Spirits, Stilettos, and a Silver Bustier Read online

  “Much.”

  Jade’s phone buzzed. “Kane says he’s taking Tyler out for a drink.”

  I thought of the man I’d had dinner with and had a hard time imagining him killing anyone. He’d been so… easy. And polite. Fun even. Except when I’d freaked out in front of his apartment. He’d acted pretty weird, but then so had I. Regardless, I couldn’t ignore what I’d heard. And just because he’d been charming didn’t mean he wasn’t a freakin’ psycho. “Jade?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You’d said before that Tyler had really good energy. Is it possible to be a total psychopath and for you to not even know?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. I only pick up on emotions. If a person is happy with themselves, has no guilt, and is really good at convincing themselves they are a good person, that’s what I’ll feel.”

  “Okay then. I’m just having a hard time reconciling the man we know with the one we believe he is.”

  She bit her lip and gave me a pained expression. “I’m so sorry. It’s my fault you went out with him. I encouraged you. If I hadn’t said anything—”

  “Stop. It’s not your fault. He seemed like a decent guy.”

  She nodded, a sad smile on her face. “I liked him too.”

  Sighing, I shook off my doubts and said, “Let’s do this.” I closed my eyes. “Tru? Lily?”

  Trapped. Can’t see anything. Scared.

  “Shelby?”

  Who’s there?

  “I’m Pyper. I’m here to help. Where are you?”

  I don’t know.

  “Hold on. Tru? You there?”

  I’m here but was staying quiet since you’d made contact.

  “Do you know where Shelby is?”

  She’s not in this building, but she’s close.

  Jade’s phone buzzed again. “It’s Julius. He says he’s gone through the entire apartment and he can’t find anything unusual. Nothing feminine at all. In fact, he says it looks like Tyler just moved in. The place is barely furnished, almost no kitchenware, and he’s still living out of a suitcase.”

  “Damn.” There was nothing promising about that. And when had Julius gotten a phone? Marc probably had something to do with it considering the council wanted him back in their ranks.

  Pyper?

  “Tru?”

  It’s Ruby.

  “Ruby? Do you know where you are?” My heart raced. Both of them were close. We couldn’t leave until we found them. I wouldn’t.

  I’m trapped.

  “I know. We’re trying to find you and Shelby so we can free you.”

  A knock sounded from the wall at the back of the storage room, and Jade and I both jumped, startled.

  “Holy crap,” she said. Her light orbs brightened and then winked out.

  “What happened?” I spun around, fruitlessly searching the dark room. Visions of Tyler standing in the store, messing with Jade’s magic, had me on edge.

  “Shoot. Sorry. The sound startled me and I lost control.”

  I was standing still, holding my hand over my heart and trying to remember to breathe, when the knock came again.

  “Ruby, is that you knocking?” I asked into the still-dark room.

  No. But I hear it.

  Jade relit her orbs, and I followed the knocking to the far end of the room. Then I rapped my knuckles on the wall twice. The knocking echoed back at me with two raps. I knocked three times. The answering knock was three times.

  “Do you hear that, Ruby? The knocking?”

  How can I not? It’s so loud I can barely stand it.

  “They’re on the other side of that wall.” I grabbed Jade’s hand and pulled her along with me. “We need to get in.”

  Jade raised her eyebrows. “What do you want to do, punch a hole in the wall?”

  “If we have to. I’m pretty certain we’ll find them there.”

  Another text came through. Jade handed me the phone. “Here. Let me see what I can do.”

  “Okay.” I glanced down at the phone. The text was from Julius.

  Do you hear the knocking?

  Yes. We were half of it, I typed back. Don’t know who or what’s on the other side though.

  That’s me. There’s a false wall. Give me a minute and I’ll be through it.

  “Julius says he can open the space,” I told Jade. “He wants us to give him a minute.”

  She immediately stopped her magical probing and stepped back, pulling me with her.

  Help! He’s coming! The voice sounded like Shelby’s.

  “Who’s coming?”

  The witch!

  “Jade? I think we’re running out of time.” I quickly tapped out a message to Julius just to let him know.

  His reply came almost instantly. Stand back.

  Before I could say anything to Jade, the wall in front of us burst open, the false wooden wall crashing to the ground just in front of our feet. Years of dust billowed out of the narrow area, followed by Julius’s head. “We’ve got him.”

  Jade and I poked our heads into the long, narrow room. Inside was a variety of nefarious items in an open duffel bag. Rope, a vial of morphine, a blindfold, a knife, and gloves. A serial offender’s murder kit. It made my stomach turn, and I nearly lost my dinner.

  Free us.

  The sound of Ruby’s voice shook me out of my horrified haze, and my eyes landed on a small cardboard box. I knew without inspecting it that it was what we needed. I climbed through the opening, reached down, and grabbed the box. As soon as I lifted it off the floor, a security alarm went off full blast.

  “Oh my God!” Jade cried over the obnoxious noise and grabbed my arm to pull me back into Ruby’s. “Time to go.”

  The alarm was so overwhelming I wasn’t sure at first where it was coming from. Tyler’s or Ruby’s? But as I clutched the small box, moving backward through the room, my ears stopped ringing and I realized it was Tyler’s place.

  “Julius!” He had to get out of there.

  “He’ll be fine! He has his built-in invisibility cloak, remember?” She kneeled before the open hole in the wall. “We have to close this up first so there’s no confusion that this stuff belongs to Tyler.”

  “But Jade—” My body trembled with adrenaline. If we were caught here, holding the bag so to speak, that was it. The NOPD would put me away right along with Tyler.

  “Hold tight.” She rummaged around in her bag and pulled out a satchel of herbs. “Got it.” She sprinkled what looked like white pepper on the piece of the wooden wall that was lying on the floor and then brushed some of the same on the opening. “This will seal it back in place.”

  She picked up the piece of wood and was about to line it up when Julius popped out of the hole. “I left Tyler’s door wide open so the cops can barge in without a search warrant. It’s time to get out of here.”

  “You two go,” Jade said frantically. “I’ll be right behind you.”

  “No, not leaving you.” I held up one side of the wall. Kane would kill me if anything happened to her, not to mention the guilt that would eat me alive. “Just hurry.”

  Together we lined up the wood piece with the hole, and then she whispered, “Seal.”

  The wall rumbled beneath her hand, shifting and realigning until a small burst of light flashed along the edges. When it faded, the wall was completely intact. The only sign it had ever been opened was the dust covering the floor of the back room.

  Julius grabbed my hand. “Time to get out of here.”

  Jade snapped her fingers, extinguishing the orbs of light. Blackness fell around us again. Panic started to set in. I could hear the cops on the other side of the wall yelling and rummaging around in the hidden room.

  Julius’s hand tightened on mine, settling me enough that I somehow managed to follow him and Jade out of the bu
ilding. Jade paused just long enough to relock the door using her magic.

  None of us stopped or looked back once we took off down the street, the three of us shadows of black fabric in the dark night.

  The police sirens filled the air from the street one block over. And my heart filled my throat. What if they’d seen Julius or Jade’s magic? Anxiety rose up and choked me. Jail was not an option. Not for me. I’d survive it, but I knew deep in my heart I’d never be the same free spirit I strived so hard to be. I’d be hardened and jaded, just like my father had been.

  “This way,” Jade said, leading us one block up to Bourbon. The crush of tourists forced us to form a single line. Jade in the front, followed by me, then Julius. His hands were on my hips, keeping the connection so neither of us was lost in the crowd.

  “Jade.” I tugged on her arm and pointed to a balcony full of partygoers tossing out Mardi Gras beads. “We should look the part, don’t you think?”

  She glanced up, then at me, taking in my all-black cat burglar outfit. She nodded. “Yeah. You first.”

  I grinned and backed up, waving at a particularly rowdy bunch off to the right.

  They started yelling for me to flash them as I knew they would. I shook my head, giving them my best coy smile. A roar of protest went up as they mimed flashing. I put my hands on the bottom of my shirt, indicating I was ready, and lifted my shirt to show my belly and my pink sapphire belly button ring.

  But then I stopped and shook my head.

  “Boo!” the small crowd roared.

  I cupped my hands around my mouth and called, “Toss some beads to my friend first!”

  There was another, louder uproar of protest.

  I pointed to Jade and Julius, smiling up at them. “Beads then boobs. That’s the deal.”

  One of them sent a long strand of purple beads in Jade’s direction. She caught them with ease and put them around her neck.

  “Now him.” I pointed at Julius who frowned at me, clearly unhappy with this game. I leaned into him. “Just go with it. This is our cover. We can’t be hanging out on Bourbon during Mardi Gras and not participate in the festivities. It’s too suspicious.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me, and I could see the wheels turning.

  “Listen, you don’t have to watch me flash those guys, but I’m going to because it will net me their most ornate beads and show we were totally into this. Why don’t you flirt with the girls on the next balcony? I guarantee you they’ll be throwing everything including their underwear at you by the time you flash that sexy smile of yours at them.”

  “Their under… never mind. No.” He shook his head, frustration warring with something else I couldn’t quite place in his eyes. “I can’t watch this. When or if I ever see you for the first time, I want it to be special. Just for me. Not like”—he waved his hand around—“this. In front of a bunch of drunken idiots.”

  His words could’ve been full of judgment, but they weren’t. They were honest and full of meaning for him and whatever it was he felt for me. Emotion welled in my chest, and more than anything I wished I hadn’t gone on that date with Tyler. That I’d been out with Julius instead. I nodded once and turned to Jade.

  My mouth dropped open in utter shock. She was standing in front of me, flashing herself to the drunks on the balcony, collecting quite the pile of impressive beads. “Jade?”

  She turned and winked at me. “I’ve always kinda wanted to do that. At least now I have a really good excuse.” She handed me a handful of bead strands. “Take these.”

  I slipped five different strands over my head. One of them had ornate fleur-de-lis mixed in with the plastic beads, and another had plastic minibottles of Jack. The rest were just plain strands, though longer than usual.

  “Here.” I turned to Julius, grinning, but he was trapped by a group of five women, all fawning all over him. They were busy draping him in the beads they’d acquired. One was taking the opportunity to squeeze his biceps while pressing into him. A small burst of jealousy shot through me, and I had to fight to tamp it down because he was very clearly uncomfortable with the attention.

  I met his eyes and tried unsuccessfully to hold back a laugh.

  He shook his head and untangled himself from the posse of women. “Thank you, ladies. It’s been a pleasure to meet you, but I must be moving on with my party.”

  They followed him and once again formed a circle he couldn’t gracefully escape from.

  Time to intervene. “Excuse me!” I pushed through, not caring that I jostled someone’s drink. “Julius, honey. There you are.” I smiled up at him. “I’m sorry to interrupt your fun, but it’s time for our midafternoon quickie. This baby isn’t going to make itself.”

  His mouth dropped open while the ladies let out a collective sigh.

  “I knew he had to be taken,” one of them said as they moved on.

  “Of course he is. And by a smokin’ hot hottie too.” The woman glanced back at me and gave me a thumbs-up.

  I waved. “Thanks!”

  “Make him work for it,” she called back.

  I nodded and slipped my arm through Julius’s once more.

  “I can’t believe you just said that,” he whispered in my ear.

  “Get used to it, buddy. That’s my way.” I tugged him over to Jade, who was standing under the balcony, texting. She had a mountain of beads around her neck.

  “Where to?” I asked her.

  She held up her phone. “Kane wants us to meet him around the corner in a few minutes. Marc is assisting someone from the council in the arrest of Tyler.”

  The amusement from the Mardi Gras festivities fled. And the pressure on my chest that I’d been ignoring came back into full focus. I was relieved I was out of danger, but the fact that I held the spirits of two women in my backpack had me shaking with anger. They’d died for nothing. And I couldn’t make it better.

  Jade led the way up to Dauphine Street, one block up from Bourbon. We waited on the darkened steps of one of the residential houses, pretending we belonged there until Kane pulled up in Marc’s black SUV rental.

  Jade and I piled into the back while Julius took the front seat.

  “Have fun at the party?” Kane asked, eyeing us all with suspicion.

  I shrugged. “We had to blend in.”

  He stared at me, clearly aware I was the ringleader. “Tell me you weren’t out there flashing on Bourbon Street for those.”

  I laughed, and when Jade shot me a don’t-you-dare-say-anything look, I sobered. “Nope. No flashing. Just used my many charms.”

  “Right,” Kane said, heavy on the sarcasm. “Where to?”

  “The coven circle,” Jade said and started texting again.

  Chapter 23

  I sat in the middle of the coven circle, staring at the cardboard box. A faint muddy smell wafted off the Mississippi River to the south, and the slight breeze rustled the line of trees to the north. The circle was in Uptown in the heart of the city, but secluded and spelled to keep trespassers away.

  We were still waiting for Lucien and Bea to arrive. Jade was talking softly to Kane while Julius stood at the southern point of the circle, sparks of magic rippling over his fingertips. His eyes were closed, his skin radiant as the magic pulsed through him.

  He was beautiful in his obvious pleasure, and warmth spread through me as I watched him. It was almost as if he were coming alive right there in front of us. I stayed perfectly still, afraid if I moved the moment would pass.

  The wind picked up, whistling through the trees, followed by an eerie silence. Julius opened his eyes and our gazes met. A shiver of anticipation shook me, and I knew something incredible was about to happen.

  “Julius?” Jade called from across the circle.

  “I have to do this,” Julius said to me, his gaze never wavering.

  Tears burned the back
of my eyes as I nodded, understanding exactly what he meant to do. He was going to release the lives he harbored.

  I stood up, tears streaming unchecked down my cheeks.

  Power burst from his hands, lighting up the circle in a flash of light.

  “Julius, no!” Jade ran forward, but as she tried to take her normal spot on the northern point of the circle, she bounced off an invisible wall. “Dammit. Julius, you can’t do this.”

  He shook his head and poured more power into the circle. It crackled around us, raising the hair on the back of my neck. I’d never seen anyone except Jade able to command the circle the way he could. It was unnerving but also awe inducing.

  Jade’s protests were drowned out by the electricity of the magic. And in that moment, I felt like Julius and I were completely separate from the rest of the world.

  “We have to release them, Pyper,” Julius said to me.

  I nodded and bent to retrieve the items from the cardboard box. My fingers closed over a large ring and a ceramic thimble. A cool sensation brushed my skin and magic took over, straightening my body as my arms shot out in front of me. My fingers uncurled, revealing the ring and thimble in the middle of each palm.

  Julius raised his hands high in the air, the talismans elevating before me with his movement.

  “Shelby?” I called.

  I didn’t hear her so much as feel her presence. She was definitely there in the circle with me.

  “Ruby?”

  A whisper of the shop owner’s radiant energy seemed to brush against my skin.

  “Julius is going to free you now,” I forced out, emotion choking me.

  Pain rippled over Julius’s face as power burst from his fingertips. He fell to his knees, struggling to manipulate the brilliant stream of magic. It grew unwieldy, branching off in multiple lightning bolts across the circle. But then Julius climbed to his feet and focused, and he commanded the magic, bringing it back to itself until it split into two, each one engulfing a talisman. The connection hit so hard the blast actually knocked me back a few feet.

  “Holy… whoa.” My breath left me and I stared transfixed, watching the ring and thimble transform into smoke and then the smoke morph into two human forms.