Page 7 of Bad Medicine

“Why did he come for you?” Hisvoice was calm, but once again, rage flared in his eyes.

“He came after another angel.Apparently she’s my guardian. The two of them seem to have some sort oflong-standing conflict. He started a fight with me because he knew she wouldcome to protect me.”

No one spoke as they mulledover my words, and I took advantage of the silence by digging into the sausage,eggs, bacon, and pancakes Lucy had cooked for me. I was so hungry it didn’teven matter that the food wasn’t exactly fresh. “Damn, Lucy,” I said, my mouthfull. “So good.”

She preened. “Call your motherwhen you’re finished eating. She wants you to meet her in Huntersburg afterwork. I’ll go with you.” She shrugged as though she thought I might argue abouttaking her. “She asked me to come.”

“She went home?” I looked atJared. “Did she tell you she was going back home?”

He nodded. “Go see her. She hassomething important to discuss with you.” He stood, then leaned forward andkissed my lips, quick but somehow lingering, and I heard Lucy sigh.

I watched him walk away, andwhen he reached the doorway, he turned back and caught me staring. Maybe he sawsomething in my eyes. “Sleep at Shadowfield tonight.”

Then he slipped through thedoorway and was gone.

“Damn,” Lucy said. “Attacked byghosts or not, you are one lucky girl.”

I laughed as I got up to get acup of hot coffee to go with the not so hot breakfast. My body ached only alittle now, and I was quietly amazed at how badly I’d been hurt by a spirit. “Notsure I’d call it lucky.” Then I frowned as I sat back down. “What does my motherwant? Please tell me she’s not marrying the bag of potato chips guy.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Huh?”

I waved a hand. “Nigel.”

Her face cleared. “Oh,” shesaid, smiling. “He’s a nice guy, Kait. He’s good for her. But no, I haven’theard about any plans for a wedding. It’s a little soon for that.”

“You never know with mymother.” I finished my plate, downed my coffee, and stood. “I need to get tothe office. I’ll call Mom on my way in and let her know I’ll be there after.”

“Stop and pick me up?” Anddespite her attempts to pretend otherwise, I saw the lingering fear in hereyes. Fear that Sam the serial killer was going to take her.

“I will. You and Ash can cometo the office with me if you want.”

“No, I have too many things todo. I need to get someone over here to repair your bedroom. Besides.” But shestopped there.

“Besides what?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Just…I can’tlive in fear, Kait. It’s screwing up my internals.”

I went around the table to dropa kiss on the top of her head, then reached down to give Ash a pat. “I know,honey. We’ll get it sorted out. Those two cops are going to patrol the area,and Jared has his wolves—”

“No. I asked him to take themaway.”

“What? Lucy, why?”

“Because they have jobs andfamilies and the pack to take care of. I’m not going to be careless, and I’mabout sick of worrying.” She dropped her stare. “And I’m not sure I believe Raywould hurt me.”

“Samuel,” I reminded hergently. “And he would absolutely hurt you. We’re not taking chances like that.I’ll have someone come fix my bedroom when I’m home—you can’t be bringingstrangers in here. Also, I’m telling Jared to return the wolves. Better to havethe wolves than the human cops.”

“But—”

“No, Lucy. I’m going to makesure you and Ash are protected when I’m not here. Once we catch Sam, thingswill go back to normal.” But really, I wasn’t sure things would ever be normalagain. “We need a fucking fortress,” I muttered, as I texted Jared.

Can you please put thesecurity detail back on Lucy?

He replied as I was retrievingmy demon blade and stuffing extras into my hunting/staking/killing kit. Istrapped on a belt with two smallish wooden stakes, emergency salt, a vial ofholy water, a new trap that rolled into a small tube and then expanded when Igrabbed it and shook it out. These were dangerous times, and I would beprepared for whatever might pop up.

Except maybe for raging angels.

I picked up my phone to read Jared’sreply.