Bex rolled 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 called.

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

“We have to move!” Jared yelled, pulling 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 fallen 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 all-black suit, shirt and tie, matching his cold, obsidian eyes. A small smirk was on his face. He was finally 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 all.

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'll kill him.”

Isaac smiled. “Not if I kill her, first. And I will.”

“You're outnumbered,” Claire said, her small 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 walls 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.