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geance, but first he would save
Owain took only one step into the tower. Greet-
ing him were Kendall s wide eyes, surprised, questioning. Her severed head was
mashed down on top of the cross on the altar. Her mouth was open slightly, as
if upon her lips was the beginning of a cry of warning.
Owain spun, but his moment of shock proved costly. The sword bit deeply into
his side. Luckily, Montrovant s movement was constricted as he crossed the
threshold. Still, Owain crumpled to the floor. He landed in a pool of blood
that had dripped down from the altar. The scent of Kendall s vitae was all
about him as he stared up at her bulging eyes.
Montrovant raised the sword above his head, and the blow fell exactly where
Owain had known it would. It clanged against the stone where he no longer lay.
Owain s claw tore through Montrovant s jugular. The dark one s hands shot to
his throat.
Owain snatched up the dropped sword before it even had a chance to clatter to
the floor.
Montrovant staggered backward out of the chapel.
Your time on this earth is done, Owain said, as he advanced with the blade
bathed in his own blood. He tried to ignore Kendall s questioning gaze at his
back. There was never a question of mercy.
291
Dark Prophecy
With his first step out of the tower, the wind pulled at Owain. It tugged at
his hair, his clothes, his arm, his sword as if the storm tried to lift him
high above the earth. The driving rain that now fell was nearly blinding. The
lightning again re-
vealed Kli Kodesh, who stood to the side of the chapel. Owain held his sword
poised between the ancient one and Montrovant.
I see your wounded side, said Kli Kodesh. But what of your crown of
thorns?
Owain could barely hear over the din of the storm, and before the last word
had crossed the buffeting winds, Kli Kodesh struck. He moved with more speed
than even Owain could comprehend.
A blow to the head staggered Owain, but before he could react, Kli Kodesh was
gone.
Owain whirled to meet Montrovant s lunge. The
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Ventrue s elbow crushed the other vampire s nose while Owain s blade also
sliced downward through the air and into flesh. Montrovant fell, hamstrung, to
the ground.
Owain, the wound to his side throbbing, stag-
gered back until he stood against the outer wall of the chapel. He glanced
about for Kli Kodesh, but the ancient one was nowhere to be seen.
Another flash of lightning and Kli Kodesh stood calmly beside Owain. Owain
readied his guard but wasn t sure how to overcome the ancient s speed.
Momentarily, Owain was distracted by the rain run-
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292
ning down his face no, not water. Blood. He raised a hand to his forehead and
quickly jerked away a pricked finger. Checking more carefully, he realized
that the stinging at his temple was not from
Kli Kodesh s blow itself, but from a wreath of thorns that the ancient one had
slammed onto Owain s head.
With Montrovant immobilized for the moment, Owain stared through the sheets of
rain at Kli
Kodesh. The ancient one did not attack, however.
Instead, he stared back at Owain. Kli Kodesh wore a quizzical, almost
expectant, expression. We are here, he said. The Triad is complete. You may
speak the Words of Undoing.
Enough of your prophetic nonsense! Owain shouted over the storm. He
considered striking at
Kli Kodesh again but there seemed little hope of success. Owain was as
helpless against the ancient one as a mortal would be against Owain.
The relic! cried Montrovant, as he crawled to-
ward Owain. You must tell me!
Still wary of Kli Kodesh, Owain turned again to face the other opponent,
against whom he could at least defend himself, but suddenly the tower
no, the entire tor! rumbled violently. Owain was tossed against the wall of
the chapel. Montrovant fell to the ground, and even Kli Kodesh stumbled.
Thunder rocked the hill again. Blinding lightning flashed from the sky at
least a dozen strikes blast-
293
Dark Prophecy ing the crest. Owain pressed himself to the tower and covered
his face against the searing energy of the lightning. He recoiled from the
electrical blasts and from the spray of charred earth they showered over him.
When he looked again, a broad crater was opened in the hill not ten yards
away, and in the center of the depression rose a lone figure. At first only
the head and shoulders were visible, but as
Owain watched, the form of a man rose straight up from the earth, not stepping
but moving directly vertical, as if the ground itself lifted him. To
Owain s amazement, the very soil seemed to pack itself together to lend the
body form.
Kinslayer,
intoned the creature. Perhaps it was a trick of the rapidly fluctuating light
of the storm s pyrotechnics, but the creature s body appeared to change, to
flicker flesh one moment, something dark and insubstantial the next.
Owain, entranced, watched, and as he did, he recognized the slightly familiar
features before him.
He had seen the face before, though unlike before, the eyes, from corner to
corner, were now solid black. The chest, legs, arms, all swelled beyond normal
proportions as the creature grew in stature.
Its untamed hair flailed violently on the wild gusts of the storm. Yet in the
twisted, demonic face of this otherworldly thing, Owain found something
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familiar.
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294
Nicholas?
The creature s black glare locked onto Owain the instant he spoke the name. A
cruel grin exposed a maw as black as its eyes but crowded with jagged teeth.
In some way, Owain was sure, this was the
Gangrel that had brought a message to Atlanta so long ago, the Gangrel that
had hunted Owain in
Toledo.
Toledo the city where Owain had first seen Kli
Kodesh.
Owain pried his gaze from the creature and glanced over at Kli Kodesh.
Is this the ancient s do-
ing?
Kli Kodesh, though, stood with his mouth agape.
Oblivious to Owain, the elder spoke:
And lo, the earth shall open her womb and the Beast shall crawl forth seeking
the blood to sate its thirst.
In disbelief, he shook his head. I was wrong.
At that instant, Owain was blindsided.
Montrovant crushed him against the wall and then pounced on Owain as he fell.
The grail! The grail! Owain lost his grip on his sword.
Montrovant s eyes bulged. His claws gouged
Owain s neck. The dark one bit savagely into the side of Owain s face. Madness
consumed
Montrovant. There was no rational thought left in those eyes, only the quest
and centuries of failure.
No!
The single word from the Beast shook the earth,
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Dark Prophecy rattled the stones of the tower. From its open mouth, the
creature vomited a black, writhing mass. It came in a flood, a seething stew
of viscous shadow, oozing toward the tower. The Beast s mouth stretched open
impossibly wide as it dis-
gorged the shadow, which was composed of many vaguely human shapes. Here an
arm reached out.
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