“Don’t listen to her,” Angela’s soul whispered to Simon. Simon had the unsettling feeling that Angela’s voice was growing fainter, as if she were drifting away…

“Don’t listen to her,” Blake said. “Whatever she says, the bitch is lying.”

“Do be quiet,” Lilith said, and Blake doubled over in pain, vomiting on the floor.

“Put the gun down,” Simon said, “and we’ll talk.”

Lilith casually discarded the gun. “Don’t be mistaken: the weapon was just a prop. I could explode this girl’s heart in an instant if you or your companions try anything.”

“We’re not going to do anything but listen to what you have to say, alright?”

“Finally, someone with some common sense. Great Cthulhu is out there, turning your world into ruins as my children slaughter everything in there path to reach me, and instead of stopping that, you idiots wish to engage me in fisticuffs. The human race grows dimmer by the decade.”

“But if we do what you ask, you can stop it? Cthulhu, too?”

“Of course. What I propose is simply this: a trade.”