Ghost of Himself

by Pandora Pine

  “I’ll agree to that under one condition.” A shy smile played across Copeland’s lips.

  Jude grinned, raising an eyebrow. “Name it, but that doesn’t mean I’ll agree to it.” He found himself eager to hear what Cope’s condition would be.

  “You let me pay my way. I can’t let you take me on with all the dangers I’m bringing with me for free.” The look in Copeland’s eyes was dead serious.

  Jude bit his lower lip to keep from laughing. Cope meant what he was proposing. “Can you cook?”

  “Is the ocean salty?” Cope shot back. “I make a shrimp etouffee that will make you think you’re standing on Bourbon Street. I’m also a grill master.”

  “Sold. You make a list and we’ll go shopping tomorrow. I like meat. Lots of meat.”

  “So, I’ve heard.” Copeland burst out laughing.

  Jude joined in. He might be able to make a go of this roommate thing after all.

  15

  Copeland

  Surprisingly, Cope woke up feeling as fit as a fiddle. There were no signs or symptoms of the psychic attacks that were plaguing him at present when his eyes popped open the next morning. It was just one less thing to worry about today. He had work to do.

  After his little ice cream social with Jude last night, he’d gone back to his room to find a message waiting from Tennyson. Onyx Kerr would be arriving in Boston first thing this morning. Ten and Ronan would be picking him up from the airport. Cope had slept well knowing his oldest friend was on the way to help.

  After he’d sent Tennyson a reply to his message about Onyx. He’d let Jude know what was going on. Jude agreed the best thing to do was to have them over to examine the flash drive Onyx was bringing with him.

  As promised, Cope made a shopping list. He figured he’d cook for everyone. Why not introduce all of his new Yankee friends to Cajun food? Jude had been in high spirits as he’d pushed the shopping cart through the store trying to pronounce the names of things Cope was adding to the cart. Andouille sausage was the item that kept tripping him up.

  When they’d gotten back to the townhouse, Jude had been surprisingly eager to help with food preparation. Cope had been surprised by his knife skills when he’d given the P.I. the peppers, onion, and celery to chop for the jambalaya.

  “Tell me again what you remember putting on that flash drive?” Jude asked as he started to open the can of crushed tomatoes.

  Cope had been so deep inside his own mind, Jude’s question startled him. “Sorry, my head was somewhere else.” He’d been thinking about when he’d made the flash drive for Onyx. The day he’d had to flee his house under the cover of darkness and leave his old life behind. “I put everything on it that would fit.” Cope shook his head. “It’s hard to remember it all now. It’s been so long. I know my entire client list is there. So are the list of classes I taught and the student rolls. My own spells and incantations might be on there under miscellaneous and possibly some other stuff.”

  Jude nodded. He leaned back against the counter. “What do I need to know about this guy?”

  Cope set down his knife. He had a feeling Jude wasn’t asking about Onyx’s dreamy eyes. “He’s an intense sort of a guy. Once he bites into something, he doesn’t let go. It’s part of the reason I didn’t let him in on what was going on between Deacon and me. Onyx would have been all over me to go to the police.”

  “Any good friend would have been.” Jude raised an eyebrow.

  “Onyx has other talents, Jude. Things would have gotten messy and out of hand fast, if I’d told him about half of this shit Deacon put me through.” Cope wasn’t sure how to say what needed to be said about Onyx’s skill set, or even if he should. Jude was a pretty intense guy himself.

  “What do you mean Onyx has other talents?” Jude’s radar looked to be on high alert now.

  “One of the reasons I stopped seeing Deacon had to do with his interests in black magick. I know it sounds like the plotline in some hokey B-movie, but black magick exists. Onyx is something of an expert in it.” Cope shut his mouth and waited for Jude’s reaction.

  Jude’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t speak. His head tilted to the side as if he were formulating his response carefully. “How does that happen?”

  That question wasn’t what Cope had been expecting. He rather thought Jude would lose his shit over the fact that a practitioner in the dark arts was coming to his house for dinner. “It was passed down through four generations of his family. Magick, witchery, and spells are passed down through Cajun families in the south like genetic traits. Babies are born into it. Onyx couldn’t have turned away from it anymore than a baby born to an Italian family could refuse to learn Nonna’s prized sauce recipe.”

  “It’s part of a family’s lineage? Is that what you’re saying?” Jude seemed to be following along and not in danger of throwing his ever-present bullshit flag.

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. The thing of it is that dark magick can be used for good and having those skills doesn’t make you inherently evil.” Cope knew that didn’t make a lot of sense, he just hoped Jude had the patience to hear him out.

  Jude made a sound like his brain had exploded, complete with a matching hand gesture. He moved away from Cope to grab bottles of water from the fridge. He set one down next to Cope. “Let me get this straight. Onyx inherited dark magick from four generations of witches and just because he knows how to use it, that doesn’t mean he has a black heart. Do I have that right?”

  Cope nodded. “Let me ask you a question. Ronan’s shot people in the line of duty before, right? To save himself or others?”

  Jude nodded.

  “Okay, so Ronan used a tool of his trade to protect innocent lives. That doesn’t make him evil either. Onyx does the same thing only with spells and magick, rather than a gun.” Copeland hoped his example would make sense to Jude and not open up the whole, guns don’t kill people, people do, debate.

  “Tell me how dark magick can be used to fight evil.” Jude’s question was sincere.

  This was where the whole discussion could get a little tricky. “Onyx knows spells that can stop you cold, stun you, or knock you out.”

  “Kind of like what the attacker is doing to you?” Jude took a long drink from his bottle of water.

  Copeland shook his head. “No, Jude. What Onyx can do is worse. Much worse.”

  Jude was silent. “Is it possible your attacker has these same skills?” His golden eyes were blazing with anger again.

  “It’s possible.” Cope knew it was more than possible. He had a feeling this person, whoever they were, was playing a game of cat and mouse with him, just toying with him for now until the final end game began. He was going to need Onyx around for when that happened.

  “What do you mean, it’s possible? Jesus, Cope! Are you saying this guy could get pissed and just fucking kill you with a thought?” Jude looked like he was about to lose his shit.

  The ringing doorbell stopped Cope from having to break the bad news to Jude. It was definitely possible.

  “I’ll get the door, but don’t you think for a minute that you’re getting out of answering my question. Jesus, fucking Christ!” Jude muttered as he stalked toward the door.

  Cope could hear voices coming from the front door. He quickly added the rice and chicken broth to the simmering pot and set the timer on the stove. They had half an hour to chat before it would be time to eat. That would barely be enough time for Onyx to get one of his legendary stories off the ground.

  “Copeland! Where’s my boy?” Onyx’s voice boomed.

  Christ, they were the same age, but Onyx always insisted on calling Cope his boy. There was a reason for that. One that Cope wasn’t going to share with his friends over dinner. “Hey, Onyx.” Cope walked into the living room and into his friend’s arms.

  Onyx Kerr stood about six feet tall with a short, dark buzz cut which only served to put his eyes on full display. They were leonine in appearance with long, dark lashes. Cope had
always thought his friend was simply stunning to look at, which was how they’d ended up in bed together the first time. Onyx’s skills and ability to read his mind and know exactly how to get him off, was how they’d ended up in bed the second time.

  “You look like shit, boy.” Onyx hugged him tighter. “All skin and bones. I could break you in half like a twig. If these guys don’t take care of you, I’ll have to start kicking some Yankee ass.”

  “I’d like to see you try,” Jude muttered menacingly.

  “Me too,” Ronan O’Mara agreed, sounding cheerful at the prospect.

  “Jude, why don’t you go grab your laptop so we can open the flash drive Onyx brought with him, Tennyson urged.

  Jude shot the newcomer the hairy eyeball, but moved to obey Tennyson’s command just as the doorbell rang again.

  “It’s Dempsey and the Craig brothers.” Copeland announced. Holy shit… That was the first time he’d used his gift in what felt like forever.

  “Welcome back.” Onyx slapped a hand against Cope’s shoulder. “I bet dat felt good.”

  Better than Copeland thought it would. He was a little rusty, but had a feeling it would all come back with good time.

  “Are you sure you should be doing that?” Tennyson asked with hesitation in his voice.

  “Sure he should be doing what?” Jude asked. Dempsey, Carson, Truman, and Cole were standing behind him.

  “Using his psychic gift,” Tennyson said, sounding guilty. “If whoever is trying to hurt him can use his psychic frequency to track him like using a GPS signal, Cope may have just given away his location.

  “Isn’t that the point, Ten?” Jude asked, moving to Cope’s side and extracting him from Onyx’s embrace, seemingly without knowing he was even doing it. “Don’t we want to lure this fucker out of the shadows and into the light so that we can stop him?”

  Cope turned to Onyx, curious to see what his take on this would be.

  The newcomer was nodding. “That’s exactly what we want to do, Jude. It just might not be that simple to catch whoever is doing this.”

  “Explain that to me.” Jude pointed to the seats at the table, while his focus stayed on Onyx.

  “Dempsey was telling me about the protection charm he had placed on Copeland. It’s possible the attacker had this kind of masking spell on himself.”

  Jude smiled at Onyx. “Before you rang my doorbell, Copeland was filling me in on some very interesting information about you.”

  Onyx snorted and started to laugh. “He really shouldn’t tell people about my Prince Albert piercing. It’s better when my lovers discover it for themselves.” He dropped a sexy wink at Jude before turning and doing the same thing to Dempsey.

  Copeland bit his bottom lip. He hadn’t told anyone about Onyx’s piercing. It had been a bit of shock when he’d seen it himself for the first time. He’d been afraid he’d chipped a tooth on the metal ball when Onyx had grabbed his head and shoved his cock down Cope’s throat that first night they’d been together. He turned to Jude hoping to catch his reaction to Onyx’s confession.

  “Dick mutilation isn’t my jam.” Jude shot Copeland a smirk before turning his attention back to Onyx. “What Cope was telling me about was your experience with dark magick. Tell me how we can use that to our advantage.”

  Tennyson gasped. Fear flashed through his dark eyes. “Jude, the last thing we want to mess with here is black magick.”

  “I’m sorry, Ten, but that’s where you’re wrong.” Jude looked at Copeland, before he continued. “Cope had to walk away from his life and his business because some asshole wasn’t man enough to take no for an answer. If that wasn’t bad enough, someone else decided they wanted in on the dog pile and started attacking him from afar, like some fucking internet bully who was safe hiding behind some screen name. I say fuck that shit. Why should we be the ones sitting here drinking tea politely out of fancy cups with our pinkie fingers high in the air when these fucks are using black magick warfare against Cope. I say we fight fire with fire.”

  Cope was taken aback by Jude’s passionate words. No one had ever stood up for him like that before. It was overwhelming. He looked around the table to assess the responses of his new friends. Ronan was nodding his head. So were Truman and Dempsey. Carson and Tennyson seemed to be torn. The ball seemed to be in his court here. “I’m with Jude.”

  All heads swiveled toward him. “Didn’t you tell us the reason you broke up with Deacon in the first place was because of his unnatural interest in black magick?” Ten asked.

  “It was. There’s a difference between knowing black magick and how to use it properly and wanting to know how to use it for the express purpose of causing damage to others.” Cope had a feeling he was going to have to explain what he meant.

  “I don’t understand the difference.” Carson looked to Truman.

  “I hate to use this comparison, but think of Ronan’s gun. It can be used to defend him when he’s in danger, or it could be used to deliberately destroy lives, right?” When Cope saw everyone nodding their heads, he continued. “When Ronan joined the police academy, one of the tests I assume he had to pass was some kind of psych evaluation to assess why he wanted to become a cop. They would have kicked him out on his ass if the powers that be determined he wanted to join the police so he could shoot people up, right, Ronan?”

  “Right,” Ronan agreed.

  “It was the same thing with Deacon. If he’d been interested in learning how to work black magick as a means to protect other people or himself, that would have been one thing, but all Deacon wanted was to learn how to harm others.” Cope paused to take a breath. He wanted his words to come out just right. “I’ve spent the last two years hiding from life. I let a bad situation beat me down. I’m not going to live like that anymore. Too many people over the course of my life have dictated how I’ve lived it, but that’s over now. If I need to use a little black magick to get my life back, then so be it.”

  “Just how far are you willing to take this, Cope?” Onyx wiggled the fingertips of his right hand in a way that indicated they held the power needed to inflict damage.

  That was the ultimate question, wasn’t it? “Part of me, the man who’s been hiding under the bed for the last two years, missing out on all that life had to offer, wants to tell you to do whatever it takes to find this asshole and take him down.” Cope set a hand over his heart. “But the boy my mother raised with respect for magick in all of its forms can’t let any of us take it that far. We need to find this person and stop them. If they are unwilling to release me for a reasonable fee or by conventional means, then, well, we did warn them, didn’t we?”

  “You’re willing to pay to get your life back?” Jude sounded stunned.

  “Yes.” Copeland wasn’t above that at this point. “I have a feeling whoever is doing this won’t want my Forbes’ fortune. There’s something personal in whatever is going on here, but that’s not going to stop me from offering a six-figure pay off. I want my life back, Jude. Like you said last night, I deserve to be able to start over as a free man.”

  “What if you pay this person and the attacks start up again?” Jude asked quietly.

  Copeland felt his lips curl into a smile. He could feel the evil in his soul tune up and start pumping through his body like adrenaline. “Well, then I know just the man to call. Don’t I, Onyx?”

  16

  Jude

  Further talk about how to catch Copeland’s tormentor had to wait until after dinner. Right after Cope’s dramatic declaration, the oven timer had started to go off, turning Copeland “The Terminator” Forbes back into Julia Child.

  Jude had absolutely no problem reconciling both sides of the man into the whole. He’d never been a take-any-bullshit kind of a man. Over the course of his life that attitude had cost him some friends, but never once had it cost him his self-respect or his dignity. He was proud of Cope for making the decision to stand up for himself and fight for his freedom. How was this any different from a m
an who defends himself from a maniac wielding a baseball bat? Hell, how would it have been any different from Cope having pulled a gun or a knife of his own that day Deacon attacked him? It was self-defense. What did it matter if the defense came at the end of a baseball bat or through a whispered incantation?

  Watching all of their friends closely, Jude could tell not everyone felt the same way. Tennyson and Carson for starters. He had a feeling that it wouldn’t take much for Truman to come over to their side.

  While they’d eaten, Onyx entertained everyone with wild tales about life in New Orleans and what it was like to be a working psychic there.

  Jude was happy to see Ten and Ronan doing the dishes while Cope cleaned up the table. That gave him a minute to pull his head together before he opened his laptop.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Dempsey asked from behind him.

  Fisting his hands on his hips, Jude shook his head. “What the hell has Cope gotten himself into?” Jude turned to look Dempsey in the eye. “You’ve met him. He’s a nice guy. I spent last night Googling him. There was never a bad word written about him, not even after Deacon attacked him. You know how shit comes out of the woodwork after something like that? There was nothing. Not one wrong word. Cope held fundraisers for the children’s hospital. He did free readings at local nursing homes. He was active in LGBTQ charities in NOLA. He was a fucking pillar of that community. Now he’s got two people gunning for him.” Jude shook his head. None of this made any sense.

  “Do you think they’re working together? Deacon and whoever is attacking Cope psychically?” Dempsey’s voice was pitched low so no one beyond the two of them could hear this conversation.

  “My gut tells me no, but I have no factual basis for that. According to Copeland, he says Deacon would come after him face to face, but this poking at him from a distance seems like the kind of thing a stalker would do, doesn’t it?”

  Dempsey nodded. “Cope also mentioned that Deacon was interested in learning about black magick. Just because Cope refused to teach him the spells doesn’t mean he didn’t go out and find another teacher.”