Rafael slowly moved away from the others, still in reflection around the pit. He walked with his head down, as if he was lost in thought, and didn't know where he was going. As if by chance, his steps led him to the bushes that bordered the cemetery. Then, he passed behind them, in a more luxurious space where flowerbeds of hellebores and heathers separated the graves.

Contrary to what its casual appearance suggested, all of Rafael's senses were alert, focused on the spiritual anomaly behind him. His hand was clenched on the disruption stick, ready to spring at any time. He waited without moving, all his muscles contracted . After what seemed like an eternity, the immaterial sun finally moved in his direction. The priest had taken the bait.

Rafael moved a little further away and leaned against a funeral chapel, his head still bowed. The priest would only be able to reach him from the front, but Rafael was ready to act as soon as he approached. Still in connection with the plants around, he felt that the immaterial sun kept moving towards him. The priest crossed the hedge, paused for a moment, and finally continued straight at Rafael.

He would soon reach him. Rafael's spiritual energy flared, and he began to pour it into his bamboo stick. The disruption runes awakened, he could feel a sizzling sound coming from them. Any second now.

The priest stopped. Rafael was so surprised that he didn't react right away. They were only four steps apart, had the priest noticed something? Rafael didn't want to look up for fear of scaring him away. Just a little more patience, he couldn't lose this opportunity... but something strange happened. The immaterial sun that he perceived through his spiritual sense gave birth to another smaller one.

Rafael looked up. He barely had time to realize that the ball of light that was floating in the air was already hurtling towards him.

Shit!

He immediately threw himself on the side. If an area attack had given him a second degree burn, he didn't want to imagine what such a concentration of light energy could do to him. Fortunately, he had reacted just in time, and the attack crashed into the stone wall of the funeral chapel without doing any damage. But, now, his chance to take the priest by surprise was wasted. He was lying on the ground, vulnerable.

"I will not let you corrupt the world, demon." the priest thundered, as two new balls of light condensed where his hands should have been.

Rafael scrambled to his hands and knees, and dodged the two projectiles by running away like a rabbit. That was a close one. Sweat was running down his back, it had been hard to follow the balls of light as they almost blinded him. Rafael managed to get to his feet by leaning on his bamboo stick. Panting, he shouted to the priest:

"You're no less a demon than I am, you've bound a spirit too!"

"Blasphemy, I'm the envoy of God!"

More balls of light appeared. One, two... five balls. It was too much, he would never be able to dodge all these. Damn weather, why couldn't there be more clouds?

Rafael brandished his bamboo stick in front of him like a sword. It was time to see if this magical object lived up to its promise. He saturated the runes with his spiritual energy, and the sizzling became audible.

Bring it on!

The five balls of light shot into the air. Rafael squinted and stepped back, his stick in front of him. He whipped the air to the right, grazing the first ball of light with the tip of his weapon. The projectile flashed, destabilized, and disappeared without a trace. It worked! And the spiritual energy in the runes had hardly diminished.

No time to think. The stick flew left, then right again, and he managed to intercept the second ball, the third, and the fourth. The last one was going straight towards his chest. Rafael brought the stick back in front of him at the last moment, and the ball of light hit the bamboo a few inches from his skin, right between his trembling hands.

It was too soon to rejoice, the priest was about resume his attack. Rafael took refuge behind the funeral chapel, thinking about what he could do. He had to find a way to get closer to prevent him from projecting those balls of light, but how?

With the help of his magic amulet, Rafael sent his senses back into the plants of the cemetery. Too much sensation! He immediately toned down his connection. Now, he could feel the priest moving cautiously toward his hiding place through a bed of hellebores, two balls of light floating beside him. This was his chance.

He focused on a hellebore plant slightly ahead of the priest, and released all the refined energy he had accumulated in his core. He could never have done this without the amulet, but here he was. The root grew wildly into the earth, while its cap became sharply pointed. The moment the priest stepped near the plant, the root sprang up from the ground. It pierced his shoe, his foot, and wrapped itself around it.

The priest screamed in pain as the balls of light near him dissipated. Rafael immediately released his shamanic spell, recharged the disruption stick with spiritual energy, and stepped out from behind the funeral chapel. It was now or never! The priest was visible, he was using his crucifix dagger to free himself from the root, but it would take him several precious seconds.

Rafael brandished his stick above him, and ran to take advantage of the opening. It is at this moment that he saw Ilona emerging from behind the hedge. Eyes wide, she asked.

"Rafe? What are you doing?"

"I..." stammered Rafael, completely out of focus.

His foot hit one of the stones that bordered the flowerbed, and he fell to the ground. Ilona rushed towards him.

"No!" cried Rafael, leaning on his arms. "Don't come, he is the one who killed Leonard!"

Ilona stopped in her tracks, but it was already too late. She had arrived right next to the priest. A wicked smile appeared on his lips. His foot was covered with blood, but he had freed himself. He threw his arm in the air, and the back of his hand hit Ilona hard on the temple.

"Vade retro Jezabel! Let divine justice be served."

Ilona stumbled backwards but quickly recovered.

"You bastard!" she growled.

She jumped on the priest with her nails out, like a furious tigress. He certainly wasn't expecting this and failed to react in time. Four bloody scratches appeared on his cheek. Ilona's other hand was heading for his throat...

Suddenly the priest's arm unfolded, and Ilona was violently thrown back. An arc of blood colored the air. The crucifix dagger had opened the young woman's cheek, pierced her right eye, and continued in a bloody trail through her scalp.

The priest stepped forward to finish the job.

"Stop!" shouted Rafael as he drove the disruption stick into his ribs. Everything had gone too fast, he hadn't had time to intervene earlier, but now he was in a rage.

The sizzling of the runes grew louder, and the smell of charred skin filled the air as the priest screamed his head off. With his spiritual vision, Rafael could see the energy dissipating within his enemy's own meridians. And the immaterial sun based in his core dwindled to a flickering flame.

Rafael turned his head for a moment to check on Ilona. The poor girl was lying on the ground, pale as a sheet. She was perfectly still. The only visible movement was the blood dripping down her face.

How could this happen?

He should not have looked away, for in a desperate move, the priest struck the bamboo stick with his dagger and sent it flying away. He could no longer use magic, but he had lost none of his snarl.

"Let's finish this, demon. You're going to join your uncle in hell!"

Rafael was in a bad situation. The attack with the root had drained all his refined energy. He had also lost his stick, while the priest was still in possession of his crucifix dagger. Fortunately, Rafael had a backup plan.

He took one step back, then a second. His enemy was following him closely, ready to pierce him at the slightest opening. Suddenly, Rafael raised his hand, a pepper spray inside. The priest didn't have time to react. He tried to protect himself with his arm, and stabbed the air with his dagger, but to no avail.

Rafael was now in control of the situation. He retrieved his disruption stick, knocked the crucifix dagger out of the priest's hands, and drove the end of the magic object into his ribs again. His screams were not as loud this time. He squirmed for a moment, then finally lost consciousness.

The dagger was right at Rafael's feet, a few centimeters away from the priest's twitching body. All he had to do was reach down, grab it, and he could execute his uncle's killer. Put a definitive end to this story.

Leonard wouldn't have liked me to do that.

Who cares! He was gone and the priest deserved it. What would Alek say if he let him get away again? What if he came back to attack another member of his family? Rafael's hand slowly moved toward the dagger's hilt, a little more, his trembling fingers were about to grasp it—

"I wouldn't do that, young man," said a deep voice behind him.

Rafael turned with a start. Detective Diego Martinez had just arrived, and was staring at him coldly.

"He killed my uncle, he also tried to kill me,” he justified himself.

"And he will be judged by society. Let me pull him in jail."

Anger seized Rafael, but before he could answer he heard Ilona calling him:

"Rafe?"

He rushed to her, grabbed her hand, and said with emotion:

"Luna, thank God you are alive!"

"I can't see with my right eye Rafe,” said Ilona in a panicked voice. “It hurts. Is it bad?"

Rafael forced himself to look at the horrible wound he had tried to ignore until then. The young woman had been viciously butchered. The flesh was open, the bone visible near the eye socket and at the top of the forehead. As for her eye... Rafael looked away, holding back from throwing up.

"It's okay, Luna," he said softly. "I'll call an ambulance, the doctors will take care of you."

Ilona closed her good eye as if to escape reality, but deep distress was still etched on her face. The pain must have been unbearable. Rafael squeezed her hand even tighter.

"I'll call the ambulance, hang in there."

He stood up and looked around. Detective Martinez hadn't been the only one drawn to the screams. His parents had followed, as had Jay, Tiffany, and other guests. There was a lot of commotion. Tiffany knelt down next to Ilona as soon as she arrived. Rafael's father was on the phone, and made him understand that he was already on line with the emergency service. His mother came right up to him.

"Rafael, are you okay?" Alice asked in a high-pitched voice. "What happened?"

"It was this damn priest," he said, pointing to the body lying in the middle of the hellebore bed.

"The one who kidnapped Leonard?" realized Alice. "Oh my God!"

I don't want to hear about God anymore.

"Yes," said Rafael, looking at his uncle's murderer. "I have to do something, Mom. I'll be right back."

Detective Martinez stood guard over the unconscious priest. His eyes followed Rafael as he moved closer to them. When Rafael arrived near the priest, the inspector said:

"I have called a police car. The officers will be here in a few moments."

Rafael nodded. "Are you going to release Paulina?" he asked.

Detective Diego Martinez puckered up his mouth. "If we can prove the guilt of the priest Cordier in your uncle's death..."

"I see," Rafael replied, "The crucifix dagger should match the wounds on Leonard's neck. How did he recover it, by the way?"

"I don't know, it should still be in the evidence room… maybe he had more than one?" the inspector said hesitantly.

“This is nonsense,” exclaimed Rafael. "Can't you do your job properly? Look what he did with it!”

“Calm down, we do what we have to do.” Detective Martinez didn't look happy. “I'll check on this, you've my word.”

Frowning, Rafael looked at the priest's body lying there. Part of him regretted that the inspector had stopped him before he could turn the crucifix dagger against its owner. But if he had, he would have ended up in jail himself, and his parents would never look at him the same way again. It was probably for the best.

He knelt down and grabbed the priest's wrist.

"What are you doing?" asked Inspector Martinez in a threatening tone.

Rafael tried to look innocent, but he had a harsh look. "Nothing, just checking his pulse."

The inspector didn't take his eyes off him, but it didn't matter. Under his palm, the mistletoe seed had already taken root in the priest's flesh. Rafael sent a burst of spiritual energy, and it sank beneath his skin. Then he closed his eyes for a few seconds, leading the nascent roots along the priest's meridians.

They seeped deeply, sliding along the nerves and muscles until they reached the shoulder, until they became an integral part of the parasited body. Rafael inhibited the mistletoe's ability to produce leaves and flowers, then transformed the root cells so that they could directly pump out the spiritual energy of light that ran through the priest's meridians.

The mistletoe would allow Rafael to detect the priest's presence from several hundred yards away. In addition, it would absorb all the energy produced by the spirit of light, preventing him from ever doing shamanic magic again. Perhaps without its influence, he would eventually regain his sanity...

"Is it over?" asked Detective Martinez impatiently.

Rafael withdrew his hand, the priest's skin had kept no trace of what he had done. There was just a small bump above the wrist, where he had implanted the seed, but he had to know where to look to see it.

Yes, it's over, he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Rafael stood up. Two police officers had just arrived. They put handcuffs on the priest, and carried him to their patrol car. Inspector Martinez moved towards Rafael and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll take care of him. Don't worry."

"It's a little late for that," Rafael replied bitterly.

Detective Martinez's gaze grew harder. "I'll need you to come to the station tomorrow, so you can record your testimony."

"I'll come," Rafael said without emotion.

Detective Martinez gave him one last silent look before turning away, joining the police officers at the car. Rafael found himself alone. Tiffany and Alice were looking after Ilona. He wanted to join them, but the mere memory of her injury made him shudder. Maybe it was for the best, he rationalized, he would have been in the way.

She shouldn't have followed me.

Why didn't she stay with the others?

He wanted to cry, but it would have been stupid to waste sap like that.

The tension in his body was subsiding. The stress of the fight, as well as the strain he had endured since his uncle's death, were dissipating. He had succeeded, he should have been happy with his victory, and proud of himself... why did he only feel emptiness inside?

His head was spinning. The ambulance had arrived in its turn, they were loading Ilona on a stretcher. Someone had torn off her petals, the poor flower was all withered.

His mother came to see him. She was trying to tell him something but he did not understand. To follow her? It was ridiculous, his roots were here, he couldn't move.

There was so much sun a moment ago, where did it go?

It's still winter. People should stop flapping around like that.

I need to sleep.

Rafael slowly fell forward. He saw his friend Jay rushing to catch him, and that was his last vision before he lost consciousness.