'Leave!' she was instructed. 'There is nothing you can do to prevent victory or defeat.'
Janet backed away from the door and continued on to the den.
The child slept on, unaware that its future was being decided.
Judy Parish huddled on the front seat of the car. She was completely naked but not cold. She had been raped, but was feeling no anger toward her attacker. She had been beaten, but experienced no feelings of revenge for Will Gibson. She could not understand any of these emotions. Or lack of them.
The rain was now a quiet drizzle.
Judy looked over at Will. The man lay against the door on the driver's side. His breathing had slowed and his color had returned. He was naked from the waist down. He opened his eyes and looked at the teenager.
'How do you feel, Judy?'
'Strange.'
'Yes, I know. I only became one of them a few hours ago.'
'One of them. What am I?' She sat up on the seat. She made no attempt to cover her nakedness.
'I—am not certain,' Will answered truthfully. 'But I know that we are not—we have left some part of us behind and have entered into a new—dimension, I guess we could call it. Somehow I know it will all be explained to us a week from Monday. On October the thirty-first.'
'Why then?' She reached over and began stroking his soft penis.
'I don't know.'
She moved across the seat and bent her head. She opened her mouth and took him.
Will groaned and wound his fingers into her golden hair, and pushed his growing penis further into her mouth.
Just before leaving the Draper house, Sam said, 'Halloween. October the thirty-first. That is when their time will run out. At midnight.' He glanced at Nydia for confirmation; to see if she had received the same silent message. She nodded her head.
'But remember, Sam—all of you—Satan can and will change the rules in the middle of the game,' Nydia cautioned.
'Game! Rules!' Monty said. 'I keep hoping this is all a bad dream. That in the morning it will all be only a memory.'
'I still have memories from the siege at Falcon House,' Sam said. 'Believe me, Monty, it isn't a dream; it's a nightmare.'
'I still have doubts,' Viv said. 'I simply refuse to believe any of this is actually taking place. It's a joke of some sort, that's all.'
'I believe it,' Joe said grimly. 'I don't want to, but I do. Well, I'm goin' home. Check on Nellie. I'm worried about her. See you tomorrow, Chief. Night, Viv, Father Le Moyne.' He nodded his head at Sam and Nydia. Young couple spooked the hell out of him. Woman looked like a damned gypsy, and everybody knows them people are real funny. Can tell your fortune and all that stuff. Joe resisted an urge to back off the porch.
Sam glanced at his watch. Eleven o'clock. 'We are reasonably safe on a Sunday,' he said. 'Covens don't like to tempt the Almighty too much. But not all of them fear Sunday. And if the Devil himself is here, Sunday won't make a bit of difference to him.'
'That's nice to know,' Monty said with a sigh.
'Bull!' Viv said.
NINE
Patsy had been amazed to see so many of her friends and fellow students at the Giddon mansion. It appeared that at least a full seventy-five percent of her class was in attendance. None of them appeared to be overly surprised to see her.
She walked up to a group of young people gathered near the black-draped altar. They were staring at the naked woman on the altar. She seemed to be in some sort of trance. Alma Nelson, a girl in Patsy's class, smiled at her.
'I was wondering when those goody-shoes of yours would begin to get dirty, Patsy.'
'I'm only here to see what's going on,' Patsy said with a primness that didn't quite come off. 'I'll probably leave in a few minutes.'
Claude Sullivan laughed at her. 'No, you won't.' Claude was sixteen, in Patsy's class. 'You're not about to leave.'
'I can if I want to,' Patsy said defensively.
'Yeah, maybe,' May Kendall looked at her and smiled. 'But I don't think you really want to leave. 'Sides, look across the room, Patsy. Over there by that big picture of a man and woman screwing.'
Patsy looked, squinting her eyes to peer through the gloom. She should have been surprised. Should have, but was not. For the past several hours, beginning with her struggles by the river with Jon, and ultimately her surrender to her lusts, Patsy had known she was only fooling herself; had been kidding herself about her feelings toward her faith. She had sensed something evil in this town some months back; had known it was real the times she lay in her bed and masturbated, allowing erotic scenes to play through her young fertile mind.
The girl sighed and let the Dark One have his way with her. She accepted the Prince of Evil. She drained her cup of juice and stared at the man and woman who stood quietly, looking at her, smiling across the room. The man unzipped his pants and removed his penis, holding it in his hand and smiling at the teenager.
It was Patsy's mother and father.
