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the ignorant mundane folk, who tended to react with dangerous fear. There had been too many pogroms, Witch burnings, Vampire stabbings, Demon exorcisms, and Ghost banishings. So it was best to treat other Supes with cautious courtesy, and never betray their secrets.
    One more thing: they had classes in the power of illusion. All Weres, maybe all Supes had it, to one degree or another. It was invaluable as a supplement to changing forms; in fact sometimes illusion could substitute for form changing, and since it was instant, that could make a huge difference. We studied hard to master it.
    Bear found a girlfriend in the gathering, a remarkable WereSerpent two or three years his senior but socially knowledgeable and happy to take him on. Paradise doubled!
    And now he was dead. I wept together with Syd, both of us desolate for our separate reasons. She was the girlfriend he had found at the Were gathering. It was how we had come to know each other, both being close friends of Bear.
    â€œMaybe we should shut down the office and go home,” I said.
    She raised her tear-stained face. “We can’t. We have to deal with the Witch.”
    So we did. We’d turn her project down, then go home to mourn unfettered.
    What an opening week this had turned out to be!

Chapter 3:
    Sydelle
    Witch Nonce arrived promptly twenty-four hours after her first appearance at my office. I did not waste time with pointless politeness. “I can’t take your case.”
    She gazed at me with those large blue eyes. “Tell me why.”
    â€œWe have problems of our own. My best friend has just been killed in an accident.”
    â€œThat was no accident.”
    â€œSo I’m in no condition to focus on—” I broke off. “What?”
    â€œA Vamp was killed last week. Then my cousin. Now your friend. All were made to seem like accidents or suicide. Actually they were murder. We have a common cause.”
    I stared at her. “How can you know that?”
    â€œWitches have avenues. Phil, I can’t say that these killings are linked, but I strongly suspect it. I think we have a serial killer—of Supes. I want to locate the one who murdered my cousin. You want to find the one who killed your friend. The Vampires have similar motive. We have to work together.”
    I looked at Syd. “Can this be right?”
    Syd concentrated. “It is right! My premonition agrees.”
    â€œThe gold is yours regardless,” Nonce said. “Likewise my friendly thighs. I believe you can solve this ugly mystery, Phil. Commit.”
    â€œHe commits,” Syd said.
    She had made the decision for me. I didn’t resent it; I was grateful. It meant that she now approved of our collaborating with the Witch, friendly thighs and all, and believed that this would lead to the answer we all wanted: who had killed Bear, and why?
    This sent me into another tour of memory, this time of Syd.
    It wasn’t long before Bear introduced me to his new girlfriend, Sydelle. She was older than he, and not really pretty, but she had compensating virtues. Notably her precognition, her sense of what was to come. It was necessarily vague, because specifics led quickly to paradox, as she explained, but it served to guide her when in doubt. It had guided her to make shrewd investments, and she was financially comfortable. It guided her to Bear as her ideal man, and really, he was. He was a big unhandsome lunk of a young Were, needing social and supernatural guidance, eager for the willing companionship of a woman. It might have taken her all of five minutes to persuade him that her interest was genuine, and he was immediately in love with her. I was younger but more cynical, distrusting this.
    â€œTalk to her,” Bear said. “You’ll see.”
    We arranged a time and setting, her house, I being fifteen, she twenty, but I was the cautious one, concerned for my friend. And Sydelle persuaded me. It took longer, maybe ten