Free Ghost Hunter by Jayne Castle

narrow street lined with the dark, gloomy, old-fashionedbuildings the First Generation colonists had erected two hundred years earlier.
    The newer sections of Cadence were optimistic and energetic in style. But here in the Old Quarter, the structures fashioned by the settlers reflected a grim determination to survive. The buildings hunkered down like gargoyles, creating a maze of narrow streets, crooked lanes, and dark alleys. Atmospheric was about the only positive word that could be used to describe this part of town.
    The dark, brooding structures of the Old Quarter stood in stark contrast to the elegant, airy, alien towers and spires that rose inside the massive green quartz walls. Cadence, like the other three major city-states on Harmony, had been established around the ruins of one of the four major ancient dead cities that had been discovered shortly after colonization. Although the mysterious aliens who had originally settled the planet had vanished thousands of years ago, their strangely ethereal urban landscape and the dangerous labyrinth of underground tunnels they had built de-fied time and the elements. Cooper sometimes wondered if the human cities would last as long.
    On the other side of the car Elly cleared her throat.
    â€œAre you okay?” she asked.
    â€œWhy wouldn’t I be okay?”
    â€œJust wondering,” she said a little too lightly. “That was a very tightly wound ghost you used against that mugger.”
    It hit him that this was the first time she had actually seen him work ghost energy. He tightened his grip on the wheel.
    â€œWhat’s the matter? Are you afraid I’m going to turn into a raging sex fiend?” he asked politely. “Don’t worry. I usually save that for a full moon.”
    She wrapped her arms very tightly around herself and angled her chin. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
    â€œLook, Elly, I’m sure you’re well aware that every hunterrezzes ghost light a little differently. No two do it quite the same way. My patterns have always been complex. It’s the way my psi energy resonates.” He didn’t even pause as he gave his standard explanation. He’d been using the line for years, ever since it had become obvious in his teens that his para-senses were not the same as those of other hunters. “Doesn’t mean I exerted an unusual amount of power. I didn’t melt amber.”
    â€œRight.” She shot him a quick, assessing look and then turned back to stare fixedly ahead at the street scene. “Nevertheless, everyone knows that working a ghost, even a small one, has a certain, uh, pronounced effect on a hunter. Turn left here.”
    The conversation was going downhill fast. “Don’t tell me that you actually believe all that garbage about ghost hunters becoming sex-crazed after they work ghost light.”
    â€œNo offense, but I’ve got three brothers, remember? They can’t wait to find a date after a day spent working ghost light down in the catacombs.”
    â€œMost guys your brothers’ ages, ghost hunters, or not, are seriously interested in sex. Goes with the territory of being male.”
    To his surprise, her mouth curved a little at that. “But men like you who are older and wiser are no longer at the mercy of their hormones, is that it?”
    Was she teasing him? “Relax, I’m no more of a threat to your virtue now than I was before I rezzed that damned ghost back there in the alley.”
    â€œI see,” she said, perfectly neutral.
    That hadn’t come out quite right, he reflected. The unfortunate fact was that he was semiaroused, and she had obviously sensed it. What she did not know was that the ghost work had little to do with his current condition. He’d been feeling this way since she’d walked into the Trap Door.
    â€œLook, I’m not saying that summoning ghosts doesn’t have some side effects,” he plowed on, going for