Olivia's Occult Occurrence

Olivia sat at her dresser, combing her hair. She sighed, wistfully, staring at her reflection in the vanity mirror. It was late in the evening, and the 18-year old girl was alone in the large townhouse she shared with her father. The maid, Ellie had been given the night off, to visit her family, and Olivia’s father, well…
Her father, Lord Carrington had been busy the past few months. A year ago, the esteemed Egyptologist had led the 1908 expedition to Egypt, where his team had made astounding progress excavating the tomb of the Egyptian high-priest  Ino-Atem. Unfortunately, there had been some dispute, some religious group had tried to get ahold of the artifacts and as a result they hadn’t been allowed out of Egypt for almost a year.
Now, though, the fruits of papa’s work had arrived and the British Museum was to hold a grand exhibition of the finds, and he was to give a series of lectures on his discoveries. Or at least, he would have. Two days ago, persons unknown had broken into the Museum and stolen the artifacts! Papa had spent every waking hour since then helping the police to track down the villains along with his assistant, Sir Charles (who was rather charming, and intelligent and so very brave, Olivia thought to herself rather wistfully.)
There was a knock at the door, interrupting the young woman’s thoughts. For a moment, she paid it no mind, before she remembered Ellie had the night off. Sighing, she stood from the dresser and grabbed a dressing gown. She hurried to the front door, pulling the gown over her nightclothes. “Maybe it’s news from papa…” Olivia thought to herself. “They might have had a breakthrough…”
“Hello…” Olivia’s greeting trailed off as she opened the door and beheld the trio of them standing there. There were obviously foreigners, with the tanned hues that spoke of a hot, dry land far removed from Albion’s shore. Two of the men were dressed in tannish suits, with fezzes perched on their heads, but it was the figure in the middle, obviously the leader of this group, who caught Olivia’s full attention.
The figure was tall, easily six and a half-foot tall at least, and unnaturally thin. He wore a curious brown robe, with a hood drawn over his face. As Olivia watched, the man reached up with long, skeletally thin fingers, and drew back the hood. Olivia’s eyes widened in horror, his face was long and gaunt. His heavily wrinkled skin, of an unnatural shade of brown, was drawn tight across the skull, with no flesh or fat. The whole thing had an air of age to it, as if this man were a thousand years old…or more.
Olivia opened her mouth, but her cry died, stillborn, as she caught the man’s eyes. In sharp contrast to his dead face, his eyes burned with an unnatural vitality. It seemed as if they burned their way right into Olivia’s mind. She trembled with fear as he reached out with thin, bony hands and took hers.
“Sleep.” The man commanded in a dry, raspy voice, and it was like he was speaking directly into her mind. Olivia swooned, falling into an unnatural sleep…

“mmmm” Olivia murmured softly as she woke from her commanded slumber. The young woman shivered. She was chilled to the bone. It took a moment for her to realize she was lying on a stone altar. Her eyes widened with horror, as she discovered her hands and feet had been manacled to the four corners of the altar, stretching her out prone on the black stone surface.
“mmmppphhh!!!” A strip of torn cloth had been tied between Olivia’s lips, silencing her frightened cry. Terrified, the young woman glanced around. While asleep, she had been moved to what appeared to be a warehouse of some sort. She could see the steel frames and windows of the construction high above her. A full moon and bright stars shined faintly through the grimy glass panes.
Whoever had brought her here, however, had transformed the dull, utilitarian building into a temple. Statues of bizarre, animal-headed figures loomed, terrifying on the gloomy building. Around her were set up a number of artifacts the young woman immediately recognized as having been stolen from the British museum. Most prominent, behind the altar was a large golden sarcophagus, the coffin of the priest Ino-Atem!
But what caught her eyes immediately were the dozens of men wearing robes, standing before the altar. At their head was the man who had kidnapped Olivia. He was talking with two of his fellow cultists. “The time grows nearer, the heavens will soon align. We will not have another opportunity like this for many long centuries. I only pray the gods can hear us in this distant land, far from the sacred Nile where they dwell. A thousand curses on the head of Lord Carrington and his henchmen Sir Charles, for foiling our grand plans! It is fitting vengeance then, that his only daughter shall be the final piece in our glorious victory! Her death shall give life to our master once more!”
Olivia trembled in fear, as the leader of the cultists turned and regarded her with eyes burning with hot fire. His thin lips curved upwards into a cruel smile. Turning to his henchman he snarled, “Now is the time! The realm of the dead draws closer, I can hear the sacred jackals howl! To your positions, my servants, and let not a man falter in his task, or the flesh shall be flayed from his bones and a thousand torments await him in the afterlife!”
At this, the other cultists threw themselves prostrate before the altar and began chanting in words Olivia couldn’t understand, but she recognized them, having heard her father struggle to decipher them time and again in his study, the ancient words of the Egyptians! Olivia pulled, feebly against the bronze manacles that held her prostrate on the altar as the priest advanced. From within his threadbare robes, he drew a bronze dagger, terrible looking, and raised it above his head, as he loomed over the sobbing young woman, chanting aloud in the antique language.
A shot suddenly rang out, echoing in the cavernous space of the warehouse temple. Above Olivia, the priest shuddered as the bullet passed through his body. Olivia’s eyes widened in shock and horror as the man shuddered, but he didn’t fall. No blood came from his wound, a thick, black liquid oozed out, staining the brown robes.
Olivia looked over. She grunted joyfully, seeing Sir Charles run through the door, a smoking revolver in his hand. Behind him was her father, also armed with a pistol. Charles leveled his pistol and fired twice more in quick succession. The priest shuddered as lead slugs thudded into his body, but the man didn’t cry out. He simply turned, slowly and barked an order to his men. “Kill the intruders! They must not interfere with the ceremony!”
Shouting blood curdling cries, the cultists drew daggers and leapt forward at the two men. Seeing his bullets had no effect on the high priest, Charles turned his attention to his followers, Lord Carrington adding his own pistol to the volley. The men howled in rage as the bullets tore into them, dropping half a dozen men. Before they could reload, the fanatics were upon them.      
Olivia screamed into her gag in fright as the evil cultists charged her father and Charles. Lord Carrington fell back, fending off two of the fiends with his cane, while four of them turned upon Charles. The young man fought with the strength of lion, however. Taking them by surprise, he leapt onto one of the men, wrestling for his dagger.
The priest, meanwhile turned back to his would-be sacrifice. He looked up at the skylight, where the moon’s eerie light shone through, illuminating the altar on which Olivia lay chained. He continued chanting in ancient Egyptian, raising the dagger up with one hand.
Suddenly, his words faltered, for the first time, a note of pain on his voice. Looking up, Olivia saw the tip of a bronze dagger sticking through the priest’s chest. With a final curse, the evil man crumpled to the ground, sacrificial dagger falling from his limp fingers. Behind him, Charles stood triumphant.
“Not to worry, my dear.” He said reassuringly. “We’ll soon have you freed.” As her hands were released from the metal shackles, Olivia sat up, embracing her rescuer. Together, the three of them walked out of the ruined temple…