Demons of Bourbon Street Read Online Free PDF Page A

Mom always had a way of soothing me. I knocked softly and cracked open the door.
“ Jade?” Mom dropped a lit candle in a white bowl. Whatever contents she’d been working with went up in a whoosh of flame.
I grimaced. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”
She doused the mini fire with water and waved her hand to clear the smoke. “Don’t worry. I was experimenting. Why are you up so late?”
“ Trouble sleeping. Actually, I was looking for one of your sleep enhancements.”
She opened a small wooden box and pulled out a green pill. All of Mom’s enhancements were green. What else would one expect from an earth witch?
She rose and pressed it into my palm. Not letting go, she squeezed my hand into a fist and clutched it. “I’m going to miss you, shortcake.”
The suddenness of her emotion made my eyes mist. “Come with me?” I hadn’t meant to ask her. It just popped out. How could I be so selfish?
“ Oh, Jade.” Mom’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t think…”
“ Never mind.” I waved both hands in a ‘forget it’ motion. “I understand.” And I did. She’d just gotten a second chance at life. How could I ask her to help me fight a demon?
Her intense gaze bore into mine. “I know you’re going to do whatever you have to, but please, don’t go running off into Hell without a solid escape plan…or two.”
I gaped. This was the first time she hadn’t treated me like an adolescent since we’d arrived in Idaho. “I won’t.”
“ Promise me.”
“ I promise,” I whispered, having trouble getting the words past the lump in my throat.
“ And when you fight Meri—” her face turned sympathetic, “—keep in mind it isn’t her fault she behaves the way she does.”
I stepped back, shocked. “What does that mean?” Of course it was her fault. She’d stolen my mother and Dan and tried to hurt a bunch of other people I loved.
“ She’s a victim of circumstance. Try to remember she was a person once.”
My eyes narrowed. Why was she defending her captor?
“ Just listen to your heart. You’ll understand.” She folded me into her arms. “I love you. Don’t ever forget that.”
I buried my head in her shoulder, still confused and a little angry, but comforted by her touch all the same. “I won’t.”
When we broke apart, she tried to shuffle me back off to bed, but I paused. “Hold on. I have something for you.” A minute later, I returned with a glass bead I’d turned into a pendant. I’d been meaning to give it to her before we left. With the vision of Lailah, I’d forgotten all about it. “I made this for you.”
Mom turned it over in her palms. “It’s full of your energy. Your love.”
“ You can feel it?”
She nodded, a look of wonder on her face.
Perfect. I’d never made a bead infused with magic before. This had been an experiment. “It’s for protection. You wear it over your heart, and when you need an extra boost of strength, you can call on its power.”
Immediately Mom removed the silver chain she always wore, added the pendant, and clasped the necklace around her neck. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”
She gave me one last hug before sending me off to bed. As she shut the door behind me, I swore I saw tears streaming down her face. Happy tears, full of pride and love.
With the help of the little green pill, I drifted off within minutes. Normally Kane, being a dreamwalker, was waiting for me in my dreams. Almost every night, whether we were physically together or not, he appeared.
But tonight was different.
Someone was with me, but it wasn’t Kane.
I lifted my heavy head off a cold cement floor and wanted to recoil, but my body wouldn’t respond.
My head fell back to the cement, and I stared at Dan with bone-weary exhaustion.
He didn’t look much better than I felt. He sat as far away from me as possible, his button-down shirt rumpled and stained with more than a few layers of grime. His usually clean-shaven face now had at least a week’s worth of