Shadows of Bourbon Street (7 page)

I glanced back at the woman taking a long drag of a cigarette. She pulled a phone from her back pocket and hit a button.

A moment later the front door to the house next to her swung open. A large Hispanic man stepped onto his own decaying porch, wearing jeans and a gun belt, complete with a sidearm. No shoes or shirt. Tattoos covered most of his upper body. Oh, crap. We needed to get the hell out of here. Obviously we’d accidentally wandered into gang territory.

I lowered my gaze and took in the obvious luxury of the Lexus Kane drove. This was not good. Magic tingled in my chest and rushed to my fingertips just in case.

“It’ll be fine,” Kane said. But from the corner of my eye I saw more men pile out of the house, most of them armed. One had some sort of glass pipe he was lighting up.

“Uh, Kane.” My nerves made my voice shake slightly.

“I see them.” He tightened his grip on the wheel and frowned at the Buick in front of us. The car just sat there, a faint trail of smoke streaming from its tailpipe. No other cars in sight.

“They’re waiting to see what we’ll do,” I said.

He took a look in the rearview mirror and swore when he saw a black SUV coming up behind him. “Time to go.” He swerved out from behind the Buick and peeled out.

As we squealed by, the hooded driver raised what appeared to be a gun and aimed.

I flattened my hand to the car window and shouted,
“Tego Texi Tectum!”

A round of gunfire sounded through the streets, and bullets rained over the car, bouncing off my protection spell. Holy cripes. That was ugly. And for no reason. We’d just been driving, albeit in a car worth three times more than my annual salary. That wasn’t saying much. I was a glass artist who also worked at a cafe.

I started to tremble as Kane maneuvered the car through the uneven roads. Wrapping my arms around my torso, I did my best to get myself under control. It wasn’t as if I’d never been in a dangerous situation before, but those times had usually involved demons, ghosts, or evil magic. Since I was a newcomer to New Orleans, straight from the quiet state of Idaho, I’d never been threatened by a random stranger before, much less because I just happened to be driving down the wrong street.

A few minutes later, we turned onto a gorgeous tree-lined street flanked by a sign that said,
Welcome to Coven Pointe, Est. 1719.
The blight and crime had disappeared, replaced by well-kept homes and gardens.

“Whoa,” I said. “I’ve can’t believe we went from a war zone to this.”

Kane nodded. “I haven’t been over here in a long time. Looks like the bad part of town has gotten worse.” His house was in the French Quarter. Just a short ferry ride away, but since he worked on the east bank, he wouldn’t have much reason to come over here. He glanced at me, worry in his deep brown eyes. “You okay?”

“I will be.” I sucked in a breath and willed myself to calm down. “Dealing with evil spirits is one thing. But guns? Yeah, I don’t need that. Tell me there’s a safer way to get back.”

“There has to be.” He placed a hand on my knee and, still staring straight ahead, said, “Thank God for you, Jade. That was an impressive bit of magic you used back there.”

I covered his hand with mine. “Great driving, too.”

His lips turned up into a ghost of a smile. “Thanks. But let’s not do that again.”

“Deal.”

A few blocks down we turned right onto Olivier. The closer we moved toward the river, the nicer the houses got. “Slow down,” I said. “I think it’s that one on the left.”

Kane pulled over in front of a large Victorian home and killed the engine. We both peered across the street. The house was a double shotgun, not unlike Kane’s. But this one was set on a double lot and the yard was impeccably maintained. Perfectly trimmed ivy framed the steps leading up to the home, and violas and pansies in purple, yellow, and pink lined the sidewalk.

“Ready?” I asked.

“Sure.”

Kane and I crossed the quiet street. The sun was out, and a couple passed us walking a golden retriever and a lab. They smiled and waved. My thoughts jumped to Duke, my ghost dog. I was going to have to find a way to move him to our place in the French Quarter. It would be nice to have a dog around. One who didn’t shed or make a mess.

“This is a great neighborhood,” I said as Kane and I climbed the ivy-framed steps.

“It’s nicer than I remember.” He pressed the doorbell.

I glanced around at the neighboring houses. They were mostly shotgun doubles or camelbacks, but there were a few Victorians and Greek Revivals mixed in. “I like it here.”

Kane slipped his arms around me, holding me from behind. I leaned into him and then stepped away. This was a business call, after all.

The door swung open and an older woman—mid-sixties, maybe—dressed in beige linen pants and a royal blue silk blouse peered at us. “Can I—”

A loud boom rumbled overhead and heavy storm clouds appeared out of nowhere.

“Witch!” the woman cried as her pupils dilated until her irises disappeared. Her hand came up, magic sparking like a fireball.

“Wait!” I tried to grasp the magic in my chest, but it was too late. A blast of magic shot from her outstretched hand, knocking Kane and me off the porch.

“Ouch!” I cried as I landed on my side, holding my hands up ready to attack. But the door was shut and the witch had disappeared. “Shit. What was that for?”

Kane scrambled to his feet and reached a hand down to help me up.

“Are you okay?” I asked him.

He nodded but kept his gaze straight ahead at the house in front of us that now had half a dozen ravens flying around it.

Blood trickled down my arm. I scowled. It hurt. But worse than that, I couldn’t leave my blood lying around where another witch might be able to get it. I spun toward the car and then froze. “Uh, Kane?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you seen this?” Holding my injured arm to my body, I jerked my head toward his Lexus.

He turned and swore. “Son of a bitch.” The entire car was glowing. We walked tentatively toward it and then around it.

“Oh my God.” I clasped a hand over my mouth, my body turning cold as ice. On the passenger’s side there were five round spots that glowed brighter than the rest of the car. “That must be where the bullets hit.” One of them was right in the middle of the passenger window. If I hadn’t been fast enough with my protection spell, it would’ve likely hit me in the head.

Kane grasped my wrist and jerked me to him, holding me tight against his chest. He was trembling.

I wasn’t doing that great myself.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he whispered in my ear.

I nodded against him, hating that we had the evidence of just how close we’d come to a true disaster.

“You should leave,” a female voice said from behind us.

Kane tightened his hold on me, but I pushed back gently and turned to find another woman standing with her arms crossed over her chest. I guessed she was in her mid-forties. She wore a long cotton skirt and a formfitting T-shirt. Very bohemian.

“I don’t think you really want us to,” I said, trying to keep the defensiveness out of my tone. Regardless of being blasted off the porch, I needed to get these people to talk to me. “Chessandra sent me.”

The woman’s eyes dilated just like the first woman’s had. “Chessandra is not welcome here either.”

Distrust rippled through the air, and I could sense the magic building in her.

“Please,” I said, holding Kane behind me. His agitation bombarded me, causing my skin to prickle. One more magical outburst from these witches and he was going to lose his cool, if not physically then at least verbally. I needed him to dial it down a notch. If any of them were intuitives, they could read his defensive mood, and that wouldn’t help.

I gathered a tiny bit of my own calm energy and pressed it into the palm of his hand. He stirred behind me and let out a tiny grunt of displeasure when he realized what I’d done. Still, his rigid body relaxed slightly, and I knew my magic had done what I’d needed it to do.

“We need to talk to Dayla. It’s about Matisse,” I said to the witch.

Her pupils constricted slightly and the brilliant blue of her irises glowed, similar to Kane’s car. Whoa. These witches did have some weird powers.

“You know where Mati is?” There was hope shining through the skepticism swirling around her.

“I spoke with her this afternoon.” I clutched my arm to my T-shirt, trying to stop my blood from dripping on the pavement.

I was about to elaborate on where Mati was, but the witch asked, “Where?”

“She’s in another dimension.”

“Bring her to us immediately. Then we can talk.” She started to stride down the street toward the large Victorian house.

“Wait!” I let go of Kane and ran to catch up with her, wincing at the pain shooting down my arm. “I’m here for information and to help if that’s at all possible.”

She stilled and then turned slowly. Magic crackled around her. She pressed her hands together as if to keep her power contained.

I stopped and held my hands up. “We mean no harm. Honestly.”

She glanced at Kane’s car. “Your magic is strong.”

Was that a question? I assumed it was. “Yes. I’m a white witch. That—” I gestured to the car “—is because we ran into some trouble on the way here. I was only trying to protect us.” I frowned. “I don’t know why it’s glowing all of a sudden. It didn’t happen until after we were tossed off the porch.”

She studied me for a moment. Her eyes narrowed as she muttered under her breath and moved carefully past me to the Lexus. Placing a hand on the hood, she closed her eyes and said,
“Release.”

The glow around the car shimmered brighter, flickered twice, and then rushed into her fingertips. She let out a loud gasp and clutched her chest with her other hand.

Unwelcome tendrils of energy crawled up my arms and grabbed on. I stepped back, clutching at my arms. “What the hell is happening?” I cried as the tendrils pinched and something vital was sucked right out of me. “Stop! Stop it!” I tried to call up my magic, but it only made it worse. Every bit of power I manifested was sucked away by the hold this witch seemed to have on me.

“Jade!” Kane called my name, but I couldn’t see him. My vision narrowed to the witch in front of me.

Her long, pale blond hair fanned out with what appeared to be static electricity. When the glow was gone, she pulled her hand away from the car and the hold on me evaporated.

My knees weakened as my head spun. If it hadn’t been for Kane, I could’ve collapsed right there in the street.

The other witch stared at me with wonder, her electric-blue eyes piercing me through the storm cloud shadows. “Wow. You weren’t exaggerating.”

I blinked, rapidly trying to focus.

“What did you do to her?” Kane demanded, anger streaming from him. It wrapped around me and made it hard to breathe.

“Kane,” I said weakly. “I need you to calm down.”

Guilt and frustration mixed with his anger and my vision started to fade to black.

“Please,” I said.

Reluctantly he let go of me. The relief was instant, and I sucked in air as if I’d been trapped under water. The witch came back into focus. She stood there in front of me with her hand held out. I eyed it but made no move to bridge the distance. “Answer him,” I said, putting force behind the words. A sputter of magic sparked through me and spread, fortifying my energy just enough that I didn’t feel like I was going to collapse.

“Impressive,” she said.

I scowled. “What? Giving me a magical smackdown?”

She laughed. “Oh no, honey. If that were to happen, you wouldn’t be conscious right now.”

I glared at her, acutely aware if we got into it, she’d kick my ass. Obnoxious witch. “What. Did. You. Do?”

“What you should have done.” She stalked forward until we were inches apart and with lightning speed, her hand darted forward, catching my neck in a death grip. Then she unleashed her power.

Chapter 6

“Jade!” I heard Kane call and knew he must’ve leaped forward, but the witch held up a hand, creating a barrier of magic he couldn’t penetrate.

My entire body seized. I couldn’t do anything except scream silently in fear and anger. Vibrant colors flared around me and then everything faded, and all I saw was white.

Sweet, cool relief rushed into my veins, filling me with my magic, the magic the witch had stolen from me. But still I couldn’t move. Whatever she was doing, she had me trapped in my own body. Flashes of being possessed by the ghost Camille took over my mind, leaving me almost broken with despair. Not this again. I couldn’t deal with having my will completely taken away. Not like this. With my own magic being used against me.

When the rush stopped, she leaned in, made eye contact, and said, “Don’t ever leave your magic behind. Any one of us can use it to control you.” Her hand relaxed and my body tingled back to life.

I stumbled backward and landed in Kane’s arms. He steadied me, holding me close to his solid frame. Sudden relief swept through me, making my eyes sting with unshed tears. The urge to climb back in the car and head back to Summer House was overwhelming. I didn’t want to do this. Not today. Not anymore.