Free Banshee Charmer (Files from the Otherworlder Enforcement Agency, #1) by Tiffany Allee Page A

talking about the fact that you not only knew Rebecca could have been killed by a succubus, but you knew of a succubus who has killed before and kept it from me.”
    “Keep your voice down.” She shot a glance upstairs. “Let’s talk in the other room.”
    I followed Marisol to the kitchen, and she waved me to a seat at a small breakfast table. She started a kettle of water on the stove.
    “I’m sorry,” she said, sitting down at the table while the water heated. “I probably should have said something, but I didn’t want her dragged into this. How much do you know?”
    “Elaine was charged with mystical manslaughter when she was sixteen years old. The charges were dropped and the records were sealed because of her age.” Mystical manslaughter carried a sentence closer to that of second-degree murder than it did regular voluntary manslaughter. It was a double standard, but otherworlders with lethal powers were held to a higher standard. Fear and politics kept the law on the books—in most states, anyway.
    Marisol let out a long breath. “Okay, I see why you might jump to conclusions. But you had no right to come here.” Her eyes narrowed. “How did you find out? Unless you got a promotion or two since yesterday, there’s no way you could have accessed those records.”
    “How I got the records isn’t important.”
    “Oh, it’s important. Was it Vasquez? That ass—”
    “Amanda’s dead.”
    Marisol’s eyes widened. The teapot whistled and, when Marisol made no move to retrieve it, I got up and pulled the ceramic pot from the burner. I shut off the stove and turned to face her.
    I didn’t want to see her sympathy, her sadness. But Marisol either wasn’t as adept as most cops at keeping her emotions from her face, or she didn’t bother employing that skill. Her eyes filled with unshed tears, and she wrapped her arms around herself.
    “Was it the serial killer you’re hunting?”
    I nodded, not trusting myself to speak, and then turned and started opening cupboards at random. I found the tea first and the cups two doors later. I poured tea, setting one cup in front of Marisol before sitting back down.
    She didn’t seem to see the tea. “I’ll tell you what happened with my sister so you can take her off the list.”
    “Okay,” I said, voice rough. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried again. “What happened?”
    “Elaine was attacked by an older kid at school when she was sixteen. He was eighteen. They’d gone out a couple of times. She didn’t know he’d found out she was a succubus until it was too late. When he did, he figured a succubus should always be willing to put out. Pissed off she wouldn’t sleep with him, he raped her.”
    I closed my eyes. “I’m so sorry, Marisol.”
    “Do you know how succubi powers work?”
    I opened my eyes and blinked a couple of times to clear them. “Not really. I mean, I know you can drain the life force from people.”
    Marisol nodded slowly. “But when we use our powers, it’s kind of a sharing process. We can get bits of emotion from the other person. How they’re feeling. It builds a connection. The more drained, the closer a connection is built.”
    “Wouldn’t that make it hard? To date, I mean?”
    She gave me a tight smile. “We don’t have to drain people. We aren’t vampires. Succubi are sustained just fine with the five food groups. Draining can give power, but most succubi don’t use their powers until they’re in a long-term relationship. Married, usually. It can make the couple closer. The connection works both ways, you know? The succubus gains energy and a connection, and her lover gains pieces of her, too.”
    “Does the effect…fade?”
    Marisol took a sip of her tea, and then shook her head. “Elaine lost control. She was so scared. She thought he was going to kill her. And he may very well have, but she drained him first. I’m not even certain she knew what she was doing. She just wanted him to stop.”
    I