Demons of Bourbon Street (30 page)

“
You don’t know that.” I shook my head as I grabbed her hand and stood. “Besides, none of this is your fault. We can blame Meri, but it’s not her fault either. She didn’t want to fall and lose her soul. It just happened, and now we need to deal with the consequences.”

She nodded and started to walk back toward Bea’s house. “You’re right. The question is, where do we start?”

“
You know Philip better than any of us,” I said, following her. “If anyone can find him, you can.”

“
Goddess, I hope so.” She stopped and picked up a fallen rose petal. She held it out on her palm and blew. As it glided on the mild wind, she whispered, “I really, really hope so.”

Chapter 20

I followed Lailah down the narrow path toward the driveway. Her sandals slapped against the stones, filling the silence between us. I stared at my dirty Skechers, racking my brain on how to locate Dan.

Could Kane dreamwalk me to him? A tiny shudder ran through me. The last thing I wanted to do was ask Kane to invade Dan’s dreams.

Lailah snorted. “Good luck with that.”

“
Get out of my head.” I kicked a tiny rock in her direction. The pebble missed and landed in the dirt.

She stopped at the edge of the driveway, holding her hands up in defeat. “Sorry. I can’t help it.”

I rolled my eyes and swept past her.

“
You know…” She fell in step beside me and let out an exaggerated sigh. “There is one way to smoke them out, but it’s pretty drastic.”

I sent her a sideways glance and raised my eyebrows.

She massaged her temple before answering. “I could get them on Goodwin’s ‘save’ list. Then all of his followers would be on the hunt.”

I froze. “Are you serious?”

“
Well, sure. It’s not like we can put an APB out on them or anything. This is the next best thing.”

My stomach turned at the thought of unleashing hundreds of ‘saviors’ on anyone. It was too damn bad the idea had merit. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Let’s check with Bea and Lucien first. If they don’t have any suggestions, I guess we can try.”

“
Great,” she said her tone flat.

“
You don’t think they can help?”

She shook her head. “No, that’s not…look, I’m just not crazy about working with Goodwin.”

“
I’m not crazy about the idea either, but it was your suggestion.”

“
I know.” She plucked a leaf from a nearby tree. “Just because it’s the only suggestion I have doesn’t mean I want to do it.”

Watching her, I narrowed my eyes. Exactly what was their relationship? Were they mates or not? Hard to believe if Lailah had feelings for Philip.

She spun. “Goodwin is most definitely not my mate. No matter how delusional he may be about the subject.”

Her indignation made me smile. “So why would the good Reverend think such a thing if it’s out of the realm of possibility?”

All the fight seemed to drain out of her as her shoulders sagged and the irritation vanished from her face. “We dated as teenagers.”

“
Really?” I had trouble reconciling the conservative religious evangelist and the bohemian free spirit actually dating. “For how long?”

She swallowed. “Three years.”

“
Holy smokes!” I gaped. “No wonder he thinks you’re mates.”

“
You dated Dan for years. Do you think you’re destined to spend the rest of eternity with him?”

“
Of course not, but I’m not an angel.”

She shook her head in exasperation. “Angels are only mates once they claim each other in a formal ceremony.” The tone of her voice softened as she continued, “I never claimed Jonathon.”

I’d never heard her so vulnerable before. I took a step closer and gently touched her arm. “But he claimed you.”

Tears filled her bright blue eyes and she nodded.

“
What happened?”

She brushed a hand across her eyes and pasted a forced smile on her face. “The classic runaway-bride scenario. I made it all the way to the binding ceremony, but when it was my turn, I ran. By the time I found the nerve to face him again, he’d joined the church and turned into someone I didn’t recognize.”

Oh, God. How awful. “How much time went by?”

“
Six months.”

“
Poor Jonathon.” I let the words slip before I had the time to bite them back. Yikes. “Sorry.”

She shook her head. “You’re right. It was an awful thing to do, but I was young and I panicked. Afterwards, I didn’t know how to approach him. Since then…well, we are two very different people. But I wish he’d come to terms with the fact that we are no longer meant to be.”

“
And Philip’s the right angel?”

She shrugged. “Probably not. Especially since he’s helping Meri now.” Sadness flashed in her eyes, but she pulled her hand away and held her head high. “Let’s get going. We have an ex-demon to find.”

I followed Lailah back to Bea’s. We were climbing the porch steps when a red VW Bug roared up the drive and skidded to a stop behind Bea’s silver Prius. Kat jumped out and ran over, grasping me in a fierce hug. “Thank God you’re okay.”

“
Whoa.” I laughed and gently pushed her away. “Did Gwen call you?”

“
Lucien.” She nodded to Lailah. “Thanks for taking care of her.”

“
All in a day’s work.” Lailah smiled and moved onto the porch.

Kat turned to me. “Where’s Dan?”

“
Lucien didn’t tell you?” I mentally cursed him. I hated to be the bearer of bad news…again.

She shook her head.

“
He’s—” A crippling flash of anger rippled through me. The weirdly familiar yet foreign energy made my knees buckle, and I grabbed Kat’s arm for support. Uncontrollable rage took over my senses. I dug my fingers into Kat’s flesh until she cried out.

“
Jade, stop!”

Her cry sliced through the unwanted mental energy, bringing me back to myself. I let go. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry.”

Kat cradled her arm against her chest. “What was that?”

I took a step back as the rage tried to overtake me again. Quickly I raised my mental silo, the one that never failed to give me peace. But this time, the anger only grew stronger. And worse, I couldn’t get a read on Kat at all. She was usually the one person I could count on to lend me strength when I needed some. I grabbed my head with both hands, trying to curb the intense pounding caused by the turbulent rage.

“
Jade!” Kat cried again and shook me. “What’s going on?”

My barriers disappeared, and Kat’s panic started to edge out the foreign energy. “It’s okay,” I said, letting out a long breath. “I’m okay.”

I sought out Lailah, now holding Kane back on the porch. When had he come outside? I gave him a weak smile. He tried to brush her off, but she moved in front of him. “She needs to work this out herself.”

I met her worried eyes. “Meri’s causing this?”

She nodded. “I’m afraid so. The sooner you learn to control the connection, the stronger you’ll be.”

Ugh. My trusty silo wasn’t going to do the trick this time. How did one block out emotions connected to her own soul?

***

I leaned against the counter at The Grind, the café I worked at, and popped my sixth magically enhanced vitamin of the day. My chai tea scalded the roof of my mouth as I choked the concoction down.

“
Again?” Pyper asked, packing grinds into the espresso machine.

“
Yes. I can’t seem to get through a few hours without needing one.”

She made a face. “Your
condition
is getting worse.”

I twisted, stretching my back. “I know, but until we find Meri, there isn’t much else I can do.”

Five days had passed since our trip into Hell. After hours of research, neither Bea nor Lucien had found any practical way of locating the trio. Bea tried a finding spell, but as suspected, Philip had the group shielded by a specialized spell only angels could wield. Lailah knew the counter-spell, but couldn’t reverse it unless she was near them.

We also tried the same locator spell we’d used the night we transported Philip and Jonathon to the coven circle. It actually backfired and Bea produced a mirror image of herself. That was weird. Especially since Bea number two didn’t fade for twelve hours. It was like having a doppelganger following her around.

“
Has the good reverend and his merry band of proselytizers had any luck?” Pyper handed me a chocolate cinnamon danish. “You look like you need a pick me up.”

I took it and jammed a piece in my mouth, barely chewing before I swallowed. I’d been having sugar cravings all week. Serious cravings. Like, get up at two in the morning and run to the neighborhood Quick Mart for some ice cream cravings.

Afterwards I always felt a little more energetic. I was sure I was only contributing to a future hypoglycemic crash, but damn. I was sharing my soul with a demon. There couldn’t possibly be any other better excuse for overindulging on the sweets.

Reluctantly, I set the danish down. Caving to chocolate and cinnamon was one thing. Inhaling my food was another.

I turned back to Pyper. “No luck yet from Goodwin or his followers. This morning he released pictures of each of them on his television show. We’re hoping his TV audience can help with the hunt.”

Her eyes went wide. “Goodwin put out a religious Amber Alert on them?”

I made a face. “Sort of. I mean, for our purposes he did. But his followers think the three of them voluntarily sent in pictures asking for prayers. He didn’t say they were missing, only that if anyone spotted them, to please offer them prayers and assistance. Then he added a hotline number asking the three of them to call him directly so he could be their personal savior. Knowing Goodwin’s zealots, if Philip, Dan, or Meri are spotted, someone will call.”

Pyper shook her head. “Remind me to never get on the wrong side of Goodwin. I can think of nothing worse than being hunted down by a bunch of religious fanatics.”

“
I know it’s extreme, but we’re out of options. Lailah’s on the phone constantly with her angel connections, but she wasn’t kidding when she said if Philip doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be.”