“What was that, Flower?” he asked, when I was walking away.
“Rodriquez has my number. Call me if you’re ready to cut the crap and work with me on this case; otherwise don’t bother,” I replied. “In the meantime, I’ll be around here, trying to find George on my own.”
I don’t know why I had to flip like that, but this guy made my blood boil. There were other humans in the room, and I had to tone it down. My fiery attitude wasn’t going to get me very far.
Zachary was watching me from the same spot where I left him. I didn’t have to glance back to know it. He made me curious and possibly even a little hotter under the collar. Still, his bad boy cop attitude wasn’t impressing me.
“What have you got?” I asked, joining Ricky, who was sweeping a sample of what looked like bits of demonic elixir. The demon who took George was most likely a male. Not many female demons knew anything about potions or elixirs. It had always been a male-dominated industry. I liked learning new things, so I’d started reading books filled with potion recipes so I could brew them. It took me years to master a couple that were very challenging, but eventually I was able to prepare a few without anyone else’s input.
Ricky looked at me first and then diverted his eyes to Quinton.
“Supernatural charms. The prince was hooked on a few various ones. His blood is filled with it,” Ricky stated, looking at the tiny dots of liquid that he managed to put into a flask. “I don’t like how that human is looking at you. What the hell did you just tell him?”
“Nothing really, but I should have told him to stay out of our business. It seems he can’t play nicely and share his toys.” I sighed. “He is our new partner in crime. Detective Zachary Quinton, the arsehole.”
Chapter 6
“Love insists the loved loves back”
― Dante Alighieri
There was a lot of grey powder sprinkled around George’s bed that I didn’t recognise, and Ricky had found an unknown potion in young Prince George’s blood. Somehow, I couldn’t believe the intruder was that sloppy, leaving all of this evidence for us to find. Something had happened in this room, and I had a feeling that the whole kidnapping might have been staged, that someone knew that the royals would panic and call the police.
I studied elixir books that weren’t available to other demons and mongrels, not on Earth at least. Ricky had quite a collection; some of his titles were stolen from the underworld library. He never told me who owned them, and I didn’t ask. It was safer not to possess that kind of knowledge. The energy in George’s room was still a mystery to me, but it was something to go on. Zachary kept watching me when I walked around assessing the smells, texture, and obvious signs of any demonic encounter. He didn’t try to talk to me again, but he kept that annoying smirk plastered on his face.
There was no time to challenge his ego. I wanted to make sure that I hadn’t missed anything. I was obligated to find George. Lucifer’s head of the faction was on my back and my movements were limited. The supernatural world wouldn’t take too kindly to the fact I had broken the rules that had been decreed years ago in order to protect humans from the truth.
An hour later, Ricky and I had enough to start our investigation. Zachary had disappeared some time ago, and my anxiety shot up, reminding me that Arthur wasn’t done with me yet. He was most likely waiting for me somewhere by the entrance, and I couldn’t allow him to drag me back down the path of destruction, especially in front of his aunt, Rodriguez, and Ricky. They all knew we had been involved, and they all knew the reason why he came.
I had money now, so this evening I could go out on a bender to put off thinking about all the feelings that had been dredged up today by seeing Arthur. After so many losses, I finally had a chance to win back some of the cash I’d lost, and the cards were on my side. Arthur needed to be wiped out of my memory forever, and if that meant I had to get wasted, then so be it. That was for tonight, though, right now I had George’s case to work on.
“Miss Brodeur,” Rodriquez shouted after me when we were leaving. “Have you managed to ascertain anything yet?”
For some reason his attitude was making me nervous. There was something odd about the way he carried himself, the way he looked at me. He was using his own abilities to pass through my wards, and that was extremely worrying. Maybe he was put in charge of this post to make sure I didn’t screw Arthur a second time around. I had no idea if Lucifer knew of my involvement in royal affairs, but whatever was going on, I knew I needed to keep on my toes about this demon.
“Strong, unidentified potion was used to knock George out. We also found grey powder all over his bedside table. We are going back to the office to analyse everything further,” I explained. “By the way, I don’t think I can work with Quinton. He has his head farther up his own arse than seems humanly possible.”
Ricky laughed, and I was annoyed that I let Detective Zachary Quinton get under my skin. There was no way we were going to agree on anything, especially on how to take this investigation forward.
“I’m afraid that you have no choice, Miss Brodeur. The royal family wants you to work closely with his division. I have been told that he has exceptional contacts on the streets and he is very skilled … even for a human. He will be in touch. I don’t doubt that.”
“A skilled human?” I repeated, shaking my head with disbelief. “He is a stubborn chauvinistic idiot who has the manners of a shit-flinging baboon. And whilst we’re talking about this, let’s clear something up—if the royal household hadn’t fired me in the first place, George would still be here.”
I was too angry to wait for Rodriquez’s response, so I started walking away. Rodriguez could easily ruin me, but right now he needed my help, so I could afford to be a little disrespectful. Ricky caught up with me a second later. Anger and fury had boiled my blood. I needed to get it together.
“What the fuck was that about, Max?”
“Nothing. You know that I like working alone,” I replied, walking faster than was necessary.
“What did Arthur want?”
We were only a couple of meters away from the exit, and I wanted to tell Ricky everything, but first I needed to get out of here as quickly as possible.
“Max … hey, Max wait.”
“Crap, crap, crap,” I said, as a wave of emotions forced me to stop. Ricky cursed loudly when Arthur caught up with us, just by the exit. The prince obviously had trouble understanding that I didn’t want to see him, that we had nothing to talk about.
I took a deep breath, dismissing the storm of emotions that suddenly pumped through me, and turned around.
“Yes, Your Highness? What do you want?”
He smiled, and those cute dimples appeared on his cheeks. Why did breakups always have to be so difficult?
“Can we talk alone?” he asked, leaning in like he wanted to kiss me. No… no, he wouldn’t dare, not in front of all his guards and my business partner. “How are you doing, Ricky?”
“Ecstatic, Your Highness, but I’m afraid we’re in a hurry. We have pressing matters to attend to,” Ricky stated quite clearly, using his own demonic energy to convince the prince to leave me alone. I couldn’t let Arthur drag me back just because I couldn’t keep my hands off him.
Arthur quite clearly still wanted me. I read his emotions, his desires. He didn’t understand that after a year, I was still picking myself up, still trying to forget about the pain that I experienced back then.
“Ricky, give it a rest would you? This shit is starting to irritate me. Max, you owe me a conversation. This will be quick. Please, Flower?” he pleaded, using that tone of voice that cracked my stone-cold heart. It wasn’t just the way he was looking at me, it was also the fact that the strong fiery pull was still there. Lust brushed my face, neck, and cleavage. I had turned my life upside down for him, almost traded my existence for something that I could never share with anyone.
“Fine, two minutes,” I snapped, pissed off at myself and the fact that Ricky’s magic
wasn’t influencing Arthur like it was supposed to. I glanced back at Ricky, who looked frustrated. The guards were watching us, some of them were mongrels. There weren’t many in the palace, but a few who I had trained remained.
Arthur walked to the side, hiding us behind a pillar. My pulse was thrumming so quickly that I couldn’t control it anymore. I had never been lucky with the opposite sex. I always prioritised my work over everything else, but when I started working for the royals, things changed.
Arthur’s blond hair fell sexily over his eyes as he glanced around, moving closer to me. The heat of his human body was doing something to my demonic scarred heart.
“What do you want, Arthur?” I asked, blocking the images of us making out in the dark corridors. This wasn’t one of those moments.
“You know I don’t love Natalie. After you left, I was a wreck. I couldn’t believe that you would disappear on me like that. I have been trying to forget you, to move on, but it’s impossible,” he was saying, using his left hand to caress my cheek. His touch was healing, calming, and I wanted to close my eyes and jump back to the past. I would have made different choices back then.
Then my mind assaulted me with images of the time after we were caught. I remembered the moment when I stood in front of the Queen Mother confessing to my sins, to the fact that I seduced her grandson. She wasn’t the only one there. His aunt, uncle, and George. They all looked at me with disgust and repulsion. It was the most humiliating moment of my life. It didn’t matter then that he had promised to love me for as long as we lived—our special ring was worthless. I had betrayed the royals and the members of the public, by putting the future king in danger.
“No. You have no right to say anything to me. You did nothing to save me, to defend me. What happened then closed the door on us. It’s in the past. So, stay away, or I swear to God, I’ll hurt you,” I snapped, stepping away from him and inhaling the crisp air.
Ricky must have felt my anger and resentment. A calming delicate breeze ruffled my hair, and I was praying that no one had been listening in. From early on, I learned that the palace was filled with secrets and people who would do anything to keep spying on me and the prince.
At the time when everything exploded, I’d wished that I had died or had been sent back to Hell. I was willing to do anything to save myself from the pain I felt back then.
Arthur’s pupils dilated, but he didn’t back away. He was broadcasting his feelings so openly, while my heart was wounded, broken, and torn. Despite everything, he still loved me. I hated knowing that he wanted to bring me to his chest and ease the pain. I hated the fact that I could feel his torn emotions. That’s why I was cursed, that’s why it was so difficult for me to move on.
“Maxine, please. I made a mistake, a terrible mistake. You mean everything to me. We don’t have to be so distant. I’ll break the engagement. Now that you’re back,” he continued saying, pleading with his heart for me to give him another chance. “The hospital, the children at the ward. Does this mean nothing to you?”
Tears forced their way to my eyes. I couldn’t believe he was playing on my emotions like that. The memories were still too raw. Arthur became a patron of a children’s hospital in London a couple of years ago.
When I was responsible for his safety, I used to accompany him there with other guards. Over a period of time, I became involved, playing and bonding with kids who no one visited. Arthur became attached to a few. He donated extraordinary amounts of money to the whole ward, and he felt personally responsible to visit them.
The hospital, the room filled with lonely kids connected us, and while I was there, I was able to sympathise with the pain that some of the children experienced—since I’d grown up with the same kind of loneliness. It was our moment that no one could take away, the moment when I felt truly fulfilled and happy. After I vanished from London to deal with the consequences of my actions, those memories of the hospital impacted my future decisions. I left my hiding place torn apart, knowing that I was possibly crushing yet another life.
I was ready to shake my head and walk away, but Arthur grabbed my face so lovingly that I instantly changed my mind. Then he kissed me, his hand cradling my neck.
In that moment, I lost all the resolve I had built up over the past twelve months. His lips reminded me of everything that was ever lost to me, the passion, the longing for his soul. My body turned into an inferno, blood rushing through my veins wildly. When his tongue connected with mine, I moaned, as our love exploded. I had a tendency of over-broadcasting my demonic powers whenever Arthur was around. Sometimes my emotions affected humans, too. They felt everything: the ecstasy that scorched between us, the heat of the moment. His touch was liberating, and I instantly wanted more.
The kiss didn’t last long, and it didn’t matter how good it felt. I forced myself to remember the betrayal and the pain, so I was strong enough to break it, to push him off me.
“No. You have no right, Your Highness. What happened between us, what we had, is done. You did nothing, said nothing, so now, you have no right.” I raised my voice, not caring for the world that every security guard, even the demonic ones had just heard me.
I forced Arthur to obey me, to stay where he was, and then marched back to Ricky, who looked disturbed.
“Let’s move now,” I barked, and he only nodded. I knew he wanted to tell me a lot of things, but there was no time. I didn’t look back, but I knew that Arthur stood behind the pillar, unable to move, and he was fighting with himself to come after me again.
When we were outside, I took a few deep breaths, shoving my thoughts and desire to the back of my mind. That damn hot kiss made me lose my head, but only for a moment. That was why I was so reluctant to show up in the palace, to get involved with royal affairs again.
It was hard to admit, but I missed the thrill that the job used to give me, and I damn well missed Arthur.
These days, I was living day-to-day, killing creatures who escaped from the underworld, solving murders, and finding missing people. Most of the time, I didn’t know how I managed to survive for so long, nearly drinking myself to death. This wasn’t the life that I signed up for, but somehow, I couldn’t change it.
“Are you all right, Maxine?” Ricky asked, most likely for the fourth time since I got in his car, and I still hadn’t responded. We were leaving the royals behind. I arched my head up, trying to forget about the pain that kept rippling through me, that I was so suddenly aware of.
“I’ll be fine once you drop me off at The Broken Shoe. It’s five o’clock, after all,” I said, wondering if George was still alive. For some reason, I had a feeling we were gonna have to move Heaven and Earth to find him.
“No bloody way. We have a job to do and a new human in the office. You’re not losing all our money tonight just because you made out with Arthur again,” Ricky snarled, driving faster and scaring the shit out of me. “Maxine, you’re a fucking badarse motherfucker, not some pathetic heartbroken mongrel, crying over someone who you could never have.”
I hated being in the car. It was one of my many phobias and Ricky was driving way too fast.
“How do you know what he was trying to do?” I asked, dejected.
“It was obvious. Your emotions were running wild. That spoiled brat’s got some nerve cornering you like that. The quicker we solve this freaking case, the quicker you can get away from that royal bullshit. Right now, we need to get back to the office so you can forget about what happened.” When the car stopped at the traffic light, Ricky looked back at me and added, “Although, Arthur wasn’t the only one in the room who got slightly hot under the collar.”
I looked away, pretending I didn’t know what Ricky was talking about. The silence was supposed to indicate that I had no opinion on Ricky’s crazy theories.
“That hot-shot detective was eyeing you from the moment you showed up. He was aroused, Maxine. I felt it.”
“Zachary Quinton is just a chauvinistic, arrogant prick,” I muttered
, thinking about the way I felt when he was treating me like I was beneath him.
“Like I said, Arthur wasn’t the only person who got a bit of lust up. That bad-boy detective got your engine running, too, Maxine,” Ricky added, sounding very amused all of a sudden.
I turned away from him and exhaled sharply, knowing he was absolutely right. Detective Zachary Quinton was an arsehole, but for some reason, I was attracted to him.
Chapter 7
“O human race, born to fly upward, wherefore at a little wind dost thou so fall?”
― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
I was in a terrible mood when we got back to the office after being stuck in traffic for two long hours. Apparently, the roads were blocked due to an accident. The first thing we saw was Emma pacing around looking stressed. She exhaled with relief when she saw us.
This day couldn’t get any worse and I really needed a strong drink.
“Thank God you’re back,” she said. “Some guy was here. He didn’t want to leave. I was so scared that he would murder me and throw my body into a river.”
“No one does that these days, hon, trust me,” I said.
“What guy? Did he say what he wanted?” Ricky asked, using his abilities yet again to calm her down. He really needed to stop messing with her head. We couldn’t afford to check her into a mental institution just yet, and she had already seen too much.
In certain circumstances, humans knew about the other world, but only if their minds were strong enough to handle that kind of news. Things like that were mostly handled by Watchers. A demon who wanted to reveal our world to a human needed to apply for a certain relief license. If the head of the faction said no during an official hearing, and the human already knew everything, the Watchers would erase the human’s memories, and the demon in question would be punished. I really didn’t want to be in that position with Emma.
Doomed Cases Box Set: The Complete Collection Books 1- 4 & Prequel Page 9