Ethan and Hecate, Sir Malcolm and Kaetenay, and Rusk and the rangers all continue the trek across the western landscape. Frankenstein and Jekyll test their modified serum on their subject with miraculous results. Hecate encourages Ethan to embrace his dark side; they also reveal secrets to one another, bringing them closer. With Ethan's agreement, she summons rattlesnakes to kill the rangers; Rusk and the head ranger survive although Kaetenay is bitten. Ethan appears to accept his darkness more and more, and makes love to Hecate. In the desert, Ethan's horse collapses, then later Hecate's, forcing them to continue on foot. Hecate later collapses from the heat and is barely alive when Sir Malcolm arrives with Kaetenay, also barely alive. Sir Malcolm attempts to murder Hecate, but Ethan won't allow it. Riders summoned by Ethan's father, Jared Talbot, arrive and take them to the household, leaving Kaetenay to die at the request of Ethan; Sir Malcolm is unhappy with this. Talbot requests Sir Malcolm's assistance in dealing with Ethan. He shows Ethan the room where their family died at the hands of Native Americans, saying that he will pay for his hand in it, aiming his pistol at him, and demanding he repent then and there on pain of death and damnation.
Tropes:
- The Atoner: Ethan had become this due to his guilt of having killed Apaches. Since then, he has...changed.
- Blood Magic: Hecate uses some of Ethan's blood for her summoning spell.
- Cliffhanger: Talbot is ready to shoot Ethan, who refuses to repent for his actions.
- Cruel Mercy: Kaetenay thought it would be crueler to let Ethan live with his guilt than to kill him as he begged for.
- Forced to Watch: Talbot, Ethan's father, was forced to watch as the Apaches brutally tortured and slaughtered his family.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Hinted by Kaetenay about his tribe fighting the US army. Talbot's description of his family's slaughter at their hands confirms it.
- Implacable Man: Rusk's hand was badly injured during an ambush. He chased him all the way to Cape Town. THEN he reported to the infirmary.
- Oh, Crap!: Kaetenay as he realises there's a rattlesnake just in front of him. And the entire group that was chasing Ethan when they awake to see several such snakes around them.
- Pet the Dog: Ethan is surprised that Hecate is friendly to horses. She replies that it's humans she doesn't like.
- Precision F-Strike: Upon seeing Sir Malcolm, Ethan's first words are "What the fuck are you doing here?"
- Snakes Are Sinister: Hecate summons a swarm of rattlesnakes to attack her and Ethan's persecutors.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: Said by Ethan to Hecate
