Pax Demonica (21 page)

As Eliza screamed, her mother fell over the edge of the pillar, to plummet down, down, down, into what I could only assume was the depths of hell, now rising to consume us all.

“You can try to kill me,” the demon said, “but there would really be no point. There is no stopping what has been set in motion. But I thank you very much for taking such good care of the key. And I thank your cousin for so diligently delivering it to us.”

“You won’t win,” I said, though I feared the words were a lie.

“We already have,” he said, and then he smiled slowly, stepped off the pillar, and followed Debbie’s path into hell.

The moment he disappeared from sight, the walls started to shake, and the glow deepened.

“Shit!” I reached down and hauled Eliza to her feet. “Get her other arm,” I said to Allie. “We have to get out of here.”

The destruction began behind us, but it was so fast we were barely able to stay one step ahead of the floor that began to crumble into rubble beneath us. There was no way that we could move fast on the ledge outside the chamber—not while we were hauling Eliza—and I could only pray that the destruction was limited to this chamber. If it took out the whole catacomb, we’d never survive.

Then again, the gate had been opened. Even if we made it out of the catacombs alive, how much time would we have bought?

But that wasn’t worth thinking about. Right then, we just needed to get out. And with Allie and me hauling my injured cousin, we sprinted toward the exit, finally leaping clear just as the last few inches of floor fell away beneath us.

We hugged the wall, balancing on the thin ledge and catching our breath as behind us, the chamber collapsed into rubble.

A fitting end, I thought. And a fitting beginning to the end of the world.

Chapter 17

T
ime was running out.

Somewhere in the world, the gate to hell had opened. I imagined a black slime bubbling out, like red hot lava that would destroy us all.

Because we had no time, Mrs. Micari, Allie and I returned to the B&B to regroup and research. Father Corletti kept Eliza with him and returned to the Vatican where she could be cared for by
Forza’
s amazing medical team while he rallied the troops and did research of his own.

We needed to know two things, of course. Where the gate was. And how to close it now that it was open. Both pieces of information were essential, and neither was useful without the other.

Unfortunately, we didn’t even know if there
was
a way to close it. We were flying blind, and had no time.

I called Eddie from the car, so he was doing what he could from Los Angeles, with Laura and Cutter and even Mindy burning up the Internet as they tried to find a clue. But I didn’t expect much.

I’d also called Stuart—and had been royally pissed when he hadn’t answered the phone.

Mrs. Micari suggested that I call the B&B directly, but by that time we were only blocks away. As soon as the car slid to a halt, I climbed out and raced for the door. I threw it open, and then stopped dead, completely flabbergasted by what I saw.

“Daddy!” Allie yelled from behind me, then sprinted toward him and threw herself into his waiting arms.

Just the sight of Eric was enough to knock me off-kilter. It was astounding enough to see him here, in Rome, but even though I’d seen him several times since he’d lost his eye, I still hadn’t gotten used to the way he looked with the black patch. Edgy and dangerous and just a little wild.

That, however, was only the surface stuff. What really blew me away was what I’d seen before Eric had stood up to embrace Allie—him and Stuart sitting at one of the small dining tables, both talking earnestly over cups of cappuccino.

Apparently the demon had been right—the end of the world was upon us.

“Why are you here?” I asked, then immediately followed that with, “Has Stuart brought you up to speed?”

“He has. We’ve been talking about what to do should the two of you return without having destroyed the key.”

“I hope you came up with something,” I said wryly. “In case you hadn’t heard, the end is nigh.” There’s a reason gallows humor flows during moments of terror and despair; if nothing else it lets you feel just the tiniest bit in control of the situation.

“We haven’t,” Eric admitted as Stuart came to stand beside me. “But Father Donnelly is on his way. I hope he’ll have some insight.”

“Father Donnelly? Why?” I didn’t bother to hide my disdain. Considering what he’d done to Eric, Father Donnelly was not on my favorite person list. And forgive me for being petty, but if the world was coming to an end, I didn’t want to spend my last moments with the man.

“He’s the one who told Eric to come,” Stuart said.

“What? Why? He hasn’t been in the loop at all.”

“He has,” Mrs. Micari said from behind me. I hadn’t even realized she was standing there, but of course she’d been following the conversation. “He has been involved from the very beginning,” she said, as we all turned to look at her. “He is, in fact, the one who told Debbie that the demons were aware of the key’s hiding place. He knew that your grandmother had hidden it, and he instructed Debbie to work with Quiric—that was Duvall’s demon name—to retrieve the key and bring it to Rome so that it could be destroyed.”

“He knew how to destroy the key?”

“It was one of the many rituals he discovered in his studies, yes. But when Debbie and Quiric realized that the dark demons were aware they had the key, they decided to try a different tact. Father Donnelly told Quiric about your upcoming trip. And it was decided that Quiric would use you to smuggle the key.”

I gaped at her.

“Why are you involved in all of this?” Eric asked.

“We grew up together. We have stayed in contact throughout the years. I worked with him when I served
Forza
. And I have helped him with many of his projects.” She met Eric’s eyes. “Many of them,” she repeated, and I saw the muscle in his jaw tense.

“I see.”

“It was you who ransacked my room,” I said, my voice tight and harsh.

“No,” she said. “It is clear that the black hats, as you call them, realized that Duvall passed the key to you. They searched. I had nothing to do with that. And young Eliza—when her mother was taken and she was forced to do the demons’ dirty work—she did not come to me. She held her secrets well. It is possible that she helped the young demon access your room, but I do not know if that is so.”

I took a moment to control my temper. “Fine,” I said, wanting things back on track. “Donnelly wanted the key here. He wanted it destroyed. Good on him. But why does he want Eric here? Because, guess what? I don’t trust the son-of-a-bitch.”

“Katherine!”
Mrs. Micari said. “He is a priest.”

“He did harm to a child,” I said, looking at Eric. “He injured a lot of lives.”

“He had only the ultimate good as his goal. He wished to find a way to fight demonic power. To turn it back on itself.”

“We’re not arguing about this now,” Stuart said. “Right now, all I really want to know is how to stop the end of the world. If this priest can help us, then I say we let him. We can debate whether he’s a son-of-a-bitch after we survive the apocalypse. Okay?” he said, looking hard at me.

I raised a shoulder. “Sure. You’re right. Does he think Eric can help? Is that why he called you?” I asked, facing my first husband. “Because you have some unique perspective on the way demons think?”

I hoped that was the case. I really did.

“He didn’t say,” Eric admitted. “For all I know, he thought I should be with my family when the end came.”

“Daddy . . . ” Allie chastised as she leaned closer to him.

“Fine. We start from scratch. You,” I said, pointing to Allie. “On the laptop. Make a list of every location that pops up as a supposed gate to hell. Every one. We’ll have Father Corletti rally the Hunters across the globe.”

She nodded, then scurried upstairs to fetch our laptop.

“I’m glad you’re here,” I told him. “I’m glad she got to see her dad before—”

He met my eyes. “Don’t even think that,” he said. “We’ve stopped worse threats. We’ll stop this one. We have a hell of a team,” he added, then turned slightly so that Stuart was included in the conversation.

I looked between the two of them. “I’m going to regret possibly ruining a good thing, but what is up with you two? Is this some sort of bucket list thing? Make peace before the end?”

“I simply told Eric that I couldn’t imagine going through everything that he’s been through, and then having to top it off with seeing you with another man,” Stuart said.

“And I told Stuart that I owed him my life—literally.”

I frowned. Stuart may have saved Eric from the demon, but he’d almost killed him in the process. And cost him an eye. Still, if these two warring men in my life wanted to enter into a detente, I was hardly going to argue. “Great,” I said. “Fine. So, I think that while Allie’s burning up the Internet, we can—”

I didn’t get to finish my sentence, because the door burst open and Father Donnelly strode in. Mrs. Micari hurried to his side. And, to my surprise, so did Stuart—who immediately lashed out and punched the priest in the face.

“Stuart!” Mrs. Micari said, but I have to confess that I just laughed.

Eric managed to stifle his own reaction, but I knew him well enough to see the mirth on his face.

“You must be Stuart,” Father Donnelly said, as he rubbed his undoubtedly sore jaw.

“You put my family in danger,” Stuart said. “That goddamn key in a child’s toy? My son could have been killed. And my daughter just walked up to the mouth of hell. What kind of man are you?”

“One who is trying to push hell back where it belongs,” Father Donnelly said. “One who understands that hard decisions must be made in order for evil to be banished to the dark, and for the dark to be locked away from the light.”

“That’s bullshit,” Stuart said. “If you think—”

“
Stuart
.” My sharp tone caught his attention. “I don’t like it either. But he may be the only one who knows enough about this to help us end it.” I looked Father Donnelly in the eye. “Can you?” I asked. “Or is Stuart right and we need to kick your sorry ass out of here so that the grownups can get to work?”

“It can be stopped. And yes,” he said, looking directly at Eric. “I know what must be done.”

Chapter 18

“T
here are, as you know,
many supposed gates to hell,” Father Donnelly said as we all sat around the table and listened to him. “There is no way that we can know which gate has been activated. No way to know for certain. But I have made an educated guess, and I believe that we are dealing with a gate to hell located beneath the Roman Forum.”

“Why?” Allie asked simply. “If there are eight billion gates, why do you think it’s that one? I mean, yay if you’re right, because it’s not that far from here. But personally I’d like to be a little more sure before we start chasing our tails and maybe wasting time.”

I stifled the urge to applaud, and I could tell from Eric’s expression that he felt the same. My little girl was growing up—and hopefully we’d save the world so she could keep going with that.

“You are correct to be wary,” he said. “But I called the National Seismological Institute, and they have just registered activity localized to that area. Combined with what I’m about to tell you, I think that we can be confident that is where the gate is—and that it has indeed begun to open.”

“What you’re about to tell us?” I asked.

“Have you heard of the
Lacus Curtius
?”

We all shook our heads. All except my daughter, who nodded.

Father Donnelly’s mouth curved into a tight smile. “Prize pupil. I hope she is formally training to join
Forza
?”

“Let’s keep the world going, and we can talk about that later. Okay, Al. Tell us.”

“I don’t know a lot,” she said, “but I just found it on the Internet when I was researching before Father Donnelly got here.”

“So it’s a gate to hell.”

“It came up in the search, but nothing in the article said that it was. Just that it was this mysterious chasm. And it kept growing and growing until some dude named Curtius threw himself into the pit. And that stopped it.”