Page 9 of Soul Sucker

“And there was only one victim.”

“And it felt like Otherworld,” Ella insisted. “I sensed dark magic.”

“Fae or shapeshifter or Other?” Feehan asked. “Not Fae or shifter. Definitely Other.”

Liz grinned. “Well at least that excludes all of my Fae kin, and Rich and Andrew’s shapeshifter families. But then again, ‘Other’ is fricking scary.” She switched her attention back to Feehan. “Didn’t you say there was another case like this recently?”

“Not to me, he didn’t,” Ella said sweetly to Liz.

Feehan avoided Ella’s gaze. “I found it when I put the new case details into the database earlier. It flagged another file, and I pulled it.” He passed around some paperwork. “I’ve also emailed you the files, so check them out tonight.”

Ella read quickly and frowned. “How come no one at SFPD notified us about this one?”

Feehan shrugged. “Different area of the city, different team. They decided this victim committed suicide.”

“It does sound similar,” Liz added, as her silver web lit up again and seemed to grow to twice its size. “I wonder whether our killer has developed a habit of doing this? I’ll check our international database as well.”

“Oh great,” Ella groaned. “A potential Otherworld serial killer.”

Feehan took the chair next to Ella, his expression sympathetic, and she leaned as far away from him as she could. “Do you feel up to handling this, Ella, or would you like me to draft another empath in? Sam needs more experience.”

“Especially if I lose it in the next three months. I don’t think he’s ready to handle this alone yet. He’s just out of college and he’s only twenty-one.”

“Well, maybe he could act as your assistant.”

“Sure, whatever you want. We all have to learn.”

It was a pity Sam Nadal already thought he knew everything. But every empath was cocky when they graduated from the Otherworld college system. It took a few months of working in the field to realize book learning taught you nothing.

Feehan rubbed his hands together. “Great! I’ll tell him to talk to you tomorrow.”

“I can’t wait.” Ella smiled and Liz stifled a snort.

“Now, do we have anything else to discuss, or can we call it a day?”

3

“Vadim?There’s something showing up on my web that might interest you.”

Vadim Morosov turned from his glum contemplation of the Moscow skyline to see Alexei, one of the members of his team—no, strike that—hisformerteam standing in the doorway of his darkened office. It was way past clocking-off time, but he’d been putting in some extra hours in a vain attempt to convince his boss that he was sincere and trustworthy.

Not that it was going to work. She was still pissed with him, and worse, he knew he deserved it.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to be interacting with me, Alexei.”

The Fae’s already arched eyebrows rose even further. “Says who?”

“Our esteemed boss.”

Alexei shrugged. “Oh, her.”

“Yeah, the woman who can suspend you just like she did me.”

“She can’t afford to lose me. I’m too valuable.”

“And I’m not?” Vadim asked.

For a second the Fae looked almost serious. “Makk, you know I didn’t mean it like that. She’s just crazy mad at you.”

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