IK3 (25 page)

the clear water. “The brochure says we should be able to see salmon

running upstream since the river is low this time of year,” she said as they

started along the trail leading to the bridge. She glanced back at the papers.

“The original bridge was knocked out during a huge flood in 1862 and wasn’t

covered. This one was built the next year.” She looked up. “If you think the

platter arrived here shortly after the forty-niners, wouldn’t this bridge be too

new? Of course,” she added as an afterthought. “Who would hide a gold

platter in a bridge?”

“True,” Gavin answered, “but the clue said ‘Where gold glistens, in hidden

terrain, there lies buried important remains’. I would imagine whoever the

guardian was put it in the ground. But where?”

Chloe looked around the wilderness area. Jagged, shrub-covered ravines and

steep, bouldered hills surrounded them for miles. “I don’t even know where

to start.”

“I guess this is where the faerie blood comes in then,” Gavin said.

“Are you serious?”

“Absolutely. Balor would not have sent the dragon to follow us nor would he

have bothered trying to abduct you if he did not think you could lead him to

the platter.”

“But what do I do? Wave some magic wand? Which, by the way, I don’t have

since my mother didn’t send me to Hogwart’s.”

Gavin smiled. “No need for wands. Didn’t you say you used to see lights

around your mother when you were little? Have you ever seen them since?”

“No, not until…” Chloe hesitated. “Well, no. Not really.”

He gave her a scrutinizing look. “Until when?”

She swallowed hard, feeling the heat rush to her face. “Not until you made

me come,” she replied in a near whisper, “but that was different.” Lord, she

hoped he wouldn’t laugh at her.

Instead, his expression turned serious. “I felt them too. Those sparks—

lights—were our connecting. We were both intensely focused. Don’t you see?

When you are in that state, you can harness your abilities.”

“So you’re going to give me the climax of my life and I’ll know where the

platter is? I’ll go for that.” Chloe started to laugh and then stopped as Gavin

shook his head.

“As much as I would like to give that theory a try, what I meant was if you

concentrate on locating the platter as much as you did on pleasing me, I

think the powers will come to you.”

“It sounds a little too New-Age to me,” Chloe said. “My mother was the

hippie, not me. Still,” she said as they came to the bridge, “I guess we can

walk over it and see if I get any vibes.”

They joined several other people who were also entering the three hundred

foot bridge. Inside, it was dark and the wooden planks creaked under their

feet. “I guess this is why the bridge is closed to vehicles,” Chloe said.

“Do not worry. The trusses are still strong,” Gavin replied.

Chloe blinked as they emerged into the brilliant sunlight at the other end.

Nothing in the landscape stood out although she tried hard to focus. Feeling

a little foolish, she held her hands out as her mother did when she would

scry.

“Anything?” Gavin asked.

She shook her head and pointed down. “I guess we could try the ruins of the

old grist mill.”

They climbed and half-slid down the rocky embankment. Old shafts, dry

now, had been built to channel water from the river. Much of the roof on

various parts of the building was gone and only walls remained. Chloe

slipped in the long grass and found herself looking up at blue skies. Gavin

lifted her, keeping a reassuring hand on her arm.

“Guess being fey hasn’t kept me from still being a klutz,” she said.

Gavin smiled. “It gives me a chance to hold on to you.”

They continued around the three-storied structure, finally coming to a

smaller, one-story building that looked like a small house. Rounding the

front, they came to a side wall with one glass window and a curved, empty

archway.

Chloe stopped so suddenly that Gavin nearly bowled her over. Would have

bowled her over except for the firm grip he had on her arm.

“What is it?”

“The arch. It looks like the one on the Ace of Pentacles. Do you remember?”

she walked over to it, placing her hand on the brick. “I’m not seeing any

lights or anything sparkly, but the card image just hit me.”

Gavin nodded. “This is it then.”

“So how are we going to get to the platter? We can’t just start digging.

There are too many people around.”

“We will come back after midnight. The moon is full, so we will have plenty

of light.” He gave her a wicked grin. “I seem to remember you saying

something about reliving history in that hotel room? I think we can pass the

time pretty quickly.”

“Race you back,” Chloe said and then promptly tripped on a root, landing on

her backside once more.

Gavin shook his head as he picked her up once more, this time in his arms.

“I want you in one piece when we get back,” he said.

Well, she certainly wasn’t going to argue with being carried by her shining

knight.

****

scent as he led her quietly past the sleepy streets of town toward the mill. It

was well-past midnight since they had indulged several times in the best

love-making that Gavin could remember in his long life.

“I sure hope we don’t get caught,” she whispered as they approached the

open archway of the ruins. “I think this whole area is protected under some

national preservation act.”

“Don’t worry,” Gavin said although his nape prickled. By now, Balor must be

aware that the abduction plan didn’t work. The dragon had not put in an

appearance which could mean Balor was hatching another plan. Although

Gavin had not seen anyone who looked suspicious—by Scotland Yard

standards—he had the uneasy feeling that they were being followed.

As Chloe crouched down to use her hands to scry, Gavin used his keen night

vision to survey the area. About a hundred feet downstream, a rabbit

scurried across rock and an owl swooped silently down for its dinner. Gavin

scented the air. No mortals were near.

“Here,” Chloe whispered excitedly as she laid her hand on a brick just inside

the empty doorway. “At least, I think it’s here. This area feels different. I

can’t explain how, but—”

“You do not have to explain,” Gavin said as he knelt beside her, his fingers

digging through the dirt and cement as though it were soft mud. “Let’s see if

you are right.” His hands moved with preternatural speed, amassing chunks

of dirt in a pile beside him as he burrowed down a good foot, then almost

two. He was about to widen the hole when he struck something solid. With a

single tug, he pulled out a wooden box.

Chloe grabbed his arm. “Is that it?”

For an answer, he opened it and heard her give a slight gasp. In the

moonlight, the platter gave off a gentle, glowing sheen.

“It’s beautiful,” Chloe said, lifting the platter from its case and standing up.

“We’ll be taking that.”

Gavin spun around, putting Chloe behind him. Two men dressed as park

rangers stood a short distance away. It took only a second for him to

register that one of those men was Carl, the guide from Coloma. Had he

been following them the entire time? Gavin’s vampire senses went on high

alert.

Chloe peered around him and he could feel her start to shake. She pointed

at the other man. “He’s the guy who abducted me!”

Gavin snarled, his fangs springing out. Lucifer’s eyes burned red and he

laughed, a sound Gavin had never thought he’d hear again.

He was looking at the demon who had destroyed Arthur at Camlann.

“That’s right,” Lucifer said as he started to circle to the left, motioning Carl

to go right. “I’ve been waiting a long time to finish this battle.”

An eerie howling began as a gusty wind suddenly swept through the ravine,

an odd fog forming in front of it. What sounded like a horse’s hooves

clattered up the riverbed toward them.

When the cloud cleared, they were surrounded by giant, white hounds their

massive jaws open as they set their haunches to spring forward.

“Don’t move,” Gavin whispered to Chloe while he kept one eye on Lucifer.

From the darkness, Cernunnos rode forward on his ghostly horse. The god’s

antlers gleamed, moonbeams shooting off them. “I ride the Wild Hunt on

Samhain,” he said to Lucifer. “The only battle to be fought tonight will be

mine.”

“I have a score to settle with the vampire,” Lucifer replied, his eyes blue

again and his voice calm. “You should thank me for ridding the world of his

kind.”

“I have a score to settle as well,” Gavin said. “Allow us single combat.”

Cernunnos glanced his way. “Your duty, knight, is to take that platter

home.” He pointed toward the bridge. “Go”

“No!” Lucifer growled, morphing into his demon form. “The platter is mine!”

The god laughed, lifting one finger to signal his hounds. Instantly, they leapt

toward Lucifer, surrounding him, fangs snapping.

A fireball hurled through the air as Sigurd arrived, belching smoke and

hissing fire streams. In an instant, a fire ring formed around Gavin and

Chloe.

“This is my land, dragon. You will not set fire to it.” Cernnunos charged

toward the dragon, his wooden lance poised to throw.

“We’re surrounded by fire,” Chloe said in a small voice. “How do we break

through?”

“The platter,” Gavin said. “Concentrate on it, Chloe. We can use it as a

shield.”

“I don’t know how! What—”

Gavin wrapped his arms around her, pressing the platter between them.

“Think about us,” he said. “The connection—”

Thousands of tiny stars descended from the sky, forming an archway,

pushing back the fire. Gavin pulled Chloe through and bounded for the

bridge as Sigurd shot more flames at them. Gavin heard Cernunnos shout in

fury as fire flicked up one of the wooden tresses and then he heard the

dragon scream.

“Run!” he said to Chloe, “before this bridge catches!”

As they raced through the bridge to the soft moonlight at the other end,

total silence settled over them.

The End

The light changed. The stars that had formed their archway to escape

seemed to have followed them. Tiny lights flickered on every wall, bouncing

off what looked like hundreds of thousands of crystals.

Actually, it looked more like a cave than a room. Slowly, Chloe became

aware that she and Gavin were not alone. Two couples stood watching them.

One of the men was tall with a tawny mane of hair and golden eyes that

reminded her of a big, lethal wolf. The woman beside him had ebony hair

and blue eyes. The other man had dark hair and eyes like Gavin, but there

was a mischievous twinkle in them. Chloe was pretty sure the lady with the

strawberry hair was the missing veterinarian.

“Sophie Cameron?” she asked and when the woman nodded, she turned to

the other. “Sara Kincaid?”

From the darkened corner of the room, a voice grumbled, “It’s getting

completely too crowded in here.” An old man with white hair ambled

forward, long blue robes flowing behind him and squinted at Gavin. “You,

eh? Did you finally do something to redeem yourself?”

Chloe bristled. “Look, mister. I don’t know who you are, but Gavin saved my

life and—” She found herself suddenly unable to speak as the old man’s blue

eyes pierced her. He suddenly seemed to grow in stature and didn’t look

quite so old.

“I am Merlin.”

Chloe opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

“Oh, stop showing off,” a light, feminine voice said from seemingly nowhere

and then an ethereal form began to shape itself into a young woman who

wore nearly transparent wings. “Now take the spell off or I might be

tempted to enchant you back into that tree.”

“Don’t try my patience, Nimue,” Merlin snapped as he waved a hand at

Chloe. “I didn’t invite you here either.”

“Crumpy man,” she said and turned to Chloe. “Are you feeling all right?”

Considering she was probably having the hallucination of her life—without

taking any drugs that she could remember—Chloe wasn’t sure. “Did I hit my

head or something? I don’t even know where I am.”

Sophie smiled and came forward, taking her hand. “I felt the same way

when I got here. Let me introduce you.” She beckoned the dark-haired man

to come over. “This is Tristan.” She pointed to the warrior-looking guy.

“That’s Lancelot. We—”

“Wait. Lancelot?” Chloe heard her voice squeak. “Are you all playing at being

characters from Camelot?” She looked at Gavin. “Do you know what is going

on?”

He looked uneasy. “Yes,” he finally said. “The platter brought us to Merlin’s

Cave, just like the spear brought Lancelot and the sword, Tristan.”

Chloe frowned. “I know you and Mr. Smith kept saying these relics have

powers—and I’m even willing to buy into that, based on how we escaped the

fire ring—but why are you guys acting like you’re from Camelot?”

“Because we are.” Nimue drifted over to her, toes barely skimming the floor,

and sniffed delicately at Chloe’s neck. Her eyes widened in surprise. “You are

part fey!”