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

N
o one ever said fighting the forces of
evil would be easy, but it had never been this hard.

Duncan
Jasper could find a way out of any situation. His charm and good looks often
meant he could talk his way out, but when things turned physical, he did okay
then too. But now things were falling apart. Jessica Blood was a servant of
evil and Duncan could barely stay ahead of the angry
pack of demons
.

They
hungered for Amanda. The only thing between her and those vengeful demons was
Duncan and
the 1966
Chrysler he drove. It
had belonged to Daddy Blood, the girl’s father, before he was murdered. Before
evil followed their scent every waking moment of every day.

Duncan
Jasper was no man’s hero. No knight, but here he was becoming one, whether he
wanted to or not. Amanda needed protection. Had to be saved. He hadn’t been
able to protect his own kid sister, but he had to protect this one.

“Amanda,
there’s something we need to tell you. About the demon we have? We have to talk
about your Aunt Gwen.”

Amanda
jerked her head toward him. She had been through a rough time, being held
prisoner by demons would do that to you, but her face still held beauty.
Pixie-like
features, from her small lips to her
button nose; her face framed with golden red soft curls. The kind that needed
to be on the cover of some girly romance novel.

But her
pupils were dilated. Her words slurred together, like she had been on
something. The only thing Vaughn would have given her was demon essence drugs.
For an empath like Amanda, coming down would be tricky. “Is she alive? Did she
find you?” Amanda asked.

Gunfire
from the pursuing vehicles drowned out
Duncan’s voice and the ground began to shudder. The earth groaned and a crater
opened up in the desert. Duncan’s whole body tensed as he jerked the wheel to
avoid falling into it.

Just when
he thought things couldn’t get any worse.

Heat and
flame rose up from the void that blocked their way. Duncan slammed on the gas
and the car fishtailed as he drove parallel along the expanding crack. There
had to be an ending. There had to be a way around.

Amanda’s
breath labored in a manic rhythm and she gripped her armrest. “She doesn’t want
to let us go. We’re never going to get out of here, Duncan.”

She?
Duncan’s heart told him it was Lourdes. The queen of the underworld didn’t like
to lose.

Amanda
turned her head and placed her hand on the window. The flames were so high that
Duncan felt his own cheeks burning, as if he stood too close to a campfire. He
just gritted his teeth as he circled back toward the charging demons.

“What are
we going to do? Duncan!” Amanda’s voice cracked and she shielded her eyes as
they raced toward a caravan of demons intent on killing them.

“Brace
yourselves, kids!” From the
backseat,
Father Mike bent his head, gripped the headrest as the car jarred and muttered
an inspired prayer.

Demons to
the front. Flames of the underworld behind them.

Who said
only the good die young?

Duncan
gripped the steering wheel and slid further into the seat. It was time to do this
thing. It was time to win. His eyes spied a flat, large rock off in the
distance. If he could get to it before the charging demons did, well it was a
big
risk
, like a wing and a prayer.
Risks,
were what he took. Every day. Duncan
Jasper didn’t play by the rules; he hadn’t set out that morning to die.

He set
out to win. No matter the cost. Save Amanda, that’s what he said he would do.
No matter what.

“You’re
going to want to hold onto something,” Duncan grabbed a fresh toothpick from
his pocket and slid it
over
his tongue.
Here went nothing.

Jerking
the wheel, he took a hard left and hoped the charging demons wouldn’t be able
to course correct in time. Spinning, nearly out of control, Duncan gritted his
teeth so tight his jaw ached, as every muscle in his body taught and straining
as he fought to maintain control of the car.

“C’mon,
C’mon!” He muttered more to himself than anything, but his friends were
counting on him. Duncan had let people down enough in his life—starting right
from the very beginning. He had to get this right.

They
caught the rock right at the angle he’d planned. Boom—the car sailed through
the air and over the roaring flames that were so desperate to encircle them.
Box them in, but nothing that day would box in the six-hundred horsepower of
raw Detroit power this day.

With a
thud, they landed and bounced hard. Beside him he saw Amanda slam her head into
the roof and Father Mike said something very un-priest-like in the back seat.
The car slewed across the desert sand like a cat on ice; when Duncan finally
regained control he found himself driving right into a demon gang on bikes.

“You’re
going to want to take out those demons, Mike!” Duncan said out the side of his
mouth.

Mike
rolled down his window and lodged his AK-47 through the open space. “I’m on
it.”

It was
only a couple dozen demons, but enough to make your day go from bad to worse.
As the thunder of the approaching Harleys reached a crescendo the clouds above
parted.

And it
was all punctuated by Mike’s gunfire.

A bright
light passed overhead, like sun cutting through a foggy day, but this light was
harnessed, intense; a spotlight being channeled through a magnifying glass, it
glinted brightly off the charging bikes.

 
“Hit it, Duncan!” Father Mike gripped the
headrest in front of him.

Duncan
licked his lips, wrapped his fingers around the gear shift and put the pedal to
the metal. The tires cut loose and like a bat out of hell, the Blood family car
charged forward, dust and exhaust trailing in an angry cloud.

Amanda
gripped the armrest of her door and turned, peering out the window. Duncan
didn’t have such luxury. He examined ahead and kept the wheel steady as the car
bounced over the uneven terrain. He just hoped the old girl could hold it
together. She wasn’t built for this and now, with Jessica gone, it was his
responsibility, right?

Take care
of Amanda. Take care of the family car. Had responsibility ever weighed so
heavily on his heart? “It’s not over,” Amanda swallowed hard. “Duncan—.”

The sound
behind them drowned her out. The earth hollowed out and collapsed on itself, a
crater had grown and it charged—right behind the car, it pursued as if it had a
mind of its own and it probably did.

Sent by
Lourdes to send them crashing into the underworld.

Father
Mike made the sign of the cross and Duncan glanced back at him. “Is that all
you have?” So much for priests having an open line direct to God. Open 24/7 a
day, right?

“No
weapon can stop what is happening back there. Can you get this thing to go any
faster?”

“Without
melting the engine?” Duncan shook his head. “Not damn likely!”

The
ground disappeared beneath one of the rear tires and the car buckled. Amanda
flinched and grabbed onto the dashboard. A terrified sob escaped her lips.
There was
pure
terror on her pale face
and Duncan’s own heart matched that in speed. She had been in tough situations
before; most of her life had been one fight after another. But this?

This was
on a whole new scale of crazy.

Jessica
was gone. Damn no, Duncan couldn’t think about it yet. Had to remain in
control. Objective. Couldn’t they catch a break?

He wasn’t
going without a fight. The tachometer approached eight-thousand RPM and he
slipped the shifter into third gear. The tires broke free and the car
fishtailed, slipping out of the trailing crevasse. The engine fell deep into
its power band and the speedometer buried at a hundred and fifty miles
per-hour.

“That’s
more like it,” Mike called from the back seat as they pulled away from the
pursuing hellfire.

Judging
by the tach Duncan guessed he was nearing two-hundred miles per-hour. At these
speeds the old ’66 felt like it was floating over the desert. It felt like a
rocket, but he knew at these speeds on the loose desert floor he was one errant
rut or rock from killing them all.

Even so,
it was working, they were pulling away from their pursuers.
 
Still, Amanda struggled with tears, or maybe
all the emotion was just too much for her. Duncan wasn’t sure, but she gulped
for air. Her face turned a pale blue.

“Mandy,” Duncan
called out in alarm, but couldn’t take his eyes off the road.

Her
fingernails dug into the dashboard. “There’s something new here. It wasn’t here
before.” Amanda shook her head, the sound of gurgling vomit rising in her
throat.

Could it
be the drugs? Or something even worse than that?

A
motorcycle approached from the right; it tried to force them around into the
crater. It buzzed like a chainsaw and the rider lay low against the bike,
gripping her handlebars. All decked out in silver leather, it was a woman with
dreadlocks running along the back of her head.

Her face
would be decorated with a red spiral tattoo. Duncan didn’t need to see it
to know
. He only knew one human woman with a
fondness for silver leather and dreads. She called herself Vain and if he said
her name out loud, he might choke on it.

Time was
catching up
with
him.

Vain and
her fondness for demons. Vain and her hatred for Duncan, but he couldn’t die
today. Not until he could get Amanda to safety, so Duncan fought back, swerving
his car toward Vain’s bike. She moved
away, but
turned her head with a coy smile so he could see it.

So he
would know she had found him, but she would have to wait another day to collect
her retribution. Duncan couldn’t let this be the end.

They were
racing toward the city limits. With the Earth crumbling all around them, with
demons charging after them, entering wouldn’t just be suicide; it’d be the
murder of innocent civilians. He gripped the wheel harder, held his breath, his
mind spinning. Looking for a solution.

A way
out.

He gazed
at Amanda and the fear she had on her face. “I’m sorry,” Duncan whispered.
Already he had failed. He had to protect her, but he couldn’t risk the lives of
everyone in that city.

“Slow the
car,” Amanda said and when Duncan didn’t immediately respond, she said it with
more force. “I
said to
slow the car,
Duncan!”

He let up
on the gas and off in the distance he saw a rising golden light coming from the
horizon of the city. Above the skyscrapers and into the clouds, the light shone
in a luminescent vortex aimed right at them. Amanda squealed and bent forward
at the stomach, grabbing at something hurt, hurt
badly
.

In an
instant, Duncan felt it too, but probably not as strong as the empath. A sonic
wave of power erupted from the clouds in a golden light and threw the pursuing
demons back like ants on a blustery picnic day. A flutter of eagle’s wings like
that of the
angel
soared in the distance.
He had to drive toward it. Didn’t know why or how he knew, just that he did.

The
fissures behind them were no longer expanding. Lourdes, for now, had given
up—or had been put in her place. Mike gave Duncan an exasperated, slack jawed
look and Duncan felt their luck too. Maybe priests didn’t have a direct line to
God, but it seemed Amanda Blood knew an angel. Maybe that angel even owed
Amanda her life.

Duncan
started the car forward again at a crawl. Cautious. Didn’t know if the demons
would lunge again. The further the tires spun, the easier Duncan relaxed and
the tension just ran out straight out of him.

Amanda
pushed her hair back with a long exhale. Her green eyes a little clearer.
Duncan had a boat load of questions for her, but for the moment, thought he’d
let it keep. He’d allow victory, for lack of a better word, just sink in.

The light
of the angel in the distance beckoned them home.

T
he city
had no idea how close to destruction it had come, but Amanda felt it deep
inside. Now the shadow of death was receding like an ocean tide. The car drove
toward the bright light, as Duncan called it, but he didn’t see it the way
Amanda did. She doubted anyone could. The warmth and amber dust danced inside
like tiny fairies. It had its own song, but not one she could discern with her
ears.

Her heart
and soul heard it. Like a cherub strumming his
harp,
that’s how Amanda knew it was no ordinary light. It came from an angel, maybe
even more than one. Now they were headed toward it, like it was a spotlight,
the Bat-signal, and thinking that made Amanda think of Jessica.

Jessica
loved superheroes. A story where the hero always won, Jessica always said. For
someone who craved happy endings so much, she hated romantic comedies, where
they were pretty much guaranteed. Her sister, Jessica Blood, the realist.

The old
protector of her family and now she was gone? Lost forever, so Lourdes would
have them all believe.

Amanda
wouldn’t, she couldn’t. She’d find a way to get Jessica back if she had to
travel the world for a solution. If she had to rip a hole in the veil of the
underworld to do it. When it came to Jessica, Amanda would stop at nothing,
because that’s the very thing Jessica would do. They protected each other. Had
each other’s back. Amanda owed her, but more than that, Amanda loved her.

Needed
her to survive.

I’m going to come get you, sister. I
promise.

They
drove through the city and Amanda allowed herself to relax. The streets were
calm, a man strolled with his dog, but over his
head,
a dark cloud hung. They passed a chubby girl nursing a coffee and donut, but no
one could see her pain just by looking at her, but Amanda felt it.

Alone,
desperate. Sad.

The city
was rife with it, but it was normal human down-on-your-luck stuff.
 
It made them all such easy targets for the
demons and their promises of lies. A drug that brought the
promise
of happiness, euphoria, pleasure, all
the while chipping at their very soul until nothing was left.

They
passed by brick red buildings with signs ‘open for business’ in the window
while others were having close out sales. Businesses
may be
on the brink of closing forever, but the strip clubs seemed
to be doing okay. Blinking lights outside, with a scrolling marquee, it was a
thing you’d expect to see in Vegas. And the lines?

Wrapped
around the building as if people were waiting to see a blockbuster movie.

The light
grew brighter and filled the windshield. Amanda shielded her eyes and Duncan
squinted, the closer they got. “Want to tell me what that was back there?”
Duncan asked. “Jessica was…gone. The demons were around us. We were
goners
and then you screamed—.”

“And they
all fell back,” Amanda admitted softly. “If I knew what it was, I’d tell you,
Duncan. But I don’t know. The only non-passive thing I can do is exorcise a
demon with my hands, you know that.” It scared her. Whatever it had been, it
damn well terrified her.

He nodded
in agreement and there was no malice in his voice, but Amanda felt his surge of
adrenaline. Didn’t he trust her? Didn’t he—He thought the drugs Vaughn pumped
her full of corrupted her. Amanda felt that surge of emotion as clear as day.
She swallowed hard and stared out the window.

Was it
true? Aunt Gwen always said, if corrupted, Amanda would be as explosive as a
time bomb.

If they
were going to help Jessica, they had to work together. Had to trust each other,
but Amanda didn’t know how to make him understand. She understood just because
she felt. How could she explain something like that?

“It could
be the drugs messing you up,” Father Mike said from the rear seat, leaning
forward. “It might settle as you heal, get the drugs from your system.”

A ‘but’
hung between them; Amanda didn’t have the answers. She didn’t have the truth,
so she didn’t say anything. All she could do was nod and hope, for now, it
would be enough.

They
arrived at the dome of light, behind a café and Duncan slowed the car down to a
crawl. Pulling it beside the curb, he cut the engine and no sooner did he do
that, than the light from the angel disappeared.

Duncan
raised an eyebrow. “Maybe she didn’t want to meet with us after all.”

“She
did.” Amanda gazed out, looking around the sidewalk and the front of the café.
It was a casual, but homey place with bushes out front and a white painted
door. It made her feel warm and squishy inside. “She’s here, around the back.”
Amanda opened the car door and stepped out, but a wave of dizziness overtook
her.

She
steadied herself with a hand to her forehead, but Duncan grabbed her arm
anyway. A toothpick twirled in his mouth, it hadn’t been there a few minutes
ago. “You okay there, princess?”

He didn’t
say it in a condescending way. All Amanda felt was worry and concern. The
weight of responsibility was already bearing down on him. Amanda wished she
could wave her hand and make it disappear.

“I’m
good, just been through a lot the last few days. Maybe after
this,
we could get some French fries? And pie?”
Amanda said with hope. “I haven’t eaten anything in a few days.”

“We’ll
get you whatever you need.” Father Mike said warmly. Amanda liked him, but she
couldn’t read him like she read others. Unless of course, there just
simply
was nothing to read at all.

That idea
unsettled her. She knew Mike was a good person. He dedicated his life to
fighting demons. He left his church long before they met and formed his own
renegade group of
like-minded
souls.

But she
didn’t know him. Not really.

Duncan
led them
down the simple, nondescript
alley. A chain-link fence surrounded a dumpster that smelled of days old coffee
grinds and sour milk. In the middle of such normalcy, the angel stood front and
center. When their eyes fell upon her, Duncan and Father Mike’s steps slowed
and Amanda took up the approach. Even though she was tired and her legs
wobbled, Amanda
outstretched
her hand and
continued.

The
angel, who was once Vaughn’s prisoner, stood tall, elegant, and grand. Her
hands clasped, perfect posture and her hair glowed like a flowing river behind
her. Her white robe was cinched with a golden rope and her white feathered
wings, like those of an eagle, folded simply behind her as if an elegant train.

What
would others think of the angel if they saw her?
 
Amanda only felt spellbound.

“Others
cannot see me as the three of you see me. For they don’t believe. You may call
me Mariam,” The angel extended her hand to Amanda. Her perfect fingers
splayed,
with smooth round nails and Amanda was
mystified as she touched them.

So soft,
gentle and smooth. Like they had never known hardship, but Amanda knew the
truth. She knew what cracks splintered Mariam inside.

“For what
you did back there for Amanda, and just now for us, thank you.” Father Mike’s
voice softened and for a brief
moment,
Amanda felt his absolute awe. Like he’d go down on bended knee if the alley
wasn’t so filthy.

“I did
what I could, but the fight is coming.” She gazed past Amanda at Duncan. “You
will carry the biggest burden of all. Carrying Amanda and rescuing Jessica from
the underworld, won’t be easy. She’s on the move and Lourdes will make sure she
doesn’t sit still. That would make Jessica vulnerable. To find her, you will
need to anticipate her next step.”

Duncan
shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his eyes cast down. There was so
much sorrow in the alley, that Amanda felt stifled. Thick and heavy like a
blanket, it weighed them all down.

Mariam
stiffened as she seemed to even stand taller. “Jessica fought against the
underworld’s wishes and for
that,
she
will be punished. You can’t expect her to continue to resist. She is only human
and it cannot be held against her. Make sure that is not part of your plan, or
surely you will die.”

A slight
hissing noise came from Duncan as he swallowed back hard. “Well, you’re all
sunlight and roses.”

“A
realist. An angel stuck on Earth this long, I don’t have a choice to be
anything else.”

“What
happened back there?” Mike asked. “What Lourdes did, those fissures?
The Earth
ravaged with the underworld’s flame?
There are supposed to
be limits
to her
power.”

“
Indeed,
there are, Michael Mortensen,” Miriam
glided across the surface. “but those rules, those limits, have now changed.
Lourdes has taken a human as the commander of her army. That human created a
rip in the veil between the underworld and Earth. Lourdes’ power is growing.
Things are changing. Soon, the Earth might not be protected any longer from the
flames of hell.

“And
Lourdes will use those powers of hell to her advantage. To get Amanda. Her
blood has the power to throw those doors wide open. Lourdes, I fear, wants
domain over it all. Hell. Earth. Maybe even Heaven.”

Amanda
bristled as a wave of intense fear washed over her. She knew that the
underworld was filled with torture and lower level demons, but hell, that’s
where the real beasts dwelt. It was there Satan roamed, with monsters the size
of buildings. She had dreamt of such a place before and she had no desire to
ever see it in person.

“We’ll do
what we can, but we’re three humans. Three.” Duncan held up his fingers. “What
can we do that the angels of heaven can’t? We’re going to need some help down
here.”

“Duncan.”
Mike’s eyes narrowed and he grew cross. Very cross. Amanda hadn’t felt such a
strong surge of negative emotion from a human since she last saw Jessica—before
she was taken
to
Lourdes.

Miriam
held up her hand. “You must understand, I’m a fallen angel.” She said the words
as if she loathed them, and for the first time broke eye contact. “Vaughn, the
demon, charmed me. I knew he was a demon and still, I fell from heaven for him.
His dark beauty entranced me. Decades upon decades of lust and torture ruled my
life. All of which is not something easily forgiven by Heaven. I have a lot to
answer for and that’ll take time.

“You see,
Duncan Jasper, God forgives a lot easier than angels do. If I’m to get Heaven
on our side, first I must go through the trials. Then Heaven’s defenses must be
bolstered. We cannot allow Lourdes to gain a foothold in heaven. If we do, it
doesn’t matter how many people you save down here, all will be lost.”

There was
such despair in her words, Amanda felt like weeping. “We will do what we can.”

Duncan
stepped up, red hot with anger and Amanda laid a hand on his chest. Her eyes
implored him, and she watched him soften under her watchful gaze. “Please,” she
pleaded, “this isn’t going to help Jessica.”

He nodded
and cast his eyes to the café. The anger still simmered, but he did his best to
control it. Amanda felt the dull creep of a headache growing behind her eye.
She thought maybe it was from emotion, but she feared it was from the drugs
Vaughn forced onto her.

Miriam
nodded as if she could read her mind. “The gift I gave you will ease your
suffering as you head into withdrawal, Amanda Blood, but it will not completely
cure you. You will suffer, I’m sorry, but you will come through to the other
side.
Hopefully,
then your powers will
balance out.”

Amanda’s
interest piqued. “And what happened back at Vaughn’s? When I cried and the
demons were driven back? That was me, wasn’t it?”

“
Indeed,
it was. Your soul has been fractured
and pulled apart. Part of it, I fear, may be in the underworld itself. It is
having an effect on your powers. I’d be careful, not to let your emotions get
the best of you until
it's
restored back
to its former beauty. Golden and intricate. It was quite the sight to be seen,
now it is tarnished and cracked, but with time…”

Her words
broke Amanda’s heart. Was her soul fractured that much? Amanda wanted to weep.

But it
was time for Miriam to go. “
For now,
that’s all I can give you.” She gazed past Amanda and at Duncan. “Grab her food
and drink, she’s going to need her strength for what’s coming. After that, it’s
imperative you return to your bar, Duncan. A friend
there
needs your help.”

Duncan
sucked in his breath; then, without warning and no good-bye, Miriam took off
like a rocket into the sky. Golden smoke trailed in her wake and Father Mike
let out a deep exhale.

“My
friends would never believe me if I told them.”

Duncan did
a double take. “You have friends?”

Funny,
but Amanda didn’t feel like laughing. Their trouble had just begun and a
sickening swirl grew in the pit of her stomach. She touched her nose and saw on
her fingertips a trail of blood. It seemed the demon withdrawal was starting
earlier than Amanda had thought it would.