Bloodlines: The Occultist

Chapter 4

Ebony and Amoret turned to each other and sighed. "I've got a bad feeling about this." Amoret said. "I do, too. But, for now, let's just trust our sisters and see what we can find." They started looking all over the room for something, anything that would give them a clue as to what they were dealing with. All they had managed to find was everything that they already knew was in the house. They had opened every drawer, looked in every nook and cranny, but nothing. They were getting more frustrated and scared as time went on, and they felt more and more like the worst was yet to come. It was the calm before the storm. After 10 minutes, Amoret's eyes fell on something sparkling in the pitch black and picked it up to get a closer look. "Hey, Ebony? Will you come shine your flashlight on this? I can't tell what it is." She was squinting, despite the fact that she can see perfectly in the dark. Ebony came over, shined her flashlight on the object in her sister's hand, and felt the color leave their face. "Isn't that-" Amoret began. "Lucifer's locket." Ebony finished. In Amoret's hand was a locket that had a Marquise Onyx and was lined with gold. When Ebony places her hand on it, both her and Amoret could feel warmth making their way to every inch of their body, and they felt as though they were in a trance. They were truly, genuinely happy. "We can't let this go." Ebony said. "Absolutely not." Amoret agreed. Their eyes were transfixed on the locket, and after a few seconds, it burned so bad so fast that Berlin dropped it out of pain, and it flung open. "Good going, genius." Ebony said, rolling her eyes and picking it up. She looked inside the locket, and her throat dropped to her stomach and all of the wind was knocked out of her. Not that she had any wind in her but, if she did, this is how she imagined it would feel. "Amoret." She said in a barely audible whisper. Amoret came over and looked at the locket. What they saw in the locket made their heads spin and their whole world's turn upside down; on one side of the locket was a picture of their mother, the glass cracked. On the other side; Ebony, Amoret, Pandora and Delilah when they were little. Why would Lucifer have a picture of them and their mother? What was their mother hiding from them? "Screw getting Holland to the hospital. Let's call 911 or something and get the others back here. This is huge." Ebony said. Amoret nodded, took out her phone and FaceTimed Pandora. "Come on, Pandora. Pick up, pick up." "Amoret. I was wondering how long it would take you to call." It was not Pandora who answered; it was Holland. Berlin looked at Ebony in pure panic. Why did Holland have Pandora's phone, and where was Pandora and Delilah? Berlin put her phone on speaker. "Who are you? Who are you really?" She asked. "Ah. Yes, of course you don't know me. But, I know you." His voice was silk, soft, and caused goosebumps to find every inch of Berlin and Ebony's body. "Care to enlighten us?" Ebony asked in an irritated voice. The last thing she wanted to do was show whoever, or whatever, this was, fear. "Well. Perhaps the name Terrowin rings a bell." "Oh, hell no." They both said at the same time. "We killed Terrowin. Like, 7 years ago we killed him." Amoret said. "Very good. You are correct, I am not Terrowin. I am his brother, Barda." They both put their hands on their foreheads. Of course. They should've known that killing Terrowin wouldn't be the end of him. He was a pain in the rear end and he almost ended them all. It was the most exhausting hunt they had ever been on. They were down for the count for a week. "What do you want from us?" Ebony asked. "Now, now, Ebony. Is that how you ask?" He asked in a mockingly polite voice. "Pretty sure it is, you stupid nitwit." She retorted. "I don't think that's how you talk to the man who has your sisters." He turned the camera to show Pandora and Delilah tied up. Looking beaten up and bloodied. "Ebony, Amoret. Whatever he wants, don't give it to him!" Pandora said. Ebony and Amoret felt anger and fear fighting each other inside of them. Whatever Barda wanted, it was going to be bad. And they would have to choose between giving into his request or saving their sisters. The ultimatum they hoped they would never be faced with. "Now. I don't know about you. But, if my siblings were in mortal, or rather in your case, immortal danger. I would do whatever it took to save them. I didn't get the option to save my brother, you beasts took that from me. However, I am giving you the option to save your sisters." "I ask again; what. Do. You. Want?" Ebony asked, paused between each word and grinding her teeth. Barda smirked in a way that made them almost vomit. "All I need you to do, is meet me at my location. I'll send it to you. And if you aren't here in 1 hour, the Nash family will be down two." And he hung up. Ebony punched and kicked the wall. "Ebony, calm down." Amoret said. "How the hell am I supposed to calm down? He has our sisters! And we weren't exactly kind when we took his brother out. There's no way he'll take it easy on us." Ebony shouted. She knew it. She knew they should have walked away! This was all her fault, and she knew it. If this goes the way she thinks it will, she will have gotten 3 of her loved ones killed. When bad things kept happening around the same person, did that mean that that person was cursed? Was Ebony just destined to a life of misery and grief? "Look, he sent me his location. Let's go." Amoret said. Ebony had not even taken a full step forward when she heard "Ebony, don't. He'll kill you." It was the same voice she had heard in the car. She stopped straight in her tracks yet again, paralyzed. "Ebony? What is it?" She stood frozen for a second, then got her bearings again. "Nothing. Let's go." That wasn't Draven talking. That wasn't Draven talking. Whatever this voice was in her head, it needed to shut up before she lost her mind. "Amoret, you'd better drive. I can't." She said as they got in the car and took off. "How far away even is this place?" Ebony asked. "45 minutes. He wanted to make sure we had no time to think." Ebony shook her head in frustration. It's times like this, more than ever, that wished Draven was still alive. He could take these monsters head on and end them once and for all. Of course, they can, too, but they don't have the powers he did and it will take a lot more out of them. Ebony could already tell that if they all made it out of this alive, they were going to be down for the count for a long time. Ebony looked at Amoret, and her knuckles were white on the steering wheel and she looked sick. "If you've got something to say Amoret, say it." Amoret's face instantly told Ebony that she was hoping that her sister would not have noticed her behavior. "Should we. Should we have summoned Mom before we left?" Ebony instantly felt an even heavier weight on her chest and there was a crippling amount of regret. She didn't have it in her to tell Amoret that it would've been pointless. "Why? She wouldn't have been able to leave that basement. It would've been useless." She figured a lie would be easier given what was going on at the present moment. "Yeah, I guess you're right." And the subject was dropped. Ebony knew it was only a matter of time, and not a long time at that, that she would need to tell her sisters the truth. Not now, not here, when there was the prospect of 2 of them dying tonight. As they were driving, Ebony noticed the shadow of a man lurking behind a tree, the same height and build as Draven. "Amoret! Stop the car!" She said immediately. "What? Are you crazy? We don't have much time!" Amoret shouted back at her. She wondered what could be so important that they needed to stop. "Just do it!" Amoret stopped the car and Ebony was out before it came to a complete stop. She ran to the tree where she saw the figure, and there was no one there; there wasn't even footprints in the dirt. "Damn it." She whispered so quietly that no one could've heard. What was going on? Why did she keep seeing these shadows and hearing these voices? Was she going crazy with grief? "Ebony! Back in the car, now! We only have 15 minutes left!" Amoret shouted at her from the car. Ebony didn't dare leave, she wanted the shadow figure to come back; she didn't want to miss it this time. "Ebony, now!" Her sister shouted once more. She hesitated for a second, ran back to the car and they sped off. "Mind telling me what that was about?" Amoret asked. Ebony shook her head. Until she knew for sure what was going on, what was happening to her, she couldn't tell anyone. About the shadow, the voices, none of it. And she had to forget about all of that for the time being; Pandora and Delilah needed her and they needed her at the very top of her game. She couldn't afford any distractions, couldn't have any hesitations. Not this time. She would not have a repeat of Draven. She couldn't save him, but she was going to save her sisters come hell or high water. She wasn't going to mess up this time, no matter what it took. "So, what's the plan? I mean, what do we do when we get there? He doesn't just want us there, he wants us all together for something bigger." Ebony said. She wanted to have a clear plan in mind. She didn't want to just go in guns blazing like last time. "I guess we find out what he wants and go from there." "Are you kidding me? Whatever he wants is bad! Like, could be the end of life as we know it, bad." "You think I don't know that? Pandora and Delilah's life's are at stake here, though. What do you want to do?" Both sisters were now getting irritated not only with the situation, but with each other. "We show Barda that we're the ones in charge." "No." Ebony now looked at her sister, absolutely appalled. Did she want Armageddon to come? Because that was certainly going to happen if they gave into Barda. "No?" Ebony repeated. "No. We make him think he's in charge. Demand he untie Pandora and Delilah before we do anything. And then, we take him out just like we did his sick brother." Ebony lay back in her seat, a sickening pit in her stomach. She felt as though there were a thousand needles on fire in her stomach, piercing at every nerve ending. "Something tells me taking out Barda will be even worse than taking out Tarrowin." They were both silent, contemplating what was ahead. This could very well be the end of the road, and they both knew. Both scared, neither prepared. This case was turning out to be more than any of them could have imagined. They thought all they'd have to do was salt and burn Porter Ashby's bones and that would be the end of it. They didn't expect to encounter a demon, 2 of them being kidnapped or finding out that Lucifer knows, or rather knew, them personally. What was their mother keeping from them? What was their connection to Lucifer, and how come they never knew they had some sort of connection to him until now? The girls heads were spinning. They pulled up to an abandoned warehouse and got out of the car. "This is where Barda and our sisters are?" Amoret asked in disbelief. "Oh, my god. This is not going to be good." Ebony said, her voice plainly showing her fear. "You ready?" Amoret asked. "Nope." Ebony answered, but they both walked into the unknown, anyways. When they walked in, they couldn't see anything, and a feeling of ice cold fear ran through their body like a stream of water, touching every nerve and every inch of skin. "Hello?" Ebony called out, attempting to sound confident, but her voice shaking so hard it could've caused an earthquake. "Ebony, I think it's a setup." Amoret whispered. "Then where are Pandora and Delilah?" Ebony whispered back. They heard footsteps echoing in the distance and prepared themselves. What they were prepared for, they wish they knew. Pandora limped out from behind a pole. We're in big trouble, she communicated to her sisters without actually speaking. Then she gestured for them to follow her. Ebony and Amoret looked at each other, internally debating if they should run right now. But, they couldn't. Their baby sisters were in trouble and if they were going down, they were all going down together. That's the pact they made when Delilah turned 11 and started going on hunts with them; that none of them would die alone. They followed Pandora through a seemingly never ending hall and through a set of double doors to what appeared to have been a back room, their chests getting tighter with every step. When they walked in, Delilah was tied to a wall, her head and body limp and they saw Barda standing next to her with a syringe full of blood. "You son of, we got here in time! Why did you kill her?" Ebony shouted in fury. She couldn't believe this; the youngest died first. That's not how it's supposed to go! None of them are supposed to die, but Delilah should not have been the first one to go. "Now, Ebony. Relax yourself. I keep my word, Delilah is not dead. Simply a small dose of animal blood." Barda taunted. "Barda, don't play with our little dolls." Came a woman's voice. The source of the voice appeared behind a wall. She had long black, crimped hair that went to her knees. Her eyes were a blue so piercing you felt as though she was staring right at you. She had a smile that sent your stomach into a whirlpool of nauseating butterflies and the most beautiful olive skin. "Amoret. Nice to see you again."