It was a cold and wet night of darkness. Jack Lupus was tending to Temple when he felt a tremble in his Control. An image ran through his mind, followed by one word breathed from his mouth, "Nala." He turn with a sudden rage only to come face to face with pharaoh Ramses I, or rather, his aura image, which was shaky. The image spoke with heavy words
Ramses said, "Jack, you must return to the land of your forefathers, for was have need of you…"
With that, the image faded and left a foul taste in Jack’s mouth. He wasted no time; he locked up the Temple and ran into the street. Taking a young female in a BMW roadster by surprise, Jack fed and drove to the Philadelphia airport. After leaving the woman lifeless in her car, he made his way onto a plane heading to Cairo. Jack knew that the sun would come up before he would reach Cairo, so he packed himself in a chest of silk. It was a suitable resting place for a former prince of Egypt.
When Jack awoke in the chest, it was moving. With a sudden bump, the chest was open. Jack, taking advantage of the human’s surprise, slit the throat of the first worker and crippled the guard in a matter of minutes, only to stand awe-stricken. He was in a place he had not seen for over 50 years, he was in the royal palace.
With a sudden jolt, Jack remembered why he was there. Seeing a window, he ran, and broke through it. As if he had never left, Jack made his was to the great pyramids. When Jack reached them, he was devastated to see what was happening; the Setites were attacking the Pharaohs. Nor fearing for his life, Jack jumped into the battle, killing anyone not of Osiris. As the fight ended, Jack had killed 14 Setites and 23 of their mortal allies.
As the night was coming to an end, Jack entered the main pyramid and found his master and leader, Ramses, who looked at Jack and said, "You have done well. There are two people here who have not seen you in many years."
As Ramses stepped away, Jack looked and saw Nala and Hannibal. Feeling overwhelmed Jack, and he let something he had tried to expel from his soul, ‘the Beast’ take form and transform him. As he changed, he noticed that Nala was watching him with a look of curiosity and lust.
Then he realized that he was looking Nala face to face, and he saw his reflection in her eyes. He was not himself, he was a panther. Jack’s mind was a random blur of thoughts, I am Gangrel, and if I am going to be animal I should be a wolf. Hannibal, seeing Jack’s confusion, said "Jack, don’t worry, you are in your true form." Yet, Jack knew that this was not right.
Hannibal explained that the Beast takes the form of an animal true to you and where you are from. Since there were no wolves in Africa or other prominent members of the dog family, the African Gangrel, when they chance, take the form of the large cats of Africa.
As Jack calmed down, he noticed that he could talk to Nala. She spoke to him in a tongue that Jack didn’t recognize but seemed to understand. She said that he looked as she always imagined he would and that he was truly her lost lover. With that, she turned and ran out the door, saying that she would return when the sun went down the next night.
As she left, Jack changed back and looked at Hannibal, who asked what she said, but Jack said that he didn’t understand. Jack booked a flight back into Philadelphia for the next evening, wondering what would await him there. Jack decided to tall the mummies of the occurrences in Swarthmore. After hearing this, the mummies have Jack three scrolls. One was a blessing for the Temple, the second was a spell of Protection, and the last was not to be opened until the next night when Jack reached home.
The next even as Jack was heading for the plane, he heard a very familiar cry, and turning, he saw Nala running at him with something around her neck. As she reached him, she slipped the leash to a beautiful diamond necklace into his hand. She gave him a look of trust then she started to drag him towards the plane. When they reached it, the flight attendant said,
"Sir, you are going to have to put your animal in the cargo hold."
When they entered the cargo hold, Nala spoke up, "Where are we going?" she asked.
Jack said, "I was going to Swarthmore, but I didn’t know that you were coming with me."
She laughed lightly and said, "All will be explained later."
When the plane landed, Nala woke before Jack. She stretched and yawned, then she looked at Jack and woke him with her gentle purring. When he was fully awake, Jack and Nala left the airport and took a car from a stupid mortal who thought Nala was for sale.
When they reached the Temple, Nala said that she needed to go hunt and that she would be back. Jack said,
"Be careful, this is not Africa. These stupid college students will try to catch you."
She assured him that she would be careful. When she had left, Jack thought to himself, How was it that she was speaking to me? What is she to me? How do I know her? He went and got the third scroll from his bag. As he broke the seal he thought he heard something, but it was nothing. He opened the scroll and started to read. In the scroll was a passage that read:
Jack Lupus, formally the Prince Jakal the first, this is a scroll that you had commissioned in the event that you and your soon to be wife, Nala, were not married on the third day of the lunar setting in 1721 A.D. Pharaoh soon to be returned to thy soul, join all that is Jakal, heart, body, and soul.
With that, the scroll crumpled to dust and Jack was knocked unconscious. When he awoke, there was a woman shaking him. He had seen her before, a long time ago, before his untimely death. He spoke, "Nala?"
She answered, "Yes, Jakal, it is I, Nala."
He asked, "But how? You would be over 250 years old."
"Yes, I would be, but so are you, or have you forgotten that too?" she said.
Jack asked, "But how?"
"After you didn’t show up at our wedding and you were nowhere to be found, I assumed your death. Sickened with pain and anger at you, I got my panther skin wedding dress, and asked the priests to join me and my lover’s most prized possession for all eternity.
"As she cast the spell, she told me that you were still alive and that I would walk as a panther until the day I found you. When I was roaming through our homeland, I thought I saw you, but could not tell for sure. I followed you and your friends to the temple, where I lost you.
"I was waiting outside the great pyramid when the great pharaoh Ramses spoke to me. He told me that he saw my true form and that I was too beautiful a woman to be trapped in an animal’s body. He offered to help me find you and give me a place to stay.
"After many years we found out that you were one of his loyal and trusted servants. He was about to call you back to the great temple when we were attacked by our enemies. He had been calling everyone he could think of when he remembered that you were still in the US. After that, the rest you know."
At that moment, a shady figure appeared and spoke to Nala. She said, "Princess of long ago, I grant you eternal life with your lover as a woman, but only by the light of the full blue moon; if not in that light you shall stay a panther."
With that, the woman vanished into a pile of dust and Nala began to cry and moan, her hands reverting back to deep black paws. She asked Jack to kiss her one last time before the blue moon. He did, and she was once more a panther. Jack decided that he would not tell the Kindred of Swarthmore of what had happened on these nights, and decided that Nala would be his eyes and ears when he was not around. Thus ends the tale of Nala and Jakal for this day.