« The Five Faces » Frank Tuttle

Rannit’s crime bosses are falling, each slain by an unstoppable killer who taunts each victim with a drawing depicting the date, time, and grisly manner of every death. The only clues to the killer’s identity are the five crude faces drawn at the bottom of each death notice. Even warned, no one escapes, no one survives.

Hired by House Avalante to find the killer, Markhat suspects sorcery is afoot. When the ranks of the slain come to include judges and even members of the Dark Houses, Markhat finds evidence that the murderer is no mere mortal, but a godlet determined to grow to maturity after millennia of lurking underground.

When Markhat receives his own death–drawing, he takes a perilous plunge outside Time itself. He then discovers he must find a way to cheat death — or lose Darla and everything else he loves to the ravenous maw of a horror from Rannit’s prehistoric past.