Adele retires to her oratory intent on undoing the damage her vice has caused. She focuses on the most powerful spirit resonances first: faith and violent death. Scrying the violent death spirit, she finds it is actually a Geist in the form of a grim reaper wielding a desert eagle. It is stalking the tunnels beneath Chicago hunting vampires. Adele calls it to her and begins to prepare for its arrival. Before that however she quickly scries on the spirit of faith. The stain glassed figure is perched atop her neighborhood church guarding it and its surroundings. She decides to leave it alone for now.
Mammon meanwhile finishes with his Astral journey. He calls Vincent and tells him to set up a meeting for him with Apollo, planning to discuss the issues with Red Thunder. He also tells him to warn Pispirabout the coming Cryptology attacks. He then personally calls Decima to warn her as well. She thanks him but already seems aware of the danger.
As he plots his next move, Mammon receives a call from Nomos. It seems that the Guardians of the Veil feel they have enough evidence against Babbage to bring him before the Council. Mammon thanks him for the heads up and calls a sleepy Athaliah to let her know about the excitement coming in a week’s time. Deciding he needs more information going into the Council meeting, he calls Roach and asks if he can see the evidence. Roach says he needs to clear that and will get back to him.
With his meeting with Mr. Johnson in several hours, Mammon goes into Colt’s dreams to get him to watch the meeting from a distance in case things go bad. He finds his cabalmate in a dream-like Afghanistan fighting makeshift zombies. Mammon alters the dream to the more peaceful base camp and explains his plans. Colt has no issue with the request but admonishes the Mastigos for intruding into his dreams. Mammon sets a mental alarm clock for Colt which further irritates him.
As he finishes with that, Mammon feels the room chill and sees a towering skeletal figure appear in a nearby mirror. It drifts up to Adele’s oratory. The young mage binds it in place. As it look disdainfully at the binding, she interrogates it. The Geist is old and anchored all of North America. It feeds on the survivors of battle and hungrily eyes where Colt is slumbering. The time the survivors have “stolen” sustains it and vampires are very sustaining. Adele realizes it is natural and is not inclined to banish it to the Underworld. She wakes up Colt and commands the Geist not to attack him. With Colt’s help, she dispels the compulsion on the specter and it leaves. Her scrying reveals it hunting gang members in New York City.
Adele next scries the remaining spirits. The pair, a flaming woman and a dog made of concrete, are waiting outside the sanctum by Mammon’s car. Adele surmises that her vice intends the dog spirit to lead the fire spirit to a target, probably someone it thought Mammon would meet soon.
She tells Mammon, who in turn reveals his plans to meet with Mr. Johnson. He also reveals he intends to end the Seer’s interference permanently. Adele has qualms about killing someone and refuses to help, even indirectly. Colt comes down with his rifle for possible sniping. Mammon tries to convince Adele by explaining that Mr. Johnson wants to know why their cabal is protected, in other words, that Adele is Midas’s daughter. Adele however stands firm and calls off the spirit of fire. As Colt goes to leave, he talks briefly with Mammon about his Marine buddy who is town. He has a lot of demolition experience and Mammon suggests he can get him a job in construction.
Colt heads out for lunch with his friend. He meets Leroy at noon for steak. His friend is not doing well. He hasn’t slept in days and seems twitchy. Moreover, Colt can make out a black image of a ghost hovering over him. After some food and chatting, Leroy opens up about his experiences in Afghanistan, telling him of how he accidentally killed a young woman in a firefight. Colt can see that between his PTSD and the ghost’s nightmares, Leroy is falling apart.
Colt calls Adele and has her look at the ghost. The young mage offers to banish it to the Underworld but Colt wants to resolve things with it. He decides to take Leroy back to sanctum. He explains he has a friend, a medium, who can help him with the stuff that is bothering him. Leroy seems open to the possibility. At the sanctum, he has him hand over his dog tags (which Adele plans to tie to the ghost). As Colt leaves, Adele gets him to try to sleep while she transfers the ghost’s anchor.
Colt and Mammon head out to the meet location where Colt vanishes into the surroundings. Mammon heads inside the fancy restaurant. Mr. Johnson’s youthful puppet is there, waiting. As they eat, he repeats his offer to call off the attacks on Cryptologies. Mammon is able to extract his reasons and methods. Johnson wants Midas’s position and plans to take it by force. He thinks the cabal knows his weakness and that is why Midas is protecting them. As a tidbit, Mr. Johnson tells Mammon that the priests of the Pillars of Faith are being corrupted by Midas using visions of angels.
Mr. Johnson seems convinced that Midas is doomed. If he doesn’t profit by it, then the Exarch’s have foretold that Athaliah will kill him. As Mammon balks at aiding him, Johnson urges the Mastigos to consider his allies who will greatly suffer in the attacks. But Mammon refuses to help. He suddenly scries the true Mr. Johnson through the puppet’s mental link. He spots the feeble old man sitting in a darkened room holding a chalice.
Mr. Johnson strikes out with a blast of flame. As the flames rush over Mammon, he feels the connection severed. But not before he learns where the old man lives. The other customers shriek and rush away, already exclaiming about a flambe accident as Disbelief takes hold. Mammon attempts to mentally blast Mr. Johnson but encounters a ward as the mage retreats. He ignores the waiter apologizing as he dusts himself off. and transfers the sympathetic link from the now feeble minded puppet.
Mammon heads outside, looking for Colt. As he searches he calls Adele. He tells her to inform her father, Midas, about the coming power play. She in turn sends her familiar Merlin to set up a meeting.
Meanwhile in a park, Valkyrie has decided to take the opportunity to do some kendo training with her son. As they spar with practice swords, their skill attracts a few spectators. Then Valkyrie notices something in the sky above the park. At the intersection of two ley lines a gathering of angelic figures stand, just barely visible with her Prime sight. Their aura is heavenly, like that of the illusion of Colt she saw in the Astral. They seem to be conducting a ceremony and chanting but Valkyrie is unable to hear their voices. As they finish, the ley lines thicken and strengthen. A pulse of energy shoots out along the ley lines in all directions.
Just then she gets a call from Mammon. He and Colt are heading out to fight Mr. Johnson and could use some back up. Mammon gives her the address. She quickly takes her son back home and heads out to meet them.
The three soon gather outside Mr. Johnson’s mansion on the Gold Coast. Besides the two guards out front, the outer defenses consist of a low stone wall and a mental trip wire spell. Mammon alters the guards’ memories with some difficulty, convincing them that they work for him. They approach and after talking to them, the mages learn there are eight other guards at the house. Mammon mentally disguises himself as Mr. Johnson and leads his allies past the other guards. From their confusion, he learns his quarry is hiding downstairs.
On their way down the stairs, Colt notices that an “object” they are passing is animate and armed with a shotgun. As it attacks, the mages try to puzzle out what the thing is. To their eyes it looks like a human being and it reacts to their attacks as if the damage was causing it pain. But in their minds they can’t accept it as a person or even an animal. Mammon takes the brunt of its attacks but Valkyrie disarms it while Colt quickly disables it. As the thing lies on the ground, damaged and seeming to appear in pain, the mages grow to hate it. Only Mammon is fully immune, recognizing the effect isn’t natural but a part of whatever this being is. It is alive and its aura is like that of a sleepwalker. In the end Colt simply kills it.
They reach a final stout wooden door. Colt reaches forward and turns the handle. A powerful blast of electricity is triggered but his Magic Shield and Mage Armor absorb the damage. Entering the room they find Mr. Johnson with a man in a green suit. Johnson calls on the stranger to attack them but before he can react Colt shoots him and Mammon mentally commands him to attack Mr. Johnson. Unfortunately for all, he is not really there. He laughs and says he is “on it” to Mammon. Valkyrie rushes forward and disarms Mr. Johnson, depriving him of his cane and magical tool. The angry Seer recklessly hurls fire at her but only succeeds at igniting the ceiling. Again and again he attacks as the cabal slowly knocks him unconscious. Colt is moderately harmed by lightning and paradox shorts out the electrical system. In the darkened room lit only by burning furniture, the man in green announces it is time to leave and vanishes laughing.
Upstairs his minions have finished soaking the house in gasoline and setting explosives. With a loud roar, the house goes up in flames. Valkyrie is able to dodge the blast and falling debris but Mammon is hit by a falling beam. He soon teleports out from under it but Colt is still pinned having thrown himself on top of Mr. Johnson, saving him. Valkyrie dampens the flames and Mammon lifts the wreckage with a mighty heave. They quickly escape the burning structure with their captive.