Sarah Beth felt warmth, love, and gratitude from her friend . . . and also for her friend. That warmth, love, and gratitude radiated out from her, from Corbin, from her mom, and from Michaela. It lit up all the threads leading to all the Watchers who were crammed together in the tornado shelter—where they were huddled together and yet very much alone in their fear. A glow, like a winter morning sunrise, lit up the ether. In that moment, the entire student body of St. George’s Academy was one mind, one spirit, one voice. And together, as one, they prayed . . . for God’s love, for God’s help, and for the demons to be cast out of the thing that once had been a boy called Victor.

CHAPTER
FIFTY-SIX

Jed heard their prayer.

Despite the pain racking his body, the fog clouding his mind, and the ringing in his ears, he heard the Watchers’ prayer loud and clear. And so did Victor, because the beating Jed was being dealt abruptly stopped.

Like a rabid, feral animal, Victor turned and lunged for Sarah Beth.

But Jed didn’t let him go.

In a strange reversal of roles, Jed switched from defense to offense. Clutching his legs with all his might, he refused to let Victor’s thin body wriggle free. As the demon prince strained Jed’s muscles, tendons, and ligaments to the breaking point, Jed could see the demons abandoning him. With gritted teeth, Jed pulled out his SOG Bowie knife, crunched at the waist, and slammed it into Victor’s abdomen. With a gladiator’s bellow, he pulled the blade free and stabbed again.

And again.

Over and over he drove the blade home.

The demon master shrieked and knocked the blade out of Jed’s grip with a powerful swipe that made Jed’s hand go instantly numb from the wrist down. The blow was enough that his concentration faltered for an instant, an instant long enough for Victor to break free from his leg lock. With a frantic, arachnid-like gait, Victor scuttled across the floor toward Sarah Beth. Jed lunged and caught Victor’s trailing foot by the ankle and jerked him backward. The demon host wasn’t heavy, and he once again marveled at this strange fact. Movement in his peripheral vision drew his gaze and he saw Corbin, who, to his horror, had a metal spear sticking out of her chest.

Gray-faced, she stood on wobbly legs, clutching the spear with both hands.