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 humans’ 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 A’reas were real, well, not until now, which was ironic when most people didn’t believe I existed either.
“I was waiting for you, hoping that you would take me to the boy,” the A’rea said, 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’s 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 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 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 toward 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 a 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 toward 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 I had only gotten to the room earlier, maybe I could have prevented her from experiencing death in such a barbaric way.
“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 a 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 who 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 likely 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; no one could miss the intensity of the colour.
I managed to walk, so that was slight progress. Zachary was waiting for me outside the door; the forensics, probably from his unit, were already examining the body.
“Wow that’s a nasty wound. Let me take care of that for you,” one of the paramedics said, pushing Zach away and dragging me to the bed.
I let him take care of the bits of my skin since I was the only patient, after all. Natasha was lying dead on the floor and the A’rea had escaped. Suddenly the hotel suite was filled with people, mostly cops who were zooming around the crime scene. Once Zach was done with examining the body he stood by Rodney, the paramedic who was patching me up.
“There are some flasks in the other part of the room, someone’s hair and nails,” Zach said, looking at me intensely. “What exactly happened here, Max?”
Hair and nails were used in potions and elixirs. I was too busy trying not to die, so I didn’t have a chance to look at the odd stuff that Zach was talking about.
I felt their presence even before they entered the room. Two Watchers showed some kind of identification to the policeman who was guarding the door and walked right past him. I had always been wary of them, mainly because they had the authority to drag anyone they wanted to the underworld. These two looked like lawyers; both were slim, dressed in sharp black suits. The humans noticed that the atmosphere had shifted, that those two people inside were somehow important.
The one with blue eyes stopped by the bed, eyeing me with interest.
“Evidence, we need all of it,” he said, looking at me, but directing his request to Zach.
“The table in the other room. Everything is there,” Zach replied, with a hazy look on his face. The humans just stared while the two Watchers scooped everything off the table, but no one dared to say anything. I could, but I didn’t want to risk being dragged down for interrogation. Once they were done, everything went back to normal and everyone continued to do whatever they had to as if no one had ever showed up.
The Watchers always got what they wanted.
Chapter 26
“Soon you will be where your own eyes will see the source and cause and give you their own answer to the mystery.”
― Dante Alighieri, Inferno
“I have never seen a body in such a terrible state. She looked like she had been dead for weeks,” Zachary said when he was taking me to the Accident and Emergency Unit. Will, the second paramedic, had done what he could, but my face needed to be seen by a plastic surgeon to limit the scarring. I refused to go to the hospital in the ambulance. I couldn’t afford to lie in bed when there was an A’rea on the loose, and I still had her scent all over my skin. Besides, I had a few other useful elixirs at home, and getting doped on human medicine didn’t particularly appeal to me.
My whole body was like one open giant wound, and I needed some time alone in my dark flat to recover. Ricky had already been on the phone; apparently two Watchers had paid him a visit at Doomed Cases. The cold chills crawled over my spine when I thought about meeting them alone in the dark alley. Apparently, they passed the evidence from the hotel room to him and asked him to assess it. Someone must have spilled the beans about us, and now our business was on their radar. My name had been linked to the missing royal. I didn’t mind getting free exposure, but Ricky and I liked keeping out of Hell’s business as much as we could. It was bad enough that Cyril had gone through our files and now we were being investigated for conspiring against Lucifer.
“Yeah, she was pretty messed up when I got there. It all happened so fast,” I explained, sinking back to my seat. I didn’t know what to say. Zach didn’t want to believe that the girl was alive when I got to her hotel room.
Arthur had been scheduled to be in the meeting probably way before I got there, and I hated the fact we’d bumped into each other yet again. Fate was a stone-cold bitch and hated my guts for some reason. I stayed with him and listened to his story, but I didn’t want to believe it. The tiny voice in my head kept whispering that he was telling the truth. The Queen Mother was capable of sending him away, destroying our happiness. He did look for me, but I wasn’t in London, and I didn’t tell anyone where I spent the last six months before I came back. That transition was necessary, and I had to get away from the mess that I created.
Zach scratched his head. I could see he was wondering why he didn’t insist that I stay in ambulance. My cheek was covered in bandages and the throbbing pain was slowly coming back.
Zachary was swearing at the driver in front of us. We were stuck in traffic for about half an hour. The roads were busy, and I wanted to lock myself between four walls and just sleep forever. I hadn’t ever gotten that kind of beating before. Surely it wouldn’t be the last time, either.
“What were you doing up there alone anyway? Weren’t we supposed to be working together on this case?” he questioned me. He was pissed off too. That was standard for him, but this time it was more with himself than with me. He was at the station when he got a call about a disturbance in the Shoreditch, dealing with some pointless robbery, and he was blaming himself for arriving too late. I was exhausted, too tired, and my throat was burning. Tonight, I wanted to hit the bottle hard, but I was reluctant to get wasted, especially after what happened with Natasha.
“I managed to track Natasha down through a spurious source, and I didn’t think that you would approve. Anyway, I thought that I could just talk to her, but things kind of got out of control pretty quickly. She attacked me with the knife,” I explained, hoping that he would believe me.
“Did she say anything about Prince George? Give you any further leads?” Zachary asked. I arched my head back, breathing calmly. This wasn’t a very good time to analyse my failed relationship with Arthur or the steadily growing attraction toward Zach. When the car finally moved, he looked at me, waiting for my answer. We were working together, and I was lying to him. How could this ever work?
“No, she was screaming most of the time, like she was in pain. We have nothing to go on,” I said, looking away. I needed to put all the previous leads together and figure out where to head next. It seemed to me that Hell was panicking, and Lucifer was determined to get to the bottom of who was conspiring against him. If that theory was even true.
For about twenty minutes after that, Zach didn’t ask any more
questions. I could barely walk when we arrived at the Accident and Emergency room. My elixir was fading, and I was losing strength. After filling out countless forms, I waited an hour to get my face sorted. The young human doctor applied some anaesthetic and got on with putting my cheek back together. My abilities were slowly recovering, but my energy level was low, and my body wasn’t coping with the injuries that I sustained. Ricky kept calling. He was concerned about my health and the unexpected visit from the Watchers.
“I’m going to take you home, Flower. You had a tough night. We can pick up this whole mess tomorrow,” Zachary said when several hours passed and I had taken at least four tramadol. Yeah, I couldn’t stand the pain, and after getting loaded on some painkillers, my good mood came back. Zach seemed calmer, and I wanted to tell him that I was willing to give him a chance. Maybe he could help me forget about the prince. I couldn’t keep going, pretending that I was in control of my life.
“I need a drink, but I’m going straight to bed after that,” I told him, feeling guilty even saying that.
He narrowed his eyes at me, scratched his sexy beard and said, “You’re not supposed to drink when you’re high on painkillers.”
I waved my hand dismissively. “Maybe, but I don’t think I can stay sane without one.”
“I want to take you out this weekend and, before you say anything, yes, it’s a date,” he said unexpectedly once we were heading back to the car. Warmth rippled over my face, heading down between my breasts and then further and further. I stopped for a second, thinking that he must have read my mind earlier on.
“Right, so let me get this straight. You want to go out with me, and am I supposed to just say yes?” I asked, just to make sure that I wasn’t hearing things. The human painkillers made me feel good, and the pain was muted. My life was fucked up, but that didn’t really matter—I had a date.
Doomed Cases Box Set: The Complete Collection Books 1- 4 & Prequel Page 23