by Jill Cooper
The further he was from her, the better. Everyone would be better to stay away from her tainted clutches, but at least Jessica could handle herself. At least there was that.
“Sure.” Jessica eyed her suspiciously. “I thought you’d fight me more on it.”
“You were right.” Amanda laid her head on Jessica’s pillow and they cuddled close to one another.
“Aren’t I always?” Jessica asked with a sleepy laugh.
“Always,” Amanda whispered and stroked her sister’s hair and tried to commit every little bit of her to memory. The way her freckles bridged her nose and the way that broken nose was once perfect. Now a bump replaced perfection but it was cute. Even the scar, deep as a cavern running down one cheek, well it all spoke of love to Amanda.
All of that Jessica got from protecting Amanda and now she needed to walk away from her? Amanda’s chest welled tight with pain and she snuggled her face in the flowing curls of Jessica’s hair, just as when she was little.
“Everything okay?” Jessica’s voice was rift with sleep, dancing between the clouds, aching at Amanda’s heart.
Wrapping an arm around Jessica’s waist, Amanda pulled herself in tight. “Just missed you.” Her voice was a whisper because anything above that threatened to betray her.
“Me too.” Jessica gripped her sister’s hand as she drifted to sleep.
But Amanda thought she might never sleep again. There was so much to see, so much to watch before her thirty-six hours would be up. The love of a sister, a fresh, doughy sweet doughnut.
A perfect sunset. What if her eyes never took in the beauty and splendor of the world again? Amanda bit her lip and fought back tears and the darkness swirling on her open palm.
How long could she fight it?
Chapter Three: Gwen
“Gwen!”
She scampered out of the row boat as the river crested and reached for Mike’s extended hand. Don’t look back. Never look back. It was her golden rule, but with the sound of the husks deep breathing and snapping jaws, it was near impossible. Gwen wanted to look back, but when she felt their bony fingers grasp her limbs, she shrugged them off.
“Mike!” Her voice was rushed, breathless, as they ran up the hill. She needed a few seconds, a little time, to generate a wind storm and drive them all back. Tired and fatigued, any storm she generated would be hard to control. Difficult to maintain and might cause more harm than good.
But Gwen was willing to try.
Her body shivered and her boots sunk into mud as they breached the hill. From up there, Gwen peered down and was able to see the mud people mingling with the dried out husks down below. All of them staggering toward them. The circle was going to close. If they ran back down, Lourdes’s demons would seize them. Even if they didn’t, the river blocked them from any real escape.
Mike held his AK-47 defensively and fired into the crowd, driving back the legion of evil swarming toward their location. “If you’re going to do something, now would be the time, sweetheart.”
She really wished he wouldn’t call her that.
They had been running all night it felt and now the moon glowed brightly. Clouds drifted over its face, driving out the light, but leaving behind a red shimmer. Something that wasn’t natural. Evil was here and it's plan…. consume them all.
Gwen lifted her hands overhead. The power grew in her gut and built into a swirling vortex of pain. It generated like a wind storm and pushed out with force, as it exploded through her fingertips and moved like a funnel cloud through the sky. It came down, and angled hard on the demon beasts in front of them.
It drove the monsters back. Those made of mud and maggots splattered into a giant heap. It squirted out black like a fountain and Gwen called the swirling windstorm back and angled it behind where they stood.
But she strained, her abs contracted as she tried to control the storm, but it grew. It swirled so fast, Gwen’s short hair blew around. Mike squinted his eyes as he trained his gun behind him. “Gwen…” He warned.
“I’m trying! I’m trying.” She gritted her teeth and pushed the windstorm out as far as she could. Like a Frisbee of death, it diced the mud demons in half before ricocheting back toward them.
Gwen gasped, and grabbing Mike’s arm, dove to her knees to avoid being driven back by her own vortex. She had lost complete control of it. Lightning lit the sky, appearing as if it shot down from the moon and the red shimmer spread from the clouds and it filled in the full moon as if colored in pencil.
“Well, that’s not good,” Mike said.
Gwen couldn’t disagree with that. Even if she had wanted to, there wasn’t time. They had to get out of here before the mud demons put themselves back together. They charged down the hill and made a break for the open road. It was littered with squirming maggots and fallen trees, but the road led to Gwen’s Jeep.
Maybe they could hit the open road and find out where they were going. What they were going to do. The ground was unstable and Gwen’s footing slipped. Mike was there to catch her arm and his eyes were kind in the dark.
“Steady, a broken ankle isn’t going to help anyone.”
She knew that, of course she did, but Lourdes… she was free and that meant so much suffering for the world. The kind of suffering none should ever know and for Gwen it was worse. Not only was Lourdes’s ability to take shape her fault, but she would lose her nieces in the final battle. It was written in blood.
Their blood. A family affair to the end.
So much pain, Gwen didn’t know how to even voice it.
They walked down the muddy road in lingering silence. Mike’s breath was labored and his usual square shoulders were hunched. Worn and tired, but he’d never say it. Gwen felt it too down in her achy bones and her worn soul. How many more battles of the spirit and heart could she wager? She’d like to think the finish line was in sight, but another lap was always around the corner.
He helped her over a fallen log. Around the corner the hill descended, but access was blocked by husks and mud demons. Gwen bristled, her arms tensing at her side, ready to launch another full-scale attack.
Mike grabbed her arm. “They aren’t moving.”
Their eyes ticked back and forth, but Mike was right. They didn’t charge, they didn’t even twitch a muscle. Well, bully for them. That meant picking them off would be easier, but why weren’t they moving? The husks were like robots standing to attention and awaiting their next order. Gwen’s skin tingled and nerves rushed up her spine. When the enemy didn’t charge, she was nervous.
“Just a second, Mike.” Gwen had a sneaking suspicion. A dangerous, dark suspicion. She grabbed her phone out of her pocket and turned it back on. Almost immediately it lit up showing she had missed calls from her niece. Mouth full of bile, Gwen listened to her voice mail. Jessica’s voice was usually gruff and angry, but now it was filled with something else—fear. Intense, unbridled fear.
Dear God….
“You’re killing me, Gwen.” Mike wiped his mouth clean of spit. “What—.”
“I don’t know yet.” Gwen fumbled with the screen, her hand almost shaking. From fear or exhaustion, Gwen wasn’t sure, but she counted the rings tick by. Answer, Jessica, answer.
“Hello?” Jessica’s tired voice rang out and Gwen’s heart went out to the girl. When was the last time she’d really gotten any sleep? “It’s about time you got back to me.”
Well, wasn’t that always a good sign.
“We ran into a complication.” Gwen’s eyes swept across the husks and packed mud demons.
Jessica laughed unkindly. “I know all about those. Now that we have the small talk out of the way, Lourdes is dead. Amanda ran her through with a sword.”
“Dead?” Gwen felt the color drain out of her face and teetered on her feet. Mike braced her arm and his eyes asked a million questions. His soulful, deep, eyes, those were so easy to get lost in, even now.
“As an evil wrathful doorknob.” Jessica’s voice was mournful.
>
Gwen squeezed her eyes closed. If Lourdes was killed by Amanda, if that power and succession transferred to her…It couldn’t happen. It couldn’t be true, could it?
“Then these undead husk creatures pledged their allegiance to Amanda. They called her the next queen of the underworld, Aunt Gwen.” There were tears in her voice and Gwen’s heart panged with intense pain.
“I know,” Gwen took a deep breath. “I know, girl. I wanted to save her from this. You.” She tried her best, she did, but it didn’t seem to matter. Events kept unfolding the way they were meant to. You couldn’t fight destiny. No matter what she tried, what she did, Gwen couldn’t avert the mistake she’d made so long ago.
“Maybe I’ll point fingers at you later. Right now, what do we do? Amanda, she’s struggling. She isn’t say anything, but I know her. She’s…lying.” Jessica’s voice shook for a brief moment and Gwen understood why. Amanda lying was akin to the worst possibility Gwen had ever heard. It had always been impossible for her to do so and if she was doing so now…
Gwen cleared her throat. “The Ruby Heart. It’s an artifact. A supernatural item. It can save Amanda. Bind her and release her from this curse, but we’ll need to find another to take the throne in her place. And fast, Jessica. The longer the underworld goes without a leader, the worse it’ll be for everyone. For a while, they’ll fight and murder among themselves, but eventually they’ll come topside.”
Jessica sighed. “All right.”
“I’m serious, Jessica. You’ve only seen demons under Lourdes and high-level demons’ control. You haven’t seen the barbaric ones that hide beneath regal robes. The ones so bad, Lourdes kept them under lock and key. If they get free…”
“So what do we do? Where is this Ruby Heart?”
“I don’t know.” Gwen’s words came out twisted and sour. “But we have the map and we will get our hands on it and head to you. Have you…did you get Duncan?”
“Not yet.” Jessica’s answer was short and snippy. She didn’t want to discuss it, but Gwen didn’t have a choice but to bring it up. “Vain took him to Sin Town. We’re on our way there now.”
Sin Town? Vegas? That was where Gwen was headed. “Jessica Blood, you listen to me. You cannot take Amanda there in her current condition. I’m serious about this.”
All of that negative energy, everything that Vegas was, Amanda couldn’t go in there. It could end up destroying her.
“I know you are and I wish there was another way. Amanda thinks she can handle Sin Town. She wants to go while she still has control over what is happening. Which is why we have to be there tomorrow. Right now, she’s sleeping. And I need to join her before I fall down.”
When a conversation was over with Jessica, it was over. Gwen learned that a long time ago, but the taste of bitter defeat lingered. “We’ll get the heart and call you, but if things go bad, if you need to secure Amanda… head back to the church. Take her, lock her up, and wait for us to get there with the Ruby.”
“It’s a plan.”
The line went dead and Gwen ended the call. She turned to Mike whose eyes had hardened. Somewhere in them, Gwen saw her own feelings reflected back. He’d heard enough to understand what was going on and Gwen couldn’t bring herself to fill in the gaps. “We need to get to the Jeep.”
Gwen pushed passed the husks and they didn’t follow. Perhaps she should’ve destroyed them, but all she could think about was a sweet little red-headed girl. The one she met once, who had pigtails and a tiny button nose. By the time Gwen bothered to go around to visit again, Jacob was dead and his girls, their lives were rife with suffering.
Mike followed close behind, but his silence was deafening. It grew like a cavern between them that he couldn’t even bring himself to utter a platitude. He had done that before, hadn’t he? And look how that had turned out.
It brought them to this moment. With so much despair, Gwen wasn’t sure she could stomach another hard fought battle lost. Just thinking of it crippled her. She stopped and couldn’t bring herself to move even another step forward.
A few paces in, Mike circled back for her. He placed his hands on his hips. “You having a tender moment with that pile of mud you’re standing in, Genevieve?”
She shrugged and hot tears stung her eyes. “I’m not sure I can do this. Fight for that girl, only to lose her?”
“So you’ve already decided we’re going to lose?”
“We always do, don’t we?” Gwen bit her lip and stared off at the twinkling stars blanketing the area. A normal person would find it beautiful, but she only felt suffocation.
“Well, I don’t know. You’re no longer possessed and Jessica is no longer slave to the underworld. The battles are hard, but so far we’ve kept our heads above water.”
“And if I don’t have the strength to keep it up? I’m so tired, Mike.” Gwen admitted and stared at the ground. “When we lost him, our boy, it aged me more than you know. I don’t think I’ll survive another loss like that.”
Mike took her hands and he stroked her fingers with tenderness. In that simple motion, Gwen found real solace. The kind she hadn’t felt in decades. “Then let’s hurry, Gwen. Let’s find the Ruby and let’s get it to Amanda before the calling to return to the underworld is too great for her. All right?”
Gwen nodded and bit her lip. Maybe she didn’t feel that spitfire Blood determination, but she walked forward a step. For now, she’d take her wins where she could get them.
“If you’ll permit me to say so,” A voice rang out from the shadows beyond the cusp of the trees, “I know where you’ll find the Ruby Heart.”
Her heart stilled as she lifted her hand in defense. Through the shadows, a short portly man stepped forward. His double-breasted suit was sullied with mud and the monocle he usually wore in his left eye swung wildly from his neck, but Gwen had never been so happy to see him.
“Archie!” Gwen ran into his arms with a squeal and a happy heart.
He chuckled as Mike slapped him on the back. “I’m as happy as you are to see me alive. I mean, happy I survived. That was quite the siege! From my tower I saw her walk the Earth.” Archie’s eyes widened. “Lourdes of flesh and bone.”
Mike gripped his shoulder. “She’s dead now. Been slain by the Blood sisters.”
Archie nodded with a grim frown. “So I suspected if you need the Ruby Heart. All the signs of her rise were there. I’ve spent the last few years tracking where it was and then who took it.”
“Where? Who?” Gwen asked.
Archie licked his lips. “If you spring for breakfast, I’ll tell you everything I know.”
Gwen eyes sparked with rage. “Archibald, you’re crusty as ever! An opportunist!” She gasped a heavy sigh. “But yes, we’ll spring for two breakfasts if necessary.”
“We?” Mike did a double take. “I’ve taken a vow of poverty, I’ll have you know.”
“Michael Mortensen, you’re toting an AK-47. Don’t play the poverty card.” Gwen huffed.
Archie chuckled. “It’s good to see you two back together, where you belong. The Ruby Heart is under lock and key at the Wild Aces Casino.”
Vegas. It seemed as if it wasn’t just the Blood sisters who were headed to Vegas. It was going to be a Blood family reunion.
****
A twenty-four-hour diner was their first stop after retrieving Gwen’s Jeep. The drive to the next city didn’t take long, the way Gwen drove. Once cozy inside the old diner, they ordered Archie two stacks of pancakes with a river of golden syrup, a heap of bacon, and coffee as fast as he could guzzle it.
Archie leaned back and dotted the corners of his mouth with a napkin. “His name is Kevin Loust. A high roller in Vegas, his reputation precedes him. He’s won more than anyone in the history of gambling.”
Mike glowered. “Can that fact be substantiated or is it more Archie hyperbole?”
Gwen stifled a laugh and moved her gloved hand across the table to pat his hand. “Hyperbole, or not, that’s not really t
he point of the story, is it?”
“He took his winnings and turned it into millions. Now he rarely ever leaves the Wild Aces Casino. Rents the penthouse on the top floor and owns half the strip. Rumors and speculation in our world have been his winnings aren’t exactly natural. I’ve long speculated that he has the Ruby Heart and has been using it for luck. It’s made him millions upon millions.”
Mike crossed his arms. “What’s your proof he has it?”
“I have my sources.” Archibald folded a pancake and stuffed it in his mouth. He moaned with a roll of his eyes. “I’m not generally a fan of places like this, but these might be the best pancakes I’ve ever had.”
“Archie, your sources?” Gwen asked gently. She wasn’t a fan of handling people with kid’s gloves, but Archibald always took a tender touch. His information and knowledge was the best of the best.
“I have informants. I know people; you know that and someone captured a photo of the Ruby Heart. I saw it myself, but the photo evidence…. Lourdes came to my mansion to find out what I knew. I had no choice but to burn the photos, and the information on the Wild Aces.”
Archie sighed and stared down. “If she’d gotten her hands on the Ruby Heart, she would’ve destroyed it. It would’ve done nothing but work against her and she wanted it out of the way. So I threw everything into the fire and escaped out my secret passages.”
Damn. Double damn, Gwen sighed and ran her hands through her hair. “I know you have no reason to lie to us. You never have before and you’re a faithful friend.” Gwen smiled. “We head to Vegas. We have a long drive ahead of us.”
“In your blasted Jeep.” Mike ran his tongue along his teeth. “I knew we should’ve taken my car.”
Gwen chuckled as Mike excused himself to the bathroom. “I better use the facilities as well. Don’t run off, Arch.” She slid from the booth, but Archie grabbed her wrist.
He shook his head. “Don’t let him get away again. Too much time has already gone by, Gwenny.”
