Chapter 1: Searching for the Dead

BOOK ONE: BOUND

**Jax**

**New Orleans, Six Months Ago**

I lounged on the bed, hands behind my head, and glanced around Abby's room, which was almost identical to mine. Despite being ridiculously overpriced, the Pendragon Palace earned a solid ten for its décor.

I still couldn't believe I was back in New Orleans after all these years, especially with Abby Benson of all people. If not for my brother's wife - and my former infatuation - Chloe begging me to tag along with her cousin to ensure her safety, I probably wouldn't be here, but I never could say no to Chloe. She was my weakness.

Originally, I'd thought this trip was an utter waste of time, because no way would Abby ever go through with resurrecting Isach Zoya, her dead fiancé. The cost for any sort of magic was always high, but for voodoo? The price tag was sure to be astronomical.

The shower shut off, and several minutes later, Abby emerged from the bathroom. Dressed in jean shorts and a T-shirt, her normally frizzy red hair hung in damp strands around her shoulders. Her eyes were dull, even as she smiled in my direction, and everything in me simultaneously seized and broke. This poor girl had been through way too much, and she didn't deserve the heartache she was currently suffering, and I had an awful feeling she hadn't even hit the worst of it yet.

How would Abby react when she finally came face to face with Isach? Could she handle it? Could Chloe? All I wanted was for them to be happy, but would dragging Isach back from the dead accomplish that? I was beginning to have a lot of doubts.

"So, did you tell Chloe?" Abby asked.

During our quest to resurrect Isach, we'd learned that he wasn't actually dead. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but his state of well-being didn't really matter much when we had no idea where he was - and no one was willing to tell us, either. That only made me want to find him more, find out why he let everyone believe he was dead and why he was hiding from his friends.

"No." I swung my legs over the side of the bed. "Figured we should find Isach first, get some answers. Then we can tell her." I stood. "Of course, if you don't want to find him, then we'll go home and let everyone think he's dead and we couldn't resurrect him."

"You'd really lie to Chloe about something like this? You know her and Isach were close." Abby searched for her shoes.

"If it meant protecting her feelings, then yes. Absolutely." No way was I telling Chloe anything until I had concrete answers. I wouldn't be responsible for giving her false hope.

Abby snatched her sneakers from under the bed, flopped down on the mattress, and tugged them onto her feet. "I'm not sure there's anything he can say that will make me be okay with what he did, but I have a lot I want to say to him." She stood and crossed her arms. "So, let's go find him."

I grinned. "I can't wait to see this."

She rolled her eyes and shoved me toward the door. "C'mon." She gathered her stuff on the way out of the room. "I hope you know more witches."

"I know a few but getting them to help us will be a long shot."

If only I'd known how true those words would turn out to be. After visiting four different witches - all of whom literally slammed the door in my face - we weren't any closer to finding Isach. And for every "no" and dead end we ran into, Abby's hope diminished a little more. Her aura, which had been a vibrant pulsing yellow this morning, was now fading to gray.

When we found Isach - because it was no longer a question of if - I was going to throat punch him a few times, and then I was going to kill him for the pain he'd caused Abby and everyone else. Witch boy had better pray to whatever God he believed in that he had a hell of a good reason for still being alive when we all thought him dead.

After striking out with the last witch I knew, Abby's hope was gone, and she was shrouded in a gray cloud. I flexed my hands on the steering wheel, fighting the urge to hit something. I promised Chloe I'd take care of Abby, that I'd make sure nothing happened to her, and I never broke a promise to Chloe. But now, I might have to, because how could I bring Abby home unscathed when I knew this trip had only intensified her grief? I'd have no choice but to bring back a more broken version of Abby, and I feared there'd be no healing her after all this.

"Maybe we should just go home and beg Ivy to help us." Abby rested her head on the car window and sighed. "Isach swore a blood oath to her, so if he's alive, she'll want to know. She'll hold him to that oath, which means she'll want to find him as much as I do."

"Or she'll just kill him for betraying her."

She whipped her head around to glare at me. Well, clearly that wasn't the right thing to say. But Abby wasn't stupid, and she knew Ivy couldn't be trusted. I didn't care if Ivy Rose - now the leader of the most powerful coven in the world - had been our ally for a short while. I'd never fully trust her, and making any sort of deal with Ivy was sure to backfire.

"Sorry." I gave an apologetic shrug. "Let's try Sophie one more time. Maybe I can find a way to negotiate with her. There's gotta be something she wants."

Sophie was the absolute last person I wanted to see again, especially after how she'd reacted to us last night, but I had to do something to help Abby, and this was my last ditch effort. If this didn't work, I had no idea what I'd do.

"How do you know her anyway?" Abby asked.

"When Sean was searching for a way to break the curse, he spoke to a lot of witches. She was one of them." I scrunched up my face. "She wasn't much help back then, either."

Thanks to my father losing his control of his heightened emotions, he killed the woman he loved, the same woman that powerful witch Rector Zoya had loved, too, and as a result, Rector cursed my family - no Halstead vampire would ever know true love, and should we attempt to take a mate and change them, they'd go mad with bloodlust. A harsh reality that my brother and I had learned the hard way.