Read San Francisco Night for Free Online Page A

bank, so I sure did.”
    “What was the next level?”
    “Devil worship. The real thing. Scary as hell.” He shuddered. “It was then that I realized just what I was getting into. Devils, Jack. Real devils.”
    “Heavy.”
    “You don’t know the half of it. I tell you, up until the first summoning I wasn’t a hundred per cent sure it was for real, you know?”
    Nightingale smiled. “Yeah. You never forget your first.”
    “You’ve done it? Attended a summoning?”
    Nightingale nodded. “I tend to work one-on-one, though.”
    “You can do that? I was told it’s too dangerous, there’s too much can go wrong.”
    “You have to know what you’re doing.”
    Mitchell finished his cigarette and flicked it away. “My first was a real bitch. I couldn’t have faced her alone. There were ten of us at the Sabbat and I could see that everyone there was terrified. Her and her dog. You could feel the evil pouring out of them.”
    Nightingale stiffened. “Dog?”
    “Yeah, a collie with the blackest eyes you’ve ever seen. Same as her eyes. She appeared in black. Like a Goth. It was only when I saw her I realized that Laura had a tattoo of her on her back. Do you think that means something?”
    Nightingale said nothing. Of course it meant something. Mitchell had been pulled into Satanism by a girl who had the tattoo of the first devil that he met. That couldn’t have been a coincidence.
    “We swore allegiance to her, that was the purpose of the summoning, but we were all terrified. Even the High Priest was scared, you could hear it in his voice. Give me another cigarette, will you?’
    Nightingale flicked away what was left of his cigarette and lit fresh ones for both of them.
    “Did you do a deal?” he asked after he’d blown smoke.
    Mitchell looked across at him, eyes narrowed. “A deal?”
    “For your soul.”
    Mitchell shook his head and took another drag on his cigarette before answering. “I thought about it, but no. I was approached by the Apostles before I got the chance. You can’t join the Apostles if you’ve sold your soul, that’s one of the rules. One of the many rules.”
    “And did Proserpine say what she wanted from you?”
    Mitchell cocked his head on one side. “I didn’t say her name was Proserpine.”
    “She’s famous in devil-worshiping circles,” said Nightingale. “Goth chick with a collie, she’s one of a kind. But never let her looks deceive you. She’s dangerous.”
    “You’ve met her?”
    “Oh yes. And lived to tell the tale, just about. But it was a close call.”
    “She didn’t ask us to do anything, but said that one day she would. But like the Godfather, you know.” He forced a smile. “The whole thing’s a bit like the Mafia, isn’t it? You do what they say and you get what they want. But cross them and you’re dead.”
    “Yeah, except the Mafia will just put a bullet in your head. The devil will take your immortal soul.” He shuddered again. “It was one of the women at the summoning who told me about the Apostles. Just a few throwaway lines at first and then once I’d shown interest she told me the full story.”
    “Was she an Apostle?”
    She shook her head. “No. She works for Abaddon. Like a recruiter. She’d sold her soul to a devil when she was a teenager so she couldn’t become an Apostle herself.”
    “Tell me about the mansion where all this took place.”
    “I only saw the changing rooms and the main ceremonial area. I parked about twenty minutes away. They hooded me to and from the place. It’s only when you get to be a full Apostle that you find out where it is. It’s a matter of trust.”
    “And you prove your trust by killing?”
    Mitchell nodded. “That’s how you become an Apostle. You kill for them and that binds you to them. But it’s more than that. Each killing is part of a greater process.”
    “Leading to what?”
    “Ultimate power,” said Mitchell. “The Apostles will rule the world.”
    “According to this