Raymond shaw has a past he has all but eradicated from his memory. a twisted past involving his parents, a defrocked priest, satanic rituals and murder. but now he dreams of dead girls and he knows the past has resurfaced and is calling to him, calling him back to the purpose he was raised for. detective inspector frank giles is investigating a series of ritualistic murders that bring terrifying memories of an earlier case back to him. there had been murders then, too, and the cult of the demon beliar led by the defrocked priest father mchinery, and a small boy found hiding behind the sacrificial altar, a small boy named raymond. mchinery is dead, frank watched him gunned down, but as his investigations into the current murders continue, the evidence keeps pulling him towards one conclusion. the cult of beliar has resurfaced and at its head, impossibly, is a resurrected mchinery.