Blood Debt (The Blood Sisters Book 2) (16 page)

H
er cage
was a prison and her tormenter was Amanda Blood.

Pressed
up against the rear wall of the cage, Jessica’s sat with mouth twisted and eyes
squeezed shut. She turned away from the all-encompassing light wielded by her
sister. Once, she had been in awe of that power. Then its gentle light had been
like a warm bath, but now it was like a thousand razors.

Lourdes’s
compulsion had sunk its claws into her and was desperate to stay. Like gnashing
teeth, it gripped Jessica, but Amanda’s power was strong.

The mark
Lourdes singed upon Jessica’s soul lifted from her skin as if drawn toward a
black hole. Struggling to hold on, to keep it all inside. Did she want to be
free or did she want to resist?

Jessica
groaned under its intensity and struggled to roll away, but couldn’t. She was
helpless. The pain was as if her arms were being torn from their sockets.
Leaning back, her heart pounded so fast, she couldn’t catch her breath. She was
going to die and if she died…

Lourdes
would just bring her right back.

Biting
her lip, Jessica pounded her legs onto the cage bars and screamed. Would her
rage be enough to drive Amanda back; get her to stop?

The light
flickered and she
cracked
an eye open to
see her sister had collapsed at the foot of the cage. Lying flat on her
stomach, Amanda’s hand hovered in the air, but it quaked. Amanda’s mouth
twitched open, as she tried again, but only blood flowed from her nose.
“Hurts…” she struggled to form words, “…too much.”

Jessica
touched her nose and her fingertip became wet—stained red. “You’re going to
kill us both. Except I’m the one who will come back. You won’t.”

The light
shined again, back on bright and Jessica yelped as the purity of it tore
through the bars of the cage. The tugging, the pulling at Lourdes’s marks burned
her tattoos bright. Jessica screamed, the cage glowing brightly as her skin
turned red as fire.

“I,”
Amanda gritted her teeth, “can’t endure this. I’m sorry, Jess.” The light
dimmed and Amanda fell at the door of the cage. Collapsed unconscious.

She should’ve
tested the strength of the cage, but Jessica was too weak. Too tired. She was
just glad for the respite, so she closed her eyes and her mind took her far
from that place. Her body still a prisoner, Jessica welcomed the warm presence
of Lourdes, in the underworld.

 
“
Look
now, Jessica. Look and see what Amanda has cost you from the very beginning.
You’ll see why you need to fight. You’ll see why you must continue to resist
her cleansing.”

Her soul,
trapped in the hellish dimension, was Lourdes’s play thing. Lourdes’s open palm
gripped the shimmering light of her soul. Jessica moaned in pain as her
consciousness left Earthly time and space. She flew through the trees like a
bird until a sprawling home came into view.

A
two-story
yellow home where the windows on the
ground level were illuminated a bright yellow. Jessica’s mind pushed through
the exterior wall and she found herself in a den.

Familiar
and warm, there was a fire raging in the fireplace. Surrounding walls were
covered in stacks of books and in the center of the room, brown leather
recliners that Jessica could smell—rich and vibrant. Across the room, was a
cluttered desk with a globe that a man hunched over, someone that she never thought
she’d see again.

Dad.

She never
thought she’d return to this place.

The
sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up and his black vest was unbuttoned.
His dark hair was disheveled and on his face the beginning of a scruffy beard
that Jessica didn’t remember him having. A watch dangled from his pocket and as
he gathered up a bundle of papers in his hands, Jessica saw the tattoo on his
forearm.

Black,
with red ink in the center. She recognized it now, because she was no longer a
kid. It was the crest of a demon clan, but if Dad was inking a demon crest on
his arm that would mean—No, Jessica wouldn’t believe it. There was no way he’d
been a demon hunter. Slaughtering demons? There was no way.

Dad
walked purposefully to the fireplace and threw the papers in. He grabbed a
poker and bent down, prodding the papers to make sure everything burned. His
jaw was set as tight as anything Jessica had ever seen and that worried glint
in his eyes, Jessica had seen it in Amanda’s eyes.

The door
to the den opened and
Mom
sprinted in.
Jessica went to her right away, “Mom!” But Donna Blood couldn’t see her any
more than Dad could. She was in a pink silk nightgown and her red hair spiraled
around her shoulders. Jessica shivered; this was what Mom wore the night she
died.

Her heart
skipped a beat as she realized this was the night it was all going to end—this
was the night they were going to die.

“Get out
of here,” Jessica hissed at them both, but it was just a memory. Like someone
rewound and pushed play on the past. There was nothing here that could be
changed or stopped and Jessica was helpless, forced to watch them rush to their
deaths.

“They’re
asleep,” Mom said with a nervous shake in her voice. “Did you find it?”

“I burned
it,” Dad went back to his desk and opened a book, thumbing rapidly through the
pages. “Burned every bit of evidence we have, but it was clear, Donna. It’s our
girls. We always knew it’d come to this, didn’t we?”

Jessica’s
heart panged to see the lines of heartbreak on his face. Donna squeezed her
eyes shut and shook her head. “No. It can’t be. It can’t be her. It just…it
can’t, Jacob.
Please.”
Jessica
thought she might collapse, but Mom gripped Dad’s arms and stayed upright.

She
wanted to help them. Save them. Jessica didn’t want to watch them die—once had been
enough.

“You
think I want this for Mandy?” Dad whispered with furor in his eyes. “You think
I want this for either of them? You’ve seen the signs, just as I have. And the
family cabin and that crazy sister of mine aren’t going to be enough to protect
them. Hell knows, she has enough of her own problems.”

Mom
covered her mouth to stifle a sob. “They’re just babies, Jacob! Babies. If
Lourdes thinks we’re just going to hand them over—.”

They knew
about Lourdes? My God, they knew everything? Aunt Gwen had hidden this
knowledge from Jessica. One more lie, she couldn’t stand.

“Lourdes
has had it out for Bloods for years, but with Mandy…” Dad didn’t finish his
sentence. Instead he just shook his head, but Jessica wanted to know what he
meant. What the hell were her parents up to?

Dad took
a long laboring breath. “We can’t run. Amanda is growing, maturing. She’ll call
to them like a damn homing signal and they’ll know where she is every hour of
every day.”

“Then
what do we do?” Mom asked with a shaking breath. “Tell me what we do and I’ll
do it.”

Dad
picked up a book and showed it to her. “A sacrifice. If we…do this, Amanda’s
light will be hidden from the legion as they hunt for her until her powers
fully manifest. Until then it’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack.”

Mom let
out a deep sigh. “Oh Jacob,” she smoothed his cheek with her palm. “Are you
sure it’s the only way to protect her? What of Jessie?”

Dad
glanced away and there was doubt, a struggle in his mind. “She’s strong. I’ve
seen it in her too. They’re both gifted, in different ways. They need each
other. If you agree, I need to start setting up for the ritual. We need to be
ready before they get here.”

“Tonight?”
Mom’s face was stricken with grief.

“I’m
surprised they aren’t already here.” Dad put the book down and took off his
vest, throwing it into the corner of the room. “With our deaths, this place
will be clouded in confusion. It’ll be potent and strong. Jessie won’t be sure
what’s happening and the demons, they won’t be able to find Mandy, even if they
bumped right into her.”

With
their deaths? Jessica just realized what they were talking about. No—they
couldn’t. That wasn’t fair. “Mom, Dad, no—stop!” They couldn’t die so she and
her sister could live. If only they knew what awaited Jessica and Amanda.
No…they had to be made to stop.

Please,
don’t
go
.

Mom took
a shaking breath, but did she realize what she was agreeing to? She was going
to die! How was that—

Dad
grabbed her arm and there were tears in his eyes. “There’re consequences for spells
like this, Donna. Our souls, we—we aren’t getting into heaven.” His chin
quivered. “We’re going straight to her. The one I’ve been desperate to avoid
all my life.”

Mom’s
face was crestfallen. “Then we’ll find another way. I won’t let her sink her claws
into you. Into me. You’ve gotten so far, Jake. You’ve left it all behind. I
can’t ask you—I can’t!”

Overhead
the lights flickered and Jessica felt panic rising in her chest. Above them was
the sound of a rush of footsteps.

“They’re
here,” Dad gritted his teeth as he grabbed Mom’s arms. “There’s no time to
argue. Barricade the door. We have work to do.”

Mom
grabbed a dagger off the desk and then pulled Dad in for one final kiss. Her
face was full of longing, pain and she clung to him like she’d never see him
again. Jessica realized she wouldn’t and Mom knew it. Willingly she gave it all
up.

“What are
you doing? Donna!” Dad screamed as Mom ran for the door.

“Buying
you time. Hurry!” Mom opened the den door and slipped outside, locking it
behind her.

With a
longing glance he stared after her, his body leaning forward as if he would
dash after her, but he must have realized he couldn’t. If he wanted to save his
kids, he just couldn’t.

Dad
grabbed another knife from his desk drawer and
sliced
his hand, squeezing blood into a bowl he kept on the corner. His eyes cast down
to the framed photo of young Jessica and Amanda, tears filling his eyes. “I’m
sorry, girls. You deserved an old man better than me. That bitch Lourdes will
never get her claws sunk into you. I swear my life on it.”

“Dad,”
Jessica whispered, a sob rising in her throat. She hadn’t felt the pain of her
parent’s murder so intensely in a long time. It made her want to gut Lourdes.
To think of what he had sacrificed himself for them. And now, still trapped in
the underworld he was being tortured?

Jessica
couldn’t stomach that. She just couldn’t! They gave their lives that night, on
purpose, so Jessica and Amanda would live? But they couldn’t have known what
would follow, the foster homes, the abuse? How the demons would follow them
everywhere? But if their movements were supposed to be hidden from demons, how
did they follow them all the time?

Jessica
watched Dad chant and raise the bowl up in the air, which brought a crackle of
thunder. Outside in the foyer, Mom screamed and Jessica realized this was it.
She was impaled, killed, with her own dagger. She didn’t live long enough for
the ritual to take place. Only Dad had, which maybe meant the spell only had
half potency?

Maybe it
was only Dad who was trapped in the underworld and not Mom? Did that make any
of it better?

Lightning
crash through the window and struck Dad. His body lit up bright as an x-ray and
his body fell as the den door burst open. Demons descended upon his location
and Jessica was ripped out of there and straight back into her body. She had
more information than she knew what to do with.

More
knowledge. More grief. She always thought they were ambushed. She never thought
her parents gave their lives willingly for her. For Amanda.

Amanda.
They were dead, she was the reason.
 
It
was time for her to know. Time for her to pay.

A
constant moaning tugged at the edges
of Amanda’s unconscious mind. As she awoke, she realized the sound was escaping
her own lips.

There was
a buildup of intense pain behind her eyes and it thumped like a drum. With a
groan, Amanda rubbed her hands through her hair and did her best to sit. She
had to concentrate on the task at hand. There was no time to waste on other
things.

Jessica
had to be cleansed. It was up to Amanda. There was no one else for the job, so
she crawled over to the cage and grabbed the bars. Her chest clenched to see
her sister trapped like that. Jessica’s face was peaceful despite the burn
marks on her unhinged jaw.

If she hadn’t
been marked, Amanda doubted Jessica would even still be alive. Her body was a
wreck and her spirit was fractured, held together by duct tape.

“It was
you, you know,” Jessica’s eyes opened and Amanda was taken aback by how inhuman
they looked, despite all her work, “our parents are dead because of you.”

She
shouldn’t have been shocked that an agent of Lourdes could be so mean,
but Amanda’s mouth fell open hearing
that level
of spite coming from Jessica’s mouth. Maybe she wasn’t Jessica anymore, but she
sure as hell sounded like her. “Jess never blamed me,” Amanda mumbled and
gawked at the floor.

Jessica
sat up straighter, her legs crossed under her. “That’s because I didn’t know before,
but Lourdes showed me the truth. She showed me what happened the night they
died.” Jessica took a deep breath and her anger stacked like building blocks.
It was about to all come crashing down around them.

“They
sacrificed themselves to hide you from the demons. Mom, she died to give Dad
more time to complete the ritual. Dad did it and he’s dead, of his own doing,
for you, and now, he’s trapped in the underworld forever. A play thing for
Lourdes and for what? To save you?” Jessica tilted her head and hissed. “What
makes you worth saving?”

Amanda
recoiled at the words, as though the wind
was
knocked from her
. Her eyes widened and her mouth snapped shut tight.
“That’s not…you’re lying.”

Jessica
laughed with bitterness. “You know I’m not. If I was, you’d feel it, princess.
He seemed like a good man, someone who fought against Lourdes, can you believe
it? It was his worst nightmare to be ensnared by her and you sent him there. He
went there willingly and he’s been there for the last decade.”

She
gritted her teeth. “All because of you. I wish you were never born.”

Heartbreaking
sadness, like the smashing of a long held
mirror
, Amanda shook her head and felt a
slow buildup of anger. “Stop it.”

“What do
you think she’s done to him in that time? She’s killed
me
dozens upon dozens of times and it’s been less than a week. How
do you think she makes him suffer? You think he curses your name?”

“I said
stop!” Amanda hopped up to her feet and assaulted Jessica with the full force
of her power. The light shot out and slammed against the cage. It rattled,
throwing Jessica back, her teeth chattered together and the full force of
Amanda’s power engulfed her. Jessica gripped the cage floor and turned her head
to shield herself from the bright light.

But it
kept going. Amanda couldn’t stop. She gritted her teeth as the bruises and
burns faded from Jessica’s skin and the mark on her lower back from Lourdes,
Amanda could feel it developing on her own skin.

The mark
had almost been transferred. It might be the only way to save Jessica, so
Amanda kept pushing. Once the mark was hers, totally hers, she’d heal it right
off herself.

Hopefully.

Almost
completely absorbed, but Amanda didn’t know if she could hold onto that level
of power long enough.

Lourdes
laughed in Amanda’s mind.
You’re such a
fool, Amanda Blood. Now you’re mine. Just like your sister. The possibilities
are endless and I will finally be free.

No,
Amanda wouldn’t go quietly. She wouldn’t allow Lourdes to win.

She
gasped as her eyes widened and her vision began to fade. The walls of the
church changed to the caverns of the underworld. Amanda edged closer to
winning. She saw Jessica’s soul and she grabbed it, holding onto it tight, as
her consciousness ripped back into the church.

Jessica
lifted her chin with a wobble and her eyes were green. They weren’t the color
of evil any longer, but as she tried to move inside the cage, Amanda’s power
kept her pinned down. “Stop it,” Jessica cried, “Mandy, you’re going to die!”

Die? She
wasn’t going to die. How could Jessica think—

With
clarity, came the truth of Jessica’s words. The charred skin on her arms rose
up in patches and flame raced toward the hem of her dress. Inside, Amanda felt
the wrath of evil as Lourdes’s mark branded her soul, but her body would absorb
it. It would cleanse it, wouldn’t it?

Vision
failing, Amanda flicked her wrist to open the door to the cage and fell
to
the dirt floor. The sound of Jessica
scampering free faded far from her mind. Amanda stood in a twisted cavern. The
underworld was as dark and scary as it had ever been, but
this time,
she stood at the mouth of a cave.

The wind
blew past her hair and Amanda touched the
nameplate affixed to the side of the wall. The soul kept in that place was J. Blood.
Amanda had seen it in visions before. Each time she thought it marked Jessica
Blood’s prison, but Amanda realized it was Dad’s.

Dad.

She
stepped forward into the cavern, but with fright she paused, unable to move on.
It was too dark and the bottom was endless. In the darkness, green eyes peered
at her. His face twisted with a deep snarl. He leaned forward on his arm,
revealing a tattoo.

Amanda’s
eyes widened. “Daddy?”

Kindness
returned to his eyes as he sat up straight. Clarity hit and his lip quivered
open. “Mandy? You don’t belong here.” His teeth were bared at her as he
shouted. “I gave up everything so you won’t have to be here!”

His
sadness was only outdone by his raw aggression. Amanda opened her mouth to
speak
but was ripped away to the surface.
Someone performed compressions on her chest so hard her ribs ached. Her soul
slammed into place so violently she forgot to
breathe
.

Someone
pinched her nose and blew air down her throat.

Amanda’s
eyes flew open and she gasped a deep breath. Her eyes locked with those of her
sister. Jessica’s eyes widened as she sat back on her heels. Her face was
streaked wet with tears. A frazzled mess with
bloodshot
eyes, but at the very least she looked like Jessica and not some possessed
monster.

Sitting
up, Amanda wanted to say so much to Jessica—she had been right about Dad,
Amanda was so sorry about all of it—could they ever begin to forgive each
other? Jessica’s eyes were wide with heartbroken sadness.

Now wasn’t
the right time to talk about anything important. Amanda reached for Jessica to
give her a gentle hug, but Jessica crushed against her in a fierce embrace.
Nestling far down against Amanda’s waist, Jessica buried her head and sobbed.
Amanda hadn’t heard Jessica sob like that since they were kids, and barely even
then.

The waves
of pain radiating from inside Jessica blocked everything else out. Amanda
couldn’t see anything from her that wasn’t hurt, heartbreak and so much sorrow;
it made the sky part with sadness. The cry was so heavy, so heart breaking with
grief that Amanda’s shoulders slumped forward and she sobbed too. But they were
together. They were back together and nothing else mattered.

Amanda
stroked Jessica’s hair back. She’d take care of her, give Jessica anything she
needed.

Better
days were coming. They had to be.