Manny gave Ellie a wink. "Way ahead of you," he said, giving the others a casual salute as he back stepped out of the meeting room. His long legs moving smoothly over the sleek floor, he practically slid into his office, landing gracefully in his rolling chair. His momentum brought him to his desk, outfitted with a disheveled pile of books, a shitty laptop, a sheathed USMC combat knife, and a mini-fan he often enjoyed in the summer time. 

He turned his computer on, but not to do research. He turned on an audio file he had downloaded months ago, a post grunge song by TDG and their new singer called 'The Real You.' Songs that brought a harsh rhythm he enjoyed. It was how the real world actually was. Rough and terrible, but with a certain melodic feeling and pattern. Of course Manny wouldn't describe it in such a way himself. Rather he'd have used far more casual language. 'Hard and rough, but you can dig it." 

He let out a breath, and scratched his neck, before he began to pick apart his book stack with a methodical but practiced examination. "Ok," he said under his breath. "What kind of magic would influence some chick like that?" Placing both feet on the table and reclining, he reviewed the tomes he had. 

He slipped past the basic tomes of Paracelsus, outlining the basic functions of mystical theory. It helped any journeyman magician to conjure up a small spell, but it was taxing to the very spirit. Either way, it wouldn't tell him what he needed to know. There was no enchanting in the book, at any rate. 

The [i]Edda Mystic[/i] would do no good. Norse magic didn't apply here, neither did the [i]Anthology of Divinations[/i]. He tossed the rejected books back onto the desk, each tome landing roughly in a stack as they had been when he'd first entered the room. [i]No wonder they're such a mess[/i], he could hear Kennedy say in his mind. He snorted, and continued the search. 

[i]De Occulta Philosophia[/i] was next, and Manny flipped it open. Agrippa Von Nettesheim was an eccentric madman, but undoubtedly brilliant. If it wasn't for his pacts with the underworld and his intense curiosity, he might have actually found immortality. The book Manny thumbed through held secrets that still needed to be researched and formed into concrete spells. As effective of a mystic as Agrippa was, his writings were vague and lacking real forethought in diction. More like random scribbles that provided half insights and fantastical sigils of mystic power that had long since been snuffed out. 

He sighed, and tossed it onto the growing pile. 

The detective sipped the last bit of his coffee as he eyed the next book, and something in his head clicked. [i]Grimoire of the Order of the Golden Dawn[/i], the system of magic perfected from Levi's Laws of of Magic. Every Greek, Egyptian, and Norse God, along with every spirit name in The Key of Solomon, along with many other medieval Grimoires piled into the collection to create the system of the more modern view of the occult. 

He turned to the rituals of enchanting. He realized it could have easily been a practiced sorcerer who had influenced Cassandra by a willed spell, but much more likely they had killed her via a ritual. Particularly if it was her supposedly average boyfriend. 

He placed his finger on the page as he read aloud. "An octagon of orange yellow chalk, lamps burning at each corner, boiling snake fat...Incense of mercury smoldering in the censure...accept of us these magical sacrifices, and bestow upon our will those of another and place our spirit upon their head until thy deed is done..." 

He bit his tongue as he pondered. 

"Well shit, could be it."