Witches of Bourbon Street (29 page)

I leaned forward, giving him my full attention. I’d forgotten all about his equipment.

“The EMF detector showed spikes when Kat and Jade spoke. But not when either Pyper or I did.” Ian sat and shuffled through a folder. He held up a color-coded graph. “If I had time to formulate the readings, it would look very much like this.”

Pyper rolled her eyes. “That means nothing to us. Can you just spell it out?”

“Oh, right. Sorry. This is the graph from when I tested Lailah. See all the spikes here?” He pointed to a wavy, red line. “Each peak was when Lailah spoke. The blue, flat line is when Pyper spoke. The readings I just got would look very much like this, only replace Lailah for Kat.”

“How can that be? I don’t have magic,” Kat said from the chair next to me. “At all.”

“But I’d just infused you with some of mine,” Lucian said. “Right before you came down here.”

I had to bite my tongue to keep from lashing out at him. This was why I went bat-shit crazy earlier. Magic causes awful shit to happen.

“Holy crap. That’s freaky.” Pyper put her hands on her hips. “Now what?”

I stood. “Time to make a plan.”

***

For the time being, we laid Bea out on my bed. Gwen, who’d stayed quiet through the entire battle, insisted she needed to stay by her side.

“Something tells me I need to be here,” she said.

“But she’s bound, body and soul. Nothing can touch her in that state, even death,” Lucian argued.

“So you’ve said. But like I already told you, I have intuitive abilities and right now I’m being told I should stay here.”

“You don’t mess with Gwen when her senses tell her to do something. There’s no changing her mind.” I gave her a kiss on her cheek. “Call if anything changes.”

She grasped my hand. “Be extremely careful. Your mother…”

The familiar ache touched me briefly, but I clamped it down. I didn’t have time for that now. I leaned back in and whispered, “With any luck, we’ll find her too.”

Gwen leaned back and looked like she wanted to scold me, but she only said, “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“I know.” I gestured to Lucien. “We’ll be at Pyper’s until further notice.”

He stood and offered his hand. “It’s been a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Calhoun.”

Gwen took his hand in both of hers. “Likewise, Mr. Boulard.”

“Take care of her.”

“You do the same,” Gwen said, indicating me.

“Deal.”

When we got into the hallway, Lucien turned to me. “How powerful of an intuitive is she?”

“Extremely.”

“Do we have anything to worry about?”

I paused. “Maybe. But there isn’t anything we can do about it. Gwen has her own set of rules she lives by when it comes to visions. She had one about Bea and black magic, but she refused to let me say anything. Lots of times if one interferes, the consequences can become much more grave.” I frowned. “I don’t know what would have been worse than losing Bea.”

“Her death.”

I blanched. He had a point. But Bea had believed she wouldn’t ever be coming back. Or had she? I shook my head. “Yeah, that would be worse. Anyway, if she says she needs to be there, then she has a good reason. And before you ask, no, I don’t know what it is.”

“Fair enough.”

We walked in silence the rest of the way to Pyper’s apartment. What else was there to say?

Pyper’s door swung open just as I was about to knock. “There you are,” Kat said. “I was on my way to fetch you.”

“You could have called,” I said, digging in my pocket for my phone.

“You lost it, remember?”

Right. I clamped a hand to my forehead. “Remind me when this is over to check if I have insurance on it.”

“It’ll be the first thing I do,” Kat said with a heavy amount of sarcasm.

Good. That meant she was feeling better.

We joined Ian and Pyper at the table. Someone had ordered a few pizzas and brought bottled water. “Where’d those come from?” I asked.

“One of the girls from the coven figured we needed strength,” Ian said.

“She’s right.” When was the last time I’d eaten? I couldn’t even remember. “Eat first, plan second. Hey, where are they—the coven members?” I asked when it dawned on me I hadn’t seen them since we’d all been in the club.

“They went down to the café. They’re on call when or if you need them.”

How weird was that? I had a coven on call. My appetite fled, and I dropped the slice of pizza I’d been holding. So much for eating.

Twenty minutes later, Ian had one of his notebooks out, his head down, scribbling the first lines of The Plan.

Chapter 22

“The first thing we need to do is find a way to free Lailah. Without her, we have no hope of battling the demon,” Lucian said, his voice grave.

I sat back with my arms folded over my chest. “This all pretty much started with her. What makes you think she can fight Meri, especially since the demon has been controlling her?”

“Because she’s an angel and that’s what angels do. They fight demons and protect those susceptible to them.” Lucien rose and walked to the long windows behind the table. He leaned against the molding and gazed out into the street. “I think if Lailah had known she was being used, she would’ve asked for help to fight it. But everything I’ve heard leads me to believe the demon found a way to possess her without her knowledge.”

It would explain the poisoning, and maybe the boyfriend-mauling. “Do you know any other angels?”

Lucien leveled his deep blue gaze in my direction. “Another angel? In New Orleans? You’re serious?”

“Uh, yes.” I glanced at Ian.

He stopped tapping the tip of his pen on his thigh. “Angels are extremely rare, compared to witches. There’s probably not another one in the whole state.”

“And we need to rescue her tonight. If we waste the full moon, it will be thirty days and likely too late to save any of them.” Lucien abandoned the window and moved into the living room.

Tonight worked for me. Where Lailah was, so was Kane. “Okay, but how do we get to her?”

“The voodoo dolls,” Pyper said. “Didn’t Felicia say she’d help you find your mom if you freed her?”

“Yes. You’re suggesting we go ahead with the ritual to rejoin the souls and spirits to the witches…and demon, stuck in the portraits?”

“That’s exactly what we should do.” Lucian came back to the table. “Meri has already fallen, so she’s permanently lost. But if we give her back her soul, it will temporarily weaken her. Her soul will be restored, making her whole for a short time, before the darkness eats it away for good. It’s our best shot.”

“What if Felicia won’t help us, or can’t?” I pushed the pizza away. I was too nervous to eat.

“If we truly can weaken the demon, Lailah should be able to come back on her own, hopefully with Kane in tow.”

I stood. “How much time do we have?”

Lucian consulted his watch. “About eight hours.”

“Good.” I turned to Pyper. “I’m going to use the spare room to take a nap—”

Lucien cut me off. “A nap? But we need to find the binding spell Bea was working on and go over it with the coven. Plus, there are cleansing rituals. You don’t have time to waste.”

“We’ll have to make time. Lailah and Kane have to be warned, and the only way I can do that is with a nap.” I cut my gaze to Pyper. “Will you stand guard over me?”

“You got it.” She pushed her chair back.

“I’ll get Bea’s journal and notebook,” Ian said to Lucien. “You can go over everything with the coven, and when Jade wakes up, you can fill her in.”

“But…”

No one paid attention to Lucien’s protest. Pyper and I had just shuffled into the spare room when I heard Kat speak. “Don’t worry. She’s new to most of this, but she won’t let you down.”

Pyper and I shared a smile.

A moment later, Kat poked her head in the room. “I’m going to the hospital to check on Dan. I’ll call Pyper if there’s anything to report.”

“Okay.” Hopefully Dan was knocked out on some serious painkillers. The last thing I needed was for him to take her hostage. “Be careful.”

“You, too.” She closed the door with a soft click.

“You mind if I shower before I take watch?” Pyper asked. “I didn’t get one this morning and after everything that’s happened…well, I need it.”

“No problem. I’ll be here, trying to unwind.” I flopped down on the bed Kane had once used after late nights at the club. It still held a faint trace of his fresh rain scent. I took a deep breath and almost felt as if he could be right next to me. “Soon,” I whispered.

By the time Pyper reappeared from her shower, hobbling on her freshly bandaged leg, my eyelids were heavy. I yawned. “If you notice anything life-threatening, wake me up, okay?”

“I’m sure if it’s life-threatening, I’ll be dragging you from the room.” She propped herself up on the other side of the bed.

“Whatever works.” I closed my eyes and, within minutes, found myself floating in an empty dream state.

Kane?
I cried in my mind.

“I’m here
.
” His voice echoed.

I turned and found him sitting on a wrought iron bench. There wasn’t anything else, just the bench and Kane, looking as handsome as he ever did. I glanced at his bare wrists, and then his thigh. He appeared to be as good as new. I raised an eyebrow in question.

He grimaced. “It’s an illusion I conjured for this dream. The bindings and stake are still firmly in place, I just didn’t want you focusing on them.”

For his sake, I let it go. Besides, there wasn’t anything I could do. “Where are we?”

“A neutral place, where Lailah can’t interrupt us.”

I sat next to him on the bench, longing to grasp his hand. Seeing him and not being able to feel him under my fingers was torture. “We need her help.”

His eyebrows pinched, matching his confusion brushing my psyche. “What can she do?”

“A demon was controlling her and is feeding off your pain.” I glanced at his thigh, now covered in clean jeans. “How’s your leg? I know you’re not showing me what you’re really wearing.”

He shrugged. “Not great, but I’m hoping once you bring me home, it will only be a bad memory.”

I sent him a weak smile. “You’re that confident I can do this?”

“Never any doubt.” He leaned in, miming a kiss on my lips.

“We’re getting you home tonight. Tell Lailah to be ready. We’re going to weaken the demon, and when we do, it’ll be her cue to bring you both back.”

Kane looked unconvinced. “She’s a basket case and keeps going on about how she failed. I don’t know if she can do it.”

I stood. “She has to. Make her understand. None of this was her fault.” As I said the words, I realized I spoke the truth. Bea had told me Lailah was a victim. She was right. “The demon got to her through the portrait. She never saw it coming. But now’s her chance. Tell her to keep trying to get back to the coven circle. Lucien says she should be able to, once we work our spell.”

He stared up at me from the bench, apprehension and fear for me spinning around him.

“We’re doing this, Kane. Tonight. I won’t lose you. Not now. Not ever.”

“No. You won’t.” He stood, staring me in the eye. “We’ll be ready.”

If there was ever a time I needed to hug him, it was right then. Instead, I raised my hand, holding it up in front of me. He mirrored my movement and we stood there, translucent palm to translucent palm. “Until tonight,” I said.

“Tonight,” he whispered.

***

By the time I woke up, Lucien and Ian had returned to Pyper’s, and someone had lined the voodoo dolls up on the couch.

“They really have souls trapped in them? How did this happen?” Lucien eyed us suspiciously.

I shrugged, a little offended he’d suspect we’d be involved in such a horrible thing. “We have no idea. They just showed up one day and I felt the purity of their souls.”

“They didn’t just show up,” Pyper interjected from the doorway of her kitchen.

“That’s true. Dan brought them here for safekeeping. He took the portraits and left these. I think he was trying to help,” I said.

“How can you be sure?” Ian joined Pyper and took the can of Coke she offered him. “It could be a trap or…I don’t know. He
is
possessed by black magic.”

“He’s been fighting it,” I said, remembering the terrible emotional flashback I’d experienced the day we’d found the dolls. I’d mistaken the fear and pain for what I’d felt from him years ago in Idaho. It hadn’t been that at all. He’d been fighting whoever was controlling him.

Lucien reclaimed a seat at the dining room table. “Is he magical?”

“Who? Dan?”

He nodded.

“Oh, no. Not at all.” I disappeared into the kitchen for a bottle of water, and when I returned, they all stared at me. “What?”