The Devil's Touch

them tonight.' Jon giggled. 'And I mean really see them. You know what I mean?'

That small part of her mind that still functioned under her control recoiled at what she knew he was saying. His parents were now a part of the living dead. The undead. And the boy thought it funny. Again, that part of her mind was overridden by the dark forces. She stood passively as he slipped her blouse from her shoulders and dropped the garment to the floor. She felt coolness on bare skin. His hands caressed her, found the clasp to her bra, and that followed her blouse to the floor. Her breasts swung free.

Jon touched one nipple with a trembling fingertip. The nipple swelled. 'Take off the rest of your clothes, Nydia,' he told her.

She undressed and stood naked before him.

Jon ran his hands over her body, inspecting, exploring. The dark voices instructed her to respond, and she did, becoming as aroused as the boy.

He jerked his clothing from him, buttons flying and bouncing around the room. He stood naked before her, and she could not take her eyes from his hardness.

'We're going to have fun today, Nydia,' he told her. 'We're going to fuck away the afternoon. Just the two of us, doing things we've both dreamed of.'

'All right,' she heard herself say.

'Get down on your knees in front of me. You know what to do.'

She knelt down on the carpet and lifted her eyes to meet his.

'Lick it,' he told her.

An invisible barrier was being erected around Logandale. Extending for ten miles in any direction, the line could not be seen by the naked eye or felt by any human not confined within its barriers. But it was as real as Heaven and Hell.

The nonbelievers in Logandale, those not committed to the practices of the black arts, were trapped. There were only two ways out: accept the Dark One as a master—or die.

Out-of-town motorists driving through the barrier could not detect the line of evil. But they would not stop within the ten miles the system spanned, encircling the designated area of control. Logandale and Nelson College were slowly being cut off from the outside world. Good would soon be replaced by Evil. If all went as the Prince of Darkness planned; if his orders were carried out by his followers as he dictated; if God or his warrior did not intervene … then for the first time in the history of the United States, one entire community would be under the powers of the Prince of Hell. The Lord of Flies. Master of Darkness and Evil.

If all went as planned.

It looked good to the leader of the coven and his council. The daughter of the Prince was here, and the Princess would soon make her move against Sam Balon. Very soon, young Mr. Balon would no longer be any threat. Very soon.

The object that had shattered its way into the den of the Draper house, and into the lives of the people gathered there had, in its living form, been a poodle. It now resembled, at best, something out of a horror movie. The little animal had been skinned and its belly sliced open. When it was hurled through the window, its intestines and other organs were sprayed all over the room. Joe found the heart and liver in his lap. He yelled and threw the bloody objects off him.

Byron Price looked down at the floor. A gray pile of intestines lay by his feet.

John Morton stared in undisguised revulsion at the red smear of blood on the floor.

Viv and Mille both held back screams, checking the outrage in their throats.

Monty Draper cussed.

Father Le Moyne crossed himself while Noah fought back sickness that gathered hotly in his stomach, threatening to boil from his mouth.

Ginny sat in numbed shock.

And Richard Hasseling puked on his shoes.

'It's begun,' Father Le Moyne said. 'We failed to heed the warnings. Now it's begun. And it may be too late for any of us.'

'No!' Hasseling screamed, jumping from his chair. 'It's a filthy game of some sort.'

'It's filthy, all right,' Noah told him. 'But as I tried to tell you before, this is no game. Now maybe you'll pull your head out of your ass and wise up.'

'Don't you dare speak to me in that manner!' the minister shouted at the writer.

Noah adjusted his beret. 'Oh—stuff it, you prissy prig.'

'Gentlemen,' Monty said wearily. 'We don't need to fight among ourselves. We—'

Mille began screaming, pointing to the hallway. A foul odor filled the den.

Something about Fox Estate reminded Sam of Falcon House. Perhaps it was its hugeness. He didn't know. But something about it …

Then all thoughts of Falcon House were wiped from his mind. Sam was frozen in time as Nydia entered his mind. His wife was standing nude in a bedroom, a young man facing her. He was naked, his erection jutting out from his lean body. Sam watched Nydia take the erection in her hands and caress it. The young man fondled her breasts. One hand left her breasts and lingered between her legs.

The scene faded from Sam's mind, leaving wild, hot anger in its place. He clenched his hands into fists and wanted to strike out at something.