Blood Debt (The Blood Sisters Book 2) (18 page)

M
ike
brought them hot coffee and cold breakfast pastries, but it may as well have
been gourmet. Jessica’s taste buds were exploding with happiness to have food
and drink. Her time in the underworld was something she might never forget, but
the comforts of home? Just a few days and she had
forgotten
things could be so wonderful.

She
wanted happy times, as a stranded man craves water. It was all her mind could
think of while she sat with her family—even the strange Mike fellow, who
glanced at his watch more than he should’ve. He worried about something, and
Jessica thought it might have been what plagued her own mind.

Duncan.
Shouldn’t he have been back by now?

Gwen
ravaged her food too, as if it had been ages since she ate. “Demons don’t need
to eat like we do. Few bland meals every odd couple of days has really left me
with an empty stomach. I think I could eat a dozens of these.”

Amanda
held her Danish daintily and munched on the end with her eyes closed. Her
tongue swept across the icing left behind on her lips. “Mmm, I could always eat
a dozen of these.”

Jessica
laughed and couldn’t believe something so simple could feel so good, but she
knew conversation needed to be had. Mike wore a hole in the
floor
from the way he paced back and
forth—chewing on his thumb the whole time. His mind was elsewhere. Worried and
stewing about something that had nothing to do with coffee.

Or yummy
pastries.

Done,
Gwen wiped her hands on a napkin and dotted the corner of the mouth with the
napkin. When speaking, her eyes were on Mike, like someone who was seeing the
ocean for the first time. “It took a long time for me to piece together what
happened, I guess we should start at the beginning.”

Mike
stopped pacing and stood to face the girls. He squatted to meet their eyes and
Jessica shifted under their intensity. A rough looking guy for a priest,
something about him didn’t
sit
right with
her. Not that she didn’t trust him, but she didn’t
not
trust him either.

“
In the beginning,
demons were shadows. Whispers
in
the ear of susceptible humans,
something we couldn’t see or touch. The job of priests in the inner circle,
priests such as myself, was to cleanse the towns. Exorcise the possessed. Send
the demons back to the underworld.”

Amanda
and Jessica exchanged a glance. Neither girl realized things had been so different.
Jessica always assumed demons had always been flesh and blood, at
least,
the lower level ones. “Demons weren’t
physical beings?” Jessica asked. “I guess the drug and human trafficking trade
are
new.”

“As of
thirty years ago,” Gwen nodded with darting eyes. She didn’t want to look
either of them head on and Jessica had to wonder why. What did she have to do
with any of this?

Amanda
took Gwen’s hand. “It’s okay. You can tell us.”

Gwen’s lips
smacked together. “Lourdes was once an angel, one of the mighty ones. Her
beauty turned to vanity and her vanity drove her mad. She didn’t fall from
heaven, she was pushed. Her wings burned straight off and the angels cast her
into the underworld. Long ago she was nothing more than a spirit, her beauty
was stripped away because she was just mist and she became its queen. The
warden of its souls and the gatekeeper of the high court of hell.”

Jessica’s
brow furrowed. “Could’ve fooled me. That mist really packs a punch.”

Lips
pursed, Gwen continued with a look of dread. “Before you were born, or even
created, word spread that demons employed human possession to find an artifact.
One that if brought to the underworld, would change everything. Allow demons to
take physical shape. Grant Lourdes a body.” Gwen sighed with deep longing in
her voice. “The artifact was a simple cup and if blood spilled into it and if
she drank from it...”

“Then,”
Mike said when Gwen couldn’t, “the Earth would form demons of twisted maggots
and dirt. Lourdes would take physical shape once more. Still trapped, she’d
need the
blood
of the cursed to leave the
underworld.”

“How’d
she get the blood, Aunt Gwen?” Jessica’s rough tone got a look out of Amanda,
but Gwen stared straight at the ground.

“I was
young. Foolish. I thought I could take on the world and rid it of demons
myself. With the help of a faithful
friend
we rushed to the cup, but the possessed were strong. Numbers were too great. I
was captured, bled, and if not for your father ambushing the demons, I would’ve
been killed.”

Dad?
Jessica’s eyes widened at the news. She and Amanda shared a look.

Gwen
laughed with grief, tears shining in her eyes. “Your father charged the demons
and nearly met defeat trying to rescue the cup. Only drops of blood remained,
but that was enough. He was cursed to finish what I started. The Bloods, our
bloodline is tied to Lourdes’s fate. We can set her free, or we can end her,
but only together.”

Jessica’s
nose flared. “The holy trinity isn’t so holy after all, is it?”

Gwen
avoided her eyes. “What else should I have told you? That I cursed us? You? Any
Bloods born would be…”

“Everyone
always told me I was special, but I guess that’s not the full story.” Amanda’s
scowl
deepened
. “I’m surprised our parents
had any kids at all.”

“They
weren’t supposed to,” Gwen’s harsh words brought frown lines to her face. “A
mistake, fate that couldn’t be averted, I don’t know, but the precautions they
took failed. I only know for all the trouble it brought, your parents never
regretted it. I’ve learned for myself how special you both are. The power to
heal, the power to destroy. Joined together, you can end Lourdes. If you’re
strong enough.”

Jessica
didn’t know how to process the information. She wished someone had thought to
tell her all this sooner. If she knew why Lourdes wanted them, maybe it would
have made a difference. As their aunt, Gwen should’ve cared about them enough
to tell them, but what were they? Just a mission to her?

“I wish
we had done things differently. If I could go back and do it again, so neither
of you knew this kind of sorrow, I would.” Gwen glanced at Mike and he remained
quiet, but he refused to meet her eyes.

Gazing
between them, Jessica sensed more to the story. The look of grief on the priest’s
face was too intense for that to be all there was. Temper flaring; Jessica took
a deep laboring sigh. “What aren’t you telling us?”

“Your
aunt is trying to protect me and my reputation.” Mike put his hands in his
pockets. “I was young, easily tempted in ways I thought I’d never be. When
Jacob went after Lourdes’s demons I should’ve followed. Then he would’ve had a
chance, but I didn’t.
Instead,
I stayed
with your aunt.”

“You
saved her life,” Amanda said with a twist of her lips, “because you were in love
with her. Because you…
ohh.”
Her nose
scrunched up as if she tasted something nasty. “You two were sleeping
together.”

Jessica’s
eyebrows rose and her cheeks felt flush. “Isn’t that against the rules?”

Mike blew
out a breath. “Yes. I’ve been paying for my transgression ever since. The
knowledge that the demons are ravaging the planet, setting up drug shops and
kidnapping girls.”

“It’s all
our fault.” Gwen said and gazed away from his eyes. “Everything that happened
to
you
girls. Your mother,” her eyebrows creased.
“Jacob. That’s why I didn’t come for you girls right away when they were
killed. The grief was too much. I was looking for answers. Looking for ways to
fix it. To get rid of Lourdes once and for all.”

“I’m
guessing you didn’t find one yet,” Jessica said dryly. “After all these
years—decades—what made you think—.”

“I found
more than you think. Once she had Jessica, Lourdes started to piece it
together. The rip in the veil widened. Allowing more demons to pass through and
even Jessica could walk through it. But she didn’t have you, Amanda. She didn’t
have you both and that’s why she couldn’t step beyond the underworld. A secret
long hidden from her, she needed you both.”

“Both of
us?”
The color
went out of Amanda’s
cheeks and Jessica felt faint. Hadn’t that been what just happened? When Amanda
saved her from Lourdes…

“What’s
the matter with you two?” Gwen’s lips pushed together into a stern look and
Jessica was most familiar with it.

She
cleared her throat and struggled to find the words. “For a brief time, when
Amanda was removing the mark, we were both in the underworld. Lourdes had my
soul and a piece of Amanda’s, at the same time.”

“Shit,”
Mike muttered.

Gwen’s
mouth fell open and she covered it. “For how long? How long? Did you see her?”

“Just a
few minutes,” Amanda rushed on. “I didn’t see her, but she talked about the
possibilities. I could hear her in my head. She said the world was open to
possibilities.”

“Open,”
Gwen took a deep breath and her eye twitched, “we better get moving. We can check
a few sources, talk to a few people. See if the signs of her return are
present.”

“I’ll get
the guns.” Mike rushed for the basement stairs.

The Blood
women stood. Amanda tugged on her fingers, but it was Jessica’s temper that
raged. “Don’t you think you could’ve told us this before? A cautionary tale?”

“I didn’t
know this would happen. I didn’t realize Lourdes needed you both until right
before my
possession
. Fought as hard as I
could
to ward
that information away. I
didn’t want Lourdes to get her claws into either of you.”

Gwen’s
eyes were sincere, but Jessica didn’t know if she could trust her. She wanted
to, but right now she only trusted one person—her sister. Jessica’s head was
twisted, confused. Nothing felt right anymore.

Her aunt
reached for Jessica, but Amanda took her hand instead. “It’s just a lot to
digest all at once. We didn’t know Dad fought demons. Why didn’t he ever tell
us? Or you?”

“For your
mother and you girls, he gave it up. They pledged their lives to keep you girls
safe and to do whatever was necessary. I’m sure a father has never loved his
girls as thoroughly as he loved you.”

That
knowledge didn’t make Jessica feel any better.
There
was only horror and
ever longing
sadness.
“Amanda saw him,” Jessica gritted her teeth to fight off her rage. “She saw him
in the underworld. Where his soul has been, all this time.”

Gwen’s
face grew long and her eyes distant. “He did what he did. Sacrifice is often
the name of the game, girls. His body is dead. We can’t bring him back.”

“But we
can stop the torture? Free him from the underworld. Send him to heaven at
least?” Amanda asked, licking her lips. Jessica had seen the tortured look of
sadness on her face before. Couldn’t hold it against her this time either.

Gwen
either forgot the look or chose to ignore it. “We have more pressing matters,
child.”

“More
pressing than our father? Your brother?” Jessica narrowed her eyes.

Aunt Gwen
sighed with a big eye roll. “We don’t have time for melodrama, girls! Yes! I’m
sorry to say, yes! If Lourdes walks free, we have to find out. And fast. She’ll
bring destruction for the whole planet with her. Not just us.”

Amanda
implored her sister. “Jess…”

“You
shelf this discussion for now. Do you understand?” Gwen used her stern voice.
The one she used when a conversation was over, but it wasn’t. Far from it. The
anger festered fast in Jessica, but when Amanda nodded she conceded.

For now.

Gwen
turned to Jessica. “I know you’ve been through a lot, but until we know that
Lourdes is safe in the underworld, you need to push it aside. Can you do that?”

Jessica
nodded, but it was far from the truth. “What about Duncan?” God, Duncan. They
were going to have so much to tell him.

“He’ll
have to catch up to us.” Gwen started out of the basement, and just like that
Jessica had a new mission. A new reason to keep fighting.

But her
heart deep inside just wanted to cry.

Amanda
took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Your sadness rivals mine.”

“We’ll
help Dad,” Jessica said. “We will. One way or another. If I have to take a
sword back into the underworld myself, we’ll free him from that place. Make it
so
he
and Mom are back together. He gave
his life for us; we won’t let him be tortured.”

Amanda’s
face lit up with hope and she folded into her sister’s arms. Jessica breathed
in the scent of her apple shampoo and buried her nose against Amanda’s hair. It
all sounded good, didn’t it? The
grandstanding
,
the heroic babble, but Jessica didn’t know if she really could.

God help
her, Jessica just didn’t know.