She was a widow, her husband, billionaire Lucien Mabus, having died years earlier. She was in her early fifties but looked far younger, still a ravishing beauty. She wore bizarre violet contact lenses, had cocoa-skin and long, flowing ebony hair. Apparently, Lilith’s maternal ancestors hailed from Mesoamerica and—

Lilith! You say her name was Lilith?

Lilith Eve Mabus.

She’s the one—the one I’ve been communicating with all these years within the nexus.

You’re girlfriend’s Hunahpu?

Yes. Father? Father, are you still there?

Jacob, it is Lilith Mabus who will one day become the Abomination.

No … no, that’s impossible! Lilith can’t be the Abomination, she … she wasn’t born on the same day as us, she showed me her birth certificate! Dad, it’s not her!

‘It’s her, Jacob. She’s deceived you, and through you, she now knows about me. It’s been your communication with Lilith in your present that forewarned her. It’s the reason the Abomination and her demon seed were waiting for me when I finally arrived on Xibalba as Michael Gabriel.

… all my fault. I have to do something. I have to stop her now.

Jacob, wait! Stifling Lilith’s actions in your time could adversely affect man’s future. Remember, it’s the wormhole that gives us a chance to change things, to save humanity. It was Lucien Mabus who pioneered space tourism, providing the ships that made the journey to Mars possible. Destroy Lilith in your time period and there may not be a Mars option, which means the second holocaust will wipe out all of mankind. The time loop must be preserved, then broken at the correct interval, in my time, not in yours.

Then what am I supposed to do?

I don’t know, but you and your brother must stay away from Lilith at all costs.

Belle Glade, Florida 7:40 p.m.

Quenton Morehead lies naked in bed, watching the enchantress remove a bottle of aromatic oil from the pocket of her robe, along with several lengths of rope. His eyes widen as she slips out of her clothes, pouring the oil over her naked breasts.

‘Yes, whore, I like that.’

‘You’ll enjoy this even more.’ Using the lengths of rope, she secures his ankles and wrists to the oak bedposts. ‘Whores like a captive audience.’

She turns off the lights, then slowly snakes her way up the old man’s frame.

Quenton quivers with delight, moaning with pleasure as she slides her fingers down his distended belly to his groin. She licks his neck, teasing his knotty Adam’s apple with her tongue as she grinds her moist pubic region into his pelvis. ‘You’re right, you know,’ she coos. ‘I really owe you so much. Now lie back and close your eyes.’

‘But I want to see you.’