by Deanna Chase
Goddess above. They were so much alike—it was no wonder they were best friends.
Forking another bite of mac and cheese, I glanced at Pyper. “Just give me ten minutes to wolf down this food and then we can get going.”
She snorted. “More like three. I’ve seen you eat.”
“Ha ha,” I said dryly. But three minutes later, I’d already dumped my bowl in the sink, texted Mati to let her know we were on our way, and scooped up the dragon-dog. “Let’s do this.”
She drained the last of her beer and then followed me out the front door.
3
“I’ve always loved this car,” Pyper said as she stepped on the gas pedal and whipped through the French Quarter. “And I gave Kane so much shit when he bought it.”
“Why?” I stroked the puppy’s ears, trying to keep her calm. She was curled up on my baby bump, pressing her head against me. We’d tried securing her in the back with the seat belt, but she wasn’t having any of it. The smoke had started almost instantly, and I decided it was better to hold her than let her burn the Lexus from the inside out.
“Because it just screams rich asshole.” She laughed. “He didn’t take kindly to that comment.”
“I’d imagine not.” Kane had inherited his grandmother’s house in the French Quarter and another plantation house outside of town. Those two properties had afforded him the ability to build up a couple of businesses, which meant he was more than comfortable. He’d even helped Pyper open the Grind, her coffee shop on Bourbon Street. Rich he might be, but asshole he wasn’t.
“You know I can’t resist needling him.” She steered the car onto the Crescent City Connection bridge that would take us over the river and to Coven Pointe. “Before Bo came along, he was the closest thing I had to a brother.”
“How is Bo?” I asked, inquiring after the teenager she’d met less than a year ago. After she realized they shared the same deadbeat father who’d up and left Bo with a jackass who only cared about a foster care check from the state, she’d brought him home and become his legal guardian.
“Good. He and Reagan are working full time at the Grind for now. Once school starts up again, I’ll need to find someone else to fill in for you.” She eyed my belly. “I suppose making lattes is off the table for a while.”
I’d been working at her café since the first month I’d stumbled into New Orleans. The truth was, I loved working with her, but now that I had a baby on board, I was taking an extended leave of absence. “Yes, but if you need help, you can always call. I’m sure the peanut can ride along in a mommy sling.”
She waved an unconcerned hand. “We’ll find someone.”
Pyper maneuvered through the city streets, avoiding the potholes with expert precision, and finally came to a stop right outside Mati’s raised-basement home. Before I even managed to get my seat belt off, Pyper was on the sidewalk, holding my door open and reaching for the dog.
The pup grunted and once again snorted smoke.
“You’re trouble, you know that?” Pyper asked her as she frowned at the small creature. “You need a name.”
“How about Flame?” I offered as I hauled myself out of the seat, pleased I’d made it upright without help.
“If the shoe fits,” Pyper said, handing me the dog. “Flame it is.”
Still holding Flame, I followed Pyper up the stairs to Mati’s apartment. Before she could even knock, the door flew open and Mati beamed at us. Her dark hair was piled up on her head in a haphazard bun, but the tendrils were curled, giving her a slightly mussed but gorgeous look.
“Pyper! Jade! It’s been such a long time. Come in.” She held the door open and waved us in. “And who’s this little cutie?” She reached for Flame, but I held her back.
“She belongs to Harper, and she has… unusual abilities,” I said.
“Harper?” Mati asked, surprise in her tone as she tucked one of those tendrils behind her ear. “Since when? As far as I know, she doesn’t have any power at all. Just an interest in the supernatural. She believes in the power of energy but can’t actually feel it like you can, Jade.”
Interesting. No wonder she’d done her homework on who I was. Being that I was an empath, energy was pretty much my thing.
“No. This one.” I pointed to the dog. “She breathes fire.”
Mati’s eyes went wide then narrowed as she studied Flame. “That’s not a dog, is it?”
Pyper and I shared a glance and I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I’m guessing a familiar.”
“Oh man.” Mati pressed a hand to her forehead. “This is bad. Really bad. Do you know where Harper is? There’s a message on my voice mail from this morning, but when I tried to call her back, the guy who answered the phone told me she didn’t work there anymore.”
“She called you?” I asked. “When?”
“While I was in class this morning. I found the message on my phone about an hour ago. Why?”
“Maybe we should sit down while we talk,” I said, eyeing the overstuffed leather couch against the wall.
“Sure.” Mati waved a hand, inviting us to take a seat. Vaughn, another member of the Brotherhood, walked in wearing ripped jeans, a formfitting T-shirt, and white athletic shoes. His dark hair was still wet from a shower, and I couldn’t help thinking that besides Kane, he was just about the most handsome man I’d ever met. He stood next to Mati, and the pair of them were so beautiful together they looked like they’d just walked right off the pages of Cosmopolitan magazine.
Mati smiled up at him. “Hey there. Can you get us some tea?” Her head swiveled to me. “Do you need anything else? A snack? Cookies? Crackers?”
“Jade always needs cookies,” Pyper said with a teasing smile. “Me too for that matter, and I don’t even have an excuse.” She patted her flat stomach.
“Cookies it is,” Vaughn said.
“Water for me,” I said. “No caffeine while the baby’s on board.”
“Right.” Vaughn kissed Mati on the cheek before disappearing into the kitchen.
“He’s…” Pyper shook her head and fanned herself.
“That’s an incubus for you,” Mati said with an amused smile. “He even manages to turn the heads of the happily committed.”
I laughed. She wasn’t kidding. Pyper and I were completely off the market with no desire to stray… ever, and yet we’d both been dazzled by Vaughn. I swear, someone needed to put a paper bag over the man’s head just to save the female population of New Orleans from themselves.
“Okay,” Mati said as she sank into a white armchair. “What’s going on with Harper, and what made you come here?”
“She told me you were friends and she was here the day we took the dragon down,” I said.
Mati nodded. “That’s true. She’s rushing the sorority Chessa made me join a while back.”
My eyebrows shot straight up. “I thought you had to have magic to join.”
“So did I,” she said with a laugh. “But I guess there weren’t enough of us, so they started letting in people who have a passion for the paranormal or are related to people with supernatural abilities.” She shrugged. “Harper has a grandmother who was an angel and an aunt who was a witch. I don’t think she has any abilities, but you never know with her history, right? Not to mention the fact that she has a fire-breathing dog. Regular folks don’t usually end up with supernatural creatures.”
That was true, and it made me wonder if there really was some power lying dormant deep down inside Harper.
“Listen.” I scooted forward, leaning in as I spoke. “I’m not sure what’s going on with her, but a few witches from the council showed up today at the store she works at and hauled her off.”
“What?” She blinked and jerked back. “At the Hustler Hollywood store?”
“Yeah. Pyper and I were there to pick up a few things for a bachelorette party.”
“And a few personal items,” Pyper said with a smirk.
Mati snickered but then sobered as she glanced back at me. “
Sorry. What do you mean they hauled her off? Why?”
“I don’t know exactly,” I said. “They said something about ‘bind she who seeks to unleash the dragon.’ And since she mentioned being here during the dragon fiasco a few months ago and she has a fire-breathing dog, I have to assume she’s involved in something that deals with dragons. Do you know anything about it?”
Shock flittered over the young woman’s face and she shook her head. “No. Harper? Dragons? I don’t believe it.” She looked at the dog that was curled around my feet and frowned. “But what about that one and the fact that she’s been arrested? It doesn’t look good for her, does it?”
I shook my head. “No. It doesn’t.”
Mati reached for her phone on the end table, tapped the screen a few times, and then turned up the volume as a message started to play. “Mati, it’s Harper. I know you’re in class right now, but I need you to call me as soon as you get this message. It’s important. I think I’m… Well, let’s just say there’s something going down with some of the new recruits for Kappa Mu. They need our help. Call me.”
“Something going down? What does that mean?” Pyper asked, her brow furrowed. “Like their fake IDs have been discovered and the party will be dry unless someone steps up, or something going down like a demon is on the loose and someone needs to send his ass back to hell type of thing?”
Mati raised both hands, palms up in an I-don’t-know gesture. “Hard to say. She sounds worried but not panicked. I guess I need to get over to the house and find out if her message has anything to do with why the council arrested her, huh?”
“Probably a good idea,” I said. “Do you want us to come with you?”
Mati glanced at my protruding belly and smiled as she shook her head. “Nah. Vaughn and I can handle it.” She smiled up at him as he reentered the room and placed a tray of cookies and drinks on the coffee table. “We’ll let you know what we find out.”
“And Harper?” I asked. “Does she have someone on her side who can help her?” After my experience with the Witches’ Council earlier in the year, I knew just how important it was to have representation at their kangaroo court. Even if Harper was guilty of dealing with dragons, she deserved someone to defend her, otherwise who knew what might happen to her.
“I’ll talk to Darla and see if she’ll send the coven lawyer to help,” Mati said, referring to her aunt who also happened to be Coven Pointe’s coven leader. She grabbed a sugar cookie and waved a hand to us. “Eat up. They should still be warm.”
Coven lawyer, I thought. Why didn’t we have one of those? Lucien, my second-in-command of the coven and a skilled researcher, had defended me. But a lawyer would be handy to have around. I’d have to look into that. I eyed the cookies and practically drooled. When was the last time I’d eaten? Oh, right. Just before we’d come over I’d had mac and cheese and cheesecake. Goddess above, I was out of control. That didn’t stop me from snagging two cookies though.
Pyper just shook her head at me as she took one for herself and sipped a cup of tea.
“There’s one more thing,” I said to Mati, gesturing to the small dog at my feet. “I didn’t want to hand her over to animal control. Not with her ability anyway. It’s too dangerous.”
Mati nodded. “I can see that. Is she staying with you for the time being?”
I reached down and picked up the snuggly dog. She curled up on my baby bump again and pressed her head against my shoulder. I sighed. “I was going to let her, but Kane is uneasy about the fire-breathing thing. She already came very close to crispy-frying his hand earlier, accidentally, of course.”
“Ouch,” Mati said sympathetically.
“Right. Anyway, I was wondering if you knew anyone who could take care of her or if you were willing to do it since you’re friends with Harper and all?” I knew I’d shot myself in the foot the moment I mentioned she’d almost given Kane a third-degree burn, but Mati deserved to know the truth. Besides, it hadn’t sounded like Mati had actually even met the dog… familiar… whatever it was before I’d brought her over.
Mati grimaced. “I’m sorry, Jade. I’d love to help out, but my lease doesn’t let me have pets.”
“Right. Okay. It was worth a shot.” I hoisted Flame into my arms, grabbed another cookie, and stood.
“I could ask around, see if anyone in the sorority is interested in dog-sitting, but most are renting and I—”
“It’s okay,” I said, quickly, letting her off the hook. “I figured it was a long shot.”
Mati got to her feet as well and pet the puppy behind the ears. “What will you do with her now?”
I shrugged. “Take her back home, I guess. I can’t give her to the shelter, so unless you know about a place that takes in magical pets, it looks like I’m stuck with her.” The council would’ve previously been an option, but after my stay there, I just didn’t feel like I could trust them. They didn’t even feed me a decent meal despite my being pregnant and incarcerated for more than forty-eight hours. No. My maternal instincts were working overtime, and the pup was coming home with me.
“Kane is not going to be happy,” Pyper said. “But if you treat him to that lacy black number, I’m guessing that might help smooth things over.”
I laughed. She had a point. But lacy lingerie or not, I doubted Kane would fight me too hard on this issue. He wouldn’t want to put the creature in danger either. Maybe I could train her to keep her fire-breathing in check. I turned to Mati. “Will you keep me up-to-date with Harper’s case and if there’s anything to worry about with your sorority recruits? Let me know if there’s anything I can do?”
“Sure.” Mati followed Pyper and me to her door.
“And if you hear anything more about dragons, give me a call, will you?” I gave an involuntary shudder, imagining a showdown of dragons and demons filling the streets of our gorgeous city. It would be complete destruction. Dragons had originally been the protectors of the angels against the demons. But back in the 1600s, there’d been an epic battle that had all but destroyed the city, and most of the dragons had been wiped out. At least one soul had survived, but he’d been contained in a dragon sculpture for hundreds of years before he’d managed to latch onto my magic and work his way into Conor Wells a few months back.
After Conor had turned into a full-fledged dragon he was captured, and the dragon soul had been forced out of him by the angels and was now contained in the angel realm. Conor was back to his old self, and as far as anyone knew, there weren’t any more dragons just hanging out, waiting to be released. But if there was one thing I’d learned from being a witch in New Orleans… anything was possible.
“If you’ll do the same,” Mati said, walking out onto her porch with us.
“Not a problem,” I said.
She reached over and scratched Flame behind the ear. “And take care of this cutie.”
I smiled at her. “Definitely.”
“And that little one in there.” She nodded at my belly. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure out what’s going on with Harper and her friends. Your last couple of months of pregnancy should be worry free. We’ve got it from here.”
I let out a chuckle, and as Pyper and I made our way back to Kane’s car, I thought, Famous last words.
4
“Mati jinxed us,” Pyper said as she pulled the car over to the side of the road.
The blue and red lights were flashing from the front window of the nondescript black car behind us, and the sticky magic the witches had aimed at the Lexus, forcing it to slow, was starting to seep in through the windows.
My heart thumped against my chest, and my blood was rushing in my ears. What was going on? New Orleans didn’t have a magical police force. Who were these witches? Magic sparked at my fingertips, my entire being on guard. “Are they government officials, do you think? Or are they just black witches causing trouble?”
Pyper glanced over her shoulder. “They are wearing robes. Official ones that look like they belong to the Witches
’ Council.”
“Did Julius say anything about the council having law enforcement agents?” I asked her. Julius, her fiancé who was also a witch, worked for them, running down cases as a magical detective of sorts, but he didn’t wear a robe or drive an ominous car and pull over innocent witches. “I know they have teams that go out and pick up suspects, like when they apprehended Harper today, but flashing lights and sticky magic? I’ve never heard of that before.”
Suspects? Were we suspects for something? For the past few months, I hadn’t done much of anything other than work a few shifts at the Grind. I’d outfitted the nursery in the spare room at home and started experimenting with mild herb blends designed to help promote mental and physical well-being to maybe sell at Bea’s shop. But other than that, I’d been downright boring. Why would I be a suspect in anything?
I glanced at my friend. “Pyper?”
“Yeah?” Her fingers had tightened around the wheel, and a sheen of sweat had popped out on her forehead. I couldn’t tell if that was from nerves or the overwhelming, hellish temperatures in August in New Orleans.
“You haven’t been up to anything… unusual lately have you?”
She turned and met my gaze. “You mean other than wedding planning and making a hundred protection charms for the reception?”
My lips twitched. Instead of giving something to promote love and happiness, Pyper and Julius were handing out pendants that were designed to protect people from evil spirits. Being that Pyper was a medium and Julius had spent a significant amount of time as a ghost in his previous life, they were both a little more paranoid about evil spirits than the average supernatural. “Yes, other than that.”
“Nope. The last trouble that found me was that curse, and it affected Bo, not me. The only thing I think I can be accused of is drinking too much coffee and indulging Ida May’s inappropriate sexual innuendo.” Ida May was the resident ghost at the Grind. She was known for arranging pastries in a sexually suggestive way while also writing not-safe-for-work messages on the specials board.