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She exhaled i I happened to meet Mary and so Sean?"

He was still staring at her Suspiciously She returned the glare "Well?"

He lifted his hands "It&039;s what I do"

"What do you an beliefs, cults and so on The proble like that is when people become fanatics I&039;m sure you surely know that yourself Mix up a few voodoo love spells and it&039;s fun Become convinced you&039;re the servant of soet Since my field is ancient beliefs, I&039;ve been involved in a few investigations where fanatics have taken sootten hurt Since I&039; here, I went and visited Sean"

She felt as if a frown had become permanently furrowed into her forehead

"The road," he warned

She realized she had been staring at hi

She felt her pulse pounding at her teth and size, of the man at her side

She felt as if she would be happy if there were a ten-foot wall of concrete between them And at the sahteningly attractive Entirely sensually, sexually attractive He could walk into a rooet all sense of respectability and just wonder what it would be like if

There was a whisper of so in the way hethat coave herself a shake He was dangerous, she decided, if only to her peace of mind The concrete as exactly what she needed

At the station, they had to wait an uncomfortable amount of time The two assailants had to be booked before she and Bryan could give their statements

As soon as he was finished, Bryan MacAllistair hurried out

Sean Canady stood with Jessica at the door as he left MacAllistair didn&039;t look back, but Jessica was certain he knew they atching him

"He was in Romania," she said

"And all over Europe when parties like that one took place," Sean said

"And he was there tonight, when I was attacked," Jessica went on

"Right"

"It&039;s awfully coincidental," she pressed

Sean turned and studied her Then he said softly, "The sa at him, but before she could speak, she was startled by so up behind her She whirled, instantly alarmed, then let out a breath of relief

It was just Bobby Munro

"Jessica, word got around You were attacked? Are you all right?" he asked anxiously, taking her into his ar

"I&039; a little abashed "Sorry, Lieutenant Canady I just heard what happened"

"It&039;s all right, Bobby," Sean assured hiain "You&039;re sure?"

"Bobby, I&039;m fine"

"Professor MacAllistair hs are pretty darinning as he caught Jessica&039;s glance, "that our Ms Fraser is not a most capable woman"

"Yeah, but those twothey were detained just a few days ago," Bobby said

"Oh?" Jessica said, startled

"Cal Hodges and Niles Goolighan We couldn&039;t hold theht theht theyaround"

"That was these two?" Sean said frowning

"Yes They were in a lineup, but the nurse couldn&039;t o They had a lawyer in here screa out this tiotta get going I have a side job tonight" He flushed "I&039;ve been taking a bunch of theht, isn&039;t it?" he asked Sean

"Yeah Sure"

"Well, Jessica, I just wanted to ht"

"Night," Sean and Jessica chorused

When he was gone, Seanaround the hospital before"

"Could they have beenafter Mary?" Jessica wondered aloud "That can&039;t be They&039;re just a pair of idiots"

"You need to be careful," he said simply

"Sean, I aasped suddenly

"What?" Sean asked

"I thinkhow stupid of me," she ain in exasperation

"I&039;ve seen one of them before In fact, I&039;ve more than seen him"

"Which one? Where? And what do you o There was a synize hirown his hairbut I wound up talking to him at one point"

"What was the symposium about?"

"Occultism in New Orleans Cal was there I&039; to realize why he looked familiar"

"You meet tons of people"

She shook her head "No, you don&039;t understand I did more than just talk to him He made it clear he didn&039;t want to talk to a wo hiue, Dr Darnell But in our conversation, he told me that his folks were dead, and he was saddled with a little sister Sean, I called social services about the situation They took the sister away"

"You think he attacked you because of that?"

"No, that&039;s the weird thing He was grateful she was taken away She went to live in the Midith an aunt, and I guess she&039;s "

"You were attacked Of course it&039;s disturbing"

"Look, in Transylvania, I knew the kids involved Now I&039;ve been attacked and I know one of ood kid, so thisdoesn&039;t make any sense"

"Jessica, you can&039;t save the entire world Cal and Niles are punks So you can do I don&039;t think you should be worried that every bad thing that happens centers around you"

"I don&039;t think that"

"The fact that you knew one of the kids who attacked you is probably just a coincidence"

"Probably Butwhat if thereis a connection? Sean, do you have son to the hospital? Men to watch over Mary?"

"You ht have been after Mary? That&039;s a little far-fetched, don&039;t you think?"

"Nothing is too far-fetched"

"These till go to jail and stay there," Sean assured her

"What if they get out on bail?"

"I&039;ll get the DA&039;s office to see that they don&039;t," he pro been there in Ro this bad would happen here It never occurred tolike that would follow us back here to New Orleans But now, as bizarre as it seems, I do think that New Orleans is slated for"

"For what? Jessica, what&039;s going on here? What are you thinking?"

"I&039;htened for Mary I should have been froht she&039;d be okay, that it was over, that we&039;d come hoht have moved on to my own home I should have been concerned from the second I returned"

"You sound as if you&039;re bla yourself"

"Well"

"Okay, we need to see to it that Mary is guarded Help est I tellout for?" He shook his head "I&039;ll definitely have to hire off-duty guys I won&039;t be able to explain this one to the city I take it you want soht away?"

"Yes"

"Too bad Bobby already has a gig tonight," Sean ood cops"

"Yeah, I know Give me a few minutes"

Sean went back inside Jessica waited

When he returned he said, "I&039;ll have a guy over there within the half hour"

"That long?"

"To drive over, park, get to the floor?" he said, staring at her "Twenty to thirty uys are only human"

"Maybe I should head back over myself?"

"An officer will be there just as quickly as you can get there"

She sighed "I guess you&039;re right"

"So what&039;s wrong?"

"I just should have thought of it before," she rimaced at Sean "Soshould we head over to his lecture?"

Jeremy had been awakened several times The nurses had been in and out

Mary&039;s folks had been and gone, her father insisting her mother had to spend time with the rest of the family, too

The doctor had been in, and the news had been encouraging

Mary was holding her own Even though the doctors couldn&039;t understand why her blood platelet count wasn&039;t co there

Jereh everyone seemed to think she was out of the woods His mind was in such turmoil that he kneouldn&039;t be able to sleep, anyway

He would just keep waking up, thinking he should be here

So he watched reruns on TNT He talked to Mary now and then, and made himself comfortable on the visitor&039;s chair He&039;d already drifted in and out of sleep several tiht it

Sleeping brought on dreams

And the dreams were always the same

He was back in the old ruined castle in Transylvania Watching, paralyzed, forced to see the scene replay over and over again, except in his drea on the hospital television set

Mary was there, but not in the bed, on the screen She ake and s her hair, herthat sowas in the roo that sat on his chest, stealing his breath, stealing his resolve, his thoughtshis humanity Whatever had entered the room wasevil

But Mary welcomed the presence She turned, as sensual as a cat, eyes hooded, wicked, waiting She longed for the touch of darkness The breeze caossaown drifted low

She ripped the cross froled to awaken, to stop her

The shadowher She lifted her chin, rapture in her eyes She waited

No, no, no, it was a drea hione to static

He jerked his head around Mary was still in her hospital bed He looked across the roo a cool breeze, as if the s had been opened

A chill had entered the roo

This was a different kind of chill

But no ere open They were sealed shut, he re

He realized then that the door to the hallas ajar

He looked at Mary Her eyes were opened, but she was staring straight ahead, as she always see was different

His blood turned to ice as he realized what had changed

Mary was s her hand She didn&039;t protest; she just kept sht," he assured her

It was then that he noticed her silver cross, the chain broken, lying on the floor A tap at the doorthere "Hey, son, I just wanted you to know I&039;," the uy

With a heavy silver cross only half-hidden beneath his uniform

Jeremy nodded "Thanks, but why are you here?"

"Lieutenant said his friend, soist, orried about you all So I&039; to be okay"

"Sure"

Jereoing to be okay, that in fact it had already gone straight to hell

And Mary just kept s