"For thousands of years," he continued, "they were imprisoned together in the pit, but they were torpid,

in a magically induced trance. As a result, they never developed the sort of bond that comes with

adversity. Luckily for us. Once they escaped, they fled to different parts of the world. Instead of uniting

their powers, each of them thought only of themselves, of their own individual survival. So they sought to

hide and build up their powers, each of them hoping that the runestones would find the others first and by

the time the confrontation came around to them, they would be strong enough to prevail. And if it were

not for the runestones, they would soon have been fighting among themselves, competing for power and

control. Greed is the chief weakness of the necromancer. He's like a drug addict. With each fresh

infusion of stolen life energy, he only wants more."

"For thousands of years," he continued, "they were imprisoned together in the pit, but they were torpid,

in a magically induced trance. As a result, they never developed the sort of bond that comes with

adversity. Luckily for us. Once they escaped, they fled to different parts of the world. Instead of uniting

their powers, each of them thought only of themselves, of their own individual survival. So they sought to

hide and build up their powers, each of them hoping that the runestones would find the others first and by

the time the confrontation came around to them, they would be strong enough to prevail. And if it were

not for the runestones, they would soon have been fighting among themselves, competing for power and

control. Greed is the chief weakness of the necromancer. He's like a drug addict. With each fresh

infusion of stolen life energy, he only wants more."

"Nevertheless, you must try to get some rest, Joe. Chances are the Dark One won't strike during the

daylight hours. He needs to rest, too. He absorbs the life energy of his victims, but he also expends a

tremendous amount of it in the powerful spells he casts. Controlling a demonic entity is incredibly

demanding and exhausting. He needs time to recuperate. What's more, the Dark Ones have a basic

understanding of human psychology. They understand that the night holds special terrors. It is more

psychologically effective for them to strike at night and easier, too, because there are fewer people on the

streets. And what the Dark One is seeking to create is an atmosphere of fear. That's one reason for the

use of the demonic entity. It's what gave birth to human myths of werewolves and other supernatural

beings. The life force is particularly vibrant in the presence of terror. To the necromancer, it's like a heady

wine that has reached its full maturity. He seeks to induce terror in his victims, to produce the galvanizing

effects of adrenaline release and trigger the full strength of the life force. At night is when our killer will

strike. And we must take every advantage of what time we have to rest and marshal our own energies."

Loomis sighed. "All right. I'll try to get some rest. But I don't know that I'll be able to. But we've still got

a problem, you know." He shook his head. "After what you did tonight . . . You assaulted two police

officers, for God's sake, and you stole a cruiser. And every cop on the shift knows I'm meeting you

here."

"Tell them I didn't show up," said Modred. "You found the cruiser, but I was gone."

Loomis sighed. "That part's no problem," he said, "but you realize it'll leave me with no choice but to put

out an A.P.B. on you. I'll have to say you're armed and dangerous. There's just no way around it."

"Do what you have to do," said Modred.

"After tonight, you'll have every cop in the city out gunning for you," said Loomis.

"Then I'll have to do my best to stay out of their way."

"What if you can't? I don't want any of my people hurt. Because if you do, I'll be coming after you, you

know that. I'll have no choice."

"I understand."

Loomis looked up at the sky again. The sun was starting to rise. "Two lousy days," he said. "After what

happened tonight, the media will be playing this thing up big. In a few hours, I'll have the mayor, the

commissioner, the chief, and the entire city council on my ass. As if I didn't have enough troubles."