“What I ‘know! is that you're angry and taking this really personally.

You chewed out your own brother for going vigilante, so don't make the same mistake he did." Red looked like she was going to say something, but Tarloh cut her off.

"No, and that's final. Go out again tomorrow when everyone is rested and you've calmed down."

Red stormed off, clenching her fists, and the crowd of people parted to let her pass. No one in his or her right mind fucked with Red when she was in that kind of mood.

Jane wanted to go after her, but she felt someone grabbing her arm.

"Don't," Talia said.

"Give her a couple of minutes to calm down.”

“But. . . shouldn't I. . ."

Talia grinned.

"I know you want to help. But Red has one hell of a temper. She'll want you in her bed tonight, but don't go with her unless she's under control. It's always a bad idea to go to bed with someone's who's THAT pissed. Now why don't you go tell Tarloh about what you found out tonight?"

Jane walked over to the big man and found that Robbie, Chris and Anya were waiting for her. They discussed the evening's findings, including the effects of the drugs, the targeted clientele and their form of transportation.

"This is highly disconcerting," Tarloh said at last.

"Tell me about it," Jane whispered.

"It's like there's something out there feeding on madness and "Stop," Tarloh said.

“What made you say that?"

Jane almost felt like she'd done something wrong. She looked back and forth between her three friends and each of them nodded his or her encouragement.

“Well . . . we keep wondering why this ‘dark thing‘ wants to drive people nuts as if . . . as if there's something else that comes after. We didn't see these crazy people turned into something or picked up or used to rob banks or anything like that.

They just go crazy, and at some point they die," she added.

“What if driving them crazy IS the point? Maybe whatever this thing is just wants them insane."

Tarloh looked very deep in thought.

"I think Jane may be on to something. Crap, that means I need to go see Lothar . . . that's a wizard and seer down in Los Angeles," he explained to Jane.

"He's an ostentatious prick, but he's pretty damn good at what he does. We don't have any kind of scribe, but . . . I think I may have heard of something like this, but I don't want to say anything until I'm sure." He turned to Talia.

“Gather up your gear. I'm taking you with me this time."

“What about Red?"