Dane's a Decrypter down on his luck -- after accidentally dispatching the wrong creature, he's sent to a small town where the cryptids he hunts are sparse. Crypt Coffee becomes his business front, but instead of a thrilling new mission on the side, he's stuck sending ghosts back to where they came from. Dane can annoy customers, at least, and tries to scare off Professor Sean Sanderson when he starts poking around too much.<br><br>But Sean isn’t about to stay away. Not when he hears about the murder of a former student, and definitely not if young, exciting Dane has information about it. But the more he allows himself to get dragged into this supernatural world of monsters and ghosts, the more the danger escalates. And if Sean and Dane aren’t careful, tracking down a murderer who can use magic might just get them killed.

Bad Seed

“Might be difficult for you to accept, but I want to burn the hell out of those things. They almost killed me. Count me in. I won’t cause trouble.”


“You’ve already caused trouble,” said Dane, then rolled his eyes. “Sure. Whatever. Just stay out ofmy way today, got it?”


Sean did exactly that. He bought a coffee, a large amount of biscotti, and took his laptop to a corner towait Dane out. He was half expecting the professor to leave at some point—go home to sleep or eat—but by the time ten o’clock rolled around—Crypt Coffee closed sooner on Sundays—Sean was still there, yawning and scowling.


“Get your ass up,” said Dane from where he was cleaning one of the many coffee machines. “Going to be burning some trees soon.”


“Great. Finally.” Sean yawned hugely as he brought his plate and mug over. “How long does it take to burn live trees? I have to be up at four-thirty tomorrow.”


Chapter 10