by Deanna Chase
“Downstairs,” Bea said. “We need to talk.”
As she followed Meri down to the first floor, I stayed behind outside Kat’s room and glanced up at Kane. My throat closed on a sob. His expression went soft, and he crushed me to his chest. I held on, trembling, but this time my eyes stayed dry.
“What can I do?” he whispered into my ear.
“You’re already doing it.”
We stood together, me clinging to his sturdy frame and him holding me up after another awful day that seemed to never end.
Eventually, I took a deep breath and pulled away just enough so I could see into his rich chocolate eyes. “Thank you.”
“For what, love?” He ran a gentle thumb along my cheek.
“For being here. Letting me do what I need to do without going all caveman on me.”
He chuckled. “Don’t think I haven’t thought about it.”
I laughed. “Really? When?”
The amusement faded from his face as he turned stoic. “Every time I see you take your life into your hands to save someone else.”
I sobered. He’d watched me do that on more occasions than I cared to think about. But he had as well. A few months ago he’d followed me into Hell—literally. And I knew he’d do it again.
He pressed his lips to mine, kissing me softly.
“Jade!” Bea called, impatience lining her command.
I blew out an exasperated breath. Couldn’t we have one moment?
Kane pulled away slightly. “How long do you think it will be before she comes up here and drags you away from me?”
I glanced up into his humor-filled face and shook my head. “Mere moments, I’m afraid.”
“That’s a shame.” He winked and tucked my hand in his as he led me to the stairs. “Time for answers.”
I pressed close to his side, wishing I could turn the clock back twenty-four hours. I didn’t want to deal with any more supernatural crap. There was wedding cake to sample back at Kane’s house. If I’d been the only one affected by the day’s crazy events, I would’ve walked out right then and there. But I wasn’t. This was Kat, and I had to know what happened.
As Kane and I rounded the corner to descend the steps, we almost ran smack dab into Bea. Her face was contorted into a frustrated grimace. She stopped on the top step and placed her fists on her hips. “What are you doing?”
“Following your orders and going downstairs,” I huffed, but as I studied her, my irritation vanished. She was breathing heavier than normal, her hair mussed, and her hands were fidgeting. I’d never seen Bea act so uncollected before. The realization terrified me. She’d never failed to supply us with competent solutions to all our issues, even when she’d been the one slowly fading away. Now she seemed flustered. Scared. My heart plummeted into my stomach. “Bea, what’s going on?”
Her face morphed into part relief, part anxiety. She shook her head and turned around. “Follow me. This requires something stronger than tea.”
Once back downstairs, Kane led me to the dining room table. He sat to my right, while Meri followed Bea into the kitchen. The pair of them went to work brewing coffee and slicing a freshly made carrot cake.
“I’m not really hungry,” I said, eyeing the cake as if it was the last crumb of food in a post-apocalyptic world.
Kane chuckled. “No one’s buying it. Cream cheese frosting? Yeah, that carrot cake doesn’t stand a chance.”
Bea sent me a hint of a smile. “You don’t have to eat it, dear. I’ll put it out in case anyone needs something to pick at.”
Meri fished plates out of the cupboards, grabbed some silverware, and took a seat at the table.
Bea sat, and instantly we all gave her our attention. She pushed the carrot cake in my direction. “Here.”
I shook my head, but Kane reached for the plate and grabbed us both generous helpings.
“Carrot cake helps every situation,” he said.
I refrained from rolling my eyes and clutched my warm coffee mug. My insides were cold with trepidation. Whatever Bea had to say, I knew I wasn’t going to like it.
She cleared her throat. “For the time being, I recommend you suspend Lucien’s magic.”
Well, yeah. I’d already figured that one out on my own. I was the coven leader. It was my place to temporarily suspend the magic of any of the members if the need arose. What else was I going to do after he’d almost killed Kat? “Of course. But can you tell me what happened up there?”
She pursed her lips and shook her head. “I’m not exactly sure. I need to talk with Lucien.”
I glanced at the stairs, suddenly worried he might accidentally hurt her again. I pushed the chair back and started to rise.
“Wait.” Bea put her hand over mine. “We need to discuss this before Lucien comes down.”
With my gaze trained on the stairs, I lowered back into the chair. “Okay, but if he takes too long, I’m going back up.”
“Understandable. But back to neutralizing his magic. You can’t be the one to do it. You’ll need to ask someone to take your place.” Her amber gaze never left mine.
“Why?” The spell was a simple, yet powerful one.
“Because with your ghost possession problem and what just happened up there, I’m afraid it’s too much magic to wield. It will leave you even more vulnerable.”
I frowned, not liking the way that sounded at all. “I don’t even know if Rosalee is powerful enough to do something like that.”
Bea shook her head. “She’s not. Besides you, Lucien is the only one who possesses that kind of power, and obviously he can’t suspend himself.”
“That leaves you then.” I grabbed a fork and picked at the walnuts in the carrot cake just to keep my hands busy.
After taking another sip of coffee, she put down her cup and stood. “There’s more. If you ask me to revoke Lucien’s power, in effect you’ll be handing me the coven leadership again.”
My body turned cold, and an odd sense of loss filtered through me. Give her back the coven leadership? I slumped in the chair. I hadn’t even agreed to transfer power, and I was already having a physical reaction. The shock of it startled me. When had the coven become so important to me? “I don’t understand. Why does that matter?”
Kane’s hand moved to my neck, his fingers soothing my tense muscles. I cast him a soft glance, grateful for the support.
“You’ll be giving me power over your members.” Bea tapped her nails on the table, almost nervously. “Remember when you reinstated Lailah’s power? You were already the coven leader. You had to do it. If I’d tried, it would have undermined your leadership, weakened it, and left you all vulnerable. The same will happen if I take over without a power switch.”
“And if we were to switch roles for just long enough for you to neutralize Lucien?” I held my breath. I wasn’t sure why I cared so much. I hadn’t wanted it when she’d given it to me. But the current that ran through me when we worked together was comforting. More comforting than almost anything, except my connection to Kane.
“We could do that.” She eyed me thoughtfully. “But are you sure you want to?”
Anger flared deep inside me, an anger that made me almost flinch. Where had that come from? “Are you saying you want the coven back?”
“No. Not at all.” She pressed her lips into a thin straight line then picked up a thick leather volume I recognized as a spell book. “I gave you my personal copy because I was ready to retire. I was and am ready to let the coven go. But you’re compromised. If something happens to you, if for some reason you end up possessed, that ghost will have access to the coven. With Lucien out of commission, no one will be able to stop her.”
Crap on toast. I hadn’t even considered that. As much as I didn’t want to transfer power, I had a responsibility to keep everyone safe. Bea was powerful and exceptionally knowledgeable, which certainly made her the best choice. “Let’s do it.”
“Now?” she asked.
“Yes.” Before I had ti
me to change my mind, I stood, gesturing to Meri, and we all headed outside to Bea’s unmarked circle in her backyard. She kept the marks covered with enchanted grass. That seemed awfully convenient.
Meri paused on the porch. “Is it cool if I stay here?”
“Should be fine,” Bea called over her shoulder. “This won’t take long.”
My feet dragged as I made my way across the perfectly manicured yard. The almost-full moon illuminated Bea’s flowerbeds. One was full of white and pink blooming annuals.
Bea raised her hands, and a pentagram flickered to life under her feet. I stopped when I was directly across from her in the middle of it.
“Take my hands,” she said.
I pressed my hands to hers. The spell was simple. All it took was a declaration of intent and a spark of magic. “Ready?”
She squeezed my fingers. “I know it’s hard to give up.” Her voice was low enough that I was certain Kane and Meri couldn’t hear. “The connection is unexplainable. Trust me. I’m aware this isn’t easy, but it’s only temporary until we find a solution to the possession.”
“Yeah.” What else could I say? As far as I knew, until my soul was complete, I’d be forever vulnerable to wayward ghosts. Damn angel council! This was their fault. I tamped down the mounting anger and focused. Bea didn’t need to get zapped because I couldn’t control my emotions.
I gripped Bea’s warm hands with my cold ones and focused. My magic sparked in my chest, warm and familiar. “I, Jade Calhoun, hereby transfer the leadership of the New Orleans coven to Beatrice Kelton, effective immediately.” Power zinged from my fingers to Bea’s, and I jumped back, ripping my hands from her grip. “Shit! I did it wrong.”
Bea’s eyebrows pinched, and she took a step forward. “What makes you say that?”
The acute loss of the coven collective left me hollow and raw with emotions, and I had trouble forming words. “Last time…um…” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “When I gave Lailah back her power, I created a connection. I think my magic just did the same thing.”
Bea smiled. “No, Jade. It didn’t.” She patted my arm. “You did it perfectly. The zing is supposed to happen with this transfer. We’re no more connected than we were before. Well, maybe a little bit. You’re still part of the coven. If I call on you, you’ll feel it.”
“Oh.” I didn’t remember the zing from when she’d transferred the coven to me, but we’d been battling black magic at the time. My memory was hazy. “Okay. I guess we better get Lucien so you can bench him before anything else happens.”
Bea gave me a sad smile. “I always hated this part of the job.” She slipped her arm through mine, and we walked back up to Meri and Kane, who were still waiting on the porch.
“This won’t be forever,” Kane soothed. “We’ll fix this. We always do.”
I nodded my agreement but secretly wondered when our luck would run out.
Bea waved for us to sit in the living room while she headed upstairs to deal with Lucien. After a few minutes of complete silence, Bea returned with a sullen Lucien following her. My heart ached for him. I’d lost the coven leadership; he’d lost his ability to cast magic. It wasn’t a position I ever wanted to find myself in.
“Have a seat,” Bea said to Lucien.
He sat on the chair next to Meri and stared across the room, his eyes glazed over in thought.
“What’s a black heart curse?” I asked.
Lucien’s head jerked up, and he locked eyes with Bea.
She studied him for a moment. “It’s just a name for a specific type of death curse. In this case, it appears to be tied to the spell Lucien used. Though, black heart curses don’t usually have longevity. He was correct in his thinking that something like this shouldn’t have happened again.” She moistened her lips in thought. “I need to do some research to figure out why it’s lingering. Lucien, any ideas?”
“No. I’ve even used the spell successfully after…” He cleared his throat. “I have no idea why this is happening.”
Bea pursed her lips and jotted down notes. “That’s very unusual.”
Lucien nodded.
She put down her pen. “I’ll make some phone calls tomorrow.”
The room fell silent. Another mystery. What the hell was going on?
A few moments ticked by, and then Bea rose and crossed the room. She perched on her sunflower print couch next to me. “Let’s talk about the possession.”
“Do you know if Meri and I can do anything other than stay joined at the hip for twenty-four hours a day?” I asked.
“I happen to know a little bit about souls.” Bea pursed her lips. “I did a lot of studying over the last few weeks.”
I felt my eyes go wide. “You did? Why?”
Bea’s expression turned tender. “Would I do anything else? I may have given the coven leadership up, but I didn’t abandon you. Souls are nothing to mess with, as you can see. This is part of the reason I warned you to be careful to not give up any of your soul while transferring energy.”
I straightened. “You knew I could be possessed?”
Kane’s hand tightened on my leg, but he kept silent.
“No, dear.” She glanced at Meri. “Angels deal in souls. They have a command over them. For Meri, having half a soul is only inconvenient because her power is weakened. She has less to work with. But for you, your soul is who you are. It’s that piece of you that keeps you grounded here on earth. If you lose it, you lose yourself. In turn, if someone takes it over, you’re lost inside yourself until you waste away.”
Trepidation filled me and my fingernails dug into her chintz couch. “Are you saying a ghost can steal my soul? What about Meri? Is hers in danger, too?”
“There isn’t a record of an angel being possessed before. We don’t think Meri’s at risk. But it does appear that you are susceptible to ghost possession. If one is strong enough, she could steal your soul.”
I let out a barely audible gasp. “Camille.”
Kane perched on the edge of the sofa, staring intently at Bea. “But with Meri around she’s safe, right?”
“For now.”
Kane stood, almost knocking over the coffee table. “What does that mean, for now? Jade’s risked everything for a lot of people, including Meri. There must be something that can be done.”
The strain in his voice made me want to wrap my arms around him and block out the rest of the world. Intellectually, I knew Bea was telling us my life was on the line again. I should’ve been freaking out. I should’ve been asking what I could do to change the trajectory of my path. Ever since I was fifteen, my world had been turned upside down by magic and the supernatural. I was supposed to be marrying my best friend, not trying to dodge a goddamned ghost intent on inhabiting my body. I shuddered at the thought.
“I think I have a solution,” Bea said.
I waited for her to continue. When she didn’t, I narrowed my eyes at her, frustrated with the buildup.
“Well?” Kane sank back down next to me and grabbed my hand once more. “What is it?”
Meri leaned forward. “We think a spell can be woven around both her parents to help rebuild her soul enough that she’ll be able to fend off attacks by herself.”
“My parents. As in my mom and dad.” The bottom dropped out of my stomach. I pressed a shaking hand to my middle. I hadn’t talked to my dad in seventeen years.
“Yes. You came from them. They have everything you need to make you whole again.”
“Wait. Are you saying there was a cure for Jade’s soul this whole time?” Kane asked, anger clouding his eyes. “Why are we only finding this out now?”
“No, we didn’t know,” Meri said, grabbing some notes from Bea’s table. “Like Bea said, she’s been doing some research, and combined with my knowledge of how souls are formed, we’re pretty sure this will work. It’s highly unusual and will mean we need the angel council’s approval, but it should work.”
He increased the pressure on my hand. “How
exactly are souls formed?”
Meri pressed her lips together and then took a deep breath. “We don’t talk about this outside of the angel realm, but each individual soul is seeded with pieces of the parent. It’s in their DNA. If we can get the council to agree to a small transfer, Bea can perform the spell and Jade’s soul should be able to heal itself.”
“They won’t do it,” I said in a small voice. “They’ll never agree to an intentional soul splitting.” Why would they risk two more souls? Even if we did happen to find Dad.
“They might.” Meri passed one of the papers in my direction. “Bea found a mention about an intentional soul healing in the coven records from about two hundred years ago.”
The writing was faded on the yellowed parchment paper, but I made out the note about a torn soul healed with the help of the parents. No other details.
I took a shaky breath. “Does it have to be my dad, too? Can’t it just be my mom?”
Bea shook her head sadly. “One isn’t enough. Do you think it’ll be hard to get your dad to come?”
Tears welled in my eyes, and I wasn’t sure if it was because I wanted to see him or if I didn’t. “I have no idea. I don’t even know where he is.”
Chapter 11
I sat next to Kat. She was still weak, but sitting up and alert. I forced the thoughts of my dad from my mind. I didn’t want to think about him or how he’d walked out on us. Leaning forward, I smoothed her curls from her forehead. “You’ll be fine here for the night without us?”
“Sure.” She smiled, appearing as if nothing had ever happened. “I don’t think there’s anywhere safer. Do you?”
“I’m not worried about your safety. Not here. Just your piece of mind.”
Her smile faded. “I’m not going to lie. What happened was awful. I mean, I don’t even really know what happened. One minute, I was waiting on Lucien, and the next, my whole body felt like it was in a vice grip. My head felt like someone was stabbing it with an ice pick. I know I was screaming, but Lucien’s warm magic drifted over my skin. At first, everything was better…” Her eyes shifted, and she stared at one of the Garden District paintings on the wall.
