Blood Sacrifice (The Blood Sisters Book 3) (16 page)

Duncan
covered her hand with his. “Is that what it was like for you? In the
underworld?”

Jessica
didn’t mean to get into that now, but she felt the need to unburden. Her
eyebrows arched. “Worse. The only way to get out was to give up. I never thought
I’d have you again. Or her. And now…” Jessica’s voice trailed off because there
was nothing she could say. Nothing that would make any of it better.

Her
grief ran deep and Duncan seemed to understand. “I gotta say, I didn’t expect
our reunion to go like this Jess.”

Wasn’t
that the understatement of the year? Still, Jessica felt guilty, but her life
was what it was. How could she apologize for that? Duncan was the one who
seemed to want to be part of it and he could walk away whenever he wanted. That
either made him a saint, or crazy.

“But
to be here and help you through this? Help her through this?” Duncan shook his
head as his eyes fell to the cage. “It’s all I can ask for.”

“Thank
you,” Jessica whispered and took his hand. “You don’t know how good it feels to
hear you say that. To be accepted for who I am? I never expected anyone to want
to share my life.”

“Your
life is my life, Jess. We have to start thinking as a unit or we might never
get out of this.” He kissed her hand and his lips lingering against her skin.

Shivers
like a wave raced up her arm. For a brief moment, she thought of Amanda. What
if Amanda never knew love like this? Someone who cared for her, who wasn’t her
own sister? Jessica’s heart would break if . She snuggled against Duncan’s shoulder
and closed her eyes.

It
was calming. Comforting, and it stilled her heart. Until he bent over in a
hurry and tilted her head up toward his. First a soft kiss welcomed her in and
Jessica’s heart soared. She had forgotten how fast her heart could beat. The
warm solace of being with him, his hot breath against her skin, it made
everything perfect for that single second when Jessica forgot who she was—what
she was doing. She was just with him.

And
it was perfect.

Until
the door burst open and the moment was torn away by harsh reality.

Ron
stood in the doorway, his hand resting on the hilt of his gun. “We have
trouble, and it ain’t the good kind.”

Typical.

The
kiss broken off, Jessica glowered at Ron. “What now?” She grabbed her shotgun
from the corner of the room and they followed Ron out into the church
sanctuary. Ron nodded his head toward the front doors and Jessica saw brilliant
golden wings filling the threshold.

She
raised her weapon defensively, but Duncan rested his hand on the barrel with a
shake of his head. “It won’t work with them.”

Them?

Jessica
didn’t lower her gun right away. Not until someone broke away from the pack.
The woman with the glowing wings was beautiful. She wore an elegant white robe,
her hair shimmered red behind her and her cheeks shone as though covered in
glitter. With a slight smile she extended a dainty and elegant hand to Jessica.

“We
are not your enemy, Jessica Blood, and you cannot stand in our way.”

More
women stepped out from the golden light hanging around the door. They started
to circle and close in on them and Jessica feared the worst. She snarled her
lips. “Who the hell are you?”

The
woman smiled with a bow of her head. “We are the host of heaven and we have
come for Amanda Blood.”

“Over
my dead body,” Jessica raised her gun.

“Jess—.”
Duncan warned as she took aim. Heaven’s angels stared her down, but no one
moved. Jessica had no ideas of how to get away from the flock or how to drive
them from the church. Subduing her might be easy for an angel, and truth was,
Jessica didn’t really want to find out. But the moment she started pulling the
trigger and tried to kill agents of good like these, well the battle was over.

Jessica
would really be lost and she didn’t want that
any
more
than she wanted to lose Amanda to the underworld.

“We
can save her. We can rid her of this curse. We just need more time.” Jessica’s
voice pleaded.

An
angel stepped from the crowd. She was unconcerned as she placed her hand on the
barrel of Jessica’s gun. “That is not the real problem, Jessica. The real
problem is the underworld is without its queen and that cannot be allowed to
continue. The high court of Hell is spilling into the underworld. They are slithering
up through the Earth and that is something that must be stopped.”

Jessica
stood her ground, even as her head spun and her heart was rocked by the angel’s
words. “So Lourdes was free and ready to destroy the world. Amanda
slays
Lourdes and this is the thanks she gets?
No wonder no one wants to work for you guys.”

The
angel’s face didn’t even flicker. Was there nothing Jessica could say or do to
get through to them?

“As
evil as Lourdes was, she played her part, as we all do. We regret Amanda’s been
made to suffer after everything she’s done, but it’s the way of things.”

“I
bet.” Jessica glared at her. “So where were you guys when we needed you? When
our parents were killed and we needed saving? Where was our divine
intervention?”

The
angels glanced down at the ground. So, what, they could feel shame? Regret?
Well, good. Good, that’s exactly what Jessica wanted them to feel.

“You
cannot stand in our way, Jessica. If you do, no matter what good you’ve done in
the past, heaven
will
smite you. We are sorry. We don’t want it to come
to this, but continue down the path you’re on, and it’ll bring destruction to
the world you’ve fought so hard to save. Amanda
must
take her place in
the underworld.”

The
angel seemed honest enough, but Jessica couldn’t just let them take Amanda. She
just couldn’t. “So you’re here to convince me to step aside? To give up?”

The
angel smiled. “You’ll never give up. It’s not in your nature. In the stars it’s
written and there it shines, Jessica Blood will stop at nothing to save the
ones she loves. Commendable, except in this instance,”

The
legion of angels surrounding them drew their swords.

“Obstruction
will lead to your death. Now put your weapon down or we will impale you, no
matter how our hearts break for you. You stand against heaven; you die against
heaven. Mercy will not be yours in the underworld. Regrettably, it is the way
of things, child.”

Jessica
glanced over at Duncan. She didn’t know what to do and from the scowl on
Duncan’s face said he didn’t either. Her nose flared as Ron gripped the barrel
of her gun and tore it from her hand.

“Ron,”
Jessica gritted her teeth. What was he doing? What the hell, slimy butterball
bastard—

“You’re
going to get us all killed, you know that. And for what?” Ron handed the
shotgun over to the angel in charge.

“Thank
you, Ronald Wax,” The angel said with a nod of her head. “Your help was greatly
appreciated.”

“You
son-of-a-bitch,” Duncan whispered. “Damn it, Ron.”

Jessica
thought to kill Ron in that moment. Had he been working with the angels from
the moment he arrived in Vegas to help them? Had any of what he said been the
truth?

Ron
shrugged like he couldn’t decide between chicken and beef. As if it was
nothing, and now Jessica might lose her sister—because of this guy? Because of
the guilt Jessica carried, for what she did to Ron?

“What
would you have me do? They can help me more than you can. More than her.” Ron
pointed at Jessica. “They showed me what would happen here if I didn’t help.
You’d all be dead and the human race, it’d be worse for wear. We can’t heal
Amanda. Even if we could, we shouldn’t. If not for Amanda, who else can take
the place in the underworld, huh?”

The
angels sheathed their swords. “For your loss, Jessica. We are sorry.” They
started their retreat from the church.

“Go
to hell!” Jessica screamed and the angels paused. Did that insult hurt too
much? Good, Jessica wanted to hurt them as she hurt, but she didn’t think it
was possible. They spoke of crying in heaven, but Jessica couldn’t believe they
knew what it was like. To lose a mother? A father?

A
sister?

“If
we meet again, your lives will not so easily be spared. Let this be a warning.
Your one and final warning. If you stand against us again, you enter a battle
you cannot win.”

Jessica
watched them leave and with a giant boom, they took flight through the night’s
sky. Just like that? They left just like that? But they didn’t even go into the
back. They hadn’t got Amanda.

Oh,
no….

Heart
slew in her throat, Jessica ran for the basement so fast, she tripped and
tumbled down the stairs. She landed at the foot of the cage. Please let it not
be true, but her mind was spinning. The angels had been a distraction. They had
been buying time. No—it was true.

Empty.

The
cage was empty. Her sister was gone.

Awake
our queen, Awake.

Amanda
moaned and rolled her head to the side. Conk-conk. Her temple collided with the
side of steel bar. A cage. Gripping the bars, Amanda slowly looked around the
room. A church. A different church, but the prison she was in vibrated with a
familiar energy—just like the one Jessica had been placed in a few days ago.

 So
this was her sister’s big plan was? Use the church, as it had been used to heal
Jessica?

Had
a nice synergy to it, but it wouldn’t work. These bars would never hold her.

Amanda
gripped them in her hands and shook the cage from side to side. Snarling,
Amanda used her power to melt the bars, but it stayed locked. It wasn’t ready
to open yet.

In
her mind’s inner eye, Amanda saw demons circling. They were flocking to the
church to get to her. Demons, they wanted to be near her now. Almost laughable
if you considered they wanted her dead all her life. Yes, Amanda might laugh,
if she didn’t just want to cry.

But
she didn’t want any more death. Her friends were good people, loyal to a fault.
Amanda didn’t want them to suffer just because they thought she could be saved.
Just because they had hope when she had none. But Amanda could do so much more
than just save herself. She could save everyone.

Everyone.

Amanda’s
hand sparked and the cage door clicked. Unlocked, she pushed the door open and
crawled out. On the outside, the surge of Lourdes’s power cranked back to full
tilt. Amanda struggled with a deep breath feeling that surge of electricity
racing through her veins. She crawled along the floor, sitting on the carpet
and stared up at the bright window that once helped piece her soul back
together.

She
wondered…wondered.

Amanda
placed her black vein stricken arm in the light of the window. Her hand
tightened into a fist as smoke rose up on her skin. Groaning, she sucked her
breath in and called out in pain. Could she be fixed…could she…?

Could
it really be that easy?

The
veins retreated, but then like a sprint runner they charged on, tightening
across her arm. Amanda yanked it from the light and cradled it with her free
hand. She sobbed, to think she was so foolish, and a prayer left her heart.

Am
I still good? Do I have your favor at all anymore? God, please….

But
those thoughts were pushed from her mind even as she begged for forgiveness.
Even as she begged on bended knee to be accepted. Demons entered her thoughts
and they were growling, drooling, mindless animals.

Stay
where you are, for now. Hold your ground. When Jessica comes, if she comes, you
slow her down, but you don’t kill her. You won’t harm another human again; do
you understand your queen?

Their
movement stopped. They didn’t argue and they didn’t continue their march.
Instead they bowed their heads and they just waited. Amanda too, was ready to
make her escape. Ready to take her final into the underworld, but first a
message. First a final good-bye.

Amanda
pressed her finger into the carpet around the cage. The carpet burned with
cursive writing. Bitterly, Amanda bit her lip and turned away from the message
meant for her sister.

I’ve
gone home. Goodbye, sister.

She
escaped out the back door, and in the alley Miriam waited. Her hands were
folded patiently, but as Amanda approached, her wings spread. Her eyes cast
quickly across Amanda’s face, as if to stare upon her was too painful. “Humans
on death row are allowed a last meal. A final wish. Before you are sealed away
for an eternity, is there anything you’d like to see one last time? A special
place?”

Amanda
thought about it and she realized the message she wrote for Jessica was what
she wanted to do more than anything. Her lip quivered. “I want to go home.”
Tears rose so deep in her chest that Amanda could barely speak. “Since I was
eight, I haven’t been home. I want to see it, one more time. Please.”

She
could barely remember what it looked like. How it smelled.

Miriam
nodded. “I can think of no greater final wish. Come.” She offered Amanda her
hand.

Behind
her, a voice shrieked. “Amanda!”

Amanda
took Miriam’s hand and gazed at Jessica’s frantic face. Forever she’d remember
the worry lines pressed around her eyes and how her mouth parted when she was
most scared. “Goodbye,” Amanda said to her and ignored the shining tears in her
own eyes.

“No!”
Jessica screamed and lunged for Amanda.

Miriam
took flight through the sky like an eagle and Amanda’s body transformed. She
soared like a black crow toward the one place her heart longed to be.

Home.