Haunted

Haunted

THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF THE SMART, SEXY—SUPERNATURAL—WOMEN OF THE OTHERWORLD Eve Levine—half-demon, black witch and devoted mother—has been dead for three years. She has a great house, an interesting love life and can’t be killed again—which comes in handy when you’ve made as many enemies as Eve. Yes, the afterlife isn’t too bad—all she needs to do is find a way to communicate with her daughter, Savannah, and she’ll be happy. But fate—or more exactly, the Fates—have other plans. Eve owes them a favor, and they’ve just called it in. An evil spirit called the Nix has escaped from hell. She feeds on chaos and death, and is very good at persuading people to kill for her. The Fates want Eve to hunt her down before she does any more damage, but the Nix is a dangerous enemy—previous hunters have been driven insane in the process. As if that’s not problem enough, the only way to stop her is with an angel’s sword. And Eve is no angel... "Armstrong has created a persuasive, finely detailed other-worldly cosmology — featuring sorcery, astral projection, spells, telepathy and teleportation." — Toronto Star "Those who appreciate heroines with a good measure of spunk, sass and strong-arm savvy will find this a fun if fitful read." — Publishers Weekly "Mesmerizing . . . the 'other-worldly' atmosphere conjured up by Armstrong begins to seem strangely real. Armstrong is a talented and original writer whose inventiveness and sense of the bizarre is arresting." — The London Free Press THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF THE SMART, SEXY -- SUPERNATURAL -- WOMEN OF THE OTHERWORLD Eve Levine -- half-demon, black witch and devoted mother -- has been dead for three years. She has a great house, an interesting love life and can't be killed again -- which comes in handy when you've made as many enemies as Eve. Yes, the afterlife isn't too bad -- all she needs to do is find a way to communicate with her daughter, Savannah, and she'll be happy. But fate -- or more exactly, the Fates -- have other plans. Eve owes them a favor, and they've just called it in. An evil spirit called the Nix has escaped from hell. She feeds on chaos and death, and is very good at persuading people to kill for her. The Fates want Eve to hunt her down before she does any more damage, but the Nix is a dangerous enemy -- previous hunters have been driven insane in the process. As if that's not problem enough, the only way to stop her is with an angel's sword. And Eve is no angel. . . . Kelley Armstrong lives in rural Ontario with her husband, three children and far too many pets. She is the author of a new crime series, the Women of the Otherworld series and an upcoming young adult trilogy, The Darkest Power. Chapter One "Come on," Savannah whispered, tugging the young man's hand. She climbed a wooden fence into the backyard of a narrow two-story house. "Watch out for the roses," she said as his feet threatened to land in the border. "We gotta come this way or the old bugger next door will bitch about me having friends over when no one's home." "Yeah," the boy said. "I get shit from my folks about that, too." "Oh, Paige and Lucas don't care, as long as I clean up and don't have any monster parties. Well, they might care if they found out I was bringing a guy over. But if that old man sees me having friends over? He starts telling people that Paige and Lucas are crappy guardians, shit like that. Makes me want to--" She swallowed her next words and shrugged. "Tell him off or something." I was less than a half-dozen paces behind, but they never turned around, never even peered over their shoulders. Sometimes that really pisses me off. Sure, all teenagers ignore their mothers. And, sure, Savannah had a good excuse, since I'd been dead for three years. Still, you'd think we'd have a deeper connection, that she'd somehow hear me, if only as a voice in her head that said "Don't listen to that girl" or "That boy's not worth the trouble." Never happened, though. In life, I'd been one of the most powerful women in the supernatural world, an Aspicio half-demon and witch master of the black arts. Now I was a third-rate ghost who couldn't even contact her own daughter. My afterlife sucked. Savannah took the boy through the lean-to, dragged him away from Lucas's latest motorcycle restoration project and into the house. The back door swung shut in my face. I walked through it. They shed their shoes, then climbed the small set of stairs from the landing to the kitchen. Savannah headed straight for the fridge and started grabbing sandwich fixings. I walked past them, through the dining room, into the living room, and settled into my favorite spot, a butter yellow leather armchair. I'd done the right thing, sending Savannah to Paige. Quite possibly the smartest thing I'd ever done. Of course, if I'd been really smart, Savannah wouldn't have needed anyone to take her in. I wouldn't have been in such a hellfire rush to escape that compound, wouldn't have go