Page 300 of Oracle Returns: Time will Stop

“We have to find a way to stop this,” Booth stated.

On that, they agreed.

Bishop was about to share what she and Honor had found, but Raven spoke first.

“I have a question.”

Avalon opened her white eyes and focused on the man not far away.

“Yes?”

He was trying to find a way to trace that energy that had slammed into the building. He could feel it, since the spell had been his.

It left a lingering trace of…evil.

“We’re all thinking this evil is powerful alone. Is it?”

She shook her head.

“No, he gives it the ability to keep growing. Without him, it’s just an elemental wanting to be worshiped.”

Tapping his fingers, he thought about what he wanted to ask. He knew it wasn’t going to be well received, but he was no one’s judge, jury, or executioner.

“Can we pull the soul of this person away from the entity? And save him too?”

Avalon shook her head.

“No, we can’t. It has fully engulfed the person, and his soul is already taken. He gave himself over to this. By now, that soul is completely gone. Thus, the psychic vampire. He’s hollow. All that fills him is this entity. If we take away the shell, the entity has no way of continuing—unless there is a host already picked.”

Honor looked twitchy.

“I don’t like any of this. Not. At. All.”

Well, join the club on that one. No one here was feeling it, truthfully.

“So, he just has to die?” Raven asked.

It was more complicated than that.

Oracle knew what had to happen. When the host died, she had to lock the darkness away. That would take perfect timing, or it would be free here.

“In a way. I have to do some things in the static to ensure it stays there.”

Only, she didn’t tell them how it needed to be done. That was her duty, and hers alone. There would need to be a sacrifice.

And that was likely her.

He kept asking questions.

“Does this thing have to feed to get strong, and then if it doesn’t get its prey, does it weaken? Tell us about the psychic vampire, and how to stop him.”

Well, that she could do.

“He would need to absorb souls to get strong, especially if he was going after something MUCH stronger than he is. Think of it as feeding. You can stuff yourself, but then, the next day, you can be hungry again. It’s a non-stop cycle, and that’s why the souls were in that darkness. Think of it as his ‘stomach’. We got them out just in time.”

That posed another question.

“And the ones that were still in there?” Tori asked.