“We can speak in my reception area.” Natalie gestured to the room I’d walked through to get to her office. “I’ll be right back, Viktor.”

The man nodded, a solemn expression on his face. I wondered if he practiced it.

Just as Magisters oversaw their pockets of the world and ruled the vampires, the Covenant was run by Councilors. Unlike the Magisters who were appointed, Councilors were elected and ruled all witches in their area of the world. Six councils in all ruled them.

I might as well have interrupted her meeting with the secretary of state or the vice president.

Natalie cleared her throat and I jumped. Heat flushed my cheeks when I realized that I’d been staring at the Magister. I turned quickly and followed Natalie into her small waiting room.

“Okay, what is this about?” Natalie asked, shutting her office door behind her.

“We have some remains,” I replied. “A body was burned beyond all identification. We’ve determined no accelerant was used. We need to find out what else could have burned a body so badly, and whether or not you can get anything off the body to help us identify the victim.”

“How badly was the body damaged? Tell me about the circumstances,” Natalie said.

“Only ashes remained,” I explained. “Mostly. A few more minutes and we wouldn’t have been able to determine the ashes were human without a sensitive. Not even enough was left of the teeth to be certain it was a human being.” I took a deep breath. “But it was enough to get the paranormal unit out there. Our sensitive verified the ashes were human remains, or an otherworlder. There is definite energy on the body that is OW in nature, but she can’t say for sure if it’s from the victim or the person who burned the body. And there’s not enough of it left for Astrid to identify what kind of otherworlder was involved.”

“Astrid Holmes?” Natalie asked, voice sharp.

“Yes,” I said.

“Guess she didn’t want to come with you to talk to me.”

“She’s working other leads in the case,” I lied.

“Humph. Sure she is.” Natalie pursed her lips. “Well, I probably can’t tell you who the victim was, not off a little ash. You might do better with a psychometrist. But I can tell you what could have destroyed the body.” She held up a finger. “A witch, for one. A not-so-strong one with an affinity for fire could have done it, perhaps. Especially if intense emotion was involved. A powerful one with no affinity for fire could have done it as well—although that would have required a lot of time and trouble.” She held up another finger. “A salamander. But it would have to be a strong one.” And another finger. “A firebird—but again, it would have to be an especially strong one. Was there damage to the surrounding area?”

“No, the damage was concentrated on the body itself.”

“Probably not a firebird, then. They aren’t all that accurate.”

“What about a phoenix?”

Natalie waved her hand in the air. “That’s just another word for firebird—they’re the same species, really. They just won’t admit it. I guess it could also be some sort of elemental shaman. They’re similar to witches, but their magic is far more…primitive.”

“Anything else?”

“Not that I can think of offhand.”

“What can you tell me about salamanders?” I asked, keeping my tone light. I was only curious because of the case—not because of Costa. And if I told myself that enough times, maybe I’d believe it.

She shrugged. “Like all species of otherworlders, they vary in strength, but they are more accurate than a firebird.

Most commonly they are fire resistant—maybe closer to immune. Their eyes turn black like a true salamander’s when they are feeling intense emotion. Most are like a lighter, in that they can start a small flame. They can drive some energy into a fire.” She shrugged. “But melting fillings...how long did this person burn?”

I frowned. “It’s hard to say, but it couldn’t have been more than an hour or so. He or she was found in an alley at night, but the bar that used the Dumpsters closed at 2:00 a.m., and they took their trash out after closing. A bakery on the other side of the alley had workers in by four. They found the body at four thirty, and it was already reduced to smoldering ash.”

“Sounds like you definitely have something, then.”

Natalie’s face scrunched, a cute expression on her, and oddly it reminded me of Astrid’s expression back in the alley when she had been concentrating on using her sensitive powers on the pile of ash. “If I had to hazard a guess, I would put my money on an amateur witch with very strong fire acumen.”

“Why not the others?” I asked. “Seems like a Covenant witch would be just as likely.”

Natalie laughed, a light musical sound. “Oh, I won’t argue with you that a Covenant witch would be more likely to have that kind of juice, but our numbers are limited.

Besides, Viktor has been in town all week. No way would one of ours try to pull something like that with a council member in town. That would be...suicide. Professional suicide, of course.”

Professional suicide. Yeah, right. More like physical homicide when the councilman got ahold of the witch.

Like the vampires, the Covenant tended to take care of their own problems.

“And,” Natalie added, “a very powerful salamander could have done it.”

Her points were valid, but they didn’t really eliminate any of the species she’d named, just made some more likely than others. Hell, Mac had found that out only months before. Incubi, cousins to my species, were supposed to be extinct. Mac had discovered not one, but two of them on that case. One of which was a deranged killer, and the other she was currently living with. The fact that powerful ones were somewhat rare sure as heck didn’t take them off the potentials list if extinct didn’t.

My thoughts briefly flitted to Costa. He was a salamander, after all. I didn’t think it likely he’d come into town early to burn some poor person behind La Maison, but I’d have Vasquez check his whereabouts to be sure.

“Can you get us any information from the ashes?” I pulled a small, white plastic container from my purse that Astrid had given me in the parking lot. It was enclosed in a Ziploc bag and sealed. It only looked like it would hold half a cup or so of the ash, but probably a big enough sample for Natalie.

Natalie sighed. “I can try. Not sure what I can get will be worth the amount of money it’ll cost your department.”

I grimaced but my voice was steady. “No amount of money is worth a life, Ms. Leigh. If what you find can help us, it’ll be worth the whole of the department’s budget.”

Oh boy. Vasquez was going to love that.

My phone rang and I glanced at the unfamiliar number before touching the screen to answer it.

I turned away from Natalie. “Whitman.” I knew it almost definitely wasn’t Elaine, but my voice still caught with fear and hope.

“This is Costa. The security cameras are a no-go.”

“What about her car? I saw it in the parking lot.”

“We got it. But it doesn’t look like the girls made it that far. It was locked up tight. The CSIs are going to go over it anyway, but I don’t think it’s likely they’ll find anything.”

I cursed under my breath. “This is what you called to tell me?” I winced. I was directing my worry for Elaine into anger at Costa. I knew that, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. He’d been kind of a jerk earlier, though, so that soothed my guilt a bit.

He hesitated. “There’s something else, but I think we’re better off talking in person.”

I stifled a sigh. “Fine. Where are you?”

“I’m at the Hampton, off Illinois Street.”

“I know where that is.” I glanced at Natalie. “Not sure how long I’ll be, but I’ll be there.” I tossed my phone back into my bag.

“Was there anything else, Detective?” Natalie turned to head back into her office as she spoke.

“How much for a locator spell?”

The witch turned back to me and smiled, and I’d swear I saw dollar signs flash across her eyes.

Costa’s hotel was on the north side of Chicago. It was probably the closest to the police department within the OWEA’s budget.

A quick call with Vasquez from my car confirmed Costa’s whereabouts when our alley victim was incinerated.

He had an ironclad alibi—it was hard to beat the word of a dozen cops and a DA. I trudged to his room and knocked briskly on the door. It swung open and I took a quick breath. A light sheen of moisture reflected off Costa’s naked chest and he rubbed his wet hair with a towel. He stepped back, and I caught the door automatically before it could close behind him.

I followed him into the room and kept my eyes firmly affixed to his muscular back. It was tempting, but not as tempting as the tight butt I could see the outline of in his jeans.

“Just a minute,” he said. He reached the bed and tossed the towel onto a desk situated across from it. As he grabbed a T-shirt out of the suitcase sitting on top of the bed, I swallowed. I did my best not to reach out and run my fingers down his hard chest while he pulled the material over his head.

As he straightened his T-shirt, I licked my lips and met his intense gaze. I knew that the heat I felt was plain to see on my face, but his expression didn’t harden, it smoldered.

His nostrils flared, like he was an animal who’d caught my scent, and I blinked in surprise.

I took an involuntary step back and dropped my eyes.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was apologizing for, but it seemed like the right thing to say. It was the only thing I could think of, anyway.

“I, um...” He cleared his throat. “Just needed to get in a quick shower. You were longer than I expected.

I took a deep breath, air through my nose, slowly out my mouth. “I tried a locator spell with Natalie. She’s the Covenant witch the department uses.”