 
Kidnapped and Bound for Hell

A Story By

Philip R Benge

Smashwords Edition

***************

Published by

Philip R Benge on Smashwords

Kidnapped and Bound for Hell

Copyright Philip R Benge 2013

Cover Art Copyright Philip R Benge 2013

Thank you for downloading this eBook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form, with the exception of quotes used in reviews.

Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author's imagination and used fictitiously.

Kidnapped and Bound for Hell

Contents

Chapter One: A Very Dangerous Occupation

Chapter Two: A Call for Help

Chapter Three: Murder

Chapter Four: France and a Chance to Escape

Chapter Five: Fighting Demons

Chapter Six: Finally in France

Chapter Seven: The Final Reckoning

Chapter Eight: The Epilogue

About the Author

Other Books by the Author

Chapter One

A Very Dangerous Occupation

A storm was raging that morning and a blast of thunder almost deafened John Ryman as he entered the office of the editor of News International. He had been summoned while preparing his breakfast of tea and toast. The thunder rumbled angrily above his head and hoped that the storm wasn`t a portent of things to come.

"Good morning Mr Thompson, how are you today?" he asked his editor who was sitting behind a large oak desk that somehow seemed almost small in the spacious office. Ryman sat down in the chair positioned opposite him and waited for him to speak. Thompson looked up at him and smiled.

"Morning John, I would like you to write some articles for me, I`ve got one of the Sunday tabloids interested in it so it should be profitable for the both of us." The editor said pausing for a moment but Ryman stayed quiet and let his boss tell him more of this supposed gold mine.

"The articles are to be about the growth of Satanism in our community, and I want you to compare it with the subsequent decline in Christianity, are you interested John?" Thompson asked looking across at his journalist and waiting for his reply.

"Of course, I am sir, but surely Satanism is just a fringe activity for the more perverted of the community?" Ryman replied sceptically.

"It may well be John, but what I want you to do is to find something that will really grip our readers' interest, and make them want to read the next instalment, without resorting to actual lies you understand. I want your article to show that Satanism is a new danger that society must face, and how it is unacceptable that the Church is not doing more to stamp it out. You know, a few choice adjectives, an embellishment here, an awkward fact deleted there, something for the readers to tut tut about over their breakfast." Thompson said.

"Fine sir, when do you want the first instalment?" Ryman asked.

"I want it ready for Sunday next. Your first article can start with the evil that lies just a click way on the internet, expand this with a few of the well-known Satanists of the past, you know, that Crowley fellow. For your next article though, I expect to read about the covens that are about today. Get a few interviews and of course we will need a lot of photographs to accompany your article." Thompson ordered.

"Yes Sir, I shouldn`t have too many problems in writing that sort of article, one that makes our readers wonder what is really going on behind the closed doors of suburbia." Even if it isn`t, mused Ryman.

"Okay well that`s fine then John, I`ll leave you to it." Thompson said and then turned away and began to read one of the many papers that lay on his desk, Ryman knew that he had been dismissed so he left Thompson to his work.

The first article almost wrote itself, Ryman found enough on the internet to write a dozen opening articles, and after sifting through it all, he had no trouble trimming it down to just the most shocking parts. That gave him ten days to come up with the second article.

While Ryman had been surfing through the filth that was so easy to find on the internet, he did come across one piece of news that stood out. It concerned a certain catholic priest who had been termed the witch finder general by the local press. Bishop Carstairs, who was the priest`s superior, hadn`t been amused by his activities, for Father Pritchard had looked into areas that were normally frowned upon by the Church. A parishioner had complained to Father Pritchard about a haunting, it seemed that the previous tenant of his house didn`t realise that he was now dead, and he kept waking the new tenant up at around two in the morning and trying to evict him. It said in the article that Father David Pritchard had refused to listen to his Bishop, and had continued to assist his parishioner in ridding his house of the troublesome spirit. Because of this, and other earlier events, the priest had been sent on a sabbatical for an undisclosed period of time. Ryman went to his computer and Googled, Father Pritchard, and soon had his address and telephone number. Ryman was sure that had he persevered he would even have had the Father`s inside leg measurement. Telephoning the priest wouldn`t get him anywhere, of that Ryman was positive, the priest would probably just put the phone down on him. No, he would have to drive down to Salisbury unannounced and just knock on the priest`s door. He decided to leave it until the next day and left before the sun was up, it was still only nine o`clock when he pulled into the road and parked just feet away from Father Pritchard`s front door. He had been a full-time journalist for only six years, and during this time he had come to accept the fact that the people you really needed to talk to, didn`t always want to speak to you. Ryman walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. A tall man aged about fifty opened the door and smiled at the journalist.

"Can I help you?" Father Pritchard enquired politely.

"Yes I`m writing an article about the dangers of Satanism, and when I heard that you were the accepted expert on the matter, I hoped that you might be able to tell me the facts, as lately Hollywood has been over glamourizing the subject." Ryman said bending the truth about his article to breaking point.

"The dangers of Satanism, well I suppose I could speak to you about that, but I must insist on my identity remaining a secret, otherwise I will have to refer you to my Bishop." Father Pritchard knew that Bishop Carstairs wouldn`t answer any questions on the subject, and he would also forbid any of his priests even acknowledging the subject of Satanism.

"No that is fine, I had heard somewhere that the leaders of the Church didn`t like to talk to the press about the subject."

Ryman replied following Father Pritchard through to the front room, Ryman saw that the room was mostly filled with books, books that looked to be older than the priest, and making the room smell a little musty. The furniture was mostly past its sell by date, but even so, Ryman found that he liked the room, for it was a room that seemed to welcome you.

They sat themselves down in two comfortable armchairs and Ryman took out a small digital tape recorder from his brief case.

"You don`t mind if I tape our conversation, I find that it helps me later, when I`m actually writing the article." He asked innocently.

"As a matter of fact, I do mind, please do not turn that device on, if you want my help then you will have to take notes the old-fashioned way." Father Pritchard said eyeing the device almost with distaste, his eyes followed the recorder back into the brief case as if to ensure that Ryman didn`t try to turn it on surreptitiously.

"I understand completely, Father Pritchard." Ryman said and smiled, for he saw that the good father had seen through his ruse, for if had been able to record the priest`s voice then he could use his name in the article, and have the recording to verify all he had said.

"I have got a lot from the internet already Father. What I was hoping was if you could provide me with a few modern case studies as it were, to bring some life into the article. This will let our readers see that evil is still there waiting for the unwary even though we are now in the twenty first century. I want to impress on them that they shouldn`t play with the satanic forces of modern-day Britain, these forces that are still as dangerous as ever they were when most people actually believed in a devil."

Ryman smiled once again and sat there waiting for Father Pritchard to respond.

"If you have looked up the subject on the internet Mr Ryman, then you will know that many of today`s covens are in it only for the riotous and perverted sex that they can enjoy, hidden safely away from their straight-laced neighbours. However, even then they feign an interest in worshipping Satan. This makes it all the easier for the more serious minded amongst them to take it a step further, and take his followers down a road that they never knew existed. Thankfully the majority of them have no real idea where to take it to, as it were, but some of them have actually carried out human sacrifices in Satan`s name. This leads them into great danger, for Satan might even notice them, and believe me no sane man would want that." Father Pritchard changed the subject momentarily by offering Ryman a cup of coffee, which he gratefully accepted.

While Father Pritchard was in the kitchen Ryman wandered around the front room, until he came to a sliding door that he found opened into the Father`s study. Ryman slipped quietly inside and his eyes were drawn to a partly open drawer in the Father`s desk. Within it Ryman could see a folder, and on the front was the name Bourbon, he pulled the folder out and opened it to find that he was looking at a dossier on a powerful Satanist, one that even Father Pritchard feared. There was also a photograph of the man that seemed vaguely familiar. He pulled out his mobile phone and quickly photographed the front page of the dossier. Unfortunately, that was all he had time to do for he heard the priest returning from the kitchen and he had to quickly slip the folder back into the drawer and then vacate the room.

Father Pritchard found Ryman looking at the photographs that lined the wall of the front room; and over coffee Ryman took the conversation to these before casually asking Father Pritchard the question that he had been burning to ask.

"Father did you ever come across a Satanist named Bourbon, his name cropped up during my earlier researches?" Ryman asked in his most innocent of voices.

"Bourbon, where on earth did you hear his name mentioned?" For a moment Father Pritchard was looking at Ryman, but then his head turned to the door that led into his study. His face hardened as he turned to Ryman.

"Take my advice Ryman, forget that name, bury it deep and never mention it to anyone. Now I believe it is time for you to go, goodbye and please do not return." Ryman was quickly shown the door and seconds later was outside sitting in his car.

"Well, I`ve certainly got a name to chase down now, Bourbon where have I heard that name before?" Ryman said to himself and decided that he needed WIFI so he headed into town and parked in a car park near to the cathedral. From here, he walked into the town centre until he found a cafe that offered free WIFI; and over another coffee and a sandwich, he powered up his laptop, and soon he knew everything there was to know about Ulysses Bourbon, city financier and multi-millionaire.

**********

It was already getting dark as Ulysses Bourbon drove back to his new house; it was just outside of the small village of Lower Boulding, which is set deep in the English countryside. He was using this house more and more as his financial base, and his plush office in the City of London was now just an expensive accessory.

He didn`t notice the silver Ford Focus following his every turn as he wound his way back to his new home, a home which used to be the local manor house of the district. Unfortunately, a new and very different sort of squire of the county lived there now, one that a wise man would steer very clear of; if he wished to avoid harm coming to him and his family.

He had phoned ahead to ensure that the main gate would be open when he arrived at the estate, and so now he was able to drive straight through the open gate and along a long track to finally park his expensive Mercedes in front of the Georgian building that was home to him and his young daughter Moira. His wife had met a mysterious death soon after the birth of his daughter, and he had employed a nanny to look after the day-to-day needs of his child. Parked beside his luxury car were three other top of the range vehicles, his houseguests had already begun to arrive. Bourbon was met by his servant, a giant of a man, Guy Rochelle.

"Everything has been made ready for the Autumn Equinox celebrations, Sir, and all as per your instructions. Your guests are already beginning to arrive, Sinjan Smythe is in his room, Josef Steiner is enjoying your library and Bernard Peron is sitting in the back garden." Rochelle said as soon as his master had got out of his luxury car.

"Thank you, Guy, our final guests should be here within the hour, when everyone is assembled we shall have dinner and then move to the glade and begin our celebrations, hopefully they will prove a success." He said to Rochelle with a satisfied smile upon his handsome, almost classical face.

**********

John Ryman drove on by the gate and parked some half a mile further on. Funny he mused, to be back in Lower Boulding, he wondered how his family were, but he knew better than to call on them, his mother would only go on at him about his chosen profession and then they would argue, loudly, which would upset his sisters. He would finally get so fed up with her nagging that he would swear at her and leave. That was how his last home visit had gone, no it would be far easier to stay away from home and just get on with his job.

He had realised that his investigation into Bourbon and his disgusting activities might take more than a night, so he had brought a suitcase, which contained a change of clothes and other essential supplies, such as his razor. He decided to check into the Vista Hotel, a small but clean hotel that wasn`t over expensive, and which was also within walking distance of Bourbon`s new home. Leaving his suitcase in the room, he decided to walk over to a small but rather expensive restaurant that he remembered from his last visit home, and he dined there. The church clock was just striking ten o`clock and he had finished eating and was now walking slowly back along a familiar side road until he came to Fairbrother road. This road started at the far end of the village and went back towards the motorway from which Ryman had driven down. As he walked along it, Ryman realised that Bourbon was living in what once was the Fairbrother estate. Now, Ryman thought sadly, it was owned by Bourbon, who used it as a base to make even more millions, and maybe conduct his own very perverted lifestyle. He wished that he could have studied the file that Father Pritchard had on the man, to see what else was known about Bourbon.

Ryman entered the estate using some much-unused muscles; they enabled him to clamber over the new and well-made wooden fence that was obviously intended to deter uninvited guests. Ryman wondered about the possibility of any High-Tec surveillance equipment as he entered further into the grounds along a narrow animal trail, but he didn`t notice any, unless of course it was very High-Tec in which case he would soon be asked to explain why he was sneaking around on the estate. He followed a very narrow track, constantly having to duck beneath overhanging branches for two minutes before stopping. Ahead of him he heard voices, and then he saw a couple of men, but they didn`t appear to be looking for intruders. Although they were obviously in Bourbon`s employ, they seemed more like heavies than country estate workers. Ryman had immediately ducked behind a large oak tree on hearing the men, and now he watched them as they walked along a slightly wider track than the one used by Ryman. Ryman waited until they had disappeared around a bend in the track before he moved forward, and then he stopped for another moment while he listened for any further signs of anyone coming his way. Hearing nothing, he then set off along the track in the opposite direction to that taken by two men. In just one minute he found that he was in a small glade hidden deep within the woods that made up most of the estate. In the centre of the moonlit glade was a large pile of wood that was obviously an unlit bonfire, beside this he saw a large chair that Ryman assumed was Bourbon`s throne for the night. On the opposite side he saw what he assumed was a sacrificial altar, although thankfully there didn`t appear to be any outward signs of recent use.

Ryman didn`t need to think about the situation before him for too long, he knew from his research that tonight was the night of the autumn equinox, and he now foresaw a night that would make a marvellous second article. Ryman moved to one side of the glade and back into the woods, here he found some ferns to hide amongst for his covert surveillance of the coming festivities. He had chosen a place where he should remain hidden from whoever was going to attend the bonfire party, but also a position where he would also be able to obtain some very good photographs. His expensive digital camera would easily cope with the dim lighting without the need to resort to flash photography, which in any case would mean giving his presence away to a bunch of psychotic perverts, no the light given off by the bonfire would be more than adequate. Ryman grinned, he thought of his editor`s face when he saw the photographs and read the article, yes, he was looking forward to seeing a very happy editor quite soon, and a good cheque to cover the discomfort of tonight.

The faraway church clock was striking eleven thirty when he heard further signs of life, and coming from the direction of the old manor house, he then saw a figure appear, one who he assumed was Bourbon, with him were twelve other people, they were all wearing different masks and some of the men even wore costumes. Ryman could tell that many of them were already drunk, these he assumed were either, members who were new comers to the pagan religion, or else they were members who needed to be drunk to participate in the perversions that he would hopefully see performed before him that night.

The figure who he thought of as Bourbon nodded to a giant of a man who stepped forward and lit the bonfire, it immediately blazed into life as an accelerant had previously been added to the stack of wood. A cloud of red smoke suddenly clouded Ryman`s view for a moment, something extra must have been added to the bonfire to give this theatrical effect, Ryman thought. The smoke engulfed the members of the coven who now began to dance around the large bonfire screaming out the cry, 'Lord Lucifer look upon us favourably.' The dancing grew wilder and several of the Satanists began to engage in various sexual activities, Ryman smiled, for he knew that the photographs that he was taking of the satanic orgy would please the readers of the Sunday tabloid. The smoke gradually drifted his way and Ryman began to feel a little light headed, he wondered if it was having a hallucinogenic effect on him. For twenty seconds at least, the satanic party was hidden by the smoke, but as it cleared, he saw the figure that he assumed was Bourbon, walk over to the altar, and he looked down at a young boy who was bound there; his coven immediately turned towards the young boy and cried out ecstatically. Ryman had never stopped taking photographs while on an assignment before, but he did now.

Ryman went rigid, when had the boy arrived, while the orgy was temporarily hidden from him by the smoke, for he surely hadn`t seen the boy make his appearance? Now his blood ran cold, for he watched as Bourbon took a large ornate knife from under his cloak, surely Bourbon didn`t intend to murder the young boy, not before all of these witnesses, Ryman thought?

"Oh Lucifer, lord of this world and the next, we beseech you to appear to us now, to watch over us as we dedicate this virgin boy to you. Honour us with your presence that we may worship you. We offer this soul to you to do with as is your desire."

A groan of anticipation came from the assembled Satanists as they turned as one to the throne. Ryman too looked at it wondering what trickery Bourbon had ready for his coven. The throne suddenly became lost to his view as another cloud of red smoke appeared, this time it engulfed the throne until a breeze sprang up and blew the smoke away, it blew over the coven, and then Ryman hidden within the trees. As the area around the throne cleared, Ryman could make out a figure who was sitting on the throne. Ryman gasped, for he saw before him the satanic horned goat, the name Baphomet sprung instantly to Ryman`s mind from his internet searches, and he cringed in terror even though part of his mind was telling him that it wasn`t real, it was all part of Bourbon`s theatre. Then the eyes of the coven turned once more to Bourbon and they cried in unison.

"Give his soul to our great lord Baphomet that he might tell our Lord Lucifer of his followers here on Earth." Ryman`s eyes were also torn away from the terrible figure of the horned goat and back to Bourbon.

Bourbon brought the knife down and pierced the heart of the young boy; the boy felt nothing though, for he was drugged. The giant of a man moved forward, grabbed hold of the dead boy by his legs, and held him aloft. Bourbon slit the throat of the dead boy and blood began to drip down into a large bowl that he had set on the altar. The Satanists cheered and hurriedly moved forward as Bourbon then brought out a gold goblet and began to fill it with the dead boy`s blood.

"This is for you my Lord Baphomet." Bourbon cried taking the gold goblet over to the demon on the throne. The members of the coven quietened in expectation of what they were about to witness.

It was now during this moment of silence that Ryman let out an involuntary groan as he tried to stop from spewing out his earlier meal. The crowd turned towards him and pointed towards his hiding place. Ryman stood up and looked towards the Satanists, his mind was in turmoil, he felt more terrified than he had ever been before, but thankfully his self-preservation mode kicked in and he turned and ran back through the woods towards the safety of the road.

Bourbon saw Ryman running away, he also saw the camera gripped firmly in his hand, and he turned to his followers, his angry voice chasing after the now fleeing Ryman.

"Bring him back to me, and ensure that you don`t forget to also bring me his camera." He demanded. "He must be punished for his insult to our magnificent Lord."

Ryman could hear the Satanists pursuing him and couldn`t resist looking back, this almost proved fatal for he caught his foot in the root of a large tree, and he only just stopped himself from falling to the ground, and what would have meant his imminent death. He still held on firmly to his camera, for he had taken more than two dozen photographs in the short time since the ceremony had started, they would present him with enough evidence to send these perverted murders to jail for a very long time, or so he hoped. He saw the wooden fence before him and was soon over it, but this was hardly surprising as he did have some of the followers of Satan chasing close behind him

Back at the small glade, the giant of a man who was called Guy Rochelle laid the body of the dead boy back on to the altar and looked to his master. The horned goat approached him and took off its terrible headdress to reveal the head of a woman dressed in a very lifelike costume of a large goat. Bourbon was deep in thought but his mind soon came up with the answers he required.

"Take your costume off Sybil and stow it away, then you can help Guy to clean up this mess and dispose of the body as you did his parents. I will summon real demonic assistance in case our interloper escapes from the estate." That Bourbon was in a really bad mood because of the snooper spying on them was an understatement, he vowed to have his vengeance on their spy, and in a way that would tear at the man`s very soul.

Bourbon walked to the spot where Ryman had been hiding and after just a moment he smiled, there on the floor was a business card giving the Satanist all the information he required about John Ryman. He picked it up and returned to the manor house where he took off his mask and stowed it away with his other satanic regalia. He was once again a respectable businessman. He quickly copied the details shown on the business card, which Ryman had inadvertently lost, into a small notebook. Then he went down to the cellar and walking to one end of it he slipped his hand behind a stack of empty wine crates and pulled a lever, a concealed door slid open to reveal a Satanic temple. Turning the light on Bourbon hurried across to the altar that was positioned at the rear of the temple, behind the altar he slipped behind a large tapestry that showed a scene from Dante`s famed book; the Doomed Souls embarking to cross the Acheron was depicted in all of its glory. Behind the tapestry was a small laboratory. He first took down a glass jug and put it on to the table that filled the centre of the room. Then he took various ingredients down from the shelves that lined the walls and put them into the jug. Then he selected an ornate glass spoon from amongst a tray of utensils and mixed the contents of his jug. When he was satisfied that his mixture was correct he put the business card onto a deep glass tray that always sat on the table; next he poured the contents of the jug into the tray.

"Veigel obey my call so that I might punish the man who ruined our devotions to the terrible but most magnificent Lord Lucifer." Bourbon said in a voice that rang loudly within the confines of the small laboratory. Moments later a thin veil of smoke began to rise from the liquid before him and he now spoke again.

"Veigel come to me I command you." Bourbon commanded.

Veigel, a minor demon that he used on such occasions as this appeared behind the veil of smoke, his stunted body bent and his face terribly misshapen. Bourbon was almost sick as the stench of the beast reached him, but he showed no outward sign of it.

"Veigel, show me where this man John Ryman is staying the night, so that I might visit him." Bourbon commanded the small demon.

"Of course, Master." Veigel replied in a thin rasping voice that Bourbon always had trouble understanding.

Veigel picked up the card and put it to his misshapen to the card and breathed in. For a moment he disappeared, but then he was back looking pleased. An image of the Vista Hotel appeared in the veil of smoke before him, and he watched as Ryman entered his room earlier that evening with his suitcase. Bourbon smiled, if his followers failed him then he would catch up to the meddler soon enough.

"Now show me where he is now." He once again commanded the lesser demon, who was his to command, as long as the demon was suitable recompensed.

The image now showed Ryman running into the entrance of his hotel; he had apparently given the chasing Satanists the slip. Bourbon swore loudly and turned to the minor demon.

"Be gone foul one until I need you again, but leave the image in the smoke, Mughasar will need to see it." Bourbon commanded. But the demon didn`t go immediately, instead it looked up at Bourbon, its red eyes radiating with the evil that oozed like water from the demon`s presence here on Earth.

"I need paying Master." Veigel`s voice now sounding much happier than before, much less servile.

"Here take it and be gone." Bourbon commanded as the demon rushed at him and took his payment. When sufficiently satisfied with his payment he disappeared from view leaving behind him the foul stench of hell and the smokey picture of Ryman. Bourbon stood for a moment, weakened by the lesser demon. At that moment Bourbon vowed that after tonight others would be made to pay the blood fee. The fee for their services would eventually lead to him becoming a powerful master of the satanic arts. Knowing that he must call upon the intruder and destroy the camera, Bourbon, now donned a suit much like the one worn by Sybil at the satanic ceremony, and then he knelt by the altar.

Bourbon then mixed a second potion and lit it, as a column of pale red smoke slowly rose up to the ceiling he summoned another demon of hell.

"Mughasar, I am going on a journey, I command you to assist me, make your presence known to me now, and this I command you." Bourbon`s voice roared out and it was only seconds later that another lesser demon appeared before him.

"I am here oh master, what is it that you would command of me?"

This demon looked more like a man than Veigel had done, although his head was quite large and had horns growing out of the top of it; he was jet black in colour with huge red eyes that seemed to glow, and it had large sharp teeth within its cavernous mouth.

"You see the man here; the one shown in the veil of smoke Mughasar?" Bourbon said pointing at the veil of smoke. His voice sounded so menacing that it even made the lesser demon Mughasar, cringe. "He has intruded on one of our most holy of celebrations and we must teach him a lesson in manners. His name is John Ryman; before the night is over, I will make him wish that he had never been born. Take me to his lodgings Mughasar, that I might punish him for his blasphemous behaviour."

*********

Ryman unlocked the door to his room and fell on to his bed, both exhausted and still terrified by his terrible ordeal over the last thirty minutes. His body was drenched in sweat, he knew that he hadn`t ever kept his body in shape but his condition was only partly down to his exhausting flight from the Satanists, it was mainly due to the terrible things that he had seen that night. The fear that had gripped him, body and soul, still affected his mind. He knew that he should shower before retiring to his bed, but his body ached so much from his flight from terror that he just didn`t have the strength. His mind was in a turmoil and he thought that maybe he should check out of his hotel room and flee back to London, but he didn`t, for he knew that he simply didn`t have the energy, he would surely fall asleep at the wheel of the car and crash.

Instead, he decided to call Father Pritchard and beg his help, the priest was not too happy to receive his call.

"You little fool, I warned you not to go anywhere near that man and now you can see why. Can you drive over to my house; you will be much safer here?" Father Pritchard asked angrily.

"No Father, there is no way, I`m far too exhausted to even attempt it." Ryman replied almost sobbing.

"Ok then, leave the door to your room unlocked, for who knows what else might visit you and stop you answering my knock, and I`ll drive straight over, I should be there in a little over an hour."

Ryman fell into a deep troubled sleep filled with scenes that appeared to be out of Hammer horror movies, only these were much scarier. He awoke with a start and shivered, Ryman wondered why it was so cold in his room, then he realised that his hair was literally standing on end. Ryman swung his legs from his bed and sat there rubbing his eyes, when he opened them he saw before him the dim outline of a figure, and that it was forming out of thin air; it was also accompanied by an appalling smell that made him want to wretch. His fear immediately returned to him, for he realised that he was being visited by a creature from hell, he was literally frozen to the spot, unable to move even a finger, the demon now appeared more solid than gas. Ryman knew that the demon had been sent to punish him for his recent blasphemous behaviour, but he could do nothing but look at the creature. The figure stretched out a ghostly finger towards his nice new digital camera, and a bolt of unholy energy shot from the demon`s finger and enveloped the camera which now glowed an unholy shade of red. Ryman was sure that the memory card inside the camera must now be useless, that is if he ever got the chance to live through the night to connect the camera to his computer. He turned back to the apparition from hell, which now appeared satisfied with whatever it had done to the camera, and it now turned towards him. As the figure approached him, Ryman`s body shook with fear, and tears flowed down his face, for he felt sure that he would die before the night was over.

"Tell me little man who else was involved in your newspaper article, tell me now and I might not have to take you back with me to my domain, you wouldn`t like it there." The demon asked in a loud deep voice that Ryman thought would wake his neighbours, but no one came to complain about the noise.

Ryman mouth was also frozen by his fear, which encompassed his whole being; he was unable to form a single word let alone a whole sentence. His fear began to reach even new heights as he felt something literally delving within his brain, and he knew that it must be the demon.

"Are the rogue priest, but he is no problem, for without help he is far too scared to fight me, and you certainly won`t be of any use to him in that respect, will you, little man?"

It was now that Ryman realised that it wasn`t the demon, but Bourbon who was inside of his head. Ryman then realised to his shame that he had urinated, for he could feel it running down his leg, but he could do nothing about it. The voice inside his head carried on speaking, although Ryman detected a hint of contempt that hadn`t been there before, Bourbon knew that he had wet himself.

"Your editor seems to be the only other person who is involved in your sacrilegious meddling into my affairs, but he will not be a bother to me either, for I will also pay him a visit."

Ryman strived to break free of the invisible bonds that now held him so tight but it was useless, he might as well have been encased in cement. His breathing became laboured; it felt as if Bourbon was physically pressing down on his chest, and what air he could force down into his near empty lungs tasted foul, but it gave Ryman the strength to scream out, his voice full of his despair and pain.

"God save me from this demon, please I beg of you." The demon controlled by Bourbon looked down upon the broken figure that was once a man and laughed.

"You pathetic little creature, see not even your God is interested in your feeble pleas for help."

It was at this precise moment that Father Pritchard burst into the room, and seeing the demon leaning over Ryman, he threw an open bottle of holy water at the apparition, and began to recite the Lord's Prayer. To the delight of Ryman, he was suddenly free of his bonds of steel, and he moved towards Father Pritchard who grabbed his arm and dragged him through the open door.

They fled down the hotel stairs, neither of them daring to look back, and then they were at the priest`s car which was parked out front of the hotel, seconds later they were in it with the doors closed and locked.

Father Pritchard pulled away sharply from the hotel, and with a screech of burning rubber, he headed towards the motorway. They had to pass the old Fairbrother estate to reach the motorway, and as the estate disappeared behind them, Ryman realised that he had stopped breathing all the time that it had been in view. It was as they drove up the slip road and onto the motorway that he thought he heard laughter following behind him. Father Pritchard definitely exceeded the speed limit both on the way to the motorway and while driving along it, as he had done while rushing to answer Ryman`s call for help. At the speed that they were moving they soon arrived back at Father Pritchard`s house, the priest led the shattered journalist inside and set him down on the settee, he needed to speak to him urgently.

"Look Mr Ryman you are known to Bourbon now so you should think carefully as to what you are going to do, do you run away and hide or will you stay and fight. If you do decide to fight then it will be a fight to the finish, he will give us no quarter. It will end with either the death of Bourbon and his vile followers, or us, you and me, for we can expect no other help in this war. If you do decide to run then I suppose there is a chance that if you stay well away from Bourbon that he may decide to forget about you. But bear in mind that you wrecked an important celebration for him, so it's unlikely that he will forget you anytime soon, he will probably continue to harbour a grudge against you until either you or he dies."

"I`m sorry Father, but I`m finished, I have a little money stashed away for a rainy day and I intend to use it to take me far away from England, hopefully that will persuade Bourbon to forget about me."

Father Pritchard felt disgusted with Ryman, for he could see that just this one short experience with evil had almost finished the journalist as a man.

"Ok Mr Ryman, I`ll give you a few things to protect you while you sleep as well as while you`re awake." Father Pritchard said gloomily as if he also thought, for all the good they would do you. "But from now on you must be on your guard at all times, for Bourbon may decide to strike at you at any time, and if he does then it may well be the end for you."

"You know Father; I never considered journalism to be a very dangerous occupation, not before today." Ryman said grimly.

**********

Bourbon was now back in the temple, sweat was dripping from his head, burn marks had appeared on his back and neck. He swore loudly, not only at being hurt by the priest, but also at being deprived of his victim, he turned to the minor demon standing beside him.

"Be gone foul one until I need you again." He commanded but the demon didn`t go.

"I too need paying Master." The demon said expectantly.

"Here take it and then be gone foul one." Bourbon was exhausted and in pain, but he knew that the servants of hell must always be paid for their labour, for the punishment for reneging on a contract was death at the hands of one of hell`s most terrible lords.

When Bourbon was finally alone, with only the foul stench of hell remaining to keep him company, he looked at the information he had taken from Ryman`s business card, but it was very limited, no he would have to consult the veil of smoke once again, I will make him pay for his sacrilegious intrusion into my world. However, not tonight, for Bourbon too was completely and utterly exhausted, dealing with demons was a bloody business, especially if one wanted to stay ahead of the game. Someone else was also due for a visit from him, but this person would sleep easily for the rest of this night. It wouldn`t be until tomorrow night that the editor of News International was brought to book for his mistake in sending Ryman to look into Bourbon`s affairs.

Chapter Two

A Call for Help

Christina Ryman had been born in Lower Boulding, and she had lived there quite content for the first eighteen years of her life, but she had happily moved away when offered a place at the University College of London. She found her new life exciting, and now in her final year, and with a new boyfriend, she was looking forward to a life somewhere other than back in boredomville. The problem with her home village was that it was in such a quiet spot, deep in the English countryside with absolutely nothing to interest her or to stimulate her mind. Oh, she missed her mother and her younger sister during her times away from them, but the excitement of her new life more than made up for it.

Today, Christina was sitting in the apartment that she shared with three other students. She had just sat down to enjoy a cup of tea before she got out her study books when the phone rang.

"Hello, Christina, it`s mother, are you well dear?" Her mother`s voice sounded weird, maybe stressed out, and Christina immediately felt butterflies flocking in her stomach, yes flocking not simply fluttering, she immediately knew that something was definitely wrong.

"I`m fine mother, are you and Cassie ok, nothing wrong is there?" Something deep inside of Christina told her that there was a problem back in boredomville.

"Could you come home this weekend Christina, I really need your help. Something is going on here in the village, something that involves Cassandra, I really need you here with me, please." Fear filled her mind as the thought that Cassie had done something foolish flashed into her mind, what though?

"Is Cassie on drugs mum, she`s not pregnant surely?" Christina asked as these and other possible troubles sprang to her mind.

"No Christina, it isn`t that, it`s something else, something that involves a man who moved into the manor house almost two years ago. Ever since then there has been the weirdest noises coming from the woods, not all the time you understand, just at certain times, and they have bonfires there too, all at the dead of night. And since this new comer arrived in the village it has been filled with lots of weird looking people, guests of this man I think."

Christina sighed with relief, poor old mum was fretting about nothing, the newcomer must be French or German, and dear old mum immediately thought that the home fires were in imminent risk of being extinguished.

"Mother, you must expect a few foreigners in the village these days, we are in Europe. And bonfire parties normally are at night." Christina said patronisingly.

"Christina don`t you patronise me, this is real, I need you, Cassandra needs you before she does something foolish, please promise me you will come home." Her mother begging her so, scared Christina, and she knew that she had no other option other than to agree.

"Ok mother, I will come, it`s the end of term anyway so I can stay for a few days, but tell me what Cassie has done that is so bad?"

Christina had been going to a party on Friday night, now she would be travelling home by one of the dirty and very old trains that ran between London and the station where she could catch the rickety old bus to her village of Lower Boulding.

"I`ll tell you when you are here, you will only think me an old fool if I tell you over the phone, down here you will see that I`m right to fear for her. Thank you, Christina, I know you think I'm just a foolish woman but I`m not, not this time."

With that, they said goodnight and Christina put her books back on the shelf and fretted well into the night. Her mother was getting on, and since Christina`s father had died her mother had feared every strange sound or sight, this was probably just another example. With this thought Christina slipped off into a troubled sleep filled for some reason with nightmares that featured Christopher Lee and Count Dracula`s castle. Cassie was at her bedroom window asking to come in, except that Christina lived on the third floor, and they didn`t have balconies in the sort of terrace houses that she lived in.

The next morning was Friday, Christina still felt tired but after having a quick breakfast she got washed and dressed and walked round to Rob`s small apartment. He wasn`t there, he had gone to Europe on a business trip of some sort. He couldn`t say why, but them he never could. He worked for a government department, even its name was secret, and it was forever taking him away from her, but he was worth it. Rob wasn`t due back until Wednesday evening, and as per normal she couldn`t contact him on one of his trips. Instead she slipped a note through his letter box telling him about her mother`s phone call and her fears. She ended up saying that she missed him so and asking him to call her on her mobile as soon as he returned.

As nothing much happened on the last day of term, Christina decided to leave for home on the afternoon train. Therefore, at noon, she returned to her apartment and picked up the bag that she had already packed. She then left for the train station where she caught the two o`clock train which would take her most of the way home. The final part of the journey was by a local bus, it ran along narrow lanes for an hour and by the time she got off it, she felt well and truly shaken, would they ever fix the too many potholes that littered the country lanes like a minefield.

Christina got home in time for dinner, to be met by an obviously relieved mother, and a sister who was very happy to see her big sister again after so many months apart, for they had grown much closer since the death of their father. Her mother didn't raise the subject behind her desperate call for help until Cassie had retired to her bedroom, only then did she take her eldest daughter into the kitchen where they sat at the table with a hot cup of tea and talked.

"Well mother, Cassie should be safely tucked up in bed by now, so now you can tell me just what has spooked you so much." Christina asked of her tired looking mother who in normal times would have already retired to the comfort of her bed.

"There is so much to tell you that I hardly know where to start Christina." Her mother lamented

"Why don`t you tell me when you first noticed these weird events." Christina advised her mother.

"Well I suppose it started with all of the weird people walking about the village, they appeared soon after the new owner arrived to take up possession of the old Fairbrother estate, you know the one dear, that one that my friend Lilly worked on, it is just outside of the village." Her mother looked at Christina who nodded.

"Yes, I remember Lilly; I sometimes walked up there Saturday morning with her daughter Sally, I wonder how she is?" Christina said momentarily losing track of the conversation.

"Christina, never mind about Sally Bellows. We are speaking about all of the weird things that are happening in the village." Christina apologised and indicated that her mother should continue.

"It is not only that they all stand out so, being foreigners, and they are obviously very much better off than us locals, but they don`t seem to bother about manners, they treat everyone here as if we are mere serfs, there by the grace of the new owner. More than one fracas has been prevented by one of the more sober members of the community stepping into smooth over the ruffled feathers of an outraged local. Even old Mrs Jenkins had a go at one of them, and she`s almost eighty years of age."

Christina couldn`t help smiling at the thought of the old lady being had up in court for assault, but she quickly brought her attention back to her mother who had continued to speak.

"Then there are the bonfires, they even had one this Easter and another one on last year`s Christmas day. I tell you there is something odd going on. And the strange sounds that can be heard if you walk near to Ten Acre Woods at such times, well I won`t go near the place now, you don`t know if it`s safe anymore."

"Seems to be they are celebrating the main religious holidays in their own particular way, Mother you have told me nothing that warrants your fears for Cassie." Christina argued.

"Cassandra has been visiting the manor house, and against my express wishes, the daughter of Mr Bourbon, that`s the new owner of the manor house, well she goes to St Anne's as well and they have become very good friends, but there is something about her that I don`t like." Her mother explained.

St. Anne`s was a rather good private school not five miles away from Lower Boulding, it was the same one that Christina had gone to as a young girl.

"Mother you are being foolish, but tell me, what does Cassie say about the family." Christina asked.

"Oh, she says that they are a very nice family, but Cassandra has taken to staying out late, and mostly at the manor house. When she comes home, she refuses to tell me what she has been doing. And she is beginning to behave differently, secretively; we always had a very good relationship before." Her mother wailed.

"A fourteen-year-old girl is spending time with her friend and won`t tell her mother what she has been doing, mother it sounds very normal to me, that`s the way teenage daughters act." Christina slumped back in her chair; she could have been partying right about now.

"Well what about the missing gypsy family then, one of the local lads found their caravan completely destroyed, it had been burned on that piece of wasteland over by Darling meadow. The police have said that being gypsy`s they have probably gone on walk about, but Christina why would they burn their caravan? And gypsy`s don`t go on walk about Christina, that is why they have transport, to take them wherever they want to go." Her mother argued in return.

"Maybe someone wanted them to move on, and this is how they accomplished it, gypsy`s aren`t all that popular, mother, it was only last year that you were complaining about them." Christina said and thought that her mother`s fears were over nothing, but she was wrong, very wrong but she didn`t realise it just yet.

Christina decided to stay for a few more days to make her mother happy, Cassie was delighted, and although she went to school as usual, she returned home to spend the evenings with her older sister who told her all about life in London and in the university. Everything at the Ryman household returned to its normal routine.

On Monday, Christina walked with her mother to the local shop to buy a loaf of bread and a few other items needed for their dinner that night. As they were leaving the shop with their purchases, a man barged by them, as he endeavoured to enter the shop, and without even giving them time to exit it. Her mother tut tutted but said nothing more, but as they walked back home she spoke to Christina about the incident.

"That rude man is Mr Bourbon, the new owner of the manor house, his house guests are just like him, very pushy and very rude."

"Well you are certainly right about one thing mother, he is very rude."

Cassie was home early from school, so as to spend time with her sister, and to ask her advice about boys; Christina smiled at her younger sister.

"Play it cool Cassie, any woman as good looking as we two are doesn`t need to wear herself out chasing after men. Any man worth his salt will beat a fast track straight to your door little sister, you take my word for it. Look them over and choose the one you like the best, as for the rest throw them back until they grow a little bigger."

The two sisters laughed and their mother who was in the kitchen smiled, for she felt better now that her eldest daughter was home for a while. In the front room Cassie thought about her sister's advice for just a moment before replying.

"Ok Chrissie, cool it is." Cassie replied at last with a smile of her own spreading across her face, for she had a certain boy in mind, and he certainly knew where her door was.

Christina didn`t see the smile on Cassie`s face, for her younger sister had turned away from her to keep this one particular secret to herself, for the moment.

"But Christina, you`re not trying to tell me that you didn`t chase after Rob, I mean he is really gorgeous?" Cassie asked.

Christina thought back to the first time she had met Rob and smiled, it had been at a party given by a mutual friend and Rob had bumped into her. She had been about to complain until she saw him, instead she had apologised to him. They had danced the night away and later Rob had seen her home.

"Well, Chrissie did you chase after him?" Cutting into Christina`s thoughts.

Christina looked across at Cassie who was now getting a little impatient waiting for her answer.

"Sorry Cassie, let`s just say that there was chasing done on both our parts, and it was so much fun being caught." Christina replied and laughed with her younger sister at her risqué remark.

**********

It was Tuesday evening, and her mother was closing the curtains in the front room, it was just as the sun was slipping down beneath the hills that enclosed the western edge of the village. From out of the corner of her eye she saw a large expensive car stop momentarily in front of the house, as it waited for her next-door neighbour to drive into his small driveway. Inside the expensive car were four foreign people, two men and two women.

"Look Christina, there are some more of those weird people driving up to the manor house." Her mother called. Christina walked across the room to peer out of the front room window at the strangers.

"Well they are foreign, mother, but they appear to be normal people, I still say that you are imagining it."

Her mother looked angrily across at her eldest daughter but didn`t say anything. It was two hours later that Christina noticed the glow of a fire deep within Ten Acre Woods.

"Mother, they have another of your bonfires up at the woods, I think I`ll take a stroll up that way and see if I can find a devil or two." Her mother looked quickly at her, annoyed at her daughter's facetious words.

"Be careful Christina, I know you think me foolish but I had hoped that you would have come home with your Rob." Her mother rather liked Christina`s fiancé, even if he did keep on disappearing for weeks at a time.

"Afraid not mother, he`s in deepest Europe doing untold secret things on behalf of Her Majesty`s government."

Christina was only going out to try and quell her mother`s fears, she certainly didn`t believe that she would find anything other than a bonfire party. The walk up to the woods was uneventful, and by the time she reached them she was decided chilled, for the June air was as usual in England, rather cool. From deep within the woods she could hear the faint sounds of revelry, but she couldn`t make out what was being said, it could just have been a loud radio. Being so close to the woods she could no longer see the glow of the bonfire, it was quite dark here and it felt decidedly spooky, probably because of her mother`s fears affecting her, Christina thought. The old fence that had once run around the woods looked to have been replaced with a much more solid affair, one that was too high for her to climb without snagging her dress on it. Christina followed it round until she came to a large heavy looking wooden gate that allowed the law-abiding citizen entrance, at the moment it was locked. Christina used an equally solid looking litterbin that was to one side of the gate to help her climb over, and then she followed the track into the wood. As she walked deeper into the wood so the sounds of revelry grew louder, and the light from the bonfire began to show through the trees. She wondered what Rob would do in this situation, and she wished that he were here beside her. He would move off the track and seek the protection offered by the darkness under the trees, Christina decided. With this thought she plunged in amongst the trees, and she did feel a little safer hidden within the trees, as she trespassed nearer and nearer to the bonfire and its flickering light. Christina still felt that she was putting up with all of this discomfort for no good reason. When finally, the clearing came into view, and the revellers were revealed to her, she was still of this opinion, although now she was also shocked by what she saw going on around the bonfire.

There before her was not the typical bonfire party, what she saw was a group of people in various stages of undress, some wore animal masks, this was mostly the men, some wore festival masks, this was mostly the women, who mostly seemed to be auditioning for a part in a porn movie. They were frolicking around the bonfire shrieking and cavorting, and the tempo even over the short time that Christina had been watching was definitely picking up. Soon, Christina thought, she wouldn`t be surprised to see them all strip off their remaining clothes and begin having sex right there on the bare earth. Christina realised that what she was watching was what she could only term a bacchanalian orgy. To one side of the bonfire someone was seated upon a raised chair that Christina could only suppose was supposed to be a throne of some sort. The person had a strange costume on, the clothes looked to be made out of goatskin and instead of normal shoes, the person wore footwear that were shaped to resemble hoofed feet. Upon his head, for Christina was now of the opinion that the person was a man, he appeared to have a mask depicting the head of a goat. Then she realised that the mask must mostly be make up, for she saw the face change as the figure laughed as one of the female dancers rushed across to him and prostrated herself before him, before raising her head and begging him to take her. This wasn`t a bacchanalian orgy Christina realised, it was a Satanic one, she was shocked that such a thing could be happening in her own boredomville. The figure before her seemed about to take the young woman up on the offer when he suddenly raised his head, and it appeared to Christina that he was looking directly at her, she felt his eyes boring into her own, red eyes that burned with a fire of their own. She thought that she heard a voice in her head bidding her welcome, and asking her to enter the clearing, join the merriment. Christina felt more at ease than she ever had before, she walked happily towards the figure, but all the time a quiet voice inside her head was urging her to turn and flee, as she ought to have done the moment that she was detected, instead she just walked forward towards the party.

One of the masked revellers noticed Christina as she stepped out from the trees and cried out to the other revellers, he then pointed directly towards her. The Satanists around the bonfire immediately stopped their gyrations and calls of adoration to the masked figure on the throne, and en masse rushed towards her. For a moment more, she was still under the hypnotic spell of the figure on the throne, but for an instant the figure turned its head away from her, the figure seemed annoyed by the Satanists for stopping their riotous adoration of it when they rushed towards Christina. This moment was enough to break whatever spell had fallen over Christina, and she turned and plunged back through the woods, not caring that the bushes were tearing at her clothes and body, fear for her life lending strength to her young muscles. Christina was sure that she would make it back to the gate and escape the baying pack of Satanists behind her, but as she ran even faster, she noticed that a number of what she could only assume were some sort of firefly racing alongside her. They bussed around her head and body and began to bite her, Christina cried out in pain at their furious and very painful attack. She could still hear her chasers following on behind her, and she despaired of ever reaching the gate when there it was just yards in front her. She leapt up towards the top of the gate and was already pulling her body up it when some of the fireflies bit her hands, and she screamed out in pain and inadvertently let go of the gate, then she felt strong hands grab her waist and drag her back. Before she could even think about screaming a filthy hand covered her mouth and her attacker forced her to ground, laying there, face down, her hands were bound and a dirty rag forced into her mouth.

"Who is she, does anyone know?" An old woman asked in a high-pitched voice. Just then a young girl appeared.

"She is the older sister of Cassie Ryman; I met her the other day." Moira Bourbon said. "That old bitch of a mother must have set her to spy on us, she never liked me."

Christina glared at Moira, she was supposed to be her sister`s friend, but their mother had been correct all along.

Christina couldn`t believe what was happening to her, it was like a scene out of a black magic film. She noticed a tall well-built man striding towards her, she immediately recognised him as Mr Bourbon. He was the new owner of the manor house and the cause of her being there. Bourbon walked quickly along the track and when he reached the group, she could see that he was obviously angry.

"Don`t just stand here, take her to the house before someone comes along the road." Bourbon commanded her captors.

Was he the demon, if he was then he had washed the makeup off fast, Christina thought as she fought against the two men who had dragged her to her feet and then pulled her away from the safety of the road. She managed to get rid of her gag to plead with the men who were manhandling her.

"Please let me go, I won`t cause you any trouble, this is madness, please." Christina pleaded but none of the growing group of people answered her.

Christina began to feel scared now, just what were these perverts going to do with her? She now realised that they were a satanic cult of some sort, using it as an excuse to behave in whatever manner they chose, but she hoped that after scaring her they would then release her with a warning not to tell of her ordeal. Well she would tell Rob, and he would make these perverts wish that they had never heard of Lower Boulding. From what she saw of them around the bonfire, it was obvious to her that they were only interested in sex, in any form. As this thought entered her mind, another chased it away. What were they going to do to her? Pictures sprang into her mind of the bodies of women raped by animals such as these appeared to be, the women had finally been killed and mutilated; she shuddered and tried to force such thoughts from her mind.

"Moira did I hear you say that you know who the bitch is that desecrated our mass and insulted our lord?" Bourbon asked angrily looking across at Christina. He looked so angry that she feared that he might attack her on the spot.

"Yes, father she is Christina Ryman, Cassie`s elder sister." Moira replied in a smug voice.

"The Ryman family again, right well that means that we will have to collect Mrs Ryman and her younger daughter sooner that we planned." Bourbon said furiously.

Just then two cars drew up, they had been a precaution in case Christina had made it across the fence, and inside each car were three partly dressed people, and they looked to Christina like escapees from an asylum. They were all very happy to see that Christina hadn`t escaped them, and all of them were offering advice as to how she should be treated, now that she had decided to stay a while. The fear within Christina grew as their words reached her, she watched, her body shaking from these new fears as Bourbon walked across to them.

"Our plans have just changed; because of our snooper here we will have to collect the young Ryman girl and her mother tonight." Bourbon told them.

With that, he unlocked the gate and opened it wide, and then he got into the leading car. His words had carried in the still night air to Christina who struggled again to get free of her captors.

"No, please no, leave them alone."

Unfortunately, these pleas also went unanswered, and as she disappeared back along the track she saw the two cars drive away. A woman who looked ancient walked up to her and forced the gag back into her mouth. Christina lashed out with her foot and was happy to hear the cry of pain from the woman.

"You bitch, I`ll have fun seeing to you during the coming days." The old woman said slapping Christina hard around the face, stunning her for a moment, for never had she been hit round the face before. Christina saw another woman pick up her small handbag and carry it back with her.

"Hey that is mine." Christina wanted to protest except the gag prevented her doing more than grunt. Christina strained against her captors, as she fought to move over to the woman with her handbag, but she only got a smirk from the woman in answer to her efforts. When they reached the large manor house, she was taken downstairs into the cellar, and then they pushed her into a cupboard, which was then locked. Standing there in the dark Christina wept for herself, and then for her mother and sister. She felt around with her feet and found that it was mostly empty, so she moved into the corner by the door and slid down and finally sat with her back to the wall. The only light that she could see was the line around the door, and even this disappeared when the Satanists turned the light off when they left the cellar. What the future held for her she dreaded to think, but she knew that it couldn`t be good. Why did they want her family, Bourbon had stated that they were going to kidnap them anyway; her intrusion into their Satanic party had nothing to do with their plans, except to expedite them.

**********

Mrs Ryman began to fret as the night progressed and Christina failed to return home. She was just about to call Cassandra down to ask her advice when there was a knock at the door, she rushed across to open it with the word Christina on her lips, but it wasn`t Christina standing there, it was two women, strangers who pushed passed her. They were followed by three men; one of them was Bourbon the new owner of the manor house. Mrs Ryman didn`t even have time to protest before she was grabbed by the other two men, one on either side of her. Bourbon then pulled out a large knife and put it against her throat.

"Please be very quiet and no one needs to get hurt Mrs Ryman." Bourbon warned her while her hands were tied tightly behind her back by one of the women. The two women then quickly checked the other rooms in the downstairs part of the house and then disappeared upstairs. Moments later, she heard a muffled cry followed by a loud slap, and then all was quiet until the two women appeared with Cassie who looked very scared. Her hands were bound behind her back, and a gag had been pushed into her mouth and tied there with the help of a pillowcase. A large red mark on her face told where she had been slapped. Tears slipped down her young face as she looked across at her mother in the hope of getting her help against these people, but at the sight of her mother similarly bound, she found a new source of strength, anger, and began to struggle against her captors.

"Cut it out girly or I will hit you even harder." The older of the two women threatened.

Cassie looked fearfully at her and immediately stopped struggling. Then one of the women went across to Mrs Ryman, she had one of Mrs Ryman's own silk handkerchiefs and also another of her pillowcases. After being warned not to cause any trouble, she too was then gagged. Moments later Mrs Ryman was sitting in the back of one of the two cars while her youngest daughter was taken to the other car. Minutes later and they were being led down into the cellar of the manor house, and then taken through it until they came to an open doorway. They were then pushed through the doorway and into a room, which had a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, and a small nightlight on the wall. There were two single cots, one in each corner; also within the room, they saw a small washroom with a curtain to offer some privacy. Their hands were untied and the gags removed, and moments later Christina was led into the room. The three of them rushed forward and stood there hugging one another and crying, happy at least to see one another, to comfort one another. As they stood there another man entered, he had brought with him one more cot, which he put down between the other two cots. He then left and the door was bolted shut from the outside. They hadn`t the faintest idea of what was happening to them, or the reason behind their confinement, but they all feared for their lives. Christina`s one hope was that Rob would come to rescue them.

With at least a dim light to see by, Christina looked at her wounds that had been inflicted by the fire flies, and what she saw made her gasp out loud. Her mother seeing her look of consternation moved over to her, and seeing her daughter looking down at her hands she held one of Christina`s hands and looked at it.

"Why there are tiny teeth marks all over your hands Christina, have you been bitten by rats?" She asked fearfully. She feared that her daughter might have contracted some nasty disease from their attack.

"No mother, it was just some sort of large fire fly, or at least that is what they looked like."

Cassie walked over and looked at the bite marks on her sister's hands and she too gasped out in surprise at what she saw.

"Then they must be breeding one hell of a fire fly around here, Chrissie."

Christina then told her mother and Cassie just what sort of party she had witnessed, and of Cassie`s friend Moira, and how she had acted towards her.

"That bitch, and I thought that she was my friend, you just wait until I get my hands on her, I`ll teach her to bad mouth you mummy." Cassie screamed out in rage.

The Ryman family then sat on their cots and tried to make sense of everything, of the Satanists, what the Satanists had planned for them, everything other than the fears that now gnawed at each of them, that they were going to be killed.

Chapter Three

Murder

It was twelve o`clock on a cold Tuesday night when Rob Hinds finally arrived back at his apartment, he was exhausted after spending seven tiring days tracking down a government clerk. The clerk`s department chief had been sure the man was going to sell a set of plans, that he had found to be missing, of Britain's Astute class of submarines, and the proposed buyer was supposed to have been the Chinese government. In fact, the clerk was on a walking tour of the Austrian Alps and the plans had only been misfiled, and by the department chief. This caused Rob to curse and swear when he eventually found out; he was now rather foot sore and tired.

He was looking through his mail, well his junk mail and bills anyway. Right near the top of the pile he found the note from Christina asking him to call her, and it also told him of her trip back home and the reason why. Rob decided that Wednesday morning would be soon enough to call, as she would more than likely be asleep at this time in the morning, just as most civilised people should be.

It was ten o`clock the next day when he pulled his mobile phone out and put a call through to Christina`s mobile, but for some reason she appeared to have switched it off. Rob decided to call round at her flat to see if her roommates could find her address book, this was sure to have her home phone number, somehow Rob had never got around to making a note of it. He was in luck for Polly Birkenshaw was in, she was a young woman who always seemed to have a scowl on her face whenever he called by. Reluctantly she looked for and found the book, but when he tried the home telephone there was still no reply. Rob frowned, but after a moment decided that they were probably out somewhere, he would phone again later. He spent the rest of the day very busy at the office, catching up on a week`s work, and it was eight o`clock before he got around to calling Christina`s mobile again, but still without any luck there or on the landline. Rob was beginning to get a little worried, and he dug out the short note that Christina had left him and read it once more.

'Mum called and she has got it into her head that the village is full of weirdoes and insists that I come down to see them, Rob, I miss you lots please phone me when you get back, love Christina xxx.'

Maybe the weirdoes were a little more than plain weird, Rob thought, he decided to drive down early the next morning, he was due for some leave anyway so he rang his chief, Sir Willoughby Brown, who insisted that he take as long as he needed to sort out the home front.

He arrived in Lower Boulding just as the church clock was striking nine o`clock the next morning, and was knocking on the door of Christina`s family home just two minutes later. When no one answered his knocks, he began to feel even more worried, for he fully expected them to be in at this time in the morning.

Rob knocked at the houses on either side but got no answer, they had all left for work, but as he stood in front of one of the gates, a woman approached him.

"Are you looking for Mrs Ryman? I don`t think that anyone is in." The woman said almost apologetically.

"I`m Christina`s fiancé, she left me a note to call her but I`ve been unable to contact her. Have you seen her or her family today?" Rob asked as worry began to gnaw away at his vitals.

"No, but I did see Mrs Ryman and her youngest daughter getting into a car late on Tuesday night. No wait they each got into a different car, they must have been going to two different places. I thought it strange at the time, for Penelope doesn`t normally go out at such an hour. Unfortunately, I didn`t see who was driving the cars, I couldn`t really see any of the group that she was with, you see I only had my reading glasses on and everything looked a little blurred. Mind you they did seem to be a little awkward getting into the cars, you know, they appeared to make hard work of it." The woman replied. Penelope of course was Mrs Ryman.

"Christina said in her note that her mother was worried about the number of weird people in the village, do you know anything about them?" Rob said. This was his only lead, although he didn`t have any idea as to how valuable a lead it might be, if at all.

"Penelope got it into her head that the new owner of the manor house, a Mr Bourbon, wasn`t a very nice person, maybe because of all of his strange callers. They were mostly foreigners and were definitely a little odd." The woman said in answer to his question.

"Foreigners, do you mean from abroad or from London." Rob knew that there were still isolated villages that thought a person from another county was foreign. The woman smiled.

"There are so many foreigners in Britain nowadays that it could be either, but I have heard some of them talking together and they were certainly originally from abroad, and from more than one country." The woman said and then laughed. "We are getting quite cosmopolitan here in our tiny village." The woman looked up at Rob to see if she could be of any further help.

"Well thank you for your help Mrs ...." Rob said fishing for a name in case he needed to speak to her again.

"Mrs Marjory Jenkins, I live at the far end of this road, number two if you need me. Well I hope you find them, they`re probably living the highlife somewhere, in Winchester maybe?" With that, she laughed again and rushed off to catch the bus that had just come around the corner.

Rob booked into a hotel, by coincidence it was the Vista hotel, it was only around the next corner and so close by, Rob then returned to the Ryman family home. He had decided to enter the house to check that they weren`t inside, but for some reason unable to come to the door. He made short work of the lock and entered the house, but apart from cups that needed washing up he found nothing to indicate foul play. But Christina`s mum would only have left them there in the sink if an emergency had come up. The neighbour had said that she had seen Cassie and her mother leave the house in two cars late Tuesday evening, why two cars? Moreover, where were they going to at such an hour, to Christina presumably? Rob immediately thumbed through the copy of Yellow Pages that was sitting on a rack beneath the telephone. He wanted the telephone numbers of the local hospitals and when he found them he rang them all, but without any luck, if that was the correct word to use at such a time. He then called the local police station, but again without turning up anything. Rob`s worry was growing into the size of an elephant, so he decided to ring his office and asked a colleague to check into the background of this Mr Bourbon, he didn`t sound too enthusiastic about it, saw Rob as just another worried boyfriend chasing after a reluctant woman, but he agreed to give it a whirl. At midnight Rob finally gave up and returned to his hotel. The next day came and he officially reported them missing at the local police station, they too didn`t appear to be all that interested but they filled out the missing persons form.

Rob now decided that some sort of action was required, he still couldn`t get in touch with Christina and was not getting anywhere with his search, so he decided to look into the weirdo lead, and this took him out to the manor house and Mr Bourbon.

A giant of a man answered his ringing of the doorbell, a giant more suited to a character in a horror story, or a James Bond movie.

"Who are you and what do you want here?" The giant asked with just the trace of a French accent discernible in his quiet, educated, but very unfriendly voice that threw Rob for a moment, obviously this man wasn`t Lurch.

"My name is Rob Hinds and I would like to speak with Mr Bourbon, if he is available?" Rob asked politely.

"Why do you want to speak to him?" The giant demanded to know and moved closer to Rob who although six feet tall had to look up to see the other man`s face now.

"I`m missing some friends and I was hoping that Mr Bourbon might point me in the right direction." Rob said still politely although his patience with the Gallic gorilla was wearing thin at the man`s obvious attempt at intimidation.

"Wait here." Rochelle replied with contempt almost visibly dripping from the two words. With that, the giant stepped back and turning disappeared into the house. The gorilla that went by the name of Guy Rochelle approached Bourbon; he was busy in his library reading one of the many expensive looking leather-bound books that lined the bookshelves of the room.

"There is someone asking to see you Sir, a Mr Rob Hinds, he says that he is looking for some friends of his, and thinks that you might help be able to help him, shall I take him to them?" Bourbon raised an eyebrow, Rochelle shouldn`t be so ready to assume things, especially about such important matters as his three guests.

"Not yet Guy, where are your manners, first I must speak with him to ascertain just who exactly is calling upon us." Bourbon was not a fool; if his caller was indeed looking for his reluctant guests then he needed to see what sort of man was searching for them and what danger he posed to Bourbon, if any.

"Although you may well be right in your assumption Guy, he might well be looking for the Rymans, but equally he could be from one of the other covens and is here for another reason entirely. Show him in here please Guy, and I shall speak with him."

Bourbon closed the ancient book that he had been reading and put it back into to a bookcase filled with similar looking books, all of them looked to be of great antiquity. Rob was led into the large library and greeted by its owner; he immediately felt an unexplainable dislike for the man. The gorilla stepped back against one of the bookcases that ran along the entire length of both sides of the library.

"Mr Hinds, how do you do. My employee tells me that we might have some friends in common, tell me who they are and I will try to assist you in finding them." Bourbon said cordially moving across the room and taking Rob`s hand shook it firmly. Rob gently disengaged his hand and smiled.

"I`m seeking the Ryman family, they appear to be missing and I was hoping that maybe you might know of their present whereabouts." Rob replied cordially in turn. Bourbon looked quizzically at him.

"The Ryman family, do we know the Rymans, Guy?" He queried turning around to ask the gorilla who shook his head slowly.

"No Sir, I don`t believe that I am familiar with the family." Guy looked very apologetic, and Rob almost believed that he was, almost that is.

"I`m sorry Mr Hinds but we don`t appear to know of your friends, why on earth did you think otherwise." Bourbon asked sardonically now that he knew his caller`s business.

"I have just returned from abroad and waiting for me was a note from my fiancée. It asked me to hurry on down here to Lower Boulding, as there was something odd happening in this charming village. The note mentioned you by name and of my fiancée's intention to call on you personally. Unfortunately, it is impossible to contact me by phone when I`m away on business, or Christina would have spoken to me directly." Rob said stretching the truth to almost breaking point.

"Really Mr Hinds, I thought that in the twenty first century being out of touch was impossible. I`m sorry Mr Hinds, but your fiancée never called on us, whatever her intentions." Bourbon said softly but mockingly.

Suddenly the room became very oppressive and Rob began to feel a little light headed, it took just a moment for him to realise why, Bourbon was trying to hypnotise him. Rob had no idea as to how Bourbon was doing it, and he certainly wasn`t using any sort of the usual tools to assist him in his endeavours. One other problem was making its presence felt. All the while that Rob had been in the house he had kept a watch on the gorilla, and especially after the giant had stepped back out of his line of sight. The glass in the bookcase doors behind Bourbon allowed Rob to keep him under covert surveillance, and now he saw the giant smirk behind his back as he moved forward towards him. Rob was sweating profusely now, but found that he was unable to respond to the clear danger behind his back, sweat was even running down his face, for some reason he was in danger of losing his life and he needed his brain to work, now. He had always kept a small penknife in his jacket pocket and he attempted to reach for it while he still had possession of his senses, but his hand didn`t want to work. He was near to panic when Christina`s face sprang into his mind and Rob focused on it, anything to break the spell that he was under. His mind cleared as the thought of Christina in serious trouble somehow returned the control of his hand, although his eyes were no longing focusing, he found the knife and quickly opened it within his pocket. He then pushed his finger against the tip of the sharp blade, the pain brought his mind back into focus instantly along with his sight, and much to Bourbon`s surprise Rob smiled at him.

"When I`m away on Her Majesty`s business I am only available to my chief, this is due to security precautions, however you are correct in your statement regarding my present circumstances, my department knows exactly where I am now."

Rob kept his face from showing his concern about the gorilla`s intentions, but he was very relieved when he saw Bourbon`s quick shake of his head as he stopped the gorilla`s imminent attack on him. That his presence might be known to a senior person in the government meant that Bourbon would have to deal with this annoyance in a more discrete manner.

Rob made it a rule to keep his occupation a secret from everyone, but on this private assignment, his fiancée`s life and that of her family might well be in danger. In these circumstances he was quite happy to hint at his occupation, if in doing so it kept him alive long enough to carry on his search for them. Rob decided to cut this visit short. He could feel the sweat over much of his body, something that had never happened before, no matter what the danger, and he needed time to re-evaluate the situation and then to return to carry on his investigation, but during the hours of darkness.

"Well I mustn`t keep you Mr Bourbon, I see that I will just have to continue my search elsewhere, goodbye." With that, Rob turned away from Bourbon and retreated for the front door, leaving a bewildered gorilla in his wake, for he had envisaged a different end to the meeting.

**********

The first thing that Rob did on returning to his hotel was to have a shower and a change of clothes. Then he phoned the office to find out what if anything his people had found out about the dangerous Mr Bourbon, up until this moment in time they had nothing to tell him except that Bourbon had made a fortune on the stock market during the last five years and had many influential friends. He was told to take care not to tread on any tender toes, also it seemed that his Chief had a bad feeling about this private enterprise being carried out by his agent, and he advised that Rob should be extra vigilant while on this particular mission.

Rob was disappointed that his office had drawn a blank so far, but maybe he could turn up something tonight. He thought much about what had happened to him earlier at the manor house as he ate an early dinner in a charming restaurant near to the hotel, but couldn`t come up with any idea as to what had happened. He hadn`t eaten or drunk anything while he had been there so he hadn`t been drugged, and if gas had been used then why hadn`t it affected the other two men in the room. No, he had been hypnotised, but how that was possible he couldn`t say.

Returning to his hotel room, he pulled out his MacBook and went into the Google Earth program. He zoomed into the manor house and the estate that encircled it. Most of the estate consisted of woodland, going by the name of the ten-acre woods, and Rob noted all of the trails that his Google Earth search revealed. He decided against using the main gate to enter the grounds, instead he decided on a part of the fence that would put here near to one of the smaller trails. Satisfied with his work he then set his alarm clock for midnight and caught up on his sleep.

The alarm clock woke him at exactly midnight and Rob doused his face with water to awaken him fully, and then he collected a few useful tools from his suitcase. He didn`t need to use his car as the manor house was within walking distance, so he walked quickly along the now silent roads, by well-ordered lawns and quiet homes, and people who were sleeping, blissfully unaware of a particular danger that was so near to them. A few cars passed by him, and he also said good evening to a man out walking his dog, but he saw no one that showed any signs of being a danger to him. For once he was a citizen of the country in which he was operating in, and he was going about his lawful business, well for the moment anyway.

Arriving at the part of the stout wooden fence that he had already decided upon, Rob quickly climbed over before anyone came along and delayed or spotted him. Coincidentally John Ryman had also entered the estate at this very point just nine months earlier. He quietly slipped through the woods; they had been standing on this side of the estate for centuries having been planted by the first owner of the manor house. The manor house itself finally appeared before him as the far-off church clock struck one o`clock, a nice time for a spot of house breaking Rob thought.

Breaking into the house was easier than he had imagined, for he had found that the door that led into the spacious kitchen had been left unlocked. His ease of access made him worry a little, but he thrust this aside and put it down to fate taking a hand on the side of righteousness. Rob turned his small flashlight on for just a few moments as he quickly surveyed the room before moving forward. In those few moments Rob had memorised the position of everything in the room, for he didn`t want to knock anything to the floor and alert the enemy to his presence.

One thing Rob was sure of was that they were indeed the enemy, following the attempt to hypnotise him what else could they be? Slipping quietly towards the door ahead of him he came across yet another door and it too was slightly ajar. This door though was quite solid looking, especially for an inner door; Rob flashed his torch through the opening and saw a steep staircase behind it that would lead him down into the cellar. He decided to check here first and descended into the cellar, although he felt more and more like a fat juicy fly being invited to dinner by a spider. A quick scan with his flashlight lit up the cellar and offered him two possibilities, but he chose to walk towards yet another partly open door that led him into yet another room. His mind was telling him to beware, there had been far too many opened doors, yet he knew that he had to proceed onward, for otherwise Christina would be forever lost to him.

Rob entered this new room, but the light from his small flashlight only hinted at what was within it, so Rob felt around for a light switch and soon found one. The lighting in the room was provided by a single light bulb hanging from the centre of the room, unfortunately it cast shadows that to Rob`s horror took on the demonic shapes of the many statues that were in the room, and some of the shapes appeared to be moving! He was in a Satanic Temple, Rob couldn`t believe his eyes. Ahead of him was an Altar complete with black candles, around the walls were statues of grotesque beings in various poses, some violent and some sexual. On the floor directly in front of him was a pentagram, and within it was a picture of a goat`s head with large horns stretching out to the rim of the circle that encompassed the pentagram. A large tapestry hung from one of the walls denoting to Rob`s eyes a very unpleasant scene. So, this was Bourbon`s secret, he was a Satanist. This thought immediately triggered another; this is why the Christina and her family had been kidnapped, for these perverts needed them to participate in some obscene ceremony.

His first thought was to find Bourbon and tear him apart, limb by limb, but before he could build on this thought he noticed something from the corner of his eye, something that was appearing out of thin air within the pentagram, it slowly grew out of the floor until its head touched the ceiling! Rob stared in disbelief and looked around the room for a sign as to how the trick was being done, but without any success. The thing was now taking on a solidity and that really began to worry him, he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck begin to stand on end. Rob then realised that the room had become icy cold, as was always the case in any film about Satanic evil, this thought rushed into Rob`s mind as once again he began to sweat profusely. He decided not to wait for the 'Thing' to fully complete its materialisation, maybe this time discretion would be the better part of valour, Rob turned and rushed from the room, fear lending strength to his limbs. Once outside of the temple he quickly slid the door over, shutting off whatever it was in the temple but also the dim light from the temple that had lit the outer room, he leant against the door and tried to get his beating heart back under control. In fact, the room he was now in was pitch black after the comparatively bright temple, his eyes taking a moment to get used to the limited amount of light penetrating into the cellar via the open cellar door at the top of the wooden flight of stairs. Rob felt in his pocket for his flashlight just as the fist from Guy Rochelle crashed into his jaw. Blackness once again enveloped him. He didn`t feel the needle enter his arm.

"That will keep the good Mr Hinds asleep until we are ready for him to participate in the next part of our plan, whatever it may be." Bourbon snarled.

His hatred of this man who had dared oppose him was very apparent. Bourbon knelt down and taking out a small pocket knife of his own he hacked off a lock of Rob`s hair.

From inside the temple the demon could be heard as it moved around the room, Bourbon slid open the door and entered the temple; he looked across at the creature that had now fully materialised and he sneered at it.

"Be gone foul thing, back to the fires of hell until such a time as I need your assistance again." The demon scowled at Bourbon, but it was only a minor demon who had only taken on the appearance of one of the more powerful creatures of hell. It might hate the human but it was powerless to disobey him, for he was bound to Bourbon, body and soul, if such creatures ever possessed such a thing. Even so it didn`t immediately leave, for as yet it had not received its payment. This time though Bourbon told the demon to exact its blood money from the man lying unconscious just outside of the temple. The demon`s eyes gleamed as it moved swiftly to the open door, and it took its payment in full, plus a little extra to tide it over until the next time that Bourbon called for its services. Rochelle and two of the heavies that were in Bourbon`s employ had nearly wet themselves when the demon had exited the temple and pounced on the still body of Rob, somehow, they had managed not to faint, or to wet their trousers.

The demon was soon satiated and it returned to its real master down in the depths of hell, it had disappeared in a puff of red smoke leaving a vile smell behind it to remind its human master of its recent presence there.

Bourbon turned to the two men and said. "Pull him in to the temple, over to my laboratory."

When this had been done he had them wait outside of the temple, but still in the cellar. Inside of the temple Bourbon walked across to the altar and slipped behind the tapestry that showed the scene from Dante`s famed book, and he entered his small laboratory. He once again put a glass jug onto the table that filled the centre of the room, then he took various ingredients down from the shelves around him and after emptying some of their contents into the jug, he mixed them with his ornate glass spoon. Satisfied that his mixture was once again correct he now put the lock of Rob`s hair onto the deep glass tray that Bourbon always kept on the table; next he poured the contents of the jug into the tray.

"Veigel obey my call, appear before me now." Bourbon demanded loudly within the confines of the small laboratory. Moments later a thin veil of smoke began to rise from the liquid before him and he now spoke again.

"Veigel, come to me now, I command you." Bourbon said in a loud voice that reached the ears of the men waiting fearfully outside of the temple.

The minor demon appeared, and the stench of hell as always preceded it.

"What is your command Master?" Veigel asked in a suitably subservient voice.

"Show me to whom this man gives his allegiance so that I might know him all the better." Bourbon commanded and pointed at Rob.

Bourbon looked at Rob`s image that appeared within the veil of smoke, he was approaching an office within a large modern building. On the wall by the door to the office was a sign with the words 'Special Intelligence Services' printed upon it. With this knowledge Bourbon knew that he had caught no ordinary man; no, he would need to be rid of this nuisance in such a way that would not cast suspicion upon him. If such a thing were to happen then it might spoil his plans for the upcoming celebration, and that would never do, for it was to be his greatest attempt yet to obtain more power from his Lord Lucifer.

Bourbon was exhausted after his long day; demons had to be paid whenever he called them. Unfortunately for Bourbon both of these demons took only one form of payment, and unlike the last demon, Veigel insisted on taking it only from him, it had to be his own blood. He felt faint for a moment and had to hold on to the altar before he staggered back to the other room and looked down upon Rob`s unconscious body. As he looked at Rob, a plan began to unfold within his depraved mind.

"Sir what is wrong?" Rochelle asked concerned when he realised the state of his master.

"You don`t think that the demons will help without extracting some sort of payment in return. Now take him upstairs and put him into the rear of our small van, it seems that we will have to take extra care in ridding ourselves of this particular nuisance. The drug will ensure that he stays asleep long enough to suit our purposes, in fact he will still be asleep when our good constabulary find him in flagrante delicto."

Bourbon took a drink of a potion that he kept for times such as these and minutes later he had almost recovered his strength. He then turned to his other two men, who were standing there patiently awaiting his orders, but their earlier fears were still clearly etched upon their faces. These men had been present at ceremonies such as the one witnessed by John Ryman, and had few scruples left within them, but the presence of demons always made their thin veneer of courage crumble into dust.

"Go and get the mother, bring her to the van, you may tell her that we are taking her home." Bourbon laughed at these words and then followed Rochelle who was effortlessly carrying Rob up the cellar stairs.

The two men gladly left the temple and went to the other end of the large cellar. The leading man felt around behind a large empty wine rack and pulled a lever down, the wine rack and wall that it was attached to moved forward, behind it was yet another door, a light switch was on the newly revealed wall that was previously hidden behind the false wall. The man slid the bolt across that locked the door and then operated the light switch. He then opened the door and went into a smaller room, within it, two women and a young girl opened their eyes and looked questioningly at the two men who now took out their automatic pistols and pointed them towards the captives.

"Mrs Ryman, come with us, you are going home." The first man said derisively. Christina and Cassie looked up, unsure as to how to take the man`s words.

"What`s going on, when are we also to be released?" Christina demanded to know.

"When we are ready to release you, now be good or be dead." The second man sneered and waved his gun about like a deluded moron.

"It`s alright Christina, if they were going to hurt me they could just as easily do it here." Her mother said rising to her feet. Christina and Cassie rushed to her and threw their arms around her.

"We will see you soon Mummy." Cassie cried out hopefully and Christina nodded her head in agreement with her younger sister. Their mother was then led out of the room, the door was shut and locked and the light switched off. Inside the room Christina now turned on the small wall light, this was provided by Bourbon to keep his guests sane.

"Don`t worry Cassie, I`m sure everything will be alright." Christina whispered.

Secretly she had her doubts that they would come through this alive, unless Rob arrived in time to save them that is, but where was he? Outside of their prison cell, the old wine rack was pushed back into place and their mother was led up the cellar stairs and into the van waiting patiently outside of the kitchen door. She immediately saw Rob lying there, completely dead to the world, Mrs Ryman put her hand to her mouth to suppress a scream for she instinctively knew that she was going to die soon, and at her house, but what had Rob to do with it, was he also to die?

It was three o`clock in the morning when the van turned into the road where the Ryman`s lived and backed quietly on to the small concrete parking bay in front of the house. Bourbon already had possession of her keys and he led her back inside of her house and took her through to the kitchen.

"Sit down Mrs Ryman, your problems will soon be over." Bourbon said malevolently. Mrs Ryman couldn`t stop the shudder that ran through her body, nor the tears that ran down her face. She watched as Rob was brought into the kitchen and left slumped against the wall.

"What are you going to do to us?" She asked fearfully. She was looking directly at Bourbon so she didn`t see the iron bar come crashing down upon her head, she never even realised that she was being murdered at that precise moment. She fell to the floor and blood began to flow from her terrible head wound, it would take a while for her to die but she wouldn`t wake again. The man with the iron bar had gloves on so that he had left no trace of his fingerprints upon the murder weapon, but Rob did when the iron bar was pushed into his limp hand. A whisky bottle was brought from the front room, for Mrs Ryman liked a small whisky occasionally, and the entire contents were forced down Rob`s throat, and then the empty bottle was first pushed into Rob`s other hand and then it was cast to one side. Rob`s free hand was then put into the ever-growing pool of blood and his hand then pressed against the wall to leave his hand print there, proof indeed thought Bourbon that he had murdered the woman in a drunken rage. The Satanists then quietly left the Ryman house, leaving the front door wide open to make the discovery of the drunken murder all the easier to find. The subsequent search for the two daughters would reveal nothing, especially at the manor house, for everyone would be gone by then. Because of Rob`s intrusion into his affairs Bourbon was forced to bring forward his planned trip to France, and his ancestral home. He would arrange for Moira, his daughter, to stay with a relative who lived nearby. She was a maiden aunt who lived in a nearby village, Bourbon had arranged this when he had first decided to live in the manor house more or less permanently. Bourbon, smiled as the van pulled away, for even though his plans had been disrupted by Rob, he had ensured that Rob would be the number one suspect behind the disappearance of Christina and Cassie, as well as the murder of Mrs Ryman.

**********

The bloody scene was discovered by Mrs Marjory Jenkins who on seeing the front door open went into the house to say good morning. She walked into the kitchen asking for a cup of tea and stopped rigid for just a second as she took in the bloody scene, the body of her friend lying there with a pool of blood all around her battered head. Her blood curdling screams brought the next-door neighbours running into the house.

Mrs Coulson was the first to enter, and the first to head for the downstairs toilet where she spewed up her breakfast. She was followed by her husband who managed to keep some sort of control over his body. He took Mrs Jenkins back to his house where he sat her down. He then returned to the Ryman house and asked his wife to tend to their neighbour while he rang the police. A police car arrived five minutes later, followed by a team of detectives shortly after them. They took in the battered body of Mrs Jenkins and swore loudly at the still body of Rob. The evidence of the empty whisky bottle and the iron bar that was in his hand told them all they needed to know, and so Rob was moved to the police station to sleep off his drunken stupor. It was after midday when he finally came around, maybe it was the pounding in his head or the sick feeling in his stomach, due to all of the whisky he had been forced to drink, but between them, he gradually came around.

**********

With an easy open and shut case Detective Inspector Davis was put in charge of the case, rather than bringing in a detective from the county`s serious crime squad. He was sitting opposite Rob with a Detective Sergeant Simms assisting him.

"You are charged with the wilful murder of Mrs Penelope Ryman and also the suspected murder of her two daughters, do you have anything to say Mr Hinds." Davis asked; he hoped that they could tidy this case up before the weekend so that he could get down to a spot of gardening; his lawn now had more weeds than grass in it.

Rob sat there stunned, for this was the first he had known about the death of Mrs Ryman. For twenty seconds he sat there trying to take everything in, the disappearance of the Rymans, the attack on him and now the murder of Mrs Ryman, he then looked up at Inspector Davis who was quickly becoming annoyed by the delay in Rob`s answer to the charges brought against him.

"How did Mrs Ryman die, when did it happen?" Rob asked.

Inspector Davis then pushed across a photograph of the murder scene at the Ryman house, it showed Rob and the murdered woman surrounded with blood, it also showed the murder weapon. Rob was almost sick when he looked at the photograph.

"Inspector, I did not murder Mrs Ryman, I had no reason to do such a thing, for one thing I liked her; she was okay. I was only in Lower Boulding because my fiancée asked me to come down; she said that there was something odd happening in the village. When I got there I found that nobody was home, I assumed they were away for the day, but I became worried primarily because I couldn`t contact my fiancée on her mobile phone, that and the fact that she was away from home for so long a time. On Friday morning, I decided to go to the local police station to fill out a missing person's report. Your constable at the front desk will verify that, and a Mrs Jenkins will verify that I arrived in Lower Boulding on Thursday morning looking for them, but without having any luck." Rob paused here for a moment to collect his thoughts and this allowed Davis to step in.

"Mrs Jenkins can only tell us that she first saw you at the Ryman household on Thursday morning, she cannot know that you didn`t arrive much earlier and had something to do with the disappearance of the dead woman`s two daughters, can she Mr Hinds?" Davis asked pointedly.

"No Inspector she cannot know the actual time of my arrival but she did see Mrs Ryman and Cassie leave in two cars late Tuesday night." Rob argued.

"But who was driving the two cars, did you have a friend with you late Tuesday night, a friend who didn`t mind getting his hands very dirty. Are the two sisters still alive, Mr Hinds?" Davis asked forcefully.

"Inspector if you will call the MI6 offices in London and ask to speak to Sir Willoughby Brown, he will vouch for me. He will verify that I only returned to the UK on late Tuesday night, and that I asked him personally for temporary leave on Wednesday night, I was in the MI6 offices all that day, my colleagues will testify that I never left the office even for lunch." Rob said desperately. Rob`s people had an office in the MI6 building and shared many of its non-operational staff, but they were not attached to it in any way operationally.

Rob knew that Christina and Cassie needed him free to look for them, they didn`t need him sitting on his ass in a police station cell. Davis assurance took a bit of a hit here after listening to Rob, when he saw the other weakening slightly Rob pushed ahead with his defence.

Look, Inspector I will come clean and tell you what I was doing last night. The note from my fiancée mentioned a Mr Bourbon, the new owner of the manor house as being behind the strange things that her happening in Lower Boulding, so I made a call on him earlier in the day and I didn`t like what I saw." Rob didn`t mention being hypnotised or he would be ridiculed and thrown back into the cells.

"I decide to make a covert call on the manor house and got there just after midnight. I found the back door open and the door to the cellar was also open. As my only reason for being there was to seek out the Ryman family, I reasoned that if they were being detained in the house against their will, then the cellar was as likely a place to start my search. I went down into the cellar, but before I had much of a chance to look for them I was knocked out. If you look here on my chin you can still see the bruise Inspector." Rob said gently fingering the sore spot on his face.

"I didn`t wake up until one hour ago, I did not kill my fiancée`s mother or do anything else. I need you to return with me to the manor house with a search warrant, so that we can conduct a proper search of the house and its grounds."

Davis looked round at his sergeant who could only shrug his shoulders, he wasn`t much help at all.

"Mr Hinds you are a murder suspect, so I would appreciate it if you didn`t tell me what you require. Instead, you will answer my questions. Now we have read the note that your fiancée left for you and although it does mention some weird happenings in Lower Boulding it doesn`t mention anyone by name." Davis pointed out.

"You are correct Inspector, and I`m sorry, unfortunately I`m still feeling a bit worse for wear after what I went through last night. Look maybe Christina didn`t mention Bourbon by name but Mrs Jenkins certainly did, and she said that Mrs Ryman had a bee in her bonnet about the man." Rob said persuasively. He desperately needed to convince the inspector of his innocence, and for the inspector to release him, the thought of Christina in the hands of a Satanist filled him with horror.

"You are quite right Mr Hinds, she said as much in her statement. In fact, I was very impressed with her as a witness, for it still isn`t all that long ago that she saw her dead friend, and also all of her friend`s blood all over the kitchen. Okay Mr Hinds I will speak to your boss, but that doesn`t mean that I believe your story. In fact, Davis was impressed by Rob, and in truth didn`t see him as a drunken killer; even if the evidence said he was indeed one. The first interview was over.

Unfortunately, although Davis called the MI6 offices he couldn`t get in contact with Sir Willoughby Brown, as he was at an important conference with the Prime Minister. This delay meant that Rob had to spend a troubled night in the cells; his sleep was broken when he had a nightmare in which he dreamed of Christina being lashed down to an altar amid a satanic mass. He woke just as Bourbon approached her with a long and very sharp knife, Rob`s body was covered in sweat and further sleep was made impossible by his fear of re-joining his nightmare at the place where he had left it.

The next morning Davis was finally able to contact Sir Willoughby Brown, who verified everything that Rob had said, and also vouched for him as a person of integrity, who he personally would trust with his life. If, Hinds said he was innocent then Davis could believe him. Sir Willoughby Brown then asked to speak to Rob personally; Davis was initially reluctant to agree to this request until Sir Willoughby Brown pointed out that Rob should be cut a certain amount of slack, for he had just returned to the UK after a dangerous mission where his life had been in constant danger. On this one occasion Sir Willoughby Brown had exaggerated a little, but it was true of Rob`s earlier missions. Davis relented, but only because he respected the service and what it had achieved in the difficult opening years of the twenty first century. He had Rob brought to his office and allowed him to speak to Sir Willoughby Brown in private. Alone, Rob told his chief the full unabridged story of what had taken place in the manor house, although he didn`t mention the apparition in the temple, for he didn`t want his chief to think that his agent was losing his marbles.

"Thought you were safe in the UK didn`t you Rob, I hope that you have learnt a valuable lesson, nowadays nowhere is safe. I agree that keeping quiet about the satanic temple was the correct thing to do for the moment, but you need to get out of that police station and back to work. If you haven`t been released by tomorrow morning I will pull a few strings and get you out of there." Sir Willoughby Brown told him. This cheered Rob up, for he was desperate to get on the trail of Christina and her young sister.

As it worked out Davis decided that the Sir Willoughby Brown`s testimonial of Rob was enough for him to at least collect a search warrant for the manor house. Unfortunately, as it was Sunday, it took the inspector some time to get one, and it was late in the afternoon by the time that he was actually on the way. He took a squad of men to the estate, and as a favour to the service, he also allowed Rob Hinds to accompany them; they turned up at the gates to find them unlocked, for three of Bourbon`s employees were just about to leave for their homes at the end of a long day.

"Is Mr Bourbon at home?" Davis asked of one of two women there, Mrs Braceweather, who was the cook at the manor house.

"No sir, earlier this morning Mr Bourbon and his friends all went away on a trip, even his daughter isn`t at home at the moment. And don`t ask me where they have all gone to because I don`t know, `cause he tends to be a bit secretive." The woman said in a rush. Her only desire was to be away to tend to her own house, not to be talking with the local constabulary about parking tickets or the like.

"Do any of you have a key to the place, to save us from having to break into the manor house?" Davis then enquired. Davis`s question was answered by an elderly man in overalls.

"I do sir, but I don`t know whether we ought to hand it over to you, do you have a search warrant?" The man asked, he was the head gardener and worked outside with a team of two other men. Davis showed the man his search warrant.

"Who are you sir?" Davis asked of the man.

"I`m Ted Jervis, the head gardener, and this lady is Mildred Braceweather, Mr Bourbon`s cook." The gardener said looking at the search warrant.

"I suppose I had better give him the keys Mildred." The man said looking across at the cook who just stood there scowling, but she finally agreed that they should hand over the bunch of keys so that she could then head off home.

"You had better come back with us sir, to show some of my men around the out buildings. We will also require your services Madam." Davis said to Mrs Mildred Braceweather who looked up at him angrily. "I`ll need you to give us a quick tour of the house." Davis explained and expected the woman to agree willingly, however Mrs Braceweather didn`t agree, she only wanted to return to her home, not to put in more overtime, overtime which she might not even get paid for. Instead, she crossed her arms and laid into the inspector.

"I`m not here at your beck and call, I`ve got to get my Jack`s dinner on." She protested. "So, you had better get someone else to show you around, because I`m not." With that, she attempted to force her way by the police officers who were looking on with amusement. Davis threw a scowl at his men that soon took the smiles from their faces, and then he moved to intercept the cook, luckily though help was close to hand.

"It`s alright Inspector, I`ll show you around, there is no one waiting to be fed at my flat, not even the cat, he ran off last month and I haven`t seen him since." The other woman said. She was a much younger woman and worked as one of the maids. She looked across at Rob and smiled. "I always like to help the police."

With that, the cook was allowed to leave, and the police convoy moved through the gates and along the driveway to stop in front of the manor house. Rob had been tempted to swear at that delay at the gates, now he was desperate to begin the search for any clue that would lead him to Christina.

Davis had part of his team go with the gardener to search the out buildings while he and the remainder of his party walked towards with house. The inspector opened the door and led the way into the large spacious hall, and then he looked at the maid expectantly. However, it was Rob who had also accompanied this group of officers who took charge.

"I think that you will find the cellar interesting Inspector." Rob said and indicated the way to the kitchens where the door to the cellar was situated.

"We were never allowed in the cellars, the boss said that he kept a lot of expensive wines down there and didn`t want any getting broke, seems silly, he has a lot of expensive things on the other floors, but didn`t mind us cleaning around them." The young woman commented.

"Okay sergeant you take the first floor, when I`ve finished in the cellars I will meet you here on the ground floor. Thompson you're with me, and you too Miss." He said to the maid. Davis didn`t want the young woman left alone, this was in case she took it upon herself to assist her boss by hiding any evidence that might be about the house. With his orders given and swiftly obeyed by his men, Inspector Davis and Constable Thompson followed Rob through to the kitchen and the cellar door which much to Rob`s consternation they found to be locked.

"He always keeps it locked, we always said it was to stop any of us staff from stealing his precious wine." The woman said sulkily.

Inspector Davis tried all the keys that the gardener had given him but without any success, and was just about to call it quits and get a locksmith in when Rob moved forward. He pulled out a set of skeleton keys that had been returned to him following his release. Normally Davis would have confiscated such an item, but because of Rob`s status as a member of a government intelligence agency attached to MI6, he had returned not only these to Rob, but all of his other personal items. Rob had deeply appreciated this gesture of confidence in him, as he was technically still under suspicion of murder. Within a minute, he had the door open, and stepping through the doorway flicked on the light switch, which lit up the area around the stairs, but barely reached the two ends of the cellar. They followed him down to the cellar floor with the young woman bringing up the rear.

"It`s a nice sort of place isn`t it." The young woman remarked, the tone of her voice belying her words. The maid had stopped half way down the flight of stairs to take a good look around the cellar, and she suddenly shivered.

"Oh, I went really cold just then; it was just as if the devil himself had walked across my grave." The maid`s voice wavering just a little.

It wasn`t that it was all that cold in the cellar, it was the atmosphere of the gloomy place that had affected her, she hurried down to join the men as the first signs of an unconscious fear began to eat into her.

The cellar itself didn`t appear all that large for a manor house, with just a few bottles of wine immediately at the bottom of the flight of stairs, certainly not enough to warrant the security of a locked door. Rob was not interested in the wine though, he wanted to head directly for the satanic temple, and he indicated to the Inspector in which direction he wanted to search first.

"Ok Constable Thompson you look around the other end of the cellar while I follow Mr Hinds." The inspector followed after Rob only to stop after a few feet to be met by a blank wall.

"Well Mr Hinds what are we supposed to be looking at?" Davis asked just a little impatiently.

"One moment please, Inspector." Rob said scratching his head and looking at the blank wall and the stack of empty wine cases set to one side. This is ridiculous Rob thought as he walked across to the only things at this end of the room, the stack of empty wine cases. He carefully took the top one down and revealed the hidden lever.

"This should do it Inspector." Rob said confidently but adding silently the words, I hope.

The concealed door slid silently across revealing a hidden room within. Rob walked forward and felt for the light switch and finding it illuminated the room.

"My god, a hidden room, how on earth did you ever find it Mr Hinds? Davis asked impressed by the feat.

"Well the door was already open on my earlier visit Inspector." Rob replied.

He walked in and was relieved to find that the air although cool was not icy cold as on his last visit. It had been stripped of most of its ancient statues and regalia though. However, the Pentagram was still there in the middle of the floor as was the large marble altar set at the far end of the room. There were also the many painted astrological symbols that adorned the walls, although they were purely there as decoration. The light from the single bulb hanging from the ceiling was again casting shadows but thankfully the statues weren`t there to give the shadows that semblance of life.

"My god what is this place?" Davis exclaimed when he entered the room.

"You should have seen it last night Inspector, you are in a Satanic temple, even with many of the statues gone you can still feel the evil that has permeated its walls over time." Rob said shivering. Whether it was from a cold draught finding its way through to the room, or something else he didn`t want to even ponder upon the matter.

"Fair gives me the creeps, no wonder he wanted us kept clear of the cellar." The young woman said moving back out of the temple, something in the room made her afraid, that and the thought of what might have gone on down here while she had been working in the rooms above. She made up her mind never to return to the manor house after today. Just then, a call came from Constable Thompson who was searching at the other end of the cellar.

"Sir I think I might be on to something at this end of the cellar." Rob took one last look at the empty temple and left with Davis to answer the constable`s call.

"This old wine rack has been moved forward enough times to leave its mark on the floor Sir, and there is some sort of a lever behind it. Thompson put his arm through the empty racks and pulled at the lever, the wall and the wine rack began to move forward revealing the hidden room. Seeing the slide bolt, he pulled it across and opened the door to reveal a darkened room.

"Here this might light the way Sir." Thompson said flicking the light switch down, the light inside the room came on to reveal the three empty cots.

"Good work Thompson." Davis said to a happy constable, but then he hadn`t been inside of the temple. "I'm sorry Mr Hinds; it appears you are innocent after all." Davis looked at the cots and their untidy heaps of bedclothes.

"It seems as if the three Ryman women were kept confined here until this morning. Mrs Ryman was killed to discredit you long enough for them to move the two younger women to a different location." Davis thought for a moment. "And that Satanic temple brings to mind a possible reason, but it would mean that the man must be mad, for him to believe in such things in the twenty first century?" Davis looked at Rob, seeking for another reason, but Rob just nodded in agreement.

"Well, Sir." Davis said his attitude completely different from what it was just a short while ago. "There is already a call out for the two sisters, I`ll put out another call out for Bourbon."

"Thank you, Inspector, there doesn`t appear to be ..." Rob broke off here and walked to the nearest of the cots that was sat in the right-hand corner of the room. There scratched into the wall were three words and some numbers, the name Christina Ryman, the word help and the first four numbers of Rob`s mobile phone.

"They must have been interrupted before they could finish the message." Davis said. "But at least we now know that she was here, and that she was alive." Rob smiled; yes, he thought she is still alive, of that I am certain.

Davis led the way out of the cellar and up onto the ground floor. His sergeant met them as they entered the room that he thought was probably Bourbon`s office, he had just been about to start looking through Bourbon`s papers in a small bureau.

"Sergeant, please have forensics check the two secret rooms that we found in the cellar, and have a man on duty in the kitchen to stop any of the staff from wandering on down there." Davis ordered.

"Two secret rooms' you say sir?" Simms asked, and when told of their finds looked incredulously at his superior and then across at Rob.

"It seems that we owe you an apology Mr Hinds, but you must admit, you were set up beautifully by Bourbon." Simms said by way of an apology.

"I think that you may have phrased that slightly different Sergeant, for the death of Mrs Hinds was hardly beautiful, and neither is the fact that her two daughters are still missing, but I will accept your apology." Rob said rather annoyed, as too was Davis who glared across at his sergeant.

Sergeant Simms blushed as he apologised once again, and it was just then that something on the wall above the bureau caught Rob`s eye.

"This picture of Bourbon standing in front of a house, do you happen to know where the house is?" Rob asked the young woman. However, it was the gardener who answered his question; he had just walked in with the police officers who had been searching the out buildings.

"I do Sir, or at least I believe I do. It`s in France somewhere, I overheard him speaking about it to one of his weird friends one afternoon. It was some time ago and I was just about to tell him that I had finished off a piece of work that he especially asked me to do, but I waited while he answered a question put to him by a foreign gentleman. The gentleman is now a frequent guest here and he asked a very similar question to your own. Mr Bourbon said that it is his ancestral home and that he had only recently been able to repurchase the property, the necessary funds finally being available. I am told that he has made quite a killing dealing in stocks and shares on the British stock market. He only bought this place quite recently, he decided it suited his needs far better than his London office, and now he uses it whenever he is in England. Lower Boulding may be off the beaten track but even we have the internet." The gardener smiled at his little joke.

Rob used his mobile phone to photograph the picture and then he took the picture down from the wall; turning it over he looked at the other side of it. On the back were the faded words, Photogravure de Montluçon.

"I think you might have to extend your search Inspector, as I will too." Rob said contemplating a return to the continent.

The search continued unabated and it was Sergeant Simms who next found something of interest to Rob.

"Look at this list of names in Bourbon's address book, it is like a page out of who`s who." Both Davis and Rob moved across to look at the address book.

"Richard Hamilton-Jones, John Murray, Ahmed Abdulla, amongst the richest and most powerful figures in the world. There must be two dozen names in this book and not one of them is not of interest to the paparazzi." Rob said looking in disbelief at the names contained within the address book. "If Bourbon has his hooks into this sort of person then he is even more dangerous than I thought." Inspector Davis nodded his agreement.

"You think he might have invited them down for a Bacchanalian orgy and then blackmailed them?" Davis asked.

"Yes, Inspector I do, and if I am right then we might also find some evidence in the form of a recording or two to prove it. Sergeant, have you come across a computer in your search." Rob asked turning to Sergeant Simms.

"I`m afraid not Mr Hinds, he appeared to have taken that with him." Simms replied sadly.

"Never mind we still might find something in his office in London." Rob said more in hope than belief.

It was a lowly constable who found what they were all looking for, and when he looked closely at the photograph in his hands he blushed.

"Inspector, I think I might have something here, it was being used as a book mark in the telephone directory." Constable Parsons said with a smile coming to his face as he handed it to Davis. Rob walked over to look at it.

"My god why on earth did they allow themselves to be photographed while dancing naked, it must be some kind of Satanic festival?" Rob said in disbelief as he looked at the photograph.

"These days' cameras are so small it would not be too difficult a task to take such a photograph and not be seen." Davis said in answer to Rob`s question.

"Inspector I will contact my chief and tell him what we have found, then if I am no longer under suspicion I will take my leave of you and return to the continent to seek out the chateau in the photograph." Rob said looking across at Davis.

"Yes, you are free to go Mr Hinds, but are you sure that France is where the Ryman sisters are being taken, they could as easily be staying here in England, with one of their followers' maybe?" Davis asked.

"I`m not sure of anything Inspector, but I am sure that you will leave no English stone unturned, I`ll keep in contact with you if I may, to exchange information." Rob pulled out his wallet and handed a card across to the inspector, it gave his mobile telephone number on it.

Davis hesitated just a moment before accepting it, but then he gave his own card to Rob, who smiled and nodded his thanks to the inspector. He then phoned Sir Willoughby Brown and brought him up to date.

"Well Rob this is no longer a private matter, if Bourbon is blackmailing some of the people in his address book then who knows how many secrets are being revealed. I`ll get a couple of our people to search his London office while you check out the French lead. Oh, and have Inspector Davis fax me a copy of the address book, and I`ll also get some of the team to discretely check them out. If the press get wind of what you have uncovered down there, they will have a field day. You had better recommend to Davis that he keep a lid on it, until such time as we have solid proof of who amongst the names attended the orgies, and also who amongst them can now be considered a security risk."

Rob told Davis of Sir Willoughby Brown`s concern about the list of names getting out and he agreed. His team were told to keep quiet about what they had discovered in the manor house, and the two employees of Bourbon were also asked to stay silent on the subject. The danger of an innocent party being named as a Satanist could bring about a massive claim for damages against the person responsible for giving the name to the press.

Rob didn`t leave immediately for the continent, he planned to leave first thing in the morning. He returned to the police station where he made use of their photocopier, he made a copy of the contents of the address book and also of the photograph. He then faxed a copy to Sir Willoughby Brown, the copy he had made he retained, he thought that they might come in useful during his search for Christina and her sister. Next, he forced himself to take the time to have a meal at a local restaurant, and after that, he returned to his hotel room where he used his computer to book a ticket for his flight to Paris.

Chapter Four

France and a Chance to Escape

Christina and Cassie had been woken very early that morning following their mother`s departure for home; The two Satanist women along with Bourbon`s two thugs were there to greet them as the door to their prison cell was opened. The older woman walked into the room and sneered at them.

"Get up you two; we are all going on a little trip."

The two sisters walked slowly out of their cell, unsure of how to react to this new situation; however, the two women reacted for them and taking them by the arm hurried them towards the flight of wooden steps that would take them away from this awful place. Cassie held on tightly to her elder sister as they were dragged up the stairs by the women. The two heavies were bringing up the rear after them, Bourbon remained behind for a moment to close the door to the secret room and then to move the wine rack back into place.

"Where are you taking us, please let us go we have done nothing to any of you. Why are you doing this to us?" Cassie cried out in fear for she was sure that they were about to be murdered.

Their captors didn`t bother to reply to her question, the men just pushed their automatic pistols into the backs of their two captives and followed this up with a violent push that made Cassie fall forward. This though nearly had Cassie falling from the stairs, for the handrail that Cassie used to stop her fall was part of the original house, and was in need of urgent repair. With Cassie putting all of her weight on it, the rail broke and Christina only just caught her before she toppled over. A fall here would have hurt her sister badly and Christina turned on the man and glowered at him.

"Don`t you dare push my sister, try it again and I swear I will make you sorry." The man was taken aback for a moment but then he laughed and even apologised to Cassie. Unfortunately, this was as far as he went. The two sisters were taken out of the manor house to the white van, which was once again parked just outside of the kitchen; here they waited fearfully while one of the men opened the rear doors of the van.

"Get inside ladies and try and make yourselves comfortable on the floor, don`t worry you won`t be there for too long." One of the heavies ordered them. In the van was a stack of crates, they contained the statues that had graced the inside of the satanic temple.

Once they were sitting on the floor of the van, the man closed the doors leaving them in darkness once again. They didn`t know it, but they were sitting inside of the van that their mother and Rob had travelled in just a few hours previously. Minutes later the van jerked forward. "Do you think that they are taking us home Chrissie?" Cassie asked more in hope than expectation. Her fears multiplied by their uncertain future.

"I don`t know Cassie, I suppose it might be possible, but to let us go after kidnapping us seems a little unlikely. To tell you the truth Cassie, I don`t know what is happening to us." Christina said forlornly. "I just hope that Rob gets here soon."

Cassie looked across at her elder sister and smiled for the first time in so many hours, but only for a moment as the reality of their new situation suddenly kicked in.

"I`m sure that he will arrive soon Chrissie, but if they`re taking us somewhere else, how will he ever find us?" Cassie wailed.

"Rob will find us Cassie, of that I am certain." Christina assured her younger sister and smiled at her, unfortunately there was no one to assure Christina.

The drive was a short one but Christina knew that they weren`t going home for they would have been there after just a few minutes. It was thirty minutes later when she felt the van driving over grass, and then it finally stopped and she heard the men in front open the doors of the cab and get out. Two minutes later, Christina, and her sister were let out of the rear of the van. She saw that they had been joined by a plush looking limousine whose passengers had already disembarked. They were all standing on a small private airfield. In front of them was a small but modern looking aircraft, which looked, very new and quite expensive. In fact, Bourbon had only recently purchased it; it was a Cessna caravan 208 turbine powered propeller driven aircraft, which he used for his long-distance trips around Great Britain and the continent. On this trip it was full, including the pilot there was Bourbon, Rochelle, the two women who Christina had met at the manor house, three foreign looking gentlemen and finally two of Bourbon`s heavies. Christina hadn`t tried calling for help as the heavies had evil looking automatic pistols that she didn`t think they would hesitate to use on anyone who came to their aid. She also felt that they wouldn`t think twice about striking either her or her sister, and hard enough to hurt them, or even knock them out.

During the short flight one of the foreign looking men looked over at Cassie and then made some sort of comment to one of the women, it was the older one who had slapped Christina at the very beginning of her journey into hell. The old woman in turn looked Cassie over in such a way that sickened both Cassie and Christina, Cassie made her thoughts very clear.

"Why are you looking at me in that filthy way, I demand that you tell me?" She screamed out. Bourbon moved across to her and struck her violently across the face, he seemed to derive a sick sort of pleasure from it, that or maybe he was just a bully who enjoyed hurting those unable to defend themselves.

"Quiet girl, do not dare to make demands of your betters." Bourbon commanded her.

He seemed almost beside himself with rage at her outburst, although Christina did wonder if his rage was mostly for show rather than actual rage, it allowed him to strike out viciously. Christina made to get out of her seat but Bourbon noticing her movement turned his attention to her, and the look on Bourbon`s face forced her back down into her seat. She felt that he might have killed her without a thought if she hadn`t sat back down immediately and kept very quiet. She moved her hand across to hold that of Cassie`s, who was stunned by Bourbon`s violent action against her, and she was crying quite loudly. As Bourbon turned his attention back to Cassie, Christina advised her to be quiet or she might be struck again. Cassie looked up into the manic face of Bourbon and immediately stopped her sobbing, her fear of Bourbon growing with every second that passed. Cassie was trembling so much that Christina feared that she might be about to have a bout of hysterics.

Finally, Bourbon seemed satisfied and returned to his seat allowing Christina to speak to Cassie, although only in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

"Cassie, I have no idea what we have got ourselves into, but we are in terrible danger from these maniacs. Please don`t let your eyes stray away further than the seat directly in front of you, and try not to react to anything they may do or say, for I really thought that Bourbon was going to kill us just then." It took a moment before Cassie could find the strength to answer her sister, and even then, another tremor ran through her young body.

"Don`t you worry Chrissie, I`ll do exactly as you say." Her voice wavered again as she said these words, but even so she attempted to smile at her older sister.

More than one reason ran through Christina`s mind as to what was behind their abduction, all more terrifying than the one before, but nothing seemed to make sense to her. All she did know was that Bourbon was obviously insane. However, why kidnap them, he certainly wasn`t a dealer in young women destined for a brothel somewhere in the world, he was a rich and powerful businessman. The only logical reason turned around the Satanic connection, but that was really too scary to even think about. Finally, Christina decided to let the matter rest there, until something gave them a clearer indication as to what the future held.

The remainder of the short flight passed without any further violence, although Cassie was obviously very distressed by all that was happening, but then so was Christina. Soon they were standing on the tarmac of a small private aerodrome somewhere in central France, but still without being able to call for assistance, as the older of two women had pulled out a stiletto and threatened to use it should either of them so much as blink at one the locals.

Two large MPV`s pulled up next to the aeroplane and Bourbon hustled the two sisters into the leading one, they were joined by the two heavies and the two women, the remainder of the group got into the second vehicle. The old woman came across to the Christina and stroked her face with a gloved hand.

"Don`t think that I have forgotten you my lovely, we will have plenty of time to get to know one another." Christina cringed as the woman touched her, but fearing violence if she protested, violence that she was sure would also involve Cassie, she stayed very quiet and looked down at the floor. The woman then turned her attention to Cassie.

"Unfortunately, you are already chosen for honours beyond your feeble comprehension my dear, so I will forgive your earlier outburst, but don`t think that I won`t take the utmost pleasure in punishing you should you forget your manners a second time." The woman spoke with a thick accent that escaped Christina for the moment, unfortunately the tone of her voice also dripped sadistic overtones that scared the hell out of the two sisters; it also made clear thought almost impossible at that moment.

Christina and Cassie huddled together between the two heavies, thankful to be away from the old woman, but occasionally they had to endure her lascivious gaze. Thankfully, the journey to their final destination only took thirty minutes, and then they were hustled out of the vehicle and into a small chateau that under different circumstances Christina would have found quite charming.

They were led up to the top floor and into a room that must have been used by the servants at one time in its long history. The room contained two small cots and thankfully, it had been modernised, for it now boasted an en-suite bathroom, which they were both bursting to use. Christina heard their bedroom door being locked from the corridor as Cassie rushed into the bathroom ahead of her. Looking out of the one small window Christina looked down upon a very formal style of garden. Running through the garden were a number of paths, and a small labyrinth in the centre. The labyrinth was looking in need of much care and attention, as Christina could see that a large tree had fallen across part of the outer ring of the labyrinth and made a new exit at its rear. A small wood ran across the rear of the garden, but hopes of reaching it and escaping to freedom were a million miles away, for the window was barred. Christina opened the window and tugged at the metal bars but they were set firmly into the surrounding brickwork, and she could see now that they were a very modern addition to the chateau.

It was now Christina`s turn to use the bathroom and so she entered, only to notice that there was a second door into the bathroom. After making use of the facilities she checked to see if the second door was unlocked, although she obviously didn`t expect it to be, but she found to her delight that it was indeed open. A quiver of excitement ran through her as she slowly opened the door and cautiously looked into the room; it was completely empty and it looked as if it had been for some time, if the cobwebs were anything to go by.

"Cassie," she whispered come here, "there is another door in here, and it is open." Cassie, who had not noticed the door in her hurry to use the facilities of the room, rushed in."

"Be careful Chrissie." She whispered as she saw her sister disappear through the open door, fear snatching at his stomach, infecting the rest of her body, and almost stopping her mind from functioning. Christina didn`t reply, she simply rushed across to the window to check whether it too was barred and locked; it wasn`t barred or locked. Just then, Bourbon appeared below her on the paved terrace that overlooked the garden; she hurriedly moved back out of his line of sight. Behind her she saw that there was a further door that would lead out into the hall, she walked up to it and carefully tested the door handle to see if it was locked, unfortunately it was locked for some reason. Christina then returned to the bathroom and shut the connecting door, and then ushered Cassie back into their bedroom.

"Cassie the window in the other room isn`t barred and it isn`t locked either, we should be able to climb out and down a climbing plant of some sort that runs by the window ..." Cassie cut in here.

"What now? They will see us." She said incredulously, fear etching her young face and making her stomach churn.

"No silly tonight when everyone is asleep, say two in the morning, there shouldn`t be anyone around at that hour." Christina said in mild rebuke.

"Ok Chrissie, if you think we will be safe then I`m game to try." Cassie agreed and even managed a weak smile.

Christina and Cassie spent hours just studying the view from their bedroom window, trying to memorise the paths and features of the estate. Christina said that this was essential, for if their escape was discovered then they would need to throw of their captors in a hurry, if they were to ensure that their escape was successful.

They watched as a gardener worked on a flowerbed, but just as he finished he was called away by Bourbon to help with some problem that had arisen. The gardener left his tools leaning up against the outside of the labyrinth and Christina noted their position. They would make ideal weapons for them, should such a thing be needed.

The afternoon went by so very slowly and then they had a dinner, of sorts, without Bourbon or either of the two women making an appearance. Christina was almost as afraid of the old woman as she was of Bourbon, for the old woman had made threats to her wellbeing on more than one occasion. No, thankfully the only people that they saw were the two heavies, when they served as room service. Still their captors didn`t lock the connecting door that would take them away from the chateau, and away from whatever foul thing Bourbon had planned for them. The night slowly passed, but with every creak of the floorboards, Christina feared that their captors would appear to lock the second door, but as the house quietened down for the night, Christina grew more and more certain that the door had been overlooked.

Christina`s thoughts turned to the one certain fact, their captors didn`t seem to mind that they could be identified. This in turn led to the realisation that they were not going to be freed at some time in the future; they would probably be killed after their usefulness was ended. Tears streamed down her face as she now realised that in all probability her mother was dead too, as she had already ceased to be of use to these monsters, Cassie and her were all alone now. Christina tried to force her mind off this subject, but it kept forcing its way back, for like the tide it too was unstoppable.

The minutes ticked by slowly but soon her watch showed two o`clock, and so Christina wiped away her tears and taking a deep breath she roused her sister. Cassie had thankfully been able to fall into a light sleep, even if she did occasionally cry out, but this didn`t surprise Christina following Cassie`s exhausting and terrifying ordeal at Bourbon`s hands.

"Cassie it`s time for you to wake up." Christina whispered while gently shaking her sister. Cassie awoke instantly, she had been in the middle of a nightmare and for a moment, she thought that she was still in it.

"No, please I beg of you." She cried out sitting upright and looking more scared than ever.

"Cassie it`s alright, it`s only me Christina, it`s time for us to go." Christina whispered urgently. Cassie sat up and immediately burst into tears. Christina pulled her sister to her and let her cry. It was fully two minutes before Cassie stopped crying and looked up at her sister.

"Chrissie, why is this happening to us, and what did that woman mean when she said I had been chosen, chosen for what Chrissie?" Christina looked down at her young sister and almost burst into tears as well.

"I don`t know my sweet," she managed to finally say, "I only know that we have to get away from these monsters." With that, Christina stood up and then helped Cassie to her feet. The two sisters were soon through into the other room and looking out of its single window into the moonlit night.

"Help me push the window up Cassie, it`s a little stiff, it hasn`t been used much I suppose." Christina said.

Cassie added her strength and soon the window edged upwards with a squeak that Christina was sure would bring Bourbon or the old woman hurrying to their room. Soon it was open wide enough to allow them to wriggle through the narrow gap, and thankfully no one had arrived to stop them.

"Please be careful Cassie, we`re on the third floor and the ground looks kind of hard."

With these words of caution, Christina squeezed through the narrow gap and sat on the wide stone window ledge. To one side of her was the thick stem of the tall climbing plant, which meant that she had to slide across the windowsill. Fear was rampant in her mind and rushing throughout her body, for she didn`t have much of a head for heights, but she knew for certain that she had to do this, for the alternative would almost certainly be far worse. Christina came to the end of the sill and looked to see how she should proceed. Taking care not to look directly at the ground, so far below her, she looked for a safe way down the thick climbing plant. Having come to a decision she now carefully moved her weight off the sill and onto the plant, her feet feeling and finding the hold that she had already decided on.

"Wait a moment Cassie until I have tested the strength of this plant, and then you squeeze through onto the window sill and follow my way down." Christina whispered to her sister.

"Chrissie, what do you mean wait until you have tested the strength?" Cassie whispered back fearfully.

Christina didn`t answer her sister`s question, she was too busy ensuring that she didn`t fall as she began her climb down the creeper. Holding firmly onto the plant she moved one foot to a firm foot hold and then she moved the other foot down to another place that would take her weight. Next, she moved her hand down to clamp around a part of the plant that she could grip tightly. She proceeded in this way until she heard a cry from above her.

"Chrissie, please help me I`m slipping." Cassie wailed down to Christina.

Looking up Christina saw that her sister`s feet were dangling and that Cassie was close to panic and even closer to falling.

"Hold on Cassie I`m coming." Christina whispered fearfully.

Christina climbed quickly up, for there was no time to waste, finally she came level with Cassie`s feet and pushed one and then the other foot back up to a safe foot hold. Cassie almost cried with relief when the weight of her young body was taken from her aching arms.

"Oh Chrissie, I was so scared thank you, I`m sorry that I`m so pathetic." Cassie whispered down. Christina laughed softly.

"That`s one you owe me." Christina whispered back.

Thankfully, the rest of the climb down the creeper was uneventful and they finally reached the ground in one piece, although they were both mentally and physically exhausted by the climb.

The moon was high above them and lit the grounds, Christina noted rather annoyed by the fact. She searched the shadows for signs of life but as far as she could tell, they had not been detected, so she moved quietly down the wide steps that went from the terrace and down into the garden, Cassie never more than a few inches behind her. She decided to take the middle path that led almost directly to the woods in the distance, and they were approaching the small path that would take them to the labyrinth.

From behind them they heard barking coming from the side of the chateau. The two sisters turned to see three large and powerful dogs racing across the lawn towards them, the moonlight making them appear almost as devil dogs to Christina. Christina was sure that the noise that they were making would almost certainly awaken someone within the chateau. Taking the situation in, she decided to head for the labyrinth, not only would its small paths mean that they would only have to face danger from behind them, but more importantly she noticed that the gardener`s tools were still there, a shiny new spade and a nasty looking fork.

"Cassie grab the fork, I`ll take the spade." She said as they arrived at the entrance to the labyrinth.

Armed the two sisters ran into the labyrinth with the dogs just twenty feet behind them. As Christina turned to see how far behind the dogs were, she noticed that lights were indeed appearing in the windows of the chateau, she almost cried as this meant that Bourbon would soon be chasing after them as well.

In just seconds the two sisters were forced to stop and turn around to face the chasing dogs, otherwise the dogs would have pulled them down to the ground and probably badly injured them or even killed them.

"Cassie we must chase these dogs off quickly or Bourbon will catch us, and there is no telling what he will do to us by way of punishment." Christina said breathlessly. Cassie looked over to her sister.

"Ok Chrissie let`s do it." Cassie cried out bravely.

With those words, Cassie launched herself towards the dogs, which were taken by surprise by their sudden attack. Her garden fork dug sharply into the dog on the right making it yelp in pain, and it backed away whimpering, unfortunately it was soon replaced by the third animal. The dog on the left snarled at Christina, saliva dripping from its massive maw, but Christina having noticed Cassie`s courageous action also went into the attack and she too lunged forward. The garden space caught the dog deep inside the dog`s gaping mouth and snapped off some of its teeth, making this ferocious animal also yelp in pain. Christina smiled grimly as it too turned and ran away whimpering. The last dog stood looking after its friends and decided to halt its attack, and it too ran back down the labyrinth and back into the garden. The narrowness of the path within the labyrinth had saved the two sisters lives, that and their brave actions in confronting and attacking the ferocious beasts that had chased after them.

"We did it Chrissie," Cassie cried jubilantly, "we actually did it."

Christina just smiled across at her younger sister, for she knew that they couldn`t take time out to celebrate their victory just yet, for the sounds of human pursuit floated through the still night air. Luckily, Christina had been able to get a good look at the labyrinth from the window of their bedroom, for now she steered them directly towards the break in the rear of the labyrinth. Once they had climbed over the fallen tree, they sped off towards the woods down paths bordered by hedges, these had been allowed to grow tall by the previous owner, an Englishman, and so the hedges hid them from their pursuers.

Behind them, they heard the voice of some of the servants as they tended to the injured dogs. Bourbon rushed towards the labyrinth but stopped to look down at his injured animals, seeing their wounds he swore to punish the two sisters in such a way that they wouldn`t dare to try to escape again. He stopped one of the Satanists and spoke quietly to him, then turning to the other members of his household he gave hurried instructions as to what they must do, his voice now carrying loudly to the sisters in the stillness of the night.

"George you take Albert and Rosina and circle the labyrinth to the left. Victoria, you take my two men and circle to the right. I will go through the labyrinth with Aillard and Emauri. We will flush them out soon enough." He snarled, he pictured the indignities he would put them through when he had the sisters back inside of the chateau and smiled; he would get some pleasure from the two wretched girls in recompense for his lack of sleep this night.

Christina now decided to steer a course that would take them away from the direct route to the woods, she thought their pursuers would probably assume that they would be heading for the trees in which to hide from them. Instead, they followed a path that led towards a lake, she planned to meet it at its farthest edge from the chateau and follow it around to another path that she had seen from their window, for this path would take them towards the same woodland but at a point much further away from the chase. Christina and Cassie jogged along slowly so as not to exhaust themselves too early and within two minutes they came to the lake, unfortunately they met it at its nearest point to the chateau which meant that they had to spend another vital thirty seconds getting around it before they met the path that would take them to the woods. They had heard their pursuers entering the woods some distance away, but now the sounds of their pursuers were coming ever nearer to them. The sisters stopped for a moment to decide in which direction to go. The path to the woods was across an open meadow, and with the moon shining down upon them they decided that they would be easily spotted crossing it by anyone looking in their direction. Therefore, Christina decided to veer further over and away from this meadow, and they put on a spurt so as to extend the distance between them and the woodland. Ahead of them was the road that led to the main entrance to the estate, Christina feared that someone might have been sent to the entrance to keep watch on the road, but she took heart from the fact that the tall hedges would keep them hidden from any watcher posted there. She also hoped that when they did finally reach the road that they would be able to elude this watcher. They had just reached the few large trees that ran alongside the road when a man stepped out holding a shotgun; he was one of the foreign looking men who had accompanied them on the flight from England.

"Bourbon was right, if he acted the part of a beater in the woodland then his two little birds would fly straight towards the road. Drop those weapons and put your hands up." The Satanist had been able to get there ahead of them as he had driven to the main road and then returned to set up the ambush.

Christina and Cassie dropped the spade and the fork; they hit the ground with a dull thud, much as their hearts had done, Cassie burst into tears and Christina was also on the point of joining her. That they had been captured so easily was not only very distressing it was sickening, her fears as to their future had multiplied. Her mind worked furiously on a plan to get them away, and she gave some hurried instructions to Cassie in a whisper. Christina slumped to the ground, it appeared that she had fainted, her fears too much for her young mind. Cassie looked down on the still body of her sister and almost joined her, and she would have except that that she had her orders. The man took out his mobile phone and was soon speaking to Bourbon.

"You were quite correct Monsieur Bourbon, I have them here."

Cassie had moved to the other side of their captor and the man`s eyes followed her. Just then, Christina opened an eye to see that the foreign man had turned from her and was concentrating on Cassie. Christina quietly stood up and picking up the garden spade brought it heavily down upon the man`s head, he crumpled silently to the ground. Along the track Christina saw the headlights of a vehicle coming along the track, she turned to Cassie who was standing there looking very scared.

"Come on Cassie." Christina ordered. "We must get away."

With that she grabbed her sister`s arm and dragged her towards the low wall that ran around the grounds of the chateau. They were soon over it and running along the main road when the sound of a vehicle came to her from behind them. Christina knew it had to be their captors so she pulled Cassie across the road and into the fields of the neighbouring farm, she hoped to be able to hide amongst the crops until daylight when she could seek assistance. Unfortunately, Cassie chose this moment to step awkwardly and she fell to the ground with a groan.

"Quickly Cassie, get up." Christina pleaded. Cassie stood up but immediately cried out in agony.

"I`m sorry Chrissie, it`s my ankle, I think I twisted it, you go on, I can`t run anymore."

Cassie`s face was a picture of pain and tears as she realised that now they wouldn`t be able to get away. It was only seconds later a land rover arrived and Bourbon`s two heavies got out and rushed towards them, the flashlights they were carrying almost blinding Christina who was still carrying the garden spade. She launched herself at one of the men but her swing at his head missed as he stepped back and off balance, she stumbled into his fist and fell to the ground unconscious. Another vehicle arrived with Bourbon in it. He helped the two heavies to load the sisters into the land rover, which took the sisters back into captivity. Christina awoke to find herself in a dark cellar; Cassie was sitting opposite her on a cot. To Christina`s horror she saw that Cassie had a length of chain stretching from her ankle to the wall to which it was fitted. Sitting up Christina found that she too was chained in a similar manner.

"Are you ok Chrissie?" Cassie asked in barely a whisper, Christina could see that she was very scared. Her eyes were red from crying and she had the beginnings of a black eye.

"What happened? I`m sorry Cassie, I guess I must have fainted for real." Christina said. She could feel tears flooding her eyes, but she tried to hold them back so that Cassie wouldn`t see them slipping down her cheeks, for this would only make her sister cry again.

"Christina, you didn`t faint, it was my fault in not watching where I put my stupid foot, you were magnificent. You attacked two of Bourbon`s goons with your spade, unfortunately one of the goons knocked you out. Bourbon then arrived and he and his goons loaded us into a land rover and brought us back to the chateau, but instead of our bedroom they deposited us down in the cellars which have been fitted out to make them into Bourbon`s own private dungeon." Cassie replied rattling her chain.

"Did Bourbon do that; give you your black eye?"

Before Cassie could reply they heard the cellar door being unlocked, and then Bourbon walked down the flight of wooden steps, and into his very private dungeon. He came straight across to Christina and struck her hard across the face, his face showing his anger. He really enjoyed doing this to defenceless women who couldn`t fight back. His face was not full of anger but sadistic satisfaction.

"You attacked on of my guests you bitch." Bourbon said standing over her.

"I ought to kill you now, for you have put me to considerable bother. Because of you and your interfering mother, I was forced to bring my plans forward and move back to France before I was ready. The police in England are trying to trace me and I might never be able to return to my manor house. You have now attempted to escape, should you try it again, I will first have your mother killed and then I will take great pleasure in killing you. You were never a part of my plans, only this girl figured in them. I have suffered your presence only to give your sister some company before the ceremony. Do not annoy me again or I will kill you. Do you understand?" Bourbon said almost snarling the last words. He seemed poised to strike her again as he stood there gloating, his contempt for her all-consuming at that moment.

Christina was in shock, her face hurt both from where Bourbon had struck her, and also from the punch from the heavy that had knocked her out. Cassie was sobbing again and Christina was on the verge of joining her, she could already feel a single tear trickling down her cheek. She barely managed to nod her head by way of an answer to Bourbon. Bourbon looked at them both and sneered in contempt, they weren`t worth the energy he would use, should he continue his physical assault of them, instead he turned away and left them to cry. He had other forms of torture in mind for them, and ones that would bring him much greater satisfaction. Cassie finally managed to stop crying and she looked across at her sister.

"What ceremony Chrissie, what does he want me for, does he want to marry me?" She said revolted by the very idea of being forced to marry such a man.

Chapter Five

Fighting Demons

In the same evening that the two sisters were getting ready to escape, Rob was packing his suitcase in preparation for his move to France, just then there was a knock at the hotel room door. He opened it to find a tall grim faced man, he was aged about thirty standing in the hotel corridor.

"Hello and what can I do for you?" Rob asked politely. He took in his visitor in a moment, here in front of him was a man who was much in need of help of one kind or another, and very much like himself, Rob reflected.

"Can I come in; I need to speak to you about the death of my mother. I`m John Ryman, Christina and Cassie are my sisters and I need your help in finding them." He said pushing by a very surprised government agent.

"You`re Christina`s brother, I knew she had a brother but she never really spoke much about you." Rob replied.

"No well I`m the black sheep of the family, moved to London and then became a journalist, a breed of person my mother detested with all of her heart, so understandably we all just drifted apart. But enough of family memories, will you help me?" John Ryman asked. The urgency of his plea clearly showed on his face, as did the mental pain he was suffering, both of which showed clearly in his voice.

"Shouldn`t you be asking this question of the police?" Rob suggested to the man who would soon become his brother in law, if Rob`s luck changed. He wanted to be away from England as soon as was possible, not answering questions from worried family members.

"I`ve already done that but they wouldn`t or couldn`t tell me much, anyway I was hoping that you would be more forthcoming. Are you going somewhere?" Ryman suddenly asked noticing the suitcase, a look of concern spreading across his gaunt face. "Surely you should be sticking around to find Christina and Cassie? My contacts told me that you work for some government agency attached to MI6, if so then surely you should be employing your skills, and those of your colleagues in looking for my sisters?"

Ryman had become very angry, very fast, but Rob disregarded this, instead he now wondered just how this stranger knew so much about his work, not even Christina knew that much. He decided to give him five minutes of his time, not only so that he could learn more about this man and his contacts, but also because he supposed that it was the least he could do for Christina`s long lost brother.

"John, I`m just a lowly clerk in a boring office, I`m certainly not some glamorous secret agent, whoever put such nonsense into your head?" Rob replied.

"Never mind that, just tell me why you are running away." Ryman demanded to know. He had stepped forward belligerently and looked to be on the point of striking Rob.

"Look I will tell you as much as I know." Rob said trying to defuse Ryman's growing anger. Rob then told him about Christina`s note, his two visits to the manor house and the death of John`s mother.

"So, you see John, I`m off to France in the morning, I`ve decide to take a short break to get over the shock of all of this, it's been very trying. And anyway, the police are more than capable of looking into these vile crimes, let`s leave them to it." Rob finally suggested.

"Bourbon is French, you`re going to France to look for my sisters there, aren`t you? Well I`m coming along with you." Ryman said. His anger had evaporated and he was a lot happier now, for he could see that he hadn`t caught Rob in the act of running out on his sisters; Rob was actually chasing down a lead.

Rob groaned inwardly, he needed this like a hole in the head, but then Ryman said something that made him look up sharply.

"Mr Hinds, you do know that Bourbon is heavily into Satanism, don`t you? In all likelihood Christina and Cassie have been kidnapped for use by Bourbon in one of his disgusting ceremonies?" Ryman looked at Rob in expectation of a derisory comment; instead, Rob asked a question of him.

"John what do you know about Bourbon and his Satanic dealings, because you`re right, or so I believe, and we must get them back before anything happens to them. Oh, and call me Rob, Mr Hinds is my father." Rob replied and he in turn looked at Ryman but in expectation of hearing something to his advantage.

"Ok, Rob, here is my story. I first became aware of Ulysses Bourbon last year when my editor asked me to write a series of articles about the rise of Satanism. Unfortunately, I had the great misfortune to stumble onto Bourbon and his coven, and it was while I was investigating him that I received a visit from something that scared the living daylights out of me. I awoke to find the room was icy cold and filled with an awful smell. Then I saw something materialising at the foot of the bed, it was a full moon that night and I had no problem seeing the demon, for that`s what it was. I knew it was the real thing, Rob, my hair was literally standing on end and I have never been quite so scared in my entire life, I ran out of that hotel room and only returned the next day to collect my belongings. Then I headed back to London and took the first plane out to Los Angeles, where I stayed until I read about my mother`s death, and also of your involvement. Needless to say, I didn`t continue with the series of articles, my editor understood as he too had had a midnight visitor, he and his wife almost died of fright. Thankfully, that was all that Bourbon desired, to scare us off, or so I believed at the time, which he did most successfully." Ryman smiled here but it almost didn`t register on his face, since his run in with Bourbon this was all he was ever capable of.

"I`ve also had the pleasure of a visitor from hell John, and I too took to my heels and ran, I ran right into a well-placed fist. Look, if we are to continue with our search then we won`t be given the opportunity to run again, we will have to stay and fight it out to the very end. Either we destroy Bourbon and his evil friends or we all die, you, me, Christina and Cassie, these I believe are the stakes. Now if those stakes are too high then please tell me now. I certainly will understand if you would rather leave it there. Although I never was a believer John, I certainly am now. I also believe that this will be one fight where normal safeguards just won`t be enough, I just hope that we can get through it, and all come out alive at the other end." Rob looked at Ryman and waited his reply, it didn`t take long.

"A friend of mine gave me similar advice after my last brush with Bourbon, and I decided that the stakes at that time were far too high. My cowardice cost my mother her life and my two sisters are in the hands of a Satanist. You don`t have to worry about me Rob, I`m with you all the way this time around." Ryman replied dourly.

He no longer feared death, for it would at least release him from the terrible guilt he felt at having led Bourbon to his family, for Ryman firmly believed that his mother`s death, and the kidnapping of his two sisters, was Bourbon`s way of punishing him for his having wrecked Bourbon`s Satanic celebration.

"This friend of yours John, you say that he gave you advice, does he know much about the subject of Satanism?" Rob asked, for they were in need of some advice about a subject both men had previously thought to be no more than fiction.

"Yes, he is an expert on the subject of the devil and all of his works; however, I should warn you that he is a little unusual. He is an ordained priest, but not one with a church, the Catholic Church decided that he was following lines that were forbidden to them, so they sent him on a long sabbatical, so far he has been on it for five years." Ryman said giving his best to smile at his new friend.

"John, you say that you fled the battleground like a coward, but surely this priest of yours should have taken up the sword long ago?" Rob asked.

"He was quite willing to take up arms with me, and I don`t need to tell you that it isn`t a job to be taken lightly. No, he told me that he would need help in his quest, help which is not forthcoming from the Catholic Church, and at the time, I was also unwilling to go up against Satan. For one man to go up against the devil and all his works would be suicidal, and that is not only a sin according to the Catholic Church, it would also be insane. No, he is simply waiting for the right men to come along and assist him in his quest.

Rob looked at Ryman for a moment before coming to a decision, he normally worked alone and never with amateurs, but on this case, and with the lives of Christina and Cassie hanging in the balance, he knew he was in need of expert help that the department could not provide.

"John, maybe you had better call your priest and ask him if he is willing to give us his help in this matter. If Satanism is a real force, and I for one am coming to believe that it is, then we could do with some expert help in saving Christina and Cassie, and maybe also keeping our own lives intact." Rob decided.

Ryman called Father Pritchard`s mobile phone, and this time luck was running their way as Pritchard answered immediately. On hearing whom it was and as to why he was calling, Father Pritchard immediately told Ryman that he would be only too willing to help them in their quest against Bourbon, as long as Ryman would assure him that this time there would be no backing out when things began to get dangerous. Ryman assure the priest that this time there would be no chickening out, this time it was for keeps.

"John, where are you now and how are you proposing to travel to France?" Father Pritchard asked. Ryman looked over at Rob and repeated the latter part of the question.

"We`re catching the early morning flight from Southampton, it gets into Paris in time for breakfast, or we will be just as soon as I`ve booked you a ticket." Rob replied. On hearing this Father Pritchard thought about it for just a moment before replying.

"John, I`m in my house in Salisbury, I think that maybe you should delay your departure plans until tomorrow evening. Drive over to my house this evening and you can sleep here tonight. This will give you enough time to tell me more about your problem, if the three of us are going to be relatively safe during the next few days, I will need to use tomorrow morning to get hold of some supplies. From what you have told me so far, I believe that your sisters will be relatively safe until midsummer's eve, which is June the 21st. The 21st is a major celebration for Satanists all over the world, and Bourbon almost certainly kidnapped your sisters for this satanic celebration." Rob didn`t like the delay and said so, but he had asked for the help of an expert and so he could hardly refuse to accept his expert`s advice.

The two men left Lower Boulding twenty minutes later after collecting Ryman`s suitcase from his hotel, a hotel just off the main highway, for the Vista Hotel had too many bad memories for Ryman, and his mother`s house was still being treated as a crime scene so the police had forbidden him to use it. Rob`s GPS tracker gave him the quickest directions to their destination, Father Pritchard`s address being supplied by Ryman. They arrived in Salisbury one hour later, Ryman opened his eyes as they stopped outside Father Pritchard's house, for the speed at which Rob had been driving had scared the living daylights out of him and so he had closed them tightly shut. He wondered how Rob had managed to survive for so long. Father Pritchard was at the door to greet them, and he showed them into his small front room where they sat down after Ryman had made the introductions.

"Would either of you like a drink? I`m afraid that from this moment on it will have to be water, we mustn't touch any wine or alcohol until we have dealt with Bourbon and his associates." Father Pritchard said. Rob was a little annoyed at this, but asked for a glass of water anyway as he was a little thirsty.

"John, how are you coping, is life treating you a little better?" Father Pritchard was very concerned about the young journalist, especially now he would be facing up to Bourbon again.

"Yes I`m fine Father, and don`t worry about how committed I am, this time there will be no retreating from the battle." Ryman answered grimly.

"Have you had any further contact with Bourbon, or his little friends?" Father Pritchard asked.

"I haven`t but you were right of course, Bourbon does harbour grudges, and my family`s run in with Bourbon will testify to that fact." Ryman replied, as all of his terrible feelings of guilt rose up and almost engulfed him.

Father Pritchard saw Ryman`s face go very pale, and he thought that he could guess the reason why. Although he felt sorry for the journalist, it was all his own doing, he had been warned to stay clear of Bourbon. Father Pritchard now turned to Rob.

"Rob, calling me Father Pritchard is a bit OTT, especially as I`m currently on an extended sabbatical, I`m David to my friends." He announced much to Rob`s relief who much preferred to speak to friends on a first name basis, and he felt silly calling anyone father, except of course his own one.

"Now it is not only alcohol that we shall have to forsake, I`m afraid that our diet for the next few days will have to consist of only light meals, but definitely no meat. Luckily it is summer, and as we are to be on the continent then we can enjoy some of their delicious salads" Rob began to protest but Father Pritchard waved his protests away.

"I`m sorry Rob, from what I personally know about Bourbon I must insist on it. If we are to save John`s sisters, and our own lives too, then it is imperative that you abide by my ruling on this matter. Normally, I would insist on starting the diet at least a week before we went up against a Satanist as powerful as Bourbon has become of late, but with midsummer almost upon us then we obviously cannot afford the time." Rob found a smile somewhere and agreed to abide by his new friend`s instructions, in this matter at least Father Pritchard was in charge.

Outside the English summer took a turn for the worse and they could hear the rain beating against the windows of the room, the three men looked at one another and laughed, yes it was just the weather for salads. Rob then told Father Pritchard exactly what had happened over the last eight days. When he has finished Father Pritchard looked at his two friends and smiled grimly.

"It really is a right little pickle your family has got itself entangled in John. Let me tell you now of how I propose we should proceed. First of all, we will have to spend each night sleeping inside of a pentagram, and John, after your last bout with Bourbon, I don`t think I will have to persuade you as to the necessity of this. How about you Rob, has the short time that you have been involved in the eternal war against evil made you realise that normal measures are just not good enough to fight against this sort of enemy?" Father Pritchard asked turning his full attention to Rob.

"A week ago, I would have laughed at you David, now my beliefs have been turned upside down. That thing that I saw in the temple, the way it grew out of the ground terrified me, and I still don`t know how Bourbon was able to hypnotise me. Look if you say we need to sleep within a magic circle then so be it, I have roughed it plenty of times before and I probably will again." Rob said in answer to Father Pritchard`s question.

It was getting late now so Father Pritchard led the two men through to a large room at the rear of the house. Its polished wooden floor was mostly empty; except that is for a massive Pentagram, he had drawn it in chalk just moments after speaking to Ryman on the phone. It had a circle drawn around the pentagram, enclosing it, and at each point of the pentagram was a silver cup. In the middle of the pentagram were set three sets of blankets and a pillow each for their heads. To one side of these items was a large flask of water and three glass beakers.

"The circle is made of salt that I have blessed, in each of the silver cups I have poured some water that I have also blessed. The signs at each of the points denote the five elements, four are of matter, and they are fire, air, water and earth. The fifth element is not of matter it is spirit. Tomorrow I will go out and purchase a number of small bottles, I will fill half of them with blessed salt and the other half with blessed water; these will be for our personal protection against evil. I will also purchase some dried mandrake and some large strings of garlic, both of which are useful items that with luck will protect us against evil. The garlic we will wear around our necks and the mandrake we can keep in our pockets. I will also purchase three good quality sleeping bags, as I don`t think we will find the blankets that I have put down for us very comfortable, are there any questions?" Father Pritchard asked smiling.

"Why are we using garlic? David, we aren`t going up against vampires, our foes are only too real, Bourbon and his allies." Rob asked just a little bemused by the suggestion.

Father Pritchard looked a little put out at having to explain his words. "Garlic has long been used to ward off evil; it is probably why the writers of fiction first began to mention it in their stories. As you say Rob, we are not going to ward off Christopher Lee look alikes, we are hopefully going to keep far worse things at bay; things that might make you want to re-evaluate your present beliefs about good and evil. Hopefully these few things that we will carry with us will give us the confidence to stay firm and to fight, not only for Christina and Cassie, but also for the rest of the good people on our world." Father Pritchard said a little angrily.

"I`m sorry David, this is all so new to me that you must excuse my ignorance in such things. Of course, we will do as you advise; garlic it is, and if we have any left after the coming battle then we can use it in our cooking." Rob said smiling at his two friends.

Even Father Pritchard smiled at his light-hearted reply, but then his face was back to serious. "The next thing that we need to talk about is our means of getting to the continent. I think that as we shall be taking so many necessary things with us, such as our protection against the evil that we will almost certainly meet there, that we should take my Renault Megane as it`s an estate car. It will be roomy enough for the three of us plus our equipment. We can take the Portsmouth to Cherbourg ferry, it leaves at four o`clock tomorrow afternoon and we will be in France at eight o`clock their time." Father Pritchard looked across at Rob to see if he would agree to this slower journey.

"He won't be able to whip up a storm to delay us, will he?" Rob asked. Both he and Ryman looked at Father Pritchard for his answer, for they couldn`t risk a further delay.

"You can book our tickets in the morning Rob, but we will go aboard the ferry only at the very last minute, this should prevent him from being able to do anything that would stop the ferry`s departure." Father Pritchard said. "In any case, each time that he uses his demonic friends it weakens him and it takes him a while to recover his normal strength. No, with the upcoming celebration he won`t be able to afford to attack us using only the satanic forces, he is far more likely to use his human allies to rid himself of us." Father Pritchard said.

"Then I will have to ensure that we are protected against a human foe David, while you look after any inhuman demons that he sends after us." Rob said feeling a little easier in his mind about what they would be facing in France.

"Right my friends, if we are in agreement regarding our travel plans, then it is late, and we should retire for the night and rest while we can. Knowing Bourbon as I do, I`m afraid that he might well pay us a visit during the small hours of tonight, in an attempt to scare us into dropping our travel plans." Father Pritchard warned.

"That is fine by me David, and if he is foolish to put in a personal appearance I will wring his neck until such time as he tells us where my sisters are." Ryman said his anger rising at such a thought.

"I would have thought that after your last experience with real evil John, you would have realised that I meant one of his tame demons might call." Father Pritchard said amending his last statement.

"David, he is hardly likely to know where we are now is he, we only just got here." Rob argued.

"Rob, there is much about the world of the supernatural as it is now termed, that you do not know, hopefully you are correct in your surmising's but I think not. Bourbon will simply summon one of the lesser demons that he has under his control and order it to tell him of your current whereabouts. Unfortunately, when he also finds out that you have found allies in your quest against him, allies already known to him, his anger will rise to even greater heights. He will send one of his more violent demons to attack us in the hope that one or more of us are either killed or simply chased away to cower in a church, never to reappear as one of his adversaries. It is why I drew the Pentagon, and it is why we will have to sleep inside one until our final battle is over." Father Pritchard said regretfully.

Rob looked at his new friend and hoped that he was wrong, but after his own confrontation with Bourbon he was not going to bank on it. There was always the possibility that Bourbon didn`t consider him that much of a threat, Rob hoped, and would forget about him. John Ryman had been very wrong in thinking this, and so was Rob.

"Well if we are to be attacked by demons then one of us should keep watch while the others sleep. I`ll take the first watch until one o`clock tomorrow morning and then wake one of you to take over." Ryman said.

Rob and John Ryman stepped inside the pentagram where they would spend the remainder of the night. Father Pritchard then picked up five long slender candles from the nearest corner of the room, and after placing one at each of the points of the pentagram, he lit them with an old and battered cigarette lighter. He then stepped inside of the pentagram and ordered them to kneel down, and when they were both ready he recited a Prayer.

"The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou annointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of The Lord forever. Amen" Father Pritchard looked across at his two friends who also said amen. He then smiled sadly at them.

"I`m afraid that that is all that I can do for us tonight, but we shall be much better protected after I have purchased our symbols of protection in the morning. Oh, but I do have something else for you."

Father Pritchard dug into one of the pockets of his jacket and pulled out three small laminated cards.

"You will see that the prayer that I just said, Psalm twenty-three, is on the card in your hand. When I had a parish, I used to hand these out to my flock, freebees from God, I used to call them. Luckily, I still have some left. Reading from the card will be safer than trying to concentrate on the exact words if we are ever under attack. Some powerful demons can easily confuse you and there is no telling what words he will put into your mouth. I also have a wooden cross for each of us, these will offer protection against most minor demons and also I believe against vampires Rob." Father Pritchard said looking across at Rob, who smiled. Father Pritchard then handed his two friends a small plain wooden cross about six inches in length.

They all then settled down to try to make the most of what would sure to be a very uncomfortable night. As the minutes slowly slipped, and even though their makeshift beds were a little uncomfortable, Father Pritchard and Rob did finally manage to fall into a light sleep. Ryman smiled grimly as he watched over them; this was a something he could never have predicted, not in a thousand years.

Nothing happened during the time Ryman sat there awake, watching for signs of evil entering into Father Pritchard`s house, and Rob took over the watch at one o`clock. Rob was on the point of falling asleep, tired after such a peculiar and tiring day, when he noticed one of the shadows lengthening in the room. His desire for sleep evaporated immediately as he sensed that danger had entered into the room. He was wide-awake now, and he realised that his mouth was decidedly dry, so he picked up the flask of water and poured some of its contents into a glass; he gulped it down while searching the room for any further sign as to what had triggered his senses. Rob shivered as the temperature in the room dropped twenty degrees, and he now knew that evil had entered the room.

Father Pritchard snapped wide-awake as he also sensed something was about to happen, the evil from within the shadow breaking into his shallow sleep.

"It has arrived Rob, I could feel it even while I was asleep." With that, he gently shook Ryman.

"John, it`s time to wake up, our expected and very unwelcome guest is just arriving." Father Pritchard called softly to him.

"My god it`s cold in here." Ryman said waking instantly. He rubbed his hands together in an effort to generate some heat while scanning the room for signs of the thing from hell.

"David, whatever it is, it`s over in the corner by the door, the shadow has been growing ever blacker and it's taking on a more definite shape as every second passes." Rob said uneasily.

A large figure had taken shape in the corner and it now moved forward towards them. It was in the form of a huge man, but it had bulging eyes and a strange hissing sound came from it. Its tongue was enormous, but forked like the tongue of a serpent and it flicked in and out of its wide mouth. The three friends unconsciously backed away and would have left the safety of the circle had not Father Pritchard realised in time that this was what the demon intended. He quickly grabbed a hold of each of them.

"Rob, John, take care, don`t leave the circle, it`s why it is moving towards us, it's using our fear of the supernatural to make us careless. It will pounce on anyone who inadvertently leaves the safety of the circle, and I don`t know if I would be able to save you." Father Pritchard warned them grimly.

The figure before them grew until its large head was touching the ceiling, and from out of its grotesque mouth a laugh almost exploded upon them making them all back up once again until they were almost touching the salt circle. It was Rob this time that warned the others of impending danger.

"I think it`s time to move forward lads, before we damage our circle and chummy here eats us." Rob realised that he was once again sweating, and he noticed a film a sweat on the faces of his two comrades, as fear infected their hearts in this terrible struggle between good and evil.

Father Pritchard and Ryman looked at Rob as they attempted to take in his words, their minds temporarily a turmoil. Rob though grabbed them both by the arm and forced them to step forward two paces. The demon before them smiled grotesquely; on this creature the smile looked almost surreal. Its eyes then began to grow, bulging even more than before, and inside his head Rob could hear something telling him to walk forward, to leave the circle of blessed salt and to journey with the demon to paradise. The three men as one began to walk forward, but something in Rob`s mind recalled his earlier encounter with Bourbon, when he too had attempted to hypnotise him. Rob told himself to ignore the words and he forced his eyes to look down at the floor, and away from the demon`s compelling eyes. He found that his hand was holding the laminated prayer card, and Rob pulled it from out of his pocket. He looked dumbly at it for just a moment, one moment more and his friends would be out of the protective circle of salt. Rob once again grabbed them and then he recited the words written proudly upon the card. His loud voice broke through the hypnotic trance that was holding his friends` captive and brought them back to reality. The demon hissed loudly in anger, and Father Pritchard, ashamed at being tricked so very easily, pulled out of his jacket pocket a small glass bottle that was filled to the brim with holy water. Father Pritchard opened it and threw the contents at the demon while joining Rob in his recitation of the Prayer. The large demon before them screamed as the water fell on it, and it immediately disappeared in a cloud of smoke that filled the room with such an awful smell, but at least the terrible cold left them.

The three men began choking as the evil smell filled their noses and Father Pritchard rushed to the window and opened it wide, and then they all had a drink of water from the flask to wet their very dry throats, and also to try to wash away the smell that even filled their mouths.

"I`d better fill this flask again, just in case." Father Pritchard said walking through to the kitchen.

John Ryman joined him so that he could cut a slice of bread from what remained of that day`s loaf.

"I need to eat something Rob, to try to still the butterflies flocking in my stomach." Ryman said to Rob who had now joined him.

"I think that I`ll join you." Rob said cutting another slice.

"That was a close one Rob, thankfully you were able to overcome the demon`s hypnotic grip and save us. We should be safe for the rest of the night, for this little escapade will have drained Bourbon of a lot of his strength. Even so we shall have to return to the circle as soon as that awful smell has left the room." Father Pritchard said as he walked back into the kitchen after putting the refilled flask of water back inside the pentagram. He then joined them in their Spartan feast.

"Something within me brought to mind Bourbon`s previous attempt to take control of my mind. This must have broken the spell; and none too soon, for with another step we would all have been consigned to hell." Rob exclaimed.

"Yes Rob, I believe that we were only seconds away from being kidnapped and bound for hell." Ryman said. His tried to smile at his friend, but his smile, as per normal these days, hardly appeared on his grim face, his thoughts had returned to his sisters and what they must be enduring, captive within a house filled with Satanists. Was he truly being punished for his audacity in believing, albeit for only a brief period in time, that he could bring Bourbon`s foul beliefs to the world at large. Did he put his family in danger of losing not only their lives, but their immortal souls as well. He looked, sounded and in fact was exhausted by his ordeal with evil, as were his two friends.

"It may have been a close encounter with hell David, but even so we did seem to escape from its clutches rather easily. Is that the worst that we can expect?" Ryman asked rather uncertain as to whether he should be relieved if it was, or scared if it wasn`t.

"No, I believe that Bourbon too is feeling a little exhausted and hoped to win an easy war. Now he will realise that we are not so easily put off and the next time that he attacks he may well commit the big guns." Father Pritchard said just a little worriedly.

"What this morning?" Ryman wailed. This fight had exhausted him, and he felt that worse was to come? He sank down to the ground with his head in his hands.

"Come on John, you`re not alone this time, together we will see them off." Rob said trying to build up Ryman`s spirits.

Ryman lifted his head and smiled up at his two friends, this was the first time he had been able to generate a real smile in ages.

"Well we wouldn`t want it too easy, would we?" He asked and both men said in unison. "Yes, we would actually."

**********

Bourbon was dismayed when the demon Skargel returned unsuccessful, he had hoped that the three men would take the hint and flee from him. Instead, they obviously intended to fight on to the very end. The demon Skargel, although unsuccessful, hung around and Bourbon knew that it still wanted paying for its services to him.

"Follow me Skargel, today I have a treat for you, the blood of a young tender girl." Skargel`s large hypnotic eyes followed Bourbon as he left the temple. Bourbon could feel the demon`s eyes on his back, but he would never look at them, for one could never trust a demon, even when it was in your employ. Bourbon led the way to Christina who was dozing fitfully. Cassie however was awake and when she saw the foul beast before Christina`s bed she screamed, awaking Christina from her sleep.

"There is nothing to fear girl, the demon merely requires a little of your blood." Bourbon said a sadistic smile coming to his face as he saw Christina pale as she made to move back against the wall, but the chain held her captive, and at the mercy of the vicious looking demon.

"Please no, don`t allow that thing near me, I beg of you." Christina pleaded, but to no avail, for Bourbon was without mercy, and the demon was only interested in receiving adequate payment for its labour.

The demon launched itself upon Christina who tried to fight against the fearsome creature but was powerless beneath its demonic strength. Finally, she fainted from loss of blood. Cassie was nearly hysterical as she watched the terrible ordeal her sister had to endure, and she cringed as the demon, finally sated, rose and then disappeared in a flash of red smoke that left the usual terrible smell of hell behind to remind everyone of its visit.

During the last six months, Bourbon had acquired through hard work and human sacrifices to his chosen lord, Lucifer, a great deal more satanic power. He was now able to use it to call upon demons that came with far greater powers and a much higher price tag; he decided that the time was right to use one to be rid of the troublesome trio of Englishmen. First, he mixed up the necessary ingredients that would placate the great lord when he came by. These he had prepared beforehand for just such for a time as this, and he then put the mixture into a bronze goblet and set it alight. A green smoke slowly curled up into the air before finally reaching the ceiling of the temple and spreading quickly around the room. In the goblet was a green frothing liquid that would certainly not be touched, let alone drunk by any normal person.

"Lord Asbaritch, I call upon you, show yourself, Bourbon, Satanic Master demands this of you." Bourbon called out while fearfully looking around for a sign that his order was about to be obeyed by the powerful demon from the realms of hell.

A deep voice spoke out from the rear of the temple, although the demon had not yet bothered to materialise.

"What is that you require of me human, speak quickly for I grow bored of you already." The silence that followed this deep voice was almost as scary as the voice itself, and Bourbon had to force the words from his throat before the demon departed, as it had threatened to do.

"I am in the middle of my preparations for the mid summer`s eve celebrations and have a gift for the great and powerful Lord Lucifer, unfortunately three humans defy me, I ordered Skargel to rid me of their presence but he failed. I now ask the same thing of you great Lord Asbaritch, go to them and rid me of their constant interruptions so that I can be ready for the coming festival on mid summers eve." Bourbon demanded of the demon, his voice recovering some of its vigour.

Just then, the room became icy cold and Bourbon knew that the demon had finally materialised. Bourbon soon saw the dark lord; it was olive green in colour, a little taller than Bourbon, and very well-muscled. Its eyes were large brilliant yellow glowing orbs. However, he was quite humanoid otherwise. The demon walked towards Bourbon, who shrank before it, Lord Asbaritch picked up the bronze goblet and greedily gulped down the contents.

"It has always amazed me that a race such as yours can make the most delicious of drinks. Now tell me why should I do this favour for you Satanist, if they are opposed to your kind then they won`t be even as much as an appetiser, they may even stick in my gullet, as it were." The demon demanded to know.

"Because we are both servants of Lord Lucifer, and I ask you in his name to do this thing." Bourbon said in exasperation at the demon`s reluctance to do as he ordered.

"Very well Satanist, I will visit them during what is left of the night and introduce them to what you humans might term my dreamscape. In reality, if I might use the term in relation to my domain, it is something much more terrible. It is another realm of hell where the humans that practice evil of any kind are sometimes given to me to feed upon." Lord Asbaritch said eyeing Bourbon greedily, but then he added in a voice filled with anger.

"But this favour will cost you much Satanist, so be ready to pay my bill when I return, oh and have some of that delicious drink ready for me to go." The demon lord disappeared in a cloud of smelly red smoke and a peal of laughter that threatened Bourbon`s hearing.

**********

Just as Father Pritchard was about to advise his friends to return to the pentagon for the remainder of the night, the temperature in the kitchen dropped very sharply. Before Rob or the others could respond to this harbinger of evil, the three friends fell to the floor unconscious.

John Ryman woke to a cold morning in the domain of Lord Asbaritch. He slowly opened his eyes to see a dull red sky covering a land of semi desert and stunted shrubs. It took him a moment to understand just what he was seeing, and then he jumped up in surprise and looked around desperately for his friends, but there was not a sign of them anywhere, only the cold barren desert that stretched to the horizons and beyond.

Ryman thought about the last thing that he could remember, before he woke here in this land, which had such a red sky? They had all been standing in David`s kitchen when he had felt the icy chill of evil reach out and grab him, and then there was this. He looked a full three hundred and sixty degrees about him once again, but he saw much the same wilderness where ever he looked. He decided to climb up a rather high hill some two hundred yards away, to see if this would offer a more promising view, and he started up it; by the time he had reached the top he was breathless. There down below him on the other side of the hill he saw a group of pathetic figures, looking much like ghosts, for they appeared to be more gaseous than solid. One of the creatures happened to look up just at that moment and saw Ryman staring down at the group, and a bestial cry came from its vaporous form. Immediately this terrible cry was repeated by the other creatures as they turned to look up at what had caught the attention of the first creature, and then they all began to climb the hill towards him. Ryman felt his mouth go dry as he noticed that the more solid looking creatures were moving a little faster than their comrades were, and they would soon be upon him. One good thing that Ryman was more than happy to notice was that they were all quite slow movers, for something about the manic expression that he now saw on their faces told him that this group of creatures wanted to feast on him. Ryman turned and ran back down the hill, and when he was back on solid ground, he kept moving at a speed that he thought would slowly take him away from the terrible, but almost pathetic, creatures chasing after him. It was later, during one encounter with another group of these dreadful ghostlike beings, that a thought occurred to Ryman, he was reacting in much the same way as when he had fled from Bourbon. Wishing to end his life fighting rather than fleeing for his life Ryman stopped running away, instead he picked up some of the stones that littered the barren landscape and threw them at the creatures. The creatures cried out in pain when the stones struck them, and they stopped running after him and just stared hungrily at him. After a few more salvoes of stones, Ryman was then able to chase these creatures away. Feeling much happier following his small victory, and although without food and drink, Ryman trudged ever onwards with a smile on his face towards the ever-distant horizon, always searching in hope for his two friends.

*********

Father Pritchard woke just a little disorientated and scared to find that he was not in his house. He knew from his experiences acquired from battling evil, and from talking to its many victims, that he was in one of the many spirit worlds that exists alongside our own one. Unfortunately, his sense of danger was not as good as Rymans` for when he too came into contact with the pathetic, but horrific creatures that inhabited this world, he didn`t run, instead he stayed to speak with them. Unfortunately, they weren`t interested in talking only feasting on his life force. They swarmed around him, their arms reaching out to him, their hands grasping his body. However, as soon as he felt their puny hands grab him he also felt his energy draining away from him. He now knew that he had to escape from these creatures, or he would die here in a terrible world that held this horrifying form of vampire. He tied to shrug them off, but when he successfully shrugged a creature off; it immediately reattached itself and continued feeding upon him. Father Pritchard tried to flee, but the weight of so many creatures soon tired him and he fell to the ground and his body was then covered by the vampires.

His energy level draining fast, he fell back on his faith, and he began to recite the Lord's Prayer in the hope that this would strengthen him and allow him to escape. His words were weak at first.

"Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed is thy name."

Father Pritchard saw the creatures look fearfully at him and the drain on him lessened giving him more strength to continue his battle. His words now began to boom out, and to fill the empty landscape, empty that is except for the many vampires around him.

"Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us."

The creatures now began to let go of him en masse and covered their tiny ears against the words of the prayer that seemed to scare them so much. Father Pritchard continued with his prayer feeling stronger with every word, it was as if God himself was taking sides in this terrible battle.

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen."

With these final words Father Pritchard scrambled to his feet and ran stumbling away, he was truly exhausted but thankful to be alive. The creatures watched him leave, tiny shrill cries of dismay following him as he escaped their clutches. He needed a drink and something to eat to revive him and restore his energy levels, but the only form of food that he sensed as he trudged through this desolate land, was his own life force. If he didn`t find a way out of this terrible land he knew he would fall to the ground and die there. He sometimes was able to rest his aching legs, but each time he was soon forced to start walking again as more of the vampires appeared and moved towards him. His prayers to god filled the landscape for the first time since this world had been created. He didn`t know how long he trudged but he felt as if it had been forever, he felt his last remaining strength slowly drain away as he climbed an outcrop of red rock, and then he settled down to sleep. He was safer here than elsewhere, for there was only room for one assailant at a time to reach him. One thing worried him, how long would he manage to hold out before exhaustion took a hold of him and he then fell unconscious beneath another pile of the vampires that lived in the awful land. He then decided to put his life in god`s hands, where he would be safe, with this thought he fell asleep.

**********

Rob woke to find that he was lying upon a ridge set high above a valley. He was instantly awake and instantly baffled by what he saw. Running through the valley he saw a grey liquid, that he assumed was a river, a river that seemed to ooze along rather than flow. Could anything ooze along he wondered idly, as he stood up shakily to take in the strange landscape. Rob thought that what he saw was all in his mind, a hallucination created by some demon for whatever evil reason it had. The colour of the river added to his belief that he was experiencing a hallucination, but as he held on to an outcropping of rock for security, to prevent him from toppling over the crumbling edge as he peered down into the canyon, he found that it was hot. Rob decided that he would be careful, for if a rock could be hot then who knew what else could occur while he was having his hallucination. Rob followed the ridge for some time, and like his two friends was beginning to feel both hungry and thirsty, but so far, he had seen no sign that this world contained either food or water, for Rob didn`t fancy drinking the grey ooze of a river below him. The heat was making him tired and he decided to rest a while, and he must have dropped off to sleep, but then he was awakened by a scream. It came from the other side of a small hill. Rob climbed up the low hill, and to his surprise he saw what he could only assume was a demon.

The beast was holding a vaporous creature that Rob named a shade, a name he took out of Greek mythology. The demon was somehow draining the shades remaining energy, for Rob could see the shade dimming as the demon fed upon it. Luckily, for the shade, the demon was soon sated, and it left the badly weakened creature lying on the ground. Rob walked down from the low hill to try to speak to the shade while it was still weakened and couldn`t escape.

"That demon that attacked you, what sort of beast was it?" Rob demanded to know.

"You`re not one of us, you`re a dreamer, what are you doing here in this terrible place?" The shade asked in return. It licked its lips and its hand moved slowly towards Rob.

"Trying to find a way out, do you know if such an exit exists?" Rob asked desperately.

"The only way out for those trapped here is through the demon that you just saw attacking me, if you want to escape from this world then you must travel to the demon`s lair and force him to release you." The shade replied.

"Force that demon, how? It would tear me apart limb from limb." Rob said exasperated by the answer given to him by the shade.

"You`re not one of us, you are merely trapped here within your dreams, some powerful Satanist has asked the demon to keep you here while your body slowly wastes away until you are dead." The shade explained.

"As far as you are concerned you are in dreamland, you can imagine anything you want and it will appear. Imagine a nice long Pike, one with a nice sharp point that will at least keep the beast away from your body, for be warned, if you die within this domain then your body will also die." The shade said and then he cackled, as the thought seemed to humour him.

"What if I also imagine the point of the spike to be covered in holy water, would that work?" Rob asked the cackling shade.

"Yes, it might, you can only try, for otherwise you will certainly die within this terrible place." The shade replied.

Rob imagined that he was holding a long Pike and moments later one appeared within his grasp; he smiled, for now he had something to go to battle with. Now he imagined it was covered in holy water and Rob then saw the point of the weapon glistening in the weird light of this terrible domain. Strengthened by the possibility of escape Rob turned once more to the shade.

"Tell me where I can find the lair of the demon." He asked of the shade.

"Of course, my friend if you will follow me I will take you to the demon`s lair, but in return you must also demand my release." The shade answered with a crafty look coming to its very pale face.

"Agreed friend, we will both leave this terrible place." Rob said smiling at the tragic figure before him.

The shade led him along a much-used track, through a land that seemed drained of anything living until they came to a massive fortress, but a fortress without any guards, for they were not needed here. Passing through its open gates they crossed a large empty courtyard, and then they entered through an open door within the cyclopean walls of the inner fortress to find themselves in a large entrance hall with steps leading up to the other floors. Rob though turned to a large doorway on his right that led to a massive central hall. Rob was reminded of Hollywood as he looked at the faded grandeur around him. There in front of him, sat on a massive throne and fast asleep, for it was tired after feeding upon the shade, slept the great beast, Lord Asbaritch. Rob rushed forward and put the tip of the pike at the breast of the giant demon.

"Demon wake up, you have guests." Rob shouted loudly. The demon blinked awake and seeing the pike aimed at its breast laughed.

"You cannot hurt me human, this is my domain." The demon said guffawing.

"Normally you would be correct my Lord." Rob replied.

"But the point of this weapon is covered in holy water, and should I move it but a millimetre forward it would pierce your hide, and then maybe you wouldn`t be quite so smug in your attitude." Rob threatened.

"Human you are indeed resourceful, and I think that Bourbon was right to fear you, want do you want of me?" The demon asked in a most conciliatory tone of voice that changed to demonic laughter.

Moments later and what was once a pike Rob found to his horror was now a large python, its strong muscles easily overcoming his own strength, and the snake began to wind its body around Rob`s. The demon laughed aloud at Rob but Rob wasn`t finished yet, he knew instinctively that the snake wasn`t real and he forced his mind to think of only one thing, the pike that was in his hands. Seconds later and he was once again holding the pike against the demon`s body. Rob now pushed it forward so that the tip of the sharp weapon, coated in holy water, pierced the demon`s flesh. Lord Asbaritch screamed out in pain as the holy water burnt him.

"Enough my friend, tell me what you want of me and I will obey your every demand." The demon wailed in pain.

"I demand that you send my two friends and myself back to where you found us, and that you also release this poor fellow beside me." Rob demanded.

"I will return you and your two friends to your bodies, but the body of this poor shade has been buried for some time now. And as heaven will certainly not take such an evil soul as our murderer here possesses, then the only place left for him would be the fires of hell." The demon boomed out the second half of his sentence.

The shade paled even further, and it turned and ran screaming from the massive fortress, and back into the world where he was doomed to 'live' out the rest of time.

"Sometimes the more human inhabitants of this domain forget just why they are here, and not in paradise." The demon said and burst into a fit of laughter that was so loud that Rob thought it might bring the fortress down around him, but he was unable to shield his ears as his hands were otherwise engaged holding the pike at the breast of the demon.

A second later and Rob awoke to find that he was back in the house of Father Pritchard, beside him his two friends were also just awakening from their terrible ordeal within one of the many domains of hell, this one ruled over by Lord Asbaritch.

"Rob, did you free us from that awful place?" Father Pritchard gasped out, his voice weak for he badly needed a drink of water.

"Yes David, I managed to find the way out, but how long were we trapped there?" Rob asked fearfully. Father Pritchard hurriedly drank a glass of water before replying.

"For one whole day Rob, see my clock over there says that it now the nineteenth of June, there isn`t a second to lose. You must book our seats of the Cherbourg ferry while John and I purchase the necessary equipment to ensure our safety once we are in France."

**********

It was early morning and the sun had just begun to shine through the library windows of his chateau. Bourbon was sitting there smiling as he thought of the new powers that Lord Lucifer would grant him after the mid summer's eve celebrations. Suddenly the room became very cold and from the doorway, the deep voice of Lord Asbaritch broke into his thoughts.

"Satanist hear my words, the three who you wanted held captive within my realm are now back here in your dimension. Their leader is very courageous for he bearded me within my own lair. But still I did delay them for one whole day, now the rest is up to you."

Bourbon whirled around to see the terrible demon lord standing before him, he wanted to scream out in anger at the demon for failing him, but fear of what the dark lord might do to him wisely prevented him from doing so.

"I believe it is customary to take a small payment when in your realm, I will only take a small fee as your enemies are free again to trespass on your domain. But give it to me now so that I might leave this terrible world of the humans and return to my own domain."

Bourbon bit back his curses, at least he wouldn`t be the one to pay the great lord, the female could once again pay the price for interfering in his business.

"If you will kindly follow me my Lord Asbaritch, I will take you to the one who will pay you in full." Bourbon walked quickly over to a small table and took out a remote-control device from out of a secret drawer that was concealed beneath the ornate top of the table. Aiming the device at a picture of Notre Dame, he pressed the only button on the device. A small panel within the interior wall slid back and then sideways revealing a wooden staircase that went down to a concealed cellar. Bourbon led the way down to the unconscious figure of Christina and the demon bent to drink her blood but only took a little before rising in disgust.

"What have you given to the female, I can taste it in her blood?" Lord Asbaritch asked angrily.

"It is only something to keep the female asleep, it is nothing my Lord." Thankfully, Christina had been drugged by Bourbon, as too was Cassie. Bourbon had decided to slip a powerful sleeping draught into both their midday and their evening drinks.

"What of the other female is she too drugged?" The dark lord asked, still angry at what he saw as the Satanist's attempt to withhold payment.

"She has been promised to the great and powerful Lord Lucifer, she will be his bride on mid summer`s eve." Bourbon replied. He was little worried that the demon might demand his blood as payment as the female`s blood was tainted.

"Oh yes he does have a penchant for virgin human females. Satanist where is my drink to go?" The demon said laughing softly at his little joke.

"Here my Lord, I have made a large keg of it to warm you during the cool nights of your domain." Bourbon said indicating a large wooden keg sitting by the wall.

The dark lord picked it up and then turned to look at Bourbon, who drew back against the wall in fear.

"I will take this as my payment Satanist, but take care that the human that got the best of me within my own lair doesn`t kill you. I might decide to ensnare you as you journey to hell, unfortunately you wouldn`t enjoy being a guest within my domain." The demon`s evil laughter rang around the cellar of the chateau, chilling Bourbon`s blood. The demon disappeared in a veil of red smelly smoke and Bourbon was once again alone, apart that is from the sleeping sisters.

Bourbon felt thoroughly disheartened by the way that the demons had all let him down, and with the need to conserve his remaining strength for the coming festivities the use of further demons at this stage was not an option. Even with Christina supplying the blood to meet the required payment, Bourbon was still exhausted mentally, each time he used them, for their very presence drained a little of the life force that is present within every man, woman or child. No, he would use the human resources available to him. With this in mind he contacted an ex-convict, Joe Peterson, who he had used on previous occasions to carry out the seedier jobs required and so make his task of earning his millions all the easier. Many a city worker had been blackmailed or threatened into providing him with information. On Bourbon`s behalf, Petersone hired a couple of local villains, ones who were quite skilled at evading notice and it was these two men, after being warned about Rob`s profession, who took on the job of trailing the three friends and reporting their movements to Peterson.

Chapter Six

Finally, in France

The morning saw Father Pritchard and John Ryman hurriedly driving around Salisbury to buy the many things that they would require over the next few days. The first item was two dozen small glass bottles that would be filled with blessed salt and blessed water, and then a quantity of dried mandrake was purchased. A trip to the supermarket produced three large strings of garlic, and finally a local camping shop sold them three good quality sleeping bags. All the items were stowed safely away in the rear of the spacious car.

Meanwhile Rob had turned his laptop on and booked their tickets on the Normandie ferry. Following this Rob phoned his office to ask them to have certain essentials ready for them as soon as they disembarked in France. His two friends soon returned, having obtained all of the necessary items and after a light lunch, they were ready to start their trip to the ferry port. The drive to the port was as far as they were concerned uneventful, they didn`t see the two vehicles that were trailing behind them, switching places so as not to appear noticeable to Rob, who anyway didn`t expect such a skill from the Satanists.

**********

The two men employed by Peterson trailed the three friends to the ferry port and watched as they drove aboard the giant ferry. They then contacted Peterson and told him where the men they had been tailing were going. On being told that the three men were off to France, Peterson told his two men to go home, the task of tailing Rob and his friends would now be someone else's responsibility.

Bourbon screamed with rage, he had hoped to be shot of the meddlers after their encounter with Lord Asbaritch. Unfortunately, for Rob and his friends, Bourbon also had contacts on the French side of the channel and he was soon in contact with the leader of such a group. After agreeing to a large fee that would ensure that the three friends would die on route from Cherbourg to wherever they were bound, Bourbon finally allowed himself a small rest period. He poured a large amount of his best Napoleon Brandy into a brandy glass, and then he sank back in a large armchair that was behind his large oak desk, and finally sitting comfortably, he drank his brandy.

**********

Father Pritchard drove his car off the ferry, and once they were through customs, he took them on the first part of their journey. They were heading for Montluçon where they had decided to stop for the night. On the following day they would seek out the photographic shop whose name was on the back of the photograph and try to ascertain where the chateau was. Time was now pressing as they had lost one whole day in the realm of the demon lord. They would need to find the chateau`s location and free the two sisters all in the space of one day.

Their first port of call however was the car park of a large French supermarket chain in Cherbourg. Here they were met by an Englishman who had been waiting for them.

"Hallo, Gerry, how are you?" Rob asked of the tall Englishman who approached them with a smile and a large box.

"Fine thank you Rob. I was told you needed these few oddments for the mission that you`re currently on, need any help?" Gerry Handley asked hoping for a spot of excitement. He was stationed over in France to liaise with his French counterparts, and he was getting decidedly bored with the lack of action. He looked at Rob`s companions and wondered why these two obvious amateurs were assisting Rob on this mission.

"I`ll call you Gerry, if we need some muscle." Rob said smiling at his friend who in truth he could do with on this mission, for Gerry was very courageous and quite able to take on any task put to him.

Rob put the box into the rear of their estate car and inspected the items. Inside of the large box, he found a number of smaller boxes. One had an automatic pistol plus a quantity of ammunition, which was for his use alone. Another box contained the smoke grenades, the tear gas grenades and the three gas masks that he had requested. There was also a packet of Euros, these were so they could pay by cash, rather than leave a credit card trail. This could be followed by the French authorities, should the mission get messy and very violent. That was all he had asked for and his office had been happy to supply it.

"See you Rob, be good." Gerry said waving them goodbye.

John Ryman had taken over the wheel while Father Pritchard took a break, driving out of Cherbourg had tested his driving abilities as they were now driving on the other side of the road and he was very out of practice these days. It was as they were driving along the N814 and approaching a roundabout that Rob noticed a car drawing alongside them, and then he saw the two men pointing automatic pistols out of the rear passenger window.

"Everyone duck!" Is all he managed to cry out in warning as two automatic pistols barked out sending bullets screaming over his head to imbed themselves in the roof of their car. Had he not been ducking down he would have been dead. These bullets were accompanied by a flurry of shots that somehow managed to miss their bodies but put holes into the body of the car. Ryman swerved away from their attackers' vehicle but a well-aimed shot hit the front passenger side tyre making their car swerve violently. Ryman couldn`t control the car as the vehicle careered off the tarmac, it went up on to the central raised section of the roundabout and hit one of the trees there, bringing their vehicle to a sudden and violent halt. Four airbags exploded into action, that and the fact that Ryman hadn`t been driving too fast as they had approached the roundabout, saved their lives. Rob heard the sound of a vehicle accelerating away as he pushed open his door and tumbled out of their car, with his automatic pistol in his hand, unfortunately their attackers were long gone.

Rob hurriedly tucked his pistol away, before it was noticed by the worried motorists who had stopped and rushed over to see if they required any help.

"Are you alright Monsieur, what on earth happened?" A worried looking Frenchman asked in French, luckily Rob was quite fluent in the language.

"Yes, thank you, one of our tyres burst and my friend couldn`t control the car. We will get the local garage to tow us in, and with luck they will be able to repair any damage done." Rob replied to this and a few other questions. Luckily, no one else saw the real reason behind the accident because Rob didn`t want the police delaying them, or for them to find the box of items recently left by Gerry Handley.

After they had seen off the good Samaritans, Father Pritchard spoke about a subject that was on all of their minds.

"Look guys this really screws things up, luckily I was in the area not long ago, I flew over on that occasion, anyway, I know one of the locals in Caen who has a small office with a nice empty room above it, I will call him and see if we can use it for the night." Father Pritchard immediately pulled out his mobile phone and ten minutes later a beat-up old panel van pulled up beside them, and an aged old Frenchman climbed out of the vehicle.

"Father, you are well, and your friends also?" The aged old Frenchman asked.

"We are fine Francois, but we need your help, and the use of the room above your office." Father Pritchard said.

"That is not a problem Father, come load your luggage into the van and I`ll take you to my office. Who would have thought Father, that I would be able to repay your help so soon?" Francois said laughing.

"We must wait for the tow truck and then follow on behind, we cannot afford to be separated Francois." Father Pritchard said.

"The old enemy is close then Father?" Francois asked.

"Yes Francois, and he also has some human friends to help him in his cause, it was they who caused the accident." Father Pritchard replied. The old Frenchman nodded and sat waiting with his friend for the arrival of the tow truck.

Rob had meanwhile called Gerry and told him of the attack, he then asked him to arrange for the car to be towed to the nearest garage.

It was only twenty minutes later that the tow truck arrived and took their car to a garage in the town of Caen, where Gerry met them. Father Pritchard had followed behind in the battered old panel van.

"My Rob, are you losing your touch?" These were Handley`s opening words on seeing them.

"Not yet Gerry, unfortunately the ungodly got on to us much sooner than I thought possible. We will be staying the night with an old friend, he is the gentleman outside in the van, but we will need our vehicle tomorrow." Rob said.

"Look Rob if you need an extra hand then you only have to ask, I`m at a loose end at the moment. Handley asked smiling at his old friend.

"Sorry but we are on a need to know mission. I would fill you in but then I would have to shoot you." Rob said laughing at the old and well-used joke. He inwardly sighed, for while he would welcome his friend`s help, if he did tell Gerry about this very different operation, and that they were going to sleep rough just in case the devil came to call, Gerry would report back to London and Rob would be recalled to England. Also, Rob didn`t want to have to hurt Gerry, which is what he would have to do after he refused London`s order to return to England.

"Ok Rob whatever you say." Handley said sadly, He secretly wondered just what sort of mission Rob was on that had such an odd sort of team, but he knew the mission was sanctioned by London and so said nothing.

The mechanic then came over to report on the damage to their vehicle.

"Your car has suffered much damage Monsieur; to put it right will take time and money. Whoever was driving has managed to destroy amongst other minor things; the alternator, the radiator and of course the wheel." He stated mournfully.

"We don`t have time to wait my friend, we need the car early tomorrow morning at the latest, what can you do?" Rob asked knowing that they were about to be charged an awful lot of money for the overtime.

"I don`t know if that is possible Monsieur, my wife has expressed the wish to dine out tonight, it is her birthday." The garage owner argued hoping to push the final bill up with his little lie, for his wife`s birthday was not until next month.

"Monsieur, surely your wife would welcome the chance to dine at the best restaurant in town. If only she would consent to do so another night. I will pay extra so she is not too unhappy about the delay." Rob pleaded with the garage owner.

"Ok Monsieur, but it will mean my having to work late into the night along with my assistant. One thousand euros should be enough to cover the work, the large amount of overtime, the replacement parts that luckily I have in stock, and of course to placate my wife." He didn`t mention that the parts would be coming off another Megane, one that he had at the rear of his garage, as it had recently been totalled by its driver and was awaiting the local scrap metal dealer.

Rob agreed to the repair costs and asked Handley to settle the bill, as it would take almost all of the euros that Rob had, euros only recently supplied by Handley. With that agreed, Handley said goodbye and good luck, and watched as Rob and his odd friends departed in the old and very battered van.

In just two minutes they were parked in front of a small building set in an older part of town. Francois opened the front door and they followed him up a narrow staircase with their baggage and into a small room where Francois`s wife was standing.

"I have cleaned the room as best I could Father, hopefully this will stop the minions of Satan latching on to any dirt and keep them out of your holy circle." She said wiping her hands on her old apron and then kissing him on each cheek.

Father Pritchard smiled at her, she was looking rather tired he thought, but then she must have worked extremely hard for the floorboards shone brightly. She had indeed worked hard, first with a hoover and then on her knees with a scrubbing brush. Colette had remembered the last time that Father Pritchard had been there, it was when her daughter and her young family had attracted the attention of a local Satanic, group. He had demanded that everywhere within the room be cleaned as even a small speck of dirt could help the demons of hell to materialise.

"Thank you, Colette, be sure to stay away from here until we have gone, it may not be safe, for both Satan and his human beasts are after us tonight." The old Frenchwoman smiled sadly but nodded her head. Father Pritchard then turned to her husband.

"You too must stay away Francois until we have gone. I will call you when it is safe for you to return here." The old Frenchman also smiled sadly, for he loved the priest and feared for him, but then he too nodded.

"Father, I have also left you some bread and cheese for your supper, it will save you from having to venture out to dine, it isn`t much but it will help you through the night." The old Frenchwoman said and smiled at the three friends when they gave her their thanks for the thoughtful gesture. Then the old French couple left and Father Pritchard got busy drawing a pentagram that would protect them with luck from the demons of hell.

It was getting near to two o`clock the next morning when Rob, who had taken the first watch, heard sounds coming from outside of the building where they were staying the night in. He carefully looked out of their first-floor room window and saw six rough looking men standing near to the front door of the building, and they were all armed with assault rifles. Rob saw that a member of this group was breaking into the building using a large jemmy. Rob woke his two friends just as he heard the splintering sound of wood drift up the staircase.

From downstairs came the sound of heavy footsteps as the men entered en masse and three of them immediately opened fire, aiming up through the thick wooden floorboards, as the other three men rushed up the stairs. Rob and his friends should have been killed by the first burst of bullets; thankfully, Rob had already been alerted by the noise that the men made when they first arrived outside of the building. Although much of the upper room is directly above the small downstairs office a good portion of it projected over the back garden to give shade to the previous owner when the summer sun beat down, for it had only recently been transformed into an office, formerly it had been a house. It was in this part of the room that offered them safety from the violent attack, but although Father Pritchard and John Ryman had quickly moved towards it, one of the multitude of bullets caught Father Pritchard a glancing blow on his forehead and he crashed to the floor.

It took Ryman less than a millisecond to reach his decision, and then he braved the hail of bullets from three automatic rifles to drag Father Pritchard across to the safety of the other side of the room. From here, he watched helplessly as more bullets punched holes through the wooden floorboards, and through the part of the floor recently occupied by his friend, but now they were only embedding themselves into the wooden ceiling of their bedroom.

Rob, after a swift glance at his injured friend, moved across to the door that closed off the staircase. He opened it and lobbed two tear gas grenades down the staircase; one aimed to travel all the way down to the ground floor room, while the other slowly rolled down the stairs as its contents exploded out of it, Rob then shut the door and threw himself away from the hail of bullets that exploded through the door. The tear gas grenade had the desired effect, for the three men on the stairs stopped firing their weapons and began to cough violently, and then they turned to rush back down the stairs. Unfortunately, the man at the top was in such a rush that he pushed the next man hard in his haste to descend the narrow staircase, and all three men then tumbled down the stairs, there to join their compatriots who were also gasping for breath and trying to leave the building en masse. The scramble to exit the gas-filled office meant that it took far longer than an orderly exit would have done, and made their condition even more debilitating. Rob pulled on one of the gas masks, and then he went through the door to look down at the men as they scrambled to safety. After closing the door behind him to prevent any of the gas at the top of the stairs from entering their bedroom, he slipped down the stairs and collected the six assault rifles that the assassins had dropped in their haste to vacate the premises, and the gas that threatened them. With that done Rob closed the front door, and then he jammed a broken piece of it under it to make another attempt on them that much more difficult. Outside of the building, the six men hurriedly departed the scene in case the police arrived, or their targets came out and carried on with their attack. The police didn`t arrive for no one had called them, their neighbours were either heavy sleepers, or just didn`t want to get involved, or maybe thought that someone had the volume on their television turned up just a might too far. Of course, the noise from the short burst of fire from the assault rifles hadn`t lasted too long, for Rob had lobbed the grenades almost as soon as it had begun. He called up to the others.

"John, put your mask on and then come down here, and will you please bring some water down with you so that we can cool off these two grenades before they set something alight." Ryman appeared almost instantly as he had already donned his mask, and he had anticipated the request for water, which he carried down in a plastic bucket that he had found in a small washroom that was also located up on the first floor.

Rob, having seen their attackers flee the scene, then opened the front and back doors to allow the gas to clear, a strong wind had arisen just after midnight, and the gas soon disappeared into the night.

Ryman looked at all of the damage caused by their unwanted guests, and his feelings of guilt returned, for all that had happened over the last week or so was as a direct result of his cowardice.

"Rob, Francois and his wife will need a couple of hundred euros to cover the cost of the repairs to their office. I know that you have a large wad of euros but this one is on me, this is all my fault, if I hadn`t been such a coward before you wouldn`t be risking your life now for my two sisters." Ryman said as he took in the damage done to the small office, Rob grinned at him.

"Don`t you worry about expenses John, my department can afford the small sums this operation is currently costing us, especially as you two come free of charge." Rob then changed the subject.

"Come on John, we had better see how David is, one thing is certain I will certainly make Bourbon pay if David doesn`t make it." Rob vowed grimly.

"I will be thankful to get away from this part of France, what with the constant worry about attacks from demons and from the criminal fraternity, now we also have to worry about the local police becoming involved and delaying us." Ryman complained to no one in particular, but Rob whole-heartedly agreed with him.

Upstairs they found that Father Pritchard had not been badly hurt, he had only been grazed by the bullet, and as Rob had some experience with such things he tended his wound. Father Pritchard though remained unconscious until the morning sun put in its appearance. When he finally did wake, he was worried that he would delay them.

"Rob please don`t worry about me, I can rest up during the drive to the chateau, I`ll feel a lot better by the time we get there. I could do with a couple of Paracetamol though; my head is really splitting." Father Pritchard said groaning. Ryman dug out a packet from their stores, and then got his friend a glass of water to wash the tablets down.

The early morning had seen a thunder storm, and the rain come down in torrents, but now the sky to the east seemed to be brightening a little, and Rob was thankful, it might mean that they wouldn`t get too wet as they moved across the grounds of the estate that housed the chateau, once they had located it. Rob thoughts now turned to his troops, and he insisted that they all have a good breakfast, and that Father Pritchard rested up for the coming battle. He then went to collect their car from the garage, and after they had loading it up, and they had said good-bye to their French friends, they set off to do battle against whatever new demons Bourbon could throw at them.

Chapter Seven

The Final Reckoning

It was finally agreed by the forces of law and order in Great Britain, that Ulysses Bourbon had left the country, and that he had most likely returned to his native France. So, when Rob`s people had finally come up with an address to match the chateau in the photograph, the address was immediately passed on to Inspector Davis. This was to allow him to contact the French police and ask them to raid the chateau, and free the two sisters, if they were indeed there. They also passed the address on to Rob, who on receiving it drove directly to the chateau at the best speed he could make, without actually breaking the French speed limit, for this would mean being delayed and fined at each toll booth they came to, and there were a large number of toll booths between Caen and the chateau.

In England, a normally calm Inspector Davis was beginning to lose his rag with the French police officer at the other end of the phone.

"Inspector, we have told you of the Satanic temple that we found in his cellar here in England, and also that we have damming evidence against Monsieur Ulysses Bourbon that proves that he is not only a murderer, but that he has kidnapped the two young daughters of the murdered woman as well. Based on what I have seen in the house here in England, I should think that he has taken them to use in some sort of a satanic black mass. If you will not immediately arrest the man, then at least get a search warrant based on the evidence that I have placed before you, and raid his house. You have to join in the search for those two young sisters, and please remember that one of them is only fifteen years of age, and please do it before something terrible happens to them." He demanded.

He wanted to scream his frustration down the phone but he knew that this would only lead to a further delay at the French end while the police officer sulked, so he was polite but firm in his demands.

"Surely Inspector you exaggerate, black magic is only a front for your suburban sex orgies, and they certainly do not happen in France." The French police officer declared pompously but he finally agreed to co-operate with the British police.

"Look Inspector Davis, I will get your search warrant, if you think it is necessary, I should have it in my possession within one hour, and then I will visit Monsieur Bourbon and search his chateau. I will contact you on my return to this office to tell you the result of the search."

Inspector Davis wanted to shout back that he wasn`t exaggerating, and yes it was necessary, but instead he screamed silently and knew that he would have to be satisfied, and to patiently await the results of the search.

It was two and a half hour later that the French Inspector rang back with his report.

"We found no sign of the two sisters at the chateau Inspector Davis, I had twenty officers searching the house and the grounds but without a result, you must be wrong in your supposition." The French police officer sounded as if this was just as he had suspected.

"But did you search the cellar; he had two concealed rooms in the cellar of his manor house here in England?" Davis complained.

"What cellar, there is no cellar in the chateau?" The Frenchman asked.

"There is no wine cellar in a French chateau, are you joking?" Davis exploded.

"Non Monsieur, it is a little surprising but it is not unheard of."

**********

It was early in the afternoon when Inspector Davis contacted Rob on his mobile and put him in the picture.

"So, you see Mr Hinds, as you are our man on the spot it is all down to you to save the Ryman sisters." Davis said.

He sounded very apologetic, as he was, for he could do nothing from England to help, now that the French police had refused to arrest and interrogate Bourbon.

"Thank you for the call Inspector, I shall take it from here."

Father Pritchard had been sleeping in the back of the car, but the call had woken him up.

"Well Rob, what news from England?" Father Pritchard asked. Rob filled his two comrades in with the latest news.

"So, it is now up to us to free my sisters and kill Bourbon." Ryman stated grimly. "Well it all started with me and it is only right that I should be in it for the final battle."

The final rumble of thunder sounded in the far distance, and thankfully, the weather forecast for the rest of the day was hot and dry. The drive to the chateau would take another two hours with Rob driving, and Father Pritchard was now feeling a little better and ready to go to war. Rob decided to stop on the way for lunch and a rest and then set he off again at four o`clock for the final part of their journey. Rob brought the car to a halt almost within spitting distance of the chateau; he had decided to enter the grounds through the woods to the south of the chateau, as he hoped that this would offer them some protection against being seen.

**********

The early evening was upon them although Christina and Cassie didn`t know anything about that, they did know that their bodies ached from the lack of exercise, and that the cellar that they were imprisoned in was not very warm. It was rather damp in fact, and they had begun to fear that their health would suffer if they were kept confined there for much longer, unfortunately they were going to be unchained and taken to another part of the cellar all too soon.

Christina was beginning to recover from her terrible ordeal, and Cassie`s wild eyed look had almost disappeared, although both of them feared another visit from the terrible creature that had fed on Christina.

"He only fed on you Christina, why is that, why not on me, what has that horrible man planned for me?" Cassie cried once again. She had asked this same question six times since the demon had attacked Christina, and each time Christina could only shake her head, for the only reason that she could think of was far too terrible to repeat to Cassie. She shuddered just to think of it, of Cassie being offered up to Satan in some sort of horrible black mass.

On the floor above them Bourbon had just entered his study, he walked quickly over to small table and took the remote-control device and used it. The small panel within the interior wall slid back and then sideways revealing the wooden staircase that went down to the concealed cellar. He then walked through the secret opening and down to the cellar. Bourbon laughed as he saw Christina and Cassie, he derived a sadistic pleasure in seeing the two sisters chained to their beds. They had begun to smell a little after their incarceration down in the cellar, away from all the modern conveniences, but no matter Bourbon thought, for mid summer`s eve was here and soon he would be performing the sacred celebration of their dark lord. He was followed down the staircase by his two heavies and the woman who was his daughter`s nanny, his daughter Moira having just arrived from England along with her nanny. The group walked across to Christina and stopped before her, Christina looked up at the group around her and fear flooded into her now rapidly beating heart.

"We will inject her first and then her sister." He ordered the nanny who produced a hypodermic needle and a small glass bottle.

"What are you going to do to me?" Christina cried in fear sitting up.

The two heavies gripped her firmly and forced her back down onto the cot while the nanny filled the hypodermic and leaning over, injected her.

"Right now, we are ready for the other one." Bourbon said and the procedure was repeated on Cassie.

"Fine that should keep them groggy during the ceremony." Bourbon said and the group then split up. The two heavies returned to the ground floor while Bourbon and the nanny went through to the second room that was Bourbon`s satanic temple. Prior to Rob and the others looking into his affairs, the satanic celebration was to have been held within the woods on the French estate, at a site used long ago for pagan celebrations. Now it would be held within the underground temple.

"Right Sybil, you must contact Veigel to locate our annoying friends, so that we can arrange a suitable reception for them. I would do it but I need to keep my strength up for the ceremony." Bourbon commanded. He was annoyed that his paid assassins had failed him, as had his demons, but he would take some pleasure out of the act of killing them himself, when they arrived at the estate.

Sybil Thorndyke was Moira`s nanny, but that was only a part time job; she was also a full-time witch and a member of Bourbon`s satanic coven.

"Of course, sir, have you fully recovered now?" Sybil asked. Bourbon always kept a large amount of type O blood on hand, he was type O, as was she, and he used it to refill his abused veins after each payment was made to a lesser demon, for they would only accept payment direct from the witch or wizard that made use of their many talents. Both Lord Asbaritch and Skargel allowed him to provide another`s blood as payment in full. For them the blood was just a token payment, a form of tribute to them, they only did Bourbon`s bidding because he was looked on favourably by Lord Lucifer.

Sybil called on Veigel who duly appeared behind the veil of smoke. Two minutes later and Sybil saw within the smoke the form of Rob appearing, he was driving along the narrow country lane that she recognised would eventually pass close by to the rear of the woods that ran around the southernmost part of the grounds within which the old chateau sat.

"Keep a watch on them Sybil and report their whereabouts, I will take Rochelle and his two men with me and we will await our annoying friends, if they do make an appearance it will be their last." Bourbon commanded.

Sybil wasn`t too happy about this at all, if she was forced to watch the veil for too long then she would have to give more in return to Veigel for his work.

Bourbon collected Rochelle and the two heavies and was soon walking through the woods. On the opposite side of the woods, Rob and his two friends also entered the woods, hoping that they had done so without any unseen watcher. Guided by Sybil, Bourbon was able to pick his spot and settled down to wait for his prey.

Rob was leading, he moved through the gloom of the woods at a slow pace so as not to walk blindly into any trap set by Bourbon. Father Pritchard suddenly put out his hand to stop Rob.

"Someone is watching us Rob; can you feel it?" Father Pritchard asked softly.

"Yes, David, I`ve felt it for the last two minutes, but for the life of me I can`t see even a sign of our watcher." Rob replied just a little angry at his inability to catch a sight of their hidden foe.

"You won`t Rob, it`s someone using a demon, it`s why I can feel them. Both of you recite the Lord`s Prayer quietly to yourselves, it will confuse them, for they will only be using a very minor demon for such a task." Father Pritchard advised his two friends.

Unfortunately, Bourbon had already been able to find an ideal place to launch his ambush from, and had he employed more intelligent help it would have been the end of Rob`s quest. Unfortunately for Bourbon, one of the heavies wasn`t endowed with an awful lot of that particular quality, and he chose to fire his pistol a second too soon, and just at that particular moment.

Rob heard the crack of a pistol firing just milliseconds before a bullet crashed into the large tree, which was only inches from his head.

"Scatter!" Rob cried out to his friends.

Ryman and Father Pritchard turned and ran from the scene of the ambush; the premature attack on them giving them the chance to escape.

Ryman swore loudly as he charged to the right, his course taking him through bracken that came up to his waist, the sound of gunfire coming from both his friend and his enemies was soon far behind him. He had fled the ambush as he had reasoned that, as he was unarmed, to try to help his two friends would have been foolhardy and may even have endangered their lives, in this he was right. He didn`t stop running until he was sure that he was safe from Bourbon, the one person in the world who really scared him. His lips were moving all of the time as he quietly recited the Lord`s prayer over and over again, hoping that this would stop the unseen demon from following him. Five minutes later and he knew that he was lost, but he kept walking until he reached the edge of the woods, and by a miracle, it was at a point that was very near to the chateau, he saw what looked like the servant's entrance ahead of him. He sank down to the ground and decided to wait until darkness fell, and if neither of his friends showed up, to then try to approach the chateau alone. Minutes later, he had to crawl back into the ever-growing darkness beneath the trees as Bourbon and Rochelle hurried by just ten feet from him, as they headed back to the chateau. More time slipped by and he saw some limousines begin to draw up, and the occupants walked into the chateau. He looked about him for signs of his two friends but without success, his sisters' safety might now depend upon him alone. Steadfast in his desire to free them he put aside the fact that alone he would stand no chance at all in surviving such an attempt. Lights were coming on in the chateau and Ryman had noted which rooms held only a single guest, if only he could make it to one of them before he was seen by Bourbon. With the sky growing ever darker, and with fear eating away at his insides, Ryman decided that his chance to move forward had come, and he slipped through the grounds towards the chateau. He had decided to enter via the kitchens, for he was sure that the guests would all be strangers to the servants of the chateau. He would walk through the kitchen and by the servants as if he owned the chateau, and then walk up the stairs used by the servants. Once up on the first floor he would make his way to the first of the rooms that he had earmarked, and hope for a little help from the angels.

Father Pritchard had seen Rob throw himself to the ground with his pistol already out and aiming in the directions of their attackers, but he too had raced off leaving Rob to defend their escape, Father Pritchard though ran to their left. As he sped away, he heard what he thought was Rob's automatic pistol firing, as he gave his friends the vital time they would need to get clear. He too recited the Lord`s prayer to throw their evil watcher off. Ahead of him, the woods ended abruptly and he stopped to take in the open ground ahead. There was what looked to be an enclosed garden only a hundred feet away from him, with a fallen tree giving him access to it. He decided that he would hide within it and wait for darkness to fall. He could still hear sporadic gunfire from within the woods and smiled, for these sounds told him that Rob was still alive. He sped forward and climbed over the fallen tree and into the same labyrinth that had aided Ryman`s sisters so ably, and not so very long ago. Walking forward he got lost amongst the false trails of the labyrinth, but Father Pritchard finally came to the entrance that was on the other side of the labyrinth. He sat down here to await the safety that only the darkness of the night could provide. He watched as the Satanists arrived in their expensive cars and smiled, one of these foul people would be his means of entry into the satanic temple. He knew that what he was about to try and do was all the more dangerous, now that they had been discovered in the grounds of the chateau, but he was still determined to go ahead with the plan outlined earlier by Rob. He too had noted the lights coming on in the bedrooms of the chateau, and chosen a suitable one. He now offered up a prayer to god, asking his help for himself and his two friends, who were all fighting against the evil that was before them. The sun had set when he moved off across the garden towards the chateau, the ground floor rooms were ablaze with light, but he was hidden from prying eyes by the darkness of the cloudy night. He had decided to enter through one of the many open French doors of the chateau and try to ensure that Bourbon didn`t catch sight of him. He would then walk up the main staircase and knock on the door of his chosen room.

Rob had cursed when the bullet that flew by his head told him that their arrival had indeed been anticipated, he had realised the possibility, but he had hoped that Bourbon would be too busy preparing for the coming night to organise anything like this. His hand was pulling out his automatic pistol even as he threw himself down to the ground. A single moment after his body hit the hard earth his pistol was firing threw the bracken that filled this part of the wood, five shots left his pistol in as many seconds as he slowly traversed it across an arc that he calculated their attackers lay. He needed to stop any pursuit of his two friends, and if he were lucky, maybe even narrow the odds. Rob slowly raised his head above the green foliage and saw part of one of his attacker`s body, the man was hidden behind the trunk of a tree, but he had not fully returned to the position he held before the ambush was sprung. Rob aimed carefully and fired his pistol, and he was overjoyed to hear the man cry out in pain as his bullet sped through the side of the man`s stomach.

"Are you alright Pierre?" Bourbon called. The concern in his voice was more for his need to deal with the intruders than the health of his hired muscle.

"Yes, I`ll live Sir, the bullet just creased me." Pierre replied. He was bent over in pain and biting back the urge to complain. Pierre may have been a little premature in his assessment of his injury, for a stab of pain went through his body as he stood erect, and he felt a little faint. He looked down at his wound and saw that now that he was standing erect his blood from his wound was flowing much faster, he groaned and slumped down to the ground and put a hand to his wound in the hope of slowing his loss of blood.

"I think I need a doctor Sir, help me back to the chateau please. He cried out to Bourbons retreating back.

Father Pritchard must have been correct when he had mentioned a demonic watcher, Rob reasoned, for how else could Bourbon have been waiting for them at just the right location to mount an ambush. He swore to clear out this nest of vipers before the night was over.

Rob had been edging away from his initial position, and he too began to recite the Lord`s prayer, not only to ensure that Bourbon`s secret watcher would be seen off, but also to hopefully stop any attempt by Bourbon using hypnosis as a weapon. Rob circled around the ambush site to put more distance between him and his assailants, in doing so he caught site of the second of Bourbon`s heavies. He was lying behind a fallen tree with only his head and pistol hand fully exposed to view. Rob had no desire to kill the man even though the man wouldn`t hesitate to kill him. Instead, he aimed for the hand holding the pistol, and he was just about to fire when a well-aimed bullet whizzed by his head, once again it ploughed into the side of the tree that was only two inches away from his head. Rob whirled around to see Rochelle not twenty feet away. Rob hastily retreated around the trunk of the tree and out of sight of both of Rochelle and the man who he had been targeting just a few seconds earlier. This was the second near miss that he had had over a very short period of time, and Rob thanked whoever was looking over him for saving his life. Putting his silent thank you aside for the moment he now pulled out one of the tear gas grenades, he then lobbed it towards the position last occupied by Bourbon. This had been but a precaution, but Rob was delighted when he heard a man cry out, and then came the sound of bracken being broken as someone hastily retreated. Rob then lobbed his final tear gas grenade over towards Rochelle, and as he heard him cry out Rob moved forward, it was just as the other of Bourbon`s heavies rushed forward towards him. Both men saw each other instantly, but Rob reacted that much sooner as his bullet tore into the heavy's shoulder stopping him and sending him crashing to the ground. Rob collected the injured man`s pistol and then moved further to the left before heading forward after the retreating giant. He thought it likely that Bourbon would return to look for him, and that the first heavy might still pose a danger, this meant that he had to constantly stop to scan the area around him. It was a minute after he had thrown his final grenade that he saw Rochelle far to his right talking to Bourbon, of the other heavy there was no sign. Bourbon and Rochelle must have come to a decision for they both moved back towards the chateau, and away from him.

With this part of the battle over, Rob was able to sigh with relief and he returned to the man he had shot in the shoulder. He was still lying up against a tree and appeared to be unconscious. Rob tore two strips of cloth from the man`s shirt and folded one up into a wad and pressed it against the wound. The other strip he only folded once and put it over the first, and then taking the man`s trouser belt off he put it around the man`s chest and pulling it tight and used it to keep the wad pressed tightly against the man`s shoulder. This was all that he could do for the man. Rob then went in search of the first man that he had shot and found him slumped against another tree, his wound had been worse than the man had thought, and he was also a little weak from the loss of blood. Rob dressed his wound as he had done earlier with the man`s comrade, and Rob also relieved the injured man of his weapon. Rob had attended to his two wounded enemies as he didn`t want the French police to come looking for him, should Rob be left with their dead bodies after the battle was won. With Bourbon short of two heavies Rob hoped that Bourbon now only had the giant left to stand between him and a swift death at his hands, the Satanists he discounted as scum who would flee when the action got too hot.

Rob now moved forward, ever alert for signs of an enemy, but he was also on the lookout for his two friends who had escaped the ambush and, he hoped, were already proceeding with his plan to free Christina and Cassie. Ahead of him was the chateau and like his two friends he settled down to await the night, which soon came.

**********

Bourbon berated Sybil for not keeping him fully appraised of their enemies' positions, but finally apologised to her when told the reason why, the constant repetition of the Lord`s Prayer would throw him off also.

Bourbon now turned to Rochelle and told him what was required of him prior to the ceremony, and like the good servant that he was he followed his orders to the letter. If their troublesome trio were still going to make an appearance, and Bourbon knew that they would, they would have to come across the garden at the rear of the house. Rochelle was stationed on the roof of the chateau with his brand-new rifle fitted with infrared sights. It was a SIG Sauer SSG 3000 sniper rifle with a night vision scope and a silencer. He bought the silencer to stop the local police from investigating his activities, especially when in the UK. He used it when out hunting at night, his favourite time of day. Darkness had descended upon the estate and he swept the tree line for signs of their elusive foes. It was getting ever nearer the time for the satanic ceremony, and Rochelle was getting impatient to re-join the other members of the coven. Finally, his infrared scope picked up a man moving slowly from the woods and towards the chateau. He quickly lined up his rifle on the man and fired his deadly weapon, all that was heard was a small cough but his target collapsed to the ground dead, for the bullet had entered his heart. Rochelle smiled and then continued his search as his riflescope soon picked up another approaching man who was unaware that a sniper was already targeting him. Rochelle grinned as he squeezed the trigger and gave a small laugh as he saw the man fall to the ground. This man was not dead but he soon would be. Rochelle should have gone out to inspect the two bodies, but he had too much respect for the accuracy of Rob`s pistol. If neither man was Rob then going across the garden at night to inspect the dead bodies of Rob`s two friends would be suicide. No, he waited for the last of the three men to make his appearance, the ceremony didn`t start for another hour so he had time to spare. In any case, he was beginning to enjoy his night vigil.

A third man moved out from under the protection of the trees but to Rochelle`s extreme annoyance he zigzagged across the garden, and just as he thought he had him the man dropped down behind a stone statue. For a moment the man stayed hidden behind a massive figure of Poseidon, and then he moved quickly to his right and entered the large vegetable garden that provided the house with much of its fresh vegetables. The man had dropped down behind a veritable wall of French beans and stayed hidden from Rochelle`s view, but he didn`t mind for he had ample time to wait for his prey to make his appearance.

What had made Rob drop down behind the cover of the bean canes, and saved his life, was a stray moonbeam; it had escaped from behind the cloud that had obscured it up until that moment. The moon beam had reflected off of Rochelle`s rifle, and this had warned Rob of the presence of a sniper high above him on the roof of the chateau. He decided to take a chance and fake his death; either that or he would have his unknown assailant chasing him down even as he attempted to rescue Christina and Cassie. He pulled out two of the bamboo canes and broke one in half. He then used some of the string used to train the beans up the canes to tie the canes into a cross. He then took off his jacket and hung it on the cross; all he needed now was a head to get shot. He now crawled four feet along the path to a melon patch, for seeing their large fruit had sparked the idea behind his plan to cheat death yet again. He chose a nice round one that was about the right size, and then he returned to his cross. Rob now pushed the melon down onto the top of the cross, now he had himself a decoy. Rob held his decoy up by the bottom of the cross and moved it slowly out of the cover provided by the beans, he hoped that his decoy would fool his attacker into believing it was a real man. Rob kept moving the head of his decoy behind the uppermost of the beans, this was so the sniper hopefully wouldn`t see that it wasn`t the head of a man that he was training his sights on. He smiled as he saw the rifle swing towards him, then he heard the cough of the rifle through the stillness of the night and heard the rifle bullet as it ploughed through his leather jacket to disappear behind him. Rob moved his decoy slowly to the ground, but ensuring that it was mostly hidden from the view of the sniper, this was to ensure that he wouldn`t see through the trick that had been played upon him. Rochelle would never know how close he had been to success, but for a stray moonbeam. Rob looked at the hole in the centre of his jacket and swore, for this was his new one.

Rochelle had smiled grimly as he had taken aim and gently squeezed the trigger, his smile broadened as he saw the man collapse back behind the bean canes. Rochelle stayed looking down at the vegetable garden for a minute but then he shrugged, it had been far simpler than he had expected. Rochelle stood up and walked away smiling from the roof terrace and back down towards the temple in the cellar. He was going to enjoy tonight.

Rob stayed behind the safety of the beans until he saw the giant move out of sight. With his assailant gone, Rob took his jacket from the decoy and moved forward towards the chateau, ever watchful for signs of another hidden watcher. His purpose was to climb up a tall creeper to the first floor and enter through an open window, once inside, it all depended on whether fate was still on his side.

**********

Christina saw Bourbon and the two women who had been with them since their kidnapping suddenly appear before her, but it all seemed as if she was in a crazy dream. She could see their lips moving but she couldn`t understand what was said. She struggled to sit up and look across at Cassie, but Cassie seemed to be asleep. Through the haze that was her mind, Christina suddenly remembered something, had she been given an injection. The scene floated lazily through her mind as she attempted to latch on to it, but at that moment, Bourbon pulled her violently from her bed; and with the help of the older woman, they walked her away from this end of the cellar. Christina turned her head to look back at Cassie, but she had disappeared into the haze that suddenly enveloped her. She noticed that she had been brought into a room full of statues. Oh, how nice, Christina thought, she was being taken into a museum. Bourbon pushed her down onto the floor next to the altar and then he chained her to a ring that was fixed to it; it had been fitted for just such a use.

Cassie was then carried through by Bourbon as she was still asleep, but she was laid on top of the altar, and then she was strapped down to prevent her from struggling against the horror that was ordained for her by Bourbon.

Rochelle entered the satanic temple, nodded to Bourbon, and mouthed the words, all dead. Bourbon smiled, now the ceremony could go ahead without interruption.

Midnight was fast approaching and the first members of the coven began to make their appearance. A fat Austrian banker walked in and smiled at Bourbon, and then he walked over to the altar to look down at the bride of Lucifer.

"He should be very happy with this offering Ulysses, I would be." He licked his lips as he thought of what he would like to do with the young girl before him, and then his eyes drifted down to look at Christina.

"Do we have to kill her so soon Ulysses, surely we should be allowed to play with this one." He looked across at Bourbon who smiled.

"Sorry Johan but tonight they both belong to our Lord Lucifer." Bourbon lamented as he took a moment to savour his revenge on the dead journalist John Ryman.

Christina looked around her as the temple began to fill and she smiled, for she saw that there were so many happy people here with her.

"Is it a party?" She tried to say but her words were slurred, and in any case, no one was paying her any attention, all their eyes were upon the bride.

**********

Rob quickly scrambled up the creeper and was soon looking through the window of a room containing a man he recognised as a British banker of renown. On the man`s bed was an animal costume and mask denoting a large black raven, the bird of death. The window was slightly open to allow some cool air to enter into the room, as the day had been extra warm after the storm had passed. When the banker walked into his bathroom, Rob edged the window of the room up and quietly entered. He then walked stealthily across to the open bathroom door, but just as he entered, the banker looked up into the mirror to inspect his face and saw Rob.

"Who the devil are you sir, and why didn`t you knock on the door, didn`t they teach you any manners?"

In reply to this question Rob answered him with a straight hook to the banker`s rather surprised jaw. The banker was knocked violently back against the washbasin that was behind him and he slid to the floor in a heap. Rob went back into the bedroom and put the costume of the raven onto the armchair that was beside the window. Then he pulled all of the sheets from the bed and then returned to the bathroom and bending down, he dragged the man through to the other room and put him on the bed. Rob used the sheets and the pillow cases to tie the man`s hands and feet to the ends of the bed. Lastly, he gagged the man, just in case he woke prematurely and raised the alarm. Quickly putting the costume and mask on, he exited the room and hurried down stairs in search of the rest of the guests.

His worry that he would have trouble finding the other guests evaporated when he entered Bourbon`s study. There before him was the open panel in the wall, and within it, he saw a flight of wooden stairs leading down to a hidden cellar. One thought occurred to him as he descended, did the other two also manage to get into the chateau and obtain a costume and mask, this is what they had all hoped to do when finalising the plan to free Christina and Cassie. The first thing that he saw on reaching the cellar were the two empty cots, so Christina and Cassie have been taken through to the temple Rob thought angrily, his blood began to boil and he once again vowed to kill Bourbon and anyone else who stood in his way. The light from the temple blazed through to where Rob was standing, and he walked across to the doorway and entered, the first thing he saw was Christina chained to the altar, and then a half-naked Cassie stretched out upon it, all she had on were her bra and panties. Rob had to fight against his natural instincts, which were to rush straight across and free the two sisters. He had his pistol, but he could hardly tend to Christina and Cassie and hold off twelve people at the same time. Later he might just have to chance it, but not just yet. Rob decided to give either of his two friends the time to arrive and lend a helping hand.

Ten minutes later and all of the Satanists had arrived; unfortunately, Rob was unable to tell if any of them were his two friends. While the women amongst the group wore skimpy outfits and the sort of masks Rob had seen worn at festival time in Rio de Janeiro, the men wore costumes associated with the many beasts in satanic lore, as well as masks, only Bourbon was here with only a mask and without a costume.

Bourbon brought the small talk to an end. This at least made Rob happy, for he was scared that any moment he would be unmasked as an imposter by one of the coven, who had realised that he was a stranger with no right to be in the temple.

"Please be quiet for a moment for it is time for the celebration to begin." Gasps of appreciation went up from the Satanists, as they looked forward to the night's festivities.

Bourbon, wearing a demonic mask walked across to the altar and Cassie; unfortunately, she had now awoken, albeit in a drugged state of intoxication. She looked up at Bourbon and a mixed look of fear and puzzlement came to her young face. Bourbon picked up a large glass phial as Rob felt for his automatic pistol.

"Oh, Beelzebub hear my cries I beseech you. Look kindly upon our festival which we hold in Lucifer`s honour, and please ask him to appear before us this night. In his honour I anoint this virgin girl whom we hope that Lucifer will take to be his bride for tonight." Bourbon then took the stopper out of the phial, he then poured a foul looking green liquid down on to Cassie`s naked stomach. A loud hysterical cry went up from the Satanists and they swarmed across to the altar to lick the foul brew from Cassie`s young body. Rob had been forced to join them but ensured that he never reached the front, for he wanted none of this debauchery. When the green brew was finally gone, Bourbon threw himself before the oversized throne that was set beside the altar.

"Lucifer, we beseech you to honour us with your presence, appear before us that we might worship you." His plea was followed by cries of Lucifer, repeated over and over again by the other members of the coven. They were obviously affected by whatever they had licked from Cassie`s body and were now dancing wildly around the centre of the temple screaming Lucifer`s name, and drinking another hideous concoction from an odd assortment of bottles all in the shape of a part of the human anatomy.

Bourbon now pulled out a long sacrificial knife, walked across to Christina, and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her head back and exposing her throat. Lucifer, I offer you this sacrifice to show you our devotion. Bourbon`s hand began to swing down towards Christina when the loud crack of an automatic pistol filled the small room. Bourbon collapsed to the floor dead, a bullet hole in the centre of his head. Rob moved back from the other Satanists, his pistol pointing towards them.

"This ends now you perverted scum, you know the way out, and I advise you to take it." Rob said in a loud clear voice. Although he didn`t know it, two men attempted to covertly move away from the stunned Satanists. The Satanists were in shock, their leader was dead upon the floor and his murderer stood just feet away. Still intoxicated by the green brew they began to move towards Rob who fired his pistol at the nearest of them. A figure dressed as a Satyr, dropped to the floor, but although this stopped them moving towards him they now called on their god Lucifer to appear and kill the blasphemer. Rob knew he could do with some help from his friends, but unfortunately, all he got was a statue thrown by the tallest figure in the room. Rob ducked and moved back, unluckily he stood back onto one of the odd shaped bottles and slipped painfully to the floor. The Satanists were instantly upon him and one of them picked up the bottle that had caused his downfall, it was in the shape of a penis, and the man brought it crashing down upon Rob`s head temporarily stunning him. A minute later he came around to find his hands bound behind his back and a female Satanist standing over him with Bourbon`s sacrificial dagger in her hand. Behind her he saw a young girl sobbing at the side of the Bourbon`s dead body, it was Moira. This was the first time that Rob had realised that she too was a member of the coven, even though she was barely sixteen years of age.

"Oh Lord Lucifer hear my words, I sacrifice this blasphemer in your glorious name." Rob could see the woman`s face beneath her mask, it was Moira`s nanny, what he didn`t know was that she had acquired enough satanic power while working under Bourbon to take over the headless coven. Moira got to her feet and moved across to join her nanny and spat in Rob`s face.

"Let me do it Nanny, let me be the one to offer his heart up to our Lord Lucifer" Moira begged.

Sybil Thorndyke looked across at her charge and smiled approvingly, and all Rob could see awaiting him was a quick death. However, just as Moira took the sacrificial dagger from her nanny a deep voice filled the room and made all within the temple quake with terror, the voice came from the throne on the far side of the altar.

"Who is it that has dared to slay my most devoted follower even as he was in the act of offering gifts to me, Lucifer, his lord?" The Satanists turned as one to gaze upon the figure sitting on the large throne, and on seeing the terrible beast; they covered their eyes with their hands and threw their shaking bodies to the floor in fear of the demonic beast.

Sitting upon the throne was a giant demon with a pair of large horns coming out of the top of his head and a pair of extra-long ears, the beast wore no clothes and Rob could see that the demon`s body was covered in coarse black hair. The demon now stood up and moved around the altar to gaze upon Rob, whose heart was racing faster than he ever imagined possible. With his hands bound and laying at the feet of the demon, he knew that he would not be able to save Christina, for his own fate was sealed.

As the beast knelt down to look upon him a figure burst out from amongst the quaking Satanists and leapt at beast known by all the assembled as Lucifer. Demon and human fell to the ground in a heap while the Satanists stood there, stunned, fear preventing them from doing anything but tremble. The man`s mask was knocked off to reveal John Ryman, in his right hand he held a large hypodermic needle, Ryman now forced the needle deep into the demon`s left eye and with a look of triumph emptied the entire contents deep within the demon`s eye. Holy water was shot deep within the demon`s head and the demon who called itself Lucifer, screamed in pain. It looked upon Ryman and gave him a glare of the upmost hatred. It then grasped Ryman`s body firmly to its own and then in a bright red flash of foul-smelling smoke the two bodies disappeared, a scream of pain filled the temple almost deafening those within it, whether it was from Ryman or the demon Rob couldn`t tell, but finally only the smoke remained.

Rob allowed himself only a second to mourn his dead friend, and then he looked around for the fallen sacrificial dagger with which to free himself. Even as he saw it lying on the floor nearby, a further event caused the already panicking Satanists to rush for the door of the temple, and to flee from the terrible events of mid summer`s eve. Grey smoke began to fill the room causing any who remained within the temple to cough as the smoke forced out much of the room`s air. Rob saw a shape appear before him, it was Father Pritchard who had also managed to gain admittance to the chateau and replace one of the members of the satanic coven. The priest had located the hastily discarded dagger and he now used it to cut the ropes that bound Rob`s hands.

"Quick, David, we must free Christina and Cassie." Rob said bounding to his feet only to cough violently as he inhaled a large amount of the smoke that had been emitted by the smoke grenades used by Father Pritchard, his plan to increase the panic amongst the Satanists working better than he had expected.

Father Pritchard grabbed his friend`s arm and steered him over to the altar but when they got there they saw that Cassie was gone. Christina was coughing badly and they all needed to be out of the temple quickly before they passed out. Rob looked at the chains that bound Christina only for a second before moving over to the dead body of Bourbon and searching him for the keys to the padlock that secured Christina to the altar, but they weren`t there.

"David, he doesn`t have the keys, I will have to pick the lock." Rob cried as a thicker cloud of smoke swirled his way making him cough violently He rushed back to Christina and pulled out of his pocket a small leather case, within it were a set of lock picks that he had used more than once when on a mission. Thankfully, he was quite adept in the art of opening locks, moments later Father Pritchard and Rob were soon helping a still half-drugged woman to her feet and dragging her out of the temple.

"Rob, is that you?" Christina said in a voice that still sounded as if she were drunk.

"Yes, Sweetheart it`s me, David and I are here to rescue you from the big bad pervert." Rob answered. Christina smiled and then turned to look at Father Pritchard.

"Hallo." She slurred. "It`s nice to meet you." She then had another coughing fit, but by now they were out of the chateau and looking at the fleeing Satanists.

"Rob, over there, isn`t that Bourbon`s servant in that car." Father Pritchard said pointing to a car that was turning towards the rear of the house and the gardens. Rob saw that there were two girls sitting in the back of the vehicle and one of them appeared to be drugged, much as Christina was from the way she held her head.

"Where on earth are they going?" Father Pritchard said.

Rob steered them to an empty car that was parked in front of the chateau, luckily, the doors to the vehicle were not only open but the keys had been left in the car.

"Help me get Christina into the car David; I think I know just where they are going. There is a small chapel set near to the rear of the estate; I saw it when we looked up the place on Google Earth. I wondered at the time what a church was doing in a property owned by Satanists; maybe they use it occasionally for the dark arts, maybe they are planning to use it now?" Rob replied and moments later, all three of them were in the car and Rob drove away at speed as he went in search of Cassie.

The small family chapel dated back to the eighteenth century, and from the outside looked very beautiful, unfortunately this is a case of beauty only being skin deep, as inside the chapel Moira, Sibyl Thorndyke and Guy Rochelle were busy trying to repair the harm done by John Ryman`s heroic sacrifice.

Rob stopped the car behind a large Rhododendron bush, some fifty yards away from the chapel, and then he and Father Pritchard left Christina locked within the car and hurried up to the chapel. Just as they got to it, Father Pritchard stopped Rob who looked at him in annoyance.

"Rob, I also picked up your gun." Father Pritchard said pulling Rob`s automatic from his pocket and handing it to Rob.

"Thank you, David, I really think that we will need this." Rob said smiling at his friend.

They burst into the chapel and found Sybil Thorndyke preparing to rape Cassie with a false penis; she had stored it within the temple and had the presence of mind to collect it as they escaped. Rob`s normally cool mind exploded as he saw what the debased woman intended to do, and he shot her through the heart even as she approached Cassie. Rochelle had turned as Rob and Father Pritchard had entered the chapel door, and he had already pulled out his gun and was aiming it at Rob when a gun fired close to the priest's right ear almost deafening him, the combined noise of the two pistol shots filled the small chapel with its sound. Rochelle slowly sank to the floor, his pistol falling from his lifeless fingers, his death left only a very frightened Moira Bourbon still living to face Rob`s wrath.

"That was a near one Rob, you really should be more careful." Gerry Handley said with a smile on his face. Rob turned to look at him, surprised but thankful to see his friend. "The big white chief told me to follow you, just in case you needed some professional help, Rob what on earth have you got me mixed up in?" He asked surprised at what he saw within the chapel.

"Nothing more than a case of your common or garden Satanic perverts Gerry." Rob said grimly. "Gerry will you please take charge of this teenage hell bitch." Rob said pointing at Moira. He then rushed across to Cassie who was lying on a small altar at the back of the chapel, and who was slowly coming out of her drugged state.

"And, Gerry, remember that Moira may look like a sweet little school girl, but unfortunately she is far from it." Rob said as he gently untied the bonds around Cassie`s hands and feet.

"Don`t worry about me Rob, I`ve seen even younger and even more dangerous children in Afghanistan." Handley said remembering the terrible moment when he had seen a child destroy his young life in his attempt to kill a jeep full of infidels.

"Rob what`s been going on, I`ve been having an awful nightmare?" Cassie wailed and then the memories of her terrible ordeal returned. "Where`s Chrissie, Rob they have Chrissie too." Cassie cried out fearfully.

"Cassie, you don`t have to worry about Christina, for she is safe, come on let`s see if she has finally woken up." Rob said gently.

It was then that Cassie noticed her state of undress and hastily moved her hands to cover her body. Rob pulled off his jacket and Cassie quickly put it on.

"Thank you, Rob, ever the gentleman." Cassie whispered, thankfully the semi darkness hid the blushes that had appeared on her face.

"I`ll see if your clothes are down in the cellar Cassie." Rob promised her, and she nodded, after her ordeal they would be rather dirty and might even smell a little, but they would be very welcome.

Christina was also beginning to awaken from her deeply drugged state and the sight of Rob and Cassie walking towards her made her leap out of the car and rush towards them. After bucket loads of tears and crushed bodies, Christina looked over at her younger sister.

"You see Cassie; I told you that Rob would find us." Both sisters looked up at Rob and both stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you Darling." Christina said smiling.

"Thank you, Rob." Cassie said smiling, but her smile soon faded as a look of concern came to her face.

"What about Bourbon, Rob, won`t he come looking for us?" Cassie cried out and Christina too looked concerned.

"Don`t worry about him, I shot him, just about now he should be entering some hell dimension." Rob said and the two sisters` looks of concern disappeared.

"Good; and I hope that he suffers for all eternity for what he did to our family." Christina said.

Chapter Eight

The Epilogue

"Can we go home to mum now Rob?" Christina asked.

Rob looked at Christina, and then Cassie; and his smile disappeared. The time had come to tell the sisters about the casualties of this war between good and evil. The two sisters saw his face change and were already crying when he told them. Rob now told the two sisters of their mother`s death, and how Bourbon had tried to pin the blame on him. Then he told them how their brother had saved them all, of his heroic sacrifice when he took on Lucifer himself.

Rob let them cry but then Gerry came up to him, to stand awkwardly awaiting permission to speak. With him were two more of his colleagues, one holding on to Moira. Rob looked across at Gerry enquiringly.

"Rob we are taking you all to Brest, there is a British frigate there, it`s having an open day so you will all go aboard but you will not leave. We are also taking Moira out that way, although what we will finally do with her will be up to the big white chief, nothing good I expect." John Maric and Paul Swanscombe are already cleaning up; soon there will be nothing to show what occurred here." Handley said pausing for a moment.

"If it's the same to you Gerry, I would rather take my car back with me, so I won`t take you up on your offer of a lift." Father Pritchard said intruding on the conversation.

"Sorry, David, but that is impossible, I will have one of my lads deliver it back to your door." Gerry said very firmly and Father Pritchard decided that he would not argue.

"Gerry, there may be three more Satanists tied up in the chateau, maybe up on the either of the two upper floors, we used their masks as our tickets to the party. There are also two dead bodies down in the cellar which will require your attention." Rob said apologetically.

"Okay we will release the live ones when we are ready to go and dispose of the dead ones. What about the two dead guys in the garden, who are they?" Handley asked. "They gave me quite a start, for a moment I thought that they might have been the bodies of you or your friends." Handley had come across them as he reacted to the sight of the fleeing Satanists, for he had moved his team towards the chateau from the woods where they had hidden.

"I have no idea Gerry, I`ll take a look at them before we leave."

They had all been walking towards a large Peugeot, and Rob opened the rear door to allow Christina and Cassie to get in while Father Pritchard sat next to the driver. Christina looked a little distressed when she realised that he wasn`t getting into the car with them.

"Don`t worry darling, I`ll join you in just a little while, first I need ten minutes alone with Gerry, and I also need to find Cassie`s clothes." Rob said smiling at Christina, and Cassie, who also seemed a little distressed at his not joining them just yet.

"Rob, where is that other chap that you had with you in Caen, John Ryman I believe you called him?" Handley asked.

"He didn`t make it Gerry, he died in the temple saving all of our lives." Rob said grimly, remembering the terrible incident.

"Do you want his body taken back to England for burial Rob?" Handley asked.

"No, Gerry, you won`t find his body, it`s gone." Handley looked across at his friend quizzically.

"Gerry you may not believe me but this mission wasn`t about a bunch of perverts playing at games, these perverts were the real thing, John Ryman died fighting a bloody demon that said his name was Lucifer." Rob knew he had said too much, but right that second, he didn`t much care.

"Come on Gerry, I have to find young Cassie`s clothes, they should be near to the two cots down in the cellar of that hell house."

After all that had happened it was still very early in the morning, and by the time the staff arrived, all would have been tidied up and the secret door to the cellar closed once again.

**********

Two months later saw Rob Hinds sitting having a coffee with Father Pritchard, they were reminiscing about that terrible day in France when their friend had died.

"Rob, I don`t believe that that demon could have been Lucifer himself, we wouldn`t have stood an earthly change of success had it been the real thing. No, I believe that it was a lesser demon playing the part for the benefit of Bourbon and his coven." Father Pritchard said quietly.

"David, John Ryman gave his life for us without a second`s hesitation, I don`t care if it was a John Lennon look alike, it doesn`t take away what our friend did for us and his sisters." Rob said just a little angrily.

"Forgive me Rob I wasn`t trying to belittle John`s brave deed." Father Pritchard said very contritely. Rob smiled at him and changed the subject.

"Now David, why don`t you tell me the reason that you asked me to call on you." Rob asked.

"Well Rob, it`s just that I wondered if you were free for the next few days. You see someone has a similar problem to the one that you encountered both in Bourbon`s cellar, and later in my back room, this time it is in York. I was hoping that you might consider helping me to sort out this rather dangerous problem, what do you say?"

Rob looked across at Father Pritchard, waiting for him to smile and burst into laughter but he didn`t. Rob felt his stomach sink to the floor. "What, you want to face up to the devil yet again?"

The End

If you enjoyed this story then please leave a positive revue, your support really does make a difference.

Also, why not visit my author page by clicking on the link. Smashwords Books.

About the Author

I was born in London, England. Like most of the world, I had to work hard to pay my mortgage and all the other bills, so I only had the time and the energy to write some short stories. My wife and I have a son who is now married to a lovely wife and they have five children of their own. Since retiring to the Greek island of Crete, I have finally found the time and the energy to write some full-length Science Fiction stories.

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Other Books by the Author

Colonies of Earth Series in order

Galaxy Spies

Time Storm

Rebirth

Trial by Ordeal

Horror Stories

Strange tales; three short mild horror stories

The Vampires of Cymru-- coming soon

Rob Hinds black magic stories

Kidnapped and Bound for Hell

The Satanists

Dreamscape

The Return of the Bitch from Hell

David Charlton stories, a science fiction series

Rescue Mission to the Stars

The Treasure of Altaraus

Return to Mazere

Other science fiction stories

Quasar

The Venetou

Invasion Earth

Lost and Far from Home

Journey to the Stars

Rebellion is in the Air

Short children`s stories

Three Journeys of the Scary Kind

