would have to trust Cyrus Jones. To her vague astonishment she fell hard into a dreamless sleep.
Chapter 10
One kiss would never be enough. Not with Sedona Snow.
Cyrus found a coffee machine on the tiled counter. There was a jar of ground coffee next to it. He set about making a pot of caffeine, his senses, both normal and paranormal, still dazzled by the one kiss.
It was going to be a long night, not because he would have trouble fending off sleep—he could use psi and coffee to take care of that problem—but because he was going to be spending the hours until morning alone in the living room. The fantasies would be murder. He needed to find something to take his mind off the lady he was supposed to be protecting.
Lyle bounded up onto the counter to watch the coffee-making process. He clutched a bright bit of quartz in one paw. The stone had come from a collection of small stones arranged on the windowsill. He gazed at the coffeepot, evidently entranced by the sight of the brewed coffee dripping into the glass carafe.
“You like coffee?” Cyrus said. “Guess we’ll both be a little buzzed on caffeine tonight.”
His phone rang. He unclipped it from his belt, saw Marlowe’s code, and took the call.
“I thought you were going to bed,” he said.
“I am but I wanted to let you know that I found something on Blankenship,” Marlowe said. Excitement laced her voice. “Not much, but it’s a start and it looks promising. Blankenship joined the staff of the Gold Creek Guild’s medical division and worked at Amber Crest Hospital for nearly a decade. He did some pioneering work in the field of psi-burn treatment. His career has been nothing short of stellar. He’s been a leader in devising new therapies designed to treat ghost hunters and others who have suffered serious trauma to the para-senses.”
“What happened to him?”
“He resigned his position nearly a year ago. He didn’t exactly disappear but he’s been keeping a very low profile ever since he left Amber Crest. He does some consulting and occasionally attends a para-psych conference but mostly he’s become something of a recluse as far as I can tell.”
“Does it look like he might have the kind of scientific background it would take to re-create the formula?”
“Who knows what it takes to re-create the drug?” Marlowe said. “All I can tell you at this point is that his resume is very strong in the fields of chemistry and something called Extreme Paranormal Radiation Therapy. That last field was his specialty at Amber Crest. It’s not considered to be mainstream medicine. Highly experimental.”
“Sedona said that Blankenship used a special crystal to irradiate the serum. Does he have any connection to Arcane?”
“You’re wondering how he might have discovered the old formula, aren’t you? The answer is, I haven’t been able to find any link between Blankenship and Arcane but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one. A lot of the colonists who were members drifted away from the Society after they arrived on Harmony. The thinking was that this would be the land of milk and honey for people with genuine psychic talents. Who needed a secretive, fuddy-duddy, Old World organization that was founded by a freaky alchemist?”
“In other words, the Society has lost track of a lot of its members.”
“Right. There’s no telling how a version of the formula fell into Blankenship’s hands. But one thing’s for sure. The old genie is out of the bottle.”
“Anything new on Sedona Snow?” he asked.
“Nothing more than what you already know. Both of her parents were married to other people when they had an affair. The birth of Sedona was a massive embarrassment to both sides of her family, blah, blah, blah. Evidently her parents didn’t care about the social stigma. They were both academics specializing in para-archaeology. They were killed in an explosion of some kind while excavating one of the ruin sites.”
“Sedona was
Chapter 10
One kiss would never be enough. Not with Sedona Snow.
Cyrus found a coffee machine on the tiled counter. There was a jar of ground coffee next to it. He set about making a pot of caffeine, his senses, both normal and paranormal, still dazzled by the one kiss.
It was going to be a long night, not because he would have trouble fending off sleep—he could use psi and coffee to take care of that problem—but because he was going to be spending the hours until morning alone in the living room. The fantasies would be murder. He needed to find something to take his mind off the lady he was supposed to be protecting.
Lyle bounded up onto the counter to watch the coffee-making process. He clutched a bright bit of quartz in one paw. The stone had come from a collection of small stones arranged on the windowsill. He gazed at the coffeepot, evidently entranced by the sight of the brewed coffee dripping into the glass carafe.
“You like coffee?” Cyrus said. “Guess we’ll both be a little buzzed on caffeine tonight.”
His phone rang. He unclipped it from his belt, saw Marlowe’s code, and took the call.
“I thought you were going to bed,” he said.
“I am but I wanted to let you know that I found something on Blankenship,” Marlowe said. Excitement laced her voice. “Not much, but it’s a start and it looks promising. Blankenship joined the staff of the Gold Creek Guild’s medical division and worked at Amber Crest Hospital for nearly a decade. He did some pioneering work in the field of psi-burn treatment. His career has been nothing short of stellar. He’s been a leader in devising new therapies designed to treat ghost hunters and others who have suffered serious trauma to the para-senses.”
“What happened to him?”
“He resigned his position nearly a year ago. He didn’t exactly disappear but he’s been keeping a very low profile ever since he left Amber Crest. He does some consulting and occasionally attends a para-psych conference but mostly he’s become something of a recluse as far as I can tell.”
“Does it look like he might have the kind of scientific background it would take to re-create the formula?”
“Who knows what it takes to re-create the drug?” Marlowe said. “All I can tell you at this point is that his resume is very strong in the fields of chemistry and something called Extreme Paranormal Radiation Therapy. That last field was his specialty at Amber Crest. It’s not considered to be mainstream medicine. Highly experimental.”
“Sedona said that Blankenship used a special crystal to irradiate the serum. Does he have any connection to Arcane?”
“You’re wondering how he might have discovered the old formula, aren’t you? The answer is, I haven’t been able to find any link between Blankenship and Arcane but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one. A lot of the colonists who were members drifted away from the Society after they arrived on Harmony. The thinking was that this would be the land of milk and honey for people with genuine psychic talents. Who needed a secretive, fuddy-duddy, Old World organization that was founded by a freaky alchemist?”
“In other words, the Society has lost track of a lot of its members.”
“Right. There’s no telling how a version of the formula fell into Blankenship’s hands. But one thing’s for sure. The old genie is out of the bottle.”
“Anything new on Sedona Snow?” he asked.
“Nothing more than what you already know. Both of her parents were married to other people when they had an affair. The birth of Sedona was a massive embarrassment to both sides of her family, blah, blah, blah. Evidently her parents didn’t care about the social stigma. They were both academics specializing in para-archaeology. They were killed in an explosion of some kind while excavating one of the ruin sites.”
“Sedona was
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