Blood Debt (The Blood Sisters Book 2)
Read Blood Debt (The Blood Sisters Book 2) Online
Authors: Jill Cooper
Contents
Copyright ©
2016, Jill Cooper
All rights reserved. No
part of this book may be reproduced without permission by the author. This is a
work of fiction and any resemblance to a person living or dead is purely
coincidental.
Cover Art:
KPGS Design
Edited by:
Brenda Tippin Deliantoni
Black Scorpion’s Bar
B
lood.
There was so much blood.
Thick and
sopping,
it surrounded Ronald Wax as he
regained consciousness on the bar room floor. Like an oil
slick,
it covered his shirt and leather vest.
Even his bald head was smeared with the thick, wet substance.
But where
had it come from? Was it his?
Ron’s
calloused hands were painted red. It was abundant around his knuckles and
beneath his jagged torn fingernails. He was always a
biter
. Always stressed out about something, maybe it was hunting
the demons and the fighting for the innocence left in the world. Innocence? Ron
wasn’t innocent, but this blood?
He had no
memory of it.
Sitting
up, Ron blinked and took in the sights that surrounded him. It was his friends
who were like brothers. The gang members of the Black Scorpions now lay all
around him with dull and vacant eyes.
Dead.
The bar
was a tomb and the stench from the corpses made him gag. Gutted like fish, blood
poured out of their chests and stomachs, while their eyes were transfixed on
the ceiling, frozen open in horror.
And in
Ron’s left hand was a blade. A sharp dagger dripping with blood.
Had he
done this?
The blade
fell from his hand. Sure enough, Ron recognized the leather hilt where his
initials were carved. His Dad had given it to him years ago, passing on the
legacy from one demon hunter to another. Ron was happy to take up the
torch, but
didn’t think it would lead to this.
Slaughter.
The last
thing he remembered? Why it was Jessica Blood. She was supposed to be lost to
the underworld or some craziness like that. Gwen had told them as much after
being possessed by a demon—Gwen was gone, that’s right, Gwen was gone!
He had
gone to get her food, but she had escaped, and in her place?
Jessica
whispered something in his ear. It seared his soul with pain to remember her
voice, not hers at all, but something twisted. Dark. Like something gnawing on flesh
in the middle of the night. It hadn’t been her—not really.
Ron had
wanted to warn Duncan, but the world faded to black. It twisted in the wind and
his mind had been replaced by…. Something dark, menacing.
A hollow
grave and a twisted cloak, like madness circling from below.
What did
that bitch do to him?
Ron had
seen its face hidden inside the façade of Jessica’s face. A red angry scowl in
the darkness, and as it had grown closer to his mind’s eye, he had seen it was
a woman. A glorious, beautiful woman in a long billowing black dress. The
swirling pattern on her dress held the screaming cries of tormented souls and
upon her head, a set of
green horns,
sprouting
from a tangled mess of hair. Her skin was a rich caramel color and when she
smiled, her eyes shifted to resemble those of a cat.
This was
Lourdes.
And now
her face was burned into his mind…. Burned.
Ron had
to warn Duncan, but what he had done here was horrific. How could he just leave
his brothers in arms lying on the ground? If he could get to his phone, at
least,
that would be something.
Struggling
to his feet, Ron’s legs shook. Pain tore at his chest. Ron grunted and gripped
it, seeing fresh blood flow between his fingers. He had been injured in the
attack after all. It didn’t look life threatening, but it hurt like hell. Ron
started over to the bar and collapsed onto a bar stool, barely catching himself
with splayed fingers.
A gasp of
air from the ground caught his attention. Bart, his oldest and dearest friend,
blinked his eyes. Pale and staring off in a trance, but he was alive. Thank
Christ, Ron thought maybe he should count his lucky stars. Now if he could only
find a phone…
“Hold it
right there!”
“Arms up!
Turn around slow!”
The
police? How had Ron missed their flashlights flashing in through the
windows?
They came at him from all sides. There
was nothing he could do, so he raised his hands. He stumbled, unable to hold
himself steady, but an officer grabbed his arms and forced him down to his
knees.
Ron
needed to say something. He licked his lips.
“We got a
live one here!” An officer bent down beside Bart. “Sir, hang on, an ambulance
is on its way.”
“My God,
have you seen anything like this before?”
Ron
cleared his throat. He wanted to protest how he didn’t do this, or if he did,
he had no memory. No reason. He wanted a lawyer, a phone call; he needed to
speak to Duncan Jasper, that’s what he needed!
But that
wasn’t what he said at all.
“I’m
coming for her. I’m not going to stop. Duncan needs to stop me.”
Ron
blinked his eyes. Why
the hell had
he
said that? That’s not what he meant. That’s not what he wanted to say.
They
pulled Ron up to his feet. “Sir, you better stop talking.”
“Read him
his rights already so we can use whatever he says, will you?”
“You have
the right to remain silent. Anything you say…”
Ron
stared up at the bright lights shining down from the ceiling with tears
streaming down his face. Why had he said that? Why? He wasn’t coming for anyone
that wasn’t a demon. Why couldn’t he say what he really wanted to say!
His mind
flashed back to the moment Jessica had slammed him against the wall. Her eyes
shone a deep red that had matched the red curls flowing down her back. Her lip
snarled in the way it always had, but the way her head snapped back and forth
wasn’t natural. Wasn’t her.
Jessica
had squeezed his throat, a red curl falling in front of her vision. “Listen and
remember….”
Ron had
shaken his head and grabbed at her hands. “Jessica…” His voice wheezed and
gasped for breath.
“I’m
coming for her,” Jessica snarled with a glint in her eye. Was that a tear? “I’m
not going to stop. Duncan needs to stop me. Do you get that, Ron? Can you
remember?”
Ron had
nodded with a quick blink. “I’m coming for her…”
“Yes,”
Jessica smiled with satisfaction and let Ron go.
His legs
hadn’t worked and he had fallen into a heap. Jessica had strolled over to the
door and Ron had wanted to call out to her. Ask her to stay, say he wanted to
help her, but it hadn’t come out the way he wanted.
“I’m
coming for her. I’m not going to stop….”
