by Jill Cooper
A crater? Things were advancing quickly—much faster than Gwen expected. Were things in the underworld falling apart already? Had the factions come together to declare war on the Earth? Her eyes fell to Mike and his expressed his own worry, but Archie sighed.
“Can we at least eat before you rush on out to save the world? We can’t do anything on an empty stomach.”
“Eat fast, Archie.” Gwen slammed her hand down on the table before she rushed from the restaurant. Her eyes took in the sight of houses against the backdrop of the mountains, but a crater? She didn’t see it. Gwen sighed with her hands on her hips.
Left? Right? Which way should she go? Using nothing but her instincts, Gwen followed them as she always did and turned left. She passed the gas station and a corner store. The lights in the window blinked open, but the sign on the door read closed.
Then she saw it. A children’s playground attached to a church preschool. The fence was folded over. Inside its once protective perimeter, a plastic slide was melted and a giant hole was open in the ground.
Gwen’s heart leaped into her throat as she stepped over what was left of the fence. Her foot met rock, but it crumbled and she nearly fell. Grabbing at the fence to steady herself, Gwen stared down into what was essentially was a pit of Hell. A green haze of smoke drifted up and a groan of torment escaped.
She bit her lip as a chill ran through her. This was corruption at its worst so how was it the people of this town were okay?
Or were they?
When Mike grabbed her arm, Gwen jumped. “You trying to make me fall in?” She squeezed her eyes shut. Her words were too harsh, she was sorry.
If he agreed with her, Mike didn’t say anything. “Why here? Why this town?”
It could be all over, but Gwen didn’t really believe that—did she? “They’re coming up. They’re searching for her just as we are. Amanda. Whether she wants to or not, she’s calling to them. Her very existence…” Gwen couldn’t finish her own thought—her heart wouldn’t let her.
Mike took Gwen’s hand and held it. It was enough to crumble what was left of Gwen’s crusty old heart. “It’s not over yet. Don’t give up. We’ll save her.”
“Not if we have to keep feeding Archie’s manic appetite.” Gwen sighed. “We can’t stop again, Mike. We need to get to Vegas before the underworld figures out what we’re up to.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’ll speak to Archie.”
“You’re no better,” she arched an angry eyebrow. “Your arguing and constant bickering…”
Mike licked his lip and his eyes darted away. “I bicker when I’m nervous.”
“True as that is, I need you on my side.” Gwen stroked the lapel of his jacket and gazed into his eyes. “Are you with me?”
“Until the bitter end.” He edged in closer and the sweat smell wicking from his body was enough to drive Gwen’s mind plummeting into the past. Mike meant to kiss her, didn’t he? No matter what it meant in the past or how it could destroy their future, Mike was going to kiss her.
She turned her head so it couldn’t happen and she had a clear view of the main strip of town. The hardware store, the dentist office, even the florist shop—they all had closed signs hanging on them. Everything was closed.
Everything.
“They’re all closed. Everything but the pancake shop, it’s all closed. Why?” Gwen asked and her breath caught in her throat at the same moment that Mike hollered.
“Damn it, Archie!” With a tug on her hand, Mike took off running across the street and Gwen’s legs struggled to keep up with him. By the time they reached the restaurant, Gwen was in a full on sprint.
“Mike, you’re not armed!” She warned, but Mike was already inside. Cursing him, Gwen slammed through the front door of the establishment in time to see Mike swat Archie’s fork down.
“I beg your pardon!” Flustered, Archie’s face blushed.
“Don’t eat that. It’s tainted. Everything here is being tainted.” Mike grabbed Archie by the collar and yanked him from the booth.
Suddenly all eyes were on them. The door to the kitchen opened and a chef and his cooks stood there, holding meat cleavers drenched in blood. Those sitting at the counter rose up from their bar stools. From beneath their trucker hats they stared Gwen and her friends down.
“Demons,” Gwen’s lip snarled, surprised she hadn’t smell them before.
“Don’t you want your food?” The harrowed waitress from earlier stepped from behind the counter. She straightened up and shook her messy bun free with long, spindly fingers. A spider ring took shape on her hand and her lips shifted to ruby red.
“Crispy bacon, just the way you like it, Archie?”
Archie stammered as the waitress pushed her finger into his belly. “How do you know who I am?”
“She’s a high-level demon,” Mike said. “Higher than that actually.”
“Straight from the inner court of Hell itself.” The waitress took a deep breath and her uniform vanished and was replaced with a shimmering black dress. The regal cloth puddled on the floor and the collar edged up high around her jaw. “Without Lourdes around to hold us back, we’re going to take over. We’re moving in and making room for our master.”
Lucifer.
Not if Gwen had anything to say about it.
The men from the bar stepped closer, with tight jaws and blood lust in their eyes. Gwen had a thing or two to say about their plan. She threw her hands down by her sides and they charged with electricity. With no time to delay, Gwen shot out a blast of wind mixed with voltage at the crowd.
It threw them back just enough. She pivoted on her heel and charged for the front door trusting that Mike and Archie would be close behind.
“Get them! Don’t let them get away!”
Gwen slid into the Jeep, and before the passenger doors shut, she started her baby up. Peeling away from the curb, dust shot from around the tires and filled the rearview. Demons charged from behind, but they weren’t going to catch up to her. Gwen was as certain about that as anything .
“They were all demons?” Archie gasped. Gwen figured that was more exercise than he had gotten in a decade.
“Corrupted by the food,” Mike said. “They served her, whoever she was, but they aren’t demons in the traditional sense. She’s a counselor in the court of Lucifer.” Gwen felt Mike’s eyes on her—burning a hole through her skin.
Archie shook his head as he wiped it with a white handkerchief. “I didn’t even know such a thing was possible. I didn’t….”
Mike ignored Archie and spoke quietly. “If we don’t get someone in the underworld soon to replace Lourdes, he’ll be next, Gwen. Lucifer will rise up and man alone won’t be able to fix this problem.”
On the open highway, Gwen bit her lip and pushed her foot down on the gas. “No more breaks. No more food runs. We get to Vegas and we keep our mouths shut.” She couldn’t take anymore complaining. No more babbling.
To everyone’s credit, no one spoke. A silence Gwen was grateful for.
Chapter Nine: Vain
Vain’s hands were covered in blood, but it was worth it to watch Duncan Jasper squirm. He fell apart at her feet and in a few more days, he would be eating out of her hand and begging for the chance to kill Jessica Blood.
She spent the next several hours giving Duncan lessons with her crystal ball. Magic, drugs, and false visions would soon have his head so messed up; he would see her as Jessica, one way or another. And then, when Jessica arrived, Vain would sit back and watch him kill her.
Then, whether Duncan knew it or not, he’d be hers forever. Marriage might have been out of the question, but that was for the weak. The ordinary. Vain wanted a prize and a servant—not an equal.
In her master suite’s bathroom, she rinsed the congealing blood from her hands. In the corner, her Jacuzzi tub was filled with warm water and radiant bubbles danced beneath the faucet. Someone walking across the carpet grabbed her attention. Wiping her hands on a black towel, Vain s
auntered toward the threshold of the bedroom.
“Michelle,” Vain smiled at her favorite girl, “what brings you by? Clientele let you have a break?”
The petite women rarely ever spoke out of turn, but her eyes were wide and moist. “Was it really necessary to kill Beatrice for your little stage show?” Michelle struggled with a deep breath. “She was one of us, Vain.”
Once, maybe. “Don’t bore me by making me explain myself. Beatrice wasn’t performing well. The life and magic were getting to her.” Vain stroked Michelle’s hair and planted a tender kiss against her supple cleavage. “She’s not like you and Alexis. Or should I say, wasn’t?” Vain smirked.
Michelle closed her eyes. “You know I can’t resist you, Mistress, when you kiss me like that—I just—to see what you did. To watch?”
“I’m sorry you had to see that. Truly, I am. If I knew you were in the hall, I would’ve found a way to shoo you away. I’m drawing a bath for us.” Vain kissed Michelle’s cheek and watched the woman’s cheek redden. “Why don’t you go see if Kevin is done with the new girl? We can celebrate. Just the three of us. You, me, and new baby girl.”
Michelle bit her lip. “Okay. I’d love that. She’s such a sweet girl.” Michelle hurried along, her ass jiggling side to side beneath her mini-skirt.
Hannah was sweet. Vain hoped she stayed that way awhile longer.
She went back and turned off the tub’s faucet. Adding a few drops of magic to the water, she swirled it with a small paddle. It would make both women open to suggestion, allow Hannah to relax and do what necessary to get more of Kevin Loust’s money. Because what Vain wanted, was expensive.
Power often was.
Vain turned on some soft music in the bedroom and fluffed a few of the pillows. As she was satisfied that everything looked right, a scream somewhere in the brothel grabbed her attention. Charging through her bedroom, Vain grabbed her dagger from the nightstand and hurried into the hall. Girls were standing with their backs against the wall.
Had someone gotten past her hexes and spells?
“Back to your clients,” Vain ordered and followed the next scream—a woman’s scream—to a closed door room. Forcing her way in, Vain held herself defensively at the sight of Michelle standing over a bed, a broken beer bottle on her hand.
Her expression was frozen in shock. Vain grabbed her arm and shook it, “Michelle? Michelle!”
Hannah was in the bed, clutching her breasts and crying. There was blood seeping between her fingers.
“Did you do this to her?” Vain demanded to know, but she knew Michelle wouldn’t hurt a woman, especially one as sweet and young as Hannah.
Michelle shook her head with a quiver in her lip. “He wouldn’t get off her. She was screaming at him to stop.”
Kevin? The target? When had her girls’ become so weak? “That’s our business. We trade in sexual satisfaction, girls.”
Hannah pulled at her hair, as if she couldn’t stand being in her own skin. “You said I wouldn’t have to. You said….”
“Spare me.” Vain gritted her teeth. “Where is Kevin now? Michelle?”
Michelle backed up and pointed to the side of the bed. Vain approached and peered over the mattress. The first thing she saw was a pool of blood. The next was Kevin’s lifeless eyes staring up at her. His hand clutching the fatal slash along his throat.
Kevin Loust, the high roller of Vegas, was dead.
Chapter Ten: Vain
Dead.
Vain’s heart skipped a beat and for the first time, in a long time, she felt fear—and also real opportunity. “Get Hannah cleaned up and for goodness sakes, get her to stop crying. Michelle?” Vain stared at Michelle’s vacant expression. “Did you hear me? Snap out of it.”
Vain clapped her hands beneath Michelle’s nose. Michelle’s eyes blinked. “Sure.” She dropped the shattered beer bottle from her hand. “I didn’t mean to kill him. She was crying so hard and I couldn’t get him off of her.”
Vain’s temper rolled into a slow boil. “That’s a conversation for later. For now, get Hannah cleaned up and changed. Get her to stop her blubbering.” Vain did an about face and exited the suite. She shut the door tight and spoke to Alexis who was leaning up against the wall. Alexis’s eyes were dull and she stifled a yawn.
She was always bored out of the bedroom.
“We need a cleaner here. Make sure no one goes in here without my permission. Do you understand?”
Alexis nodded. “Whatever you say, Mistress. It will be done.”
“Good.” Vain said. “A few phone calls and we’ll be ready to move.”
“Move?” Alexis asked with a tilt of her head.
“We’re hitting Vegas. Hard and fast before word of this gets out.” Vain swung her arms around Alexis’s hips and pulled her in for a sweet kiss. “More specifically the Wild Aces Casino. With Kevin dead, we’ll only have so long to break into his penthouse and grab the Ruby Heart.”
The Bloods were on the move. Vain’s crystal ball told her that much, and, just as in the past, Vain would use the information it gave her to seize the upper hand.
“How are you going to manage that? It’s not as if they’re going to let us just walk in, Mistress.”
Vain’s rage smoldered. “Leave that to me, darling. I know my strengths and weaknesses. And your weaknesses.” Vain flirted.
“Clear the brothel and allow only our best customers.” Vain voice boomed with the order, as she headed toward her bedroom. “Guards, everyone out that isn’t on the VIP list, but not without first taking their money.”
Money came first. Well, second beneath sexual satisfaction, and, speaking of being satisfied, Vain opened the door to her private bedroom. Inside, Duncan was tied to the bed and gagged with a leather strap. He was asleep or unconscious, not that it really mattered which it was, but Vain had a decision to make.
Take him or leave him here. Could she risk moving him?
No. He wasn’t under her spell enough to go willingly. Vain hated to leave him here unguarded and ripe for the taking, but if the Ruby Heart remained unclaimed for too long, someone else might get to it first. Its power was more important than any one person.
A hands-on person, Vain didn’t know which task really deserved her attention. Duncan was a matter of personal revenge, but the Ruby Heart could be the secret to just about everything Vain’s heart desired. Not only could it be used against the underworld, but possession of it had brought infinite luck to Kevin.
Maybe it could bring the same to Vain.
She studied Duncan’s bruised cheek and his swollen black eye with a pout. Vain fished her fingers through his hair and pulled until his head rounded back. “Dear sweet, Duncan Jasper.” She spun the dagger in her hand and placed the tip against his neck.
“It’s a pity it has to end this way. I wish at least to see your eyes as I end your life.”
As if to get her wish, Duncan’s eyelids struggled to open. The dull blue eyes gazed at her with sleep in them and Vain’s heart banged. Briefly, he smiled like a drunken man on his sixth beer. “If you’re gonna do it, Jess…do it.”
So Duncan saw her as Jessica. Vain didn’t know if that made it worse or better. He’d forever think his beloved Jessica killed him? She would get none of the credit? None of it mattered, as it turned out, Vain couldn’t stomach killing him. Hurting him was one thing, but murdering Duncan was another.
The game couldn’t continue if he were dead. Vain didn’t have the power to raise the dead—at least not yet.
She removed her knee from the bed and stepped away, twirling the dagger in her hand. Vain retreated from the room as Alexis hurried by. Vain grabbed the sweet underside of her arm and when Alexis turned, she smelled of honey. “Bring me Hannah, would you? I need someone to take care of Jasper while we’re gone.”
Sweet little naïve Hannah was the woman for the job…under the right conditions. Lucky for Vain, she was a master of getting people to do what she wanted. She grabbed a bottle of sco
tch from the corner bar and when she heard a sniveling cry, Vain poured a glass.
Hannah’s hair was still a tangled mess and her face was streaked black with mascara. Instead of a tight corset, she wore a baggy gray shirt. Unkempt, unclean—what would the clientele say about Vain if they saw Hannah in such a mess?
“Drink this.” Vain shoved it into Hannah’s hands, but the girl was shaking. The glass rattled against her trembling fingers. Vain helped the glass to her mouth until Hannah took a sip. “It’ll calm your nerves.”
She coughed and sputtered, her hand clamped over her mouth. “It burns, oh God. That’s disgusting.”
“You’ll get used to it.” Vain poured Hannah another drink, this one she mixed with ice to take the edge off.
This time Hannah took a smaller sip through her dainty pursed lips. She wasn’t crying as hard now. Vain stroked her hair back. Beneath the bird’s nest of hair, Hannah was as beautiful as ever, but to lose Kevin like that…the girl was going to have to earn her keep. One way or another.
Vain kissed Hannah’s cheek and allowed her lips to linger, taking in the young girl’s sweet scent. “I have a special perfume for you. It’ll make you feel much better.” She retrieved a small glass bottle from the bar. “Smells of roses.” Roses mixed with a powerful magic. Just the kind that Vain liked to keep on hand for just these situations.
A drop on Hannah’s wrists and a smidge behind her ears.
“Kevin is dead because of you. A pig of a man, maybe, but an important pig.” Vain stroked Hannah’s quivering chin. The young lady’s eyes cast down to the floor. “Had I known how much trouble you would be, it’s possible I would’ve let you rot with Vaughn.”
Hannah’s eyes widened with fear. Good, that was exactly what Vain needed to see.
“But with his death, I see opportunity. A way to seize what is mine, without having to barter with the devil,” Vain said. “So, since you opened the door for this, I’ll give you one more chance to show me your worth. Show me you’re not dead weight. I won’t tolerate those who don’t help themselves, Hannah.”