Doomed Cases Series Box Set

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  “They have to wait. I’m not finished here,” Arthur snapped back. I shook my head, wondering what the hell I was still doing here. He was determined to keep me here as long as necessary.

  “The past is no longer relevant. I’m putting my life back together and you have Natalie, your fiancée. The Queen Mother won’t let you break the engagement and the royals can’t afford another scandal,” I explained. We both knew that his future was set, and his family stood firmly with the Queen Mother’s decisions. He was in his early thirties, and he was expected to settle down, to start a family. This was something that he’d always dreamed of. “I’m no one, Arthur, just a woman that used to work for you, that grew up in an orphanage run by nuns. Come on, let’s get out of here. You have a meeting and people are waiting for you.”

  He was furious with the fact that I was right, that he had lost me a long time ago. There were too many people that wanted to keep us apart, too many responsibilities to make it all go away. Besides, he knew that I returned to London six months after we got separated and still he didn’t come to see me. I had no right to expect anything from him, but deep down I had hoped that he still cared.

  “No, Maxine, we are going to sort this out now, here. I’m not marrying her. When I came back from Iraq, I was lost and she was there, but I never loved her the way I used to love you. Please believe me, please let me make this right.”

  He was begging me now. The future king of Britain was begging me to take him back. The pain inside me felt too real, and I couldn’t imagine that it would ever ease. We couldn’t have that second chance; no member of his family would ever accept the fact that we were in love. Besides, Lucifer kept an eye on royals and the faction would make sure that we stayed separated.

  The knock persisted and I moved towards the door, passing Arthur on the way. I tried to open it, but he shut it with his body and then grabbed my wrists.

  “Go away, Jon, or I swear to God I will fire you,” he shouted and wrapped his arms around my waist. I considered fighting him off, but his fingers were touching my skin. The caress sent jolts of electricity through me, and the stream of power followed all the way to the tips of my toes. He pushed me down to the large bed and had me pinned underneath him within a heartbeat. Around him, I wasn’t even myself, my abilities shifted. It was easier to wait until he was done with me, than fight him.

  His hair fell sexily on his forehead and the warmth that travelled down between my legs was melting my biting anger into submission. Arthur was the only man in the world that had this kind of power over me. I could beat the shit out of other demons, creatures of the underworld, but when he pinned me down with his hard lean body I felt hopelessly lost to him.

  Thoughts about Zach entered my mind. I felt more in control around him, but my emotions around him were running wild. Arthur was a man that craved more and expected all. I shivered, hopelessly drawn into his pale eyes.

  “What are you trying to achieve, Arthur? This won’t change my mind. I’m moving on, leading a new life away from you. Nothing that you say will change things. Just let me go,” I whispered, pleading and thinking that we’d had our chance, that he was only hurting himself.

  When he didn’t answer and leaned down to kiss me, I moved my head to the side. His lips started tracing the skin on my neck, zipping away the hesitation, the determination of staying immune to his tortures. I moaned, suddenly aware how ready he was for me, parting my legs with his.

  The knock gave me a chance to flip him over onto his back and stop this nonsense. One kiss a couple of weeks back had nearly killed me, and I wasn’t going to sleep with him. Too many things went wrong the last time.

  “Your Highness, everyone is waiting for you.” Jonathan kept talking through the door. Arthur was holding my wrists, but now I was sitting on top of him, aware that he was hard, and he was stripping me with his eyes.

  “You’re going to marry Natalie and live happy ever after. Don’t worry about me. I’m going to be fine. I’ll find George and then disappear—”

  “No, Flower,” he growled, fighting with me.

  “Yes, Your Highness, I’m not worth it to be chased, not worth it to lose, because I’m not even—”

  I couldn’t finish the sentence and risk the life of other demons. I also knew what happened to humans that found out about our world. Sometimes their twisted minds couldn’t be repaired.

  “What, Maxine? You’re not what?” he asked with anger and resentment, but then the door opened and Jonathan barged inside. He took in the scene in the bed and muttered “fuck” under his breath.

  Behind him was a guy in a suit, a human that I hadn’t seen before.

  “Blackwell, you’re out of line and I’m going to fire your arse. I didn’t give you permission to enter,” Arthur shouted, looking like he was going to lose it and batter Jon to death. The guy behind Jon was a demon too. I scrambled away from him, gathering the energy that slipped inside the room. All of a sudden I was lucid and alert. Another member of my kind just saw me on the bed with the prince. This wasn’t going to end well.

  “Your Highness, Miss Morgan is downstairs. There was—”

  “I have to go,” I said, as the coldness settled in my chest. Natalie was on the way upstairs and she couldn’t see me here, especially like this. On top of that I had to find Natasha. She was somewhere on this floor.

  “Maxine, we are not done. I can tell her now.”

  “Your Highness, your fiancée. There is no time,” Jonathan said, more forcefully, staring at me, looking uncomfortable. He knew that Natalie could enter this floor at any time, and he wanted to spare us both embarrassment.

  “Arthur, your guard is only doing his job, so listen to him for once. Get it together. I’m leaving,” I snapped, and then left the room. My legs pushed forward even as my brain screamed at me to stop. I glanced back a few times, but only saw more guards. Arthur didn’t follow this time, so I exhaled with relief.

  I had lost my head, and it was a huge tactical error. We could have been caught again, and this time I didn’t think I could last on earth longer than a day.

  As I walked through the long corridor, I realised that there were only a couple of rooms on this floor. Around the corner I nearly bombed into two Chinese men that were talking rapidly in their native tongue. My skin still burned, demanding Arthur’s touch, asking for more of what I considered distraction. Zach was different, rougher and more demanding. Maybe I was deluding myself. None of them were ever going to be suitable for me. They were both humans with many flaws and they weren’t part of my world.

  I stopped in my tracks in front of Room 106. My heart kicked me in the ribcage as I sensed the painful struggle inside.

  My intuition had never let me down, even when it came to tracking down someone who didn’t want to be found. I cleared my throat and knocked, after I made sure that there was no one watching. The two Chinese men had left, and there was only silence—except for the heartbeat of the woman inside the room. It was pounding in my ears. There was something wrong. I hesitated, then entered the dark room.

  After I closed the doors behind me, I knew that it wasn’t a human anymore that I was facing, but a creature that came straight from hell.

  Chapter 24

  “This mountain is so formed that it is always wearisome when one begins the ascent, but becomes easier the higher one climbs.” ― Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio

  The silence of the room was broken by long raspy breaths. Someone was standing by the bed, watching me through the gloomy darkness. The large windows were shaded with thick red curtains, and it’d been an hour since the sun hid itself behind the horizon. The creature in this room most likely had taken Natasha’s body; I felt her human heart still beating wildly in her chest. Her face was hidden by the hood, somehow deformed, twisted at a strange angle. A wave of frigid air blasted me when I shut the door behind me. The creature that possessed this human’s body was desperate to tap into my demonic energy. I wondered how it escaped from the underworld. I
n theory the Watchers were meant to keep an eye on unofficial entrances to earth, but that didn’t quite work in practice.

  Suddenly her appearance shifted, and she turned into a pretty woman with long curly blond hair, a perfect small nose and long bare legs. The ugly hood disappeared, and was replaced by a silky pink dressing gown. The creature that now stood in front of me was an A’rea, a mythological being, a female demon of curses. Centuries ago these creatures were worshipped by Lucifer.

  They used to be in charge of dying humans, but things got out of control quickly enough. The A’reas had suddenly possessed too much freedom and began using their powers to feed on the human’s souls, playing with curses, and placing them randomly on innocent beings just because they could. They were doomed years later and sent to the pits when Lucifer discovered their insubordination. The funny thing was that I never believed that A’reas were real, well, not until now, which was ironic when you think most people don’t think I exist either.

  “I was waiting for you, hoping that you would take me to the boy,” said the A’rea, using Natasha’s body to communicate with me. I had a slim chance of saving her, but still a chance. The A’rea was feeding on Natasha’s soul, but her life essence was slowly fading. I should have gotten here quicker. Then things would have been different, if only I hadn’t been waylaid by Arthur.

  Bits of her flesh were damaged, and I could see the parts of her cells breaking down, in some places revealing bare bones. This creature must have been hiding here for days, using Natasha’s body to walk around London, to spy on humans. The Watchers must have been aware that there was an A’rea on the loose; they couldn’t miss her energy signature. They would already be tracking her down; at least I was hoping that this was the case.

  “Where is Prince George? Your human knows his location. Come on, we both know that you have no chance of escaping the pits again, but I can still save her,” I said, calmly, pushing any distractions away and mentally preparing to attack. I’d never fought a creature like an A’rea. They were the stuff of legend and I had no idea what to expect. They were strong and had been in residence of the pits for as long as I remembered.

  She picked up a cigarette from the table and lit it, lifting her lips in a creepy deformed smile. Now I could clearly see bits of the skin hanging all over her face. I needed to use an elixir to trap her; my strength would work too, but I didn’t want anything to go wrong. I had a feeling that I might lose this fight without magic.

  “My assignment was supposed to be simple. We both wanted the special boy… such a shame that he was gone long before I got here,” the A’rea whispered, and then shifted into her true form. I didn’t have time to reach out for my elixir hidden in my back pocket. Sudden pain exploded in my stomach, shooting through my limbs. I lost my balance, slamming my back to the floor, completely paralysed. I didn’t even feel any weird sensation or shiver that would tell me to react. The creature from the underworld was on me, and for a split second I was convinced that this was the end, especially when I saw her long, deformed claws in front of my face. One struck me, tearing the skin on my cheek and forehead to pieces as if my skin were nothing more than a sheet of a paper. The fresh raw pain tore through me. Once I let out a sharp gasp, my instincts of a fighter kicked in and I grabbed her arms, throwing her across the room. Blood oozed from the wound on my face and blinded me for a second.

  She slammed into the wall so hard that the vibration caused some bits of the ceiling to come down. She let go of a howling scream, releasing some of her curses. I bit down on my lips, as my pain escalated. Her deadly curses were sliding inside me quickly, damaging my nervous system, and draining some of my remaining energy. I felt like my head was going to explode, my ears popping with pressure. If I could just reach my elixir, this could be over already.

  I collapsed to my knees and saw her coming towards me. Her claw morphed into fists, and the bone in my jaw cracked when she punched me. I landed on my back, and hot pain started at my scalp and scorched down to my toes. Oxygen wasn’t getting into my lungs. The A’rea was standing over me laughing and licking her fingers that were covered with my blood.

  The pressure inside my skull was building, and I was struggling to see through the blinding pain. Chances were that I was going to die in this room. Every breath felt like I was inhaling fire, and my own power was lost, gone.

  “This human was a fighter. She is still fighting now, but she won’t win,” her demonic voice rang in my ears. “And I have eaten enough mongrels in my lifetime. You won’t take my freedom away from me.”

  I screamed, at least I attempted to, but the pain exploded, and tears of anger started dropping down my cheeks. Now I understood how it felt to be prisoner of my own body. The A’rea used her curse to turn my own abilities against me.

  She leaned over my face. The skin of the human girl smelled so bad, rotting so quickly, decomposing, it was unbearable. Natasha must have been dead for hours now, but I heard her beating heart; surely this was impossible. I wanted to close my eyes and just wait for it to be over, but then I remembered the elixir. Hearing her wheezing breath I reached out, using my left hand. The powder made from olive tree, cow tail, sand and pure gold spilled onto the floor when I pierced the bag with my nail. The homemade mixture injected some new energy into me, turning my heart in my chest. I absorbed it with my energy, inhaling the strong smell of each ingredient. I roared at the top of my lungs and used my right leg to kick the A’rea, hopefully cracking her skull.

  She landed on a chest of drawers, smashing it to pieces. For a moment she wasn’t moving, and I secretly hoped that the fight was over. I shot back to my feet, inhaling the air that burned my chest. The A’rea moved, wiped the blood from her face, but that moment of distraction gave me an advantage. I was on her, pounding my fists into her face, breaking through the charms. It was as if some evil force possessed me. I couldn’t stop even when my knuckles were bleeding.

  When she lay motionless on the floor, I poured the rest of the elixir all over her body. Her muffled screams began to fade, and the shadow of the creature that centuries ago was beautiful was drifting away from the body of dead Natasha. A shadow hovered over the room, and I clasped my hands over my ears, trying to block the howling screams. The window had opened itself, the curtains flapped wildly as the wind began sucking the shadow towards the world outside. I reached out and spread more dust, hoping to chain her up to the body for a bit longer, but her shadow was already fading into the darkness. The strong wind knocked me down on my knees, and the A’rea vanished, sucking all the air out of the room. A split second later the door slammed open and Zachary barged inside holding a gun.

  “Hands up and stay where you are,” he shouted. There were other humans outside and possibly half of the floor had heard the screams and banging.

  “It’s me, Zach, Max,” I snapped, attempting to lift my hands up, but my muscles refused to obey me. The last bits of my strength left me and I collapsed, losing consciousness.

  “Max? What the fuck is going on here?”

  I must have passed out for only a split second, because a moment later Zach was leaning over my face. Every part of my body burned, the pain spreading everywhere. I had never felt weaker. A fight normally kicked my libido into action from all the excess adrenaline; it gave me strength, but I was drained of all my powers. I lay slumped on the floor, next to the rotten corpse of Natasha. Her face was barely recognisable and the smell was making me nauseous.

  Zachary was panicking; he was mumbling to get me help. People were pouring into the room. The sudden stream of human emotions scorched through me, waking me up with their excess energy. Now I began to understand why no one ever fought with A’reas. They were cold-blooded killers.

  “She attacked me, she wanted me dead, and I had to defend myself,” I blurted out, closing my eyes for a second. Natasha was dead because of me. If only I had gotten to the room earlier, maybe I could have prevented her from experiencing death in such a barbaric way.

&nbs
p; “Someone get the medic here now. This woman is injured!” Zach shouted. His own pulse was frantic. He squatted next to me and pressed something cold to my torn cheek. “God, Max, what the hell happened here? I’ve been trying to get hold of you all morning.”

  “Help me get to the bathroom. I should be fine in a sec,” I told him, trying to lift myself up, but he pushed me down. I needed to swallow some charms. The skin on my cheek was in pieces, bits were hanging off and I would probably need stitches. My jaw was aching like hell, and I knew that the real pain would come later.

  “Hold your horses, Flower, you’re barely breathing. The paramedics will be here at any second,” he told me, holding me on the floor. I didn’t want to turn my head and look at the corpse that lay a meter away from me. A woman lost her life, because I refused to say no to a man that used to love me. Two Watchers were already in the building, and they were looking for some sort of explanation.

  I grabbed Zachary’s hand and squeezed it hard.

  “Help me to the bathroom for fuck’s sake and don’t argue,” I snapped, feeling even shittier now as the adrenaline was fading away from my body. I hated the fact that my arse was nearly kicked and now I had to rely on a human.

  “Stubborn. Why do you always have to be so stubborn, Maxine?” he muttered when he helped me to get to the bathroom.

  Once the doors were locked the world around me started to spin. My demonic soul was defeated and I needed red elixir to gain my strength, to walk again. It was going to take me a few days of recovery, but at least I was still alive. Natasha was dead, and now I couldn’t question her about the prince. My main lead was lost. Someone was working really hard to cover all their tracks. I reached into my leather jacket back pocket and took a small bottle filled with red liquid.

  The elixir numbed the pain around my cheek and started to replenish some of my lost energy. I finally took a long deep breath. The torn skin needed to be stitched up and I most probably was going to have a scar. This wasn’t the usual magical injury so I knew that I wouldn’t heal on my own. I looked terrible—there was dry blood and skin in my hair, and my pupils were purple, and no one could miss the intensity of the colour.