Morgan stopped smiling. The intensity in Bugenhagen's face suddenly frightened him. This was no doddering old fool; this was his mentor, the man who had taught him everything he knew. 'Carl,' he began again, more softly this time, not quite knowing what he was going to say next. 'I'm an archaeologist, not a religious fanatic.'

Bugenhagen persisted. 'Whereof ye have heard that he should come...' But then he couldn't remember the rest. He was so tired. He hadn't slept in days. He'd been afraid to. And now his memory was starting to fail him.

Morgan glanced at Joan, but saw instantly that he would get no help from her. She was absolutely mesmerized by Bugenhagen's performance. He shook his head and turned back to Bugenhagen. 'What are the facts, Carl?'

Bugenhagen lifted his head. 'A week ago,' he said, 'his father tried to kill him. On the altar of All Saints Church in London. He tried to drive some daggers through the boy's heart.'

Joan shuddered with morbid excitement. Morgan reached for his drink as he glanced through the newspaper clippings again. There's one minor detail these papers seem to have omitted,' he said.

Bugenhagen took a deep breath, then said, 'I gave him the daggers myself. My friend Father James was there at All Saints and witnessed the whole thing. He made a special call to tell me what happened. He recognized the ancient daggers and persuaded the American Embassy to retrieve them from the police for return to me.'

In the long silence that followed, Morgan just stared at him, his drink forgotten halfway to his mouth. Joan's gaze was riveted on him. Bugenhagen knew he had their attention now, and he went on, speaking forcefully and rapidly, trying to get it all in while the shock of his statement still had them trapped.

The Ambassador's name was Robert Thorn,' he said. 'When his wife lost a baby in a hospital in Rome, he took a newborn child at the urging of a man who was posing as a priest, but who was, in fact, an Apostle of the Beast. Thorn gave the child to his wife before she knew her own had died, leading her to believe it was her own. They loved the child and brought it up in London—not knowing it was born of a jackal!' Bugenhagen paused to swallow before going on. 'Soon it began to destroy all those who awakened to its true nature, and Thorn came to me for help. I listened to his story and knew instantly that he spoke the truth, for I had long been receiving signs that I would one day be the one who would have to act. I gave Thorn the seven ancient daggers that are the necessary weapons to drive through the Devil's heart. By then, Thorn's wife was dead, as were two other poor souls who had learned the truth.' Bugenhagen bowed his head. 'Before Thorn could pierce the foul heart of his Devil-son, the police killed him, thinking he was mad from grief following the death of his wife!' Bugenhagen then paused to point to the photograph again. This was the one thing he wanted Morgan to comprehend and to act upon: ‘The child still lives!'