It took like two hours, but I told Gavin everything. Everything I could remember anyhow, but there was a lot to cover. There was no going back after your hobgoblin shifter servant strides into your house and shapeshifts in front of your estranged brother.

I told him about Nehemiah the wizard and the Banshee, how I awakened to my Luck magic powers. I described the emerald Celtic knot powers themselves and how I really had no idea how to use them. I explained how I met Rob, we were attacked by the Sluagh and how we traced them back to Skaggs Island with the help of Tain and Nehemiah. How we entered into the Otherworld and rescued a bunch of people from Donn, the lord of the dead, including my girlfriend Charice.

I made sure that Gavin knew we had fled from the Dullahan and that eventually Nehemiah wrestled the whip from its death grip and used it to smash the dolmen, severing the gateway between Earth and Tír na nOg, specifically Tech Duinn. I kept out the part about seeing Anna in The Between. I wasn’t quite sure if that was real or not.

The whole time I talked, Gavin remained mostly silent, absorbing it all. He interjected a few times to clarify details, and Rob interrupted a lot during opportunities to make fun of me and insert stupid puns.

But I have to admit, I was disappointed when I brought Gavin to the here-and-now, he didn’t seem all that fazed. His eyes glossed over as he digested everything.

Finally he shook his head. “This is bad,” he said. “So bad.”

“What do you mean? The Keening? The monsters? The state of things in the Bay Area? The hobgoblin?”

He made a fist and placed it on his knee. “All of it. But mostly Mom and Aiden.”

I frowned. “I already explained they don’t know what’s going on. Remember that was the end of the first part of the story.”

“You don’t get it Sean,” he said. “The whole reason I left, the whole reason Dad’s not around anymore…” he wiped a tear from his eye. “I left to keep the rest of the family out of it. I didn’t want you guys to get hurt.” He rose from the chair.

“Where are you going?”

“It’s where we’re going.” He motioned for my ‘Stang keys.

I hesitated for a moment. “We’ve got to go somewhere, right now? It’s past ten.”

“Sean, please.”

“Okay.” I tossed him the keys. “Let me change.”

---

We drove into the Skyview Memorial Lawn cemetery. I really hated being there, needless to say. Gavin led the way but I knew exactly where we were going. Rob didn’t though.

“Are you guys anticipating a zombie uprising?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “That would suck over here though. There’s like three adjacent cemeteries all within a few hundred feet of each other. No, we’re going to see our family.”

Rob didn’t have anything funny to say about that.

Anna’s was first. It looked like Mom or someone had been here lately. Wilted flowers lay next to her tombstone, a few days old.

Anna M. O’Farrell.

Dear Daughter,

Sweet Sister,

Bitterly Missed.

It was surreal to think that my sister was so close to me at that moment and yet so far. Her body was a few feet away from me, but worlds apart. All deceptive hopes that she might have been alive were crushed. I’d seen her die. I’d been a pallbearer, for crying out loud. I knew she wasn’t still alive somewhere. I was mad at myself for even thinking such a stupid thought while I was in The Between. I shook off the train of thought before I could start crying.

Dad’s tombstone was of course right next to hers.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Geralt H. O’Farrell.

Father,

Friend,

Fighter to the end.

I thought I might need to hold back tears, but I just stood there. Numb. It wasn’t like his body was there. This was just a placeholder. My dad had disappeared off the face of the earth. When he didn’t turn up, my mom called it, legally.

“This is what’s going to happen Sean, if you keep this up.”

I jerked my head sharply at Gavin.

“I’m serious. This is why I left. To protect you, to protect Mom, and Aiden.”

“What are you saying?”

Gavin held up his hands. “My curse developed earlier than yours. Dad knew about it. Saw the signs. Tried to guide me as to how to use it. But being involved in that stupid Shepherd’s Guild is what got him killed.”

My whole world shattered. Broke into a million tiny pieces, then flew through me, slicing me open and left me raw.

“Dad fought monsters too?”

Gavin nodded. “This is what happens when you live by the sword…” but he couldn’t finish the rest. “I left after he died because I realized we were in way over our heads and I didn’t want anything else to happen to the rest of the family. We already lost Anna, then Dad.”

“So you left, without explaining anything?”

“It wouldn’t have made sense to you then.”

“You could have shown me. Sat me down. Something.”

Gavin hung his head. “At the time running made the most sense. But I found new problems in Washington.”

I stood with my hands open. An icy breeze blew across my neck and sent goosebumps along my body.

“What concerns me the most Sean, is this Nehemiah guy,” said Gavin.

“He’s trustworthy,” chimed Rob.

“Is he though?” asked Gavin. “Even an ex-member of the Shepherds Guild should know exactly who Dad was, and his relationship to you, Sean. Why does he act like he doesn’t know you?”

Gavin had a point. Nehemiah should have put the pieces together by now. Wouldn’t he want me to know that my dad was also in the Shepherds Guild, that he also fought monsters as I fought them now? That he lost his life in the line of duty?

“Maybe he’s waiting for the right time to break the ice,” I reasoned. “Maybe he didn’t want to scare me off.”

“Then he’s doing a real disservice to you by withholding all of the facts,” said Gavin.

I clenched my fists shaking off the frigid air. “I initiated all of our interactions from the start. I interfered when he cornered the Banshee. I showed up at his front door when I needed help with my girlfriend.”

“All the more reason to wonder why he acts like he doesn’t know you or Dad.”

As I was contemplating the trustworthiness of my friend Nehemiah, my Keening pain spiked. I heard growling and smelled burning sulfur on the wind. Gavin went rigid and all of the color flooded from his face, his skin paled, matching the moon overhead.

“Oh my gosh,” he said, “I can’t believe it followed me all the way here.”

I didn’t need to ask him what followed him. Over the horizon of the cemetery field appeared a massive doglike creature. In form it was a bull-sized mastiff, except for the thorny exoskeleton armor and glowing red eyes. Oh, and the fire. Flames poured from its mouth and sparks flew in its wake.

“The hellhound!” said Gavin.

We bolted for the car, Rob whisking in the air alongside of us. “Gwyllgi! It’s a flaming Gwyllgi!”

Note to self, Gwyllgi was a type of terrifying inferno death dog. We didn’t make it to the Mustang in time though. The huge hound tackled Gavin to the ground. Its flaming jaw tried to latch onto my brother’s face.

We’d left the apartment in such a hurry that I didn’t have my gun. But I had my Luck. I drew from within until my hands glowed with emerald light and blasted the Gwyllgi in the back.

The magic knocked the hellhound off my brother as if it had been hit by a three hundred pound football lineman. It flew through a thick slab of a headstone, smashing the remembrance of some soul into oblivion.

It got up and shook itself off, confused, but barely phased. Rob helped my brother to his feet and they ran for the car.

My Luck magic still coursing through me, I sent blast after blast at its armored body. The hound let out a howl that could have skinned a cat, emitting a wall of fire. My attacks were waves of water crashing into the cliff side coast, and were effectively absorbed by the flame. Sure the water can wear down the rocks… eventually. But I didn’t have until eventually. I needed to put this beast down now.

It charged through its own wall of fire leaping through the air. I rolled underneath it and it crashed into another tombstone sending an explosion of cement chunks everywhere.

It tackled me and we fell into a fresh shallow grave, the smell of earth and embers filling my nostrils. Putting my hands out in front of me was all I could do to keep it from ripping my throat out. As my hands touched the armored exoskeleton a sizzling sound reached my ears, and steam rose from my hands. I screamed in pain.

Next thing I knew the hellhound was hurled away from me. It crashed into a massive obelisk headstone. This time, the pillar of a headstone came down like a felled tree, landing on top of the beast, pinning it to the ground giving us time to escape. For a moment my brother stood there over me and his hands gave off an orange glow. His eyes were also emanating a blood orange light.

“Holy crow,” I said. “Did you just toss that thing?”

Before my brother could answer he grabbed his forehead. Squinting his eyes shut, he screamed bloody murder. He looked like he was having a migraine attack. Together we stumbled back to my Mustang. By the time we got in the car his headache spell eased off enough that he could drive. I looked down at my hands and they were hot pink. I tried to access my Luck magic to heal myself but the pain was too mind numbing.

Gavin eyed the burns on my hands. “Oh that’s bad, Sean.”

He threw the car into gear and we peeled off down the road. “We’ve got to get you to a doctor.”