formidable than the police, eh? No offense, Chief Inspector."

"None taken," Blood replied uneasily, wondering just what it was they could

expect.

The spacious entry hall had a black marble floor and a crystal chandelier. A

wide mahogany staircase led to the upper floors. There was a formal dining

room

to their right and a large sitting room to their left, through a set of

French

doors. It was richly carpeted and filled with valuable collectibles and

paintings, and there were some antique firearms mounted on the wall, to

either

side of what must have been the Carfax crest.

"I must admit that I am puzzled, though," Jacqueline said, frowning as they

went

through the house "Look at all this. It must be worth a fortune. If Carfax is

not a necromancer, then why doesn't he have an alarm system? And if he is one

of

the Dark Ones, then why have we been able to get inside so easily?"

"Perhaps because he wanted us to," said Makepeace.

"What do you mean?" said Blood, glancing at him sharply.

"Well, maybe not us, specifically," Makepeace said, "but think about it. He

captured Modred, and having taken him by surprise, he might just as easily

have

killed him. Only he didn't. Why?"

"So that Wyrdrune and Kira would come after him," said Blood.

"Precisely. The three of them together constitute the single greatest threat

to

the Dark Ones. They can form the living triangle and call upon the full power

of

the spell. It would be like facing the Council of the White all over again,

embodied in the three of them."

"But with one of them in his hands, he can hold something over the other

two,"

said Blood. "He knows they'd come after him, but it's a risk. He's got to get

them where they'd be vulnerable, but he can't allow them to get close to

Modred;

otherwise they can activate the spell and call upon the full power of the

milestones. So he's got to set a trap of some sort.'"

"And the moment Wyrdrune and Kira walk into it, Modred dies," said

Jacqueline.

"Only what if we are the ones who have walked into it?"

CHAPTER TEN

She reached the end of the stone passageway and stood, panting, on all fours,

willing the transformation to begin again. She trembled as it started, and a

doglike whimper escaped her throat, then she collapsed upon the ground,

jerking