Demons LLC (Damned and Cursed Book 7) (38 page)

"Lay down on the ground!
 
Put your hands behind your head!"

Zoey would do no such thing.
 
Her head snapped up, the hungry glare in her eyes once again.
 
She licked what was left of the stranger's blood from her fangs.
 
She charged forward without hesitation, but Lisa didn't hesitate with her actions either.
 
She opened fire, lighting up the alley with muzzle flash.
 
She caught Zoey in the shoulder and thigh.
 
Zoey shouted and fell to one knee.
 
She snarled at Lisa one final time before turning and running.
 
She ran past Alex and through Nate, deeper into the alley.

"Nate," Alex said.
 
"Follow Zoey."

Nate flinched, doubt and confusion flashing across his face.
 
The alley was a mess, the scene of an attempted murder.
 
Blood splatter was on the brick wall.
 
Alex struggled to climb to his feet.
 
Kylie could barely stand.
 
Detective Lisa Nash was hurriedly approaching.
 
Nate didn't feel comfortable leaving.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Alex said forcefully.
 
He eyed Kylie as she tried to lean on the wall.
 
As much as he wanted to follow Zoey, he had the feeling he needed to stay with Kylie.
 
"Go, watch her.
 
I don't think she'll hurt anyone else."

"Oh, you don't
think
?"

"Go!"

Nate pointed to Kylie.
 
"Watch her for me.
 
Please."

Alex nodded, and Nate vanished.
 
He didn't bother running after Zoey.
 
He had his own way of pursuing someone.

Lisa caught up to Alex.
 
He'd already pushed himself to his feet with the help of his wings.
 
He didn't bother hiding them, opting instead to fold them behind him.
 
She lifted his chin to inspect the cuts across his face.

"Shit," she said, wincing.
 
"Are you okay?"

"Believe it or not, I've been through worse."

"Oh, I believe it.
 
I have the feeling you don't want me to take you to the hospital."

"You'd be right.
 
I thought you said you were staying at home?"

"There was nothing good on TV.
 
So, I figured I'd follow you.
 
Although there wasn't much following involved.
 
You didn't exactly clear the cache on my computer."

Alex shook his head.
 
He should have known.
 
Clearing the cache was a trick he'd have to remember, and get Cindy to teach him.

"Well, do you mind if I…?"
 
She gestured down the alley.

"Go ahead."

She ran in the direction of Zoey, to engage in a chase he knew the detective wouldn't win.

The only people left in the alley, alive or dead, were Alex and Kylie.

"Alex," she said.
 
She took one step toward him before falling to the ground.
 
"What's wrong with me?"

He sat next to her and reached for her hand.

"Relax.
 
Everything's okay."

"Am I…going to Heaven?
 
Or worse?
 
I'm not ready yet."

"No, that's not it.
 
I think maybe you died around here."

"Zoey killed me, didn't she?
 
My best friend."

"I don't know."

"You don't know?
 
Did we just see two different things?
 
She's a vampire.
 
And she's not friendly, like the ones you hang out with.
 
God, I'd give anything to know what happened that night."

"It's funny you should say that," he said, smiling.
 
He squeezed her hand and put his free hand on the back of her neck.

She let out a sigh.
 
"Ah, warm hands.
 
I feel so sick.
 
I didn't even know that was possible.
 
Ghosts can get sick?"

"It's your mind.
 
Your memory is fighting to be heard, and it can make you feel weird."

"Weird.
 
Bad choice of words.
 
I feel like I'm going to throw up."

"Eh, memories do that.
 
Take deep breaths.
 
Don't try to stand."

"I think…I'm remembering."

"Okay, then."
 
He rubbed the back of her neck.
 
"Away we go."

The alley slowly faded away around them.

Alex winced and clenched his eyes shut as the loud music bounced around in his head once again.
 
He sighed in frustration.
 
They'd just endured the war on the senses that was the club night scene, and here they were again.
 
Kylie's hand was still entwined in his own.
 
He pulled it free and covered his ears for a moment.

"Ohmygod ohmygod," Kylie repeated, putting her hands to her cheeks.
 
"What the hell's going on?
 
Did I teleport here?"

He slowly opened his eyes and absorbed the club again.
 
Men and women drinking, dancing, flirting with each other, playing pool and cards.
 
Kylie and he were on the first floor, near the center.

"No.
 
We're inside your memories, on the night you died.
 
Getting near your place of death finally trigged something."

"Are you kidding me?
 
We're looking inside my head?"

"You got it."

"Well then how are you inside
my
head?"

He smiled.
 
"Just another of the little tricks I can do."

She shook her head as she stared at the floor.

"Jesus.
 
This is just too much.
 
The moment I think I'm getting a handle on things, something just kicks my ass."

"Yeah, I know what you mean.
 
Normal, it's not."

Another voice spoke, identical to Kylie's.

"That's the dumbest thing I ever heard!"

They both stared at each other, confused, until Kylie's jaw dropped.
 
She pointed over Alex's shoulder.
 
He turned to see Kylie and Zoey in a heated discussion in the middle of the dance floor.

It wasn't the same Zoey Alex had already met.
 
Her figure was full, healthy.
 
Her cheeks were rosy, her smile bright.
 
She was nothing like the emaciated young woman that took her place now.
 
She filled out her clothes, catching the eye of many men strolling through.
 
Zoey could have easily passed for nineteen, maybe twenty years old.

"C'mon, Kylie.
 
Stop the crazy over there."

"Are you even listening to yourself?
 
You want to leave here with a guy you don't even know?"

Zoey rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Isn't that the whole point of why we came out tonight?"

"To make out with strangers and leave with them?"

"To have fun!
 
And, sometimes, part of that fun is hooking up with a hot guy.
 
Look at him.
 
Tell me he's not cute."

Alex and Kylie, the spirit Kylie, moved closer to look at the man in question.
 
He leaned against the wall not far from the bar.
 
He smiled and chatted with several women as they passed by, but his attention always returned to Zoey and Kylie.
 
His features were chiseled, with an intense, blue-eyed stare and a strong jaw.

"I'll tell you one thing," Zoey said.
 
"He's definitely a good kisser."

Kylie laughed.
 
"Yeah, I saw you two dancing.
 
I thought clothes were getting ready to fly off."

"You saw us?
 
Then why didn't you come out and dance with us, instead of holding up the wall?"

"No, thanks.
 
You've seen me dance.
 
And I don't think a bomb could have stopped you two.
 
How old is he?
 
Isn't it weird that he's here creeping on high school girls?"

"Uh, excuse me.
 
I'm eighteen now, so I can do what I want."

"Do you even know his name?"

"No.
 
Not yet."

"Wow.
 
Brilliant, Zoey."

Zoey's eyes narrowed, taking a bit of a hard edge.

"What is your problem?
 
You said you'd come out and have fun.
 
So, why can't you do that?
 
Why can't you have fun?"

"I
am
having fun."

"No, you're not.
 
You're watching me have fun.
 
Kylie, if you want a guy to really look at you, to undress you with his eyes—"
 
She looked at Kylie's kitten shirt.
 
"You're going to have to change your clothes."

Kylie shrugged.
 
"I like my clothes."

"Whatever.
 
Look, you don't have to be jealous."

She put her hands on her hips.
 
"Jealous?"

"He wants me to go to some friend's apartment of his.
 
But I said I wouldn't go without you.
 
So…."
 
She held her hands together.
 
"Please?"

"Wow.
 
A stranger's apartment.
 
Are you thinking at all?"

"And there it is."

"There
what
is?"

"If he asked
you
, I'd bet you go."

"That's not it.
 
I just don't like the guy."

"Yeah, you don't like anyone.
 
I guess you and your mom share that, at least."

Kylie frowned.
 
"Now where did that come from?"

"I don't know.
 
I'm sorry."
 
Zoey turned to wave and smile at her dance partner.
 
"Look, I'm actually going to see if I can meet some new people, and maybe even a little more with my new friend over there.
 
Are you coming or not?"

She crossed her arms and shook her head.
 
"No."

Zoey shrugged and pulled down at her mini-skirt.

"Okay, whatever."

Alex and both versions of Kylie watched as Zoey turned and walked away without looking back.
 
She took the stranger's hands and they shared a quick kiss.
 
He tried to wrap an arm around her waist, but he was a full head taller than Zoey.
 
He settled for her shoulders as they headed for the same exit door that Alex himself used not long ago.

"I was going to walk home," spirit Kylie told Alex.
 
"But I couldn't just let Zoey go."

"You remember?"

"A little.
 
It's cloudy."

The memory version of Kylie headed for the door, and they followed.
 
They stayed ten feet behind Kylie, and Kylie stayed twenty feet behind them.
 
She kept to the shadows to avoid being seen.
 
Zoey and her friend talked and laughed, stopping occasionally for a quick kiss.
 
A terrible sense of déjà vu overwhelmed Alex as they relived the alley pursuit from ten minutes prior, only with slightly different players.

"You know what's funny?" Kylie said.
 
"I
was
jealous of Zoey."

"Seriously?"

She nodded.
 
"Most of the time I didn't care.
 
But it got to me that night.
 
The way guys look at her.
 
It didn't matter what was going on.
 
They always look past me to look at her.
 
And I don't think a mini-skirt is something I can pull off."

"I'll bet Nate wouldn't agree.
 
Do you know that guy Zoey is with?"

"Not at all."

They continued to wind through the alley maze, on the exact same course Zoey led the man from the club earlier.
 
Only this time, in Kylie's memory, Zoey wasn't the one leading.
 
The man she was with was in complete control, had Zoey eating from the palm of his hand.

"Oh, no," Kylie said, slowing down.
 
"Am I going to watch my own murder?
 
Am I going to see Zoey kill me?"

Alex said nothing.
 
He had enough clues to put together a theory.
 
But there were no words that would prepare Kylie for what she was about to see.

He kept his eyes locked on the man Zoey was with.

They turned down yet another alley.
 
In her memory, Kylie stayed behind, peering around a corner.
 
Spirit Kylie ran ahead, in between Zoey and her other self.
 
Despite being closer, she couldn't hear what Zoey was saying.
 
Her memory didn't have that information, no matter how close she got.

"God, we were just here!" she said.
 
"This is where Zoey attacked that guy, tried to kill him?
 
What's going on—?"

A loud scream cut her off.
 
Alex sensed it was coming, but jumped regardless.
 
There were no more words, no more flirtation.
 
Kylie turned to see the man holding Zoey against the wall.
 
Her neck was bent at an odd angle as he drank from her.
 
She struggled in his grip, not feeling the typical sexual side effects from a vampire's feeding.