going on?" Toby hurried out of the darkness of the woods. "Who was that?"
"Gwydion."
"Where is he?" Toby seethed. "I'd like to get my hands on that son of a bitch."
"He took off, but he was babbling about how Nature is out of balance or something." Gabe brushed himself off. "Son of a bitch hit me hard with a knock back spell."
"Did he want anything else?"
"Yeah." Gabe hesitated. "He wanted me to join him."
"Of course, he does. He feels threatened by you. You share the same genetic makeup."
"You knew? That he was like me?" Gabe stared open mouthed at Toby. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"I didn't know for sure until our last battle at Antrim castle. He said a few things while torturing me that made it clear."
"Did you know his father is Merlin?"
"What? You sure?" Toby frowned. "Is that what he told you?"
"Yeah. Can you believe that shit?" Gabe shook his head in disbelief. "Whatever happened to Merlin anyway?"
"No one knows for sure. The stories say he was exiled long ago by an enchantress that he pissed off." Toby rubbed his chin, thoughtful." Showing up here is a risk. He may have all sorts of defensive and cloaking spells to help hide him, but he knows his appearance here could attract Jacqueline. Especially if she's already close by."
"Is she?" Gabe watched an unreadable emotion flicker across Toby's face. "Maybe that's what Gwydion wants."
Toby frowned and raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Look, Jacqueline wants to kill wizards. Maybe Gwydion wants her to come here, thinking that she'll kill us. While she's busy with that, he'll try and get the jump on her." Gabe grinned sourly. "Of course, that won't work. Jacqueline still loves you."
"I hope so. So much has happened to her," Toby muttered. "I just had a very interesting conversation in the woods with Morrigan."
"Morrigan? Celtic goddess Morrigan?" Gabe glanced at the darkness his father had come from and then grinned slyly. "Was she hot?"
"Yes and yes." A faint grin of his own lifted the corners of Toby's mouth for a moment. "But, like Gwydion, she mentioned Nature being out of balance. And you may be right about Gwydion trying to draw Jacqueline out. I found Foster, one of the council members of the Brotherhood, dead in the woods. He is never far from Gwydion's side."
"Did Jacqueline kill him?"
Toby shrugged, but Gabe saw the pain flash through his eyes.
"What else did Morrigan want?" Gabe pushed harder when Toby didn't answer. "C'mon. She had to have appeared to you for a reason."
"She told me how to save Jacqueline."
"Well, that's good. Right?"
"I don't know. Jacqueline is pregnant."
Stunned, Gabe could only stare at the other man as all the possible ramifications of his words processed in his head. A baby. A banshee wizard baby. A baby whose mother had swallowed the essence of Death.
"And I thought I was fucked up," he said softly.
Toby's look of misery made him wish he'd kept his mouth shut.
Before he could apologize, the hair's on the back of Gabe's neck prickled.
"Did you feel that?" Toby asked, looking around and equally alert. "The energy shift?"
"Yeah." Gabe also surveyed the area, reaching out with his senses and finding the presence of another wizard close by.
"Gwydion." Toby cocked his head to the side. "He's powerful enough to hide his essence though."
"He wants us to know he's here. It must be demonstration time. He said he had something to show us." Gabe concentrated on the location of the energy signature. "He's in the bar."
Thoughts of Angela crossed his mind. What if he hurts her?
Gabe wouldn't stand for that.
As if one, both men turned and headed towards the back door of Merlyn's Bar.
Chapter 4
The back of the bar buzzed with boozy laughter and the clink of pool balls.
"Yes!" A young woman jumped up and down, banging her pool stick on the ground as she shouted at her boyfriend, "I finally beat you!"
Laughter swelled at her exclamation and a few people clapped in approval. It seemed the crowd had grown in size since Toby had been outside--though that was typical. The later the hour, the more people seemed to drop by for a beer. Normally, he would have welcomed the business, but tonight, the crowd had him on edge.
The last thing he wanted was for innocent people to get hurt.
Toby and Gabe stood at the back entrance of the bar, searching for Gwydion's energy signature.
What was the old wizard up to?
Alert, Toby walked through the bar, aware of the strong scent of alcohol and cigarette smoke