Jax (Immortals of New Orleans Book 7) (34 page)

“Funny thing, neither did I.” Jax dragged the point of the stake over Luca’s shirt, tearing through the fabric.

“Beignets though? Got plenty of those.” Jake set the drinks onto the floor. He slid behind the steps and dangled the pastry bag under Luca’s nose. “If you’re a good vamp, I might let you have one. But something here tells me you’re messin’ with my boy.”

“Fuck you,” Luca spat. “Where is she?”

“See?” Jax commented. “No manners at all.”

“Did you ever hear that expression, ‘you catch more flies with honey’?” Jake reached into the sack and retrieved a powdery beignet. He took a bite and smiled at Jax. “I think he may have missed that one.”

“Here’s your choice, Luca. Because clearly we got off on the wrong foot. I can release you and we can discuss this like adults. Or,” Jax paused.

“I think you might want to listen to this part, big fella. Bite?” Jake held the pastry to Luca’s lips. “No? Okay, suit yourself but they’re delish.”

“I could take this stake and drive it right through your rude ass. Because honestly, I have a lot of my own shit going on right now, and this? Yeah, I don’t need this right now.”

“You’d better tell me where she is. I told you that she wasn’t allowed around you or Katrina, and now…” Luca unsuccessfully struggled to free himself.

“Um, Jax…” Jax peered up to Katrina, who stood at the top of the steps wearing his t-shirt. Despite the serious situation, the sight of her warmed his heart and he smiled up at his mate.

“What’s going on?” She yawned.

“Nothing, baby. Luca here…well, you see, it seems like he didn’t get his coffee this morning.”

“You know what that does to vamps. It’s terrible,” Jake added with a laugh. “Just can’t do a thing until he gets his joe. Cranky pants.”

“Okay, let’s try this.” Katrina padded down the steps until she was at eye level with Luca. Setting her gaze on him, she brushed back her hair, twisting her ponytail. “What’s going on, Luca? And why is my Alpha holding a stake to your back?”

“Samantha,” he breathed. Luca shook his head in frustration. “She’s been missing since last night.”

“Jax, let him go. Please,” she pleaded.

“Only if he says he’ll behave. Otherwise, I’m good with killing him.”

“Jax, come on.” She turned to Jake, who rolled his eyes and gave another chuckle.

“Beignet?” He offered her the bag.

“Thank you, no.” Katrina stepped around him, making her way to the landing. Standing next to Luca, she put her palm on Jax’s arm and leaned to speak to her friend. “Luca, you know we’re friends, but you can’t just come into an Alpha’s home and threaten him. You may be old and strong but Jax is just as old, and please don’t take this the wrong way, but Jax will kick your ass. He’s Alpha for a reason, sweetie. Now I’m really sorry that Samantha is missing but we had nothing to do with it. You need to calm down so we can talk. Can you do that?”

Luca blew out a ragged breath, and set his sight on Katrina. “Fine.”

“See.” Katrina’s eyes darted to Jax and then back on Luca. She spoke to him softly and slowly as if he were a child. “Now take a few deep breaths and relax. Count to ten. Come on, do it.”

Katrina looked to Jax and mouthed the words, ‘Put that away’, glancing at the stake. The Alpha shook his head no. “Please.”

Jax’s body surged with anger for the asshole in his hold. The vampire had crossed a line by coming into his home and attacking him. If it had been any other person, they’d be dead already. The only thing saving his sorry ass was the fact he’d been friends with Katrina. Inwardly Jax laughed, considering how his mate was already changing his actions.

“Are you going to behave?” Katrina placed her hand onto Luca’s shoulder and he nodded. “Promise. I cannot protect you if you break my trust.”

“I promise,” he spat.

“Jax, please let him go,” she asked.

“I’m telling you right now, asshole. You’re extremely lucky that you have such a pretty friend. But if you go after me again, even she can’t save you.” Jax shoved him one last time before releasing him. He sighed as Katrina rushed into his arms.

“You know, you wake up and you think, ‘I’ll go get some breakfast.’ But you just never expect this kind of shit at seven in the morning. It was exciting, though. I was kind of hoping for shish-kabobs. Guess not,” Jake joked.

Luca stumbled back against the wall, and brought his hands to his face. Jax held tight to Katrina, sensing she was about to go to him. It wasn’t as if he didn’t care that Samantha was missing but the vampire had no right accusing him of wrongdoing, let alone attacking him.

“What happened?” Jax asked.

“Avery called the house last night.” Luca closed his eyes slowly then opened them again. Holding his hand to his forehead, he continued. “I didn’t want her to go, but you know these witches…everything’s been a mess with Ilsbeth gone. She, uh, she was a difficult woman, but she kept her coven out of trouble. This Mick fucker, he’s out partying in the middle of nowhere. That might be fine for some of the witches but there’s a lot of them who are more traditional. They stay in town. Last night, Avery called. Said she’d decided to move back to the Quarter and wanted Sam’s help getting situated.”

“Did she go alone?” Katrina inquired.

“No, I dropped her off at the coven house…like I’ve done a million fucking times before. I told her I’d be back in a few hours…which I was.”

“How does she just go missing?” Jax threaded his fingers through Katrina’s.

“I went to pick her up and they said she left with Avery to get some supplies. That’s not out of the ordinary, so at first, I didn’t think much of it. There’re a couple of stores in town where they get things for spells and so forth.”

“But she never came back,” Jax concluded.

“No. I went and tore up the coven house looking for them and there was no sign of either of them. So I drove all the way out to Mick’s. He wasn’t there but I searched the whole place. I mean,” Luca sighed, “I could tell she wasn’t there. I didn’t even scent her but I had to look.”

“So you decided to come here?” Jake asked

“Yes. Look, the other day…at Ilsbeth’s.” Luca’s eyes went to Katrina. “Samantha told me things.”

“Like what?” Katrina’s tone was terse, and Jax squeezed her hand, reminding her he was there for her.

“Jesus Christ, Katrina. We’ve known each other forever.” Luca paced, avoiding eye contact. “But she said you had magick in you. Not the kind you’re supposed to have. She said when she touched you, your aura…this is going to sound crazy.”

“Just say it,” Katrina pressed.

“She said, ah fuck,” he stopped to look at her. “She said you felt like Ilsbeth. Now like I said, you and I, we go way back. If you were Ilsbeth, I think I’d damn well know. But you scared her, okay?”

“I’m not Ilsbeth.” Katrina broke free of Jax and crossed to Luca. She reached for his hand. “I’m still me, but Sam is right. They did something to me. There’s magick inside me that isn’t mine. Something about Ilsbeth’s house the other day…it affected me….spoke to me. I don’t know why it’s happening, but I can tell you that we had nothing to do with Samantha disappearing. I swear it.”

“But we will help you find her.” Jax approached Luca, setting his palm onto Katrina’s lower back. “There’s one thing we agree on. This thing with Avery is suspicious and Mick is the only one who might have an answer. We’re going back to New York today, but first, I think we should pay Mick a visit before we leave.”

“I’ll call the chopper,” Jake told him.

“But I was already at Mick’s place. I told you that she wasn’t there. I couldn’t even find him.”

“Maybe you couldn’t find him. Or maybe he was hiding? Or maybe he just was off in the woods? Regardless, I think we should give it a try. Between Katrina’s magick and us scenting as wolf…if he’s there, we’ll find him. My guess is that the warlock knows exactly where Avery went,” Jax surmised.

“But Samantha would have never gone with her. She would have called me by now,” Luca explained.

“If Avery is a player in this circus, we have to find out.”

“Seems like she was his toy,” Jake noted. “A mistress, I’d bet.”

“More like a prize student,” Katrina added.

“Here’s the plan. Let’s get dressed and we’ll copter back to Bayou Goula.” Jax reached for his back pocket and checked the time on his cell phone. He pecked at the glass. “Jake, call the pilot and have him shift the departure time to New York. I’m texting Finn to let him know we’re going to be late, but he’ll have the pack together by the time we get there.”

“Are we meeting in the city or how’s this working?” Jake asked.

“We’ll fly into Newark and take the chopper up to the Finger Lakes. There’s a pack house a few hours outside of where they held us. Once we get there, we have to work fast. For whatever reason, these things seem to have better radar on Kat when she’s not in New Orleans.”

“Could have to do with Ilsbeth,” Katrina guessed.

“Maybe. This place is loaded with wards, every which way you turn. At home, you’re much more exposed.”

“This is our home.” Katrina smiled at Jax, who gazed up at her from his cell.

“Yeah, I guess it kind of is now, isn’t it?” Jax acknowledged. He glanced to the empty living room and made a mental note to ask her to help him decorate. Although he loved New York City, this was Katrina’s birthplace. She had friends and family in the Big Easy, as well as her own gallery. It wasn’t lost on him that she hadn’t asked to visit it, but he suspected she didn’t want to put her employees or neighbors in danger by doing so.

“I have to find her.” Luca’s voice wavered as he spoke. “Our baby…she’s due any day now. She’s been through so much. Dominique…”

At the mention of the vampire, Jax’s eyes darted to Jake then to Kat, before settling back on Luca. He hadn’t planned on mentioning the incident at the docks. But Jax had heard that Dominique had kidnapped Samantha a few months ago, almost killing her. After having experienced shape shifting first hand, thinking he’d seen Katrina in the club when he hadn’t, he doubted more than ever that they’d truly seen Dominique. It was much more likely that they’d seen an apparition or a glamour created by witchcraft.

“Luca, I wasn’t going to tell you this, but the other night,” Jax paused and glanced to Katrina, “we all saw something that looked like Dominique.”

“What?” Luca exhaled loudly and closed his eyes, an expression of shock washing across his face.

“Just hold up there, okay? Before you think it was her that kidnapped Samantha again, I’ve got to tell you, we don’t think it was her. This thing looked like her, but that’s where it ends.”

“What are you saying? It was someone dressed like her? She’s been missing for months.”

“Just what I said…it looked like her. These things…demons, witches, whatever they are, they’re using some kind of magick to make themselves look like other beings. But they haven’t been successful with wolves.”

“Demons have always been able to possess humans. They’re weak,” he noted.

“Yeah, well. Apparently they’ve replicated their little trick with some vampires too,” Jake told him.

“I don’t know what started them down this path, but Mick seems to think they are looking to take over packs. I personally don’t believe one hundred percent of what comes out of his mouth, but that day they took me…that woman on the floor looked like Katrina. In her human form anyway. We don’t know if they can transform into animals yet.”

“This is too much to process. Does Kade know?”

“No, I haven’t told him. Been kind of busy here. You’re welcome to text him, but the fact of the matter is that we don’t know exactly how or why this is happening. Somehow the witches are involved. I’m pretty sure Ilsbeth had a hand in this somehow. All we know for sure is they’ve been stealing Katrina’s magick over the past three years. What they’re really planning long term is anyone’s guess.”

“I want to help, Kat, but my priority right now is Sam. We’ve got to find her.” Luca paced, his hands on his forehead.

“Let’s go get dressed.” Jax reached for Katrina’s hand and led her toward the staircase. “Jake, you mind keeping watch on the vamp?”

“You got it, boss.” Jake gave a small smile and eyed Luca.

As the Alpha ascended the steps, he glanced back to the vampire and shook his head. Before Luca had had a chance to ask for help, Jax had already decided to search for the redheaded witch. With child, she’d never survive the kind of torture the demons had inflicted on him.

He racked his brain, attempting to put together the pieces of the puzzle. Nothing was an isolated incident as far as he was concerned.
His own kidnapping. Dimitri losing his wolf. Ilsbeth disappearing afterwards. Katrina’s infusion of witchcraft. The warlock. Avery’s role in Samantha’s disappearance.
His mind churned the facts, and although he couldn’t definitively find the correlation between them, he was becoming more convinced Ilsbeth had instigated a chain reaction of mayhem. Maybe she’d meant to do it, maybe not. At this point, it mattered little. A demagogue, she was powerful enough to spark the trail of destruction.

Jax took Katrina into his arms, kissing her hair. A scant scent of chlorine from her midnight swim still remained and he smiled, thinking about making love with her. Determined to find and destroy the demons, he swore to the Goddess that today would be the day. Their nefarious existence was coming to an end.