Chapter 2

"You're late, Dave."

The young wizard in question supposed that he shouldn't have been surprised that Balthazar was there, waiting. In his lab. To suck away all of his fun and good feelings.

"Hey, Balthazar," Dave said, rolling his eyes, keeping one arm around Becky, who wore an amused grin. "I was just thinking that, you know, we could use some, uh, time off? You know with the world out of imminent danger and things finally going right, and all…" He continued, with a not-quite-subtle gesture to his right.

"Trouble never sleeps, Dave," Balthazar called back up the stairs, "and neither will you."

With that, he turned his back (drama queen, Dave thought) and walked to the other end of the lab. Veronica took her turn to speak, and met the two students at the bottom of the stairs.

"We have not properly met," she greeted kindly, "I am Veronica. It is a pleasure to meet both of you." Her smile met her eyes, and Dave and Becky felt instantly taken with the woman.

"Likewise," Becky responded. "Dave has told me so much about you already."

"Well, everything I know is from what Balthazar told me. Its great to finally meet you too, Veronica."

"Dave."

The droning call came from the far corner of the room, and with a long-suffering sigh Dave left the women and went to attend to his master's every whim, and whatnot.

When Dave made it over, with a questioning yyyeah? Balthazar took a moment before he spoke. Dave caught his glance and looked over his shoulder at Veronica and Becky, already chatting like fast friends, and when he looked back to Balthazar he could see a hint of a smile on his face. As soon as Balthazar caught his (smug) expression, the mask of indifference was on again and they were down to business.

"I wasn't joking, Dave," he began, "about the training."

"I know."

"You may have defeated Morgana and saved the world once, but that does to mean it won't need saving again."

"I know."

"Soon."

"I kn— what do you mean soon?"

To answer him, Balthazar held up a cane between them.

"…is that Horvath's cane?"

"It is, yes."

Dave took the object into his own hands. "Is he coming back?"

"Most likely. But that is not the problem."

At Dave's questioning, if mildly panicked, look, he continued. "I was wholly prepared to assume the best and worst of Horvath after he fled last night, whether he were to return with another plan or disappear completely—"

"Which one's which—"

"—but I could not anticipate this." With this statement, Balthazar pointed to the very top of the blue stone, indicating that Dave look further. He saw, faintly, what looked to be..wait…

"Is that a pentagram?"

"Indeed it is. A very specific pentagram. This particular one is associated with Baphomet."

"Uh-huh. And Baphomet is…?"

"It is a pagan idol, whose presence goes all the way back to the Knights Templar. When he made his presence known, it was quite shaking for the magical world, as I recall. Some consider him synonymous with the Devil, but this is not true, although it is close to it. He is something of an elite demon. Sinister, tricky, and very ill-tempered."

As Balthazar closed his speech, Dave was wide-eyed and slack-jawed. He took a moment to school his expression and begin breathing again. He could practically feel where this was going. "Okay. So… He's next on our list of things to defeat?"

"That would be correct. We can safely assume that Horvath is operating under Baphomet's design, as well as he was Morgana's. Perhaps he meant to bring the two together somehow, I don't know. But now that he's run, I'd say he's gone to his other master."

Dave shook his head, trying to appear relaxed. "Great, just when things were starting to go right." He then shot a glance over his shoulder at Becky, who was talking animatedly about who-knows-what with Veronica, and sighed.

Balthazar followed his gaze. "How was the trip?" he asked after a moment.

Dave turned back to him, and couldn't help the goofy grin that took place on his face. "Awesome."

A small smile graced Balthazar's face as well, and they were silent for a moment longer.

"There is one more thing, Dave."

"…of course there is."

"Don't give me that. All things considered, this is far less life threatening than everything else."

"Then, please, share the good news."

Balthazar took back the cane, and turned it so they were now looking at the side. "Do you recognize these?"

There were, around the neck of the walking stick, three pieces of jewelry. The first of which was quickly removed, and placed back on its master's finger with a grumbled just in case… before the examination resumed. There was a necklace, an iron pentagram with a small onyx jewel in the middle of it, and a ring sporting a brilliant ruby.

"Whose are these?"

"They belonged to the Morganians. This necklace was Abigail Williams', and the ring was Drake Stone's." Dave thought back to the stage magician, and felt a pang of…what…anxiety?…at the thought that something had happened to him. He didn't seem evil. Careless and flashy, sure, and maybe even at his worst, dangerous. But not evil. Not like Horvath.

"What happened to them?"

"There is a spell that allows one sorcerer to take another's power. Because a wizard's channeling gem only works for that wizards specific magic, these would have done no good for Horvath unless he had utilized the spell."

A sickening feeling settled in Dave's gut, and by the Look on Balthazar's face he wasn't as calm about it as he was trying to be.

"Balthazar, what happens to the sorcerer when this spell is used on them?"

"They die." The answer was quiet, strained. Morganian or not, neither Dave nor Balthazar was settled with the idea of murder—which is exactly what this was. The two were quiet for a moment, until Balthazar spoke again. "However, there seems to have been a miscalculation in Horvath's scheme."

"What do you mean?"

Balthazar held the neck of the cane closer for Dave's inspection, and said, "See the ruby? What do you notice?"

It took a moment, but when Dave realized what was wrong his eyes went wide. While the onyx gem was dull, lifeless, and obviously devoid of any more magical purpose, the ruby sustained a faint glow, soft enough to be missed by anyone who wouldn't understand it, but Glaringly obvious to anyone who knew what it meant.

Dave tore his eyes away from the Ring, and looked to Balthazar. The older wizard nodded once, and spoke.

"Yes. Drake Stone is still alive."

A/n: I am using characters in this story that relate to real historical events and/or cult followings. I mean no disrespect and I am sorry if i interpret anything differently than you do, but this is fan fiction about modern-day magical battles and I thought a bit of artistic license was appropriate. I am also exaggerating, because, ya know, fiction. Hope you enjoy!