I hesitated, then tentatively prodded the silvery casing with a stiffened finger. It wasn't sticky as I'd expected, and felt a little like plastic—almost as if it had hardened in the air. I leaned a little closer to inspect the wounds. Other than a slight discoloring around the edges of the punctures, there was little blood, but the wounds themselves suggested the creature's fangs were at least as thick as my fist.
It was going to take more than one can of fly spray to get rid of this damn spider.
I closed my eyes, took another deep, shuddering breath, then said, "What do you know about spiderlike spirits or demons?"
"I believe there is a spirit known as the Jorõgumo, but I know nothing about them." Azriel moved around the coffee table, then stopped opposite me, his eyes slightly narrowed as he studied Wolfgang's remains. Power shimmered through the air, sharp and almost bitter in the stillness. It died just as quickly, and his gaze met mine. "There is no brain left in this body, so I cannot read what memories might have remained."
"Hunter did say everything had been sucked away." My gaze rose to Wolfgang's face, which was free of the transparent net. "Is there any way you can find out more about Jorõgumos? I mean, I can Google them, but I can't imagine Google being a reliable source of information when it comes to facts about spirits."
"I can ask, but Mijai fight demons, not spirits."
Meaning I'd probably have to rely on earthbound resources. Perhaps the Brindle witches could help. I frowned. "Why hasn't his body collapsed in on itself?"
"I cannot say. I am not an expert on spirits, let alone spiders."
"And when it comes to spiders, my knowledge stops at either avoiding them, or killing the fuckers on sight."
I glanced at my watch. Ten minutes gone and, so far, we'd discovered nothing Hunter hadn't already known. I looked around the room, hoping there was something that jumped up and screamed clue. As usual, fate wasn't being overly helpful.
I spotted his jacket flung over one of the kitchen chairs and walked over to pick it up. His keys were in the left front pocket, and his wallet was in one of the inside ones. Opening the latter revealed his driver's license, several platinum credit cards, and at least five hundred dollars in cash. Robbery obviously wasn't a motive—which was an odd thought when related to spiders or spirits, but perhaps not if we were dealing with some sort of shifter.
Frowning, I put his wallet back and went through the rest of his pockets. The only other thing to be found was a business card for some place called Dark Soul. I flicked it over, but the back was empty. God, I thought, this had better not be another fucking blood whore club. I'd had more than enough of them lately to last a lifetime. I placed the card back where I'd found it, then did a search of the rest of the house. As I expected, I found absolutely nothing.
This was useless—and I told Hunter as much when I went outside to call her back.
"I do not care what you think in regards to the viability of this task," she snapped. The vid-screen had been turned off at her end, and I couldn't help but be a little thankful for that. I had the distinct impression her expression would not have been pleasant. "I merely want your impressions of the kill."
I couldn't see the point of that, either, given my impressions were unlikely to be any different from hers, but I took a deep breath and said, "He was killed by something that appears to have spiderlike tendencies. There's a musky scent in the air that is not dissimilar to the musk of shifters, but if it is a shifter, then it's one I've not come across before." My voice was as sharp as hers, which probably wasn't wise given all the shit I'd said earlier, but then, she was on the other end of the phone rather than in person, so she could hardly smack me down. Not immediately, anyway. "I didn't find anything that hinted at who or what else might have been here, but Azriel said there are spider spirits known as Jorõgumos, so it's possible we're dealing with one of those. I did find a business card for someplace called Dark Soul."