Ramirez closed his eyes and shook his head. "God forbid."

Loomis gave him a curious look. "God? I thought adepts were pagans."

"Not necessarily. Some are, but I was raised a Catholic myself."

"Really? I thought the Church didn't recognize adepts."

"Not officially," Ramirez said. "Technically, I became excommunicate the moment I began to practice

thaumaturgy. I am not allowed to partake of the sacraments, but I can still enter a church and pray." He

gave a small snort. "My presence doesn't make the font boil, you know."

Loomis smiled. "It's a strange world we live in, isn't it? You believe in the Devil, Professor?"

"Only in a figurative sense," Ramirez replied. "I believe in Good and Evil. A necromancer is capable of

conjuring up a demon, for instance. However, popular supposition aside, what he's summoning is not

some entity from Hell, but a living personification of the evil in his own soul."

"No kidding? Seriously?"

"Seriously. Thaumaturgy deals with natural forces, not supernatural ones, though it's a rather fine line, I

suppose. It depends on your perspective and beliefs. The mind is capable of more things than you might

imagine, Lieutenant. If you know how to tap its potential."

"This is starting to sound less like magic and more like psychology," said Loomis as they slowly walked

back toward the entrance to theplacita . "Let me see if I have this right. A necromancer is basically an

adept, like any other—"

"An advanced adept," Ramirez corrected him.

"An advanced adept," repeated Loomis, "but the difference is that instead of using his own energy to

cast a spell, he draws it off from someone else and kills them in the process, correct?"

"Essentially, yes. But it also has to do with the nature of the spells he uses, which are, of course, highly

illegal and not taught in thaumaturgy schools. Knowledge of such spells would be extremely difficult to

come by, though not impossible, unfortunately."

"I see. And in order to do that, to draw off someone else's life energy to fuel his spell, the necromancer

has to be there, right? I mean, physically be present?"

"Not necessarily," Ramirez replied.

"Oh?" Loomis frowned.

"Remember what I was saying about a necromancer conjuring up a demon, a living personification of his

own soul? Call it his subconscious, if that makes you more comfortable. It would take a very powerful

adept to do something like that, both because such a spell would be incredibly demanding and because

he'd have to be strong enough not only to effect the spell, but also to control it."

"A demon is hard to control?"