Shadows of Bourbon Street (22 page)

Lucien. He’d said he had history with Mitch. Neither liked the other one. Was this revenge for something? Then his words from earlier hit me.
Because she’s the one who neutralized the curse.
They’d been talking about me. And the curse was the black heart curse. The one that had almost killed Kat.

“You cursed Lucien.” It wasn’t a question but a statement.

“Now you’re catching on.” His grin turned maniacal.

“Why?” This guy had clearly turned to black magic at some point in his life, but he wasn’t so far gone that he was lost to it. It was hard to believe it hadn’t consumed him after he’d cast a black heart curse.

“Why?” Mitch roared. “You’re asking me why? Because that bastard stole the only person who ever cared about me.” His face turned a dark shade of red. “As far as I’m concerned, he deserves much worse.”

Horror seized my heart. “The girl Lucien was dating, the one who died. That’s her, right?”

He regarded me for a long moment, clearly contemplating how much to tell me. Then he looked me dead in the eye and said, “The bitch deserved it. She promised to marry me and three months later she was sleeping with him. They both deserve what they got.”

The light went out behind him, and a second later the door slammed, leaving me alone in the darkness.

Chapter 20

I lay on the floor in the dark, going over and over what Mitch had said, trying to make sense of it all. How had he known Kat had almost died? Or that I’d saved her? Had he been keeping tabs on Lucien for the past ten years? And if so, why? Just to feed his sick, twisted need for revenge?

The house remained dark and quiet, but I could sense that Kat, Bea, and Lailah were still there. Whiny Boy, too. But not Mitch. I had no reason to believe he’d left, though. He’d told Whiny Boy they were waiting for someone.

How the hell was I going to get out of this one? My body was almost numb as if I were on a drug. Could I call up any magic at all? Tentatively, I reached for that spark. My back arched and I gasped as a spasm claimed me. Shit, that hurt! No, magic wasn’t an option. I took a shallow breath as I let the magic go. The numbness took over again.

I was virtually useless. But two things gave me hope. Bea and Lailah were still there, and if anyone could get us out of this mess, it was them. And second, Mitch had said he wanted me to replicate a spell. In order for that to happen, he was going to have to lift the spasm curse. I’d just have to be ready.

Time seemed to slip by and my heart began to hurt for not only my friends in the other rooms but for Matisse as well. What if I couldn’t get back to her? What if she faded away into the mist? And Kane? How would he ever even know what happened to me? Or my mom, Gwen, and my stepdad Marc? Or all the rest of the people I had in my life now after years of just Gwen and Kat?

All because this witch had once been hurt by his fiancée? The selfish son of a bitch. I wouldn’t let this happen. Not on my watch.

After what seemed like hours, the door finally opened again. No light this time. “Get up,” Mitch ordered.

I rolled to my side and stifled a groan. “I don’t think I can,” I said, hoping to get him to lift the curse.

“You can and you will if you want your friends to live. Or at least a few of them,” he added with a sick laugh.

The anger that shot through my veins gave me the strength to push myself up into a sitting position, and then I was able to get my feet under me. I held onto the wall with my bound hands. “If you lift the curse, I’d be a lot more cooperative,” I lied.

“Why would I do that? Look at you. I don’t even have to lift a finger to get you to obey.”

Obey?
Oh, he was going to pay for that one.

“Move it.” He kicked the back of my knee, and I fell against the door, barely holding myself up.

My magic pulsed with the desire to knock him out, but it only resulted in making me clutch the door harder to keep from collapsing. There was too much pain shooting through my torso. The spasm curse was beyond cruel.

“That way.” He pointed down the hall, toward the front of the house. I shuffled along, using the walls for support. But when we stepped into the living room, the desperation streaming off Kat made my legs go weak and I slid to the floor, landing lightly on my knees.

“Kat?” I said softly, my gaze landing on her curled form in the corner.

“Jade?” Hope rang clear in her tired voice. “You’re here?” Then her tone shifted to panic. “We have to get out of here. He’s evil. He’s the one who cursed Lucien.”

“She knows,” Mitch said lightly, clearly amused by her distress. “But I might take issue with being called evil.”

Kat flinched and lifted her head to get a good look at him. Steel shone in her determined eyes. “Does ‘evil bastard’ work for you?”

His amusement faded and he looked like he wanted to slam a fist into something. Maybe Kat herself. He turned to me. “Keep her in line or she’ll be dead a lot faster.”

Pure hatred. There was no other way to describe what I was feeling right then. “If you touch her again, even breathe on her, your life is over, got it?”

“I doubt that,
white witch
.”

“Try me.” My voice vibrated with rage.

In answer, he raised his hand and pointed at me. With one swipe to the left, pain exploded through my side and I crumpled to the ground once more. He hadn’t even touched me. I writhed silently and focused on shutting out the pain. I could get through this. I just had to stay conscious long enough to wait for my opening.

The front door opened and crashed into the wall. Sunlight poured into the dark house, blinding me. On instinct my emotional radar went off, alerting me to two people. One of them was Lucien.

I jerked my head up, praying he’d brought the cavalry, that he was here to bust us out. But when my eyes focused on him, all hope fled. His hands were in zip ties just as mine were, but his feet were bound as well. He was also gagged.

“Where do you want him?” the new guy asked. His tone was measured as if he were still assessing the situation. Then his eyes landed on me. “What the hell, Mitch? Why do you have a white witch bound like that?”

“You can tell what I am?”

“It’s a gift of mine.” The tall man kneeled in front of me. He appeared to be in his early twenties, hooded dark eyes, kind of mysterious looking. Very attractive. Well, he would’ve been if he hadn’t just brought Lucien in, all trussed up and ready for Mitch. “Why are you here?”

Mitch scoffed. “She’s here because she broke into my house.”

The man stood. “What did she want?”

“I’m guessing she was searching for him.” Mitch pointed to Lucien. “I bet she thought he was already here.”

Lucien? I would have, but no, I was here for Kat and for some reason, Mitch had lied. “I came for—”

Mitch waved his hand again, his magic punching me in the stomach. My breath left me, rendering me momentarily speechless. “She’s being difficult.” Mitch eyed the man. “How did she know you were bringing the witch? Did you tell anyone you were working for me?”

He cast Mitch a bored expression. “I don’t tell anyone about my work.” He glanced at me once more and then frowned. “You know she’s the coven leader, right?”

“No, she isn’t. The old lady is. But I’ve got this covered. You can go now.”

The young man held out his hand. “Payment.”

Mitch scowled. “Fuckin’ A. You know I’m good for it.”

“Payment on delivery. Those were the terms. If you ever expect to use my services again, you’ll make good on the deal.”

Mitch reluctantly pulled a wad of money from his front pocket and handed a stack of hundreds to the man, who must be a bounty hunter.

“It’s good doing business with you.” The bounty hunter shoved the bills into his back pocket and turned toward the door.

Clearly he wasn’t a key player in this operation. And if he was only a bounty hunter, he might not have any idea what was really going on here. He’d been asked to bring in a witch who was cursed with black magic. If he didn’t know Lucien and just searched his magical signature, it certainly would look like he’d been engaging in some evil dealings. And he’d been told I’d broken into the house. Which was true, but the bounty hunter didn’t know why.

“Hey!” I cried out, finding my voice. “None of this is what you think. Mitch kidna— Oomph.” A boot slammed into my rib, and my vision filled with white spots.

“Shut up,” Mitch said. “Lying bitch. She can’t seem to separate fact from fiction.” His voice was cool, dispassionate, as if today was just another day. “We’ve got it from here.”

The bounty hunter glanced at me, then Lucien, and then Kat. His gaze lingered on her, but the fact that she was beaten and lying on the floor didn’t seem to have an effect on him. After a moment, he stepped back toward the door and said, “You know where to find me.”

The soft click of the door made me whimper. Would that be our last chance at help?

“Landon, get your ass in here.” Mitch moved over to Lucien and stared down at him with a scowl on his face. “Such a fucking idiot. I knew when your girlfriend started pumping me for information about my brother and motorcycles it was really about Vaughn. It always is. So I went ahead and gave her the information she wanted, hoping you’d show up there and make his job easier when I called in the order. I never dreamed you’d show up today. I just paid full price for a fucking job that took him less than two hours.”

Lucien glared at him, unable to speak. The hatred streaming from him sent a ripple of fear down my spine. If Lucien ever got free, we were going to have a black magic bloodbath on our hands.

“Here’s how it’s going to work,” Mitch continued. “You’re going to spell that little hottie over there again, and we’re going to see if this one—” he pointed to me “—can reverse it again. Oh yeah, I heard about that. Don’t think I haven’t been watching you all these years, Boulard. I was watching to see when you’d break and corrupt her again, but imagine my surprise when the three of you came looking for me.”

He shook his head. “How could I pass up such a golden opportunity to see my spell come to fruition once again? And now we’re going to see what went wrong a few weeks ago. No one should be able to break that curse once it’s set in motion.” He shifted his attention to me. “No one. Got that, bitch? Today we’re going to find out exactly what makes you so goddamned special.”

Holy…oh my God. This guy was certifiable. He’d been watching us? Had been waiting for the time when Lucien would lose control again to see Kat die? And then when we’d come looking for him, he’d made a snap decision right then and there to kidnap Kat and put a bounty hunter after Lucien. Had I been part of the plan as well? Or did he just decide to study me because I’d broken in, looking for Kat? Probably the latter. He didn’t seem to be terribly organized.

He strode over to the door and locked it, then a bolt of magic hit the doorknob and it started to glow. “Try to touch it and you’ll lose your hand.” He disappeared back into the depths of the house.

I gritted my teeth against the back pain and forced myself to my feet again. “Lucien,” I said softly as I shuffled toward him. There wasn’t much I could do about his zip ties, but I could do something about the gag. It took me a minute, due to my bound wrists, but I was able to loosen the knot enough to pull the fabric down.

“How’s Kat?” he asked, twisting to stare at her crumpled form.

“I’m okay,” she said faintly.

I shook my head. She was far from okay. But there wasn’t a lot either of us could do about it at the moment.

Hobbled by his ankle restraints, Lucien took short steps in Kat’s direction. But before he could get to her side, Mitch reappeared. “Stop right there, Boulard.”

Lucien froze and glared at Mitch. “Let her go,” he demanded.

“I don’t think so. You’re about to find out what it’s like to lose the one you love. Again.” Mitch’s eyes turned pure black, as the black magic that had coated his skin at the defunct amusement park reappeared.

My vision shifted, and the darkness tainting Lucien’s soul intensified. I was working in a constant state of terror now. If we didn’t get Lucien out of here soon, he’d be lost. The black heart curse was going to affect the rest of his being. Lucien straightened. If he’d had use of his hands, I was certain Mitch would have been a dead man.

“Do it, Boulard. Cast a spell. Let’s see what happens,” Mitch taunted.

I could feel Lucien’s black magic building. It snaked over my skin, burning with anger and despair. That was when it hit me. Bea had neutralized the coven magic, but the blackness caused by the curse had always been there. If he used magic now, he’d be lost to the other side. He’d be consumed by the darkness. We’d lose him.

“Lucien, no!” I cried. “It’s all black magic you’re wielding now. Don’t let him break you.”

My friend turned to me, his pained expression making my heart bang against my breastbone. “What does it matter? If we do nothing, Kat will be lost. I’d rather blow him to smithereens and compromise myself than see her hurt for one more minute.”

“She doesn’t want this,” I pleaded. “If we lose you to this, she’ll never forgive herself.”

“And if I lose her, I’m lost anyway.” The magic kicked up around him, spreading through the room like a storm cloud. He focused on Mitch and started an incantation in Latin. I didn’t recognize it, but if it was black magic, I wouldn’t.