Blood Lust (The Blood Sisters Book 1)

by Jill Cooper

  Just pain. Pain kept her going.

  Jessica spotted Duncan riding his motorcycle alongside the train. He wore the identical leather jacket of his gang, the emblem of the Black Scorpions on the back. Still, from the way he rode, how he balanced his gun and gripped the bike with his thighs, Jessica knew it was him.

  Demons hung from the windows and Duncan aimed his weapon. Steady and controlled, that’s Duncan. He jerked his head, almost as if he could hear her. Feel her. Taking a deep breath, it was time to close her mind to all of the angst, the what-ifs, and just act. Do what she was born to do.

  It was time to hit the ground running.

  Jessica circled her motorcycle back and angled it nearly parallel to the cliff. She revved the engine and then let it go. Flying like a bird, she held her breath as the wheels rode out into open air.

  Jessica’s heart pounded with fury. Adrenaline surged, keeping her alert, but her mind clear. Tires lined up with the top of the freight train, she soared across the caboose, her motorcycle angled downward.

  Jessica stood, pushing her feet flat and gripped the handlebars. As the tires skidded against the metal with a thump; sparks flew up and singed her jeans. Jessica steered the bike sideways to a stop before she went off the edge. One boot dug into the metal roof, and her knee burned.

  A hatch in the aft boxcar opened and a pack of demons rushed to the top. Jessica gasped for air and let go of the bike, dug her fingernails into the car as she caught the top rung of the ladder and swung her legs out. Clutching the rung with all her might, Jessica’s head buried down as her motorcycle flew like a projectile weapon, right toward the demons.

  The motorcycle knocked them down like a set of bowling pins. Jessica pulled herself back to the top of the freight car just as her bike fell off the side, pulling demons down with it.

  Others rushed out of the hatch with guns and blades.

  Jessica knelt and reached for the shotgun on her back. She aimed and fired into the head of one. He fell back into the hatch only to be replaced by another.

  Another shot, another demon down.

  Sounds came from behind. Jessica pivoted on her knee, her hair flying in the wind. She aimed her gun and fired, rising up to her feet. Cocking her shotgun back, Jessica barely took in the three charging demons on the roof; she aimed and fired before moving onto the next targets.

  Shots from the gang racing along the ridges cleared the remaining demons.

  A sense of eerie calm came over her as she leapt to the next freight car. She grabbed the hatch to spin it shut, but it was jammed. It wouldn’t lock. Her heart surged with panic. If their plan didn’t work because of some malfunctioning hatch…

  Hands covered hers and they forced it closed together. With surprise Jessica gasped and gazed up at Duncan’s face. His lips were drawn together in a serious expression, but his eyes held affection. “Don’t you have a train to hijack?”

  Jessica wanted to thank him, but there was no time. “Duncan.” Her eyes widened as she saw demons running along the top of the caboose. She didn’t need to say anything for Duncan to pivot on his knees and get ready to fire into the charging beasts.

  She was out of shots; she couldn’t help, without reloading.

  Grabbing a handful of shells from her pocket, Jessica made quick work of reloading her shotgun. The train’s speed picked up, and she teetered, falling on her butt behind Duncan, using him for support.

  He turned his head slightly toward her, a fresh toothpick in the corner of his mouth. “There’s no cover-up here, sweetheart. Get to that engine and stop it before we run out of time.”

  Duncan was right, but to just leave him…

  Demons were swarming the train, climbing up like insects. If she didn’t get to the front car fast—but Duncan, to leave him alone here—Jessica’s chest tightened as she glanced at his profile. Determined, dedicated, everything she ever wanted from Duncan Jasper was happening right in front of her.

  But she couldn’t tell him now. Survival was the matter at hand and the drugs had to be taken.

  They had to use the drugs to get to Amanda, and that couldn’t happen if they made port. Vaughn had to believe she’d really give him the goods for Amanda’s life.

  Jessica jumped onto the next car and came face to face with a demon. She brought her gun up, but the demon was fast, grabbing the muzzle and pulling her in close. She nearly lost her footing, but Jessica pivoted and slammed her elbow against his nose. The demon’s hold on the shotgun loosened, and Jessica used it to thrust him toward the edge.

  A well-placed kick from her boot sent the demon sailing of the train. Duncan’s gang disposed of him fast, swarming onto him like he was a piece of meat and they were yellow meat bees. Their gunshots filled the air as they used the demons climbing up the sides for target practice.

  Like fish in a barrel.

  Jessica took off running for the engine, only two cars away. She leapt from one to the next, paying no mind to the gap between them. She ignored how the ground whizzed by at a frantic pace. She didn’t have much of a reaction to anything, but her breathing was rushed and her heart was pounding. Clearly her body was experiencing fear and the rush of exhilaration, but she was so focused it seemed far away; Jessica didn’t feel it.

  There was only the mission. One goal.

  Images of her sister kept her going. When she landed on the car behind the engine, Jessica teetered. She squatted down and gripped the top of the roof to steady herself, taking one step at a time towards the cab. For a brief moment, she glanced back.

  Duncan was no longer on the roof.

  Her heart felt as if it had imploded, as though Jessica had witnessed him die. Just because he wasn’t there didn’t mean…it didn’t…Jessica pressed her lips firmly together firm and gripped the roof’s metal rungs. She swung her body out in a graceful arc and her boots smashed through the glass window of the engine.

  Duncan wasn’t dead. She’d see him soon. Jessica replayed that thought on repeat. She wouldn’t trade Amanda for Duncan. Couldn’t she just please have them both?

  Her body slipped through the window, the small shards of glass cutting her face. Her boots slammed into the face of a demon and Jessica got caught up between two more. One of them clobbered her in the face and the other slammed her in the gut. She jerked toward the control panel before strengthening up. Issuing the one on her left a right jab, her leg kicked the other behind her.

  It was for Amanda. To save her sister. All of it.

  Jessica couldn’t afford to lose this fight.

  Hand to hand combat wasn’t her style. She turned, fired her shotgun into one of the demon’s chest. The force pushed him back to the rear of the car, as the engineer put a choke hold around her neck. Jessica gagged as she was yanked backward.

  She was determined not to die. Everyone always said it was good to have a life goal.

  Gripping her shotgun, she spun it around and hammered the butt of the weapon between the demon’s legs. It smashed into his balls and he cried out in pain. A quick elbow to his side, a stomp on his foot, and Jessica pushed her body as far forward as possible in order to put distance between them. She grabbed the knife hidden in her pocket and sliced through the demon’s side.

  He released her so fast, Jessica’s face smashed into the side wall of the car. She groaned and her vision turned to blackened. It wasn’t possible. She couldn’t let herself go unconscious from such a little thing. Jessica spun, held up her weapon and just as the demon’s twisted face came into view snarling as he charged her, she fired her gun.

  The demon dropped like a bag of stones right at her feet.

  Her chest heaved for air as she leaped over his body and grabbed the emergency brake. The train was barreling out of control down the track and headed to the shipping yard. Just over the horizon, the building took shape—appearing like a mirage in the distance.

  They were already so close to town.

  But the brake wasn’t working. Damn it, a shot must have taken out the
hydraulic system, which meant they were going to reach the town and, they were going to crash right into the shipping yard. Who knows who they’d kill on the way through?

  One more bend in the track and then it was a clear shot to town. Jessica had only one shot. She needed to derail the train.

  With a deep breath, Jessica grabbed the lever and pushed it all the way forward, picking up as much speed as the train could give her. Holding on for dear life, she pushed hard and fast as the wheels churned even faster.

  Here came the bend, turning around a series of cliffs. This was it, Jessica squeezed her eyes shut and planted her feet firm like a tree root. Her stomach had the sensation of spinning. Peering through one eye, Jessica saw the landscape tilt until the train was on its side.

  Her body slammed into the window and her fingers found purchase on the sill to keep from rolling out. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon.” Jessica whispered as the train dug a trench before it slowly came to a stop.

  Head spinning, Jessica pulled herself out of the window and stood atop the slaughtered caboose. Aunt Gwen wasn’t far away and she was smiling as she climbed down a rocky cliff. Off in the distance, motorcycle engines were getting closer. The Black Scorpions were riding to her location and Jessica imagined she gave them quite the scare. Gave herself one too, but at least they had what they came for.

  They did it. They had won. For this day, they had won.

  “Aunt Gwen?” Jessica smiled and rushed off the train. Her vision was dizzy and she teetered toward her aunt. To center herself, she focused on the ground at her aunt’s feet.

  Gwen’s boots stood on a patch of grass. Growing green in this barren wasteland was miraculous, but in front of Jessica’s eyes it withered. What was moments before alive, was now dried brown, dead.

  How had Jessica missed this? How had she not seen this before? She backed up as Gwen held her hands overhead and they crackled with power like electricity traveling between two poles. Sinister, Gwen smirked as a powerful black vortex opened in the day’s sky directly above Jessica.

  Jessica sneered at Gwen as her hair whipped around her face. “I’d wondered why you had such power. Had control you’ve never shown before.” She stood and aimed her gun.

  “Surprise,” Gwen whispered a shining red light in her eyes.

  The vortex grew. The wind blew all around them and Jessica felt her feet slipping. She was being pulled up toward the spinning whirlpool and was powerless to stop it. Before it got her, she fired a shot off at her aunt. Jessica didn’t see if it landed as she spun, clawing at the ground trying to hang on awhile longer.

  The bikers were coming. The headlights were getting closer.

  Duncan. With any luck Duncan was with them and would reach her in time. Jessica just wanted to hold on.

  Jessica struggled as her fingernails tore through the dirt. She gritted her teeth, trying hard to hang on, but her legs spun into the air. What hope she had left of saving Amanda, of finding a normal life was shattered as Jessica was sucked up into the vortex.

  Amanda. I’m sorry.

  Her body twirled inside the whirlwind. Everything was black and the wind ripped around her at such a dizzying speed, Jessica couldn’t breathe. She gulped air, desperate for it, but there was none; her body spun around as if it were a rag doll, bouncing off of the nothingness of space, like a ball stuck inside a pinball game.

  Jessica’s vision blurred. The vortex spat her out on the other side like an unwelcome guest. As if she was poison, venom. Her body whacked into a black mountain ridge and her face hit a boulder wet with dew.

  At that moment, she was just happy to breathe—gulping, gagging, nearly hysterical. Jessica thought she might never catch her breath. Jessica moaned and peered up at what should have been the sky, but all she saw was the roof of a cavern. The vortex above spun like a marble in a maze. It shrunk in size until it was nothing more than a pinhole.

  Great. Just great.

  Wherever she was, Jessica was trapped. She needed to find her way out.

  With a pop of light, the swirling vortex was gone and took all her hope with it. Well, Jessica was going to have to find another way out.

  Just as her chest settled, someone took her gun away and another rolled her over. “Give that back.” Jessica’s voice croaked and she struggled to sit. Her vision swayed and vomit rose in her mouth, clearly her body wasn’t ready to move yet. But her choices were limited. Her options were shrinking.

  Two demons grabbed her arms and picked her up. Their faces weren’t like the demons she usually fought, they were gray and wrinkled—like they had never seen the light of day. Stronger than most minions, yet dressed in tattered rags. Their faces were cut and bloody, like they had seen a great battle. Jessica’s feet dragged against the stone as they forced her along against her will. “Where are you taking me?” Her voice was mousier than usual, but still she demanded a response with the glower in her eyes.

  She was aware of screaming somewhere in the distance. Cries of pain bellowed through the cavern, and even seemed to cause the torches hanging on the stone walls to flicker.

  “Lourdes wants to see you.”

  “Lourdes has demanded your presence.”

  Her heart sank in ways it never had before. Lourdes? That could only mean one thing. Jessica Blood was prisoner of the underworld.

  On her way to see the queen.

  24: Duncan

  A hole opened in the sky and it swallowed Jessica Blood.

  “Jessica!” Duncan twisted the throttle on his bike, drove it faster, but it couldn’t catch the speed of his galloping heart. He shouldn’t have left her. He should have stayed with her.

  Now wasn’t time to second guess his decisions, but Duncan’s mouth filled with grief as he reached the spinning vortex. Dismounted before he even finished cutting the engine, Duncan searched for someone to hunt. Someone to hurt.

  Staring up at it, the vortex was spent, shrinking and dissipating. In a moment, it was nothing more than a pinprick of light. The wind whipping across his cheek slowed its breath and Duncan clenched his fists tight in his leather gloves.

  Was this Vaughn? Had he had someone take Jessica because of what they had done? Of what Duncan had done? Revenge?

  How much more would Vaughn take? When would that demon bastard just die already?

  The urgency to find Jessica, to bring her back, lodged tight in his chest. If he lost her again, after only just having the guts to find her; well, that wasn’t the best line of thinking, was it?

  He picked up a rock and with a grunt threw it at the vortex. Plummeting to the ground, the rock landed back on the sand with a thud. Footsteps shuffled forward and Duncan turned as Bart and Dex secured the overturned boxcar.

  “Is it safe?” Duncan’s chest was tight and he could feel the anxiety rushing through his limbs. He needed to get a hold of this creeping fear, this edging panic to find Jessica, he couldn’t just move on without her.

  Something happened here. Something big, and Duncan needed to track it now, before the trail went cold. If the trail was buried, it’d bury Jessica right along with it and the notion of that— he was a moron for ever leaving her, but he could never say that, could he?

  If Jessica knew the things he had done, saw it with her own eyes, Duncan was sure the last few days would’ve been very different.

  He just had to find her and drag her back. Amanda couldn’t survive without Jessica, and Duncan wasn’t sure if he could either. A world where Jessica Blood wasn’t out hunting demons was a world without hope. Even when they were apart, Duncan knew she was out there. Living to make the world a little safer. That brought him comfort, but this?

  Only agony.

  Bart nodded. “We got the drugs and enough dead demons to start a roaring bonfire.” He glanced up at the sky. “Where’s Jessica? Her aunt? Did that thing…”

  Duncan didn’t know. Truth was, he hadn’t given Gwen much thought, but Bart was right. He needed to find her too. Maybe she knew what had happened. Maybe she saw
why it happened.

  Up above, everything was normal again, complete with slow drifting clouds. Whatever had swallowed Jessica was gone and all traces had faded away. Daylight took its rightful place again, and the normalcy of that sent a shiver down Duncan’s spine.

  Duncan hurried his footsteps over to the train. “Signal the trucks. We need to get this stuff moving before Vaughn sends reinforcements.” Duncan checked his watch to see if they were on schedule, when something caught his attention on the ground.

  Hunched over, his finger swept through a puddle on the dirt and pebbles. It was deep red against his gloves tips. Blood.

  Duncan licked it just to make sure. Human blood. Was it Jessica’s?

  Spotting a trail, Duncan followed the drips straight to the train. Bart stared at him with a quizzical expression, but Duncan silenced him with a shake of his head. “Get moving to the caboose in the back, start unloading those boxes.”

  Bart nodded. “Sure, boss.” He leaped out of the boxcar and was on his way.

  Duncan gripped the metal side of the train and watched. He waited in silence, able to feel the pounding of his heartbeat. His eyes studied what he could make out inside the boxcar and when the sun shifted, Duncan was about to give up.

  But then, a panel slid along the wall.

  Someone was in there. Someone was coming out of hiding. A demon? Something that had summoned that vortex? Duncan would kill it in a heartbeat if he thought that was the best way to serve Jessica. To find her, he was going to need patience and restraint.

  Two of his least favorite words.

  Fingers edged out from the panel and began to shimmy it open. Duncan stepped inside as light as possible, but the boxcar rattled and the fingers retracted back inside, like a spider from the flame.

  But Duncan had seen them. It was too late now to hide. He gripped the panel and pulled it open. Well, what’d you know? It was Gwen.