He was quiet for a moment, the expression on his face one of deep sorrow. “Remember the tales of how the Templar Knights found something hidden under the Temple Mount? How what they found made them suddenly the most powerful force on the earth, more powerful than kings or even the Church?”
I nodded as he got up off the couch and started doing the pacing thing. “Sure. Some have said they found proof that Jesus was married and had kids or that the Church lied about some of its doctrines or something.” I couldn’t count the number of books that had been written on the subject.
“It wasn’t any of that,” he smiled grimly, a faraway look in his eyes. “The only things we found under the Temple Mount were an undead priest and the amulet.”
“So, how did that give the Templars such power?”
“The amulet provides its Guardian not only with the knowledge needed to survive and protect the amulet, but also the ability to thrive. When I changed, the amulet provided me the information I needed to become rich and powerful enough to protect it. I passed that knowledge to my brother Knights.”
A light bulb went on. “Knowledge you used to further the power and wealth of the Templars.”
He nodded. “Yes. Sometimes it even led me to other descendents of Varan’s original Warriors so that I could turn them, with their permission, of course. Most were happy to be of service. And you can imagine how powerful a fighting force a few dozen Sunwalkers would have been during the Crusades.”
“Uh, yeah, no kidding.” The Templar Knights had used Sunwalkers to establish a massive power base. The thought was mind boggling. No wonder they had practically brought the Church to its knees. Back then Sunwalkers probably would have been viewed as demons or angels or something. It must have terrified both the Church and every government in Europe.
“So the massacre on Friday the thirteenth, the one that ended the Templar reign, wiped out the Sunwalkers, didn’t it?” It was becoming clear. Those in power always destroyed what they feared, what they couldn’t control. The Templars and their Sunwalker allies would have definitely been something to fear.
“Yes.” Infinite sadness filled his voice as he sank back down beside me. “Every last one of my brothers was slain. Only I escaped with the Key. The others stayed behind to cover my escape.”
“So what happened to the other Sunwalker? The one that you said lived two thousand years?”
“She died.”
A female Sunwalker who’d lived longer than anyone I’d ever heard of. Interesting. “But not with the rest of the Templars?”
He shook his head. “No, women were not allowed to serve with the rest of us. Not even if they were Sunwalkers. She was an ally of the Templars and she gave me a place to hide when I escaped.”
“So what happened to her? Did she die of old age or something?” Two thousand years was an awfully long time to be alive.
“She was murdered. Twenty years ago.” His voice was very cold.
“Twenty years ago. The same time Darroch stole the amulet from you.”
He got up abruptly, nearly toppling me off the couch. “Yes. She was guarding the amulet for me. Darroch murdered her in order to take it.”
So this wasn’t solely about the amulet and Darroch’s plans to rule the world or whatever. This was also about revenge. I decided to worry about that later and changed the subject.
“You’ve waited twenty years to seek justice. Why?”
His jaw flexed. “There were reasons. Promises I had to keep.”
I clenched my own jaw. So we were back to hiding things. Fine. “So then you aren’t the last Sunwalker? There are others?”
“No I am not.” He just smiled at me. My not including myself as a Sunwalker didn’t fool him one bit. “I’m simply the last of the Templar Knights.”
Now that was all kinds of weird. Story of my life.
“But I don’t understand what this all has to do with Darroch. I mean, OK, the Templars used it to gain knowledge and power. You helped them do it. But what could Darroch possibly do with that amulet that makes it so bloody important? He doesn’t have you. He’s not the Guardian.”
He looked away from me, to the sword over the fireplace. He let out a deep sigh. “It doesn’t matter. If he has even a fraction of Atlantean blood in his veins, he will be able to access at least some of the information the amulet contains. With that information and just a little ambition, he could rule the world. Or destroy it.”
I sighed as I pulled my car up in front of my house. I was really tired of all this world-in-peril shit. An amulet that could either control or destroy the world if it got into the wrong hands? Honestly, it was so cliche it was downright boring, except that Jack had seemed pretty serious about the whole thing and, while I hated to admit it, the Templars had already done it once before.