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

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  “Maxine, let’s move!” Cyril roared, and I followed him. We started running across the cemetery. A few light bombs nearly knocked me off my feet, but I scrambled back and kept going. Watchers were using their magic and swords to kill demons. They had no mercy. I created a ball of light and tossed it toward a tall blond Watcher who was just about to kill a demon from Mammon’s faction.

  I wasn’t supposed to get involved, but I couldn’t avoid the temptation. Deep down in my soul I was still a fighter.

  I smelled the blood and saw bodies of demons lying around; some were burning and screaming, others were still, probably hit with deadly charms. This whole battle was suddenly turning into a slaughter. The demons around me never stood a chance. The spells and charms were zooming around, charging the air. I wished that I had my potions with me, because that would have made a real difference.

  Seconds later Cyril was grabbed from above and was being carried upwards in the sky. I tossed a few fire balls, finally able to use my magic to its full extent. The Watcher was laughing, holding Cyril who was trying to stab him with his sword, when I blasted him with a strong fireball. Moments later he and Cyril crashed on the ground. He didn’t move again.

  I ran as fast as I could, jumping through the broken tombs to get to Cyril, when a Watcher blocked my way.

  “Not so fast, mongrel girl. There is someone who is very much looking forward to meeting you,” a white-haired Watcher with incredible blue eyes said. He had grey wings, and his energy was beyond extraordinary. His beauty had taken my breath away.

  I shook my head, telling myself that he was the enemy. I hadn’t forgotten what had been happening to me since I got to Hell.

  I picked up a wooden stick and burned it, hoping to use my fiery magic to wipe him away forever. Mongrel or not, I was pumped with adrenaline and ready to tear him apart. All around me there was havoc. Demons were using their magic and fighting with giant bats that kept reappearing in the black sky.

  I wiped the sweat off my forehead and started balancing a ball of green light in my palm. Sparks of electricity were moving down my arms, tingling over the nape of my neck, and then the Watcher launched himself on me unexpectedly. I tossed the ball towards him but missed. He managed to slice my arm with his golden sword, and I cried out in pain. I nearly went down as the darkness shattered my vision.

  I shrieked with pain, jumping to the side as his sword landed on the concrete tomb only inches away from me.

  Then someone grabbed me, and I was being lifted above the ground. Blood poured from my wound, and my pain was spreading, numbing my arm completely.

  I was dizzy with blood loss, and when I looked down, the demons on the ground were getting smaller and smaller, until they disappeared completely.

  Chapter 9

  “Through me you go into a city of weeping; through me you go into eternal pain; through me you go amongst the lost people”

  ― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

  I was half conscious and saw that I was being carried through the thick dark clouds to some other part of Hell. I was too exhausted to fully open my eyes. On top of that, the pain shooting through my arm was almost unbearable.

  The journey didn’t take long. Before I knew it, the Watcher dropped me, and the impact of hitting the ground must have knocked me out again.

  Moments or hours later, drops of cold water woke me up. I sat up abruptly, realising that I was all alone. The pain was even worse than before. Parts of my skin were hanging from my arm, and the wound looked like it had already gotten infected. It felt even worse than it looked.

  I rubbed my eyes for a second and looked around. There were holes in the ground all around me, filled with burning lava, and that brightened the whole space with a red glow. The ground was soft, covered with ash and thick dark soil. It was too dark to see anything beyond that, but I had a funny feeling that I’d ended up in the pits. My body was losing a lot of water, and the air was so hot that I could barely catch a breath. I figured it was at least forty degrees Celsius around here.

  I felt like I’d been dropped on the top of an exploding volcano.

  Minutes dragged by and I tried to stand up, but eventually I gave up and settled for just lying on the hot ground. Not much later, I spotted a figure coming toward me, and my stomach tightened all of a sudden. Sometimes fear pushed people to do desperate things, but I wasn’t scared or desperate anymore. This was it, the end of my journey.

  Cyril was now separated from me, and I hated that we didn’t escape before that whole battle began. The silence was thick as a fog until the crackling of a foreign energy broke it, stealing my breath.

  “Finally, I have you all to myself, mongrel girl.”

  I swallowed hard, instantly recognising that spiking energy and the voice. It was Berith and I wasn’t even one bit surprised. He was obviously waiting for the right moment to get to me. I was clueless, trusting a bunch of demons who’d fed me and told me that I was someone special.

  In his natural setting he was dressed in a crisp white shirt and linen trousers. He was still bloody good looking, and his dark eyes gleamed with satisfaction. He had a joyful smile on his face, and I knew he was glad that he finally caught me.

  I glanced around, but even if I could, I had nowhere to run.

  “You’re in the pits and this is my territory. I decide if you can stay or leave,” he snarled. I didn’t sense any demons or Watchers around. It was just the two of us. I swallowed hard, knowing he was planning to hurt me.

  “I lost control that day. I begged you to help me and you refused,” I said, knowing I needed to keep talking, to buy some time. All my potions were back in London and Berith was much stronger in Hell. He literally radiated with deadly demonic power.

  “Silence, mongrel whore. I didn’t give you permission to speak,” he snapped, taking a few steps toward me.

  I spit on the ground and wiped the sweat off my face. I wasn’t going to be humiliated by him yet again.

  “You stole your abilities from another demon on Earth, and you’ll pay for it now. Only Watchers can summon the gates of Hell, and you aren't one of them,” he said, and I just stared at him slightly baffled.

  “What? I didn’t steal any magic. I was born with it,” I told him. Seconds later he was beside me, grabbing my injured arm. I screamed with pain when he pressed his thumb into the wound and squeezed it hard. The pain spread to every part of my body, and I wished the pits had swallowed that motherfucker forever.

  “Stop lying. No one has this kind of power, only Watchers, and no one has ever dared to remove the great Berith from Earth,” he hissed, finally releasing his grip. Fresh blood poured down my arm, and tears threatened to slip from my eyes. I kept my breathing steady, reminding myself that I couldn’t give him the satisfaction of breaking in front of him.

  “You’re no one, just a mongrel who wasn’t supposed to be alive. I need to know— why does the dark lord want you so badly?” he asked.

  “I don’t have a clue,” I said.

  “That’s okay, it doesn’t matter anyway. Soon you will be taken to the mine cave by one of the Watchers.” He started wiping his bloody fingers with a pure white handkerchief, still staring at me like I was some sort of worm that he intended to squeeze until I let go of my last breath. “It’s the only place in Hell where all the evil humans are forced to do hard labour all day and night. They can never rest; they have to keep carrying heavy stones up a steep hill in unbearable heat. They can never see an end in sight. If they close their eyes or try to rest, they are back to the bottom of the hill. I believe that would be an appropriate treatment for you.”

  “Go fuck yourself,” I snapped, and spit at him. I had been doing that a lot lately. I think that I’d reached the point when I was done with being the ‘nice’ Maxine.

  He kicked me hard, and I started coughing with blood. This was bullshit. I was supposed to be dead by now, and yet I was still alive, pretty much aware of everything that was going on around me.

 
Berith continued his boring monologue. “Hmm, maybe the cave won’t be such a great punishment after all. I’m only fulfilling Lucifer’s wishes. He would be happy that I’m treating you the way you deserve. Fredrick, it’s time!”

  I thought about Summer again, glad that she was safe for now, away from all this drama. My future looked bleak, but she still had her whole life ahead of her.

  Then someone grabbed me, and I screamed, feeling dizzy with pain. Soon I was lifted above the ground, presumably by the same Watcher who’d brought me in here. I was still bleeding and in too much agony to look up.

  “Toss her into the volcano of pain. She will continue to suffer there forever,” Berith said and then started to laugh.

  “Yes, master,” the Watcher responded.

  I tried to tap into my source, but my shattered soul refused to obey me. The Watcher carried me upwards to the dark sky in Hell. I didn’t have any strength in me to fight him. I just needed this pain to end; it was too much.

  I lifted my heavy lids slightly and saw a volcano filled with red-hot lava. The heat suffused my skin, consuming in its intensity and frightening with its unbearable heat. My breathing was frantic now. This was it—there wasn’t a way out of this. Hell had finally succeeded. The time had come to pay for my sins.

  The Watcher had his arms around my waist, holding me above the pool of hot lava. I heard voices down below, screams and moans. I knew that if I looked down, I would see other humans or mongrels tortured in the masses of fire. The pits were real, and I was going there next.

  “Go down, mongrel girl,” he hissed, and then he released me.

  I was falling.

  Slowly my life on Earth began flashing in front of my eyes. Time must have slowed down because I started seeing people who were close to me. I saw Arthur, too. He was smiling at me. I saw us together in the palace. Then, I was experiencing giving birth to Summer, and then seeing her for the first time. I saw Emma, Ricky, and Zach. Everyone was there, saying goodbye. I was grateful for everything, and afraid of Berith’s words. I wanted this pain to end, but soon the volcano would swallow me.

  I never dipped into the hot lava—someone or something caught me in the air.

  Later on, when I was more lucid, I figured out that I must have landed on this creature’s back. The cooler air instantly made me feel a little better and I managed to see that I was sitting on some sort of monster. He flew over the pits, moving higher and higher as its wings batted the air. The creature had bat-like wings with no feathers and hands with six fingers. Its body was covered with human skin. For some reason everything about it filled me with peace, and I thought that maybe this wasn’t my end yet.

  My heart pounded loudly in my chest. I had no idea where I was going. Maybe this was supposed to happen—maybe that was Berith’s plan after all. The tortures were meant to come later.

  I spread over the creature’s back, trying to find the most comfortable position. We were moving through the dark clouds over wide empty land. The creature never tried to drop me or frightened me in any way.

  We started going down after some time, and the creature spread his wings wider. The concept of time in Hell was still unknown, maybe hours had passed or maybe minutes. The monster with three human heads finally landed on the flat surface in the middle of what looked like a dry desert. It was difficult to see anything beyond the darkness.

  “It’s time. Are you able to jump off my back by yourself?” the creature asked. It sounded like a human man.

  “I can manage,” I said, not wanting to look like a complete loser. Using my good arm, I did slide down. That wasn’t a wise move, because I lost more blood and nearly stumbled on my feet.

  The three heads were staring down at me. That’s when I remembered reading about it in one of Ricky’s books. This creature was called Greyon.

  “What … what am I doing in here?” I asked, looking around.

  “I was told to bring you here. I don’t know the reason behind it,” the creature answered. I was amazed all Greyon’s heads were different. One had blond hair, the other brown, and all of them had different eye colours. For the first time since I got to Hell, I had a good feeling about being in this place. Berith had his chance, but something obviously made other plans for me. My fate slapped me with yet another surprise.

  “Greyon went to get you because I asked him to do that,” a voice said that I recognised.

  Morpheus was walking up to me from a distance. I was shocked seeing him here, and I had no idea how I was supposed to react. He looked a lot different from the last time I saw him, more radiant and peaceful. He wore a long, thin black coat and his eyes—how could I not have noticed before—his eyes were incredible. Intensely blue. And then his irises turned into pure green. I couldn’t tell, or maybe it was just another illusion.

  He smiled at me. Yeah, he actually smiled at me as he approached.

  “Master,” the Greyon muttered and then bowed his three enormous heads. I was immobile, standing and staring at a demon who I had made a deal with that now seemed like weeks ago.

  The monster spread its bat-like wings and moved its snake tale around. Moments later the ground beneath my feet shook when Greyon lifted his huge body off the ground and simply flew away.

  Soon he had vanished in the clouds of darkness.

  “What am I doing here?” I asked, holding my arm, trying to forget about the pain. Morpheus looked so shockingly handsome.

  “Come, I’ll explain everything in a more comfortable setting,” he told me and gently pushed me toward a black door that suddenly appeared several meters away from where we stood. I was done being amazed with everything that had been going on around me.

  He smiled briefly at me again, and there was something calming and mysterious in that smile. We walked through the door to what looked like a huge cosy living room. The entire room was set in white and cream colours. There was a fireplace in the middle, with comfortable leather sofas and chairs situated right in front of it.

  “Let me take care of your arm, it must be uncomfortable.” Morpheus moved his fingers over my injury. The warmth tingled my skin and then my wound started to heal. In a matter of seconds, the nasty gash was gone, and my skin was a slightly reddish colour.

  It was a relief being able to breathe in without any more pain.

  “Thank you.”

  That was all I managed to say to him.

  “Sit down, Maxine, we need to talk.”

  I nodded to him and chose the brown leather high-back chair. It was comfy, and I was ready to fall asleep in it, but I remembered that Morpheus wanted to talk. Moments later a nice porcelain set filled with tea appeared on the table. He poured me some into the cute teacup and pushed it toward me.

  “Maybe this will come as a shock to you, but I guess I can’t keep it from you any longer,” he said, sounding serious as I stared at him completely baffled. “I’m Lucifer, the head of Hell and, as they call me, the dark lord.”

  I didn’t move, didn’t make a sound.

  “And I’m your father. Yes, I might have forgotten that one important detail.”

  Chapter 10

  “With that same colour that a cloud takes on, morning or evening, when it meets the sun, I saw, in every part, the heavens flush.”

  ― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

  I sat there in front of him trying to digest what he’d just told me, but simply couldn’t.

  The silence stretched for ages and eventually I was ready to burst out laughing but thought better of it.

  No, it’s impossible. Lucifer isn’t Morpheus and my father.

  His words failed to make sense. My mother was a human and she couldn’t have been seduced by Satan: the prince of the underworld who controlled every demon inside his doomed prison.

  “Say something. I’m sure it’s quite a shock,” he said, smoothing his clean-shaven jaw. I tried to look for something, anything that could tell me this wasn’t some kind of joke. The nose, yeah, maybe we had similar shaped nose
s.

  Then my other voice started poking into my head saying, Really? The same noses? Are you freaking high?

  Okay, okay, I had to get it together, because talking to myself was a sign that I was really losing it.

  “No, no way, this isn’t happening,” I said out loud.

  He still looked completely serious.

  “You are kidding me, right?” I asked, a rush of wild emotions cutting though my system. I swallowed hard and dragged my hand through my tangled hair. Shock rendered me zoned out for longer than I anticipated.

  He smiled again, and my heart did an unsteady flip as a twisted realisation settled inside me. Once, several years ago, I saw a photo of myself and, in that photo, I had the same smile. But that couldn’t be it.

  I kept opening and closing my mouth, barely able to process this before I started talking again.

  “You could be my father, but you aren’t Lucifer. It’s impossible,” I said, but my voice sounded small.

  “And why is that?”

  “Because…because this is just wrong. You came to Earth and seduced my mother. And then you showed up in Ricky’s apartment telling me about this stupid deal. I mean…come on. Why would you do that? None of this makes sense.”

  I needed to be on my feet, pacing around the room. My magic was rolling over my spine, and wild energy settled in the room. I had to keep on breathing; otherwise I would pass out.

  No.

  I was done passing out. I was done with being humiliated.

  Morpheus kept watching me in stoic silence.

  “Actually, your mother wasn’t the only human woman I had seduced over the years. As you might now realise, you do have many half-sisters and half-brothers on Earth,” he added, and I snorted with laughter.

  He was off his rocker if he thought I would believe him.

  “All right … okay. Let’s just pretend for a second that you’re him. Why on Earth have you brought me here then? I have been through Hell in the past few days or weeks. I still can’t figure out the concept of time in here,” I said, laughing nervously.