Demons of Bourbon Street (7 page)

I bit my lip, trying to turn my thoughts off.

It didn’t work. Lailah started to laugh. “I know, right? His bedroom is unbelievable.”

“
Umm…”

“
With that décor, he’s going to have a hard time convincing a potential date he isn’t already attached.”

No man I’d ever known would intentionally choose lilac. A woman most definitely had done his decorating.
Maybe he does have a girlfriend
.

“
He doesn’t,” Lailah said, taking the thought from my mind.

“
Stop that.” I sat at the table. “What do you need me to do?”

Her face turned from curious and playful to dark and brooding. “Since the memory charm is for me, I can’t invoke it myself. It might backfire. All you need to do is repeat the incantation and infuse the potion with a drop of your blood.”

“
Blood?” I stood abruptly, knocking my chair over in the process. “No way. I’m not performing blood magic.”

Her exasperation filled the kitchen, making me want to retreat through the back door.

She sighed. “You’re not going to leave. I have answers you want. Just invoke the charm so we can get on with this.”

“
Stop reading my mind,” I demanded. “I don’t read yours.”

She raised an eyebrow.

Okay, so I did sometimes. But she wasn’t making any effort to stay out of my head.

“
I can’t help it. You keep projecting,” Lailah said.

“
Ugh! Is there any other way to retrieve your memory without involving my blood?”

“
No,” she said quietly. “None that I’m aware of.” Her entire demeanor changed to one of a frightened woman in need of help. Desperation clung to her aura. “Please, Jade. I need to recover my memories. I can’t go through this again.”

Cripes. This was becoming a habit for her.

Last week, while Lailah was assigned to save Dan’s soul, the demon Meri used the connection to form a tie with Lailah. Meri had then gone on to compel Lailah to poison Bea and seduce an unwilling Kane. A side effect of the compulsion was memory loss. Lailah had no recollection of any of her evil doings. Being faced with more forgotten hours must have scared the hell out of her.

She eyed me. “Now will you do the blood spell?”

My resistance cracked. Even though a shiver crawled up my spine, I shrugged. “Yeah, okay.” I slid into the heavy wooden chair and dragged the bowl in front of me.

Lailah handed me a thick white candle. “Declare your intentions before you light it.”

“
I know.” Since Lailah was an angel, her magic allowed her to wield spells without following all the ritual steps. I couldn’t.

Well, technically I could, but the results were usually disastrous. The last time I’d worked a spell on the fly, I’d ended up mentally connected to the very last person I wanted privy to my thoughts—Lailah.

“
Sorry. Just a reminder.” She sat back and closed her eyes. “By the way, reading your mind isn’t a picnic for me either.”

“
Stop talking about it,” I snapped. “If you can’t block me out, just pretend you can’t hear me.”

She mumbled something that sounded like, “If only that were possible.”

I didn’t say anything, demonstrating my point, but in my mind I shouted,
See how that works? Try keeping your unwanted comments to yourself next time.

She snorted.

I turned my attention to the candle. “Goddess above, hear my words. When my blood falls, Lailah’s memories will be restored.” I plucked a match from the box and, with a slight nudge of my inner power, I willed it to light.

A small flame appeared without so much as a spark.

Satisfied, I lit the wick. “While this candle burns, let the flame be a symbol of protection. Guide my magic, let it do no harm, seek no harm, or cause any harm.”

The flame brightened, growing tall and strong.

“
Good.” Lailah passed me a sheet of paper with a handwritten incantation. “Now say this and then add a drop of blood to the potion.”

I grabbed the small ceremonial dagger lying next to the bowl and spoke the words. “From the purity of the white witch, let my blood be the sacrifice of stolen memories. Restore what was taken. Fill the void left in the angel Lailah. Let her mind be whole. With these words I pay the price.”

I swiped the dagger across the fleshy pad of my thumb and winced. Blood pooled, oozing from the wound. Grimacing, I tilted my hand and let one lone drop drip into the bowl. My thumb throbbed, and I quickly bandaged it with a tissue. “Did the charm work?”

Lailah groaned, laying her head down. “No. You must have done something wrong.”

“
Um, wrong? I did exactly what you told me to do. Maybe it was your potion.” I scooted forward and stared into the bowl. My blood droplet sat in a small bead on the top of the now-solidified liquid. Resisting the urge to use my finger to mix it, I picked up the bowl, rocking it back and forth until the thin film broke. My blood spread in spidery veins, weaving its way slowly through the liquid.

Darkness swam at the edge of my vision. Damn it all. Not again! I would not pass out. Not this time. Since moving to New Orleans, I’d formed a bad habit of losing consciousness every time I got involved with something mystical.

I sat and held my head in my hands. The blackness faded. But when I focused, I was no longer sitting in Lucien’s kitchen.

Double damn.
Here we go again.

Sitting on the floor in the middle of a brightly colored living room, I reached forward, picking up a black candle, thought better of it, and replaced it with a white one. I imagined a lit wick, and the flame burst to life, illuminating a pink rug and red couches.

Ready to finish the spell, I held my arms out. Surprise rippled through me. The hands attached to my arms weren’t mine. In fact, the arms weren’t mine, either.

I mentally groaned.

The short skirt paired with leggings and the belted blouse I wore meant one thing; the body I mentally inhabited was Lailah’s.

Oh, for the love of…
A man strode into the room, his eyes a very familiar shade of pale emerald green. When he spoke, I gasped. Though no one heard me, since I only existed in Lailah’s mind.

He sounded exactly like Dan. He had to be Philip Pearson.

Lailah sat, staring at him as if she’d been spelled into submission. And when Philip ordered her to stand, she did.

“
Angel of the Light, lead me to his last location,” Philip said, his voice commanding and cold.

Lailah moved toward the door. When she brushed past him, he touched her lightly on the shoulder and whispered, “I know you’re in there, witch. Stay out of Lailah’s memories. Your magic doesn’t work here.”

My world spun and my stomach lurched. I groped to clutch something. Anything to make the spinning stop. Abruptly, the chaos ended. I found myself back in Lucien’s kitchen, my fingernails clawing at the shiny table.

I blinked and relaxed my fingers.

Lailah stared at me, mouth open. “You…”

“
What?” I stiffened.

“
Why were you in my memory?” She stood, anger streaming off her. “Can’t you do anything right? I told you to invoke the memory charm, not modify it or spell it. Geez, Jade. Keep your magic to yourself next time. Who knows what kind of lasting effect this will have.”

“
Excuse me?” I rose and met her toe to toe. Last week, as the leader of the New Orleans coven, I’d been tasked to reinstate Lailah’s magical ability. She’d been in a magical time out after she’d accidentally poisoned Bea. Unfortunately, I’d gotten a little overzealous and ended up sharing part of my magical spark with Lailah. That’s what caused our psychic connection. Believe me, it wasn’t a mistake I was likely to make again. “The only magic I used was to light the match. If the charm went wrong, it’s on you. All I did was what you asked. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“
The potion worked. You were there. My memory came roaring back…to you.” She stepped forward and pointed a finger at me. “All I got out of it was your thoughts!” Her voice rose until she was almost shouting.

Blood rushed to my ears, and I took a step back before the altercation became physical. I clenched my fists to keep from turning her finger into a pretzel.

“
Problem?” Lucien asked from the arched doorway.

“
Oh, no. Nothing at all,” Lailah mocked. “Except your coven leader messed up a basic memory retrieval charm.” She paused, eyeing me.
If you spent less time in Kane’s bed, you’d have more time to learn your job
.

“
What did you say?” I cried.

“
You heard me.” She tossed her honey-blond hair and left the room.

I had to do something about our psychic connection. Soon. Sensing emotions was one thing, but direct thoughts? Not acceptable. Especially when the person in question clearly didn’t like me, just as much as I didn’t like her.

Lucien picked up the glass bowl and carried it to a utility sink near the back door. He dumped out the contents and went to work on sterilizing it. “What happened with the memory charm?”

I stared out the window at the fading afternoon sun. “Something odd.”

He chuckled. “Something’s always odd when you’re involved.”

I shrugged. “I guess so, but this was different. I only used magic to light a match and that was before I even stated my intentions. I don’t see how I ended up sucked into Lailah’s memory. Or how Philip managed to force me out.”

Footsteps caught my attention. I glanced back and a wave of relief washed through me. Kane. The man had a way of putting me at ease just by being present. “Where’s Kat?” I asked.

“
Talking Lailah down.” He draped an arm around my waist. “Want to fill me in?”

Lucien placed the now-clean bowl back into the cabinet and motioned for us to follow him outside. The balmy November air warmed my skin, but when Lucien’s expression turned grave, my limbs turned to ice.

He locked his green eyes on mine, intense and worried. “I think Lailah’s been possessed again.”

Chapter 5

Before my brain processed what Lucien said, Kane spoke. “What makes you think that?”

“
Jade infiltrated her memory. The breach suggests a weakening in her aura. With her memory loss, I’m almost certain she’s been compromised.”