“I am your lover! I am the one who puts you to bed at night!” His rage was leaking through again, and now he set aside his composure altogether, shoving a finger of accusation at them all. “I am the one who leads you to Jesus and saves you from hell! I am the one who shows you how wretched you are! But for my sight, you would make yourselves God in defiance of his holiness! I am the one who keeps you humble and on the narrow path. I am your only hope now!”

“No,” Grace said calmly. “You’re the father of lies who uses fear to keep us blind to who we are. If we surrendered to love, all fear would be gone and you would search out another valley to seduce with your lies.”

She scanned the church, beaming. “Imagine an infinite love that is unconditional. That can’t be provoked or threatened. In that love you’ll see fear for what it truly is: a shadow.” She was beside herself with joy. “Imagine that! Shadows that we’ve gone into agreement with. But in love, the Fury vanish, because there is no fear in love, just like there’s no darkness in light.”

“God cannot fathom, much less express, unconditional love!” Sylous bit off, face red. He paced, glaring at them all, unable to hide his rage. His fear of losing their loyalty.

Rose blinked with a new thought. How could such a powerful being be so terrified? And how could a God who was infinitely powerful be afraid of losing anything?

“God demands a response from you, all good Christians know that!” he continued. “That’s his condition! If you don’t say yes, you will spend eternity in hell, and if you want to test that, be my guest. Take a gamble.” He flung an arm out like a spoiled child. “Throw caution to the wind and risk never-ending torture. Or say yes to God now and throw out the wicked one who’s tempting you to believe her lies!”

Rose stood back, mind fractured, gun at her side now. Grace didn’t even acknowledge Sylous. She was still fixed on the flock. Rose’s flock.

Sylous’s flock.

“Eli said we are the light, but Sylous says we’re not the light,” Grace said. “Who are you going to believe? Fear has blinded all of humanity. We call it the fall from the garden. The fall from the kingdom of heaven. But today we can all see again.”

Rose stood aghast. Stunned, because somewhere in Grace’s words, she saw a sliver of truth. And in that sliver, light. How could a loving being ever threaten any harm for any reason? Was Sylous not loving?

Sylous began to tremble, glaring at Grace with hatred. From head to foot he shook, fists clenched. Rose had always found his wrath oddly attractive. But why?