Angel of Death 1.04 I’m a Monster. You Realize That, Right?

            A few weeks into the school year, Cody made his way over to the library.  Cody had always been an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction ever since he was capable of it.

He had little other choice.  His household had only one television, which didn’t have cable and was rarely available to him anyway.  The only times he watched it were when his parents made him watch the news and the occasional family movie night, a relatively recent innovation resulting from his family receiving a VCR last Christmas.  There were no computers or gaming consoles in Cody’s house either.  Books, board games, and tabletop role playing games had long been his only available forms of recreation.

As Cody entered, the Librarian saw him and called him over.  Cody noticed that it wasn’t the one from last year.  Shame; he had made good friends with that one.  Cody approached the desk.  “Hello,” Cody said, “Why did you call me over?”

“You’re Cody Giles, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Someone overheard you saying that you’d be here today.  They asked me to give you these.”  The Librarian pointed at collection of a dozen or so books.

            Cody looked at the books.  They looked old, like they might have been printed in the 1920s.  They were all different colors.  One was sky blue, another was yellow, and another was grey, but all of their colors were dulled by age.  “Odd.  I wasn’t expecting anything like this,” Cody said.  “Do you know who it was that asked you to give them to me?”

            “No.  I didn’t recognize him.”

            “Could you describe him for me?  Maybe I’ll know him.”

            “Let’s see, he was a portly man.  He looked to be in his forties.  He had dark hair and brown eyes.”

            “No,” Cody said, “that doesn’t ring a bell.”  Why would a man he didn’t know approach his school library and ask the Librarian to give him some books?  And who had overheard his conversations with Lester at lunch?  Wait a secon…  Oh crap!  If that man had overheard those conversations, he could have easily overheard Cody give away something Angel of Death related.  How had this happened?  Cody had checked carefully to make sure that no one was listening to him.  “Alright, clam down,” Cody thought.  “You just have to figure out who he is and stop him from saying anything.”

            “I see.”  The Librarian said.  “Well either way, he described you in detail, and I’m sure he asked for Cody Giles.”

            “I see.  Well… I suppose I’ll take them if I can fit them in my backpack.”  They were the only clues he had.

            “Excellent,” the Librarian said.

            Cody struggled to fit as many of the books as he could inside the pack.  Eventually, he was able to fit enough of them in that he could carry the rest.  He walked out of the library and toward the school bus to go home.

*****

After arriving home, Cody went up to his room.  He set down the books he was carrying on the bed and got the others out of his old lime green back pack.  He looked at the books.  There were thirteen in total.  They were conveniently numbered from one to thirteen.  Cody looked at the first book, A Chronicle of Deathly Things, by Benjamin Ronald.  It seemed to be a collection of short stories.  Cody opened it to see inside.  The book wasn’t very worn by use, but it was clear that it was old by the dark yellow tint of the pages.

            Cody opened to the first story, The Rising in Arkansas.  It was about an attack on a small, very remote town in Arkansas by a necromancer.  He moved in, raised the town’s dead, and made them attack and conquer the populous.  The ending was very chilling, as the necromancer succeeded in capturing the population, and began farming them to feed on their souls.

As Cody read the last few lines, the similarity of the necromancer’s nature to his own struck him.  Come to think of it, this wasn’t just similar to reality, it was eerily similar.  Did this mean that whoever had given him these books knew about liches?  Who might they be?  Another lich?  Some kind of monster hunter?  It could have been another lich’s soul that overheard him, but he’d been careful to check for anyone who might have been listening in.  He got out his mystic book.

            “Can I see other liches’ souls?”

            “Yes.”

So if it had been a lich’s soul watching him, he should have seen them.  Cody moved on to the second story, hoping to find more clues.

            The second story, The Thing That Stalked Astor Row, was the story of a street in New York City being stalked by a strange monster.  The creature, which was said to smell of death, hunted by shrouding itself in a black cloud, and then breaking into the homes of its victims and consuming their souls.

            Alright, so this person knew what Cody was, and how he worked.  If it wasn’t a lich, that monster hunter hypothesis was sounding more and more plausible.  “Of course someone would slay me,” Cody thought.  “I’d slay me if I could.”  The title of the next story, The Bejeweled Tome indicated it might give more clues.

            It was about a man called Fredrick.  He was an archeologist, and he discovered a tome which was clearly another copy of Cody’s tome.  It had all of the same properties.  Any page you flipped to was whatever page you willed it to be.  The table of contents was shown if you did not have any page in mind.  It also had the Q&A section.  As the story progressed, Fredrick’s investigations into the nature and origin of the book were interspersed by his interactions with his family, including his mentally disabled son.  The story concluded with Fredrick coming to the conclusion that the book came from the underworld just as it professed.

            The fourth story, The Roman Horn was a sequel.  In it, Fredrick found a horn dating from the Roman Empire and in unnaturally pristine condition.  As he investigated, he found himself stalked by an entity similar to the one from The Thing That Stalked Astor Row, only it used invisibility instead of a black cloud to hide itself.  Near the end of the story, after the lich had broken into his home, he correctly identified the object as a phylactery and surrendered it back to the creature.  Still, the lich did not relent, and Fredrick and his family escaped only when he managed to set the creature on fire.  It was burnt to ash along with his house and everything he owned except the artifact, which had fallen out a window, and the book.  Apparently, copies of On Soulless Ones are impossible to destroy.  If that was accurate, that meant the person who had given Cody these books knew more about the supernatural that Cody did.  That thought made Cody shudder.

            In the final story, The Tale of Fredrick’s Soul, Fredrick struggled to restore his family’s lives after the fire destroyed everything they owned.  He was forced to take a menial job, and his wife was forced to work as a prostitute.  All the while, he was being stalked by the lich from before.  In the end, Fredrick, after much consideration, used the book to become a lich, hoping both to restore his family to their former lives, and to shake off his pursuer.  He soon got his chance to fight the Roman lich, and barely managed to defeat it.  The story ended with an epilogue set one week later, in which he was moving into a new house, bought with the money Fredrick had been able to acquire with his powers.  As his family was settling in, he went off to feed.

Cody moved straight on to the novel, still hunting for clues.

            The Novel’s plot was about some men living in Italy who happened upon the fact that the Old King of the Underworld was soon to rise.  Cody opened up his copy of On Soulless Ones to see if the information in the book was factual.  If it was, it would confirm that the author of this book really did know more than he did about the underworld, making them a serious threat.  Cody willed to see what information the tome had on the “Old King of the Underworld.”

            “That information is not present in this tome.  Please consult ‘On the Underworld.’”

          What?  There are… there are other books?  Cody turned to the Q&A section.

“How do I acquire a copy of ‘On the Underworld?’”

“You’re given one when the Underworld or its ruler deems you to be in need of one.  That is all I know about it.”

So Cody didn’t have access to On the Underworld.  Well, the fact that an inquiry about the Old King had generated a response at all seemed to make the existence of this entity likely.  Still, it was possible that his book didn’t know enough about the Underworld itself to realize that the Old King didn’t exist, and it gave that error message only because the question was about the Underworld and not about liches.  Cody tried to think of another way to test the information.  Well, an Old King of the Underworld entailed a New King of the Underworld.  Cody checked the book for that. The page he got was from the index of liches.

“Gborin’gargoth

A Lich of Rulership.  A powerful lich.  He rules the Underworld from his skeletal throne.  Despite the nature of his kingdom, he is not malevolent towards the mortal world, and has prevented certain cruelties from being visited on it.”

As Cody continued to read from the novel, he picked up several discrete facts about the novel’s version of the Underworld and the supernatural in general.  Some of them, like the oldest lich on earth having been the king of Atlantis, were obviously contrived for the novel, but others seemed like they might be real.  If whoever wrote these really did have such an extensive knowledge of the Underworld, they were more than an ordinary lich or single undead slayer.  They were either a very ancient and powerful lich, or a society of such hunters which had existed for a considerable time, and they knew everything they needed to know to kill or expose Cody.

            The nature of the On the Soulless Ones tome was explained.  Apparently, copies of it were not tomes in themselves, but merely means of accessing a giant tome located in the Underworld, whose pages were astronomical in number.  Most of it was a catalogue of liches and their powers.  The tome was sentient, as indicated by the Q&A section.

            The novel also explained something Cody had been wondering about, but had found too awkward to ask the tome about.  Souls, it seemed, got their taste from their moral character.  All souls were more delectable to liches than the best of mortal foods, but in varying ways.  Purer souls were sweet, with each virtue tinting the soul with a fruity flavor distinct to it.  Bravery, for example, had a vaguely similar flavor to that of a ripe pear, and honesty slightly resembled a juicy apple, only much sweeter.  Some virtues, such as humility, had a flavor that did not correspond closely enough to any fruit on earth for a useful analogy to be made.

            Sins, on the other hand, added meatier flavors.  Sins of neglect added a milky flavor, and wrath added a taste somewhat similar to that of a juicy steak.  As before, some sins, like theft, added a flavor not corresponding to any food on Earth to any significant degree.

            Information that detailed could only have been gathered from a lich, and a rather old one at that.  So whoever wrote this book either was such a lich, was friendly with one, or had the power to capture one.  Cody gulped at the prospect of that last one.

            The book also said much on the nature of the Underworld itself.  It was often said to lie “beneath” the cosmos, and yet in its own dimension.  It came into being not long after the universe by totally unknown means.  Though it was not conscious, it had great power.  On nothing but programming, it acted to increase its own power as much as possible, harvesting as much energy as it can while expending as little.  The moment it detected the first soul coming into existence, it calculated that it could, when the being died, capture the soul and imprison it within itself.  It could then put the soul to sleep, and drain the power it would otherwise be using to operate.

            Eventually, it began spawning several agents.  It created a guardian, Cerberus, to ensure that nothing ever exited the underworld.  It created enforcers.  Among these were the dragons, the ogres, and the mermen who patrolled its rivers.  It created a ruler, Kandrinarkora, the Old King of the Underworld.  He was programmed to forever seek to increase the power of the Underworld.

            Last but not least, it set about creating agents who could walk among the inhabitants of the mortal world.  It did so by creating a tome containing an incantation which would allow a mortal to become such an agent.  As incentive, it would give them the magical power to attain what they wanted most.  The book later elaborated that when the Underworld was taken over by its new King, the service of liches was so massively cut it did not in practice exist.  But before, serving the Underworld’s interests had dominated their lives.

Cody stopped about half way through the novel as his mother came in, saying it was time for bed.  After a few minutes, he resumed reading.

*****

            The next day after school, Cody and Lester spoke in Lester’s room.  “Alright, so this Benjamin Ronald guy, or more likely whoever wrote under that name, knows everything.  He’s in a position to do me serious harm, or even kill me.”  Cody said.

            “I think you’re worrying too much about this,” Lester said, sitting down on his bed.  “Do you even know this person wants to hurt you?  There’s no reason to assume another lich would be hostile, and I don’t see why a monster hunter would alert you to their existence.”

“Even if you’re right, it’s still prudent to be prepared,” Cody said.

“True,” Lester said.

            Cody sat down at Lester’s computer and googled the name “Benjamin Ronald.”  Nothing came up.

            “Find anything of interest?” Lester asked.

“No,” Cody said.

            “I see,” Lester said. “Can you find any information that might help you find that On the Underworld book?”

            Cody turned around and looked at Lester.  “Who would be stupid enough to post that information on the internet?”

            Lester lay back.  “Dude, never underestimate the level of stupidity of people on the internet.”

            “If you say so.”  Cody typed it into Google.  He didn’t see anything.  “Nothing,” he said.

            “I see,” Lester said.

            “I’m going to continue looking for something,” Cody said. “I’ve still not checked the titles of the books, and one or two things about liches in general.”

            “Alright,” Lester said.

*****

            The next Monday, Cody went back to the school library.  He wanted to ask the Librarian for more information which might help him find the man who had given him those books.

            “Hello,” Cody said, taking off his backpack and setting it down.

“Hello,” the Librarian said, smiling, “Have you begun reading those books?”

“Yes, in fact I’m quite a way through the collection.”

“Ah, you must really enjoy them then.”

“Yes, I do.”

“You know, I have copies of all of those books too, and as I have read a few of the stories again over the week, I’ve realized something.  A lot of what happens in the story closely resembles some of the recent events regarding this Angel of Death figure.”

            Cody’s eyes widened and he felt a fear rush through him.  Did the Librarian suspect him?  He had been the chosen delivery mechanism of whoever wrote those books?  Besides, Cody wasn’t the best liar, so even talking about the subject was a hazard.

            “Why are you nervous all of the sudden?” the Librarian asked.

            “Because I just realized I forgot one of my books, textbooks I mean,” Cody said, picking up his backpack.  “May I run and get it?”  Cody began walking away.  All Cody had to do was be gone for a few minutes, and then change the subject when he got back.

            “One thing before you go,” the Librarian said.  “I’m Benjamin Ronald.”

            Cody stopped walking.  He turned around.  “What?” he asked.

            “I wrote those books.”

            Cody thought about how to respond.  He came up with something.  “That would make you a lich then?” he said.  If the answer was no, Cody would be able to, at least convincingly enough to avoid trouble, dismiss the comment as a joke in reference to the books.  If he said yes, Cody would have the answer to his mystery.

            “Yes,” the Librarian said.  “I take it you’re Odelarch, then?”

            “Yes,” Cody said.

            “Good then, we need to talk.  Come into the back room.”  The Librarian began walking towards the back room.  Cody followed.  They entered and the Librarian shut the door.  “Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Bavandersloth.  I am a representative of the community of liches.”

            “There is a community of liches?”  What would this mean?  Would there be rules?  Would they restrict Cody’s ability to help people as he wanted?

            “Yes.  We try to make contact with new liches almost as soon as they’re created.”  Bavandersloth smirked.  “So, to that end, allow me to welcome you to our community.  May your eternal undeath be pleasing to you.”

            “Thank you,” Cody said after a second.  “If I may ask, I’ve already interacted briefly with a lich called ‘Valthakar.’  Why didn’t he give me this introduction?”

            “He is not on proper terms with the community.  I will warn you, beware of him.  If he’s taken an interest in you, he is probably planning something which is to your detriment.  But that’s not what we’re here to talk about.”

            Cody took a deep breath and was shaking a little.  “Alright then, what do you need to say to me?”

            “Well, first there’s this,” Bavandersloth handed Cody a sheet of paper. “That has contact information for a hundred liches.  Between them, all of the liches they are in contact with, and all of the liches those liches are in contact with etc., you should be able to contact any other lich.  The ones highlighted in yellow only want to be contacted in case of an emergency.  The ones in blue have cause to worry that communications to them might be intercepted, and need to be communicated with in a way that would not tip off a human that anything supernatural was going on.  The green ones have both of those traits.  It is strongly suggested that you write at least one of them regularly, lest you fall out of contact with the community.”

            “I see,” Cody said.  He planned to look through the contact information and select a pen pal later.

            “In addition, there is an aspect of your behavior that needs to be altered.”

            Cody’s eyes widened.  “What do you mean?”

            “Liches observe a code called ‘the Seven Conventions’ on pain of reprimand from the community.  Generally, this consists of a representative, such as me, being sent over to get the offender to agree to come into line.  If they are unwilling to come into line, or if they are a repeat offender such that their claim that they will come into line carries no weight, I terminate them.”

            Cody listened carefully to the next part.

            “Here are the seven conventions as currently codified for most purposes.”  Bavandersloth handed Cody another piece of paper.  “The first convention is the Convention of Public Ignorance.  It is formulated: ‘Liches shall not, intentionally or out of negligence, engage in behavior which is likely to bring about awareness by the general public of the existence of liches, magic, or any other specific supernatural phenomenon.  Nor shall they act in a way which gives mortals compelling evidence of the supernatural in general.  Liches shall be accountable to the broader community of liches for such actions.’  The others are on that sheet, but it is that one we need to talk about.”

“Why is that?”

“You don’t realize?  Odelarch, you’re making international news.  The entire world is meditating on the manifestly supernatural events you are causing.  The entire community of liches is in frenzy trying to keep this from becoming the ultimate revelation of the existence of our kind to the modern world.  Our only saving grace is that the public still has little idea what to make of it, and we need to keep it that way.”

“I’m just trying to help as many people as I can when I feed,” Cody said.

“I know, but you need to be more subtle.  Either find an alternative to breaking into and out of hospitals, or find a way of doing so that will not be detectable.  Also, afflict the persons you save from crimes with a disease which targets short term memory.”

“What alternative could I have to breaking into hospitals?”

“I’m not sure.  You could adopt some methodology of getting in and out without being detected and only target diseases which have a tendency to go away suddenly, or people who are under treatments which you could arrange to have surprising, but medically plausible success.  Alternately, you could accept the fact that you’re a monster and make peace with being a malignant force in the world.  Just try to come up with something, or, again, just don’t heal anyone at all.  All that I care about is that this entire raucous dies down, and stays down such that no one will discern anything meaningful from this incident, and in a few centuries, after I and my contacts in media and government are done, no one will think much of this mystery.”

Cody took a deep breath, looked down, and then back up.  “I already know I’m a monster,” Cody said. “And if I could make peace with being a malignant force in the world, I would have done it as soon as I learned that I was.  I guess I’ll try to think of something.”

“Good,” Bavandersloth said. “I’ll be reporting that statement back to the community.  If in a few days the actions you have taken are insufficient you will hear from me again.”

Cody began shaking a bit.  “Alright.”

*****

            Once Cody got home, he went upstairs, laid down on his bed, and thought.  Making enemies with the broader community of liches was suicidal.  Bavandersloth had already given him a working idea for how to heal.  Now, how to break into and out of hospitals without leaving enough traces to prove that something supernatural had occurred?  The lack of any obvious healings would deter suspicion that it had been him, but he had to hide his true form from the cameras.  He knew he couldn’t perform an invisibility spell.  He might be able to eventually, though.  A lich’s power level was determined by the number of souls they had eaten.

Cody had eaten his thirty-third soul the previous night.  He opened up his book.

“How many more souls do I need before I can remain invisible long enough to get into a hospital, tag all of the persons I want to heal, and get out?”

“About four-thousand.”

Cody thought for a while.  He could take out the security cameras, but he didn’t know how.  He would have to learn then.  Cody decided to do so as soon as he could find a way to do it without arousing suspicion.  With that in mind, he turned to his paper, and read the conventions, being careful to note their exact composition and wording.

“(1) The Convention of Public Ignorance: Liches shall not, intentionally or out of negligence, engage in behavior which is likely to bring about awareness by the general public of the existence of liches, magic, or any other specific supernatural phenomenon.  Nor shall they act in a way which gives mortals compelling evidence of the supernatural in general.  Liches shall be accountable to the broader community of liches for such actions.”

“(2) The Convention of Non-Revelation: Liches shall not alert mortals to the identities of liches other than themselves, except with the consent of any such liches.  Nor may they deliberately arrange circumstances in which the identity of a lich other than themselves will inevitably be revealed to a mortal, or in which the avoidance of such a revelation requires another lich to make some unreasonable concession, except with the consent of all such liches.”

“(3) The Convention of Regulated Contests: Liches shall initiate the settling of disputes only through contests organized and approved by a third party who is considered by the community of liches to be qualified to organize such a contest and who does not have any significant interest in the outcome of the contest.  Any lich may challenge any other, though the challenged party is only compelled to accept the challenge if the lich organizing the contest recognizes a sufficient grievance, and if the offending lich either will not agree to cease an offending behavior or has already knowingly done such grave damage that the offended lich has the right to pursue punishment.  If, after making such an agreement, the offending lich goes back on his word for any reason other than to prevent an offense against himself he will be terminated without recourse.  If he goes back on his word to prevent an offense against himself, a contest will be held with the other party being treated as the one challenged.  The challenged party will always propose the nature and rules of the contest, though the contest’s final form must be approved by the organizer after he hears any complaints about the nature of the rules by the challenger.  Acceptable complaints include that the competition is for some reason unfair, that it is decided to an unacceptably high degree by chance, or that victory will inevitably come at an unacceptable loss to either party.”

“(4) The Convention of Protected Mortals: The mortal friends and family of other liches shall not be harmed, unless the avoidance of such a result would require an unreasonable concession.”

“(5) The Convention of Limited Destruction: Liches shall not, intentionally or out of negligence, cause mass destruction of life or property, whether by the engineering of plagues, or natural disasters, or the setting of fires or any other means.  Mass destruction is defined as destruction sufficient to incur notice by the living in general, or to do significant damage to mortal society or population levels.”

“(6) The Convention of Non-Abandonment: In all cases, the community shall appoint a lich to investigate the status of a lich who has fallen out of contact with the community for what is, for that lich, a highly unusual amount of time.”

“(7) The Convention of Community Enforcement: These conventions shall not be enforced except by agents appointed by the broader community of liches.  Such agents shall act as assigned by the community, and be accountable to it.  They must disclose the actions they take while performing this duty to the community in good faith.”

Cody put away the sheet of paper, and looked at the clock.  He needed to start getting ready to go to Cherie’s house.  He was having dinner with her that night.

*****

            That night, Bavandersloth sat in the study of the home he had borrowed from one of the humans he had eaten.  He pulled out a copy of Twilight and held it in one hand.  He held a scrap of parchment in the other.  It was worn down and its contents illegible.  That could be changed.  With a thought, Bavandersloth moved the decay from the ancient document to the modern novel, which was soon worn as though it had sat in a desert for thousands of years.

            After doing this, Bavandersloth began reading the newly refreshed manuscript.  As he read, he heard a knock on the door.  He went to the door and opened it.  He saw Valthakar standing in front of him in human form.  Without saying a word, he slammed the door shut and walked away.

            There was more knocking.  Bavandersloth eventually returned to the door and opened it.  “I’m not interested in anything you have to say.”

            “Oh, I don’t have anything much to say.  I’m just here to ask how things went.”

            “They went fine, now go away.”

            “Oh come now, can’t I have a tad more detail than that?”

            “No.”  Bavandersloth again slammed the door in Valthakar’s face and walked away, ignoring Valthakar’s knocks.

*****

            Two days later, Cody walked from the bus stop to Lester’s house.  Lester had just gotten a new racing game.  Well, new to him; it was about seven years old.  He wanted to try it out with Cody.  As they entered Lester’s room, they spoke about the events which had transpired.

“So there’s a community of liches?” Lester asked.

“Yes,” Cody said.

“So there are hundreds of liches?”

“According to the book, there are an astronomical number of liches, but about two-thousand are on Earth.”

“An astronomical number?”  Lester hung his head down for a second before forcing himself to look back up.

“Yes.  Is something wrong?” Cody asked as Lester sat down on his bed.

“Not really,” Lester said.

Cody sat down next to Lester.  He took a deep breath.  “Let me guess.  You’re imagining that many people being eaten and enslaved, right?”

Lester took a deep breath and let his head sink down.  “Yes.”

Cody put his hand on Lester’s shoulder.  “Don’t worry.  It doesn’t bother me that you think that way about me.  That’s what I thought too when I first heard, and I don’t even have to deal with the possibility that it could happen to me.”

Lester looked up at Cody and put his hand on his friend’s shoulder.   “Look, you’re different, okay?”

“Different?  How?”

“You try to find a way to be a good person, and you try to feed selectively, and to give the ones you eat the best lives you can give them.”

“And why does that make me different?  I’ve eaten thirty-five people, Lester, and I don’t think any of them are consoled by the fact that they were criminals or that I don’t ask them to do any work for me.”

“I don’t care what they think.  You’re trying, Cody.  You’re trying despite how hard you’re finding it.  Just now, you were asking for my help in how to keep doing good despite a new obstacle that you’ve encountered.”

“Why is that enough?  I turned myself into an eight foot tall walking corpse who gains his sustenance through devouring the souls of the living.  This form, the one you’re seeing, is a lie.  I’m an undead abomination in a tattered black hood.”

“No you’re not.”

“Ask the book about tha--”

“I don’t care about the book.”  Lester stood up, and looked at Cody.  “Go look into the mirror like you are now, and then take your other form, and look in the mirror then.  Now tell me, which one of those is more like you?  Which one looks more like a kind-hearted, mild-mannered boy who is trying everything he can think of to do the right thing in a difficult situation?  That is who you are, Cody.”

Cody took a deep breath.  He looked down and then back up.  “That’s just what you see.  The people I’ve eaten see me differently.  To them, I’m the terrifying creature who devoured their souls so I could use them to sustain my unworthy undeath.”

“But you didn’t do it to sustain your life, you did it because you didn’t want to starve yourself until you gave into your instincts and went on a frenzy killing hundreds of people.”

Cody thought for a moment.  He sighed.  “I guess that’s true.”

“Exactly.  You can’t ask any more of yourself than your best, even when the problem involves eating souls.”

“True.”  Cody sat with Lester for a few minutes.  Neither of them said anything.  “So, are your parents using the downstairs TV or can we play on it?” Cody finally asked.

“As far as I know, it’s free,” Lester said.

*****

            The following Monday, Bavandersloth called Cody aside when he got out of his last class for the day.  He led Cody to the library, and escorted him into the back room.

            “What do you need?” Cody asked.

            “I’m just pulling you aside to review your progress.  You’re hiding your tracks a lot better now that you’ve started shutting down the cameras, but you still leave behind a broken window, and it’s immediately obvious when the security cameras shut down.”

            “I can’t think of a way to avoid that for now.”

            “Give them some reason to think it’s something else besides you.  You’re the only one who has been breaking into hospitals through the windows recently.  No one is fooled by your shutting down the cameras.”

            “What would count as a reason to think it was someone else?”

            “One way would be to steal something.”

            Cody gasped.  “What?  I can’t steal from a sick person.”

            Bavandersloth looked at Cody for a second.  “You kill people and eat their souls.  What is theft to you?”

            Cody took a deep breath.  “Yes, but I only do those things because I have to.  I don’t want to commit any gratuitous evil.”

            “Well I’m telling you that you have to.  If you don’t I’ll be forced to enforce the rules.  In addition, I’m going to ask you to wait about five months before going into a hospital at all.”

            “Five months?  But that’s countless people I’d save.”

            “And if I have to enforce the rules and kill you, that’d mean your entire undeath-time’s worth of people you can’t save.  If you start doing this now, people will see through it.  If that time passes, and there’s positive evidence that it wasn’t you, they might not.  Especially if you vary up your ways of breaking into hospitals, or rob other places some nights.  Then, when you start up again, it will be attributed to an unrelated hospital burglar.”

            Cody stood there for a moment with his mouth open.  He took a deep breath.  “Alright,” Cody said, 

“I guess I have no choice.”  In his mind, Cody was trying to think of other options.

            Bavandersloth chuckled, “That’s the spirit.  Now, you may go.”  Bavandersloth turned around and began grabbing some books.

            “Wait; there was one question I had for you.”

            Bavandersloth turned back around.  “Oh?”

            “Why did you give me those books?  Why didn’t you just confront me?  You must have already known I was a lich.”

            Bavandersloth chuckled.  “I find it interesting that you ask.  Well, the books exist as a discrete way of transmitting information.  Through them, I could give you all manner of knowledge of the Underworld in the form of objects that no one would give a second look.  As for why I gave them to you before introducing myself, I wanted to see how you’d react.”

            “Wanted to see how I’d react?”

            “Yes, observing how someone responds to a perceived threat can be very illuminating, and I often find that knowledge useful later on.”

*****

            Four days later, Detective Williams sat in his office perplexed.  The Angel of Death had not entered a hospital in five days, and had not healed in a week.  During those two days’ difference, he had been shutting down the hospital’s security cameras.  It was probable that he was still killing, given that persons had gone missing from his usual haunt, but the other aspect of his usual activity had ceased.  Then again, his usual haunt was the inner city.  A lot of people went missing around there in general.

            “Donna,” Williams said, picking up a cup of coffee, “bring me records.  I want information on anyone who has filed a police report or checked into a hospital in the past few days.”

            “Why?”

            “The killer uses disease as his tool of choice.  If he is doing something to cover his tracks, there might be something there I’d be able to spot.”  It was Williams’ best hope of seeing through this and figuring out what had happened.  Had the Angel stopped?  If so, why?  Williams tried to think of a solution.  If the Angel were concerned with being conspicuous, he wouldn’t have gone on past his first day.  Besides, his type usually liked being in the spot light.

            “Yes, sir,” Donna said.

            “And Donna…”

            “Yes, sir?”

            “The press it to be informed that the Angel of Death has ceased operating.”

            “Sir?”

            Williams took another sip of the coffee.  “If it is true that he’s still operating, but trying to hide himself, I’d rather he think it’s working.  He’s more likely to make a mistake that way.”

            “I see.  I’ll get right on that then.”

*****

            That night, Bavandersloth left his house to go hunting.  He had chosen a quite remote place for his home, though one which suited his tastes very nicely.  The old resident of the house didn’t mind much.  He seemed as happy as any other soul Bavandersloth had ever taken.  Indeed, Bavandersloth had heard he was adjusting especially well to his work overseas, piloting a body as it labored for one of Bavandersloth’s contacts.

Bavandersloth took on his true form, cast an invisibility spell, and walked outside.  He ran a few miles away from his home before stopping.  From there, he looked at the various houses that happened to be near.  He selected one that suited him.  He rotted the door’s lock away, still invisible, and went inside.

            As he looked around, he eventually found the master bedroom.  He smiled as he inflicted a heart attack on the male, and took his soul before he could die.  He could smell thievery on him, and he was in the mood for such a taste.  He grabbed the soul and devoured it, savoring as he swallowed.

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Angel of Death 1.03 I'm Just Trying to do the Right Thing

            Detective Williams and his partner Donna waited inside the police station.  Cherie Lambert was at last available for questioning.  She had spent a few days recovering and preparing to start school once again.  She was on her way to the station, and was expected to arrive any second.

“Repeat that list of suspects to me again,” detective Williams said to Donna.

            “Cherie’s father Charles Lambert Jr., her mother Deana Lambert, her boyfriend Cody Giles, her ex-boyfriend Jake Webb, her friend Dawn Pearson, her aunts Sally Lambert, Marsha Wilkerson and Lauran Ferrell, her uncle George Ferrell, her grandmother Dorothea Kirkland, and her grandfather Charles Lambert.”

            “Add Cherie herself to that list.”

            “What?  Why?  Do you think she might be doing this herself?”

            “With as little knowledge as we have of the killer and their abilities, it’s not something we can rule out.  If she can move diseases between people, she could be controlling an avatar remotely.”

            Donna obeyed, jotting down Cherie’s name.  At that moment, Cherie arrived, walking into the police station.  Detective Williams watched her as she came into the station.  She was remarkably healthy.  One looking at her now would never guess that a mere ten days ago, she was in a hospital bed, dying of cancer.  She walked into the room where the interview would take place and sat down in front of the detective.

            “May I ask how long this will take?” she said. “Today is the first day of school, and I need to be there in an hour.”

            “Not long at all Miss Lambert,” Williams said.  “Now, I assume you are aware of why I’m taking interest in you personally?”

            “Yes, the news said that the cloud in the footage lingers longer in my room, right?”

“Yes.  Now, I have a list of persons here.  All of them are suspects in this case.  Will you take a look?”  Williams handed her a piece of paper with the list.

Cherie’s mouth widened a little as she looked at the list.  “You’re not really suggesting that any of my friends and family would do this?”

“I’m not suggesting anything.  That is merely a list of possibilities.”

            Cherie looked it over for a second.  “What’s Jake doing on here?” she asked.  “I haven’t spoken to him in months.”

            “In making the list, we considered persons who might seek to heal you in order to woo you.  If it were Jake, he’d be likely to either have revealed himself to you by now, or else to reveal himself to you soon.”

            “I can promise you, I’ll tell you as soon as that happens.”  Cherie let out a smirk, “I have nothing but contempt for him.”

            Nothing but contempt?  Why?  The answer could be mere high school drama.  It could also be information that might give him insight into the motivations of his suspects.  “May I ask why?”

            “Oh let me count the ways,” Cherie sighed.  “He’s a cocky idiot.  He’s the most immature person you’ll ever meet, and he’s a bully.  He’s insanely jealous of my boyfriend for ‘stealing me’ because I grew out of caring what the five most attractive people at school happen to think of me.”

            “What do you mean?”  Williams asked.  He observed as Cherie’s expression became somewhat more somber.

            Cherie sighed.  “Being given an expiration date only a few years ahead of you makes you rethink your priorities.”  She took another deep breath.  “Things like influence, social status, and even money start to mean a lot less to you after a while.  My illness gave me a reality check that caused me to realize how shallow he was and leave him for Cody.”

            “I see,” the Detective said.  He was taking careful notes.

            “Tell me more about Cody.  How likely do you think it is that he’s the killer?”

            “Not very.”

            “Why?”

            “I really can’t see him killing someone, not even to save a lot more people.  Not even if one of them is me.  He’s not that kind of person.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “He feels bad killing insects, let alone humans.  He’s all but incapable of lying and is overly polite.  He doesn’t even curse.  I just can’t imagine him ever killing someone.  Even if he wanted to do it, when the person is in front of him, begging for mercy, he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to.”

            “I see,” the detective said, “Is there anyone else on that list that strikes you as odd?”

            Cherie looked at it for another second.  “Well, my grandma seems a little out of place.  How could an old woman like her pull off all of this?”

            “Whoever is doing this has abilities I don’t currently understand.  No one, so far as I know, can move diseases from one person to another, or cast a veil like the killer does.  It makes no less sense for an old woman to do it than for a younger man.”

            “Alright, I guess that makes sense.  Is that all then?”

            “Can you think of anything else that might be helpful?”

            “Not at the moment, and I really need to get to school.”

            “Alright then, you may go.”

“Thanks.”

Williams smiled.  “The pleasure is mine, Ms. Lambert.”

As Cherie left, Williams thought about the information she had provided.  If Jake Webb had the character Cherie described, he probably wasn’t the killer.  Cherie may have been the first person the killer had in mind to heal, but this had gone beyond just her.  This killer fancied himself a hero.  He was at least naïve enough to consider the death of a criminal less tragic than that of anyone else.  That is why he had suspected Jake.  He had reason to heal Cherie Lambert, and, given his wealth, a probable lack of understanding of the desperation which leads people to engage in criminal activity.  If interviews with other classmates of Jake’s reinforced this perception of his character though, it was safe to rule him out for now.

This was by far the hardest case Williams had ever tackled.  Because the nature of the killer and his powers were totally unknown, he could not count on many of his usual tactics.  He couldn’t be sure that the culprit wasn’t operating some avatar remotely, so it made no difference if someone had an alibi.  No forensic evidence had thus far shown up either, and there was no reason to expect it to be there.  All he had to work with were the persons and their motivations.  And all he could do was continue his attempts to discern them.

*****

            Cody got off of his school bus.  It was the first day of his sophomore year.  He saw Lester get off of a different bus.  He walked over to Lester.

            “Hello,” Cody said, “How are you?”

            “Good,” Lester said.  “You?”

            “Fine, all things considered,” Cody said.  All things considered was a rather large qualifier.  Eating the soul of one extortionist had been difficult enough, but killing every night, and seeing the damaged souls that resulted, had been extraordinarily hard for Cody to deal with.  He had eaten ten people now, and seen what remained of eight of them.

            “I see,” Lester said.  The two began walking.  “Tell me, do you think this detective Williams is likely to catch this ‘angel of death’ character?”

            That was a tough question.  Public interest in the Angel was high and as a result the investigation was well followed by the press.  Every detail Det. Williams released about what he suspected was happily awaited both by supporters of the Angel, and by critics.  Cody himself had done some research into Det. Williams.  He was apparently a supreme talent in his field.  He had a stellar record of success, and had solved many cases which seemed unsolvable.

He had already admitted to the press that he believed that the killer was a person and was connected with Cherie.  That already put him far too close to deducing that it was Cody.  Even this soon after Cody’s beginnings, it would already take only one major clue to get the detective on him like a hound.  Fortunately, Det. Williams had also gotten some things wrong.  He did not know that Cody was incapable of arranging a scenario where he did not kill.  As a result, his profile of the killer was that of someone who would, given the choice not to do what Cody did, do it.  He guessed that the Angel was at least wealthy enough to be aloof from the impoverished, and did not have empathy for the reasons the poor turned to crime.  In reality, Cody was quite poor, and certainly in a position to understand desperation.

            “I don’t think he’s entirely on the right track,” Cody said, “but I also think he’s only one major clue away from figuring it out.  I’m not sure how long it will be before the Angel makes some kind of mistake.”

            “I see.”  Lester took a deep breath and put his head down.  “What do you think would happen if he were caught?”

            Cody thought for a second.  “Well I suppose he would soon escape,” Cody said.  Cody knew no prison had any hope of detaining him.  Though he hadn’t yet had occasion to use them, he could unleash powerful blasts of magic which would quickly break through any walls.  Or he could just hold his hand on the walls and make them decay away at an accelerated rate, reducing them to rubble in seconds.  Cody looked down.  “But in the process, he’d have been publicly exposed as a monster.  His parents would reject him.  Cherie would reject him.  He’d have to flee the area and go into hiding.  Even his supporters would turn on him once they learned what happened to the souls of his victims.  He’d lose everyone he’d ever loved.”

            “Yeah,” Lester said, “I don’t imagine his accomplice would do very well either.”

            They continued to their first few classes.  They had lunch at the same time.  As they waited in line, they heard many debates between the critics and supporters of the Angel.

            “He’s a hero.  He’s saved ninety-four people from illness.  Between that and the crimes he’s stopped, he’s probably saved over a hundred people,” a supporter would say.

            “And he’s killed ten people,” a detractor would counter, “he had no right to do that even if it was to help other people.”

            “They were criminals, and they were killed while committing crimes,” the supporter would say.

            “He’s could easily pin the criminals and call the police,” a critic would say.  Cody desperately wished that really were an option.

*****

            Later, Cody got home from school.  He entered his house, greeted his family, and went upstairs.  He got his book, and turned to the Q&A section.

            “Will I ever be in a position where I’m forced to use the souls I’ve eaten?”

            “The only spell you need them for is the reanimation of the dead.  I cannot say if you will ever be in a position where you are forced to use it.”

                “Is that all they are useable for?”

            “I’ve seen them used for reconnaissance in the past.  You can also order them to disclose any information they may have, or give you advice.”

            That was a relief.  Cody’s plan to let them wander freely might work out after all.  It wasn’t as good as life, but hopefully it was tolerable.  Hopefully.  He turned back to the list of spells, but as he did, he heard his father and mother approaching.

            “Look, we don’t have the money,” his mother said.  She sounded like she was crying.

            “I can get the money,” his father said, “I--”

            “No you cannot.  I wish you could, but there is no way you can come up with enough in three days.  Now, hold on one minute.”  Cody’s mother entered his room.  She sat down next to him on his bed.

            “It’s time for bed sweetie,” she said, trying to force a smile.

            “Alright mom,” Cody said.  “What are you and dad talking about?  You sounded worried.”

            Cody’s mother took a deep breath.  “Son,” she said, putting her head down, “we don’t have enough money to pay the Black Death.”

            “What?” Cody’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened.  One of the most widely known rules of his area of Goldfalls, CA was that if you did not pay the Black Death, you would yourself feel death’s embrace.

            His mother began to tear up.  “They want a thousand dollars within three days, Cody, and we don’t have that.  They said… They said if we don’t get it, they will retaliate, and they’re starting with me.”

            Cody began crying too.  This was like Cherie all over again, only worse, because it was his mother and she only had days to Cherie’s months.  She couldn’t go to the police.  That would simply cause the Black Death to kill other people.  They had always promised that they would, in all cases, kill twice as many people as evaded them, and they never broke their promises.

            “I love you,” Cody said, crying.  He sat up and hugged his mother.

            “I love you too,” Cody’s mother said, embracing him, “Goodnight.”  She got up, and left the room.  They’d probably only have a few more nights to say that to each other.

            Cody laid back.  His mother was going to… she was going to…

Cody thought for a moment.  The Black Death was one of the many criminal organizations which haunted inner city Goldfalls.  Cody’s house happened to be in its territory.  He already knew that his family paid protection to them, and assumed that everyone else in the area did too, though the Black Death did not permit its victims to disclose such things to others, and everyone around knew not to do the things the Black Death forbade.

As Cody thought, something occurred to him.  Why should he obey them?  Before, it was because they were vastly more powerful, but that was no longer the case.  He could kill them with a single blast of magic and their bullets wouldn’t even inconvenience him.

Still more thoughts occurred to him.  Perhaps stopping crimes in progress wasn’t the only possible manner in which he could choose his victims?  Perhaps, if he went after the leaders of organized crime rings it would be much the same, and perhaps do more good.  No, Cody had already decided it wasn’t his place to decide who deserved to live or die.  But on the other hand, the need to save his mother was even stronger than the need to save Cherie.  Waiting for whoever had been hired to kill his mother to strike was too risky.  Asking Cherie’s family for the money would only put them in danger by informing them of the Black Death’s activities.  Besides, who said he had to kill the gang’s leaders?  He routinely rendered people unconscious when he broke into hospitals.  He could find the leaders of the Black Death, paralyze them, and call the police to report their location.

No, that wouldn’t work.  How would he call the police?  Easy, hospitals had phones.  He could paralyze the gangsters, leave them somewhere, and then report that location when he broke into the hospital.  It might cost him some time which he could use to heal people, but it also might be worth it.  He could save his mother, end the Black Death’s reign of terror, and send a message to other criminals that they might meet the same fate.  Crime had already been driven down in Cody’s area by fear of him.  Taking out an entire gang, even a small one, would send a message that it wasn’t just the grunts who should fear him.

That, of course, did mean his family would be targeted if he were ever discovered, but the gangs were already displeased with him, and his mother was being targeted right now.  If he did nothing, his mother would die, and then his father when he couldn’t pay either.  If he was to save them, Cody had to act.  And killing a single hit-man would only prompt the Black Death to send another.  Cody had to end the Black Death, and he had to do it within three days.

Immediately after coming to this conclusion, he examined it carefully for moral flaws.  He could find none in the prospect of knocking out the Black Death’s leadership and handing them to the police.  He decided it was okay to go ahead with the plan.

Tonight, though, wasn’t the time to execute this.  As much as he wanted to strike right now, he needed to plan exactly how he would go about this, and he would have Lester’s help with that.  He read in the dark for another hour or so, and then went outside to feed.

*****

            The next day, after school, Cody invited Lester into his house and up to his room.

            “So what was it you were saying you want to talk to me about?” Lester asked.

            Cody took a deep breath.  “The Black Death has just given my mother her last warning, and she probably won’t be able to pay them.”

            “You idiot!  Why did you tell me?  You just got me involved in this!”

            “Because…” Cody clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, “because I’m not going to let them take her.  The Black Death has ruled us for far too long.  I now have the power to stop them, and I’m going to use it.”

            “Look, man, you’ve clearly gone insane.  You’re starting to become mad with powe--”

            “No I’m not.  Think about it.  None of them have any chance taking me in a fight.”  Cody pulled out the cube which contained his soul.  “So long as I leave this at home, they’ll need a rocket launcher, grenade, flamethrower, or Molotov cocktail to do any meaningful damage to me.”

            Lester thought for a moment.  “That’s true.”  Lester paused again.  “But this is still a bad idea.  I mean… what if you fail, and if you do what if you later get found out?  The Black Death is vengeful Cody.  By doing this, you take on the risk of—”

            “I won’t fail,” Cody’s face took on a look of determination, “Those people have terrorized us for too long.  They’ve taken our money, forced us to work for them, stolen our property, and killed those we love.  How many people have you lost to them Lester?  How many people have you known who were shot dead?  I can think of two or three off the top of my head.  Do you remember Ashley?  How about Brandon?  Do you remember little Marci, Lester?  Do you remember that I was going to have a little sister?  Do you remember the visit to the hospital after they kicked my mother’s stomach in?  Do you remember the next few days after they told her she could never have another child?  I remember the look on her face at the very moment she heard.”  Cody shed another tear as he clenched his fists.  “Do you remember that Lester?  Because that was the last time we fell behind on our payments.”  Cody looked Lester straight in the eye, “They’ve done that kind of thing to all of us, Lester.  I don’t know anyone who lives around here and hasn’t lost something important.  It’s about time someone taught them that they don’t own this neighborhood, and that they don’t own us.”

            Lester looked at Cody, concerned.  He put his hand on Cody’s shoulder.  “They do, Cody.”

            “No they don’t, and I’m going to prove that.  I’m going to save her.”  Cody looked down and shed a tear.  “I have to.”

            Lester looked at Cody with his arms crossed and took a deep breath.  “And you’re really absolutely sure that you can pull this off?  I mean, how do you even plan to find the leaders of these gangs?  They’re well hidden, and even the police can’t find them.  Even Williams can’t find them.”

            “Simple,” Cody looked down on the floor “two of the souls I have were members of the black death.  I can order them to give me any information I need.”

            “You… you’re going to use them?  Cody, you said you never would.  Taking them is one thing, but using them to find and devour more people… it’s evil.  It’s nothing short of evil.”

            Cody took a deep breath and looked up.  “I don’t need to eat the Black Death’s leaders,” he said.  “Paralyzing them and leaving them for the police will do just as well.”

            “And if they escape prison, or can give an order from inside, or simply wake up early?  You do remember that they know of someone who’s connected to the Angel, right?  Cherie?”

            “That’s true…” Cody thought for a moment.  “I suppose I could do it in a way that wouldn’t make it obvious that it was the Angel.  That, though, would probably mean killing them.”  Cody sat on his bed and thought.  Not doing this wasn’t an option.  His mother would die, and the Black Death’s reign of terror would continue.  If he was going to save her, he needed to act.  If he did as he had planned, Cherie might be a target.

            So that was it then, Cody couldn’t let it be obvious that it was him.  So, how would he avoid it?  In addition to illness, he could inflict any injury he wanted with his powers.  He could always give them bullet wounds.  No, that wouldn’t work.  People would wonder what had become of the bullets.  They would expect them to be in the floor or wall, or in the victim’s bodies.  Perhaps he could simply accelerate the decay of the bodies?  Yes, that sounded like a good idea.  The police would assume the bodies had been hidden.

            So that was it then.  He’d go in, kill the Black Death’s leaders, and destroy their bodies.  That of course meant he needed to seal them in the room so that he could pick them off one by one.  No, he could intimidate them into submission, an easy task.  Given that he could inflict any illness or injury he wanted, there was plenty of capacity for torture.

            Torture… he was really considering using his powers for torture.  He almost left the plan behind at that point, but he remembered his mother.  The most he could do was save torture for a last resort.

            “You’re right,” Cody said, his head down. “I will have to kill them.”

            “And you’re going to eat them too?” Lester looked concerned.

            “Yes,” Cody took a deep breath, “if the underworld has any justice to it at all, which, at least in mythology, it usually does, I’m doing them a big favor by keeping them around long enough to repent of their actions.”

            “That is true,” Lester said.  “Alright then, you do your thing.  I won’t tell anyone or anything.”  Lester grinned.  “Now that I think about it, being rid of the Black Death would be nice.”

            “I know,” Cody said.

*****

            That night, it was time to execute his plan.  Cody got out his book and flipped to the Q&A section.

            “How much do the souls mind being forced to carry out a given order?”

“As much as they would have when they were alive.”

This isn’t something Cody would normally do.  He’d already done enough horrible things to these people.  The least he could give them was the ability to wander around the world in peace.  But now, he’d be denying one of them even that, if only for a few hours.  Hopefully, this’d be the only time he’d have to use an unwilling soul.    

Cody snuck out in his usual manner and transformed.  He went on his usual round with a hospital and a criminal.  If he didn’t, someone might infer something from the fact that the Angel had skipped a night.  Once he was done, Cody hesitated, and then summoned one of his souls.

            Without any choice in the matter, the soul was compelled to rush toward him.  “What do you want?” the soul asked.  The soul looked angry.  Cody would too if he were dragged away from wandering the world in relative peace so that he could carry out the commands of his murderer.

            “You were a member of Black Death, right?”

            “Yes.  Why does it matter?”

            “Do you know where their leadership is?”

            “This second?”

            “Yes.  Please give me all of the information I’ll need to find them, and any more at your discretion.”  There really wasn’t any worry of the soul tricking him, as souls could not deliberately defy their liches in any meaningful way, even if they found a loophole in their orders.  His precision was to ensure that the soul couldn’t make a mistake.

            “Right now, they’d be gathered together for a meeting.  There’ll be eight of them, and two guards.”

            “Alright then.  Will you please lead the way.”

            “Alright.  If I may ask, mast--”

            “There’s no need to refer to me as that.”

            “Oh, alright then.  If I may ask, er… sir, why are you asking for this information?”

            “That’s none of your concern.”  Even if that had managed to fool the soul, which was unlikely, he would find out once the leaders joined Cody’s collection of slaves.  Cody looked at the soul, for a second and put his head down.  Knowing the answer would probably just make him feel worse, he asked one last question.  “If I could annihilate your existence right now, would you want me to?”

            The soul seemed to be thinking for a moment.  “If you never give me another order, then no.  If you plan to give me orders occasionally… I’m not sure.  If you plan to give them regularly, then yes.  Absolutely yes.”

            Cody knew he couldn’t have expected any other answer.  “Go on, then,” Cody said, “lead me to them.”

            “Alright,” the soul said.  The soul led the way.  He didn’t speak as he floated in front of Cody.  The entire time, Cody was reminding himself of both his mother and his sister.  Eventually, they arrived outside of the safe house.  Cody was very lucky that the leaders were meeting tonight.  They were all together in a convenient location, though it might be that this happened regularly.

            “How long will it take for the Black Death to break up entirely with these guys gone?”

            “I have no idea.  A lot of the members will probably leave or move and the guy we hired to off your mother will probably abandon the job once the people who’d pay him are gone.”

            “How do you know about that?”

            “Our territory ain’t big.  I recognized the outside of your house.  Anyways, there are only a few dozen members who’ve been initiated into the Black Death.  Most of our work was handled by hired men.  Without these eight, most of them will start looking elsewhere for clients.  A lot of the people who joined hoping for the gang’s protection would also leave.”

            “How many would be left over?”

            “I don’t know.  Maybe two dozen or so, but they’ll be split into a couple of factions.  The whole thing is loose enough, and certain subgroups are competitive enough, that without these guys to hold it together, it’ll fall apart pretty quickly.  Either way, they won’t be able to do the kinds of things they could when unified.”

            “I see.  How bloody do you expect the competition from other gangs for this area to be?”

            “I dunno.  This isn’t really prime turf even if it wasn’t known to be part of your hunting grounds.  That’s why the Black Death was able to take it so easily when it started out; no one here has much money to take.  With you around, it’s possible that no one will want it or that they’ll wait until you seem to go away.”

            “I see.”

Cody allowed the soul to return to what it had been doing prior to Cody’s summoning him and looked at the house with his darkness on.  He was hiding in a shadow, so it’d be very unlikely that he’d be spotted.  The guards were each near one of two windows facing the front of the house.  They were both armed.  There was a window to a lit basement.  It was possible that the leaders were in there.

Cody needed to get inside.  He moved down the street a ways, crossed it, and took on his human form.  Taking his human form was a risk, but a necessary one.  He walked down the sidewalk outside the house.  As he walked by, he could see that the guards were tracking him with their pistols.  As he neared the front door, he turned towards it. Cody made sure no one was around.  He approached the door and knocked.

“What is it?” the guard asked.

“Package,” Cody said, rushing the lie out as quickly as possible.

Cody could hear the guards’ confusion as one of them approached and opened the door.    The guard opened the door and looked down at him.  Before the guard could react, Cody took his true form, pushed him to the ground, went inside, scythed the guard’s soul, and ate it.  He turned to the other guard and closed the door.  He approached the guard.  Cody wasn’t casting his darkness, so the guard could see him.  The guard reeked of the strongest fear Cody had thus far smelled.  He froze in place, too terrified to alert the leaders below.

Eventually, Cody reached the guard.  “Please… spare me,” the guard said, crying.  Cody wished he could, but leaving a witness was more than he could afford to do.  “I’m sorry,” he said.  Cody scythed the guard’s soul, and ate it.  He would have shed a tear had he been in his human form.  After that, he made both of their bodies decay away.

Cody found the stairs to the basement and went down.  As he headed down, he came into view of the leaders.  They gasped.  He could see their eyes widen and smell their fear as he approached.  They were frozen in fear for several seconds.  Finally, one of them spoke.

“Wha… what are you?”

Cody didn’t answer.  He continued approaching them.  Eventually, he got to one of them, scythed his soul and ate it.  The scent of fear in the others grew.  Given that the only thing they couldn’t see about the incident was the soul itself, Cody wondered if they might have guessed what he had just done.  “What do you want?” another one asked.

“I want for your little organization to end,” Cody said.

“You got it!” one of them said, “I’ll order the disbandment tomorrow.”  The other nodded in agreement.

“How can I trust you?” Cody asked.

“We’re terrified of you, as you can well see,” another of them said.  “If we break our word, feel free to come back and kill each and every one of us.”  The others nodded.

Cody wanted to believe them, and wanted to let them go.  But he had no reason to trust that they wouldn’t attempt some sort of trick to arrange that he couldn’t find them again.  In addition, it was entirely likely by this point that they’d eventually work out that he was the Angel.  If that happened, they might start their operations from their new hiding place by targeting Cherie.

“I’m sorry, I can’t trust you.”  Cody scythed and ate another soul.

            One of the leaders tried to run outside the room, but Cody grabbed him and took his soul too.  Another one made a run for it as he did so, seemingly hoping to be able to escape while Cody was distracted.  His fate was the same as the last.

            The four remaining leaders all cowered in their chairs.  Cody continued eating them until there were none left.

*****

            A few days later, Cody was out hunting again.  As he left the vicinity of a false lead, he suddenly caught the scent of a fear which rivaled the one he’d inflicted on the Black Death’s leaders.

            He rushed to its source.  As he approached, he saw what was causing it.  There was a woman cornered in an alley and standing over her was another lich.  The lich looked different than Cody, but it wasn’t hard to deduce that he was a lich too.  Unlike Cody, whose true form wore a black, tattered cloak which looked like it was made of stitched together rags, this lich seemed to wear equally tattered but regal attire, though not from any culture Cody could recognize.

Cody wasn’t sure what to do.  He hadn’t faced another lich before.  At the same time, he couldn’t just let this woman die.  Then again, he didn’t know the context of this event.  Someone who walked into the house while he was partway through killing all of the gang leaders might have gotten the wrong idea, and it was possible that he was making such a mistake here.  It might be that she was a criminal, or that this lich had some other valid justification to act as he was seemingly planning to.  She had no weapon on her, though, and he couldn’t give up the element of surprise by asking.  Liches grew more powerful with each soul they consumed, meaning Cody was a very weak lich, and if this one was older, he would be far more powerful.

            Ultimately, Cody decided that it was unlikely that the lich had a valid justification.  Cody tackled the lich.  He growled, and tossed him off.  The woman tried to run away, but the other lich was able to grab her and render her unconscious.  Cody stood as the lich turned to face him.

            “I thought I’d be able to get you here,” the lich said.

            “You what?” Cody asked, tilting his head in confusion.

            “You’re following the fear trails created by criminals, aren’t you?  I wanted to talk to you, so I manufactured one to attract you.”

            “Why would you want to talk to me?”

            “You are Odelarch, yes?  The new lich?”

            “Yes,” Cody said.  Cody stood up straighter as he said this.

            “You seem to be making quite a fuss around here.  I’d like to know why?  Most liches are as secretive as possible.”

            Cody thought about the question for a moment.  He looked down, then back up.  “I’m just trying to do the right thing.  If I have to kill, I’m going to do it in the best way I possibly can, and save as many people as I can by doing it.”

            “I see.”  The lich chuckled.  “I used to think upon similar lines.”

            “Used to?  Who are you anyway?”

            “I am Valthakar.  I came to this town looking for something, and I couldn’t help but notice the raucous you were causing.  In addition, it’s considered common courtesy to make first contact as soon as you discover a new lich, so I thought I’d drop by.”

            “Alright then.  Thank you.  Now, I do need to resume hunting.”

            “And I shall let you.  Just let me give you one warning.”

            “What?”

            “I used to be a lot like you.  I can’t heal mortals like you can, but I used to use my powers to defend my home from invaders and criminals, and to try to make the world a better place.”

            “Why did you stop?”

            Valthakar took a deep breath and looked Cody straight in the eye.  “I stopped because I learned the most important lesson in the universe.  I learned that nothing lasts forever.  All of the people you’ve saved are going to die someday, and anything you create will rot and decay until it is no more.  Trust me, young one; you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble by heeding my advice.  Do not try to use your power to preserve.  At best, you will delay the inevitable end of a thing, usually for an inconsequentially small amount of time.  At worst, you will accidentally shorten its life or that of something even more precious.”

            Cody stood there for a moment.  “I know,” he finally said, “the book I used to turn myself into a lich gave me the same advice, but thanks to me, most of the people I’ve cured or saved from criminals will be able to live full and complete lives.”

            “True, they will live a little while longer, and right now, that may seem to you to mean something.  But trust me, by the time you turn fifteen-hundred or so, you’ll grow to appreciate how inconsequential those extra few decades really are.”

            “We’ll see,” Cody said.

            “I’m sure you will,” said Valthakar, “every lich I’ve ever known of eventually has.”  With that, Valthakar ran off.  Cody put Valthakar’s words out of his mind and resumed hunting.

*****

            Valthakar headed away from the alley.  Odelarch was just like he had been all of those years ago.  He couldn’t fault him for that.  That would be quite hypocritical of him.  Besides, many liches had gone through that phase to one degree or another.  Most of them eventually learned better, as Odelarch eventually would.

            Valthakar refocused his thoughts on his current destination.  He had sensed something in this town, something powerful.  It was in the vicinity of the town’s waterfall, possibly behind it.  From his research, Goldfalls had been named after the beautiful, golden waterfall that lied within it.  The reason the water had its gold tint was unknown to scientists who had studied it.  The area behind the waterfall had been examined before, and nothing of interest had been found.

If the explanation was magical, though, humans who knew nothing of the underworld might have missed the significance of something which Valthakar would be able to recognize as important.  Valthakar headed towards the waterfall.  He swam up to it, and stepped through it.  He, along with a few of his souls, looked around at the small dent in the cliff wall.  He noticed nothing of interest, above or below the water.  That was disappointing.  He’d have to continue his search tomorrow.  Right now, he needed to go back to the city to hunt, so he could be finished by morning.

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