by Jill Morrow
He glared. “It does not weaken me,” he said. “It will not defeat me.”
She tilted her head, a waste of energy that turned her next breath into a tight little gasp. “I wasn’t speaking of you,” she said.
A vein in his forehead twitched as he studied her, his gaze sweeping from her head to her toes in a slow, methodical way. She thought she saw the dawning of understanding in his face, but she could not be sure exactly what he understood.
He turned abruptly. “Isobel!”
The girl looked up, dazed.
“Go to Julia. Stand before her.”
Kat lunged forward as Isobel stumbled, dreamlike, to face Julia. Asteroth tightened his hold, pinning Kat’s arms to her side with one deft movement.
“Really, Katerina,” he said. “You are hardly a challenge, tiny as you are. Isobel, you know what you must do.”
Isobel nodded, eyes fixed upon the girl before her. Julia’s face blanched white.
“Julia!” Kat cried, but her voice was obliterated by Hugh’s loud, raucous laughter.
Julia averted her eyes from Isobel’s vacant blue stare. Isobel, following orders long drummed into her head, cupped the other girl’s chin in her hand and forced her to meet her gaze.
“Aunt Frannie!” Kat’s high-pitched wail pierced the stillness.
Francesca tried to hold Julia close. It was too hard. Her hands slipped from the girl’s shoulders, and her arms fell to her sides. Her legs melted beneath her as she sank to the ground.
Curious. As her body weakened, her spirit grew stronger. A wave of light rippled through her, illuminating the clearing. She actually saw her companions beside her, although she could never describe them in physical words. They seemed to be verbs rather than nouns, but only adjectives could provide a pale representation of their essence. They surrounded her in a cloud of light. How could she feel such joy in the midst of such a horrible scene?
“We’re with you,” one said. “Soon you’ll be strong enough to fight.”
“Yes,” Francesca said, knowing that they were right.
Stephen’s jaw dropped with horror as Francesca fell to the ground. He spun to face the stranger in the pew.
“Who are you?” he demanded, voice hoarse. “And what is this? Is it real?”
The man met his panic with a shrug. “You asked for help. In fact, you called for it. Here I am.”
“I called for the angels of light.”
“Yes. Your point?”
Stephen stared at the man, unsure of which question to ask first. Scratch that. There wasn’t time to order his questions.
“What is this?” He gestured wildly toward the altar. “Is it happening now?”
The man considered. “It occurs parallel to this moment, yes. Time is different there, of course, but these events are happening now.”
“Well, what can I do?” Stephen demanded. “How do I stop it?”
“Keep watching,” the man said. “Keep an open heart.”
An open heart? Stephen ran a frantic hand through his hair. “I need more information. Look, you apparently know more about this than I do. I’m begging you. Tell me what to do!”
“You’ll figure it out,” the man said. “Turn around and watch.”
He had no choice but to comply.
“Flow into Julia, Isobel,” Asteroth said, voice low. “Victory will be sweet, my dear. Her voice will come with her body. You will talk, Isobel. Imagine!”
Francesca watched as Kat opened her mouth to shriek. Asteroth’s hand covered it with one smooth motion, locked firmly in place despite Kat’s frantic bites.
Isobel held Julia’s gaze. Julia swayed slightly, a slender reed blown by a brisk wind. Indeed, a wind had cropped up from nowhere, rippling across the grass and mingling strands of Isobel’s platinum hair with Julia’s brown locks.
Isobel placed her hands firmly on Julia’s shoulders.
“Yes, Isobel,” Asteroth said. “Yes.”
The wind swirled about the girls, creating a column around them made visible by the leaves and small twigs caught in the updraft. Isobel’s dress wrapped around her legs. Julia’s hair lifted from her neck and back like a dark brown halo surrounding her head.
“You are almost there, Isobel!” Asteroth’s shout echoed against the forest trees. “Flow into Julia now! Become one!”
With a bloodcurdling shriek, Julia crumpled to the ground. Isobel staggered backward.
“No!” Kat took advantage of Asteroth’s distraction to ram her elbow into his solar plexus. His grip loosened. She dashed to her daughter’s side.
“Julia!” Kat dropped to her knees beside the girl. “Aunt Frannie, please, help me!”
Francesca reached out and weakly squeezed her niece’s hand. It took too much effort to form her lips around words that would only be perceived as useless.
Kat shook away the comforting hand and pulled Julia onto her lap. The girl lay there, lifeless. Kat cradled the still body against her own, face chalky white. Francesca recognized the rage burning in her niece’s eyes. From earliest childhood, Kat’s reaction to tragedy had been anger first, sorrow second.
“What have you done to my daughter?” she demanded in a low, thick voice.
Francesca plucked at her sleeve. “Not anger,” she managed to say.
Kat tried to shake her away, but Francesca gathered all the energy she could and tugged.
“Katerina, look at me.”
Kat pulled her gaze from Asteroth and stared at her aunt.
“Aunt Frannie. My God, you’re…”
Francesca could only imagine how wan and broken she looked. She was deteriorating rapidly, and there was little time to explain.
“Katerina. Not anger. This…isn’t over. Light, Katerina.”
Confused, Kat returned her stare to Asteroth. He did not meet it. He did not even acknowledge her escape. Instead, he watched as Isobel dragged herself from the ground, brushing off her hands as she rose.
“Isobel,” he said, uncertainty tinging his words, “you did not do my bidding.”
Kat and Francesca exchanged glances.
Asteroth stepped toward the girl. “I told you to flow into Julia—to become one with her within her body. I meant for you to leave your own physical shell behind.”
Isobel studied him. A corner of her mouth turned up. Perhaps she meant to smile, but it looked more like a smirk.
“Isobel, we must correct this. My lessons were clear, my sweet. I told you that our aims could only be met if you flowed into the girl, not the other way around.”
Isobel raised her hand to her throat. Her fingers wrapped around her neck, gently massaging her ivory skin.
Asteroth’s eyebrows lowered. “Isobel? Are you indeed with us?”
She laughed, a sparkling cadence that ran up and down the scale. “Indeed,” she said, voice husky.
Kat leaned across her daughter’s body. “Where is Julia?” she demanded, voice shaking.
Isobel did not turn from Asteroth. “She is tucked away safely within me,” she said. “It is the least I can do for the girl who gave me voice. Poor thing will not be able to share my pleasures, but I know not what else to do with her.”
Asteroth flushed. “You must enter Julia’s body at once, Isobel.”
Again the chilling laughter. “Why?” Isobel asked, and even Asteroth looked surprised.
“My, my,” Kat said from between clenched teeth. “Another miscalculation, Asteroth. You’re slipping. Did you neglect to factor in the free-will wild card? Humans come with the gift of choice. Clearly, you are not as knowledgeable about human nature as you should be.”
If Isobel noticed the use of a different name for her beloved, she gave no sign of it. She sidled toward him, intent clearly etched in every sinuous motion. Asteroth backed away as she approached, hands raised in an instinctive gesture of self-defense.
“I do not want that other body.” Isobel stopped before him. “This is the body that makes you burn, is it not? This is the body I
choose.”
Francesca felt the light enveloping her grow brighter, and not only visually. Increased energy raced through her, although her tired body impeded its flow. A high, crisp hum filled her head, a physical translation of eternal praise. Did Asteroth sense the change? Spirit that he was, he should have. But at the moment, he seemed trapped by Hugh’s limited senses, flummoxed by his current situation.
“I…I cannot touch you, Isobel,” he said.
“Ah, but you want to. Look!” The very tilt of her head mocked him. She ran her hands up her body, stopping at the laces of her bodice. “I have waited long for this moment, Hugh. Did you think me stupid because I could not speak? Did you think I could not sense the passion within you? I know you better than you know yourself! Very well. You have given me a voice. In return I will give you what I know you want, even though you seem bent on denying yourself the pleasures of the flesh.”
She stood only inches from him now. He pulled in a sharp breath, but did not back away. He seemed under a spell, hypnotized by the girl’s small, quick fingers as they unlaced her bodice.
“What is this, Aunt Frannie?” Kat whispered.
Francesca placed a finger to her lips, unable to speak. It was the man Hugh’s weakness, that’s what it was. She only wondered how much of that Asteroth understood.
Isobel’s bodice dropped to the ground.
“How odd,” she said. “It is only a voice, yet it gives one such power.”
She stood before him in her shift. It outlined her full breasts and the lush curve of her hips. She cupped her breasts in her hands and stepped toward him. He immediately stepped backward, part of a strangely choreographed dance.
“Do not anger me,” Isobel said. “I have waited too long. Kiss me.”
Beads of sweat gathered on Asteroth’s brow. His eyes darted from Isobel to Francesca, then back to Isobel.
“We have work to do, Isobel,” he said in a strangled voice.
“Perhaps we shall do it,” Isobel said. “But first we shall do this.” She placed her palms flat against his chest.
Asteroth cuffed her on the ear. She fell to her knees, astonished, then quickly scrambled to her feet.
“Leave me be!” he spat. “I will not touch you!”
“Of course you will,” said a new voice.
Stunned, Francesca and Kat watched as Father Gregory shoved Asteroth toward Isobel. Her arms opened to receive him, then locked to hold him close.
Gregory rushed to Francesca, Alys close behind.
“How did—” Francesca started.
“I was told,” Gregory said. “The words broke through my prayer. But what have I done?”
“Give it to God, Gregory,” Alys said. “The question is what must we do next?” Her fingers fluttered in Julia’s direction. “How do we—”
Kat cut her off. “We never know what to do until the last minute.”
Had Francesca any energy left, she might have debated that. For the first time in her life, it seemed she knew exactly what lay ahead, and exactly what she had to do to get there. She again squeezed her niece’s hand, drinking her in as if to imprint her beautiful face on both heart and memory.
“Katerina,” she managed to say, “stay in the light. God’s blessing on you, my love.”
Kat’s eyes widened with fear. “Aunt Frannie!”
But Francesca simply closed her eyes and let the light wash through her.
“Aunt Frannie!” Kat’s shriek should have pulled Asteroth’s attention their way, but he remained locked in Isobel’s embrace, his gaze glued to hers.
“No, Katerina.” Gregory’s hand, surprisingly strong, rested on her shoulder. “You cannot grieve now. There isn’t time.”
“Grieve?” Kat’s heart flew to her throat. “But Aunt Frannie isn’t…she can’t be…”
Gregory gently turned her head toward Isobel and Asteroth as Alys straightened Francesca’s fallen body and crossed her lifeless arms against her chest.
35
KAT FORCED HER SHATTERED MIND TO FOCUS. S HAKEN, SHE leaned against Gregory, grateful for the physical support. She would not allow herself to analyze the facts before her. The senses played tricks during spiritual battle. One could never draw conclusions before the fight was over.
Isobel stared up into Hugh’s face as if she’d just snared a rare creature and expected an ample reward. Her pink tongue darted out to lick her upper lip.
“Dear Hugh,” she said. “How I’ve longed to speak your name. Do you hear how my voice caresses it? I cannot believe you would deny me. Is it really so difficult to love me?”
Hugh’s anguished groan rent the air. His mouth closed hard atop Isobel’s, interrupting the girl’s flow of words. Isobel, startled by the intensity of the kiss, unclasped her hands from around his back. They flailed to her sides as if she’d lost her footing. Then she regained her equilibrium and once again pulled him close.
Hugh lifted his lips from hers. His breath came in short, harsh gasps.
A smug smile flickered across Isobel’s face. “I knew you wanted this,” she said.
“You have brought ruin upon yourself.” His voice dropped so low that Kat could barely hear it.
Isobel chuckled. “That happened long ago,” she said as he buried his lips in the hollow of her throat. “Ah! Do not devour me all at once! We have eternity for this.”
Her head turned, and for the first time, she remembered that she and Hugh were not alone. Her brow furrowed with confusion as she tried to fathom why she had not noticed all these people before.
“Hugh. Why did you not say that others were with us? Now I understand your reluctance.”
He did not answer. His mouth traveled hungrily down her neck to the swell of her breasts. One hand pinned her tightly against his body while the other wrapped itself in her hair. He yanked her head back with a mighty tug.
Isobel gasped. Apparently, this was not the scene of tender passion she’d imagined for so long.
“Hugh!” She struggled to free her hands.
“Is this what you’ve wanted so badly?” he asked. “Is this why you have pursued me, ultimately denied my will?” A loud rip resounded through the clearing as he tore the neck of her shift and forced it down past her shoulders, exposing her round breasts. “And what have you won, Isobel? Nothing for me, for you have ruined my plan, left me to my own devices. Is this how you show your love for me?”
Isobel tried to raise her arms, but they were trapped against her sides by her ruined shift and afforded little protection.
“I am lost,” Hugh murmured. “But not for long. It is you, Isobel, who will pay.”
Gregory turned his head as Hugh’s mouth dropped to Isobel’s nipple, sucking so hard that the girl emitted a little scream. Alys half rose, but Kat motioned her back.
“You can’t go to her,” she said, not even questioning how she knew this. “He’ll destroy you.”
“She’s my flesh and blood. Surely I must—”
Hugh knocked Isobel to the ground. There were red marks on the girl’s shoulders, the indentations made by his fingers before his offending hand had moved elsewhere. He gripped her buttocks as if she were a heavy piece of meat to be carried to the kitchen from the smokehouse. His other hand locked both her wrists above her head. He lifted his mouth from her breast and nipped her earlobe with his teeth, then silenced her yelp with a rough thrust of his tongue into her mouth.
“You can’t go to her,” Kat repeated. “Oh, my God, Alys, I’m so sorry, but the time to save her has passed. Look closely. Do you see?”
Hugh’s skin, usually so fair, had changed. Patches of it glowed red as burning coals. One such patch smoldered on his back, through his tunic. Another spot had appeared on his wrist, and still another formed on his thigh. A tiny patch had begun to burn on his cheek.
“What is this?” Alys’s hands flew to her own cheeks.
“I’m not sure,” Kat said slowly. “Aunt Frannie would know.”
The thought of Aunt Frann
ie nearly sidetracked her into a whirlpool of emotion. No. She couldn’t give in, not now, not with so much at stake. Aunt Frannie had every right to expect more from her. In fact, Kat knew what her aunt would say. Francesca’s voice echoed through her head even as her brain formed the words: Listen, Katerina. Trust. The answers are there. Accept them.
“I think I know what’s happening,” Kat said. Half of her wanted to apologize for presuming she had any answers to offer. The other half plowed recklessly ahead. “Hugh’s lust has overwhelmed him. Combined with Asteroth’s energy—power—it’s too great for any human shell to contain.”
“But the fires on his skin! What do they mean?” Alys passed a shaky hand across her eyes.
Kat swallowed hard. “Hugh will be destroyed,” she said.
“Then the demon will be destroyed along with him,” Gregory said.
Kat shook her head. “No. Just the human body will burn. The spirit can escape. I’ve…I’ve seen it happen before.”
“And Isobel?” Alys asked.
Kat did not meet her gaze. “Isobel can’t survive,” she said. “She is one with her body, and she has given her soul to Asteroth.”
A bright red spot appeared on each of the prioress’s cheeks.
“There was nothing you could do,” Kat said fiercely. “There was nothing either of you could do. She wanted Hugh more than she wanted anything else. In the end, the choice belongs to each of us alone.”
Gregory gazed at Alys, leaning toward her as if to gather her in his arms and tuck her away from the ugly recriminations surely swirling through her mind. Alys waved him away, then nodded toward Kat.
The priest’s grip tightened on Kat’s shoulder. “What of your daughter?” he asked.
Kat stared down at Julia, whose head still rested in her lap. She swiped at her eyes before any tears could fall. “I don’t know yet,” she said.
“Katerina, you said that the spirit residing within Hugh would survive.”
“Yes. Asteroth. I assume Aunt Frannie told you all about him. He is an ancient spirit. He has more trouble moving within a body than he does out of one. His essence will easily escape that burning shell.”
