Blood Lust (The Blood Sisters Book 1) (6 page)

The
hours ticked by.

Amanda
was
healed,
but depleted of energy. A
simple shoulder injury shouldn’t have
sapped
her so much, but an impromptu exorcism would do that. Listless and unable to
hold up her head, Amanda blinked her eyes and stared out her window as Jessica
drove.

Jessica
hit the gas just a little bit harder and they cruised around the curve of the
mountain. Alone on the open road always made Jessica feel better. Darkness was
her friend, when there were no headlights, there was no danger. Only

 
Amanda needed sleep. A real spot to lie down
and rest, removed from Jessica’s worrying and bad attitude. “
Sorry
I got upset earlier. I didn’t mean to
take my anger out on you.” Jessica’s voice was
quiet
for a change and she had trouble looking at her frail sister.

She
was hardened about a lot of things, people, but couldn’t stand to see her
sister weak, defeated.

Amanda’s
forehead was wet like she had a fever. She shook her head to dismiss the
apology,
but didn’t bother to speak. Or maybe
she couldn’t.

The
family lake was in sight. Jessica gripped the wheel. To be here
again, caused
her to ache. Jessica bit her lip
and tried to keep her grief and regret bottled up where they belonged, but just
the sight of the covered bridge brought memories of laughter. Happiness.

Everything
that was once theirs.

Jessica
slowed the car as she drove across the bridge. The house, the only one along
the lake, was shrouded by evergreen trees. Jessica drove into the trees to keep
the car hidden.

She
placed a few fallen branches on its top. In
daylight
they wouldn’t hide much, but
for now
it
would give them a few hours of safety. Popping the passenger door open, Jessica
nudged Amanda with a finger. “C’mon, princess.”

“I
hate it when you call me that.” Amanda’s words slurred together as she stepped
from the car. Her footing slipped and before she fell completely, Jessica
grabbed her by the waist and headed up the stairs to the wraparound porch.

Jessica
climbed slowly so Amanda could keep up. “One at a time, there you go.” The
steps creaked in all the same places, but the chipped paint was worse than it
had been last time Jessica had laid eyes on the place. The old swing swayed in
the gentle breeze; the place they once sat as kids in bathing suits, sipping
lemonade. The memory glowed, like a lit up Christmas tree.

 
The night was dark and gray. Beneath the
frayed welcome mat, Jessica found the key.

The
door squeaked when pushed open. One of the hinges was loose, but the old cabin
smelled just as Jessica remembered. A flood of memories followed that she
couldn’t control.

Mom
cooking in the kitchen with her red curls tied at the nape of her neck. She
always wore a frilly apron and that day she was covered in flour from making
fresh biscuits.

Dad,
running through the living room with small Amanda on his back. Both in their
bathing suits and Mom’s eyebrows furrowing even as she smiled, when they
galloped by. “No
horseplay
in here, you
two!”

Jessica
had laughed and chased after them, a pair of goggles on the top of her head and
blue flippers on her feet.

“Jessie,
you keep an eye on those two.” Mom’s eyes twinkled.

And
Jessica nodded, still with freckles upon her nose and cheeks. She hadn’t known
then it would be her life’s work.

The
glow of the memory faded, and the dim harshness of
night
returned. Jessica steeled herself to ignore the cabin’s scent
and took Amanda inside. The old, beat up sofa was covered in a blanket.

Laying
her sister down, Jessica wrapped her like a burrito and slid a dusty pillow
under her head. She sure hoped this place wasn’t crawling with spiders. Amanda
hated spiders. The only living thing she actually wanted to kill.

Right
now she couldn’t even do that much.

“I’ll
be right back,” Jessica whispered close to her sister’s ear, but Amanda just
snuggled into her pillow, her eyes long closed.

It
was hard to leave her, but Jessica pulled herself away and headed down the
hallway. There was one bedroom with an old queen bed frozen in time thanks to
the dated bedding. With the coast clear, Jessica checked the bathroom, pulling
the old blue vinyl shower curtain back.

No
demons and no serial killers.

Pleased,
Jessica hurried to the bedroom to the opposite side of the hall. In there was a
daybed covered in princess pink sheets and a bunk bed. Jessica ignored the
growing grief in her heart and went to the dresser.

Framed
pictures of the family were face down, so she wouldn’t be reminded. Although
she didn’t have to see them, Jessica’s eyes were drawn to them, tempted to pick
them up. She pulled her eyes away, and didn’t touch them.

She
couldn’t go back there. Never could.

The
past was best left dead and buried. Remembering how Mom brushed her hair, or
how dad tucked her in at night would do nothing except distract her. Get her
killed.

They
were gone. End of story.

To
sleep in the room they once shared as kids when things were good? No, Jessica
would never sleep here again. She needed distance. Not regret.

Jessica
pulled a drawer open and found a row of shotgun shells and small pistols. This
was real, this was life, and everything else was just paper dolls cut from a
page. Loading her shotgun, Jessica kept her eyes trained on the window.

Moon
was high.
Night
wasn’t over yet which
meant she had to stay ready.

Pocketing
the small pistols in her jacket, Jessica pulled a small drawer open and found
old dried sage. It was brittle, but it’d work well enough to activate the
warding spell.

In
the
kitchen
Jessica found an old bowl and
scattered the dried sage at the bottom. By the stove., sat a little left over
olive oil covered in cobwebs; Jessica poured it in before dropping a lit match
over the entire thing.

Snap-crackle-pop.

A
small fire erupted in the bowl and Jessica took it to all the corners of the
room, fanning the smoke out. She made sure to get all the doors and windows. If
something was out there tracking their scent, this would keep them at bay for a
while. Hopefully long enough for Amanda to regain her strength.

The
job
done
, Jessica peeled off her leather
jacket and left it by the stone fireplace. She was wearing a tight red halter
top that exposed the tattoos traveling down one
muscular
arm
. It rode up
in
the back to just above her ass where her tramp stamp was
visible. That one was white carnation flowers and had the words ‘Track Clan’
etched over the top.

A
big battle. A big victory. It was customary to have your battles inked onto
your skin for bragging rights. Unless you were a passive healer, then it just
messed you all the hell up.

Everything
was quiet. Eerie. Jessica sat by her sister and put a hand on top of the
blanket. Absently Jessica rubbed her toe while gazing out the window. She could
see the tops of the trees shifting gently in the breeze against the glowing
moonlight. Awfully pretty for such a scary night.

But
they would live to see another
day,
or at least
for a few hours. Jessica would take
what she could get.

“Thank
you.”

Jessica
startled
at Amanda’s voice, nearly
jumping off the sofa. So much for being an observant, armed guard. Jessica
deserved a demotion. “What?”

Amanda’s
eyes were lidded. “For coming for me. Getting me out of there. I hadn’t—I
forgot to say thank you.”

She
almost always did, but Jessica didn’t do this for thanks.
Instead,
Jessica just smiled best she could.
“I’ll always come for you.”

“You
always say that.”

“That’s
because it’s always true.” Jessica leaned over to stroke her sister’s hair. It
was way more like Mom’s than her own. Part of Jessica felt like when she was
helping Amanda, she was helping Mom. It made things better. Made Jessica
forget
how bad she screwed it all up when it
had really mattered.

“Get
some sleep. Okay?” Jessica said gently.

“You
too.” Amanda closed her eyes again.

Yeah,
right. Jessica leaned her elbows on her knees and bent far over, holding her
head in her hand. Close to tears, but they didn’t fall. Jessica didn’t have the
strength even as her shoulders quaked back and forth.

Sleep,
rest, peace. Not in this lifetime. Not for her.

Lightning
crashed outside the window illuminating Donna Blood’s face. Her hair cascaded
around her like a rolling ocean wave while a trail of blood from her lips left
a puddle on the living room rug.

“Mommy!”
Ten-year-old Jessica ran over in a flowered
nightgown
.
She choked on her sobs to see so much blood. To see so much of her mom’s blood.

A
growl from the stairs scared her. Her heart pumped with fear as she looked up.
She screamed when Donna grabbed her ankle.

“You
must protect her. Keep Amanda safe.”

Amanda.
Jessica was terrified that whatever noise she heard on the stairs was headed
into their shared bedroom. By her mother’s feet was a knife, a knife covered in
her mother’s blood.

Sobbing
she picked it up. “Mommy!” She screamed because she was scared, but there was
no answer from Donna. Her eyes were frozen open like pearls, staring up at the
ceiling. The beautiful nightgown she always wore drenched red.

Protect
Amanda. She had to get to Amanda!

Just
then the door burst open and a light shined inside the room. Jessica screamed
as someone approached. Sobbing, Jessica backed up. She didn’t know what to do!

“Drop
the knife, sweetheart. Drop the knife!”

Police
were everywhere swarming all around her while upstairs, a sweet voice called
out to her. “Jessie?”

Her
head whipped around to see Amanda, little eight-year-old Amanda clinging to the
railing, her naked toes gripping the carpeted stairs hard. “Don’t look!”
Jessica ordered, her emerald eyes shining
brightly
.
“Don’t look, Mandy!”

“There’s
another body in the study.” One of the officers said and gave a glance at
Jessica. “He has a stab wound too.”

What?
No? Daddy!

Jessica
snorted awake. The red and blue knitted blanket was coarse against her face as
sunlight streamed in through the windows. The remnants of the dream fading in
the daylight, but they were never far. Not far at all. Her eyes snapped open in
a hurry and she rolled over on the wooden floor toward the sofa.

Through
her matted hair, Jessica saw the sofa was empty.

 
She pushed herself
up,
tangled in the blanket, but finally kicking it away with a
frustrated huff. Some demon hunter she was.

“Well,
good morning, sleepy head.”

Pivoting
on her butt Jessica peered into the kitchen nook. Amanda was bustling about
like Mom once did. She had bowls laid out on the serving bar and there was an
old flowered dishtowel thrown over one of her shoulders. Busy as a bee, Amanda’s
hair was kempt and glowed like a
sunrise
in the morning sun.

Not
only was she healed, but her strength appeared to be back. Jessica was relieved
as she balled and tossed the blanket on the sofa. “Why’d you let me sleep?”

Amanda’s
face softened with a smile. “Because you’re human. You need sleep just like the
rest of us. I think Aunty Gwen must have been here recently. I found coffee.
Want some?”

Not
even exhaustion could hide that glorious aroma. With a
nod,
she rose from the floor and sank onto a bar stool and pushed
her tangled mess of hair from her face. “Good thing I like it black.”

Jessica
nodded her thanks as Amanda presented a green mug of steaming coffee. Blowing
on it, Jessica took a sip. Closing her eyes, she let the strong brew slide down
her throat, enjoying every beautiful drop, before asking her next question with
dread. “Have you heard from her?”

Amanda
shook her head as she slid a bowl in front of Jessica. “My phone has no
messages, yours?”

Sliding
her phone from her pocket Jessica quickly checked. Sighing, her eyebrows rose.
She masked her disappointment so Amanda wouldn’t lose hope. “Nope, but maybe
that means she’s just on her way.”

“Maybe.”
Amanda shrugged and popped a bit of dry cereal into her mouth from her own
yellow bowl. “Not really fresh, but not stale either. I’ve always loved Frosted
Flakes.”

“You
and your sugar.” Jessica smirked and gathered up a handful of cereal herself.
She’d rather have eggs and steak in the morning, maybe with a side of hash
browns, but beggars couldn’t be choosers in their crazy world.

“I
know, I know.” Amanda
played
her finger
on the counter. “But it always makes me feel better. I swear the sugar enhances
my gifts or grounds it. I don’t know.” Amanda shrugged and stirred her cereal
with a finger.

“Well…”
Jessica gazed at her bowl and the half a dozen blueberries that sat in the
middle.
Why,
they were perfect and plump;
not dried out and old. Perfect.

Jessica
held one up like it was a disease and her nose scrunched. “Where did you get
these?”

Amanda
immediately stopped chewing. “Umm…well. You were asleep and I—”

Her
older sister leaned forward. “Spit it out, Amanda.”

“I
picked them.” Amanda sighed and sat on her bar stool. “There’s a small bush
outside, by the back door. I remembered it from when we were kids and—”

Jessica’s
heart skipped a beat and she popped the blueberry into her mouth. It was sweet
and juicy, but that was beside the point. “You went outside while I was
asleep.”

“It’s
morning.” Amanda’s voice cracked as she pointed to the door. “Demons aren’t
going to come out in the morning! It’s not like they’re out doing brunch,
Jessica.”

“They’re
not vampires, Amanda.” Jessica’s face reddened and anger
thrust
through her veins. “Now that they’ve
picked up our scent again, you have to be more careful. If they wanted you bad
enough and knew where we were, you’d bet your cozy little peasant dress they’d
be waiting for you.”

Amanda
gazed at the countertop, her hands folded together. “Well, I’m sorry that I sometimes
like to do normal things. Blueberries in the morning with my sister is that so
much to ask?”

Yes.
The answer for today and tomorrow was a big fat definite yes, but Jessica
wished it wasn’t. She wished she could have said no. Christmases and birthdays,
casual brunches in the city, wouldn’t that be nice? Quaint?

Normal.

“What’s
done is done.” Jessica picked up a handful of cereal. “Thanks for the berries
and especially the coffee. You do good work in the kitchen.”

Amanda
grinned and her happy expression lifted Jessica’s spirits. “How long are we
going to stay?”

“You
know we can’t. We can’t stay. We might have been still for too long already.”
Jessica looked away, unable to gaze into Amanda’s crestfallen eyes a moment
longer. “We’ll grab more ammo, weapons. Then we’re gone.”

“But,
it’s nice here. It could be home for a while. A few days.” Amanda chewed on the
inside of her lip and stared down her sister. Her eyes widened and she sighed.
“Don’t you miss it? Having a home? Living in motels, on the road, maybe it was
fun once—”

“
Of course,
I miss it.” Jessica’s stomach
rolled. She hated saying what Amanda forced her to admit. “We haven’t had a
real home since these monsters busted through our door and killed Mom and Dad.
Everything changed after that, Amanda.”

They
couldn’t stay. Couldn’t get comfortable. In this line of work when you got
comfortable, you got dead.

Still
Amanda’s sad eyes were almost too much to bear. “It wasn’t always like this. We
had homes. We had—”

“You
did,” Jessica strained her voice so not to cast blame at her sister. Sure,
Amanda was the good one. She had what Jessica didn’t; foster parents who wanted
to adopt her, while what happened to Jessica? She was locked up, and when she
wasn’t under observation for violent tendencies, her foster parents beat her.

It
might have been horrible, but
at least
she and her sister were still alive. Not everyone in their line of work could
say that.

“I
know you don’t blame me,” Amanda said softly. Her head down, a soft curl
covered her face. “But right now, it sure feels like it.”

Jessica
puckered and stroked Amanda’s hair back, cupping her chin. “Listen, sister and
listen good, okay?” Her own voice was soft and betrayed everything Jessica
was—everything she had to be. “If I could fix things, go back to that night and
do things
different
—”

With
soft eyes, Amanda put her hand on Jessica’s “Don’t even, you were ten. Ten.
It’s not on you.”

“Then
who is it on?” The question echoed through the room and Jessica fought to keep
from quivering.

“The
demons. The bastard demons that took them from us.” Amanda’s lips drew in a
thin line together.

“Wow,
I’m impressed you didn’t flinch, using such harsh language.” Jessica raised an
eyebrow and Amanda burst out laughing. Good, that was what Jessica intended.
The conversation was too serious.

 
“We give Aunt Gwen until sunset. Then we have
to move. Those demons are going to want revenge badly.
Eventually,
they’ll pin us down if we don’t go.” Jessica rose from
her seat. “I’m going to see if there’s running water here. I need a shower.”

“There’s
a hairbrush in the bathroom if you need it.” Amanda busied herself gathering up
the empty bowls and coffee mugs.

“What,
you don’t like my nest?” Jessica ran a hand through her long knotted hair. “I
bet I could hide a weapon in it.”

Amanda
laughed, her nose crinkling up. “Knowing your luck, you’d blow your head right
off!”

Wasn’t
that the truth? “I’ll freshen up and then we can head to town. We need
supplies. Money.”

Amanda’s
face darkened and it stopped Jessica’s footsteps. “We do what we need to
survive, Mandy. And until we can get these guys to stop, pick up a job…”

“I
know.” Amanda’s voice was hushed, almost
sing-song
.
“I made peace with it a long time ago. Demons play by a different set of rules,
right?”

She
said it, but Jessica saw the tear in her eye. Amanda hated the lying and
deceit. Jessica did
too,
but had made
peace with it a long time ago. Besides, it didn’t affect her physically like it
did Amanda.

“Clean
up here. I’ll be right back.” Jessica forced a smile before hurrying away. In
the darkened hallway, Jessica leaned against the wall and scrolled through her
smart phone’s messages.

There
weren’t any. At least, no new ones.

With
a huff, Jessica dialed her aunt and waited with an impatient
stomp
. No answer and it went straight to
voicemail
, Jessica’s vision split. “Aunt Gwen,
where are you? Get here or call me back. I don’t know how long it’s safe to
stay here, so just call me back.”

There
was nothing Jessica could do but wait and that made her the most nervous at
all.

****

Run
a scam, get some supplies.

It
all sounded well and good, except when you didn’t know how long you were going
to be in town, it made things tricky. They were going to have to be careful
because the money from their last legit demon hunting job was nearly bled dry.
If they weren’t being chased, maybe they could get a leg up long enough to get
a legit gig.

Demons
were everywhere, and there was always someone who needed help; —and was willing
to pay for it. The way things were now, taking a job would be suicide. As it
stood, they were driving a stolen car, a sweet one at that, but going into a
small town where the local sheriff knew everyone by name, made Jessica
downright paranoid.

The town
square was
small,
but cozy, just as Jessica remembered.
The lawns were freshly mowed, and had pots of red and gold flowers hanging from
the trellises tresses. The buildings were alternating white and brick. Outside
the small corner grocery store, a woman in a red and white checkered apron
swept the sidewalk. It was the perfect epitome of small town Americana.

Which
made it a great target for fresh demon activity. If there was something a
low-level
demon loved, it was a small town.
Mostly because he could get a foothold, bide his time, and build his gang large
enough that he could take on an urban city master. All the while unsuspecting
humans got high on drugs laced with demon essence, their lives fell apart, and
they were none the wiser while demons gained strength.

Amassed
an army.

Jessica
parked the car down a side street not far from downtown, but distant enough to
give them space. Her red curls were tame again and framed her face. Her skin
was freshly washed and her freckles across her nose visible. There was nothing
she could do about the scar running down her cheek, so people would just need
to deal.

Fishing
a quarter out of her pocket to feed the meter, Jessica watched through the
windshield as an elderly couple walked down the road hand in hand. “You go
first and I’ll wait a few minutes. I’ll meet you back here with the supplies.”