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I crouched beside Sam Galloway He’d been shot in the side of the head, and I could see stippling and scorch lanced over at Sara "What’s the explanation? That he shot her and then himself?"

Ryan nodded "Gun’s already been recovered In his hand"

"I can’t say that’s not what happened," I said slowly as I shifted into othersight to deepen my assess back to nor overtheir essence away, and then ht have still been breathing when they were shot, but they weren’t alive anymore" I put a hand to my stomach, sick "Ryan, this means that some person, either with the ability to consu a creature with the ability, is using it as a weapon"

"Fucking shit," Ryan said, nearly growling the words "You said this orse than the others What did you mean?"

I sed harshly "The essence was … ripped out, before they died" An icy shiver rippled downthis, but I can’t help but think it had to be insanely powerful to be able to rip it out before death, before the body had loosened its hold" I shuddered, then looked at hi his hand through his hair "I told you that they used to be restaurant owners, right? Well, that was before a significant stash of o"

I frowned The Galloways hadn’t strucktype at all

"The restaurant was seized," Ryan continued, "and they didn’t contest it, most likely to keep their son--as known to be the occasionalthe next umpteen years in jail for production and distribution" His scowl deepened "Even though there was nothing to point to a lab or any way to make that much meth"

I waited for a few seconds more, then threw up my hands "Ryan, you’ve completely lost me What does this have to do hy they were killed? I thought you were trying to convince theation"

He exhaled "I can’t talk about it here Let’s go back to your aunt’s place and I’ll explain"

Chapter 23

My sto queasy flip-flops as I pulled into my aunt’s driveway, a co coffee And, since I took my coffee thick and sweet, I now faced a serious coh

A headache indicated that it wanted to take up residence behind ainst the noonday sun as I walked up the stairs to the porch I heard a low ru the dark mass of clouds on the horizon that promised afternoon thunderstorms About time The harsh weather could be a shock to people eren’t from this area, but the near-daily thunderstor that made the surees, and even though the huures, it was still better than the relentless heat And I could handle the humidity just fine I’d dry up and flake away in a desert climate

Another low rumble accompaniedthe thunder,throb as I slid ht And food I heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway, and I glanced back to verify that it was Ryan It was And, even better, I saw that he had bags in his hand--the kind of bags that fast-food establish right with my day

I turned the key and stopped dead, hand still holding the key as my heart did a little jump The door had already been unlocked I released the breath I was holding and let go of the key, backing away froun fro up the stairs? I could hear et better cover, I could see a figurearound, but it was ih the sheer curtains But the ward had still been up, I thought I knew that nal to Ryan but discovered that I didn’t need to He was sharp and s of food had been abandoned on the hood of his car, and he stood at the base of the steps, his own gun drawn

"Soavefor me to take the lead

With the door unlocked, it was an easy entry I pushed the door open with one hand, quicklyfra the hallway and entry to the kitchen with my Glock "Come out where I can see you!" Ins to a position where he could cover the areas I couldn’t

"Oh, shit!" I heard a male voice from the kitchen "Kara, it’s just h it was familiar "Coht!"

I don’t think I could have possibly been more surprised if the pope had exited the kitchen Instead, it was Carl, Dr Lanza’s gangly h the doorway, his eyes wide and his hands raised "Kara, it’s just led for words for a couple of seconds as I tried to process why the fuck the ue tech would be here Could he be the one who’s been screwing around with the wards? If he was a su here?" I finallyan eye on the place ever since Tess has been in the hospital"

A piece of the puzzle clicked into place "You’ve been ht-hazel eyes Melanie-the-dingbat’s description hadn’t been far fro the edging, and weeding her gardens And I fixed a busted , and her roses needed so too, so I--"

"Why?" Ryan interrupted, voice sounding oddly harsh in the hallway "Why do you give a shit about Tessa’s roses?"

Carl blinked "Well, she’sin the world His eyes flicked from Ryan and then to me "You didn’t know?"

"No!" The word cahly shoved h my hair "No, she never saw fit to inform me that she had a … social life" Not that it was all that shocking … Okay, it was all that shocking This was Tessa Weird, strange, quirky Tessa, who summoned de way, but e And has so to sound like she was some sort of spy An insane one

Carl lowered his hands, a saze flicked quickly to Ryan, and I could see Carl censor hie creatures," he finished instead of what he was obviously going to say

"Derowled