by John Manning
“Are you ready, Sue?” he asked. “Everyone is here.”
She looked at him. I killed his wife, she thought, but he remains at my command. He remains my dutiful servant.
“Why?” she asked. “What’s in all this for you, Ted Gregory?”
His pinched, weaselly face looked momentarily surprised as he exchanged glances with Joyce.
“Sue’s just wondering what comes next, I think,” Joyce explained.
“We will all know great glory through you, Sue,” Gregory told her.
“But how? What is the plan?”
Joyce laughed. “Well, it can go any way we choose. But I was thinking…” She smiled, her eyes dancing. “You’ll graduate top of your class here at Wilbourne, Sue. Then you’ll go on to law school, and be spotted by a promising politician as excellent advisor material. You’ll dazzle Washington with your charm and command of the facts, and be appointed secretary of state when that same politician becomes president. And then…well, Sue, how does the idea of being the first female president of the United States appeal to you?”
“President…of the United States,” Sue said.
“What better position for the Antichrist to hold? The leader of the most powerful nation on Earth?”
“What we will be able to do,” Gregory said, literally rubbing his hands together.
“And I suppose I’ll appoint you to the Supreme Court,” Sue said, looking at her dean.
He just grinned.
Sue sighed. President of the United States. It was her destiny. That young girl who’d once dreamed of working for social justice—she seemed like a figment of her imagination now. A vague, fast-fading memory.
It was a thrilling idea. Sue felt a rush of ambition surge through her body. President of the United States…
It’s good I can feel ambition. I’ll certainly never feel anything else.
She understood now why she’d never known love for a boy before. Because the daughter of Satan cannot comprehend love. It is not an emotion that I can experience.
And without love—well, then, ambition—greed—power—these things would have to take its place.
“All right,” Sue said. “I’m ready to go downstairs.”
She stood. Joyce was holding a red robe for her. Sue slipped her arms into the sleeves. She caught another look at herself in the mirror.
Her eyes were no longer blue. They had become as red as her robe.
70
Ginny sat in the backseat of Perry Holland’s car with Bernadette. Up front, Father Ortiz sat beside Perry. No one talked as they drove across town toward the Wilbourne campus. Bernadette was saying a Rosary.
Finally, Ginny spoke. “What are we expecting to find?’
“I’m not sure,” Father Ortiz said. “But it will be some sort of ceremony.”
“And you think we can just waltz inside and take part?”
“Hardly, Ginny. But you’re still a faculty member and the dean will see you. And Perry has a badge.”
“I’m going in,” Perry said. “The three of you will remain in the car.”
“Perry,” Ortiz said. “Bernadette’s parents have given their consent for her to join us. I have told them that her presence is necessary, and they trust me. Nothing can happen to the girl while she is under the direct protection of Our Holy Mother.”
“Still,” Perry told him. “You wait in the car until I give the word that it’s safe to go inside. Understood?”
“Understood, Deputy,” came Bernadette’s voice.
Ginny looked over at her. Such a small girl. And yet Ginny shared Father Ortiz’s conviction that nothing could happen to her.
It was the rest of them that she worried about.
She remembered all too clearly the monstrous thing that Sue had become in her living room. She’d seen firsthand the power—and the evil—that they were dealing with.
Perry pulled up to the college gate and showed his badge to the guard.
“I need to see the dean,” Perry explained.
“I’ll call him,” the guard said.
“Is that you, Tom?” Ginny called from the backseat. Tom O’Riley had been a guard at the gate ever since Ginny first started teaching at the college. She liked him; he liked her. “It’s me, Ginny Marshall. How are you, Tom?”
The guard peered in through the window and spotted her. “Oh, hey, Ginny. I’m great. What’re you doing in a police car?”
She smiled. “I just got back in from Louisiana and Deputy Holland was kind enough to pick me up in this snowstorm. I’m bringing my friends here to Dean Gregory’s party. The party is tonight, isn’t it?”
“Oh, sure,” Tom said. “There’s been dozens of people coming in all night. I had to check their names against a list…”
Ginny thought fast. “I’ll bet Ted didn’t have time to put my name on the list. I didn’t think I’d be able to get in with all the snow. I just called him a little while ago to say I could make it after all.”
Tom nodded. “Oh, that’s fine, Ginny. Besides, you can come on campus anytime you want. You’re faculty here.”
“Thanks, Tom.”
He pressed the switch and the iron gates swung inward. He waved them through.
“Good work, Doctor,” Bernadette told her.
Ginny smiled.
Cars were parked all around the dean’s house. Many had out-of-state plates. Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, even a couple from Canada. The house was ablaze with light, from the top floor to the basement. The snow continued to fall, blanketing the campus in a soft whiteness that sparkled in the moonlight.
“Now stay here until I check things out,” Perry told them again, parking the car and turning off the ignition.
Ginny agreed to wait. There wasn’t much she could do anyway. What was she supposed to do—march up there and call them all Satanists and grab Sue by the collar?
She wasn’t quite sure what Perry could do either.
They watched him walk up the steps to the front door. None of them said a word.
The only sound in the car was Bernadette’s steady murmur as she whispered the prayers of the Rosary.
71
Mom’s in there, Billy kept repeating to himself over and over.
This crazy cult—this secret ceremony that’s somehow going to hurt Sue—and Mom is a part of it.
As he sat in the tree, Billy’s blood boiled.
His mother was a hypocrite. A lying hypocrite.
Was this what her new job was? Was this how she had gotten her “great opportunity” to make them all rich?
It sickened Billy to think of it.
“Well,” he said to himself, “maybe it’s time one more person joined their little party.”
He dropped from the tree branch over the fence, the soft snow cushioning his fall. He stood up, brushed himself off, and began searching for a way into the house.
72
“Deputy Holland,” Dean Gregory said as he opened the door. “What’s going on?”
Perry kept his face blank. “I’d just like to ask what’s going on here tonight.”
The dean smiled, but did not open the door all the way. “Simply a Christmas party for a few friends. Why are you asking?”
“I’m looking for Sue Barlow. Is she here?”
The dean’s face betrayed only a momentarily flicker of unease. “Sue Barlow? Oh, you mean one of our freshmen students?”
Perry felt certain, after talking with Ginny and Father Ortiz, that Sue’s grandparents would be here tonight. So he took the chance. “Yes,” he said. “I noticed a car registered to her grandfather outside, and she’s not in her dorm. So is she here?”
“She might be,” Gregory said. “There are at least a hundred people in the parlor. Why do you need to see Sue?”
“That’s my business with her, sir.”
The dean opened the door a bit further. “Well, yes, her grandparents are here. Mr. Barlow is a major supporter of the school. Perhaps she’s with them.�
�
“May I come in and look for her?”
Gregory pulled open the door wide. “By all means, Deputy. Please come in. Have a glass of wine with us. Merry Christmas!”
73
“Hello, Gran. Hello, Granpa.”
It was the first time Sue had faced them since discovering the truth. She noticed her grandmother’s eyes flicker away for a moment, but her grandfather beamed, placing his hands on each of her shoulders.
“Tonight,” he told her, “is a great night.”
“Yes,” Sue said, her voice cold. “The culmination of a dream, isn’t it, Granpa?”
“It certainly is.”
She felt no emotion for them except contempt. She smiled. She would enjoy humiliating them, dashing their dreams. They would benefit not in the least from her rise. She would see to that. She would order her grandfather’s law firm shut down. Their plush apartment would be taken from them. They would be literally turned out into the street, and Sue would give the order to all of her followers to shun them.
Her smile stretched across her face. She would enjoy that. She would enjoy destroying the people who had destroyed her mother.
“By the way,” she said as she moved away to greet the others who had gathered in her honor, “I met Mariclare. She sends her regards.”
Her grandfather’s face remained stoic. Her grandmother turned away again, her hands trembled.
Sue just smiled.
“Sue,” Joyce Davenport said in her ear, coming up behind her. “It’s time.”
74
Billy was able to pop open a basement window, and jumped down into the murky, damp darkness.
Across the vast expanse of the basement he spotted a dim orange light. Carefully, he approached, feeling his way. One time he stumbled over something metal, causing a large clanging sound. His heart pounding in his ears, he stood still, fearful he’d alerted the house. But the music and the laughter upstairs drowned out any sound he made. Carefully, he resumed his walk across the basement floor.
He reached the light. It was coming from under a door. He tried the knob, but the door was locked.
He bent down and peered through the keyhole.
What he saw inside the room made him gasp out loud and froze him into place.
Above him, he heard footsteps.
They were coming downstairs.
75
“Where is he?” Ginny asked, looking at her watch. “He’s been in there over twenty minutes.”
“Let us not worry needlessly,” Father Ortiz said from the front seat. “Remember, Perry has a gun.”
“Guns are hardly a defense against what we’re facing,” Ginny reminded him. “You know that, Father. And I saw it with my own eyes.”
“They haven’t summoned the demon yet,” Bernadette said, looking up from her rosary beads. “But Perry is indeed in trouble. We’re going to have to save him.”
Ginny turned to look at her. “Are you sure?”
The girl nodded. “And it’s going to have to be you, Dr. Marshall. That’s what Our Lady is telling me.”
Ginny felt a shudder of fear. “What is it that I have to do?”
“You have to go inside,” Bernadette told her. “You have to get to Sue.”
76
They proceeded down the stairs in a procession, each of them having donned their red robes, each of them carrying a candle.
In the great ceremony room in the basement, an orange glow permeated everything, changing the colors of their faces to the hues of hell.
Folding chairs were arranged in rows, and in front, as if on stage, a huge black canvas covered a structure whose shape was difficult to determine. Sue was led up to the front, where she contemplated the canvas for a moment before turning back to look out over the crowd taking its seats.
Deputies and state policemen that she recognized. Her grandfather’s colleagues. School trustees, faculty members, even a couple of students she’d seen in the cafeteria. And…Billy’s mother.
“Billy,” Sue whispered to herself, and immediately pushed the thought away.
“Have a seat, Sue,” Joyce told her, slipping her cowl down from around her face. They sat next to each other on the dais in front. “May I make a request? Would you see about changing the fashions of these gatherings? These robes are so medieval. Why not something new and hip? There are lots of New York designers who would just die to come up with a new look for us.”
“Joyce,” Dean Gregory said quietly, holding up a finger. “We’re about to begin.”
She shrugged and pulled her hood back around her head.
Sue felt nothing. No fear. No anxiety. No excitement for what was to happen.
The irony of her indifference was not lost on her, however.
All my life I’ve wanted to meet my father. And now here I am, about to come face to face with him.
And I feel…nothing.
“My friends,” Dean Gregory intoned, standing before the group, “tonight is the result of all of our plans, all of our hard work. Tonight is the beginning of a new, more glorious phase in our religion. Tonight we begin to reap the benefits of all those who came before us. Many have worked their entire lives for this day to come to fruition, and as our founder, the great Sarah Wilbourne, planned, it has now come to pass. The day we have all longed for, the day when the world becomes ours!”
Sue looked over at Joyce, who winked at her from inside her cowl as Dean Gregory continued.
“Tonight we sacrifice once more to our great master, to bring him forth amongst us.”
Sacrifice? Sue turned her face back to the canvas behind the dean. Gregory nodded, and two of his security men yanked on a couple of cords. The canvas fell, exposing a huge cross made out of black wood.
And bound to the cross was Malika.
A flicker of emotion sparked in Sue’s chest. She studied the unconscious form of her roommate. She was naked, and her head was dropped down on her chest.
Then the emotion left Sue, and she turned back to look at the crowd.
The chanting began. Sue didn’t quite know what they were saying. She supposed she would learn eventually. But she understood they were summoning her father—who would rape and kill Malika.
Sue smiled. Maybe it will be exciting. Certainly, growing up, I never thought I’d witness a demon devour a human being. And Malika—serves her right, that goody-goody limousine liberal…
Sue began to laugh.
“You see?” Joyce whispered. “I told you all this could be a lot of fun!”
The chanting intensified. Everyone was so caught up in their ritual, most with eyes closed, that no one but Sue noticed two security men walking down the center aisle, forcing along a hooded man in between them. When they reached the cross where Malika was strapped, they forced the man down on his knees, pulling off his hood.
It was the deputy. Perry Holland.
He pulled me over for speeding on my first day here, Sue thought.
Except that wasn’t me.
That was a pitiful, scared little girl named Sue.
I am someone much greater than she.
Perry Holland’s hands were handcuffed behind his back. He seemed to have been drugged. He swayed on his knees.
Dean Gregory stepped forward and pulled a switch at the side of the dais. The great black cross began to move. Wood and gears creaking, it turned, taking Malika with it, until it came to rest completely inverted. An upside-down cross. Malika’s head now nearly touched the floor.
The chanting stopped. The air in the room was very close.
“For you, master! We bring you two tonight! They are yours!”
Perry Holland continued to sway on his knees.
And Malika was beginning to wake up.
77
Father Ortiz picked up Bernadette’s cell phone, which was buzzing furiously.
“Yes?”
“They’ve got—they’ve got a girl tied to a cross!” Billy’s voice, although a low whisper, was terrified. “
And now they’ve got Deputy Holland.”
Bernadette was lost in prayer in the backseat. Father Ortiz worried they wouldn’t be able to stop what was happening.
I mustn’t lose my faith, he told himself.
To Billy, he said: “Be careful, son. Don’t let yourself be seen.”
“I’ve got to stop this,” Billy said.
“Dr. Marshall has gone inside. Bernadette says she is the key. She will be able to get to Sue.”
“Give me the phone.”
The priest looked over the backseat. Bernadette had stopped praying. Her hand was held out. Father Ortiz passed the phone over to her.
“Dr. Marshall is indeed the key,” Bernadette told Billy, “but you have a part to play, too. You’ll know when it’s time to act.”
She switched off the phone.
“Now, Father,” she said, “it’s time we do our part as well.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
She opened her car door and motioned for him to do the same with his. He followed her as she trudged through the snow to a spot right in front of the house. She dropped to her knees, nearly hip deep in snow, and began to pray.
Father Ortiz did the same.
78
One by one, the candles were snuffed out, and the room fell into darkness.
Only the two torches on either side of the dais remained illuminated. The cross on which Malika was strapped turned again, clicking back into its upright position. Malika was now fully awake, and she began to scream.
The pressure in the room grew fierce. It reminded Sue of those calm, close moments just before a thunderstorm.
And then she heard the rumble that seemed to come up from beneath the floor.
“He’s coming,” Joyce whispered, and grabbed Sue’s hand.