by Jill Cooper
Amanda bit her lip and seemed to understand, but already a sour expression spread across her face as if she had just bitten into a lemon. “You have a plan.”
Jessica gave a half shrug. “You’re not going to like it.”
Her sister sighed and gazed at the door. “Just tell me what to do.”
11: Jessica
“You can do this,” Jessica whispered to her and stood behind the door. She meant it. Amanda had done far harder things before, but based on the uncertain frown, Amanda didn’t believe it. “Mandy,” Jessica stressed as she heard footsteps coming from the outside hall, “you can do it. Trust me, okay?”
Amanda had to believe it. If she didn’t, this thing was going to fail hard and burn faster than popcorn in the microwave.
Amanda nodded hesitantly. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a brief moment. That was a good girl. She could do it, but her fear was real. Jessica hated putting Amanda in such a position, but she’d hate even worse falling into demons’ hands.
Or if innocent people were caught in the crossfire, that’d be far worse on her conscience. So no matter how much they hated it, the plan needed to work.
When the door unlocked, Amanda backed away and pushed her butt back against the table. She glanced at Jessica for guidance, her eyes wide and pleading, but Jessica just shook her head. “Don’t look at me. Just do as we discussed, okay?”
But what if the police heard? What if they were listening? Jessica didn’t need to be empathic to read Amanda’s face. A moment later, it didn’t matter because the door was swinging open and Jessica’s view was obscured. She could make out Amanda’s dirty soiled feet take their mark, but that was all.
“Where is Jessica Blood?” A new voice. It must have been the FBI agent.
“She was in here!” Woolsey said. “Ms. Blood,” his angry voice lashed out at Amanda and it made Jessica’s blood boil. No one talked to her sister that way. “Where is your sister?”
Jessica gritted her teeth and took a deep steadying breath. She would be exposed as soon as the door swung closed.
One…Two…
As it slowly shut Jessica came into view, backed up against the side wall closest to Amanda. Her eyes swept over someone in front of her. Amanda’s voice was a hushed whisper and there were lines crinkling on her forehead. “There’s something wrong Jess!”
“She’s here!” The FBI agent was tall and wore shades on his eyes. His lips came together pinched in a pout. “She’s—”
Jessica wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him close while her other hand grabbed the gun at his side. With one deft move she released the safety and held the gun to his temple. “Say one more thing and I blow your head off. Sheriff, clear us a path or he dies and I blast a new exit.”
“You’ll never get out of here. You might kill a few people, sure.” Woolsey took a gingerly step toward her, his hands outstretched, “but we’ll get the drop on you, sugar. You’ll never make it out the front door. And your sister…”
Why couldn’t people just do the sensible thing and get out of her way?
“Just come quietly.” The FBI agent craned his head toward her.
Irritated, Jessica pushed the gun harder against his temple. He groaned and Jessica edged him forward. “We’re leaving. Amanda, c’mon!” Glancing into the hall, Jessica saw three police officers, guns drawn. “Sheriff, tell them to lower their weapons or else it’s going to get really bloody in here.”
The FBI agent laughed, which Jessica thought unusual, but then she realized Amanda wasn’t following her. Jessica cast a glance up to the mirror hanging on the wall. The reflection showed her sister, arm out, holding onto the wall for support, the other, gripping her stomach tight, as if she had fallen ill.
Jessica knew better and inside her growing fear festered.
Amanda’s teeth chattered and she opened her mouth to speak, but Jessica knew already what she was going to say. Their escape attempt came too late.
Demon. Based on Amanda’s condition, Jessica would guess it was a doozy. “Sheriff,” Jessica’s voice was loud and clear, “you’re going to want to empty your station before this gets real ugly.”
His face was one of disbelief. “Because you’re going to kill us all?”
“If she doesn’t, I will.” The FBI agent smirked and Jessica nearly missed the way he hissed. Crap, was he the—
The agent threw his elbow back into her face and Jessica saw stars as her head bucked backward.
He spun and grabbed her by the throat with one hand while the other grabbed her arm. She fought against him, but damn, was he strong! A shot went wide as he throttled her into the wall. Jessica couldn’t breathe and panic set in. Sheriff Woolsey was still in the room, his gun now drawn to back-up the FBI agent.
Didn’t Woolsey hear the threat the demon made?
He must have thought this was a regular arrest, but Jessica knew better. The FBI agent was too strong to be human and overhead, the lights dimmed as the demon drew additional power.
More demons were coming, circling the wagons around the sisters Blood, and the police officers were casualties waiting to happen. They would be stomped like bugs; demons had no regard for life, and the officers stood in the way of what they wanted. Humans? They only exist to serve demons.
The FBI agent sneered at Jessica. “You’re not the one we’ve come for. You’re merely in the way.” His voice was inhuman, deep and guttural, as if it came from the pit of his stomach, not his mouth, where his teeth were visible, jagged and sharp. Jessica would die before this monster got his hands on her sister.
Amanda collapsed onto her knees in complete distress, clutching her throat as if she couldn’t breathe. Jessica needed to get her out of here before things got worse.
“I think you’ve taught her a lesson, Agent, now if you—” Sheriff Woolsey stepped behind the FBI agent and the demon turned his head. He screamed a sounded like eagles mixed with tigers.
Woolsey froze in place and his eyes widening as his hand slackening. His gun slipped from his fingers, blood seeping from his ears.
Jessica used the agent’s distraction against him. The heel of her hand came up, slamming under his jaw, loosening his grip on her throat. She twisted her body. Her throat screamed in pain, and as she fell to the ground, something pierced her skin.
The agent lunged for her with his arms spread eagle. He was going to collapse right on top of her.
Jessica couldn’t breathe; as she kicked her feet to slither across the cool linoleum. With a two hand grip, she lifted her gun and fired several shots center mass into the demon’s chest.
He growled, his claws growing as the shots healed themselves. The bullets clinked as they hit the ground. The gun’s caliber was too small to kill such a strong demon with a chest shot. Jessica repositioned herself, shot, and fired a bullet right through his forehead.
Bull’s eye.
His face twisted like a Picasso painting in a volcano, all the colors running together as he hit the ground. Jessica ignored the frozen Sheriff Woolsey. Her thoughts spun with uncertainty; she scooted on her knees over to Amanda. Why hadn’t the deputies come?
Where was everyone?
The questions soured her mind with doubt. They had to move. Had to get out of here.
Amanda was doubled over as if she was going to be sick and Jessica focused on taking care of her. She pulled her sister’s hair back and touched her clammy forehead. Burning up, running a fever. Intense burning desire raged in Jessica, she had to get Amanda out of there before things got worse.
“The smell,” Amanda’s voice lurched with the threat of vomit. “It’s everywhere. Everywhere, Jess!”
“I’m going to need you to move.” Jessica barked the order, but she wasn’t mad. She was desperate. Terrified. Not because of the fight, fighting came easily. No, it was Amanda that Jessica was always afraid for.
Amanda just nodded and gathering her strength, got to her feet. Jessica cradled her like an injured child. W
oolsey blocked the door, “I want to know what the hell is going on here and I want to know now. If you think I’m just going to let you walk out of here after you killed an FBI agent—”
His voice was drowned out by screams coming from his station. The screams were so piercing; it made Jessica’s skin crawl. Woolsey’s eyes widened, as his head turned toward the door.
“You know what you just saw wasn’t normal, and unless you get your men out of here, they’re all going to die.” Jessica gritted her teeth. “Now move the hell out of the way! They want my sister and they can’t have her.”
Woolsey’s complexion paled. He hesitated, his hand on the door knob. Jessica was about to knock him out of the way when Amanda’s frail voice spoke up. “Demon.” Her shaking finger pointed.
Jessica followed the trail of green mist flowing out of the FBI agent’s nose. It was circling toward them and she knew who its intended target was. It needed a new host to inhabit and there was only one in the room that it could take. “Woolsey, get out of here before—”
But it was too late. The mist swirled beneath his face and the chubby man took a deep breath, sucking the mist up his nose. His eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed into a heap face down onto the floor like an alcoholic after an all-nighter.
Shit!
They had two minutes until he awoke with a demon fully infiltrated into his brain. Enough time to escape the room and maybe shoot their way out of this police station.
Amanda had other ideas. Already her hand was crackling even though she could barely stand.
Not again. Jessica’s anger fumed out her ears. “We’re leaving.” Jaw tight, she tugged on her sister, but Amanda held her ground.
“We need to send this one back to the underworld where it can’t hurt us. Please, Jessica!” Her face was so innocent in its plea that Jessica felt like dirt. Absolute dirt that she’d put Amanda’s life above any other.
But so what? That’s what was important to Jessica. And she would sacrifice Woolsey, and anyone, if it meant getting Amanda out safe. “No,” She said it deeply, simply and Amanda was crestfallen, like a smashed mirror fallen to pieces. The pain etched along her features.
“If we don’t save him than why bother to fight at all. Why?”
They were running out of time. If they were going to stand there, risk their lives and fight each other, might as well save Woolsey in the process. “You have sixty seconds. That’s all time left before we’re dead anyway. So you better hurry up.”
Amanda was already on her knees. Her hand raised high and the ball of swirling light between her fingers grew brighter, bigger. Lightning shot out from the center, growing longer until it hit Woolsey’s chest. Even though he was unconscious, his back arched as if he was having a full blown seizure and his head banged against the ground.
Her other hand touched his forehead to keep him steady and safe from self-injury. Amanda’s head tilted back; she looked so serene with her eyes closed. Her face glowed in the magical light and she looked like an angel.
An absolute angel.
It was hard to look away from such a display, but Jessica stepped away to open the door. She smelled the acrid odor of gunfire. Out in the hallway, lights from the station flashed as screams came from the front of the station. Long shadows were cast upon the walls. The hair on the back of her neck stood tall, as a breathy growl came towards her.
They were coming.
Her head spun back to Woolsey, her hair slashing at her mouth. The green mist was almost fully removed from his body. Now all that was left was to destroy it and they’d be in the home clear.
Jessica turned her attention back toward the coming demon; green, scaly; in a pair of bad jeans and a biker’s vest. If they were lucky, there would be nothing more than some low level grunts in the sheriff station. Those she could kill, that, a job she could handle.
She fired a shot between his eyes. Lucky for her, she had always been a quick study with a steady hand.
If not, she might have been dining in hell tonight.
****
The office was dark.
“What’s going on?” Woolsey stumbled, his eyes glazed over, as the sisters Blood pulled him to cover.
Jessica dove for an overturned desk and rested her back against it as shots rang out in what was left of the sheriff’s station. Littered with newspapers on the floor, shards of glass and a trail of bodies led them closer to the front door. The place looked like a bomb shelter after the bomb went critical.
The air was thick with smoke and flying debris. It burned Jessica’s lungs and made it hard to see. Lights flickered and the desk lamps were covered in drywall dust. “You two, get down!” Jessica ordered as she tossed her gun to the side.
Out of bullets. She needed another gun. Turning, she reached for the dead deputy’s hip. His gun was still there, never even got a chance to be drawn, but Jessica kept focusing on his eye sockets where his eyes had once been. Now there were just strands of nerves, frayed like old electrical wires.
His mouth twisted open in shock, his fingers pointed up in the air. The metallic smell of his blood was everywhere and Jessica tried to ignore it.
But her insides screamed with rage. This happened because of her, because she hadn’t gotten Amanda out in time. Apologies all around, but Jessica couldn’t be frozen by grief. They had to keep moving.
Renewed gunfire erupted from the front. Jessica jumped and blinked her eyes rapidly. Gun in hand; she stayed low, her back positioned against the overturned desk to avoid getting hit. This should be it. A sweep up of the last of the demons, and then they could make their way outside, into the open. Thank God there were no more police arriving as backup. Jessica just wanted to get them out of here and hit the open road, away from this place forever.
Their family vacation home. Now that too was tainted by demons. Damn them all back to hell.
Jessica broke cover, twisting onto her knees and fired two shots toward the demons. One hit a demon in the head, the other went wide. The standing demon was still coming for her.
“Stay down!” she ordered her sister as she slid to her butt and bent over to avoid a fresh round of bullets. Jessica couldn’t see where Amanda took up cover with Woolsey, but she knew they were safe.
For now.
She would take the frontal assault, but she wasn’t superwoman. There was only so much she could do. Safety wouldn’t last if Jessica couldn’t take out that last demon.
Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Jessica rose to her knees again. This time, the demon was right there, bent over with extended claws ready to grab her by the throat. His big beer gut pressed against her. When he growled, Jessica forced her gun into his mouth and fired.
The beast’s eyes widened and he fell over backward with a thump, but the blood spray Jessica couldn’t avoid. The vile stench filled her mouth and Jessica spat it out as she labored to her feet.
“Coast is clear!” She rushed toward the front door, her boots crunching on glass along the way. Grabbing the door handle, Jessica paused when the buzzing sound of motorcycles pierced the night air. Their headlights coming down the street headed straight for the police station.
They were cornered.
No. They couldn’t have fought their way through this just to lose. Jessica couldn’t give up the fight.
Amanda and Woolsey were at her side again. “Jessica?” Amanda’s voice was pitched, afraid as she clenched her hands together on repeat.
“Is there a back door?” Jessica demanded of Woolsey. When he hesitated she asked it again with less patience. “Well, is there?”
Woolsey pointed. “Side entrance, it won’t get us far, but the door is pointed toward the convenience store.”
The convenience store. Town. Jessica’s throat rose with bile as they rushed toward the side exit. The sight size of the gang headed into town, meant everyone was in trouble. If anyone came outside to see what was going on… First things first, stay level headed. Jessica wasn’t good to anyo
ne if she was freaking out.
Freaking out was for pansies. Jessica wasn’t a pansy. Level headed. Strong. She had this.
As Jessica pushed open the door, checking if the coast was clear. She could hear Amanda’s labored breathing. She was terrified, more than usual, probably because of how weak she was from exorcising Woolsey. Amanda and her bright ideas, but at least now Jessica could put Woolsey to good use.
Outside street lights flickered, giving a valiant struggle before finally going out. Jessica skirted the edges to the convenience store. She broke the glass to twist the door knob open from the inside. “Get inside and call whoever is necessary to warn everyone in town to stay inside. Don’t come out no matter what happens. Do you understand?”
Woolsey shook his head. His eyebrows were furrowed and he spat his words out in a fine layer of mist. “I don’t understand any of this!”
Denial. Jessica understood it, didn’t like it, but she understood where it was coming from. “You don’t need to. Just do what I say.” Jessica spoke carefully and precisely. Footsteps were coming closer. “Where’s our car, Woolsey?”
She gave him half a second to answer and when he didn’t, Jessica scowled her eyes into a fine point. “Our car!”
His hand shook as he pointed down the block away from the sheriff’s station. “Vick’s towing, but the gate is locked—”
Jessica could take care of that. She pushed him inside the convenience store and slammed the door. Afraid the demons might find him, she pulled the blinds to hide the broken window. A bitter wind was whipping around them and Jessica’s hair lashed at her mouth. The mountain fresh air was being tainted by the stench of blood and exhaust fumes.
“C’mon!” Jessica took Amanda’s hand and they went from the corner store into the alley. It almost butted up to a residential house that stank of peeled onions and rotting beef.
Great smell, it really piqued the senses, but at least it warded off her hunger. Hopefully, it would mask their scent too. Buy them some time, so the demons couldn’t track them right away.
