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No, the Antichrist is part human. He can't be in two places on Earth at the same time. It's a stretch of Catholic beliefs that the AC is even part demon. He also can't grow 10 cm. The reason for multiple murders is that the AC is trying to seize the Church from within by replacing existing clergy with loyal followers. I also think there's more tension and urgency with multiple murders.

Connor is definitely stuck in the Holy Land while the remaining murders are committed in Rome. The problem I have is the False Prophet has many powers similar to the Antichrist, so it's possible that he's the one who'll attack Connor in the Holy Land while the AC continues his business in Rome. I had hoped not to bring the False Prophet into the story until book two, but I can't think of a way to rule him out as a suspect in the reader's mind.

It looks great, Bobbie. Congratulations. You've had an interesting career.

Perhaps also make Campagna an alcoholic. After all, it was her getting totally wasted that made it possible for someone to rape her. The rape and kidnapped child would make her turn even more to the bottle.

Well, shit. I went back and reread much of this thread for past ideas on how I had considered handling the cardinal killings/suicides to see if I can improve the detective half of this story. Not nearly enough tension at present to keep me interested. Turns out I already pretty much considered half a dozen ways of doing things, which resulted in numerous versions of scene 1.2 (first cardinal meets the Antichrist). The current approach evolved from the other five I punted. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

One new option is to pose all of the dead cardinals crucifixion-style, hanging from high on a wall. Cardinal Vitale would be nailed above the high altar. Maybe they even died from being crucified? Lets face it, these cardinals are not in great health to begin with. Death by crucifixion is probably the only violent form of death that Catholic readers might tolerate. It begs the question, though, how the Antichrist got the cardinals up high on a wall by himself. He's very powerful, but nailing someone against a high wall probably requires more than one killer, and I don't want to introduce more demons if I can avoid it. The focus should be on the AC.

I also still have the option of having them die of sheer terror. That was an option I considered at one point. Not sure how to build on that, though.

Manner of death only buys me maybe 5% more tension. It's the slow pace of the investigation that's killing me. Problem is, if the killings pile up quickly, then all of Rome will know about it and a huge police task force would be set up to investigate the deaths. I don't have enough info on Italian police procedures to do the task force, unless I use the idea of a special dedicated tactical team from the outset (i.e., made up any way I like). Kind of like Men in Black, minus the humor.

Having taken a much-needed break from Saving Connor for the Dune story, I realize the problem is I'm bored with the detective half of my story. There are three more cardinals to kill, and other than manner of death, it'll be more of the same dreary detective work. Clues, false leads, interrogations, etc. There's nothing to keep it fresh. I was planning to form a special tactical unit in act 2 led by the inspectors to focus specifically on hunting for the Antichrist, which would include chase scenes, explosions, gun battles, etc. I'm trying to decide if I can pull the tactical unit right up to the beginning of the story and have the inspectors and the Church already in the process of hunting for the Antichrist based on a rapidly increasing number of deaths among the clergy over a period of years. That would break a *lot* of stuff, though.

I put up a piece of Dune fan fiction under short stories for those interested. I needed the break from my own universe.

Question. I'm getting ready to write the second murder, but there isn't much left to write about the dark figure that I didn't already include in my recently expanded chapter two. I knew that while I was rewriting it. My thought was that the remaining three murders would go something like this:

The brief dialogue is identical to that in chapter two, except he has a different answer each time he's asked who he is (in chapter two, he said, "Mother Teresa.").

Basically, the rest is left up to the imagination and, if important, will be unearthed (pardon the pun) by the detectives. It avoids repeating the whole spiel about him being the Antichrist, torturing the victim into committing suicide, etc. The second victim will hang himself. He won't be found buried.

Thoughts?
Dirk

I'll send you to fight it out with the point of view police the next time it comes up.

Hmm. I begin to remember why Paul of Dune wasn't a great story. It's set a year after the events of Dune end and has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the authors try to pull in material from the three House prequels, which I didn't enjoy. A lot of characters I didn't care for are reappearing, only older.

However, the story is much more understandable. The elder Herbert had a lot to say on ecology, religion, psychology, and politics, but I found some of it hard to interpret, even in my most recent reread. Paul of Dune is much clearer in that regard.

One scene in the latter where the authors missed the boat was when Emperor Paul Maud'dib addresses many great houses of the Landsraad on the old imperial home world of Kaitain.  The scene was way too short. That should have been a major chapter about Paul trying to win over the great houses to end his jihad as quickly as possible.

Ah, well. The sooner I get through it, the sooner I can start Dune Messiah and return to my half-confused state.

Yup. My thanks to all for an interesting discussion.

I fixed it by having the dark figure identify himself as the Antichrist, which I didn't do until yesterday. I went back and forth about whether to do that so early in the story, but it's no secret that the Church will come to believe they and Connor are being stalked by him (it's in the book summary). I figure get him in there right from the get-go.