I drifted over to Mikal at the edge of the crowd surrounding Jesus, eager to see Mikal. My joy at seeing her was short-lived. She stood there, dressed in simple woolen garments. There was a bruise under her left eye. She hugged herself and shivered as if she was cold despite the warmth of the day.

With my supernatural senses, I looked further, taking in her other bruises, sores, and the disease that wracked her body--some kind of virus she'd contacted from one of the men who hired her.

Drifting closer, I whispered in her ear. "He'll heal you if you go to him."

She would not hear me with her conscious mind, of course, though she might believe she said similar words to herself.

To my surprise, she shook her head. "I'm not worth it," she whispered in a voice to low for anyone to hear.

I looked around for someone, anyone I could posses--but there was no one nearby that I could enter. Mikal herself could be possessed, I knew that Cassia had done so, but it was rare that I could take over a body that wasn't male. There had to be some kind of alignment of genders.

Even if I did so, whatever spirit walked her forward would meet the same fate as Aurelia.

"He's healed many who were unworthy," I said. "Look, that one is also a prostitute."

Still, Mikal didn't move. She just stood there, shivering. Before I could think of something else to say, she turned.

Desperate, I called out, "Cassia, Princess of the Fourth Hell, I call to thee. Cassia, I bind thee. Spirit of darkness and torment, I offer my soul as perfume to entice thee."

It was a dangerous incantation at best, but I knew it would draw her. The air shimmered beside me, and her spirit appeared by my side, luminous and burning with the portion of my essence that I offered.

She had appeared in her full glory wearing her crown of fire and darkness, and robes of shadow. Twin serpents with ruby skin slithered in circles around her wrists like bracelets, and lightning, frozen and braided, served as her necklace.

"So sweet of you to call," she said, her voice almost a laugh. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

I nodded to Mikal. "There's some terrible disease inside her and she won't go to Jesus to be healed. She won't listen to me, and I can't posses her. You can, I mean, you used her to kill me."

Cassia frowned and gazed at me, her light fading.

"I'll do anything you want, give you power over me and let you--do those things you said you wanted to do. Just don't let her die."

Cassia sighed. "How disappointing."

"Look, you were right, okay? I do love her--I think. Whatever. Please. Just don't let her die."

Darkness slipped from me, fear spilling out against my will. I closed my senses, embarrassed to have lost such control and not wishing to see Cassia's mocking smile.

"Please," I whispered.

I heard nothing. When I opened my senses again, Cassia was nowhere to be seen. What did I expect from her anyway. Mercy? It was not a quality our kind possessed in any abundance.

But Mikal had turned and was walking back. Only then did I notice Cassia's presence within her.

I watched, amazed, as Cassia led my Mikal closer to Jesus.

For his part, the Son of God looked weary, at the end of his human strength. Though the light he carried within him was undimmed, I knew that soon he would seek a place of solitude to recover. Would he cause everyone to freeze and simply walk away, the day when the mob chased him outside the synagogue?

"Faster," I said to myself, watching Cassia wend her way through the crowd.

Jesus glanced toward me, stared right at me as if he both saw and heard my plea. Had he taken it as a prayer? So what if he had. I was desperate.

"Please, Lord," I begged.

As I said the words, I felt something pierce me. The pain dropped me to my knees, but the ground did not swallow me. Still, I took no thought for that. I watched as Cassia continued her march.

I suppose I should have warned her to flee Mikal before she got too close to Jesus--but if I had, Mikal might turn away.

So I gave no warning.

I watched as Jesus stretched out his hands.

Cassia screamed as she fell, dropping into the pit of the earth like a flaming meteor. The scent of her burning soul filled the air. I hadn't sensed all that when Aurelia was cast out, but I did this time.

But Mikal was healed. The disease left her, her sores closed, and her bruises faded. All of it was gone in an instant.

She remained there at Jesus feet, trembling.

"Though your sins were many, daughter of God, the Father loves you and has taken away your illness. Go and sin no more."

Mikal arose and walked away in a kind of stupor. I turned to follow her, noting the place where she stayed. It was a house of prostitution just outside of town. It was small and squalid, and home to about a dozen other women. Many of them had children who played on the hills nearby.

Mikal was safe. It had cost me Cassia, though. However many thousands of years it took her to come back from the pit of sheol, she would demand that much more in retribution from me. By then, Mikal would have already perished and be beyond her power.

I smiled.

Jesus slipped away then, nothing quite so dramatic as when he escaped the mob. He'd healed all of them, and they'd simply left him.

Wearily, he walked toward me. I gave him a wide berth.

As he passed, he looked in my direction. "Your faith healed her, Darius."

Then he walked away without another backward glance.

My faith? What did that even mean?

I thought of Cassia. There would be hell to pay with her. Perhaps an installment sooner rather than later was in order.