Teaser For "Angel of Death"

            “Look I don’t like it, either, and I regret it, but like you said, what’s done is done, and I’d rather feed on criminals than allow myself to continuously grow in hunger until I go into a frenzy and feed on whoever happens to be nearby.  Even now I see that it was a mistake, but if I’m going to be eating souls anyway, I may as well dump a bunch of illnesses in them first.”

            “I see your point.  Alright then, let’s just agree that you’re not allowed to pull any magic crap on me, okay?”

            “Of course.”

            “Okay.  Anyways, so how do you plan to find someone you think deserves to be eaten?”

            “The book says I won’t sleep anymore.  I can live my normal life by day and then hunt for, and feed on, the many criminals who lurk around here by night.”

            “I see.  Alright then, and how do you plan to judge who’s deserving and who’s not?  What about a mugger who’s just trying to feed his family?  You can’t always identify such people by sight.”

            “I guess.  Look, either way, I have to eat someone.  I don’t think I have any lie detection or discernment powers.  I have to make do with the evidence I’ll have.  If I can learn about a person’s pure motivations in time, I’ll spare them, but if I can’t, then there’s nothing to be done.”

            “Alright…” Lester handed the book to Cody.

            “There’s a catalog of all Liches in the book.  I want to see what it says about me.”  Cody flipped the book open, desiring to see his own entry.

            The page he opened to had lines of them, but this one was highlighted.

“Odelarch

A Lich of Disease.  A new lich, he intends to use his power to allocate life to those he finds worthy.  He doesn’t like to think about the fact that he cast out his soul, preferring to pretend things are as before when he can.”

            “Sounds fitting to me,” Lester said.

            Cody turned to the Q&A section.

            “Odelarch?”

“Your lich name.  It is your true name now.”

“Why not just ‘Cody?’”

“The names of liches serve a function in the underworld.  All of your names must be changed to make them able to serve that function.”

“So then, are you going to start tonight?” Lester asked.

“I suppose I have to,” Cody said.