Lissa, focus, Dragon sent. We can only do as much as we can do. My mouth was dry, even though I'd had my blood—as much as I could drink, anyway. I think I was praying silently by that time that somehow the children would be spared if their parents fell. I nodded at Dragon's mental message and we moved on. Eventually I ended up behind him; his shoulders were so much wider and he was so much taller than I was that it was easier for him to make a path for us. I was tired already, I think, just pushing our way through the throng toward the front gates. I took a few deep breaths, preparing for whatever came, when three priests slipped through the front doors. One of them had an amplifier and microphone with him.

He's not demon; young demons do not have speech capabilities, Dragon sent to me. That was good information to have. If I'd been close enough, I could have smelled whether he was demon or not but I wasn't that close and my nose was filled with the scent of too many Refizani bodies crowding around me.

"Good evening, citizens of Refizan," the priest with the microphone began to speak. "We will allow you into the temple in moments, but as you might imagine, we can only take so many. Do not fear; we will bring you all through eventually. Everyone will have an opportunity at the prize."

He and the two other priests stepped back inside the doors and only a few minutes later the doors were swung inward. The priests stationed at all four wide doors began to allow the crowd to push inside. There were thug guards there, too, just to make sure none of the people got out of hand as Dragon and I were shoved forward, passing priests that had the stink of demon on them.

I know. Dragon sent to me as we were pushed farther inside the temple.

Gabron, I sent out the mental shout, the priests at the doors are demon.

We are placing compulsion at the edges of the crowd, telling them to go home, he replied. I sent up a mental thanks.

Get as many of the children out of here as you can, Gabron, I begged, before cutting off communication. The huge, heavy doors were closing behind us. We'd been forced into the center of the temple floor; it was bare, I noticed. They had allowed perhaps two thousand of the waiting people in on the first round and there was a semi-circle of priests at the front, before an altar. Five more men, not dressed as priests, stood behind the altar. That semi-circle of priests? All demons; I recognized some of them as the ones receiving the Ra'Ak's kiss earlier. They were completely silent and had no expressions on their faces. In fact, they were gazing at the crowd as if—as if they were hungry.

I looked around me swiftly. Men, women and children surrounded me, all hoping to win the lottery, I suppose. It might be a lottery, but the priests were about to be the winners, I had no doubt about that. I ducked down, hoping that the attention wouldn't be on me when I turned to mist, watching in horror as more priests by the hundreds came through side doors and stood behind the ones already lined up at the altar. It made me think of cockroaches escaping the walls, there were so many. Most of these were demon; their scent overwhelmed me as they crowded the front of the temple. Obviously, the Ra'Ak had been busy; more than Dragon or I had imagined. It made me wonder just how many Solar Red priests were still humanoid.

I'm mist, I mindspoke Dragon and rose high above the crowd in the temple. Several priests stepped forward. People were about to be eaten or turned to demon and I was at a loss as to what to do about it.

I am safe from them, Dragon sent. I had no idea how that was possible. As the first screams of the people came as demon priests fell on them, ripping and tearing their flesh with teeth that didn't belong in any human mouth, I became desperate and did what I might not have done otherwise.

* * *

"I am on my way," René informed Tony via cell phone as Tony sat in the hotel restaurant, waiting for his order to be taken. René had spent the night in a safe house not far away; he preferred not to stay in hotels if he could avoid it.

"I am in the restaurant, Le Chat Gris, downstairs," Tony said. "Come by, I'll buy a glass of wine for you and we'll talk."

"I will be there in shortly," René replied, terminating the call. He was riding in a taxi; he'd managed to get one to take him to the hotel.

Tony drummed his fingers impatiently on a menu as he watched a waiter walk toward his table. The waiter was almost there and Tony was just about to ask for un steak saignant when the front of the restaurant blew inward. In the blink of an eye, although to Tony it appeared to move in slow motion, he was blown away with the rest of it.

* * *

I was mentally screaming for Gabron, shouting they're eating them, as I wound my mist as tightly as I could before releasing it, blasting the roof and the walls of the temple outward. People were screaming inside and out as chunks of brick and mortar came raining down on everyone. The priests inside—the demon ones, anyway, took that as a sign that their dinner might be getting away and stepped up their assault. The guards began shooting into the crowd and total chaos was a mild description of what was actually happening. The crowd was panicked and running—if they could. Many of them were trampled in their haste to get away. The vampires had done a good job, however; only half the original crowd remained when I blasted the temple.

The only ones making their way toward the temple floor (only a waist-high ring of wall now stood around it), were the vampires. I saw them as I hovered high overhead, taking stock of the situation. I couldn't see Dragon any longer; the mass exodus was so confused and disorderly. Demon priests were tearing apart any humanoid they came across, devouring the pieces swiftly as they moved to attack the next one. A news crew situated atop a nearby building was recording it all—and sending a live feed to citizens across Refizan. The noise was almost unendurable, with each of the remaining fifty thousand people screaming at the top of their lungs as they fled.

I dived downward, intent upon helping the vampires who were now reaching the demon priests—more than two thousands of them—all dressed in the red robes of their order. Demon priests were dusting as they met up with the vampires, whose claws were out as they sliced heads off viciously. I saw one vampire go down trying to protect a mother and her child. I went there, first.

"Fuckers!" I screamed in English as I removed the first head before completely materializing. Another priest took his place and he dusted, too. The mother was running behind me, getting away from there as quickly as she could.

* * *

Karzac and many of the hospital's employees were glued to the video screen, watching in horror as people were running away, some of them not getting far before being torn apart by priests in their red robes. "They're eating them!" One of the nurses wept as they all watched. Karzac schooled his face; he'd seen this before, just not to this degree or on his home planet. The cameras, some of them, now focused on the vampires who were fighting the priests, allowing the people to run away as best they could.




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