"Leave this man’s blood on my hands. As the saying goes, if I don’t go to Hell, who will? Amen."
Evenson drew the soul from the monk leader with all the solemnity of a saint accepting a terrible burden. He even looked faintly relieved, as though preventing Karrigan from committing another murder had somehow elevated him to a higher plane of existence.
Karrigan, however, had other thoughts.
He immediately sprang to Danny’s side and stared warily at Evenson.
Who the hell was this lunatic who had suddenly appeared and stolen his kill?
Evenson had been tracking Karrigan for some time, but the two had never actually met.
During their previous encounter at the quarry, the Ghost Rider had attracted almost everyone’s attention. Evenson had deliberately kept a low profile, and while he had been dragging the arms dealer Milhark off to a secluded corner for a private conversation, Karrigan had been killed by a chunk of stone blasted loose by the quarrying machine driven by the Ghost Rider.
He had never even noticed Evenson.
"Hah!"
Whoever this guy was, Karrigan figured he might as well kill him first.
He launched himself through the air.
If Evenson had managed to steal his kill from the darkness, that meant Karrigan’s ability to strip the world from his target apparently didn’t work on him. Fine. There was always the direct approach.
Locke’s modifications hadn’t merely given Karrigan bizarre new powers. They had also massively enhanced his—
Bang!
Evenson shook his head.
Karrigan was plastered against the strange void barrier he’d thrown up, arms and legs spread wide. He slowly slid down it until he landed in an undignified heap.
"You’ve still got time to bother me?" Evenson asked. "Your employer must have an incredible amount of free time."
Karrigan scrambled backward to Danny’s side. He grabbed his crooked nose and shoved it back into place, then glared furiously at Evenson.
"Who the hell are you?"
Some people only became reasonable after getting punched in the face.
Karrigan had finally figured it out.
His ability to strip away his opponent’s senses was useless against this man, while trying to attack him physically only resulted in that bizarre barrier stopping him cold. The people he’d casually killed moments ago hadn’t even been in the same league.
"I’m a warlock."
Evenson raised his left hand.
A mass of emerald-green fire sprang to life above his palm.
"I came here for revenge. So unless you want me to get tired of looking at you, I suggest you leave."
Karrigan stared at the unnatural flames.
For once, he didn’t have anything clever to say.
He grabbed Danny by the clothes and slowly backed away, keeping his eyes fixed on Evenson.
His peculiar ability wasn’t going to work. And judging from what had just happened, ordinary physical attacks weren’t going to work either. Whatever strange power coursed through the so-called warlock, it was apparently strong enough to withstand everything Karrigan could throw at him.
In the end, Karrigan simply hoisted Danny over his shoulder and ran.
Hmph. He’s just a warlock.
Karrigan had seen stranger things over the past few days.
Considering that he himself had been transformed into this completely ridiculous, scientifically impossible monster, the existence of warlocks wasn’t particularly shocking anymore.
As for Evenson claiming he had come for revenge...
That made sense too.
Warlocks and God’s servants probably weren’t exactly known for getting along.
If they had a grudge between them, why wouldn’t they?
Once Karrigan disappeared from sight, Evenson touched his communicator.
"The fish has taken the bait. Keep an eye on him. At a time this important, I really don’t want us losing the signal."
"Don’t worry."
Melinda sat aboard the aircraft, watching a slowly moving dot on one of the displays.
"That idiot is driving an ambulance. The GPS signal might as well be a lighthouse in the middle of the night. Besides, we’ve got satellites watching the entire area. Even if he switches vehicles, he won’t get away."
"Don’t get careless."
Melinda paused.
"Why do I get the feeling you’ve been waiting for me to say that?"
"I don’t know."
Evenson frowned.
At some point, he’d developed an odd suspicion that whenever Melinda guaranteed something with absolute confidence, fate immediately took it as a personal challenge.
"We’ll keep tracking him from the air," Melinda said. "We won’t lose him. But how are you getting back?"
She switched the display.
GPS tracking, satellite imagery, and the aircraft’s external cameras appeared simultaneously.
"I left a teleportation marker on the plane."
Evenson pulled out a soul crystal and headed deeper into the temple.
"I can return whenever I want. But first, I have some business to finish here."
"The business here?"
Melinda’s expression hardened.
"What happened to those irritating monks?"
She’d never liked the monks much. After learning they’d decided to murder Danny, irritation had curdled into outright hatred.
"They’re all dead."
Evenson opened the door to another room and paused.
He sensed the air inside, shook his head, and stepped back out.
Wrong room.
He continued searching.
"You realize that, given your current identity, standing around and watching a murder happen probably makes you an accomplice too, right?"
Melinda couldn’t resist.
She remembered how seriously Evenson had played the part of a law-abiding citizen earlier, and the contrast was too entertaining to ignore.
"Killing the Son of the Devil doesn’t count as murder," Evenson replied. "So if a devil kills them, does that count as murder?"
Melinda snorted, then laughed outright.
"That is unbelievably satisfying."
The monks had truly brought this upon themselves.
As far as the law was concerned, murder was a crime committed between people.
Apparently, devils came with their own legal loopholes.
"Anyway, that’s enough chatting. I’ve got work to do."
Evenson smiled.
He’d finally found it.
The room belonging to the monk leader.
It was almost painfully plain.
A crude clay bed stood against one wall. There was a simple table, along with several vessels for holding water. The sparse surroundings fit perfectly with the ascetic principles the sect preached.
Most of the rooms in the temple looked much the same.
Evenson knew this one belonged to the leader because every inch of the walls was covered in carved scripture.
He knew better than to mistake that for devotion to God.
Evenson sat on the table and took out the soul crystal.
He recited the opening words of a spell.
Then he smashed the crystal against the floor.
The crystal shattered.
Purple smoke poured from the fragments, twisting upward before gradually condensing into a translucent human figure.
It was the monk leader.
"I’m not dead?"
The man’s head lifted slowly.
He sounded genuinely confused.
Then he looked down at his own translucent hands.
"Oh."
A beat passed.
"Apparently I am."
Evenson stared at him.
"You’re taking death pretty well."
The monk leader’s calm acceptance was unexpected.
Then Evenson understood.
"Right. Death is just a state of being. Why fear that?"
His expression darkened slightly.
"The real problem is what comes after."
The monk leader’s soul visibly trembled.
"You?"
He stared at Evenson.
"Why have you imprisoned my soul?"
"Hm?"
Evenson narrowed his eyes.
"You don’t seem angry."
The man’s complete lack of resentment bothered him.
"Have you forgotten? I’m the one who killed you."
"Would I have survived if you hadn’t?"
The monk leader sounded remarkably calm.
"Given the circumstances, I was going to die regardless."
He looked at Evenson with open curiosity.
"So rather than hatred, I’m more interested in something else. We had no deep personal grudge. I was already doomed. Yet you insisted on killing me yourself."
His gaze dropped briefly to the soul crystal.
"I suppose I understand why now. You wanted my soul."
He looked back up.
"But what exactly do you want from it?"
Evenson folded his arms.
"I want to talk to you."
He paused.
"About God."
Another pause.
"About angels."
His eyes sharpened.
"And about your true master."
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