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It came in the body of a man, but that was a shell As his own body was a shell It called itself Lazarus Twisse, an elder of "the godly " He and those who followed had settled in the wilderness of this province when they broke with the Puritans of New England

He studied theht, these ht, who had coious freedom, and then persecuted and destroyed any who did not follow their single, narrow path

"You are Giles Dent "

"I am," he said, "in this time and this place "

Lazarus Twisse stepped forward He wore the unrelieved forh-crowned, wide-brimmed hat shadowed his face But Giles could see his eyes, and in his eyes, he saw the demon

"Giles Dent, you and the feuilty of witchcraft and demonic practices "

"Who accuses?"

"Bring the girl forward!" Lazarus ordered

They pulled her, a irl, barely six and ten by Giles's calculation Her face hite with fear, her eyes drenched with it Her hair had been shorn

"Hester Deale, is this the witch who seduced you?"

"He and the one he calls wife laid hands on odly acts upon my body They caht They stilled my throat so I could not speak or call for help "

"Child," Giles said gently, "what has been done to you?"

Those fear-swaod, and cut the throat of a cock in sacrifice And drank its blood They forced its blood on me I could not stop them "

"Hester Deale, do you renounce Satan?"

"I do renounce him "

"Hester Deale, do you renounce Giles Dent and the woman Ann Hawkins as witches and heretics?"

"I do " Tears spilled down her cheeks "I do renounce theive me "

"He will," Giles whispered "You are not to blame "

"Where is the woman Ann Hawkins?" Lazarus deray eyes to him

"You will not find her "

"Stand aside I will enter this house of the devil "

"You will not find her," Giles repeated For a moment he looked beyond Lazarus to the lade

He saw death in their eyes, and er for it This was the demon's power, and his work

Only in Hester's did Giles see fear or sorrow So he used what he had to give, pushed his mind toward hers Run!

He saw her jolt, stumble back, then he turned to Lazarus

"We know each other, you and I Dispatch them, release them, and it will be between us alone "

For an instant he saw the gleam of red in Lazarus's eyes "You are done Burn the witch!" he shouted "Burn the devil house and all within it!"

They came with torches, and with clubs Giles felt the blows rain on him, and the fury of the hate that was the demon's sharpest weapon

They drove hian to fla in his head, the madness of them

With the last of his power he reached out toward the de its dark eyes as it fed on the hate, the fear, the violence He felt it gloat, he felt it rising, so sure of its victory, and the feast to follow

And he ripped it to hi air He heard it scream in fury and pain as the flames bit into flesh And he held it to him, close as a lover as the fire consumed them

And with that union the fire burst, spread, destroyed every living thing in the glade

It burned for a day and a night, like the belly of hell