Cal is evil and sadistic and monstrous, but he never frightened me the way Alek did. Alek was human enough and sympathetic enough to make his
sadism and insanity that much more horrifying. Maybe that disqualifies him from 'complete monster' status, as HG meant it, but to me it was Alek's humanity (and the fact that he actually, step by step, led my character into falling in love with him ...