Falcon had to smile. 'Very good, Nydia. You remembered well.'
Nydia rubbed her bruised knuckles and said nothing.
'Well?' Roma whirled to glare at Sam. 'Your decision?'
'We're staying,' Nydia and Sam answered in unison.
'A decision you will live to regret,' Roma said with a smile, but thinking: all is working out very well.
The lights went out, plunging the room into darkness.
Nydia screamed in terror.
And from the firmament, the vault of Heaven, a figure ripped toward earth, moving at a speed untrackable by any machine known to man.
As the figure from the world behind the veil again made contact with earth, by the circle of stones behind the home known as Falcon House, a strange, unearthly sound was heard, and the creatures of the forest and the Beasts under the ground were still, as if frozen in motion by the appearance of the near apparition. The figure, huge, pale, and ghostly, made no sound as it walked to the dark circle to sit on one of the dark stones. There, it appeared to brood for a moment, its eyes like lighted sparklers in the night, but to be seen only by those of his choosing.
The phantom traveler rose from the rock and turned its awesome bearded face to the great house, its eyes becoming as mysterious as its identity and mission. The eyes glowed for a brief time, then faded into hard tiny bits of diamond white. The traveler turned his back to the dark mansion, shook its great head, and walked toward the darkness of the forest. The ground trembled slightly as the manlike traveler walked, its feet clad in sandals, with leather thongs laced up the legs, almost to the knees. The dark robe was ankle long, belted at the waist with leather.
As the ghostly appearing man passed the rock altar, still stained with the semen from the man rape, a sword appeared in one mighty hand. The sword came down on the altar of defilement with a clash of sparks and a noise not unlike thunder. Where the sword had struck the stone a huge splotch of white appeared, starkly visible in the night, burned forever in the altar stone.
The awesome man snorted in disgust, and then spat on the ground beside the black altar, the spittle hissing and sizzling on the earth.
And then the cosmic traveler was gone, vanishing as quickly as it came.
Sam felt hard hands reach for him and grab him by the shoulders. Instinctively, he reacted as he had been taught: with extreme prejudice toward his attacker, with survival the name of the game. He jammed stiffened fingers into the throat of the man, spun, and ripped one hand loose from his shoulders, savagely twisting it until he heard the joint pop loose from the shoulder socket. The man screamed in pain and fell to the carpet just as the lights came back on. Nydia had dropped to the floor when the room was engulfed in darkness. She was crouched behind a sofa on one denim-clad knee. 'All right?' Sam asked. She nodded silently.
The man who had attacked Sam lay moaning on the floor, his face as twisted as his arm, which lay useless, out of the socket, the arm having been turned a full 360 degrees, something a human arm was not constructed to endure.
Sam spoke to the room of people, his voice thick with emotion, with all present knowing he meant every word, 'I'll kill the next person who touches Nydia or me. Do you all understand that?'
His eyes touched each person, male and female, adult and teenager. Only a few eyes did not drop away from his savage gaze.
Nydia rose to stand by him. Sam took her hand. 'Let's go.'
'Wait!' Roma said, stopping them as they turned to leave the room. 'Someone, drag that foolish man from the room,' she ordered, then looked at the Christians. 'That will be the last act of physical violence directed against either of you—unless you attack us first—until we have decided your decision to stay with your God is firm and irrevocable. I promise you that. And I further promise to personally punish anyone who tries to harm you— physically—during that time.' She quickly scanned the room with her dark eyes. 'And the punishment will be severe. We will, however, attempt to sway you with words, deeds, and visual action or events. You have until midnight Thursday. After that …' She shrugged.
'THIS IS YOUR PERIOD OF TESTING!' the voice boomed in Sam's head. It was a voice he had not heard before, and it seemed to be near. 'You were warned that you would be tempted. Fear not, for the LORD GOD is with you. Resist all you can, with all your might, and do not fear should you sometimes fail, for Christians are not required to be perfect, they are simply forgiven.'
The voice faded into silence.
'Did you hear that?' Sam questioned Nydia silently.
'No. Hear what?'
'I'll tell you later.'
Roma was conscious of something alien in the room, not physically present, but more a mental thrusting, and whatever it was made her flesh crawl with disgust. And something else crept its way up and down her spine: the first unfamiliar tentacles of fear. She fought the unfamiliar feelings until she had successfully driven them away, then stood quietly as her daughter and Sam left the room. She glanced at Falcon.
He pushed into her brain: 'Did you feel that power a moment ago?'
'Yes.'
'What was it?'
'I don't know.'
She averted her eyes and looked at Karl, remembering his long, thick penis. She licked her lips and Karl smiled.
Falcon's eyes touched upon Toni, and she returned the frankly sexual leer.
