Angels of Bourbon Street (23 page)

“Jade—” Mom began.

Meri cut her off. “The circle is fine. If anything goes wrong, all three of us have magic to fall back on.”

Kane didn’t question anything as he took off down the street toward uptown, where the coven circle was. Goddess, I loved that man.

Mom shook her head. “Never mind.”

“Hope,” Meri said with a frustrated sigh. She turned to me. “Not that I want to get in the middle of any of this, but your mom isn’t exactly a fan of coven circles these days.”

“No?” I raised my eyebrows. “Well, I’m not a fan of being lied to, so I guess we’re even.”

I tore open the bag Pyper had left behind and grabbed an oyster po’boy. My rage started to fuel my hunger, and it was all I could do not to tear through the white wrapper with my teeth. I knew I was being unfair. After all, Mom had been taken by a demon while in a coven circle—by Meri, one of her best friends, no less. None of that could be easy for her. And I couldn’t even say why it was so important I go to the circle tonight. It wasn’t really a place I usually longed to be. Sure, I craved the heady mixture of magic and the strum of feeling all the members together, but I wasn’t even the coven leader anymore. It wouldn’t feel the same.

I stopped mid-bite. That was it. I was craving my connection to the coven. Ever since I’d given the title to Bea, I hadn’t felt that constant undercurrent and it was making me antsy. Going to the circle wouldn’t change that. I opened my mouth to tell Kane we could just go to Carrolton Park, but Mom spoke before I had a chance.

“You’re being unreasonable, Jade.”

“What?” I twisted in my chair, trying to hold back an accusation of my own.

“It’s not time yet. Maybe after we sort this out. And the circle isn’t going to do you any good. If you think for one moment—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Meri waved her hands. “That’s enough. You two can talk when we get there and have this out.” She glared at Mom. “And you know as well as I do that now is the time. Stop taking your insecurities out on Jade. If you’d told her years ago, she would’ve been prepared for this.”

“Meri!” Mom scolded. “This isn’t your place.”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that point.” Meri gave me a sidelong glance.

I sent her a tiny smile and went back to my sandwich. I could’ve let Mom off the hook about the circle, but she was being so unreasonable, I decided I’d stay in childish mode just to spite her.

But as soon as we parked in the parking lot and Mom’s eyes went wide with fear, my resolve faltered. I placed a hand on Kane’s shoulder. “Go to Carrolton. We don’t need to be here.”

“Actually,” Meri began, “I think it’s a good idea. We might need to…ah…summon someone. If we’re here, it’ll be more convenient.”

Mom shot Meri another look of disgust but didn’t say anything else. In fact, she opened her door, got out, and headed into the trees.

I glanced at Kane. He shrugged and put the car back in park.

“Let’s do this,” Meri said, standing beside my door.

I tossed my half-eaten sandwich back into the bag and grimaced at the heavy weight of grease rumbling in my stomach. Maybe that hadn’t been the best plan. I reached down and grabbed two bottles of water and joined Meri.

“Want me to wait here?” Kane asked from the other side of the car.

“No.” I met him halfway in the front of his car and slid my hand into his.

“Good. I don’t think I could’ve stayed away anyway.”

I smiled up at him. “I know.”

Meri’s phone buzzed. She rapidly tapped out a message. Another buzz. More typing. Three rounds later, she slipped the phone into her pocket.

I raised my eyebrows. “Everything okay?”

“Fine.” She joined us and started walking toward the trees. “That was Dan checking in on me.”

The three of us walked in silence through the oaks, our feet crunching on fallen twigs and dried leaves. Kane kept one hand on the small of my back, his touch making me feel comfortable and safe.

Ahead of us, Meri passed through the last of the trees and came to a sudden stop.

“What is it?” I called and ran to catch up with her.

She stared at the clearing, her mouth open in surprise.

I followed her gaze, and my heart stopped at what I saw in the middle of the circle. A strangled cry came from my throat as I broke into a run.

Chapter 21

An odd mix of joy and trepidation seized me as I stared at the man directly in the middle of Mom’s circle. His golden locks had turned silver over the years and despite a few age lines, he looked exactly as he had the last time I’d seen him standing by that old green truck of his.

“Why is he here?” I demanded as I slowed to a walk.

“You wanted to know about your father, so I summoned him,” Mom said. “He’s the only one you’ve ever had.”

I wanted to shout at her that I needed my biological father. That without him and part of his soul, Camille could come back and do Goddess knows what else. Unspeakable, awful things. Maybe next time she’d succeed. But I couldn’t bring that up in front of Dad. I wasn’t sure I could bring it up at all.

He turned, and a smile curled his lips, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how much his absence had affected me. The sad, lonely little girl inside me wanted to cry with both anger and relief at his sudden reappearance.

I stopped at the edge of the circle, my hands on my hips, fighting the urge to run into his arms and bury myself in one of his bear hugs. My inner little girl wanted that more than anything, but my adult self held her back. I couldn’t trust this man. He’d hurt me. I wouldn’t allow him to do it again. “Where the hell have you been for the last seventeen years?”

His gaze flicked to Mom. She turned away and stared in the direction of the Mississippi, just on the other side of the levee.

“Well?” I demanded, irritated at myself for wanting anything from him. He’d abandoned me, left me and Mom and never even came back when she disappeared. So what if he wasn’t my real dad? He was the only one I knew.

His legs shifted as he tried to step forward, but his body didn’t actually move from his spot. That was when I noticed he was floating just above the ground.

I eyed the ground. It was void of any markers or maps, two standard tools normally needed for summoning individuals. “She knew where you were the entire time, didn’t she?”

Dad turned his attention to Mom. “Hope? Are you going to tell her now?”

Mom shrugged. “She wants to know why you left.” She spun around, glaring at him. “Go on. Tell her.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. “If that’s the way you want to play this.” He paused, seeming to give her one last chance to change her mind. When she didn’t respond, he turned to me and held out his hand.

I stared at it as if he’d just tried to hand me toxic waste.

Slowly, he lowered his arm then rubbed his hand over his jaw. “You probably can’t touch me, anyway.”

This time I shrugged. I had no idea if I could or couldn’t. The last time I’d done a finding spell, I’d actually transported two angels into the circle instead of just their images. I’d been able to touch them. But then again, they’d been completely solid. I couldn’t tell if Dad was or wasn’t. It didn’t matter. Until I got answers, I wasn’t going anywhere near him.

His eyes, so sad and tortured, met mine. “I’m so sorry, baby. I never wanted to leave you.”

My breath got caught in my throat, and I swallowed the raw ache coming from the depths of my core.
He hadn’t loved me enough to stay
. I could not break down. Not now. Not in his presence. “Why did you then?”

“I didn’t have a choice.”

Mom snorted.

“Hope, not now,” he said, his tone full of anger. “This never would’ve happened if you’d allowed me tell her the truth years ago.”

Her head snapped up, and her green eyes flashed with a dangerous challenge. “Don’t you put this on me. A ten-year-old was not ready to know she was a white witch.”

“If she’d known, she could’ve started learning all the skills she needed to help with everything she’s facing now,” he shot back.

He’d wanted to tell me about my powers? That was what they’d fought over? I glanced between them, angry at both of them now. Dad was right; Mom should’ve told me. But why did he leave me on my own? Who did that?

“Oh,” Mom mocked, “and you’re just the person who would’ve taught her everything she needed to know? The one who worked overseas for years at a time? The one who was never there when we needed you? The one who left my baby in
foster care
after I was abducted to
Hell
?”

“Yes, me!” He moved one foot in front of the other as if stalking toward her, but he stayed suspended in the middle of the circle. “If you hadn’t forced me to leave, I never would’ve disappeared from your lives. If you’d been honest from the start, none of this would’ve happened. And if you hadn’t called the damned council to get me out of Idaho, I sure as fuck wouldn’t have left Jade.”

“What?” Mom and I said together.

I jerked and turned to her, anger seizing me. She’d kept him from me? How could she? “You forced him to leave?”

Kane and Meri stepped close, standing behind me as if to back me up if I needed them.

Mom tore her gaze from Dad, and trembling, she met my hard stare. “I couldn’t do it, Jade. You weren’t ready. I knew you were powerful. You showed all the signs of a white witch. When you uttered my spells with me, they always worked ten times better than when I did them alone. You even worked some of them on your own a time or two. I was terrified that if I told you what you were, it would be too much for you to handle.”

“You knew?” I gasped. “All those years, you knew I held this power, that darkness would follow me because of it?”

She nodded, her expression devastated. “I was going to tell you after you turned sixteen.”

“You should’ve told her when she was a kid!” Dad bellowed. “Look at what you let happen!”

“And where were you? Off working undercover for the witches council? If you’d cared, you wouldn’t have left.”

“You know you gave me no choice.” Dad clutched his fists at his sides as he shook in unbridled fury.

“You had a choice, you bastard. You chose the council over us.”

“No, Hope. You lied to me,” he said in a quiet, controlled voice. “Left me in the dark, made me believe she was mine. And when you didn’t agree with my parenting choices, you threatened to have me removed from her life. I love that girl. Do you have any idea what that did to me? What
you
did to me?”

I froze. “What did you just say? Mom made you believe I was yours?” I turned pleading eyes on her. What was wrong with her? How could she treat the people she loved with so little respect? And she’d made me think everything was his fault. This wasn’t my mother. Not the one I thought I knew. Betrayal clutched at my heart and a pit formed in my stomach. “You lied to him, too?”

Kane stepped up beside me and wrapped his large hand around mine, letting me know he was still there.

Tears filled Mom’s eyes. She angrily brushed them away and glared at Dad. “What the hell is wrong with you, Marc?”

He threw up his hands. “You can’t keep lying to your daughter.”

I tore my gaze from Mom and turned to the man I’d loved and resented as my father all these years. “You’re not…I mean, you don’t think of me as your daughter?”

He took two steps toward me and then scowled in frustration. Tears glistened in his eyes as he turned his attention to Mom. “Couldn’t you have called me? Jesus. I would’ve caught the next plane.”

Mom shook her head and backed up, clutching her hands to her chest. “That wouldn’t help anything.”

“It would’ve given me a chance to hold the little girl I helped raise for eight years before you ran me off.” He let out a grunt of frustration and faced me. “Jade, my darling, you will always be mine in every way that counts.” He touched his chest. “You live here with me every day.”

I clutched Kane’s hand. “But you’re not my biological father.” It wasn’t a question. I already knew the answer.

He shook his head. “God, how I wish I was.”

Something sharp and painful tore through my chest. I ripped away from Kane’s hold and stalked forward. “Then why did you let her make you leave? We needed you! And when Mom left…” I paused to collect myself. “You have no idea what I went through. Even if you weren’t my father, you could’ve been my dad. But you weren’t. You let her send you away.” I spun and ran back to Kane’s side. “Let’s go.”

“Jade,” Dad—no,
Marc
—called. “Please, give me a chance to explain.”

I cast him a scathing glance over my shoulder. “You’ve had seventeen years to explain yourself.” I jerked my head in total frustration and faced him again. “I have a damn online store in my name. One Internet search and you would’ve found me.”

Kane stood behind me with his hands on my shoulders, supporting me.

“You’re right,” Marc conceded. “And I did look for you. I’ve known you’ve been living in New Orleans for the last several months. I knew your mom disappeared, but I didn’t find out until after you were living with your aunt.”

“And?” Why? Why had he left me? Why hadn’t he gotten in touch? If Mom was the problem… None of this made sense.

“I didn’t want to disrupt your life. By then, I hadn’t been a part of it for the better part of eight years. You had healing to do and, as I understood it, a deep-seated hatred for all things related to witchcraft. That’s what I am, sweetheart. My whole life is and was the council. I’d only have brought you pain.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, not willing to listen to his rationalization. “I waited for you,” I said so quietly I thought only Kane heard me.

“Jade.” Marc’s voice cracked. “I’m so sorry. If I’d known, if I’d thought even for a moment my presence would help, I would’ve been by your side.”

I pressed my lips together and shook my head, trying to stave off more tears. I’d had enough.

“Who’s my real father?” My tone was low, demanding.

He shook his head. “I don’t know. She never would tell me.”

Hatred formed a ball in the pit of my stomach for the woman I’d adored, grieved over for twelve years, and then risked my life to save from purgatory. The powerful emotions made me sick.