Blood Debt (The Blood Sisters Book 2)

by Jill Cooper

  Damn it, no. They had gotten so close. Jessica, had gotten so close.

  Amanda’s face was lit up by the glow of her power. “Duncan’s not here.”

  Couldn’t they get a simple break? She wouldn’t stop looking, but the large warehouse didn’t have a lot of places to hide. So where had Vaughn taken him? Where?

  “Look for clues,” Jessica pulled back a black curtain and saw a small chamber. Bloody chains hung from the ceiling and on the round bed lay Vaughn. His arms and legs were spread eagle, held in place by chains running under the bed frame. His mouth was stuffed with a bloody rag and his face had been slashed up. His eyes widened with panic at the sight of her.

  He’d live. Unfortunately,

  Jessica approached him slowly. Vaughn lashed out, kicking and growling at her, but Jessica held a steady hand up. “I’m going to take out the gag. You’re going to tell me what happened here, or I’ll shoot you in the head,” Jessica rested the butt of her gun against his temple. “Close range like this, you don’t have a chance.”

  His eyes narrowed, thinking over her proposal. Jessica wet her lips with anticipation, but Vaughn exhaled and nodded. She was almost disappointed he agreed to play nice.

  Almost.

  Carefully, she ripped the cloth from his mouth so he couldn’t bite her. “That bitch Vain,” he shouted out, “double crossed me. Turned my own demons against me. I fell for her lies and I was ambushed. She took them and the girls.”

  “And Duncan?” Amanda asked, approaching the blood-soaked the bed. “Where did she take Duncan?”

  Vaughn sneered at her. “I regret the day I’ve ever met you! Either of you.”

  Jessica pushed the gun against his temple harder. “Is that any way to talk to my dear sister? Where’d Vain take him?”

  Vaughn licked his lips and his eyes darted away. “Sin town. She has a brothel there, but it's guarded by more than just demons. There are hexes. Curses. She even has a few hellhounds that she calls pets. Even named them. Sick freak.”

  Jessica’s heart skipped a beat. Vain had taken Duncan to Las Vegas, a two-day drive from where they were. Not just that, Vegas had a hidden under-city that demons frequented when they needed to relax, a good party. Getting in wouldn’t be easy. What if Duncan hadn’t survived? What if they couldn’t make the drive in time?

  Her hands were sweaty and her palms shook. How much more could she take?

  “Can I exorcise him now?” Amanda asked.

  Vaughn’s eyes widened. “How arrogant are you to think you can free this host? There’s nothing left of his mind.”

  Amanda laid her hand on Vaughn’s stomach. Eyes closed, the slow spread of a smile forming on her face. “You’re so wrong. He’s calling out for help now. The world is so dingy and gray for him, but soon he’ll be free.”

  Running her hand through her hair, Jessica sighed. “Amanda, there isn’t time. We have to get to Duncan. It’s going to take us two days to drive to Vegas and we’re going to need help. We can’t go into that place by ourselves.”

  She needed to call Gwen. She needed to—Jessica reached into her pocket, but Amanda grabbed her arm. “She didn’t answer the last time I tried to call her.”

  Typical. Jessica gritted her teeth and glanced back at Vaughn. “We leave him here. Leave him here to rot.”

  Amanda’s eyes widened. “No, Jess. He’ll hurt other people. Eventually he’ll get free or someone will find him—.”

  Time to appeal to Amanda’s logical side. “I know you want to help people. Save people. It’s all well and good, but right now Duncan needs us,” Jessica made a fist and shook it. So angry—everything so unfair, she wanted to rip into something. “Sometimes we have to pick and choose who we save and this guy, everything you went through while I was gone, it’s his fault. So let’s go,” Jessica turned.

  But Amanda grabbed her arm. “Jess, I would agree with you. But it’s not the man’s fault. It’s the demon who stole his body. Can’t you let me free him of his prison?”

  “He’s going to be helpless. Amanda, he won’t know anything about our world. He was taken so long ago, he probably lived in a damn cave.”

  “Please.” Amanda’s eyes widened as she gripped Jessica’s arm tighter.

  Doubt formed in Jessica’s mind, but not regular doubt. No, it had shape. It forced its way inside from elsewhere. She never had doubts when it came to these types of situations. Glancing down, Jessica saw the way Amanda caressed her arm, but no… Amanda wouldn’t.

  They were sisters. Amanda wouldn’t use her power like that.

  “The world is a very different place from the one he’ll remember. Is it even fair to exorcise him? Is it fair to just drop him off somewhere, when he knows nothing?”

  “We’ll figure it out,” Wide eyed, Amanda squeezed Jessica’s arm. “When I was captured I felt him. He is so desperate for help. I can’t leave him.”

  A force of power gushed through Jessica and chilled her skin. She nodded. “Okay, we bring him with us. Get him up and chain his arms behind his back. We’ll have to exorcise on the go.”

  With an excited bounce, Amanda went to the bed and got to work, unlocking the cuffs from beneath the frame. “You’re making a mistake. If you take me with you, I’ll kill you,” Vaughn hissed as Amanda sat him up.

  Jessica trained her shotgun on him. “I never miss, so you’re going to want to shut your pie hole.”

  Vaughn complied, his eyes on the floor as Amanda handcuffed his wrists behind his back. Jessica sneered at him. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Such a powerful demon you are.”

  “The game isn’t over yet,” Vaughn stood as Amanda edged him forward with her foot. “I’m down, but not out. I know when to bide my time, but I will win.”

  A demon that loved sports metaphors—great. Jessica opened the door and pushed Vaughn out. She kept her shotgun pushed into the nape of his neck. Glancing back, she saw Amanda following after them. Her posture straight, almost regal and her cheeks glowed with a happy shine.

  Saving Vaughn, this was what Amanda wanted.

  What did Jessica want? Had she given in too easily? Amanda always got her way anyway, so what was the harm in… taking a high-level demon into their car?

  “We can’t do this,” Jessica shook her head. “It’s too dangerous to take him with us.”

  Amanda stuttered in surprise. “I thought…”

  “I thought so too, but it’s wrong. He’ll get us killed. At the least he’ll sabotage our mission. I knew that, but after you touched me…” Jessica’s jaw tensed. “Did you do it on purpose? Did you force me to go along with what you wanted?”

  Amanda’s mouth fell open. “I would never, never do that to you!”

  Jessica wasn’t so sure anymore. She didn’t know which way was up, what was right. What was wrong, but she knew Amanda never lied. If she started now, Jessica would see it in her face. She was sure of it.

  “What are we going to do?” Amanda asked. “I can do it right here. Right now.”

  Vaughn was right about something; Amanda was turning arrogant. They couldn’t risk it, but they couldn’t let him go either. Her sister might not have seen it, but Jessica knew there was only one choice.

  Pivoting on her heels, Jessica spun, lifted her shotgun and shot Vaughn in the forehead. Center mass—right between the eyes.

  “Jessica, no!” Amanda screamed and pushed Jessica out of the way. Vaughn’s body hit the pavement backward hard.

  “I’m sorry, really I am. But we have to go.” Jessica snatched her sister’s arm, but Amanda shrugged her off.

  “Give me just a second, I can heal him right after the demon leaves, looking for another host. I can.”

  “That might kill you. A throat is one thing, but a brain?” Jessica tugged on her arm. “Now, Amanda! Stop acting like a child!”

  “I need one minute!” Amanda crashed to her knees beside the fallen demon, a flash of energy and light shot out from her. It extended out in a circle and it threw Jessica back agains
t the bus. Falling to the ground, Jessica hit her head and gazed up at the sky.

  She rubbed the sore spot on her head and struggled to roll over. That didn’t work out as planned. Beside her, Jessica’s face reflected in Amanda’s healing light as her sister did her best to heal Vaughn. Would she be able to? Would it kill her?

  Jessica rolled over onto her knees, her hands firmly on the ground. “Amanda…” her voice drowned out by the sound of crumbling rock. Beneath her fingers, the earth cracked and it grew long with small branches jetting off in all directions.

  She tossed her head at Amanda and Vaughn, a giant bubble of glowing light encased them as an edge of green mist circled around her. Her sister was in danger of being possessed. Something Amanda had always seemed protected from, but with all the changes she’d gone through—the fracturing of her soul—Jessica was afraid things might have changed too much.

  Leaping to her feet, she lunged for the glowing light. Amanda’s head tossed back and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. That look of angelic beauty was gone and something snarled in its place. The evil Vaughn had carried around within himself for the last hundred years, was now in full display on her sister’s face.

  “No!” Jessica reached the bus and grabbed the sword from beneath the bus. Swinging it, she hit the golden light surrounding her sister. It was like a knife, hitting a metal dome; the sword ricocheted out of her hand and Jessica’s body was thrown clear.

  Oh God, not again.

  Tumbling, Jessica went wide, her body skidding through the dirt. Her head spinning, she lay there for a brief moment to collect her random thoughts—her terrified thoughts—before something seized her by the shirt and lifted her up.

  Now, what? Jessica groaned and stared into the beautiful, but twisted, face of Lourdes. Behind her an army of dried out husks circled in close.

  No. No, no. She couldn’t be back in the hands of Lourdes. Jessica would rather die a painful death than be her prisoner again. Her body kicked to get free, her fingernails piercing Lourdes’s hand to loosen her grip.

  Lourdes just smiled with a tilt of her head. “My darling, Jessica. How I’ve missed you so. This body grows fatigued. I need just a sip of your soul. A tiny sip so all of heaven will know I’m on my way home.”

  Jessica gritted her teeth as Lourdes squeezed her neck a bit tighter. She fought against her, but already fatigue had set in. She felt drained as if something flowed from her directly into Lourdes. Her skin changed, drying up. Soon she’d be nothing but a husk just like those poor people standing behind Lourdes.

  There was nothing she could do about it. Jessica felt faint as a brilliant light blinded her. Nothing could be seen, and in the quickening brightness, a deafening battle cry.

  29: Amanda Blood

  The demon was dead. Amanda’s body destroyed it one molecule at a time.

  A surge of power ricocheted through Amanda’s body. Collapsing on the ground, she struggled for breath. Her limbs were shaking. What should’ve killed her, she somehow managed to survive. Lost in her own mind, her brain surging as it pieced itself back together, Amanda jumped when a hand caressed her hair.

  Snorting, Amanda took in the sight of Vaughn, or who had once housed the demon of Vaughn. His face was still scarred, but his eyes no longer clouded by the demon. They were the soft brown eyes of someone compassionate, someone hopeful, but lost and confused. “You saved me, didn’t you?” Even his voice was different now that it was no longer governed by the monster.

  There was so much to say. Amanda didn’t know where to start. “My name’s Amanda.”

  “Long ago, they called me Joseph. I came to the new America for a chance at new life. Farm, my family. Children.” Joseph took a shaking breath and his complexion faded. Something horrible happened.

  Something reached out and grabbed Amanda. Its grasp screamed and shook her violently. The long anguish that Joseph had suffered from Vaughn was too much. Amanda closed herself off of it the best she could. But some new horror began to pry her open. Where it was coming from, she couldn’t determine.

  “Everything… I remember you, but it is like a fog. I was with you… doing horrible things.” Joseph’s face flexed. “For a century, that was my life. What I did to innocence, young woman.”

  Gently Amanda spoke. “But it wasn’t you. None if it was. As you get your memories back, keep that in mind.”

  Joseph regarded her. “Something about you touched me. I awoke, when for years, I knew nothing but a troubled sleep. There were screams, blood, and I couldn’t awake from it at all.” He swallowed hard as off in the distance, there was a scream.

  A woman’s scream so familiar it immediately set Amanda’s heart racing.

  Jessica.

  Amanda rolled flat on her belly and searched for her sister. There was an army of dried out… something and in the middle of it all was Jessica. Someone had her by the throat. Dressed regally, like a queen, her dress had the shifting faces of tormented souls. Their screams were silent, but they called to Amanda as sure as a rooster crowed to early morning.

  It was Lourdes and she was the new horror Amanda had sensed.

  No time to think, no time to talk, Amanda raced to her feet. Scooping her hand along the ground, she snatched up the hilt of the sword. Pain throbbed through her hand as if it had been plunged into ice water. Weapons, they were never kind to her.

  But Jessica was dying.

  No, she wouldn’t lose her sister after fighting so hard to get her back. Amanda gripped the sword tighter and howled from the absolute pain.

  Amanda endured it. Running fast, hair whipping back, she reached Jessica. Grabbing her shoulder, the pain and near death of Jessica drilled through Amanda. Jessica’s face was gray, she was fading.

  No!

  Gritting her teeth, Amanda pulled Jessica free of Lourdes grasp and her sister fell to the ground.

  Jessica took a shallow breath, the color slowly returning to her cheeks. Sunken gray skin turned pink and her flesh plumped to health. Good, thank—.

  “Fool!” Lourdes hissed and seized Amanda by the throat. To be touched by the vile queen of the underworld caused Amanda’s stomach to cramp. Her heart raced faster than ever and her head was gripped by pain as strong as a train wreck. “Now I’ll absorb you and heaven will fall!”

  Amanda gagged under the pressure. To be touched by such a vile creature tore her insides apart. Like a puzzle, inside she was jostled and began to fall apart. “No,” she wheezed out and gripped the sword tightly.

  But Lourdes’s skin turned black. She screamed and pushed Amanda away as if just her presence was enough to hurt her. “No, you were supposed to be the pure one! You were designed to free me. It was carved out in your DNA!”

  What did hell know about science?

  “Not anymore.”

  Vaughn had fractured her soul. Maybe in doing so he had saved the world and heaven right along with it.

  Amanda plunged the sword in Lourdes’s belly and fought against the surge of electrical energy that followed through the blade. The queen screamed, her head thrown back and her arms spread wide. Black mist encompassed her as a silver tempest of light emitted from the sword.

  Like oil and vinegar mixed in a pot, Lourdes dissolved in before her eyes. Parts of her floated into the air and spun away against the sky. With a giant snap and a great gust of wind, she was gone into a single black pinprick.

  She was gone. Amanda had slain the evil witch. Her first kill.

  Her head turned to search for Jessica to celebrate what she had done. Her poor sister still lay on the ground. “Jessica—.” New pain raced through Amanda’s fingers. The sword suddenly too heavy to hold, the tip dropped to the pavement. The hilt turned black. Poison raced through the sword toward Amanda’s arm.

  Sucking in her breath, she dropped the steel blade and cradled her injured hand. The palm was black, like a spider web and it was growing up her arm. Groaning, Amanda crashed down to one knee and squeezed her arm tightly. Flashes of pain an
d a deep throbbing encompassed her entire limb.

  Her throat seized and Amanda’s life energy spun, doing its best to combat the new evil entity that tried to take possession of her soul.

  “You okay?” Jessica’s voice cracked and her finger stroked the hem of Amanda’s dress.

  Jessica. She was awake.

  That was the only thought it took to pull the pain back. The black poison retreated like low tide and the web, mid-palm, unwound until it faded completely. Her arm back to normal, she threw it at Jessica in a big hug. “It’s over,” Amanda whispered with tears in her eyes, “everything is finally over.”

  Jessica laughed and buried her face in Amanda’s hair. She took a deep breath and Amanda felt waves of happiness coming off of her that she hadn’t felt in a long time. Awestruck, Jessica couldn’t believe the journey was coming to a close.

  “Looks like you’re going to get those drinks with tiny umbrellas in them after all.”

  “I think first I want sleep, before we plan a vacation.” Pulling away, Jessica stroked Amanda’s hair back. “Let’s go get Duncan then. Get Duncan and go home.”

  Home? What was that? Even Amanda wasn’t sure. “We don’t have a home.” Her voice shook when she said it. Her heart shattered like glass.

  “Then let’s make one,” Jessica whispered and helped Amanda off the ground.

  “You might yet get that drink with a little umbrella.”

  Jessica’s face was glowing and if her smile spread any further, it’d reach her ears. “I can’t believe. I just can’t. We’re free, Mandy. Really free.” Jessica laughed and crushed her sister in a bear hug.

  Amanda laughed as joy tumbled from them. “You’re such a goofball.” Holding hands, Amanda saw Joseph approaching. “He’s with us. For now.”

  Jessica’s eyes were solemn. “I’m sorry I shot him. I’m sorry…” she hung her head, “can you forgive me one more time?”

  “To infinity,” Amanda smiled. There was nothing she couldn’t forgive. She gazed around. The husk army were still there. They stood silent, as if on standby. “Are they alive?”