Spellbound by Kelley Armstrong Page B

a trade. Your Prius is very cute and very ecofriendly and very, very Paige.” He shut the door.
    â€œSavannah?” Lucas said.
    â€œSorry. Adam was just—”
    â€œDistracting Paige, which is why he texted me to go into another room and call him. Whatever happened, Savannah, keeping it from Paige is not—”
    â€œA witch-hunter is trying to kill me.”
    Silence.
    â€œLucas?”
    â€œI’m quite certain you’re joking. However, you don’t sound as if you are.”
    â€œI’m not. There are these women called witch-hunters who—”
    â€œI’m familiar with the legend, Savannah. But it’s just that, a legend.”
    â€œYeah? Tell that to the bitch who’s been trying to kill me.” I told him the story.
    When I finished, he was quiet for a minute, then said, “While I’m not convinced the person stalking you is a witch-hunter, she does appear to be hunting witches, so the precise nature of her affiliation is unimportant. You and Adam need to—”
    â€œStop her. I know. And you need to get Paige out of Portland, in case this chick circles back there looking for me. Can you take her to Miami? I know you don’t like relying on the Cabal.”
    â€œUnder the circumstances, it’s probably the safest place for her. Unless you need our help . . .”
    â€œWe don’t. Whatever this kid is, she’s only a kid and she’s human.” And I’m sure as hell not adding to your worries by telling you about my power outage. “We can handle it.”
    â€œI presume this hunter is responsible for the vehicular damage then?”
    I hesitated. “Actually, no. That would be the case I was investigating while you guys were gone, which turned out . . . I think we’d better get Paige in on this explanation. Can you call her and put me on speaker?”
    Â 
    Â 
    â€œSo,” I said, when I was finished telling them about the events in Columbus and the return of Leah O’Donnell. “The moral of this story is never to let Paige kill anyone ever again. She sucks at it, and I’ll have to go back and do it right.”
    â€œI’ll remember that,” Paige said. “So you’re all okay?”
    â€œYes. For the hundredth time, I’m fine.”
    â€œI’ll stop asking when I believe it,” she murmured. “So what are you doing now?”
    â€œWorkaholic that I am, I found another case right away. One that may need a full council investigation.”
    I told them about Jaime’s show and the death of Walter Alston.
    â€œJaime should get to Miami,” Lucas said quickly. “She needs to be under Cabal protection, so she isn’t targeted to raise Lucifer. That’s probably the best place for us, too. If there’s been trouble, someone in the Cabal will have heard rumors.”
    Paige moaned about getting on another plane, but Lucas adroitly steered her to the conclusion that they really had to go to Miami. Immediately.
    Â 
    Â 
    The minute I stepped onto the front walk, my head started to ache. Just a soft pulse that got stronger as we drew near the house. A witch-hunter was inside. I hoped it was my little friend, but suspected that would be too easy.
    Since we’d been sitting outside the Tucker house talking to Paige and Lucas for a while, we weren’t surprised when the door opened before we could knock.
    A middle-aged woman with a cane stood in the doorway. Mrs. Tucker, I presumed. “If you’re from the insurance company, hoping to catch me doing something I shouldn’t, you’ll need to do a better job of undercover surveillance than that.” She waved at the car. Then she saw me and stopped.
    â€œOh,” she said after a moment.
    â€œNope, not insurance investigators,” I said. “Though we are offering a form of insurance today. The kind that keeps your niece from getting killed.”
    I brushed past her into