Deliver Us From Evil Part 18

"Juan, how could you do this to me? To Beth? Your girls are going to grow up knowing their father is a killer."

Juan's face wavered in front of her, as if a million bugs moved just beneath the skin. His brown eyes glowed red. Her stomach rolled and she nearly choked on her own bile.

"Shut up, human!"

A burning filled her from the inside out and her vision faded.

"Don't!" Lisa screamed. "We need her alive!"

Juan's fierce anger turned on Lisa. Her body flew against the wall, her feet inches from the ground, her mouth open to scream but no sound escaped.

Then she collapsed, gasping for breath.

"Get the knife, stupid girl," Corinne told her daughter. "Don't make him punish you."

"Yes, Mother," Lisa whispered hoa.r.s.ely.

"What are you doing?" Skye whispered.

"Both Lisa and I are willing to give up our bodies. Jeremiah would have been better because of his experience in these matters. He's been a willing host before. But then Rafe Cooper somehow got out of his room before the ritual was complete. We lost Jeremiah."

"It was your fault," Juan said. "You didn't cast a strong enough s.h.i.+eld. I told you Raphael was a threat!"

"I did exactly what Jeremiah told me," Corinne snapped.

"Then it's a good thing he's dead if he's that stupid."

Whatever internal battle waged within Juan, the other presence-the demon-appeared to have control again.

"Why didn't you just kill him?" Skye asked, her breath coming in short gasps. The room grew hotter and she began to sweat. She felt like she was breathing in a thick, hot mist.

Corinne frowned. "We planned on it, but he didn't eat the stew. He's a d.a.m.n vegetarian! And he was already suspicious."

"You could have put him in the chapel," Skye said. "It was a ma.s.sacre."

"He would have stopped the ritual."

"What I don't-" Skye took a deep breath, but it grew more difficult. She struggled to get free, but she'd been caged in an unbreakable, invisible bubble. "Why did you poison them for so long?"

"We had to put them in the right mind-set. Bring back their past. Show them their culpability, their guilt, their pain," Corinne said. "They were weakening. And then, when the time was right, we would have increased the dose and the result would have been the same, except that we'd have a greater reward. But that intruder nearly ruined everything. He had me removed from the mission." She smiled and glanced at Lisa. "I almost had him, too."

Skye closed her eyes. She was tired. Very tired. Her limbs felt heavy, and she found herself lying down in the circle.

Juan's chanting continued.

She had a million more questions, but couldn't find her voice. With great effort, Skye reached into her s.h.i.+rt and pulled out the cross Anthony had given her. She recited the Latin phrase he had had her repeat the night before, her words a mere whisper.

Juan screamed in pain and every candle flared simultaneously.

Corinne grabbed the cross and jerked off the chain, breaking it and drawing blood across Skye's neck. She threw the cross into the fireplace and chanted something that sounded like no language Skye had ever heard. Corinne's hand was in flames and Lisa wrapped it with a blanket.

The fire behind her roared to life. Juan leaned over her p.r.o.ne body, looked down at her, his face full of broken blood vessels.

"I will not be defeated!"

His eyes glowed and his mouth opened in a deep roar that vibrated every cell in Skye's body.

Juan began to chant again, looking into her eyes. She couldn't draw her gaze away, as if someone held her lids open. Corinne and Lisa joined in the ritual. The heat in the room increased until sweat poured from Skye's body. The foul stench that had permeated Skye's own house that morning seeped in, filling her nostrils, her lungs, until she wasn't breathing air, but thick sulfur. Her eyes drooped; she was on the verge of pa.s.sing out.

On the ceiling, over Juan's shoulder, she saw flames. Bright, hot, red. She saw eyes, everywhere eyes, glowing, howling, laughing, shrieking. She tried to scream but no sound came out.

Her father stood in front of her, consumed by fire.

You forgot me. You let me die.

No, Daddy! I loved you.

He ignited in front of her, his flesh turning black, falling off his bones, raining down on her.

She screamed.

Her mother-her beautiful, elegant mother-floated in the flames. Her face twisted, her cheeks hollow. Skye watched the fire dance in the large hole in her chest.

"Mom," Skye muttered, her voice distant, as if she was hearing a poor recording of herself.

I left because of you. I never wanted a child. You should never have been born.

She was so alone. Dead to the world. No one to love. No one who loved her.

They were going to burn her alive. The whole cottage was on fire and she was going to die . . .

. . . then she saw the knife in Lisa's hand.

Anthony. Help me.

Ianax had one common trait with every demon Anthony had encountered.

Arrogance.

Ianax couldn't sense him because in his arrogance he'd believed he'd taken care of Anthony by erecting a protective circle and making Skye doubt him. Ianax also had to battle to keep Juan's soul imprisoned, which consumed a huge amount of satanic energy.

Anthony knew exactly what the three were doing. They were destroying Skye from the inside out in preparation for the purging of Juan's soul to the netherworld. Juan was an unwilling host and fighting the possession, so they needed to weaken Skye so she wouldn't fight Ianax when he claimed her. If that failed, they would sacrifice her.

Skye had been worn down to raw nerves, her grief and guilt and loneliness being used to destroy her.

Anthony. Help me.

Anthony heard Skye's plea, didn't know if she had screamed it or thought it. He peered from his hiding place into the living room where the demonic ritual was unfolding. Skye writhed on the floor as if in pain, but nothing was touching her. Skye's eyes were wild, unseeing-at least not seeing what was in front of her. Something was scaring her, something that made her believe. Believe in him. And that was all Anthony needed.

Juan and the Davies women stood over Skye, chanting, drawing out her soul.

Corinne's speech to Skye made sense to Anthony. The two women and Hatch had summoned Ianax, and had he successfully possessed Hatch's body, the demon would have been far more powerful on earth. He would have finished the ritual and dragged the other souls down to h.e.l.l. A huge victory for Satan to have G.o.d's own men in his domain, and as a reward Ianax would walk on earth in human form but with inhuman power, the goal of every demon.

But Rafe had interrupted the process, possibly begun an exorcism, and Hatch died before the possession was complete, his soul already d.a.m.ned. And Rafe- Anthony remembered the rush of heat followed by icy cold when he'd entered the chapel and saw the carnage.

Rafe was unconscious; he would have been a perfect vessel for the demon. Tortured, unable to save his men. Guilt had consumed him. Ianax could have taken him, used his anguish against him, but Anthony had interrupted.

Where had the women been?

In the sacristy.

He hadn't searched the chapel, he'd been so intent on saving Rafe.

He could have stopped it two days ago. But he'd been blind in his own fear and failures. And now Skye was going to die because of him.

No. He shook his head. I will not let her die.

He brought out his dagger-cross and held it in front of him as he said in a loud, deep voice, "By the power of the heavens, of the Holy Spirt, by the order of Saint Michael and all the angels and saints, Ianax! You are dismissed!"

The demon in Juan screamed. Corinne stepped toward Skye while Lisa jumped at Anthony with her long nails outstretched.

Anthony pushed aside all notions that hitting a woman was wrong, and put all his strength into a right hook that stopped Lisa in her tracks. The girl crumpled at his feet, knocked cold.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Corinne screamed, holding a knife at Skye's neck, crouched over her like a wild animal. Skye was sweating profusely, her body jerking as if being poked and prodded.

She's dying.

"Fight, Skye!" he shouted.

Corinne couldn't kill Skye because Ianax needed her.

Anthony hoped he was right. He hadn't faced such an ancient demon, nor one who was so powerful that he could survive on earth without a body, which he'd done for hours after Hatch's death.

Anthony held his cross high, chanting ancient words of exorcism.

Juan twisted, his body rising from the ground. The demon stared at Anthony.

"YOU!" he howled, his mouth straining. "I will not go back!"

The screech hurt Anthony's ears, but he continued. The demon held up his hand and Anthony was slammed against the wall, his body inches from the ground. Pain hit him like a million pinp.r.i.c.ks. He couldn't draw air into his lungs.

Skye was pinned to the floor but looked right at him.

In her eyes, Anthony saw her pain and love and loneliness and, mostly, her trust.

Suddenly she screamed, "NO!" as her body arched in pain.

The demon's hold on Anthony slipped. Anthony pushed back from the wall. Corinne grabbed Skye's hair, held the knife to her throat.

The demon's horrid face could be seen in Juan as he touched Skye. "Blood for my Master and two souls."

Corinne brought the knife up and, chanting with the demon, aimed the tip for Skye's heart.

Anthony tackled Corinne, threw her from the circle. The tip of the knife sliced his side. He grabbed her wrist, slammed it against the edge of a low table, hearing the bone crack.

The smell of smoke grew. In the struggle, candles fell and both the couch and the curtains ignited.

Anthony grabbed the knife and pulled from his belt a vial of holy water from the river Jordan. He poured the water on the knife; steam rose and the knife burned his hand. It was a demonic knife, one used in many deadly rituals.

And very likely one of the knives used in the ma.s.sacre at the mission.

Anthony had one chance.

The demon grabbed Skye and held her to him. Her face twisted in pain. She struggled to breathe.

Anthony glanced to Skye's right. She blinked once.

He raised the knife. "Let her go, Ianax!"

An unnatural voice rose from Juan's throat. "Mine."

Anthony felt his chest tighten. He threw the knife at the same time as Skye pivoted right. The demon's hold on her was tight and she couldn't get away. The fire grew around them, feeding on the fuel that was the house.

The knife missed her by an inch, landing exactly where Anthony aimed in Juan's thigh.

The demon screeched, his head thrown back, and Skye fell to the floor. Thick black smoke shot out of Juan's mouth, up to the ceiling, then with a shriek that made Anthony's ears ring, the demon disappeared through the fire.

He would be back. Anthony had to get them out of the house.

"What have you done?" Corinne shouted.

As soon as the demon was gone, Skye could breathe. But the smoke was thick, the fire hot. She crawled over to Juan's p.r.o.ne body.

"Juan!" she cried. The knife was in his leg and she knew it would be even more dangerous to attempt to remove it now.

"We have to get out now," Anthony said, staggering toward her.

Blood soaked through the side of his s.h.i.+rt.

The ceiling began to collapse around them. Skye stood unsteadily, grabbed Juan under his arms, and dragged him toward the door.

Corinne blocked the door. "You will die with us!" she said. "And I'll drag all your souls down to h.e.l.l!"

Anthony lunged at her, knocked her to the side. They fought and Anthony shouted, "Get out, Skye!"

Skye couldn't leave Anthony. But Juan was unconscious.