Requiem

Kim sat beside me, lowering her chin. “This entire cat-and-mouse Jared’s been engaged in has been a game to Shax. The fact that Ryan is stil alive should tel you…he’s just toying with al of us.”

I shook my head. “If that were true, why the dreams? Why did Jack and Gabe push us to get the book?”

Jared stood. “Because they knew that is exactly what I would do, and the dreams were their way of helping us complete a fool’s errand alive.”

“No,” I said, standing next to him. “I don’t believe that. If that were true, they would tel me to stay away from the book, not how to get it. Gabe wouldn’t have helped my father if it was pointless.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Jared said. “Maybe we need a little more time with it.”

“Jared?” Bex said.

Kim held up her hand in frustration. “Shax is a Duke of Hel , Jared. You pretty much walked into his house and slapped him, and he let you just walk out? Do you real y think that’s how it works?”

Ryan pul ed the fabric from his eye, revealing a deep, bloody gash. “We didn’t just walk out, Kim, trust me. They put up a fight. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life, and I hope I never do again.”

“Jared,” Bex said again.

Jared frowned at Bex, and then returned his attention to Kim. “Nina is your friend. Are you tel ing me you’re not wil ing to wait for us to figure this out before we take it somewhere that we can never get it back?”

“She is my friend, but this is my family we’re talking about. We’ve been dealing with this for lifetimes. It’s time to end it. It’s time the Pol ocks are free of it.”

Jared looked down at the book in his hands, and then back to Kim, his expression stern. “I understand your plight, but you’re not getting this back until I’m satisfied there’s nothing in it that can help Nina,” Jared said, shoving it under his arm.

Kim took a step forward. “We had a deal.”

“I haven’t forgotten that,” Jared answered.

Father Francis came in with the first aid kit, taking quick steps. “I’m afraid it wasn’t where I thought it would be….” he said, trailing off.

“Jared!” Bex yel ed. “They’re coming!”

“Oh my God,” Kim whispered, her eyes slowly rising to the ceiling.

A deafening boom surrounded St. Anne’s. Every window burst inward, covering the ground with shards of colored glass. Jared took me to the floor, covering me with his body.

Even after the explosion, it sounded as if a tornado was hovering above the church.

“Not in the House of the Lord!” Father Francis yel ed over the noise, his arms extended to the sky.

The priest was lifted high in the air by an invisible assailant, his legs kicking until he was blown back, smashing into the beautiful mural high above the stage. Pieces of the painting came down with him when he fel to the floor.

Bex rol ed into the aisle, and then took off toward the priest, so fast his body was a blur. He took Father Francis, limp and lifeless, into his arms.

The wind rushing through the broken windows blew Bex’s platinum hair wildly as he felt for a pulse on the priest’s neck.

“He’s alive!” Bex call ed.

Another explosion shook the building, and pieces of the ceiling fel in large chunks onto the pews, sending sheet rock and plaster into the air.

“We have to move!” Jared yel ed, pul ing me to my feet.

The large wooden door blew open, forcing another strong pulse of wind across the room. Had Jared not kept his arms around me, I would have fal en over.

I held my hand to my face to shield it from the blast. When I lowered it, Shax was standing in the doorway.

He wore an al -black suit, shirt and tie, matching his cold, obsidian eyes. A smal smirk was on his face. He was final y ready to fight.

Jared stood his ground, positioned in front of me. Claire stood on the other side, guarding her Taleh.

Shax looked to each side of the church in dramatic fashion. “Where is your Samuel now, Jared?”

“He’s around,” Jared said, his body rigid.

“I’m afraid you’ve made yet another mistake, and Heaven won’t intervene this time.”

Two shadows that had been lurking behind Shax came into view under the dim light of the church. Isaac and Donovan stood on each side of their demonic master, their expressions anxious and ready. They had come to murder us al .

Jared shifted. “Isaac, listen to me. You don’t have to do this.”

“Shut up,” Donovan said.

“I don’t want you to die,” Jared continued, “but if he comes near her, I’l kil him.”

Isaac smiled. “Not if I kil her, first. And I wil .”

“You’re outnumbered,” Claire said, her smal yet frightening voice somehow carrying across the room.

Shax grinned, and the long, clawed hands and feet of the night filtered into the room, covering the wal s and ceiling. I looked above me, seeing grotesquely malformed bodies of demonic minions scale the crumbling rafters.

The smell of burnt flesh and sulfur was overwhelming, and I could feel bile rise in my throat. Shax’s servants weren’t screeching this time, but making strange, excited cooing and whistling noises, waiting for the order to attack.

“Give me the book,” Shax hissed.

“No,” Jared said, tossing the leather bound pages to Kim.

“I dare you to come and get it, though,” Kim smiled.

Shax slowly turned his head to Isaac, and then Isaac’s smirk turned into a satisfied grin. He pushed the far pew with both hands, slamming it into the pew before it, creating a domino effect. As the heavy benches toppled over and blew forward with the speed of a freight train, Jared and Claire reacted, jumping to the other side with Ryan and I in tow.

Kim simply side-stepped to the center aisle, remaining calm as thousands of pounds of wood narrowly missed her body.

“You’re going to have to do better than that,” Kim said.

Isaac leaped the hundred yards to Kim’s position, and then wrapped on hand around her throat, lifting her off the ground. “I’m not a demon. You can’t control me.”

With a grunt, Isaac threw Kim back, but Bex moved quick, catching her before she col ided with the podium. The demons concentrated in the area closest to Kim scattered, afraid of being too close.

Bex looked Kim in the eyes, and after she acknowledged that she was okay, he scrambled to his feet, taking off ful speed, slamming into Isaac.

When they col ided, a loud crack echoed throughout the cathedral.

My human eyes couldn’t make out who was hitting who, until Bex hit Isaac so hard that his body sailed across the air, and he landed in the exact spot he started, next to Shax.

“It’s like people tennis,” Ryan said, in awe. “Everyone keeps flying across the room.”

Isaac wasn’t about to quit. He engaged Bex again, but this time Isaac got the upper hand. Bex was on the ground, and after the second time Isaac landed a blow that would have been fatal to a human, Jared’s arm tensed.

“Do something!” I said.

“I can’t leave you,” he said. “If I take my attention off of you for a second, they’l attack.”

Donovan walked down the center aisle with purpose, dodging the fal ing chunks of ceiling. Claire pul ed out her firearm, aiming right at his face.

Isaac’s attention was distracted, then, and Bex head-butted Isaac, and then threw him against Donovan. They both slid across the floor.

Isaac stood, pul ed out his gun, and aimed directly at Ryan.

“No!” Claire said, throwing herself in front of him.

Ryan and Claire were face to face when Isaac’s gun discharged. Claire’s body jerked twice as it was hit, and Ryan’s horrified expression matched hers.