man back to the side of Nekhbet’s tube. He lifted the Bedouin and slid him into the tube next to his love. With a dagger, he punctured the man’s neck, quickly sliding a finger in to keep the blood from spurting out. He dropped the dagger and turned Nekhbet’s head toward the man.
He waited, letting a little blood seep out. The first sign of life was a slight flare of her nostrils. The head moved ever so slightly, the mouth opening.
Her eyes were still closed but she could scent the blood, feel its proximity. As her open mouth closed on the wound, Nosferatu removed his hand, letting the life force flow forth.
Nekhbet drained the man in less than a minute. Nosferatu marveled to see the glow come to her cheeks, her chest begin to rise and fall with steady breaths. Her eyes flashed open, fixing on his. She smiled, red-stained lips parting to reveal crimson-covered teeth. He leaned over and kissed her, blood on blood.
Eight days. And still no end in sight to the desert. Nosferatu looked over the moonlit sand, the same view they’d had every night since he’d brought Nekhbet back. She was at his side on one of the camels, another two animals behind them, dragging her tube. He knew she was weakening. He cursed himself for not keeping more of the Bedouins alive so they could feed again. He had anticipated being out of the desert in a day or two and able to hunt. But there was nothing out to hunt. The only living thing he’d seen since leaving the site of the massacre was a lone bird far off in the distance one evening.
His mind was feverish with hunger. He had to fight to convince himself that they were actually moving forward and not simply marching in the same spot night after night. He kept them oriented by the position of the stars, steadily moving to the south. How long could such desolation go on? He knew the Nile was to the east. Where there was water there would be people to feed on. But Egypt’s reign extended far down that strip of water and the long hand of the Airlia Gods reached down the blue waterway also.
The days, though, were bliss. Lying next to Nekhbet in her tube, talking, touching, and feeling each other’s closeness. Even the intense heat blazing into the tube was tolerable to be close to his love.
But if they did not feed soon, he knew they would run out of energy and be consumed by the desert.
“Feed from me and go on.”
Nosferatu was startled by Nekhbet’s words. They didn’t just intrude on his dark thoughts, the words assaulted his mind. “Never again.”
Nekhbet brought her breast next to his and reached out, touching his arm. “You freed me from the living sleep. That is love enough.”
Nosferatu had not wanted to know about the years she had been in the tube and she had said nothing yet. “Was it bad?”
“I could only lie there and think. I could not move even though twice every twenty-four hours the wraps on my body did as they had done when we were imprisoned together, working my muscles — it was the only way I knew the passage of time.
“At first I thought I would go mad. But then I started remembering all we had talked of. And I thought of those conversations.” She smiled. “And then I kept them going. I would try to think of what you would say. And then I would reply. We had the most wonderful talks. I would also invent places. That we would visit together. Beautiful places.”
Nosferatu was silent. His time in the tube before his escape had been horrible indeed, but at least he had been able to sleep almost half the time. And he could always look forward to the daily feeding when he would see Nekhbet. She had had nothing to look forward to and been unable to sleep for over six thousand years. A time he had spent in darkness and ignorance. He spurred the camel.
“We will make it out of this desert together. I promise you that.”
Nekhbet smiled sadly once more, but her head was shaking ever so slightly. “You do not believe me. You saved me from something worse than death. I would welcome becoming part of the desert. And I have had the last seven nights and days with you. That is worth a lifetime.”
“We will go forward together or perish together,” Nosferatu said simply.
But on the next night he knew it would be their last. They were expending too much energy with nothing to replenish their stores. Perhaps they could go into Nekhbet’s tube and set the device to put them to sleep for a millennium or two and hope the land had changed by then. But there was only one crown in there and one set of wraps.
“Feed on me, then put me into the deep sleep in my tube,” Nekhbet said. “It is the only way we will manage it.”
Just before dawn he draped cloths over the tube to protect it from the direct rays of the sun and climbed inside with Nekhbet. They passed the day holding each other and whispering of a future in a land that was green and full of life, one where they did not have to worry about the Airlia Gods swooping down out of the sky and destroying them.
As the temperature went down in the tube, they knew darkness was not far off. And that Nekhbet did not have the strength to ride on. He sensed she would not even have the energy to lift herself out of the tube.
“We must have a plan for the future,” Nekhbet finally said.
“We have been talking—” Nosferatu began, but she hushed him with a light touch of her finger on his lips.
“We have been fantasizing. The real world is much harsher. You have told me there are those out there who would kill us. The Ones Who Wait. Guides. Even the Gods who made us and hate us lurk somewhere, I am sure. I’ve waited long enough. I want to sleep. To truly rest. To wait for the time when we can be free. And there is this also—” She halted.
“What?” Nosferatu prompted.
“I have been drained far too many times,” Nekhbet said. “Without the blood of the Gods, like we took from Osiris, I have aged. Not as fast as a human, but faster than you, my love.”
“I do not know where the Gods are,” Nosferatu said, understanding what she was saying.
“I know. That will be your task. If you love me, you will take responsibility. You will be the one who watches and waits to bring me back when we can have a life together and when I can drink from a God.”
Nosferatu knew she was right. His plan had been shortsighted. If they were to have a life together, he would have to envision time much differently. He held her tightly, wasting precious hours of darkness.
She gingerly unwrapped his arms from around her body and whispered, “Now. Drink from me one last time.” “You said—”
“One last time,” she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. “It will not matter since I will go into deep sleep, but it will give you the strength you need, and it is the closest we can be.”
He pulled aside the cloth from around her neck and touched the shunt with his lips. The first trickle of blood sent a surge of energy into his body. He only took a little, enough to keep him going for another couple of days, then he stopped. He climbed out of the tube and looked down on Nekhbet. Her eyes were half-closed and unfocused, her skin pale. He prepared her, putting the wraps on her legs and arms.
With the stars shining down on him, Nosferatu stood over the tube. “Good-bye, my love. I will awaken you when we can freely walk the world together.”
Nekhbet’s lips twitched in a weak smile. She didn’t even have the energy to speak. Nosferatu slowly closed the lid. Then he went to the control panel. He touched the hexes, directing the alien technology of the tube to put her into the deep sleep he’d been in.
He attached the tube to the ropes connected to the camels’ saddles. Then he mounted his own camel and continued the trek south. He felt the isolation of the desert, the utter loneliness. Nekhbet’s aura was so muted he could hardly sense her.