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Whole first chapter of my first story. Please rate and comment, but dont treat me too harsh xD Thanks to the awesome Maxwell Kay for correcting my mistakes and for Darkfang Magus for editing :D

• * * Coyotka and the Forge of Hephaestus Written by: Coyotek. Edited by: Darkfang Magus. * * *

Chapter 1 Mysterious Package. Morning sunlight gently covered her face, as she flipped onto her other side. Visions of another busy museum morning, didn't help her to continue her dreams, which she rarely had lately. She got up, rubbed her sleepy canid eyes and put those same old glasses with a thin black frame, on the top of her long canid muzzle. Then she left her bedroom. "A cold shower will do me good." Coyotka stood awhile under the pouring cold water; her long black hair covered her body like a beautiful, expensive silk. She took a deep breath and raised her head high, now really feeling like she was finally awake. Coyotka wiped her wet fur, dried her hair, and then left the room. "Hi!" a warm and pleasant voice welcomed her in the kitchen. It was her housemate, Geno, who stood by the oven, wearing only a kitchen apron. "Hi there Geno, what are you cooking?.. And where is that lazy-ass brother of mine?" "That lazy-ass is still sleeping", the kitty giggled. "I hope that you didn't waste him too much, I can hear it all in the night." Geno replied with a smile. "That is why I'm making breakfast today. Want some, Coyotka, or do you have to hurry to the museum?" "I'll dine out on the town", Coyotka turned her muzzle to a small mirror on the table. She looked at her face. Dark brown fur covered her long muzzle, while under it and inside of her long coyote ears, her fur color was light cream, contrasting well. Under her eyes were small black stripes of fur. They reminded her of small bows, and on both sides of her muzzle were nearly invisible "beards" of black fur, which were usually covered by her long hair. Her glasses hid her pretty brown eyes, with long and bushy lashes. She was a pretty one, according to the guys, who were attracted to her like bees to honey, but she never seriously thought about those kinds of things. Not so seriously, to end up with some of them in bed and she knew that most of their "loves" ended at that point. She often heard many ladies from her college class talk about the number of "checked" guys. She never cared about the numbers; quality was what she was looking for. Not liking any type of sportsmen, she looked for those with intelligence and great personal culture. Smiling to herself, she corrected her forelock and put on her work suit. It consisted of leather gloves, a white shirt that ended on her bellybutton, short sepia colored trousers and a leather vest. She ran out of the house, and then down the stairs. In front of the house stood her car, a massive green pickup truck customized specifically for her. She took it many times on the road to the Archaeological Club of the university, where she was studying. Archeology was everything for her and working at the museum was a wonderful experience. Coyotka's fascination with digging in ancient ruins of long forgotten civilizations, came to her from her twin brother, with whom she read mythology related books and articles countless times. Later, her interests reached not only to cultures of the Mediterranean Sea, but also Babylon and to even farther cultures of Asia and America. After ten minutes of driving, she got to the museum, an enormous building that was almost as big as The National Museum. Despite the fact that it had been built only five years ago, it was well known worldwide, thanks to all those late excavations and accurate searches taken by paid parties. They gave the museum a rich collection of ancient works of art and artifacts. The strangest of it all is that those artifacts were found in places where they never should be: churches, old cemeteries, old buildings or catacombs. The perfect example was that golden Horus statue on the new museum poster. It was found in a crypt, in an old monastery in northern France. That didn't matter to Coyotka now though; today she will finally examine those beautiful medieval manuscripts. She walked a few steps up to the front entrance, passed a line of huge Doric pillars and found herself inside the museum hall. She went to the first door on her left, took out her magnetic card and slid it through the scanner. The lock in the door released. She went one story down into the museum underground and proceeded to a long corridor. Standing in front of a wooden door, Coyotka looked at a small sign inscribed with her name. "Some more time and "Doctor" will be written here", she said to herself. "Third year of college will start in two months' time; I'll be twenty one... Damn, I'm old." Laughing, she twisted the key in the lock and entered the room. Her room in the museum underground was always an oasis of silence and peace. The walls were all painted white, and near one of them stood a bookshelf full of writing on ancient cultures, opposite a big cabinet with small things that she had personally found during her first travels. A small wooden fan with a lamp was rotating in the center of the ceiling. Underneath it stood Coyotka's desk, with a green writing pad, shelves of documents, and a PC monitor. Here she always could sit even into the late night hours, working in silence. It wasn't possible at her home, because her brother and Geno would be disturbing her too much. Coyotka sat in her comfy chair, yawned deeply and stretched her arms. Suddenly she heard a knocking. "Please, come in," Coyotka took a more dignified pose. Into the room, entered a tall well-built lion dressed in a white shirt with a blue tie and dark trousers. The fur on his muzzle was orange brown, and on his chin and arms his fur color turned into yellowish sepia. Under his bushy brown mane, he had a pair of deep blue eyes with characteristic teardrops that ended near his nose. The whole of his muzzle was composed by his darkening side beards, not too big ears and a small beard under his lips. "Good morning, boss." Coyotka stood from her chair. The lion shook his paw dismissively. "I told you so many times that you can quit it. Call me Niwen." The lion threw a smile in Coyotka's direction, after which he placed a pair of small wooden boxes on her desk," Here's your task for today." Coyotka took a look at those cheap boxes that hid very precious contents. "Good, something else?" she asked, turning her muzzle to Niwen. The lion thought for a while, then turned around and pointed at a small cardboard package lying at the top of Coyotka's bookshelf. "The mailman delivered that yesterday, about five minutes before you left." The coyote stepped from her desk, reaching for the package. "No one opened it?" "It's not polite to view other peoples' mail" "Kinda heavy. What's inside of it? Rocks?" Coyotka weighed the package in her paws. Niwen shook his shoulders. Coyotka stood beside the lion, ripping the paper from the small package. After that, she put the cardboard box on her desk and opened it. Inside of it were lots of torn newspapers. After a short search, the coyote found a small wrapping, no bigger than her fist. Tearing the newspapers from it revealed to her eyes a black stone. Coyotka took it to the light, observed it with attention worthy of an experienced researcher. Niwen stood in silence waiting for his pupil to examine the rock. "It looks like a part of some primitive tool, but I can't be sure. It could also be a fake. We should take it to coal scan," Coyotka said her first thoughts. Niwen was still looking at Coyotka, when she carefully put the stone on back in the box. She looked at it carefully for a while, and then she turned to the lion. "Who sent us the package?" Niwen took the sheet of paper covering the box. He rolled it in his paw for a while. "There's no sender". Coyotka took a piece of the newspaper covering the stone, and she looked at it for a while, and then passed it to Niwen. "Language?" Niwen looked at the newspaper, "Greek." Coyotka looked through the stack of newspapers, searching for clues. Who sent her the package? "Nothing," she grunted. Niwen took the box and ripped off the rest of papers covering it, to look at it more closely. After that, a small note detached from the bottom of the box. Coyotka took it in her paw and read. "Please hide the volcano, A. Kaceus" Niwen looked surprised at Coyotka. She quickly replied to him with the same look. "Either someone is playing a stupid joke with us, or we are stupid," she said, putting the note into the box, just to throw the whole box on a stack of papers that lay in the corner. "But, if we didn't understand this..." said Niwen, looking through the shreds of paper that were covering the box. "Besides, I don't know any A. Kaceus" Coyotka scratched her forehead. "Look" Niwen pointed out "On the box there's our museum's address and your room number, but there's no name. " Coyotka took the paper from Niwen. It was as he said. She twisted the paper in her paw and threw it into the corner, straight into the mysterious box. "I'll think about it later, now I've got some work to do", saying this, she picked up one of the manuscript boxes. Niwen came closer to Coyotka's back, and then embraced Coyotka in her vest, before hugging her. "How about spending the night on the town today? I heard about a freshly opened, fine restaurant," Niwen whispered in her ear. "I don't have my night gown; Geno borrowed it for a date with my bro." "So you want to go on a shopping trip? You'll pick yourself something fancy". "I don't want to cause you any more expenses, dear," said Coyotka, putting her finger on the lion's lips. "You're toying with me again... it's been ages since the last time we've been somewhere together" whispered the lion with sadness in his voice. "No, that's not it, just... I have a free house today and I wanted to clean that chaos in my room. Don't worry, I'll show it to you later" Coyotka kissed the lion on his chin. "You know I love you..." "I know Niwen... kitty" she replied to him with a smile. They met two years ago, when Niwen, after gaining his diploma as a historian at Sorbonne, came back to Poland and worked as a part time teacher in a nearby high school. He still remembers her looks from those days. The tall thin girl always sitting silently in the first desk. Under her long black hair, a cute long muzzle lay hidden, with glasses on it, and behind those glasses, sharp brown eyes. Those eyes listened to him with attention, sucking down the knowledge from him, when the rest of the class was almost sleeping. It was Niwen that invented the Archaeological Club, thinking about her, inviting her to be the co-chairman. Then after Coyotka's graduation to university, the Archaeological Club was changed to Universities Archaeological Society with bigger funds sponsored by Niwen's museum. A year ago, Niwen's father, before leaving to France, signed the whole museum building to him, and Coyotka was the first person he invited to work there. Not only was Coyotka a real beauty to him, Niwen also loved her unusual temperament and born intelligence. Officially, they were together for over a year. Coyotka also had a crush on Niwen, mainly because he was one of the few men that shared her interests. Despite that, when meeting him she always had that feeling that the next day he would leave her. Her fears came from simple thoughts, she was a normal girl and he was an only son of a noble family, owner of a well-known car company and several hotels spread across Europe. She just didn't believe in those stories of a poor Cinderella and Prince Charming. That's why, despite her feelings, she kept Niwen at a distance. Many times Niwen proposed that Coyotka move from her brother's house to his place. She always tried to dodge the answer to this question, but after many tries, she promised him that they'd marry, once Coyotka finished at the university. Thoughts about that day filled her with worry, and she wanted to enjoy her freedom as long as she could. "Call me when you have some free time", said Niwen, leaving her office. "See you". Coyotka stepped behind her desk and sat in her chair, then opened the box, and carefully took one of the manuscripts. She peeked again at that package in the corner. She looked at it for some minutes, and then spoke to herself. "This damn stone is on my mind, I'll have to examine it more closely at home" ** At 5:30 pm, she left the museum and headed home. Coyotka opened the door, took off her jacket, and took two steps in the hall when suddenly her brother appeared in front of her, holding a mop in his hand. He was almost like a mirror reflection of herself. They were twins, and the only thing that made a difference was their gender, Coyotek's lack of long hair, and the fact that he was a whole 5 minutes and 23 seconds older. "Coyo? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be on the town with Geno...," she asked surprised. Coyotek gave his sister a grim look. "Some drunken ass-hat phoned the police and said that there was a bomb in the restaurant. They threw us on the street, right in the middle of our meal". Coyotka tried to hide her smile."And what are you doing now?" "I'm cleaning the hall", replied Coyotek. "Where's Geno?" "Kitty sleeps. She got ape-shit mad, and almost beat up the owner when she heard that we wouldn't get our money back. I had to cuddle her to sleep," Coyotek took a look into their room. "Oh... was there a bit of yiffy"yiffy?" Coyotka asked, giggling. Coyotek looked at his sister with a wry face. "Okay, I didn't say anything," turning, she entered the bathroom. She filled the tub with hot water and sank down into it, thinking about spoiled plans for the evening. Suddenly, from her trousers pocket the mysterious black stone rolled on the floor. She took a peek at it and reached for it. Once more she was rolling the stone in her paws, looking at it from all directions. Then a thought hit her, what is this mineral anyways. At the same time, the stone slipped from her paws and splashed into the water, then slid down her tummy, and finally landed between her legs. She reached for it quickly and felt a strange chill. "I was so deep in thought that I didn't notice that the water got cold." She threw the stone at her clothes and started to wash herself. Coyotka stepped into the living room. Coyotek was sitting on the couch, watching TV, and from time to time he stopped on channels with dancing nude ladies. "You can think only about one, dear brother" Coyotka smiled, petting Coyotek's head. "Nah..." replied Coyotek, quickly changing the show. She sat beside him on the couch. She was dressed in a short, transparent green dress that she always used as her pajamas. "Going to sleep?" Coyotek faced her. "I guess, finally I have a chance to get a good night's sleep, since you won't make any noises tonight", she smiled. Coyotek changed the channel again. "I have a small question for you, dear brother" Coyotek turned his muzzle to his sister. "What do Greece and a volcano have in common?" Coyotek thought for a while. "I don't have any idea. Geography never was my thing, and I don't think that there are any volcanoes in Greece". "Damn..." Flustered, Coyotka went to her room. She was about to close the door when she heard her brother's voice. "Wait a second"! She turned toward him. "Can it be other than geographical?" Coyotek looked at Coyotka. She nodded. He put his index finger to his temple. "Hephaestus". She froze in her doorway, surprised. How the hell she could forget that? Volcano is a Roman name for the Greek god of fire, blacksmithing and jewelers, Hephaestus. "Thanks" said Coyotka, and closed her door. Despite that, she still didn't see anything in common with a volcano, Greece, Hephaestus, the black stone and an almost unknown person A. Kaceus. On the next day, she planned to find out as much as possible about that last one. TBC. TBC.