“No,” Kim said, matter-of-factly.

“And why's that?” Claire snapped back.

Quiet overcame the group, until Jared closed the book with a clap. “Because there is no loophole.”

I smiled hopeful y. “Stop it, Jared. You haven't even read the whole thing, yet.”

“I just did,” he said, his eyes focused on the black seal that branded the cover. “They aren't going to stop until they prevent the birth of our child.”

Kim sat beside me, lowering her chin. “This entire cat-and-mouse Jared's been engaged in has been a game to Shax. The fact that Ryan is stil alive should tel you...he's just toying with al of us.”

I shook my head. “If that were true, why the dreams? Why did Jack and Gabe push us to get the book?”

Jared stood. “Because they knew that is exactly what I would do, and the dreams were their way of helping us complete a fool's errand alive.”

“No,” I said, standing next to him. “I don't believe that. If that were true, they would tel me to stay away from the book, not how to get it. Gabe wouldn't have helped my father if it was pointless.”

“Maybe you're right,” Jared said. “Maybe we need a little more time with it.”

“Jared?” Bex said.

Kim held up her hand in frustration. “Shax is a Duke of Hel , Jared. You pretty much walked into his house and slapped him, and he let you just walk out? Do you real y think that's how it works?”

Ryan pul ed the fabric from his eye, revealing a deep, bloody gash. “We didn't just walk out, Kim, trust me. They put up a fight. I've never seen anything like that in my life, and I hope I never do again.”

“Jared,” Bex said again.

Jared frowned at Bex, and then returned his attention to Kim. “Nina is your friend. Are you tel ing me you're not wil ing to wait for us to figure this out before we take it somewhere that we can never get it back?”

“She is my friend, but this is my family we're talking about. We've been dealing with this for lifetimes. It's time to end it. It's time the Pol ocks are free of it.”

Jared looked down at the book in his hands, and then back to Kim, his expression stern. “I understand your plight, but you're not getting this back until I'm satisfied there's nothing in it that can help Nina,” Jared said, shoving it under his arm.

Kim took a step forward. “We had a deal.”

“I haven't forgotten that,” Jared answered.

Father Francis came in with the first aid kit, taking quick steps. “I'm afraid it wasn't where I thought it would be....” he said, trailing off.

“Jared!” Bex yel ed. “They're coming!”

“Oh my God,” Kim whispered, her eyes slowly rising to the ceiling.

A deafening boom surrounded St. Anne's. Every window burst inward, covering the ground with shards of colored glass. Jared took me to the floor, covering me with his body.

Even after the explosion, it sounded as if a tornado was hovering above the church.

“Not in the House of the Lord!” Father Francis yel ed over the noise, his arms extended to the sky.

The priest was lifted high in the air by an invisible assailant, his legs kicking until he was blown back, smashing into the beautiful mural high above the stage. Pieces of the painting came down with him when he fel to the floor.

Bex rol ed 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 call ed.

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

“We have to move!” Jared yel ed, pul ing 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 fal en 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 al -black suit, shirt and tie, matching his cold, obsidian eyes. A smal smirk was on his face. He was final y 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 al .

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'l kil him.”

Isaac smiled. “Not if I kil her, first. And I wil .”

“You're outnumbered,” Claire said, her smal 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 wal s 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.

Kim simply side-stepped to the center aisle, remaining calm as thousands of pounds of wood narrowly missed her body.

“You're going to have to do better than that,” Kim said.

Isaac leaped the hundred yards to Kim's position, and then wrapped on hand around her throat, lifting her off the ground. “I'm not a demon. You can't control me.”

With a grunt, Isaac threw Kim back, but Bex moved quick, catching her before she col ided with the podium. The demons concentrated in the area closest to Kim scattered, afraid of being too close.

Bex looked Kim in the eyes, and after she acknowledged that she was okay, he scrambled to his feet, taking off ful speed, slamming into Isaac.

When they col ided, a loud crack echoed throughout the cathedral.

My human eyes couldn't make out who was hitting who, until Bex hit Isaac so hard that his body sailed across the air, and he landed in the exact spot he started, next to Shax.

“It's like people tennis,” Ryan said, in awe. “Everyone keeps flying across the room.”

Isaac wasn't about to quit. He engaged Bex again, but this time Isaac got the upper hand. Bex was on the ground, and after the second time Isaac landed a blow that would have been fatal to a human, Jared's arm tensed.

“Do something!” I said.

“I can't leave you,” he said. “If I take my attention off of you for a second, they'l attack.”

Donovan walked down the center aisle with purpose, dodging the fal ing chunks of ceiling. Claire pul ed out her firearm, aiming right at his face.

Isaac's attention was distracted, then, and Bex head-butted Isaac, and then threw him against Donovan. They both slid across the floor.

Isaac stood, pul ed out his gun, and aimed directly at Ryan.

“No!” Claire said, throwing herself in front of him.

Ryan and Claire were face to face when Isaac's gun discharged. Claire's body jerked twice as it was hit, and Ryan's horrified expression matched hers.

Stunned, Claire looked down, and then turned to Jared. “They went through me.”

Claire and Ryan fel to their knees at the same time, and Jared rushed to his sisters side. He pul ed me with him, and I fel to my knees just behind him.

Ryan's head fel back, and he coughed, blood spraying up and spattering across his cheek.

“Oh, God, no!” Jared cried, pul ing off his shirt and wadding it up, pressing it against Ryan's wounds.

Isaac's maniacal laugh seemed to be al around us. “I always wanted to see that smug smile wiped off your face, Claire.”

Bex glanced at the bloody scene, and then focused on Isaac, his hands bal ed into fists at his sides. He lowered his chin, then, and his expression morphed into something one might see from a demon rather than an angel.

Claire looked up at her brother, expressionless. “End this.”

Horrified, I watched Claire tend to Ryan's wounds, but within moments, Jared pul ed me to my feet.

He took my hand in one of his, and then pul ed out his side arm with the other. He pointed it directly at Isaac, shooting one round after another, walking toward him as he fired, forcing me to fol ow.

Isaac jerked with each hit, stumbling backward. “You son-of-a-bitch!” Jared screamed, his eyebrows and lips pul ed in so tight, the skin around them was white.

“Jared!” Bex cried, but it was too late.

Donovan had his gun to Jared's temple. “I suppose it'l take you a while to heal from this one,” Donovan said.

An abrupt blast resounded in the room, and Donovan fel to his knees, final y fal ing over, succumbing to the bul et hole I had just shot into his brain.

“Shawn!” Isaac said, struggling to reach his Taleh.

It was too late for both of them. Shawn Donovan's life had already spil ed onto the floor.

Isaac fel back, already feeling a weakness in his body.

Jared's eyes were wide as he processed what had just happened. “You kil ed him,” he said softly, looking to me.

“He was pointing a gun at your head,” I explained.

Jared laughed once, momentarily forgetting that we were stil surrounded by the enemy.

A quick wind passed by, and Bex and Shax were suddenly in a bal . The sounds coming from their scuffle were horrific. Distracted, Shax lost his control on the demons clustered on the wal s and ceiling, and they began descending from their position, and swarming around us.

“Run to Kim!” Jared said, pushing me in her direction.

The hundred yards down the aisle to where she was protecting the book seemed a mile away, but I took off without hesitation.

Seeing that I was running to her, Kim scrambled to her feet, sprinting down the aisle to meet me. I turned, seeing Jared and Bex attacking Shax, and his minions were quickly crawling to the floor in endless numbers. Adrenaline kicked in, and my feet moved faster, desperate to reach Kim before the demons caught me.

“Run, Nina!” Kim screamed, the horror on her face tel ing me in moments I would be crushed and torn apart by the Hel so closely pursuing my flesh.

Their screeches were almost on top of me when Kim's long arms reached out, encompassing my body as she brought me to the ground. The wailing of the minions experiencing what Kim was capable of was deafening, but the individual howling resounding farther away was most definitely the sound of Shax losing his fight with Jared and Bex.

And then it was quiet.

Chapter Nineteen

Waiting

I peeked out from under Kim's arms, seeing Jared and Bex slowly making their way down the aisle. Kim helped me to stand, and Jared wasted no time pul ing me into his arms. His hands were trembling, and he was uncharacteristical y shaken.

“Are you okay?” Jared asked, evaluating every inch of me for any signs of trauma.

“No, I'm fine,” I said, shivering as the adrenaline soaked back into my system.

Bex carried Ryan in his arms, leaping and maneuvering around the ruins of St. Anne's to the entrance.

With the inordinate level of noise from just moments before, the night seemed eerily quiet. The crumbling concrete, wood and sheet rock grated against each other under my feet with every step. Those tiniest sounds echoed, even though the church seemed to be torn open and vulnerable, a contrast to the silence outside.

“We're going,” Claire said, her voice distant and emotionless.

“Right behind you,” Jared said. He lead me quickly out of St. Anne's by the hand.

I turned to take one last look at the rubble, and saw Kim help Father Francis to his feet. She threw his arm over her shoulders, hobbling along herself beside him as they fol owed us to the Escalade.

Time passed in slow motion. Although everyone was desperate to get Ryan to the hospital, the distance to Jared's SUV seemed like miles, and getting everyone, bruised and bleeding, settled into their seats was a slow, frustrating process.

Claire rode with Ryan in the hatch, holding his head in her lap as he was nearly sprawled out. She seemed lost as she held pressure on his wounds, watching his face intently.

Bex sat in the back seat with Kim and the priest, but his focus was on Claire. He reached back, gripping his sister's shoulder. Bex's expression was heartbreaking, as the worries in his mind played out across his face.

“The closest hospital, Father,” Jared said.

“Landmark Medical Center. Two minutes away. Stay on this street, and then turn left on Cass Avenue.”

Jared blew through the stoplight, and then weaved in and out of traffic, making a hard right turn into the hospital's ambulance bay.

“We need help here!” Jared yel ed, jumping out of the driver's side.

I ran to the back, watching Jared open the hatch. Bex helped the priest into the Emergency Room, and Claire let Jared place Ryan on a gurney.

Jared was gentle, as if it were Claire he were holding. A smal cry escaped my throat, drawing Jared's attention away for just a moment. His eyes were dark, and suddenly I felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu —but more of an out-of-body experience. Watching Jared and Claire hover over Ryan's limp body was like seeing my last trip to the hospital from a different, more real perspective. It was cruel for both of them to have to suffer through it again.