Blood Lust (The Blood Sisters Book 1) (22 page)

“Not
really. Not consider the wound was healing itself.” Duncan paused to let his
words sink in, running his tongue along his teeth. Gwen tilted her head to the side,
but the look of surprise on her face wasn’t genuine. The way her mouth widened,
it didn’t match the look of contempt in her eye.

No,
she knew. All this time she knew and was playing them for fools. Setting
Jessica up, because it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that
Jessica wouldn’t doubt her aunt.
Family
was everything to Jessica. Now even that was ripped from her.

Duncan
was going to get his vengeance, pound for pound, out of her flesh.

“Only
way that can happen, unless you’re Amanda Blood, is if you self-generate from a
wound that isn’t life threatening. And the only way flesh regenerates like
that, sister, is if you’re a demon. So, are you? Are you a demon?” Duncan
stepped
up,
but stopped short before his
feet penetrated the circle lined in salt around Gwen’s chair.

She
glanced down at it for the first time and her eyebrows rose. “Your delusion is
going too far now, Duncan. We have to save the girls. We don’t have time—”

Duncan
shook the vial in his hand and the liquid sloshed. “This is what I think. Now,
let me finish before you explain, but I’ve been piecing it all together.” He
rolled his shoulders and cleared his throat. When he was sure Gwen’s eyes were
on him, he continued.

“You
didn’t go upstairs last night,” he pointed up, “because you knew it was
warded
to sound alarms if demons entered the
bedrooms. So, you didn’t. But what I don’t get is, how you found the house I
took Jessica and
Amanda to
. How’d you
find that house if you were a demon and it was hidden from your sight?”

Duncan
crossed his arms. Gwen’s upper lip curled in a snarl, but it subsided and the
sad glint returned to her eye. She was the vilest and the twitchiest of
creatures. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it before. Couldn’t believe he
let Jessica walk right into her trap.

“Then
I realized, you didn’t. You didn’t find the house. You followed Vaughn’s fallen
angel there. Only after she destroyed the ward, did you ride in and save the
day. Only after Amanda was kidnapped, did you ride in to ‘save’ Jessica. The
ward was destroyed and Amanda was no longer around to tell us what I now know
is the truth.”

Duncan
lowered his voice to an angry
simmer
,
unable to contain it any longer. “You’re a demon.”

Gwen’s
mouth opened, but Duncan snarled at it. “And I’m going to prove it so you can
drop this charade and tell me what I want to know.” He snapped the top off his
bottle and let it fall to the floor.

“Holy
water?” Gwen snorted. “Please, you expect me to believe that you got your hand
on holy water? Out here?”

She
could try to deflect his words away, but the panic in her voice was real.
Duncan liked listening to it, but they had a mission. Couldn’t sit around and
play all day. He thumbed his nose at the basement door. “Father Mike’s out
there. Good
guy,
totes
a M-16.
Have you met him? Because Aunt Gwen
has,” Duncan laughed, “and she loves the guy. At least, she did.”

Her
eyes
ticked
to the right and Duncan
figured if the demon was sharing a mind with its possessed host, then that’s
what it did trying to access information. Gwen must have been successful too
from how her face fell.

“You
wouldn’t.” Gwen’s lip trembled. “Duncan…”

Duncan
splashed some of the water onto his hand and showed it to Gwen. “Just water if
you’re a human being. But if you’re a demon—”

“Please…no…”

But
Duncan did it. He splashed the water right onto Gwen’s face. She screamed
instantly, her head falling back. Welts rose on her face and blood and pus
oozed out. She thrashed her arms, attempting to raise them to her face while
her feet kicked wildly.

Duncan
did it again for emphasis and wherever a splash of water fell, a new wound
rose. “Demon,” he snarled. “Who do you work for? Who had you take Jessica?”

Gwen’s
sobs tapered. Her head rose up and her eyes shone red. Lip snarling, she
gritted her answer. “Fool! Like I will ever tell you. Like I—”

Duncan
charged her and put his knee against her groin and gripped her face. Rage
pounded in his chest as he tilted her head back and opened her mouth. “I swear
to God I will pour ever last bit of this down your muzzle if you refuse to
answer me! Who has Jessica? What the hell did you do?”

Gwen
didn’t move, didn’t attempt to speak, so Duncan lifted the bottle up to her
mouth. He angled it, starting a slow drip and before the second drop touched
her tongue, Gwen thrashed.

Satisfied,
Duncan let her go long enough for her to talk. “Lourdes! I work for Lourdes
herself!”

Damn.
The underworld? No living human had ever been to the underworld and returned.
It wasn’t possible. If Jessica was there—Duncan’s mouth dried at the mere thought
that she might be lost to them.

Might?
Oh God—Was. She would be lost to them and it was this demon’s fault.

Gwen
smiled with satisfaction. “We don’t want Jessica. Lourdes wants Amanda, but
since Vaughn has her…” Gwen shrugged. “Consolation prize.”

“You’re
lying.” Jessica Blood was no one’s consolation prize, no one’s. Not even if
you’re queen of the underworld.

Gwen
laughed. “Gwen knew we’d come for them. She knew and wanted to stop us.” Her
face twisted with disgust as she tilted it to the side. “Imagine,
her
? Stop Lourdes? Her arrogance was
astounding to us.

“That’s
how I managed to get into her in the first place. She was poking her head into
places it didn’t belong. She got into
magic
she couldn’t control. She’s pretty strong, but not strong enough to control it
like I can.” Gwen’s face twisted with a laugh. “I like this body. I think I’m
going to keep it.”

“How
long?” Duncan asked. “When did you possess her?”

Gwen
shrugged. “Five days ago now. It was touch and go, for a while. I wasn’t sure
I’d be able to hold onto her. She’s a fighter. Even now,” she leaned forward in
her chair, “even now she struggles to get free. To send you a message.” Gwen
pouted and stared up at Duncan.

Duncan
lowered himself to her level, the anger simmering to the top, about to blow the
lid right off. “Let her go.” A simple
request,
but the power behind it was mighty as his eyes bore into her.

Gwen’s
face twisted with fear. She sat up straighter and leaned forward as her
eyes—something about her eyes changed. Duncan couldn’t put his finger on it
until her mouth opened. “Duncan? Duncan!”

“Gwen?”
Duncan lowered himself to one knee. With
urgency
he spoke to her. “You need to fight this. Don’t let her have control of you.”

She
shook her head. “I can’t…she’s strong. One of the ancients from centuries long
past. I was a fool—” Her eyes widened. “She’s…got me, Duncan.”

He
wanted to touch her. He needed to comfort her, but Duncan’s hand twitched. He
knew he couldn’t. It could be a trap. “If you love the girls, you’ll fight.
They need you now, Gwen. Maybe now more than ever.”

“I
know,” her voice trembled and her eyes closed. “I will only hurt them. Destroy
them.” Tears spilled down her cheeks. “Kill me, Duncan. It’s the only way. Kill
me so I can be free of this beast. And then you go get my girls.”

Duncan
gripped the knife in his hand. Torn between the blade and his devotion to the
sisters Blood. God, he just didn’t know what to do. At war with himself, with
his decision, Duncan rose to his feet., Jessica might never forgive him if he
plunged that blade into Gwen’s chest.

But
he rose. He pulled his arm back, ready to strike.

Ready
to kill.

“Duncan!”
The booming voice of a preacher came behind him. “Lower that knife. You cannot
give her what she wants.”

Footsteps
rushed toward him, but Duncan only saw the twisted smile on Gwen’s face as she
crossed her legs. Her foot bounced like she had all the time in the world. Like
she was at a party and Duncan was nothing more than, what, a game?

A
joke. Maybe he had never spoken to Gwen at all. Maybe it had just been an act.
Duncan wasn’t sure, but he felt like there had been real humanity in those
eyes. Demons. You couldn’t trust the lot of them even when they tried to kill
you.

Corruption
of soul, mind, and spirit. That was their real game. That was the real danger
and to
them,
it was all a game.

And
now this one had Gwen.

She
pouted and tossed her head to the side. “We were just about to have us some
fun,” she slurred her words in a sultry way as Father Mike stepped up to
Duncan. “Oh, she knows you. Gwen
likes
you.”
The chains of her handcuffs jingled together as she tried to lean forward in
her chair. “Let me go, so we can have some real fun.”

Gwen
ran her tongue along her lips. Duncan was revolted. He glanced over at Mike,
the priest had been at war with demons for most of his life, but he still wore
the white collar. Now his hair was salted with gray, his face weathered, and a
few wrinkles
surrounded
his eyes. He
stared down Gwen and Duncan couldn’t read him. Couldn’t see how hard it was on
his face, but Duncan knew it was.

It
was hard for Duncan. It had to be crushing Mike, after everything that might
have been with Gwen.

Mike
laid hands on Duncan’s shoulder. “The demon wants free of the circle. She’ll
give Gwen up to do it and then take one of us.”

“Always
giving away our secrets, the likes of you.” Gwen hissed like a snake. “But one
day, you’ll meet us. You’ll come to the underworld, Father. Then I’ll show you
real pain.”

“I’ve
had my share.” Mike made the sign of the cross in the air. “But none
like
you’re about to know.”

Gwen
writhed in pain, turning her head to the side with a hiss.

“In
His light, you cannot see. In his light, you are nothing.” Mike kissed his
rosary beads and placed them at Gwen’s feet inside the circle. “We must speak
outside, where her ears cannot reach.”

Gwen
groaned like she was physically wounded. “Take it away! Take it away!”

Duncan
tore his eyes away from Gwen and followed Mike to the door. Mike’s thick combat
boots echoed as if they walked in a chamber as he threw the door open. He
didn’t glance back at
Duncan
as he wiped
his mouth.

The
hallway was narrow, with dark walls covered in frayed Harley posters and a few
pinup models. A wooden slat table took up space on one side, topped with a
bronze lamp. The shade had been lost some time ago and now its light was cast
brashly on a collection of weapons. Mike picked up the semi-automatic rifle,
and slung its strap over his shoulder.

A favor
done, was he ready to move
on already? Duncan had hoped Mike would stay and see them through the coming
storm.

Duncan
crossed his arms, unable to get a read on him. Mike’s face was set like stone
and if he felt anything at all for Gwen’s condition, it didn’t show. “Well?”

“It’s
got her hard,” Mike’s eyes gazed past, Duncan, to stare at the door where Gwen
was. “Twisting her like a tree root. The longer it is inside of her, the larger
the roots become. Harder it will be to get it out.”

“Can
you do it? Can you exorcise her while we do this thing to get Amanda back?”

“With
time. Days. Weeks,” Mike wiped his mouth clean of spit and gazed back at
Duncan. “It might kill her. Might kill me too, kid. That beast in her isn’t a
lower demon. It’s strong. I fear it might be one from Lourdes’s inner circle.
Her best bet—” His voice trailed off with grief lingering around his words.

“Amanda,”
Duncan whispered.

Mike
gave a slow nod. “It’s her only hope. It’s our only hope, Duncan. But if Amanda
is damaged by Vaughn…you need to get her out and it needs to be now or we might
never get her back the way we remember her.” He gripped Duncan’s arm.

And
without Amanda, the world might as well stop turning, that’s how Duncan felt.
Without the good that she possessed…The thought of Amanda being harmed by Vaughn
made Duncan feel physically sick. He tried to center himself, forget how much
he cared about her. Mission, Duncan had to work the mission. He couldn’t let
his feelings get in the way of rescuing her.

Mike’s
voice was soft and compassionate. “Make the call. Setup the exchange for
Amanda’s life with Vaughn. And then maybe we can all make it another day.”

Another
day. Another week. Was that all there was hope for?

Duncan
would take it one thing at a time. First rescue Amanda, then
worry
about Lourdes. Then worry about Jessica,
but to know where Jessica was and not act—

“She’d
kill you if you went after her before you save Amanda.” Mike gave a sly grin as
he headed toward the main level stairs. It had been years since Father Mike had
seen the Blood sisters, but Duncan knew just what an impression Jessica could
make on someone. She made a damn impression.