by Deanna Chase
The sorority president was silent for a long moment. Then she blurted, “Are you telling me there are ghost pervs watching us while we shower?”
“Probably,” I said, unable to stop my laughter. “This is New Orleans after all. Almost every old home is visited by ghosts. It’s just the way of things.”
“That’s not funny!” she cried. “How would you feel if a ghost was watching you?”
“Creeped out,” I said honestly. “When I first moved here, I actually did have a ghost join me in the shower. He freaked me out so badly I fell and almost hit my head on the toilet. I could’ve knocked myself out and died. It wasn’t pretty.”
“How did you handle it?” she asked, her tone hushed.
“I smudged the place with sage.”
“Did it work?”
I shook my head. “Not exactly. But that was a special case. Most of the time it does. If you’re worried, go to Beatrice Kelton’s shop, the Herbal Connection, in the French Quarter. She’ll help you find the right herbs and spells to oust even the most persistent ghosts.”
“Okay.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glanced around, no doubt looking for any pervy ghosts.
“Pyper? Anything?” I asked.
She shook her head. “The voices stopped, and Tru says they’ve moved on for now.” Tru was one of her spirit guides.
I nodded. “All right. Let’s go talk to Willa and the others.” I glanced at Cami. “Which room is it?”
“The one at the very end of the hall. You can’t miss it.”
“Got it.” I took off up the stairs, Flame in my arms, Mati and Pyper behind me.
9
Lavender incense overwhelmed me as I stepped through the threshold of the bedroom door. I noted Willa instantly. She was folded into a wooden chair at the desk, her dark hair tied back in a loose ponytail. There was a mustard stain on her white off-the-shoulder T-shirt, and she was still wearing cotton pajama bottoms.
Her bright green gaze raked over me, and then she gasped and jumped up, her arms out as she said, “Peanut, there you are.”
Flame started wiggling in my arms, desperate to get to Willa.
“Come here, sweetie. Oh, sweet demons, I’m so glad you’re all right.” She pulled Flame—err, Peanut—out of my arms and cuddled her close to her chest. “Where did you find her?” Willa asked me.
Not sure I wanted everyone to know the pup had somehow magically ended up in my backyard, I went with the easiest explanation. “We were there when the council took Harper. After this one showed off her talents, I couldn’t leave her there, so I took her home with me.”
Willa let out a deep sigh of relief. “Thank you, thank you,” she said, rubbing her cheek against the dog’s fur. “You saved her.”
I glanced at the other two women who were sitting on the bed and leaning against the wall. One was dark skinned with tight curls that had been dyed blond, while the other one was so fair her skin seemed almost translucent. They were both smiling at Willa and Peanut, clearly pleased at the development.
“I don’t know if saved is the correct word,” I said. “She seems to be able to handle herself. But I didn’t want to risk her falling into the wrong hands. The mundane world would have no idea what to do with her.”
“Well, thank you anyway.” Willa held out a hand to me. “I’m Willa Hamilton, Harper’s cousin.”
Cousin? That was interesting. Was she the daughter of the aunt who lived in Salem? I shook her hand. “Jade Calhoun.”
Willa gave me a brisk nod. “I’ve heard of you. You’re the one who helped Conor Wells a few months ago.”
“That was me, as well as Mati and some other friends.” I gave her a warm smile, hoping to gain her trust before I revealed that I was supposed to be hunting her cousin.
She glanced nervously at the other two women and then back at me. “Do you know where she is? Harper, I mean?”
“I was hoping to ask you the same question.” I took two steps over to the bed and held my hand out to the dark-skinned woman. “Hi. I’m Jade.”
“Mack.” She shook my hand and then turned to the fair-skinned woman. “And this is Ellie.”
“Hi, Ellie.” I shook her hand too and then introduced Pyper.
After everyone was acquainted, I turned back to Willa expectantly. “Any idea of where Harper might be?”
Her eyes were sad as she just shook her head. “We’ve already checked everywhere we could think of. We don’t know anything other than she just vanished into thin air.”
Willa’s energy had a hesitant feeling that made me feel like she was hiding something. I didn’t think she was lying exactly, just more like holding back. Reading people without their permission wasn’t something that I liked to do. In fact, usually I took pains to block out others’ emotions. They were just too taxing, especially when they were bombarding me all the time. But the energy from all three of them was different than what I was used to. It was faint, barely there, yet it called to me the way another intuitive’s energy always did.
“And you don’t have any guesses on where to try next?” I asked, sending my emotional energy out, trying to read her response.
“None,” Willa said. “Not unless she left New Orleans, which I doubt. She wouldn’t have done that without Peanut.” She stroked the dog’s ears. “Want to come home with me, sweetheart? Diesel will be overjoyed for a playmate.”
“Diesel?” I asked.
“That’s Peanut’s brother,” Ellie interjected.
“The fire-breathing dog has a brother?” I asked, shocked. “There are more of them? How?”
Willa shrugged. “How are there dragons or witches or demons?”
That was a good question. “Mind telling me where you found the dogs? Are they dogs? I’m not really sure.”
Willa laughed. “Yes, of course they are. There’s a guy out in the bayou who breeds them. I think he must be some sort of witch, but I’m not really sure. My mom hooked us up with him when we got down here. She has connections all over the country.”
“The one with a shop in Salem?” I asked.
“That’s the one.”
“Listen, Willa,” Mati said, sitting down next to her. “I hope this isn’t too personal, but your mom’s a witch, right?”
“Yes.” She chuckled softly. “What’s personal about that?”
“But you aren’t, are you?” Mati asked.
Willa stiffened, and her eyes darkened with annoyance. “No. I’m not a witch, but I have other abilities. Like I know that you and your incubus boyfriend filled the well last night, so to speak.”
Mati just stared at her. Then she finally said, “That’s true enough, but we do most nights.” She shrugged as if the fact that some random person had intimate knowledge of her sex life didn’t matter in the least. Maybe it didn’t. Mati was a sex witch after all.
“And the one with the blue hair.” Willa nodded to Pyper. “She’s not a witch. In fact, she doesn’t have any power at all. Her only skill is talking to dead people.”
So Willa could sense other people’s paranormal abilities. That was quite handy actually. “What about me?” I asked her. “You already know I’m a witch.”
She gave me a flat stare. “You tried to read my energy to see if I was lying to you. How’d that go?”
My mouth fell open at her bluntness. But as the shock wore off, I just laughed. “Actually, not well. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. Your emotional signature is unique, and that interests me. Now I know why.”
Willa stood. “All I’m interested in is finding my cousin before it’s too late. Are you here to help, or are you wasting my time?”
“Too late for what?” Pyper and I asked at the same time.
No one said anything as Willa stared at the floor, her head bowed.
“Willa?” I asked gently.
She raised her head and shook it. Silent tears were rolling down her face.
“You have to tell her,” Mack said in almost a whisper. “It’
s what Harper wanted.”
“Jade works for the council,” Willa said, wiping angrily at her cheeks. “She’s not who we thought she was.”
So she’d heard that part, had she? Well, better that she knew the truth even if I didn’t technically work for them. Pyper and I had been forced to do their bidding, and that would never sit right.
“Yes, she is,” Ellie said, climbing off the bed and taking Willa’s hand in her own. “She saved Conor, and she can save Harper too.”
Dread coiled in the pit of my stomach. There’d been a list of possible dragon leaders with my name circled. Harper had been arrested for trying to unleash the dragon. There was a fire-breathing dog that acted as more of a familiar. I’d been trying not to jump to conclusions, but the obvious was now staring me in the face.
“Harper is in danger of becoming a dragon, and that’s why everyone wants me to find her, is that it?” I asked. “Everyone is hoping I can save her and the city?”
The look on Willa’s face told me I’d hit the nail smack on the head.
“Tell me everything.”
Willa reached into a purse that was sitting on the desk and pulled out a piece of paper. It was a short list of names. “These are our cousins from my mother’s oldest sister. They all went missing in the past two months.”
“What?” Mati got up from the chair and started pacing the room. “How? What happened?”
I moved to take Mati’s place, grateful to get off my feet, and grabbed a pen out of my own bag, staring expectantly at Willa, waiting for her to answer.
She swallowed and looked at Mack and Ellie pleadingly.
Mack climbed off the bed and moved to Willa’s side. Taking her hand, she said, “They’re all older than us. Out of college and all living in separate towns. Lacy went missing first, but it took a while for anyone to notice because she travels a lot. They thought she was on a business trip. But two weeks later, Bree disappeared on her way to a yoga class, and three days after that, Janice disappeared on her way to work. All three are missing without a trace. No one knows anything.”
My heart sped up and a sense of urgency flared to life in my chest. “Did anyone do a finding spell?”
Willa nodded.
“What happened?”
“My aunt showed up in the circle.” Willa clutched the paper, crinkling it. “She passed ten years ago after a spell backfired.”
“She appeared as a ghost then?” Pyper asked.
Willa nodded. “She said she feared this would happen. That when they found out, they’d eliminate us. She told Harper and me to find you. That you were the only one who could protect us. But now…” She shook her head. “Just tell me now. Are you going to turn us in to the council?”
“Why would I do that?” I asked, stunned.
“Because, Jade,” Mack said, standing up straighter. “We’re the last—”
“No, Mack!” Willa said, her expression alarmed. “Don’t say anything.”
“Willa,” Mack said, her voice full of fatigue, “we’re out of options. Who else is going to help us? What are Ellie and I going to do when you’re next and then they come for us?”
Willa buried her face in her hands.
“Come for you two as well?” I asked. “Are you all related?”
Mack and Ellie nodded.
Ellie gave me a weak smile and added, “We’re distant cousins, but still cousins of the same bloodline. We’ve been close our entire lives.”
“Dammit, Ellie,” Willa said, though the fight had gone out of her. She turned and stared me in the eye. “We are the last descendants of the Viscount Dragons. Two months ago, when Conor Wells turned into a dragon, our gifts started to manifest. It was slow at first. We didn’t even know it was happening. But now there’s no questioning it.” She closed her eyes for a moment as if she was concentrating, and then her skin took on an orange glow. Then she put Peanut on the ground and raised her hands palms up. Fire flickered over her scaly palms as a flame danced in her eyes. In the next moment the magic vanished, and she was a normal college girl once more.
“Whoa,” I said, still trying to process what I’d seen. She’d had an inner fire, dragon scales similar to Conor’s on her arms, and she was able to wield the fire with perfect precision. But she hadn’t turned into a dragon like Conor had. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t the same as when a dragon soul had taken over Conor’s body.
Willa reached down, picked up Peanut, and started to pet her ears again. The action seemed to calm her as the strain eased from her face. “As you can see, there’s no denying that my aunt was right. We definitely have dragon gifts.”
“Holy hell,” I breathed and looked over at Mati.
Her expression was grim, but she didn’t say anything. I think we were both remembering the epic takedown of Conor when he’d turned into a full-fledged dragon.
I cleared my throat and asked, “Are these… gifts new?”
All three of the cousins nodded.
“And, um, are they controllable? I mean, do they just manifest, or do you wield them like a witch would her own magic?” I held my breath. If they were uncontrollable, these women were a serious threat to all of us.
“They are absolutely controllable,” Willa said. “No one here is possessed like Conor. We are not a danger to society. We’re the ones in danger. We’re the ones going missing, and we have no idea why.”
I certainly did. There were only two possible reasons they were being targeted; either someone was trying to eliminate them, or they were trying to use them. And now I had a choice to make—go along with the council and bring them in or try to save these women from whatever was out there waiting for them.
My choice was already made.
I leaned forward, my hands clasped together as I stared at Pyper, silent communication passing between us. She gave me a curt nod. I knew she’d agree. I flashed her a quick smile and then said, “Ladies, I promise you, you can trust us. Harper was right. I’ll do everything in my power to help you.”
“You will?” Willa asked, blinking in surprise.
“You’re damned straight I will. Now start at the beginning. I need to know everything.”
10
Willa and her cousins looked at each other, and then all three turned to me with a blank stare.
“What?” I asked.
“We’ve already told you everything we know,” Mack said.
“But you said you have dragon-blood heritage. Start there.”
Again they didn’t say anything and just shook their heads.
“You don’t know who your ancestor is?” I asked, filling in the blanks.
“Our aunt just said he was a descendant from our grandmother’s side of the family, but that’s all we know,” Ellie said. “This is all really new. Can you imagine finding out you have these strange powers and no idea where they came from?”
“Yes,” Pyper said. “I wasn’t always a medium.”
“Then you know how strange it is,” Mack said with a short nod. “Our aunt is a witch, but no one else in the family is, so we thought maybe we were coming into some late powers or something. But we only control fire. Nothing else. Willa has some sort of intuition, but she’s always had that.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Okay then. We need to find someone who knows dragon lore.” I glanced at Mati. “Any ideas?”
She shook her head. “I’d come to you or the council… but they appear to be out of the question. If they’re behind the disappearances, it wouldn’t be good to go tipping them off.”
Mati was right. Giving them any reason to suspect I was helping the women would put us all in danger. But I had a secret weapon. There was a ghost at the council who’d taken a liking to me. With Pyper’s help, we might be able to contact her again.
I kept that to myself and said, “Anyone else?”
“The breeder,” Willa said, eyeing Peanut. “He said the puppies would be perfect for people like us. I didn’t know what he meant at the time. But… well
, I think he knew what we were, otherwise why would he give us fire-breathing dogs?”
It was a start. “Address?”
She found it in her address book and handed it over. After jotting it down, I stood.
“Okay, if you hear anything else or think of something I need to know, don’t hesitate to call.” I dug around in my bag, found a card, and handed it to her, then signaled to Pyper. “Ready?”
“Ready,” she said.
I hugged each of the young women, trying my best to send positive energy their way. They were going to need it. To Willa I said, “I’m going to want your cousins’ information. The ones who went missing. I’ll put my second in charge of seeing if he can track anything down on them. Their names, addresses, places of work. Anything else relevant. Okay?”
“Okay,” she said, her voice a little shaky.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to stop until we find Harper and figure this out, all right? I promise.”
“Thank you,” she whispered in my ear, holding on tight. Her fear suddenly burst through her hardened exterior, and my entire body started to ache for the scared young woman in front of me. It was then that my promises to them were solidified. They hadn’t asked for any of this, and they sure as hell weren’t going to pay the price for something they had no control over.
“Mati,” I said after I let Willa go, “will you walk us out?”
“Sure.”
The three of us were silent as we made our way down the grand old staircase. Once we were outside, I turned to Mati and said, “Keep a sharp eye on them, okay? If you think we need backup, let me know and I’ll get my coven witches to help.”
“You got it.” Her expression was troubled. After taking a deep breath, she said, “Dragons? Is this real?”
“You saw what I did. What do you think?”
She pressed her lips together and rubbed the back of her neck. “I think this world just keeps getting crazier and crazier.”
I laughed. “No doubt. But at least they aren’t demons, right?”
She returned my smile with a slight grimace. “Careful. You wouldn’t want to jinx it.”