"Kamala" Jack called softly to her as she went for the door. "Listen a moment. Fate sends us to the places we are supposed to be. If you're here, it's for a reason. Believe in that, believe in yourself, and we'll all get through this." He gave her an encouraging smile. "Trust me."<br/><br/>He turned his attention to Asuka next. "Um, I have no idea where around here might be decent. Kurt probably has better local knowledge than I do." He grimaced slightly. "As much as I hate to say it, I may have to stay here more than I'd like to. I'm supposed to be a guest of the hotel since I'm playing here and all. I don't want to tip our hand to any bad guys by obviously avoiding the place. The rest of you should find somewhere close by, outside the range of the magic field. Oh, and if you can mark the rest of my guys without them noticing, that'd be good. They're kinda ignorant of my *ahem* unique talents, and I'd prefer to keep it that way. Less danger for them that way, I hope."<br/><br/>He listened to Cuckoo's theory as he spoke with Asuka, and added his own thoughts when she finished. "I don't think punching out random employees will do anything but bring the cops. If I was setting myself up as a local big bad, you better believe I'd get my hooks into any power in the area. Police. Politicians. Local crime synidcates. Kick the anthill, they'll all swarm out. No, if ... when ... we find out who is behind it, then we do a surgical strike. The speartip decapitates the target, the body falls."<br/><br/>He looked around the group. "Besides which, until we have a better idea of what the magic is doing, and how it's doing it, we might end up cutting the red wire, and all that energy is going to go somewhere." He grimaced and shook his head again. "As much as I want to<strong>do</strong>something, right now we need knowledge more."<br/><br/>"I don't know that whatever energy there is is being fed into the ones that were killed. It's a possibility, I won't deny that. When you're a focus of attention like that, even a regular mortal can feel that energy in a crowd, feel their focus, feel everything tied together and focused on you, through you. If someone could tap that, yeah, maybe, but outside of a concert, the energy would be a lot less intense. Then again, less energy per person, but lots more people, and continual .. yeah, maybe. I don't know what kind of spell could tap that, but I'll not say it couldn't be done."<br/><br/>He started to pace, feeling the burning need to do something, and this seemed the safest option. "There used to be old beliefs that eating the heart of a foe would grant you a measure of their strength. Maybe the killer is a Buffalo Bill type." He glanced at the others. "Silence of the Lambs? The guy wants to be a performer, but he hasn't got the talent, so these .. displays ... are what the magic is twisting them into. The coroners reports indicated sexual activity, so I guess they have some pretty twisted and fucked up desires. Maybe it's all tangled up their head. Sex and art and their own identity. The spell charges them to<strong>do</strong>, gets them worked up, so it's sex and death and art and the desire to be, all sloshing around, with their inhibitions removed. Maybe they're an integral part of the big bad's plan. Maybe they're just some poor deluded bastard whose head is fucked six ways from Sunday by the magic. I don't know." He paused. "Or maybe they are components in this ritual, and some cannibalistic succubus is harvesting them. Maybe it's both." He glanced around the room at the others and gave a small laugh. "Talk about a way to give a guy performance anxiety."<br/><br/>He turned to Hitomi. "Kurt thinks you might have a starring role here. Any thoughts, any insights for us?"