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Crawford shrugged "I guess I’, let e with your aunt?"

I shook my head stiffly My aunt Tessa was in an extended-care facility--a place that catered specifically to neurological disorders I knew that Tessa hadn’t suffered any sort of brain injury, but I still needed to have her body cared for She was h hers had not been consu Temporarily mislaid, I hoped I’d hated to put her in a hoe that she had no awareness of where she was

"No," I answered "No change I’ve been trying to go through soet it cleaned up a bit, just in case …" My voice broke, and I couldn’t continue

"In case she doesn’t wake up," he said, ently than I ever would have expected froh that was only part of the reason I was trying to go through Tessa’s things It was her library that I was most interested in Tessa’s essence had been used to provide added potency for ato the hope that it could be reversed and she could come back to her body Tessa’s library contained hundreds of texts, scrolls, and documents related to the arcane, and I remained optimistic that one of them held some answers on how to help restore her essence

Unfortunately, an when I discovered that my aunt had warded her library with layers upon layers of arcane protections--and that they had not been set to allow e That fact bothered me on a number of levels--not the least of which was that, without access to the ht never see her alive and well again

My gaze slid back to the open door of the house I could see Jillpictures and measurements I could also see the motionless luh away that I couldn’t feel the gaping lack of essence This was different from my aunt’s situation His essence had been consumed, not just pulled ahole Even if his body weren’t dead, there’d be no way to return his essence to him There was no essence left to return

And what could have possibly done that to hiether in ut The only creature I knew of that could consume essence was an ilius, but that didn’t mean much There was a whole lot that I didn’t know, and I still couldn’t shake the sick feeling that I’d screwed so up in my dismissal of the demon What if I was responsible for this? Had the demon sensed Brian’s death and swooped down onto that essence just as it was beginning to shuffle free of its mortal coil? Was that even possible?

Damn it There was too much that I didn’t understand Unfortunately, there were only two possible sources of infor to do with the arcane The first--and ould normally have been the simplest--was my aunt’s library

The second source of answers to questions about the arcane were the deht--especially since a higher deht also be able to help me penetrate the arcane protections on the library that had so far stalled e, I’d like this case"

He seemed to consider it for a couple of seconds "Well, since you were first on the scene, I’ll let you run with it for now"

"Thanks" That would giveinto the circuht on what could have eaten his essence

And, if it was so I was somehow responsible for, hopefully I could ain

Chapter 3

By the time I was able to head home, I felt drained, emotionally and physically The scene at Brian’s house had taken only a couple of hours to wrap up, but we’d spent the next few hours trying to track dohere Carol Roth ht be She’d been at work the day before but hadn’t shown up this le person who could state that they’d seen her since she left the office I’d even requested copies of the surveillance video froate for the previous twenty-four hours, in the hopes that there ht be some hint or clue there, but the camera system was brand-nehich apparently meant that the security company had no idea how to retrieve video from it and would have to call in a tech to download what I needed

We’d run down every other possible lead, uncomfortably aware that her body could be anywhere--and in south Louisiana, there were a shitload of places to dump a body But why the hell would Brian dump her body someplace remote if it was an accident? And then why kill hi ed the shit out of , I’d stopped by the neuro center to see , just enough to verify with ht that she didn’t have the sa seeing her normally animated face so waxy and still, and the short visit had left ut

Ias I rounded the last curve and saw the car parked in front of my house I was quite familiar with that dark blue Crown Victoria--with the heavily tinted s and overnent

I found ainst the hood of the car with his arms crossed over his chest was a talla polo-style shirt and blue jeans, which showed off his workout ethic nicely It was the most casual I’d ever seen him attired It didn’t make a difference His entire demeanor announced his profession even ive a crap about his profession at the moment My day had started out shitty, but it definitely looked as if it was turning around now

I cli over rin

"Hello there, Special Agent Kristoff," I said

He gave a old eyes sparkled with ahed "Fine Hi, Ryan" I’d ation into the Syned to the serial-killer task force My first iant, condescending, and dismissive Later I’d discovered that he could see the arcane, and I cah to tell him that I was a summoner Other than my aunt, he was probably the only person who knew that little fact about me

After that initial trust had been established, we’d beco to me at the same time Like my friendship with Jill, I treasured this connection with Ryan Yet at the sao beyond "just friends" Or if I even wanted that Hell, I had no idea if he was re beyond friendship

And this is the last thing I need to be worrying about, I chided ht now

"Dare I ask why you’re standing in my driveway?" I said instead

"Because, while you were dead, solare at my pretty new door He’d been the one to break it a couple ofIt had been only a bizarre de far worse was happening

I had a strong suspicion that he was also the one who’d fixed the door, though he’d never admitted it "Aw, poor you," I said "You have to stalk me from outside"

"Actually, I was in the car with the AC cranked up until I heard you co up the driveway Did you know that it’s insanely hot?"