servant with such an important mission to Earth.”
“Yeah.” Curran wove back up toward Commonwealth Avenue and into Brighton. He glanced over at Lauren who was staring out of the window. “What are you thinking?”
She looked at him and smiled. “Just how curious life can be. Two weeks ago, I never would have expected my life to be the way it is now.”
Curran swallowed. “And how is that?”
“You know, chasing a demon. Trying to keep Satan from coming back to make life on earth Hell.” She smiled. “Meeting you.”
“Meeting me.”
“Sure, you’re a good friend, Steve. If not for this evil that’s being attempted, we’d never have even met.”
A friend. He sighed. Great. Just what he needed: another friend. “Yeah, that’s really wonderful.”
She looked at him. “You all right?”
“Yeah. Fine.” He passed Cleveland Circle and cut right up toward Boston College. “Anyway, if everything goes well, we’ll be done with this soon.”
“You have a plan?”
“We still have to get inside and destroy that vat. I figure we’ve got maybe two days to do that in.”
“Less than that now.”
He looked at her. “How do you figure?”
“Remember Sister McDewey and her forty-eight hours? The clock’s been ticking.”
Crap. He’d forgotten. “Still, the cops’ll be pulled off that detail soon. Darius will be vulnerable again.”
“You think he knows that?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t you think he’d be aware of his vulnerability? That he’d attempt to make sure he’s covered himself before those police are taken off the case?”
Curran frowned. “I don’t know how he could.”
“There haven’t been any deaths for a while now.”
“Not since Simpson, no.”
Lauren nodded. “Maybe there’s one left. Maybe there’s one last person he’s got to get to make the vat as complete as it can be. From there, he’d go ahead and try to start the resurrection ceremony.”
“You think he’ll kill again soon?”
“Yes,” said Lauren. “Before the deadline’s over.”
Curran sighed. “Part of me feels like he’s been playing us for fools ever since he came to town.”
Lauren’s voice was quiet. “Maybe even earlier.”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “Maybe this whole thing — everything, has been carefully planned out from the start.”
“But according to the journals, he’s been wandering for eons gathering the evil that was fragmented.”
“But maybe it’s only been in the last few years that things have accelerated. Maybe it’s only been since then that he’s used people.”
Curran’s mind whirled. “You think he knew what he was doing when his kills came to my attention way back in the Bureau?”
“Seems like he’s been aware of you for some time now.”
“But for what reason? Why me? What good would it do to have me feel so compelled to track him? What purpose would it serve?”
“Everything that’s happened since then, Steve.” She laid a hand on his arm. “Darius might even know things before we do.”
Curran pushed her hand away. “I feel like a damned fool. Playing right into his hands. You know how much he’s cost me in terms of my life and my career?”
“I know.”
“You don’t!” Curran’s voice rose. “You don’t know what he’s done to me, what he’s cost me. All of this — “ His voice trailed off. “It’s all for nothing now.”
“No,” said Lauren. “It’s not all for nothing. There’s still chance we can stop him.”
“Right,” said Curran. “We’ll just keep planning what we’ve got planned. That’ll make him quiver with fear.”
“You don’t have to be so sarcastic.”
“Sarcastic? Lauren, I’m struggling to keep my head above water here. I’ve been tracking this freaker for years and now you tell me he’s probably been playing me for a damned fool ever since I started. How do you think that makes me feel?”
“I’m sorry.”
Curran rolled the car to a stop. “Forget it.” He unlocked the doors. Lauren started to get out. She turned and looked at him.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Curran sighed. “Yeah, well, truth hurts I guess.”
“Steve-“
“I’ll call you later.”
She looked down. “Okay.”
Curran waited for her to get out of the car and then peeled out. He didn’t even glance back in his rearview mirror. If he had, he might have seen Lauren looking at him with tears in her eyes.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lauren couldn’t sleep.
Outside her window, the November winds roiled and battered the house with twigs, branches, and flecks of dust. She burrowed deeper under the covers and wished she could simply go to sleep and wake up when this was all over.
Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything to Steve. The fact was, she decided, Darius seemed to always be one step ahead of them. Steve needed to hear what I told him, if only to try and motivate him enough to take action before Darius leads us all again.
Still…she frowned. She hadn’t really counted on making him angry. He probably hates me now, she thought.
She couldn’t blame him.
The real problem was something else.
She shifted. Lauren already knew she was physically attracted to Curran. It was obvious, at least within the internal machinations of her body. She sensed how she changed when he was around.
When Curran wasn’t around, Lauren felt calm. She felt at peace with the rest of her world. Everything seemed clear, well-defined. She could see her goal of becoming a nun. It seemed as easy as taking a breath.
But when Curran was around, his presence seemed to carbonize her hormones. Lauren found herself blushing like some naive schoolgirl if he looked at her too long.
And that smile of his.
She sighed.
Her commitment to the Church in some ways felt like it was wavering. And she didn’t want that to happen. She had chosen her destiny and this was the course she wanted to stick with.
She hoped.
The problem was, she wasn’t sure how much longer she could go on convincing herself the Church was her destiny. Equally troubling, she wasn’t sure how much longer she could go on denying her fascination for Curran.
Working for the Church would have its own rewards, of course. And they’d probably be far greater than
