Blood Lust (The Blood Sisters Book 1) (15 page)

“Jessica,
duck!” Duncan warned, but it was
muddled
and underwater. She could barely hear.

Duncan
might have been screaming for her, but Jessica had only one thought as she
catapulted herself up the stairs, barely avoiding gunfire.

Amanda.

The
bedroom door was shut.

“Amanda,
get down!” Jessica screamed, cupped her mouth and hoped it would amplify the
sound. She tore down the hall as fast as she could, the sound of gunfire from
downstairs drowned out all else. A new sound emerged, what was that?

Shotgun?
Automatic?

God,
Jessica hoped it was Duncan doing the shooting. They were in the middle of a
conversation that she really wanted to finish.

Jessica
tore the door open and slipped inside, slammed it shut and looked around the
bedroom. By the window Amanda was hunched over, her skin a pasty white. Her
breathing was labored and it lit a fire under Jessica.

“Hang
in there. I’m getting you out of here!” Jessica flung the wardrobe open and
grabbed her shotgun, stuffing spare shells into her pockets quickly. Almost too
quickly, as several rolled along the floor.

There
was an army out there. Duncan might already be dead. Jessica had to keep her
head straight, but it was swirling out of control.

Amanda
moaned and crashed down to her knees. “It’s bad Jess. It’s never been this
bad.” Her eyebrows furrowed together and her sweat gleamed in the moonlight.
“There’s something with them…something…” Her mouth was open frozen in
horror—maybe even pain.

Jessica
was besieged with worry. How much more could Amanda take? How much more could
either of them endure? But she couldn’t think of that then, all she could think
about was getting Amanda out. She strolled across the room in wide steps, but a
shadow darkened the window. Jessica wasn’t going to reach her in time.

She
was already too late.

That
sickening realization rose, vomit in her mouth.

“Stay
low!” Jessica screamed as the window shattered. She whipped her head to the
side as glass shards flew at them and they were pelted by a violent, cold rain.

Jessica
held her ground and took aim at the winged beast fluttering in the night sky.
With the rain and wind, there was only an outline of torn black wings. The
creature had the face of an old woman, with white eyes. It howled, its long
stringy hair flattened with rain. Her long
tendril-like
claws reached out toward Amanda.

Over
Jessica’s
dead body was this creature
from hell going to get her sister. Jessica aimed, cocked the safety and fired a
shotgun burst into the beast.

It
tore square through the thing’s shoulder. Blood sprayed out as a blue
electrical light shot out from around its frame. It growled, throwing its mouth
and white eyes wide open.

“Crawl,
Amanda!” Jessica hissed and readied another shot. “Move toward me!”

Amanda
panted, moving fast along the hardwood, but the beast had other plans. Its
tendril light claws shot out and grabbed Amanda by the waist. Amanda was
jostled as if she had been grabbed hold of by a bungee cord, and snapped back
into the air.

No.
Just no. Amanda, couldn’t be lost. She just couldn’t.

Jessica
reached for her sister’s hand and just as their fingers touched, the beast took
off. Amanda jerked backward, drawn out of the room by the winged creature, her
eyes wide. Jessica connected with them in slow motion. She saw the pain,
fear,
and despair, as her sister was pulled out
the window, like a child yanked to safety.

Amanda
was gone. Lost to the enemy.

“No!”
Jessica’s scream opened her mouth wide and she lunged forward with pain trapped
inside her chest. Angry, hot tears stung her eyes and the pain lodged in her
chest, tightened her ribs from the pressure.

Her
heart pounded with no rhythm and Jessica’s vision darkened. Her pulse was out
of
control,
as if she might have a heart
attack. Jessica’s knees buckled.

She
couldn’t…Jessica couldn’t lose Amanda.

Jessica
gripped what was left of the window frame and jumped up. Aiming as the creature
flew off toward the moon, Jessica didn’t take the shot. What if she missed and
hit Amanda by mistake? What if she didn’t miss and her sister plunged to her
death?

Think,
think. Jessica needed to think. She needed to find another way. There had to be
another way…That beast had her sister and needed to be tracked, shot.

Killed.

Behind
her
the door rattled. Jessica’s heart
skipped a beat as she tore her eyes away. If they made it this far, Duncan must
have been overrun. Maybe that meant…

She
should’ve left well enough alone, avoided him and his advances. Now, her heart
and mind were both jumbled, confused.

Jessica
bit her lip to keep from crying, splayed her arms and started a slow descent
out window, and down the side of the building. Taking it a step at a time, she
squatted and slid down to her butt. As the roof angled to a steeple, Jessica
turned and grabbed a corner to slow her fall.

She
dangled and kicked her legs toward the house to perch. When she stopped swaying
like a pendulum, she released herself onto a patch of grass.

From
the wisps of the overgrowth, she was hidden and watched as demons paraded out
of what was to be their safe house. A master demon was in the pack, with a
flowing cape and a skull for a mask. Wasn’t that macabre?

He
stood taller than all the others, with broad shoulders and pecs that would’ve
made Vin Diesel envious. Behind
him,
the
horde of henchmen demons
swarmed,
like
they couldn’t get enough of him. Jessica had seen enough demons
to know
a high level individual when she saw
one. This one wasn’t from around here, or any Midwestern small town for that
matter.

As
he strolled around, his posture reckoned to that of a King and the other demons
shuddered backward as he passed. If he took Amanda, Jessica had to get closer.

She
wasn’t looking forward to it.

“
Finally,
we have her.” The demons cheered at
this news. “But where is the other? Where is Jessica Blood?”

Jessica’s
back tingled with the way he said her name. As if they were intimate buddies,
like they knew each other. She needed to get out of here and track her sister.
Out of the corner of her
eye,
she spotted
a row of motorcycles parked nearby. She could sprint to them and be on her way
before the demons knew what hit them.

Itching
to make her move, Jessica crouched, glancing at the bikes. Just when she was
about to make a break for it, a demon emerged from the house and threw Duncan
onto the ground.

Was he
alive? Jessica’s heart
sped up so fast, she was sure that the demons would hear it.

Duncan
moaned and rolled onto his back. His hands were raised defensively and she
could see that his splayed fingers were missing their fingernails and Jessica’s
heart raced.
Did they torture
him? Had
they tortured him for information on her and Amanda?

Jessica
swallowed back the regret that just knowing her was enough to get someone hurt,
but he seemed okay. He was still kicking despite the gash on his head. Jessica
just needed to get to him, save him.

Then
they could save her sister. End of story. That’s how it always went, right?

Vaughn
kicked Duncan in the stomach with his steel-toe boot. Jessica cringed when
Duncan called out in agony. Vaughn bent at the waist and growled. “You were with
her. Where’d she go?”

Duncan’s
head rolled to the side and he struggled to push himself up. “She left,” Duncan
laughed. “She left us here for dead the moment you showed. So if you want her,
go and find her.”

Noble.
Stupid and noble. It was hard to watch, so hard. Jessica looked away and just
wished Duncan would give her up. She couldn’t listen to him suffer.

Vaughn
gritted his teeth. “Do you think I’m stupid? She’d never leave her sister
behind.”

“When
she’s angry, she’d do anything.” Duncan cast a glance away from Vaughn and into
the shadows. Jessica thought maybe he knew she was there. Maybe he could feel
her just like she could feel him.

Vaughn
followed Duncan’s gaze. “She’s close by. Her scent lingers through the ash of
this once mighty place.” He snapped his fingers. “Kill him, but do it slowly.”

Duncan
struggled as two henchmen grabbed him by the arms. His shirt was torn and
another bloody wound showed on his stomach.
Oh,
Duncan
… Jessica gripped her shotgun tighter without meaning to.

Another
demon placed a sharp blade against Duncan’s neck and pulled his hair back.
Vaughn circled away from the horde of demons to get away from the spray of
blood that was sure to follow.

They
were really going to kill him right in front of her.

Jessica
couldn’t watch anyone die like that, least of all Duncan. It didn’t matter what
happened in the past. After the
moment
they had that night? Jessica had to save him, even if it meant dooming herself.
She readied her shotgun and took a deep breath.

Her
eyes closed. Jessica centered herself.

Standing
from her hiding place, she marched four steps, took aim at the demon with the
knife, and fired. The demon’s head was thrown back as the slug entered through
his forehead, spraying blood out the front—splattering Duncan—and out the back
toward the house.

Duncan
fell to his knees, hands behind his back searching for the knife. “Run, Jess!
Get out of here!”

Run?
Leave him? Sorry, but that just wasn’t her style.

Jessica
didn’t wait to cock the gun, a shell fell to the ground and she took aim again,
this time at Vaughn. She took another step, her jaw tight together as she
glowered at the possessed human.

Tall,
muscular, fit.

He
had no right to inhabit that body. No right at all. Now Jessica was going to
end that human’s torture by ending its possession. Her way might be a little
different than Amanda’s, but it got the job done.

Vaughn
held up his hands. The demon horde of henchmen tensed, ready to strike at her.
Ready for him to give the word. “You’re only alive because I decree it.” When
he spoke he bared his teeth at her. One angry eye was glowing red behind the
mask while the other one was a radiant blue.

“You’re
the one who took my sister? Who sent that
harpy
after her?”

Vaughn’s
laughter seemed to emanate deep within his throat. He cupped his hands in the
air, drawing attention to his black pointed fingernails. “That
harpy
, as you call her, is mine. And she’s on a
short leash.”

“Then
I’ll kill you and find them both.” Jessica readied her gun to take the shot.

Vaughn
lowered his arms to his side. “I’ve been waiting a long time to find you. Meet
you in person, and you don’t disappoint, even for a Blood.”

Even
for a Blood? What the hell did that even mean? Maybe her aunt had a run-in with
him before. Whatever, Jessica didn’t care. She was about to take her shot when
Vaughn made a cutting gesture with his hands and the demon henchmen made their
move.

They
lunged for her like rabid dogs. Jessica backed up and fired a shot into one
demon before readying herself for the next. They swarmed at her and there was
no way she could see to win. There were too many.

Jessica
needed higher ground to clear the field, but she allowed herself a moment to
gaze over at Duncan. Face down in the dirt, he worked to cut his restraints,
but he wasn’t clear yet. She had to keep the demons off of him as well as the
ones charging towards her. To win this fight she needed
higher
ground, but there was none.

None
she could get to.

Jessica
was going to fall one way or another, might as well take a few of them with
her. She fired her shotgun into the side of a demon’s head, spun it deftly,
ejected the spent shell and loosed another slug into the next monster. Several
fell back in fear, but still, the circle tightened around her like a noose.

They
were coming. They weren’t going to stop.

Duncan
was on his feet and had the blade in his hand. Time to make their escape.

Jessica
dove for the motorcycles, but a demon snarled her hair with his claws and
yanked her into his arms. Jessica kicked her legs and pounded her fists in all
directions until she was restrained by henchmen. She huffed out breath of air
and took a left hook across the jaw.

Her
teeth snapped together and the pain traveled up her skull.

She was thrown into the dirt beside
Duncan. He was on his knees and a demon had a hand on the back of his neck,
keeping him in position.