Demons of Bourbon Street (38 page)

“
But she stole my soul!” I cried.

Meri winced. Dan frowned in sympathy then turned back to me. “She didn’t do that on purpose. She can’t control what’s happening. Don’t you understand? She’s a human now, possibly even an angel. You can’t just…she doesn’t deserve this.”

I shook my head and eyed Meri. She still had a piece of my soul, but she wasn’t trying to drain me anymore. What was I supposed to do, give up my life for hers? She leaned against the rough wall, her burgundy button down shirt askew and her tattered jeans ripped at the knees. She gazed through an open door a few feet from her.

Muffled voices filtered into the common room, one of them Lailah’s. Keeping a wary eye on Meri, I inched toward the door. Inside the small, pea-green kitchen, Lucien stood slightly behind Lailah with his arms folded over his chest, while she proceeded to chew someone out. I couldn’t see the person in question, but it didn’t take a psychic to figure out who.

“
I can’t believe you.” Her normally pale face was covered in angry red splotches. “You have no right to mess with Jade’s life this way.”

“
You know it’s not that simple.” Philip’s voice was quiet, but steady.

I moved closer to the door, hyperaware of Kane at my back and Dan hovering protectively over Meri a few feet away. Lailah gripped the edge of the sink until her knuckles turned white. “She was a demon, Philip. Now you’re trying to save her by sacrificing someone else.”

“
The council won’t see it that way.”

I tensed. Was he planning to invite them to this party?

“
I didn’t know it was happening,” Meri said, her tone almost apologetic. “The sharing of your soul, I mean.” She slid down against the wall, as if her legs couldn’t possibly hold her up any longer.

I took a slow step toward her, taking in the purple smudges under her eyes and the way her hand slightly shook as she smoothed her rumpled shirt. She was weak. Exhausted. Barely holding on. Exactly how I’d been when she had the majority of my soul. In the other room, Lailah continued to argue with Philip, while he patiently tried to reason with her.

I ignored them and focused on Meri. “How did it happen?”

She stared at the rotting floor. After a moment, she glanced at Dan. He nodded. “After you destroyed me…”

I winced. She’d been a demon. My choice had been her or Bea. Holy ghost on a cracker, why did that statement make me feel so guilty?

She cleared her throat. “I was just a shell, a nothing, trapped in my gilded rooms in Hell. Not a demon, but not an angel either. Just a void wrapped up in human-like packaging.”

“
You weren’t nothing,” Dan interjected.

I glared at him. “You do know if she succeeds in stealing my soul,
I
will cease to exist, right?”

“
No. Philip said that wouldn’t happen.” He spun and stared through the open door, where Lucien was holding Lailah back.

Jesus Christ. Had they come to blows already?

Dan let out a huff of frustration and turned to me. “Philip said the council would do what was best for everyone.”

“
They won’t.” Meri raised her head. “They’ll do what’s best for them.”

“
And more angels are what’s best in their eyes, right?”

She shrugged. “I’ve been away a long time. Maybe things have changed.”

“
Jade.” Kane wrapped his large hand around my wrist and tugged me backwards to his side. “I think you should end this now. Do what you have to.”

With Lailah monopolizing Philip, I wouldn’t get a better opportunity. Kane was right. Meri was weak; this was my best shot.

In three large steps, I leaped to Meri’s side and kneeled on the floor beside her.

She flinched, trying to move away from me, but I caught hold of her arm, keeping her in place.

Immediately, the last remnants of my soul started to flow toward me, a cool salve on my battered insides. Slow at first, then faster, sensing its rightful place.

Whole. I’d be whole again. All me, ready for my new life with Kane. I’d get to know my mother again. Dan would be free. My body tingled with anticipation, welcoming what Meri had stolen from me.

Through my giddy haze, my focus narrowed on her pale, slumping body. I snatched my hands back, horrified to realize I was draining every last bit of life out of her.

I was killing her.

“
Meri!” Dan cried as he ran over and scooped her in his arms.

She lay motionless, her body limp.

“
I…I was only trying to get my soul back.” Angry tears sprung to my eyes. Mom was right. Nothing was black and white. Meri didn’t deserve to become a demon and now that she wasn’t one, she didn’t deserve to die, either. Even though I knew it was a her-or-me situation, I couldn’t do it.

Kane slid to the floor beside me and pulled me close. “It’s okay.”

“
Kane, I…”

“
I know, pretty witch. I know.”

We sat against the wall with my head on his shoulder. I stared at the emerald stone on my left hand, trying only to think positive thoughts for the future. Though the exercise was useless if I couldn’t bring myself to claim my soul. But would I be able to live with myself if I did? I’d never considered I might not be able to go through with it. I hadn’t let myself think of Meri as a real person.

Dan picked Meri’s lifeless form up and carried her toward the single bedroom. As they passed me, a sliver of my soul slipped from me to her. Her eyes fluttered open. “What happened?”

“
Shh.” Dan smiled down at her. “You fainted.”

Philip came storming into the small living room with Lailah at his heels.

She ran around him, begging, “Don’t do this. It’s not fair.”

“
None of this is fair.” The despair in his voice was unmistakable. “I lost my mate. Do you understand what that means? My mate! It was my fault for not going after her. I can’t sit by and let her slip away again. I won’t.”

“
But Philip.” Lailah took a small step, edging slightly closer to him. “She isn’t your mate anymore. The bond is broken. You know as well as I do it’s highly unlikely to form again.”

Hot fury exploded from him, noticeably raising the temperature in the old shack. “This is not about that, Lailah. Are you so self-centered—”

Lailah swung. The loud smack of her open palm against Philip’s face rang through the room.

He stepped back in stunned silence.

Everyone else froze, too.

“
How dare you?” she seethed. “Do you think me so shallow I’d be worried about whatever
arrangement
we have? The one where you decide to come into town for a night every four to six months and expect me to drop everything to keep you company in my bed? Fuck you, Philip.” She waved an angry hand in my direction. “I’m worried about my friend and what’s going to happen to her. Not your goddamned ex-demon mate. It’s not Jade’s fault Meri got stuck in Hell and her soul corrupted. It’s yours. And here you are, using a witch to right your wrongs. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

His eyes had gone progressively wider during Lailah’s rant. I had a feeling my own expression mirrored his. I’d never heard her speak like that before, and I was willing to bet neither had he.

His lips turned down in a sad, almost hopeless frown. He reached for her hand, but pulled back when she flinched. A ray of sun spilled in the window and over his face, illuminating the deep sadness burning in his eyes. “You’re right. I am ashamed.” His troubled gaze flickered to me. “I’m so sorry, Jade. You don’t deserve this.”

“
Damn right, she doesn’t,” Kane said, not bothering to hide the anger coursing through him.

“
You have no idea how much this pains me,” Philip said.

I started to nod. But when Philip raised his hands and an ice blue circle sprang up around me, I jerked, trying to scramble out of it. No witch ever wants to be caught in an unsanctioned circle. Anything could happen. My shoulder slammed into what might as well have been a concrete block. I let out a cry of pain.

Clutching my arm, I realized Kane was no longer pressed against me. He was sitting outside my circle, pounding on the invisible wall. There was no sound, only an eerie cone of silence while I watched his mouth move, frantically trying to communicate with me.

Jade!
He mouthed and then turned in the direction of Philip.

The angel stood in the middle of the room, bright light shining down on him like a sunbeam from Heaven. The anguish shone clear on his face as his pale green eyes bore through me.

Almost as if in slow motion, the front door swung open behind him and our friends appeared: Ian. Pyper. Kat.

And just behind them, my mother.

Her jade green gaze was the last thing I saw before I was blinded by Philip’s brilliant sunlight.

Chapter 26

The blinding light faded and I blinked, clearing the moisture from my burning eyes. One thing became immediately clear—I was no longer in the shack out in the bayou. Lailah and Lucien’s anti-transportation spell had failed. The cold, hard floor gleamed in the sunlight. Its gold and white checkerboard pattern stretched out in front of me, leading to white marble steps. I squinted.

Lined up on what looked to be a dais sat six robed individuals, all of them staring in my direction with stern frowns.

I scrambled to my feet and stifled a cry when someone rested a hand on my shoulder.

“
It’s me, Jade,” Dan whispered.

“
Where the hell are we?”

A collective gasp echoed through the room. Slowly I turned and focused on the surroundings. Rows of gorgeous, perfectly groomed, flawless faces stared back at me from the spectators seated behind us in what were unmistakably pews. They were all dressed alike, in white robes, adorned with intricate embroidered gold ruins.

Who were these people, and why were we in a church? I glanced around, desperate for a clue as to where we’d ended up.

Please, God, let us still be in Louisiana
.

I gazed upward to the arched ceiling and the familiar murals. Instantly, recognition dawned on me. I should have known right away when I saw the tiled floor, but the colors were off. In fact, there weren’t any colors at all except shades of white and gold in the entire building. Even the paintings had been white-washed.

I covered my mouth with my hand, horrified. What had happened to New Orleans’ most notable landmark—Saint Louis Cathedral? And who were the drones filling the pews?