Within the temple of Amun-Ra, the vampire Scylla wound her serpentine body around the Obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut and waited for her pursuers to arrive.

They had come for her at dusk, rousing her from her resting place in the basement of the Luxor Museum of Antiquities. She pressed her face against the Obelisk, feeling the coolness of the pink Aswan granite and allowed it to calm her. She used the brief respite to reflect upon the attack. It bothered her that they had not attempted to destroy her as she slept, even though they'd had every opportunity.

In her mind's eye she saw them as she awakened, how excited they became as her body began to transform, gaining the deadly attributes of an enormous serpent.

"Yesssssss," she hissed to herself as she recalled the words of the man who was their leader. "Bind her at once. The Order of Sages will reap much knowledge from this one."

They had wanted her to awaken. They wanted her alive, so that they might discover how a mere vampire had come to possess the power to alter herself so.

Scylla slithered around the pillar further to peer at the entrances into the temple and listened. Had good fortune smiled upon her? Had she lost these Sages who hunted her?