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"Oh, he wasn't a magician, dear. He was a great Druid
priest."

"Right. And he was also a...cambion?"

She nodded. "Yes. His father was said to be an
incubus that visited his mother in the night and impregnated her
with his demon seed."

Trevor nearly choked on his cookie. I patted him on
the back. "Okay, so what we really want to know is how did he die?
Was he killed?"

She looked from me to Trevor then back again. "What
did you say you wanted this information for?"
"A school paper. On Celtic mythology." I took a sip of milk and
smiled at her over the rim.

"He was put into a deep sleep," she continued.

"By some magical sword?"

She nodded. "Yes. It was enchanted by Nivaine,
Merlin's apprentice and the object of his desire. He taught her all
his secrets and she betrayed him by using his power against
him."

"What happened to the sword?" Trevor asked.

"No one knows. In some versions it was given to the
Lady of the Lake, another says the blade shattered after it pierced
Merlin's body and the pieces were scattered all over the
world."

"Do you think there are pieces of it around still?" I
picked up the cookie and shoved the entire thing into my mouth.

Morgana leaned back in her chair regarding us
strangely. "You do realize that these are just stories? Myths. They
aren't real. They are basically allegories about the state of
society at the time."

I nodded. "Of course. It's just the way you tell it,
it seems so real."

That seemed to please her and she went back to
smiling pleasantly. "Anything else, dears? I have another
appointment soon."

"Just one more thing." I slid Trevor's phone across
the table. "Do you recognize any of these symbols?"

She took the phone and looked at the first sigil,
which was the triskele. "Yes, that's the Celtic symbol for the
three worlds, the triumvirate if you like, or the holy trinity."
She flicked through the others and her brow wrinkled as she
narrowed her eyes. She glanced up at us. "Where did you get
these?"

"Do you recognize something?"

She turned the phone around to show me one picture on
the screen. "This is a very old marking. It's the only symbol that
was ever found that pointed to the slight possibility that Merlin
was in fact a real person. It's Druidic and means Satanspawn.
Merlin Satanspawn was one of many names attributed to him."

Trevor and I shared a look. He knew exactly what I
did. That Merlin had been real and Thane was his descendant.

"Now, can you tell me where you got these
pictures?"

I took the phone and handed it back to Trevor. We
both stood. "Thank you for your time, Ms. Morgana. Our paper is
going to rock."

As we walked past her chair, she reached out and
touched my hand. The contact was brief but it was obviously enough
for her to figure some shit out. The first being we were lying to
her, and the second that we weren't one hundred perfect human.

She snatched her hand back and cradled it as if she'd
been burnt. Her eyes were wide, maybe a bit frightened, definitely
shocked, when she met my gaze. "Be careful, Shadowrider. He can
still hurt you."

"Who?" I demanded. "Who can hurt me?"

She shook her head. "I can't see his face, but he's
there waiting for you in the shadows."

"Oh great, thanks."

Her words threw me for a loop and Trevor had to steer
me out of her house and back onto the street.

"What the hell was that about?" he asked as we
walked.

I shook my head, still a bit shaken by her
vision
. "She must've sensed I wasn't fully human."

"She was a bit of a freakshow."

If I hadn't been too freaked out, I might've laughed
at that. Trevor calling her a freakshow when either one of us would
have fit right nicely into a traveling carnival with bearded ladies
and lizard men.

"Do you think she was talking about Thane? About him
hurting me?"

Trevor grabbed my hand in his. "I won't let him hurt
you anymore."

I nodded, and we continued to walk in silence for a
few blocks to catch the trolley back to the hotel. I was still
absorbing everything Morgana had told us. I was more than certain
that we had the answer to our problem. Just not how to put it all
together.

"You think there's a piece of the sword in that box,
don't you?"

I looked at him. "Don't you?"

"I still don't know what to think.

"Merlin's symbol is on that box. It can't be a
coincidence."

He nodded. "How do we get the box and open it?"

"One of us has to sneak into his room and take
it."

He sighed, scrubbing at the stubble peppering his
chin. "They have one last gig tonight."

"Good, then while you're at the club, I'll slide
through the shadow-way to Thane's room and open the box and take
whatever's inside and be back all before they get off stage."

"And if there
is
a piece of that sword
inside?"

"Then we stab them in their sleep."

He halted and turned me toward him. "I won't let you
do that Salem. I'll do it. I don't want you to have to live with
something like that."

I squeezed his hand, and then pulled him into a hug.
"It's going to work. It has to."

He sought my mouth and kissed me. It was soft and
gentle and made my knees weak. He kissed me again, then rested his
forehead against mine. "You're one of a kind, Salem."

"So are you."

We started walking again, hand in hand. Before we got
to the trolley stop, Trevor tugged me a stop.

"I don't want to go back yet. Let's go do something
fun."

"Like what?"
"I don't know. Let's go be tourists for a few hours."

I smiled. "Cool. Can we go up into the needle?"

"Sure."

"Can we ride the monorail?" I jumped up and down
excited.

He laughed. "We could ride it twice."

"Awesome!" I started to run, pulling him with me.

And for half the day we played at being tourists. We
played at being two normal teenagers looking for some fun instead
of two cambion runaways planning to murder four demon goth
rockers.

Trevor and I headed to the community center where the
all ages gig was going to be. When I was younger, I loved that
bands would play at places where I could attend. And just like
those bands, Malice had a pretty sizeable young audience. Once this
would've pleased me to no end, but now I just wanted to scream to
the crowd to ‘get out', to delete all Malice songs from their
iPods and phones.
Parents hide your little rockers because the
demons are coming to town to suck out their souls
.

Going through the motions, we helped set up the stage
and sound equipment. I tied the wires and carried the speakers and
followed instructions. All the while, I couldn't think of anything
else but finding the piece of sword and sliding it into Thane and
the others to end this nightmare.

On our break, we went and sat outside on the baseball
diamond bleachers nearby. Trevor had snagged a couple of bottles of
water and two bags of potato chips. For a few minutes we drank and
ate in silence. It wasn't a comfortable silence, it was full of
questions and answers and uneasy resolve.

"I don't like you going."

"I know." I wiped my fingers on my jeans. "But you
were the one that started this. Making me practice going on my own.
And it totally makes sense that it's me and not you."

"I know all that, but I still don't like it."

"Are you worried that I won't get it or that I might
get hurt?"
I hated the uncertain whine, the desperation in my voice, but it
was there nonetheless. I was worried that Trevor only cared about
the end game—getting revenge for his sister—and not about me. I was
afraid of being a means to an end. I wanted to be the end. The
prize at the finish line.

He looked at me, then reached across the metal
bleacher set and grabbed my hand. "I'm worried about you. You are
what's important."

Was it cheesy that my heart thumped a little harder
and a hot wave swept into my belly?

"I'll be fine. It's a quick zip through the shadows
to the hotel, then back again. What could possibly go wrong?"
"I don't even want to know." He shuffled closer to me and leaned
into my face.

I met him halfway and pressed my lips to his. The
kiss was simple at first. Lip on lip. A little sigh. A little heat.
Then Trevor cupped my face with his hand, tilting me up to him. I
sighed again, and he slid his tongue in.

Then it was all hot and fiery and explosive. We
meshed and I could taste the water droplets on his tongue and the
flavor that was all him. Dark. Dangerous. Delectable.

I fisted my hands into his t-shirt, pulling him
closer. A hunger I didn't know existed clawed through me. I had to
feast on him. Only he would satisfy me. Only he could sate my
ripping and tearing need.

Darkness swirled around me, clouding my vision. I was
drawn into it. It called to me. I had to heed its call. Trevor was
the only thing that darkness wanted, what it craved. And I was
going to give him over...

Then everything flashed white, and I was staring into
Trevor's flushed face. He was breathing hard, his hands squeezing
my shoulders. He'd been pushing me away.

Realization dawned on me and I sunk into myself.

"I did it again, didn't I?"

He gave me a small smile. "I was able to pull you
back before you took anything vital."

"I'm sorry," I murmured.

"One day we'll figure out how to do this without one
of us ending up in a coma."

I let out a deep sigh. "God, I hope so."

Slowly, carefully, he leaned forward and kissed me
again. It was quick and chaste and I guess it would have to do
until I could get myself under control. I would love to be able to
make out with my boyfriend without killing him.

"Let's get back. The band should be here by now."

We jumped down from the bleachers and made our way
back to the center to wait it out.

For the next hour, I did everything I could to avoid
being near Thane, Devon and the others. It proved difficult because
there weren't many places to hide in the community center. Then
around every corner it seemed Devon lurked in wait. Thankfully, she
didn't do more than stab me with eye daggers and growl menacingly
in her throat.

When they finally went out on stage, I nearly cheered
with pom poms and everything. I now had roughly forty minutes to
retrieve the box and get back. I figured that was plenty of
time.

The second they started the set and the bass vibrated
through the speakers, Trevor and I snuck into and locked ourselves
in the dressing room bathroom. It was small, dirty and smelled
liked mold but at least there were an assortment of shadows to
choose from.

"Remember to stay on the path." Trevor gave me his
serious look.

"I know. I know."

He hugged me close and murmured into my ear. "If
anything goes wrong, just come back to me. We can try again."

"You know this is our last chance."

He sighed. "I know. I was just trying to be
optimistic."

I smiled, then kissed him on the cheek, lingering a
little to drink him in. "I'll be back in a jiff."

He nodded, then backed up giving me room.

I took in three quick breaths, blew them out, shook
out my hands, and then stepped into the largest, darkest shadow on
the floor.

Within seconds, I dissolved into it. Like sugar in
water.

Chapter 28

Darkness consumed me. Despite that I still had a
sense of solid space under my feet and in front of me. It was like
instinct now to follow the path. I had a picture of Thane's room in
my mind and that was where I was heading.

Keeping my head straight, focusing on what was in
front of me, I put one foot in front of the other. The tunnel was
tight. It was like being forced through a tube of toothpaste. I
just went with the flow trying not to think about it too much.
Because that would be a huge mistake and would most likely make me
immobile.

I kept walking sure I was just about there. Something
pulled at me. Forcing me forward. It was a bit like being sucked
through a cold, dark straw. The pulling feeling intensified. It was
impossible to stop now even if I wanted to. But I didn't panic. It
was what was supposed to happen.

Right before being sucked upward, I saw something to
my right. It flashed and shone like a beacon. Then it was gone as I
materialized out of a shadow along one wall of Thane's hotel
room.

I stumbled forward, banging my knee on the coffee
table. "Ow. Damnit." I rubbed at it trying to soothe the sting from
radiating up my thigh. It did anyway.

The last place I'd seen his green bag was near the
bed so I crossed the room. But it wasn't where I'd last seen it.
Spinning around, I searched the room for it. At first glance I
couldn't see it anywhere.

I flung open the closet door. It was empty save for a
few wire hangers and the dry clean bag for housekeeping. I dashed
to the bed, dropped to the floor, and looked under it. Nothing
except a few dust bunnies.

My heart was thudding. Panic was starting to take
root.

I rushed to the bathroom. It too was empty except for
the dirty towels on the floor. There were no toiletries on the
counter. No toothbrush. No razor. Nothing that said this room was
still occupied.

A sinking feeling was filling me as I came out of the
bathroom and really surveyed the rest of the room. The bed was
unmade, pillows tossed here and there. Empty beer cans littered the
table. But there was no evidence that anyone planned to return to
the room. Thane had taken his bags with him. They were planning to
split right after the gig.

I pulled at my hair in frustration. "I can't believe
this. We are so screwed."