15 Amityville Horrible (9 page)

“Sword of Judgment,” I said. “Used to send souls to purgatory.” I paused. “Is that blood on it?”

“Yeah, I’m racking up bonus points today.” She swung the sword on Gregor. “Don’t make me add to—”

“I-I won’t. I-I’m not going to say a word. I’m just…I’m leaving now.” He turned to me. “I’ll go back to Russia. You won’t hear from me again.”

“Good.”

Gregor stumbled out the door. I shut it behind him.

“Damn,” Eve said. “I’ve met some nervous necros in my day, but that guy’s a mess. Did he really think I’d run him through if he told anyone he saw an angel?” She shook her head. “Exactly how bad is my reputation these days?”

I sputtered a laugh. “That’s what you were warning him about?”

She plunked onto the bed. “I missed something, didn’t I?” She glanced at Jeremy. “Hey, Jer.”

“Eve says hi,” I said.

He returned the greeting and offered to make sure Gregor fulfilled his promise to leave quietly.

“Where the hell are we?” she said, looking around after Jeremy left.

“Amityville.”

“Of course.” She pulled her legs up to sit cross-legged. “I have a problem and I need your help. Leah O’Donnell escaped from her hell dimension.”

“Leah…” I paused. “
The
Leah O’Donnell?”

Leah had befriended, betrayed and then kidnapped Savannah as a child. She’d tried to kill Paige, and ended up being killed by her.

“Savannah’s home, isn’t she?” Eve said. “In Portland? Same with Paige?”

I nodded. “Jeremy spoke to both of them about twenty minutes ago.”

“Good. Leah’s apparently over here, on the east coast. If she wants to remain out of hell, she’ll stay far away from Savannah and Paige. She knows that’s the first place I’d look. So we aren’t going to tell them she’s out.”

“Are you sure that’s—?”

“I’m sure. They’d only worry and want to help. I want you to keep in contact with them. If they start reporting flying objects, we know our Volo has made her way west. For now, though, I have a bead on her and, with your help, I’m going to get her back to hell before Paige and Savannah ever know she was out.”

…

One case ending, another starting. Feast or famine, that’s the way it seems in this life. The show was over. Mike had flown to L.A. to meet with the studio execs and figure out their next move. I was sure they’d find a way to salvage this wreck, as they had with
Death of Innocence
. At least now maybe they’d believe I really was a reality-show curse. Unless, once again, they ended up making more money with the revised version than they’d hoped for with the planned one. Shit. I might have to lie low for a while.

Lying low wouldn’t work with Eve. She needed my help. Our relationship went both ways, with me doing tasks in the human world that her non-corporeal form wouldn’t allow. Luckily, a lot of that involved computers and telephones, which kept me out of any actual action. This time, considering who was involved, staying out of the action might not be so easy.

“I think I need more of these.” I sat on our motel bed, fingering my rune tattoo. “Do you have one for protection from TV reality shows? And guardian angels?”

Jeremy smiled and rubbed my foot. “Sorry. I’ll help with Leah, though. You know that. I can get Clay and Elena involved if it comes to that.”

“No, I don’t want that bitch anywhere near the kids.” I paused. “I mean Leah. Not Eve.”

He laughed and leaned over to kiss me. “She’s still tracking Leah, isn’t she? You don’t need to rush off yet?”

“I said unless she needs me, I could use a few days to wrap up the show stuff.” I looked at him. “In other words, I lied.”

“So we have a few days?”

“We do. And I have the stripper room at that motel booked for one of them.” I climbed onto his lap, straddling him. “So, anytime you want to leave…”

“Soon,” he murmured. “But not just yet.”

“Works for me,” I said and smiled as he pulled me down onto the bed.