On my order, the Hunter shifted position. They cleared the northern route to the hateful spirits' hunting grounds, and I was forced to leave the church to bring her here. By now, the sun was setting, and the Dungeon was dark. By the time I corralled her to the church, she would have a clear route to it that would not interact with any of the weak sunlight that was now coming.

  I removed the restrictions on her hunting ground but formed my avatar close to her. She was already out and about, aware of the intruders' presence, and we were seeing if any were on her grounds.

  "Move to the church. There are men to kill inside."

  I needed to keep my orders simple and easy to understand, as she was driven by one thing and one thing alone: hate. At first, she was resistant, but after I used my punishment ability on her a few times, she got moving. I reassigned her hunting grounds to just around the church to help, and she set off in its direction. I followed in my avatar form to ensure she did not go after the other hunters or try to disobey my instructions.

  It didn't take her long to reach the church, as she was primarily non-corporeal. The spirit passed through many hazards on the way. I was forced to move in and out of my avatar form to keep up with her, as my physical form could not pass through walls or gravestones.

  She tried to change direction as she had spotted one of the hunters, but I kept her on track by quickly triggering my punishment ability. As I had said, she realised that there were figures in the church and that they were the intruders, which quickly focused her attention as she moved to engage them. Thankfully, as they were not challenges, the right of protection within the church did not apply to them. But I feared the amount of damage and clean-up I would have to perform if this worked.

  I shifted from my avatar form and returned to the church ahead of her.

  Reginald spotted her approach and formed MacLeod, who watched as she approached the church. They had not yet noticed that she wasn't properly touching the ground, as they were more focused on her look, and we wondered why she was there.

  "What do we do, Marshall?" Reginald asked.

  "I find this whole situation most vexing, Deputy Marshall and this woman's appearance is only adding to it," Macleod replied.

  "I agree with that sentiment, Sir."

  Myers was shifting back further into the church, aiming to get downstairs into the crypts to find out what was down there and how he could profit from it. This would work out well for me, as I had plans for him. An idea came to me while we were waiting for the sun to set, and it involved him living to do something for me—well, a few things.

  The hateful spirit was making good time toward the church, but her seduction ability wasn't taking hold of these men. I think she was aware of it, but she was still closing, as she wanted to be in striking range before she unleashed her hate. I was pretty eager to see how her new ability of talons worked.

  When they realised she wasn't right, it was far too late, as she was close enough to attack. Marshall MacLeod first realised something was off and tried to call out a warning, but she screamed. The sound wave hit them, and they were momentarily stunned by it. She changed and crossed the distance to the doorway. Her hands had changed, and each finger now had long, black, sharp talons protruding from them.

  MacLeod recovered just as she reached them and tried to pull Reginald back. Unfortunately, this made him a perfect target for the hateful spirit, and she disembowelled him with a single swipe. Rational screamed as his guts spilled out across the floor. The rest of the men in the room were shocked by the sudden savagery and the appearance of the hateful spirit.

  [A Hunter has made a Kill]

  "For the love of God fire!" MacLeod ordered as he fell backwards.

  The deputy marshals in the room acted fast and began shooting at the hateful spirit. This did not affect her but damaged my walls while I winced at each impact. She advanced quickly into the room as MacLeod was scampering across the floor to put distance between them. One of the deputies ran forward to try to help him, and the hateful spirit clawed across its face, ripping it off. The man collapsed with a terrible scream and blood pumping from his ruined face.

  [A Hunter has made a Kill]

  Right now, all the men were backing up and firing. The bullets were having no effect, and the hateful spirit focused on the ones attempting to hurt her first. She moved quickly across the room, and blood and screams promptly followed.

  [A Hunter has made a Kill]

  One by one, she started killing these men, screaming her hatred every time she did. Myers had fled now into the back of the church to where the entrance of the crypts was. In the main hall, the slaughter continued.

  [A Hunter has made a Kill]

  It quickly became apparent that their weapons were useless, and Myers's bodyguard tried to get around her to flee the building. He was stopped when the talons of both hands tore through his back and out through the front of his chest, and he choked to death on his blood.

  [A Hunter has made a Kill]

  The other made it to the door but had his legs sliced out from under him, and as she collapsed screaming in pain, the talents punched through the back of his neck, up through his face, and out through his mouth.

  [A Hunter has made a Kill]

  I was surprised that Marshall McLeod was the last one left alive. By the time the others died, he had made it to the altar, where he was firing his repeat rifle as fast as he could until it ran out of ammunition. He pulled his colt out of its holster and continued to fire as the spirit approached him. The man stood his ground, cursing the spirit to the end. But his end came as she ripped out his still beating heart from his chest.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  [A Hunter has made a Kill]

  That left one man alive. I changed the location of the hateful spirit hunting grounds once more and sent her back to her normal area. Again, I was forced to use my punishment ability to get her to move, but she did move.

  As soon as she was clear, Rigger came into the church. He was the next part of my plan.

  "He's downstairs trying to loot my gold. Go get him."

  My Hunter nodded and set off. I explained the plan to him in advance, and he knew what was required of him. I could follow him down and see what happened, but I was in my avatar form, waiting by the altar. I looked around the main hall of the church at the increased damage from another gunfight. The dismembered and mauled bodies were another thing that needed to be cleaned up. I also had to make sure not to step in the spreading blood.

  There was a gunshot from downstairs that echoed from the stairwell. I was sorely tempted to go and see what had happened but decided to wait, trusting in my Hunter. A few minutes later, my patience was rewarded as Rigger pulled the babbling Mr Myers back into the main church hall. The terrified man was thrown bodily at my feet. The impact caused several gold coins to roll across the floor from him.

  Time to get to work.

  "Welcome to New Midian, Mr Myers"

  The man looked up, his face covered in snot and tears. Like most bullies, he caves when facing a true challenge or dangerous situation. They think they are untouchable as long as they have the power or believe they have the strength. Stripping him of this illusion is also dangerous for me as it could make him bitter, angry, and liable to do something stupid.

  "Come now, Mr Myers. Let us take a seat and discuss this situation."

  Rigger hauled him to his feet. Several more coins fell from his pockets.

  "But first, I think I should retrieve what is mine."

  Rigger began to roughly search him, placing everything in his pockets on the altar next to the body of Marshall MacLeod. The angry spirit, when she had ripped out his heart, had cast him back over the altar, and he was now spread-eagled across it.

  I walked over, avoiding the pooling blood on the floor. I sat on one of the wooden pews and waited for Rigger to finish searching my guest. Rigger took more than just what was owned by the Dungeon, but I did not broach that subject with him. It took a few minutes, but Myers sat on the pew beside me. When he did, there was a squelching sound, and from the look on his face, I'm pretty sure that he had err… soiled himself.

  I had never been more thankful that I couldn't smell in my life.

  "Now, Mr Myers, we have a bit of a situation here, don't we."

  He turned and looked at me and was confused and dazed by the sudden change, expecting to be dead by now. Rigger cuffed him across the back of the head, and he cried in pain, but it focused him. He was hesitant but started talking.

  "W-w-who a-are you?"

  "Me? I'm the individual who runs this place. You have happened to have met a few of my… how shall we say 'employees'."

  "W-wat do y-you want?" He was a little more coherent now but still in a state of shock.

  "Well, Mr Myers, you led the United States Marshall Service to my door. Most would consider that quite a hostile act, wouldn't you agree?"

  His eyes went round, and he was even more pale now as he interpreted my words as a threat, which they were in many ways.

  "But we are civilised men, and I believe we can come to an accord to rectify the situation. Would you be open to such an agreement?"

  "Yes! Yes, I would." I had offered him a lifeline, and he grabbed it with both hands.

  "Excellent. I will let you walk out of here with your life, and in return, you will perform a few simple acts for me."

  The cunning part of his mind was now in full gear, and it was almost hilarious. I could see it turning as he tried to figure out a way to escape this situation. The problem was I was already ahead of him and knew his ilk.

  "S-such as?" He asked hesitantly.

  "Well, first, we have to deal with the Marshall service. When you return to town you will spin a tail of visiting here and then Driver homestead. Marshall MacLeod was quite satisfied that this location was empty and that the Driver family was not involved in any illicit activity. However, one of his deputies spotted some unusual activity several miles away, and you went to investigate. There, you were ambushed by Adam Pilgrim and his gang. During the firefight, you were told to flee by Marshall MacLeod, and you do not know their fates."

  The story was as thin as a sheet of paper, and I've been racking my brain to try to come up with a better one, but I couldn't. This meant we had to work with whatever was created.

  "T-they will never believe it; I find it hard to believe." He could also see the problems with the story.

  "Yes, it will be a bit of a hard sell, but I trust that you will be able to get it to pass and accept it."

  From his look, I could tell he was doubting that. We went over the story a few times to make sure that I was happy with what he was going to say. It also got him used to saying it, and we ironed out a few details that we both realised needed to be resolved or addressed.

  "Next, you will leave the Driver family and their land alone."

  He did not respond to that one, but I could see the frown on his face deepening, and I knew he was aiming to claim it as his own. I needed him to forget that desire.

  "Finally. You will forget about this place and perform the tasks I have assigned to you. Success means that we will never encounter each other again, and you will be allowed to live your life peacefully. Failure in this regard will mean that one of my less pleasant associates will come to pay you a visit."

  Thanks to Roberson, I had a good idea of where he lived, his business locations, and where he hid his mistress. I went into great detail, explaining to him that I knew all of this and that I could reach out and get him no matter where he thought he was safe. His face paled even more to almost a plaster white as he realised that my knowledge of him was far more extensive than he ever feared.

  "A-a-are you a d-devil?" He stammered out.

  "To some but an Angel to others."

  I never got bored with using that line from Hellraiser. Sure, I butchered it a bit, but it works so well for my current situation.

  "Are we in agreement, Mr Myers?"

  He looked at me; then he looked at Rigger. I chose him for this job because he was now the least human-looking of all my Hunters. Myers, so far, I had only seen him on the hateful spirit. I had planned to use fear of the unknown as the means of control over him. I had proven to him that I knew much about his life and that he knew nothing about me or what I possessed regarding resources or personnel.

  "I-I-I agree." He finally relented.

  "Excellent Mr Myers. But remember, either in this life or the next, you break faith with me, and I will come for you."

  With that, I dismissed my avatar, and he screamed in shock as my body dissolved into a black mist. Theatre was essential to drive home the importance of our bargain and what would happen if he broke it. Rigger had a good idea of what I was doing, as I had explained to him during the siege what was going to happen if Myers survived. He man-handled him to his feet and almost dragged him from the church. He took him through the Dungeon to the gates and had him mount his horse and ride off.

  The other Hunter stayed hidden as I did not want Myers to be able to identify them in future. They quickly descended on the horses. I brought the loot back to the church and cleaned up the mess. Roberson took the horses to Herbert, who took them some distance away and scattered them.

  As standard, the bodies were buried, and the loot piled on the altar. I gathered the fallen gold coins and returned them to the crypt. I also gathered up the others that had spilt across the floor down there in his rush to shove them in his pockets. By the time I had done all this, I encountered them to make sure that they were all present and the bodies were buried.

  I added eight more US Marshall stars to my growing collection.

  "This is going to be a problem."

  I spoke to myself in the crypt, looking at the pile I now possessed. That many dead lawmen in one go was going to raise questions. Myers' story was an attempt to hide and obfuscate the truth. Would it be believed? I doubted it, but it was the best I could do right now.

  I remembered something about telling a lie often enough until it became the truth. I couldn't remember where I heard it or who had said it, but I hoped it was true.

  It was near dawn with all hunters were now returned, and we…