Patricia’s smile didn’t fade in the slightest. “Well, anyone can be saved. At any time. That’s the beauty of the healing power of Jesus. He is always waiting and always loves you. Satan may tell you different, but he only speaks in lies.” She tapped her Protected necklace and looked at Joe, who nodded approvingly.

I looked around for Tony, for any respite, for him to offer risotto or that brie en croûte, but he was fiddling with something at the grill.

“Well, Satan doesn’t really—” I stopped and pursed my lips. I had two believers in front of me, and I figured I might as well take advantage before another appliance sprang to life. If I was going to be a murder victim, I would rather Melissa murder me than a possessed inanimate object. “Actually, let me ask you: so you believe the devil and demons are real?”

Patricia’s cheeks grew long, and Joe leaned forward. “Very real,” he said. They exchanged a glance.

“How do you know?” I said before I could stop myself.

“Because we’ve seen it, of course,” she said. “We’ve seen people possessed before, many times. It happens more often than you would think.”

My pulse began to ratchet up, and I had to take a quick breath so I wouldn’t blurt out anything about Liz. “How often?”

Patricia put a hand on Joe’s arm as if to say, I got this. She looked at me. “Every day. People are surrounded in darkness and listen to the devil’s silver tongue. They submit to him and then open the veil between hell and our world.”

“And then what happens?” I knew I should stop, walk out, go back to my house, check on my kids, not put Melissa in this position. But these people believed. Maybe they could help us.

Joe shook his head. “All kinds of things. They speak in tongues, things catch on fire. They create chaos and evil, just to watch the world burn.”

A terrible vision of our neighborhood engulfed in flames, parents running from unseen dark forces while terrified children screamed for help, danced across my brain.

Joe continued. “Believe you me, the End of Days is closer than any of us know. Which is why it’s so important to become a true believer so you can ascend to heaven during the Rapture.”

The only thing I knew about the Rapture was thanks to an interview I watched about the new Creation Museum in Ohio that discussed how dinosaurs were on Noah’s Ark. I had never so much as read a book of the Bible.

I looked at Melissa, who cocked her head and gave me a challenging look. Are you finished?

No, not yet.

“If someone has been possessed, how would they become, um, unpossessed? I’m just curious,” I said, trying to keep my tone light, one of curiosity rather than true information seeking.