"Remorse or desperation, maybe..." Liam laughed, but there was no humor or joy in the sound, just a weariness that had taken up residence in the hole that his own soul had left when it had been bartered away, when he'd been a child, when he hadn't known better.

He knew better now.

"I... I am remorseful. I hate all of it. Every time, I do it, I hate it more. But I know I will do it again. The only thing that will break this pattern is my own death, I think." And that was the one thing that he did pray for, when he was desperate enough to pray. He couldn't simple stop what he was doing. The demon would dissolve the contract if he did. Patrick's life would be over. He couldn't do that. But if Liam were stopped, if he were killed, then really it wouldn't be his own doing, just a consequence of the business. Patrick could live his life and the world would be a better place without him and his sins in it.

A soft sigh, so tired, as if the air itself was too heavy to breathe, pressing down on him beyond what gravity could possibly be blamed for. "You're not Father Mullin." A topic change. "I didn't know this parish had more than one priest."