“A monster writhes, broken and bloody, on the pavement. Its teeth gnash. It looks up into the eyes of its assailant, and two crosses reflect back in the crucifixion glow.

To pray devoutly. To prey mercilessly. The hands folded serenely drip with blood. Even monsters have bogeymen.”

-Dag Scheve

Prologue

A Sleepless Night

As the sinking sun set fire to the sky over a small town somewhere far west of the Mississippi, a man, only slightly. . .