The chanting was like nothing she had ever heard. It was hideous, rhythmic, and full of excitement.

Blasphemer.

Take her.

Kill her.

Tear her.

“One minute,” he murmured as he stopped to the left of the arched opening. “We stay back here until the stampede starts, then we let them take us out of the temple.”

The screaming rose in intensity, and Jane could see why. Millet was striding up the ramp into the Offering Room. He was dressed in black leather jeans and jacket, and he was arrogance personified.

How he loves it, Jane thought. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes shining, and every muscle in his body seemed electrified, fed by the screaming horde.

He had reached the altar.

He bowed to the mosaic of Judas, then turned to the crowd and raised his arms. “You want the Blasphemer. I heard you shouting your will. How much do you want her?”

The screams shook the room.

“Then I’ll give her to you. I’ll show her how you punish Blasphemers.”

Another shout.

“You want her blood? I’ll make her scream as I take her blood for you.”

“Blood? I’m beginning to take this personally,” Caleb murmured. “It brings back too many memories. I’m not sure I can wait for-”

The floor of the temple exploded, the stones heaved upward!

Millet was thrown to the ground.

The altar cracked and shifted to one side.

The audience was screaming but in terror now. Jumping from their seats, they bolted toward the ramp that led outside.

“Now!” Caleb pushed Jane and Eve through the archway into the midst of the panicky crowd. “Get Eve outside before the next explosion goes off. It’s due in about six minutes.”

Jane was already pulling Eve through the mob. “Just keep on your feet,” she told her. “If we go down, we’ll be trampled.”

“You planted explosives?”

“Plastic. Small but powerful. In the passage beneath this Offering Room.” She was fighting, shoving her way. Where was Caleb? She couldn’t see him in this mob. Hell, she couldn’t see anything but wild-eyed, panicky people on every side. “Joe planted another set on the outside near the front entrance to go off seven minutes later. We figured that we’d be out of the temple by that time.”

“We hope,” Eve said. “This crowd isn’t moving at top speed.”

But Jane could see the entrance just ahead. “We’ll make it.”

Where was Caleb?

“Blood? I’m beginning to take this personally.”

Shit.

They had reached the entrance.

“Eve!”

Thank God. It was Joe running toward them. He grabbed Eve’s arm and was pulling her away from the temple. She was looking over her shoulder at Jane. “I’m fine. Get Caleb before the idiot blows himself up.”

Jane turned and ran back into the temple. Two minutes.

It was easier going back. The crowd had thinned as the bulk of the people had reached the entrance. She reached the top of the ramp.

The Offering Room was deserted.

Except for Caleb.

Except for the man lying on the shattered altar.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Caleb said, without looking at her. “It’s going to blow.”

She came slowly toward him. “Eve called you an idiot. She’s right.” She looked down at Millet. His face was a mask of agony. Blood was pouring out of his eyes and mouth. “Why?”

“I told you, I didn’t like his talking about what he was going to do to you. I’m very fond of every drop of your blood. It bothered me that he was planning to be so careless with it.” He bent over him, and said softly, “But now you know how much it hurts to misuse blood, don’t you? The flow can twist and sting like a dagger. You like to use daggers, I understand,”

Millet’s body arched. He screamed.

“We have to get out of here, Caleb,” Jane said.

“I know. Pity. I only had a few minutes with him. But I made them count.” He held out his hand. “Come here. I want him to see you.”

She came to stand beside him.

“Look at her, Millet,” Caleb said. “She beat you. You wanted to take her down. But she took away your power and all the glory you lived for,” he added softly, “and she took away your life. You have heavy internal bleeding. You can’t last for more than five minutes tops. You’ve lost everything.”

She could see that Millet knew that he’d lost. But he was staring at her with desperation and hatred that would go with him to the end. “You didn’t… beat me. I’m the chosen. Hadar will keep me alive. Judas will… triumph.”

“Then let them do it. I think they’ve reached the end of their trail, too.” She turned away. “Let’s get out of here, Caleb. I won’t be buried in here with this bastard.”

“You won’t. We have forty seconds.” He took her hand and was running with her away from the altar and down the ramp. “Providing my watch is right.”

“Now you worry about it.”

“Dammit, get her out of here.” Jock was running toward them up the ramp. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? I couldn’t believe it when Eve said Jane had gone back in. Run!”

“We are running.”

The next instant they were out of the temple. Ten seconds later the ground shook as the wood and mortar of the temple blew.

“Down!” Caleb pushed her to the ground as concrete chips and slabs blasted through the air.

She couldn’t breathe through the thick layer of dust and smoke from the blast. She was still coughing as she sat up a few minutes later.

“All right?” Caleb asked.

She nodded and gazed at the remains of the temple, which was now a mass of brown stone and broken pillars. “I don’t know what it looked like before, but there’s not much left now.”

“When Joe and I planted the charge last night, it reminded both of us of a small acropolis,” Jock said. “Hadar didn’t have much originality.” He stood up and held out his hand to her. “Let’s go. Eve and Joe are with MacDuff and his men up in the mountains. I promised I’d bring you to her as soon as I found you. It’s not safe down here. No one knows what’s happened, and Millet’s men are still a threat.”

Jane could see what he meant. Men and women were milling about, dazed and disbelieving. It was hard to connect them with the screaming vultures who had been thirsting for her blood only minutes before.

“Give them a chance, and they’d still cut your heart out,” Caleb said. “Go on with Gavin.”

She nodded. “I have to see Eve. She wasn’t good.”

“She’ll survive,” Caleb said. “She was burning with fever but still on the attack.” He turned away. “I’ll see you later.”

“Where are you going?”

“I have to make sure.”

“Millet?” She looked at the mass of rubble that had been the temple. “How? And you said he’d be dead in five minutes.”

“I have to be sure. I won’t have him come back to haunt you.” He smiled. “I’ll find a way.”

She watched him walk away before she turned back to Jock. “He probably will. Though he’d have to be a snake to wriggle through all that wreckage.” But all she wanted was to be done with the place and the people who had screamed for her blood. “Let’s go. I want to be with Eve.”

“HE’S dead.”

Jane looked up to see Caleb standing beside her. She had been at MacDuff’s encampment for hours, and there had been no sign or call from Caleb. He was dirty and covered with dust and mortar, but he didn’t look tired. His eyes glittered in the lanternlight and he had never appeared more strong and vibrantly alive.

“You found Millet? He bled to death?”

“I’m not sure.” He smiled. “I hope he didn’t. The explosion dislodged the Judas mosaic and it fell on the altar. I’d like him to know that his Judas crushed him.”

However it had happened, Millet was dead. She had not realized that she would feel so relieved at the certainty. But Caleb had realized that she needed that final resolution and had given it to her. “Thank you.”

He inclined his head. “I had to be sure, too. Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I’m fine.” She got to her feet. “Maybe a little shell-shocked. Or maybe just plain shocked that it’s all over.”