He looked at her in the darkness of the room. "Nine days, honey. We have ... they have, nine days. Don't ask me how I know. I just know. And I'll tell you something else: my knowing scares the s.h.i.t out of me!"

In Whitfield, around the circle of stones, as behind Falcon House, the pledge was being chanted: "I renounce G.o.d the Father, G.o.d the Son, and G.o.d the Holy Ghost."

And in both places, the Beasts growled their approval.

"I renounce and deny my Creator, the Holy Virgin, the Saints, Baptism, Father, Mother, Relations, Heaven, Earth, and all this world contains that is good, pure, and sacred."

They lifted their arms straight out in front of them and screamed: "Praise the power of the Prince of Darkness. For only he is the true Master.

"I give my body and mind to Satan. Praise be his name. My Master. None other than him. This I swear by all that is unholy."

And the Beasts of Satan howled their agreement, their eyes wild, jaws leaking drool. The Beasts began dancing: an obscene hunching and howling, dancing to the beat of music they alone could hear.

"Is there a gun room in this house?" Sam asked as they dressed. The drapes were closed, the room lighted. Somehow they both felt much more comfortable with the lights on.

"Yes. Falcon enjoys shooting." She grimaced a sudden distaste.

"What's wrong?"

"He likes to see animals suffer. He's an expert shot, but I've overheard servants talking-down through the years-that he'll deliberately shoot an animal where it will take it the longest to die. He likes to listen to a wounded animal scream."

"Nice fellow," Sam muttered. "The servants?"

"You mean can we trust them? No, I don't think so. They have all been with Roma for as long as I can remember. Especially Jimmy Perkins. He's a sneak. That's not the right word. He's a zombie."

"You may be more right than you think about that," Sam told her. "Come on-let's see this gun room. I want to see what Falcon has in stock."

They walked down the dimly lit hall, walking quietly but not stealthily, in case they met someone unexpectedly and aroused suspicion. Nydia stopped him at a doorway.

"The first of the guest rooms in this wing," she whispered. "This would be Adam's room. All the boys' rooms are on the left, girls' rooms on the right."

Sam cautiously opened the door and looked in. The room was deserted. "You take the girls' rooms," he told Nydia.

Only Mac and Howard were in their beds. When Sam tried to wake them, he could not. They were sleeping as if drugged. Which, he concluded, they probably were. Across the hall, four young women were in their beds: Judy, Lana, Linda, and Susan. Sleeping soundly. Too soundly. Sam shook Lana gently, then roughly. She could not be roused. He did the same with each of them; they could not be awakened. He noticed the heavy gold medallion on a chain around Susan's neck.

"They're all drugged," he told Nydia. "I guess. From now on we'd better be careful what we eat and drink. I'll bet you those trays of food I found outside the door to our rooms were drugged; that's why no one checked on us.

"Mother always uses the buffet line when we have this many guests. At least that's been her routine in the past."

"Routine can be dangerous," Sam said, remembering his training. "Lulls one into a false sense of security."

Nydia smiled. "Yes, Sergeant."

Sam slipped his arm around her waist and let his hand slip down to the curve of her b.u.t.tocks. He gently caressed her.

"Don't start something you can't finish," she said. "And here in the hall would be a perfectly dreadful place to be caught making love."

Sam removed his hand.

She stopped them before they entered the foyer they had to cross to get to the gun room on the second floor. "I just remembered something: Falcon has a reject room in the bas.e.m.e.nt. He spends hundreds of dollars-maybe thousands-on guns every year. If there is the slightest flaw: a scratch on the stock, a tiny bit of bluing that's wrong, anything ... he won't have it. Just throws it in the reject room and forgets it."

"He doesn't return them?"

"No, never."

"That's the place for us, then. Take one of his favorite guns and he'd probably miss it. Where are the servants' quarters?"

"That way," she said, pointing. "First floor, in the back."

"Come on. 1 want to check there, too."

The servants' quarters were all empty.

"That answers another question," Sam said. "Come on, we'd better hurry." He wondered how long the ceremony at the circle of stones would last.

"It breaks up just before dawn," she said, reading his thoughts.

"Pretty good gimmick we have going," Sam said with a grin. "It may really come in handy before all this is over. I wonder how far we can project and read each other's thoughts?"

"We'll try tomorrow." She tugged at his arm. "Today, I mean. Come on, let's get to the reject room."

Sam selected a good shotgun and a high-powered rifle, then picked a pistol for Nydia. The weapons were all in good condition, except for needing cleaning and oiling. They were fine weapons, from old and skilled manufacturers. He stuffed his pockets with cartridges and had Nydia do the same. She was nervous, wanting to leave, but Sam wanted to prowl. He found a tarp-covered cache of camping equipment, loading them both down with shelter halves and blankets, rope and tent pegs. They filled two packs, then filled two smaller knapsacks. Finally Sam picked up two pairs of binoculars and steered Nydia toward the door.

"I feel like a beast of burden," she complained on the way back to their rooms. "Why do we need all these coils and coils of rope?"

Sam stopped in the dimly lit hall.

"What's wrong, Sam?"

"Beast. Why did that word spark something in me?"

"Black hasn't been trying to frighten you, has he?"

"What do you mean?"

"He likes to tell people about monsters that roam the timber in back of the house. No, he wouldn't tell you. He likes to tell girls, frighten them."

"No, it's more than that. Has something to do with Whitfield. Rumors of Beasts-Devil creatures. Are there beasts in the timber?"

"I ... don't know, Sam. I've seen ... something. Heard noises and sounds that ... were not human, but yet, really not animal, either. But more animal than human. If that makes any sense. And once, when I was about, oh, twelve or thirteen, I suppose, I went walking one afternoon, back where Mother had told me never to go. The smell that came out of that hole in the ground was hideous. When I walked closer ... I don't know how to explain this ... the growl that came out of the hole was ... not menacing as much as it sounded like a warning. To me. As if whatever it was in there was telling me to stay away. This sounds funny-odd, I mean-but it seemed to me like it was saying it didn't want to hurt me.

"Your mother, Falcon, Black ... do they ever go back there?"

"Sure! It's just in back of the circle of stones. Big hole in the ground. I've been to the circle dozens of times since then. But no farther."

Sam thought of the tales the kids used to tell back in Whitfield: stories about monsters and Devil-Beasts, and about what happened to cause the state to fence off the area known as The Digging. And he remembered stories about deep holes in the ground: holes that emit a very foul odor. A hideous odor.

Just as they began walking the hall, a door slammed in the house. "Run!" Sam whispered, and they raced down the hallway, up the steps, and to their rooms. In their haste, neither noticed the cartridge fall from Nydia's pocket, the bra.s.s gleaming dully on the dark carpet.

Footsteps slowly tracked them, shuffling up the steps, down the hallway. They stopped, a hand reaching down, long, bony, pale fingers closing around the bra.s.s. Jimmy Perkins looked at the cartridge, grinning grotesquely. He put the cartridge in his pocket, then shuffled down the hall to Nydia's room. He stood for a moment, listening, his ear to the door.

Had to be that young man that Sam Balon fathered, he thought. Snooping with Nydia. Found Mr. Falcon's gun room. Both up to something. But, he grinned, almost chuckling, I won't tell Mr. Falcon. His smile grew more obscene. Maybe Miss Nydia would give him some of that tight young p.u.s.s.y in return for keeping his mouth shut? It was worth a try. He'd see about that if he didn't forget. He turned away to get the silver goblet he'd been sent to fetch. The thought of f.u.c.king Miss Nydia burned in his tormented mind. The front of his pants bulged.

"Jimmy Perkins," Nydia whispered. "He's the only one who walks with a shuffle. He's horrible!"

They flushed the food on the trays down the toilet, leaving just enough on the plates to satisfy any curious minds, then Sam began cleaning the guns, inspecting them, hiding them. He horseshoed the shelter halves, blankets inside the horseshoes, and fastened them to the backpacks after he and Nydia packed a few items of clothing, the ammunition, and most of the rope. They stowed the packs in the closet, behind some luggage. It was the best they could do, knowing it would not fool any thorough search.

"Tomorrow," Sam said, "we swipe some food from the kitchen: canned goods, anything that will keep without refrigeration. A sack full, at least. It'll be heavy, but it has to be."

"Are you planning on us running, Sam? Into the timber?"

"I ... guess so, eventually." He looked into her serious eyes. "Nydia ... I don't really know what we're going to do. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I just wish Dad had been more specific. If that was my dad. I guess it was," he added lamely, and with a heavy sigh. "If he had told me: Sam, I want you to destroy that house and everyone in it-I would do it. Be doing it right now. But, Nydia, I just don't know what I'm supposed to do!"

"I know, Sam." She took his hands in hers. "I've been kind of ... blocking everything out. That your dad said, I mean. Mother a witch. Falcon and Black warlocks." She tried a laugh that didn't come across. "It's something out of a very bad movie script. I want to believe-and do, in part, I guess-but another part of me says ... Oh, Sam-I don't know. I'm like you: I'm so confused." She leaned forward and kissed his mouth. "But whatever happens, Sam, I know you'll take care of me." She said it confidently, with all the love and trust in her.

Sam put his arms around her, savoring the scent of her hair. He had to fight to keep his thoughts from becoming too negative.

Dad? Sam flung the plea into the darkness. Please tell me what I'm supposed to do.

Roma met them in the hall at midmorning. "Did you young people sleep well?" The question was asked with a smile.

Nydia returned the smile. "Almost as if we were drugged, Mother."

A pulse surged heavily in the older woman's neck, but her smile remained fixed. "I'm so glad you both rested well." She searched them both for thoughts, but as she suspected, she was blocked from their minds. "What do you two have planned for today?"

Plotting your total destruction, I suppose, Sam thought. "Nothing special. Might take a walk in the timber. It looks beautiful."

"Oh, but it is. Do return in time for a rest this afternoon," Roma said. "Falcon and I have such a gala evening planned."

Like what? Sam thought. Drinking human blood? "I promise we'll be in attendance, Roma."

"And you don't even know what we have planned," Roma said, smiling.

"Oh ... I imagine something novel," Sam said dryly.

"At least that." Roma patted his cheek, her fingers warm on his flesh. She shifted her gaze to Nydia as her fingers lingered on Sam's cheek. "You're a lucky girl, Nydia. I hope you realize that."

"I know, Mother." The reply was softly stated. And you should see him with a full erection, she thought.

Crude, Nydia! Sam flung his thoughts.

Couldn't resist it.

The women smiled and purred at each other, their claws barely concealed, until Sam pulled Nydia away, toward the dining area. The large room was empty except for Lana and Susan. Linda and Judy had been sleeping when Nydia looked in on them before coming downstairs.

The rest of Black's young guests had not gotten in until just before dawn. They were still sleeping.

Sam and Nydia had no choice but to eat, for they were ravenous, not having eaten for eighteen hours. They would have to take a chance on the purity of the food. They filled their plates and joined the two young women.

"Hey, you two!" Lana beamed up at them. "We missed you yesterday. Heard you had to go into Montreal. Oh, Nydia, this home is so beautiful. Like something in a grand movie."

"It is that," Nydia said. A horror movie. But ... how do I warn you?

We don't! Sam flung the thought into her brain. She has to find the true course herself.

How do you know that? she silently asked, calmly eating her breakfast.

I just do. Someone ... or something is telling me. Perhaps later they will tell me differently.

And Sam counted Susan as among the lost when she said: "Black is taking me on a hike this afternoon. Says he wants to show me some ancient stones. He gave me this." She pulled at the gold chain and medallion Sam had noticed her wearing when he saw her sleeping. "Mr. Falcon offered one just like it to Lana and Linda and Judy."

The medallion of the d.a.m.ned. Of the Devil.

"Stupid Lana refused hers," Susan said. "So did Linda and Judy. I just cannot believe you did that! How rude."

"It's just too expensive a gift, Susan. I ... just don't think it's right to take something that expensive."

Susan's eyes glittered as dangerously as a snake before striking. The venomous look faded, and she returned to her breakfast. Eating in silence for a moment, she abruptly left the table without saying another word.

Lana's going to be all right, Nydia fired the thought.

I don't know, Sam disagreed. I don't think so. She's playing some sort of game.

"I think I just lost a friend," Lana said glumly. She was a small, very pet.i.te blond, with delicate features, deep blue eyes, and a lush little figure.

"Then she wasn't much of a friend to begin with," Sam told her.

"I ... really don't ... well, don't take this the wrong way, Nydia," Lana said. "And I don't believe you will, but I am ... kind of sorry I came up here."

She's lying! Sam projected.

Nydia ignored the thought. "I know, Lana. I don't like most of my brother's friends, either. And neither does Sam." She started to warn the blond about her mother, the house, but the words would not form on her lips. She struggled to speak the warning but remained mute. She shut her mouth.

You see? Sam silently scolded her.

You can't know for a fact that she is lying!

I know only the words that come into my head.

But I thought your G.o.d was a just G.o.d? Nydia flung the challenging question.

He is. But He also helps those who help themselves. And He cannot tolerate a liar.

I don't understand, but I will accept what you say.

That's half the battle, honey.

Sam then remembered something, the recollection coming so strongly it hit his mental processes with the impact of a tidal wave: His Bible. He had never unpacked it from his luggage; it had remained in the bag since his arrival at Nelson College. And it was still there, in the bag, in his room ... at Falcon House.