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Forensic techs had waited for me to arrive, and they had all sorts of equipment with them. There were three techs in total, all of them eyeing the blood pool warily. Good, with that kind of attitude, they’d live longer. I didn’t recognize this group, so they weren’t the same ones who’d tackled the other house. Better stop, introduce myself, and give some precautions.

I stopped in front of them and gave a professional smile. “Hi, I’m Seiji. I’ll need to completely undo the energy around the power bank before you can even approach. If you’ll set up cameras and just record what I’m doing, I’ll turn it over to you for complete dismantling once it’s safe to do so. That said, there’s one part that you cannot touch or have, and I’m probably going to have to take it outside to finish cleansing it.”

The older of the three, a woman with dyed red hair up in a strict bun, studied me carefully. “By cleansing it, do you mean wiping it clean?”

“No. I mean stripping it of all the blood energy clinging to it so it doesn’t take someone’s hand off by touching it. Or killing you, like it did to that poor man still laying here.”

“Oh.” Under her makeup, her face went pale. “I didn’t realize that was a risk.”

“It is. It’s why I’m here. I think I can finish in about a half hour, and then it’s all yours.”

Now no one wanted to touch it at all. I didn’t blame them, I wouldn’t either, but someone had to do it.

All right, first, protection. Just because I had axed the source of the power, it didn’t mean the living power bank was safe to handle. Far from it. It had become a hot potato, was all.

The pool of blood sitting in the silver basin was disturbing, but not really the problem anymore. With no active portals feeding it, it lay inert. Jon probably couldn’t read it anymore, as it wasn’t living energy at this point, just discarded blood. A fact he was likely grateful for. At least, in his shoes, I would be.

My gaze drifted to the problem child. The column’s power hadn’t faded because I’d removed its main source—it had become hungry for a new source. The column actively searched, tendrils crawling through the air and creepily pointed toward the live energy it could sense from us humans.

Living power banks were the literal worst.

I opened one suitcase, knelt next to it, and pulled out a few things. First, a wand of pure crystal, shaped specifically to do light writing. Second, a salt crystal I’d shaped and made myself. Salt had always been a purifying property (partly why using it helps clear infections), and it wasn’t any different here. I kept up a small salt crystal farm of sorts in my workspace, as you could make them yourself, and I found keeping a small stash readily available to be smart. Now, for instance, when I didn’t have time to stop and make one. I could also make them to whatever size I’d like, which again, helped in cases like this one.

Mostly because it was going to take a big mother-heifer.

I brought out my biggest crystal, set it temporarily aside, and then reached for the next thing. Very specific shielding stones, which I immediately put on, the three necklaces overlapping. A precaution on my part as I didn’t want my energy accidentally mixing with the power column’s. God above, but I didn’t want that happening.

All right, here goes.

Standing again, with wand in one hand, salt rock in another, I realized I had multiple cameras set up and pointed mostly my direction. I mean, the other tech crew had also set up cameras, but there hadn’t been enough room in the secondary house for them to stand inside with me, so they’d basically handed me cameras and then hovered downstairs until I was done. I felt like I should offer, “Uh…I can narrate what I’m doing as I go?”

Borrowman put up praying hands. “Please. I have to explain in court later.”

“Ah, right. All right, well, I’ll do my best.” I shifted attention to the power column and started drawing out a square with the wand. “Anyone here enough of a history buff to know what a Templar Magic Square is?”

Jon let out a low whistle. “Wait, really?”

So at least one. “Not quite that, but it’s based on the same principles. For those of you unfamiliar, it’s also called the Sator Square and has been around for centuries. It’s purpose was many folded, applying to medicine, architecture, engineering, what have you. But in my case, it inspired what chaos magicians call Aperta Vis, which is our own version of the perfect conduit to open energy.”

I paused to fill in the square. I didn’t want to screw that up, if I miswrote something, I had to erase the square and write it all over again. A pain, to say the least. This was something even a layman could see, as the lines were strong and white, giving off a subtle sheen.

Donovan leaned his head down and peered at it with squinted eyes. “It kinda looks like a Sudoku puzzle?”

“It does, doesn’t it?” I’d always thought so, too. “Only an Algebraic version with these random letters in it. Regardless, what I’m doing is crafting a window to the energy beyond the square, so that I can control and manipulate it. Easier than chucking a grenade into this room and exploding the whole house.”

Borrowman blanched and spluttered, “I’m sorry, was that an option?”

“If I hadn’t come? Yes. That’s what you have been forced to do.” I spared him a grin, although it probably looked a bit demented. I was feeling a certain way. “Aren’t you glad Jon called me in now?”

“I was glad before, but yeah. Yeah, I really am.”

Borrowman would have nightmares about exploding houses now. Oops. Well, it was fine, he knew enough now to call me himself if ever needed. For his sake, I hope he didn’t need me, but couldn’t always bank on that.

Focusing once more, I finished the square and then activated it with my own power to get it going. I placed the salt crystal right on the back side of it, then set the square to leeching the energy from the power column. The twisted blood energy tendrils reoriented themselves to me, reaching for the square. They flowed through the salt crystal into the window, becoming purified, and I automatically absorbed all the power, letting it build in my wand hand. I used the wand itself to help store the power I’d release once topside.

Frankly, the idea of keeping this power a second longer than I needed to made my stomach roll in revolt. It would be like deliberately eating mosquitos, who would even want to?

Except the sick and twisted, of course.