Blood Debt (The Blood Sisters Book 2) (7 page)

“Shouldn’t
she be through the worse of it by now?” Ron asked and his question fell on deaf
ears. The air in the room thickened and Duncan thought she should be, so
whatever was happening to her now, was it permanent? Was it the piecing
together of her soul that caused her so much pain?

“I wish I
could say you can stay, Ron,” Duncan took a deep breath, “but I think it would
be best if right now, we went our separate ways.”

Ron
snorted. “You guys practically have targets painted on your backs. What makes
you think I want to stay?
Thanks,
though,
for getting me out. And I hope Amanda here…well, I hope she’ll be all right.”
Ron headed
for
the front door. After
opening it he turned around. “You will clear my name, won’t you?”

Duncan
nodded even though he wasn’t sure. Right then he couldn’t think of anything,
but Amanda’s well-being. The door shut gently behind Ron as Duncan gathered up
the blanket at the foot of the bed. He lay it against Amanda’s legs and
unfolded it so it would reach her chest. Even after that, he couldn’t leave
her. Couldn’t take his eyes off her.

He made a
promise to Jessica to care for Amanda. And now he was failing
badly
.

“Sit with
her.” Mike put a hand on Duncan’s shoulder with gentle kindness. “I’ll keep a
watch
out front. My bedside manner has always
needed work. When she wakes up, she’s going to need a friendly face.”

“She read
my mind in the car, Mike.” Duncan words hit the air like an icy frost.

Mike’s
didn’t react right away. “Whatever is happening to her, it can’t be stopped. We
can’t fix it. We just have to hope in the end, she’ll survive.”

His words
weren’t the words of comfort,
but, at least,
they were honest.

“As much
as I hate to say it, we can use all the help we can get right now. So let’s
hope she can hold it together. Learn to control whatever is happening to her so
it doesn’t destroy her.”

“Sometimes
your honesty hurts.”

Mike
laughed. “Don’t I know it, Jasper.”

Duncan
pulled a chair up to the bed and took Amanda’s hot, frail hand in his. “I know
you have people to get back to. I’m sorry about this, Mike.”

Mike
smirked kindly. “Somethings can’t be helped. It is when we make
plans
that God laughs the hardest. Even when
your plans are to save the world.”

Duncan
smirked despite everything going on. “Think we’ll make it?”

Mike
opened the front door to step outside. “Only one can answer a question like
that Jasper. And it isn’t me.”

Duncan
put Amanda’s hand to his face and kissed it. Slowly, the door latched behind
Mike and Duncan was alone with his own thoughts. None of them kind, none of
them pretty. That girl, Amanda, she just had to pull through. Had to.

Kindness
settled on her face in the most angelic way. Her breath rapid and pulse racing
as Duncan placed two fingers against her neck, but the fever was breaking. Her
hot skin was a little cooler, her complexion not so
rosy
. If anyone could pull through this, it was a Blood.

Duncan
had to just hope it was before Vain found them again. Evil as Vain was, she had
a score to settle Duncan could understand. The truth was, everything Vain
wanted to do to him, he had
coming
.

In a big
way, he had it coming.

W
ith each gasp of air Amanda took, her
eyelids quivered, as though REM sleep had taken her, but it wasn’t sleep.

It was
fire.

All
around
her,
it consumed, to the cavern
walls at her sides and straight ahead, a curtain of fire cut her off from the
exit. Barefoot, her skin was cut and scraped on the jagged rocks. Dirt was
stuck beneath her trim toenails and the hem of her blue dress was
singed
from the flames. This was the
underworld, the mouth of hell some people called it. Amanda had dreamt of it
before
but had never been trapped. She had never
feared for her life like she did now.

Fingers
coiled into a tight fist, sweat clung to her brow as she spun in a circle,
looking for a way out. The only way out was through. How many times had Jessica
told her that? Amanda
feared, in this case,
it was true, but through the flame?

She’d
die. She’d be consumed.

If only
Jessica was here. If only…

The clang
of
metal
beat in the distance, like a
drum. It was a demon, trapped behind the metal wall. Amanda was terrified that
it’d get free. It’d tear through her to get topside and all those people, they
wouldn’t just hear about the war with demons. They’d be fodder, way worse than
they ever had been before.

So Amanda
ran, straight toward the curtain of fire, but she stopped short. Right in front
of it, so the wisps of flame danced against her skin. Tickled her nose and
singed
a piece of hair.

She
couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t jump through it.

What was
she without Jessica?

“I’m
sorry,” Amanda’s chin quivered as she backed up, but the circle of flame grew
hotter. Closing in on her as if she was its target. Soon, there’d be nowhere
else to go. Amanda had to take a chance with the dancing flames, but she was
terrified. She had never been the brave one. Never!

The fire
shimmered, and in that dancing flame were eyes. A nose. Through the flame
Jessica’s face materialized. No, it was crazy. Absurd, but the face pushed
through the flame and her scar, her beautiful scar, was visible against her
peach complexion. The red flame coiled like hair around her face.

“Jessica,”
Amanda’s heart called out more than her voice. The longing ache in her heart,
so much worse to bear. Seeing her sister like this? A prisoner of the
underworld? This wasn’t the fate
of
the
mighty Jessica Blood.

Jessica’s
face was set
like sto
ne, but her eyes
flickered back and forth, like burning
embers
of hell. “I’ll send you safe passage through the flame. It’s the only way.”

Amanda
shook her head, her fingers cinched around each other. “I won’t leave here
without you.”

“You have
work to do and you know it. Pull your head out of your ass, Amanda. If you die
here, there’s no chance for either of us. You know that.”

“I’m
scared.” Amanda’s voice reverberated with so much truth it shook the cavern
walls.

“I know,”
Jessica said softly. “Parts of your soul are fractured, like a broken mirror.
Those parts are here. Those parts can hear me.”

Quietly,
Amana nodded.

“We can’t
let Lourdes keep them. There’s somewhere you need to be. Somewhere to make your
stand. Become whole again and save me.”

The idea
that it was
possible
gave Amanda hope.
Just a glimmer, but it was enough to excite her. She took a deep breath. “Why
there? Why do you
want
me to go there?”

“Now,
that’s the question you should have been asking. That’s the question I’m here
to answer.” Jessica’s hand extended through the flame and she placed two
fingers against Amanda’s wrist.

Amanda
sucked in her breath hard as Jessica’s touch burned her skin. Smoke and steam
rose up from her flesh. When Jessica removed her fingers, a red seal burned her
delicate pale skin. With moist eyes, Amanda glanced up at Jessica’s burning
face.

Guess her
time was up.

*****

“Keep up, Mandy. We’re almost at the
church!”

But Amanda, only thirteen-years-old, could
barely keep going. Scared and barely able to breathe, her mind swarmed with
images that weren’t natural.

Flashes of grizzly faces painted on the
night sky. With their outstretched claws, they were closing in on them. Even if
they were only mist, they reached out for them. So much pain, so much
self-doubt; that was what they brought with them.

Jessica wouldn’t let Amanda slow down. Her
older sister by two years, Jessica clamped her hand on Amanda’s wrist. They
reached the top of a hill covered in trees. The city lights and streets were
visible against the looming darkness. Just across the street, a
steepled
church with bright stain glass windows
lit
up like morning service.

But the truth was starker. It was the
middle of the night and the Blood girls had been running for miles through a
treacherous forest. The mountains of Vermont were must different than their
home in Nebraska. Amanda didn’t like the landscape or how hard the paths were
to climb.

Amanda’s chest heaved as she struggled for
air and her thighs burned, she bent over and grabbed them, but Jessica wouldn’t
let her rest. She
grabbed
her collar
tight and pulled her along. “C’mon!” Jessica screamed and charged down the hill
straight toward a town. Amanda had no choice but to follow, but unable to keep
her footing, she crashed to her knees.

Behind
her,
the sound of charging animals made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck.
They were no animals. Over the last few months, Amanda had come to realize that
there were monsters out there. Demons. Every one of them wanted her dead. If
they could find her, they would just kill her.

Jessica helped Amanda up with an
exasperated sigh. “You’re not helping me here, Mandy. We’ve got to get into
that church!” She pointed across the street toward a cluster of buildings and
residential homes. Between them all, standing tall, was a church as the
swinging street light blinked yellow.

Amanda was trying. She really was. Sucking
on her bottom lip, Amanda promised herself to do better. Her feet pounded up
the marble staircase and Jessica advanced ahead. With a giant groan of hinges,
Jessica forced the church ornate door open. “Quick!”

Running inside, Amanda helped Jessica push
the door closed. Inside smelled of
incense
and everything was warm as fire. The floors were marble and a sea of pews were
laid out behind Amanda. A cathedral ceiling vaulted behind the altar and marble
statues framed it on either side. But as far as people went? Amanda saw and
felt none.

“Further inside. C’mon.” Jessica nudged
Amanda’s arm and for the first time, Amanda really looked at her. It had been
months since they had last seen each other.

Jessica wore baggy blue jeans and a blue
flannel shirt that was two sizes too big for her small frame. Her red curls
were long and unkempt. Her face, while free from the scar she’d have in a few
years, sported a black and blue shiner around her eye. Amanda moved to touch
it, but Jessica jerked her head back.

“We don’t have time now. You can heal it
later.”

Amanda’s hand stayed suspended in mid-air
and her face scrunched into a scowl. “Where’d you get it?”

“Does it matter?” Jessica asked as the
door at the front began to rattle.

“It does to me.” Was it Jessica’s foster
parents again?

Jessica tucked her hair behind her ears.
Amanda saw the hospital bracelet on her
wrist,
but hadn’t known Jessica had been in the hospital. Was she sick? Her stomach
turned, to think Jessica went through so much, yet, Amanda knew nothing of it.
Instead, Amanda was in this city about to what? Get adopted?

It was the worst thought ever. Amanda was
a Blood. She’d always be a Blood!

Those people were nice, but now…now they
were dead. Because of her. Because of what
hunted
her. Amanda was sorry that good people were drawn to her, almost more sorry
than demons were drawn to her.

Jessica reached into her waistband and
pulled out a revolver. Amanda’s eyes widened to see it. “Jessie…”

“They’re getting through.” Jessica’s
clenched her teeth together, but still her lips quivered. Her hands shook as
she raised the gun and pointed it toward the entrance. Her hand couldn’t hold
the gun straight so Jessica clamped her other hand on top to steady it.

Amanda could feel Jessica’s fear, and her
own panic rose with feeling so much emotion at once. It was still new to her
and her powers were just starting to grow. The future was going to be scary no
matter what happened next.

If only Mom was there. If only….
  

The door rattled and shook. The hinges
began to give away.

“We could sneak out the back….”

Jessica shook her head. “They won’t leave
you alone. They’ll just keep coming. They’ll kill you like they killed your new
parents.”

Her words cut Amanda like a knife. Amanda
didn’t want new parents. Didn’t Jessica know that? Did Jessica hate her?

“Jessie…” Amanda tugged on Jessica’s
sleeve to get her to move. But, Jessica held her ground with a tense jaw.
Amanda’s lip quivered as the church door splintered and burst open.

Jessica squeezed the trigger and her eyes
shut at the same time. “Get down!”

Amanda threw herself down to the ground
behind a row of pews, but the demons were still coming. They were still
charging forward. The bullets weren’t doing anything! “Jessie!” Amanda cried in
panic. Her sister was going to be killed.

All because of her.

Jessica yelped and backed up as the demons
got closer, but as they passed the last stain glass window, a beam of light
passed through the glass and touched their skin. The monsters lit up like
Christmas trees. Demonic groans of pain filled the air, as they fell to the ground
and dissolved into ash right in front of the girls. Amanda couldn’t believe
what she was seeing.

But one of the demons wearing a leather
biker jacket, hadn’t been killed. He had been
singed
,
but he kept coming. Growling, as his fangs dripped with saliva, he reached for
Amanda.

“No!” Jessica screamed and grabbed at his
meaty arm.

He swatted her away like she was a fly,
his claws tearing through the soft skin of her cheek.

Amanda gasped and scampered
backward
on her butt toward the altar. She had
to run and get away, but what about Jessica?

Jessie!

Amanda scrambled toward the back of the
altar when she heard a shot. With a groan, the demon pulled a dart from his
neck and fell to the ground. Her eyes wide with terror, Amanda lay against the
wall as a woman came into view.

A woman with short red hair covered up by
a yellow bandana. She wore a WWI style trench coat and gave Amanda a sideway
grin. “Don’t you look just like your mother,” she whispered.

Of course,
it had been Aunt Gwen. Amanda hadn’t
known it then, but her life would change in ways she couldn’t even imagine.

“Help me drag this
brute
downstairs. We need to get him into the demon trap before he
wakes up.”

Demon trap?

It all
became crystal clear to Amanda why this church. Why Jessica wanted her to go
back after all this time. Jessica had a plan to be free of Lourdes control, her
mark. And for that plan to work….

Amanda
was going to be bait.