Witches of Bourbon Street (20 page)

“What the hell do you think you’re up to?” I demanded.

She coughed and clawed at my fingertips. “Get…off…me.”

“Not until you answer my questions. What did you do to Kane today, and why have you been in our dreams?”

The shock of my attack wore off and her face twisted into outraged indignation. Staring hard into my eyes, she dropped her hands from her neck. The next thing I knew, a slow burn started from the middle of my palms, moving outward toward my fingertips. Her eyes narrowed and my fingers suddenly burned as if they were on fire.

I yelped and snatched my hands back. When had she gotten her power back? The red ring around her neck made me retreat as the mortification of what I’d done sank in. “Oh my God,” I mumbled.

“He’s not likely to help you after you assaulted one of his angels,” she said angrily. “Who do you think you are?”

“The girlfriend of the man you bewitched then seduced today in his office!”

Kane appeared by my side and put a hand on my shoulder. “Maybe we could try discussing this in a calm manner.”

“I doubt it,” I said, returning to the porch. “But we can try, I suppose.”

Lailah took two steps and made a show of rubbing her neck. No doubt for effect. “Kane, what is she raving about?”

I still couldn’t read his emotions, but his tense stance betrayed his anger. “You tell me. I have about two hours of my life I can’t seem to remember and I’m told they were spent with you.”

“What?” Lailah moved to stand in front of Kane. It took all my willpower to not attack her again. “I haven’t seen you at all today. What would make you think that?”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I said. “I saw you, mauling him in his office. And I don’t mean I glimpsed someone. I saw your face. You looked right at me before you bent over him and bit his chest.”

Lailah, who always kept her emotions close, dropped her guards. Total confusion, mixed with fury, shot straight at me full blast. No, she hadn’t just dropped her guard; she’d intended to let me experience exactly what she felt. Fine. If she was sending it, I’d do my best to understand exactly what was going on inside her.

I took it all in, letting Lailah’s emotions flow through all my senses until everything she felt was my own. Hurt, indignation, anger. It consumed me down to my soul. There was no need to delve further; she’d sent me everything she had. My arms twitched, trying to release the foreign energy. Slowly I pushed it away, letting it ease into the night. All but the last of her energy was gone when I noticed the shift. It was barely there, but beneath all the angry denial was a hint of doubt. Doubt about what?

“What aren’t you telling us?” I asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She closed herself off again and brushed past me toward the door.

I wrapped my hand around her arm, applying just enough pressure to stop her. “You’re the one who opened yourself to my probe. I got it. You’re angry I’m accusing you, and your level of righteous indignation appears to mean you don’t believe what I said. But you have doubts. What are you questioning?”

She turned sad blue eyes on me. “I’d rather speak to Bea.” She tugged her arm out of my grip.

I stood there watching as she disappeared inside. “There’s something off about her.”

“You’re just now figuring that out?” Kane pulled me down into a wooden swing. He turned me to face him. “You believe me, don’t you? I really don’t have any memory of what happened today. And the way I feel about you…well, it would take a lot more than some freaky fuck-up of an angel to get me to risk what we have.”

A soft wind kicked up, blowing a lock of hair over his eye. I reached out and smoothed it to the side. As my fingers trailed over his skin, his aura suddenly glowed golden, the color of a man deep in love. The same color I’d seen before his emotions had been hidden to me. I shook my head, trying to clear my vision, sure I was seeing things. But when I looked back, his aura only glowed brighter.

I blinked back tears and nodded. “I believe you. I don’t know what’s going on, but I believe you.”

His arms came around me and he pulled me into a hug, crushing me against him. “Make me a promise.”

“What kind?” I stared over his shoulder at the lights lining Bea’s pathway.

His hand came up to my jaw and he moved my head so I was looking him in the eye. “Promise me the next time something goes haywire, you won’t run.”

“I can’t promise that. Think about what you would do if you found me in the arms of another man. Would you politely ask to speak to me or wait until I was finished?”

A low, sardonic laugh rumbled from his chest. “No, I’d pull him off you and proceed to explain exactly why he should disappear before I lost control of my temper.”

I cocked my head to one side. “So the reaction I just had to Lailah was about six hours too late? Should I have stalked into your office and beat the shit out of her?” Never mind my magic had thrown her against the wall. Neither one remembered that, apparently. Besides, I hadn’t done it on purpose. It just happened.

“That would have been preferable to you running. Yes, definitely preferable.”

I smiled. “I bet.”

He laughed then sobered. “This is only going to work if we can communicate. I understand your reaction, but clearly there’s something unexplainable going on. I don’t want our relationship to be the victim of whatever it is. So for now, at least until we figure this out, please, promise you won’t run.”

The look on his face, more than any of the words he’d said, made me nod my agreement. “No running. I promise. But don’t think I won’t lose it if I walk in on another scene like that.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He leaned in and caught my lips in a slow, meaningful kiss that left me breathless when he pulled back. “Ready?”

“No.” The only thing I wanted to do was go home. To his home, and sleep for two days. But I stood anyway. “Let’s go.”

He joined me, but before we reached the door, it swung open, slamming against the inside wall with a bang.

We glanced at each other. Kane clutched my hand and pulled me forward. Inside, Kat and Pyper stood with horrified expressions as they gaped at Lailah. She hung suspended by nothing in the middle of the living room, white-faced and rigid.

Bea’s ball of knitting yarn had rolled beneath Lailah’s feet. I followed the single string of yarn back to Bea. She sat sprawled in the chair, unconscious. I gasped. “What happened?”

The stairs squeaked, catching my attention. Gwen inched her way down into the living room to Bea’s side.

“Gwen?” I asked.

She knelt down and touched Bea’s wrist, searching for her pulse. “She’s just knocked out. If you send her some energy, she’ll perk right back up.”

I moved to her side and picked up Bea’s hand. “I can do that, but she told me not to transfer my own energy. Something about weakening my powers.”

Kat appeared beside me and held out her hand. “Use me. You’ve done it before. I know what to expect.”

“That’s sweet, Kat. But I think it’s better if she uses me,” Gwen said. “My lighter energy is easier to transfer.”

“It is?” I’d never thought of that.

“Of course. Now, hurry.” She clutched my hand.

I focused on Gwen’s emotional signature. Instead of slipping away like Ian’s had, I didn’t have to do much but nudge it in Bea’s direction.

After a moment, her eyes fluttered open and she sat up. “Well done, Jade. You’re finally getting the hang of it.” Bea squeezed my hand before letting go.

“What happened?” I demanded again, staring at Lailah’s lifeless body.

Bea shifted in her chair and leveled a glare at the angel. “We engaged in a magical duel of sorts.”

“It was crazy,” Pyper said. “One minute, Bea was questioning how Lailah recovered her powers, and the next, Lailah went into a rage and threw some freaky green light at her. Bea blocked it and it rebounded, turning Lailah into the levitating zombie, but it knocked Bea out.”

“She attacked you?” My voice rose in disbelief.

Bea stood, using Kane’s arm for support. We walked with her around Lailah’s limp body. She peered at her assistant then glanced back. “Jade, have you tapped her energy lately?”

Startled, it took me a moment to respond. “Yes, a few minutes ago when we were outside.”

“And was it different than it normally is?”

“I have no idea. I try not to do that if I can help it.”

“Do it again,” Bea said.

“Why?”

“Jade.” Bea’s tone implied impatience. “I want to compare what you feel versus what I sense radiating off her. Please, time is limited.”

I gave her an odd look, but didn’t ask any more questions. It was likely I wouldn’t get anything from Lailah anyway, since she appeared to be unconscious. I sat in the overstuffed chair Bea had vacated. “Okay. Give me a minute.”

Pyper and Kat stopped whispering to each other and the room fell silent. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. Focusing usually wasn’t an issue, but it had been a long day. With six people in the room, I’d figured sifting through each emotional signature would take at least a little bit of effort, but Bea was masking hers, I still couldn’t find Kane’s, and Kat’s and Gwen’s were so familiar to me that I touched on them each and quickly set them aside.

That left Pyper, and she was hardly a stranger. She had a fair amount of curiosity swirling around her, but somewhere buried deep inside, a thread of fear threatened to take over. She did a decent job of holding it at bay, though. I admired her strength. After what she’d been through with Roy, it was amazing she still tolerated any paranormal activity at all. I wouldn’t if it was at all possible.

With Pyper’s energy out of the way, I sent a slight probe in Lailah’s direction. When I found nothing, I pushed harder. My inquiry was met with a void. The eerie familiarity set my nerves on edge. I’d encountered an empty emotional state only once before. It had happened with Pyper right after her soul had been stolen by a ghost.

My eyes flew open. “She’s not there,” I gasped. “Exactly like before, when the ritual went wrong and we lost Pyper.”

“What?” Panic broke through Pyper’s calm and her face turned white.

Bea crossed the room and put a reassuring hand on her arm. “You’re safe here,” she told Pyper then turned and stared me in the eye. “She’s there. Search deeper.”

Her commanding no-nonsense tone made me stand and move to Lailah’s side. Sometimes physical contact helps. Despite my overwhelming desire to cringe away from her, I placed my hand on her arm. This time, when I sent my probe, I didn’t hold back. I used every ounce of strength I could muster. My energy burst into her, instantly finding her essence. Her hidden emotions spilled into mine, filling me with hatred and fierce determination.

A rage I’d never known burned within my soul. My hand instinctively tightened around her arm as I pulled her through the air. I couldn’t focus on anything except the overwhelming desire to end the existence of those standing in my way. As Lailah’s body glided toward me, my other fist clenched and an odd hissing escaped from my lips.

“Jade!” Bea’s voice cut through the blinding anger.

I jumped back, recoiling from the venomous energy. Whatever was inside her was pure evil.

Lailah moved, awakening from her enchanted slumber. Still suspended in the air, she raised her arms above her head. A round, green mass, of what I could only assume was a spell, materialized between her hands, and without uttering a word, she threw it directly at me.

My imaginary glass silo, the one I used to block out other people’s emotions, snapped in place. The green mass shattered through it, but on contact, the glass took solid form, scattering glass shards around the room. I barely registered the yelps and shocked cries from my friends as a surge of power appeared from the depths of my being. Instinctively, I used it to block the attack. Most of the spell rebounded, but a small, hot bolt struck me just above my heart. I yelped, clutching my chest as it throbbed. A second later, a burning sensation sizzled through my limbs. It reminded me of the anesthesia I’d received when I’d had my appendix out as a kid. I sank to the floor, flexing, trying to regain the feeling in my appendages.

“Jade? What did she do to you?” Kane asked.

I turned toward the sound of his voice, but my vision blurred. I blinked. No, not my vision—his imaged blurred. I could see everything else in the room clearly. He’d moved to kneel beside me, but when I reached out to touch him, my hand glided right through him as if he were a hologram. “What the heck?”

His eyes focused on my hand groping around for solid form. I tried to meet his gaze. Through his flickering image, his face turned confused. His hand came up, trying to grab mine, and horrified panic flashed over his face right before he disappeared altogether.

“Kane!” I cried, groping for his missing body.

Lailah’s cold laugh rang through the room. “Draining you would have been faster, but I’ll enjoy my time with your lover much more.” Her blue eyes flashed yellow right before she evaporated into thin air.

Chapter 16

I scrambled to my feet and nearly fell due to the numbing spell. Clutching the chair, I sought out Bea. She sat on her cheery sunflower-print couch, holding her head in her hands. “Bea?”