Chapter 7

In the kitchen, Frank went to the oven and checked the timer. "The beef stroganoff is ready. I suppose a salad and some cottage cheese ... "

Holly hung back. She felt uncomfortable naked in the kitchen ... with him fully dressed. "Is there an apron I could wear?"

Frank took her into his arms. "I'm sorry, Holly. I wish I could have prevented this. But she's so overpowering ... hypnotizing."

"Is she really a demon now?"

"Jesus, I don't know. When I'm in her presence I'm sure she's been taken over by something from another world. I believe. It's impossible not to. She—or it—radiates so much psychic force—But when I'm away, out of the house or in another room, then I wonder and I start to think ..."

"I really couldn't help myself, pooky." Holly clutched and pressed against him for reassurance and strength ... "And I wanted to be her slave. Something in me just loved it."

"Yes. She burns us down to the core—the naked core." He kissed her. He found her mouth hot and loose. He had to pull away. "I'll get you one of my shirts to wear. You start making the salad."

Ten minutes later, Frank went to Donna's room. The door was still open. He saw her, still naked, standing rigid next to the bed, sweat running down her body. She was breathing deep and fast. Her eyes were shut tight, her face a mask of brutal concentration. Frank noticed the slipper chair behind her—it was moving, rocking, as if tugged by wires. But there were no wires! Frank made an involuntary grunt of surprise and incredulity.

The chair settled down. Donna opened her eyes. They blazed! She crowed, "You saw! My powers are coming!"

He said hesitantly, "Telekinesis—"

"You have your stupid pseudo-scientific labels. The Old Ones are giving me powers. More and more. I am their instrument on this plane. My mission is clear. My ... "

Donna swayed and sat abruptly on the bed. She slumped. "This body weakens so easily, so quickly. But it will serve. Is the food ready?"

"Yes, that's what I came to tell you."

"I do not like the feel of this sweat on the body. Go to the dining room and wait."

Frank and Holly were sitting at the table, waiting, the food in place, when Donna came imperiously into the room. She had showered and her blonde hair was damp and clotted from a shampooing. She wore a cotton robe. She said to Frank, "Turn the heat up. I don't want this bag of flesh and bones to get sick."

When he left the room to turn up the thermostat, she said to Holly, "Do you swallow when Frank shoots off in your mouth?"

Holly kept her eyes on her plate. "Yes."

"Good. I'm looking forward to seeing that. I always have been a voyeur. One of my original sins. A minor one, actually. I was executed and sent to Hell for cannibalism during the siege of Syracuse in 212 B.C. Those Roman bastards!"

Holly's eyes widened.

Frank returned. "I set it for seventy-five." They could hear the muffled hiss of the gas furnace.

Donna said to Holly, "Serve me!"

Holly jumped up. She wore a pink, diamond patterned polyester knit short-sleeved dress shirt of Frank's. It reached barely below her crotch. She spooned a serving of stroganoff onto Donna's plate.

"More!" Donna impishly ran her hand up under the shirt tails and caressed Holly's naked rump. Her fingers trailed into the crevice.

Holly's hands shook. She put more food on the plate, and added a large helping of salad and peas.

Frank poured a glass of milk. He saw the fondling and was repelled, but then realized it was consistent—if Donna was possessed by a demon. IF! IF! She had made that chair move by force of will. Yet a deeply disturbed teen-age girl might be able to do that. The talents discovered and forced into use by the deranged human mind under pressure ... who knew what was possible and what impossible? What powers?

Suddenly he was jolted by the stab of her blue eyes into his mind. He was transfixed, poised with the milk carton tilted. She said warningly, "Do not doubt me! I will suck the jelly from your bones."

He was released, and he put down the carton, shaken. He took the coffee pot from the warmer and poured himself and Holly each a cup. He observed his trembling hand. He knew he had to finally decide very soon—oppose, seek help, for an insane girl or join without reservation in the plans of a demon from Hell. It was ... ridiculous ... but real!

Donna ate ravenously. As she ate and drank, she talked. "I want to recruit about five coven members in the next week. Frank—I want to meet someone of great wealth and position. An older man, greedy, secretly depraved. You—Holly—think of people you know or have known who fit. I want people with money and connections and twists in their souls. They're the easiest. My inner core ... my first, primal coven must be powerful, a base."

She drained her glass and signaled for it to be refilled. He did so. But he was silent. She glared at him. "Well? Who do you suggest we visit tomorrow?"

"I really don't know anyone interested in the occult."

"You had a roomful last night."

"That wasn't—that was a party, a game, they thought. I don't move in cult circles."

"Who do you know who is wealthy? Extremely wealthy?"

"I'm not in that league."

"ANSWER ME!" The bowl of stroganoff flew from the dining room table and smashed against the wall. Holly jumped and gasped. Her eyes were saucers.

Frank gripped the edge of the table. He was impaled by Donna's blazing gaze. Sweat popped out on his forehead. He groaned and said, "Jonathan Dean ... maybe. He's a kind of rich maverick. I met him at a luncheon."

"Describe him physically."

"Five-nine or so ... heavy shoulders, a paunch ... he's about fifty-six years old, graying ... collects classic pornography and doesn't care who knows it."

Donna's eyes were shut. "Money?"

"He owns a big chunk of Macro Structures. They build dams, buildings, bridges. All over the world. And he's got investments in land, oil, computers."

"I want him!"

"How do you go about getting him?"

She smiled. "I want you to introduce me to him. That's all you have to do ... Daddy."

Holly sat huddled in her chair. She had stopped eating. She kept looking at the shattered remains of the plate of stroganoff and the stain on the wall.

Donna turned to Holly. "Who do you recommend for my coven?"

"I—I—I know a woman ... and her daughter ... who believe in ghosts and ... the supernatural. They go to mediums and they talk to her dead husband."

"Is she important?"

"She just has lots of stocks and bonds."

"How is it that you know them?"

Holly's head went lower. "I was ... Adrienne is bi, and I'm kind of bi ... and we were making it together. Helene knew about it. She doesn't care. I think Helen's bi, too. She talks dirty a lot."

"How old is this woman and her daughter?"

"Helen's about forty-two or three, and Adrienne is twenty-three now."

Donna nodded, pleased. "Tomorrow you will arrange for us to meet. I'll absorb them and they can suggest a few other prospects for the coven. Yes. It's going well now." She laughed throatily, an evil, masculine laugh that

sounded weird coming from Donna's full-lipped, very feminine mouth.

She said to Holly, "Make me a thick cheese sandwich. And clean up that mess."

Holly sprang to obey.

Donna said to Frank, "I can almost read your mind, Daddy. You still haven't given up your daughter. You're a fool. I have her squeezed into a tiny ball of energy. She cannot see or hear. From now on, that little ball will grow weaker and weaker, and after a few weeks ... I'll snuff it out for good. This is a fine, young, beautiful female body. I appreciate it more and more. It will serve me well for many years."

"Can you ... change to another body?"

Donna regarded him. "Would you find me one as nice, Frank? Would you condemn some other girl to save your daughter?"

"I don't know. Yes!"

A slow, evil smile. She did not answer his question.

Holly came hurrying back into the room from the kitchen with a cheese sandwich on a plate. "I didn't know if you wanted butter or lettuce." She had buttered the bread and added a leaf of lettuce. "If you want some sliced tomato—"

"Put it down. Now both of you eat. We have an energetic evening ahead of us." She watched them both resume their meal. She wolfed the sandwich and finished the second glass of milk.

Donna said impatiently, "I'll be in the basement. When you've finished, when you've cleaned up, when you've each had baths, come to me." She quickly left the room.

Frank watched Donna leave. Her walk—her gestures—were all different, all subtly stiff and strong ... masculine.

Holly said softly, "I'm scared to death."

"I think I am, too."

They forced themselves to eat. They heard Donna go down the stairs. They ate in silence for a moment. Then Frank said in a near whisper, "We could leave. Get in my car and never come back. That isn't my Donna anymore. I don't feel any love for the thing she's become."

Holly asked, "What if she is a demon now? Couldn't she find us ... and punish us?"

"I don't know. Damn it, I don't know!" Frank's face twisted with anguish. He lunged up from the table and pulled Holly with him. He towed her to the front door. She said, "She'll kill us!"

Frank couldn't turn the brass doorknob. He checked the lock. The door wouldn't open! He used both big hands, all his strength, but the knob wouldn't turn. There was no play in it at all. It was frozen—as if the metal had been welded somehow ... His mouth was dry as dust. He was suddenly panting with fear. He seized Holly's hand and dragged her to the wide glass sliding doors opening to the patio. The latch wouldn't budge. Sweat dripped from his face.

Holly's voice trembled. "She knows! We're prisoners."

"We can break a window if we have to!" He ran to the nearest windows—the two flanking the fireplace—and first tried to twist open the simple lock. It was like solid metal. Cursing, Frank pulled off his shoe and smashed the leather heel against the pane. The glass was like steel. Frank pounded at it in a frenzy. "Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, JESUS CHRIST!"

Holly clutched at him, put her thin arms around him. "We have to obey her. We have to obey!"

He stood gasping, teeth gritted. "If she can do this—" He stood for another few seconds, staring at the window, then he went loose and sat in a club chair. He looked dully at Holly. "Baby, I'm sorry."

She knelt and rested her head on his knee. "Maybe ... maybe she will be some kind of ruler. Maybe we will be rewarded if we serve her."

He stroked her rumpled, short red hair. "It's insane. It can't be true." He looked at the window, at the patio doors, and he shook his head.