by Jill Cooper
Down on all fours like a rat, Jessica’s cheek slammed into the stone floor. Large, chunky hands pinned her down as Lourdes’s train glided across the floor.
“What did you do to my parents?” Jessica had wanted to ask for nights, but now, with her will slipping, it seemed the best time to ask.
Lourdes snapped her fingers and the demons forced Jessica up to her feet. Her legs were jittery; it had been so long since she had been able to stand on solid ground. The demons held her upright as Lourdes’s delicate finger touched Jessica’s jaw.
“Knowledge can be yours. For a price. Your soul.” Lourdes held out her hand and a moment later, the stone jar was filled with black ooze. “Drink this, and after you find Amanda, you’ll know. As if the info has been downloaded into your pretty little brain.”
It was a fool’s bargain, but it was a bargain Jessica needed to take. Lourdes had to believe Jessica was on her side, and this was the only way she could make that happen. She had to drink the liquid with hopes of finding information about her parents. In hopes of fooling Lourdes about what was really going on.
Lourdes knew a Blood would never give in. Not easily. The torture, the refusal to drink. had all led to this point in time. To this point, when Lourdes would believe Jessica had finally cracked.
Had she? Did the plan even make sense?
Jessica took the stone jar. “You promise?”
Lourdes grinned. “I may be many things, but a liar isn’t one of them.”
She sniffed the contents of the jar and recoiled. It smelled like skunk, only somehow worse, but Jessica drank. She took a tender sip, the liquid was slimy, slipping down her neck like a vial of mud. So gross, Jessica gagged and slowed the stream down her throat, but Lourdes put her hand under the cup.
“No,” Jessica’s voice gurgled and she whipped her head to avoid drinking. She couldn’t do it. Couldn’t give in, no matter the cost. The wrank liquid wafted up her nose. Jessica held her breath and clamped her jaw tight as a steel trap.
Lourdes’s eyes widened in a flash. “On her knees. Open that jaw. I don’t care if it’s broken when we’re done.”
Still, Jessica struggled. Her knees slammed into the rocks and hands gripped her face. She had never felt like such an object before as her head was pulled backward. Dirty fingers that tasted like salt and worse were in her mouth, forcing her lower jaw open.
Jessica sobbed as the walls closed in. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t get free. She tried to wail, tried to scream, but Lourdes poured the vile concoction down her throat. It was thick, coating all the way down into her belly like a seal and a promise.
Lourdes dropped the cup. “Let her go.”
Slumping to the floor, her mind was besieged with visions of screaming and flashes of fire. A lake of torment. Ideas of revenge and torture flooded her mind; Jessica couldn’t stop them. Her knees wobbled and when she thought to collapse, the demons held her upright against the stone wall.
She would do her mistress's bidding. Jessica would find Amanda and bring her to the underworld. The very idea of it turned her stomach. Didn’t know why, but it did.
Lourdes’s nose was held high as she stepped off to the side and surveyed the ruin that was once Jessica Blood. Her arm swept into the distance. “Retrieve what is rightfully yours now. Bring Amanda to me.”
A river of fire swept through the cavern and in the center, a peninsula of rock. Amidst the flame, a sword of fire waited, like Excalibur, for the right person to come along and free it. But this was the sword of evil, the enemy, and with this knowledge running like a river of anguish in her mind, Jessica stood and approached the shining blade.
She shouldn’t do it. Inside her heart struggled to fight, but she couldn’t stop. She just couldn’t.
Her steps wobbled side to side, but with outstretched arms, Jessica treaded through the fire. The flames rushed up her boots and onto her leather pants, but she kept going. Stepping onto the peninsula, the flames were put out by dust and debris. Jessica glanced back at Lourdes, who only nodded with hunger in her wide eyes.
“Go on. Become the commander of my legion. Take the sword and wield the power that comes with it.”
Jessica took a deep breath. This was part of the plan, right? This was how she was going to defeat Amanda—no, wait, that was wrong. Jessica wanted to defeat Lourdes, not Amanda.
Never—it wasn’t about defeating her sister.
It was about saving her. Please, let her remember in the end. Let her remember.
With a deep breath, Jessica wrapped her hand around the hilt of the sword. It burned and her flesh sizzled. Instinct drove her to release her hand, but instead Jessica wrapped her other hand around it and they both smoldered. Smoke rose up from the sword as flame and ash traveled up her skin and over her jacket.
Jessica gave a scream of pain and power as the flaming sword came free from the rock. She outstretched her arm toward Lourdes as the sword turned to ash and disappeared deep inside of her. Her arm now burned hot like the sword had, but when she put her arm by her side, the fire went out.
But inside, Jessica felt it. That burning desire, her quest would not be denied. Amanda Blood would be hers, one way or another.
Lourdes’s look of desire morphed to pleasure as Jessica strolled over to her. Each of her footsteps leaving ash and soot on the cavern floors. “I’m ready,” Jessica said, and bent down low to accept her blessing.
Her hair was pushed back by Lourdes, and the evil queen’s lips singed her forehead. “What a beautiful child you are. Go now, find Amanda and bring her to me. Show her what happens to those that oppose me, Jessica. Show everyone what I think of their little plans.”
Little plans? Jessica didn’t have any plans. All she had was her mission and it would be written out in blood.
12: Vaughn
Renovations were going well, but it was the tears coming from beside him that pleased Vaughn the most. The round bed in the room was dressed in a crushed red velvet comforter. Beneath it, Vaughn laid naked with a guest.
A round bed covered in a red crushed velvet comforter, Vaughn lay naked beneath it. The muscles on his chest slick with sweat flexed from a vigorous workout. The young woman he broke in like a young filly cuddled on her side. Her body rocked with sobs of torment, as if being with him was so bad.
Vaughn wished he could see her face. He brushed back her messy braids and she quivered in fright. Her sobs turned louder as her eyes squeezed tight. “It’ll get easier,” Vaughn’s voice was rich with disappointment. When that day came, when she was ready to submit to his wishes, he’d give her up and move onto the next young woman. If the drugs didn’t kill her first, sending her soul to the underworld.
He stood from the bed and slipped his leather pants back on. “Something will be here soon to take the edge off. It’ll help you, sweet Hannah.”
“No,” Hannah’s voice shook, “please.”
“Would you rather go back to your cage, or lay here? Don’t answer now, think on it.” Vaughn fastened his cape before pushing past the black curtains that gave him cover, privacy, but it barely did that. From the way the demons gave him sideways glances, it was clear they heard every word of it.
“Something to say?” Vaughn sneered.
“No, Master.” One demon licked his lips. “Just wondering when we’ll get our chance with her, that’s all.”
“I don’t share my prizes.” Vaughn strolled through the room toward the other woman curled up in their cages. It was hard to appreciate their form like that. “Let’s get some poles installed in here. Music. If we’re going to be holed up in this shit hole, let’s make sure we have some quality entertainment.”
His eyes fell on the now empty cage. “And find me a new girl. We have a vacancy.”
*****
Vaughn wasn’t much for technology. Phones weren’t his thing, but when Vain called, he made an exception. “You’re sure about this?”
Vain’s voice was sultry at the same time it was domineering. It was
one of the reasons he employed her. “Trust me; this is the way to get the Bloods and Jasper right where you want them. This demon who has Gwen is powerful, but simple minded. She won’t see my betrayal coming.”
He wasn’t too sure about that. “I’ve disobeyed the queen more times than I can keep track of. I’ve consolidated business, gotten rid of low-levels that were loyal to her.”
“But you send her so many souls. Surely she won’t care about that.”
“Perhaps.” Vaughn took a deep breath and gazed across the warehouse as a fresh supply of drugs, in brown crates, were brought in. “Tread lightly and if you have any sense of a double cross, you dispatch the Bitch. Seize control of her demons. One look at you, they’ll know who is really in charge.”
Vain purred. “I love it when you think you’re in charge of me, Vaughn.”
He dismissed her comment as he peered inside a crate of drugs. Vials of green liquid cast a shimmering light against dozens of needles. Nodding his head at his men, he continued his conversation. “Lourdes cannot be allowed to gain her freedom. The shift in the underworld is great, I can feel it. She’s closer than she’s ever been.”
“But heaven, isn’t that what you’ve always wanted? To watch the great angels fall?”
“I would rather Lourdes not walk among us more. Do your job. I hope to see you and your prisoners soon.”
“Oh, Vaughn? Do you have a gift I can pick up for Duncan? A young, ripe one, maybe?”
He laughed through gritted teeth as a woman with short brown hair, not unlike Meg Jasper, was forced into the warehouse. A demon kicked her in the back. With her hands tied behind her, she face-planted and cried as he hoisted her up.
“Let me go, Please!”
“I have one in just the right size.”
13: Amanda Blood
The mark Jessica left on her arm was still there.
Like a lingering doubt etched upon her body, the skin itched. Amanda casually scratched at it until her skin became red, irritated. She attempted to put it out of her mind; pulled down her sleeve and stared out the window as they entered the city limits of Meadow’s Creek, Vermont. It had been a long time since Amanda had been this far east.
A long time indeed.
The mountains seemed to groan as the car drove through their streets. Through the valley the small town nestled, and the place smelled of honeysuckle. Just the type of place, Amanda thought, where a family would set down their roots with their newly adopted daughter. A new family, a new life. It was perfect.
Minus the mayhem and blood, it was the things that dreams were made of.
Amanda’s stomach growled with hunger, but there wasn’t time to stop yet. They needed to get to the church and stake out their claim before Jessica drew close. It’d be horrible if the church was filled with people for service, or worst yet….
“Bingo?” Amanda scrunched up her nose as she read the outside sign that was staked into the lawn surrounding the church.
“Tonight at six. You gotta love the timing of it all,” Duncan said with his hands hitched into his pockets.
Or maybe not so much.
Amanda and Duncan found Mike on the steps. He had his bible in hand and was talking to the parish pastor. Mike could be very convincing, being they were cut from the same cloth. Confident and speaking with authority, it was a sure thing that he’d have luck, but a dark cloud hung over Pastor Andrews. He didn’t like the look of Mike or Duncan and he barely gave Amanda a second glance. He didn’t like them. Didn’t trust them.
Were they worthy of the church?
He doubted it.
Pastor Andrew shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t help you. The soup kitchen is across the way if your friends find they need something to eat.” Pastor Andrew went back inside without so much as a word of goodbye.
Did she look like she needed a free meal? Amanda might not have an actual home, but she wasn’t a vagabond.
Mike sighed and trotted down the stairs. “This time, my best wasn’t enough.”
Duncan whistled. “Hell must really be freezing over.”
Amanda wished such a thing was true, but what were they left with? Taking the church by force? That would only complicate their problems, she was sure.
Laying hands on her shoulder’s, Mike spoke calmly. “He’s going to need a push only you can make.”
Amanda’s eye twitched. Was he implying what she thought he was? That she should just convince him with her mind? It wasn’t right, even if Amanda could do it on purpose. “I don’t know…”
“Like you did at the hospital. You convinced that guard with a simple touch to let us in to see Ron.”
As she thought about that, Amanda’s heart stuttered. “Maybe, I did. Maybe I didn’t, but I can’t do it on command. It just happened.”
Mike’s thin lips drew into a cynical smirk. “You said you were going to work on being in control. Seems like a good start, if this thing is really going to work.”
Amanda glanced at Duncan for help, but aside from him sliding a new toothpick into the corner of his mouth, he was little help. In fact, he agreed with Mike. Well, wasn’t that helpful. For a brief second, Amanda considered scowling at him—actually scowling. “That toothpick makes you look nothing like your grandfather, I’ll have you know.”
Duncan coughed and nearly choked on his toothpick as Amanda stomped up the stairs. Behind her, she felt Mike’s thoughts as if he shouted them directly into her ear— “Is it me, or is she becoming more like Jessica?”
Maybe he was right. Maybe she was changing.
The idea of that made Amanda shudder, but at the same time maybe this was supposed to happen. With Jessica gone, someone had to lead. Someone had to get her back and Amanda was a Blood.
Maybe now she was a leader.
Inside, Amanda found Father Andrew inside the church. He was stocking bulletins by the door. On instinct, Amanda dipped her finger into the holy water to make the sign of the cross and her skin tingled. Rubbing her fingertips together, Amanda stared at the red mark on her fingertip.
Well, that couldn’t be good.
Father Andrew cleared his throat. “Can I help you, Miss?”
Amanda jumped at the sound of his voice. Nervous laughter helped her heart settle back into a gentle rhythm. “I’m sorry to disturb you, Father Andrews….”
The graying priest took in the sight of her from the top of her messy curls to her dirty toes gripping into his carpet. Something about her set him on edge. His breath was sharp and his eyes narrowed to a fine point. “It can’t be you. The Drackett girl?”
He had been in town when her would-be-parents were murdered? She didn’t remember him, but as she raised her hand to touch him, Father Andrew backed away. He raised his hand. “Don’t you touch me, child.”
Afraid of her, like she was the beast? Like somehow she had been responsible for tearing those nice people to shreds? “I didn’t hurt them,” Amanda implored him. “And I won’t hurt you. You just have to listen, for a brief moment, please. You work here so you must know its secrets. The advantages this place has over the darkness in the world?”
“Of evil? The likes of you?”
Evil. No one had ever accused her of being anything of the sort. Amanda sucked in her breath and her hand came down on his shoulder. “We need this church tonight and I’m afraid I can’t take no for an answer, Father. Please, you must cancel your Bingo night this week. One way or another, they’re coming for me. Don’t let innocent life get caught in the crosshairs.”
A wave of calm washed over Amanda. She closed her eyes and saw visions of white doves, a sandy beach, and then a pulse of energy flowed from her arm into the priest. What were the images she saw? Why were they important?
She didn’t know, but Father Andrews was calm with eyes shut. He swayed slightly and murmured, as if the warmth of the sun cast down upon his face. “Yes, of course. Bingo for tonight will be canceled. I’ve been meaning to get away for a while. I think it’s best if I take a
short vacation. A long weekend.”
Amanda removed her hand and nodded her thanks. She hadn’t meant to go that far and drive him from the church, but as long as he canceled bingo, that was all Amanda could ask for. It was more than she could have hoped for.
“Thank you, Father.”
He nodded and rushed toward the altar. Somewhere in the back was his office, Amanda was sure of it. The altar itself was beautiful. Filled with hope. That’s what Amanda felt here. How must it be to create such beauty? Amanda wished she could’ve done something like that. Something other than dealing with demons. Life and art. What a beautiful thing.
Amanda’s soul creaked and sighed with exhaustion like an old staircase. She needed rest, but first wanted to light a candle for Jessica. They were in a church so maybe if Amanda did, maybe Jessica would feel it. Maybe she wouldn’t give up hope…
Over by the front door were the prayer candles. Their flames dancing in perfect harmony of remembrance. Amanda lifted one of the long sticks with a shaking hand and she lit it in another candle’s flame. It passed like sorrow, from one person to another. As she lit a candle, she glanced up at the statue of the weeping Mary.
Let there be hope in the distance. A simple gesture, but Amanda hoped it was enough as she pushed the front door open. Mike and Duncan waited just outside. Duncan pretended to examine the bushes while Mike stood with his arms crossed at the wrists; both were anxious as all get out. Amanda gave them a welcoming smile, “You can come in, bingos been canceled.”
“See,” Duncan said. “I told you she could do it.”
Mike gave light chortle into his fist. “This plan might work after all. And just look at this church.” He spread his arms as they walked into the parish. It was beautiful, Amanda couldn’t argue with that. The stained glass windows were so intricate, so bright in color. It was almost like a picture rainbow.
As far as magically warded churches went, it was something special.
Amanda stepped into the prism that the windows cast and her body splintered with pain. Her cheeks felt as if they had spent a full day in the sun in an instant. From the sheer force of agony, Amanda stumbled backward and her hands cupped her smoldering cheeks.
