by Jill Cooper
For them and their very souls.
At least it beat the caves of the underworld. Real world, real damage, could be done here on the Earth. As long as the Bloods didn’t find her. Lourdes needed to find them first and put an end to them.
The mother gripped a fireplace poker as if her life depended on it. “I don’t know what you want…”
Lourdes stepped forward, the pink carpet burned in her wake. “A simple bite to eat, but first a question.”
The mother backed up against the wall. “You’re so…beautiful.”
“I get that a lot.” Lourdes tilted her head with a smile and the mom’s mouth fell open, witnessing her true demonic appearance. “How do you get around up here? Find someone you’re looking for. I have…friends…I need to find.”
The weasel Vaughn. The Blood sisters. Time for her to create a to-do list.
“Umm…” Mom scratched her head and her eyes pinched together as if the question was crazy. Lourdes’s temper fumed that someone like this would judge her. “We get around using cars. If we need to find someone, I guess we use the internet to look them up. In the old days, we used a phone book. Are you—where are you from?”
“Out of town. I’m going to need help to do all of these human things, but first, a bite to eat.” Lourdes gripped the Mom’s chubby neck tight with her hand.
The woman’s skin smoldered. Her eyes bulged from their sockets as she screamed. The life energy flowed from her into Lourdes. Closing her eyes, Lourdes moaned as smoke circled around her. Inside, the pulse of the woman’s life force plumped up her energy level and her cheeks shined with more beauty. Eating was a fine pleasure and one she hadn’t been afforded in the underworld. No, that luxury had been stripped from her long ago by the angels.
Lourdes’s fall from glory and internment in the Underworld was so long ago, but the memory of earthly pleasures came rushing back. Glorious, beautiful, and all hers.
She barely had memory of the air or the salt of the Earth. Free at last, she’d never go back to her prison. What was the value of a few human souls compared to her glory and beauty? Who were the angels to cast her, the most beautiful, for heaven for such indulgences? Humans should’ve existed to serve them, not the other way around.
Lourdes saw the truth no one else could and for that, she was punished for an eternity. Lourdes opened her eyes and groaned with disappointment.
She had taken too much. The mother had been dried out like a husk. An empty sack, like a mummy, her once fatty frame sunken. Her skin colored gray and wrinkled, her eyes fallen from their sockets.
“Such a pity,” Lourdes whispered and let the body go. Like a stack of dominos, the body fell apart and as it crashed to the floor, it dissolved into brittle ash and bone.
Oh well, there would be other humans. The earth was full of them, wasn’t it? Thump—thump—someone ran along the upper level of the home. The child. While not ideal, she could read and write, that was all Lourdes needed.
She gripped the railing to the stairs and her fingers charred it black. A light from the front bay window filled the room as a machine pulled into the driveway.
Was that a car? Lourdes was anxious to try one out.
Time for a new plan, Lourdes smirked and fluffed her dress. Had to look good for the man of the household. “Daddy’s home,” She sneered as the door flung open.
Dressed in a suit, the handsome fellow’s eyes fell on the corpse of his dear wife. The briefcase fell from his open hand. “What the hell is going on?”
Lourdes stepped into view. “Sorry about the mess, dear. Why don’t you come inside so we can have a quick bite to eat?”
She flipped her hand in the air, smoke billowed from her nail, and the front door slammed behind him. He’d move and run, if he could.
Lourdes kept him safe and sound in a stasis field, but only for a brief moment. Horror on 42nd Street was about to be unleashed and Lourdes wouldn’t miss a moment of it.
26: Jessica Blood
Sliding behind the wheel of her 1966 Chrysler felt like going home. A personal, private moment that Jessica gladly shared with only her sister. She slipped the key in the ignition and reflex took over. A slight pump of the gas, a twist of the key, and the old girl turned over like the day it rolled off the line. Hearing the familiar purr to the engine made everything right in the world, at least for a few seconds.
She wanted to hold onto the quiet moment. Jessica gripped the steering wheel, feeling every crack and mark. Each of them told a tale, stirred a memory.
Some of them of Amanda, but it was the ones about Dad that Jessica searched for. Hoping those ones would rekindle her courage and the will to push forward despite the odds against them.
To her dismay, it didn’t quell her fears. Gazing over at Amanda, Jessica bit her lip. “What if I can’t do this?”
Her sister held a silver glove in her hand, one that Amanda said belonged to this Vain woman and would lead them to Duncan. “You’re Jessica Blood. You can do whatever you set your mind to.”
If that was true, she didn’t feel it. “Right now I don’t feel much like her.”
“I know,” Amanda sighed, “and if things went the way they were supposed to, you’d have a month off to sip tea, write in a journal, and express all your feelings while we gaze out at the rolling ocean. But that’s not our life. Our life is this. Killing demons and saving people. We have to save Duncan. I think it’s worth trying, don’t you think, to save him?”
Amanda chosen her words carefully to motivate her and Jessica had to admit it worked. She blinked back tears. “When did you become such a hard ass?”
“When I had to…save my sister. Let’s get Duncan and let’s try to end this thing properly. Make it so Vain can’t hurt anyone else again. She’s the one who captures the girls. She needs to be finished, Jess.”
Jessica shifted the car into drive. After a slow creep, she pulled out of the church parking lot and hit the open streets. Breathing out a long sigh of relief, it did feel better to be in the car. Driving toward a destination that had nothing to do with what Lourdes wanted. Death and destruction had been her game, now Jessica wanted to do some saving. Maybe for a while she could forget what happened to her and focus on someone else.
“He told you all that about Vain? His sister, everything.” Jessica swallowed hard. “I wish he had told me. I wish he had told us and we had gone with him to find her.”
“So did he, in hindsight. He was trying to protect us from getting on Vaughn’s radar. Turned out we ended up on it anyway.” Amanda chewed on the inside of her lip. “He wanted to tell you, I think we just ran out of time.”
Jessica remembered that night at the cabin, before the demons attacked with the angel. Duncan had been ready to tell her something and that was probably it. She wished Duncan had told her, instead of hearing it second hand from Amanda. Of course, maybe if Jessica hadn’t been such a bitch….
“We’ll get him back from Vain,” Jessica said it aloud to bolster her own confidence more than anything. “We’ll get him out and then we’ll see what happens.” Her stomach rolled at the notion of seeing Duncan, worried he might decide to walk away from them. That wasn’t what Jessica wanted, hell a few weeks ago it wasn’t even a possibility.
But now, the very idea of life without Duncan Jasper, made Jessica sick.
“What happens? Jess, you should have seen him. Everything he did to help us get you back and protect me. He was my knight in shining armor. He helped me get off the drugs, watched over me like a true hero. Just like you, he’s a hero, and just like you, he doesn’t see it.”
Amanda’s words cut deep. “Well, maybe after this we can take a vacation. I’ve always wanted to sit on a beach and sip a drink with a little umbrella in it. They don’t serve those in hell you know,” Jessica said.
Her sister shook her head. “Maybe I can play some shuffleboard and sing some karaoke.” Amanda turned the radio up and started singing along with the next song they played.
J
essica cringed at the sound, it would surely shatter the windows on the old girl, but inside everything felt right. They were headed to get Duncan; Jessica had her sister—the one person who could make a rescue feel like a party.
But the sense of dread grew. There’d be no rest, no vacations. Jessica would bet her soul on that.
*****
Empty tank of gas and empty bellies, Jessica and Amanda pulled over to refuel. The ground was slick and rain echoed through the car’s cabin. Amanda counted her money. “We should’ve asked for some before we left the church. We have enough for half a tank of gas, or to eat; we can’t do both.”
Jessica thought about it. “We can eat after we rescue Duncan,” she suggested with a shrug.
“Maybe we can find a few quarters on the ground and share a hotdog.” Amanda opened her car door and Jessica followed after her. It wasn’t the worst plan. They had shared less food than that before and managed to survive.
Over by a pickup truck, Amanda did manage to find a quarter. “Shiny,” she held it up under the lights so Jessica would see before putting it in her coin purse. When the burly man fueling his truck grabbed Amanda by the wrist, she gasped. “Hey!”
“You found something I dropped?” He snarled and his unshaven face practically right against Amanda.
Jessica’s protective urges seized control. One way or another, that buffoon was letting Amanda go. “Get your hands off my sister. If she took something of yours, she’ll give it back.”
His eyes narrowed. “Yeah?” He glared at Amanda, his jaw edging back and forth. “You got something to say, pretty lady?”
“I’m sorry,” Amanda tried to pry his fingers off her wrist. “I didn’t mean to take your quarter. We’re just short on money and we were trying to come up with some extra cash—.”
The man’s entirely demeanor changed. He let Amanda’s wrist go and took off his hat in respect. “Oh man, I know tough times when I see them. I’ll head inside, grab you guys something to eat. Your car’s on pump two, right?”
Amanda nodded with a slight jitter in her eye. “Thank you, kind sir, but that’s not really—.”
“Think nothing of it.” He hurried inside, the bell jinglingly as he pulled the door open. Jessica just stared after him with her mouth fallen open.
What the hell had just happened? Did they just meet Santa Clause as a truck driver? “Well, he must be the nicest guy—.” It wasn’t like them to have such good luck and from Amanda’s fallen expression, Jessica suspected something else was at play.
“I didn’t mean to,” Amanda whispered. “I didn’t mean to push him like that. He was just hurting my wrist so I…”
Jessica’s eyebrows came together. “I don’t think I’m following you.”
“My powers,” Amanda cast a glance over her shoulder to make sure no one was around. “They’ve changed a lot since Vaughn. I can read minds sometimes, as you know, and I can…influence people. Just once or twice, mostly when I’m upset or in a jam.”
Jessica stared at her sister. Was this a blessing or a curse? Should she be terrified or grateful? Everything Aunt Gwen told Jessica as she grew up ‘protect Amanda, protect her purity at all costs, we don’t know what will happen to her power’ looped inside her head.
More was going on than they were told, that much was clear, but Jessica didn’t have time to worry. Not with Duncan captured by the sworn enemy.
“You’re not mad at me, are you?” Amanda’s eyes widened like a stray puppy dog.
Jessica shook her head but didn’t say anything. No, she wasn’t mad. How could she be mad? Was she terrified at what this meant? You betcha. How could Amanda change so much, in only the span of a few days?
The man returned with a box of food for them. Hot dogs, sodas, chips, and even some fresh fruit. Amanda took it from him with a delicate curtsey. “Thank you so much, Sir.”
He waved her off with a good natured laugh. “You girls looked like you could use a good meal. You can gas up now too. The pump has enough on it to fill that beast of a tank.”
Amanda kept talking, but Jessica used that moment to escape over to the car. She wasn’t big yet on human conversation, pumping gas into the car was more her speed. The gas cover hid behind the license place, so Jessica squatted and held onto the hose aware that a shadow crept behind her.
“You should announce yourself before sneaking up on someone.” Jessica spun and came face to face with the glower of a police officer.
The cops. Jessica gulped and her heart raced. “Officer, what can I—.”
He spat what must have been a wad of chew onto the ground. “This here car is wanted in connection of a crime, did you know that?”
“A recent one?” Jessica cringed. She didn’t know that. How would she know anything like that, she’d been held captive in the underworld?
The cop nodded. “Murder at a hospital down in Kansas. Not just a murder, but several dozen. Calling it a massacre. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“Me? Well, listen I’m sure we can clear this up.” She thought about what happened to Ron and all of the Black Scorpion gang members that were gutted like fish. Jessica had done that, and for that crime, she deserved to pay. Sure, she had been under Lourdes’s control, but Jessica owned that guilt. It was hers.
She remembered the screams and the heavy smell of blood. The horror on their faces and how it felt to slide her blade into their skin. It never went in as easy as you thought it would. Popping of cartridge and bones, Jessica thought she might never forget that noise as she’d slaughtered men who had pledged their lives to help her sister.
Demons were one thing. Possessed humans were even expendable, if a dire situation arose, but what Jessica did? No, there was no excuse. No excuse at all.
The cop put the gasoline hose back for her and in his other hand twirled a set of handcuffs and his intent was clear. He’d take her down to the station, and she’d probably never get out again. That was what Jessica deserved.
The cop went for her wrist. “You’re under arrest, little lady.”
But Duncan was in trouble. He needed her and didn’t deserve being abandoned over a little thing like her conscience.
“I can’t let you do that,” tears shined bright in her eyes. “I’m sorry.” `She grabbed his wrist and yanked him close. Eye wide, he flung toward her and Jessica slammed him under the chin with the open palm of her hand. “Amanda, it’s time to go!”
The officer’s feet skidded on the wet pavement so when Jessica kicked him in the gut he fell over to his back. No one rushed to his aid so she took a moment to handcuff the cop to a pole.
And stole his gun.
“Wait! Stop!” he screamed after her, but Jessica slid into the ‘66.
She stowed the gun inside the glove box as Amanda slammed her door shut. “Always good to have more ammo, but we’ll need to ditch the gun,” Jessica said as she peeled out of the gas station.
“Twizzler?” Amanda offered her with a sad smile on her face.
Jessica took it and took a bite. No one would ever mistake her for a good person. No one. Especially not herself.
****
Empty tank of gas and empty bellies, Jessica and Amanda pulled over to refuel. The ground was slick and rain echoed through the chamber of the car. Amanda counted her money. “We should’ve asked for some before we left the church. We have enough for half a tank of gas or to eat, but we can’t do both.”
Jessica thought about it. “We can eat after we rescue Duncan,” she suggested with a shrug.
“Maybe we can find a few quarters on the ground and share a hotdog.” Amanda opened her car door and Jessica followed after her. It wasn’t the worst plan. They had shared less food than that before and managed to survive.
Over by a pickup truck, Amanda did manage to find a quarter. “Shiny,” she held it up under the lights so Jessica would see before putting it in her coin purse. When the burly man fueling his truck grabbed Amanda by the wrist, she gasped. “Hey
!”
“You found something I dropped?” He snarled and his unshaven face practically right against Amanda.
Jessica’s protective urges seized control. One way or another, that buffoon was letting Amanda go. “Get your hands off my sister. If she took something of yours, she’ll give it back.”
His eyes narrowed. “Yeah?” He glared at Amanda, his jaw edging back and forth. “You got something to say, pretty lady?”
“I’m sorry,” Amanda tried to pry his fingers off her wrist. “I didn’t mean to take your quarter. We’re just short on money and we were trying to come up with some extra cash—.”
The man’s entirely demeanor changed. He let Amanda’s wrist go and took off his hat in respect. “Oh man, I know tough times when I see them. I’ll head inside, grab you guys something to eat. Your car’s on pump two, right?”
Amanda nodded with a slight jitter in her eye. “Thank you, kind sir, but that’s not really—.”
“Think nothing of it.” He hurried inside, the bell jinglingly as he pulled the door open. Jessica just stared after him with her mouth fallen open.
What the hell had just happened? Did they just meet Santa Clause as a truck driver? “Well, he must be the nicest guy—.” It wasn’t like them to have such good luck and from Amanda’s fallen expression, Jessica suspected something else was at play.
“I didn’t mean to,” Amanda whispered. “I didn’t mean to push him like that. He was just hurting my wrist so I…”
Jessica’s eyebrows came together. “I don’t think I’m following you.”
“My powers,” Amanda cast a glance over her shoulder to make sure no one was around. “They’ve changed a lot since Vaughn. I can read minds sometimes, as you know, and I can…influence people. Just once or twice, mostly when I’m upset or in a jam.”
Jessica stared at her sister. Was this a blessing or a curse? Should she be terrified or grateful? Everything Aunt Gwen told Jessica as she grew up ‘protect Amanda, protect her purity at all costs, we don’t know what will happen to her power’ looped inside her head.
