Blood Debt (The Blood Sisters Book 2) (11 page)

Maybe
soon, Amanda would fall straight in.

“Don’t.”
Duncan shook his head. “I have no doubt that you’ll come through the other
side. Your soul, it’s always been perfection, darling. So let’s have a go at
putting you back together.”

Maybe
that was true, once. But after the demon drugs? Vaughn wrecked her in ways that
weren’t easy to put back together. “Your words are inspiring. I can see why
Jessica could never really let you go.”

He flashed
a somber smile that couldn’t mask his grief. “Ready to see her again?”

“It won’t
be easy. For either of us.” Amanda felt the conflict rising in him. “You’ll
have to steel yourself too, Duncan. To save her, to get her downstairs, we
might have to hurt her.”

Something
about what she said angered him. It clouded everything else that she had said.
Everything else that he had felt. Duncan jolted with powerful emotion as an
image in his mind flashed in Amanda’s.

He was
young, running toward a playground and beside him was a girl. Cute as a button
with brown hair, done up in pigtails. “You can’t catch me!” Her voice giggled
like a song across the grass, tickling the butterflies with her playfulness.

Duncan
wore ripped jeans and a muddy shirt, but his smile shone through his grimy
appearance. “Meg Jasper, you get back here!”

Amanda
stuttered and her hand slipped away from Duncan. She felt faint and she gawked
up at the look of surprise on Duncan’s face. “Why didn’t you ever tell me you
had a sister?”

His eyes
bulged and he felt like a steel trap locked down tight. He didn’t want to talk
about it. So what did that mean?

Vain.
Blood. Torture. Somehow Amanda felt like they were all connected. Everything
intertwined and it was about to become part of the Bloods’ story. She had no
doubt about that.

“After
this, we can talk about it. Get it all on the table.” Duncan pulled away and
when he turned his back, it was like turning a page in a well-worn book.
“Funny, I always thought that Jessica would be the one to piece it together,”
he turned and
gave
her a mourning glance,
“not you.”

“She’s
dead.” Amanda cringed at how matter-of-fact it came out of her mouth. “I’m
sorry. I shouldn’t have…” her eyes widened as his pain swathed her into a
cocoon, drawing her closer to him. “She’s the one…you found her body in the
warehouse. She’s…. Vain did it? Is that why you—.”

“Might as
well have,” Duncan’s tongue clicked along his mouth. “Vain captures girls for
Vaughn. Lures them with promises of money, luxury. The high life. Meg was one
of Vaughn’s girls. Dancing…”

Sex.
Slavery. Forced into the trade.

Duncan
couldn’t say it. Couldn’t bring himself to, but inside he wept. Inside Amanda
cried, not just for him, but for sweet as a button Meg who loved butter on her
pancakes. Once, she had wanted to go to college.

“I’m
sorry doesn’t seem to cut it,” Amanda whispered.

His voice
was so quiet, somber that she almost couldn’t hear him, but she could feel his
words, emitted all around them. They hung in the air, translucent
gray,
like a passage of morning. “The drugs got
her. Did her in. I got the call from my granddad,” Duncan cleared his throat.
“Granddad said she was lured away. I went to rescue her. Not find her body.”

Amanda’s
eyes widened. “That’s why you left? Duncan, we would have—.”

Duncan
held up his hand. “Put you on the radar of a demon like Vaughn? My sacrifice
now seems like a pile of steaming shit; you know? Everything you’re going to
say, I’ve said it a million times. I planned on hooking up with you guys after
I rescued Meggie, but once she was dead… Revenge was all I could think of.” He
flicked dirt from under his fingernail across the aisle.

His soul
sighed, not with relief, but like flowers had been
laid
across a tombstone.

“Did you?
Did you get your revenge?”

“You’ve
seen Vaughn. What do you think?”

So bitter
and angry, Amanda was sorry she asked. Now this Vain, whatever Duncan had done
to her, hadn’t been enough. She was coming for him. She wanted her revenge, but
Amanda wouldn’t let her. Once Jessica was back on their side, they’d take her
down. Amanda was sure of it.

“I made
some bad, bad choices,” Duncan shook his head, his eyes squeezed tight. The
memories clattered on the door to escape, but somehow he kept them back. Maybe
that’s why Amanda hadn’t felt them until now. “But I never wanted to bring it
down on you.”

“We’ll
stop him. We’ll shut down his girl trade, the drugs. We’ll end it all.” Amanda
took a deep breath. “When I make a promise, I keep it, Duncan.”

His eyes
were dark, but still he messed with her hair. “Just like a Disney Princess.”

Amanda
snorted. A princess? She didn’t really think so.

“You
remind me of her.” Duncan was solemn as he stared at her. “Her kindness, her
sweetness. If I can save you, well I think
Meg’ll
smile, wherever she is.”

It
explained a lot about what he felt. Of why he did the things he did. Amanda was
sorry he had had to go through that alone.

Mike
cleared his throat from up against the altar. “If you guys would finish making your
bucket lists ‘till after we get through the ritual, we’re setup in the
basement. Wait until you see it.” There was a giddy quality to his voice. Mike
cleared his throat and scowled, trying to rein it in.

The look
on Mike’s face made Duncan give a short burst of rapid laughter and he took
Amanda’s hand. “We’ll get you through, sugar cube.”

She
didn’t doubt he’d try.

Time to
face the music.

E
verything
just came tumbling out.

Duncan
hadn’t meant to say everything he had, but when Amanda touched him… He didn’t
know if she put some sort of whammy on him or not, but when he gazed into her
eyes, Duncan felt a pull. Something deep inside her tugged on him. He wanted to
turn his back and just tell her to forget it.

Apparently
he didn’t because his mouth opened and it all rushed to the surface, like a
fish, darting to the top. Whatever was happening to her, Duncan felt better for
having told someone. Hadn’t really told anyone about what happened to Meg and
how he found her. Not since Duncan had called their grandfather.

Apologizing.
Promising to get the son-of-a-bitch—Duncan wished he was the type that always
kept his promises, but hell he had tried. Amanda now, she kept her word. Always
had. Duncan had hope, if they got her through what was about to happen, that
maybe he could finally end Vaughn, once and for all.

There was
a nervous jitter in the way Amanda crept through the church. Duncan wrapped his
jacket around her shoulders so she could duck her cheeks beneath the leather.
It would keep her face safe from the windows. Her green eyes peered up just
over the rim and despite her hair; it was like gazing at Jessica. Amanda
resembled her sister more than Duncan ever noticed before.

He opened
the basement door and they peered down at the stairs together. A burgundy rug
covered the steps, worn in a few places from the years of use. Down there, it
smelt like mildew, the smell of all basements, but it was mixed with some sort
of spice. Maybe a cleansing spell.

“Candles,”
Amanda said simply, reading his mind again, ever so briefly. She stared at his
face. “Is it stupid to be scared?”

“Never.”
Duncan squeezed her hand. Truth was, he was scared too. He didn’t want to see
her suffer, any more than he wanted harm to come to Jessica—Meg. “Follow close
behind and I’ll go first, all right?” He pushed past her on the stairs, holding
her hand behind his back. He took the stairs slow, hearing the steps behind
creak as she stepped down. As he stepped on the bottom level, Duncan rounded
the corner and saw it all.

The walls
were red brick, the type you’d expect to find in an old building, and the dirt
floor was covered by a series of rugs. Intricate scroll designs against a
background of
gray
, the lines were blue,
gold, and red. Up against one side wall was a small cage, big enough for a
crouching animal.

Beneath
the cage was a red seal and Duncan thought it might be the demon trap they were
in search of.

In the
center of the room was a woven red rug and on top of it, a kneeling pad
attached to a short podium. The kind you found in a pew, but this one was
flanked on either side by
freestanding
bowls of holy water. If that’s where they expected Amanda to
go…

To the
right, a giant crucifix hung on the wall and that’s where the nun stood. Her
arms crossed and her puckered expression grim. She didn’t say anything as
Duncan strolled over to Mike. Duncan’s eyes danced across the handcuffs secured
to the bottom of the kneeling pad.

No way.
No way in hell.

Mike held
up a hand and Duncan considered batting it away. “What the hell, Mike—.”

The
priest’s eyes were soft and his tone implied he was handling Duncan, but Duncan
refused to be handled about this. “It’s for her protection. For ours. What
needs to be done here…”

Duncan
didn’t like it, not a bit. He threw a glare at the
nun
as Amanda approached. She regarded the rear wall. A large
structure was covered by a giant purple blanket, but she didn’t seem surprised
by any of it. Her finger
tips
traced the
tip of the kneeling pad. “I’ve been here before.”

The nun
stepped out from the darkness. “Then you know what needs to be done. Your
fractured soul needs healing. This place, of anywhere else on Earth, gives you
the best chance.
Otherwise,
it’s only a
matter of time before what’s left of you is pulled to the underworld.”

Duncan didn’t
like it. Not one bit. He took a shaking breath as Amanda began to kneel. He
snatched her arm and pulled her to the corner of the room.

Her eyes
widened with surprise. “Duncan!”

“We’ll
find another way; you hear me? Another place, another trap.”

“This is
the place that Jessica picked,” Amanda said. “There isn’t another one like
this.”

Duncan
crossed his arms and his brow lowered into a
glower
.
“She didn’t know about you. What was
done?
What this place would do to
you?
I won’t
have you hurt here. Some
arbitrary
building doesn’t get to decide who is good—and who isn’t.”

Amanda’s
fingers swept across the brick. “It isn’t arbitrary. It’s…holy.” She held up
her smoldering fingers. Duncan snatched her hand and tilted it so he could see how
her fingers burned. So what, he was supposed to just sit by and watch her burn?

Meanwhile,
do nothing?

“If this
place hurts you…” Duncan’s voice was
husky
.
Angry. He’d level it to the ground. He would.

“When
it’s done she can heal herself,” Mike said from a great distance. “Duncan, I
know you don’t want to watch her suffer, but if this is going to work, I need
you, man. For everything that’s on the line, can you do it?”

It
shouldn’t have been so easy for Mike to face this. Shouldn’t have, and that
knowledge
made Duncan’s chest burn with anger.
His arms twitched with a
vengeance
.
Duncan tore his eyes between Mike and back at Amanda.

 
Her sweetness was fully on display, from her
wide expression to her slightly parted lips. “I want to be put back together.
Everything inside of
me
feels wrong.
Twisted. A giant knot, I can’t fix myself, Duncan. I need to go back to being
who I was. My power, my mission, you have to help me.”

Her hand
coiled around his wrist and Duncan didn’t know if she was trying to influence
his thoughts, but he yanked his hand away. “If I’m going to make this decision,
I’m making it myself. You hear me?”

Amanda
nodded. “We’re together on this, then?”

“As much
as possible,” Duncan muttered and escorted her back over to the podium. When
Amanda knelt down, the nun moved to secure the restraints, but Duncan swatted
her away. Maybe the nun meant well, but as far as he was concerned, she could
keep her distance. So he was the one who shackled Amanda’s ankles to the
kneeling pad.

He was
the one who leaned forward and restrained her wrists so she couldn’t fight.
Couldn’t escape.

The nun’s
lips pursed together tightly. “I’m not the enemy. Rein in your hostility. It
has no place here.”

Like she
knew so much about him. Duncan knelt behind Amanda and placed his hands on her
shoulders. “You sure you trust me for this?”

Her head
turned slightly, so he could see her profile. “I’ve only ever wished that
Jessie could trust you like I do. That she could feel the quality of your
heart, like I feel it now.” She turned front
again,
her answer complete, but Duncan wasn’t sure he trusted himself. How could
Amanda know he’d do what was necessary?

On the
edge of the podium, a set of keys hung. Duncan glanced at the nun, who didn’t
bother to look at him. “You will know when it is time. Only then, can you free
her.
Otherwise,
her life will be forfeit.
To survive, she must endure the entire ritual. Escape for her is not an option,
do you understand?”

Duncan’s
mouth was dry as sand, but he nodded. He took a deep breath as Mike stepped up
with a bible open in his hand. He made the sign of the cross in the air and
glanced down at the words on the page, but not before his eyes swept across
Amanda’s face.

A slight
hesitation, a flutter in his
eyelid
. Maybe he was afraid, maybe he didn’t
want to move on.

Whatever
was going to happen here had to be bad. Was it too late for Duncan to change
his mind?

Mike
spoke first to Duncan. “Use the holy water and bless her forehead. The sign of
the cross.”

Duncan
sighed as he reached forward. There was a quiver in his hand as he dunked his
finger into the pool of cool liquid. It’d burn her flesh, it’d cause her pain,
but there was no choice. Still, his eyes closed as he dredged his fingertip
across her forehead. Heat rose up against her flesh and in front of him, Duncan
felt Amanda’s body shivering.

Her
breath sucked in, she didn’t say anything, but smoldering smoke wafted from her
head. Duncan was glad he couldn’t see her face, damn glad, but the anger in the
pit of his stomach was awake as he glanced up at Mike.

There was
horror on his face, even if it was masked with peace. Duncan saw the way the
wrinkles around Mike’s eyes twitched. Amanda clasped her hands together, unable
to do anything else, and her shoulders rocked with a sigh.

The nun
hurried and placed the lit candles around the kneeling pad, extending the
circle out to wrap Duncan inside of itself. “Circle of protection for you both.
Don’t break it.” The nun’s voice was stern as a school principal as she paraded
past.

Mike
finished reading from his Bible and flipped a few chapters ahead. He bit his
lip and glowered at the nun. She rushed to the rear of the room and gripped the
edge of the purple curtain. She was ready to yank it free on his word. Dread
built in layers inside of Duncan. He shifted his weight from one knee to the
next.

“Hold
onto her tight, son,” Mike’s voice was laced with something Duncan never heard
from him before. Fear. Terror. Maybe even a little reluctance. “Grip her, hold
her. Don’t let her go. As if your life depended on it.”

“Because
hers does,” the nun said with great urgency.

Duncan
wished she wasn’t here. Wished it were allowed, that this be a private moment,
between friends. A team. Family. That’s what was she was. Duncan was a fool to have
ever turned his back on her.

He
reached up and gripped her shoulders. His posture improved so he’d have a
better handle on her.

“Duncan,”
Amanda whispered, a quake in her voice that swam with fear.

“I’ve
got
you,” he did his best to keep the fear out
of his voice. She didn’t need
any more
worry than she already had. “We’ll get you through to the other side, and then,
I’m going to do my best to get you the best blueberry cobbler this side of the
Mississippi.”

The sound
of tears echoed in her voice. “That might be the best thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Through
the darkest of times, through the lightest of times, you have been always been
our guide.” Mike flipped the page in his book, several post-it notes seemed to
be placed on the key passages he needed, but instead of reading more, he nodded
his head at the nun.

She
gripped the curtain hard and tugged it down. It rippled like a falling bird
toward the floor, revealing a shining brilliant light. On the wall was a
stain-glass blue window depicting a picture of the savior and his angels. This
window was taller than those in the main sanctuary and its brilliant prism of
light was aimed directly at Amanda.

Her head
craned
backward
and her skin sizzled. Her
legs quaked, her arms yanked back involuntarily to get away. Duncan steeled
himself and wrapped his arm
around
her.
He held her arms against her chest, just to keep the kneeling podium from
falling over. He pushed himself against her, drove himself close to support
her.

Mike was
reading out of the book fast, flipping pages, but could he smell what Duncan
could? Her burning flesh? Did he hear her harrowed screams of intense pain,
right against his ear? Duncan gripped her hard as he could and when she tilted
her head back to scream, mouth wide open, he saw the searing flesh and how it
spread across her cheeks toward her ears.

Soon
there’d be nothing left to heal. To save.

“
Damn it
, Mike!” Duncan screamed with tears in
his eyes. One hand held her close while the other searched for the keys on the
podium, but the nun swatted his hand away. When
the
hell had
she gotten so close?

“Don’t
you let her go! This suffering will be for nothing if you just let her out!
Nothing will be fixed, nothing!”

A pulse
rocketed out from Amanda’s core. Her back was arched painfully and her blackened
fingers were outstretched in the air. The pulse traveled the full length of the
room, flapping Mike’s hair and the lapels of his jacket. He held firm, his jaw
tense and his voice curt.

“Then
through the bowels of
hell,
you revealed
yourself, your true nature.”

Amanda
gasped with a shaking scream. “Burning…it’s coming!”