There was a chorus of nods and "Yes, sirs!"

There was a chorus of nods and "Yes, sirs!"

There was an undertone of reaction to this. One of the officers raised his hand. "Lieutenant, would you

mind explaining that?"

"That means, Sanchez, that the killer's like a sort of psychic vampire. Most of you are at least roughly

familiar with the principles of thaumaturgy. Magic use requires energy. The adept generally expends a

certain amount of energy in casting a spell. Some spells require very little energy, some require a great

deal. That's why airline pilot adepts, for example, have to have their flying time limited, so they'll have

time to rest and recuperate after each flight. And that's why they have such short careers and make so

damned much money. The more advanced and complicated the spell, the more energy it uses up. You

with me so far?"

Nods and mumbles of assent.

"Good. That's basic high-school stuff. Now here's where it gets a bit more complicated. Necromancy,

or black magic, is magic that uses spells in which the adept tapssomeone else's energy, to the point

where the person whose energy is being tapped is totally used up. And death ensues. It is, needless to

say, a capital offense. And you don't learn those kinds of spells in thaumaturgy schools. However, it

seems that there are certain spells that allow the necromancer to draw off another person's life energy

andstore it for future use. In other words, Sanchez, if I were a necromancer, I could cast one of these

spells, and in the process of killing you, I'd acquire your energy and it would make me that much

stronger. It could increase my life span, or make me younger, or give me the strength to attempt more

powerful spells. And that seems to be what our killer, or killers, are doing."

"Sir?" said one of the other officers. "You mean there's more than one perp?"

"We don't know that for certain," Loomis replied, "but there's a possibility that these killings aren't the

work of an individual serial killer, but of a cult." He held up his hand against the audible and shocked

reaction. "That's right, I said a cult. However, and I should stress this, although it is a strong possibility,

we have no firm proof of that as yet. Now as you all know, the media has been making much of these

killings, but this is something they don't know about yet and I intend to keep it that way.

"You all know Professor Ramirez," Loomis went on. "He's working with us on this case. Inspector

Cornwall over there is here at my request. He's with Scotland Yard and he's here from England for the

convention. He's an adept and he's also a cop. Not a Bureau man, mind you. A street cop, like

yourselves. So I'll expect him to be shown every courtesy. He's acting as a consultant on this case,

because he's had experience with a similar case in England. He's also assisted the L.A.P.D. in a similar

case in Los Angeles, possibly involving the same cult. Now I've been informed earlier this evening that a

Bureau field agent has been assigned to officially take charge of this case and should be arriving sometime