“He doesn’t look like someone I should be scared of,” Zamek said. “He looks like someone who enjoys preening in front of a mirror for hours on end.”
“He’s a monster,” Lucifer said. “Let me assure you of that.” He went through more pages. “The rest of the devils are in here, too. All seven of us. And then there are details on their positions in what realms. I can read the occasional word, so I’m only guessing, but I see the names of several realms here, and not all of the writing is in elvish. This book was used to keep an eye on us. It ends just after the rest of them were banished. This book is thousands of years old. I knew the elves did something to their paper to make it not age, but this is astonishing.”
“The dwarves do the same thing,” Zamek said. “Although we use our alchemy to do it.”
“Okay, anytime someone wants to explain everything,” Selene started.
“Yes, I think we’re owed that much,” Lucifer continued.
“We’ve had some problems over the last few weeks,” Galahad began as he took a seat. He’d cut his dark hair since I’d last seen him, and grown a short beard. There was a small scar on his cheek that I didn’t remember.
Caitlin sat beside him. She wore jeans and a T-shirt instead of the suit she’d worn as a member of the FBI. It was good to see her again, and I hoped that the last few years had been kind to her.
“A few weeks ago a man by the name of Lee O’Hara arrived in the city, claiming to be your friend,” Harrison said to me. “I assume you know that name.”
I nodded, feeling the shock of the name of an enemy for the first time in years. “He’s the son of a crime boss in London. When I lost my memory, after Mordred’s attack, I worked as a thief for the family. Lee was a monster. Human, but evil. He tried to have me killed, and almost got his sister killed in the process. His family had him exiled from the UK for it. He doesn’t like me a whole lot.”
“Well, he’s not human anymore,” Galahad said. “He’s a vampire. A very powerful one.”
“He murdered people,” Caitlin said. “Left marks saying it was the work of Hellequin. He ran off to the forest at the north of the city. We sent people after him, but they didn’t come back.”
“And more than one person in the city defected to his cause,” Harrison said.
“You had traitors in your midst again?” I asked.
“It would appear so,” Harrison said between clenched teeth.
“How can Lee be so powerful after only a few years? Vampires take centuries to become powerful.” I glanced at Lucifer. “Asmodeus, I presume?”
“Those he turns are abnormally strong,” Lucifer said. “It’s possible this Lee is one of his. And if that’s the case, we have a problem. Wherever Lee is, Asmodeus will know about it. He can track his creations, but more than that I doubt very much Lee’s arrival here is a coincidence. Asmodeus must have sent him.”
“What does that have to do with us?” I asked.
“You are Hellequin,” Galahad said. “And several of my council decided that if you arrived, you should be arrested and questioned. That demand only increased when someone calling themselves Hellequin starting murdering humans on Earth realm. So, I needed to make your arrest look good so that when you emerged from prison, everyone would be convinced that I’d discovered your innocence.”
“Yes,” Harrison said. “We had to arrest you all, unfortunately. It wouldn’t have worked if we’d just taken you, Nate.”
I noticed that Galahad hadn’t apologized for what he’d done, although I wasn’t about to hold a grudge about it. “Did you have to punch me, too?”
Harrison smiled. “No, that was just for fun.”
“You’re such a dick,” I told him, and enjoyed seeing that smile falter.
“We don’t have time for this,” Galahad snapped. “We need to discuss what’s happening.”
“Well, Avalon is declaring war on you because someone using my name is murdering humans and attacking Tartarus,” I started. “They killed Rhea and Cronus. They wrote Shadow Falls in blood near their bodies. Someone is doing an excellent job making people think that you and Shadow Falls are behind it all. In just over a day, Avalon will launch an offensive against you. They will expect you to hand yourself to them for questioning. They will expect you to allow their forces into Shadow Falls.”
“Then they will be very disappointed,” Galahad said. “You came here to do what, convince me to let it happen?”
“We came here because we hoped you’d be able to talk to them before this went any further,” Sky said.
“If you can talk to Arthur and make him realize what’s happening, a war might be averted,” Selene said. “You need to let Arthur and some of his people into the realm to discuss what’s going on.”
“So they can try and take control?” Harrison asked. “Never going to happen.”
“This isn’t about taking control,” I snapped. “This is about Avalon’s war machine marching to your front gates. If you can’t convince them of your innocence, they will try to force the issue.”
“Then they will be upset,” Galahad said. “They will not come into this realm. They will not be invaders.”
“Then go talk to them,” I said. “Arthur is coming alone. He’ll be here in hours. I will go with you, to neutral ground. The pair of you can talk.”
“I tried,” Galahad snapped. “About a month ago I was given word that Avalon was looking for reasons to invade.”
“A month ago?” I asked, looking over at Sky and Selene, who both shrugged.
“What can I say? Avalon already has ideas to take this realm for themselves.”
“You really believe that Arthur would invade Shadow Falls without reason?” I asked. “He came to me before all of this death and told me that he’d heard rumors of a Shadow Falls expansion plan into America. He asked me to come here and find out what’s going on. He doesn’t want war with you, Galahad.”
“I agree. I don’t believe he wants war,” Galahad admitted. “But that’s not to say that people who want control of Avalon for themselves wouldn’t move Avalon into a war with us. A war they could capitalize on.”
“Hera?” Selene said. “That sounds an awful lot like her.”
“Or Baldr, or Merlin, or any number of a dozen people who want what we have,” Leonardo said.
“The crystals,” Caitlin finished for him. “You remember those, yes? An unending source of energy. A weapon of immeasurable power, and a way in which Avalon could gain more and more control over all of the realms.”
“They’re unstable,” I said.
“You think they’ll care about that?” Galahad asked.
“Are these the same crystals that created the blood elves?” Zamek asked.
“Similar, yes,” I said. “Less stable, and there have been no adverse effects of magic on people.”