The Collector

Morgan's client is a formerly rich CEO that swindled millions from investors; to escape the consequences he made a deal to become a cowboy in the Old West of his childhood fantasies, to which Morgan is transported after getting the client's name. But Morgan discovers this isn't the real Old West, but a fantasy world constructed by the Devil

Morgan's client is a UFO buff obsessed with alien visitations to earth; so obsessed, in fact, that he willingly sold his soul for proof that aliens exist, and believes he's received. Unfortunately, in trying to get the client to seek redemption, Morgan is wounded.

A young First Nations woman turns out to have sold her soul for a dreamcatcher that would stop the horrific nightmares that had driven to the brink of suicide. Morgan realizes that the client will ultimately have to confront and conquer the demon of her dreams, in order to save the tribe that has suffered for her deal.

Morgan's client is a night shift pharmacist who sold her soul to be cured of the cancer that was about to kill her. But the Devil did something odd in saving her; he gave her a whole jar full of cancer-curing powder, when she only needed a teaspoon to cure herself. Over the years, the client has secretly cured others using the powder in the jar, but investigation reveals a darker secret.

Morgan's client is a tattoo artist who remembers making a deal 10 years earlier...but doesn't remember why. Through investigation, they discover that the client essentially bargained for amnesia: for a way to make himself, and everyone else, forget a heinous crime he'd committed.

Morgan's client sold his soul to be the most successful standup comedian in the world. However, for all his success, the client turns out to be remarkably bitter, because of his realization after a couple of years of the deal that people will laugh at anything he says, regardless of whether it's funny or nor, regardless of whether they even speak English!

Morgan initially suspects his client of being a young, handsome, charming politician who seems to be on a straight course to the job of Prime Minister, but discovers that the deal was actually made by the power behind the throne: the candidate's campaign manager, a sharp, smart woman with a mysterious agenda aimed at punishing the poor.

Morgan's client is a woman who sold her soul to be the perfect mother after growing up with family violence. Since then she has been an extraordinary parent, and raised a fine son whom she adores more than anything on earth -- but now she's faced with the ultimate irony: the bad luck from her deal is her son's underlying fear that she will abandon him.

Morgan is stumped when he researches his client's name and finds out that she died ten years earlier. The mystery is resolved when he meets another woman, a tour guide for a bus tour of Vancouver murder sites: it turns out his woman is the not-quite-departed soul of his client, inside of a new body manufactured by the Devil.

Morgan's client is a nobody, working in the bowels of the Vancouver Star as a copy editor, which leaves Morgan puzzled as to what he could have bargained for. Turns out the client grew up addicted to comic books, and sold his soul for Superman-like superpowers, so he could fly off and do good. The only problem was, every time he tried to save someone, his efforts seemed to make matters worse.

In London, August 1888 Morgan's is next client is Jack the Ripper. Morgan pursues the Ripper through the streets of London as the Ripper - now in his final days. Kills the last few prostitutes of his career, but events take a darker turn when Morgan becomes involved with one of the prostitutes who is apparently on the Ripper's shopping list.

Morgan tries contacting his client, a history professor, but finds she mysteriously disappeared that morning. Upon trying to contact her, Morgan finds himself in the Mauthausen concentration camp in 1945. It turns out his client made her deal to find information that would exonerate her beloved father, a camp survivor who had just been accused of collaborating with the Nazis.

"Beginnings" juxtaposes two stories: the Devil's initial training of Morgan as the first collector, and Morgan's memories of the beginning of his 10 years with Katrina. In this way we show the memories, both tender and troubling, that maintain Morgan's humanity even after Katrina's death, and the Devil's nearly-successful first strike in snuffing out that humanity completely.