their stuff and feel properly adventurous. And when the next story

came out about another victim, they could cavalierly tell their

friends, “Oh, yeah, I was down there last night.”

When confronted by the bouncer at the door, Fugisawa said, “I

came to see my uncle.”

The man nodded and stood aside, and said, “Yes, sir, ”

respectfully.

Wyrdrune and Kira came in behind him and paid the cover

charge. As they entered the club, Fugisawa walked up to the bar

while Wyrdrune and Kira apparently not with him, moved out onto

the dance floor.

“I’ve got a message for my uncle, ” Fugisawa told the bartender,

speaking loudly and leaning close to him, to be heard above the

music. The bartender nodded and moved to a phone behind the bar.

He picked it up and spoke for a second, then hung it up. He brought

Fugisawa a drink, a Scotch, neat, set it down in front of him, and

tapped the bartop twice with his knuckles, to indicate that it was

on the house. Then he moved away. Fugisawa sat and sipped the

Scotch, glancing around at the people in the club.

The floor was fairly crowded, but after a few seconds, he spotted

Wyrdrune and Kira, dancing together. He gave no indication that

he knew them. They looked like just a couple of ordinary kids out

there. Young tourists moving to the music. Looking at them, it was

still hard for him to believe what he now knew about them.

The story they had told him was incredible. He had not wanted to

believe it, in spite of the evidence. Clearly, it had seemed impossible

for someone of Billy’s age to possess the kind of power that he had

and Wyrdrune was far too advanced an adept for a mere warlock

who had never finished school. Kira, it seemed, possessed no

thaumaturgic ability whatsoever on her own, but through the

runestone in her palm, she could summon up more power than a

sorcerer of the highest level. And to think that Morpheus was

actually Modred, son of Arthur, King of Britain-a figure out of myth

and legend—and that he was part Immortal… that alone had

seemed beyond credulity. But when they told him of the Dark

Ones… it was all much more than he cold possibly accept. ‘ Only