by Jill Cooper
Duncan understood her crazy. Even felt some of that himself.
But now that she had murdered his kid sister in cold blood, just like that? Just to get a rise out of him? Duncan would end her, Jessica Blood wouldn’t hurt anyone else—past or present. Duncan would never get over that kind of pain. It welled in his chest and threatened to end his life, by its mere presence.
Over and over again, the events played out in his mind. Watching his sister’s body fall. Watching how blood sprayed from her neck and all the while, Jessica smiled. Cackling like she was a damn demon herself.
Something about it didn’t sit right, but Duncan ignored that part. Maybe it was because he thought Jessica had green eyes, but now they were brown. Maybe because he thought Meg had already died, or her hair had been longer the last time he saw her. Duncan wasn’t going to mess around with the smaller details. He saw what he saw and he’d never forget it.
Not even on his dying day.
Except he couldn’t stay awake. No, he kept falling asleep, but when he awoke the next time he wasn’t alone. It was Meg and like an angel there was a hazy smoke surrounding her. She was holding something in her hand and she kept staring at it as if it would unlock all of life’s mysteries for her.
But her eyes were crinkled as if she was upset. Duncan guessed he’d be upset too if he was dead.
He licked his lips. “Meg?”
She startled toward him and her mouth twisted to the side. It was something that Duncan had never seen her do before. She clutched a tube of lipstick, or something, in her hand. “You’re awake. Thank God, I never thought you were going to wake up.”
“What are you doing here?” Duncan asked.
Meg glanced at the door as if she was waiting for someone. “I need you to do something for me, okay?” She unscrewed the top of the lipstick container like she was going to use it, but Duncan didn’t understand how she could hold anything at all.
She was a ghost, right? A spirit?
“Whatever you want, Meg.”
“I need you to kill for me,” Meg wouldn’t glance up when she said it. “I can’t rest until Jessica Blood pays for what she did to me…Duncan.”
Duncan. Meggie always called him Dunk. Sure, it drove him crazy and he hated it, but that’s what she had always done. Always, but maybe this was too serious. Maybe she couldn’t bring herself to joke around after being murdered. She was a spirit, after all. Vengeful and full of wrath, from the look of it.
So he nodded with tears in his eyes. “I promise, Meggie. I’m so sorry. If only I could have another chance to save you, just one.”
Meg’s eyes locked with his and her sorrow was so deep that Duncan thought to weep, but instead he held on strong. She held the lipstick wand to his lips, as if she might apply it to him. Whatever it was, it was a clear substance and it smelled like oregano—earthy and clean.
“What’s that?” Duncan asked.
“It’s to help you heal.” Meg brushed it on his bottom lip gently and right away the skin tingled. It didn’t take long to turn into a full on burn.
“Look at that,” Duncan said, “you’re like my guardian angel, or something?”
Meg’s eyes widened and she pulled the gel tip wand away from his lip without finishing his top lip. She screwed the cap back on and wouldn’t look at him. “Or something.”
Over where Duncan couldn’t see, a door opened. Could others see Meg? He didn’t know, but he heard whispers and all sorts of voices.
Meg touched his shoulder. “I’ll be back soon, I promise, but I have to go now.” She rose up from her chair and ran from the room. Duncan couldn’t see if she used the door, but he thought she just might have. He heard it slam behind her.
Ghosts using doors and touching people?
What was going on? Could Duncan stay awake long enough to piece it together?
****
Hannah
She felt so horrible. So low.
Hannah could barely eek out the words, ‘kill Jessica Blood for me’. She didn’t know who Jessica was, but if Vain wanted her dead, she must be a good person. A real nice person and not the low lives Vain usually chummed around with. Not only that, but Hannah witnessed what Vaughn, her serial rapist, had done to Duncan.
He was beaten, and that was putting it mildly. Duncan was tortured and he endured it. The only thing he had said to Hannah?
“Don’t worry, kid. I’m going to get the both of us out of here. Don’t you worry.”
Duncan had said it like he meant it. With so much sincerity, so how could Hannah just turn on him? Drug him like that?
Now he stared at her and saw his dead sister? Wasn’t right. Wasn’t fair.
Fear mounted in her chest as she hid in the makeup room where the girls got ready to see clients. Her client was Duncan and Hannah was ordered to get him to believe she was Meg, but…
She just didn’t know if she could. When she promised to do her job, she hadn’t been lying to Vain, but now…
Hannah jumped when the door opened. Vain had taken Alexis and Michelle with her to Vegas, but there were other girls still at The Vampire Kiss. One of them, Morgana, entered with a swivel of her hips. “Oh, you’re here?” She leaned over Hannah to gaze into the mirror and reapply her ruby lipstick.
“I thought you’d be in with that Jasper fellow.” Morgana batted her eyes at herself. “If I was supposed to keep him busy, I know what we’d be doing.” She laughed and gave Hannah a playful shove.
Hannah hated the teasing and how inexperienced she felt, but she just wanted out of here. She didn’t want to be like these women, but still, Hannah felt inadequate—as if she didn’t belong. Part of her wished to swing her hips and wear a pushup bra. If she could care about her body less, and let men do whatever they wanted…at least then she wouldn’t be so scared all the time.
“I’m supposed to be his sister.” Hannah’s words came out far angrier and more defensive than she meant.
Morgana rolled her eyes. “I was just teasing you, kid. Listen, sit up straight and pull your shoulders back. At least then you won’t look like a twelve-year-old in Mommy’s clothes,” she snorted before heading out of the dressing room.
Hannah watched the way she strutted, even when there were no men around. Maybe Morgana—as if that was her real name—didn’t just do it for the men. Could she be doing it for herself?
She did as Morgana told her. Hannah sat up straight and pulled her shoulders back. Those at least made her look more attractive. She threw her hair over her shoulder and blew a kiss at herself in the mirror. The effect was so comical that Hannah nearly cried. Embarrassed, her cheeks reddened and she shook her head.
She couldn’t do this. She wasn’t like the other girls, and if she couldn’t get into it, the men were just going to rape her. Just like Vaughn. Just like Kevin Loust.
Was she a victim? Or was she a hero—Hannah didn’t feel like one, but it was time to change that. Time to try something new. God knew, she was tired of being a victim.
She pulled the tube of lipstick out of her hand and peered at it. Hannah wished she could be a hero, but if she didn’t do this to Duncan someone else would, but maybe there was another way. Maybe….
With a renewed sense of spirit, she rose up and took a deep breath. For her crazy plan to work, Duncan needed to heal, but he also had to be off the drugs. Hannah wasn’t strong enough to leave The Vampire Kiss on her own, but if he was on her side, maybe they could find a way out together, before Jessica got there.
And before Vain returned because heaven knew, if Hannah got caught…that would be the last strike against her. She’d be dead.
Or worse.
****
Hannah held the soup spoon to Duncan’s mouth. Propped up in bed, his wrists were red from the restraints, but at least she had removed them several hours ago. It hadn’t been easy getting the key, but for her plan to work, he had to be free. He had to.
And it wasn’t an easy sell to Morgana or the other girls. Low girl in th
e food chain, Hannah could barely sneeze without permission. “If he’s going to trust me, I need to do something for him. I need to give this to him so he believes I am who I say I am.”
It worked, but just barely.
Duncan gazed out the window. In Sin Town, the sky was always gray and the atmosphere dank. Hannah already wished to see blue skies again and soon, she hoped she could, but Duncan’s eyes were lifeless. He needed something to believe in again.
“You need to eat if you’re going to regain your strength before Jessica gets here, Duncan. Eat.” Hannah said forcefully, holding the spoon to his lips.
He sucked back the soup and turned to face her. “I’m not a baby, Meg.”
“Then feed yourself.” She offered him the spoon and Duncan yanked it from her hand. His jaw moved side to side, clearly unhappy about the situation.
Meg sat back and watched Duncan cradle the bowl. He didn’t seem as dizzy as before. She had cut back the drugged ointment to just half a lip and soon—she hoped—he’d be strong enough to learn the truth.
“Do you think you’d like to walk around the room? Stretch your legs?” Hannah asked.
Duncan stirred his soup with his spoon, but he didn’t look up and he didn’t answer. The lines on his face were drawn down and eternally sad.
“Are you okay?”
He gave a shrug and sipped some more soup. “I keep remembering things.” Duncan frowned and the lines through his forehead increased. “Jessica and I in the cabin…my race to save her and Amanda. And then to have her do this to you?” He gazed up into her face and his look of anguish broke Hannah’s heart.
But not her resolve.
She leaned forward. “You hold onto that emotion. That hate. We’re going to need it, Duncan.” Just not for the reason you think, but we are going to need it.
Duncan put his soup bowl down and stroked Hannah’s cheek with his free hand. Hannah thought to pull away, but her eyes were locked with his soulful baby blues. A woman could get lost in those eyes. It was like a dream and they held the depth of the ocean.
“How is it I can touch you? If you’re dead, a ghost, how is it you feel warm?”
Hannah stuttered and gazed away. “I don’t have all the answers, Duncan.”
“It’s funny,” Duncan slurred and sat up straighter in the bed. “There are other memories I have of the last year. One of them was searching for you and when I found you,” Duncan’s tongue ran along his teeth, “you weren’t exactly breathing, darling. So if you were already dead, how did Jessica just kill you in front of me?”
Hannah’s eyes widened and her limbs shook with fear. She had to regain control. If the others realized, he was no longer under her spell. “Duncan…” Hannah pushed her chair back, but Duncan lashed out and grabbed her wrist.
“I saw a flash of your real face. For just a second. So why don’t you tell me who the hell you are.” Duncan’s lip curled into a snarl. “You’re not Vain. Do you work for her? Do you have Jessica?”
He spoke with the rush of love and panic. Whoever this Jessica was, he sure was worried about her. “I can explain, but you have to stay calm. You have to gain your strength back.”
“For what? So you can trick me in killing someone who doesn’t deserve it? Huh?”
“If we’re going to escape,” Hannah whispered. “If we’re going to make it out of Sin Town.”
“Sin Town?” The colored drained out of Duncan’s face and he dropped her wrist. “That’s right,” he squinted as he gazed around. “Vain took me here, as her prisoner. I…so who the hell are you?”
“She didn’t leave me a choice. It was help her or be out on the streets. I won’t make it alive out there, Duncan. Sin Town is filled with hideous things. No human is safe out there.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Duncan said, with a deep smolder in his eyes.
Hannah moved over and sat on the bed beside him. “It’s me, Hannah. We met only once before and I don’t know if you’ll remember me…”
“Hannah,” he whispered her name like they were old friends. Duncan pushed her hair out of her face and stared at her. “I remember you. The girl Vaughn took. The one Vain freed when she betrayed Vaughn.” Duncan tilted his head to the side. “I can see you, almost. The spell you put me under is getting thinner.”
His thumb stroked her lip and for a brief moment, Hannah trembled under his touch. Part of her afraid he might hurt her. “Please don’t hurt me,” Hannah whispered and tears gleamed in her eyes.
“Never would.” Duncan’s hands dropped to his side. “So what do you say we get the hell out of here?”
“Not yet,” Hannah’s eyes widened. “You have broken ribs. You haven’t been up in days. We have no weapons….”
“Then I suggest you get some.” Duncan struggled from bed. When his feet hit the carpet he groaned and touched his ribs, feeling the layers of bandages wrapped around his chest. He leaned forward and grabbed the end table and pulled himself up. Straightening his back, he took a deep breath. Slowly, he edged forward and lowered himself down to the ground.
Hannah stood and stared with a quizzical frown. “What are you doing?”
Instead of an answer, he started doing pushups. Hannah watched the muscles ripple in his back as he lowered himself down to the carpet. The way he blew out the air and kept staring straight ahead, Hannah knew this was the right thing to do.
Duncan could save her. He could get them both out of this.
But she was scared. The terror pulling her heart apart.
“If you get caught….”
Duncan rested on the carpet before pulling himself back up into plank position. Then he started again like there was no other answer. “I won’t get caught and neither will you. Do what you have to do, kid. I’ll get us both out of here, alive. I promise you that.”
Hannah rushed toward the door. “You better get back in that bed soon. If they suspect me, and they come to check on you…”
He pulled himself up, his arms tense and the muscles popping from the surge of exertion “Don’t waste any more time, Hannah. Go.”
His words woke her spirit. She hurried from the room and closed the door. Anxious and excited, Hannah finally held a fool’s hope, knowing they had a plan. A real plan…. Hannah just hoped it was enough. Hoped it would work.
She hurried to the kitchen where the gourmet meals for the clients were prepared. It was a small space, but it buzzed with life from the multiple chefs that worked at the counter. Hardly anyone paid any attention to her. Hannah stuck her finger into a berry compote sitting on the counter and tasted it.
Sweet, but with a hint of bitterness.
When no one was looking, Hannah grabbed a knife from the butcher block and… “What do you think you’re doing?”
It nearly fell from her hands. Hannah whipped around to see Morgana’s angry sneer, her hands planted firm on her hips. “Morgana…”
“Answer the question, honey or you’ll end up strung up just like big brother of yours.”
Hannah took a deep breath and stood straighter. “He’s ready for the next step. Ready to be armed to take Jessica out.” She watched Morgana’s eyes flash with distrust. If she didn’t fall for this… “Listen, if he’s going to trust me. If he’s going to really believe I want Jessica dead to avenge me, he’s going to need a weapon to do it.”
Morgana shifted from foot to foot. “All right, kid. You’re right, he will need to be ready and you’re just the one to help him, but if this is a double cross…”
“It’s not,” Hannah let out a breathy laugh. “I’m family. This is my home. Vain’s right about everything.”
Morgana smiled. “Well, little birdie learns fast, doesn’t she?” Morgana stroked Hannah’s chin. “I have a client for you. Likes them young. You do whatever he wants without crying or killing him and I’ll believe you.”
“Whatever he wants?” Hannah’s stomach sank. No, God no, she couldn’t. Just couldn’t!
“If you really believe
we’re family, that you belong here,” Morgana shrugged, “you’ll do it. If you don’t, you’re lying… I’ll just have Vain deal with you.”
Hannah couldn’t let that happen. She knew she couldn’t, but the idea that she had to let some dirt bag not just touch her, but have sex with her? How could Hannah do that? She swallowed hard.
“Just show me where he is.”
Morgana raised an eyebrow and gave a low nod. “C’mon Miss, Hannah. Time to earn your stripes. You’ll be surprised how well Vain awards good behavior.”
Hannah didn’t doubt it, but she hoped she wouldn’t be around long enough to find out.
Chapter Thirteen: Jessica
The Wild Aces Casino was Jessica’s new prison. Unable to sit still, she paced in the small room they had secured her in. Chewing on her thumbnail, Jessica peered into the corner of the room.
Video cameras.
They were probably watching her. Maybe she should give them a little show. At least she could make it interesting.
She drew her attention to the horizontal mirror at the back of the room. They were probably watching her every move, studying her. If Jessica was lucky they were going to handle her themselves. If unlucky, they were going to call the police.
She couldn’t count on luck. It had never been on her side before.
Jessica ran her hands along the metal table. If only Amanda was there. They separated them, which was the smart thing to do, for the casino, but Jessica hated everything about it. She wanted nothing more than to check on Amanda. She had been in a bad way out on the casino floor.
Bad way? Worst way. So how was she now? How was Amanda coping?
Save Amanda. Keep going. What choice did Jessica have?
The door opened and Jessica stood straight as a security guard entered. Looked like a nice enough guy with kempt brown hair. He wore a serious scowl on his face though, as he gestured to the chair. “Sit down.”
