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

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  I sat in my chair thinking about what she said for a moment. She finished her cake, got up and left the room. She’d been through a lot and still didn’t let it ruin her outlook on life. She picked herself up and carried on. I felt like an idiot, thinking that my addiction could get the better of me.

  I could erase Arthur out of my life, but I needed Zach to help me. George was still alive, and I would carry on doing whatever I could, but I needed to cut myself some slack and stop worrying about things that I couldn’t control. I picked up the last cake and leaned back consuming it slowly. For the first time in a while I was thinking about myself and felt excited about my upcoming date with Zachary Quinton.

  Chapter 28

  “Through me the way into the suffering city,

  Through me the way into eternal pain,

  Through me the way that runs among the lost.”

  ― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

  He was tall, blond, and for a split second, I thought that I recognised him from somewhere. He stared at me for longer than was necessary and then sat at the table in the back, joining a female human. I didn’t need to panic just yet. After all, I wasn’t that important in the underworld. Maybe he was here for other reasons and I just had to relax. Azero was holding the plate with snacks in front of me, so I took a piece of a cracker with hummus, telling myself that everything was fine.

  “Any good? It’s a special recipe from my grandmother side,” Azero said and his words distracted me from the supernatural creature that was now in the restaurant. My paranoia kicked in, rolling over my body like a cold shower. My life was complicated, but tonight was all about me.

  “Good, very good,” I muttered with my mouth full. As long as I didn’t have Watchers chasing after me, I was relatively safe. “So I’m the first girl he’s brought here?”

  Okay, I didn’t need to be that nosy, but Zach wasn’t particularly forthcoming.

  “Yes, his poor mother has been telling him to settle for as long as I can remember, but he never listens. Our Zachary is a wild card.”

  “Yes, I have noticed,” I responded. “How long have you had the restaurant?”

  “Since his sister disappeared, over six years now. I treat him like my own boy, but he doesn’t come often. He is always busy with his police work,” Zach’s uncle said, shaking his head like he remembered something from the past. I frowned and leaned over just to make sure Zach was still outside, talking on the phone.

  “His sister? I thought he didn’t have any siblings?” I asked. Azero lost his smile for a second and then sat down opposite me, still holding the menu in his hand.

  “I don’t like telling this story, but you’re the first woman he has brought in here, so I guess it’s okay. Zachary has a brother, too, but it was his sister who had always been the black sheep in the family. She never used to listen to her mother, was a wild child, and things spun out of control. She got pregnant when she was about twenty, very young then. She partied a lot and got herself into trouble with the police and some Turkish immigrant. I don’t blame Zafira for what happened to Zara. She brought up her children here, not in Iran, without a husband, so it wasn’t easy. Zara left the child with Zafira many times. At first it was a few hours, then days, and once she vanished for over a week,” Azero said, giving me way more than I expected.

  I had no idea that Zach had such a big family. It looked like we both didn’t like sharing things about ourselves. Paul was right: he was troubled, even more than I expected. It was strange that he never mentioned his sister.

  “During one night, Zafira snuck out for a party and didn’t come back. Everyone was used to it, but this time it was different. Zach had just graduated and got into the police force,” his uncle continued. “And he had a lot that he had to deal with. Zara had vanished from the face of the earth, and after a couple of weeks, Zafira had filed a missing person report. Zach started to look for her, but he wasn’t getting anywhere. No one had heard from her. Things were difficult at home, too. Zafira was blaming herself and fell into depression. Cornelia, Zach’s niece, was raised by Zafira, and after her mother’s disappearance, she stayed with her grandmother for good. Zafira lifted herself up for the little girl. Cornelia is six now, and Zach adores her, he helps out as much as he can. He looks after her whenever he can, but I don’t think he ever got over what happened with Zara.”

  I was completely and utterly speechless. This wasn’t something that I expected to hear. I thought Zach simply liked keeping his private life away from nosy people like me. His partner’s suicide was just the tip of the iceberg. He most likely believed that demons had abducted his sister, too. My head was spinning, as I tried to take all this in. Now it didn’t surprise me that Zach was so sensitive and believed in supernatural forces.

  “I didn’t know about her. Zach hasn’t spoken about his family at all. Besides, we haven’t been working together long,” I admitted, feeling like an idiot.

  “Zach doesn’t like bringing this stuff up. It hurts too much, but he does love Cornelia. He’s a hard man, but soft like a cushion inside,” his uncle said fondly, thinking how much trouble Zara had brought into the family. I could see he believed that she was long dead.

  “Uncle, what are you telling, Max? I’ve only been gone for what… five minutes?” Zach asked, appearing next to our table. His family was important to him, and maybe he just didn’t like broadcasting the fact that his sister had vanished from the face of the Earth. I was certain that demons had something to do with it and I wanted to help, but I couldn’t ask him about her straight away. The date was going well, and I didn’t need to ruin it.

  “I was telling Maxine about my special dish, the khoresh, so hurry up and order it for her. She is just skin and bones,” Azero said, lifting my arm, like he wanted to prove his point. I had no idea what khoresh was, and I didn’t want to look like an idiot asking Zach to explain it to me. He chose the food in the end. I finished eating the hummus that Azero brought over earlier on. My stomach stopped growling, but I was still pretty hungry.

  I kept thinking about Zach’s niece. She was only six and now was growing up without a mother. Deep down, I knew that at some point, I would have to ask him about her. My own secret was burning my insides, but I’d made my choice. Zach, on the other hand, was no doubt hoping that Zara was still alive and well. We chatted about the investigation for the next half hour, until his uncle brought the food. It turned out that the khoresh was a stew, made from aubergines, lamb leg, and other vegetables.

  “Dig in. The chef doesn’t prepare this every day, only on special occasions,” Zach said, and I did. Everything was delicious, fresh, and yeah, my mouth was on fire by the time I tasted all of the dishes that were brought in. Azero came over every few minutes to check on us. The candle was lit, and we ate, talking about my time when I was growing up with nuns. Zach kept asking about my parents. I was having fun, but my phone kept vibrating constantly. I ignored it for as long as I could, until Zach heard it.

  “You should answer it. Whoever it is seems persistent,” he said, finishing some sort of rice dish that his uncle brought in a moment ago. It was Ricky. He left tons of messages. I didn’t want to talk to him right now. Besides, he was supposed to take the night off. At least I was hoping he would.

  “What’s up?” I asked, not wanting to leave the table.

  “Max, what the hell? What took you so long?” he snapped. “This is bloody important.”

  “What’s so important? I bet you’re just checking up on me. For your information I’m not in the bar, mate, but on a date,” I hissed into the phone, wondering how long he was going to treat me like a child.

  There was a silence on the other side of the phone.

  “A date?”

  “What do you want, Ricky?” I asked, going slightly red, because Zach started touching my leg with his.

  “I might have found something in the evidence,” he said, his tone serious. I shook my head to let Zach know that he needed to stop. Ricky sound
ed like this was indeed important.

  “Tell me,” I said, not wanting to discuss the fact that two Watchers had stolen the evidence from the hotel room from the police. Zachary had no idea what could happen if the elixirs got into someone else’s hands.

  “I found Arthur’s hair in the elixirs in the hotel. The mixture was odd, looked like a failed first attempt, so that’s why it took me so long to figure it out. Some of the useless substances were filled with his and George’s blood, too. I had to dig through a lot of books to get the gist of what was inside. Whoever is involved might be controlling the prince from the outside. ‘Cherry water’ that was the name of the potion. It’s a highly possessive elixir that serves only one purpose: to gain control of a human, in this case, a very important human,” Ricky explained, talking faster than normal.

  My stomach contracted, and I suddenly felt sick. For some reason, Emma’s words rang in my head: just go back to the basics. What if someone was using George to get to Arthur? Everything was possible.

  “Anything else?”

  “Arthur might have helped whoever took control of George. The answer is in the palace, Maxine. The answer has always been there, but I backed away from there too quickly.”

  Zachary was watching me, as the panic settled inside my stomach. I didn’t want to believe that I didn’t sense that there was something wrong with Arthur. He would have never brought any harm to his brother. Maybe he wasn’t himself when he was in that hotel, either; maybe the meeting was just an excuse. God, I didn’t want to believe that this was even possible.

  “Thanks, Ricky. I’m with Zach right now,” I told him. “I will check this straight away.”

  “Arthur might be under the influence of a demon. You should speak to Rodriquez. The demon most likely needed both brothers to create some kind of powerful potion.”

  I exhaled sharply, massaging my forehead.

  “Okay, we will drive there straight away. I’ll speak to you later,” I said, and then hung up.

  “What’s going on?” Zach asked, suddenly alert.

  “We need to head to Buckingham Palace right away. The royals might be in danger, but I believe that most of them are in their usual residences,” I said, wondering if Arthur was with Natalie in Kensington.

  “My uncle will be disappointed if you leave before tasting a dessert,” he said, not taking me seriously. “And if you’re pulling any kind of stu—”

  “No, I’m perfectly serious, Zach. This lead is solid. There is an intruder in the palace, and he might have something to do with Prince George’s abduction. We need to check this out now,” I pressed, annoyed that he thought I was playing him. I stood up and picked up my clutch bag.

  “Are you coming with me or not?”

  “Yes, of course, I won’t let you go alone this time around,” he said.

  Sometimes I hated myself for being a mongrel, hated that I couldn’t tell him that the world he knew wasn’t what it seemed. We both apologised to Zach’s uncle, who didn’t seem that offended.

  My energy was crackling gently over my skin as we got to Zach’s car. Arthur was himself when he trapped me in that hotel room. I would have recognised if there was something wrong. Maybe Ricky was wrong; maybe he made a mistake.

  “Put your seat belt on,” Zach muttered and roared the engine back to life. The palace was on the other side of the city, but Zach wasn’t planning on driving slowly. He maneuvered the car into the flow of traffic and then stopped caring for road rules. He was speeding through the busy streets, overtaking other cars and running through the red lights. I held onto the ‘oh shit’ handle by the window, hoping to still be alive when we finally reached our destination. My heart was in my throat, and I was so grateful that we were both safe by the time he reached the palace gates. My phone kept vibrating in my pocket. Ricky kept trying to get a hold of me, but I didn’t have time to update him on what was going on.

  My abilities were sharpening and working at full speed. The A’rea attack had weakened me, but I was recovering and was able to sense the humans nearby. Even so, I wasn’t up to my usual form yet.

  The guards at the front gate were difficult. It was late, and some young smart arse didn’t want to let us in, backing himself up with emergency protocol. Apparently, the palace was empty. The Queen Mother and most of the family had left to some party. They didn’t know if Prince Arthur was in his quarters or if he was in a different part of the city, in his private residence with Natalie.

  We needed to speak to Rodriquez urgently, but the guards had no idea if he was in the palace or not. This whole thing was absurd, and after a moment, Zach lost his temper. He took out his gun, pointed it at one of the guys and told him to let us in; otherwise he was going to shoot him. Yeah, that worked, only just, but the guards were most likely on the phone to someone inside the palace as soon as we passed through the gates.

  We headed straight to the head of security who was based in the west wing. We expected to be greeted by guards, or at least Rodriguez himself, but the corridors were empty. The whole palace seemed deserted. Something wasn’t right, and the general sense of dread and pressure was building up in my chest.

  Zachary was nervous, suddenly anxious, and my own power was going slightly berserk. We barged through the doors of the head of security, reaching abandoned posts. Computers were still on, and there was a fresh cup of coffee on the desk. This didn’t look good—why would security leave in such a hurry?

  “What is going on in here? Where is everyone?” I asked, concentrating on the people inside the palace, but I wasn’t sensing anything. My energy was depleted, and I felt robbed. I was well enough to detect humans or demons nearby, so what the hell was going on?

  “Let’s split,” Zachary suggested, glancing around disoriented. There was only a handful of guards by the gate, and I didn’t see that we had any other option. I was truly hoping that Arthur wasn’t in the palace, along with other members of the royal family. Whoever was in charge of the security these days needed to be fired.

  “All right, I’ll go upstairs to the staff’s quarters. Call me if you manage to track down Rodriquez,” I said. Zachary nodded, loaded his gun, and started walking away in the opposite direction. I ran upstairs, taking a couple of steps at a time. My energy began rolling through me faster as I was moving further inside the palace. By the time I reached the second floor, I was out of breath, and my body was aching; the latest injuries were slowing me down. Ricky’s words rang in my ears: Arthur was under the influence of a demon.

  I passed a few rooms and headed straight to the main ballroom that was set up for some sort of official banquet. All the lights were off, but there was someone inside. My heart started jackhammering in my chest as I searched for the source of power. The sound of footsteps neared, and a deformed face came into a view, blocking whatever energy I was trying to gather.

  Every tiny hair on my body rose, air filled my lungs, and fear sunk its claws inside my stomach, freezing me in place. The A’rea was in the ballroom, standing very close, and she had arrived straight from the pits.

  Chapter 29

  “Until he shall have driven her back to Hell,”

  ― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

  The muscles in my legs were starting to burn. Panic punched a hole in my chest as I struggled to breathe. The A’rea was in the ballroom, trying to tap into my demonic DNA. I still had a chance. I could turn around and run, but a second later, all the doors were slammed shut, and the floor seemed to roll under my feet. Anticipating danger was part of my instinct, but I had a feeling that this time around, I was in real shit.

  She smelled of arsenic and rotten flesh. Her gaze dropped to my chest, and a fresh dose of excitement and anticipation drifted through her veins. Her eyes met mine again and she wasn’t moving, just standing several meters away. She wasn’t even trying to hide her true form, and her evil soul was filled with only one purpose: to kill. Warmth flared as the smell of metal wafted in the air. I swallowed hard, wishing that I
had a sword or at least a knife, something that could give me an advantage. I wasn’t ready for full fight mode, not yet, but I guessed that choice was taken away from me the moment I stepped into the ballroom.

  Tonight, was supposed to be my night when I didn’t have to worry about the case or any member of the royal family. I even went as far as putting on a dress and wearing high heels. I clenched my fists, tormented with anger. At least Arthur wasn’t here, so this fight was going to be fair. The seconds rolled on, and the A’rea vanished. She disappeared from my sight for a good few seconds, and then I sensed her zooming around, flying above me.

  Then I felt someone else in the ballroom, a demon, and suddenly a high-pitched laugh broke the empty silence.

  “Look, Your Highness, look who has come to grace us with her presence,” the voice said. I gathered whatever strength and energy I could. Then from the far-right corner, a woman appeared, and alongside her stood Arthur. Shock held me immobile until the very last moment. The woman was a stranger to me—well, that’s what I thought at first, but as she got closer everything suddenly made perfect sense. Alexis Frasier, the demon who acted as judge and jury during my fabricated hearing was in the ballroom. She was in control of the A’rea that circled above me, hissing with desire to consume my heart—yeah, that was pretty much her plan.

  “Arthur? Are you all right?” I shouted toward the prince, ignoring Alexis. He seemed like he was out, filled with spells, staring blankly at the space ahead.