“Mankind likes to believe that there are no monsters, that they have always ruled the world. It is not so.”

I blinked, eyeing the Lady. “What?”

We were in my car, an old ford Taurus, dark green in color. We were parked under a street light in the parking lot of a catholic church we’d found with google maps. We'd started out at a regular church, but Lady had said the ground wasn't consecrated. I don't know how she knew.

We’d been sitting there for, hell, I don’t know. An hour, maybe. Stephanie’d cried a lot. Gina had comforted her as best she could. Lady had sat in silence, eyes closed, no expression on her face. As for me, I’d just been staring at the steering wheel, replaying the nights events in my head. I was numb.

Justin was dead. Troll was dying. Hell, Mike might be dying. He’d been shot, too. But the grief that had stricken Stephanie didn’t touch me, and the thought that Madeline would come for us again didn’t fill me with dread like it should. I felt nothing. I knew I was in shock. I didn’t care about that either. I was just numb. Or, I had been. Now that Lady had broken the silence, I was mostly confused.

“The old legends,” Lady elaborated. “They’re not just tales. The Aesir and the Yokai, monsters and magicians, gods and demons. They were real. Are real.”

"Oh, you think?" I snapped. A glimmer of anger slid through me. I knew Lady wasn't the one who deserved it, but I couldn't force my voice to be calm. "Tell me something I don't know."

I expected to see some anger, or at least annoyance, but Lady looked at me calmly, with maybe just a hint of compassion, as if she knew more than a hint would be more than I could bear. “I know you’re upset. I don’t blame you. But there are things you need to know, and now is as good a time as any.”

I almost said something hostile, but forced myself to choke it back. Lady was right. I needed information, and we were as close to safe as we were going to get tonight. I checked the rearview mirror. Stephanie had perked up, though tears still lined her face. Gina was paying attention as well. I took a breath and gave a nod. Alright. "Go ahead."

The Lady took a deep breath, and began. "Long ago, before the Age of Man, the world was a place of darkness. Monsters walked the earth. Some could be fought, but others laughed at sword and spear. Spirits wandered freely, and gods did as they willed."

"Mankind was crushed beneath the heels of greater beings. Hunted for food, hunted for sport, tormented and enslaved, they cried for succor. Some turned to the gods. Others sought power from the spirits. Many chose darker paths, acquiring magics through bargains or consuming the flesh of greater beings. In the face of horrors beyond their ken, men did as they must to survive."

"Thus it remained for millennia. Man labored, and worshiped, and feared, helpless and with little hope. The gods were capricious, often inflicting greater horrors than the creatures they protected against. The few men who achieved power were little better. The mortals persisted, they survived, but they did not control their own fates."

"One day, that would change. A woman, terrorized by a god, sought refuge in a far away kingdom. The kingdom was ruled by a man named Arthur, who turned the god away."

"Arthur?" I interrupted. "As in King Arthur? Camelot Arthur?"

"Yes," Lady confirmed.

I frowned. "He fought off a god?"

"He had help," Lady told me, "from the Lady of the Lake, backed by the Maiden, the Mother, the Crone, and half the Tuatha De Danann." The Lady in Sweats gave a derisive snort. "Romans and their gods were not welcome in those days."

"Romans?" I frowned. "Which god was it?"

"Zeus," said the Lady. "Stop interrupting."

"Sorry."

"The woman thanked the king, lamenting she had been helpless against the whims of the gods. She wished that the gods would stay in their own realms, and leave her to find her own destiny. The Lady of the Lake, who had helped give succor to the woman, heard. Together with Arthur, she formed a plan."

"The Knights of Camelot quested, and the Priestesses of Avalon sought help from friendly gods. It cost many years, and many lives, but a great Working was formed. The greatest Working ever performed by mortals. The Partition. The Partition locked the gods in their own realms, shunted monsters and powers to worlds created just for them. It closed the veil, banished the spirits, and suppressed the magics of the world to a fraction of their potency. Thus ended the Age of the Gods. The Age of Man had begun."

I waited, but Lady didn't say anything else. She sat back, eyes closed. "Ok..." I prodded. "What does that have to do with what's happening now?"

"It's so you know what's at stake." Lady opened her eyes. "I am the Lady of the Lake, High Priestess of Avalon. I am a guardian of the Partition. If I am taken, the Partition will fall, and it will be the end of the Age of Man."

"So..." Stephanie leaned forward. "Are we talking about the end of the world here, or..."

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"In a manner of speaking," said Lady. "If the Partition is destroyed, the other realms will reconnect. The Veil will come down, and spirits will be able to manifest more easily. The loss of life will be massive, but the larger problem will be the return of the gods. As it is now, deities have limited ability to influence the world. If they could walk among us directly..." She stared at the car window for a few seconds. "It's likely we'd be enslaved again."

"I don't think my god's interested in slaves," Gina pointed out.

"Not all gods are evil," Lady agreed. She frowned. "That might actually be worse. A war of gods could easily wipe out all life."

"So... bad then." I stated the obvious.

"It's the worst case scenario." Lady grimaced, shaking her head. "I don't know what the enemy has planned, but they have already taken Avalon. There aren't many other reasons they would need to hunt me down."

"How was Avalon taken?" I asked.

"I don't know." Lady took a breath and centered herself. "Two weeks ago, I was sent a warning from one of the other realms. It was just one word. 'Flee.' Less than a minute after I received it, the castle wards were breached."

"Breached by who?" I asked.

"I don't know." Lady shook her head. "I could hear my guards dying in the courtyard. I took some few men and fled the keep through one of the hidden passages. We made our way across the island, but we were attacked before we reached the pier." She shuddered. "I'd never seen such a creature. It tore my men apart, eating as it went. Baldric yelled at me to run, said they would keep it at bay." She looked down. "They died to buy me the time to escape."

"I took a boat and rowed out into the lake. Avalon is a nexus point, not really part of the mortal world. A priestess can call the mists, and reach any large body of water. I went to a place called Seeley Lake, to find one of the few allies I had in this realm. His name was Jasper."

"Jasper took me in, and we attempted to contact our other allies. We could not reach anyone that could have helped us. I even performed a ritual, a sending to draw champions to our cause." She gave a rueful harrumph. "Foolishness. I should have known better than to reveal myself in such a way."

"Did it work?" Stephanie asked. "You're sending?"

"I don't know," Lady admitted. "I don't have the power here that I wield in Avalon." A hint of a smile touched her lips. "But I have been finding succor in unexpected places."

Stephanie smiled at her.

A full smile flickered into place for a moment before the Lady turned grim. "The attack came two days later."

"The vampires?" Gina asked.

"No," she shook her head. "Mortals with guns. I was able to cast a spell, to put them to sleep, but not before they killed Jasper. I knew more would come, so I took Jasper's sword and fled. The Shadows attacked me that night, and when next I woke I was in your company."