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Hector touched his chin as he considered the man's words. "If the monster is territorial, then shouldn't it be relatively simple to avoid more casualties?"

"By closing off its territory to the public, yes," said Stoutamire. "We tried that. It seemed to work for a time, but the damned thing keeps getting around our barricades. Or breaking through them, in some cases."

"Does this creature have a name? And what does it look like?"

"At this point, it has acquired several names. The Beast of Lorent is unfortunately becoming the most popular, I fear. As for its appearance, the rarity of living witnesses makes describing it difficult. However, before you ask: we do indeed have confirmation it is a monster and not... ah, one of your kind."

Hector knew perfectly well what he meant, but he couldn't help wanting to press him a bit on that. "My kind?"

"A human with supernatural abilities," said Stoutamire.

Hmm. Not using the term servant or mentioning reapers. As Hector expected.

"I... hope I have not caused offense," said the ambassador. "That was not my intention."

At that, Hector cracked a slight smile. "You didn't. I appreciate your concern, though. More importantly, how were you able to confirm that it's a monster?"

"A couple witnesses yet live who saw the creature from afar. But primarily, it is satellite imagery that we have to thank." The man reached into a briefcase that had been on the floor this whole time and pulled out a small stack of photographs. He handed them to Hector for inspection.

They weren't the clearest things in the world, but he could make out the gist. One was of a sprawling forest, viewed from above. Another, a small town. Then, a field of some kind.

And at the center of each shot was a dark blot. At first, it didn't really look like much, probably because of the angle, but as Hector compared it against the other objects in the photographs...

It was gigantic.