Blood Sacrifice (The Blood Sisters Book 3) (15 page)

Duncan’s
face twitched into a roguish grin. “We’ll make them.”

They
drove straight through, with barely a bathroom break. Instead, they ate granola
bars, gassed the car up when they had to, and just kept on going. Night turned
into day and into night again. By the time they reached the church door, Amanda
was stirring for the sixth time and Jessica was forced to inject her with the
last of the sedative. “No,” Amanda muttered, with her eyes closed and rolled
her head against Jessica’s shoulder.

“It’s
working less and less,” Jessica said as she threw the empty bag into the
backseat of the car. Inside she was weak and had been
snared
with sadness so deep, it felt like depression. Her will to
fight had diminished on the long drive. Now Jessica, well, she just felt tired.

“C’mon,”
Duncan wrapped his jacket around Amanda and placed it over her head. Then he
hefted her up, into his arms. It was endearing for Jessica, to watch how much
he cared for her. She wanted to tell him she knew about his sister and
everything he’d lost, but now didn’t seem like the best time.

This
church was more secluded than the others. An adobe church with an iron gate.
The coast was clear as they raced up the stairs. The doors were unlocked, but
no one was around to greet them as Duncan stepped across the threshold.

The
church inside looked similar to the one in Vermont, except the windows weren’t
blown out. Duncan’s jacket kept Amanda safe as they hurried through, past the
church’s windows. Jessica followed Duncan into the basement and they placed
Amanda inside the cage. All around were bibles and candles. Jessica reached for
a candle to light for luck.

“Latch
it,” Jessica said as Duncan did. Maybe she didn’t need to say it, but she felt
better having done so. She breathed a sigh of relief and ran her hands through
her hair. Finally, she could breathe, but maybe just for a minute. Maybe just
for a scant second, she could relax and think about their next move.

Duncan’s
eyes met hers and she melted into them. “Whatever Vain did to you,” Jessica
said, “I’m sorry.”

He
shook his head. “Darling, it was nothing compared to what you were going
through. Later, we can go in detail. Let’s deal with this first.”

Jessica
nodded. Okay, she could do that. She could…

A
rush of footsteps down the stairs caused her to pause and she backed up when
she saw it was a priest she didn’t recognize. It wasn’t Mike, but another
priest who spoke with a thick Spanish accent.

“You
have no right bringing her here.” He pointed at the cage. “You have any idea
what it is she will bring to this place? Look at her!”

Jessica’s
temper rose and her eyebrows arched to match it, but it was Duncan who spoke.
“This is exactly the reason this place was crafted. Built. To save souls. Why
is her soul unworthy?”

The
priest scowled. “You will bring commendation on us all, my friends. You stay
one day, but after that you go. And I will deal with her. Put her in the pit,
right where she belongs.”

“Over
my dead body, and trust me, I know dead. Been dead a few dozen times already.”
Jessica said with a snort and crossing her arms.

Duncan
cast her a look. Well, at least that hadn’t changed and that was something
Jessica was comfortable with. “Give us the church for a few days. I promise
we’ll leave it in the same condition in which we found it,” Duncan said.

The
priest snorted. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” He stormed back up the
steps and Jessica had to agree with him there.

“He
has a point.”

“Yeah,
well,” Duncan slid his hands in his pocket and pulled out a toothpick. “I had
to get rid of him somehow. When she wakes up, she isn’t exactly going to be
complacent.”

“Will
the cage hold her?” Jessica asked.

“For
a little while.”

Gwen’s
voice surprised Jessica and she whipped around to see her aunt and Mike coming
down the stairs. “
Where’re
Hannah and
Ron?”

“Ron
is getting her acquainted at the rectory. We have hope they’ll be able to help
get her settled or give her a place to stay while she tries to contact her
family—if she has any left.” Mike’s eyes cast over to Duncan, but not Jessica.

He
wouldn’t look at her. Why?

Jessica
turned to Duncan and saw a look of worry in his face, but he smiled when he
glanced at her. “Are you guys communicating by secret guy looks, or something?
What’s going on?”

Gwen
sighed. “Jessica—.”

“Where
is it?” Jessica demanded. The air in the room was all wrong. If they had what
they needed to help Amanda, the air should be relaxed. Instead, the room was as
tense as anything Jessica had ever felt. . She felt more at ease facing a horde
of demons than this.

“Where
is the Ruby Heart? You said it was at the Wild Aces Casino. So, did you get
it?” Anxiety reached a pinnacle, like an explosive storm about to hit. Jessica
wanted an answer and that was all. A simple, straight answer. Why were people
incapable of giving her that much?

Gwen
reached into her pocket and pulled out something wrapped in white fabric. Her
hands shook as she uncovered what looked to be a white shard crystal. It was
glowing, but clearly wasn’t shaped like a heart and wasn’t ruby colored at all.

False
advertising or something worse?

“What
is that?” Jessica asked, with a shaking voice. Why was she feeling so upset?
That couldn’t be…

“I
tried.” Gwen pushed her lips together to keep the quiver from overtaking her
mouth. “I tried, baby, but Amanda—.”

“Where’s
the Ruby Heart?” Jessica asked and nearly stomped her foot. She was growing so
angry and that thing Gwen held couldn’t be what they were after. It just
couldn’t, because it was all wrong.

Gone.
Broken. Dreams fading away.

Gwen
stared down at the crystal shard and Mike stood up, placing his hand on Gwen’s
shoulder. “She can’t tell you because this is it, Jessica. Amanda came upon us
fast. We couldn’t save the Ruby Heart. Amanda…she…crushed it.”

Jessica
shook her head. “This can’t be it. You…” She ran a hand through her hair as her
emotions flared. She was spiraling out of control, her eyes falling to the cage
where Amanda slept.

The
Ruby Heart was destroyed.

Amanda
cannot be saved. You cannot take her place.

The
fight is over. It’s gone.

She
lost. After everything Jessica had done, she had finally lost.

Like
listening beneath water, she heard Mike rush on, in explanation. “Amanda
shattered it. She doesn’t want to be saved. She wants…”

“I
know what she wants!” Jessica hollered at them louder than she meant to. She
grabbed at her hair, feeling her heart spiraling into the pit of her stomach.
“You were supposed to grab the Ruby Heart! You were supposed to help us!”

Tears
flowed freely from Gwen’s eyes and her lips puckered. Had Jessica ever seen her
lose it like that, to emotion? Gwen grabbed at Jessica’s hands and squeezed
them. “I failed. Again, I failed, but I tried Jessica—Amanda was too powerful for
me. I couldn’t do anything.”

Gwen
sobbed and Jessica pulled away from her. This was all wrong. Couldn’t be real.
Her aunt wasn’t weak like this. She was strong. A warrior and Amanda—.

No.
No. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. Amanda wouldn’t give up just like that.
Jessica wouldn’t let her. She….

Her
limbs trembled and Jessica felt her legs go weak, but Duncan caught her up
before she fell to the ground. He wrapped his arms tightly around her torso.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered against her ear. “We’ll figure this out. We’ll get
through this.”

Like
how he figured out how to save his sister? Like how she figured out how to save
Amanda from Vaughn and instead sent herself straight to the underworld? Like
how she figured out Aunt Gwen was possessed?

Sometimes
you just lost.
Sometimes
you didn’t just
lose. Sometimes you burned.

“What
do we do?” Jessica asked. She felt like gagging on her own vomit, so how was it
she was still talking? Still thinking and trying to formulate a plan. Didn’t
she know when she had been beaten? Didn’t she know how to stop?

“There’s
still hope. Not much, but I believe there is still power in what is left of the
Ruby Heart,” a chunky, heavy set man ran down the steps, struggling to catch
his breath.

Jessica
sneered at him for interrupting. “Who’s the
chub
?”

Gwen
frowned as she wiped the tears from her face. She cleared her throat and stood
closer to Mike as if being near him was some sort of comfort. “This is
Archibald. Archie, as known by his friends.”

“So,
she can call me Archibald.” He flicked his suspenders. “The great Jessica Blood
doesn’t disappoint, it seems.”

“She’s
not feeling so great>” Jessica finally pulled away from Duncan and his eyes
held concern and many questions for her. She nodded she was all right, as much
as she could be.

“So,
Archie,”
Jessica said catching Duncan shaking his head at her, “why
don’t you explain what you mean?”

Archibald
took a deep breath. “The Ruby Heart has a center. This, I’m gathering is it.
Its power isn’t as strong, but it can be harnessed.”

“Great,”
Jessica said and felt her spirits left.

“Except
I don’t know how. I’ll have to consult my books, except they were destroyed, so
I need to confer with a friend. About three hours from here.”

Three
hours? So much for Jessica’s lifting spirits. “Can’t you call him? We’re
surrounded by phones. We all have them.”

Archibald
and Mike exchanged a glance that didn’t warm Jessica’s spirits. They were
keeping something from her—that much she was sure of. She didn’t like it one
bit. “Will someone please, give me a straight answer about what is going on?”
Her teeth gnashed together.

Mike
glanced at the ground. “It’s best you don’t know. It’ll keep you safe. That’s
all I can tell you, Jessica. But Duncan will speak for my character. I won’t
let Amanda down. My word, you can count on.”

If
that was the best they had to offer, Jessica would accept it. She could, after
all, accept Mike’s word. She couldn’t say why, but she just knew his word was
his bond. “All right.”

She
didn’t want to agree to it, but saw little choice.

“We’ll
take him,” Gwen said. “We’ll take him and we’ll be in touch as soon as we know
anything, Jessica.”

“You
promise this time?” Jessica’s comment bit hard, from the way Gwen’s face fell
and she felt like a heel. “Sorry, just…sorry. I don’t mean anything I’m saying
right now.”

Mike
nodded. “Apologies in this situation aren’t necessary.”

“Speak
for yourself,” Gwen said with a sardonic grin. “We haven’t lost yet, so don’t
go giving up on us. You’re the best chance this girl has. Without you as a
champion, she’d be dead a million times over.”

A
champion. Her?

Jessica
didn’t voice her self-doubt. She just hugged her aunt. She really hugged her.
“Hurry back,” she whispered.

Gwen
smoothed Jessica’s hair back and Jessica harkened back to those early days,
when she was so desperate for Gwen to hug her. In those days, the hugs had
never come. Jessica knew why now, she understood, but back then it just made
her angry. Bitter.

She
gazed at Amanda, sleeping in her cage. Amanda, for better or worse, was the
glue that held the family together. Now they were coming together to save her,
one last time. Without her, Jessica didn’t think the family stood a chance.

When
her Aunt pulled away, Jessica tossed her keys to her.. “Take it. It’s faster
than yours.”

Gwen
caught the keys with ease, but gave them a stare. “I’ll take good care of her.”

Jessica
nodded. “Not a scratch.” She gazed down at her sister and felt the beginning of
a sob coming on, so she knelt by the cage. Through the bars, she touched a soft
tendril of Amanda’s hair and blocked the rest of the cold, harsh world out.

Remember
when it was just us? Remember when it was cold ice cream on hot days and Dad
would chase us down the pier, to the river? Remember how Mom would sing and you
would rock on that old wooden horse in your room?

Hang
onto those good memories, Mandy. Hang on and fight. Come back to us. Please.

“Please,”
Jessica whispered out loud and wiped a tear off her cheek.

Duncan
was squatted down low beside her, his hand on the small of her back. Just his
presence was enough to warm her. Jessica was worried he hated that this was
what he came back to. He needed to heal, didn’t he? Recuperate after everything
Vain put him through so why was he still here?

He
kissed the side of her head as if he didn’t care—as if this was exactly what he
wanted to be doing.

“I
hope she can still hear me,” Jessica said. “I told her to keep fighting. To
remember when it was good. Sometimes when you forget how good things can be,
you want to stop trying.”