Bewitched on Bourbon Street (28 page)

Lailah shrugged. “She’s all right, I guess. She told me she started going to therapy. Apparently there’s a witch psychologist in Metairie. Bianca is seeing her as well.”

“Seriously?”

“Twice a week.”

That was interesting. I’d heard Bea had taken Bianca over to Coven Pointe and asked Mati, another sex witch, to take Bianca under her wing. Her entire family was filled with sex witches, so that seemed like a good choice to me. “I hope it helps. They’ve both been through so much.”

Lailah nodded. “Zoe’s been mentally violated by the one who was supposed to protect her. It’s going to take her a while to recover. And Bianca, she’s been physically violated, and although she appears to be acclimating well, her emotional scars run deep.”

There was no denying either of her assessments. Both women had lived through nightmares.

Footsteps echoed from the other room, followed by Kane striding in. He smiled at me. “Hey, pretty witch. It’s good to see you up.”

“She thinks she’s going to the hearing,” Lailah said.

“Of course she is.” Kane winked at me.

I smiled. There was no way I was missing this. Not after everything that had happened over the last months.

“Okay, then. Time to go.” Lailah stood up and held her arm out to me.

I glanced at Kane. “Coming?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.”

The three of us walked to the living room. Kane and I glanced at Lailah.

“Hold on.” She sent a text. Her phone buzzed immediately, and a silly grin spread over her face.

Both Kane and I stared at her, our eyebrows raised.

“Jonathon. He’s meeting me there,” she explained.

I pursed my lips. “Where’s he been all week?” Lailah had barely stepped foot out of our house, only leaving to go home to shower and find clean clothes. She hadn’t even slept there. She’d been occupying our guest room instead.

“In the realm, helping put the case together.”

“Ah. I thought maybe he was staying away because of me.”

Lailah’s smile vanished. “He does feel badly about the history you two share. I think he wants to make amends, and that might be why he’s working so hard on this. To bring justice to everyone who was hurt.”

“Well…that’s good of him.” I felt sort of neutral about Jonathon these days. At one time, he’d treated me horribly. I’d been making an effort to put the past behind us, but sometimes I found it difficult to let go of my resentment. Though his help getting us out of Hell certainly had gone a long way toward mending fences.

“He’s trying.” She glanced up at the ceiling. The bright-white light shone down on us, and a second later, the three of us were standing in the angel realm’s version of the Saint Louis Cathedral.

Every seat was filled with an angel in formal dress robes. Chessandra sat at a table in front of all of them, facing the Angel Council members.

“Whoa,” I said.

“This way.” Lailah led us down the center aisle and turned right in front of Chessandra.

When I met the high angel’s gaze, I didn’t see anything except regret in her dark eyes, and remorse streamed off her in waves.

Even though she’d been the reason Avery had been turned demon, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. She’d lost her son to Hell. Whatever decisions she’d made about his upbringing, she had to be grieving that loss.

Kane put his hand on the small of my back. “You okay?”

I nodded and gingerly followed him into the witness box. We hadn’t been summoned to testify, but Lailah said she’d put us on the list of volunteer witnesses in case the council wanted to call us. Our attendance wasn’t mandatory, however.

Lailah sat next to Jonathon, while Kane and I sat in front of them.

“I didn’t know if you’d make it,” the angel beside me said.

I glanced over and did a double take. “Jasper.”

He gave me a sad smile.

“I’m so sorry about Avery.”

He stared straight ahead. “Me, too.” After a moment he said, “I’m sorry about the binding spell. I know it wasn’t cool, but by then I was just so frustrated and scared for Avery. I was willing to do anything to find her.”

“Don’t be. I’m not.” I reached out and placed my hand over his. “Because of you, Lailah and Jonathon were able to find us in Hell. And if it wasn’t for that binding, I could quite possibly still be trapped there.”

He closed his eyes and sucked in an audible breath. “It still doesn’t make it right.”

“Jasper?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. We all push boundaries when it comes to protecting those we love.”

“Some of us more than others.”

“You can say that again.” There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do to save Kane when he was in trouble. A binding spell was minor compared to what I’d done to Ezra…no matter his crimes.

The familiar guilt settled around me, and I wondered if I’d ever come to terms with my actions. Jasper had a point. Just because something could be justified, that didn’t make it right.

I leaned forward and glanced around the room, scanning for Drake. He wasn’t up on the dais, though I hadn’t expected him to be. He wasn’t in the witness box, either, which surprised me. Because he was Chessandra’s mate, his testimony would be considered partial, but I’d thought they’d force him to testify anyway.

Maybe he was skipping the proceedings altogether. It would be hard to watch your partner be accused of demon dealing, bewitching a witch and fellow angels, and abusing power.

Up on the dais, an older angel I recognized as Endora stepped up to the podium and banged a gavel. She licked her lips and in the process smudged lipstick all over her teeth.

I cringed and stifled a laugh at the same time. Her demeanor was so regal despite her blue eye shadow and frizzy bright red hair.

“The proceedings in the case against High Angel Chessandra Ballintine are now called to order.” Endora banged a gavel, and the light chatter that had been rumbling through the sanctuary vanished. The only sound that could be heard was the soft click of footsteps on the white-and-gold tile floor.

I peered down the aisle, spotting Drake, my father. He didn’t speak or look at anyone as he strode to Chessandra’s side and sat in the chair reserved for her representation. She glanced up at him with tears in her eyes. If I hadn’t been privy to everything she’d done, it would’ve been heartbreaking as my father gently took her hand in his.

Endora cleared her throat. “If everyone is settled, then?”

“We are, your honor,” Drake said, now holding Chessandra’s hand with both of his.

“Very well.” She put the gavel down. “Chessandra Ballintine, you’ve been charged with willfully endangering the lives of those who serve you, engaging with demons, and casting illegal spells.” Endora paused, sucked in a breath, and then continued. “How do you plead?”

Chessandra rose from her seat and held her head high. “I plead guilty to all charges.”

A collective gasp filled the room. No one had been prepared for her statement.

Kane’s hand tightened over mine. I held my breath, certain the other shoe was going to drop.

“Guilty?” Endora asked, surprise coloring her tone. “You’re sure?”

Chessandra nodded.

Endora made a note on her paperwork, and when she looked back up, she stared pointedly at the high angel. “The council will need to deliberate your sentence. Would you like to explain your actions?”

Chessandra shook her head, tears now streaming down her cheeks.

“Ms. Ballintine,” Endora said forcefully, “I hope you understand your sentence is likely to be severe. If there are any extenuating circumstances at all, I urge you to disclose them now.”

Chessandra shook her head again and sat down.

Drake leaned over, urgently whispering in her ear. She just sat there, her head bowed.

“Chessa!” he said sharply. “Tell them.”

She jerked her head to the side and glared at him. After a moment, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and stood once more.

“Do you have something to say?” Endora asked.

“I…” She waved a hand. “I don’t deserve any sort of leniency, but I do think some people here today deserve an explanation.”

Endora leaned forward, placing her elbows on the podium. “The floor is yours.”

She turned toward the witness stand, her body rigid, but her gaze didn’t land on anyone in particular. She just stared past us all at something only she could see.

We all waited in silence for her to collect her thoughts.

And when she started talking, her voice was monotone, void of all emotions. “When I was eighteen, I had a romance with an angel I met at college. It was intense and serious and, at that time, I thought forever. I thought I’d found my future mate. Only it turned out the angel I fell in love with wasn’t in love with me, and we parted ways after about six months.” She paused and glanced once at Drake before continuing. “A month later, I found out I was pregnant.”

When she didn’t continue, Endora gently asked, “Did you have the child?”

Chessandra nodded and turned toward the angel. “Yes, I did. By myself. No one else knew except my doctor.”

Endora raised her eyebrows. “No one?”

“That’s right. When I went to tell the father, I found out he’d been taken into Hell. It was highly suspected that he’d fallen demon. But I had to know. So I went after him. That was when I found out I had extraordinary powers. I was able to enter and leave Hell at will. It was as easy as stepping into the shadows.”

The breath left me in a whoosh. Was she joking? I didn’t think so. Her posture was tense. The last thing she wanted to do was tell this story.

“So I went after my former lover, Wes Lancaster. But when I got there, he’d already turned, as so many do. Terrified I’d be next, I ran and slipped back to the surface with no difficulty. But what I’d seen in Hell gutted me. I was only eighteen, pregnant, alone, and the implications of my power hit me hard. Even though I didn’t fully understand what my role would be in the angel realm, I knew because of my power, my life was about to change. And I also knew any child of mine would be a huge target. So I made the decision to give him up for adoption.”

Endora nodded, and I felt a wave of pity pierce through the animosity that was coming from the audience.

“I kept tabs on him, always tracking what happened to him. He had good parents for his early years, but their lives ended in tragedy. After that, he was in foster home after foster home. I did my best to be sure he was kept out of the worst ones, always interfering when his environment was unacceptable. It meant he moved a lot. But by then, I was already the high angel, and I couldn’t bring him home to me. I was too dangerous to be around. My enemies were growing by the day.”

Endora scribbled more notes.

I stared open mouthed at Chessandra. As much as I wanted to hate her for her choice, I couldn’t fault her. I knew better than anyone that power attracted trouble. And as the high angel, she was a giant target. She wasn’t wrong that her child would be in danger.

“Five years ago, Ezra’s father surfaced from Hell and found him. He filled Ezra’s head with lies about who he really was, pretended to be a witch, gained my son’s trust, and then blackmailed me to get himself out of a jam. I hated to do it, but I had no choice. Wes was threatening to take Ezra into Hell with him. And it would be way too easy. Ezra already trusted him.”

The contract Ezra had shown us. That was what her testimony was about.

“But the blackmail didn’t stop there. He kept asking for more and more from me. And that’s how Avery got involved. I would send her with harmless information to keep Wes at bay, but he got tired of my games and took her.” A single tear spilled down her cheek.

She sniffed. “At that time, I hired the witch Jade Calhoun and her incubus husband to find Avery in the hopes that they’d bring her home, but I never told them what I knew. That in all likelihood she was already in Hell. I was afraid. And ashamed. I thought if Wes had Avery, he’d leave Ezra alone. Only he didn’t. By then I was in too deep and did everything I could to keep everyone in the dark.”

Her gaze swept over me then. “After it was clear Avery had been taken, I couldn’t stand the idea of anyone else being hurt because of my actions. So in desperation, I bewitched Zoe so I could have her sabotage the search for Avery. Everything I had her do was an attempt to keep Jade Calhoun and her coven safe. Some things were minor, like deleting phone messages. Others, like the curse…well, I was desperate to keep as many souls as safe as possible. And I didn’t want the white witch battling demons when it was all but certain we’d already lost Avery. I failed, obviously.”

Was she really sitting up there claiming she was only trying to protect her people? Was that the real reason she’d put a curse on me and my future child? To keep him or her safe? It was likely I’d never know the truth.

“And none of that was about protecting your secrets?” Endora asked.

Chessandra shrugged. “It might have been, but honestly, that wasn’t my main motivation.”

“I see. Do you have anything else to add?”

“Yes. Only that I don’t want nor do I deserve any sort of leniency. I endangered those working for me. In the end, I lost my son anyway. I deserve everything I have coming to me.”

Opinions, combined with jeers, erupted throughout the conflicted room. There was a mix of understanding and forgiveness as well as hostility and distrust. The crowd was divided. Chessandra sat back down and stared straight ahead.

I was certain she’d committed more crimes than she’d copped to, but her confession was more than enough.

“Ezra was her son?” Jasper asked me.

“Yes.”

“My God.”

“You knew him?” I asked.

“Yes. The apartment I took you to, that was his.”

“You’re kidding. So all that evidence. He put it together?”

Kane leaned forward. “Ezra was very bitter. In fact, I think it’s fair to say he wanted to take her down more than anyone.”

Jasper’s eyes widened. “Were any of his accusations true?”

“Sure. But it’s all probably a lot more nuanced than we know.” For a long while, I’d thought Chessandra was just selfish and maybe morally corrupt. Those things were still true, but at least I understood why she’d done the things she did.