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But what about my unconscious powers? Those I used on an alet information from suspects But they also impacted every situation I ran across that involved other people I couldn’t be separated froe sexy wo me that touch of other It was built intowith that part of the succubus power as well?

I stopped spinning, an abrupt wave of nausea washing overthe powers of another person was sickening Might as well take their skin and wear it like some sort of creepy serial killer Only not as obvious, and infinitely more difficult to trace

How could such a witch be tracked down? The Covenant wouldn’t give us any information about e give us one that would encoanization’s roster Chances were the witch wasn’t Covenant, anyway They monitored their er ale and tossed the can into the trash bin next to roup of witches le witch, and if they were led by soof dread and disle file re Astrid’s case

An otherworlder had been burned by either a witch or a salaroup of witches How likely was it thataround Chicago?

Could the cases be connected?

Costa looked little worse for wear the next ly well rested He sat across from me in the booth of my favorite breakfast place and flashedat the waitress when she asked if he wanted coffee

"My, aren’t we perky," I ot lared at

"Not ed and he nodded "Yeah, I wouldn’t have expected you to"

The waitress deliveredwith Costa’s coffee

"What can I get y’all?" she asked

"Fruit and yogurt Oatave the waitress hisan Earl Grey tea bag into the hot water "I have a theory"

"Oh?" His eyebrows rose

I pulledin and out of the hot water "Well, not exactly a theory; let’s call it a loose idea"

He snorted "Okay, what is it?"

"Astrid and I have a case--well, it’s really her and Claude’s case, but he’s out of town so I’ve been helping her" How to explain it? The theory had sounded so reasonable to ht before, and it stillit out in a way that didn’t sound nuts was difficult "Remains have been found, but they’re so badly burned they required Astrid’s skill as a sensitive to even be able to identify the them seems to have done a marvelous job If they hadn’t been interrupted, the body probably wouldn’t have been identifiable as huhtened around his coffee cup ever so slightly "Yes, I re a witch, we’ve narrowed down the species that could do that sort of thing--there aren’t many"

I took a sip of my tea and watched him over the rim

He was tense, als he wasn’t telling me? Did this fit some theory he already had, some evidence he’d already found?

"We’ve narrowed it down to a very powerful witch, a salaroup of less-powerful witches A firebird or shaman is also a possibility, but they’re a little less likely The scene was too neat for a firebird, and our witch source thinks that a shah"

His jaw clenched tightly but he kept his expression only vaguely interested

I watched him closely "A powerful witch is unlikely, and salaroup of witches Maybe the sa these succubi"

A hint of amusement touched his features "Your witch hasn’t met that many shamans, apparently"

"Why do you say that?"

"I’ve h cases I’ve worked on They can be pretty da to want to admit hoerful they can be It’s a matter of pride" He rubbed his face "I’m sorry, but I don’t see how the cases could be related Just because the saht--be capable of both crie reach"

We fell into silence for a few h my theory It fit Sure, it wasn’t ironclad, but that didn’t mean we shouldn’t explore it Finally, the waitress broke our standoff as she delivered his omelet and my healthier ainsthis ory I was "What do you e reach?" I hissed "When the list of potential suspects is so s in ood reason to think they lared Granted, there was only a small chance that the cri to ignore e had so few leads Besides, that didn’t e reach