“ For those that were chosen, there is always the time of trial, Crowley said. A time when the chosen two’s destinies are not set. It is the most critical point for any Prince of Sanheim. Only by understanding his cennad and himself will he be able to do what must be done. Only by staring wide-eyed into the abyss will he survive.”
— Horace Camden, “The Prince of Sanheim”
Kate was having trouble deciding where to look. She tried to stay focused on the road, but she kept looking at the back seat where Quinn lay.
She should have called an ambulance, she knew. She should never have moved him herself. But she had panicked and did not want to take the chance that the Horseman could come back. There was no time to think about why he had disappeared.
Thank God they were in a big enough town that there was a hospital. They had noticed it on the way into town. It must serve most of the surrounding area-it wasn’t huge, but it would be enough. She wanted him to be okay. She tried sensing something about him-in the hotel room, she was pretty sure she could hear what he was thinking and vice versa. But now she got nothing.
She didn’t know what to tell the hospital and it was only now dawning on her that the hotel would want some type of explanation for a wrecked room and vanished customers.
She shook her head and glanced back again at Quinn.
Please let him be okay, she thought. Please let him be okay.
She was unsure what to think or do. If their problems had seemed bad 12 hours ago, everything now was much, much worse. And she still had only a limited picture of what was going on.
Only a day ago, they had been worried about one vicious killer. Bad-really bad. And now? Were there two? Was one working for the other? Who was she kidding anyway? What kind of being could literally spring out of your dreams and attack you? It was too much.
Thank God Quinn had left his cell phone in the car. She picked it up while still driving and called Janus. She had to trust somebody and he was one of the only ones left.
He answered immediately, sounding wide awake even though it must have been around four in the morning. She remembered Quinn telling her he always sounded ready for action.
“It’s Kate,” she said.
“What the hell is going on, Kate?” Janus asked. He sounded concerned. “I tried to call you guys again last night. The police are out looking for you and Quinn’s place looks like someone ransacked it before leaving.”
“You’ve been there?”
“I was looking for you guys,” he said. “Look, you may have decided that now is a good time for a romantic romp somewhere, but there is some bad shit going on and I can’t get a hold of anyone.”
“I’ll explain later,” she said.
“Wait a second, Kate, I…”
“Quinn’s hurt,” she said. “He’s unconscious and I don’t know…”
She broke off. This was simply too much.
Janus’ voice changed.
“Just tell me where to meet you,” he said.
“I’m taking him to Bluemont Hospital,” she said.
“Bluemont?” he said. “In West Virginia?”
“Look, I’ll explain later. But I need help here.”
“I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”
Kate pulled into the emergency entrance and thought a minute before leaving Quinn in the car.
What if the Horseman came back? Or what if Lord Halloween somehow knew where she was? She felt trapped. And very alone. She hadn’t realized how grateful she was to share everything with Quinn until he was no longer there.
She ran into the hospital.
“My friend,” she told the nurse. “He’s in the car. He fell three stories. He’s hurt.”
The nurse stared at her in total disbelief.
“You moved him?” she asked.
“Yes, but that’s done,” Kate said. “Please. I need help.”
The nurse summoned three others and they went to the car to retrieve Quinn.
Janus showed up a little more than an hour later, having driven as fast as he could push his Jeep. Kate stood outside the room where Quinn was being examined. She couldn’t tell what was going on. The doctors had tried to attach Quinn to monitors earlier, but the machines had appeared on the fritz.
“What happened?” Janus asked, looking in.
“Quinn fell,” she said. “We were being chased in our hotel room and he fell off the balcony.”
Kate sat down.
“Chased by who?” Janus asked. “What the hell is going on?”
Kate started to explain. They had been stalked by Lord Halloween, they had fled. And then someone had followed them to the hotel room and attacked. She didn’t know how to bring up the dream or the very real ghost of a horse that destroyed the hotel room door, or any of it.
“So Lord Halloween found you there and just attacked full on?” Janus asked. “I don’t get it. Why didn’t you call the police?”
“I don’t think it was him,” she said.
“Who else would it be?”
“Quinn said that you and he found something weird out by the Phillips farm?” Kate asked.
“What about it?” Janus asked. “Some nut carved a strange word into a tree.”
“The same person who did that attacked us tonight,” Kate said.
“I don’t get this,” Janus replied. “How do you know it’s the same guy? How do you know it’s not Lord Halloween?”
“I don’t understand it all, Janus,” she said. “There is some strange stuff going on. I can’t explain it all.”
Janus looked in the window. “Is he going to be okay?”
“I don’t know,” Kate said and stood up to look back at the doctor examining Quinn. The light above the bed was flickering and the doctor appeared to be calling for a nurse to help. “He fell a long way and landed on his back.”
“Jesus,” Janus said and sat down. “Why didn’t you guys tell me what was going on?”
“It was my fault,” Kate said. “I was so paranoid, I didn’t want Quinn to tell anyone.”
“You didn’t think you could trust me,” Janus said and looked at her coldly. “So what has changed now?”
Kate wasn’t sure herself. But Janus was the first one she had thought of for help. It was who Quinn would have called. And her view of Janus was different too. Before, she had seen him as slightly obnoxious, but now she knew things about him. About Christina, his long-term girlfriend who had left him abruptly two years ago. She knew he had been devastated, that Quinn had to talk him off of the roof of his apartment building. The only person who could have known this was Quinn and he had never said anything. But whatever happened in the hotel room must have connected their memories somehow. Quinn trusted Janus, so now so did she.
She shook her head. This was insane.
“Quinn trusts you,” Kate said. “He told me we could count on you. And I need help now.”
“Look, I’ll help, but you have to understand, it was crazy yesterday,” Janus said. “They found another body. I talked to one of Quinn’s police sources. He said the police think the guy was killed around the same time as Fanton.”
“Was there a note?” Kate asked.
“Definitely,” Janus said. “But I don’t know what it said. Neither did the source.”
“What does Kyle think?”
“That’s another thing, Kate,” Janus said. “Laurence’s been going nuts. It may be the weekend, but he couldn’t reach any of his star reporters. Kyle didn’t answer his cell or his home number. And I couldn’t get either you or Quinn. I was beginning to wonder…”
“Has someone been to Kyle’s house?” Kate asked.
Janus shook his head.
“Not that I know of, yet,” he said. “I went over to Quinn’s and that’s when I found the place a mess. The police were already there. They said there had been some incident at the hotel and they needed to speak to both of you.”
“We left in a hurry,” she said.
“So I gathered.”
“Is it odd for Kyle to go this long without checking in? It is the weekend…”
“Kate, this is the biggest story in Loudoun’s history,” Janus said. “He wouldn’t just drop off the face of the earth. Laurence is fucking beside himself. He checked in with all the reporters after I couldn’t get in touch with either Quinn or Kyle.”
“The rest are okay?”
“I think so,” Janus said.
The doctor came out then.
“Are you the person who brought him in?” the doctor asked Kate. She nodded.
“How is he?” Kate asked.
“I wish I could say for sure,” the doctor said. “You said he fell, is that right? Did he fall on any electric power lines, or was electricity involved in some way?”
“No, why?”
“Because I can’t get a machine to work within 15 feet of him,” the doctor replied. “The lights above him are going crazy too. I just thought, sometimes electrocution or a lightning strike can do funny things…”
“He just fell off a balcony,” Kate said. “Is he going to be okay?”
“I don’t know,” the doctor said. “He’s in better shape than I would have thought if he really fell three floors. He must have been very, very lucky in how he landed.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m getting him in for x-rays, but he appears to have movement,” the doctor said. “He also appears to be dreaming some and has been moving in his sleep. All that is a good sign.”
“What’s the bad sign?”
“We can’t wake him up,” the doctor said.
“So what happens next?” Kate asked.
“I’m not sure,” the doctor said. “We are going to run a few more tests. I don’t know why we are seeing all this electrical stuff going on. We will just wait and see. I suggest you sit down and get some rest.”
And like that, the doctor was gone. He didn’t wait for questions, he just moved on.
Kate and Janus both sat down.
“What do we do now?” Kate asked. “We’re sitting ducks here. If Lord Halloween finds out… he can come right on in. Maybe get Quinn while I’m away.”
“We’re not in Loudoun County, remember? He doesn’t know you are here,” Janus said. “And this is a pretty public place. If someone shows up randomly to visit Quinn, it’s going to be a tip off that he might be Lord Halloween.”
“Still, there are…”
“I know, I know,” Janus said. “There are lots of things that could happen. But he is in good hands for now. I won’t tell Laurence where you guys are. We can limit how many people know.”
“He might have followed us,” she said.
“I don’t know,” Janus said. “It’s your other attacker I’m worried about. You said he just disappeared?”
“I don’t know where he is,” Kate said. “But he has a penchant for dressing up. So I don’t think he will be hard to spot if he shows up again.”
“You said this was connected to the incident out on Phillips’ farm?” Janus asked. “The word ‘Sanheim’ carved into a tree?”
“Yes, why?” Kate asked.
“It’s funny but… Look, I didn’t remember back then, but I know that word.”
“It means Halloween,” Kate said.
“Yeah, but it also refers to something else, I think,” Janus said. “When I was young, my Mum told me about some legend. Some Celtic thing.”
“What are you talking about?” Kate asked.
“The Prince of Sanheim,” Janus said. “Somebody who worships the Celtic God of the Dead and gains great power on his feast day.”
“Halloween,” Kate said.
“Yes,” he said.
“What more do you know about it?”
“Nothing, really,” Janus said. “It was just some spooky story told to kids. There was a rhyme connected with it. ‘Fifty men went up a hill, none of them came down. Fifty men went to see him, none of them were found.’ But I don’t remember any details.”
Kate’s mind was racing. Whatever this was, it seemed significant. If it wasn’t connected to Lord Halloween-a possibility that didn’t make much sense to her-it could be related to this legend somehow. She looked back at Quinn. She needed him to be all right, but she also needed to keep working.
“I’m going to watch him,” Kate said. “But I need a few things. I need you to get some stuff from our hotel, I don’t care how. The files, the security tapes. We need a VCR. And I need an Internet connection.”
“It’s the middle of the damn night,” Janus said.
Kate looked at him. “And you’ve never done a little midnight breaking and entering before?”
Janus smiled. “All right, but if I get put in jail, you are posting bail.”
Quinn was standing on a hilltop, looking out over a grand vista of earth and sky. Lush, rolling green hills spilled out before him and in the distance he could see the ocean. He was standing on a cliff, yet he felt no fear. He wondered if he jumped off if he could even fly.
“I wouldn’t try that just yet,” a voice said.
Quinn turned to find a man standing there. He looked familiar and then he remembered. He was the man from his dream. He hadn’t remembered it when he had woken up, but he remembered it now. The man had given him a hint.
“You told me to find Tim Anderson,” he said.
The man nodded. “It was just a hint.”
“He didn’t know the killer,” Quinn said.
“No, but he knew enough,” the man said. “He told you what you need to know.”
“Which is what?”
“I can’t tell you everything Quinn,” he said. “I’d like to-I really would. But that’s not the way this goes.”
The man looked at the sky, which was a bright blue. Quinn could hear seagulls, feel the wind racing around him.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” the man said.
“Where are we?” Quinn asked.
“Technically, you are in a hospital bed in Bluemont,” the man said.
“The Horseman? He didn’t kill me?”
The man chuckled at that and turned back to Quinn.
“He might yet, but not this time, no,” he said.
“Did you create him? Does he work for you?”
“I’m not familiar with the story, Quinn, but I don’t believe that he works for anyone but himself.”
“He’s fictional. He isn’t real.”
“You made him real,” the man said. “If he works for anyone, it’s you.”
“But he’s trying to kill me.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“What’s going on? Who are you? Why am I here?”
“I’ll tell you a story, Quinn,” the man said. “I can’t say for certain that it’s true. It was a long time ago and it’s hard to remember. Centuries ago, a small village in what you now call Ireland was under attack from a neighboring tribe. They were losing badly. After a raid which resulted in the deaths of most of the young men and the kidnapping of many women, the town elders made a deal.”
“With whom?”
“Sanheim, the god of the underworld. The deal was extreme. They had only a few young men and women left, yet their survival was on the line. They agreed to sacrifice a young man and woman-kids, really-to Sanheim. They tied them to a post, bound their wrists together and left them there to die. But they didn’t die, Quinn. A few days later, they returned to the village and the young man-who had seemed just like a boy-was now a powerful warrior. The woman was his priestess. The town elders were frightened by what had happened, but pleased. Their sacrifice had been accepted.”
“The man and woman left for the neighboring village the next day. Some of the women that had been kidnapped returned after that, but, according to legend, no member of the rival tribe was left alive. The town elders were very pleased. Everything had gone as they wanted. Except when the man and woman returned to them, they didn’t work for the town elders. They were the ones giving the orders. And those that resisted them disappeared. It wasn’t long before the two ruled the tribe openly. When there was battle to be done, the man led the charge. When there were decisions to be made, the woman made them.”
“So you’re the man in that story?” Quinn asked.
“No,” the man said, and chuckled. “Few of the chosen live long. You’ll find out why soon enough. Though he did live a very long time. In the end, he got sloppy, corrupt. They all do. Start out anxious to please and end up living for themselves.”
“Who are they?”
“They are called the Prince of Sanheim. The name just refers to the man, of course. Which is an advantage, really, since no one really knew what a big part the woman played. They are two that can be joined together, in body, spirit and soul. Once they pass the trials of Sanheim, they are like gods on earth. That’s what the legend says, anyway.”
“I still don’t get what this has to do with me,” Quinn said, but he was beginning to understand.
“Oh, I think you do,” the man said, and stared at Quinn. It was unnerving. The man’s red eyes bored into Quinn as if he could see all his thoughts and memories. “You’ve always known you were different, that you were special. You feel it only a few months a year, but in those months you call September and October, you felt powerful, unafraid. If you hadn’t talked yourself into being afraid, you would have reveled in the dark and the night. It’s where you are meant to be.”
“No,” Quinn said. “I don’t believe you.”
He wasn’t sure why the words disturbed him, but he felt like he was being shown a mirror image of himself-one he was afraid to look at.
“You do and you know it,” the man said. “You are a Prince of Sanheim. You had to have the right mate-not any woman would do, not by a long shot-but this was something that was born to happen to you. Your parents knew it. They could have helped you, if they had lived.”
“My parents? Were they the Prince…”
“No, but your mother knew the legend and knew it well,” the man said. “She knew what you were the moment you were born. In every age, a new one is chosen. They face the trial and if they win, great power is theirs. Be glad it is your destiny, Quinn. It’s an honor, and if this honor wasn’t yours, you would be corpses by now. Lord Halloween would have killed you in your sleep and hunted Kate until she had joined you.”
“Kate’s dream? That’s part of this?” Quinn said.
“Sanheim is the god of the dead, Quinn,” the man said. “Who warned Kate that Lord Halloween was coming?”
“Her mother,” Quinn said. “It was her mother.”
“Precisely,” the man said. “Talking to the dead would be a miracle in the modern world, but it’s nothing compared to what power you might have. Take it, Quinn. Take it and hunt Lord Halloween as he has hunted you and so many others. It’s the only way to save Kate.”
Quinn’s mind was racing. He looked out at the vista and felt a surge of power through him. He felt alive in every fiber of his being, like nothing could stop him. For just a moment, he thought he could see Lord Halloween’s face and then it was gone. He felt alone again and empty.
“I gave you a taste,” the man said. “This is the deal that you and I make. Become the Prince of Sanheim.”
“I don’t even know how,” Quinn said. “Besides, what if I can’t stop? The two in your legend-they couldn’t stop, could they? Whatever power this is, it isn’t good.”
“Good and evil are points of view,” the man said. “The only thing that matters in this world is power.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Then you are a fool. Power is everything. But it is yours to wield as you want.”
“Why?” Quinn asked. “Why do you want me to take this?”
“I need an emissary in the world,” the man said. “My last one didn’t quite work out. I’m offering you power, the chance to save lives.”
“But I would work for you?”
“In a sense,” the man said. “But I don’t care about mortal concerns. I’ll need you for something else that we can discuss when the time is right. This is a gift, Quinn. Take it, use it as you will. If you want to be a knight in shining armor to those who need help, you can be that. I put no restrictions on you.”
“You are Sanheim,” Quinn said.
The man smiled broadly but didn’t say anything. Even in that moment, Quinn wondered if he was telling the truth. There was something else in play here-something Quinn could not yet understand. He had trouble believing the man was some kind of God, or the equivalent of the Devil.
“What’s the catch?” Quinn asked.
“The trial,” the man said. “You have to prove you are worthy first. Some of the most promising potentials have failed this test.”
“Is there a math test?” Quinn asked. “Cause I suck at those.”
The man didn’t smile.
“I can’t tell you more about it,” he said. “Pass the trial and the power is yours, it’s as simple as that.”
“That’s it? Unlimited power if I win?”
“There is no such thing as unlimited power,” he replied. “There are limits. If you live to see November 1, you will experience your first one.”
“What happens then?”
“I can’t say,” the man said. “There are rules to this game. But the time has arrived for you to choose if you are ready to be what you were born to be. Seek this power out and you can save the girl and the day. Reject it, run from it, or ignore it and you’re doomed. It’s as simple as that.”
“What does the Horseman have to do with any of this?”
“I keep telling you, Quinn. You created him. You are what you fear. He belongs to you.”
“I just want him to go away,” Quinn said. “Can I make him do that?”
“Yes, but when the time comes, you won’t,” the man said. “I see that now. Even if you would, she won’t let you. Yes, you two are very promising. I’m afraid our time is almost up.”
“Wait,” he said. “I still don’t know what is going on. I need to know more about the trial.”
“No, Quinn,” the man said and smiled. It was meant to be charming, but the smile instead seemed predatory. “There are some things you have to figure out yourself. I will give you one more hint about Lord Halloween.”
The world began turning then, slowly at first, but then faster. Everything was a blur of shapes around Quinn. Only the man stood out clearly.
“You’re over-thinking him,” he said. “You think you know his motives but you don’t. He’s a showman, a liar. He’s hiding his true motives from you because at their most basic, they are simple motives. Figure them out and you will find him before he finds you.”
Quinn wanted to ask more about what he meant, but the world had tilted. Everything was giving way. The man was gone and then there was blackness.
When Quinn opened his eyes, he was in a hospital bed. Above him was a TV and it was playing the strangest movie he had ever seen. There was no plot, only figures walking past a camera. The figures didn’t notice the camera or acknowledge it in any way. Every so often the action would pause and then restart. Quinn was beginning to wonder who would make such a program when he realized what it was: a security feed from Kate’s hotel.
He noticed Janus was next to him, watching it and taking notes. Where was Kate? He had an image then. She was downstairs in the hospital, using someone’s computer.
(Thank God you’re awake) Kate thought.
(What’s going on? Where am I?)
(I’ll be right up)
But Quinn found he could access her memories. She had brought him to the hospital, called Janus and waited. The doctors didn’t know what was wrong, but she had known he would wake up. She had felt him getting stronger and had almost had an image of his dreams. It looked like he had been in Scotland. In the meanwhile, Janus and she had been researching. They had been watching the security feed looking for a clue while Kate also tried to look up more information about the word ‘Sanheim.’ What she had found had disturbed her.
Quinn stopped wondering how he knew all this. He was linked to Kate now, he knew. He could see her thoughts and memories and she could see his. It was strange but also exciting.
Janus had not yet noticed he was awake. He was intently staring at the video screen. For a moment, Quinn thought he saw something familiar on the screen as a figure walked by, but then it was gone. He felt fuzzy and lightheaded. He doubt he was in much condition to do anything other than drool.
Kate came through the door.
“Thank God,” she said again.
Janus looked confused, then at Quinn. When he saw that his eyes were open, he smiled.
“Jesus fucking Christ, man,” Janus said. “You gave us quite a scare.”
“Language,” Quinn said in what was a pale imitation of Rebecca’s near daily admonishment.
Kate came over and kissed him. He had nearly forgotten what had happened before the Headless Horseman attacked, but it all came flooding back to him. This kiss wasn’t like those and he knew it, could feel her emotions as they were locked. This was not lust, but relief mixed with love.
(I love you) he said in his mind and she kissed him harder.
(I know) she responded.
She didn’t have to say it back to him. He knew what she felt, what she thought. He was no longer clear on where Quinn ended and Kate began. That might have been disturbing, but it didn’t feel that way. It was like letting your arm go numb and suddenly regaining feeling in it. It felt natural, like they had always been this way.
“Seriously, do I need to leave the room?” Janus asked. “You two are making me blush.”
Kate pulled away and Quinn got a good look at her. She was dressed in makeshift clothes again, jeans and a t-shirt she had bought at the mall before they left for Bluemont. She looked like she hadn’t showered recently and her hair was frazzled. Still, Quinn thought he had never seen anything so beautiful in his life.
(Always the charmer) she thought.
(Sorry) he said. (I can’t help what I’m thinking)
(Don’t try) she said. (I don’t want to try either.)
(What have you found out about Sanheim?) he asked.
(Quite a bit, actually, and none of it’s particularly good. Let me show you.)
She was just starting to call up her memories to let Quinn have a look when Janus interrupted.
“What the fuck is going on?” he asked.
Quinn and Kate had forgotten he was even there. With effort, Quinn focused his attention on Janus. He found it extremely hard to do. It was like when Kate was around, he couldn’t concentrate on anything or anyone else. That would be a problem if he didn’t learn to control it.
“You guys are now officially freaky and disturbing,” Janus said. “You’re just staring at each other, but you are making faces at each other like you’re talking. What the fuck?”
“Sorry,” Kate said. “It’s just…”
(Should we tell him?) she asked.
(It will be hard not to) he responded.
“You are doing it again,” Janus nearly shouted. Behind him the TV continued to play security feed from Leesburg Hotel. “Seriously.”
(Tell us about Sanheim. Use words)
“Okay, Janus, just hold on,” Kate said. “I’ll explain what I know. I’ve been doing some research on the Prince of Sanheim.”
“I can’t imagine you found that much,” Janus said. “It was just a goofy legend. I don’t even know how many people heard it.”
“Under that name, I found very little,” she said. “But once you start looking for patterns… he’s everywhere.”
(It’s not a he, it’s a they. It takes a man and a woman. It’s like the song, ‘It takes two to make a thing go right. It takes two to make it out of sight.’)
Kate started laughing at that and Quinn smiled. Janus just looked confused.
“Okay, it’s a they,” she said.
Janus was looking at them both again.
“Dear fucking God,” he said. “You can read each other’s thoughts, can’t you?”
“Yes,” Quinn said. “Though I have to say you jumped to that conclusion relatively quickly.”
“I don’t know how you couldn’t jump to it, mate,” he said. “You two are smiling at the same jokes, yet you didn’t say a joke. You’re talking to each other without speaking.”
Quinn found Janus’ reaction fascinating. He seemed unnerved, nearly frightened.
(He is frightened) Kate thought. (Wouldn’t you be?)
“Don’t be scared,” Kate said. “We’re still the same two people.”
“That’s how you knew,” Janus said. “That’s how you knew about Christina. When you mentioned it the other day, I just assumed my man Quinn here had been blabbing, which would have been very unlike him. But he didn’t say a word, did he? You could read his thoughts.”
“And his memories, yes,” Kate said.
“How the fuck did this happen?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Quinn responded.
“Oh, at this stage, I’m willing to believe an awful lot,” Janus said.
“We’ll get to it,” Kate said. “Back to Sanheim for a moment.”
“How is that even related?” Janus asked.
“Give me a chance to talk to you and I’ll tell you,” Kate said. She was testy with him, the way Quinn often was after the two had been together for several hours. Not only was she absorbing Quinn’s memories, she appeared to be absorbing his attitude too.
“Oh my God this is freaky,” Janus said. “I’m talking to a chick that is incredibly hot and she sounds like my best friend over there, whom I’ve never found remotely attractive.”
“Stay with me here,” Kate said. “From what I can tell, the legend of Sanheim is very, very old. I’ve been doing some research on the Net and it seems it was the Romans who first brought up Sanheim, a God they viewed as the equivalent of Hades.”
“The Devil,” Janus said. “That’s the equivalent.”
“It’s related but not quite the same thing,” Kate said. “Anyway, they invaded Britain under Julius Caesar, but Caesar at some point stopped. Historians point to the political crisis back in Rome as to why he had to return, but not everyone thinks so. He had four legions go over there with him, took two back and left one to guard what he had conquered. That’s a whole legion of men unaccounted for. Official history doesn’t worry about it, could just be someone’s error.”
“But unofficially…”
“Unofficially, he ran into the ‘champion of Hades.’ That’s why you don’t find it under any reference to Sanheim at first. But it’s the same thing to the Romans. I’m not sure what happened, but apparently the two met on the battlefield. After that, Caesar headed home in a hurry.”
“He was scared? Does that guy get scared?” Janus asked.
“Maybe,” Kate said. “Or maybe they cut some kind of deal. Maybe he told him about political events back home. In any case, the Romans don’t invade any further until a couple centuries later.”
“So he’s a warrior?” Quinn asked.
“He’s everything,” Kate said. “He’s the leader, he’s the general, he’s the priest. And he keeps showing up in Celtic history. Not during every invasion, but he’s there. He’s referenced during the conquering of Wales.”
“Fat lot of good he must have done us,” Janus said.
“That’s just it,” Kate said. “He’s referenced as helping the English.”
“Fuck him,” Janus said. “What’s that about?”
“It’s not the same person,” she said. “Through history, different leaders are chosen and they each have their own agendas. Maybe this guy just didn’t like the Welsh.”
“Imagine that,” Quinn said.
“Well, fuck him,” Janus said.
“Does anyone mention Sanheim directly?”
“Yes,” Kate asked. “A guy named Robert Crowley.”
“That’s the guy I told you about,” Janus said. “He was the ‘Prince of Sanheim.’”
“Who was he?”
“Nominally, he was a bad poet of the Romantic era,” Kate said. “But he went crazy, even by Lord Byron’s standards. In 1873, he declared that his father was not Sir Richard Crowley, but a powerful Irish chieftain. He summoned followers to his home for what he promised would be the revelation of the ‘Prince of Sanheim.’”
“Sounds like a nutter.”
“Here’s what interesting,” she said. “He summoned women first. And just so you don’t think everyone was repressed in that day and age, many came.”
“He started an orgy?” Janus said.
“I think he was looking for someone,” Kate said, and she looked meaningfully at Quinn. “He was looking for the right woman.”
“The kind that would live out his fantasies?”
“The kind that would trigger the ‘Trial of the Cennad,’” Kate said.
“I was really hoping we were going to talk in more detail about the orgies,” Janus said.
“A man and a woman joining is the key, Janus,” Kate said. “There’s this weird Web site some group in England set up that’s devoted to Crowley. It would be disturbing if it wasn’t so damn helpful. But they list all of his poetry, which is really, really bad, filled with love, sex, death and more sex. But he has an entire poem on the ‘joining.’ It’s all about sex, of course, but this one is different from the others. This is the kind of sex that links the body and the mind.”
“It links the souls,” Quinn said. “Two become one.”
“That’s one horny guy,” Janus said, and then he paused. “Wait a second. They are linked in body and mind, which means they…”
“Right,” Quinn said quickly.
“You two?” Janus said. “That’s how come you guys are suddenly the picture of weirdness? You had sex and now you are…”
“It’s not what we are,” Kate said. “It’s what we’re becoming. Quinn and I are linked now. I have a feeling it becomes even stronger once the trial is passed.”
“Was it any different than normal sex?” Janus asked. When he saw the look on Quinn’s face, he continued. “Look, normally I would just wait to ask Quinn when he was alone, but since you two are one now anyway, what’s the point, right?”
Quinn wasn’t going to answer. He was opening his mouth to say it was private when Kate replied.
“Very. Imagine knowing exactly what your partner wants a half second before they even know they want it,” she said. “No awkwardness, embarrassment. No accidentally doing the wrong thing. It’s like everything is choreographed.”
“That sounds pretty fucking awesome,” Janus said.
“Yeah,” both Kate and Quinn said at the same time, and they looked at each other. Quinn didn’t want to think about sex right now. Or rather, that was all he wanted to think about, but if he did, if they lost themselves to that again, they would be dead.
“So that’s the deal. The two have sex and…”
“Sex changes everything,” Kate said. “That’s what Madame Zora told me when she read my future. It was in the Tarot cards: The Devil, which represented lust and sex.”
“What else did she tell you?” Janus asked.
“The next card was Death,” Kate said.
“Oh. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that isn’t so good.”
“Death can also mean transformation,” Kate responded.
“Really? Cause usually, when you use it in a story and whatnot, it just means death,” Janus said.
“Jump back for a second,” Kate said. “We aren’t done with Crowley. He hosts this party, right? Women come from all around.”
“So he can join with as many as possible?” Janus asked.
“I don’t think so,” Kate said. “So he could find the right one. The Web site is vague-everything here is reading between the lines. Crowley was basically holding try-outs. I think by himself he was just a guy, but he believed if he found the right woman and they had sex…”
“He would become the Prince of Sanheim,” Janus said.
“Bingo,” Quinn said.
“Which means what, exactly? All you can eat at the local Irish pub?”
“I don’t know,” Kate said. “I know it triggers the ‘Trial of the Cennad.’ But I don’t know what that means.”
“The Headless Horseman,” Quinn said. “He’s part of that trial. He has to be.”
Quinn could vaguely remember his dream before he woke up. He had been talking to someone-he couldn’t remember who-but the man had told him something.
“You are what you fear,” he said.
Kate nodded.
(You created him) she thought. (He’s your cennad.)
(Which means what, exactly?)
(It’s ancient Gaelic for ambassador)
“Stop doing that please,” Janus said. “Not all of us are tuned in to Kate-and-Quinn’s FM Sex Radio.”
“Sorry,” Quinn said. “Look, my parents read me ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ when I was a kid and I loved it. Loved it. I made them read it to me every night. Finally, my Dad, as a surprise, got me the Disney cartoon version of it. And it scared the hell out of me. I couldn’t sleep for weeks after that, and boy, was my Mom pissed at him for showing it to me. He figured that since I had read the story, I was ready. But I wasn’t.”
“So the Headless Horseman is the thing you feared,” Kate said. “That’s why he attacked us.”
“Can I just remind everyone that he’s made up?” Janus said. “He doesn’t exist.”
“No, he didn’t exist,” Kate said. “But he does now.”
“Because you two had sex?”
“Dee saw him before this,” Quinn said. “That man near Phillips Farm heard a horseman late at night. And that was before we, uh, made love.”
“Just a guess: it was after you met me,” Kate said. “Before you did, he was just a dream. Once you and I started getting closer, the Horseman became more real. But he wasn’t solid flesh-ready to attack us-until we had sex. That triggered the trial.”
“And the trial is what? He shows up and puts Quinn on the witness stand?”
“I could be wrong, but I think it’s a bit simpler than that,” Kate said. “We kill him or he kills us.”
“Awesome,” Janus said. “That’s just great, because last time I checked there was someone else that wanted to kill you two. You are very popular with the psycho set this year.”
“What happens if we succeed?” Quinn asked.
“I don’t know,” Kate asked. “But I do know that at least at first, everything is tied to Halloween. That’s the apex of the Prince’s power and his lowest point is…”
“Nov. 1, All Saint’s Day,” Quinn said.
“So whatever power is gained is lost at the stroke of midnight,” Kate said.
“What happened to Crowley?” Janus asked. “What did he do with his power?”
“I don’t know if he succeeded or failed,” Kate said. “But he held his party. It wasn’t a huge gathering, but it was enough. Maybe fifty to hundred.”
“Fifty men went up a hill,” Janus said. “None of them came down.”
“What happened?” Quinn asked, but he already knew.
“No one who attended that party was ever seen again,” Kate responded. “They found the castle where he threw it totally abandoned.”
“Fifty men went to see him,” Janus continued. “None of them were found.”
“But they found something else, didn’t they?” Quinn asked.
“Yes,” Kate said. “The Web site had a lot to say about that.”
“What did they find?” Janus asked.
“They found a message written on the wall,” Kate said. “It was written in blood.”
“Let me guess,” Janus said. “It said, ‘Need more beer.’”
No one laughed.
“No,” Kate said. “It said, ‘The Prince of Sanheim is Risen. May God Have Mercy On Your Souls.’”