(SPECTR 1) Hunter of Demons Read Online Free PDF Page B

energy to inhabit a corpse?” Kaniyar asked.
    Too bad empaths could only sense primate emotions; otherwise, Pittman could have told them if Gray had been lying or not. “I don’t know. If any NHE does, he would.”
    “It isn’t a he,” Sean reminded him sharply. “And you shouldn’t be naming it like a fucking pet. It’s dangerous, and we need to get rid of it before it seizes control and kills every last one of us.”
    “I disagree.” The shaking had stopped, so he turned to face Sean. “I never got the sense Gray was trying to trick me or be…dishonest.”
    “It said it eats other NHEs. You don’t believe it’s telling the truth, do you?” Sean asked, his eyes bulging.
    “Why not? Maybe…maybe they do have some sort of ecology.” Because the truth was, no one really knew much about etheric entities. For centuries—millennia—they’d been explained away by stories of gods, angels, and demons, interpreted through the lens of whatever culture encountered them and passed down the memory in story. “Think about it—we only know anything about them because some interact with humans. Maybe all of them don’t. Maybe most of them don’t.”
    “You think this is, what, some kind of apex predator?” Kaniyar asked, but she sounded as if she was considering the possibility, at least.
    “Why not? Even great white sharks get eaten by orcas.”
    Sean pulled yet another cigarette out of his pack. “Who cares what it is, besides dangerous?”
    “McNamara, I need to speak with Starkweather alone.” Kaniyar said.
    “Fine.” Sean dug out his lighter. “I’m going to wait by the van.”
    “Take the rest of the night off.”
    For a moment, John thought Sean would argue—but no one argued with Kaniyar. At least, no one who didn’t want her boot up his ass, figuratively speaking. Apparently realizing he’d been dismissed, Sean trudged back to the street without so much as a “good-night.”
    John wanted to put in a good word for his friend, but he wasn’t sure how to go about it. If he tried to assure Kaniyar that Sean hadn’t gotten spooked, she’d want to know why he thought it was even a concern. And if he tried to tell her Sean was a good exorcist, she’d only reply she knew his service record just fine, thank you very much.
    Maybe it was best not to draw attention to Sean at all. Nodding in the direction of the house, where Caleb sat hunched miserably inside the chalk circle, he said, “Look, Mr. Jansen is still in control, for now. Once he’s secured, we’ll start researching, see if anyone else has encountered a similar NHE.”
    “About that,” Kaniyar said. “I want you to take him home with you.”
     

Chapter 6
     
    John replayed her words. Then replayed them again. They didn’t make any more sense the third time.
    “Ma’am?” he asked helplessly.
    “Can you keep Mr. Jansen at your condominium?”
    What the fuck? “Regs state NHEs have to be properly contained.” He was fine with breaking the rules when needed, or at least bending them out of shape. But what she was suggesting was a federal crime. Not to mention insanely dangerous, should Gray decide to go on a rampage after all.
    Kaniyar’s expression betrayed nothing. Office legend claimed empaths couldn’t get a hit off her, either because she was so collected, or so heartless. Or a robot, according to a few jokesters. “You heard McNamara’s report. Mr. Jansen claims he came here with his sister-in-law and some of her friends to find his brother’s body. After it had walked out of the funeral home.”
    Why was she telling him something he already knew? “Right. It should have been shunted to me, since I’m the investigating agent on record for Ben Jansen’s murder. I take it the funeral director didn’t file a report?”
    Which meant the funeral home would be shut down—probably already had been—and the owners might be looking at jail time on top of it. Served them right; if he’d known about it earlier, he might