Blood Debt (The Blood Sisters Book 2) by Jill Cooper

people strung up in body bags at the hospital?
    Her
handiwork, not exactly, but her demon toys. They loved to maim and destroy. Demons did as demons do, that’s what Vain
always said. The money and luxuries had been good, but none of it could comfort
her, not since Duncan betrayed her and handcuffed her to that damn radiator.
      Worst of it was, Vain suspected all along, but
hadn’t stopped him. Hadn’t said anything. She let his pretty boy looks and
playful smile get the best of her.
    Smash.
    His pub
was as dull as they came. He rightfully avoided it after everything he’d done
to her, but now Vain tore the police tape down and stomped on in. The place was a pig sty. She held her head up
high and sniffed a long deep breath. The smell of blood lingered even after it
had been washed out of the wooden plank floor.
    Duncan
had been here. Recently.
    “Fan
out.” Vain removed her silver gloves and strolled around the bar. The police
officers that flanked her did as she ordered. Funny, how a woman could command
such demons, but it was part of her… gifts.
    She
didn’t know what she was looking for, but she’d know when she found it. Always
follow your instincts. Vain learned her lesson by ignoring it before. She never
repeated the same mistake.
    Behind
her the floor creaked and a shadow crept toward the bar. Who had decided to
join their little party?
    Vain
reached for the bottle of whiskey with one hand while her other hovered just
over the handle of her dagger, secured at her hip. She poured a shot into two
glasses. “Want a drink or am I going to have to drink both myself?”
    A crackle
of magic behind her reflected off the whisky bottle. It seemed she was going to
be outdone. Pity. Vain picked up one shot and threw it down her throat. Then in
one swift move, she pulled her dagger free and spun around to face her enemy.
    Her
dagger was torn from her hand and spiraled across the room. The woman in front
of her smirked. She wore a leather trench coat and Vain could appreciate her
flair for style. Her red hair was short, tucked under a bandana and her skin
was splattered with a fine line of freckles. Well, if she didn’t look familiar.
    “What’s
your relation to Jessica Blood?” Vain picked up the second shot and drank it
down. She had seen her photo enough in Duncan’s things to know exactly who
Jessica was, even if she never had the pleasure of meeting her face to face.
    Not yet,
but time was coming soon. The Blood in front of her was older but fit. Beneath her loose shirt, she had all the right
curves. Plump in all the right places. Vain could use a woman like that.
Business was always booming for an older woman.
    Older,
younger. Thinner, fatter . She had the clientele for each preference.
    “You can
call me Gwen. They call me aunt.” Gwen sneered and then Vain saw the green mist
lingering behind her eyes.
    Interesting, seems someone got their hooks into a
Blood. They were falling like bowling pins these days. “So we work on the same
side? What is it you want with this place?”
    “I work
for Lourdes. We’re not on the same side.” Gwen lowered her hands to her side.
“You reek of Vaughn and all that humanity has to offer.”
    Vain
snorted and wished she had poured herself another drink. She might have been
tough, but she certainly wished to avoid any entanglement with Lourdes. No one
was stupid enough to piss the queen of the underworld off, except for maybe the
woman standing in front of her. “I turned my back on humanity a long time ago
and Vaughn, you don’t want to make him an enemy. He has pull with a lot of high-levels .”
    “More
than the queen of the underworld herself?” Gwen sneered. “Please.”
    “What do
you want? You didn’t kill me, yet, so you must want something.”
    “An
alliance.”
    That
shocked Vain more than anything than Gwen could’ve said. Interested, Vain
poured herself another drink with an arched eyebrow.
    Gwen took
her silence as a cue to continue. “I know your