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John didn’t worry that Hightower had gone senile anymore He was convinced of it "Your Grace, have you shown this tape to your superiors?"

"No, dear boy, Ro about this Only members of my order are entrusted with the Brethren’s secrets" His smile faded "These minions of Satan have powerful allies When they first rose from the dead and came into the world, their families turned them over to the church Later on they hid them from us Perfectly understandable At that ti family, they would lock them all, human and Darkyn alike, in the nearest church Then they would burn it down"

Sickened by this fantasy, and the sight of the prisoner’s burned torso and the acid now being dripped over the broken bones of his thighs, John reached for the VCR’s controls to stop the tape "I’ve seen enough I’htoarned "You have yet to see the grand finale"

Anothera black trench coat over his broad fra their acid at him, but he moved incredibly fast, and knocked the vials from their hands He drove his fist into the face of one ore up to the wrist John sed bile as he saw theoff the head of the monk in the process The decapitated body fell over, and blood and ganglia spilled from the neck onto the stone floor

The black-coated man shook the ht flick off a bit of snot fro as baldly, pathetically grotesque as this "God in heaven"

The other two monks retrieved the coil of barbed wire and threw it at the intruder He caught it in his hands, stretched out a length, and began whipping the two monks with it When they were on their knees, bloody-faced and cowering, he tossed aside the wire His boot caught one monk on the side of the head and drove it into the other’s with such force that John could al When the two monks fell over, the intruder slowly used his boots on their heads, sto was left but pulp

The torture ed, but this was too real John sed a surge of bile "Where did this happen?"

"In Dublin," Cabreri said "The demon freed four of his kind, and killed twenty"

"All the brothers we had there" The bishop sighed "God rest their poor souls"

The lastthe naked, burned prisoner and carrying him out of the chamber in his arms Before he exited, he looked at the carabbed the lens Glass shattered--was he really crushing it with one hand?--before the screen filled with static

"You can shut it off now," Hightower said, startling hiain

John stopped the tape and rose to walk over to theOutside, a group of little black girls was playing double Dutch ju rhyleeful voices that kept ti feet

Mistah, Mistah, ya wanna kiss my sista,

Mama, Mama, I saw him kiss Tawanda,

One, two, three, four, sneak him in the back door,

Four, five, six, seven, shuck yor pants and go to

heaven…

John wanted to be out there with theirls He couldn’t contribute ht be able to keep time with the ropes "When did these htower inspected the luncheon cart and frowned at Cabreri when he saw the e with the Garda, but it has been dealt with"

Cabreri, who had devoured all the sandwiches, selected a petit four and munched it with relish

The Italian priest’s appetite proved to be the final straw "Excuse me, Your Grace"

John walked rapidly out of the study, turned the corner, and went into the men’s bathroo He couldn’t vo would come up; his insides had turned to stone A damp paper towel appeared beside his face, and he looked up at Father Cabreri