Sacrifice (#1 Twin's Service series) UNEDITED

Chapter 17

(Jared's POV)

Wooden slates hung over my head and it took me a minute to realize that I wasn't at home in my bed. That's right, last night I spent the night in the Werewolf pack. After thinking about it I recalled that I'd left Cane to handle the matter of a pile of dead bodies near his land. Probably because I wasn't a part of the pack and was just a guest, he hadn't objected to it.

I reached over and grabbed my phone off the side table. Shit. Sloane had called numerous times and there was even one from Celise.

My voicemail started up when I hit the screen to turn it on.

"First message: 'Hey asshat, where the hell are you? Why'd you leave Cece all alone at home? Do you know the shit that's been going on? Probably not since you're off jerking your shlob thinking about the piece you left at our house. Anyways, you need to call me back soon," there was a pause and she proceeded with a less confident voice, "Bro, I really need someone to talk to. I don't want Cece to see me right now. Please come home."

That was uncharacteristic for my sister and really freaked me out. She'd never been one to be scared of much and hardly ever clung to me unless she was trying to bribe me into doing something particularly nefarious. When I thought about the last time she'd sounded like that, it was after the ShadowMancer nearly killed us both.

Immediately I jumped out of bed and put the phone on speaker as I went to pull my clothes from last night on.

"Second Message: 'Umm, Jarred.. it's Celise. Hi. I was just calling because.. well Sloane's shut herself in her room and won't let me in. When she got home she used her speed to go in and I didn't even see a single hair of hers to be honest. Kind of freaking me out. Please come home and see what's wrong."

The entire message was spoken in a low hushed voice as if she were trying not to alert Sloane to her actions. Of course, it was rather useless since the entire house had both our wards around it. With the wards it was a type of surveilance so that anything said or done within the walls could be transmitted to us. Along those lines, I tapped into my ward and found Sloane under a large pile of blankets like a rabbit in a burrow.

My eyebrows furrowed and I swiped my unruly hair out my eyes as if to clear away some of the obstructions in order to clearly see my sister. Frustrated, I shut down my second vision and listened to the last message.

"Third Message: 'Bro, I feel really disgusting and I think I need to feed or something. My body feels really weak," she gave a sort of rattled breath as if it were difficult to inhale, "It doesn't feel like normal blood lust though. I think it has something to do with the Blood Curse. If you come home and something is wrong with me, call Dimitri. He's the only one who can read the transcript."

My hand clenched on the phone and it shattered. Pieces cut deep into my hands which I ignored as I ran out of the cabin. Without even thinking about anyone or anything else I sped off towards home on my bike. Not because of the message but because as soon as she had said she felt weak, I'd tapped into our link and found it barely there.

Something was definitely wrong and now that my phone was broken I had no way to get ahold of Dimitri or Celise. By the time I arrived I almost crashed the bike into the side of the house. Luckily I used a simple magic to stabilize the bike and myself before barging into the house. Celise had practically plowed into me in fright before I steadied her and ran towards Sloane.

"What's going on? Jarred your-"

Before she could finish, I'd kicked Sloane's door down. There was no sign of movement from the bed and the entire room was shrouded in darkness. I could feel the Shadow Realm and spirits hovering around. At the realization, I could also feel something pulling at Sloane. In an instant I'd picked up the bundle on the bed and my sister's pale face appeared in front of me.