Bewitched on Bourbon Street (4 page)

The pair disappeared, leaving me alone in the dark shop. I could either sit there stuck in my own head, or I could do something. Anything. I stared across the store at the fertility potions Bea had for sale. The little red bottles seemed to call to me. I stood and shuffled across the hardwood floor. Packages of dried herbs fell to the floor when I brushed against an aisle display, but I didn’t stop to pick them up. I was on an involuntary mission, completely transfixed.

My brain had short-circuited, and even though I knew I shouldn’t touch anything in my current state of mind, that I should wait for Bea, I couldn’t stop myself. My hand rose, and the next thing I knew, I had one of the bottles cradled in my palm. The cool air of the shop caressed my skin, soothing me, as I undid the top.

A sweet wisteria fragrance permeated the air. The stress of the day faded away, and I could no longer remember, nor care, why I was at Bea’s shop. The only thing that mattered was the potion. A thirst overwhelmed me, and my mouth watered. Nothing had ever smelled so good.

Just one taste. That was all I needed.

Tipping my head back, I lifted the bottle to my lips and—

“Jade!” Bea’s stern voice echoed through the shop.

I jerked, spilling the contents down the front of my dress. The fog clouding my judgment lifted, and I shook my head, trying to get my bearings.

Bea stared at the bottle still clutched in my hand. “What were you doing?”

“I…” I glanced around, frowning. Then I focused on the potion bottle and dropped it as if it had burned me. The remainder of the liquid splashed onto the floor. “Omigod. I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.”

Bea’s eyes narrowed. “You were spelled?”

“Maybe.” My hands shook, and it pissed me off. I was stronger than that, dammit. “I was intent on drinking the fertility potion, but I don’t know why.”

“It’s the curse, most likely,” Lailah said as she crossed the room with a roll of paper towels and floor cleaner in her hands. “It wants your child, and the potion is a way to speed up the process.”

My heart stuttered in my chest. “You mean I’m going to start doing things that will result in a pregnancy, even if I want to avoid one?”

“It’s possible,” Bea said, her tone raspy as if she hadn’t slept the night before. She cleared her throat. “Lailah didn’t cast the spell on you. At least there’s no evidence to support that theory, since the potion on her lab table has no traces of black magic.”

Too afraid to help Lailah clean up for fear I’d go into another potion-drinking trance, I frowned and joined Bea near the counter. “Then why did the spell target the potion?”

“It’s angel magic,” Lailah said.

“What?” I spun around and stared at her open mouthed.

“The curse. It’s angel magic.” Lailah stood up, clutching the wet paper towels in one hand. “I bet you anything that’s why it went after the last thing I worked on.”

I braced myself against the counter, clutching the edge so hard that pain seized my fingers. “Angels use black magic?”

She pursed her lips. “Only as a last resort. If one is that desperate, the angel usually ends up falling, you know? But the remnants of the revelation spell Bea cast are still in there. I felt it clear as day. There’s a pureness to it that could’ve only come from an angel.”

Well, wasn’t that just the cherry on this shit show of a day? I was already a slave to the high angel, at her beck and call, and now one of her minions had cursed me. Wanted my child for some nefarious activity. “Can you tell who?”

She shook her head. “No. Someone who wants power, though, that’s obvious.”

Bea reached behind her desk and pulled out a notebook. “Is there dissent among the council?”

Lailah shrugged. “No more so than usual as far as I know. But if anyone else is investigating Chessandra, then maybe.”

A heavy foreboding weighed in my soul. Chessandra was the high angel, and for months she’d been overstepping her authority. In addition to almost getting her sister killed while trying to seal a demon portal, Chessandra had sent a group of angels on a dangerous mission to the shadows, and Lailah suspected she was the reason another angel, Avery, was missing. For the past two months, Lailah had been looking for the missing angel while investigating Chessandra. So far no luck.

No one had dirt on the high angel. But if someone else was going after her, they’d need all the power they could get. I ground my teeth. “You don’t think Chessandra did this, do you?”

“Why would she?” Bea asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Why does she do anything she does?”

“But she’s mated to your father.” Bea looked anything but convinced.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Lailah said, echoing my thoughts. “But no. I highly doubt she did this. Her magic is barely detectable. I wouldn’t have felt any at all.”

Of course. She was the high angel. Her magic was strong but subtle. She didn’t leave traces. “Then the angel who did this either is an idiot or is deliberately trying to piss her off.”

Lailah nodded. “Or both.”

I worked closely with Chessandra. When she found out someone had targeted me, she was going to see it as a personal betrayal by one of her own. The thought should’ve helped put me at ease, since she likely wouldn’t let this go until the traitor was found. Instead, it just made me feel worse. I didn’t trust her. No one ever knew what she would do for “the greater good.”

“I have to go.” I got up from the stool. “I have to tell Kane, and then I need to request a meeting with Chessandra.”

Bea put her hand on my arm. “I don’t like this.”

“Me neither,” Lailah chimed in. “Would you consider letting me investigate a bit first?”

I hesitated. I had a serious curse threatening not only me but my future child. Every instinct told me to run to the high angel and demand she do something about it. Force her hand in some way.

“What if she keeps you there for safekeeping?” Bea asked.

“Oh, son of a…” She could very well put me in the room where time stood still. Or brush me off. Only goddess knew what she’d do to further her agenda. I wouldn’t even put it past her to lay claim to my unborn child in order to keep him or her safe.

I met Lailah’s clear blue eyes. “You think you can find anything out?”

She hesitated then gave me a curt nod. “I’ve got an appointment with one of the former council members tomorrow for the Avery case. I can do some poking around then.”

“All right. In the meantime, I’ll retrace my steps and see if I can figure out when this happened.” At that moment, all I wanted to do was go home and fall into Kane’s arms. “Give me a call me tomorrow. And we’ll see if either of us has news.”

“You got it.” Her eyes turned soft, and for a second, I thought they misted.

“Lailah? You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m…oh, dammit.” She reached out and pulled me into a fierce hug, nearly knocking the breath out of me.

“Whoa.” I automatically hugged her back, my emotions warring with shock and tenderness. Lailah and I had history. And while she was my friend now and we both trusted each other, we weren’t besties in the strictest sense of the word. We didn’t hug. Ever.

“Sorry.” She pulled back and wiped her eyes. “It’s just not right what’s being done to you. And I’m more convinced than ever that my kind are gearing up for some sort of war.”

“With whom, though?” Bea clutched one of her leather-bound books. “The demons?”

That was the natural guess. Demons and angels had been in a struggle to control souls since the beginning of time.

Lailah let out a frustrated grunt. “Maybe. But there’s no noise on that end other than the usual grumblings. If there was an epic battle coming, you’d think we’d hear something. Only we haven’t. That just leaves an internal battle in the angel world, which isn’t out of the realm of possibility.”

My soul guardian heaved a heavy sigh. “A lot of the angels I’ve spoken to are unhappy with the leadership. Only they’re quiet about it because no one can pinpoint a specific thing they dislike. There’s a high amount of distrust and unease. A feeling if you will. But that’s hardly a concrete reason to revolt. Still, I don’t disagree with them. And because of that, if a rebellion starts, I have no idea which side to support.”

Bea put her hand on Lailah’s arm. A small spark of magic lit under her touch. Probably a comfort spell. “Try not to be so quick to jump to conclusions. Everything is still speculation.”

Lailah looked away and took a deep breath. “You’re right. But something’s coming.” She turned to me, worry clouding her eyes. “I can feel it. Especially when I look at you.”

“Because you think whoever did this is trying to put me in the middle of it?”

“They already have, haven’t they?”

I sighed. “I guess so.”

Chapter 4

Lailah’s fears weighed heavily on my mind as I walked the eight blocks through the French Quarter toward the home I shared with Kane. What if the angel realm really was gearing up for some rebellion? What would that mean for everyone else? They were soul guardians, charged with watching over the most vulnerable souls. If they were to fight each other for power, certainly some people would fall through the cracks and be lost. Or, worse, swallowed up in Hell.

I shuddered thinking about it. Both Pyper and I and even Lucien had been saved because of a soul guardian. Specifically Lailah. She was a true hero. What would happen to her? No doubt she’d be in the middle of the fight one way or another.

Fear for her overshadowed the unease of the curse I knew I carried. As long as I wasn’t pregnant I was okay…for now.

The shotgun double I shared with Kane came into view, and the weight on my heart lessened a bit. The gaslights hanging over the porch flickered invitingly against the light breeze. Artificial light illuminated the curtain-covered window, and I imagined Kane lounging in the loveseat in the living room, a glass of wine in his hand while he waited for me.

I quickened my pace, running up the wooden steps to the front door.

But when I stepped through, he wasn’t in the living room. And the rest of the house was dark. “Kane?”

No answer.

“You home?” I made my way down the hall toward the kitchen, flicking on lights as I went.

Again no answer. I bit down on my bottom lip and scouted the kitchen. Kane had said he was going to make dinner tonight, but there wasn’t one dish out of place. My chai tea mug was still sitting in the sink exactly as I’d left it this morning. I let out a deep sigh.

He wasn’t here.

Just to be sure, I checked the hallway. A soft glow of light shone underneath the door to our master bedroom.

Maybe he was home.

“Kane?” I said again and pushed the door open. The bedside table lamp cast a soft glow over a tray filled with cheesecake and fresh strawberries that had been left on the bed. A pair of wine glasses and a single lit pillar candle completed the scene.

“Have a good day?” Kane asked, leaning against the bathroom doorframe. His hair was damp from the shower, and his jeans hung low on his hips. No shirt in sight.

On any other day, if I’d walked in on this scenario, I’d be wiping the drool from my chin. But today all I wanted to do was cry. I didn’t, though. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to smile. “Not exactly, but it looks like it’s about to improve.”

His lips turned up into that slow, sexy smile that always made me melt. Even now. My balled-up tension turned to desire as his dark eyes smoldered with intensity.

Dammit, my libido was already in overdrive, no doubt because of the curse. Sucking in a breath, I slammed the door on my lustful cravings. We couldn’t do this. Not now. We had to talk.

I cleared my throat and walked to the bed, needing the cheesecake more than I ever had. Reaching down to pick up one of the plates, I glanced over at him. “Do you mind? It’s sort of a cheesecake emergency.”

All the heat vanished from his gaze. “What happened?”

The fact that I hadn’t waited for whatever he’d had planned told him something was very off. A half-naked Kane and cheesecake was just about my favorite combination. The last time we’d had dessert in the bedroom…well, let’s just say both of us had been a little sticky the next morning.

Kane sat on the edge of the bed and pulled me down into his lap. “All right. Spill it.”

I swallowed the small bite of cheesecake. There was no sugarcoating this one. “I’ve been cursed.”

Both of his eyebrows shot up as he scanned my body, obviously looking for any signs of damage. Frowning, his grip on my waist tightened. “I can’t believe you were attacked at a blessing. What happened? Are you hurt?”

I shook my head. “No. That’s the thing, I wasn’t attacked at all. I have no idea how it happened.” I explained Zoe’s outburst and relayed Lailah’s information. “So apparently some angel cursed me and our—” my voice cracked “—future child.”

Every muscle in Kane’s body tensed. Then a storm rolled through his eyes. Without saying anything, he lifted me off his lap and got to his feet. “An angel cursed you?”

I nodded. “That’s what Lailah said.”

Kane crossed the room to our armoire and pulled out the first shirt he found. He had it over his head and was stuffing his feet into his shoes before I could even register what he was doing.

“Where are you going?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Chessandra needs to fix this. Now.” His body vibrated with so much anger I felt it as my own. The rage took over, consuming me, and my promise to Lailah to let her investigate first flew right out the window. His emotional energy had infiltrated mine, pushing me so far over the edge that I didn’t even experience any guilt that I was about to break my word. Lailah would be pissed, but I couldn’t seem to find the will to stop myself.

Kane’s hand tightened over mine as he tugged me out of the bedroom and into the front of the house. We stood in the middle of the living room, both of us looking up at the ceiling.

Normally one had to be invited to the angel realm in order for the gates to open, but because Kane and I worked for Chessandra, we had a direct line to her, so to speak. She could hear me when I called for her. And with the amount of irritation streaming through me, there was no way she could block me out.