“We can’t call the police,” Quinn said. “They’ll be here forever, and we have to do this tonight.”
“But Mrs. Whitefield,” Diederik protested. “She should know.” He liked Lenore, who had always been nice to him, unlike Harvey. Diederik wasn’t grieving for the man but for his wife.
“She should, yes, but we can’t risk a demon rising while the cops are here,” Quinn said reasonably.
“What do we do with him?”
“Let’s move him to the side, so no one will worry about him until the ritual is over. And if the ritual doesn’t work, his body will be the least of our worries.”
They did move the body, which was very unpleasant, and they covered it with an old sheet of plastic the Rev used when he was digging graves in the animal cemetery. Then the two weretigers resumed their task. The salt-and-ash mixture stuck to the painted line very well because of the damp air and wet pavement.
“Do you think Fiji is scared?” Diederik asked quietly. He was carrying the bucket, and Quinn was using a large scoop to distribute the mixture.
“Sure she is,” Quinn said. “For a human, this must feel degrading. They’re very modest about no clothes in public.”
“Let’s switch,” Diederik suggested, and when they had swapped scoop and bucket, he said, “They don’t like to talk about sex even when they’ve had it, either. Even when they’ve had it with you.”
“You have to go with their feelings,” Quinn said philosophically.
“If she picks one of us, and she gets pregnant, will the child be one of us?”
“We talked about this when you began to want Marina. The baby would grow up to be a very healthy person its whole life. And the chances are also good that the child would be athletic and strong. But no, it wouldn’t be able to change.”
Diederik clearly pitied such a child. “I hope someday I can find a tigress, Dad,” he said.
“I found your mother,” Quinn said. “And I’d given up hope.”
“If there’s one tigress, there can be more.”
“Absolutely.” Quinn looked over at the chapel to see the Rev standing on the steps.
“Diederik, run tell the Rev about Harvey and ask him to say a word over the body,” Quinn said, and Diederik hurried over to the old cleric. Quinn saw the Rev nod and walk unhurriedly to the deformed corpse to kneel beside it.
The moment he did, a half-familiar car swerved up and almost hit the Rev, who proved he still had excellent reflexes. The old man threw himself to the left. Diederik and Quinn were only a few feet away and they both leaped farther, startled and furious.
A woman got out, a woman who smelled familiar, too. “It’s Fiji’s sister!” Diederik said, but Quinn was already moving to intercept Kiki, who was staggering toward the intersection. Luckily, no vehicles were coming, but Kiki lay down to wait for her death. She screamed when Quinn yanked her up by her arm. Fiji’s door opened and she ran out, afraid the demon was breaking free early. She dashed toward the struggling group.
The demon screamed, too, in outrage and desire. And he moved so powerfully that the ground began to tremble.
As doors flew open and the people of Midnight poured out of their houses, Kiki struggled with the weretigers. She was intent on dying. The Rev sent Fiji to fetch a rope from the tool shed to bind her, and the three men managed to get her into the chapel.
Fiji said, “I need to be with her!”
Quinn said, “No, we can deal with her. He called her to hurt you. You have to be mentally ready for tonight. He’s trying to distract you.”
Fiji began to protest, but then she thought, He was drawing people who didn’t like me. He was able to draw my sister. And she trudged back into her house. The chapel was cold and damp, but at least Kiki couldn’t commit suicide if she was secured inside.
Kiki was tied up hand and foot, as a matter of fact.
As the three weretigers left the chapel, the Rev (for the first time ever) locking the door behind him, Bobo held open the front door of the pawnshop while Lemuel carried Olivia out. Bobo reached in to grab a stadium seat with an awning, and after he’d expanded it, Lemuel lowered Olivia into it with great care. Olivia looked pale under the pawnshop light; she was dressed in flannel pajamas with a padded vest over them, and socks with moccasins on her feet. Lemuel covered her with a blanket. He was taking no chances.
Joe and Chuy, hand in hand, walked down from their store to stand at the corner opposite the pawnshop. Manfred emerged from his house to stand with Bobo.
And to everyone’s surprise, the Reeds walked over from their trailer to take a post on the sidewalk in front of the hotel. Grady was bundled up in a pram-type stroller. Madonna looked resentful but resigned, and she glared around as if daring anyone to make something of her presence. Teacher looked almost pleased. They were both carrying guns.