Witches of Bourbon Street (27 page)

“It can be.”

“Bea!”

All her schoolmarm pretense vanished. She turned serious eyes on me. “Yes. Black magic is very powerful. Many witches turn to it when they’ve exhausted all other options. It’s wrong, and they almost never recover from it. Once they tap into it, they can’t help it. They lose themselves.”

Despite the seriousness of her tone, all I could think about was Darth Vader and wondered if some poor black arts witch had been the inspiration for his character.

Once you go black, you never go back.

“Jade, are you listening?”

“Yes.” I nodded, biting my lip to keep the snicker from forming.

“The demon controlling Dan is extremely powerful. I seriously doubt you can best her with your white magic.”

“What are you suggesting? That I take up the dark arts?”

She stepped back as if I’d slapped her. “Goddess, no. I only meant you’ll need help.”

“And where would we find that?”

The door opened just as Bea said, “The coven.”

I didn’t respond, but only because I had an apartment full of people. People I didn’t know, who had light and airy energy, just like mine. Witch’s energy.

Chapter 20

Duke bounded up to me, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. If he’d been alive, his paws would have tapped out a little dance on the wood floors. Instead, he ran silently around me as I took in the scene.

There were at least eight witches in my tiny one-room apartment and, if I wasn’t mistaken, two more on the balcony. I could hear laughter wafting in from the open windows.

“Jade, there you are.” Kat’s voice rose over the chatter. “Get over here.”

I sent Bea a glare. Then I maneuvered my way through the women who could only be her coven members. Duke followed, sniffing my black sneakers as I walked. I turned my glare on him and mouthed,
Stop it
.

Kat gripped my arm when I sat on the side of my bed next to her. “Is he okay? Did it work?”

“Yeah. I think he’ll be all right, at least physically.”

“But he’s alive.” She sank back down on my pillow with a relieved sigh. A second later, she smiled. “I knew you could do it.”

“What happened to you?” Ten minutes ago she’d been so drained, I’d feared it would take her weeks to recover. I’d once done to myself exactly what I’d done to her, and I’d suffered horribly. But maybe I hadn’t done as much damage as I’d thought.

Kat averted her eyes. Her gaze landed on a tall, blond, male witch near the window. He shifted in her direction as he sent her a gentle smile.

“Still doing okay?” he asked.

She nodded. “Lucien, this is my friend Jade. Jade, Lucien.”

I leveled a skeptical look at him and waved a hand in Kat’s direction. “You’re responsible for this?”

“Jade.” Kat scolded in a hushed tone.

He chuckled. “If you’re referring to restoring her energy, then yes, I’m primarily responsible. With the help of the coven, of course.”

“No one asked for your help.”

He shrugged. “Your friend doesn’t seem to mind.”

“Jade,” Kat said again. “Stop.”

“She’s not aware of the dangers involved in your kind of magic. Stay away from her. We don’t need your help.”

“Jesus!” Kat jumped off the bed. “Lucien, I’m so sorry. Jade’s had a really bad couple of days. Never mind her. Thank you, for everything.” She turned to me and practically dragged me out my front door. Duke growled and started barking incessantly.

Good dog. You tell her who’s boss.
Too bad she couldn’t hear him. I was the only one with that lovely privilege.

Duke’s high-pitched protests were cut off when she slammed the door on him. Once we were in the hall, Kat turned on me. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Watching out for you.”

“By insulting the guy who restored the energy you drained?”

Anger burned through my chest, but I clamped it down and in a small voice said, “I didn’t do that on purpose, you know.”

The tension drained from her face, replaced by weariness. “Of course I know that. Why are you so mad at him? He only did the same thing for me that you did for Dan.”

I leaned against the wall and, a moment later, slid down into a sitting position. “It isn’t the magic. It’s working with a coven and letting someone you don’t know have control over you. It scares me, Kat. Dan is possessed. Kane is gone. Lailah is…well, I don’t know what’s happening with her.”

“And coven magic is how you lost your mom.”

“Yeah. What’s going to happen next?”

She sat down beside me. “I don’t know. But you have to learn to trust people. You can’t do everything yourself.”

“I trust people. You, Kane, Pyper, Ian, and Gwen. But a coven I’ve never met? No. I can’t risk it.”

“You’re going to have to,” Bea said from my doorway, her arms folded over. “If you fight black magic on your own, you’ll lose. Do you know what a coven does?”

“Of course I do,” I said, offended. “They provide a collective of power for the leader to draw on.”

“How is that different from what you did when you used Ian’s energy to help me, or Kat’s to help Dan?”

“Because I trust all of you.” Damn it, weren’t they listening?

“You trust me?” Bea asked with a tilt of her head.

I hesitated.

“That’s what I thought. It’s why we never get anywhere with your lessons and why you only seem to produce magic when you’re faced with extreme situations. Figure it out, Jade. Kane is waiting.” She disappeared back into my apartment.

I stood. “Let’s go.”

“What?” Kat’s face scrunched up in confusion. “But you have an apartment full of witches waiting to help you. Help you desperately need.”

“They’re waiting to help Bea. She’s their leader. I need to find Pyper. Any idea where she went?”

She sighed. “She’s with Ian in the club.”

“Thanks.” I got to the top of the stairs and looked back. “Coming?”

Kat glanced at my door then seemed to make up her mind. “Yeah.”

***

The back door to the club was locked as usual. When our knock went unanswered, I fished my key ring out of my pocket and smiled at Kat.

“You have a key?” she asked.

“Pyper gave it to me when I was helping out here a while ago. I forgot to give it back.”

Wicked was almost always dark with barely enough light to see where you were headed, but today all the lights were out, making it pitch black. That was weird. The hall lights were always on. “What did you say they were doing down here?” I asked Kat.

“I didn’t. They were supposed to be setting up.”

I flicked the lights on and stared at her. “Setting up what?”

She held her hands up in defense. “Hey, don’t look at me like that. I don’t know. I was the dazed chick getting an energy infusion from a hot wizard or male witch, or whatever you call them.”

My lips twitched. “A witch. Wizards are…well, never mind. That’s a lesson for another day.”

“Fine, a witch. The point is, I don’t know what they’re up to.”

“Okay. Got it. Let’s go find out.”

We’d moved about two feet when a loud crash came from the office, followed by a muffled groan. My pulse took on a life of its own, and a second later, I barged through the office door, only to come to an abrupt stop. “Oh. Sorry.”

I backpedaled, but stumbled into Kat, who’d frozen in place behind me. I turned and tried to coax her out, but her eyes went wide as she stared at Ian, lying under Pyper. Her skirt was bunched up around her waist, and Ian’s hands were under her shirt.

“Shit.” Pyper chuckled. “Busted.”

The misery escaping from Kat almost crippled my ability to say or do anything. Not to mention, I was still weak from the episode with Dan. I forced the words out and gave her a slight nudge. “Kat. Move.”

Finally she stumbled backwards, back into the club.

“We’ll be right out,” Pyper called.

“Take your…” The tears in Kat’s eyes made me pause. “Um, I mean, okay.”

I pulled her toward the bar, and deposited her on a stool. “Sit.”

She did as I said, but stared in the direction of the office.

Crap. We so didn’t have time for this. I turned on one of the bar lights and grabbed a bottle of water. “Drink this.”

“Did you know?” she asked.

“Know what?”

“Jade.” There it was again. Her no-nonsense look.

I took the stool next to her. “Yes, but it’s not my place to get involved.” I wanted to tell her Ian liked her, too, but I suspected only as friends. However, that just seemed cruel to mention at the moment.

“You’re supposed to be my friend. You could have warned me.” The betrayal wound through her.

“Kat. You
are
my friend. My
best
friend,” I added for emphasis. “But so is Ian, and that wouldn’t have been fair to him to share what I may or may not know due to my ability. You said he asked you out on a date, but—and this is pure speculation on my part—I think it’s possible he thought it was just two friends getting together. Besides, I’m pretty sure Pyper asked him out a few days after he invited you to the jazz club. No one here is trying to hurt you. You have to believe that.”

Her gaze moved from the office to me. She took a moment to collect herself, and when she spoke, her voice was cool and controlled. “I believe you. Let’s drop it. You have Kane to worry about, and I have Dan.”

“We both have Dan,” I corrected her.

“Yeah. Okay.”

Pyper strode out of the office, redressed, though slightly wrinkled. Ian followed more slowly and when he got close, the blush on his cheeks turned darker.

“What are you so embarrassed about? I was the one caught in my underwear,” Pyper said.

“That’s nothing new,” Kat said under her breath.

I elbowed her in the ribs, shocked Kat would say such a thing. She’d never made an issue of the fact that Pyper had been a stripper.

Pyper turned dark eyes on Kat, and though I was positive she’d heard her, Pyper ignored it. “Sorry, Jade. We were waiting for you and Bea and…I’m sure you understand.”

I chose to ignore the whole situation. “The portraits are here?”

“Yes. We separated them and Ian has equipment monitoring each one. He said sometimes darkness helps, so that’s why we turned the lights off.” Pyper glanced at Kat and frowned.

I followed her gaze and found Kat transfixed, staring into the darkness.

“Kat?” I asked.

She didn’t respond, only stood and headed in the direction she’d been fixated on.

“Where are you going?”

“She’s calling me.” Kat’s voice took on a soft, dream-like quality.

I jumped down from my stool and grabbed her arm when I caught up with her. “Who?”

“Her.” She pointed to a dark corner of the club.

Was it another ghost? What the hell had Pyper and Ian been thinking, setting up in the club? The place was cursed.

“It’s Meri. She wants me.” Kat ripped her arm from my grasp and bolted.

“Shit,” Pyper said. We stared wide-eyed for a second then ran after her.

Kat had her hands stretched out, almost grasping the frame when I tackled her. “No!” I cried.

We tumbled to the ground, knocking a few chairs over as we went.

“Omph.” A whoosh of air exploded from my lungs. I stared up into the shocked face of Pyper. Her gaze flickered past me.

“Kat?” I flipped over and struggled to get into a sitting position. A few feet away, I found her already on her feet, moving toward the portrait once more. “Stop her.”

Ian moved in front of her. “Hey, Kat. What’s going on?” He tried for a conversational tone, but it came out hurried and stressed.

Kat’s jaw tensed. “Move, Ian.”

He feigned a hurt expression. “But Kat, we’re recording paranormal activity. You don’t want to do anything to compromise the results, do you?”

She cocked her head to one side. “If I hadn’t just found you rolling around on the floor with one of my friends, that school-boy charm might have worked on me. However, I’m not feeling especially charitable at the moment, so get the hell out of my way.”

My mind whirled with what I’d just heard come out of her mouth. In a normal frame of mind, Kat would never have said something like that, no matter how much it hurt to see Ian with another woman.

When Ian didn’t move, Kat shoved him out of the way with both hands. I lunged after her, but a second later she gripped the portrait and started screaming.

“Holy fuck.” Pyper ducked and covered her ears, trying to block out the piercing sound.

But it wasn’t the noise that put fear into my heart. Kat’s newly restored energy grew into a bright beacon and just as quickly started to fade. Her unique signature stretched and twisted until it started to morph into something unfamiliar and dark.