by Deanna Chase
Incubus of Bourbon Street
From New York Times Bestselling author Deanna Chase.
Newlyweds Jade Calhoun and Kane Rouquette have barely said “I do” when there’s a disturbance in the shadow world that’s draining the energy of angels. As shadow walkers, Jade and Kane are pressed into service, tasked with the impossible mission of solving the mystery before any angels are lost…until Kane’s accused of poisoning the shadows with his incubus energy and his power is stripped.
Life goes from bad to worse when a lesser Goddess shows up, hell-bent on stealing the spirits of mortals in pursuit of a fountain of youth. Now it’s up to Jade and her coven to keep their friends safe, clear Kane’s name, and fix the shadows before one of them is lost forever.
Incubus of Bourbon Street
A Jade Calhoun Novel
Deanna Chase
www.DeannaChase.com
Bayou Moon Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by Deanna Chase
First Edition 2014
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN ebook: 978-1-940299-20-4
ISBN Print: 978-1-940299-24-2
Interior Design: The Printed Page, Phoenix, AZ
Cover Design: Janet Holmes
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, business establishments, or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.
Bayou Moon Publishing
[email protected]
www.deannachase.com
Contents
Incubus of Bourbon Street
Incubus of Bourbon Street
Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
About the Author
Other Books by Deanna
Acknowledgments
Thank you to the Jade Calhoun fans. Your support of the series is amazing and humbling. As always, a huge thanks to my team: Rhonda, Angie, Dana, and Lisa. You make me look better than I am.
Chapter 1
“Do you ever call on your magic during sex?” my best friend, Kat, asked as she tipped her glass of chardonnay to her lips.
I sputtered mid-sip and coughed. “What?”
“Oh, come on, Jade. Are you really telling me you never spice things up with a spell?” Her bright blue eyes gleamed in the soft lighting of the restaurant.
“Well…” How was I supposed to answer that? My husband was an incubus, so magic was just a part of things now, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk about it. And not in the middle of Muriel’s, sandwiched between two tables occupied by conservative-looking old-world New Orleans couples. “Umm, there might be some magic involved, but I don’t cast any spells.” I gave her a sly glance. “What about you? Does Lucien unleash his magic on your girly parts?”
She clasped her hand over her mouth as she giggled. “He’ll kill me if he finds out I told you…he does this thing where he trails a magical current over my skin that drives me crazy. But last night he took it a little further and…uh, it wasn’t along my skin, it was—” she lowered her voice, “—inside me.”
“Whoa, Lucien.” I raised my eyebrows in curious surprise. “I didn’t know he had it in him.”
She frowned and put her glass down. “What’s that supposed to mean? Lucien’s hot.”
Oops. “That’s not… Um, I know he’s good looking. I just think of him as more of a brother type.”
Her irritated expression vanished. “Well, that’s probably a good thing.” Then she laughed. “It’s somewhat intimidating talking about this with someone who lives with an incubus. I might be feeling a little out-sexed.”
Chuckling, I shook my head. “I don’t think magical orgasms are anything to feel insecure about.”
“Magical orgasms?” Pyper echoed too loudly as she slid into an empty chair. She wore silver pants and a tank top that matched the electric blue stripe in her dark hair. The older couple to our right both turned and gave us disapproving looks. Pyper smiled at them, her eyes dancing with mischief. “Sounds awesome, doesn’t it?” she said to them in a conspiratorial tone. “All that magic prolonging the release? Who wouldn’t—”
“Pyper!” I stared at her with amused horror. “Stop.”
She winked at the woman. “Well, I’m sure you get my meaning.”
The woman’s outrage slammed into me, nearly knocking me over.
“Oh, jeez.” I sucked down a quarter of my margarita, silently cursing my empath ability. I’d donate a kidney in exchange for a life free of other peoples’ emotions. “We can’t take you anywhere.”
“Please. I keep things interesting.” She waved the waiter down and ordered a mojito. “What’s everyone having?”
“Duck,” Kat said. “And crepes. I’ve been waiting for this all day.”
I scanned the menu. “Tuna. Definitely.”
“I’m starving,” Pyper said. “Maybe the pork chop. Or the beef medallions or—”
My phone started playing “Stairway to Heaven.” I grimaced as my friends frowned at me.
“Don’t even think about answering it,” Pyper said. “This is girls’ night. No witch business, got it?”
“But it’s Lailah.”
Kat plucked the phone from me and hit Decline. “She can leave a message.”
“Yeah, okay,” I said.
We’d been trying to have a night out together for more than two months, and every time we scheduled something, plans were either interrupted or cancelled by one thing or another. Lailah was a friend, but she was also an angel and my soul guardian. Unfortunately, more often than not her calls came with orders from the angel council. A ball of foreboding weighed heavily in my gut. What had happened now?
My phone buzzed with an incoming text. I reached for it, but Kat grabbed it and then switched it off. “No phone. The world can wait until you eat.”
I eyed her, somewhat irritated by her heavy-handedness. But mostly I was relieved. The angel council had imposed on Kane and me far too often lately. If I had to slip into the shadow world to check one more lost soul, I was going to scream. So far we’d rescued half a dozen ghosts and destroyed half a dozen more in the last four weeks. The ones we saved were shuffled into the angel realm. The ones we destroyed had been bound for Hell to be used by the demons for…well, no one really knew what the demons wanted the souls for. No doubt it wasn’t anything good. The work was satisfying, but extremely intrusive.
With my phone confiscated, I sat back, feeling relaxed for the first time all day. Girls’ night out was looking better and better.
Or it was until Pyper�
��s phone started ringing. She looked at the screen. “It’s Kane.” With a swipe of her finger, she answered it. “You know we’re at dinner. What’s so important it couldn’t wait?” she said by way of greeting. Then she grimaced. “Seriously?”
“What’s wrong?” I held my hand out to Kat for my phone. She didn’t fight me on it this time.
As I turned it back on, Pyper said, “There’s a disturbance in the shadows. You’ve been summoned.”
I threw a twenty down on the table for my drink. “Tell him I’ll be right there.”
She relayed my message to Kane as I took off out of the restaurant, listening to Lailah’s voicemail, which said, “There’s an emergency council meeting convening right now. The energy coming from the shadows is tainted with evil. Your presence is required.”
Kane was standing on the sidewalk, waiting for me in front of our house a few blocks over. The early evening sun shone down on his dark hair, and he squinted in my direction, holding out his hand. “They’re waiting.”
I glanced down at the dagger strapped to his belt. “The Brotherhood hasn’t called on you?” Kane and his incubus Brotherhood were demon hunters. They walked the shadows as they slipped in and out of our world all the time. A disturbance would be high on their radar.
“They did, but the angel council overruled them. And for some reason, Maximus let them.” Kane’s brow wrinkled in confusion.
“That seems…unusual,” I said, slipping my hand into his. Maximus was the leader of the Brotherhood and didn’t much care for the high angel ordering around one of his demon hunters. Kane and I didn’t have a choice, though. We’d signed a contract with the angels in order to protect my soul. But Maximus was under no obligation to the angels and often refused Kane’s services when it interfered with demon-hunter missions. Since angels were in constant danger of demons, the high angel relented more often than not.
“Very.” He tugged me inside and as soon as the door shut behind us, a bright light streamed from the ceiling.
Taking a deep breath, I nodded to Kane and together, the pair of us stepped into the light.
The world spun, flashes of white light making my eyes water. Then my feet slammed into a hard surface and for once, I managed to stay upright. Blinking hard, my vision cleared and the stark white-and-gold sanctuary came into focus. We were standing in the angel realm’s version of the Saint Louis Cathedral. The floors were white and gold checkered tiles and the murals on the walls were washed out, void of the vibrant colors I was used to. I rubbed my arms, trying to stave off the sudden chill.
The angel council stood in a line up on the dais, their expressions somber.
Chessandra, the high angel, stepped forward and gestured for us to come closer. She was dressed impeccably as always in her sleek cream pants suit, but there was something harried in her tight expression and wary onyx eyes.
I glanced around, noting the empty chairs. Usually when we were summoned, all of the angels of the realm were in attendance. Not this time.
My biological father, Drake, moved gracefully to Chessandra’s side, concern radiating from his gaze. His straight white-blond hair fell forward as he leaned in and whispered something to her.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
An elder council member in the back scowled at me. It was customary to not speak until spoken to, but I didn’t care about any of their arcane rules. I’d just been plucked from girls’ night. Someone needed to start explaining.
Kane slipped his fingers through mine, and a tingle of his humor warmed my skin. Clearly he was just as tired of their ridiculous formalities as I was.
Chessandra pretended as if I hadn’t insulted the entire council and said, “There was an incident earlier today when one of our angels went into the shadow world.”
“Nasty business,” a white-haired older woman of the council said in disgust.
Chessandra cast her an irritated glance. Her expression cleared as she focused on me again. “She was doing a routine check for viable souls when her magical abilities were suddenly severed. She said she felt as if she’d suffered a demon attack, but she saw nothing. The only reason she was able to return to us is because I recalled her when she didn’t report back at her expected time. You both are tasked with investigating the matter. This is of the highest importance.”
“Just us? We don’t get any help from the council?” I asked.
Chessandra gave me a stern look. “Ms. Calhoun, I just told you an angel suffered an invisible attack. It should be obvious to you we can’t risk any of our own getting trapped in the shadows.”
Deep-seated frustration tightened in my gut. There were warnings about making deals with the devil. No one ever cautioned against dealing with the high angel, though. Of course they wouldn’t risk one of their own. Why should they when they had a white witch and an incubus demon hunter at their beck and call?
Kane squeezed my hand, a silent show of solidarity. He was just as irritated as I was that we had to jump every time they called. Especially when it involved demons. Not that we weren’t equipped to deal with them. Kane was a demon hunter, after all.
“Right,” I said to Chessandra, my tone clipped. “But I was referring to other shadow walkers. You know, people with power who might be able to help.” I was the leader of the New Orleans’ coven, but none of my fellow witches were shadow walkers. That skill had been bestowed upon me not too long ago as part of my contract to work for the council.
“And what about the demon hunters?” Kane asked. “Will you be working with them on this? In other words, can I brief my superior on my mission?”
His question seemed like a no brainer. The angels and the Brotherhood had the same mission: to keep people safe from demons. Only, the angels were more concerned with people’s souls, and the hunters were more interested in destroying demons. The two went hand in hand, but neither party was very fond of the other. All of our shadow world missions were classified. If Kane didn’t tell the Brotherhood about our orders, he could be called into a demon battle at any time, leaving me to deal with the mission on my own.
Chessandra studied him carefully. Then with a flick of her wrist, a door to the right swung open. “Follow me. Both of you.”
I stared at Drake, who stepped back into line with the other angels. He wouldn’t meet my gaze. Damn, that wasn’t a good sign.
Kane and I followed Chessandra into her private office.
“Have a seat,” she said and perched on the edge of her desk.
I had a sense of déjà vu from the last time we’d been there. She had the same contemplative expression on her face and the same authoritative air about her.
We did as we were told and waited while she flipped through an old leather-bound notebook. “Maximus isn’t sympathetic to our cause.”
Kane and I looked at each other. Then he turned to her. “I’m not sure I understand. Maximus is fully dedicated to ridding our world of demons.”
She nodded. “Yes. He is. But he also has a grudge against us. He resents the fact that we don’t fight the demons ourselves. That we employ witches and lower-level angels to do that work for us. He believes we think too highly of ourselves and that we’re the reason demons exist in the first place.”
I had to admit, I kind of agreed with him. The angels of the angel realm saw the world in black and white and held little compassion for those beneath them. They only cared about whether or not a soul was safe and useful to their cause. I still wasn’t sure what their end game was. All I knew was that when I’d been sharing my soul with Meri, a former fallen angel, they’d voted to give my soul to her because they thought she’d be more valuable than I was, even though it was mine and always had been. In the end, taking it from me had proven to be a lot more difficult than they’d thought and it had torn in half. Thanks to my aunt and a deal with the not-so-angelic Chessandra, my soul had been repaired, but it hadn’t been pleasant.
“With all due respect, Chessandra,” Kane said, “I don’t think it ma
tters how Maximus feels about the angel council. What matters is my ability to do my job. I think it would be far more advantageous to everyone if I’m able to share information.”
“It matters what Maximus thinks,” the high angel said. “Far more than you know. But considering the circumstances, I’ll allow you to inform your superior of my orders. That is all you’re allowed to divulge, however.”
“What else would we say?” So far, all we knew was one angel had been mysteriously attacked by…something. While I agreed the incident was alarming, we still didn’t have any solid information and what if the angel was mixed up in some dark forces of her own? Despite their name, not every angel was in fact, always one hundred percent saintly.
Chessandra let out a deep sigh. Frowning, she waved her hand. Behind her desk, the wall shimmered and then seemed to disappear as if a veil were lifted, revealing a hospital-like room. Inside were half a dozen young women lying down, hooked up to IVs. Each one was pale and gaunt in appearance. “The incident wasn’t just one angel. It was all of them.”
Chapter 2
I let out a tiny gasp as I stared through the magical veil at the recovering angels. At least, I hoped they were recovering. It was hard to tell, since none of them appeared to be awake.
“How did this happen?” Kane asked, his voice low and controlled.
Chessandra waved her hand again, closing the veil. “They were all caught in the shadows today, but no one else knows their energy was drained except Drake and my personal physician. As far as the rest of the council is concerned, only one angel was trapped and lost her powers. It’s imperative that we keep this development quiet. Otherwise, all the angels, including the low-level ones, will be in danger. One angel losing her powers is easily explained—I can say a spell backfired or a demon attacked her or she fell ill. But if word gets out that six collapsed due to the conditions of the shadow world, then evil beings will start planning attacks.”
I sat straight up, my back rigid as the implications of what she’d just said hit me hard. Only really powerful beings could shadow walk: sex witches, white witches who’d been granted the ability, incubi, angels, and demons. But all spirits could. It was unlikely a witch or incubus would go after an angel. But a demon? Definitely.