Calum shook his head. "I'm sorry it has to be this way. Sometimes, even my ambition gets the best of me, I admit. And if you do try to... exorcise me, as it were, I will kill him and anybody I can take with me." He lowered his head slightly, and the shadows rose up higher, as if ready to spring forward. "Forgive me for my callousness in using this leverage, but I will finish my work regardless of the consequences."

His eyes grew colder as he stepped away from Song. "And I would appreciate if neither of you said a word of this to any of your allies. I believe you have enough problems to deal with, and I would much rather be left alone with this." He reached up to reclasp the talisman around his neck, and as he did so, the black fog rolled foward around the room's occupants, cold as ice and just as numbing. "Not that I expect that you won't."