Anubis thought of his conversation with Thor, and as much as he appreciated Sobek being by his side for years, he never wanted to hold him back from doing his own thing. It was true that Sobek had followed him across many lifetimes, but that was only after his cousin had become a new being. There was a time Sobek was feared for his anger and darkness, rather than loved by all who knew him. Anubis stopped when the traffic light turned red. He knew what Sobek was saying. Everything he did had an After Life logo on it. Even VikVok was a subsidiary of the production company, but that was all owned by Anubis.
“Are you sure that’s all it is?”
“Anubis, listen to me carefully,” Sobek said, staring into the phone. “I’m doing what I want to do. I love running this company in your stead. You give me the freedom to dive into your world and do whatever the fuck I want. I know I can go out and start my own company or build an empire if I want to, but I’m too lazy. Picking up where you left off is good enough for me.”
“So you don’t mind staying in your position for a little longer?” Anubis asked.
“It sounds like you have something up your sleeve,” Sobek commented.
“I do,” Anubis said with a sigh. “I’m thinking of splitting my time behind and in front of the camera.”
“About fucking time,” Sobek mumbled none too softly.
Anubis quirked a brow at Sobek’s words just as the light turned green, and he sped off toward Valleywood Studios.
“Why do you say it like that?”
“Anpu, don’t play dumb. You know I was against you using a fake name in the first place, but you wanted to try things your way. Hell, you could have been a big action star like Horus, but you had your own sense of morality, and I had to deal with it no matter how much I wanted to knock some sense into you.”
Anubis rolled his eyes, listening to Sobek’s nagging. He was about to tune his cousin out, until he said his next statement.
“You’re lucky I’ve set things in motion for when you were ready to use your name.”
“What did you do, Sobek?” Anubis asked, narrowing his eyes at his cousin.
“Nothing for you to worry about. However, if and when you sign a new contract with Azazel, he’ll know what to do,” his cousin said.
Azazel!Anubis’s brows tightened as a weird feeling settled in his stomach. “Bek, tell me you didn’t make any deals with that sneaky devil on my behalf.”
Deals among gods and other immortal deities could result in one losing their life or powers or becoming someone's slave if things were not followed through. Anubis would not deny that he was overprotective of his cousin. Sobek was more like his brother than anything, and although he had other siblings, they were afraid to be around Sobek because of the darkness that lived inside of him.
“Stop thinking nonsense,” Sobek stressed.
“Then tell me what you did,” Anubis growled.
Sobek huffed. “I simply asked Azazel to use his powers of suggestion. The same gift he used when he helped Loki. I knew one day you wouldn’t be satisfied with just directing and would want to act. Anpu, you are the kind of guy who likes to put their all into their work. So when you renegotiate and sign your new contract with Azazel, everything named Michael Schultz will be renamed Anubis Ahket.”
Sobek’s words sounded simple, but Anubis was still worried. He couldn’t help it. “Bek, I could have done all that myself. Did you forget that I am a powerful god? What about the butterfly effect? We know what Azazel did to help Loki become mayor, and it caused its own set of problems in the underworld.”
“Anpu, it’s not the first time souls were displaced or reincarnated,” Sobek said.
“If it were a matter of reincarnation, I wouldn’t care, but who knows what will happen this time? You know there are still misplaced souls from the million that escaped years ago. I’m concerned that we could disrupt time,” Anubis argued. “I really don’t feel like going blow for blow with the goddess of time.” But Anubis knew to protect Sobek, he would fight anyone who tried to hurt him.
“You worry too much, Anpu. Nothing will go wrong.” Anubis could tell Sobek was trying to soothe his worry and irritation. “Trust me, nothing major is going to happen. Azazel assured me.”
Sure, he did. “When did you do this?” he asked, still not understanding Sobek’s reason.
“Anpu, can we change the subject?” he said with a long-suffering sigh.
“No,” Anubis said as he pulled off to the side of the road. The conversation took a different turn.
“I spoke to Azazel six months ago.” Sobek sighed.
“Why did you do this?”
“This is my way of repaying you,” he whispered.
“What are you paying me back for?” he asked confusedly. “If anything, I should be the one giving back to you. For all these years, I feel like I have been using you. And now you’ve made some deal with Azazel that might cost you more than you can afford to give.”
