“No, I'm not sure, Alex," she said, working to keep her voice steady, not wanting to reveal how close to the breaking point she actually was. "But it's what I would do if I was trying to hurt your mother as badly as possible, and to push her over the edge into madness. Remember, Kincaid thinks, or, at least, we believe he thinks, that I am still trapped in Rachel's mind.

“His nature is to thrive on pain. For the last few days he has let us twist in the wind, wondering when and where the blow will fall." She grimaced humorlessly.

“It probably gives him a great deal of pleasure to think I'm inside your mother's mind, driving her slowly insane. The prim, proper lawyer reduced to a babbling wreck, pushed to unwilling acts of sexual depravity by an invading being she cannot possibly understand or comprehend."

“Hah," Joshua, Alex's father, said. "Trust me. Even when she was a lawyer, she wasn't that prim and proper. Believe me on that one.” A Low chuckle circled the table.

“Be that as it may," Althea continued, “Alex's play provides him with the perfect opportunity. He's a jackal, attacking the weak and defenseless. He'll cut him down on stage, in front of the entire family, and mock your inability to do anything about it.

“So here is what I propose. That we ambush the ambusher. That we stick our neck willingly into the noose. It is the only chance I see to put an end to this once and for all.

“Right now I know next to nothing about Kincaid. Where he Lives-"

“In a condo downtown, if I remember correctly," Rachel put in.

“-what his resources are," she went on, ignoring the interruption. "How many and what types of safeguards or bodyguards he might have around him. The security apparatus in his home. And so on. A man as rich as he is can buy as much protection as he wants. Which makes attacking him in his lair all the more dangerous. So the best way of dealing with him is to make him come to us.

“If I know anything about the demon-spawn, I know this; they are arrogant. If Kincaid sees an opportunity to hurt you while striking for maximum effect, he will. What better place to do it than on stage?

“Which Leads me to this. Alex, are you willing to be the bait? It is a lot to ask of you. I might..." her voice quavered as she looked down at her clenched fists. Her bloodless knuckles stood out white against her golden skin. She gathered herself and went on steadily.

“I might fail.

I have failed before. Too many times to count. And if I do fail, if I guess wrong, you will die. There is no way you could conceivably fight off Kincaid in a one-on-one confrontation.”

As the impact of her words sank in, the young man sitting across from her went pale, blood draining from his face. His hand went out blindly, seeking that of his girlfriend, Maria. Strange as it seemed, the reaction paradoxically cheered Althea. If he had agreed blithely, she would have been horrified, as it would have meant he had no real understanding of the stakes.

"You don't have to do it, darling." Rachel's voice was low as she looked at her son, who had recently become her lover.

“If it's too much for you, we can find another way, I'm sure.”

Alex shook his head. Not in negation, Althea believed, but in thought.

“If we don't try now, he'll come after us again, won't he?"

She nodded grimly, unable to deny the truth of his words.

“And if he does, it may be in a way we can't anticipate. That's why you came to my rehearsal the other day. You were scouting out the Lay of the land.”

She nodded again.

"Well." He put his shoulders back, straightening in his chair. "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't, am I right? I'll go the play with Althea, you guys can stay here, and we'll come back when it's all over."

“Like hell we will," Maria snarled. Althea's jaw dropped as the sweet-tempered Latina turned to face Alex, her eyes blazing. "If you think for one...one chingando minuto that I'm going to stay here and wait to see if you're ever going to come back, you're the stupidest jackass I've ever Laid eyes on."

"Besides," Sarah added helpfully, “if Kincaid has people watching us, he might find out that Althea is back in her body and is at the play.

What better time for him to attack the house than while she's gone? The best plan," she said in tones of sober reflection, “is for us to all go together."