The Immortals III: Gavin

by Cynthia Breeding

  “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.

  * * * *

  Chloe was still dreamy-eyed from sex and Gavin inhaled her warm, woman-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.

  Epilogue
>
  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 cat. 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 Lance 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 they 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!”

  “Just what I need. Another faerie floating around,” Merlin griped.

  “I don’t float…” Chloe shook her head to clear it. “What do you mean, you’re from Camelot?”

  Lancelot strode toward her. “While Arthur sleeps, the ancient relics given to mortals by the gods are being summoned back. The world is on the threshold of annihilation; the knights are being prepared to fight once again.”

  “Knights?” She looked up at Gavin wondering if any of this was real. “You’re a knight?”

  He regarded her gravely. “I am Modred.”

  She felt her knees jelly as Gavin caught her. “But—you killed Arthur!”

  “He did not,” Lancelot said. “Modred stood to Arthur’s left while I stood to his right. It was Melwas who attacked.”

  “But the books say—”

  “The books have it wrong,” Tristan interrupted. “All those stories about Lancelot loving Gwenhwyfar and me stealing Iseult from my uncle are wrong too. Someone really needs to set the story straight, once and for all.”

  “You look doubtful,” Lancelot said with a smile, “but we’re all stuck here until the Grail can be found, so I’m sure Modred will have plenty of time to convince you he isn’t all bad.” He punched Gavin lightly on the shoulder. “Even if he is a vampire.”

  “Actually, that’s kind of cool,” Chloe said.

  Lancelot’s smile widened into a grin. “I guess that means you’ve already gotten to know him then.” He flicked a thumb toward a tunnel at the other end of the cave. “There’s an extra room in there where he can explain everything you need to know.”

  “Yeah,” Sara said as came up to him, slipping her arm through his. “That explaining really takes a long time.”

  He leaned down to nibble her neck. “I don’t think I finished either.”

  Chloe looked up at Gavin, seeing the man she had grown to love. Suddenly, it didn’t matter what the books had accused him of.

  Maybe she’d be the one to set the record straight and tell the world the real story of Camelot.

  She’d always wanted to write a romance novel.

  .... We finally book a room together….no need for two…

  The End.