[ WP ] You feel a slight tug on your pants , and turn to see a terrified pickpocket , trying desperately to return what he just stole .

As I turned to watch I grinned slightly. Finally after all these years the voice was gone. I could n't ever give it away. It had to be taken. Finally after years of waiting, decades even, this street urchin had done it. I was free of her. The gleaming silver coin belonged to someone else. As the demon took him I could see the fear. I stepped back just slightly as it dawned on the fool what was happening, he lost his own free will and stopped thrusting the coin back at me. This child, unkempt, dirty, had a fire behind those green eyes. 
 
 In my own jubilation at being free I just hoped this new player could control the demon's thirst for riches as well as I had. If not, well, then Judas' coin had found another victim. No telling how much damage it would do with this vessel. 
 
 Those green eyes blinked. They looked up at me. They questioned for answers I could not give. 
 
 `` Your on your own kid, just do n't listen to her voice and you'll be all right.'' 
 
 Those were my first words in thousands of years. All that time with her voice in my head, I did n't age. I did n't die. I did n't dare speak. I had sat on this same corner. A leper, a pariah, a bum, the labels I had worn, the signs I had held. forcing the demon to live on charity. Denying her an outlet for the hunger, the greed. I would n't let her smooth words corrupt the few people who were good enough to take pity on me. 
 
 Those were also supposed to be my last words. I slipped the small revolver from my pocket. The demon kept it's host alive indefinitely. I was n't the host anymore. I was free. Free to leave on my terms. 
 
 I checked the chamber. One last round! I slid the old weather beaten piece into my mouth. My finger tensed. 
 
 The Light. 
 
 The golden sphere slid into me. And dammit another voice in my head. I was so close. I was almost there. This one perhaps smoother than hers. 
 
 `` Not yet. Not like this. You Alexander, who have held the demon at bay for so many years, we have need of you yet.'' 
 
 

