Mairead had often been asked why she did not sell her relatively modest residence, upon becoming a star. Why not purchase a larger mansion, or ranch, as so many other celebrities had? Invariably, she explained that it was something that she could never consider. The house had been built as a labour of love, by her husband Jack. She would never sell.

Mairead had loved to entertain when Jack was alive. An invitation to one of her parties was highly prized. She would organise luxury tents in the grounds, complete with ensuite bathroom facilities, to accommodate the number of revellers.

Her inability to control her psychic skills had put an end to it all. The Wilson residence had not received guests since those heady days. Mairead did not feel inclined to party without her Jack, so it had not been difficult for her to turn her back on that lifestyle. Nevertheless, Mairead had missed the more intimate gatherings; which is why she took great pleasure in the fact, that four of the six bedrooms, were currently occupied.

Theodora had also been invited to stay. Mairead had learned that Theodora's landlord had given her two weeks' notice, two weeks ago. She still had not found suitable accommodation and all her worldly possessions, Spartan though they were, had been placed in storage.

"That will never do! You must stay with me," Mairead had declared.

Theodora had graciously accepted. "Perhaps, we can help each other."

She was right. The two psychics were a tremendous comfort to one another. They understood what the other had seen, since they had both seen it, experienced it. They were helping one another heal.

Somehow, they had managed to explain it all to Drew. He could scarcely comprehend what they had revealed to him. He was becoming increasingly despondent, and as Mairead had feared, he was blaming himself for Rosemonde's disappearance. "How is any of this even possible? How can evil win?" he implored.

"Hey! Who said evil was going to win? Evil will NOT win Drew!" Theodora tried to remain positive but there were times when she too felt like giving up. They all did.

"How can we possibly fight them? There was no surveillance of that nurse entering the room. The footage shows me leaving and exactly at the point where our paths cross, the vision is lost and all you have is a burst of white noise. How did they even do that?"

"Tell me again what she looked like?" Theodora asked him.

"Black hair tied back. Nothing out of the ordinary there, but she did have really strange eyes, striking."

"Yeah you said, but strange how?" Theodora persisted. "Were they too wide set, an odd shape, an unusual colour?"

Drew struggled to explain. "You know that Beatles' song, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds? The lyrics describe the girl in the song as having 'kaleidoscope eyes'. Well, that's sort of what they were like. Our eyes met for the very briefest of moments but she was Lucy. Her eyes were hypnotic. They were a bit scary to be honest — like they possessed every colour in the world at the same time."

"And yet probably not of this world at all." Mairead mused.

"A demon?" Theodora queried.

"I'm thinking, yes, or someone who is perhaps being controlled demonically," Mairead replied. "Consider what we have learned about the Children. They become black eyed when they invoke Azazael, or as we saw with poor Myrddin, if they are used as some sort of vessel. Their eyes take on the appearance of a snake. Well, if the eyes are the mirror of the soul, then what are kaleidoscope eyes?

"Several colours at once and changing constantly, suggests to me, some sort of turmoil. Why can't they settle on one colour, or even a couple of colours, like hazel eyes? I think that nurse took the appearance of a host demon, perhaps many demons. There may even have been an inner battle going on over which eye colour to settle on."

"That makes sense, weirdly," Theodora said.

"Sure, it does." Drew rolled his eyes. "How is it going to help us find Rosemonde?"

"It helps to know your enemy, Drew," Theodora responded.

"We already know who the enemy is, the Children!" Drew was becoming increasingly vexed.

"Led by Azazael, yes. However, now we know that there may be another demon or demons involved, and that is worthwhile information!" Theodora determined. "Now, we work on that. We research demons that have been associated with Azazael.

"The one that immediately springs to mind for me, is Azazael's consort, Lilith. She is a succubus, so that may be where the sexual component comes in. Some mythologies also suggest that she was the first vampire, and when Cain was cursed with the inability to farm his own food, she taught him to drink blood to survive."

"Dear Lord." Mairead exhaled. While Theodora had been speaking, she  had done a quick search on her tablet. "According to the mythology, Lilith was able to create a thousand demons a day! We are in for the fight of our lives."

"And souls." Theodora reminded. "We might want to remember that. Is this even our fight?"

"If not ours, then whose?" Drew beseeched. He closed his eyes. All his mind would allow him to see, was the fragile form of Rosemonde in the hospital, when they shared that all too brief kiss. Now she was gone.

"I would think it is always worth fighting for a soul," Mairead asserted. "And this is Rosemonde we're talking about!"

"Let me go to Bedlam. I could organise an appearance for Sign Ahead. I could snoop around, I could-"

"NO! Andrew, please... You're all I have left... We can help in other ways. Promise me you won't enter that establishment. Besides, we have no idea if the venue is involved in Rosemonde's disappearance, or Summer's for that matter. While we have that phone call, Summer's body was found almost eighty kilometres away.

"Exactly, so let me -"

"You will not go there Andrew! Do you hear me? YOU WILL NOT!"

"Mum, you don't understand. I've fallen in love with her. As wrong as it may be, I can't help but hope that a certain raven has flown out of her life for good."

"Oh, Andrew." Mairead enveloped her son in her arms.

☆☆☆☆☆

It was discovered that the property along The Bells Line of Road was owned by the Du Malum Corporation, which was the parent company overseeing several other businesses. One of them was the Du Malum Model and Talent Agencies, managed by Caleb Mort.

Billionaire businessman Charles Du Malum now sat fuming opposite Caleb, in the Agency's boardroom. He presented as someone with albinism, and was never seen without his signature sunglasses. The truth was more sinister...

"How could you let this happen? What have you told the police?" Charles demanded of his General Manager.

"That the property is used for corporate functions and that the area under the barn had always been used for storage. That's all. They have found a large room, nothing more. I have released a statement expressing our horror, that the bodies were found on company property and have pledged full cooperation with authorities during the investigation. The temple has been sealed. They will never find it."

"They know it is there!" Du Malum seethed.

"Two detectives suspect it is there. That is all. They have no proof. They will not mention their theories or suspicions to their superiors without evidence, which they will never get. We are safe. Although, I do not think it prudent to use the temple anytime soon. Azazael will remove it and relocate it."

"As was done before, in the 1920s?"

"I believe so."

"A member of the board will speak with you, about some of the unfortunate choices you have made, Caleb."

"Those choices were made by the High Priestess, not me!"

"You are the current hierophant are you not? The choices were approved by you."

"We...um...I...ah...underestimated the scope of power that the High Priest could wield, but as soon as I received confirmation of his betrayal, I activated his mark. He has been disposed of. I can assure you that that threat is- "

"Still alive!" Caleb blanched, as Azazael entered the room. "You have become complacent, sloppy. I cannot allow that to go unpunished my son." Azazael smiled sadly.

Caleb was heartened slightly by being referred to as "son." Perhaps he could still salvage the situation. "I understand my Lord. I have made mistakes, but I have learned from them. I only live to serve you. I will find Myrddin and I will destroy him. I will not disappoint you again." Caleb stood and fell to his knees before Azazael.

"No, indeed you won't. Charles, would you like to do the honours?" Azazael turned to Du Malum.

"M-my Lord?" Caleb whimpered.

Charles Du Malum took off his sunglasses to reveal eyes that were a solid black but unlike The Children of Azazael, he was not possessed by the ancient snake. He was born a black eyed shadow eater, not human. He now used his serpentine power to destroy the only remnant of humanity in the room, Caleb Mort, before calling an ambulance to report that his General Manager had collapsed suddenly and was unresponsive.

"Hungry?" Azazael asked Du Malum as they waited.

"I actually have a lunch meeting with Mo. He wants an update on his Jezebels, but you are welcome to join us, of course."

"Asmodeus is in town?" Azazael chuckled. "It is always good to catch up with family, but we had better clean up before we go." He looked at Caleb, whose body was slumped at his feet. He placed him in the recovery position.

They heard running feet.

"It's no use, we've lost him." Charles Du Malum called out loudly just as the paramedics came bursting through the boardroom door.

Sunglasses firmly in place, both he and Azazael or Samuel Anguis as he was known in his most recent human form were covered in sweat. They appeared exhausted. As far as the paramedics were aware, this was due to their heroic effort — performing CPR on the unfortunate Caleb Mort.