Doomed Cases Box Set: The Complete Collection Books 1- 4 & Prequel

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  “I don’t know, but we have to keep on moving. Demon or not, Ricky is fighting for his life in the hospital,” I hissed, feeling weakened by another demon nearby. In the past few hours my energy had been rippling through, electrifying everything that I touched.

  The moment I decided to follow Zara everything began spinning out of control. I should have figured out that Alexis was behind this whole thing. She had learnt about Summer, then escaped the pits. It was clear that she was planning to find a way to get to her.

  Emma was talking to me about her ways of coping when she had decided to leave Suzi’s father. Zach was strolling behind us, and deep down I was wishing that I could be dealing with this whole mess alone. Dragging two humans through an unknown path wasn’t wise. My soul didn’t matter much to Hell, but I didn’t want to ruin Zach’s or Emma’s future. They deserved to be away from any demonic mess.

  Half an hour later, we managed to locate the clinic. Whoever was following us must have backed away a little. My energy subsided, but the uneasiness remained, drilling holes in my stomach. Morpheus had promised to guide me, and so far, he’d done nothing but provide me with useless information. I should have thought twice about the deal I made with him.

  The clinic, Savvy Health, was run entirely by demons, but the funds came from human sponsors. I didn’t dwell on logistics, wondering if my best friend was ever going to wake up. It wasn’t fair that he had to suffer because of my poor choices from the past. As soon as we stepped inside, my anxiety shot through the roof. I hated hospitals in general, hated the fact that I put Ricky in danger, and he was dying, but I needed to be here.

  Inside, the sterile smell hit me instantly and I did everything I could to keep it together. A pretty demonic nurse was sitting behind a large reception desk appearing busy when we approached. She was part of Mammon’s faction.

  “We are here to see Ricky Donovan,” I said, pushing myself to keep it together. In the past two years magical tequila had been my companion, and in situations like this, I would normally be drunk, but not this time. Too many people got hurt because of me and my inability to deal with the past. Now it was time to grow a thick skin and fight. My addiction didn’t matter right at this moment.

  The nurse glanced over me, raised her eyebrows at Zach and Emma, sending unfriendly vibes throughout the room.

  Are you aware that humans aren’t supposed to be here?

  “They know about us, and we are in a hurry. Ricky Donovan is my business partner,” I explained, knowing she was most likely planning to report me later on.

  “The last room on the left,” she said with a fake smile. Emma was muttering to herself as we passed through the long corridor. There were demons behind each door, I sensed them. Sick demons, filled with twisted curses and dreaded injuries.

  The temperature inside my body rose when I stopped in front of Ricky’s room. The door was ajar, and there was a demon checking something on a clipboard.

  “Oh, my Lord,” Emma gasped, and I felt like my knees turned into paper. He looked worse than I expected, and even Zach stopped frozen behind me. The wound wasn’t covered, spreading from one side of his neck to the other. I didn’t understand why the hospital staff didn’t even attempt to conceal it, at least for his relatives. Half of his left side was black, and the skin looked like it had been rotting for a while. The foul smell was unbearable. Despite all that, I couldn’t look away, sensing that his demonic soul was in pieces. On the contrary, I wanted to go to him, squeeze his hand and tell him that everything was going to be all right, but deep down I realised that improvement of his condition depended entirely on magical energy that was in Hell.

  “Rick, I’m sorry,” I whispered, sending the stream of thoughts directly to him.

  “We are keeping up his vitals, but we need a reversal spell to get him back on his feet,” the nurse said, standing by the window with her clipboard.

  Emma started to sob, and her tears numbed me even more. This man was my family, even though we had only known each other for a few years. He always kept me on my toes. I had to do something to help him.

  “Max … he’s dying … oh God, please tell me that you will find a way to get that spell,” Emma said, moving closer to me. All of a sudden, I couldn’t talk. I felt like someone had cut off my tongue. My hands were shaking as an incredibly cold shiver crept over my spine. Morpheus had promised to help me. There was still a chance, even if the price seemed too high.

  “There is a way. I have a plan, Emma, but it’s dangerous and I can’t get you involved,” I stuttered, glancing at Zach.

  “You are a demon with powers and magic. Heal him, do something,” Zach said, looking lost himself, squeezing my arm. I fought away the tears. I had to stay strong for both of them. Things in the demonic world were complicated enough.

  “This isn’t that simple. Zara’s machete was taken from the underworld. The reversal spell would need to come from there, too,” I explained, telling myself that I could make everything work. My soul didn’t matter, as long as Summer and Ricky lived.

  Zach’s dark eyes flickered at the corners, and he ran his hand through his hair. I was supposed to keep this quiet from him.

  “She really did that to him?” he finally asked, not believing that his sister could have changed so much. I nodded, realising that I couldn’t hate her for what happened. Alexis had poisoned her mind and taken her humanity.

  “Who is Zara?” Emma asked.

  “Zach’s sister. She has been missing for quite some time. It’s a really long story, Emma,” I explained.

  “What the hell are you and those humans doing in here? It’s a private room, and you have no right being here,” said a voice that I recognised. Judith Donavon stepped into the room, glaring at me with fury, her energy rising fast. Ricky had introduced me to his sister a while ago, once during dinner in a restaurant. I left before the main course was served. We ended up arguing, both refusing to let it go. Since that day we hadn’t been on the best of terms. Maybe it was a clash of personalities or, maybe Judith was jealous over the fact that I had such a good relationship with her brother. Ricky had tried to reason with both of us, but I never wanted to have anything to do with her.

  “We both know that I have every right to be here and to have these two humans with me,” I snarled, ignoring the fact that Zach wasn’t supposed to know about demons at all. Judith was a full-blooded demon with crazy red hair and a long face. I had no idea what she did for a living, and I didn’t really care. For as long as I could remember, she had never been much involved in Ricky’s life.

  “Oh hi, it’s really nice to meet you. I’ve been worrying about Ricky so much in the past few days, and Maxine hasn’t been in touch, so I thought that I’d visit him and …”

  “Emma, you can spare Judith the details,” I said, cutting Emma off, before Judith lost it with her, too. “Ricky is going to be all right. I have a plan.”

  Judith laughed out loud, shaking her head in total ignorance. She obviously didn’t believe I could help her brother.

  “He’s dying thanks to you, and the doctors are saying that no one can help him,” she snapped. “So, I suggest you get the hell out of here. And take those humans with you. That one has a relief license, but the man doesn’t. I bet the faction would love to investigate this further.”

  I knew that Judith wouldn’t hesitate to report me. She must have heard that my name was on the Watchers’ radar already.

  “Yeah, like they would also love to know that you’re copulating with a human man,” I snapped, unable to help myself. Her face fell, and I automatically regretted that I mentioned her relationship. She’d escaped Hell, and for years she had been trying to create a new life on Earth. Despite the fact that we didn’t get on, Ricky had talked about Judith often. I knew she had been dating a human man for a few years now, ignoring the protocol from Hell. “Emma will stay here for a moment. She’s our co-worker, and she is very worried about your brother. Zach, come on, I have to show you something.�
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  Judith shot me a vicious look but didn’t say anything else. Deep down, she must have realised that I was the only person who could help her brother. She wasn’t stupid. Emma nodded and sat on the chair next to Ricky’s bed.

  A sharp pain shot through my chest when I left the room. Ricky had suffered a great deal, and he wasn’t going to get better unless Lucifer delivered the spell. I had found a way to get him back on his feet, but first I had to deal with Alexis. Lucifer himself wanted me to take care of her.

  Outside in the corridor, I turned around to face Zach. It was time to break the news to him, too.

  “Zara is in this hospital, Zach. She was brought in along with Ricky,” I said. He exhaled sharply, obviously not ready for news like that. “I didn’t want to say anything more about her condition. You have to see for yourself.”

  “Where is she? What do you think happened to her?”

  “I have no idea. The charm that she was under must have been broken when Alexis disappeared. She must have gone into shock.”

  Zach clenched his fists as anger embraced his sharp features. At the end of the day he was her brother, but Zara wasn’t the same girl he knew all those years ago. Earlier on, he promised that he would behave.

  “I want to see her,” he demanded.

  “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Demonic doctors are trying to put her back together. No one knows what is really wrong with her,” I warned him, thinking about his past.

  “Don’t worry. I won’t do anything to that son of a bitch, just take me to her,” he said. I could sense he was telling the truth. One of the other nurses directed us to the second floor. Nameless had stayed with Zara. He didn’t escape down to the tunnels as I was expecting. He must really love her.

  Zach was tense and conflicted. It’d been six years since he’d last seen his sister. He’d thought that she was dead. Until a month ago, he also thought that humans were the only creatures living on Earth. Maybe I should have waited for the right moment. It was a hell of a shock, even for a tough guy like him.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked when we approached another room at the end of the corridor. Zach nodded, not even hesitating.

  I took a deep breath, knocked lightly, and then entered. The room was small, and with a large bed and two extra people inside, it felt even smaller. Zara was lying in bed, staring directly at the ceiling. To anyone from outside, she would have looked perfectly fine, but I knew straight away that she’d been hit with a strong curse.

  “Max, right?” the man asked who was sitting next to her. It was Nameless Thief, a man who Zach had been trying to track down for years. He looked better than the last time I saw him. The scratches and cuts on his face were still apparent, but he was mostly healed. After all this time, I needed to find out how Alexis had managed to disarm him.

  Zara was slightly pale, dressed in a hospital gown, staring blankly at the ceiling. Zach moved toward her, determination in his eyes. He needed to understand that it had been six years. A lot of things had changed since the last time he saw her.

  “She won’t recognise you … she don’t recognise anyone,” Nameless said, standing up. Zach reacted instinctively. He grabbed Nameless and pushed him against the wall. His eyes gleamed with fury.

  “It’s all your fault, fucker!” he hissed, taking his gun out and pressing it to Nameless’s head. I should have suspected that Zach was never even planning to stick to our deal. On top of that, I had sensed Arthur outside the building. This day wasn’t even over yet, and it was already screwed. I sighed and released some magic, hoping that Zach would get back to his senses, and Arthur would disappear. Of course, even I didn’t have that kind of power, I just needed to deal with one thing at a time.

  Chapter 6

  “Look closely at the steps I’ll take from here to reach the truth that you so much desire, so you’ll know how to cross this on your own.”

  ―Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

  Nameless was staring at Zach with a detached look on his face. He wasn’t even attempting to use his energy against the man who was ready to blow his head off. Zach had always played by his own rules, and I knew that there was no point reasoning with him. It’d been six long years, and a lot of things changed. The sooner he realised that Nameless was on his side, the easier it would be to track down Alexis. After all, she was the reason that he was now reunited with Zara.

  “She has only me left now. She doesn’t remember you,” Nameless stated with no emotion in his voice. Zach bared his teeth in anger; then a second later, he punched the wall, his fist landing inches from Nameless’s head. I had to get him away from Nameless, and somehow calm him down. He needed to be reminded that he made a deal with me.

  A second later, a sudden dose of anxiety kicked me right in my chest. Arthur was around, and I needed to deal with him, too, as soon as possible.

  “Zach, come on, this won’t change anything, and Nameless is on our side. There is no point fighting,” I said, waving my demonic power toward the detective. I could feel his anger in my pores. I wasn’t planning to be kicked out of the hospital, just because these two couldn’t control themselves.

  “That son of a bitch ripped Zara away from her family!” Zach snarled, pressing the trigger. I didn’t want to believe he was ready to shoot Nameless in front of his sister.

  “She was on the street, high on human drugs. I took her in and cleaned her up. I had no idea that she had another life, a family,” Nameless shouted, not fazed by the fact that Zach was ready to shoot him.

  “Zachary, calm down and put that gun down,” I requested calmly. Zach’s chest was rising and falling in rapid movement. His eyes moved over Zara’s blank expression. A moment later he lowered his gun. His pain and anger were too much for me too bear.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Zach asked with softer tone of voice.

  “The demonic doctor believes that she’s been paralysed by a very strong curse. Alexis had her under her control for so long, that now Zara has stopped connecting with the real world,” Nameless explained.

  I glanced at the poor girl, wondering how Alexis managed to summon this kind of power and disable Zach’s sister. Zara seemed completely zoned out, lost to this world. The dark twisted energy kept her alive, but barely. She was in the same situation as Ricky. I thought that if I could save one soul, then I could help Zara, too.

  The detective pressed his lips in a hard line. He was struggling to keep his emotions together. He approached the bed once again and knelt next to her.

  “Hey, bumble bee, it’s me, your old annoying brother. Please talk to me,” he whispered, touching her hand.

  I couldn’t physically look at them and pretend that somehow, she would wake up. I still had to deal with Arthur, who had been stalking me probably from the moment I got into the train at Victoria station.

  “I need to go outside for a moment. Try not to kill each other for at least a minute,” I said, knowing that it wasn’t a good idea to leave them alone, but right then I had no other choice. Besides, Zach’s emotions were affecting me even more than usual. I needed to take a break from his mind.

  Outside in the corridor, I breathed in and out until my heartbeat was steady. Arthur was alone, without his entourage. He never left the palace without them, unless he wanted to be completely isolated. When I stood in his quarters, the lies came out easily, but now I realised that my own words were going to bite me back. Something was wrong. I didn’t like that cruel determination I sensed in him all of a sudden.

  I stood in the corridor for a few moments, gathering my energy and telling myself that I could deal with Arthur, the man I still loved. Maybe my demonic magic wouldn’t affect him, but our emotional connection remained untouched. There was no point putting it off, so I headed over through the corridor and left the building a moment later. Arthur was standing by the street lamp staring down at his phone. He tried to conceal his true identity with an old baseball cap and some over-the-top clothes. To anyone
on the street, he looked like a rapper, with oversized pants that hung low on his hips. Surprisingly no one was paying attention to him.

  The stream of heat showered me instantly, but I kept my expression neutral. I needed to remind myself that I’d hurt him, and he hated me. This conversation was going to be difficult, and it pained me to see him suffering like that. He was confused and felt betrayed, but he had no idea what I had to go through just to keep our secret hidden, after abandoning Summer like that.

  “Are you following me?” I asked, once I approached him. He looked at me, startled, tensing his broad shoulders. The lust and love that I saw was long gone. Now he was staring at me with a startling envious look on his face.

  “I want to find my daughter, Maxine,” he barked. I didn’t expect him to follow me all the way here.

  “I don’t know where she is. I gave her up for adoption almost two years ago,” I lied once again, feeling like a complete piece of shit. We were going around in a circle, but I couldn’t let him believe that he had even a slight chance to get her back.

  Before I knew it, he grabbed and shook me with uncontrollable rage. I noticed his bloodshot, tired eyes, and smelled alcohol on his breath. So far, I was the one with a problem. Arthur was always in control.

  “Bullshit, do you think I don’t know what you’re doing?” he snarled. “I’ll find her, Max, no matter what. That piece of shit detective might be on your side, but not for long.”

  A few humans glanced in our direction. I needed to calm him down; otherwise he would be recognised.

  “Arthur, think about—”

  “I’ll go public with this, and I’ll expose you. Do you think I’m not capable of something like that?”

  His words were hitting me like flying bullets. He was telling the truth, ready for anything. The love that was once there between us had turned into hatred. He wanted to ruin me. The faction would never let him go public with something like that.