The Stars Never Rise

“What the hell is she talking about?” Devi said to Maddock, who was still frowning, and I wondered if Finn was explaining it to him at the same time.

“I’m talking about the war.” I stood. I couldn’t sit still anymore. “It didn’t happen like they say it did. They’ve been lying all this time, and we’ve been eating it up like gravy because they look like us and they sound like us and they act like us—at least when people are watching—but they’re not us. They never were. We were just too stupid to see it.”

Devi glanced around the room in exaggerated frustration. “Can someone please translate? I don’t speak lunatic.”

“Okay.” I cleared my throat. “It sounds crazy because it is crazy, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. Demons didn’t lose the war; they just stopped fighting where we could see them. They became the people we trusted most—the Church—and told us they could save us. And we believed them. We were scared and desperate and facing the extinction of our species, so we gave them everything we had. We gave them our money, our service, our government, our children, and our freedom, and when the war was ‘over,’ we celebrated, like fools! We praised the Church and pledged our loyalty, and we were grateful to be alive, but the joke was on us.”

They stared at me, stunned, and I was dimly aware that my voice was gradually rising with every word, but I couldn’t make it stop. The dam had broken and the words would flow. “The joke is still on us. We didn’t win the war; we gave away the victory. The Church didn’t save us. It enslaved us.” I gestured frantically to each one of them. To Anathema as a whole. “And they’re going to hunt every single one of us down and burn us alive, because we’re the only ones who know the truth.”





“I have to get to Melanie.” I stood, and Reese stood with me, reaching for a half-packed bag.

“Nina, we have to get out of here,” he said as Maddock turned on the television, then muted Brother Jonathan’s voice. “With that as the goal, walking into a building full of demons sounds a little counterproductive.”

“Oh shit!” Maddock said, and we all turned to see what he was staring at. “According to the headlines, the Church is blaming thirty-eight civilian casualties on us!”

But the degenerates hadn’t killed anywhere near that many.

Devi was right. The Church had executed the survivors who’d heard my plea. I’d singlehandedly raised the death toll by at least sixteen.

“Your sister doesn’t know the Church is being run by demons, so she’s safer than any of us,” Reese said gently.

“They just burned Melanie’s boyfriend alive. She is not safe,” I insisted.

“I have to agree with Spawn on this one,” Devi said, and I glanced at her in surprise. “They burned the boyfriend for a reason.”

“Yeah. He embarrassed the entire town by getting a fifteen-year-old pregnant. Not the kind of press the deacon wanted.”

Devi rolled her eyes at Reese. “Seriously? They’ve just told the world there are demons on the loose, yet they have nothing better to do with the national spotlight than punish a teenager for making a baby without a license?”

“Enlighten us,” Maddock said, and I turned to find Finn’s green eyes staring out of his best friend’s face once again. “We’re not all gifted with your insight into the world’s spiritual authority.”

“What?” I glanced from Finn to Devi, but neither elaborated.

“Devi was raised as an ecclesiastical dedication. Her parents gave her to the Church,” Grayson said finally, accepting the packed bag Reese handed her.

“Really?” Other than a soulless death, my worst fear for Melanie’s baby was that the Church’s price for providing the infant’s soul would be both Mellie’s and her child’s service, for life.

“Yeah, well, the joke was on them.” Devi threw her long black braid over one shoulder and sat straighter on the edge of the coffee table, her dark eyes glistening. “I was conceived in sin and chose to honor the lifestyle. But what my unfortunate upbringing has taught me is that the Church does nothing without a reason. They burned Adam to send a message. To Nina. And that message was…?” She turned to me expectantly.

“They’re willing to kill people I care about. People who have nothing to do with my being an exorcist. Including Melanie.” I sank onto the couch again, weighed down by the grim understanding. “If I don’t turn myself in, they’ll douse my sister in gasoline and burn her alive on national television.”

Reese set his bag next to his feet. “How long do you think she has?”

Devi shrugged. “Another day or so. They have no way of knowing whether or not Nina understood their message—she’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer—so I’d guess they’ll replay the footage a few times or torch another one of her friends before they trot out the pregnant sister.”