A Lass for Gallowglass

By Cadillac Red

This is a prequel to M'anam, where this story continues so best to read this one first. A second epilogue has been added to M'anam as well that completes this one but is aligned with the chronology of both stories. I do not own these characters and have tried my best to honor them as written by Deborah Harkness in the amazing All Souls Trilogy and her subsequent book.

The dream woke her. It was a long-familiar one and as always, he was in it. She had been having this dream with some variations since she was a young girl. The familiarity was comforting and yet lately, the dream left her longing for what was to come. It was time, past time really, for him to arrive.

The dream was different this time. Always before she saw him in places unknown to her—in the ancient parts of London, in Venice, in a rough, wild wilderness in Scotland, on a remote island in the north Atlantic, at the helm of a wood sailing ship. Sometimes he was wearing a tee-shirt and jeans. But more often the clothes of many earlier eras. In some dreams his blond hair was long, flowing to his shoulders, or tied back with a leather cord, and he had a full beard. In others he had a more modern shorter style and his beard was close-cropped and neat. He was big and muscled and looked fierce in some dreams. And then, in others, he smiled and it lit his blue eyes with humor, and that made her yearn as a young girl to meet him, and now, as a woman, to… know him.

In tonight's dream though, he was standing at the edge of a place she knew intimately. She and other family members cast the circle there a few days earlier to mark the Summer solstice. They'd circled the sacred place as their ancestors had done for centuries, sprinkling water and salt at the edge of the chalk circle. They placed the candles at the traditional points around the circle and lit the fire at its center. In the distance they could see bonfires lit by neighbors who still honored the old ways, could smell the scent of burning wood on the air. They had celebrated together, and then closed the circle and went back to their homes and their modern lives as usual.

But something kept her here in Ireland this time, to spend a few days in the castle in which her grandparents lived, that had been home to her maternal ancestors for centuries. And now she knew what it was. Because in the dream tonight, she saw him sitting at the edge of the sacred space, waiting. He did not know it yet, but he was waiting for her.

Gallowglass had arrived in Ireland two days earlier. The note he had received, sealed with an old coin embedded in wax, had shocked him to his core. It was his grandfather's traditional means for summoning members of the family, one they could not decline. But Philippe de Clermont had been dead for seventy years. And yet a young American named O'Neill had tracked the vampire to a remote beach in Cambodia and handed him a summons that no de Clermont throughout time could dismiss.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" he'd angrily asked, rising to his full height and looming over the stranger.

"Right! Like I'd travel all the way to Siem Reap to put one over on someone I don't even know," Conor O'Neill snorted. "Read the damn note. I don't know what it says but the man who gave it to me said you would know for sure it was from him once you did."

Gallowglass glared at the man, a low growl in the back of his throat threatening serious harm if this was indeed a joke. Then he'd removed the coin and torn open the letter. Just three lines but it had the effect Philippe had intended.

Grandson,

You spent more than four hundred years protecting the future of the family, as I bade you to do. You must take up the burden again or it will all be for naught. Come to Ireland with the messenger and I shall tell you all you need to know.

Your loving grandfather,

Philippe de C.

He'd recognized the handwriting, and the expectation of obedience that underscored the words. He packed the little he had, left his motorcycle with a local person who occasionally helped him, and traveled six thousand miles to Ireland, a country many of his ancestors had called home.

In a renovated old coach house in County Kerry, he found Philippe de Clermont hale and hearty, impossible as that seemed. His grandfather told a story about beings who keep time running on its intended course.

"Granda, how can this be possible? Even you were never truly immortal," he'd told the man who looked not a day older than he had when Gallowglass was reborn, many centuries earlier.

"And that is a story I will tell you, in time," Philippe said, greeting his grandson in the traditional manner of the de Clermont men. "But now, there is vital work to be done."

He stepped back. "Eric Ragnall Brendan William Sorley de Clermont, I charge you to do as you have for many centuries, to watch, to protect and in time, to help vanquish our enemies," his grandfather had said. "And to come home now. Your family needs you."

And in that moment, Gallowglass ceased to be a wanderer and was a warrior once more.

Philippe explained to Gallowglass that there was a race of beings, perhaps they were the gods of old, who knew how history was meant to happen.

Gallowglass was not as skeptical as others might be. He had been raised with traditions of the Old Norse and Celtic gods and goddesses, before he was reborn as a vampire. The idea of them was stamped in his DNA.

Philippe explained, "They work through a group of warriors, called "Tempus Conduci" or time guardians."

"I may not be one of the de Clermonts with a fancy university education but I lived long enough to recognize the Latin- and its meaning," Gallowglass said.

Philippe exhaled loudly. "No. You did not need universities to hone your gifts. Your great strengths, Eric, are your powers of observation, and ability to see beyond the horizon. Baldwin always said you were the family bellwether—"

Gallowglass snorted. "Baldwin never had much use for me. Except as a messenger. Or cannon fodder."

Philippe shook his head. "You are wrong. But that is a discussion for another day, Eric." He went on to explain that the Time Guardians were charged to fix the timeline when it went awry. As it had now.

Gallowglass was actually relieved to learn that Philippe had been recruited into the Tempus Conduci advisory counsel that helped decide which aberrations in the timeline had to be fixed, and how. In more than a thousand years on earth, Gallowglass had never met anyone who better understood the motivations and actions of creatures or humans than his grandfather.

So he had worked with Philippe and others of the Tempus Conduci for the past two days to discern the details of the pending attack on the de Clermont family and the Knights of Lazarus, and to craft a plan to avert it. Matthew's rogue blood-raged son Benjamin had been killed two years earlier but some of Benjamin's family had survived. And they wanted to exact revenge. The kind that would end the de Clermonts for all time.

Gallowglass would need to infiltrate Benjamin's family to learn how and when they intended to act, but first, they had to be sure no one involved knew Gallowglass as a de Clermont. That was taking some time, as it required more intelligence about who was helping Benjamin's children plot against the family.

So tonight Philippe had urged him to go out, nay, ordered him to hunt in the bright light of midsummer in Ireland. It was an odd request and Gallowglass declined at first, saying he was not hungry. But his grandfather insisted he work off his surfeit of emotions and hunt, even if he did not need to feed.

He'd gone out but instead of hunting, he had run a long way along the nearby beach and then turned and headed into the woods. A sailor at heart, he generally would linger by the sea as long as possible but tonight something in the dark forest lured him and he found himself walking among ancient trees seeking an inner peace that had eluded him the last two years. He climbed a wooded hill and in a grove near the top, beneath a canopy of branches and the starry sky, he found it. It was as though it called to him, to his heart, and soul.

The witches' sacred circle had been cast here recently, and he knew it would have been to celebrate Litha, the mid-summer pagan holiday marking the solstice. He noted the lingering scent of candles and salt and the scents of women, the witches who had gathered here. Out of respect, he remained outside the circle.

A long absent sense of peace settled on him, a feeling he had not known in the time since he began his latest period of solitary roaming without destination or plan. He sat down, leaning his broad back on a tree trunk, and let the stillness enter and enfold him. There was magic in the air here and it made him dig his bag of runes out of the pocket of his jeans. He'd inherited them from a human grandfather many centuries ago and often used them to choose the path as he wandered throughout the world, and throughout time. He pulled the first one out of the leather pouch and laid it on the grass beside him.

Dagaz. He closed his eyes and remembered something Philippe always said, "In a every ending, there is a new beginning." This rune had often marked the point when Gallowglass would move on to a new life. Was this another such time?

He pulled a second stone on which the symbol for Tiwaz was carved. The warrior rune. It stood for righteous battle. Appropriate considering the task that lay before him.

Taking a deep breath, he pulled out a third rune, the one that would indicate the outcome of his present situation. Wunjo. Gallowglass' heart clenched, and he swallowed down a ball of emotion in his throat. Wunjo meant Joy. Family. Belonging. All the things his heart silently yearned for. He closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the tree.

With his vampire senses, he heard her before he saw her. Walking softly, she entered the sacred space from the other side, wearing a long, silky white robe, cinched at the waist by a belt made of crystals. She smelled of blooming heather carried on a soft ocean breeze.

Between the moonlight and his vampire eyes, he could see her clearly. She had a heart-shaped face, and eyes the color of the Caribbean Sea, rimmed by lashes as dark as coal. Her hair was red, and fell in loose curls down her back, spilling over her shoulders to frame her face. She could have been a nymph or one of Ireland's legendary fairies.

He hesitated to make himself known, not wanting to startle or frighten her away. But she continued through the circle and stopped just a few feet from him.

"There you are," she said. "I've been waiting for you."

"For me, lass?" he asked, intrigued.

She smiled. "I'm Ciara." Her voice had a soft Irish lilt that he found enchanting.

"Gallowglass," he said.

She frowned slightly and he thought rather adorably. At this closer distance, he knew her for what she was, a witch. "Is that what your parents named you?" she asked.

"No. They called me Eric. A long time ago, that was. Only my grandfather calls me that these days. Gallowglass is just a name I picked up… over time, because of my work."

"I'm a historian," she said, with a soft laugh. He thought her laugh was the sound starlight would make if it spoke. "I can quote you the derivation of the word in history, if you wish."

"You're a historian? And a—"

"Witch. Yes," she said, putting out her hand to invite him to rise and take it. "And you are a vampire. I had not expected that. But, the goddess has a sense of humor, I guess. "

"Aye, I've often thought that." He rose to his feet and realized he towered over her. "I'm a bit of a behemoth. But I mean you no harm."

"I know. As I said, I've been expecting you. For a long time. Will you walk with me, Eric? There's so much I want to know…"

They had walked all night and talked of everything and nothing. He had never felt so completely at ease with a woman in so short a time. And when the sun rose they had walked a full circle to return to the place where he was staying with Philippe and the Tempus Conduci.

She laughed again when she saw it. It had once been a coach house and stables for the old castle on the hill above. But for the last century or two, it had served as the Irish headquarters of the Time Guardians.

He looked at her strangely, not sure what was funny about the old, beautifully updated building where he'd been the last two days. "I'm staying here," he said. "But I'll be walking you home before we—"

"I only need to go to the castle," she said, nodding at the structure on the hill above them. And then she sailed past him and entered through the stone doorway, making her way straight to the salon where they had all been working.

"Patrick! Conor!" she called to the two younger men in the room. They were surprised to see her but obviously pleased and the three exchanged hugs and kisses on the cheek.

"Eric, these are my cousins," she told him when he followed her.

He was relieved, having feared he had allowed her to breach their security but it was clear she had been here before. And knew the Tempus Conduci members.

"Ciara, you are a sight for sore eyes," Patrick said. "I was just thinking we needed some help from you or one of the others and here you are."

She smiled, and looked to the other two men in the room. "Dimitrios," she said. "Lovely to see you again. And…?" She turned her limpid sea-colored eyes on the stranger.

"Philippe de Clermont," Gallowglass answered quickly. "My grandsire."

"Yes, we've met before. In a way." She gave Philippe a warm smile. "It's lovely to actually see you. It was you who summoned Eric."

"Yes," Philippe smiled, clearly charmed by the pretty young witch. "I see you finally met my grandson."

"What do you mean 'finally?'" Gallowglass asked.

Philippe simply smiled enigmatically but did not respond. So Gallowglass sought an answer from Ciara. "You know him?"

"Not exactly. One of my strongest powers is seeing and communicating with those who have passed over. Philippe has visited my cousin's house. I've seen him there a few times over the last few years."

"I just look in on the boys once in a while. Under the circumstances, I needed to check that they are all right and being raised properly. They are my grandsons after all."

Gallowglass looked askance. "Your grandsons? How—I'm confused. You have grandsons here in Ireland? How old—"

"They are just four now. Growing like weeds though," Philippe said, puffed up with pride.

Gallowglass was flummoxed. "If you have grandsons here, that means—Matthew?" He could not imagine his vampire uncle having children with anyone but Diana. It was inconceivable.

"No, not Matthew," Philippe said.

"Then who—wait. BALDWIN?" he asked, incredulous.

Philippe grinned and grandfatherly satisfaction rolled off him like a wave. "He doesn't know yet. No one in the family does so I'll trust you to keep the secret. As always."

Gallowglass shook his head. "Baldwin. Who would have ever thought…." And then he began to laugh until he was out of breath. "By the gods, I just want to be there when he finds out."

Patrick frowned, upended by the disclosure that his sister's children had been fathered by a vampire. Caitlin had been circumspect about the father's identity but, a vampire. Trust Cait to do what seemed impossible.

But family issues would have to wait for now. The great task that lay ahead needed at least one of the witches. Ciara had always stepped up to help when needed in the past. Between her vast knowledge of history and her specific witch powers, she was the best one for the job anyway. "Let us tell you what we're working on, Ciara. And how you can help…."

"Okay, everyone knows their part, right?" Patrick asked for the third time. Gallowglass had begun to think of him as a human version of Baldwin, bossy and dictatorial. He, Conor, and Ciara were standing with the oldest brother in an alley outside a pub called the Dirty Bird in London, in a seedy neighborhood of Croydon. Gallowglass knew many such pubs, and would never have thought to bring Ciara here. To his mind Patrick and Conor were careless with their cousin, overconfident about her witch's powers. He prepared himself to protect her if necessary.

"Conor, you're up first," Patrick ordered.

Tonight Conor looked like a biker who'd been on the road too long. He had a two-day growth of beard that Ciara had given him and appeared to need a good wash. It did little to dim his good looks and nothing to hide the alluring eyes the entire family all boasted. His job would be to find a good-looking woman inside and lure her out to have dinner with him, which would allow Ciara to shape-shift into the lady.

"This may take a while," Ciara said. She headed a few hundred feet down the road to a bench mostly hidden by a pine tree.

Gallowglass and Patrick exchanged a skeptical look. "I say fifteen minutes, tops," Patrick whispered.

Gallowglass, who had been in this kind of pub more recently, chuckled. "Twenty pounds says he's back on the street with the lady inside of ten."

Nine minutes later, Conor and a lovely brunette sauntered past the three of them. "You pick a nice place for supper, Ruby, my treat," Conor said exaggerating his American accent.

"Or we could get a bottle of wine and go up to my flat," the girl purred. She had a leather mini-skirt and was wearing a cropped sweater with a short jean jacket on top, exposing her mid-section despite the chilly night air. Gallowglass' keen vampire eyes noted the ring in her belly button, and the bottom of a tattoo peeking above the skirt's waistband in the small of her back.

Conor laughed. "I'm needing some real food first, Ruby. For strength. Let's start with dinner and then… see where it goes."

"Not many gents want to buy supper first, 'arry," she said. "You're a real prince, you are." Then she laughed at her own joke and wrapped her arm around his and leaned in as they continued down the road and took a left at the corner.

Ciara sighed and shook her head as she walked back into the dark alley. "Sometimes my faith in other women seems decidedly misplaced," she muttered. Once in the shadows, she shifted into the other woman's form. "Well, gents," she said in Ruby's voice and accent, "someone take me someplace warm and buy a girl a drink, eh?"

Gallowglass shook his head, impressed with her transformation. He'd seen some extraordinary witches in his long life and this one was a surprise so far.

"I'll head in first and find a corner of the bar so I can watch out for trouble," Patrick said. "Ruby next. Then Gallowglass." He loped off and disappeared into the pub. Three minutes later, Ciara as Ruby reentered the establishment, loudly complaining about the "Yank wanker who promised me dinner and then expected me to pay for it! Didn't have a pence to his name."

Another girl called out, "I would've shagged that one anyway," bringing guffaws and a few lewd comments from the other women in the scrum.

Gallowglass wandered in a few minutes later and paused just inside the entry to scan the crowd before continuing to the bar. It was always his habit to see if he knew anyone wherever he went. His personal contacts were wide and varied, at least among the world's vampires. He noted the one of Benjamin's sons he knew at a table with a few others, and they were hassling one of the barmaids, apparently just because they could. He pretended not to have seen Valerian Fuchs and went to the bar. After ordering a double whiskey neat, he turned his back to the bar and pretended to check out the crowd.

Ciara sidled up beside him, while Ruby's friends muttered among themselves about her having staked out the fresh meat before anyone else could. It did not seem to surprise any of them.

"I 'aven't seen you 'ere before," she said. "Unless you're a Yank, how about buyin' a girl a drink?"

Gallowglass frowned. "No need to insult a man," he said in his broadest Scottish brogue.

They shared a drink and flirted outrageously. Then the big vampire ordered them both a second round. The crowd at Valerian Fuchs' table had grown louder and more animated in the half hour since he arrived and now he thought it was understandable that he'd notice them. He stared at them and caught Valerian's eye, and then said something to the girl and ambled over.

"Long time, Sorley," Valerian said, standing to shake Gallowglass' hand. "Join us. Bring the bird. We'd all like to meet her."

The others at his table guffawed and exchanged a few asides about what they'd really like to do with her. Gallowglass laughed to hide his discomfort with anyone talking about Ciara in that manner. Or about Ciara pretending to be Ruby. Anyway, she was subtly pumping the girls and bartender about the group he had just joined.

"I just met her myself," he said, looking around the pub as he took the seat across from Valerian. "My kinda place. I just got into town and was looking for a bit of fun."

"We had some business nearby," Valerian said. "I don't think you ever met my brothers. Philippe Fuchs. And Lu—"

"Luc Fox," the one next to Gallowglass interrupted. He then introduced two other vampires at the table. "How do you know Valerian?"

"We did some riding together. Around Australia and New Zealand, back in the early 70's, wasn't it?" Gallowglass asked Valerian. "We made some trouble. The enjoyable kind. I'm Eric Sorley." He flagged down the waitress who approached warily. "A round for these fine gents, please."

The vampire pack laughed uproariously at that. It was obviously not something to which they aspired.

"You just disappeared one day," Valerian said. "So we went on without you."

"Yeah. Turned out I had a job to do elsewhere." He had learned a certain couple had just had their first child, a daughter he had been charged to watch over until she made her way to Matthew de Clermont. So Gallowglass made his way to America where the couple were working and had begun to do as his grandfather had bid him for the next three decades.

"What have you been doing lately?" Valerian asked.

"Same as always. Bumming around the world, mostly on my bike, sometimes on a sweet little sailboard I won in a poker game in Bali. Haven't been in London in a long time so I'm here mostly out of curiosity, to see how it's changed. And take care of some business. Then I think I'll head up to Scotland. If nothing better comes up."

"Well, we're spending some time here for… business too. Why don't you come back to our place and hang? We might be able to do some business together…"

"Valerian-," Luc said with a warning tone.

"Back off, Luc. I can vouch for him."

"I'm not looking to hook up with anything right now," Gallowglass said quietly. "I was hanging with an old friend who took up with a fuckin' witch. He took this whole 'overturn the Covenant' garbage to heart. I figure I'll go it alone for a while to get the sour taste out of my mouth. Anybody thinkin' witches, or goddam demons, share an equal place in the world with us…."

"I hear you," Philippe Fox said. "This crap about all of us being equal is nothing but a sack of shit. It's time vampires showed them who will always be on top-"

"Enough," Luc said looking around the pub. "Let's get out of here, now. This conversation should be held in private."

Gallowglass begged off going with them but said he'd meet up with them the following night in a place on the docks. Maybe. "Don't wait for me if I don't turn up."

At that moment, Leonard Shoreditch stuck his head through the pub's front entrance and scanned the room. "Mr. Fox," he called over. "I'm here. Waitin' outside."

Gallowglass had turned away from the door and hunched down, praying Leonard did not recognize him in the corner of the dark pub.

"Sure you won't come along?" Valerian asked.

"Nah. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow." Gallowglass looked over at 'Ruby' and smiled. "I might have plans for tonight."

Valerian slapped him on the back hard and, laughing, followed the others out to the waiting car.

He rejoined Ciara at the bar and in about five minutes the two of them loudly decided to leave together. Patrick waited another ten minutes before heading to the door, just to be sure Benjamin's sons had not left a watcher behind.

"Christ, Patrick," Conor griped when he arrived, "it's freakin' cold out here. Let's haul ass—"

And they reappeared back in the Tempus Conduci's Irish headquarters.

- outa here," Conor finished.

"That little device is handy," Gallowglass said dryly, nodding at Patrick. It looked like a cell phone but apparently could move people around to different locations as well as different time periods. "How do I get one?"

"It's not available on Amazon," Patrick replied with a laugh.

"What did you learn?" Philippe asked, entering the room with Dimitrios.

"I found Valerian Fuchs, and two of his brothers. Philippe and Luc Fox. No one else in their crew was familiar to me. Luc seems to be the one calling the shots, at least from what I saw tonight. Oh, and I almost got burned when Leonard Shoreditch turned up to drive them somewhere."

"Who?" Patrick and Ciara asked in unison.

"Leonard. He's a good friend of my great-grandson Jack," Philippe said.

"And he drives for Hubbard's car service," Gallowglass said. "He knows me as a de Clermont named Gallowglass."

"Is he a good enough friend that we can ask him to keep that to himself?" Patrick interrupted.

"He's a good lad but… not the brightest. I'd worry he'd accidentally call me by the wrong name if we run into him again."

"Then we need to get him out of the way until you are out of London again," Philippe said. "You should ask Hubbard—"

"Not exactly a fan of mine. And the feeling's mutual."

"Well, get past it. He is your cousin. And you are the only one who can do it."

Gallowglass was still grousing when Ciara materialized the two of them an alcove in old London, not far from Hubbard's headquarters.

"I heard Father Hubbard has been practicing the kind of creature inclusion we all aspire to now that the Covenant has been overturned for centuries," Ciara said. Her own family had a similar philosophy but she wasn't ready to share that with the vampire yet.

"Yeah, that's not the part I don't like about him. He's just a wank—I mean a bloody-."

She laughed. "I know what 'wanker' means, Eric."

"Well, I did not mean to use that language in front of you. It's just Hubbard, he puts me on edge, that's all." The fact Hubbard had turned out to be a de Clermont only made it worse, somehow.

Gallowglass held the glass door open and let her enter before following her into the office. Hubbard noticed him right away and the shock on his face was priceless.

"Hubbard."

"Gallowglass."

Neither man said another word and Ciara looked between them twice before jumping into the breach. "I'm Ciara Murphy." She held her hand out and Hubbard raised it to his lips, clearly as a way to annoy Gallowglass.

"You're a witch," he said, with a note of surprise.

"Yes. And you're both vampires."

"Enough," Gallowglass said. He turned to Ciara. "Lass, why don't you wait for me by the door?"

"No, I think it would be better for me to stay with you," she replied. "Father Hubbard, Eric and I have a favor to ask."

Hubbard's eyes widened. "A favor? Do you wish to join my flock?"

She smiled charmingly. "No, but thank you. I'm already part of a pretty big flock back in Ireland. And we have a lot in common but right now… we need your help with something."

"Really?"

Gallowglass wanted to wipe the smug look off the wanker's face but that would not please Ciara, or get the job done. He lowered his voice and proceeded to explain as concisely as possible.

"It turns out some of Benjamin's children survived Chelm. Now they're plotting revenge on the de Clermonts, all of them."

Hubbard said nothing, simply looked off into the distance and appeared to be thinking. He did not publicly claim a place in the de Clermont family despite the fact his sire had been Benjamin Fuchs, which made his vampire grandfather Matthew de Clermont.

"Jack will be in danger with the rest," Gallowglass added.

Hubbard exhaled forcefully. "I knew at least three were not there at Benjamin's end, but I haven't seen them since. Valerian and Philippe—"

"Both in on it. Along with Lucifer."

Hubbard nodded, and sighed. "The worst of them… How can I help?"

"One or more of them are clients of your car service. And Leonard Shoreditch picked them up in Croydon last night."

Hubbard went to a computer and tapped a sequence of keys. "He picked up…. Luc Fox. I never made the connection. And I haven't met the man."

"Well, he's your brother, man."

Hubbard grimaced, obviously pained by the connection. "He regularly asks for Leonard to drive him."

Ciara said, "Would you be able to assign Leonard somewhere else for a while? Eric is trying to get close enough to them to find out exactly what they plan—"

"I met Valerian a while back and he knows me by one of my other names," Gallowglass finished her thought. "I could ask Leonard to play along but…. "

"It is likely he would forget and call you Gallowglass. And Gallowglass is known to be a de Clermont, even by vampires who never met you. I will try to think of something else I need Leonard to do. Or I'll send him to France to visit Jack."

"Thank you, Father," Ciara said. "You have been so helpful and understanding. I'd like to make a donation to your work while I'm here."

"That would be very kind. Let me show you to our fundraising coordinator." He escorted her to an assistant and then returned to Gallowglass.

"What a delightful young woman," he said. "I'd be happy to perform the marriage ceremony when you—"

"See, I told her you're just a wanker," Gallowglass hissed. "Good to know I wasn't wrong."

Gallowglass retrieved Ciara when she had completed her business. He directed her out, with a hand at her back, and pointedly ignored the giant smile on Father Hubbard's face as he waved them off.

Ciara accompanied him back to his flat in a high-rise on Canary Wharf. Like all his homes it was filled with a few pieces of quality Danish modern furniture, and contained little extraneous decoration except for an entire wall of books and a large wine fridge. He took out a bottle, and uncorked it, while surreptitiously watching Ciara who had gone straight to the books when they walked in. As he uncorked a good bottle of old wine and decanted it, she zeroed in on a few specific tomes in the section where he kept first editions.

Gallowglass picked up two glasses with his other hand, and took them into the living area and began to pour.

"Sorry, Eric," she said, coming to his side. "I can't help checking out books. Especially ones of historical significance. You have some very interesting and valuable books here. I specialize in Norse and Celtic history – and that's clearly an interest of yours!"

"Mostly they're books about the places and times I've lived," he said. "Amazing what some historians get wrong."

"I'd like to talk more about that with you. You're… well, the best kind of original source a historian could ask for. Some of the books here would have pride of place in the British Museum or Oxford, or University College Dublin where I teach. It's quite a collection."

"You can't take much with you when you move from life to life but I always managed to leave some books somewhere I could find them again later. Pretty much all of the de Clermonts have larger collections than me, though."

Ciara had settled on the long, low sofa and was curiously looking around. He handed her a glass of red wine.

"I'm sorry, lass. I'm not much of a decorator. And I don't spend much time here."

"I like it," she said. "It's a beautiful space. With amazing views of the Thames. Maybe it could use a few… pillows though."

Gallowglass laughed. "You sound like Fernando. He always says I would live without furniture if it didn't make people think I was a complete heathen."

She smiled. "Who's Fernando?"

"My father's mate. Hugh de Clermont, Philippe's oldest son, sired me. Fernando's a great warrior, and a great homemaker, too." He stopped, hearing what he'd just said. "Never tell him I said that."

Ciara laughed. "I'd like to meet them both some day."

A cloud passed over Gallowglass' eyes. "My sire was burned at the stake, in France. In 1314."

Ciara put a hand over his. "I'm sorry, Eric. That's tragic."

"It gets easier to accept, over time. I'm not so angry about it any more. But… it never goes away completely, the feeling of loss. He was a good man, Hugh. And so is Fernando."

"Well, perhaps I'll meet Fernando some day. In the meantime, I'm worried about leaving you here alone. You'll have no back-up if things go bad."

Gallowglass chuckled. "I rarely have had back-up in my life, lass. And I've been through far worse than Benjamin's spawn and their foolish plan to harm the de Clermonts, whatever it turns out to be. The family have been around for millennia, and we're not going anywhere."

"I want to give you something though." She pulled a beige leather cord out from under her sweater. A medallion hung from it. "It's Cliodhna, one of the most powerful Celtic goddesses. The witches of my line are said to be descended from them. All of the women in my family have a middle name honoring one of the goddesses. Mine is Cliodhna—"

"Goddess of the sea," Gallowglass said. "You always smell of heather and the sea."

"Do I?"

"Yes. It was the first thing I noticed about you."

She blushed and paused to collect her thoughts. "I enchanted this medallion. With a protection spell. And if you press on the middle, it will call me. And bring me right to where you are."

Gallowglass was touched. "I promise I won't use it but… I appreciate you worrying about me. It's been a long time since… since I felt that. Vampires are pretty self-reliant."

"I have no doubt you can take care of yourself. But, just in case," she said, putting it over his head and tucking it into his shirt. "Wear it to put my mind at ease."

Their eyes met and for a moment, both were completely still. Then Gallowglass gently put a hand on the side of her head and leaned in to kiss her. Ciara's lips parted and he entered softly, almost reverently and she put her hands around his neck. The kiss grew deeper and more passionate as they each explored the other's mouth with their tongues, and upper bodies with their hands. Finally, Gallowglass pulled back, and used one finger to softly brush her lips, now swollen with desire.

"I—I can't take advantage of you like this, lass—"

"You are doing no such thing, Eric. I'm a more than willing participant."

"Aye. But I want to bed you. And I want it to be… right. Perfect. I hope that doesn't frighten you—"

"No, I didn't want to scare you before but … I know you. I know we are meant to be together. I've seen you in dreams, since I was a little girl."

His eyes widened.

"All the witches in my family are seers, some of us stronger than others. But we all see the man we are meant for, long before we meet him. I've been expecting you for a while. In my family our mate shows up when we are between seventeen and twenty-three. Always. But I'm twenty-six now and have been wondering if you would ever show." She smiled. "But… I sensed something was keeping you."

"I'm sorry I was slow to arrive." He wasn't ready to tell her the task that had held him up but in his heart, he knew it was solely in his past now. He had done the job Philippe had given him, and now his reward was right in front of him. She was his, and would be as long as she lived on this earth. Maybe longer. "But I'm here now. And once we deal with Benjamin's spawn, I promise I will never leave you again."

She smiled, and it was like a brilliant sun warming him from the inside.

"I canna believe how quickly it came upon me but I love you, Ciara Cliodhna Murphy. If you agree, then from this day forward, you are mine."

Gallowglass spent the next two weeks in London and its environs, carousing, brawling and hunting with Benjamin's family. He begged off when their prey was human, pleading a prior amorous engagement, or business to finish up before leaving town.

They had invited him to join them in Norway and while they had not yet explained anything about their specific plans, they were open about going to war against someone or something related to the loss of vampire status after the Congregation set aside the Covenant. And the death of their sire, Benjamin.

Patrick or Conor or sometimes both met him in his flat every few days to gather new intelligence and share what they learned from monitoring electronic and cell phone traffic between Benjamin's sons.

"You're going to a place called 'Devil's Island," Patrick said. "We think they have a dozen vampires there now. And they're expecting about as many more."

"Ulvsnesøy," Gallowglass said. "I've been there. The only way on or off the island is by boat. We're leaving tomorrow so I won't be in touch for a while."

"Okay. They're confiscating all electronics so you'll be cut off while you're there except for one shared computer. You can use that to get in touch with an email address we'll give you that could never be traced to anyone associated with the de Clermonts. It will look like an old girlfriend's email."

"Everything on my phone is encrypted to a level MI6 can't even break into. Baldwin makes sure of it," Gallowglass said. "But I'll delete everyone associated with the family just in case."

"Good. We can't chance Patrick or I meeting with you so Ciara will come when you need to update us—"

"Are you two daft? That's too dangerous—"

"She'll shape-shift into some local, don't worry. She handles most of the undercover work because she can appear as someone people already expect to see."

"You'll see, she's really good at it," Conor added. "Could have had a career in the theater if she wanted, I reckon," Conor added.

"Gods save me from witches who think they can do anything," Gallowglass muttered.

"Well, you'll be wanting to avoid the entire female half of our family then, after this is over," Patrick said. He held up a moonstone with a hole through the center. "She charmed this bead. Ciara said you should thread it onto the leather cord you wear around your wrist, with the other beads. When you hold it between two fingers, it will act as a kind of microphone and she'll be able to "hear" you think about where you will be and when, and then she'll meet you there."

Gallowglass frowned. "She can hear my thoughts?"

"Only if you press on the bead while you're thinking it. It's kind of a distance mind-reading thing…."

He was about to ask more when Philippe and Dimitrios suddenly appeared in his flat.

Philippe surveyed the room with interest. "I like what you've done with the place."

Gallowglass snorted.

"Needs a woman's touch," his grandfather added quietly, for his grandson's ear only. "But you'll take care of that when this is over."

"I—I don't know what…" Gallowglass sputtered.

"Grandson, I may be dead. But I'm not stupid." Then he squeezed Gallowglass' shoulder sympathetically. "It's well past time for you to settle down—"

Dimitrios called for their attention by clearing his throat. "New information indicates you will all leave for Norway tomorrow. They'll target Matthew's birthday celebration as the place to make their move. At Sept-Tours."

Gallowglass nodded. He had received an invitation to the party but had not planned to attend. The de Clermonts seemed to have many more family gatherings since Diana and Matthew married. But his place among them… had been uncomfortable lately so Gallowglass had avoided them all.

"I'll be ready whenever they call. I told them I'm up for an adventure. And they've been clear they want to strike back about the Covenant being discarded but… they haven't mentioned the family specifically."

"You must be careful, Eric," Philippe said. "Do not underestimate them. They are our kin. And I'm sorry to say, they're evil. Not only blood-raged but evil at the core. They remind me of Ysabeau's father and brothers, devoid of any conscience or compassion. They must all be eliminated, before the next step in the Book of Life prophecy can begin. When humans come to know about us, all of us – witches, daemons and vampires – they must see the best of us."

Gallowglass knew what these vampires had done to Jack and his children. And what Benjamin had done to Matthew. He had no hesitation to eliminate everyone of Benjamin's spawn if given the chance. He chose to ask about Philippe about something else that was at the top of his mind though.

"D'ya really believe it? The prophecy?" Gallowglass had given it a lot of thought over the past two years since Diana discovered the Book of Life, especially in the last weeks, but he couldn't see a way for humans and creatures to co-exist openly in the world. He was an ancient vampire but still not old enough to remember the times when that had reportedly been the case, before humans grew fearful of the creatures in their midst. And his personal experience was very different.

Philippe nodded. "Yes. It must happen. It will happen. It became my life's work once Matthew brought Diana to me in 1595. And the possibilities became clear to me. Now that work continues beyond my…. time among the living."

Gallowglass nodded thoughtfully.

"You have worked on this longer than anyone in the family but me, Eric. And you will help see it through to the end we all hope for."

Gallowglass spent the next weeks with the Fuchs and their soldiers, ostensibly helping to train them for the battle that would come. He held back on sharing knowledge in a way no one would notice but that might give the de Clermonts an edge if they were not able to end this before the battle reached Sept-Tours. What Benjamin's sons lacked in battle experience, they made up in pure sadistic impulse and white-hot rage Gallowglass had ever witnessed. He wondered how Jack had survived his time with them. The young vampire had an inner core of strength one did not immediately see.

Ciara came to meet him several times to obtain updates, shape-shifting into a local when they were in the small town on the mainland where they went for supplies and to drink. On several occasions she met him as herself, in a remote cave he'd discovered on the north end of the island. One one such occasion, he told her about the plan being scrapped.

"They canna get all the pieces in place to hit Matthew's party," he told them. "Something or someone is needed that they canna get in time. We're on hold, waiting while Luc finds another opportunity. It could be months. Thank the gods the de Clermonts have more family events now. In the old days, it could be a few decades before we gathered again."

"And you'll have to stay here with them?"

"They are suspicious of everyone. The only ones leaving here now are Benjamin's sons and a couple of his grandsons. The inner circle. There are a few operatives in London though. And somewhere else, but I'm not sure where. If they were all here, I'd just end everyone one of them now. But not knowing who is working with them, that might not stop the plan."

Ciara had no doubt he could do it but she shivered at his intensity. "I haven't seen you in full vampire mode before."

Gallowglass grimaced. "And I pray you never do, lass. But believe me, I could end them all out if I had to. Or you could bring a few others like Baldwin and Matthew in, and the three of us would have them gone in a few minutes."

She nodded but said nothing.

"Am I scaring you, lass?"

"No," she said immediately. "If I love you, I love all of you. Everyone you have ever been. And will be. I accept everything you have done in your past. And whatever you will do to protect your family in the future."

"I will protect them. And you, lass. It is… you have my word on it."

"I know," she said, taking his face in hers. "I know you will always protect me, and our children."

Gallowglass closed his eyes briefly against the truth he needed her to know. "I cannot give you children, not like you are thinkin'."

She took his hand into her smaller, softer one. "You told me that your uncle Matthew and his wife have biological children. And now your other uncle Baldwin seems to have fathered my cousin Caitlin's twins. I told you I can see the future and I see us. Together. With children. That's why I'm not too worried about what's happening. Just—impatient to get started." She smiled, and it dazzled him.

"Ah, I don't know how that's possible but…I've seen a lot of impossible things in the last few years," he said, tracing the lifeline in her palm.

"You know I told you how I've been rereading some of the family journals? Well, my six times great-grandmother was Maeve O'Connelly. And… well, I think she was married to a vampire—"

"What? I know ye said you have daemons in the family but what makes you think that?"

"She calls him an síoraí sometimes—"

"The eternal one?"

"Yes. She met him in London in the mid 1500's. I think he was the reason the family grew so insular, trying to avoid the notice of not just vampires but other witches. He seems to have warned her of danger from the Congregation. And even other witches. She lived a long time and he seems to have lived decades longer, here in Ireland with their children."

He lifted her hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on her palm. "Ciara, you are one of the most powerful witches I've ever seen so I won't question what you see for us. And lass…. what you describe, a life with you, and a family of our own, well, it would make every sacrifice of this life, of my many lives, more than worth it."

Over the next three months, Gallowglass stayed on Devil's Island except for the occasional hunting trip to the mainland with a group of others or a night in the small town across the channel. And once, Ciara met him in the cave and brought him back to Ireland to give a fuller report to Philippe and Dimitrios.

"Eric, you look tired," Philippe said to him. "Although you seem to be physically well."

"I spend a lot of time running in the woods and along the beach. Just to get time away from all of those vermin. But I'm fine, Grandad."

Philippe nodded. "They have chosen a new date?"

"They did. The twins' birthday celebration at Sept-Tours. I don't know all the details yet but it will be later this month."

"Yes, the plan is for the family and many of the Knights to celebrate the children's second birthday at Sept-Tours."

"And it's not just about eliminating the family and key Knights. They plan to kidnap Diana and her daughter. To… to try to get a child on her, as Matthew did. They'd hold Becca until she is old enough…"

He swallowed down the bile that rose in his throat at the things he had heard them say about what they would do to Diana. And her young daughter.

He shook it off and continued his report. "They want to destroy Sept-Tours, too, to reduce it to rubble. They want to show the de Clermonts have been well and truly destroyed, along with everything they built."

Even Philippe looked stunned at that. He exhaled slowly. "Have you heard any names of who is working with them?"

"No, they're very careful but it's clear more than one person outside Benjamin's family are involved. They're getting good information about the family's plans from somewhere. Along with pressure to get it done soon."

"We haven't shared anything with the family yet but we must, and soon," Philippe said. "We also haven't told them that you're working with us, and have infiltrated Benjamin's family. We don't know who is leaking information, or worse, working with our enemies. To protect you, they will not hear about your involvement until it is necessary."

Gallowglass nodded. "I haven't been in touch with anyone but Jack. And then only to check on him, and tell him a little about my travels."

"Don't get in touch with him again until this is over, Eric," Philippe said. "For your safety and to keep our plans on track. It has gone on too long. We need this to be over."

"Aye, I am sore tired of spending time with them. I want it over more than anyone."

He looked at Ciara and a look of quiet longing and desire passed between them that only they understood. "I want to get back to living my real life."

Story continues in M'anam