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said,
holding an arrow in each hand. "And yes, these are Fae arrows, very
dangerous. Our enemies use many weapons, but I am more concerned in how this
attacker escaped. You say he used magic to open a portal of some type?"
    "As best I can tell… it looked like some kind of symbol
had been drawn on the wall, but it turned to ash after the attacker jumped
through. There was no way for me to follow."
    "And you did not sense him?" Bernd asked.
    "No, not until the arrows were launched. But by then he
was already running away."
    "Their magic is powerful if they can summon a portal so
easily without water or trees. They are strong and becoming bolder, you must be
cautious," he said as he placed the arrows back on the table and returned
to his seat. He took a few puffs from his pipe and continued. "Let us hope
it is just their anger at Marissa's defeat that has made them so brazen. I
wonder?  But how goes your quest to free the Lilin?"
    "You wish to free them?" Sendy asked, sounding
skeptical.
    "Excuse me," Mal interjected. "Forget about
the arrows for a minute. What's a Lilin?"
    "Let me answer that," I said, knowing that any
explanation by Bernd would be a long one. "The Lilin are, well, let's call
them Vampires, although they don’t have fangs. Have you heard the story of
Lilith in the Bible or in Sumerian legend?"
    Mal nodded that he had.
    "Ok," I continued. "To make a long story
short, the Lilin are the children of Lilith. They're kind of a merging between
a demon and a human, sort of. Anyway, what is important is that the Lilin and
the Fae were at war and the Lilin lost. Only a couple thousand were alive at
the end and the Goddess Demeter made a pact with them in exchange for their
lives. The bottom line is they've become somewhat of a second class citizen to
the Fae. It's my intention to eventually free them from that magical bond."
    "Vampires, or at least sort of Vampires," Mal
declared. "And Demon Vampires as well... you always were too nice.
Remember that time you wouldn’t kick a door because…"
    "Mal," I maintained. "This is different.
These are not the same beings that started the war with the Fae. Besides,
everyone deserves a chance to be free."
    "Okay, I understand that, I really do," he
replied. "I'm just asking… But what if they want to finish the war?"
    "Well, then I guess we'll just have to kill them after
all. But if they do that it's of their own free will, notbecause
they've got a spell on them. Besides, I don’t think that'll happen."
    "Robert is correct," Bernd interjected. "The
Lilin of today are not those that warred with the Fae eons ago. As it stands,
already the Fae's power over them is dwindling, thanks to him."
    "Hey, if you say so. I'm just playing Devil's advocate,"
Mal conceded.
    "Before we go any further, I wonder, what exactly did
you do to Mal?" I asked, looking over at Bernd. "I expected him to be
a lot more freaked out—not to mention that he can understand Charlie. And yet he
appears to be handling this extremely well, wouldn’t you say? "As I
finished the question I looked over and saw Sendy squeezing Mal's arm. Hmm, now
that was interesting.
    "You seem to make the most interesting choices in your
allies," he replied. "First Siegfried, then Meredith, Diantha and
Delia, and now Sendy and Malcolm. As Ouranos himself noted, your allies stand
with you out of loyalty."
    "I guess I should say thank you but that still doesn't
answer my question." As if he'd never done that before, I thought
to myself.
    "As I said, you have interesting friends. As for doing
something to Malcolm… well, do you recall when I first met you and helped open
your mind so that the magic could flow more freely?" he asked.
    "Yes, of course I do," I responded. "Is that
what you're saying you did? Why would that work with him, I've never sensed
anything other than hum…?" I stopped, looking over at Mal for a moment
before returning my gaze at Bernd.
    Bernd stared at me blankly and then his pipe appeared back in
his