Shadows of Bourbon Street (26 page)

He flashed a sexy-lazy smile. “Ms. Calhoun. It’s good to see you well. Our last meeting was an unpleasant piece of business. I’m glad the order was able to get the situation under control.”

Lucien scowled. “Under control? You’re the one who delivered me there.”

His lips formed a thin line. “My apologies to you, Mr. Boulard. I was only doing my job. I can assure you as soon as I assessed the situation, I called in the order.” He opened the door wider. “Please, come in where we can talk.”

I glanced back at the street. No one seemed to be paying any attention to us. I couldn’t help but wonder what this goose chase was all about. “No offense, but you do realize someone could be watching us, right? I mean, anyone staking out your apartment could’ve just followed us.”

He laughed. It was low, sexy, and damned alluring. Jeez. Incubus for sure. Why didn’t he work for the order? “They could’ve, but why would they? As far as they know, you came by my apartment, realized I wasn’t home, and left. Besides, there’s a spell on the house. Only those invited can see it. We’re all safe here. Don’t worry about it. Have a seat.”

“What about the car?” I asked.

“They can’t see that either,” Vaughn said, starting to sound impatient.

Okay then. The house was sparsely furnished. A leather couch sat against one wall. Two matching recliners were off to one side, facing a giant wide-screen television. But there was nothing else. Not even a print on the wall. Bea and I sat on the far end of the couch. Lucien and Kat remained standing, obviously still skeptical.

I introduced Kat and Bea and then we got down to business. “I’m here for two reasons. They’re both equally important, but one matter is more pressing.” I waved to Lucien. “He’s been spelled with a black heart curse. One person has already died. And now one of them—” I indicated either Lucien or Kat with a nod to each of them “—is next.”

“A black heart curse?” Narrowing his eyes, he studied Lucien. “I see.”

“We know who cursed him,” I said. “We need the person in order to reverse it.”

Vaughn turned to meet my gaze. “And how can I help?”

“It’s your brother, Mitch. Can you help us find him?”

Vaughn stood and paced the room. “You’re sure it was him?” He didn’t seem all that surprised. More like disappointed.

“I’m positive,” Lucien said. “We were acquaintances back then. He was there when it happened, and today he admitted it to me.”

“Fuck me.” Vaughn ran a hand through his lush black hair. “This is going to get messy.”

“I suspect it is,” I said. “And since the order didn’t take him down, I imagine he’s on the run or in a safe house until this blows over.”

He sat back down. “I can probably lead you to him.”

Bea gave him a grim smile of her own. “You’re sure about that? You’ll be signing your brother’s death certificate before long.”

Vaughn met her eyes with a cold, hard stare. “Ms. Kelton, I’m a bounty hunter for the Witches’ Council. It’s my job to take down those who make deals with the devil.”

She regarded him a minute and then nodded. “Understood.”

Vaughn turned his attention to me. “What’s the second piece of business?”

“It’s Matisse.”

Vaughn’s demeanor changed instantly. He sat up straighter, and while he’d been cold and business focused before, now there was something else shining in his eyes. He was good at keeping his emotions masked, but I thought it might be pain.

“She’s trapped in a void world, and we need you to help her cross back over.” I watched him carefully.

His expression never changed, but emotion certainly rolled behind those intense eyes. “Trapped?”

“Yes, and she’ll fade away into nothing if we don’t get her out soon.”

“And why do you need me?” His tone was unfeeling, but he’d curled his left hand into a fist, and his knuckles were turning white.

“Dayla says you stole something from her. And in order for her to cross, she needs it back.”

“What?” Vaughn stood, outraged. “Stole? I took nothing from her.”

I gave him a sympathetic smile. “But you did. Do you know what kind of witch she is?”

“Yes.”

I leaned in and lowered my voice. “Did you know that after the last time you saw her, she spent a month recuperating?”

It took a moment, but realization dawned in those gorgeous eyes, and he suddenly had a gutted look about him.

Kat gave me a questioning glance, but I wasn’t about to answer. It was no one else’s business that Matisse had awoken his incubus side.

He looked like he wanted to ask me more questions, but one glance at our audience and he stood again. “I’ll do whatever’s necessary. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get dressed.” He strode off to the back of the house, calling over his shoulder, “We’ll leave in five minutes. Be prepared.”

Chapter 24

“How do you want to work this?” Vaughn asked me. We’d parked a few houses down from another place that looked a lot like the house across from the fairgrounds.

I glanced at his muscular arms and the bounty hunter gear in his back seat. “Can you go in and restrain him before the rest of us get inside?”

“Probably.”

“Is there a signal?”

“Yeah,” he said as he climbed out of the car. “I’ll flash the lights on and off. Give me ten minutes. If there’s no signal, the plan went to shit and I’d appreciate it if you’d bust in and give me a hand.”

Vaughn opened the back door of his SUV, grabbed some zip ties, shoved a stun gun in his pocket, and then jogged down to the dark house.

I waited until he slipped inside to exit his SUV. A moment later I climbed into the back of Lucien’s Jeep where my friends were waiting. With any luck, Vaughn would restrain Mitch and we could get this over with as soon as possible.

But as the minutes ticked by, my nerves started to fray. Eight minutes. No lights. Nine minutes. And then when the clock kicked over to ten minutes, Bea opened her door. “We’re going in. Kat, it’s best if you stay here.”

“But—”

“No,” Bea said and I was grateful I wasn’t the one forcing her to stay behind this time. She was done listening to me. “It’s too dangerous.”

Kat grimaced, but didn’t argue further.

Lucien sent her a grateful smile and then the pair of us followed Bea. But I had to force myself to put one foot in front of the other. It wasn’t that I was scared. Not for myself anyway. But while Bea’s witch’s brew had helped tremendously, I still wasn’t one hundred percent, and I had no idea if I could work the spell to reverse the curse. I prayed to the Goddess we didn’t totally screw this up.

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed Lucien’s hand, more to reassure myself than him. “We’re going to get this done.”

He nodded, but it was hard to tell if he had any faith left at all.

We didn’t bother with a sneak attack. It hadn’t worked before. So this time, Bea raised her hands and a sudden blast blew the front door open. The broken door hung at an angle from one hinge. I stood there transfixed, and all I could think about was that it would fall soon.

“Jade. Get it together,” Bea demanded. She stepped through the rubble with her magic sparking from her palms. If Mitch came after her, he would likely be flattened in less than three seconds.

My own magic kindled to life with her blast and pulsed through my limbs, ready to be unleashed at the first sign of trouble. But the house was empty. Or it appeared to be. Shit! Had Vaughn played us? Was he working with Mitch?

I turned to get Lucien’s take on the situation, but as soon as I did a black blast of fire shot straight at him. I jumped in its path, letting my own magic fly. The two streams collided. Fire consumed my hands, burning so hot, I thought I’d pass out. A scream of absolute terror tore from my throat as the fire started to crawl up my wrists and forearms. I fell to my knees, unable to keep myself upright, and focused on the magic inside me. I could fight this. I had to.

But then a third stream hit the connection. Bea’s cooling blue magic joined mine, instantly soothing my burning hands, and slowly, ever so slowly, the fire began to fade. I could barely feel my fingers. Bea’s spell had all but numbed them. And thank the Goddess for that, because the blistering was downright awful.

With Bea’s strength, we quickly forced the black magic back, and as the connection of the three streams reached Mitch, I took perverse pleasure in watching him writhe in pain. His own spell was going to melt his skin right off.

“Stop!” Lucien cried. “You’ll kill him.”

At that moment, I hardly cared. The bastard had tried to kill almost all of my friends and burn Lucien alive.

But Bea pulled her magic back, and the shock of it startled me enough I dropped mine, too. But it didn’t matter. Mitch was crumpled on the floor in the corner.

Lucien stalked across the room, kicking debris as he went. He kneeled down and touched the witch’s neck. “He’s still alive. But just barely.”

I struggled to get to my feet, unable to use my burned hands. “Where’s Vaughn?” I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to be afraid
for
him or afraid
of
him. If he was working with Mitch, he could be waiting to ambush us again. Son of a bitch. How could I’ve trusted him so easily after everything that had happened already? I was only slightly comforted by the fact that Bea had trusted him too.

“Jade, use your magic,” Bea said.

“I’m not sure I have anything left.”

“Your empath gift, dear. See where Vaughn is.”

“Right.” As exhausted as I was, I would’ve thought I’d have no barriers at all. But something was in place, because I was having trouble reading Lucien and Bea. I shook my head and tried again. Then I frowned. “I can’t read anyone here.” I glanced at Mitch. I’d never been able to read his emotions. And now this very old house appeared to block everything. Was it a spell? Maybe.

Screw it. “Vaughn?” I yelled. “Where in the Sam Hill are you?”

A grunt came from the next room.

I followed, it and when I nudged the door open with my hip, I almost laughed. There was Vaughn, chained to a heavy armoire by his own zip ties. “What happened?”

“The bastard jumped me. Fucking brother. He blames me for what happened earlier today. He’s figured out it was me who sent the demon hunters. Did you dust his ass?” he asked, eyeing my hands.

“First of all, he isn’t a vampire. And second, no. We need him in order to force Lucien’s curse to reverse itself.”

Bea came up behind me and spelled Vaughn’s zip ties away.

He rubbed his wrists. “Thanks for saving my ass.”

“One day you’ll return the favor,” she said. “Now, let’s get Lucien’s heart taken care of.”

We all moved back into the living room.

I turned to Bea. “How is this going to work?”

She pulled a wooden chair over and sat a few feet from Mitch. “Remember the spell we did when you extracted the curse from Kat and forced it back into Lucien?”

Frowning, I nodded.

“That’s what we’re going to do here. You’re going to take it from Lucien and force it back into Mitch.”

I opened my mouth but closed it when I realized I had no idea what to say to that. Curing Kat had been hard. Damn hard. But I’d had everyone I loved around me for support. And transferring the entire curse from Lucien to someone else sounded dangerous as hell. But when I thought of Kat and the hope that had been shining in her hazel eyes, I couldn’t say no. She’d been my best friend for over twelve years. She’d always been there for me no matter what, and after all this time, she’d finally found someone to love. If I didn’t do this, what would happen to him? Or her for that matter?

Saying no wasn’t an option. I closed my eyes and wished with all my heart Kane were here. He gave me strength in a way no one else did. Not that he made me more powerful or anything. Not that I knew of, anyway. But his emotional support, the love between us, it always gave me something to hang on to and made me stronger.

I let out a tiny gasp of revelation. That thought had given me an idea. It was no secret Kat was also one of my great stabilizers. If she could do it for me, why not for Lucien?

After fetching Kat from the Jeep, I took a seat on the dirty hardwood floor and motioned for Lucien and Kat to join me.

Kat took a step toward me, but Lucien said, “Wait. Maybe Kat should stay over here. You know, away from the spell, just in case.”

I shook my head. “No. She’s going to be useful here. Come.” My tone was commanding, and all hints of apprehension had left me. I had a plan.

Kat moved first, and Lucien reluctantly followed.

“Lucien, sit next to me.” I gestured to my other side, the one Mitch wasn’t on. “And Kat, you sit next to Lucien. Then take his hand.”

“No,” Lucien said. “Not until this spell is gone.”

We’d been careful to not let him taint her because she couldn’t fight any of the magic off, so he had a point. But if this was going to work, we were going to have to take some risks. “Okay. Yeah. Let’s hold off on that for a second. But I still need her. Sit next to him at least.”