Page 49 of Taming the Beasts (Crooked Point #3)

“And what the hell is a Kebe? Are you a god too?”

“A goddess.” She pointed to her tits. “Don’t be weird.”

“What goddess’ name is Kebe?” Emma asked.

“Oh.” Kebe laughed. “Sorry, it’s just a nickname. My real name is Kebechet. I’m the goddess of serpents and embalming.” She smiled like it wasn’t the creepiest thing to be the goddess of.

Ew. I remembered her talking about embalming being an artform the last time we were in this vault with her.

“So what do you do exactly?” Emma asked, as if that was a normal profession and she was having an everyday chat.

“I embalm people, prepping them for my daddy. But vampires are all for me. Usually to make vampires, I embalm someone a little before they die. The transition is slow. And they’re always well behaved.

I mean, well behaved for me at least. But those vampires out there don’t see me as their mother.

The coin isn’t the same as my normal process.

” She picked it up off the ground. “And I’m not a fan of Daddy’s process. Perfection takes time.”

She shrugged like she hadn’t just created an apocalypse. “That’s why Elias, Raymond, and Patrick were all so well behaved back there. Because I made the three of them the old-fashioned, tried-and-true way.”

I knew she’d messed with Ray and Patrick! She’d teleported to Egypt just like I’d said! And I did not think that those three boys had been very well behaved. The only person they hadn’t wanted to attack seemed to be her . But I guess that was her point. She was their mother or something.

All the stuff she’d said about King made so much sense now.

He’d sought me out. He must have known Crooked Point had werecats.

Werecats that had stolen something valuable from him.

And I felt like an idiot for not looking more into the Anubis mask.

Especially after he’d told me to find the Anubis coin.

I’d just thought he was really into Egyptian artifacts and mythology.

I never guessed he was an evil god. In my defense, I didn’t even know that supernatural creatures existed a month ago. I was so far out of my element here.

And honestly, I didn’t care about Kebe embalming vampires or any of that. There was a war going on outside the bank that apparently my boyfriends were doomed to lose. “How do we undo what you did with the coin?” I asked.

“You can’t really undo it,” Kebe said. “You have to cure it. If I can find what I’m looking for, that is.” She walked over to one of the walls to inspect the artifacts.

“Are you seriously expecting us to believe that there’s another magical cure in this vault?” I asked .

“Well, it would be the only cure in this vault. Because I clearly lied about the Anubis coin being a cure. Haven’t you been paying attention?”

Of course I’d been paying attention! I just didn’t realize that ancient Egyptian goddesses didn’t understand sarcasm!

“So what can cure them?” Emma asked.

Kebe kept scanning the shelves. “One of Baset’s possessions most likely.

Baset created werecats. She did it so that there were creatures to help defend the pharaoh.

But then she had this whole weird thing about how they could defend anything after sunset.

Lies. Werecats are not invincible. She always exaggerates like that.

Acting like things are a way bigger deal than they are. It’s a cat thing.”

“She’s the goddess of cats, right?” I asked.

“Mhm. Werecats were never meant to hold the role for very long. It was like serving in the military today. You served your pharaoh for a time and then the next men took your place so you could live a normal life. So there is an artifact that reverses the curse.”

She picked up a goblet, shook her head, and put it back.

“Like all cats, Baset’s focus wanes a bit.

Sorry,” she quickly added. “I meant like some cats. But Baset really does have bad focus. So the item she created to reverse the werecat curse was done in the laziest possible way. It would reverse any curse put there by a god or goddess. I’m sure of it.

” Kebe looked at me. “Cats can be very undiscerning if there is literally any kind of distraction. At least this cat goddess.”

Kebe picked up an instrument she’d told me about before. It kind of looked like an abacus I had when I was little. I used to love counting on it. But it was all metal without any colorful beads.

“Aha,” Kebe said.

“What is it?” Emma asked.

“A sistrum. It’s a beautiful musical instrument. Baset used to carry it around to ward off evil spirits. And to invoke her protective presence. This would be my best guess for a cure.”

“Your best guess?” I stared at her. “We can’t go out there with just a guess! We’ll be killed.”

“I know. Such naughty vampires that coin created.”

“Kebe, we need to know for sure it will work.”

“There’s no way to know for sure unless we try to play it next to one of the vampires or werecats.”

Emma stared at the sistrum. “What if it cures Zoey’s boyfriends but not any of the vampires? Then we’ll just have five more vampires in a few minutes.”

“But you’re forgetting how lazy cats are,” Kebe said. “Sorry. Some cats. Like I said before, Baset would have just made a generic cure. She’s never been bothered by specifics.”

“Can you like...go ask her?” I asked.

“Baset?” Kebe laughed. “No.”

“Why not?”

“We’re not exactly close. I may have said a few insensitive things about cats several decades ago and we’re kind of feuding right now. She really knows how to hold a grudge.”

Well, I was sure whatever Kebe had said about cats was very rude. Because all she seemed capable of doing was saying awful things about them. I mean, she’d literally come to Crooked Point with the intention of killing my boyfriends. How the hell was I supposed to trust her now?

“How are we supposed to believe anything you’re saying?” Emma asked, voicing my thoughts out loud. “For all we know, you’re still trying to kill Zoey’s boyfriends. And if you have no idea how the sistrum works, it might hurt Callum too.”

“I would never purposefully hurt Callum,” Kebe said. “You know how much I care for him. I didn’t create him, but one of my creations did. He feels almost like a son to me. He’s one of the good ones.”

I really hoped that Callum didn’t start calling her “Mommy.” Because that would really give me the ick. And I’m sure it would give Emma the ick too. They’d only just gotten married. No one needed to be getting the ick right now!

“Every minute we stand in here debating what to do could be the minute that Huxley gets hurt,” Kebe said.

Did she think I didn’t know that?

“And I can’t embalm werecats to slow down their death. They’re the only creature I can’t embalm. It actually speeds up their demise when I do it.”

“Which means you have done it in the past,” I said. God, she was so awful.

“Of course I’ve done it in the past! Daddy has always been very strict about controlling the werecat population. It wasn’t my fault. He tricked me. But I know now that werecats can be good. They’re not disgusting animals. And two of them literally saved me. I want to return the favor.”

Emma and I looked at each other.

There was zero way to know if Kebe was being sincere. And zero way to test out the sistrum without the possibility of hurting someone. Including ourselves. Because the last time Kebe claimed there was a cure, it turned all the humans in town into freaking vampires.

But time was limited. My boyfriends were outnumbered. And I wasn’t going to stand in this vault in fear as vampires just took over the whole freaking world.

We were out of time. And out of options. I put my hand out. “Give it to me.”