"I'll give you a few," Gayle said.

"Old Mr. Fallon?"

"Oh, no, the silly old buzzard! He's a Wiccan, and a plain old grouch!"

"Mike?"

Gayle smiled. "It's more fun to torture you by not letting you know-especially about your old buddy Mike! I'll give you a few. You know that charming young couple staying at Huntington House?"

Megan swallowed hard. "Not the family! Not the kids, not-"

"No, they're just run of the mill tourists. The pretty pair. John and Sally. They came all the way to be here and serve just for tonight!"

So now she knew five...John and Sally, Theo Martin-the cop!-Gayle and Sara. All of these people, so many she considered friends... or at the least, fairly normal acquaintances.

Normal!

Nothing was normal.

And she knew as well that Morwenna was innocent, and intended as a sacrifice. She longed to talk to her cousin, to ask her forgiveness, to help her...

There had to be a way out."Who else?"

"Darren, of course. Though Lizzie has proved to be an absolute wretched familiar for him. She just loves people too much. And, of course, you should have figured Sam Tartan. He was so totally important, making sure that you and Finn arrived here, safe and sound."

"You keep talking about your priest and priestess-who are they?"

"You'll find out tonight!" Gayle said playfully.

"Wait-you shouldn't kill Morwenna."

"You're going to give us advice? You can't save her, you know. A stranger, s.n.a.t.c.hed from the street elsewhere would have been better, but... Morwenna's such a pain in the a.s.s, why not kill her?" Gayle demanded.

"She'll be missed. And you're in danger, playing with fire, taking her. Joseph will be irate, coming after her."

"None of this is going to be your concern," Gayle said blithely.

"Even if Theo is a cop, you must realize that there will be repercussions."

"Don't worry-someone will be left to take the fall. And listen, cutie pie, even if an army of FBI agents showed up, it wouldn't matter. Because once we begin, the circle will be protected by a power stronger than any earthquake imaginable. And once Bac- Dal comes back... he'll see to it that a corpse is there to be guilty of any murders committed, and that the cops see everything the way that he wants. You see, you are the one who doesn't comprehend what you're up against! Which reminds me, I do have work to do."

She brought the handkerchief to Megan's nose again.

Megan started instinctively to turn her head away.

"Make it easy on yourself!" Gayle said, as if finding some small bit of empathy for her captive.

Megan pretended to submit to what would be most merciful. She didn't try to hold her breath completely, but she tried very hard to inhale just one or two shallow breaths. She wanted the drug to wear off quickly so that...

So that what? The ropes binding her were so tight she could barely budge her arms or legs. She was freezing, naked beneath the embroidered altar cloth. Somewhere nearby, Morwenna was being tortured, probably for trying to help her.

And Finn...

Finn was out there. Finn's ancestor had come to kill a murderer and prevent the return of a demon; he had not been an evil man.

And neither was Finn. And he was with those who could help. There was hope.

There was always hope...

The world was spinning again, but Gayle already thought her completely out. She had turned away because there were others in the woods, and they were very busy. Arranging for... The stroke of midnight.

Chapter 23.

Previous Top NextFinn sat white-lipped and tense, anxious every moment that they sat in the cabin.

Andy had been made comfortable on the couch, and Martha sat by his side, holding his hand, talking to him.

Lucian sat behind her, on the arm of the couch.

Mike was at the table insisting that Finn must know everything that Megan had told them, about the dreams, about the horned G.o.d, about Finn being...

Weird.

Father Brindisi sat at the table with Mike, seemingly incredibly uncomfortable. At length, he stood and walked to the fire, then asked Finn if he had a cigarette.

Finn gave him one, and Brindisi turned toward the flames.

"I am acutely uncomfortable here," he said.

Finn shrugged. "Well, Father, we are in the company of wolves, as they might say. A vampire must surely make a man of the cloth uncomfortable. I can a.s.sure you, learning such details about the man has not always made me feel warm and cozy."

Father Brindisi looked at the fire, shaking his head.

"I know. You don't believe it," Finn said.

Brindisi smiled. "No. You're mistaken. I believe wholeheartedly in G.o.d, the one great G.o.d! But as I believe in His goodness, I know that there is evil in the world as well. There is very little that I will not believe-or else see in the realm of the possible. There is something more... Perhaps it is the fact that I'm going to officiate at a Ma.s.s to counter one that is meant to summon a scion of the devil, I don't know. But something here... isn't right."

The door opened. Ragnor stepped in. "I've found them," he said quietly.

Finn rushed over to him. "You've found them? Megan?" he asked. "Why didn't you bring her; why didn't you seize her away?"

"Because it wouldn't have done any good; it would have done nothing but warn them," Martha said dully from her perch beside Andy.

"The graveyard!" Mike Smith said, staring at Ragnor and jumping from his seat. "What an idiot I've been! Of course!"

They all stared at him.

Then Lucian left his seat on the arm of the sofa and walked to Ragnor. "A graveyard?" he queried.

Ragnor glanced at Mike. "Yes."

"I should have thought of it immediately," Mike said. "There's only one... rumored to be unhallowed. There's really nothing there, some broken old statuary, but..."

Finn felt a flicker of anger and jealousy, compounded by the depth of his fear. He strode toward Mike again. "The cemetery. Yeah.

You should have known all along. Why didn't you? Are you sure that you-a man so attuned to science, and scornful of the occult, suddenly believing!-aren't running the whole show? Maybe you're enjoying every minute here. You'll just accompany us to the right point-and become part of the Black Ma.s.s?"

Mike stared at him angrily. "I would never hurt Megan.""You wouldn't hurt her, because someone is supposed to become her. But, how about it-were you willing to hurt a woman in Boston-slice her to ribbons before you killed her?"

"No!" Mike protested. "Look, I'm trying to help you here."

"Finn, I think he's legit," Lucian said.

Finn spun on him, swallowing hard. "You think. Well, Father Brindisi here is somewhat uncomfortable."

"Because a demon is living inside you!" Mike countered.

"This isn't getting us anywhere," Ragnor said quietly.

Finn stared from Ragnor to Lucian. "You're vampires, so you say. With powers. Well, I've seen something of your powers. Why don't we just go there and rip them to shreds; h.e.l.l, we've got a werewolf here-let's just go chew them up. Because I'm not sure just who we can trust here."

"Finn!" Jade said softly. "We can't do that, you've got to understand. It's all begun already. And you know it, because of your dreams. We could kill a dozen people, and if we don't kill the right ones, and if the spells are completed, you'll be dead. Your body will be walking around, but you'll be dead."

Finn knew she was telling the truth. He lowered his head for a moment, then looked at Lucian. "Kill me. Make me a vampire."

"I don't do that," Lucian said.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know the final repercussions in the end."

"And we don't know that we can stop any of this, even with a priest. So make me a vampire. At least then I won't become a demon, and I'll be able to really fight for Megan."

"That's impossible," Lucian said.

"Why?"

"There isn't time. You have to die, you see. And even if I kill you quickly, you won't come back in time. Not to save Megan."

Finn lowered his head for a minute, gritting his teeth. He looked around the room. He had to trust the people-and beings-who were with him. There was no other choice.

He stared at Mike. "You who suddenly know so much-who's behind all this? Morwenna? The old crone from the hotel? Who?"

"I don't know," Mike said evenly. "I can only tell you that I'm not. Who the h.e.l.l knows about the others?"

"We're wasting time, and we don't have a lot of it. Let's go," Lucian said. "Father Brindisi, are you ready? We must cast down our own circle of magic as soon as we come near their unholy altar."

"Please don't call it a circle of magic. It's a circle of holiness."

"As you wish, Father."

Martha stood, wringing her hands. "Do I come with you?"

"No," Lucian said."But... she's my niece!" Martha said.

"No," Jade said firmly, grabbing her papers with chants and incantations they would need. "There are ten of us-Finn and Mike.

That makes twelve. And Father Brindisi, as our priest, makes the thirteen. Martha, you stay here and tend to Andy. He may still pull through. Or waken to say something that we'll need to know."

Martha looked unhappy, but she stayed where she was.

As they walked out of the house, Lucian set his hand on Finn's shoulder. "You're going to want to run to Megan. You can't do it.

You have to stay in the circle of power we create, do you understand."

Finn nodded.

He understood.

He just wasn't sure that he could do it.

Megan didn't allow anyone to see that she was awake. When she first came to, she tried to move her wrists, desperate to free herself. But they had been bound so that the rope wrapped around the bottom of the altar. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't budge the ties binding her. At one point, she bleakly wondered if she should have let herself be knocked out completely.

Soon, she'd have to accept the fact that she was going to die. Painfully-if this was all true. If someone really could say all the right incantations, do the right thing, steal her body and send her soul to purgatory.

Her wrists and ankles chafed. Good.

She'd leave the high priestess or whatever in sad shape.

Night had settled over the copse in the woods completely. The full moon rode high in the sky. She didn't know the time, only that there was a bevy of activity going on. A great circle had been formed around the altar, and a chalk pentagram, upside down, had been drawn, the altar resting between the two points of the star shape. She still didn't recognize everyone walking around her because they were all clad in the black robes and cowls. They talked freely to one another though, thinking that she still slept.

Someone arrived in the copse then, and all the figures who had been hurrying around went rushing to him, going down on their knees, kissing the hem of his robe.

"All is in readiness?" he inquired. "Where is the sacrifice?"

"The blood of the last moon is in the chalice on the altar," a figure told the newly arrived man. "Morwenna remains bound to the tree... and Megan awaits Bac-Dal, as instructed. However... you know that the Douglas is still with his friends?"

"And that is perfect. For he will change as he should, and those who would have interfered will die quickly, ripped to shreds by Bac-Dal's power, and we will all be rewarded."