Blood Sins

given short shrift, overlooked at best and actively ignored at worst. So it hadn't been easy to get the answers he sought without also tainting the information by asking leading questions.

But patience and tenacity served him well, and he had eventually learned details that were not included in these reports.

Such as the fact that the bodies of every single one of these victims had possessed at least one internal oddity the investigating officers and medical personnel had not been able to explain.

Bruised and even burst organs. Crushed bones.

White eyes.

'Jesus, what's going on up there,' he muttered, rubbing the nape of his neck with one hand as he sifted through the reports, reading again and again what he had already memorized. And recalling conversations that had, in the end, sounded eerily the same.

'I wish I could help you, Chief. Wish I had an explanation for how that man's heart was bruised and damaged with no external injury to account for it. I don't know how it happened. I don't know how it could have happened. It's almost as ifas if an incredibly powerful hand reached inside his body andBut that's nonsense, of course.'

Of course. Of course it was.

Nonsense. Impossible.

Sawyer leaned back in his chair until it creaked in protest, his gaze fixed across the room but focused on something much, much farther away. Focused on another brief and seemingly casual conversation on a downtown street corner five years in the past, a conversation that had baffled and unsettled him then and disturbed him deeply now.

'You'll make a good police chief, Sawyer.'

'What? Reverend Samuel I have no intention of'

'I only hope that, when the time comes, you'll know who your friends are. Who you can trust.'

'Reverend'

'I know you aren't a member of my church, but people like us we should stick together. Don't you agree, Sawyer?'

'I don't know what you're talking about, Reverend.'

'No? Well, perhaps not.' He smiled, nodded politely, and continued on his way, leaving Sawyer staring after him.

Sawyer pulled his thoughts from the past with an effort and realized he was looking at the television set on the other side of the room. He didn't intend to focus on it but found himself thinking that it was still too early to watch what passed for 'local' news on the Asheville station

The lamp on his desk flickered, and then the TV came to life, muted as he had left it the day before and showing an infomercial.

'Shit.' He checked quickly to make sure the blinds were still closed, relaxing only a little when he was certain none of the third-shift officers in the bullpen could see into his office.

Good.

He looked down to see that his watch had stopped, and he swore again, this time half under his breath.

Not good. But not at all unusual.

You should have bought stock in a major watch company years ago. Or just give it up and buy yourself a sundial____________________

A sundial. And a cell phone that lasted more than a week before dying. And he should have bought stock in whoever sold lightbulbs, because he tended to blow those completely when he was very tired and very worried and not paying attention.

He closed his eyes briefly, making the necessary mental effort to gather in straying thoughts and energies. It wasn't difficult, after all these years of determined concentration and practice, but it was a control that tended to slip when he was weary or distracted.

And that was not good.

'people like us'

That was really not good.

* * * *

Tessa was shaking her head in response to Hollis's theory about physical pleasure being taken for spiritual rapture. 'Okay, explain the women. Tell me how a womana grown, sexually active womancould not know she's having an orgasm. And how any woman could explain that away as a religious experience.'

'Some do, I'm told.'

'Hollis.'

'Okay, okay. I'm betting it's another aspect of Samuel's abilities. He can't control their minds psychically, but I'll bet he can plant the certaintylike a posthypnotic suggestionthat what they're experiencing is a spiritual rather than a physical rapture. I even bet that those he calls into the inner sanctum most likely wake up the next morning convinced they only had an erotic dream.'

Tessa shivered. 'That's twisted.'

'And then some.'

'But he can't be drawing all the energy he needs just from the women, can he?'

'Doubtful. Now and then for a fix or in an emergency, yeah, but they can't be his primary source. Not if he's expending an unusual amount of energy.'

'Do we know he's doing that?'

'No. We know he has in the past, but we have no idea how much of his energy he has to expendin controlling his flock and in order to reach his other goals. Whatever those are.'

'We don't know a whole hell of a lot,' Tessa observed.

'Yeah, welcome to our world. That's par for the course.'

Tessa picked up her cup and took a swallow of her cooling coffee, giving herself a moment to think. 'So, if we're assuming he's using more energy than he possessesfor whatever reasonwe also have to assume he has to replenish that energy somehow.'

'Every psychic I know has to. And while rest is the most natural way, it isn't the quickest; quite a few of us also can draw energy from external sources. Electrical storms and strong magnetic fields, for instance. Don't storms bother you? They make me feel like one giant exposed nerve.'

'They make me feel edgy,' Tessa acknowledged, and then stopped, frowning. 'Wait. When I was reading up on Grace, on the area, one of the things I remember reading is that the weather here from spring to fall is unusually violent. Something about the granite in the mountains, the shape of this valley, and the way weather fronts move through. Lots of storms, especially electrical ones. Is that why Samuel based his church here?'

'We think so. Also why he's so interested in the Florida property you supposedly own. Last time I checked, Florida held the record in the US for most lightning strikes within a given period. Summer storms can be vicious. Just like here.'

'But almost always spring to fall here. Winter storms are really rare.'

Hollis nodded. 'Which means that during the winter months, like now, there's rarely a handy supercharged electrical or magnetic field available from which to draw or replenish his energy. But he's using energy, and probably at a high rate. The negative vibes you picked up, possibly even the pain, are probably no more than a discharge: unfocused remnants of energy left over after he's used his abilities.'

'Which means'

'Which means he has to need something a lot more powerful to recharge, to restore his own energy balance. Assuming there's anything balanced about him, which I take leave to doubt.'

Tessa ignored the muttered aside. 'Then what does he do? You said the women couldn't be his primary source. For part of the year, neither can the weather. So?'

Reluctant, Hollis said, 'The body produces a great deal of energy during orgasm. It also produces an extreme