Bewitched on Bourbon Street (9 page)

I grabbed the chai and headed back into the bedroom to give her a moment. If she’d been missing for two weeks, I’d have lost my mind. It was no wonder she was overcome with emotion. Sitting on the bed, I pulled my bright pink-and-white–striped socks on and stuffed my feet into a pair of tennis shoes. I’d already dressed in dark jeans and a long-sleeved, hot-pink tee. No makeup, and I just couldn’t be bothered to try to do anything with my hair. I didn’t have the energy.

If I had my way, I’d stay curled up on my couch, mainlining chai tea and stuffing my face with cupcakes.
Mental note: send Kane to the café to pick up a dozen chocolate cream cheese cupcakes.

I grabbed my phone and sent him a text, even though I knew he was just in the other room, so I wouldn’t forget.

He texted back immediately.
Kat already brought them.

I let out a loud squeal and ran into the bathroom. “Cupcakes!”

She turned around, grinning. “I figured you deserved them.”

Grabbing her hand, I tugged her out of the bathroom into my room and all the way out into the kitchen, where we found Kane and Lucien devouring the cupcakes. My ghost dog, Luke, sat near them, drool forming an imaginary pool under the chair. Goodness. Thank the gods I was the only one who could see him.

Only two cupcakes remained in the box Kat had brought. I set my chai on the counter and glared at both of them.

“What?” Kane said, mumbling through the cupcake filling his mouth.

I raised one eyebrow and cut my gaze to the now almost-empty box.

“We saved you some.” Lucien wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, leaving the chocolate evidence still clinging to his lips.

Kat laughed. “So predictable.” She walked to the fridge and pulled out a white pastry box. “That’s why I brought extra.”

“That’s my girl.” I plucked out the two left in the opened box, strode over to Kat and handed her one. I glanced back at the table. “I think you guys have had enough.”

“Where’d those come from?” Lucien asked, eyeing the second box. “You only had one when we left the shop.”

She cast him a flinty glance and shrugged.

Laughing, the pair of us sat at the table, careful to keep the new pastry box close to us.

Kane’s lips twitched.

I couldn’t help but melt under his gaze. He knew I’d share with him. But it was fun to watch Lucien squirm. He and Kat hadn’t been together as long as Kane and I had. Cupcake sharing appeared to be something they hadn’t yet worked out.

Lucien took a long sip of coffee and turned his attention to me. “All right. Let’s have it. What happened?”

I quickly explained our time in the angel realm and ended with, “So now we have an ally. I need to notify Lailah as soon as possible, since it appears Jasper might have some clues that could help us find Avery. Or at least figure out what happened to her.”

Lucien jotted some notes down in his notebook. When he glanced up, his expression was troubled. “Tell me more about this binding you have with Jasper.”

I frowned. “It was weird. We consented to it, thinking it was a normal binding, you know, but then bolts of magic shot from nowhere and jolted us in the necks. It didn’t hurt, it just surprised me.”

“Then he said we were compelled to do as he said,” Kane added with a heavy dose of irritation.

Lucien’s expression turned to one of anger. “That’s a shitty thing to do.”

I raised both eyebrows. “Does it mean we’re literally compelled to do what he says?”

“No, he can’t compel you to do something you really don’t want to, but he did tie himself to your power and might be able to force your magic from you. Meaning he could tap into your power source if he needs to in order to complete a spell…or a curse.”

A chill ran up my spine. Jasper might have been an angel, but that didn’t mean he always had good intentions. If he was angry enough at Chessandra, who knew what he’d try to do? “We can’t ignore this. It’s too dangerous.”

Lucien nodded. “Agreed. You and Kane are both far too powerful to let anyone have access to your magic. I suggest you break the spell as soon as possible.”

“And how is that done?” It rankled that I had no idea how to do that. I was more of a “throw magic at it first and research later” kind of witch. I’d been studying up the last few months, but I’d been focusing on potions and healing herbs, the same sort of thing my mother and Bea specialized in. It was clear I should’ve been brushing up on defense and reversal spells for dark magic.

I’d have to make that a priority just as soon as we caught a break.

“I have a few spells I know, but I doubt they’re powerful enough,” Lucien said then frowned. “Come to think of it, they’re for spells cast by witches, not angels. I don’t think you’re going to be able to break it at all unless you have his cooperation. Angel magic is tricky like that.”

“Crapballs. Of course it is,” I said.

Lucien scribbled something else down in his book. “Maybe it’s not what we think. If he’s really in this fight to just find Avery, I’m sure he’ll drop the binding as soon as we have answers.”

“I hope so.” But somehow I wasn’t convinced. Nothing was ever that easy.

Now—” he glanced up “—tell me about Zoe. What was going on with her last night?”

“You noticed then?” I asked and took a big bite of the cupcake, feeling better now that I had at least the start of a plan. It didn’t involve doing anything about the curse still plaguing me, but I’d get to that next.

“The fact that you were studying her like a microbe under a microscope? I think we all noticed.”

I put the cupcake down on the table. “She wasn’t actually participating. Not with her own magic, anyway.”

He frowned. “What does that mean?”

“She was used as a conduit for the other witches.”

“That’s impossible.” Lucien closed his notebook. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to summon you. It takes all participants for that spell to work.”

I shrugged. “I’m just telling you what I saw. You were all bathed in magical light. Every one of you except Zoe—witches in red, Lailah in lavender, and Zoe in nothing. She wasn’t actively using her magic while I was there. Maybe she was before I appeared. Or maybe you were able to summon me because I was close. We were already at Kane’s club by then.”

“We should talk to her about that. If she’d dropped the spell, it could’ve failed miserably.” Lucien sat back in the chair and shook his head. “She’s not adjusting well, is she?”

“Zoe? Not as well as we hoped, no. But I’m not sure what to do about it.” I stared at the paper cup in front of me. Most of Zoe’s spirit had been stolen at the same time as her soul. She’d been given another soul, but there was nothing to do about her spirit other than pray that it would heal itself. I often wondered if that meant she was damaged beyond repair.

“She probably just needs time,” Lucien offered.

“Probably.” I stood. “I’m going to call Lailah. The sooner we can meet up, the better.”

Kane stood too. “Anyone need more coffee?”

“Yes, please,” Lucien said.

Kane and I moved from the table into the kitchen. I grabbed my phone from the charger and hit Lailah’s number while Kane poured more coffee. But as soon as he put the carafe back on the warmer, the stone on his dagger strapped to his belt glowed bright red, indicating he was being summoned. He turned to me. “Sorry, Jade. I can’t ignore this.”

“I know.” I gave him a light kiss. “Go kick some demon ass. Lucien and Kat can chaperone me.”

“Yeah, we got this,” Kat chimed in from the table.

“Thanks,” Kane said to her, grabbed the hilt of his dagger, and stepped through the fabric of our world into the shadows.

Kat got up and joined me in the kitchen, the pastry box in her hand. “Ready to do some ass kicking of our own?”

I laughed. “Always.”

She winked, nodding to the pastry box. “For reinforcements.”

“I like the way you think.”

Lucien appeared behind us. “Just what we need. The evil-fighting, chocolate-cupcake-toting duo.”

My eyes widened in excitement. “That’s a great superhero team name. I’m getting that tattooed on my ass.”

“Me too,” Kat said and pointed to her left butt cheek. “Right here.”

Lucien shook his head in mock exasperation. “Come on, we have work to do.”

“I don’t think he’s amused,” I stage whispered to Kat.

“Oh, he’s amused. He just doesn’t want you to know how turned on he gets by tattoos.”

Lucien let out a loud groan as we dissolved into giggles.

Chapter 9

Kane

Walking through the shadows was second nature. Ever since that day I’d been turned into an incubus, moving through worlds took zero effort. I simply thought about where I wanted to go, and I stepped through the fabric of each dimension. Or in this case, the Brotherhood called, and it was more like I was pulled through.

In a blink of an eye, I went from standing in my kitchen to crouching in what appeared to be a warehouse of some sort. Dim light glowed from the windows high above, casting long shadows over the crates stacked neatly against the walls. Dust filled the musty air. No one had been here in days, maybe weeks. I held the smooth hilt of my dagger in one hand as I scanned the darkness for demons.

A sense of awareness that four of my demon-hunting brothers were nearby settled any apprehension I might have felt. Whatever I’d stepped into, I had backup.

I held perfectly still, waiting in the ice-cold building. There was no sound, no movement, just dead air and nervous anticipation that was always present in the space just before a battle.

Then I heard it, the faint hiss of a demon off to the right. I pivoted, balancing on the balls of my feet as my muscles clenched with tension. I felt rather than heard the other demon hunters move in behind me. And then, without any forewarning, all the crates lining the walls crashed to the cement floor.

The Brotherhood fanned out, each of us charging forward as more crates from behind us splintered and flew through the warehouse seemingly on their own.

I spun, adrenaline coursing through my veins, and spotted a demon. His bright red eyes glowed against his gnarled olive-green skin. Talons the length and shape of steak knives slashed through the air with each swipe of his claw.

Jesus, he was an ugly bastard. Smelled like a shithouse, too. “Ever hear of a shower?” I taunted.

He snarled, yellowish goo dripping from one fang.

Disappointment shuddered through me. “Such a cliché. Damn, man. Couldn’t you have tried a little harder? No one is impressed with your total lack-of-effort, B-movie-rated persona.”

The demon stopped slashing at nothing and closed his maw, his red eyes piercing me with irritation.

“Show me what you’ve really got,” I ordered.

The demon clacked his talons together and then morphed into a taller, wider version of himself, only this time with an extra set of fangs.

“No imagination,” I muttered and wasted no time in chucking one of my throwing darts right where his black heart would be. The poisoned blade hit its target with amazing accuracy, burying itself all the way to the hilt.

The demon froze for just a second, glanced down, and then ripped the dart from his chest. That same yellowish goo oozed from his chest wound, no blood in sight. Interesting. A lesser demon, one of the third string. They were ugly, huge, and full of nasty. But they were also slow, simple, and easy to take down.

I could throw my dagger and end him with just the one blow, but then I wouldn’t get any answers. So I grabbed another dart and flicked it at his head. The dart landed in the side of his face, making the demon roar with indignant rage.

“What do they call you?” I asked him.

His eyes turned a brighter shade of red as he flailed his arms in the air, aiming at nothing. I took half a step back, studying him. That was odd. He wasn’t in attack mode. Not even a little bit. All he was doing was making noise and taking up space.

I cast a quick glance at the demon hunters behind me. The two I saw were actually battling with their much more sophisticated demons. One of them breathed fire, while the other emitted what looked like poisonous gas. Tricky.

But Miles, an older hunter, was dealing with the gas by sucking up the poison with his dagger. If that stopped working, he’d be in deep shit. The fire was currently not being dealt with, as Ashton was too busy bouncing around, ensuring he didn’t get burned.

And what did my demon do while I was battle gazing? He sat down on one of the remaining crates and drooled. Disgusting.

Sucking in a deep breath of clean air, I walked over to the demon, expecting he’d attack the moment he saw me move. But he didn’t. He tracked me with his eyes, breathing heavily. I frowned. This didn’t make any sense. He was winded but hadn’t even exerted much effort. Why would anyone send this sack of uselessness into a battle with the Brotherhood?

“Why are you here?” I demanded.

The demon tilted his head to the side and studied me. His long talons now gleamed in the tiny stream of light illuminating him. He crooked one, indicating I should come closer.

I stood my ground. Just because I was certain I could take him out with minimal effort didn’t mean I was an idiot.

The demon narrowed his slanted eyes and then swung his trunk-like arm out to the side, decimating a pile of debris. With an unexpected quickness, he reached down and picked up a wide-eyed young man—no… make that angel—by the neck. The faint white glow surrounding the man indicated he was, in fact, an angel. It was something we demon hunters could see when we were tapped into our magic.

A few of the demon’s talons sliced the angel’s neck, and blood seeped between his fingers.

Anger made my blood boil. His quick movement and heightened coordination meant the demon had shifted into one of the third string, pretending to be an easier mark than he really was. It was a trap. I held perfectly still and met the demon’s now neon-green eyes. “What do you want from me?”

“Your soul,” he ground out and shook his hostage. “Or I’ll take this one’s life and then go after everyone you love, including your future child.”