Chapter Twenty-Two

Buffalo, NY, July 18th, one year ago

Asmodeus wakes. Asmodeus wakes. Asmodeus wakes.

Father Leo Bonaventura emerged from the blackness of the Costa Rican jungle into a place just as terrifying.

The fifth floor of Dallas Hall.

Instead of running from a tiny hut, he sat at a Ouija board. Four other people were with him but he couldn’t see their faces, despite a candle stub burning in the center of their circle. A potent blend of rotting flesh and sulfur filled the room.

Demon stench.

Under his fingers, the planchette darted from letter to letter with dizzying speed. He shouldn’t have been able to make out the words, but somehow his mind kept up.

Asmodeus wakes. Asmodeus wakes. Asmodeus wakes.

Crimson eyes appeared in the dark, one pair over each person seated around the board. Hot, steamy breath wafted against his neck but when he tried to turn around his body wouldn’t obey.

Asmodeus wakes. Asmodeus wakes. Asmodeus wakes.

One of the faceless people at the board cried out and disappeared. Something laughed, a deep, guttural rumbling. Another person vanished. The rest followed, leaving Leo alone. Voices called from beyond the candle’s weak glow.

“Father, help us!”

I can’t, he wanted to shout, but his throat was as frozen as his muscles, leaving him helpless as he listened to the insane laughter and watched the planchette.

Asmodeus wakes. Asmodeus wakes. Asmodeus wakes.

Hastings Mills, NY, July 18th, one year ago

“Holy Gardens. May I help you?”

“Yes. I’m looking for…um….” Rob Lockhart glanced down at the name he’d gotten from the online directory. “Father Henri Adebayo.”

“Just one moment. Who’s calling?” the receptionist asked.

“Father Robert Hanson. We were in seminary together.” Rob mentally crossed his fingers that his ruse would work. The sound of electronic clicking reached him, followed by the buzz of a phone ringing. Rob fretted as he waited. Maybe it was too early and—

“Hello? This is Henri.” The deep voice held a distinct South African lilt.

Yes! “Hello, Father. I’m sorry to disturb you. I’m trying to reach Father Leo Bonaventura but they must have called the wrong person’s room.”

“Leo? Oh, he is not here. He’s still at Buffalo General for his surgery.”

“Surgery?” Rob’s hopes of having Father Leo drive the demon from Abigail Rawlings crumbled to dust.

“Yes, he left a couple of days ago to—”

Rob closed the connection and slammed his fist against the steering wheel of his car.

“Dammit!” Now what? Wait for Father Leo to recover and come home? That could take days or even weeks, depending on his surgery.

There’s only one thing to do, and you know it. Evil cannot be allowed to continue. Remember Isaiah 41:10.

Robert mouthed the words to passage. “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

I don’t need Father Leo. I have the strength of the Lord behind me. I’m doing his will.

Rob put the car in gear.

Claudia and Shari gripped hands so tightly their bones ground together through thin flesh, but neither of them let go. They stood in a dark, barren landscape dotted with dead trees and gray boulders. An oversized eclipsed moon hung in the starless sky, turned into a hazy corona by the black disc in the center of it. A slight breeze whispered secret threats through empty branches. Strange animal cries echoed across the bleak terrain.

Danger surrounded them, unseen but nevertheless real. They both felt it, down to their cores.

This wasn’t just a dream, but a journey to a place that had the power to hurt, even to kill. It wasn’t the first time they’d traveled in their sleep, but it was by far the worst. Never had they visited a place so alien.

So…

—Wrong.— Shari’s voice finished the thought in Claudia’s head, reminding her that in the dreamlands they could only communicate mentally. In the real world, they were both asleep in the Rawlingses’ living room.

The ground shifted violently, throwing them to the gravelly soil. Claudia yelped as jagged stones scraped her skin.

Next to her, Shari sat up, her long-legged pajama bottoms torn at the knees. Claudia looked at herself and saw she wore the t-shirt and boxer shorts she’d left on her bed in LA.

Dreaming. We need to—

—Wake up— Shari said. —We have to wake. —

Rocks and dirt exploded in front of them. Claudia threw her arms up to protect her face as earth shrapnel pummeled her. The furious tremors continued in waves, accompanied by a grinding, roaring sound.

Claudia peered through her hands as a huge mountain of red-hot stone emerged from the ground. Waves of heat emanated from it, along with a sulfurous stench that turned her stomach even from more than a football field away.

—Not a mountain.— Shari stood, pulling Claudia to her feet with her.

Claudia looked closer and gasped.

A giant throne, easily thirty feet tall and half as wide. A massive figure sat on the burning edifice, its dark form distorted by shimmering heat waves. Evil emanated from it with such power it forced her back a step.

—The beast!— Shari’s exclamation echoed Claudia’s own thoughts.

The same thing that had appeared in their nightmares in Los Angeles, only now its features were clearer.

Ten eyes stared down at them from the five heads atop the wide shoulders. Horse, goat, lizard, lion, and human, all with fangs and horns like some ancient dinosaur. Ebon scales covered its body and its reptilian hands ended in long, knobby fingers tipped with curved talons. Its feet had no toes; instead they were blunt hooves. Bat-like wings lay folded behind its back. Between its legs dangled an enormous penis that twitched back and forth and flicked out a forked tongue like a blind snake.

“Sssisssterss.”

The word appeared in their heads and in their ears. None of the creature’s mouths moved. Shari squeezed her hand tighter.

“Give yourselves to me.”

—Don’t listen to it.—

Claudia bit her lip. How could they not listen? You couldn’t shut out thoughts.

The human face grinned. It made Claudia think of a boy they’d known at the foster home. He’d worn the same smile while he pulled butterflies apart.

“Kneel before me. Your souls are mine.”

—No!— Claudia shouted it in unison with Shari.

Flames erupted around them, columns of fire rising far above their heads. The heat was immediate and intense, like standing in front of a raging furnace. Sweat ran down Claudia’s face and stung her eyes.

“Submit.”

—Never!—

The temperature climbed higher. Blisters erupted on Claudia’s skin and the harsh odor of burned hair assaulted her nose.

“If one of you gives themselves to me, the other will be spared.”

—You’re lying— Claudia said.

“I will have that within you,” it countered. “One of you will sacrifice yourself.”

Claudia pulled Shari close. —Never— they repeated. —We refuse you.—

The flames grew closer. Claudia’s blisters popped and smoke rose from her clothing.

“You cannot. It has already been decided. One of you will be mine.”

The fiery columns bent downward and expanded, became a dome-shaped inferno that sank lower and lower. Claudia’s arms and legs turned black and peeled away, revealing pink muscle. Her agony was doubled by the duplicate pain emanating from Shari. They screamed and superheated air filled their lungs, charring them from the inside. The world blazed in orange and then yellow as Claudia’s eyes exploded—

—and she woke up on the floor, sunlight bright on her face.

Next to her, Shari sat up. Red blotches in the shape of fingers covered her arms. Claudia didn’t have to look to know her own flesh bore the same signs of abuse.

The marks of the demon.