Incubus of Bourbon Street (14 page)

“What’s the trade?” His tone was cold, full of impatience.

She took two steps back and waved at them. “The trade was the three of them for you.” She glanced at me and shook her head. “But I can see you two are far too connected. The witch has tainted your incubus magic. Pity.”

“I’ll do it,” Kane said.

“No, he won’t!” I clasped my hand around his wrist as if that would stop him.

“Jade,” he warned.

“You can’t do this.” It wasn’t that I was scared for him, though I was. But the bigger problem was we didn’t have any idea what this being was capable of or why she wanted him. Kane’s energy was somehow tied to the shadow world. Weird, unnatural energy that wasn’t all his. Trading him for our friends could and likely would be an even larger disaster.

“Enough.” Bea lowered her arms and peered at the Goddess. “Who are you, and what exactly are you after?”

She laughed and flittered away toward Rosalee. Studying the small witch, she tilted her head to the side and winked. “You’re adorable.”

“And you’re crazy.” Power pulsed around Rosalee. She wasn’t going to put up with any shit from the Goddess. Good for her.

“I know who she is,” Lucien said, his voice full of hatred.

The Goddess moved to the center of the circle and sat down cross-legged, waiting for him to continue. “Oh, this should be really interesting.”

“You’re Genesis, the younger sister of the Goddess of Spirit. You’re everything she isn’t.”

All the humor left the Goddess’s expression and she stood, her hands on her hips. “How did you know that?”

Lucien narrowed his eyes and glared.

“Tell me, witch. Or I’ll take her spirit now.” She pointed toward Kat, apparently knowing exactly how much Kat meant to him.

Hatred radiated off Lucien in the form of a red smoke cloud. “Mythology is one of my hobbies. You look just like your sister. Only, she’s kind and watches over people. Helps them grow and better themselves. You’re the opposite. You feed off spirits in order to stay young.”

The Goddess flew into the air, twirling in a fit of rage.

But she had nowhere to go. Our circle had her trapped. The five of us stood strong, unwilling to waver. She flipped and dove, shot back up, and came hurtling back down.

“Way to have a complete fit,” Rosalee mumbled.

I cast my coven mate a warning glance. The last thing we needed was to piss her off any more.

“Let me go,” Genesis demanded.

“Free our friends, and we’ll consider it,” I said calmly, realizing that as long as she was in a snit, we weren’t going to accomplish anything.

“No!” She stalked over to me, her finger pointed in my direction. “I’m in charge here.”

I glanced around at my fellow witches. “I’m not so sure about that.”

“No? I am.” She waved a hand in Pyper’s direction, forcing her to type even faster. “Free me, or I’ll work them all to death.”

“Don’t do it, Jade,” Bea warned. “She’s not strong enough to do that.”

I caught my mentor’s eyes, searching for the truth. Bea was much more experienced than I was and I didn’t have a reason to doubt her, but already our friends were suffering.

Genesis glared at Bea. “You’re a trouble maker.”

Bea sent her a smile, and I knew right then Bea was right. Genesis was mostly talk. I wasn’t letting her out of this circle without striking a bargain.

“Free our friends, and you can go,” I said again.

Genesis growled. Actually bared her teeth and growled at me as she stalked over to where Charlie was curled into a ball. “I’ll give up this one. The other two are mine.”

My heart skipped a beat. Progress. “All three of them. You don’t need them for anything. They aren’t magical.”

“I do. They have spirit.” Her eyes went wide and her lips twisted into a maniacal smile. “They’re rich with it.” She waved at Charlie. “Take the deal, or I’ll suck her dry right here.”

“What—”

The Goddess reached both hands out toward Charlie. A force shifted in the air, and energy flowed from Charlie to the Goddess. Genesis’s complexion brightened and a glow started to outline her body.

“Stop!” I cried. “Stop it. It’s a deal. You can go free if you release Charlie.”

Lucien gasped, and Bea sucked in a harsh breath. But that was too bad. I wasn’t going to stand there and let her kill Charlie before my eyes. And I couldn’t stop her. Not with her there only in spirit.

The Goddess lowered her hands and moved back to stand in front of me. “How can I know you’re telling the truth?”

“You’re just going to have to trust me.”

“I don’t think so.” Genesis moved over to where Kat was still silently speaking into the void. “I’ll release the one you call Charlie, but if you don’t free me and cease this calling immediately afterward, I’ll drain this one.”

Lucien’s rage filtered over me from the other side of the circle. I couldn’t deal with him just then. Nothing on this planet would stop me from keeping Kat safe. “Fine. Let Charlie go.”

The Goddess walked back over to Charlie, leaned down, and blew into her face.

Sparks of light flittered over Charlie’s skin as a silver cloud, in the shape of a short woman, radiated from her and evaporated in the air. After a moment, she uncurled and glanced around at all of us. “Jade? Kane?” she said, her eyes full of fear and confusion.

“Charlie. Are you all right?” I asked.

She wrapped her arms around herself and glanced around again. “Yes. I think so.”

I reached into the circle, my hand breaking the barrier. “Grab hold.”

Charlie slowly reached out, and I nearly cried when our hands united. She was solid. The Goddess had released her and in doing so, she’d left her in my circle.

“Hold on tight, okay? No matter what happens.”

Charlie nodded, threading her fingers through mine.

“Release us, witch,” Genesis demanded. “Now.”

The way she was eyeing Kat, I had no doubt in my mind she’d drain her. If she sucked Kat’s spirit out, there was nothing any of us could do. My heart ached at the realization of what I had to do, and a choked sob got caught in my throat. I wasn’t going to be able to save all three of them. Not in that moment. And if I tried, I’d lose my best friend.

A sharp pain stabbed me in the chest as my resolve solidified. There wasn’t any other choice. I had to do this now. With tears streaming down my face, I threw my free arm up in the air and shouted, “
Libero!
”

Genesis smiled as her body started to fade into the night. And a second later, there was a flash of magic as the Goddess vanished, taking Pyper and Kat with her.

Chapter 14

Everyone was silent as we stared at the empty circle. I clutched my chest, trying to keep my heart from shattering into a million pieces. My two best friends were gone again, taken by a spirit-eating Goddess. And Lucien, my second in command, was glaring at me in judgment.

“Charlie,” Kane said as he wrapped her into a hug.

She clung to him and buried her face into his shoulder, trembling with shock. “I don’t know what happened.”

He shook his head. “Neither do I, but you’re safe now.”

“But Pyper…and Kat.” Their names were barely audible as the reality of whatever she’d went through hit her hard. “They need help.”

“I know,” Kane soothed. “We’re working on it.”

Lucien stalked over to me. “Are we? Working on it? How could you let her go and take them with her?”

I pressed my fingers to my tired eyes. “What was I supposed to do, Lucien? The Goddess was going to kill someone. I did what I could. Now we have to figure out where to go from here.”

“But Kat—”

“Stop!” I said. “Don’t make this harder than it already is. I love her, too, you know.”

Lucien clamped his mouth shut, either too fed up to argue with me or too disgusted. I didn’t care. I just needed time to think.

Bea came up beside me and touched my hand.

I met her worried gaze. “Are you going to judge me, too?”

She shook her head sadly. “No, Jade. You did what you thought you had to do.”

I nodded. “Yes. I did. You have to know I’d never—”

“I know.” Her voice was full of pity, which pissed me off. It shouldn’t have, but it did. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“Jade?” Kane put his hand on the small of my back.

I looked up into his worried eyes.

“I want to bring Charlie back to the house with us tonight. Is that all right?”

I nearly cried at the tenderness in his tone. “Yes. Please. I want to be sure she’s safe, and it would be nice if we could talk to her about what she’s been through.”

He nodded and wrapped his arm around my waist. “Then let’s get out of here. She really needs a quiet place to pull herself together.”

I spotted Charlie standing off to the side away from Bea, Lucien, and Rosalee. She was pale and appeared as if she might pass out at any moment. Raw anger and helplessness warred in my chest for what she’d been through. Charlie worked for Kane and knew about some of our supernatural adventures, but she rarely witnessed them, and she’d never been in the line of fire before. Why had Genesis targeted her? Had she just been there for the taking?

“Let’s go.” I took off in Charlie’s direction and slipped my hand into hers. “Hey, you. Let’s get you home.”

Her head snapped up and she stared at me with wide, panicked eyes. “Kane said he wanted me to go to your house.”

I nodded slowly, desperate to force some calming energy into her, only there was nothing calm about my state of mind and I had nothing to give her. “Is that okay?”

The panic fled and the tension in her shoulders eased. “Yeah. I don’t really want…” She stared off into the trees and shrugged.

“Understood.” I tugged on her hand, and the three of us made our way back to Lucien’s Jeep. Bea, Rosalee, and Lucien followed shortly. We now had six people instead of five, so I sat on Kane’s lap and no one said a word on the way back to Bea’s.

Lucien pulled to a stop in front of her house but didn’t kill the engine. “I’m going home to do some research.”

“Okay. Thank you,” I said.

He gave me a curt nod and as soon as we piled out, he took off with Rosalee in the passenger seat.

“I’ll call a cab,” Kane said.

“Come inside while you wait,” Bea said.

Charlie and I followed her while Kane made the phone call.

“It’s okay. It’s safe here,” I said to Charlie and led her into the house.

Lailah jumped off the couch as soon as the door opened. “What happened?” Then she spotted Charlie and ran full force, catching her in a hug. “Thank goodness. Where were you?”

Charlie stared at me over Lailah’s shoulder and shook her head.

“Lailah,” I said gently and tugged her away from Charlie. “Let’s all sit at the table, huh? Bea?”

My mentor glanced over at us.

“Do you have more tea and something Charlie could snack on?”

“Of course.”

I guided Charlie over to the table. She sat and stared straight ahead.

“What happened?” Lailah asked calmly, her normal professional demeanor sliding back into place.

I went through the summoning and when I got to the part about Genesis, she held her hand up.

“You mean a lesser Goddess is targeting them?”

I nodded. “Yep. Lucien knew who she was and she didn’t deny it.” I lowered my voice and leaned in. “She feeds on a person’s spirit in order to stay young and beautiful.”

“Son of a…” Lailah jumped up and started pacing. “Not even a demon. But how does this tie in to the shadows?”

I shrugged. “No idea. But right now, with Pyper and Kat in danger, obviously battling her takes top priority.”

“Agreed.” She tapped her fingers on the table. “Let me do some research, and I’ll call you in the morning.”

“Lucien is researching, too.”

“Good.” Lailah placed a light hand on Charlie’s arm. “I won’t let this happen again.”

Charlie gave her head a little shake and then focused on Lailah. “Why would you worry about me?”

Lailah leaned in. “Because I’m your soul guardian.”

“What?” Charlie stood so fast her chair clattered to the floor.

The angel gave her a patient smile. “Maybe we should have a chat?”

Charlie’s body went rigid as she looked from Lailah to me.

I smiled. “She’s my soul guardian, too.”

“Really?”

“Really. And she’s good at it.”

Charlie let out a slow breath. Then she nodded and joined Lailah in the living room.

Bea sat down beside me. She slid a cup of her witch’s brew my way, and the pair of us sat there not saying a word. And for that, I was grateful. There wasn’t anything to say. I’d made a decision and now I had to live with it.

Lailah and Charlie spoke quietly until Kane walked back in.

“The cab is here,” he said.

As I rose, Bea placed her hand over mine. I stared at the connection and then raised my gaze to hers.

“You did the only thing you could.” Her words were gentle but there was a fierceness in her expression.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Thanks.”

***

Charlie was quiet on the way back to our house. So was I. Kane tried a few times to engage us, but neither of us were very responsive and he gave up.

Once we were back home, I led Charlie to our guest room. “You’ll be in here.”

She stood in the doorway, hesitating.

“What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. I just… This is all a little overwhelming.”

“Yeah. It is.” I moved into the room and sat in the chair in the corner. “But here’s the thing. We—Kane, Pyper, and I—we won’t ever let you go through any of this alone. It’s not fair and it sucks. But we’ve got your back.”

She didn’t say anything at first. She just watched me. Then her eyes crinkled as she smiled. “I guess hanging with Kane and his gorgeous wife isn’t so terrible.”

I laughed and shook my head, more than relieved she sounded like her old self. “Don’t ever change.”

“Not on your life.”

Then, as reality set in, we both sobered.

Charlie sat on the end of the bed, her hands clasped together. “We have to save Pyper and Kat from that evil bitch.”

“We will.” There was conviction in my tone. I only wished there wasn’t the nagging doubt eating away at my heart.