A House of Night Novel  House of Night Novels (Volume 6 of 12)
P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast  St. Martin's Griffin  TEMPTED
(Chapter 1)   The night sky over Tulsa was alight with a magical
crescent moon. Its brilliance made the ice that coated the city,
and the Benedictine Abbey where we'd just had our showdown with
a fallen immortal and a rogue High Priestess, shimmer so that
everything around me seemed touched by our Goddess. I looked at
the moonlight-bathed circle that stood in front of Mary's
Grotto, the place of power where not long ago Spirit, Blood,
Earth, Humanity, and Night had been personified and then had
joined to triumph over hatred and darkness. The carved image of
Mary, surrounded by stone roses and nestled within a ledge high
in the grotto, appeared to be a beacon for the silver light. I
stared at the statue. Mary's expression was serene; her ice-
covered cheeks glistened as if she wept in quiet joy.  My gaze
lifted to the sky. Thank you. I sent a silent prayer up to the
beautiful crescent that