‘It’s better in the dark. Remember back when I was a child and you’d come to me in the darkness. Now I’m coming to you. Close your eyes.’

The old man obeys, a serene smile on his face—

—as Lilith removes the razor blade from behind her ear, placing it between her teeth.

The teenager slides down his frail body, fondling his inner thigh, pinching, tickling him as she rubs her lips across his dark skin … gently slicing open his flesh.

Returning to his neck, she teases open his carotid artery, swirling the warm pulsating liquid down his hairy chest as her free hand strokes his erect organ.

Pleasure and pain. With every groan, more blood. With each squeeze, a new cut.

By the time her mouth works its way to his groin, the Reverend’s body has become a heaving patchwork of crimson.

Quenton climaxes, then drifts off to sleep, the drugs taking effect, the old man never realizing the hot beads of moisture drenching the bedsheets are his life.

Longboat Key, Florida 11:08 p.m.

The sand is cold, the driving wind coming off the Gulf penetrating Dominique’s sweater. She pulls her collar up over her ears. ‘Enough games, Jacob. Yes or no, do you know who murdered your Aunt Evelyn?’

‘Her name is Lilith. We’ve been communicating since we were young children.’

Dominique covers her mouth in shock. ‘Communicating how?’

‘Through a higher plane of quantum existence we call the nexus.’

‘She’s Hunahpu?’

‘Yes. And yes, she’s the Abomination, at least she may be someday.’

Dominique feels the blood drain from her face. ‘All these years … all my warnings, all Evelyn’s warnings, and you’ve been communicating with the very person who tortures your father, who might destroy us all. How could you, of all people, be so blind?’

‘Love is blind.’

‘Love? You love this … this thing?’

‘She’s not a thing, Mother, she’s a human being born in a hurricane. She comes from a broken home, she’s been abused physically and sexually. She needed my help, and I was there. She’s a child of God as much as you or I.’

‘And now she’s a dangerous child. She murdered Evelyn.’

‘She’s angry at me. She’s become psychotic.’

‘I’d say she passed psychotic. Now what are we supposed to do?’

He paces along a dune, his mind racing. ‘Lilith knows where we live and who we are. We can run now, but she’s growing stronger every day. Eventually she’ll have no trouble tracking me down using her Hunahpu abilities. She also has at least one ally,—who’s—also Hunahpu.’

‘We have allies, too. We’ll send Salt and Pepper after her.’