would mean to their careers. They hadn't managed to break the nefarious "cult" that the Bureau was so

obsessed with, but they had been largely instrumental in solving the "Demon Killer" murders of Santa Fe

and that made for no small change.

would mean to their careers. They hadn't managed to break the nefarious "cult" that the Bureau was so

obsessed with, but they had been largely instrumental in solving the "Demon Killer" murders of Santa Fe

and that made for no small change.

As for Kira's ability to resist Leary's spell of compulsion, Loomis had a ready explanation for that as

well, thanks to Paul's help. Kira had a freak natural immunity. Paul had explained that there were, in fact,

some people, though it was very rare, on whom certain types of psychologically manipulative spells

simply didn't work, much as there were people who could not be hypnotized. Megan Leary, rest her

soul, had simply reached the wrong conclusion and the whole thing had proceeded from there on that

"mistaken assumption." However, Loomis told them, he had seen no need to include that in his report.

The agents had agreed, since not mentioning that they were pursuing the wrong suspect made them look

much better.

The questions about "Michael Cornwall" had been resolved, as well, thanks to the help of Chief

Inspector Michael Blood of Scotland Yard, who had explained to the agents over the phone that his

"record" not being available was some sort of a computer glitch. He had then corrected his oversight by

seeing to it that there was a record of an "Inspector Michael Cornwall" inserted in the Yard personnel

files. Only any specific inquiries as to that particular officer would be met with the response that he was

engaged in "special assignments of a sensitive nature" and no further information was available.

Megan Leary, according to the report, had died gallantly in action, destroying the second demonic entity.

Her shotgun wound was explained as a tragic accident, some panicked citizen—identity

unknown—attempting to fire on the demon and hitting her, instead. As for the knight that Rosowitz and

Stanley had seen fighting the demon in the plaza, Loomis made no mention of it and neither of them

brought it up. What they thought, he did not know, but they were satisfied to accept things as they were

and their careers would benefit.

The one thing Loomis had held firm on, though he was willing to give the Bureau credit for everything

else, including the idea of using the thaumagenes to help track down the necromancer, was giving Gomez

credit for having killed the bastard. He didn't know why that seemed important to him, but it was. Gomez

certainly didn't care, but Rhiannon had wasted little time in taking advantage of the publicity occasioned

by her creation playing a key role in bringing the necromancer to justice. The media had been anxious to

interview Gomez as well, but the cat had told them to bug off, which pleased Loomis no end. While Paul

remained in the hospital, recovering from his temporary blindness, Loomis was taking care of Gomez and

they had become fast friends. He hoped that Paul would let Gomez come for visits after he recovered.

Loomis signed off on the report and sighed. There were still unanswered questions and he was looking

forward to getting them resolved, for his own satisfaction. The ones who had the answers were back at

Paul's house and after it was over, he had told them that he would stop by for enlightenment as soon as

he had straightened out the whole thing with the Bureau people, went home and had about ten hours