Blood Lust (The Blood Sisters Book 1)

by Jill Cooper

  “Then get it back. Put it in order. We start tonight.” Jessica grabbed Amanda’s hand and pulled her to the corner. Amanda nearly tripped and yelped as she struggled to keep up.

  “Geesh, Jessica!”

  “Stay here. Take care of these kids. Get them something good to eat. Then give them what they need. I saw some storybooks in the corner of their room.”

  Amanda smiled. “And they say you don’t care about people.”

  Jessica snorted with a shake of her head. “Don’t answer the door for anyone. We’ll be as fast as we can be. When we get back, you have to be ready to move. This town needs a cleansing worse than I’ve ever seen. If we’re going to exorcise this place, you’ll need your strength.”

  Amanda’s eyes revolved back to darkness in a way they usually didn’t. “The demon drugs are spreading a lot faster here than I expected. It’s usually a big city thing, but now? It’s everywhere, Jess.”

  Jessica knew that and she was going to stop it, one way or another. Cleanse this town, move onto the next, and hopefully steer clear of any demons who might want a piece of the Blood sisters.

  ****

  Demons.

  Jessica’s lip snarled as she sat in her car and cut the headlights. The demon clubhouse, The Gypsy Curse, was hidden, away from town. An old abandoned building that, if Jessica didn’t miss her guess, used to be a wood. Smoke poured out of the chimney. Jessica peered through the old, foggy windows at the demons hovering around a bar.

  “Get in there,” Jessica ordered while keeping her eyes forward, studying as much of the landscape she could. “Do your job and then I’ll take you home. Amanda and I will come here after we move you and the kids. We’ll deal with this place and clean this town.”

  It was only then that she allowed herself to look at Nancy for the first time since they had left the apartment. Jessica sure as hell didn’t like what she saw, a pitiful woman who barely clung to life. Barely, and Nancy didn’t even know it. She was so close to the edge, but was oblivious to how near she danced to the ledge. It made Jessica want to pound the steering wheel.

  Nancy snorted. “Here I thought you didn’t care, but you do, don’t you?”

  Yeah, Jessica was a bleeding heart alright. She rested her wrist on the steering wheel as if she might peel out at any moment. “Just get inside, do your job, and don’t rouse suspicion.” Jessica could do that part all on her own. “We’ll get you out of here as soon as we can. Just don’t mess this up.”

  Nancy hobbled over toward the front entrance and the coast, for the most part, was clear. These demons weren’t expecting company. Jessica used that to her advantage. Once Nancy was inside, Jessica snuck around the property to check it out.

  The wilderness surrounding the clubhouse was withered and brittle. It smelled of rotting leaves and all around the area, nature was dying. Demons had a way of infecting a land, like leeches, sucking the life from the Earth. This area had been infected a long time.

  Too long.

  Jessica’s jaw was tight as she crept around the back. There was a set of wooden stairs that led up to a second level porch. It didn’t exactly look stable, the wood was aged and felt coarse when she rested a hand on the railing. The place could really use a fresh coat of paint. If it wasn’t for Nancy inside, Jessica could just set fire to the place and call it a day, but when there was one human… there were usually more.

  She peered inside the window and saw she wasn’t wrong. Inside was a stage where underage girls danced around poles. Jessica squeezed her eyes shut and ducked beneath the window before she was spotted.

  Underage girls stolen from their parents. Jessica wasn’t sure which she hated more, the corrupting of young girls, or the drugs that flowed from demons. Maybe she just hated it all, but to see those young girls, it made her see red.

  To help the girls, Jessica would shut the place down. Otherwise, they’d never be free. Not really. The drugs would keep them on a shorter leash than the ones they wore around their neck and rape, — well rape was just par for the course.

  Time to chart a new one.

  Jessica slid around the side of the clubhouse and came to an old soda pop cooler. She lifted the lid and her lip twisted into a smile. Bingo. Just what she was looking for:

  ammunition and guns.

  Jessica stashed a few guns in the waistband of her jeans and pocketed the shotgun shells. Now all she could do was wait for Nancy’s shift to end and get her out of there.

  Waiting was the hard part.

  2: Jessica

  Jessica kicked the front door to Nancy’s apartment open with Nancy draped over her back. The unconscious woman moaned, the aroma of rotten eggs escaped her mouth. Jessica secured the door and heard the shuffling of feet behind her.

  “Into your room, kids!” Amanda’s voice was urgent, but Jessica just made her way into the bathroom and ignored everything else. The bathtub was slick with grime and corners of the room were littered with the carcasses of cockroaches.

  Jessica scrunched her nose and did her best to ignore that. She placed Nancy into the tub and turned the cold shower on full blast. The water pelted Nancy in the face, but still, she barely shuddered. Barely breathed.

  “Nancy,” Jessica gritted her teeth. Couldn’t she have stayed away from the drugs for a few more hours? Given them the time to do what they needed to do?

  Jessica slapped Nancy’s face. Nancy’s head snapped to the side, but she barely flinched. She hadn’t felt it. Angry, Jessica bent over and gripped her cheeks, pulling her mouth open “Fight for your children, you son of a—”

  Water poured from the shower into Nancy’s mouth. Her eyes opened as she gagged and Jessica saw the green mist from the demon’s essence wafting from her eyes and around her cheeks. It was strong, overpowering her soul.

  They didn’t have long.

  Nancy gagged again and her skin went pale. Jessica turned the shower off and rolled Nancy onto her side so she wouldn’t choke on her puke.

  “What happened?” Amanda rushed in.

  Jessica turned her head toward the door. Amanda’s face was ripe with worry. “Your friend here couldn’t stay away. Not even for a few hours. I thought we were going to lose her. We still might.”

  Amanda stepped up close beside her and they watched as Nancy wretched into the basin. “I can….” Nancy’s voice warbled, “explain…”

  “Can you heal her?” Jessica asked listlessly.

  Amanda’s eyes widened with disbelief. “You know the answer to that. I can’t take away her desire for the drugs. I can’t reach into the underworld and find her soul. I can’t make her put her life right, Jessica.” Amanda bit her lip and her eyes were eternally sad.

  Jessica felt it too. She bent over the basin and her eyes darkened.

  Nancy pushed her finger into Jessica’s face. “Don’t you judge me! Don’t!”

  “Why not?” Jessica’s brow furrowed together in condemnation. “You leave your kids here to go score, right? How often did you leave them alone while they slept? Why the hell shouldn’t someone tell you to knock it off? Huh?” Jessica resisted the urge to punch her and stormed off, but Nancy’s sob followed her.

  “Easy,” Amanda’s voice was soft as she tried to console Nancy. “She’s on your side. I know you can’t tell, I know she can be harsh, but she wants to help you. You just have to be willing to accept her brand of help.”

  Her brand of help. Like Jessica’s help was so different than everyone else’s? Maybe if Nancy hadn’t been babied or coddled all her life…Jessica sighed and slipped inside the bedroom. The blond kids sat on their beds with books on their laps. The covers were rumpled and torn.

  They both gazed up at Jessica in their mismatched clothes that were too small and frayed around the edges. Jessica had half a mind to take them out of this place right now, but as much as she hated Nancy, she hated the foster system even more.

  “Your mom’s sick. I’m going to help get her better, okay? So you both can get better too,” Jessica cu
pped the youngest face, “I promise. Now, did you guys have enough to eat?”

  The older one grinned. “We had cheeseburgers and pie. Then she got us cake.”

  Of course she did, Jessica sighed. Amanda’s sweet tooth was legendary.

  “I know this place, well, it could be better. We’re going to move you tonight. Why don’t you pick a few of your favorite things and get ready, okay?”

  The girls paused. They stared at each other and then at Jessica. She knew there wasn’t much here, but there must be something… Jessica glanced down and saw their hands tightly clasped, holding onto each other for dear life.

  Jessica bent down in front of them and touched the elect’s hair. “I know how you feel. I have a sister too. And don’t you stop, okay? Don’t stop taking care of each other. Sometimes it’s all you have.” Jessica shrugged. “Sometimes.”

  The girls’ mouths were set tight. Jessica didn’t know what they were thinking, but a second later a ruckus outside drew her attention, the sound of wood splintering. It could only be the front door. Jessica ran for the shut bedroom door and before she could peer outside, the rapid sound of gunfire erupted.

  Amanda was out there alone. And she was trapped in the bedroom with some hapless kids.

  The girls in the room were crying and Jessica’s insides screamed to protect them. “Quickly,” Jessica whispered, “quietly!” She led them over to a closet hanging with previously pretty princess dresses. The pink satin cloth was ripped and stained. Once, they had been elegant play clothes, now they were abandoned, like happy times left behind. Memories eroded like chocolate stains sliding to jeweled tulle.

  Pushing the dresses to the side, Jessica helped them squat. “Not a peep. Not a peep until I come back.”

  “What if you don’t come back?” The older girl asked.

  Then God help them. Such sweet little faces. Jessica wouldn’t see them sold into the trade. Not while she was still breathing.

  Jessica pushed the door open enough to peek through it with one eye. The sofa and walls were covered with bullet holes and the front door was cracked in half, swaying on its hinges. No signs of demons.

  That wasn’t good.

  She left the confines of the bedroom and nearly tripped over Nancy’s body. A bullet had torn through her shoulder, but it didn’t look that bad. In fact, the bullet was spiraling out of her flesh as if Amanda had been healing her wound…but was interrupted.

  Where was Amanda now?

  Jessica clenched her jaw, “Mandy!” She called and looked around as Nancy grabbed her wrist.

  “They took her,” Nancy whispered. “They got her.”

  Jessica’s heart skipped a beat and she glanced back at the bedroom door where the kids were. Her heart was torn in two, but there was only one person she was loyal to. “I’ll call for help. Get you an ambulance. Police for your kids. Your problems, they’re going to be brought into the light.”

  She struggled to pull away as Nancy clung to her ankle. “Please, my babies, you can’t leave my babies alone in there!”

  There were no easy choices, but Jessica would call the police. Get them here. Demons had wanted Amanda almost all her life. She couldn’t let them win. Jessica couldn’t let Amanda fall prey.

  So no matter how much Jessica worried about those kids or how much she loathed her actions, she left. For Jessica, there was no other choice. It was time for Nancy to stand on her own.

  Lourdes, Queen of the Underworld

  “Let the underworld open its fiery gates upon the Earth, let it be a plague that brings me what my heart most desires,” Lourdes, queen of the underworld, said with a smile, and pressed her thumb to the parchment paper laid before her.

  “Let it bring me Amanda Blood, but may Jessica burn in hell. Make her bleed until she utters my name.”

  Lourdes retreated back to her throne while the chant for battle echoed throughout the underworld. The bounty was set, dead or alive, to the spoils of war.

  It was time for Lourdes to walk the earth. It was time for Amanda to do what she was always meant to do and free Lourdes from her dark prison. Amanda’s strength had reached new heights and she was finally ready.

  Amanda and the Bloods had faced demons before, but none like her. No, Lourdes thought with a callous smile, this time would be different. Much different.

  Let the demon clans war with each other for Amanda. Destroy each other, it didn’t matter to Lourdes. All that mattered was she have her prize, one way or another.

  A queen shall rise and the mighty Bloods shall fall.

  3: Jessica

  The car purred as Jessica left the city limits and entered the hills covered in dense, rotting trees. The undergrowth was long dead, and moss covered tree trunks were her only cover as she dimmed the headlights.

  Leaves rustled and through their intertwined canopy of protection, Jessica followed the moonlight. Coming up and over a hill, Jessica’s eyes made out the bikers’ clubhouse, Gypsy’s Curse.

  Back at the scene of the crime. Time to make things right.

  Cutting the engine, Jessica sucked her bottom lip. Her youthful face was aged by the worry lines around her lips. Beauty was reserved for Amanda. Stubbornness, Jessica had that in spades.

  She slipped her leather jacket onto her narrow shoulders; it fell to just above her low rise leather pants. Old, comfortable boots protected her feet as she kicked the car door open. The old girl’s 1966 hinges groaned in protest, but Jessica wouldn’t part with her dad’s old Chrysler 300.

  It was all she had left of him— of her parents and what once was normal. Her soul still sang, and Jessica wouldn’t let the demons take that from her.

  They’d stolen enough.

  Shotgun in hand, Jessica made her way down the hill. The leaves crunched like the dead beneath her feet even though it was only summer. Nearby demons would rot everything away sure as they’d steal a human’s soul bit by bit.

  It was a breezy night and her red curls blew off her back as she surveyed the land. The middle-of-nowhere clubhouse was a big, old rectangle with wood siding. Smoke wafted up from the corner chimney and peering around it, Jessica just barely caught a glimpse of a rickety set of creaky stairs leading up to the second level.

  Windows at the front flashed an orange, neon ‘OPEN’ sign. The music was so loud, the rhythm thumped inside Jessica’s chest. The cranked music would hopefully provide her with cover.

  She’d rescue her sister and get away from his place. Get as far away as she could.

  She froze. Guards.

  There were two by the front entrance standing behind a row of shiny Harley motorcycles. Decked out in leather vests and jeans, they wore leather caps.

  From this distance, Jessica couldn’t tell if they were human or demon. Sure their skin looked slightly gray, maybe a bit dull, but the corrupt soul of an evil being could only be seen close up.

  Muscles popping, they didn’t exactly look like the brains of the operation. No, the brains were further up the food chain and that was who Jessica wanted, but going through the front?

  Risky. Jessica didn’t mind risks, but she wasn’t a fan of dead.

  Squatting down, Jessica moved through the brittle trees, keeping to cover as she moved to check out the back.

  One demon guarded the rear stairs that led to a back porch. A gun was holstered on his left hip, on his right hung a long curved dagger. He shifted his weight from right to left as he smoked a cigarette, —or a joint—Jessica couldn’t tell from her position. The amber glow from the butt was like a flare, drawing her eye.

  One guard? Hell, yes! Those odds were better.

  A plan quickly formed in her mind. She’d attack the one out back before taking out the ones in the front.

  Then make her grand entrance. Jessica loved nothing more than to be loud when she killed a few demons, and these were feeding off the town, spreading their addiction and debauchery to good people.

  If Jessica could bring them down and save Amanda in one swoop, that’d m
ake for a good day.

  In the dark, Jessica waited to make her move. The passage of time was only evidenced by the moon shifting through the trees. Not even a cricket chirped in the dark, anything near here was long dead. Her thighs burned from being in the same position for so long and the glow of the moon her only source of solace.

  Two demons came into view through the glow; she had suspected there may be more patrolling the perimeter. In her way, the demons had to go. Jessica rose silently in the shadows. With careful steps, she edged up behind the demon, and with a two-hand grip, lodged her shotgun under his throat.

  She pulled it tight, hoping to strangle the life out of him. To be that close meant smelling his decay. His pale skin shifted in front of Jessica like a hologram. One minute his skin was whole and the next, maggots burrowed out of his skin. The bones of his jaw were exposed and the corrupting smell of death oozed out from his pores.

  He gasped and tossed her side to side, trying to get free. Jessica barely held on. Even on tiptoe, she was barely tall enough to strangle the demon. Gritting her teeth, she forced more power out of her limbs. Gripping the gun so tight, it felt like her fingers might snap off, Jessica held a shaking breath of air and pictured her sister.

  Sweet, calm, and unable to fend for herself. It didn’t matter if Amanda was ten or twenty-two, the thought of her innocence being corrupted stirred a quiet anger like no other.

  With a deft twist of the shotgun, the demon’s neck broke like a twig and his body fell backward toward the ground. Jessica guided him down, but he was so heavy, he thumped down hard. Grabbing him by the wrists, she dragged him into the trees. The sopping, wet leaves would be his final resting spot.

  The earth would dissolve his body by morning, as if the evil creature never existed; almost, but demons left scars. They destroyed and killed. Jessica’s body was a testament to the pain, and the scars they left in their wake.

  That longing, aching, fighting, would never go away.

  The sound of tires crunching on gravel broke her from her reverie and Jessica crouched as headlights shone through the leaves. A white van approached, parking near the back door. No markings, but two demons got out, as the guard standing at the top stairs moved to greet them.