Nesert

1.4

Tessa's dread had completely filled up her own corner of thoughts, but Sekhmet's glee still charged her body with expectant energy as she sought out another victim Monday night, this time settling not on a strong man, but a young woman with long brown hair similar to Tessa's. Sekhmet rarely chose women to torture and kill simply because she found their screams more annoying than invigorating. The few exceptions were personal kills for revenge or tactical kills for information or power. Really, the only good aspect of her choice was that Sekhmet was likely to tire of the girl much more rapidly than usual, saving Tessa hours of agony as she was forced to witness every cut and slice.

Sekhmet clearly took little pleasure in the young woman's pain, impatient for her to be playing her role in larger plans for better prey, and while Tessa pitied the girl, she was just as anxious for her to simply die and stop screaming and crying. Those thoughts usually came with a strong sense of guilt, but it was easy to push aside as Sekhmet's elation filled her chest.

Wednesday morning was spent with Sekhmet calmly cleaning up the house before heading outside to ignore the ringing phone. Tessa pleaded with the goa'uld to change her plans, to get in the car and drive away, but she knew it was useless. Sekhmet would never walk away now, not when she'd put so many weeks into laying the trap.

Tessa heard the car pull into the driveway, horn honking. She wanted to feel the sinking she knew would typically come when thoughts and body were connected, but instead Sekhmet's deep contentment permeated her limbs even as her legs ran around the house exactly as a normal person living a normal life would be expected to do with so much noise. Sean was already banging on the front door and hollering for Tessa, his voice cracking with fear and increasing despair.

"Sean!" Sekhmet yelled in an imitation of a scared Tessa. "What are you doing?!"

He turned sharply at her voice and jumped down the stone steps in two leaps, grabbing hold of her shoulders as he reached her. The terror in his eyes began to give way to relief as he stared at her, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Sean! What is going on? What's wrong?" Tessa's voice was scared, but Sekhmet layered a soothing tone over it.

He pulled away enough to look at her again and then moved his hands to either side of her face. "I thought---we found---the numbers, Tessa. She had the numbers!" The terror took over his eyes momentarily before they calmed again with a deep sigh. "But you're here." And he pulled her into a desperate kiss, his lips still needing confirmation she was real.

Sekhmet responded as Tessa would have, but she pulled away much quicker and filled her voice with concern and just a hint of frustration. "Sean...what happened?"

His hands ran over his face as he slumped onto the steps, taking two deep breaths before he could speak again. "We found another body. A woman this time." Fear took over his voice again. "Tessa," he looked up at her, "she had the same numbers written on her arm."

Sekhmet played dumb. "What numbers?"

"The numbers! The 9-13-98 that you wrote on your arm on Sunday!" He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself so he wouldn't yell again. "The body had 9-13-98 written on the arm."

Tessa's eyebrows shot up in surprise before Sekhmet furrowed her brow in confusion. "But why? How??" she stumbled out with perfect precision. She'd played so many roles in her thousands of years that every facial expression was calculated to replicate all the emotions humans usually felt.

Sean's eyes remained closed as he shook his head, pushing his palms into his eyelids and trying to find the answers.

Sekhmet leaned down and took his hands, helping him to his feet as she told him to come inside for a drink. He followed her without objection, but didn't seem fully aware of his surroundings as she situated him on a stool at the kitchen island before going to the fridge. She grabbed two bottles of water out of the door, one from the front of the shelf and one from the back.