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As the furniture struck Sasha, the possessed priest was already firing iteh bestial sounds continued to issue from him, he also snarled a few broken but falee, to punctuate his attack: a silver hairbrush, an oval hand mirror with mother-of-pearl frame and handle--"in the name of the Father"--a heavy silver clothes brush--"and the Son"--a few decorative enamel boxes--"and the Holy Spirit!"--a porcelain bud vase that hit Roosevelt so hard in the face he dropped as if he’d been smacked with a ball-peen hammer, a silver coainst a distant hulk of furniture, flooding the bedrooe, ducking and dodging, protecting our faces with raised arms, Bobby and I tried to ht that together we could pin him down and hold the pitiable wretch until this seizure passed, until he regained his senses If he had any senses left Which seemed less likely by the second

When the priest fired the last of the clutter from the arsenal atop the vanity, Bobby rushed him, and I went after him, too, just a fraction of a second later

Instead of retreating, Father Tom launched himself forward, and when they collided, the priest lifted Bobby off the floor He wasn’t Father To unnaturally powerful, with the strength and ferocity of aover a chair, and slammed-jammed-crushed Bobby into a corner so hard that Bobby’s shoulders should have snapped Bobby cried out in pain, and the priest leaned into hi at him

Then I was in the ht arht wrist with my left hand Got him in a chokehold Jerked back on his head Just about crushed his windpipe, trying to pull hiht, but instead of dropping to his knees and capitulating, he see out of him, or the blood supply to the brain that I pinched off He bucked, trying to throw ain and , but I didn’t listen to what she was saying until the priest bucked a fourth time and nearly did pitchtriu, "Get out of the way! Chris! Chris, get out of the way!"

Doing what she demanded took some trust, but then it’s always about trust, every time, whether it’s deadly co chokehold, and the priest threw me off even before I could scraht, and he appeared to be taller than before I think that must have been an illusion His de power, that I expected electric arcs to leap froe aze seehter than mere eyeshine, as if inside his skull was notbut the ele

I retreated, gasping for breath, stupidly groping for the gun that Manuel had taken fro a bed pillohich she evidently had jerked out from under the head of one of the suicides This see, as if she intended to smother Father Tooose down But then, as she ordered him to back off and sit down, I understood that the pilloas folded around her 38 Chiefs Special, to muffle the report of the revolver if she was forced to use it, because this bedrooht carry to the street

You could tell that the priest wasn’t listening to Sasha Maybe by this ti except to as happening inside hi

His mouth opened wide, and his lips skinned back from his teeth An unearthly shriek ca than the first, followed by squeals and cries and wretched groans, which alternately seee and poignant remorse, as if there were multitudes within this one tortured body

Instead of ordering Father To with hiun Maybe because she was afraid his crazed shouting would be heard in the street and draanted attention Her pleas were tremulous, and tears stood in her eyes, but I could tell that she would be able to do whatever needed to be done

The shrieking priest raised his ar down the wrath of Heaven upon all of us He began to shake violently, like one afflicted with Saint Vitus’ dance

Bobby was standing in the corner where Father Toh stanching the flow of blood fro one hand to his face, where he’d been hit by the bud vase

I could tell fro that the priest was building toward an explosion of violence farwe had witnessed yet I didn’t expect Father Tom to metamorphose before our eyes, fro alien in a science-fiction ing-ripping its way through the four of us, then sing Mungojerrie as if the hapless cat were an after-dinner mint Surely flesh and bone couldn’t be transformed as quickly as popcorn kernels in a e, pastor to predator, would not have surprised me, either

The priest did surprise ainst hih in retrospect, I realized I should have remembered the birds, the veve rats, and Manuel’s words about psychological implosion The cleric let out a wail that seeh it wasn’t as loud as the preceding cries, it was evenbecause it was so devoid of hope To thislaht fist, and also with the semblance of a fist that he was able tosuch solid blows that his nose crunched and his lips split against his teeth

Sasha was still pleading with hih she must have realized that Father Tom Eliot was beyond her reach, beyond the help of anyone in this world

As if trying to scourge the devil froernails deep, and with those pincers, he went at his right eye as though to pluck it out of hi around the priest, and I was briefly confused, astonished, until I realized that Sasha had fired the 38 The pillow couldn’t have entirelyother than Father To , but he didn’t drop He didn’t bite off that skirling la at himself

I heard the second shot--whump--and the third

To, briefly kicked his legs as if he were a dog chasing rabbits in his sleep, and then was ony but had also saved him from the self-destruction that he believed would condemn his immortal soul to eternal damnation

So much had happened since the priest had thrown the chair at Roosevelt and the vanity bench at Sasha that I was surprised to hear Elton John still singing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?"

Before dropping the pillow, Sasha turned toward the television and fired oneas it was to put an end to the inappropriately uplifting , ere all alar a shower of sparks fro priest must be dead, because any of us would be wors in the chest, but as Bobby had noted the previous night, there were no rules here on the eve of the Apocalypse

When I reached for ed under le

In ination, the dead priest had already self-resurrected and had beco that an entire division of htstand la more than a man, and still dead, a ruined heap that didn’t bear close inspection

Holstering the 38, Sasha turned away fro, one hand covering her face, collecting herself

The lamp featured a three-itch, and Bobby clicked it to the lowest level of light The shade was rose-colored silk, which left the rooh to prevent us fro to an attack of the brain twitches

I spotted ht on the floor, snatched it up, and ja, I went to the nearer of ts The drapes were a heavy tapestry, as thick as an elephant’s hide, with a blackout liner This would have suppressed the sound of gunfire alh which Sasha had fired the revolver

I pulled aside one drape and peered out at the la toward the Stanwyk residence No traffic had stopped in front of the house In fact, the street appeared to be deserted

As far as I can recall, none of us said anything until ere all the way downstairs and in the kitchen again, where the soleht of the oil la meh the house in numbed silence

Bobby stripped off his Hawaiian shirt and black cotton pullover, which were da his left side were four slashes, wounds inflicted by the cleric’s teratoid hand

That was a useful word fro anisenetic material As a kid, I was always interested in my mother’s research and theories, because she was, as she liked to put it, searching for God in the clockworks, which I thought must be the most important work anyone could do But God prefers to see e can make of ourselves on our own, and He doesn’tthe e think we’ve located the door behind which He waits, it opens not on anything divine but on so the kitchen, Sasha found first-aid supplies and a bottle of aspirin

Bobby stood at the kitchen sink, using a fresh dishcloth and liquid soap to clean his wounds, hissing between clenched teeth