Satisfied she hadn't hurt him, she rose and plucked up the wine bottle and gave it another pull, the heat of the fire warming her legs. "You've been a bad boy, Art," she said, hip cocked.

He ran his eyes over her, going still when he realized she was wearing her usual leather and spandex. His face abruptly lost its emotion. "Why is my hot tub going? What day is this? Who was here?"

Again he pulled against the tape, starting a rip. Ivy set the bottle down and moved closer, sending her wine breath over him to shift his silky black curls. It didn't matter if her presence was placed here. The entire I.S. tower knew where she was this morning. "I'm not happy," she said. "I came over here to make good on our arrangement, and I find another girl down here?"

Art shifted his shoulders, arms bulging. "What the hell did you do, Ivy?"

Smiling, she leaned over him. "It's not what I did, Artie. It's what I found. You need to be more careful with your cookies. You're leaving crumbs all over your house."

"This isn't funny," he snarled, and Ivy moved to the stairway.

"No, it isn't," she said, knowing that the tape would last as long as his ignorance. "You have a dead girl in your hot tub, Artie, and I'm out of here. The deal is off. I don't need your approval to move into the Arcane Division. You're going to jail." Adrenaline struck through her when she turned her back and her foot touched the lowest stair. The door was open and ambient sunlight was leaking in. He couldn't put one foot on them without risking death. She almost hoped he would.

"Ivy!" Art exclaimed, and she turned at the sound of ripping tape.

Pulse pounding, she hesitated. She was safe. It was done. "You made one mistake, Art," she said, taking in his anger. "You shouldn't have tried to use me to cover up that witch's murder," she said, and the color drained from him. "That pissed me off." Giving him a bunny-eared "kiss-kiss" she turned and took the stairs with a slow, taunting pace.

"This isn't going to work, Ivy!" he shouted, and her pulse leaped at the sound of the tape ripping, but she had reached the top and it was far too late. She smiled as she emerged into his kitchen. He was stuck down there with that corpse until the sun went down. If he called in help to get it out, it would damn him faster. An anonymous tip from a concerned neighbor was going to bring someone knocking on his door within thirty minutes. "No hard feelings, Art," she said. "Strictly business." She went to shut the door so he wouldn't get light sick, hesitating. "Really," she added, closing the door on his scream of outrage.

Scooping up her duffel bag from where Kisten had left it, she sauntered out the front door and down the steep walk to the street. Kisten was waiting, and she slipped into the passenger-side seat, throwing her bag into the back. She imagined the fury belowground, glad she could walk away. It didn't matter if anyone saw her leave. She was supposed to be here.

"Two minutes on the nose," Kisten said, leaning over to give her a kiss. He was still wearing her disguise amulet, and she caught him looking at himself and his hair. "Are you okay, love?" he asked, hitting his new accent hard and fussing with his bangs.

Rolling down the window, she put her arm on the sill as he drove away and the sun hit her. The memory of being unable to say no to Art resounded in her, and the lure of the bloodlust. Saying no had been impossible, but she had stopped him-and herself. It had been hard, but she felt good in a melancholy way. It wasn't the glorious shock of ecstasy, but more like a sunbeam, unnoticed when you first find it, but its warmth growing until you felt . . . good.

"I'm all right," she said, squinting from the morning sun. "I like who I am today."

SIX.

Ivy dropped the empty box on her desk and sat before it, swiveling her chair back and forth until someone walked past her open door. Adopting a more businesslike mien, she looked over her office. Her eyebrows rose, and she plucked her favorite pen from the cup and then tossed the empty box into the hall. The thump silenced the gossip, and she smirked. They could have everything. All she wanted was her favorite pen. Well, and a pair of thicker leather pants. And an updated map of the city. A computer would be helpful, but they wouldn't let her take the one she'd been using. Some really comfortable boots. Sunglasses-mirror sunglasses.

A soft knuckle-knock at her open door brought her head around, and she smiled without showing her teeth. "Rat," she said companionably. "Come to see me off?"

The large officer eased into her office, a manila folder in his hand. "I won the pool," he said, ducking his head. "I've got your, ah, transfer papers. How you doing?"

"Depends." She leaned across her desk, biting her finger coyly. "What's the word on the street?"

He laughed. "You're bad. No one will be looking at you for a while." Brow pinching, he came in another step. "You sure you don't want to work Arcane? It's not too late."

Ivy's pulse quickened at the lure of bloodlust she knew she couldn't resist. "I don't want to work in the Arcane anymore," she said, eyes lowered. "I need to get out from underground. Spend some time in the sun."

The officer slumped, the folder before him like a fig leaf. "You're ticking them off with this rebellious shit. This isn't Piscary's camarilla, it's a business. They had a late meeting about you this morning in the lowest floor."

Fear slid through her, quickly stifled. "They can't fire me. There was no evidence that I had anything to do with that girl in Art's tub."

"No. You're clear. And remind me to stay on your good side." He grinned, but it faded fast. "You did contaminate that crime scene, and they're almost ignoring that. You should lay low for a while, do what they want you to do. You have your entire life and afterlife ahead of you. Don't screw it up your first six months here."

Ivy grimaced, flicking her attention past him to the outer offices. "They're already blaming my demotion on my-lapse. They can't punish me twice for the same thing." The reality was she was being demoted because she refused to move up to the Arcane. That was fine by her.

"Publicly," he said, making her agitated. "What happens behind closed doors is something else. You're making a mistake," he insisted. "They can use your talents down there."

"Don't you mean a new infusion?" Rat winced, and she held up a hand and leaned back into her chair, well aware it put her in a position of power with him standing. "Whatever. I won't be manipulated, Rat. I'd rather take a pay cut and go where I don't have to worry about it for a while."

"If only it was that easy." Rat dropped the folder on her desk as if it meant something. "Ah, I thought you'd like to see your new partner's file."

In a smooth, alarmed motion, Ivy sat up. "Whoa. Put your caps on. I agreed to move upstairs, but no one said anything about a partner."

Rat shrugged, his wide shoulders bunching his uniform. "They can't give you a pay cut, so you're pulling double duty chaperoning a newbie for a year. Intern with two years of social science and three years pulling familiars out of trees. Management wants her under someone with a more, ah, textbook technique before they instate her as a runner, so she's all yours, Ivy. Don't let her get you killed. We like you ju-u-u-ust the way you are."

The last was said with dripping sarcasm, and her face hot, Ivy pushed the folder away. "She's not even a full runner? I've worked too hard for my degree to be a babysitter. No way."

Rat chuckled and pushed it back with a single, thick-knuckled finger. "Yes way. Unless you want to move down to Arcane where you belong."

Ivy almost growled. She hated her mother. She hated Piscary. No, she hated their control over her. Slowly she pulled the folder to her and opened it. "Oh my God," she breathed as she looked at the picture, thinking it couldn't get any worse. "A witch? They partnered me with a witch? Whose bright-ass idea was that?"

Rat laughed, pulling Ivy's eyes from her "partner's" picture. Slumping back, she tried not to frown. Though it was clearly meant to be a punishment, this might not be a bad thing. A witch wouldn't be after her blood, and the relief of not having to fight that would be enough to compensate for the extra work that having such a weak partner would engender. A witch? They were laughing at her. The entire tower was laughing at her.

"You said management doesn't want her on her own. What's wrong with her?" she asked and Rat took her shoulder in a thick hand and drew her reluctantly to her feet.

"Nothing," he said, grinning. "She's impulsive is all. It's a match made in heaven, Ivy. You'll be best friends before the week is out: going shopping, eating chocolate, catching chick-flicks after work. You'll love it! Trust me."

Ivy realized she was clenching her jaw, and she forced her teeth apart before she gave herself a headache. Her partner was a flake. She was partnered with a girly-girl flake who wanted to be a runner. This was going to be pure hell. Rat laughed, and seeing no other option, Ivy dragged the folder to her, tucked it under her arm, and headed for the door with Rat, leaving her old office and its comforting walls behind for an open office with pressboard walls and bad coffee.

It was only for a year. How bad could it be?

Dirty Magic

Banshees were once far less known and rarely popularized paranormal figures. Up until I wrote "Dirty Magic" (first published in Hotter Than Hell), I had only a vague idea that they cried inconsolably when someone was going to die, sort of an early warning system in the hills of Ireland, and I tried to keep that kernel in mind while developing my idea of a Hollows banshee. Tears as a way to store psychic energy and death by way of aura depletion turned banshees from passive warnings to apex predators, making them much more interesting. For those in the know, the banshee is one of the most feared Inderlanders whose takes often go undetected or simply ignored. Mia had enough to say that she made the jump to the series as the major antagonist in Black Magic Sanction.

Mia walked down the damp, rain-deserted sidewalk, her seventy-five-dollar heels clicking faintly from fatigue on the wet cement. She was tired, but she could still maintain her elegant, upright posture if she moved slowly. Her dress-length overcoat and matching umbrella of midnight blue kept her dry, and it was rainy enough that she didn't need to wear her sunglasses to protect her pale, nearly albino eyes.

With a small toss of her head, she shifted her black hair, cut short as she liked it. Traffic was light, but she didn't want to risk being splashed, so she shifted closer to the classy, well-maintained narrow buildings that lined the street. The paper sack of groceries on her hip wasn't heavy, but her daughter's needs were telling. It wasn't the usual fatigue brought on by an energetic newborn. Holly was the first banshee born in Cincinnati in over forty years, and if Mia couldn't keep her in an emotion-rich environment, the child took what she needed from her mother. It wasn't as if Holly could draw upon her father for her emotional needs. Not now anyway.

Frowning, Mia brushed her hair from her eyes and wondered if having a child at this particular time had been a good idea. But when Remus-psychopath, murderer, and gentle lover-had fallen into her lap by way of a bungled rape attempt, the chance to use his anger and frustration to engender a child in her had been too great. A smile curved Mia's delicate mouth up. Remus had quickly learned the difference between his unreasonable rage at the world and her true hunger, becoming pliant and gentle. Respectful. The perfect husband, the model father.

And at the thought of Holly, happy, inquisitive Holly, so pretty and soft, looking like a younger, mirror image of her mother, babbling innocently as she sat on her mother's lap and basked in the love for her, Mia knew she'd have it no other way. She would do anything for her daughter. As her mother had done for her.

The soft whoosh of a passing car brought Mia's head up, and she blinked at the rain heavy on her eyelashes despite the umbrella. It was cool and damp, and she was weary. Seeing a rain-abandoned table outside a cafe, she slowed, brushing once at the wrought-iron chair before sitting with her groceries on her lap and trusting her coat to keep her dry. The awning helped shield the rain and she closed her umbrella. She was just a casually sophisticated young woman waiting for a cab that would never come.

People passed, and slowly her pulse eased and her fatigue lessoned as she soaked in the emotions of the pedestrians, taking in flashes of feeling like water eddying around a rock in a streambed. It was all the law would allow now, this passive sipping of emotions. If she fed well, people noticed.

Mia straightened when a couple arguing over whether they should have taken a cab walked by, sensation rolling over her like a sunbeam. Almost she rose to fall into step behind them, to linger and drink it in, but she didn't, and the warmth faded as the couple continued on.

One might think that a predator existing on emotions might have an easy life living in a city that measured its population in the hundreds of thousands, but since humanity had learned banshees were not the stuff of story but living among them, humans had armed themselves with knowledge, and their numbers had dwindled.

The image of a mysterious weeping woman foretelling death had given way to the reality of a sophisticated predator: a predator who could feed well upon office arguments started between co-workers with a careful word or two, gorge upon the death-energy a person released when dying, but barely survive upon the ambient emotions around her that the law allowed.

As in most fairy tales, there was a kernel of truth in the myth of a banshee's tears. Created to serve as a conduit of emotions, they let a banshee feed from a safe distance or simply store the emotion for later consumption. For though banshees were predators thriving on death, they were also fragile. Much like a rattlesnake, they left their poison, then sat back to feed in safety while others fought, loved, or killed each other. Psychic vampires was what the psychology texts called them, a definition that Mia could not find fault with.

Her subconscious had brought her down this street for a reason, and as she fingered the tarnished coin draped around her neck on a tattered purple ribbon, her gaze traveled to the apartment building across from her, rising up through the misty rain, all the way to the topmost floor. The light was on, golden and hazy in the afternoon's rain. Tom was in. But Tom was always in now. He was too tired to go to work. Not like when she first met him.

Nervous, Mia spun the wedding ring on her finger. Tom hadn't given it to her. Tom hadn't given Mia her beautiful daughter either. Remus had. There had been so much raw anger in him that she could have used it to create two children. But Remus could no longer give Holly the emotion she needed.

Glancing at the window hazy with rain, Mia hesitated. She had to be so careful never to permanently harm anyone. There were old ways to track her down and new, excruciating techniques to punish a species that lived on the emotions of another. Mia was a good girl, and now she had a daughter to think of.

I shouldn't be doing this, Mia thought in worry. It's too soon. Someone might see her. Someone might remember she'd been here. But she was tired, and the thought of Tom holding her, filling her with the strength of his love, was too strong a pull. He loved her. He loved her even knowing that she was why he was ill. He loved her knowing she was a banshee and unable to keep from stripping his emotions and strength from him. She needed to feel his arms around her, for just a moment.

With a soft quiver of anticipation to set her skin tingling, Mia stood, gathered her grocery bag onto her hip, and pushed herself into motion. Not bothering with the umbrella, she crossed the street with a false confidence, pacing to the unattended common door with a single-minded intensity, looking neither left nor right, praying no one would notice her.

Fear a dim substitute for strength, she pulled the glass door open and slipped inside. In the small space where the mailboxes were, she lifted her chin and ran a hand over her wet hair, feeling more sure now that she was off the street and out from so many potential eyes. The shiny front of the mailboxes threw back a blurry image-color mostly: dark hair, pale skin, and an almost-black coat.

Leaving the umbrella in a corner, she ascended the stairs so as to keep the cameras in the elevator from getting a good look at her. The open stairway taking up the middle of the building wasn't monitored, and anyone looking out here would only notice an usually petite woman with a bag of groceries, cold from the rain. Worry someone might actually see her trickled back, and her pace quickened, gaining strength as she rose instead of fatigue.

Around her was the flow of life, slipping under the doors and into the hallway like the scent of baking bread or someone's too-strong cologne. It eddied about her feet and puddled on the stairs, and she waded through it like surf, able to see the energy the people living behind the doors sloughed off, kicking up anger here, and frustration there, her pace slowing to take in the softer, harder-to-find emotions of love, a mere whisper lingering outside a door like perfume.

She paused, pretending to be tired outside a door where the soft sounds of music and laughter were a muted hush. Love and desire carried the headiest amount of energy, but they were hard to find, not because they were scarce, but because people directed the emotions to a specific person, holding the feeling close to themselves as if knowing how powerful they were. Love seldom ventured past a person's aura unless it flowed into another. Not like the wild bitterness of anger, which people threw away from them like the refuse it was.

Mia closed her eyes, swallowing up the ambient love the couple had left in the hall as they had fumbled for their keys. It had only been a few hours ago, and though it bolstered her, it caused her pain. It had been too long since she had felt the full, unshielded warmth of another's aura. She was tired of filling herself on garbage and stolen wisps of love.

With a sudden resolve, she took off her ring. Slipping it into a pocket, she guiltily patted it to see if it made a telltale shape against her coat. Head high, she continued up until she reached the top floor.

Tom's door was unadorned, and with her pulse fast in tension, she tapped softly, hoping he heard. She didn't want a neighbor remembering a knock in the hall. Tom had promised her he wouldn't tell anyone he knew a banshee, afraid they would see him failing and convince him to never see her again. She shouldn't be here this soon, but the memory of his love was like the scent of flowers, begging to be inhaled and irresistible.

The door opened with a quickness that sent her back a step, and she stared at Tom, her eyes wide and her breath held. He looked good. Better than the last time she'd seen him, the lines of fatigue only lightly etching his mid-thirties face. Standing tall, he had once had a beautifully vigorous, if slight, body, but since meeting her in the grocery store a year ago, nearly all the substance had been stripped away to leave him looking as if he was recovering from a long illness. His short brown hair was clean but untidy from his shower, and he wore jeans and a comfortable flannel top against the damp chill.

Seeing her, he smiled, pleasure coming over his long, somewhat sallow face. His skin was pale from a lack of sun, and his muscles had lost their tone months ago. His fingers, long enough to facilitate a high amount of proficiency with his instrument, looked thin as he reached to pull her into a hug.

Mia felt his arms go around her and almost walked away. Breathing in his initial delight, she realized it was too soon. She should not be here, even if she was pining for him. Someone might have seen her, and he hadn't recovered fully from her last visit. But she was so tired, and even a wisp of his love would renew her.

"I saw you on the sidewalk," Tom said as he felt her shoulders tense and his hands dropped from her. "I'm glad you came up. It's been lonely here by myself. Come on in. Just for a moment."

Her pulse raced, and she stepped into his apartment with a guilty quickness. "I can't stay," she said, her voice high. "Tom, I promised I'd only stop by to say hi, and then I have to go."

She sounded frantic even to herself, and she bit her lower lip, wishing things were otherwise. The click of the door closing mixed with the soft sound of talk radio. The warmth of his apartment soaked into her, and she felt herself relax at the emotion-rich air his apartment had. He'd been practicing his music, and that always filled his rooms with life. It was what had attracted her to him in the first place, as he had strolled past the grapes, trailing joy like the wisps of the symphony he'd been humming. Slowly her jaw unclenched, and the worry and guilt slid into nothing. She couldn't help herself. This was what she was.

"Let me take those," he said, reaching for her groceries, and she let him, following him soundlessly down the short hall to the kitchen as she untied her coat. The kitchen opened to the living room where Tom usually practiced his music now that he was too tired to make the trip to the university's hall. Down the corridor at the back was the single bedroom and bath. Everything was tidy and clean, done in soothing tones of brown and taupe. The furnishings were simple and clearly masculine, and Mia loved the contrast from her own home, filled with the primary-colored clutter and untidy life of a new baby.

"I won't stay long," she said, noting his thin, trembling hands. "I was passing by, and . . . I missed you."

"Oh, Mia," he said, his deep voice swirling over her like his aura was as he took her in his arms. "I know how the rain depresses you."

Depresses her wasn't exactly it. It depressed everyone else, and in turn, lowered the amount of ambient emotion they gave off. She was hungry, and she lowered her gaze before he saw the rising need in their pale blue depths.

"I missed you, too," she whispered, eyes closing in bliss as his love soaked into her, his arms gentling her to him, forgiving her for what she did to him, knowing she had no choice. The scent of his soap was sharp, and she drew away when she heard his pulse quicken. She was pulling his strength from him as she soaked in his aura, rich with emotion. That was why he was weak. A person could replace a surprising amount of their aura, but take too much too fast, and the person died when their soul was left bare to the world and unprotected.

"I'm sorry," she said, blinking to keep her emotions in check. "I shouldn't have come."

"I'm fine," he said, smiling wearily down at her.

"Fine?" she said bitterly as she pulled away. "Look at you. Look what I did to you. I hardly walked in the door, and you're shaking already."

"Mia."

"No!" she exclaimed, pushing him away when he tried to hold her. "I hate who I am. I can't love anyone. Damn it, Tom, this isn't fair!"

"Shhhh," he soothed, and this time, Mia let him take her in his embrace, laying her head against his chest as he swayed her gently as if she was a child. "Mia, I don't mind giving my strength to you. It comes back."

Mia couldn't breathe from the wave of pure love rolling off of him, carrying the delicate beauty of wind chimes tinkling forgotten in the sun. His love was so heady, so sweet. But she shouldn't take it. She had to resist. If she could keep from drinking it in, it would eventually flow back into him, keeping him strong and untouched.

"But not fast enough," she mumbled into his flannel shirt, hardening herself to his emotion if not his words. "I came back too soon. You're not well. I should go."

But his arms didn't release her. "Please stay," he whispered. "Just a little while? I want to see you smile."

She pulled back, gazing into his earnest eyes. It was too soon, but she would make it be okay. She could do this. "I'll make you coffee," she said as if in concession, and he let her go.

"I'd like that. Thank you."

Motions unsure, Mia took off her overcoat and slipped off her shoes. Barefoot and in a soft dress of pale blue and gray, she busied herself in the kitchen, taking a moment to arrange her hair in the reflection in the microwave. Guilt stared back at her, with a rising black of hunger in her pale eyes. The pierced coin on the purple ribbon about her neck dangled like a guilty accusation, and her pale fingers held it for a moment as she thought. She would not take anything more from this man. She could do this. She had wanted to find love, and she had. It was worth the risk.

Tom's sigh as he sat at the table between the kitchen and the living room was weary but happy. Past the tasteful furniture and his scattered music was a large plate-glass window overlooking the street. The drapes were open, but the rain was like a sheet, gray and soothing to create a soft, hidden world.

Her silk dress was a gentle hush as Mia sat two empty cups on the table. She watched Tom's long fingers curve about his, though the cup was dry and cold. Concerned, she sat beside him and took his hand in her own, drawing his attention to her. Behind them, the coffeemaker warmed. "How are you doing?"

He smiled at the worry in her voice. "Better now that you're here."

Mia smiled back, unable to keep from soaking in his love like a sponge. Overcome by the purity of it, she dropped her gaze, only to have them fall upon the coin. Her mood tarnished.

"Work going okay?" she asked, hoping he would practice, but Tom gave her hand an apologetic squeeze in a gentle refusal. When he played, he expended a huge amount of emotion when he became lost in his music, as if tapping into the universe still ringing from its creation. If she were here to soak it up, it would leave him weak for days. If she wasn't, the expended emotion would linger in his rooms, bathing his soul in what was akin to an extended aura. Not exactly feng shui, but more of a lingering footprint of emotion that could alter moods even days later.

It was what had attracted her to him from the first.

"Work's going great," he said, leaning back and away to look at the coffeepot. "There's a concert next month, and it looks like I'll be ready."

As long as you don't take my strength, Mia could almost hear him finish in his mind.