Ghost Hunter by Jayne Castle

violent storm.
    â€œWhat’s wrong with the floor?” she asked, dumbfounded.
    â€œBlue ghost,” Cooper said.
    â€œNo.” She shook her head, uncomprehending. “It can’t be. There is no such thing. Blue ghosts are just old hunters’ tales. Everyone knows that.”
    But it was definitely a form of dissonance energy, she thought. There was no mistaking the wild, flaring power.
    â€œIs that your friend’s sled?” Cooper asked.
    She managed to jerk her gaze off the vortex and spotted the familiar shape of Bertha’s aging utility sled. It was perched on the far rim of the pulsing, rippling vortex. The energy storm lapped at one rear wheel, as though trying to suck it down into the heart of the whirlwind.
    There was no sign of Bertha.
    â€œDear heaven,” Elly whispered. Horror threatened to close her throat. “That ghost got her. No one could survive a close brush with that thing. But where’s the body? There’s no body. ”

Chapter 7
    COOPER LOOKED AT ELLY’S HORRIFIED FACE. IN THE pulsing blue light she looked a little like a ghost, herself, the old-fashioned, supernatural kind.
    â€œDon’t panic on me,” he said, automatically falling back on the tone of icy command that he had learned to use in the days when he had worked the catacombs as a hunter. “Save the hysterics for later. We don’t have time for them now.”
    â€œI am not panicking,” she snapped, irritated. “I’m worried sick about what has happened to Bertha. There’s a difference.”
    The cold anger in her voice reassured him. “Good to know. All right, there’s not much option here. I’m going to de-rez this thing. Then we’ll look for Bertha.”
    Elly’s eyes widened. “You can handle this monster?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWow. Okay, I’m impressed, Mr. Guild Boss.”
    He was privately amazed that she had accepted hisstatement as fact. In her shoes, a lot of people would have refused to believe his claim.
    â€œCooper?”
    He studied the blue ghost, probing carefully for the patterns. “Yeah?”
    â€œDo you . . . do you think that blue UDEM somehow swallowed up Bertha and . . . and incinerated her?”
    â€œGhost energy doesn’t burn hot enough to destroy flesh and bone. It can scorch and singe, but that’s about the limit. Mostly it fries the psi senses. You know that as well as I do.”
    â€œBut this is a blue ghost. No one knows much about them. They’re not even supposed to exist.”
    â€œLet me get rid of it, and then we’ll see what we’ve got.” He lifted Rose down off his shoulder and handed the dust bunny to her. “Here, take gorgeous. Things might get a little tricky here. I don’t want her to get caught in the backwash.”
    â€œNo.” She took Rose, cradling her protectively in her arms.
    â€œGo stand in one of the other tunnels,” Cooper added. “It will give you some protection in case things get out of hand.”
    She obeyed, retreating to the cover of a vaulted passageway.
    When he decided she was safely out of the reach of the blue storm, he went to work, using his psi senses to snag ambient blue dissonance energy out of the air.
    The stuff was invisible to the eye at first, but as he forced it to coalesce into a tight, flaring ball, it took on a blue hue.
    He manipulated it into a vortex. For some reason, that was the way blue ghost fire came together most naturally. He adjusted the dissonance wave patterns, emphasizing those that resonated in opposition to the patterns of the one that swirled on the floor.
    The level of psi power in the confined space rose swiftly. He had to concentrate harder and harder to keep it contained. If it escaped his control, the fierce waves of energy would swamp not only his senses but possibly reach as far as where Elly waited, partially sheltered.
    When he had achieved