Blood Debt (The Blood Sisters Book 2) Read Free Page A

of happiness, euphoria, pleasure, all
the while chipping at their very soul until nothing was left.
    They
passed by brick red buildings with signs ‘open for business’ in the window
while others were having close out sales. Businesses may be on the brink of closing forever, but the strip clubs seemed
to be doing okay. Blinking lights outside, with a scrolling marquee, it was a
thing you’d expect to see in Vegas. And the lines?
    Wrapped
around the building as if people were waiting to see a blockbuster movie.
    The light
grew brighter and filled the windshield. Amanda shielded her eyes and Duncan
squinted, the closer they got. “Want to tell me what that was back there?”
Duncan asked. “Jessica was…gone. The demons were around us. We were goners and then you screamed—.”
    “And they
all fell back,” Amanda admitted softly. “If I knew what it was, I’d tell you,
Duncan. But I don’t know. The only non-passive thing I can do is exorcise a
demon with my hands, you know that.” It scared her. Whatever it had been, it
damn well terrified her.
    He nodded
in agreement and there was no malice in his voice, but Amanda felt his surge of
adrenaline. Didn’t he trust her? Didn’t he—He thought the drugs Vaughn pumped
her full of corrupted her. Amanda felt that surge of emotion as clear as day.
She swallowed hard and stared out the window.
    Was it
true? Aunt Gwen always said, if corrupted, Amanda would be as explosive as a
time bomb.
    If they
were going to help Jessica, they had to work together. Had to trust each other,
but Amanda didn’t know how to make him understand. She understood just because
she felt. How could she explain something like that?
    “It could
be the drugs messing you up,” Father Mike said from the rear seat, leaning
forward. “It might settle as you heal, get the drugs from your system.”
    A ‘but’
hung between them; Amanda didn’t have the answers. She didn’t have the truth,
so she didn’t say anything. All she could do was nod and hope, for now, it
would be enough.
    They
arrived at the dome of light, behind a café and Duncan slowed the car down to a
crawl. Pulling it beside the curb, he cut the engine and no sooner did he do
that, than the light from the angel disappeared.
    Duncan
raised an eyebrow. “Maybe she didn’t want to meet with us after all.”
    “She
did.” Amanda gazed out, looking around the sidewalk and the front of the café.
It was a casual, but homey place with bushes out front and a white painted
door. It made her feel warm and squishy inside. “She’s here, around the back.”
Amanda opened the car door and stepped out, but a wave of dizziness overtook
her.
    She
steadied herself with a hand to her forehead, but Duncan grabbed her arm
anyway. A toothpick twirled in his mouth, it hadn’t been there a few minutes
ago. “You okay there, princess?”
    He didn’t
say it in a condescending way. All Amanda felt was worry and concern. The
weight of responsibility was already bearing down on him. Amanda wished she
could wave her hand and make it disappear.
    “I’m
good, just been through a lot the last few days. Maybe after this, we could get some French fries? And pie?”
Amanda said with hope. “I haven’t eaten anything in a few days.”
    “We’ll
get you whatever you need.” Father Mike said warmly. Amanda liked him, but she
couldn’t read him like she read others. Unless of course, there just simply was nothing to read at all.
    That idea
unsettled her. She knew Mike was a good person. He dedicated his life to
fighting demons. He left his church long before they met and formed his own
renegade group of like-minded souls.
    But she
didn’t know him. Not really.
    Duncan
led them down the simple, nondescript alley. A chain-link fence surrounded a dumpster that smelled of days old coffee
grinds and sour milk. In the middle of such normalcy, the angel stood front and
center. When their eyes fell upon her, Duncan and Father Mike’s steps slowed
and Amanda