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

She glared at him for a full minute before pulling the door back open for Sean.


“Thanks,” he muttered, ducking through. Inside was an office that looked, well, like a typical officeat a garage. Scuffed floors, old battered desk piled with papers, landline phone, even a crooked cheap calendar on the wall. A pot of old coffee sat slowly burning its flavor away on top of a gray, dinged-up filing cabinet, and the way Dane wrinkled his nose spoke to how offensive he found the beverage.


The woman locked the door, crossed to the pot, and poured herself a coffee into a business mug with the Lynne’s logo on it.


“You drink coffee?” she asked, and Sean mumbled a no thanks and looked for a seat.


“That shit?” asked Dane. “No fucking way. Are you Lynne?”


“Only to the muggles,” she said. “Decrypters call me Javalynne.”


Chapter 48