Antiquity

Chapter 6-- Mysterious Dog


Harley had stayed up a good while last night reading the journal and getting clawed at by Sophie when he wasn't petting her. In the morning, he slinked into the kitchen to fix himself a light breakfast of cereal and coffee. It wasn't long until someone else came trudging in, stealing away the hot pot of coffee and pouring himself a cup.

"Sleep well?"Harley teased, Amonen looking at him unpleasantly before pouring himself a cup and joining him at the table.

"There was a damned dog howling all night last night…"Amonen growled a little.

"Dog?"Harley blinked, trying to think back a bit from last night. "Come to think of it, I heard it too…Though, I normally sleep like the dead…"

"If it howls again, I am going to take a pistol to it."Amonen mumbled, drinking his sugarless coffee and sitting back. "Menefer was acting a little odd last night in the bedroom as well."

"How so? Is he alright now?"Harley said, his eyebrows raised. Menefer was immortal but if he cried, sighed, and spoke like a human being, he could very well get sick like one. Frowning, he looked to the door of the room that was left wide open, Menefer curled up in his bed covered by a layer of blankets.

"He's fine, and he stopped moaning and sighing around two o'clock this place's time…Wherever we are."Amonen mumbled, sipping more of the tasteless coffee.

"This 'place' is South Carolina. We're near the water, the city, and everything else in between."Harley sighed, sitting back. He had lost his appetite for the Cheerios in his bowl and the coffee in his mug now. "You'll get to see more of the area…eventually. For now, I just want to take it easy. You guys need recovery time, I need to open the shop."

"We can come downstairs whenever, correct?"Amonen asked.

"Well yeah…I don't have a problem with it. Hell, Menefer was a great help with the Antiques…he could probably go look at the ones in stock and start sorting them out…With your guidance of course. He's a little clumsy."Harley said with a sigh. "Poor guy is tuckered out from yesterday…We did a lot for one day in the country."

"Its no different than traveling to China, and back…It's just a different time zone. I'm fine with it."Amonen said, finishing the rest of the coffee. "Though…I'm going to find the nearest market and raid their coffee shelves for better stuff."

Harley smirked, picking up his coffee mug. "Don't like our filthy American brew?"He teased.

"I'd rather lick the pavement…It would probably taste better and less bitter."Amonen sneered, setting his cup down. Rising, he left with his empty mug, dropped it off in the kitchen and went to go see about waking Menefer up. There was some talking though the sound of a heavy pound, Amonen came back limping. Harley sniggered, getting up to put his dishes away.

Menefer shuffled out, rubbing his eyes and slowly making his way to the bathroom. There was a thud on the way, a grumble in gibber and the sound of the door closing. Harley couldn't help but smile a little wider, turning on the kitchen faucet to do the dishes. As he cleaned, he peeked out of the tiny window above it that looked out to the back lot. Though, he was surprised to find a black dog with a gold collar staring up at the window.

"What the hell…freaky dog…"Harley mumbled, turning back to his dishes. When he glanced up again, he leapt away from the window when the Dog was right there, staring at him and standing on the fire escape. "WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"What? What's wrong Ha'ley…"Menefer mumbled, looking to the window. Nothing was there.

"What? There was a damned dog at the window! This is the second story!"Harley said, fuming and leaning against the sink to look out. The dog was no where to be found. Menefer blinked, moving over to the window and leaning to look as well.

"There's nothing there…Did you get enough sleep last night, Harley? You're looking a little pale."Menefer said, bringing his sleep-warm hand to his cheek. Harley grumbled, moving back and turning with a series of curses.

Dammit! He wasn't hallucinating!

Shaking his head, Harley went back to his room to dress then trotted downstairs to unlock. There were a small group of older women standing at the door, hovering around. Going to open, they started chatting with him and settled into browsing around the store. He talked about some of the items that they pulled off the shelves, selling a few and sinking back onto the stool he had behind the counter.

Menefer peeked from the stair well, staring at him. Harley looked so relaxed talking to people. Shyly making his way downstairs to the counter, he crouched down and looked up at him. "How's everything going?" He whispered.

"Alright…why are you behind the counter? I don't mind if you come down here. "Harley said with a chuckle.

Menefer smiled but he didn't come from his hiding place. He crawled along the floor, moving to the small crawl space underneath the counter and sitting there, looking up at him. "I…am not used to a lot of people…"He mumbled.

"That's alright…"He said, reaching down and giving Menefer's hair a bit of a ruffle. When a customer came up to the counter, he stood straight, smiling.

"What can I do for you?"He asked, smiling. However, he felt a little odd when he felt a warm hand come up along his leg. Twitching a little, his smile didn't fade.

"Welll, I was wondering you can tell me a little more about this vase. It's fascinating but I want to know if it's REAL or not."The woman said quite haughtily.

Harley smirked, picking up the vase and looking at it. "It's real. It's from a wealthy family from France who have had it since the the 1700's. When they came to America, several generations a family member sold it to us."He explained, the woman looking surprised. Harley was having a hard time controlling himself though.

Menefer, the sneakily little bugger that he was, was still rubbing up his leg and rubbing the crotch of his pants. Fidgeting a little, Harley still managed to smile though little uncomfortably. "Interesting…"The woman mused, examining the vase a little more. "I could make a small fortune from it at an auction. How much is it?"

"Let me check my registry."Harley said, moving away from the counter to a shelf. Menefer grumbled something, Harley returning to show the woman. "Well, right now it's a good one hundred and fifty tops but I'm sure if you really want it, we can haggle a price."

Menefer smirked a little, wrapping his legs around Harley's to prevent him from moving any more. Harley glanced warily down, seeing the man smile and lick his lips. Swallowing, he looked to the woman who was going through her pocket book.
"Ninety."She said.

"One ten." Harley said, twitching a little as he felt a hand on his crotch, the slow sound of the zipper being pulled.

"Ninety five."She argued.

A hot breath nearly made him shudder, Harley clenching the clipboard in his hand nearly to the point it snapped. God, what was Menefer doing! Maybe he should call Amonen? Bastard wanted attention from him anyway but Menefer was being…ugh…A long hot lick made him quiver a little, slamming the clipboard down.

"One hundred."He said, twisting his smile a little.

"Preposterous. Perhaps I should take my business elsewhere?"The woman scoffed.

"Ninety eight then?"Harley squeezed out, glancing down. Menefer had managed to whip out his member, licking it and wrapping his lips around the head of it while his tongue swirled around. Oh God, Oh God, if he came in front of this woman, he would let Amonen cut his dick off.

And just let Menefer have the remains the horny little…

The woman seemed intrigued by the price, writing a check and setting it on the counter. "That's fair enough."She said, picking up the vase and leaving the store. Harley waved, the corner of his mouth twitching. Jerking his head down, he saw Menefer with a big mouthful of him, staring up at him.

"Menefer! Are you crazy?"He said, pulling himself and nearly stumbling backwards from Menefer's grip. Tucking himself back into his pants, he pulled him up from under the counter. Pulling him towards the stairs, he gave the man a whack on his ass, sending him up rubbing it. "Amonen! Make sure he doesn't come down again! He's in trouble!"

"What'd he do?"Amonen said, coming down the stairwell with his hands in his pockets.

"Something BAD. Just, keep him entertained. Do anything you need to but I need him to calm the fuck down. Make him take a cold shower."Harley said, running his hand through his dark hair and going back to the counter. Amonen raised a dark eyebrow, turning and heading back up but not without catching the glimpse of a dog walking past the front of the store.

"Oye…I think you have a dog lurking outside the shop."Amonen pointed out. Harley blinked, looking to the door. There, peeking in was the same dog that had been on his fire escape.

"Probably looking for a place to take a crap…I can't let him do it in front of the store."Harley said as he went to the front door of the shop, the bell chiming. "Go! Shoo!"He said, waving his hand out to try and scare the dog off.

The dog, thin sleek and black, stared at him with jade eyes that he could only compare to Menefer's. Raising an eyebrow, he eyed the dogs' collar. "Must be lost if you've got a collar on. Go! Go home!"He said, giving another wave. The dog looked at him, looked at the door and bolted into the Antique shop. "Shit! Amonen grab him!"

"What? Great…"Amonen said, poising himself to catch the dog. However, the animal seemed to know what it was doing, dodging his grab and heading up the stairs. Both men ran towards the stairs, hearing what sounded like a frightful yell up in the apartment.

"Menefer!"Both called, heading up the stairs as fast as they could. However, when they came barreling down the hall way to the living room, they saw Menefer lying on the floor with the black dog on top of him, licking his face with an excited wag of it's tail.

"Hahaha! Tep-Tep! Stop licking, oooo, silly dog!"Menefer laughed, trying to push the dog's muzzle away so he could sit up.

"Tep-Tep?"Harley questioned.

"My guardian. He's been with me a long time. I thought I had lost him one day in the desert when we went foraging nearly sixty years go."Menefer laughed, sitting up and hugging the dog. "I wonder how he got here?"

"The doggy paddle is not just a swimming technique for humans."A foreign voice spoke. Menefer smiled, scratching Tep-tep behind the ear.

Harley and Amonen stood there stunned. D..Di that dog just TALK? A man living for a long time but now there was an ancient dog and a talking one at that. Menefer seemed happy though that the dog was…speaking? English?

"I know, I know. How did you get here?"Menefer said, rising to his feet. What happened made Amonen and Harley jump out of their skins. There was a swirl of red sand that started at the dog's feet and moved upwards about six feet then dissipated. There, stood a sleek looking man. His hair was combed back and short, his skin a clean olive color. He still retained a collar around his neck but around just his hips was just two thing gold chains holding together some black, thin silk to cover certain areas.

What made it even more awkward was the black thin tail and the erect dog ears on his head. "How else? A dog can't by fancy pieces of paper but I can damn well swim. It's impossible for me to die…"He said, bringing his hand under Menefer's chin. "I've been looking for you for such a long time…"

"Yes, but how the hell did you two get separated in the first place? Why are you naked? What the fuck is up with the freaking Anubis-ness? Why are you here?"Harley said, having sat down in some shock. This was not happening. Grandfather said that he ONLY had to take care of Menefer but now he was watching Amonen and freaking Tep-tep the wonder dog.

Tep-tep narrowed his eyes, sighing. He always got that reaction and for some reason, the reaction reminded him of someone…perhaps that young man who had visited the temple of Ra before? Shaking his head, Menefer encouraged him to sit…in which he sat on the floor while his master sat on the couch.

"Let's see…Well, in the first of the raids I went chasing the thieves back to where they came from, tried to recover a few of the stolen items and ended up getting lost in the desert. A bad storm came and I got more lost. I ended up in Cairo and ended up finding out that you, Master, had been kidnapped! I tried getting in many times but they would chase me out with sticks that made loud noises or scrolls with squiggly writing on them. Then after watching, I saw this pale-faced weird one manage to get you out of there with the squinty-eyed dark man there. I tried following you but then you took off in this giant shiny thing and I couldn't fly so I tried to follow the thing by sea. It took off too far up in the sky then I found my way here."Tep-tep explained, smiling a little when Menefer scratched behind one of his ears.

"Aww, poor thing…you must be really hungry and tired."Menefer pouted.

"Oooh no."Harley said, rising to his feet. "Menefer, there's too many people here as it is! I can't take in another…and what about Sophie? She HATES dogs."

"Tep-Tep is a good boy. He won't hurt her, right Tep-tep?" Menefer smiled, Tep-tep smiling something resembling a cheshire grin.

"Of course…"The guardian smiled. "I shall treat her as if we are the best of friends."

'How come I think that's going to be a complete lie?'Both Harley and Amonen thought, Harley surrounding and sitting back down. "Fine…"He sighed. "So long as he does his part around the house…And he wears actual pants when he's in…THAT form."

"Not a problem. I am fully equipped to handle what ever Master Menefer needs…I can do his chores, and cook for him. Your services aren't needed."Tep-tep said, turning his nose up at them. Amonen and Harley stared but just smacked their foreheads. Menefer would probably be happy but they were left in the dirt. Harley got up, rubbing his eyes a little.

"I'm going back downstairs…Keep the dog upstairs…I'll let Sophie come downstairs with me."Harley said, starting to do the kissing noises that attracted the Persian sometimes. She came bumbling out of Menefer and Amonen's room, purring and pawing at his leg. However, her fur stood on end when she did just a small sniff of him, looking at Tep-tep immediately with a hiss.

"It's okay Sophie…you can come with me, away from the doggie."Harley said softly, cooing and picking up the white fluff ball, letting her hold onto his shoulder as he headed for the door that headed downstairs. Tep-tep let out a little growl, Menefer flicking him on the ear.

"Behave…Your part of this house-thing now. You have to do your part too to help Harley and Amonen."Menefer scolded, Tep-tep rubbing his ear and his shoulders sagging.

"Master is angry with me?"Tep-tep whimpered.

"Not angry but you were very mean to Harley. Tonight, I want you to help with dinner and do it with him. Don't just sit and watch. Now come, we'll get you proper American clothes."Menefer said with a grin, rising from the couch with Tep-tep following. Though his face was relatively straight, his tail was wagging behind him as Menefer lead him to his bedroom to raid through Amonen's clothing since they were about the same height.

When they came out of the bedroom, Tep-tep was dressed in a slim-fitting t-shirt and a pair of jeans that had a little sag to them so his tail could slide through. Downstairs, Harley sat trying to console his poor, frightened cat who stared at the doorway that lead upstairs, growling.

"I know, I know…God, this is just too much. Grandpa, you've cursed me…Not only with men, but with beautiful, ornery, man-loving men."Harley grumbled, patting Sophie's back end. The cat slipped away from his arms, making herself comfortable on the counter. "Sophie-baby…you're the only woman besides mom in my life now."

Sophie gave a purr, rubbing her head against his hand as to say 'Hell yes.'