Sacrifice (Revelations Book 1) (32 page)

Nico seemed to be thinking it over, Abby on the other hand knew a good deal when she heard it. They weren’t going to be able to win in a fight against an angel, and at least this would limit Rosa. She stepped forward and held out her hand “You’ve got a deal.”

As the angel sealed his deal with Abby with a handshake Graham spoke up, offering a cryptic question to Enzo. “What about Sabina? She trusts you.”

Enzo’s nostrils flared, whatever type of threat this was it rankled the angel. “You won’t tell her, or I won’t wipe Rosa’s memory of you aiding the Priest.”

Graham flinched at that ultimatum. He cast his eyes downward and gave a defeated nod of his head.

Enzo flexed his massive wings and the swirling wind kicked up again. He hovered for a moment holding his daughter, giving the three people below him a pained look before flying away.

As soon as the wind died down, Nico opened the small bundle in his hand. The bundle itself was a scrap of leather holding an array of items and bound with a simple leather cord. As Nico laid it out Abby peeked over his shoulder. She squinted at a design painted on the brown hide. “What’s that circle design?”

“A spell.” He placed the items from the bundle inside the circle. A small bone, a lock of hair, a vial of something metallic. Abby frowned watching him run his fingers over the words written on the scrap of leather. Whatever it said, it was written in blood. Abby could smell it. Nico whispered words that had no meaning to her, but as soon as he was done a shimmering burst of energy radiated outward like the aftershock of an explosion.

He stood up. “It’s done. Rosa can never enter this town again.”

Abby stood beside him. “You sure?”

He nodded. “Positive.”

The screams from the graveyard grew louder. Nico and Abby both started running. Graham was gone. With his job on the line Abby was sure they wouldn’t see any help from him in this next round of battle. It didn’t matter, this was her fight. And Nico’s. They’d end this one way or another.

She was amazed at the change in him. He could keep up with her. She guessed his strength would be a match for hers as well. They rounded a group of trees and slid to a halt. The Striga were battling something large, loud, and deadly. Three of the women lay motionless near Abby, but they no longer looked human, they were like a mix of women and giant birds of prey. Covered in feathers and wings with soft feminine features. They were something amazing. Something out of this world, just as Meri had looked before she died. Abby stared down at them. “What is going on?”

“There is more to the Striga than meets the eye.”

She blinked. “I can see that. What are they fighting?”

Nico squinted and peered into the darkness. “The Beast.”

“The second one? Great. How the hell are we supposed to defeat it?”

“Kill it like we kill everything else.”

They marched forward. Arveda soared overhead, diving and attacking the creature in violent bursts. Kara leapt from the shadows and grabbed Abby’s arm. “Mother’s been waiting for you. We’ve forced him to start his change.” She nodded to the three Striga on the ground. “Don’t let their sacrifice be in vain. This one is almost in his full form now.” She paused and added. “With the black sword you can kill him.”

“What?”

Kara pointed her finger at the Beast. “You can kill him now.”

“Right.” Abby threw back her shoulders, loosened her arms, and hit a full run. Arveda swooped and dodged the Beast to keep its attention locked on her. Just as Abby was getting close, the Beast swatted at Arveda and sent her plummeting to the ground. He turned the moment Abby leapt into the air. She pulled the ornate black sword from her belt and buried it in his neck. He bellowed in pain and she struggled to keep hold of the hilt. His staggering body and the momentum of her run helped drive him to the ground where he thrashed in pain.

Abby’s grip tightened as she sawed her blade through the thick grisly muscle and sinew until his head hung by only a meaty string of fibers. He wasn’t moving, only the occasional muscle twitched from leftover energy in the nerves. Nico stepped forward and leaned down to inspect the corpse. His eyes widened and Abby peaked over his shoulder to see the flesh slowly starting to regenerate. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Nico growled, raised his hammer and swung so hard the head detached and rolled into the crowd of Striga nearby. It was like a grotesque game of croquet. Some of the women clapped, others laughed. Abby wasn’t sure which response was more appropriate. She turned her attention back to the Beast. “Is it dead now?”

Nico shrugged. “I don’t think so, but as long as it can’t get to its head I think we’re okay.” He nodded toward her blades. “Just to be safe, take his heart.”

She nodded in agreement and quickly plunged her sword into the creature’s stomach, sawing and cutting upward until she’d hit bone. She lifted her chin at Nico before shoving her hands into the open wound and gripping the firm breast bone that protected the creature’s heart. The cold bone gave a creak as Abby grunted and pulled. With one final growl and tug the bone broke.

There was a loud crack followed by a gruesome sound of meat and muscle squishing between her fingers as she tore the body open. How different had her life been before coming to this town? She once worried about term papers and making her parents happy, she spent Saturday nights out on innocent dates at the movies and eating popcorn. Now she was elbow deep in the open chest of an ancient evil that was hell-bent on ending the world. And she had to pull its heart out to ensure it would die. She couldn’t be further away from who she had been before.

Wrapping her hand around the still-beating muscle she tugged. Nothing. She tugged again. And again, harder this time until the fibers clinging to the heart finally snapped. The heartbeat slowed. Abby swallowed and wrinkled her nose. “Do I crush it?”

He nodded. Abby squeezed until the juicy mound of muscle made a sickening popping noise and bloody tissue oozed between her fingers. She wrinkled her nose at the remaining bits of tissue that clung to her fingers and flung what she could off before wiping her hands on her pants.

The slow screeching sound of the stone Gates closing suddenly stopped. Abby cursed, “What the fuck? Why did it stop?”

The Striga all paused in midflight— hovering, watching and waiting. Without warning the Gates slammed shut sending a shockwave rippling through the ground. Trees ebbed and moaned, birds that should be silent at night squawked and in the distance a choir of wolves howled sending a shiver down Abby’s spine. She squinted and approached the Gates, there wasn’t the faintest hint of a gap. The wretched portal into Hell was closed. She finally breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s over,” she whispered. “Will it disappear now? It was never here before, right?”

Nico was behind her, his hand resting on her shoulder. He didn’t say a word, but she took comfort in the strength that radiated from him. Maybe she didn’t need all the answers after
all. If the Gate stayed at least it couldn’t be opened. Maybe they needed it to stay as a reminder of what they were fighting against.

A twig snapped off to the side. Then another and another. Abby stepped away from Nico and swallowed down the fear building inside her. She could smell sulfur nearby. A sharp growl echoed around the quiet clearing and two figures stepped out of the darkness with a slobbering four-legged beast beside them. Abby’s voice quivered. “Mom? Dad?”

Familiar eyes met hers and a tinge of guilt hit. These were her parents, maybe not her biological parents but the people who’d raised her. She saw them as the monsters who had made her life a living hell a few months ago. But a small part of her was looking at the faces of the people who'd stayed up with her when she was sick, took her to soccer practice, and spent every weekend helping her with school, giving her advice about boys, and loving her for the first 20 years of her life.

"Jane, honey, it's time to stop this." Her father stated.

Her mother quickly joined in. "You don't know the truth. These people have lied to you. We love you and want you to come back home. You have no idea how much we've missed you."

She shook her head. "No, I've seen the pictures. I remember everything."

Her father grimaced. "You know nothing. You only know the side they want you to know. Those people you are with could never tell you how much we love you."

"I know what you did to me. There’s nothing you can say that would change how I feel.”

"There’s too much to explain right now, but we need you to trust us and come home. Everything will be clear once you listen to us."

Nico was saying something but he sounded a million miles away. She inhaled deeply and caught the distinct smell of lavender mixed with cinnamon. Her shoulders relaxed as calmness washed over her. Things that seemed cut and dry a second before now became muddled. Maybe there was some truth to what her father was saying. Maybe there was more to it? Her eyes teared up. Her parents did love her. Abby’s chest hurt as the surge of emotions welled up.

Nico’s voice was faint but she could hear him nonetheless. “Don’t give in, Abby. It’s a spell.”

Her eyes widened. The smell was familiar. It had permeated the basement of her parent’s house. The room where they’d performed their spells on her. She was falling for their lies. Cursing under her breath she refused to take another breath, she’d given in to her need to cling to human necessities that were no longer necessary. Abby straightened her back and raised her chin high. Her focus became clearer, the spell tugged at her but she refused to give in. Glancing at the slobbering beast she locked eyes with her father once more. "What is that thing?"

“Relax, he won’t hurt you.” Her father glanced down and patted the creature on the head. "Don't you recognize your dog?"

"My dog?" Abby pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to shake off the foggy feeling that was still trying to overtake her. "My dog?" Splinters of memories rushed in— her as a child playing in their big backyard with a large mastiff puppy. He was a tawny brown color and slobbered all over her. "Moose?"

Her father nodded. "He's always been by your side. We had to bring him with us. We hoped," he paused and glanced at his wife, offering her a small smile, "we hoped he'd help convince you to come home."

The beast inched closer to her, snarling low and dipping its head down. Abby instinctively took a step back. "Keep it away from me."

"Sweetheart, he'd never hurt you."

"That thing is not a dog, it's a…" She scrunched up her nose it was familiar. Its acrid breath penetrated the air as its tail whipped behind it. "It's a
hellhound
."

Her father nodded. "Yes, he is, but just like any dog he is loyal to his master."

"You."

"No, Jane—"

"Don't call me that. My name is Abby."

He frowned but nodded his head. "Fine. Abby. I am not his master and neither is your mother. You are. He even killed another
hellhound
because it was going to come after you. When you came by the house and that disgusting Virtue killed its pup."

"Why would you give me a protector when all you've wanted to do since you adopted me, or stole me, was to kill me?"

Her mother interrupted. "Don't be foolish."

Abby was hit with the distinctive memory that all of her life she'd been closer with her father. He'd sat up with her more nights than her mother did. He'd wiped her tears away. They'd spent every Saturday as father/daughter day. He never missed one.

Her mother was always a bit colder, harder for Abby to gauge, but her dad had been her world. Which is why it hurt her so badly when he hadn't defended her against Chris. Jackson Stine had always been kind to his daughter where Katherine had always been distant. And her dog, the slobbering
hellhound
in front of her had been her protector. The sulfur stench she'd been smelling every time she woke up from a black out hadn't been the spell, it had been the
hellhound
, dragging her back from whatever hell she'd been sent to.

She knelt down and held out her hand to him. The beast's tongue flopped out of its mouth as he bounded to her in two leaps. It nuzzled her hand and whimpered. She looked up and stared at her father. "You let Chris hurt me. I came to the house. I saw the hidden room where you let him…" Her words trailed off as she wiped the falling tears from her eyes. "How could you do that? Why would you give me this creature to look after me, let that demon do horrible things to me, cast a spell on me, possess me, and send me off to die?"

Her mother bristled. "That is enough, young lady, you will come home with us now. This man has sacrificed everything for you, all you had to do was one little job and you managed to fuck that up just like you fucked everything else up."

"What?"

Her father cleared his throat. "I told you it was a long story, but the bottom line is, I did all of this for you. I wanted another child, we had a daughter but she was murdered. Katherine couldn't have children anymore. So we decided to adopt, but it was a long and difficult process. So much red tape. No one wanted to let an elderly couple adopt a child."

Abby interrupted "You aren't elderly."

"We are much older than we look. Old enough to have an adult grandchild." He waved off the statement. "We'd given up hope and I thought it would be for the best because as much as I wanted another child, I didn't want to risk the heartbreak if something else were to happen. Then a man came to us and said that for a price he could give us what we wanted. For me a child that I would never lose, and your mother would get what she desired most."

"Which was what?"

"Revenge on the bastard who'd gotten our daughter killed." His eyes shifted to Nico.

Abby shook her head. "No, Molly wasn't your daughter. That was only ten years ago and I was already your daughter by then."

He shook his head. "Not Molly. Her name was Crystal, she was beautiful and smart. But she had her own way of doing things and at a very young age she got pregnant and ran away. She changed her name to Lucy, got married, and had a child. And when we finally found her, years later she had a whole new life. Her husband had died, it was just her and the child, but they seemed to do alright. We were going to make contact but then…” He paused and rubbed his tear-filled eyes. “Then she was killed and the man was never caught by the authorities." His gaze flickered to Nico. "Because of him."

“Lucy? Nico’s mother?” Abby turned to look at Nico and gasped. No wonder he'd sounded so far away. There was a barrier between them. He was pounding against the invisible force, screaming for her to get away. She looked back at her father. "What are you saying?"

"He told the police it was a vampire. And of course, no one believed him. He told them that the vampire had vanished into thin air."

Abby clinched her fist at her side. "He was a scared child and it was the truth. He’d just seen his mother killed by a monster what did you expect him to say?"

"It didn’t matter to your mother. It broke her. She wanted revenge. And the man who came to us with you promised your mother that Nico would have a life of misery he would suffer a pain so deep he’d wish for death only to have to suffer through more."

"That is all a lie. I died, you killed me, so clearly you didn't get what you wanted."

Jackson smiled. "But I did, I got a daughter who will never die. I did what I had to do to give you this gift of immortality."

"It's not a gift!" she screamed.

“I’m sorry you feel that way, but from where I stand I think it is.” He took his wife’s hand and Abby swallowed hard. “It’s time to come home.” She shook her head, but he pressed again. “Jane, this is what is meant to happen. Come home with us. Fulfill your mother’s wish. You owe it to us.”

She gaped. “I owe you.”

“I’ve received my wish. I’ll have you forever and never lose you. Your mother deserves her revenge.”

“And how is my coming with you going to—” Abby stopped and clenched her fists. “You want to take me away from him, that’s how she’ll hurt him. You’re both insane. I’m not leaving. I’m not coming home with you. It isn’t his fault that his mother died.”

“She was protecting him!” Katherine screamed. “I sent the vampire there to kill him.” Abby’s eyes widened and so did her father’s.

Jackson whispered. “What?”

“I sent him. I wanted that little bastard out of our daughter’s life, she would never come home as long as he was around. All I wanted was her.” She shrugged. “So I went looking for someone to take care of him, to make him disappear. She would be so heartbroken that she’d have no choice but to come home for support. I tried it before, but hadn’t worked with his father. I knew she was carrying on and staying strong for that child. But if I could get rid of that burden, she would come back to us.”

Jackson took a step back, dropping her hand to his sides. “You never told me.”

“I couldn’t. But I gave you this ungrateful child as a replacement and you’ve been happy to raise her no matter how much I despised her. I did it to make you happy, now I want him to suffer.”

Abby lunged at her mother, pulling the black sword from her belt and slashed with a cry. Jackson pushed her mother back, the black sword sliced his midsection and the man she’d known her entire life doubled over clenching at his stomach. His salt and pepper hair turned white before her eyes. His smooth skin took on a brittle, wrinkled appearance and eyes older than she remembered looked up at her.

“Dad?” Abby ran forward. It was an instinct she couldn’t fight. “Why did you—”

He lifted his had to press a finger against her lips. “She’s my wife. I would never be able to forgive you if you hurt her.”

“You let Chris do horrible things to me. You say you love me but you protected her and you hurt me.” She paused and caught her breath. “I loved you once. I loved the man I thought you were, but you aren’t that man.”

“Don’t say that, I did all of this for you.”

“No.” Abby looked back at Nico who stood silently watching the scene play out. “You did it for yourself. You’re a selfish man.”

Abby’s hand tightened around the hilt of the sword and she thrust it deep into her father’s stomach. A furious cry broke out and Abby spun in time to see her mother jumping for her. A silver blade gleamed in her hands. Abby pulled the sword from her father but not soon enough, the tip of the blade bit into her forearm. Abby struggled to turn herself into a better position but a blur of black fur and fangs knocked into her mother and sent the older woman flying.

Abby shakily stood up to see her
hellhound
savagely ripping flesh and bone from her mother’s struggling body. She covered her hand to her mouth and gasped. He’d protected her.

It only took seconds for Moose to kill her mother, as soon as Katherine had stopped moving the barrier keeping Nico away came down and Abby felt familiar arms wrap around her. His rough stubble rubbed against her ear as he whispered. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I mean, I’m alive. Figuratively speaking anyways.”

He turned her to face him and tilted her chin up to look into her eyes. “You know what I mean. Are you okay?”

She nodded. “They weren’t my parents.” Pausing for a second she let out a heavy sigh. “Did you hear all of that? The stuff about your mom?”

Nico’s jaw clenched. Several seconds ticked by as his gaze lingered over the bodies of his mother’s parents. The tension slowly eased from his features. “Yeah, I heard. Those people mean nothing to me and my mother got the justice she deserved. Everyone involved in her death will now have to live an eternity paying for their crimes in Hell, where they belong. Besides, this proves that Jack was right all along.”

“Right about what?”

“That this was all planned long before we had any control over the situation. Our fates have been intertwined since the beginning.” He leaned down to place a kiss to her forehead. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

She flung herself at him, wrapping her arms tight around his neck. Nico’s scent engulfed her, his strong arms held her tight and she let herself enjoy this peaceful moment in the midst of the carnage.