Demons of Bourbon Street by Deanna Chase Read Free Book Online Page B

Agreed.” I held my hand out.
She hesitated for a moment. I waited patiently. She knew if she touched me, I would be able to read her emotions and hear her thoughts more clearly. It wasn’t an easy thing to share with someone. Especially the someone who dated your ex. She squared her shoulders and clasped my hand.
“ Truce,” she said.
Relief flooded from her. The tension in my shoulders eased, and I sent her a tentative smile. She didn’t want to feud any more than I did.
We’d make this work. Somehow.
“ Can we get out now?” I asked Kane.
He snorted. “You could’ve left any time you wanted to and you know it.”
“ True. But I try not to magic my way out of every situation.” I grinned and let a bit of my magical spark fly. Instantly the locks clicked open.
Lailah laughed. I joined her on the curb, and we walked to the house together, leaving Kane to grab the luggage.
***
     
Kane was called away to meet with a client shortly after we arrived, leaving Lailah and me alone. Perfect. With her in his house, all I could think about was the pair of them sharing his bed sometime in the distant past.
I longed to be holed up in my glass studio right about then making beads. Nothing put my mind at ease faster than losing myself in the miniature creations. It was my sanctuary, the one place I could go and block out everything and anyone who bothered me. But I couldn’t leave Lailah alone.
To keep my mind occupied, I grabbed Bea’s spell book and escaped into the kitchen. There had to be some reference to severing a psychic link. The sooner I got Lailah out of my head, the better.
“ You’re not going to find anything,” Lailah said.
I jerked. Damn, she was a quiet angel. Wood floors combined with mid-heeled boots should have alerted me to her presence long before she made it to the open doorway. “How would you know? I thought you didn’t work spells the traditional way.”
She half-shrugged. “I don’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m not educated. I come from a family of witches, you know.”
“ You do?” How had I not known this? Because we weren’t friends. Our relationship was defined by one mishap after another. First an exorcism, performed by Lailah, had sent Pyper, one of my best friends, into a coma. Then while Lailah had been controlled by a demon—through no fault of her own—she’d poisoned Bea, sexually assaulted Kane, and then abducted him to Purgatory.
It’s no wonder I didn’t have the warm and fuzzies for her. Still, she was Bea’s friend and employee. I’d decided that was enough to give her the benefit of the doubt. That didn’t mean it was easy for me.
Her brow creased in disbelief. “Angels are born into magical families. My father is a witch, and his mother is an angel.”
“ What about your mom?” I got up and headed for the refrigerator. After retrieving the pitcher of sweet tea, I filled two glasses and returned to the table.
Lailah sat in my chair, flipping through the spell book, a blank expression on her face.
I set one in front of her and sat. “Lailah?”
“ Hmm?”
“ Are you okay?”
Her usually guarded emotions slipped past her barriers, prickling me with detachment. Her emotional walls snapped in place and she glanced up. “Fine. Thanks for the tea.”
“ You’re welcome.” We sat in silence, sipping our drinks. I took the hint. She didn’t want to talk about her mom.
After spending years not knowing what happened to my own mother, I sympathized. It had never been a topic I’d been comfortable with myself. Whatever it was, I’d respect her privacy.
She picked up the pen and started scribbling in the notebook I’d left open. “There’s an old spell my father used to use to keep psychics from delving into his future. We might be able to modify it to terminate our connection.”
I frowned. “He spelled himself on the slim chance he’d run into a psychic?” Statistically, the odds of witnessing a real seer experiencing a vision were incredibly small.