Witches of Bourbon Street (28 page)

Black magic.

“Ian! Get Bea and the other coven members. Run!” I didn’t have time to check if he followed my order. All I could do was send every last bit of strength I had into my friend before a demon stole her soul.

Chapter 21

Abruptly, Kat let go and stopped screaming. Instead of retreating in horror as I expected her to, she stood transfixed on Meri.

Was her soul lost? Had I been too late
? Dear God, please, please don’t let me lose her, too.
Tentatively, I probed her essence. She seemed to be protected by a shield of some sort, but when I touched her, dark, evil-tainted magic crawled over my fingers.

Meri had gotten to her.

My love for Kat swelled in my chest. I grabbed onto it and started pushing back on the demon’s tainted energy.

When nothing happened, I studied Kat. Her catatonic expression sent a chill through my heart. If I could force my way through the blackness, I could help her. Focusing, I reached for my magical spark. But no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn’t come. I was empty. Frozen. Stuck in a magical void.

“Damn it, Meri, what could you possibly want from Kat? She doesn’t have magic.”

The portrait hung on the wall, silent and mocking.

If I touched it, would she communicate? Better to wait for the coven. My energy was already compromised, and I couldn’t find my magic. I closed my eyes and prayed I wasn’t making the wrong choice.

I sensed the coven before I saw them. Their collective power filled me, rekindling my spark. The combined strength of the group overpowered the imprisoned demon. All of the iciness vanished and my heart swelled with warm, clean white magic. I would have basked in the purity of it if I’d had the chance. Why would anyone choose darkness over the headiness of something so pure?

I stood tall and stretched welcoming arms, abandoning all my reservations about the coven. The group parted and Bea came to stand beside me, a pleased smile warming her face.

Suddenly, the hateful vengeance seemed to lock into me. Not into my power source, but my essence. All my joy vanished, and darkness filled my soul. My magic spark actually seemed to grow and take over, feeding off the evil building inside me.

“Argh!” I cried and tried desperately to focus on my mental glass silo. The walls appeared, but blinked away before I could imagine myself protected inside.

I had no control over anything. The black demon played tug of war with the coven’s pure magic, holding me suspended in the middle.

In my limbo, I silently pleaded with Bea to take control of whatever was happening. But to my horror, something seemed to break, and all that pure, lovely white magic flowed from the coven, through me, and toward Meri. It wasn’t mine, it was the coven’s collective power, and I was only the conduit.

“Stop!” I yelled. “Bea, stop. She’s only getting more powerful.”

With my words, Meri’s hold weakened slightly until Bea commanded the coven to keep feeding her power. Was she insane?

“Please,” I cried.

Bea seemed to strengthen her efforts to counter Meri, but it made no difference. The more power the coven fed into me, the more she took. “If we let go now, she’ll take you.”

The realization of what she’d said sank in, and something broke loose in my heart. I would be lost to the dark side. “If you don’t—” I gasped for breath, “—she’ll take us all.”

I met Bea’s gaze and knew my words rang true. She mouthed,
sorry
, and a second later the coven’s power vanished. My gaze shifted to Kat. I tried to convey in one look all she’d meant to me as the evil blossomed and morphed into sick, perverted vines that slithered over my limbs.

Bea started to chant in what I thought was Latin. The coven joined her, their voices filling the club.

The vines stopped their assault, almost as if they’d been distracted. Slowly, they started reluctantly retreating, one strand at a time. Soon enough, my familiar spark appeared, untainted. My instincts took over, making my magic explode, expelling the evil from my being. It burst from my center in a large, black cloud.

My knees buckled. Relief flooded through me. The black cloud hovered over me, pulsing with the Latin chant. Silver threads of coven magic wrapped around it, tethering it in place. The chanting picked up pace. It took me a moment to realize they were binding Meri’s power. But binding it to what?

In perfect unison, the chanting stopped. Silence loomed as we all stared, transfixed, at the ball of evil levitating in front of me.

Then the silver strands burst, and the ball shot straight at Bea. I braced myself for a magical duel, but she didn’t even flinch. The mass hit her with such force it knocked her backwards. She would have crashed to the floor had it not been for Lucien, who caught her.

“Bea!” Somehow in my battered and weakened state, I made my way to her side. The light, pure energy I’d come to expect from her had vanished. It now curdled with rot. I flinched, but held by her side. “Why did you do that?”

She raised her hand as if to cup my cheek, but stopped short of touching me. “For you. You’re the future, Jade. Find Kane and Lailah. I’m certain she’s a victim in this.” She paused and squeezed her eyes shut. She blinked rapidly, and when she met my eyes, I stared into deep black pools.

“Oh, no. Bea,” I whispered. “We’ll get you back. I promise.”

Her head moved in a sad shake. “It’s too late. The…” She swallowed. “It’s already here. The coven is yours now.” She paused and fixed me with her empty, black eyes. “Don’t let them down. They need you.” She took a ragged breath. “Lucien, do it now.”

“You heard her,” he said.

My body started to tremble as the terrible realization of what she’d said sank in. The darkness had seized her. And she’d saved me. Again. My breath came in short, shocked gasps as the members formed a circle around us, hands clasped. Each one started whispering another chant. No, not a chant, a song. In perfect harmony, the lullaby rose, and the silver threads once again appeared. They gently wrapped around Bea, her spirit and soul.

She’d commanded Lucien to bind her. Not just her power, but everything that gave her life. Essentially, she was being put to sleep. Only, she wouldn’t be dead. She’d be in limbo, exactly like Sleeping Beauty.

A tear rolled unchecked down my cheek. With a spell that powerful, it would take a hell of a lot more than a kiss from a prince to save her. Fear burned through my body. How could we save Bea, Kane, or Lailah without losing anyone else? It seemed impossible. The darkness was too strong.

Lucien broke from the song. He caught my attention and whispered, “We need you to seal the spell.”

“Me?” I whispered back.

He nodded, fixing me with one of those determined stares each of them seemed to be so good at producing. “You’re our leader now.”

Bea’s words came back to me.
The coven is yours now
.

Shit!

“Jade!” Lucien’s harsh demand startled me back into the present.

“Okay.” I really had no choice. If we didn’t bind Bea, we’d be dealing with two evil beings.

Lucien joined the coven in the lullaby once more. I focused on his voice, letting the spell they wove work its way into all the voids left by the attack. It pulsed in a give-and-take until I was certain all the magical elements of the binding were present.

I’d barely touched the spell with my magic when it spiraled from me, whipping and tightening around Bea. In no time at all, Bea’s body became limp. Lucian gently laid her on the floor, cradling her head with his jacket.

I stepped back when the coven closed around her. As a group, they bowed their heads in respect and mourning.

Goosebumps ran up my arms and down my spine. What had Bea done? She’d given her life for me. But why? I was a terrible student. Hadn’t learned even a fraction of what I needed to know to be a coven leader. But I didn’t have any choice. She’d given me the job. When one leader gives her power to another, you simply cannot say “thanks, but no thanks.” It’s yours until you give it to someone else.

There was no way I’d betray what she’d done for me by backing down. I owed her my life. If she wanted me to lead, I’d lead. Besides, she’d already made it clear none of them were powerful enough for the job.

Except, that might not be true. I focused on Lucien. His power had been plenty strong when I’d honed in on him. Though, I supposed working with the coven could have strengthened his ability.

She meant for you to have the job.

Right. With that thought, I put all the second-guessing aside. We had loved ones to save.

I moved to Kat’s side. “Are you all right?” It was a dumb question. Clearly she wasn’t. Her anguish over Bea, mixed with my own, almost brought tears to my eyes again. I blinked them back.

Kat shook her head soundlessly, and her lips quivered.

I wrapped her in my arms. “It’s going to be okay. I promise. I’m going to fix this.”

“You are?” Ian asked from behind me. “You’re going to fix my aunt? How exactly are you going to do that? Just reach inside yourself and force it to happen?” His voice had risen with each word and by the time he’d finished, he’d been shouting at me.

I held my ground and, in a steady, sure voice, promised something I had no business promising. “Before this is over, I’m going to have Kane, Lailah, and Bea back with us. Whole and untainted.”

Ian held my gaze, his eyes full of skepticism. But beneath his angry exterior, fear and pain fought to break through his cold demeanor.

Pyper stepped up beside me, full of determination. “Of course you are. And we’ll be right here to do whatever you need us to. Right, Ian?”

Silence.

“I’m in,” Kat said, stepping up on my other side. “But only if Dan is included in that vow.”

“Of course,” I said without hesitation.

“Ian?” Pyper coaxed. “It’s not Jade’s fault any of this happened.”

He closed his eyes and softened his voice. “I know that.” When he looked at me again, he sent me a weary look. “I’ll help however I can. I just don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

“Someone’s bound to get hurt,” Lucien interjected. “They always do when fighting black magic.” He studied me with interest. “You really think you can do that? Bring Bea back?”

“Jade can do anything she sets her mind to,” Pyper said.

Her confidence gave me strength. “With the help of the coven, yes, I think we can.”

“You’re taking the job then?” Lucien glanced at his group, still hovering around Bea.

“Was there ever any question?”

“You’re joking, right? After the fit you had earlier when all I did was a simple energy transfer? I thought Bea was exaggerating when she said you were anti-coven. I should have known she was being straight.”

“She said that? Anti-coven?” The statement irritated me. It shouldn’t have because it was one-hundred percent true.

“She was right.”

I nodded and realized I wasn’t irritated at the statement. It bothered me she’d talked to someone I didn’t even know about it. “Why were you two discussing me at all?”

He gave me a startled look. “I’m…or was…the lead member. You know, the one who’s in charge if anything happens to her.”

Could this day get any worse? I’d insulted him, caused his coven leader to be magically bound, and taken his job. “Damn, Lucian. I’m sorry. I had no idea. Otherwise I’d never have accepted the job.”

“What? No. I don’t want it. Besides, you’re much better suited.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Your power, for one. The amount of magic you used to bind Bea is totally unheard of. It should have taken much more than you used.”

“I used the power of the coven. Any one of you could have done it.”

“No, Jade. We couldn’t. I might have been able to with great effort. But that caress of yours? The light spark? That’s rare. Extremely rare. You’re more powerful than Bea. I’m certain that’s why she sacrificed herself and put you in charge. Bea’s an extremely smart woman. She wouldn’t leave us in a mess like this with just anyone.”

Was he crazy?
There was no way I was stronger than Bea. Even if that was true, I had no training. Why would anyone appoint an ignorant witch? Still, Bea had named me coven leader. The position always fell to the one with the most ability. “If my power is as great as you say it is, then maybe she took my place because she wasn’t sure if she could bind me.”

Lucien shrugged. “Maybe. It’s entirely possible. But Bea’s never run from a fight. The question is, would you?”

“Not when her friends are involved,” Pyper supplied. “She’d do what Bea did and more if it meant saving anyone of us. Now, stop interrogating her and tell me what happened. Why was Kat possessed by that…thing?” She waved a hand at the now-covered Meri portrait. “I was under the impression only magical people were affected by her. For instance, I don’t have any magic or special ability and nothing happened to me when I carried the thing in here. But Kat seemed drawn to it. Why?”

“I think I have the answer,” Ian said, holding up one of his ghost-hunting devices.