Giovanni (Blood Brothers Book 6) (19 page)

Giovanni desperately searched his memory for a description of Dylan’s truck. “There’s a detached garage in the back of Sydney’s house and that’s where people with vehicles parked. I do remember seeing a black pick-up truck. It was an older model but I wouldn’t be able to tell you the make or model.”

“Dante, turn on the radio. I can enchant it to pick up the police airwaves within a hundred mile radius. Surely there will be news of an accident if there was a fatality,” Cutter added.

“Good idea.” Once Dante turned the radio on, Cutter began to chant under his breath.

Dante patted Giovanni on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her.”

“I hope so,” Giovanni whispered, knowing that if Sydney didn’t survive her ordeal he had no reason left to live.

Chapter Twenty

Sydney pounded against the barrier holding her prisoner. It didn’t feel solid like a wall, in fact it felt stretchy. Every time she hit it, the material would wobble a little more than the last time. The boundary seemed to be weakening. Realizing this, she struck out with more force until finally she fell forward. She could feel dirt and grass beneath her hands. Sydney couldn’t see where she was going and didn’t know where she was but she had to get moving before Ida returned.

Wobbling to her feet she placed her hands out to keep herself from bumping into something as she made her getaway. She was still trying to reconcile the voice in her head. Somehow she’d been able to communicate with John telepathically. Maybe she was going crazy. She’d heard that in extreme cases of distress people tended to hallucinate. That’s the only explanation she’d had for having an entire conversation with someone who was nowhere near here. Even by some strange chance that the discussion she’d had in her head was real, no one was around to help her now. The only person she had to depend on was herself.

Sydney moved cautiously while trying to maintain a steady pace. A few times, she encountered something solid and rough, trees. There were lots of them. She paused when she heard a familiar sound. Sydney strained to make out what it was.

Cars!

She had to be close to a road. Figuring if she could make it there, she could flag down a vehicle and get help. Just as she started walking again, something hard slammed into her back. “Going somewhere? Did you think you could get away from me?” Ida demanded.

Sydney fell to the ground from the impact. However, she refused to go down without a fight. She kicked and flailed. Her foot connected with something solid which she assumed was Ida.

“Umph!” Ida cried. “You’ll pay for that.”

Sydney tried to crawl away from but Ida hooked her arm around Sydney’s neck. “Get off me,” she yelled and clawed at her adversary’s hands. But the harder she struggled the tighter the grip around her neck became. It became more difficult to breath and she was quickly losing strength. As she struggled for air, Sydney found herself drifting off into the abyss.

<><><><><>

“There it is!” On the side of the road was three police cars and an ambulance surrounding a black truck. From the looks of things, the vehicle had smashed into the road’s divider on the driver’s side. The impact must have been hard because half of the car was completely caved in. Sydney had mentioned that Dylan was dead and witnessing this wreckage, Giovanni could see why.

The road thankfully didn’t have a lot of traffic, which enabled them to pull over. The other cars in their caravan followed suit. “Dante, I need you and the others to clear out the police officers and the rest of the emergency workers. I’m going to see if I can locate Sydney on foot. Her presence is strong in this area.”

“Okay. As soon as we clear everyone out, we’ll join you.”

Giovanni couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. Nya appeared beside him. She’d been in her own vehicle. “I’m coming with you.”

He nodded in acknowledgement. Giovanni couldn’t tell if his friend was angry with him for letting Sydney get into a situation like this because she didn’t say one way or another. But he had a feeling they’d have a long talk when this was all over.

As they moved forward they ran into a foul-smelling mist. “It’s sulfur,” he whispered. Usually that scent was strong when there was a demonic presence around.

“Shit!” Nya exclaimed. “We have to hurry!”

<><><><><>

Sydney gagged as smoke surrounded her. She was torn between gasping for air and holding her breath because the scent was noxious. She wanted to throw up. Ida had tied her up against a tree so she couldn’t move her arms. It was so restricting the cords cut off her circulation. “Ida, let me go! What you’re doing is wrong.”

“Shut up! You were wrong for killing my Dylan. All you had to do was keep your mouth shut but you just had to provoke him. I’ve always looked out for you Sydney, I wouldn’t have allowed him to hurt you.”

“But you did! He hit me and you just sat there and did nothing. What kind of woman are you to allow that to happen? Why would you want me to be with an abusive person like Dylan?”

“Shut your goddamn mouth. My Dylan was just stressed. Do you know what it’s been like for him? He was such a sweet little boy but my daughter was no damn good. I should have aborted her ass when I had the chance.”

Sydney winced. “That’s how you talk about your own daughter?”

Ida snorted. “I tried to love her but she was defiant and strong-willed since the day she was born. She hated reservation life. Thought she was too good for it. Always taking off with no-account men who only wanted to get in her pants. She was the reason my husband left, because she was nothing but trouble.”

Sydney gasped and immediately coughed as she inhaled the disgusting smoke. Ida rarely talked about the daughter she’d lost, but Sydney couldn’t remember her ever saying such horrible things about her own flesh and blood. This Ida was not the kind old woman who’d befriended her shortly after she’d gone blind. This wasn’t the woman who had been her best friend for the last several years. This woman was a monster.

“So you dote on Dylan because you failed your own daughter?”

Sydney didn’t hear Ida move before she felt the sharp sting of Ida’s backhand.

“Watch your mouth! I didn’t fail my daughter. Maureen was a whore who met the bad end that she’d been asking for all her life. And even though she didn’t deserve it, Dylan actually loved that bitch. My sweet Dylan, who only wanted love. Maureen didn’t give a shit about him. The Elders in our tribe wanted to lock Dylan away for a few minor transgressions. They forced us to move off the reservation. Even Dylan’s own good-for-nothing father wouldn’t acknowledge him. He lived a comfortable life with his family and treated my Dylan horribly. Those deaths weren’t Dylan’s fault. He didn’t know anyone was in that house when he set fire to it. He was just trying to get back at his father for hurting him,” Ida screamed the words. At this point Sydney didn’t think the older woman was talking to her. These were the ramblings of a mad woman.

A chill ran down Sydney’s spine. Dylan killed someone? How had he avoided jail? “He murdered someone?”

“He didn’t mean to! They should have smelled the smoke and got out of the house when they had a chance. That man shouldn’t have turned his back on my poor sweet Dylan. Just like that bitch of an ex of his shouldn’t have tried to press charges against him. She had too much mouth if you ask me. She wouldn’t stop talking. He didn’t mean to strangle her!”

What the hell was Ida talking about? “If he killed all those people then how was he still free?”

“Because I have ways of manipulating situations.” Ida sounded quite proud of herself.

“I don’t believe you.” Sydney gasped for air, feeling dizzy from all the smoke.

“Why not? I’ve been doing it to you for years. I knew a woman who showed me how to perform the dark arts. I knew I’d do whatever it took to protect my sweet Dylan and give him all the love he didn’t get from my cunt of a daughter and his loser father. I would give him the world if I needed to. And for some reason he wanted your pathetic ass. He saw you before I introduced myself to you, you know. Said it was love at first sight.”

“So you only became my friend so he could get close to me?”

“Why else would I attach myself to a blind little nobody? Now shut up. I have work to do.”

This woman was clearly insane. The Ida she thought she knew didn’t exist. And if what she said was true, she’d been covering for a murderer for years. It turned Sydney’s stomach that she’d let Ida and Dylan get so close to her. Why didn’t she see through their deception? Tears rolled down her face. The last several years of her life had been one big lie.

“So you’re going to kill me, now?”

“Yes, but the bright side, your death will be for the greater good. I need to make a sacrifice in order to bring my Dylan back so that the spirits can be appeased.”

Sydney struggled against her restraints but they seemed to tighten the more she fought.

Ida let out a loud evil cackle. “Fight all you like but you won’t escape. Prepare to meet your end, bitch!”

“The only one who’s going to meet her end is you!” A newcomer joined them.

John!

The smoke was thicker and the smell was almost unbearable as Giovanni and Nya got closer to the sound of a screaming woman. It was Ida, declaring her plans for Sydney. The second he heard the word sacrifice, he sped up not stopping until he spotted Ida’s shadowy figure.

His heart nearly stopped beating when he saw the sight before him. Ida stood over Sydney who was bound to a tree. Ida held a large black dagger and it was clear she had every intention of using it.

Without hesitation, he made his presence known.

“John!” Sydney screamed his name.

Ida turned her head just in time for Nya to flash forward and knock her down with a powerful blow to the face. The old woman crumpled to the ground. “She’s out cold,” Nya stated, staring down at Ida’s prone body with disgust. “But who is that?” She pointed to a body several feet away.

For the first time Giovanni saw Dylan’s still form. His skin was ashen and his chest didn’t rise or fall indicating he was not drawing breath. He was bloody and broken. It was a wonder how Ida had managed to get his body out of the vehicle before the police arrived but Giovanni figured she’d used some kind of black magic.

Having practiced black magic before, Giovanni immediately knew what Ida’s intentions had been. She’d planned to sacrifice Sydney’s life in order to resurrect Dylan. Thankful that Nya had knocked the old bitch out, he rushed to Sydney’s side.

“What’s going on?” Sydney’s head went from side to side as if she were trying to listen out for what was happening.

“Sydney, I’m here.” Giovanni frantically tore at her bonds and freed her. Then he pulled her into his arms and squeezed her tight.

“John? Is this really you?”

“Yes, Sydney. I’m here and I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you ever again.”

She coughed before wrapping her arms around him and burying her face against his neck. “Thank you for saving me.”

He stared down at her, happier than he’d felt in a long time. Just being in her presence was like a soothing balm to his aching heart. “No. You’re the one who saved me.”

“I hate to break up the reunion but we’re going to need to get Sydney away from that thing.” Nya nodded in the direction of Ida’s still prone body.

Her body emitted a greenish light before it began to split in half. A large black slimy hand emerged from the now dead body.

It was a demon. Black magic was dangerous to anyone dared to use it but it was especially so for humans because it attracted demons. Once that demon attached itself to its host, the only way to extract it was by killing the host.

“We’ll take care of this. We figured you might need our help.” Blade appeared followed by Cutter and Sasha.

“John? What’s happening?” Sydney asked in confusion.

“I have to get you out of here.”

Giovanni looked over his shoulder in time to see the demon in its full form. The remains of Ida’s body lay at its feet. The creature was nowhere near as big of the one that his mother had harbored so it would at least be easy to defeat. Sasha, Cutter, and Blade surrounded it and then sent a huge explosion of light from their fingertips bringing the monster to its knees.

“Let’s go before the big explosion.”

“Explosion?” Sydney asked

Just then the demon let out an unearthly sound that shook the ground.

“I’ll explain later but for now. We have to go.” Giovanni scooped Sydney up into his arms and started to run with Nya on his heels. He kept going until he spotted the caravan of vehicles on the side of the road. Dylan’s pickup truck was in the same spot but all the emergency workers had left.

Dante spotted him first. “We were on our way to help you guys, but I see that you’ve found Sydney. What about the others?”

“Sasha and the twins are taking care of the demon. Thankfully it seems like a small one,” Nya answered.

“I’m going to get Sydney home. Do you guys think you can handle the cleanup?”

“Sure.”

“You can ride with me,” Nya offered.

Giovanni looked down at the trembling Sydney, who clung to him for dear life. He placed a kiss on the top of her head. For the first time, he noticed the huge dark bruise forming on the side of her face. He didn’t know if Ida or Dylan had been responsible for that mark but he wished he could kill them all over again. Sydney appeared to be in shock from the way her she shook in his arms.

Giovanni followed Nya to her vehicle, a large black SUV, and slid in the backseat with Sydney.

Just as they were about to pull away there was a loud blast coming from the area they’d left the demon. It seemed to shake Sydney out of her stupor. She let out a scream.

Giovanni clutched her hand. “Sydney! It’s going to be all right. You’re safe now. No one can harm you ever again.”

“John?” she whispered with uncertainty in her voice.

He brought her hand to his lips and planted a gentle kiss on her knuckles. “Yes, I’m here,
amore
.”