That little display did answer some things straight away--like how he should have taken his other self's words more seriously when it came to the indirect/direct business. Of course, he was never going to tell him this or else he'd never hear the end of it. Personal pride aside, he had wondered whether that remark about Death in Oliver's letter from Shay held any credence, and with the talk abut Famine and Pestilence, he was beginning to believe it was true in some way. But was it the one he had been familiar with earlier in his life? Were the other two going to accompany Death soon? He couldn't help noticing that in all the talk here, that War hadn't been mentioned. Hmmm.

"Oh, I'm clever enough," he said in a low voice, his arms folded over his chest. He knew he couldn't save those people, even if one was a vampire, and it took everything he had not to rein in his anger with that failure danced in front of his face yet again. "So clever even I surprise myself sometimes.

"I have a feeling about who has charged you with these fights, and I'm betting it isn't Death. I'm betting your Death, unlike the one I knew, just might put a stop to this if certain conditions were allowed and considering you're all such a tricky lot, I'm betting there is something in place--which leads me to suspect the fourth one in that bunch of horse-lovers is involved or is the head honcho. Who can resist battles such as these? Especially ones where innocents and pacifists die."

It was a wild observation, of course, but he couldn't readily dismiss that line of questioning either. If he could figure out who was behind it...