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

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  “No, please, spare her. She’s done nothing wrong,” I said in my head, hoping that Alexis had some decency left in her, and that maybe she would listen. Terror rose swiftly when I saw her holding a knife. She brought the child closer to her chest and looked at me.

  “Your mummy is begging me to spare you,” Alexis said, using our connection. “I won’t. She’s my only hope to live. My soul is damaged and she’s the healer.”

  Time was running out. I clenched my fists in frustration, concentrating on every ounce of energy that rose inside me. My fingers released some light, but I was too far away.

  “I won’t let you kill her, witch!”

  I blinked and saw Arthur speeding up the hill moments later. He appeared out of nowhere, then launched himself on Alexis. She was completely caught off guard. She didn’t even have time to react. Neither of us saw him.

  I gasped when she pushed Summer away. The prince fought like a knight. He pinned her down to the ground. I was pacing around the edge of the barrier, watching in horror how Alexis used her magic to pull Arthur off her. She tossed him away to the ground, screaming and launching her energy at him. Her body rose a couple of inches from the ground. Now I began to understand how she was so powerful. She had been feeding on Matilda’s power since the very beginning. That’s why she never let the Warlock witch go; that’s why she needed her all this time.

  “Daddy’s come to rescue his child. Very well, he will do just fine,” she said, then picked up the knife off the grass and approached Arthur, who was struggling to lift himself up. Summer was crying. I tangled my hair, screaming for Arthur to get the hell away from there.

  Then everything slowed down. Alexis lifted the knife again and then whispered a Latin formula. I heard her in my own thoughts. Thunder boomed, and lightning broke through the sky, showering her with new fulfilling energy. A split second later, she stabbed the prince and lifted her knife above her head. The blood dripped down her body, and Arthur lay beneath her feet—dead.

  Chapter 31

  “For the Emperor of that high Imperium wills not that I,

  once rebel to His crown, into that city of His should lead men home.”

  ―Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

  “Noooo!” I roared, desperate, falling down on my knees when I realised what Arthur had done. He was gone, saving his only child from a psychotic demon. I failed to protect him from getting into Purgatory, failed myself when Alexis stabbed him.

  A storm was seconds away, and electricity buzzed through the air lifting tiny hairs on the back of my neck. Another crack of thunder and lightning appeared in the sky, then the electricity soared right through Alexis’s body. She went rigid, lighting up like a thousand stars. Then she rose above the ground, spreading her arms wide.

  In that moment, I knew that her twisted spell had begun to work. The royal blood was healing her damaged soul. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I screamed at the top of my lungs.

  Arthur was dead. Alexis had fulfilled her prophecy.

  I picked myself up and ran back to the exit. A stream of fire spread down my arms and, moments later the ground beneath my feet exploded with a loud bang. I jumped down to the small room, charged with so much power that I could barely hold myself in one piece. The building was shaking, but that didn’t concern me. I used my power to pull the doors away from its hinges. Paul was lying on the stairs in a pool of blood. Fear shot right through my bones when I saw him.

  “Hey, wake up, please wake up,” I said, turning him slowly around and praying to God that he was all right. He began stirring back to a conscious state, and I exhaled with relief.

  “A demon got to me from behind. I lost my bearings,” Paul said. I helped him to stand up. He probably had a mild concussion, but he insisted on walking all the way downstairs on his own.

  We didn’t talk; there was no time. The rain was pouring down from the sky, and once outside, I started running toward the edge of the cliff where Arthur’s body lay in the grass. Alexis was gone, her soul had been completely healed. She was a newborn demon.

  Summer was curled up in a ball. She wasn’t crying. With shaky hands and trembling legs, I got to her first. She was soaking wet, but she was breathing okay. Instinctively I wanted to run with her, as far as was physically possible. I tried to warm her up with my magic, afraid that she might be ill. She was still so tiny, so small.

  Paul noticed Arthur shortly after he joined me. He stood there, pale and confused. Someone placed a palm on my arm. I started crying, squeezing my daughter tightly in my arms. My anger and pain were shifting into something else, something heavier, numbing me all over.

  “She’s all right, Max, she’s just cold and scared.”

  Matilda was talking to me. I lifted my head, seeing her standing next to me, bruised, with cuts and scratches all over her face. Even her clothes were torn. In the distance I saw Zach, Zara, and Nameless coming toward us. Paul kept staring at Arthur’s body in silence.

  “Arthur?” I asked, shaking with cold, like I still couldn’t comprehend that he was gone.

  Moments later, Zach wrapped his coat around me. Summer’s little heart was beating franticly. All I wanted was to take her back to the world above and plant a billion kisses on her cheeks.

  A storm of conflicted emotions overwhelmed me. Fear began forming in my stomach, settling like a heavy knot. I needed to push the darkness away; I needed to take care of Summer now. The tiny voice in my head reminded me that I got what I wanted. Summer was safe, but someone else paid the price.

  “He’s gone, darling. He saved her,” Matilda stated, looking tired.

  “No, this is impossible. He couldn’t have gotten here. The entrance was sealed. I didn’t have time to explain to him that I had made a mistake,” I mumbled, and my daughter opened her large eyes and looked at me. For a moment the time stopped, and nothing else mattered. We were staring at each other, forming a connection that was once broken. She lifted her little, tired hand and touched my cheek. It was the most amazing feeling I had ever experienced. She was pure and beautiful.

  “Max, we have to get out of here. Ricky and Emma were taken by men with wings,” Zachary said.

  “Watchers, they appeared on the island when we separated,” Nameless explained, holding Zara’s hand.

  Alexis had won. She took a life in order to regenerate her soul. She killed the prince. I had never expected this kind of outcome, didn’t understand it. Maybe I didn’t want to.

  “Ricky is gone, too?” I asked.

  “He will be all right, Max, but the cop is right. We need to leave,” Paul said, looking around.

  “Max, you will have many moments like this, but we have to leave now. This place isn’t safe at all,” Matilda told me. “Alexis trapped me in my own spell. I’m sorry that I failed you.”

  “What about Arthur’s body? We can’t leave him here.” I felt numb from head to toe. Shock riddled my body. I kept asking myself if it was possible that he followed us down through the entrance to the alley. I should have closed it behind me, then maybe this would have never happened.

  “I’ll carry him, but the woman is right,” Paul said. “We need to leave now. We have entered Purgatory, Max, and as long as we are here, your little one is still in danger.”

  I couldn’t look when Paul and Zach lifted Arthur’s lifeless body and started carrying him down. Matilda took Summer from me and I felt empty. The pain was greater than ever, breaking me from the inside. I wanted to shut it down but couldn’t.

  The future king was dead, and he wasn’t coming back. Ricky and Emma were trapped, and it was all my fault. On top of that, Alexis’s power had been restored completely.

  We had to get off this island and then go back to our world. The royals would never know what happened to the prince. Arthur had died the most noble death, saving his own daughter.

  We left the dark tower behind us and made our way through the stairs in silence. The water was wild. The storm passed moments later, and it finally stopped
raining. I tried to call Ricky. I only had him back a few hours, and now he was gone again.

  I refused to believe it, refused to think that my life was never going to be the same again. Summer was asleep, wrapped in Matilda’s arms. She was precious, the most beautiful child I’d ever seen. Now without a father, without a man who would have made her so proud.

  At the bottom of the stairs by the boat, I spotted a few demons, and at least two Watchers in their true form. Now after the space was cleared of fog, the landscape was beautiful.

  “Who are they? What should we do?” Nameless asked.

  No one stopped, but as we got closer, I recognised the demon who stood in front of the two Watchers. Anger flushed hotly as my eyes met his.

  “What the hell do you want?” I shouted at Morpheus with bitter disappointment. I couldn’t believe that he dared to show up here, now when everyone was filled with so much grief.

  “It’s time, Maxine, it’s time to fulfill your part of the deal. The child and your partner were saved,” Morpheus stated with no emotion. I frowned, not understanding what the hell he meant. There was no deal; he didn’t help me. Arthur was still dead, and Alexis had won.

  “Maxine, what is he talking about?” Paul demanded, looking from me to Morpheus.

  “You can go to Hell with your deal. Alexis was healed with Arthur’s blood. This wasn’t the outcome that we agreed on,” I said, feeling that this was going to turn against me. I wanted to hug my daughter again, wanted to hold her for a bit longer.

  Morpheus shook his head, staring at me with great sadness.

  “I have healed your partner and guided you in the past few weeks,” Morpheus said. “You promised your soul to the dark lord, so I’m sorry, but you cannot return to the world above. It’s time to say goodbye to your friends.”

  Zachary and Paul laid Arthur on the ground.

  “She ain’t going anywhere, over my dead body!” Zachary shouted, suddenly face-to-face with Morpheus. Two Watchers took a step toward him.

  “True, I made a deal with you, but your part of the bargain hasn’t been fulfilled,” I argued, deep down knowing that this wasn’t fair. Arthur wasn’t supposed to die out here.

  “I’m sorry you feel that way, but your child is now safe, which means that your soul belongs to the dark lord. Tell your friends to stand down. They won’t be able to fight me. Paul, you should know that Maxine had given me her word.”

  Paul looked at me with shock and sadness, then shook his head in desperation. Morpheus couldn’t take me now. Not after everything that happened. I needed time with my daughter.

  “No… she isn’t going anywhere. Max, what is this bullshit? What deal is he talking about?”

  “I was desperate. Ricky was in the hospital dying, and Alexis was after my daughter. He promised to help me bring Summer back, and agreed to save Ricky, but only if I agreed to give up my soul,” I said, ready to scream with frustration. How could Lucifer be so cruel? He had taken Arthur away from his family.

  “No… Bullshit. I won’t let you take her!” Zach roared, reaching for his gun, but I got to him before he had a chance to do something very stupid.

  “Let it go. Morpheus is a demon, Lucifer’s right hand. I gave him my word, so there is nothing you can do about it,” I said, accepting my fate, accepting the fact that this was over.

  Summer was safe now, and Matilda would take care of her. Zach refused to believe that this was my destiny.

  “Make an appeal, Flower, please. He’s the devil for Christ sake. It can’t end like this!” he said, touching my arms.

  “Zach, let go of her,” Paul said. “There is nothing that you can do. She needs to meet her destiny.”

  “Your partner, Ricky, and his human friend are back in London. I gave the Watchers orders to let them go,” Morpheus said.

  I walked over to Matilda and placed a kiss on my daughter’s forehead. She was beautiful, stunning, and I was going to miss her forever.

  “Please take care of her. All of you take care of her for me,” I said, my voice slowly breaking. Zara dropped her head, losing herself in the chest of Nameless. Zach was ready to fight for me. He didn’t want to believe that this was happening for real.

  Matilda touched my hand. She understood that I had no other choice.

  Morpheus nodded to the two Watchers to take care of me. A second later, the gold chains were placed on my hands. I could no longer feel anything, I was numb everywhere.

  “Do something … for the lord, do something. They can’t take her!” Zach roared, but no one reacted. Everyone understood what was going on.

  “It’s time,” Morpheus said with some sadness in his voice. Then the two Watchers pushed me forward.

  There were no more words. Everything was done. I was going down to meet my destiny, to die so my daughter could live.

  This was the beginning of my end.

  The end of book 3

  Satanic Fortitude (Doomed Cases Book 4)

  Chapter 1

  “You’ve now arrived where Purgatory begins. See over there the wall encircling it. See there the portal where the wall is breached.”

  ― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

  “What’s going to happen to me now?” I asked, looking around the empty and dark land that demons called Purgatory. We weren’t far away from the main part of Hell, and still I had no idea what to expect. I saw the shapes of rocky hills and the calm black lake stretched right in front of us.

  The Watcher who walked next to me didn’t respond, and my stomach tightened with unease. This was a bad sign. I had no idea what was going to happen once we passed through to the main part of Hell.

  I left my friends behind, and then Ricky and Emma were taken away. I didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye to them.

  I looked down at my hands and thought about my little girl. We’d only just been reunited with each other, and now I was gone, probably forever. Morpheus was ahead. He didn’t turn around or even acknowledge that he heard me. He was sent up to lead me right to Lucifer, the most powerful demon in Hell. The dark lord had asked for my soul, but I didn’t feel in any way privileged. I wasn’t ready to die yet or become someone’s slave. This wasn’t fair. I wanted to go back to my friends, to my job at Doomed Cases.

  “We need to leave Purgatory first. It’s not the safest place in the underworld,” the Watcher on my right said unexpectedly. Morpheus was silent, and I didn’t expect that from him.

  I sighed loudly and thought about Arthur. He was dead, but no one on Earth knew about it yet. Only Paul, Zach, and Zara had witnessed it. The royal family would demand answers, and I had no idea how anyone could explain to them what really happened.

  The dreaded pain settled in my stomach, and I wanted to be left alone to grieve for him at least for a few minutes. There were so many other things that I didn’t have a chance to tell him. Now it was too late.

  Tears pushed their way into my eyes, but I refused to break right now in front of witnesses. I was going to Hell, so there was no point feeling down. What’s done was done. I saved my daughter and my friends. They were going to be fine, and Matilda would take care of my precious child.

  We circled around the island, leaving the dark tower behind us. The calm water stretched from one side to the other; I couldn’t see anything beyond that. Everyone was waiting, and I sensed the magic drifting around, moving slowly like an invisible cloud in the sky. After a moment of silence, Morpheus waved his hand and a passage started to appear right under the surface.

  The water began bubbling and then a long narrow stone floor was created, rising slowly. The Watchers seemed tense, glancing around as if they were expecting something to happen. The sky, or what resembled the navy space above me, was scattered with stars. I was trying to figure out what kind of place Purgatory was; maybe humans were kept here before they were transported back to Hell. I had so many questions, but this wasn’t the best time to start asking them.

  “Come, stay close and be silent,” Morpheus
said and then the Watcher nudged me to go forward. I did what I was told, although I didn’t understand why everyone was so tense all of a sudden. A thick mist appeared, slowly drifting around my feet. My heart thumped loudly in my chest. I wasn’t scared anymore. I had accepted my fate. Hell was finally opening its gates to me.

  Arthur’s soul wouldn’t have gone directly to Lucifer. The truth was, that I had no idea who decided what happened to humans after they died. I believed that Lucifer played his part in life after death.

  The prince had come to the end of his life, and he did that by saving our daughter. My heart bled for him. It was strange to think that I was never going to see him again. It was all my fault that Alexis killed him. He must have followed me and the rest of the group from Ricky’s place. He was furious with me, angry that I had been lying to him for so many years.

  I couldn’t even think about Alexis right now, but she finally got what she wanted. Her soul had been healed. I failed, but Morpheus didn’t see it that way. He didn’t seem to care that she was still a threat.

  The mist was getting thicker and soon, I could barely see Morpheus’s silhouette right in front of me.

  Maxine… Maxine…

  I stopped and looked around, certain that I heard someone calling me.

  “Did you hear that, Morpheus? Someone just said my name,” I said loudly. The Watchers behind me didn’t answer, and Morpheus didn’t react, or he pretended that he didn’t hear me. A split second later I heard a splash, like something big was dropped into the water. All the tiny hairs on the nape of my neck rose, and I could have sworn that I sensed someone nearby.

  I didn’t dare move. Waiting, I turned, but now there was no one behind me. The Watchers couldn’t have just vanished; this was Hell. Besides, Morpheus was an upper-level demon. Even Rodriguez was forced to listen to him, so something wasn’t adding up here.