“To Whitcomb’s mansion,” Michael said, nodding faintly as if Lockwood’s revelation had just confirmed a theory.
“Very good. Yes, all these places are connected. But what makes this spot even more significant is that the ley line which runs under Greencastle and the Whitcomb mansion intersects with another line here, making the energy of those lines that much greater. Add to that the negative energy we’ve unleashed on the world by the release of the Project Demon Hunters videos, and we have a potent combination.” Daniel looked back at Rosemary, expression softening. “You are very powerful, my dear. More powerful than you can imagine. It’s time for you to join those who share your blood and bring Belial back to us.”
She glared at him, hands planted on her hips even as her body thrummed with fear for her nephew. Yes, so far, Tyler seemed unharmed, and yet she guessed that Daniel wouldn’t hesitate to hurt him if she refused to do as he asked. But there was no way in the world that she could possibly assist the Greencastle demons in bringing Belial back from his exile in Hell. That meddlesome demon had already done enough damage; she shuddered to think what kind of foul acts he’d try to perpetrate if he were set free on this plane of existence, unhindered by any need to conceal who or what he was.
Although she had no intention of helping Daniel Lockwood — or the rest of them — Rosemary knew she needed to stall for time until she could come up with a way to get Tyler safely away from the cambion leader. “And what is Belial going to do once he gets here? Take up residence in the Whitcomb mansion? Last I heard, someone else was already living there.”
It wasn’t Daniel who answered her, but Caleb. Taking a step forward, he said, “No, he has no need to masquerade as Matthew Whitcomb any longer, and so there’s not much point in him living in that house, is there? He’ll find a suitable body to inhabit, just as he always does. But it’s nothing that needs to affect you, or anyone in your family. In fact, you won’t even notice that he’s returned to this plane — well, except for the riches that will be your reward.”
“You don’t know much about me, do you, Caleb?” she returned, her tone acid. “If I gave a shit about being rich, do you think I’d be part-owner of a small indie bookstore in the San Gabriel Valley?”
He didn’t look offended by her response. “Well, I would have liked to have gotten to know you better…if you’d only allowed me to.”
Next to her, Will bristled, but Rosemary could tell he wasn’t going to rise to the bait. No, like everyone else, he was holding back, knowing that one false step could lead to pain or worse for little Tyler. They were waiting for her to salvage the situation…and she had no idea what to do.
However, since the demons appeared willing to continue the conversation, it seemed clear enough that they couldn’t continue without her assistance. If she kept stalling them, maybe they’d run out of time.
Right, when the clock strikes midnight? she scoffed at herself. That’s almost four hours from now, and I kind of doubt they’re going to be willing to stand here and chat for that long.
Probably not. They were going along with her for now because they felt they had the luxury of time, but sooner or later, their patience would run out. Then they’d all be in a heap of trouble.
And as much as she might wish for some of the other partygoers to come along and interrupt this terrible little tableau, Rosemary knew she couldn’t hope for such a rescue, either. The party had gone eerily quiet ever since Daniel and the rest of his demons came on the scene, and she had a feeling that any humans left in the place were under the same kind of spell that had made her brother-in-law so passive, so useless. Why the rest of them hadn’t been affected, she wasn’t sure, although she suspected that the psychic powers her mother and Isabel and Celeste all shared had protected them, and the same for Michael and Audrey. That didn’t explain why Will and Fred were also unaffected, but maybe having so many psychics around them had created something of a shield.
At any rate, the important thing was that she knew she couldn’t expect anyone to help her. Had she ever been in such a tight spot before? She didn’t think so, simply because as the youngest child, she’d always had someone there to bail her out.
Not this time.
“Is that what you want, Caleb?” she asked. “To get to know me a little better?”
His eyes held hers. “Among other things. You belong with us, Rosemary. You belong with me. Not with that so-called man of God standing next to you.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but there was no time, because Will had stepped forward and thundered, “Begone, foul spirit! I banish you in the name of Christ!” And he pulled a vial of holy water out of his pocket and splashed it across Caleb’s face.
To her shock, he actually recoiled in pain, angry red welts marring his model-handsome features. The other part-demons stared at him in consternation, clearly not expecting this sort of attack to have had any kind of effect.
That appeared to be the only signal the rest of Rosemary’s companions needed, because Michael charged forward as well, holy water flying as he invoked the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The demons cried out in pain, and Fred, apparently seeing that he wasn’t of much use in that sort of confrontation, moved quickly to grasp Celeste by the arms and haul her out of harm’s way.
But Daniel grabbed Tyler and held him up, long fingers digging into the little boy’s midsection. Tyler let out a screech, although Rosemary couldn’t tell for sure whether it was in pain or because he was so shocked by the older man’s sudden movement.
“Stop!” he called out. “Unless you want this child’s brains splashed all over the pavement.”
At once, Will and Michael paused, and Audrey and Isabel froze in place, their faces white with fear. The part-demons who flanked Daniel also went still, although their labored breathing was loud on the air, and Rosemary could clearly see the livid marks on their faces where the holy water had splashed them.
Why had it worked here? She’d seen for herself how Will’s holy water hadn’t done a damn thing to Caleb when Will had doused the part-demon with it at Colin Turner’s house in Glendale, so why now?
However, she knew she didn’t have time to pick apart the mystery. She needed to make sure nothing happened to her nephew. Not on her watch.
“Put him down, Daniel,” she pleaded. “Please.”
He didn’t move, only stood there with Tyler’s legs dangling in the air. Cold eyes met hers and held. “Of course, I will — if you promise to help us.”
Come on, come on, she begged her brain. But that useless organ seemed incapable of coming up with a plan to simultaneously rescue her nephew and incapacitate Daniel Lockwood. Next to his father, Caleb was grinning in triumph. As she watched, the red marks on his face slowly began to fade.
So, while the holy water could hurt them temporarily, it wasn’t enough to incapacitate them in any meaningful way.
Great.
For what felt like forever, Rosemary stood there, fists knotted in impotent fury at her sides. But it didn’t seem as if there was anything she could do. Bringing Belial back to this world might cause horrible suffering, and yet, in that moment, she could only see little Tyler’s terrified face, the hitching sobs that tore their way out of his chest. For some reason, he seemed to have broken free of the demon’s spell. Was that because he’d been shocked from it when Daniel grabbed him, or had the half-demon decided it was better to have him awake and aware on purpose in order to torture him further?
The thought made her lips thin. No matter what, this had to end…even if it meant acknowledging that she’d lost, that the demons had beaten her.
She pulled in a breath and lifted her chin. “Okay,” she said. “You’ve won. I’ll help you. Just please — put him down.”
“Rosemary, no — ” Will began, but Michael clamped a hand on his arm, as if understanding that she had no cards left to play.
“Very good,” Daniel said. “Come over here, please.”
Dully, she crossed
the several yards that separated them and then paused next to the demons’ leader, Caleb flanking her on the other side. Inwardly, she was screaming at herself to do something, but there was nothing left to do. She tried to hearten herself with the inner reminder that Michael and Audrey had once beaten Belial, and so she had to hope they could do it again…but she didn’t know for sure. From the way they’d described it, that had been one hell of a fight.
As soon as she stopped moving, Daniel lowered Tyler to the ground…but he didn’t let go of the boy’s arm. No, it seemed clear enough he wasn’t going to release her nephew until he knew for sure that she was going to assist them in their diabolical plan.
“What do I need to do?” she asked.
“Join with us,” Daniel replied. “Take Caleb’s hand.”
Inwardly, she shuddered at the thought of having to touch the man she’d dated so briefly, but this wasn’t the time to be squeamish, not with Daniel still clutching Tyler by his tiny bicep. She swallowed some more air and reached out, felt Caleb wrap his fingers around hers. His grasp was tight enough that she couldn’t quite prevent herself from flinching, but she made herself remain where she stood.
Will looked as though the only thing preventing him from launching himself forward to rescue her was Michael’s iron grip on his arm. Audrey and Isabel and Glynis were white-faced, while Fred stood grimly next to Celeste; he’d set her down on a folding chair at the same table where a glassy-eyed Kevin still sat, and kept watch on both of them.
“Now what?” Rosemary asked.
“Reach out for the power of the ley lines,” Daniel instructed her. “It should be easy for you to sense. We’re going to take that power and use it to form a gateway, and then bring Belial through that gate.”
She shut her eyes. In a way, that was much better, because then she couldn’t see the dismay in Will’s face, the mixed anger and frustration in Michael’s expression, the very real fear that clung to her mother and Audrey and Isabel like an extra garment. In the darkness behind her closed lids, Rosemary thought she saw two shimmering pathways snaking through the dark, intersecting somewhere beneath her feet.
“Belial,” Daniel intoned, and the rest of the demons took up the chant, murmuring it in deep voices that seemed to shake the ground itself.
Too much to hope that it was an actual earthquake, a temblor that would interrupt their horrible ceremony and prevent the gateway from forming. No, it was only the power of their demon blood, reaching out for the energy of the ley lines and changing it somehow, making it shift and shudder into another shape, now a great arch looming up in the black night.
She could feel Daniel’s will pressing against hers, and she knew she couldn’t stand there and do nothing for any longer. No, she had to use her own power to touch the energy flows and bend them to her will so the gateway became more and more solid. Shadows appeared to flow and take their own shape inside that gateway, shapes that seemed to grow corporeal as she watched, turning into a great horned man with eyes of fire.
A whimper escaped her throat as cold enveloped her body, turning her limbs to ice. Rosemary knew she should do something to stop this, and yet she also knew if she rebelled, tried to sabotage the summoning in any way, Daniel would take his revenge on the helpless boy he held. She couldn’t allow that to happen, couldn’t let any harm befall her nephew.
The dark shape drew closer to the gate, malevolent red eyes sweeping over her. In just a few more seconds, he would be through it, and this would be all over.
Or worse, it would only be beginning.
Out of nowhere, brilliant white light flared up in the darkness, illuminating the black gate and all the strange runes and sigils etched into its surface, even though Rosemary couldn’t remember consciously putting any of them there. She threw up her hands, breaking her contact with Caleb.
And her eyes met those of her father.
At least, the man she’d thought was her father until Daniel Lockwood had convinced her that her true father was the half-demon Gerald Gates. She stared at John McGuire in utter shock.
Because if Daniel had been telling the truth, then John McGuire had been dead for ten years, and the man she’d thought she and Will had met in Indianapolis only a demon wearing a dead man’s face. But if Daniel had been lying —
“Quick, Rosemary,” her father said. “Join your power with mine.”
“But — ”
The protest barely made it to her lips before Daniel grabbed hold of her, letting go of Tyler. Her nephew had the presence of mind to run to his Aunt Isabel, who scooped him up and took him out of the line of fire, running over to stand next to Fred.
That was all Rosemary could see, because Daniel’s other hand settled at her throat, squeezing ever so slightly. John McGuire remained where he was, watching calmly.
“You can’t interfere…angel,” Daniel said, all but spitting the last word. “It’s not allowed.”
“Well,” Rosemary’s father said, his tone mild, “I’ve always found it easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.”
His hands lifted, and a shimmering white light surrounded them — the same shimmering light Rosemary herself had summoned when she’d fought to protect Will and herself from Caleb’s attack in a confrontation that now felt as if it had taken place a hundred years ago. Somewhere inside, the ache that had settled there ever since Daniel Lockwood convinced her she was part-demon began to slip away.
“Yes,” her father said. “They lied. That is all they can do. It’s time to send them where they belong, don’t you think?”
She couldn’t nod because of Daniel’s grip on her throat. However, she knew it didn’t matter. All she needed was her mind…and the power that had come to her from her father.
Brilliant white light flared out around her, and immediately Daniel Lockwood let go of her, staggering back a pace. She took advantage of his distraction to run forward to her father, felt his hand grasp hers.
“All of us,” he said clearly. “I need all my daughters…and my wife.”
Just out of the corner of her eye, Rosemary could see Isabel and Glynis take Celeste by the hand, could see Celeste blink and appear to come back to herself. Seeming to understand that he needed to stay out of the fray, Fred picked up Tyler so the two sisters and their mother could hurry forward and join their strength with the angel who was their father…and Glynis’s husband.
The light surrounded all of them, blinding as the arc from a blown transformer. Rosemary felt it surge through her, bright and brilliant and yet warm and welcoming at the same time, like feeling the sun on her face after the long night of an Arctic winter. They held hands, Rosemary and Glynis on one side and Isabel and Celeste on the other, and the energy blazed out from them, wrapping around the demons, who screamed and howled in pain, Gerald’s handsome features contorted in agony, Caleb looking almost resigned, as if deep down he’d known it might turn out like this…Daniel’s pale eyes blazing in fury. Smoke rose from their bodies as they writhed in the grip of the light…
…and then they were nothing but smoke, seeping down into the flagstones beneath their feet, disappearing from view as their bodies melted to nothing. In her mind’s eye, Rosemary saw the dark gate they’d constructed collapse upon itself, burying the demonic man-shape that had risen within it. And to her ears came a howl of rage, of impotent fury, until it died away entirely.
She blinked, and saw that they were alone now in the courtyard, her sisters and her father and mother, Will and Michael and Audrey standing off to one side, Fred over by the table where Kevin had been slumped in his folding chair the whole time. Now, though, he was stirring, and sat up and blinked at everyone. He put a hand to his head, as if it hurt, then glanced up at Fred, who bent and set Tyler down on the ground.
“Did I miss something?” Kevin asked.
And everyone burst into laughter.
Epilogue
The sun blazed down, so warm and bright, it was hard to believe that the date was November first. T
hey’d all congregated at Glynis’s house because that had felt like the right place to gather, but the lovely weather had drawn them outside to the backyard, where the scent of roses drifted on the air, thick as incense.
Rosemary held Will’s hand as they sat on one of the outdoor love seats on the back porch. Michael and Audrey sat on the love seat opposite theirs, while Fred and Isabel occupied two of the chairs. They weren’t holding hands, but Rosemary had spied Fred whispering something to her sister earlier — and had also noted the uncharacteristic flush that had touched Isabel’s cheeks. From the look of it, getting dragged into a demonic conspiracy had only helped bring them together, rather than sending Fred running for the hills.
And a few feet away, Glynis stood next to her husband, his fingers twined with hers as they stood and watched Celeste and Kevin play catch with Tyler out on the lawn. It didn’t seem that Tyler had suffered any ill effects from their confrontation with the Greencastle demons — in fact, he kept asking if they were going to go back to the “haunted castle” soon, because he’d had so much fun.
“I’m going to have a hard time explaining you,” Glynis said as she gazed up into John McGuire’s face. “The whole world thinks you’re dead, you know.”
He grinned, then lifted the glass of sangria he held and took a sip. “I’m sure we’ll figure out something. Maybe tell everyone I’ve been working secretly for the government all this time.”
“So…you’re really back?” Rosemary asked, and Will’s fingers tightened on hers. They’d shared their own speculation on her father’s sudden reappearance, but the night before, John had only told everyone that he’d explain everything the next day, saying it was better for them all to slip away quietly before any of the other partygoers came back to themselves enough to realize that something pretty strange had just gone down in one of Rubel Castle’s courtyards.
Her father nodded. “Daniel Lockwood was right about one thing — interference isn’t allowed. Coming back to help you — even to stop a demon and save my grandson — that cost me my wings. But it was worth it. Belial couldn’t be allowed back into the world.”
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