Page 81 of Wicche Hunt

“I’m going to need you to come back.” I looked in the window. “My stalker returned and tried to abduct me at gunpoint—”

A loud roar had me pulling the phone from my ear. It was followed by squealing tires.

“Tell Osso to slow down. He’s dead. I think his gun jammed and blew up in his face.”

There was a loaded silence and then Osso said, “Yeah. That’ll work. Call 911 and tell them you just contacted us. You were scared and not thinking, so you called the cop you knew before them. We’ll be there in a few.”

I did as I was directed and then Declan and I resumed our seats on the steps and waited.

Declan wrapped an arm around me. “If it makes you feel any better, you didn’t have a choice. He was never going to stop.”

“No. He wasn’t, especially with Cal pushing him.”

“Still sucks, though,” he said.

“It really does. Remember when Dave told us that having a sorcerer working in a particular area causes all kinds of problems that aren’t related but are? The evil seeps in and causes people, who might normally have been able to control their urges, to indulge in their most wicked desires?

“This one,” I continued, “might have always been obsessed—I think some people are affected by the fae blood—but it would have taken the form of visiting the gallery too often and staring, the fantasy staying trapped up here.” I tapped my forehead. “Instead, he bought a gun today so he could kidnap me and act on all those dark fantasies.”

“You think your cousin sent this guy?”

“I know she did. I felt her. She found some guy teetering on the edge and pushed him over it. When he was sitting in his car, watching me paint the mural, I didn’t feel her. You sensed the obsession, but he wasn’t homicidal until she twisted the obsession, making it dark and violent.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Me too. She knows I have stalker issues. She’s probably laughing her ass off right now. She was there for one when I was a teenager. We were at a family picnic on the beach. I was sitting on the rocks, away from the group, trying to decide if I should go swimming. The ocean always made me happy, but I was in maybe eighth grade. The boobs had developed, and certain cousins enjoyed teasing me.”

“Fucking Colin,” he said.

I kissed his cheek. “Exactly, although not just him. Anyway, this guy showed up—late twenties maybe—and sat down next to me, trying to get me to engage, asking all these questions. I knew I could get rid of him, but it was scary, you know?”

He nodded. “And all the spells you know to make strange people go away are useless if he touches your skin and you’re out, lost in a vision.”

“Yes.” I tipped my head onto his shoulder, amazed every time I was able to touch him. “Anyway, I looked and thought I saw Calliope watching. Everyone else was in the water, eating, talking, not paying attention to me. Cal walked over to the adults, and I hoped she was going to get my mom. Nope. She got a cookie, sat down, and started chatting. No one looked my way. At the time, I assumed I was wrong, that she hadn’t seen the guy. Now, well, lots of memories have had to be altered.

“Anyway, the guy kept asking me my name and if I wanted to go for a walk. He knew a great place just down the beach. I hit him with a go-away spell, and he stood for a moment, but then sat back down and launched into hisyou’re so beautifulspiel again. I hit him with a spell, he stood, and then sat back again.

“I heard familiar laughter and turned back to the group to see Cal watching us, one hand fisted on the table. She was spelling the guy to stay.”

“I don’t understand,” Declan said. “How did you know?”

“The fist. You know when I do spells, my fingers are moving?”

He nodded.

“Cal uses a fist. When she saw me looking, she quickly got my mom, who stormed over, yelling and spelling as she came. The guy took off at a run and then Cal came over, saying she was trying to help me get rid of him, but her magic wasn’t strong enough yet. My mother patted her shoulder and thanked her for helping me, reassuring her that her magic would strengthen as she got older. Remember, Cal is only a little younger than me, but she’s petite and likes to play on people’s impulses to take care of her. She went back for another cookie, all smiles, and I got yelled at for being away from the group and not practicing my spells well enough to get a creep to leave me alone.”

“Fucking Calliope,” he said, making me laugh.

I hugged him around the middle. “Thanks for being on my side.”

“It’s my favorite place to be.”

A patrol car arrived, skidding to a stop. The officer got out of his vehicle and drew on us. Declan raised his left hand, and I raised my right. Our other arms were wrapped around each other.

“Dude,” I said. “He’s the bad guy, not us.”

“I’d appreciate if you lowered your weapon,” Declan said, not doing the best job of keeping the growl out of his voice. “She’s already had one gun in her face today.”

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