Chapter 5: Shadows in the Morning Light

“Kill the demon, the girl dies too.”

“Hm. Do you drink?” I offered a cup to Miles.

“Damn you…” The preacher muttered a prayer under his breath to calm down. “No, thank you.”

I picked up the cup and downed it. “I thought wandering preachers didn’t care about such things. Don’t you have a saying, ‘Wine and meat pass through the mouth, but the Lord knows the heart’?”

“There’s more to it: ‘If people imitate me, it’s the devil’s path.’”

I poured myself another cup. “The devil’s path isn’t so bad.”

“So you keep a ghost?”

My fingers stopped on the cup. I stared at Miles, a faint warning in my eyes.

If this preacher wanted to send Allie on, I’d fight to the end and drag him to hell with me.

The rosary in Miles’s hand glowed with warm light, so bright I could barely keep my eyes open.

The darkness in my wrist vanished in the light. Blood poured out.

I didn’t care about the bleeding. Instead, I watched the holy form flicker behind Miles. “What, want to fight?”

“I can see you’re not a bad person, but keeping a ghost is not a good thing.”

“Whether it’s good or bad, what business is it of yours?”

He’d already cultivated a holy form. Not to mention now—even at my peak I wouldn’t be his match.

But sitting and waiting to die isn’t my style. Even if I die, I’ll bite you once.

The flask shook. Allie wanted out.

I couldn’t let her out. If she came out, she’d be done for. I could only hold Miles back with my life, letting her escape first.

This woman suffered in life—she can’t be destroyed as a ghost too.

Miles reached behind him. I wasn’t sure what tool he’d take out.

It was a cloth bag. He calmly spread it on the table—inside were silver needles, fine thread, and several packets of medicine.

Medicine?

“Sealing the wound with dark energy has too many side effects. I know medicine. Let me stop the bleeding.”

I have to say, Miles the preacher is truly impressive.

With two stitches, the bleeding stopped.

He stitched me up, dusted on some powder, wrapped it tight. Done in five minutes flat.

There was no pain at all, smooth as flowing water.

I smacked my lips. “Thanks!”

“No need to be polite, friend.”

He headed for the door, then paused. “But that ghost you keep…”

“Don’t even think about sending Allie on. You don’t know her story. As long as I’m here, she can’t do harm. If you want to send her on, wait till I’m gone.”

Miles nodded and left.

That night, I had a dream. The room felt cold, the air heavy with old incense and the memory of my mentor’s voice.

I dreamed of my mentor.

I asked him why he stripped me of my power.

He didn’t answer, but asked what I thought of Miles.

I thought about it. “He’s a good person.”

“Then if he tries to send Allie on, what then?”

“Then he’s my enemy.”

“Yes. In the past, weren’t we also considered enemies by some people?”

My mentor’s figure faded, and I woke up.

Yes, my mentor spent his life banishing ghosts, but in the end, he drew a storm and died under lightning—not the fate of a good person.

And Allie—she was wronged and died, and her only thought after death was revenge. If I still had my power, I would’ve destroyed her—would that make me a bad person?

Maybe that’s why my mentor took my power. He didn’t want me ending up like him.

First thing I saw when I went out was Miles.

“Eat?” he asked. “Nope.” I grabbed the whiskey, took two big swigs.

“You, as an exorcist, don’t seem like one.”

“My mentor was like this. He loved whiskey most when he was alive. After he died, I became like this too.”

“Having an open mind is also a good thing.”

Miles and I headed down the mountain to check on Emily Carson.

At first it was silent, then we started chatting.

“Preacher, why did you become a preacher?”

“No reason. If there is a reason, then one is attached to form.”

Didn’t really get it. Preachers—always talking in riddles.

“Then what’s your future wish?”

“Naturally, to help others and find peace.”

“How do you preachers help others?”

“Deliver people, deliver oneself, deliver spirits.”

“That’s similar to us exorcists.” I suddenly thought of my mentor. “If a ghost has a grievance and is taking revenge, would you deliver it?”

“I would.”

“Doesn’t that let evil people go unpunished?”

“Evil people will have their reckoning. If there is cause, there will be effect. It’s just that, I’m not the reckoning for evil people—the Lord is.”

“Hm, makes sense, but man, I don’t get it.”

Miles shook his head, not wanting to discuss further.

The two of us reached the center of town. Early risers among the townsfolk were already busy with daily chores.

“Morning, gentlemen.”

“Morning.” I smiled at the townsfolk. “What the—?!”

My mind went blank for a moment.

Wherever I looked, all the busy townsfolk had shadows.

“Preacher, did you notice?”

“I did.”

“And you’re not surprised?”

“I came earlier than you, noticed long ago, but haven’t figured out the reason.”

The air between us felt charged, as if the town itself was holding a secret just out of reach. The morning sunlight seemed brighter than ever, casting sharp, defined shadows on the ground—shadows that shouldn’t have been there. For a moment, I wondered if I was the only one who remembered what the night before had really looked like.