Witches of Bourbon Street (30 page)

“How do you want to work this?” Lucien asked.

“I thought you were going to tell us.”

“You’re the coven leader.”

Right. “Okay then. I assume you figured out Bea’s binding spell.”

He nodded.

“Good. Since I’m not trained, I’m counting on you to run the show. Can you do that?”

Lucien rubbed his stubbled jaw. “That’s going to take a lot of power. The entire coven will have to be there, and you’ll need to provide the spark. We’re talking rituals, blessings, and specialized herbs.”

“When can you be ready?”

“For something like this, ideally prep would take a few days. The coven members need time to practice. Not to mention someone has to get the herbs and candles. And then there are the blessings to prep. You can’t go around messing with this kind of power without being prepared.”

Pyper scoffed. “Jade does. Look, Mr. Second-in-Command, I appreciate your desire to be thorough. But my best friend, the closest thing I have to a brother, is trapped somewhere that Lailah seems to think is Purgatory. I will not let you leave him there any second longer than necessary. If it were your sister, what would you do?”

“I don’t have a sister.”

“Don’t fuck with me.”

Her response made him chuckle. “Never. Besides, I didn’t say I couldn’t do it. I just wanted everyone to know it’s risky.”

“Noted,” I said. “But we can’t wait another month for the next full moon either.”

Lucien’s face turned grave. “No, that isn’t an option.”

The fear escaping his tightly controlled energy made my hands tremble. I clutched them into fists. Failing wasn’t an option.

***

Lucien had given us a list of supplies we’d need. Since none of us actually participated in the craft, Ian found Bea’s keys to her store in her handbag and left to stock up.

I wondered if Bea had someone else running her store these days, or if it was just closed. I mentally shook myself. Why did it matter? If we didn’t bring her and Lailah back, the store was useless anyhow.

While Ian was gone, I headed off to my apartment to check in with Gwen.

I could hear the barking from the second floor landing. Crap. Not again. Dragging my feet up the final flight of stairs, I wished desperately for a pair of earplugs.

“Duke,” I cried when I opened the door. “Stop.”

The golden retriever continued his growl-fest from the couch, balancing himself with his front paws on the back cushions.

I came to a stop in front of him, blocking his view of Bea’s body. “Off.”

The dog immediately jumped off the couch and followed me as I led him toward the bathroom. “In!” I pointed to the open door.

He tilted his head in question. I was constantly telling him to get out. Poor ghost dog.

“Time for a bath,” I said.

That did it. He happily trotted in.

I slammed the door and commanded him to stay. I infused a bit of my magical spark into the words, hoping I hadn’t trapped him in there forever. I turned to Gwen. “You have no idea how lucky you are you can’t hear him.”

“Where the hell have you been?” Gwen asked when my gaze finally landed on her. I hadn’t seen her angry expression since I’d been seventeen and had been caught sneaking back in after a late night out with Kat. “I’ve been calling you for hours.”

I grimaced. “Sorry. I lost my phone.” I hurried to Bea’s side. “Is she okay? Any change?”

Gwen took her time easing back into her spot at the end of the couch. “She’s fine. Or at least the same. But what about you? A while ago your energy disappeared. I couldn’t sense you. I had no idea what was going on. Didn’t you think about your old aunt at all?” Gwen was good at the guilt trips when she wanted to be.

“Crap. I’m sorry. I didn’t go anywhere. All I did was take a nap at Pyper’s and visited Kane in a dreamwalk. Maybe that’s why you couldn’t find me. Anyway, you could have called her.”

“I don’t have her phone number.” She bit off each word and turned her back on me.

Swallowing a groan, I snagged her phone from the table and went to work adding Pyper’s, Kat’s, Ian’s, and Kane’s (because we
were
getting him back) numbers into her phone. “There. Now you should be able to find me no matter what happens.”

She barely glanced at the phone as I set it on the table.

“Come on, Gwen. Don’t you want to know what happened and be filled in on our latest plan?”

That got her attention. She listened intently as I outlined it for her, not saying a word until I finished.

“You think giving them their souls back will release Lailah and Kane?” she asked.

“I hope so. Lucien says it will weaken Meri.”

Gwen looked unconvinced, but agreed it was the best plan. The only plan.

“Do you want to come?”

She eyed Bea. “Something tells me I need to be here, with her.”

“Any idea why?”

She pursed her lips together and shook her head. “None. Just an intuition thing.”

Psychics don’t ignore intuition. I kissed her on the cheek and promised to call when we were done.

“I’ll walk you out.” She stood, but after two steps went rigid. Her eyes glazed over in an unfocused daze.

I froze, not realizing I’d stopped breathing until my lungs started to burn. Gasping for air, I moved to Gwen’s side.

A second later, her eyes drilled into mine. Her voice was low and gravelly. “She’s going to die.”

“Gwen?” I cried.

She glanced around, disoriented, and then sat. “What happened?”

“You went into a trance.” I lowered myself onto the couch and grasped her hand. “You said she’s going to die.”

Her eyes widened, and her shock slammed into me. “Who?”

I slowly shook my head. “You didn’t say.”

Chapter 23

There was a terrible truth about Gwen’s trances: Whatever she said while in one always came to be. On my eighteenth birthday, she’d predicted I’d be covered in walnuts and chocolate. At the time I’d had a nice fantasy involving a bed and my boyfriend.

Three hours later, a delivery truck full of fudge blew a tire and sideswiped me on the highway. My car spun and ended up slamming into the back of it. The impact had forced the doors open, and fifty pounds of fudge tumbled out of banged up boxes onto my poor Toyota. I’d walked away, but the Toyota hadn’t been so lucky.

Over the years, there had been a number of other incidents, always filled with truth, but never anything as ominous as a death.

She’s going to die.

Bea? Lailah? Me? One of the coven members? There was one thing I knew for sure. If we did nothing, we’d lose more than one person.

In spite of the guilt tugging at my heart, I decided to keep Gwen’s warning to myself. If Gwen had taught me anything about her gift, it was that no matter what I did to try to change things, her visions always came true. She had a theory if one messed with the universe too much, it would come back to you seven times worse. I didn’t need seven times more trouble. I was drowning in it already.

Much to my relief, Kat hadn’t put up a fight when I’d called and asked her to stay home. She’d sounded relieved, even. But Pyper had been another matter altogether. In fact, when I’d gone to her apartment to ask, she’d told me exactly what I could do with my request and it hadn’t sounded comfortable. In the end, I’d given up on my arguments and raised my hands in defeat.

“Fine. If I were in your shoes, I’d probably insist on going, too. But promise me you’ll stay far away from the coven circle. Spells can and do go wrong, and if anything happens to you…” I couldn’t put words to the thoughts running through my head.

“Of course,” Pyper quickly reassured me. “I just can’t stay here, waiting and wondering.”

I nodded my consent and followed her out to her car.

The directions took us uptown on Saint Charles Avenue. “The coven sanctuary is over here, by the university?” Pyper asked.

“I guess.”

We turned left and, in no time, we ended up at a park sandwiched between the river and the Audubon zoo.

“Great.” Pyper scowled and raised her good leg, flexing her foot. “So much for my cool new find.”

I glanced down at her vintage black and white saddle shoes. “Suck it up. They’re washable.”

She mumbled something under her breath and followed me through the soggy grass toward a circle of oak trees. The moon shone pale yellow as the stale, decaying mud smell of the Mississippi permeated the air. An eerie sense of doom settled over me. I slowed my pace, trying to shake the ominous feeling.

Pyper and I emerged from the trees to find the coven all there, kneeling in a large circle. A ceramic bowl of dried herbs sat on the ground in front of each of them. I paused, holding my hand out to stop Pyper. The earth blessing Lucien led them in was one I knew well. It was my mother’s favorite.

Jade
, she’d say.
Hold my hand now
.
Your love is the secret ingredient
.

She’d said that about every blessing she’d ever conducted when I was around. The memory filled my heart with hope. With any luck, we’d free her, too.

When Lucien stopped speaking, they all reached to the side, joining hands. The herbs erupted into twelve individual flames and died just as fast. On cue, all the members raised their bowls and sprinkled the ashes within the circle.

“Wow,” Pyper whispered when a pentagram lit up on the ground. “That’s cool.”

Lucien glanced up, meeting my eyes. Strain had settled over his features, making me wonder how long the group had been there tonight. He rose, and every head turned to stare in our direction.

“Come on,” I told Pyper. “We have a coven to meet.”

Lucien met us halfway, holding a black velvet robe. “This is yours.”

Pyper arched an eyebrow.

“She’s the coven leader now. She needs to dress the part.”

I reluctantly accepted the robe and held it up. It matched the ones the other members wore, with its gold trim and embroidered pentagram. Except this one also had intricate symbols stitched down the arms. I traced one, and my fingertips lit with a warm magic. I snatched my hand back. “Whose spell work?”

Surprise sprang from him. “The coven’s.”

Of course. It had just seemed so familiar, infused with a trace of what I’d always identified with my mother. It was odd I hadn’t noticed it before, but then, protection spells such as the one woven into the cloak were subtle. Everything else I’d felt from the coven had been balls-to-the-walls save-your-ass kind of magic.

I took a deep breath, trying to fill the sudden hole in my heart. Tonight I’d get Kane back and, one way or another, an answer about my mother. If not, I fully intended to die trying.
She’s going to die
echoed in my brain. Well, if that’s what it took.

“Let’s get this picnic started.” I pulled the heavy robe over my head and strode to where the other members waited. “I know Lucien gave you the details about what we’re doing here tonight, but I want to make sure everyone’s clear. We’re going to rejoin the lost souls of two witches and a demon. Somehow, their spirits are trapped in portraits and their souls are trapped in voodoo dolls. Once we recombine the two, the demon will weaken. That will be Lailah and Kane’s best chance to break free and come back to us.” I paused and made eye contact with each of them. “I believe this has the potential to be very dangerous, so if anyone is not fully committed, please let us know and opt out now. We cannot afford to break our coven circle once we get going.”

A long moment of silence filled the air. Finally, a thin voice spoke up. “Will this help save Bea?”

The group parted, and a tiny, dark-haired beauty with big, round eyes stepped forward. She had a fierce, determined look about her. I liked her instantly.

“This particular spell won’t help Bea. We’re counting on Lailah for that. The angel thing and all.”

A glimmer of understanding registered in her expression. She nodded. “I’m in.”

The rest of the coven murmured their agreement and moved to form a circle. Pyper retreated to the sanctuary of the giant oaks. I followed Lucien and then turned to him for instruction.

He indicated I should take the open spot nearest the dark-haired beauty. He took the one directly opposite me. Everyone reached out and clasped hands, completing the circle. A lighted pentagram materialized on the ground in front of us.

The combined pure, clean power of the coven poured from each of them straight into me. I dropped my hands. The pentagram faded as I focused on Lucien. “Why is everyone feeding me power? I thought you were leading the spell.”

“Sort of. I’ll be reciting the incantation, but you’re the one who has to invoke it.”

The other members shifted uneasily. Their lack of confidence prickled. Crap. I needed to get it together or this would never work. “Okay. But we need to get the portraits and the voodoo dolls from Pyper’s car.”