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“Or Michaels’ blood,” Daniel added.

“Right,” I agreed.

“We need to find out,” Daniel said. “It could be the answer we’re looking for. It might tell us where Marcus will strike next and what he has planned for the future.”

“Or it could be a giant waste of time,” I said. “My grandfather was sick…maybe he wasn’t as aware as we think.”

“It’s better than being on a boat without room to breathe, waiting on answers we can’t control,” Daniel said. “At least we’re moving forward.”

I smiled at his words.

“Are you appealing to my impatient side in the hopes that I’ll agree?” I asked.

“Maybe a little,” he said.

“I like it,” I decided. “Let’s go see if my grandfather was telling the truth.”

Daniel put a cautionary hand up; it was a hand that was as much a warning as anything else. He didn’t want me to jump in to something without considering the facts.

“Are you prepared for that truth?” Daniel asked. “We don’t know what we are going to find – it may not be the happiest of truths.”

“I’m as prepared as you are,” I said.

And I was. I wanted to know the truth more than I cared if the truth would hurt. Understanding was the only way we could break the cycle of unanswered questions. We would finally know what Marcus was searching for; we would know why he wanted me. We finally had a clue to follow. We weren’t just waiting with baited breath for Marcus to strike next. We could start reacting to his moves in the right way, instead of chasing down shadows and leads that never seemed to pan out.

Daniel accepted my words as truth. He had a thought, a different worry.

“Alex said your mom sold your house, though,” he said. “We’ll have to break in.”

My whole being was focused on the truth in front of us. But even still, I had to repress a mischievous smile.

“We can manage,” I said. “It’s not like you haven’t broken in to a house before.”

Daniel’s return smile was boyish and excited. He held out his hand, the excited emotion mirrored in his fast movement. I weaved my fingers around his, holding on tight in my excitement, and concentrated on my destination. It wasn’t difficult to imagine where we were going. It was a place that stayed with me always, wherever I went. It was the first place I had truly felt home.

Chapter 12

There was a different chill to the air as we set down in the forest of King’s Cross.

It was the bitter, fresh, cold of the mountains. It was the kind of cold that could cut through even the sharpest of steel. I shivered at the feeling and pulled my jacket in close. Daniel didn’t seem to notice as he looked around the forest, which was dotted with the cloudy light of autumn. He knew where we were in a look. He had spent enough time in the woods around my house to know.

My house was directly in front of us, through a break in the trees. People were coming and going on the dead-end street, fighting their way through the cold as they moved from one destination to the next. Houses were decorated in the Halloween spirit. Goblins, ghouls and other creatures of the season obscured the houses and yards of my neighbors. My house was the only one without decorations. With its abandoned feel and dark, lonely windows, I thought it was the spookiest house of them all. Ellen’s car, Alex’s jeep and Sam’s Mercedes were exactly where they had been left. They too, had the feel of abandonment. Nothing had changed, except that the yard was in need of tending and spider webs were crowding the front porch.

“It doesn’t look like anyone is home,” Daniel said with a frown.

“Nope,” I said.

“We should probably go in the back, so no one sees us break in. We don’t need King to get us out of another mess.”

“Uh-huh,” I agreed absently.

I walked past him and out of the forest without the same fear clouding my mind. I kept my eyes focused on the front door as I walked. I heard Daniel’s whispered admonishment, but I ignored him. I was not as worried about being seen as he was. Sheriff Chuck wouldn’t remember our encounter; the worst that could happen was gossip. Gossip didn’t frighten me the way it did some – I had seen real terrors.

Daniel caught up with me as I crossed the yard.

“Are you crazy?” he asked.

“Metaphorically or literally?” I asked.

“Either,” he said.

“It’s possible,” I said.

“This is someone else’s house now,” he said. “Someone might call the cops.”

“No one is going to call the cops,” I said.

“Why not?” Daniel asked. “We’re trespassing.”

I turned back to him and felt the secret I had been keeping spring to my lips. I knew I couldn’t keep up the charade any longer, not just because I was a terrible liar; he had to know the truth, if only to keep him from having an aneurism. I pulled the key King had given me weeks ago out of my pocket and showed it to Daniel.

“I bought the house,” I told him.

Daniel blinked me as if I had spoken in an unfamiliar language.

“You did what?” he asked.

“Well, you technically bought the house, but since you gave me access to your account, I figured you wouldn’t mind. King set it up for me…did you know he spent time in the 80s selling houses? Some of them were even houses he had the right to sell. Fun fact.”

Daniel wasn’t interested in King’s past. He was more concerned about the fact that he was a proud owner of a new house.

“You bought a house without telling me?” he asked.

“Well, it was supposed to be a surprise…I was going to wait until everything died down…you know – after we had killed Marcus – to tell you.”

“Why is it a secret?” he asked. “You could have told me. I would have been fine with it.”

My heart started to race, despite the innocent nature of the purchase. It was as if I had stolen the house, instead of purchasing it legitimately. I avoided looking at the ring on my finger – the ring that Daniel had given me. He had said it was a promise always to be there for me. I had wanted to return the promise, in my own way. I wanted a place that was ours…that held history and meaning and was special to the both of us. Butterflies circled in my stomach as I searched for the proper words.

“It…uh…I was hoping, um…”

I put my head in my hand and made an aggravated noise I was certain the neighbors could hear. I heard a neighbor two doors down ask his wife about the sound. Why was it so difficult to admit the truth? My love for Daniel was known – we weren’t keeping it a secret, yet it was still difficult to admit the truth. It was difficult to tell him that I wanted more than a promise of forever.

Daniel had a frown on his face. He was looking at me as if he had never seen me before. He obviously was not jumping to any conclusions about my inability to find the proper words. For once, I wished he would.

“What were you hoping?” he asked.

“I wanted it to be ours,” I said. “I know it’s not a penthouse in New York or a mansion on a mountain, but it is something we will always have. It’s more than forever. It’s a place to start a life together, with just you and me.”

Daniel’s eyes widened then softened. His smile was slow and sexy, the sort of smile that took my breath away. He put a hand on the side of my neck and moved in for a kiss. I met him halfway. His kiss was slow and sweet – a different kind of promise. He pulled away to look me in the eyes again. The green of his eyes sparkled with his emotion.

“This is way better than a penthouse in New York,” he said.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

I smiled at the confirmation that I had done something right. Then, I refocused on the house and the task at hand. I crossed the lawn and stepped up the stairs with familiar purpose. The house creaked at the feel of unaccustomed feet on its porch. It groaned with the knowledge that someone was finally coming to visit. The key fit in to the lock perfectly. The door opened with a different creak; the creak of awareness. It was a creak that said it was glad to be opened again.

The house was unchanged since our last visit. It was still a mess; it still looked as if someone foreign had searched through all of our things. My thought at seeing the mess was that Marcus had been here – had been in my house. Was he searching for the sword or did he know that my grandfather had figured more out than he let on? Had he come personally to look for me after Ellen had fled to Santa Monica? I walked past the study and stopped in front of the picture by the kitchen. It was a familiar picture – it was the first thing that had let me know how truly affected Ellen had been by her separation from her family. I remembered perfectly the way her hand had trembled as she held it out to the picture. My hand trembled the same way, for a different reason. I took a deep breath to control the trembling and took the picture off the wall.

I pulled the back off the frame with quick hands. Inside was something I had not been expecting. The back of the picture was covered by old, crinkled parchment folded in half. It was the sort of parchment not used in modern times. Sensing the history, I was gentle as I pulled the parchment away from the picture. I set the picture and the frame on the ground and unfolded the parchment. As I unfolded the parchment, I realized it wasn’t one piece of parchment but two. There were two documents. The one on top was a map. It showed the mountains of Israel. Circled in red was one of the mountains.

“This is near where you described,” Daniel told me at the sight of it. “The vision you had of Marcus in a tower…it could be here.”

I handed him the map, so he could look closer and saw the second page. There was a drawing on this page. One that terrified me. A dark shape was hovering over a nameless city. The shape was massive. It was completely etched in darkness but I could tell that it had wings and was holding a black sword. Fire dotted the landscape under the picture. And there were people. Some of the people in the picture were dead, others were fleeing across an unending landscape; still others were marching over the top of the dead and dying. The way the last group was drawn, I had no doubt they were Watchers.

There was a short paragraph at the bottom of the picture. The words were strange and blurry. It took me a moment to make sense of the confusion. Then, the words moved and I was able to understand; understanding did not make me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. I read the words aloud, figuring Daniel would want to hear them too.

“The weapon that wakes with famine, war, conquest and death. It is the unmaker. It is the beginning of the end. Its appearance marks that which has been foretold by the prophet – it is the bringer of the apocalypse. It has long been locked away in a vault that only the sons and daughters of Michael can unlock, for it was one of his children who took the weapon after the first attempt at unmaking. Their line is best suited to resist the evil of the weapon. He who controls the unmaker will be the master of unending life, ultimate power and will rule the world as a dark king. It is said that once a great city protected against those who would seek the sword out, but if the city still exists, there is no record of it.”

Daniel had stopped staring at the map to stare at me. His green eyes were full of shock and utter terror.

I had a different reaction. I was annoyed that the reason I was hunted, the reason Marcus had been so serious about tracking me down was that he was a walking cliché. I had hoped more from him. I had hoped there was a better reason under the madness, a reason that went beyond a weapon that would grant him unending life and ultimate power.

“How come the bad guys always want to rule the world with some weapon that’s just going to make everyone unhappy, including the bad guy?” I asked. “Why can’t they just settle for a puppy?”

Daniel didn’t hear me.

“Marcus wants to unleash that in to the world?” Daniel asked. “Even he is not so stupid to think he can control a weapon that evil. This is a force that predates humanity…Even Watchers are no match against that kind of power.”

“I hate to break it to you, but I think Marcus is off his rocker,” I said. “He’s obsessed with living forever…the visions he’s shared with me are proof of that. And this weapon is key to that reality. He wants what he thinks he deserves.”

“What if he’s found the way to get this thing out without the son or daughter of a Michaels?” Daniel asked. “What if that’s why he killed the council? He’s ready to pull it out from where it’s been hidden and cause world-ending chaos?”

“But surely the council is not the only people who would keep him in line? Aren’t there others?” I asked.

“Us,” Daniel said.

“But what about what you said before, about the flood and God punishing Watchers for fighting and destroying the earth and everything?” I asked. “Isn’t he afraid of retribution?”

I couldn’t keep the mocking tone out of my voice. Daniel didn’t miss the mocking tone, but he was more focused on the truth.

“A lot has changed since those times. A deal was brokered to cause the flood,” Daniel said. “We don’t have the power to make such deals anymore...”

“You are telling me we’re the only thing standing in the way of…this?” I asked.

I pointed at the picture and the chaos of the end of world as we knew it. Daniel nodded. His eyes lingered on the picture. His eyes showed that he was more familiar with the picture than he was letting on. I wondered if the picture was close to the vision he had of the end of the world.