“Twice in one day,” she said. “Don’t tell me you’re becoming sociable.”

“I want coffee. Are you and Quinn in the office up there?”

“We are, just a couple of busy demon-researching worker bees.”

“I’ll be up in a minute.”

He caught the sexy arch of her eyebrow before he continued back. Armed with a mug of coffee, he backtracked and headed up the stairs. Quinn sat at the keyboard, her quick fingers tapping. They continued to tap even as she glanced up and sent him her big, bright smile. “Hi. Have a seat.”

“That’s okay.” Instead he wandered over to the town map tacked to the wall, studied all the colored pins ranged over it that represented incidents involving paranormal activity.

The graveyard wasn’t a favorite, he noted, but it got some play. He moved on to the charts and graphs Layla had generated. There, too, he noted the graveyard wasn’t a usual haunt, for lack of a better term. Maybe it was too clichéd to meet the Big Evil Bastard’s standards.

Behind him, Cybil sat studying her own laptop screen. “I’ve found a source that claims the bloodstone was originally part of the great Alpha-or Life Stone. It’s interesting.”

“Does it tell us how to use it to kill the fucker?”

Cybil glanced up briefly, spoke to Gage’s back. “No. It does, however, speak of wars between the dark and the light-the Alpha and the Omega, the gods and the demons-depending on which version of the mythology I’ve found. And during these wars, the great stone exploded into many fragments, infused with the blood and the power of the gods. And these fragments were given to the guardians.”

“Hey now.” Quinn stopped typing, swiveled to face Cybil. “That’s hitting close to home. If so, the bloodstone was passed down to Dent as a guardian. And he, in turn, passed it to our guys here in three equal fragments.”