Haunted On Bourbon Street Part 27

"You have no reason to be sorry. This is Dan's problem. And now mine, obviously."

"What are you going to do?"

She blinked back tears. "Tell him to move out, I guess."

"I'm sorry. I know it's hard." I took her hand. "And I'm sorry we let him come between us."

Kat pulled me into a hug. "I know, honey. So am I. Don't worry. You won't have to deal with him anymore." She dabbed at her wet eyes and forced a smile. "What's a girl got to do to get a drink around here?"

I smiled, gave her another hug and turned to Charlie. "This girl needs a drink. But better make it a diet c.o.ke, minus the rum." I flashed Kat an apologetic smile. "We can't be drunk when Lailah shows up."

"Anything for that bad-a.s.s girl. I wouldn't want to be on the other end of that stabbing finger and lecture." Charlie winked at Kat and filled two gla.s.ses with ice.

Just as I pulled out a ten to leave on the bar, Kane appeared beside me. "You know," he said in a husky voice, "there are perks to being the owner's girlfriend."

"Like what?" I held the bill out for Charlie to take it.

She glanced at Kane, hesitating.

"Like, free drinks." He lowered my arm.

Leaning toward him, I lowered my voice. "I wasn't aware I was your girlfriend."

"You are if you want to be." He watched me, maintaining a casual appearance. No one would have guessed the nervous hopefulness churning beneath his cool exterior.

I wanted more than anything to say yes. "Can we talk about it later? Tonight." I'd told Kat I would tell him, and I meant it. I needed to have it all out on the table before we moved any further in this relations.h.i.+p.

He searched my eyes and smiled at whatever he saw there. "Sure. Come find me when you're ready."

I slipped the bill I still held into the tip jar. "Thanks for taking care of Dan. Again."

He winked and took off into the crowd.

"Whoa. Is it suddenly hot in here or what?" Kat said, fanning herself.

"Shut up." I laughed as we made our way to an empty table, drinks in hand.

Kat sat and took a sip of her drink. "d.a.m.n, this would be much better with a heavy dose of Bacardi."

"Sorry. We already had a gla.s.s of wine. Drinking and messing with spells is a really bad idea." I slide my chair next to her and held my gla.s.s up. "A toast to ridding Pyper of her black shadow, and to me finally coming clean with Kane."

"Amen to that." We clinked our gla.s.ses together. "I don't know if there's any hope for the ghost stuff, but judging by the sparks between you and that man, I'd say you don't have much to worry about."

I prayed she was right.

Kat turned her eyes to the stage. "Can you believe how in shape these girls are? Look at her climb that pole using just her hands."

I watched along with her, until Kat plunked her drink down and started inspecting her wrists.

"You should keep icing them. It really helps," I said.

"A margarita or two would numb the pain faster." She smirked.

"Lush." I chuckled and gazed around the room, searching for Kane. Instead, I found the creepy angry guy, still sitting alone in his corner with that unlit cigarette in his fingers. Deep satisfaction and antic.i.p.ation reached me as my eyes locked on his. A s.h.i.+ver ran through my body, causing my hands to start shaking.

"Kat, I think we should go get Pyper now."

"Already?" She tried to read her watch in the semi-dark room.

"Yes, now." I stood up, leaving the unfinished diet c.o.ke behind and took off to find Pyper, pulling Kat behind me.

"Pyper?" I called, while walking into the office.

"She went upstairs to change." Kane's voice made me jump.

"d.a.m.n it, Kane. Don't startle me like that."

"Sorry, didn't mean to." He stepped out from behind the open door. "I was putting some files away."

I half-turned to face him.

"What's wrong? Your face is pale. Did something happen?" He started for the door.

"No, nothing. I just...one of the guys out there gave me the creeps."

"Is that all?" Kane shrugged. "That's what we get in the strip club business, a bunch of creeps. Like that ex of yours."

"Right. Well, I better go get Pyper. Lailah will be here soon."

"Okay, sure." Kane searched my face. "Be careful. I'll see you later." He pulled me closer and whispered, "I've become rather fond of you."

I took a breath and cleared my throat. "I will."

His lips came down and brushed mine lightly before he let go.

I stumbled out of the office and stopped in front of Kat, who was patiently leaning against the wall.

"Holy s.h.i.+t, that man is hot. You better lay claim to him before someone else does." She craned her neck, trying to catch a glimpse of him in the office.

"Stop it. Let's go." Together we made our way up to Pyper's apartment.

At eleven thirty, Pyper strolled through my apartment door.

"Where is she?" I asked, looking behind her for Lailah. Pyper had left minutes earlier to let her in the building.

"Downstairs talking with Kane."

"Kane? Do they know each other?"

Pyper avoided my glance and stared out the window. "Yeah. I should have made the connection before. Kane dated a girl named Lailah for a while, but I never met her." She shrugged. "He said she had special talents, but you know I always a.s.sumed he meant in the bedroom."

Kat let out a loud giggle, but stifled it when she caught the look I gave her.

"Great." I sat heavily on the edge of my bed.

Kat got up from my desk and sat down next to me. "What's up?"

"Just tired."

She put her arm around my shoulders, giving me a small squeeze. Just then Kane and Lailah walked in. Their mutual affection reached me, stabbing me in the heart. She gazed up at him, smiling, while Kane chuckled at something she'd said. He sobered as his eyes found me, his face and emotions unreadable. How did he do that? I'd always been able to read his emotions before.

Standing up, I walked over to Lailah. "It's pretty close to midnight. Don't we need to get started?"

"Oh! Yes. Sorry. I got distracted." She smiled at Kane. "We need to get to the courtyard. Kane, you stay here. We'll be back." She gestured to us and headed back through the door.

The three of us filed out after her with Pyper in the lead. When we reached the courtyard Pyper asked, "Why does Kane have to stay back?"

"The G.o.ddess will only speak to her daughters," Lailah replied.

"We're calling a G.o.ddess?" I asked.

Lailah ignored my question. Trepidation settled over me as I wondered what the h.e.l.l we were getting ourselves into. I hoped she was speaking in symbolic terms. Literally calling a higher being meant opening pathways. And when that happened, you never knew what was coming.

"Over here, girls. We have a lot to do, so please do as I say," Lailah said.

We nodded in unison.

Lailah's easy smile was replaced by a fierce concentration. "Pyper, take all of the candles out of my bag and light each one. Jade, I need you to draw a pentagram with the chalk. You know how to do that?"

"Sure. How big?"

"Pretty big." She walked in a large circle to show me. She stepped off to the side, and I went to work on the border, using the dim candlelight Pyper was busy creating.

"What can I do?" Kat asked.

"Help Jade. It doesn't have to be perfect, just a five-point pentagram enclosed in a large circle."

I hurried my motions as Kat knelt on the courtyard bricks opposite me, filling in the lines of the pentagram.

"So, Lailah, are you like a witch or something?" Kat asked.

"Or something," Lailah said.

Both Kat and I looked up, staring at her. Oddly enough, Pyper kept her head down lighting candles.

"Pyper, after they're done with the pentagram, put the white candles on the outer circle, then put the blue candles on the points where the pentagram intersects." Lailah pulled various herbs from her bag.

Pyper nodded and continued with her work.

Kat glanced at me, and jerked her head toward Lailah. "Or something?"

"Kat," I said in a low voice, not wanting to offend the one person who might be able to help.

"It's all right." Lailah sniffed one of her herbs. "I'm not a witch. I'm a low-level Angel. I sense things other people can't, and I can utilize some Wiccan-type spells to my advantage."

"A low-level Angel?" Kat said, each word rising.

Lailah flashed a genuine smile. "That's the reaction I usually get. I'll explain more later. Right now we have work to do."

I sensed Kat having difficulty containing her curiosity, but she kept quiet until we finished the pentagram circle. "Low-level Angel?" she whispered to me.

I shrugged and whispered back, "That's new to me, too."

Pyper never once registered she heard the exchange between Kat and Lailah. She stood a small distance apart from the three of us, waiting.

Finally, after studying some notes, Lailah looked up. "I need the three of you to stand in the middle of the blue candles in a small circle with your hands linked."

We each stepped carefully over the ring of lit blue candles and faced each other. I held my hands out and warmth spread to my center as I grasped the hands of my two friends. Suddenly everything felt right. Like we were supposed to be there together. I smiled, feeling for the first time this might actually work.

"Good. Just like that. The three of you stay linked until I tell you it's time. Then each of you will need to move across the blue candle plane, into the s.p.a.ce I'm in. Got it?"

We all nodded.

"Now, I just need to do this last thing before we start." She stepped outside of the white candle circle and began to chant in a language I didn't understand, while dropping a trail of crushed herbs. Once she'd completed three rotations around us, the chanting stopped, and she stepped back over the white candles into the circle.

"What should we expect?" I asked.

"I don't really know. No spell is ever the same twice. I'm going to call on the G.o.ddess for help to dispel the spirit. It'll be her will as to what happens after that. The idea is to trap the spirit in that circle you are in and to get the three of you out before he can hurt anyone."

Panic radiated off Pyper.

I squeezed her hand in a.s.surance. "I'm not letting go."

She nodded and looked straight ahead, her eyes wide.

Lailah stood directly in my sightline and, for the first time that evening, I noticed she wore a deep plum velvet cloak with gold trim. How had I missed that? Then the vision of her gazing with dreamy eyes up at Kane filled my head. I scowled.

"It's very important that each of you keep a positive att.i.tude through this ritual, or else there could be severe consequences." A twinge of irritation jabbed me right between the eyes.

Startled, I followed it to Lailah's piercing stare. d.a.m.n. I hated that she could read me. I bit my lip, took a large intake of breath and willed my irritation away as I exhaled.

Pyper relaxed her hand in mine, and I noted the easing of the tension lines around her mouth. Gathering energy, I projected what I hoped was calm in her direction. A little help couldn't hurt.

Kat squeezed my hand, getting my attention. Her posture wasn't exactly relaxed, but she didn't look like she wanted to run away either. I squeezed back, grateful for the support.

"This spell works primarily off of intentions. I need each of you to focus on trapping the spirit in the circle. Jade, your energy is the most suited for this type of thing, due to your empath abilities, so your intentions will carry more weight. You said you've seen the ghost?"