Jeremy attends, Sarah finds herself strongly drawn to the attractive young intern. She tries to seduce him, but her aggressive advances only succeed in driving him away in confusion. Young, hurt, and frustrated, she is consoled by her parents. Driven by love rather than lust, Sarah and Joshua make love that evening, their incestuous relationship given approval by Rachel herself.

That evening Rachel makes a frightening discovery. Her body is beginning to change in order to conform to the spirit it is hosting.

The first change manifests in the appearance of a tail. Rachel is horrified at first, but is consoled by Althea, who demonstrates some of the benefits of her new appendage. The following morning Rachel confesses Althea's existence to Josh. Confronted with physical proof in the form of the tail, her husband accepts the truth, but is suspicious as to whether Althea's spirit is as benign as she claims.

Later that day Rachel, Maria, and Alex go to the hospital in order to check in on Althea's body. They find her well-cared for, but her body is growing frail after weeks in a coma. Driven partly by Althea's aphrodisiacal presence, partly by their own desire, Maria, Alex, and

Rachel make love in Althea‘s hospital room. They are interrupted in the act by Dr. Yasna Marafi, the physician who has been caring for Althea.

They return home to find a strange man trying to break into their house. Rachel confronts him, and she and Althea discover he is a servant of a demon-spawn named Mortimer Kincaid, the unholy offspring of a male human and a female demon. What is worse, Kincaid knows of

Althea's injuries. It is only a matter of time before he finds her body and kills her.

Or, even worse, finds Rachel and her family.

In “Sacred Sins," Rachel and Althea confront the consequences of their actions. Bringing everyone together, Rachel confesses to Althea's existence, and proves it by showing them her tail. With Jeremy's assistance, they concoct a plan to kidnap Rachel's body from the hospital. Later that afternoon, Jeremy and Sarah become Lovers.

That evening, they drive to the hospital. But the rescue attempt goes horrifyingly awry, as Kincaid has also deduced Althea's location. In a terrifying scene, they are barely able to escape, fleeing the hospital with Althea's body while Kincaid chases them in demonic form. By the time they reach home, Josh's truck and the trailer they used to transport Althea's body are little more than shredded wreckage.

Later that night, they enact a ritual designed to return Althea to her body. Giving selflessly of their sexual power, they at first think they have failed. But just when hope is lost, Althea stirs and wakes. Over a meal she confesses her love for all of them, and expresses her hope that they will not be stupidly jealous or possessive when (not if) she takes one of their lovers as hers.

In “Forbidden Fruit," our story continues. Althea and Yasna both struggle to find their feet in a home which is not their own. Yasna, in a conversation with Josh, reveals details about her past. A child of immigrants, her successful professional life is weighed down by personal failures, including a broken marriage to a man she did not love. Uncertain about her sexuality, she has retreated from all intimacy.

Althea, on the other hand, revels in her new-found freedom. With her help, Alex and Rachel become lovers. Later that day, she and Josh begin work on a sword to be used against Kincaid. In the process, Althea imbues several objects belonging to the family with a small portion of her power, making them talismans which can be used to protect them from the demon-spawn.

In "Guilty Pleasures," we move close to our conclusion. Althea continues work on the sword. However, she is inundated by reminders of what her very nature makes inevitable. Whether by violence or by the slow decay of time, she will lose her lovers, as she has lost all others before. And, cursed to eternal barrenness by the will of God, she cannot even bear their children of her own.

The sword completed, Althea informs Rachel and Josh that she believes she knows where and when Kincaid will strike. It will be on Friday night, at the theater, where Alex is performing as Iago in a showing of

Shakespeare's “Othello.”

“Are you sure?" Alex asked.

Althea looked around the table, where they were all eating Lunch. It was the first time the entire family had been gathered together since the evening meal on Wednesday night. Josh and Rachel had just shared with them Althea's belief that the demon-spawn Kincaid would strike at

Alex during his play at the College of DuPage later that night.

"No," she admitted slowly. She rubbed her eyes, which were red and grainy with sleeplessness. She had tossed and turned in her lonely bed until nearly dawn. Unable to sleep, she had been tempted to go and seek one out of the family for the momentary distraction of sex. But everyone but Yasna had been happily paired, and she had no desire to impose upon a cheerfully rutting twosome, no matter how eagerly they may have welcomed her to their bed. And she would damn herself to the

Pit itself before she forced herself on Yasna. The black-haired doctor was still wrestling with demons of her own. The time for them to be together had not yet come.

And only the Almighty herself knew if it ever would.

She let her eyes drift to the lovely young Iranian. Dressed simply in a pair of tight blue jeans and a rumpled University of Chicago sweatshirt, she looked barely half her age of thirty-six. Her long-fingered, skillful hands, a marvel of dexterity, were now occupied in pushing potato chips nervously around her plate. Althea had fantasized many times about how those same hands will feel on her skin.

They would be hesitant at first. But skill and desire would take away that shyness.

She shoved the thought away regretfully.