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him greatly irritated the demon. That which was lost would have given him more power than he’d ever had. He’d have ruled on earth forever! He would have opened new portals for his Master, converted more humans to dark service. They would be a potent force, undefeatable. No angel would be able to destroy them. No human would be able to fight them. They’d have the numbers and strength to come and go at will among the pitiable human bodies.
    What a travesty that he needed such a weak vessel to survive in this dimension!
    With the remaining strength from the ritual that had brought him from Hell, he’d be able to keep the souls trapped until he could complete his mission and send them to the fiery pit. He needed another body, which his earthly servants would soon provide.
    He could survive in an unwilling body, but the constant battle to restrain a fighting soul would prevent him from attaining his highest power. Sooner or later, he would need a willing human to increase his strength.
    The dead around him moaned with dread of their fate.
    No one can save you. You were betrayed by one you loved, and you’re mine for eternity.
    The demon laughed, and waited, and the trees of the forest groaned.

Chapter Three
    S KYE LISTENED TO D ETECTIVE J UAN M ARTINEZ as she drove from the mission back to town.
    “While you were talking to Zaccardi in the courtyard, I spoke to the delivery boy,” Juan said, glancing briefly at his notes. “Brian Adamson. He delivers every Monday morning between nine and noon.”
    “Did he have anything to add?”
    “He confirmed what Zaccardi said about Cooper being a recent transplant. Came here a month ago. The interesting thing is that Cooper recently fired the housekeeper, a Ms. Corrine Davies.”
    “Do you have an address?”
    “Ten Seaview Lane. North of town.”
    “Let’s go pay her a visit.”
    Juan flipped through his notes and said to Skye, “According to the property manager, Corinne Davies and her daughter, Lisa, moved into the house nearly two years ago when the mother took a job as cook and housekeeper at the mission. They’ve never been late on the rent, no complaints, not even a call for repairs. Ideal tenants.”
    “How old is the daughter?”
    “Twenty. A college student.”
    “Background?”
    “No warrants, no arrests. I have Ms. Davies’s credit application. A widow, her last address was in Salem, Oregon, where she worked for the Catholic diocese. Her references included the bishop.”
    “Who hired her in Santa Louisa?”
    “Bishop Carlin.”
    Martinez had spoken with the bishop earlier in the day to inform him of the murders and ask questions about Rafe Cooper. Skye had met the bishop only once before, when he presided over the funeral for one of her deputies. She was more comfortable with Juan handling the religious contacts. She didn’t need religion, didn’t understand people who sacrificed everything for something they couldn’t see. People who abandoned their family, their homes, everything, for a promise only good when you were dead.
    Skye pushed that all from her mind. Already, this case was eating at her and memories of her mother threatened to return. She was as done with her mother as the last criminal she’d locked behind bars.
    “Why is Cooper here?” she asked.
    “Raphael ‘Rafe’ Cooper is a seminary student up in Menlo Park,” Martinez said. “The bishop doesn’t have any personal information on him.”
    “How does he just move to the mission without the diocese knowing his history? Isn’t there some sort of background check, employment verification, anything? I need Cooper’s background, ASAP. But what I really want to know is, why is he here ?”
    “Bishop Carlin didn’t know. The mission, though technically part of the diocese, isn’t under his control.”
    “So who controls it?”
    “The Vatican.”
    “As in Vatican, do you mean like the Pope and the Catholic Church Vatican?”
    “Apparently. Someone in Rome, Francis Cardinal