Page 57 of True Sacrifice
Lucifer handed a file folder to one of the black knights standing nearest him. The knight’s armor clanked down the steps as it approached us. They shoved the folder into Jasper’s arms. He scanned through it quickly.
“Earth? But your majesty…” Jasper began, but Lucifer waved his hand in a silencing gesture.
“You are dismissed. You may gather your weapons and then leave immediately for the human realm. Time is of the essence for missing humans,” Lucifer said with complete finality.
The boys stood still as statues. They gave a sharp nod before turning and ushering me out of the room.
Weapons for me comprised some weird drink that shifted my shape. I now had short brown hair, brown eyes, and a dash of freckles across my nose. My entire bone structure shifted, but just ever so slightly. An effect that was simply terrifying to see reflected.
The portal from Hell put us in the forest near the pop-up concert stage. It was the middle of the night, and the forest was alive with the sound of animals. There were no humans around, but I still reached out to see what minds were nearby. Just us.
We walked together, and I quickly led the boys in the right direction as things looked more and more familiar.
“Hey, wait up,” Jasper called, having to sprint a little to catch up.
“Home field advantage boys, try to keep up.” I laughed and turned to keep up my stride. We were close now. There would be a road up ahead and if we walked that for a few miles, we would end up right in the middle of town.
“Can’t be that good of an advantage if you died the last time you were here,” Justice laughed. Fair point well made.
I felt the power running through my veins and knew that I had no reason to be scared. Between my abilities and what my boys could do to anyone that tried to hurt me, I felt safe. Plus, I was going to at least check up on Sheila. I understood I couldn’t see her, like not as me. Apparently, knowing too much about the other realms had a higher rate of soul fracture amongst the humans. No one knew exactly why, but that was the way it was.
We met the road and turned north. Three miles of walking ahead of us and that was where someone decided to murder me. Apparently, Jasper found me in the sewer system under the main street. It was a little alcove of that system that was set up like an altar. Jasper had taken my body above ground, so someone would have found me quickly. Rather than rotting away in a sewer.
“Hey Justice, want to race?” Jasper asked excitedly. Here, his tail and horns were completely missing. His skin took on a hazelnut hue instead of the crimson. He stood about six feet tall. All the boys did. Jax looked the same, except for his fangs. Just a normal good-looking smile that any human would fall for. Justice had to remove his adorable, little, pointed ears. I think he had been going for magical elf look, but it was more kitty-cat like. I had also convinced him to wear a shirt for the visit to Earth. He picked a zip up hoodie so he could remove it quickly if he needed.
“Demon speed or human speed?” Justice asked back. They certainly liked to challenge each other a lot.
“How about vampire speed?” I smiled before I took off running as fast as I could go. I hadn’t attempted running at full speed since I had become a vampire, but I knew I was faster. I didn’t expect to be this fast, though. I came to a halt at the edge of the town square after just a few minutes of running. It took my boys just a minute longer to catch up.
“Fuck, you're fast,” Jax said, taking in a deep lungful of air. In Hell, that would have helped him to gain a little more power, but here it did nothing. Once we ran out of power, we were vulnerable. I expected to be gone long before that happened.
A smart assed comment stuck on the tip of my tongue, as I noticed the nearby traffic post covered in sheets of paper flapping about in the wind. I hurried over and saw at least a dozen missing persons fliers. My heart sank as my gaze met a familiar one and shards of ice seemed to fill my blood.
“No,” I breathed, taking a step back from the eyes that refused to release me. “No.”
Justice came up behind me, wrapping his arms around me tightly. “What’s going on, my fox?”
I could feel my whole-body trembling. “Sheila is one of the missing.”
His arms tightened around me, giving me a comforting squeeze. “We’ll find whoever did this and we can dislocate each one of their joints while you ask them questions,” Justice growled into my ear, which made me smile. If Sheila was out there, we would find her.
Jasper started walking away. “Let’s get moving then,” he called out, swirling his fingers in the direction we needed to go. There was a sewer entrance right inside the public restrooms at our town welcome center. Really, it was just a bathroom in between two little local shops.
Climbing down into the smelly, wet, dripping sewer was one of the most disgusting things I had ever done. Once I got to the bottom of the ladder, I opened my palm and called a fireball into my hand. It was a little bigger than I intended, with all the nerves running through me.
Justice hooked his feet around the sides of the ladder and slid down effortlessly. Show off.
“Here,” he said, tossing me a crystal. “Uses less power than a fireball.”
“But I can throw a fireball at a rat if I see one. I’m pretty sure a crystal won’t kill the damn thing.” I took the crystal anyway and snuffed out the flame. I held the smooth, long crystal in my fist and directed power into it. I could adjust how bright or dim it was based on power, and that was cool.
Jasper and Jax made it to the bottom and Jasper continued onwards, as if he wasn’t worried about the rats. It didn’t take long to get to the little alcove where I had died, and honestly, each step we took towards the room felt like a step towards walking over my grave. Goosebumps flushed over my skin, an electric charge warning me to stay away.
The smell hit first. The distinct odor of decaying flesh had me worried that somehow my body had stayed here the entire time. Rounding the corner, I was relieved to see that the blackened insect infested body was not mine. A silver glisten caught my attention as I moved to the light to see a knife laid on the floor.
“He killed me?” I pointed to the hunk of flesh.
“Yes, Princess.” Jasper said, coming over to wrap his arms around me. “I’m sorry we had to come back here, but there might be some clues left behind why. He might even lead us to the other missing people.”
