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than&  Ainslie stopped when she realized she had been about to say other than for a
ghost, he seemed too warm and alive. It was bad enough he knew about the Spooky Girls
Club. She wasn t about to share any of her real thoughts with him.  I, er, was paying
more attention to you than him. The pleased smile he gave her made her blow out a sigh
in frustration.  Don t get all excited. You pissed me off; naturally I was paying more
attention to you.
 Even though he had a knife at your throat you preferred to look at me instead?
 What is your point about his eyes? Of course she would look at Ramsay Balfour.
He was the sort of man who instantly grabbed a woman s attention. Immunity did not
mean she was incapable of appreciating male beauty when she saw it. He was hot. He
made her hot. This is very bad. Get a grip, girl.
 Malcolm is not alive.
Ainslie knew she had to tread very carefully as this was getting into territory she
shared with no one but Lucretia. The less freaky stuff people knew about her the better.
 He seemed alive to me. And that was what had thrown her. She had gone to the
cemetery today expecting a ghost and she d found a knife-wielding man and Ramsay
Balfour. What exactly did he know and how was it going to affect her?  Are you saying
he s a ghost? she asked idly.
 Did you think he looked like a ghost? Ramsay parried back as he got up from the
desk and moved toward Ainslie.
 How would I know what a ghost looks like? Great, we re game playing.
Ramsay sat down on the edge of his desk, directly before her.  You know we can go
around and around all day with this but it would be easier if we both spoke the truth.
 Okay, you first. Ainslie wanted to see if his truth suited her. She had experienced a
few run-ins with people she had told the truth to and they had viewed her as mad and now
kept a distance from her. Suffice to say, apart from Lucretia, she had few friends and
there was no one else Ainslie trusted.
Ramsay looked at her for a moment as if judging what her acceptance level was.
 Malcolm is what they call the undead.
Okay, that was not what Ainslie had expected but it did explain why she thought he
had been a ghost in her dream.
 He was a Summit agent investigating a necromancer. Do you know what that is,
Ainslie?
 I believe it s someone who manipulates or summons the dead for their own
purposes. Of course she knew. The Spooky Girls sent out e-mail newsletters that Ainslie
read with a mixture of amazement, amusement, and skepticism. The Spooky members
were actively pursuing every weirdo known to man, it seemed. No one was too freaky for
those gals. From what she d read, some necromancers were just playing at necromancy
while others were the real, evil deal. The necromancy of medieval times was about
finding out knowledge and gaining wisdom through the deceased. Now, it was mixed up
with satanic worship, deviant sites on the Internet, and the need for power.
Ramsay nodded as if pleased yet not surprised at her awareness.  Yes, that s
essentially correct. A necromancer makes use of the fine line between life and death.
Most of them now seem to be caught up in satanic rituals. Malcolm was killed a week
ago by an unknown person. I saw his body at the morgue. Ramsay s mouth tightened
sadly at the thought.  His corpse was taken from his grave the night after his funeral. It is
our belief that the man the necromancer who killed him took it.
This was really not something Ainslie wanted to get into but she felt she was being
driven that way by fate, and fate was not something you could halt.  So this necromancer
guy brought your friend Malcolm back to life? Okay, this unfortunately was now falling
into the realm of what she normally dealt with.
 Yes. Ramsay looked satisfied she understood without him having to explain it
more deeply.
 How is that possible? The ability to make the dead rise again was huge. There was
indeed power in that on both a personal and a global level.
 It is believed there are gifted individuals who are psychically able to connect with
the deceased. He looked at her with interest.
Oh crap. Ainslie didn t want to go down the path he seemed to want to lead her
down.  And you think this necromancer is one of them?
 Possibly, Ramsay responded thoughtfully.  It is my understanding that most
people have some extrasensory or psychic ability. We investigate it all the time at
Summit. It s something the Australian scientific community is interested in.
Ainslie had the distinct feeling she was being put under the microscope. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]