Excerpt: Philomena Must Die

If my description is imprecise please remember that it has been many years since I stood in that old church above the Piazza di Spagna. In the dim light I could barely make out the figure standing on the edge of the balustrade. At first I thought it was a gargoyle but then it leapt from its perch soared straight at me. Just when I thought the fiend would crash into me and the tile he stopped and hovered just over my head. The smell of incense was shrouded then by another smell. An unthinkable stench. I was overcome by nausea. At that moment I don’t think I experienced terror... At that moment I felt only bewilderment. The terror would come later.