want me.”
“Don’t!” Rafe shouted with as much force as he could muster.
The demon ignored Rafe and knelt in front of the circle. She spoke in a seductive voice. “You’re in pain, Grant. I can see it. I can help you. You love this body.” She moved her hands down the front of the filmy dress. “You crave release. I see the sweat pouring from your body. Why deny yourself ecstasy? Why deny yourself anything? You want me. You need me.”
“Julie-” Grant said, his voice low and pained, sweat soaking his clothes, his eyes glassy and intoxicated. Grant had been fighting his urges, the same primal urge that had pushed Kent Galion into raping and killing one woman and attacking another, but he was losing. Rafe tried to warn him, but his throat constricted and he could barely breathe.
“I want you!” Grant cried out.
Wendy laughed.
Nina pushed past Pam and screamed, “No, Grant!”
Without looking, the demon pushed Nina up against the wall next to Rafe.
“I guess this means I win.” Wendy continued to laugh as she walked around the church. She approached the altar, mumbling something inaudible.
Then she smiled. “It’s here. I knew it would be.”
She picked up the chalice and approached Grant. She placed the Satanic bowl on the ground in front of him and held her hands up.
“Let the games begin!”
THIRTY-THREE
When Moira arrived at Grace Harvest she found the doors sealed shut. Not locked, but sealed by supernatural force. A faint, warm stench of demonic sulphur seeped from every crevice in the old church.
“Dammit!” She glanced up into the sky, the sunset tinting the blue with red, pink, orange, and purple. For a moment, just a split second, she was awestruck by the magnificent, serene beauty of the atmosphere above. So vibrant and hopeful. She said, “I could use some help down here.”
She squeezed back her frustration and fear, and focused on the evil within these walls. Rafe was inside, and she wasn’t going to let him die. Nor anyone else, for that matter. She ran around the entire perimeter, looking for a way in, and ran right into Jackson Moreno who was wet and muddy.
At Galion’s house Moira had thought Wendy was talking about the chalice, but hadn’t she mentioned the chalice separately? Jackson had been alone for several minutes while she and Rafe were breaking into Wendy’s altar. What had he done?
“Jackson-” But she stopped herself. Now wasn’t the time.
“They sealed the doors. I broke a window in the basement.”
“I need to get in that way. Show me.”
“I haven’t finished the reverse trap-”
“Show me the way, then finish. They’re in trouble. Nicole is double-crossing her sister. If the demon succeeds in killing Grant, everyone in there dies. I have to stop it.” Not to mention that the demon Lust would be free- again.
Jackson led her around to the back of the church to the narrow basement window. “Careful,” he said. “I tried to push the glass away, but it’s all over the basement floor. It’s a six-foot drop.”
“Finish the trap, Jackson,” she said. “And don’t come back in.”
“But-”
“It’s too dangerous, and I can’t worry about innocents.”
“Nina Hardwick is inside. She arrived right before Wendy. Told Rafe something about Wendy and mental institutions and killing her mother-I don’t have the details.”
That didn’t help Moira now. She started through the window on her stomach, then realized she was going in unarmed. Stupid! She had to think, be smart. Her fear for Rafe and the others had propelled her to act without planning.
She pulled herself back out and called out to Jackson as he poured a thick line of rock salt along the base of the church.
“Do you have an iron dagger?”
He looked sheepish. “Rafe told me to get my weapons-they’re in the old sanctuary behind the altar. But the only way you can get to the room is through a door on the altar. That’s where I put the kiln as well to melt the chalice-it’s on, but it hasn’t had time to heat to the required temperature.”
“Is the sanctuary locked?”
“No, but the door is one of the wood panels and the handle is camouflaged. On the left side, facing the altar.”
“I’ll take my chances.” She had her jacket back, but that wouldn’t do her much good if Wendy started zapping her with magical jolts.
She slid back through the window. Like Jackson, she had gotten wet sliding along the muddy grass outside, but the basement itself was dry. A dim bulb in the middle of the small room showed that this was used for storage-several pews, extra chairs, Christmas and Easter decorations. It certainly wasn’t a full basement, as the church above was at least ten times bigger than this room.
She found the door Jackson had indicated and went up the narrow stairs. As she ascended, she smelled the sulphur of Hell, stronger here than outside. Dark energy slithered over her skin, making her hair rise. She forced her heart rate to slow, focused on her senses. Where was everyone? If they were going with the plan, then Grant should be in a spirit trap on the altar.
Her hand began to throb where yesterday Nadine had clawed the healing wound from her battle with the demon Envy. Moira continued up the stairs, hearing voices now. It was an incantation, Wendy and Pam reciting a vaguely familiar spell. It wasn’t exactly a summoning ritual, but …
She took a chance and skirted around the edge of the back of the altar, trying to see what was happening. Wendy, Pam, and Julie-or rather the demon possessing Julie-were standing around Grant, who was protected by the reverse spirit trap. What were they doing? She glanced down: the salt had been disturbed, but the sacred oil was doing its job for the moment, soaking through the red carpet in a wide circle.
Grant was writhing in pain, his body twisting in the seat. He was trying to talk, but couldn’t. Trying futilely to break his bonds.
She looked around the unlit church for Rafe. Thirty rows of twenty-foot-long oak pews framed either side of a wide aisle. The rapidly descending darkness made it more difficult to see, except where swatches of light were coming in from the streetlights.
Her eyes narrowed when she saw Rafe suspended against the far wall. Nina was pinned beside him.
He appeared unharmed, anger and concern clouding his expression. She wanted to get him down but couldn’t yet risk exposing her presence.
The group of witches in front of her was only ten feet from the door to the sanctuary. The altar table had been moved to the side so that the reverse trap could be laid out to protect Grant. There was nothing for her to hide behind, nothing to shield her from being seen. But she couldn’t wait for a distraction; Grant might not live long enough.
As she watched, Julie’s body collapsed. Her body lay motionless in front of Grant, outside the circle. A revolting stench filled the church-fouler than anything Moira had smelled before. She looked everywhere, at Wendy and Pam, Rafe and Nina-who had the demon entered? Dammit, where was it?
Moira’s heart skipped a beat when she saw the chalice was on the floor in front of Grant. Wendy stared at it, excitement brightening her face.
“Pamela! It worked!”
Worked? What the-Moira bit back a scream. The glass ball at the top of the chalice had turned dark gray and
