Metallic within an aura, close to the body = holding in a dangerous amount of sheer power
Black = extremely negative, even evil, especially if it has red streaks of energy and power
More than one color in an aura is common, reflecting the outward sign of human complexities of emotion.
The ability to absorb and/or channel energy usefully as a defensive or offensive tool or weapon. Extremely rare due to the level of power and control needed, and highly dangerous, especially if the energy being channeled is dark or negative energy.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The first books in the Bishop/SCU series were published back in 2000, and readers have asked me whether these stories are taking place in “real” time and if, at this point, more than seventeen years have passed in the series. The answer is no. Once it became clear the series would be a long-running one, I chose to use “story time” in order to avoid having my characters age too quickly. Roughly speaking, each trilogy takes place within a year or a bit less.
So, from an arbitrary start date, and counting the third book in the series, Out of the Shadows, as the first book in which the Special Crimes Unit is officially introduced, the timeline looks something like this: Stealing Shadows—February Hiding in the Shadows—October/November YEAR ONE:
Out of the Shadows—January (SCU formally introduced) Touching Evil—November YEAR TWO:
Whisper of Evil—March Sense of Evil—June Hunting Fear—September YEAR THREE:
Chill of Fear—April Sleeping with Fear—July Blood Dreams—October YEAR FOUR:
Blood Sins—January Blood Ties—April Haven—July
Hostage—October
YEAR FIVE:
Haunted—February Fear the Dark—May Wait for Dark—August Hold Back the Dark—October So, with the publication of Hold Back the Dark, the Special Crimes Unit has been a functional (and growing) unit of agents for about five years: time to have grown from being known within the FBI as the “Spooky Crimes Unit” to becoming a well-respected unit with an excellent record of solved cases—a unit that has, moreover, earned respect in various law enforcement agencies, with word quietly passed from this sheriff to that chief of police that they excel at solving crimes that are anything but normal using methods and abilities that are unique to each agent, and that they neither seek nor want media attention.
An asset to any level of law enforcement, they do their jobs with little fanfare and never ride roughshod over locals, both traits very much appreciated, especially by small-town cops and citizens wary of outsiders. They regard both skepticism and interest with equal calm, treating their abilities as merely tools with which to do their jobs, and their very matter-of-factness helps normally hard-nosed cops accept, if not understand, at least something of the paranormal.