“Not likely.” Dexx straightened, his expression tight. “It’s shifting, twisting its plan, trying to find our weaknesses. It’s not done yet. Trust me.”
“Oh,” Andy said in a small voice.
Reece stepped back and took in a deep breath. “Well, let’s move on then, shall—”
Paige’s head whipped up.
Dexx watched her, searching for signs of the demon. Fear etched along the edges of her face. “Paige.”
“Grandma?” she asked in a frightened whisper.
“Here, Pea.” Alma hurried to her granddaughter, stopping at the edge of the circle.
Tears sprang to Paige’s eyes. “I’m so scared. I can’t fight him. He’s so strong.”
“You can,” Alma said with the fierce belief of a mother. “You can do this.”
Paige’s face crumpled as she fell against the ropes bound across her chest. “I’m so scared.”
Alma hesitated for a moment, then stepped into the circle, wrapping her granddaughter in her arms. “It’s okay, baby. We’ll get through this.”
Paige’s expression shifted, anger slithering into place.
“Alma,” Dexx cried.
Paige lifted her head with demonic hatred. “I’m scared of what I’ll do to you, bitch.”
Andy held his hands open and low, his eyes and mouth wide.
Reece’s lips parted soundlessly.
A dawning horror lit Alma’s face. “I did what I had to.”
“Rachel might have taken Lee away from me physically, but you stripped her from my mind.” Paige’s voice was hoarse. Her gaze focused with a blinding brilliance.
Dexx reached the edge of the circle, preparing to launch himself at Alma, to knock her away.
“I’m going to strip you from my mind.” Paige released a ripping wind, knocking everyone back against the walls. Alma remained.
Dexx’s shoulder blade connected painfully with the wall before he fell to the ground.
Alma struggled against an unseen force.
“You are dead to me. Dead.” Paige relaxed and collapsed against the ropes.
Alma crumpled to the ground.
Dexx rushed to the old woman’s side on all fours. He felt like he’d been hit by a truck and judging by the way everyone groaned as they picked themselves up, no one else felt much better. He rolled Alma onto her back, lightly slapping her cheeks. “Alma.”
She didn’t stir.
He glanced up at Paige or the demon or whoever the fuck she was at the moment, but she-he-it was out cold. “Alma. Wake up.”
She moaned, raising a gnarled hand to her head. “I fell for it.”
“Yeah.” Dexx drug her out of the circle without disturbing the trap, not that it’d helped much. He hurried to repair the salt line. “You did. We both did. You o—” He took in a startled breath as he met her gaze.
“What?”
“Ca—um, can you see me?”
“Clear as day.” She stopped for a moment and reached up to touch her left eye. “I can see. For the first time in years, I can really see.”
“That’s great, ‘cause—uh—” He searched the room for help.
Alma pinned him with her strange and empty eyes. “What?”
He licked his lips, unable to meet her gaze. “They’re white. They’re both just white. No color. No pupil. No nothing. Just white.”
Shock fell over Alma’s face. “They’re what?”
“Yeah.”
“Huh.”
Paige—no. The demon raised its head and chuckled dryly.
“Alma,” Dexx said, helping her toward the stairs. “Wait in the church and stay there.”
Alma stood in stupefied wonder. “I can see.”
“I’m sorry, Alma, but now is not the time. Go upstairs and wait for us.”
“Now that you understand the importance of this ritual,” Reece said, picking himself off the floor, “please allow Andy and myself to conduct this exorcism without interruption.”
Dexx breathed slowly. If it had chosen any other vessel, he’d be gone right now.
“God, by your name save me, and by your might defend my cause,” Reece said, never taking his eyes off of the demon.
“God, hear my payer; hearken to the words of my mouth.” Andy’s voice shook as he pressed himself against the wall.
“You can’t keep the gate closed on your own,” the demon said. “Even if you tried, even if you were mad enough to think you could, you’d fail. Horribly. Miserably. You need me.”
The older priest continued, oblivious. “For haughty men have risen up against me, and fierce men seek my life; they set not God before their eyes.”
“That’s what you think,” Dexx answered.
“See, God is my helper.” Andy’s voice cracked. “The Lord sustains my life.”
“So, send me back. What’s your plan? They’re comin’ either way.”
“Turn back the evil upon my foes; in your faithfulness destroy them.” Reece held his Bible in front of him like a shield.
Dexx shrugged.
Reece set his face in grim determination. “Freely will I offer you sacrifice.”
“Save your words, priest,” the demon spat impatiently.
“Save your servant.” Reece advanced slowly on the demon.
“How would you do it?” Dexx took a step forward. “What’s your plan?”
“Let her find in you, Lord, a fortified tower in the face of the enemy.”
Lucius gave Dexx a wordless smirk.
The demon didn’t have a plan either.
“Let the enemy have no power over her and the son of iniquity be powerless to harm her. Lord, send her aid from your holy place and watch over her from Zion.”
A scream ripped through the demon’s throat that was both demonic and feminine.
“Stop,” a new voice commanded. “He’s telling the truth. You need him.”
Dexx spun on Balnore in surprise. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Lord, heed my prayer and let my cry be heard by you. The Lord be with you.”
Balnore looked bored, like there were a million other things he could have been doing at that moment. He tipped his chin toward Paige, eyes on Dexx. “She summoned me.”
Reece stroked the pages in his book lovingly before he began again. “I command you, unclean spirit, whose name is Lucius, along with all your minions now attacking this servant of God—”
“Face reality, Dexx.” Balnore straightened his shirt sleeve. “You can’t keep the gate closed. We need Lucius’ help. He’s a guardian of that gate. Gabriel trapped him between worlds for a reason.”
Lucius screamed.
“—by the mysteries of the incarnation, passion, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Reece shouted, “by the descent of the Holy Spirit, by the coming of our Lord for judgment—”
The demon whipped his head around. “If I go, I’ll take her with me. She’s the only other one who can use the key to keep it closed.”
“What are you saying, demon?” Dexx growled.
“—I command you to obey me to the letter, I who am a minister of God despite my unworthiness; nor shall you be emboldened to harm in any way this creature of God—”
“An alliance,” the demon said.
Balnore shrugged. “It would be smart.”
“Says the damned demon who bound her gift in the first fucking place.” Dexx pressed his fist against his mouth, debating something he shouldn’t be entertaining. Wouldn’t be entertaining if it weren’t for the fact the damn thing was in Paige’s body.
“I cast you out, unclean spirit, along with every Satanic power of the enemy, every spectre from Hell and all your fell companions; in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Reece made the sign of the cross in the air before him.
“Do you really think you humans can do this on your own?” Lucius jerked against his bonds. “You know it has been opened once. How much more do you want to lose? Which do you think you would prefer? The angel who would smite you for your sins, or the demon who would devour your soul?”
“Be gone,” Reece commanded.
The demon writhed in the chair, a low growl emanating from him.
“And stay far from this creature of God,” the priest continued, again making the sign of the cross. “For it is He who commands you. He who flung you headlong from the heights of heaven into the depths of Hell.”
“I was born here, you asshole,” Lucius said between clenched teeth.
“It is He who commands you, He who once stilled the sea and the wind and the storm.”
Paige’s twisted voice rose in a pain-filled cry.
“Hearken, therefore, and tremble in fear, Lucius, you enemy of the faith, you foe of the human race, you begetter of death, you robber of life—”
“Don’t send me back.”
Balnore let out a long, put-out sigh.
“—you corrupter of justice, you root of all evil and vic. Seducer of men, betrayer of the nations, instigator of envy, font of avarice—”
The demon jerked to the side and shouted something Dexx didn’t understand.
“—fomenter of discord, author of pain and sorrow. Why, then, do you stand and resist, knowing as you must that Christ the Lord brings your plans to nothing? Fear Him—”
“The key,” the demon cried in a deafening voice. “You must protect the key!”
Balnore’s shoulders slumped as he rolled his eyes.
“Be gone, then, in the name of the Father,” Reece said, making the sign of the cross.
Balnore moved with lightning speed and grabbed Paige’s shoulder. He stared intently into the demon’s eyes. The air seemed to still. The storm outside silenced.
“—and of the Son, and of the Holy—”
An explosion of sound interrupted the priest, tossing the man across the room.
The light bulb burst overhead, leaving them in dusky darkness.
Dexx peered through the poor light to see what had happened.
Out of thin air, a body manifested. Tall, bald, and heavily tattooed, wearing a burgundy robe embroidered in gold. Dexx’s eyes widened as Paige slumped forward against the ropes holding her.
Oh…shit.
Two very real, very solid demons.
What in the seven pits of Hell had they done?