The Awakening

well, all right, you look pretty good. All that blond hair flowing off the table. That white look of terror on your face—makes your eyes look so blue!"



They were all startled by a sudden scream, followed by a hard, slapping noise, and then a moan.



Megan's head had jerked around at the sound.



Sara giggled. "Morwenna!"



"Morwenna!" Megan breather in horror. God. Finn had mistrusted her so much! And here she was…



"She'd figured something out, you see. We hadn't really decided on the blood sacrifice for tonight, but…



well, Morwenna could have caused some real trouble. You should have listened to her—okay, so Finn himself isn't evil. But with the demon in him… he surely did emit some bad vibes. Then, he started trusting me. You know, I could have had him a few times, Megan. I could have made him cheat on you while he was still himself. Of course… there will be time later. Not at first, of course. The priestess, cloaked in your blond hair, will want him. But in time… we'll all have our turn. And just imagine, once the priestess has entered your body… well, you just can't begin to believe the things you're going to want to do. They certainly won't be calling you a little prude—or a little blond angel!"



"Sara! Get over here!" Someone shouted.



"Gotta go. It's rather fun to torture Morwenna. She is going to die, you know. She'll be the final sacrifice to make the transformation take place. Originally, we weren't going to use Morwenna, but you know, she has more perception than I thought. She wanted me to officiate with her coven tonight! Can you imagine?



There you go—she just wasn't perceptive enough!"



Sara left, but Gayle remained, staring down at her. Megan forced herself to glower at Gayle, determined, at the least, to unnerve her. "You really don't know what you're up against."



Gayle shrugged. "Maybe your ghost busters do have some special powers. But not greater than His. Not greater than Bac-Dal's."



"Really? Because I think that your Bac-Dal intended to split Finn and me up from the time we first arrived… you know, to make both of us so much more pliable and vulnerable. We've been stronger than you anticipated."



A flash of anger burned in Gayle's eyes. "So he's not a pushover—we never thought that he would be.



His ancestor's blood does run in his veins. But you know, in Boston, he still blacked out. The priest wound up having to commit the murder himself, but… Finn himself is afraid that he killed the girl.



Murdered her slowly… so, Finn's poor soul will be tortured as he tries to enter his heaven!"



"Finn didn't murder her!" Megan said triumphantly.



Gayle frowned. "It won't matter. None of it will matter."



"I think that it will. And I think that you will go to prison. What? No one is ever going to find Morwenna's body? And you're mistaken if you don't think that our friends have certain powers. They will find this place. And they'll see to it that the police get their hands on you."



"The police?" Gayle said, grinning again.



A man in a one of the hooded black capes came toward her. She felt a sinking sensation. It was Eddie's brother, Theo.



"Did someone call for a cop? Here I am!"



"I sincerely doubt that the entire police department is tainted. I'm assuming that your coven has thirteen members? There are lots more cops out there than that!"



"You know, I'm itching to slap you, and that won't leave a mark at all!" Gayle threatened.



"Okay, Gayle, enough," Theo said then, impatiently. "We've still got work to do. Just knock her out again



—we don't want her screaming at the wrong time. And hell, do something to shut Morwenna up, will you? She'll wake the dead from hallowed ground a mile away!"



Theo walked off impatiently, still managing to swagger in his black robe.



"Night, night, Megan!" Gayle said. She had pulled a handkerchief and little white vial from the pocket of her cloak. Megan twisted her head aside, but knew that it was to no avail.



"Wait!" Megan implored her.



"What?"



"Well, you're truly having a good time torturing me. Probably you wanted to live my life. You think that you could have had Finn… but then he didn't do quite what you expected, did he? You might have managed to befriend him, but no matter how seduced he might have felt, he didn't touch you, did he?



You wanted to be a rock star yourself, and you wanted someone like Finn, someone tall, charming, so damned good-looking, hardworking, artistic—and successful?"



"I'll have whatever I want for serving Bac-Dal!" Gayle retorted.



Megan couldn't help but smile, because she sensed the slightest hesitation in Gayle's words.



"But let's face it, you're having fun torturing me. So who else that I've trusted is in this coven of thirteen?"



"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, snatched from the street elsewhere would have been better, but… Morwenna's such a pain in the ass, 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



Finn 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 god, 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 assure 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 God, the one great God! 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 Mass to counter one that is meant to summon a scion of the devil, I don't know.