Donner and Axon go undercover as a married couple to investigate reports of aberrant behavior among the residents of an adult lifestyle community.
Axon and Donner are provided with an opportunity to pursue their investigation when they are invited to dinner at Todd Wilson's house. At the end of the evening, Todd makes attempts to seduce Axon with dreams of financial security, and introduces him to the "Friends of Money", an exciting business venture that would afford him the opportunity to pursue his greatest dreams. Axon only had to sign his name on a contract.
However, over the course of the evening, Donner had become convinced that Todd was "pure evil". Concerned about Axon, she rushes into the room where he was unwittingly about to make a deal with the devil. If she didn't stop him from signing, his soul would be lost. Donner sprays Todd with her bottle of holy water, knowing the water would harm anything unholy. Immediately, Todd began to smolder and smoke, then he exploded before their eyes.
After the incident, Axon doesn't agree with Donner's theory about Todd. He believes that their host experienced spontaneous human combustion as a result of the various toxins, alcohol and cigar smoke he had ingested during the evening. But Donner remains convinced that the man was satanic, substantiating her claim by citing various observations made during the freakish dinner party: Todd sported a Pentagram tattoo known to be the mark of the beast; a pile of mushrooms on the cutting board in the kitchen transformed into a heap of maggots; and a polaroid picture of Todd dressed in a devil costume also revealed a mirrored reflection of a demon.
In the end, it turns out that neither theory is entirely accurate. Autopsy results on Todd show that he had not experienced combustion. And Donner's holy water turns out to be ordinary tap water - the priest that had blessed her water turned out to be a fraud.
Knowing the case could go unsolved, Axon and Donner review their facts again, finally determining that Todd may have died as punishment for losing a soul when he failed to get Axon to sign the contract. As they review the numerous other signed contracts in their files, they notice that Serena's signature also appears on two of the documents. They realize that Serena is also a demon - and in possession of the "Friends Of Money" business contracts. |
