The Devil's Touch

'It isn't too late, Nellie,' Joe said. 'I think Father Le Moyne can—well, fix it, if only you'd let him. Won't you please try?'

'Oh, fuck you, Joe! You have to be kidding.' Her voice was filled with contempt. 'Go back to all that suffering? No way, Jose.' She grinned, and the trio could feel the evil touching them. 'You folks wanna come in and join the party? It's about to get real good. Sylvia Sakall just bet Hoss Patrick she could deep-throat him, and Hoss has a cock on him looks like a big sausage. Ought to be interesting, don't you think? How about it?' She looked at Mille. 'The talk I used to hear around town was that you liked to fuck, Mille. You spread it around pretty good, 'way the stories go. Why don't you come in and join us? Paul Reeves just made the comment he'd like to bend you over and shove it up your ass. How does that sound to you, Mille?'

Joe put his hand on the butt of his pistol. Mille put her hand on Joe's arm. 'No, Joe,' she spoke softly. Only Joe and the priest could hear her words. 'Not yet.

They haven't made any hostile moves toward us.'

'Listen to her, Joe,' the priest urged. 'It will come to that. But not yet.'

'I think I'll pass, Nellie,' Mille said.

'We'll get you,' the older woman promised. 'I want to see it when you get passed around. I want to hear you squall.'

'You're all insane!' Mille hissed at the woman.

Nellie threw back her head and laughed.

'I'll see you around, Nellie,' Joe promised. 'Bet on it.'

Nellie once more laughed. 'I'm sure you will, sweetie,' she told him. 'But Hoss is gonna see a whole lot more of me first. What he's got ought to feel good sliding in and out. You wonna watch us, baby?'

Joe lost his temper. 'You goddamned slut! You black-hearted whore. You—'

Nellie stepped back into the house and slammed the front door. Mille pulled Joe toward the car. 'Come on, Joe. It's all over here. She's lost. Cursing her isn't going to help.'

'It'd help me,' Joe muttered, getting behind the wheel of the car. 'I just can't believe the change in that woman. But she's lost. I can sense it.'

Driving away, Father Le Moyne spoke from the back seat. 'Joe, I have to ask you this. Are you a Christian?'

'Yes, sir. I was washed in the blood back when I was just a little shaver. I been goin' to the Methodist church near 'bouts all my life.'

'Do you believe in God the Father Almighty and the Lord Jesus Christ?'

'Yes, sir. I sure do.'

'I don't have to ask Mille. Mille was a—little wild when she was in high school. But she outgrew that and tecame a fine woman.'

'A little wild, Father?' Mille blurted.

Father Le Moyne smiled in the darkness of the back seat. 'I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, Mille.'

'Father?' Mille said, her voice no more than a whisper. 'I'm scared.'

So, too, am I, child, the priest thought. He said instead, 'Trust in the Lord, child. And He will provide protection. Keep your faith strong.'

'If you don't mind, Father,' Joe said. 'And don't think I'm being sacrilegious, but do you think He would object if I included my .357 in on the deal as well?'

Father Le Moyne laughed. The laugh felt good to him. 'No, Joe. No. I don't think He would object one little bit.' The priest sobered. He wondered when his brother would visit him; and how he would handle that visit.

There is only one way to handle it, the priest thought. And he wondered if he would, or could, find the strength to make that awful move against his brother and sister-in-law.

The priest knew he had to somehow find the strength.

Or become one of the undead.

'Feel like taking a ride, Noah?' Sam asked the writer. He checked his .41 mag as he asked the question.

Monty's head jerked up. 'Where are you two going? And why?'

'I want to see what's going on around town, and I want to get Desiree; bring her out here.' He looked at Nydia. 'If you don't have any objections, that is.'

'I don't have any objections, Sam,' she said. 'I was thinking the same thing just then. You must have picked up on my thoughts.'

'You two can read each other's thoughts?' Viv asked.

'A lot of the time,' Nydia said with a smile. 'Really makes a marriage interesting.'

'Spare me that,' Monty muttered.

Nydia said to Sam, 'If she's not one of them, Sam, then by all means, she should be provided safety with our group.'

'Jon Le Moyne?' Sam asked her.

Nydia shook her head. 'You can try, Sam, if you want to take the time. But I personally think it's far too late for Jon.'