The Preacher's Blood

Hollow's Creek is a town withering on the vine, dust-choked, drought-broken, and slowly emptying as its people drift away in search of better lives. Into this cracked and thirsty place rides a pale stranger, gaunt and silver-tongued, whose sermons bring the desperate flocking back to the chapel pews. Cassius Carrick, the town's own weary preacher, watches uneasily as Father Maron, Mayor Aldric Vane, and old Nettie Boyd fall under the newcomer's spell, and as the Vanishing Townsfolk begin to disappear in the night, leaving only their possessions behind. Guided by the ravings of Old Hettie and the bloodstained journal of his own brother, Ezekiel Carrick, Cassius uncovers a horrifying truth: the Pale Stranger is not a stranger at all, but Josiah Carrick, the brother the town believes dead. As the Pale Hymn Cultists multiply and the Hollow Townsfolk rise in his wake, a letter from a mysterious Eastern Stranger arrives with one final warning. With the devil wearing his own brother's face, Cassius must choose between saving his soul or saving what remains of Hollow's Creek.