The Ninth Circle

Arthur wakes in hospital after a week. Frieda reveals the political fallout - 27 dead, Council furious. When Arthur learns the Council considers killing Abigail as potentially compromised, he threatens anyone who touches her. The Council grants him guardianship.

Arthur enters the nine-sided ritual chamber where thirteen cultists perform the Rite of the Ninth Gate. He slaughters the entranced cultists before they can sacrifice 7-year-old Abigail. Arthur confronts Mal'akheth directly, enduring psychological torment about his family's death.

Arthur fights through the manor, sustaining a gunshot wound to his left arm and additional injuries fighting a possessed cultist. Despite his wounds, he follows the screams of a captive child, dispatching demons and cultists, finally reaching a reinforced door leading to the ritual chamber.

The Hunters approach and breach the cult's Victorian manor. Arthur enters through the front as a diversion, killing multiple cultists. He confronts a demon in the ballroom but breaks past it when he hears a child screaming, pursuing deeper into the manor where the real ritual is taking place.

Arthur Vangeest, grief-stricken after his wife Eleanor and daughter Grace were murdered by the Ninth Circle cult two weeks ago, prepares for a raid on the cult's manor stronghold. He meets with Council mentor Frieda and fellow Hunters (Charles, Mildred Greathouse, Dexter Colson).

Read Shadows of the Past from The Ninth Circle by Lincoln Cole. History returns to haunt the present. Old sins demand payment. Free to read on llitd.com.

Read The Price of Power from The Ninth Circle by Lincoln Cole. Everything has a cost and power demands sacrifice. A reckoning comes. Free to read on llitd.com.

Read First Blood from The Ninth Circle by Lincoln Cole. The first casualty falls and the real fight begins. Survival is far from certain. Free to read on llitd.com.

Read The Making of a Hunter from The Ninth Circle by Lincoln Cole. A character becomes dangerous in their own right. Training ends. Free to read on llitd.com.