Damnation's Door: A Cursed Book (12 page)

Getting hit by a meat tenderizer would hurt less than this. Blows pounded into me without mercy. My ribs stung as they began to crack. All of my organs were being turned to mush. My face felt like it had been smashed into an anvil. I couldn’t see, couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. It was the worst beating I’d taken since Mateo had beaten me weeks ago.

Though my head was pounding, I could hear voices in the background. They sounded like they were coming through a thin wall, but I knew one of them was Dro. Her scream was angrier than before. I heard Teardrop shouting, and then he was screaming.

At the same time his terrified cry started, I felt the temperature in the cell increase rapidly. The air shriveled and parched my throat. A huge white light filled the corner of my vision. Before I could turn my head and see what was going on, Enrique unlatched his grip on my neck. I collapsed in a painful heap, wincing as my knees and palms slapped the concrete floor.

The smell of burning meat and the sound of agonized screams told me all I needed to know. Enrique was swearing in Spanish and trying to get out of the cell. My head was spinning, but I pulled myself up and looked at the cell across from me.

Dro’s cell was filled with that terrifying, white flame. It burned like a bonfire, and I was barely able to see her outline in the middle of it. There was a blackened heap on the floor in front of her, which had to have been Teardrop. The fire licked the outside of the bars of Dro’s cell, beginning to melt them away. Enrique grabbed my cell door and yanked it open with one hand. He used the other to fumble for his gun.

I brought one knee to my chest and put one hand on my leg, then used it to push myself up. I swayed but got to my feet. My entire body thrummed with pain, yet I kept standing. The whole world was swirling in front of me as I put on foot in front of the other. Enrique almost had his gun. The fire coming off Dro’s silhouette was powerful, but I didn’t know if it would stop a bullet. I wasn’t going to take the chance.

No matter how hard I tried, my legs just wouldn’t move fast enough. The white inferno consumed the hall between the cells. I couldn’t see Dro at all now past the fire. Enrique lifted his gun, aimed it at the center of the blaze, and pulled the trigger.

Everything around me seemed to stop. My feet anchored to the concrete. I couldn’t draw a single breath. The beating of my heart seemed to disappear. I was barely aware of the entire lockup scorching around me, the water building in my eyes, the pulsing, bruising pain in my body. I didn’t hear the shot, but I saw the gun buck in Enrique’s hand. There was no way he could have missed.

The blaze continued to burn, stretching across the cell like a rushing tide. The bars turned red hot and shimmered as they began to melt. Enrique backed up, dropping the gun and panting harshly. The fire coiled around him. He raised his hand and screamed one last time. His clothes turned to ash, flaking off his body. Hair turned to cinder and flesh boiled. It smelled horrible, and nearly made me throw up.

Enrique’s body dropped when his screaming ended. Soon I wasn’t looking at a dead man, but a blackened heap at my feet. I kept my eyes on the fire, still not able to see my sister. The bullet might have hit her, and the fire was now just out of control. If that were the case, then I wouldn’t even try to escape the flames. There would be no point. It would be over quickly, a few moments of searing pain, and that was it. Better than living without Dro at my side.

The light from the fire blinded me, preventing me from finding an escape I coughed, inhaled smoke, and waited.

Then the flames pulled back. They curled over themselves, drawing out of the ruined cell and darkening the world around me. The air smelled and tasted charred and dusty, but I wasn’t going to swallow fire. The fire continued retreating until it was back in Dro’s cell, turning to a smaller shape, one with arms and legs. It drew back into her body, and she buckled forward.

I lurched toward her, mindful of the melted bars and burned corpses on the floor. I shouldn’t have been running in my condition, but I had to know she was all right. That the bullet had missed and she wasn’t going to die. I dropped to my knees at the same time Dro fell. I wrapped my arms around my sister. Her clothes were still intact but her skin was burning. I couldn’t feel any blood sticking to my clothes, so I pushed her back to get a better look at her.

Dro’s face was covered in dust and grime, her hair a tangled mess around her head, shoulders, and back, and there was a red mark on her left cheek. No gunshot wounds. Either the bullet missed her, or the fire had been so hot that it melted the deadly piece of metal.

But she wasn’t bleeding. She was alive. That was all I needed to know.

Relief, pain, or both made me slump. Her dainty arms curled around me so I didn’t land on the floor. I’d pushed myself too hard and too fast yet again. I fought against the exhaustion creeping toward my skull, but it was stronger than I was. The last thing I heard was Dro’s anguished cries that she was going to get me somewhere safe, and that she was sorry...

“Con?”

I jumped out of the memory and looked at my sister. I hadn’t even heard her come up.
Stupid, pay attention. Someone could have leaped out of the alley and stabbed you and you never would have known.

“Con? Are you okay?”

I shook myself mentally and focused on my sister. “Yeah, I’m okay,” I told her.

Dro frowned. “You don’t look okay.”

I raised my hands and gave her a half smile. “Guilty as charged, then.”

As predicted, my sister’s expression never changed. I sighed. “What do you want me to say?”

My sister paused, like she didn’t trust herself to speak. If I didn’t know better, it would be like she didn’t trust me. So I relaxed, and let her speak.

“None of us doubt you, Con. But this is the best option. Nothing we do will be safe, but at least this way we have each other’s backs.”

She was right, though I was too stubborn to admit it. I grunted instead.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dro shaking her head and hiding a tiny smile. She didn’t notice when the gesture wasn’t returned. I wanted to smile, or at least fake it, but I couldn’t. Yeah, Dro was right. No matter how bad things got, we always had each other’s backs. But there had been times when it wasn’t enough...

The sirens woke me up. I lurched off the ground, tossing away the blankets and jackets that had been covering me. I whipped my head back and forth, trying to figure out where I was and if the sirens were meant for me. I was in an alley near a dumpster. This must have been as far as Dro had carried me. It was amazing, considering how small she was. Desperate times, desperate measures, I guess. I didn’t see her, but she wouldn’t be far. I’d check on the cops, and then I would draw her out of wherever she’d stashed herself. She needed someone to talk to about what happened.

I stretched my body out as I stood up. All of my injuries seemed to have been healed. That must have been something Dro did when she got me here. As I felt around my body, I found that I had my lucky jacket, hatchet, and throwing knives again. I curled my hand around the hatchet, comforted by its familiar handle. I pressed my back to the brick wall and carefully edged toward the mouth of the alley.

We were a couple blocks from the police station, which looked like a bomb had gone off at one end. Fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances were parked outside of it. Their red and blue lights flickered wildly, painting the smoke rising off the ruined building. There were news vans cordoned away from the scene, though the reporters were shouting for answers and giving early opinions on what had gone wrong.

I stepped back into the alley. The cops were going to have their hands full for a while, so me and Dro had to take advantage of it to escape. I turned my back on the destruction my sister had caused and started walking back to the pile of blankets and jackets on the dirty alley ground.

I stopped suddenly. Dro had destroyed two buildings with a fire that came from her. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen it and I had always known that she had powers, but I’d never seen anything like what she had done over the last week. What had set it off? How was it out of control at the motel, but in control at the police station? She must have known she’d done it. She must be able to control it. If not...

I shook myself. I couldn’t think too much about it. The more I did, the more hesitant I would be. I couldn’t be afraid of my little sister. She kept me from falling apart, and needed to be protected from the monsters. Maybe when things settled down, we could sit down and have a long talk about what was happening to her. There were proper times and places for that conversation, and this wasn’t one of them.

Especially since I couldn’t find her.

I searched every crack and dark corner of the alley, but she wasn’t in any of them. Not even a trail to let me know where she’d gone. I couldn’t see her on any of the other streets, and all the shops were closed.

Confusion mixed with dread in my chest and left me gasping. Had she been taken while I was asleep? That had to be the answer. She would never leave me. But who had taken her? Cops? Blood Thorns? The monsters?

I had to stop because I was hyperventilating. I staggered back against the wall, sliding down the rough brick. I dropped onto my ass and drew my knees up to my chest. I took deep breaths, as if they would calm me down. As if they would make me forget that my little sister had been kidnapped while I’d been unconscious for who knew how long.

The cops could be shouting questions at her right now. The Blood Thorns could be torturing her. The monsters could be...

A lump grew in my throat. Tears pricked my eyes. I’d never been without Dro. I felt more than alone. I felt lost.

The cold wind brushed through my jacket. I tugged the edges closer to my body, putting my hands under my armpits to keep them warm. I couldn’t think about what might be happening to her, only on how to find her...

The back of my hand brushed against something. Paper, near the knife holsters sewn into my coat. I reached inside and yanked it out. The cops would have arrested me and the monsters probably couldn’t write very well, which left the Blood Thorns. Anger burned away the cold as I unfolded the paper. I don’t know why the Blood Thorns wouldn’t have taken us both, unless they wanted to use Dro as some awful torture to punish me. That seemed like their style.

But when I opened the note, my heart sank even further.

It wasn’t from the cops or the monsters. It wasn’t even from the Blood Thorns.

It was from Dro.

My eyes traced over the words again and again and again, knowing they had to be a mistake. It was there, in her shaky writing from the drying out pen she had found to use. There were tear stains on the paper. She hadn’t wanted to write this. She couldn’t have meant it.

But deep down, I knew better.

I dropped the note, watching it blow away in a wind that felt colder than the last. I didn’t want it. The words were etched into my brain forever.

Connie,

I had to write this while you were asleep because I knew you would argue with me when you woke up, and I’m too tired for that. I’m too tired for all of this. No matter what you do, how hard you try or how hard you fight, you can’t protect me. I nearly got you killed twice this week. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but it will get you killed. And I can’t live with that. You’ll be safer without me. If you keep moving north, the Blood Thorns will lose you. The monsters will never come after you again. Please don’t look for me, Connie. I don’t want you to find me.

I’m sorry for ruining your life. I hope you can forgive me.

Always your sister,

Dro.

Tears flowed down my cheeks, but my determination was fired up like never before. I would promise my sister anything, except for abandoning her.

Good sisters didn’t break each other’s hearts...

“Do you hear that?”