Pure Hell (Seventh Level Book 1) (15 page)

Even though she was exhausted, Anne pulled on the car door handle and said, “I still think there has to be something to Septem. I don’t know this Kieran Desdemona from Adam so why would I take what he says as gospel? Maybe Madame Curion told Kylie the truth? Do you feel up to staying up a little longer?”

Mark studied her before answering, “What are you thinking about doing?”

She shrugged. “You’re going to think I’m crazy but people can Google anything and everything. Why don’t we look on the internet and see what we can find out for ourselves about this Septem?”

He popped his door open. “Okay. Let’s see what we can find. I’m a man who prefers answers and so far all we have are questions. A little knowledge never hurt anyone.”

Once inside, Mark carried a dining room chair into his tiny office so they would both have a place to sit. Once they were comfortable he asked, “What should we look up first?”

“Let’s go for the obvious—Septem. He is the only thing we are certain of about this whole thing. At every opportunity he keeps turning up.”

Instead of typing, Mark took her hand. “Whatever we discover on the internet isn’t going to prove anything one way or the other about Kylie’s murder. Even if we find there really is a demon named Septem, it doesn’t mean he killed her.”

“What do you mean, if there really is a demon named Septem? You were in the room with me last night. If it wasn’t a demon we saw, then I don’t know what it is.”

He squeezed her fingers. “I misspoke. I know Septem exists but I want you to know just because he was terrorizing Kylie, it doesn’t mean he killed her.”

Suddenly it was all too much. Anne covered her eyes, struggling to not cry. She was ridden with so much guilt for never being there for her sister, it was choking her with grief.

Mark laid his head on top of hers and wrapped his arms around her. He whispered, “We don’t have to do this, you know? I can log off and we can go to bed. You’re exhausted and need a good night’s sleep. We have all day tomorrow.”

He was the sweetest man she had ever met. She could have sat there all night in the safe circle of his arms but being there with him couldn’t last. She would be leaving soon and even though she suspected she could come to care for Mark if she let herself, she wasn’t staying in New Orleans.

Falling in love was not in her future, so she sat back. She swiped at her eyes. “No. This was my idea, so let’s see who the hell this Septem really is.”

It only took about fifteen minutes of searching the web to locate Septem but several more to wade through the differing opinions of whether or not he was only one Satan’s many henchmen or one of the seven princes of hell’s seven realms.

After sitting for so long, Anne stood and leaned over Mark’s shoulder to read the screen. She pointed at one of the comments. “Seven razor-sharp cocks? Do you think that’s true?”

Mark shrugged. “Who knows. It’s Wikipedia. Anyone can add to it.”

She patted his shoulder. “Let’s go to bed. You were right. None of this proves anything. All we know is, someone out there besides us believes in demons and someone even believes there’s one out there named Septem.”

He switched off the screen and stood. “We’ll figure out what we need to do next tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep.”

As much as Anne was struggling with in her head, she didn’t think she would ever go to sleep, but she must have dozed off as soon as her head touched the pillow. Of course, it helped that Mark had his arms wrapped around her for protection.

The dream began innocently enough. She was in a canoe. Even though she was deathly afraid of water, she wasn’t afraid of being out in the middle of a beautiful calm river. Tiny yellow and black fish were jumping out of the water. There were frogs and crickets off in the distance making their usual night sounds. She was filled with such a peaceful feeling and then the blue river water turned into a dark green and muddy swamp. There were tree branches with moss hanging from them. On the nearby banks, enormous alligators slipped silently into the water and out of sight. One of them bumped against the bottom of the canoe and rocked it so hard, she thought it was going to tip over but it wasn’t the most frightening thing about the dream. The air was heavy and it pulsated with a dark energy.

A scream rent the air drawing her gaze back to the shoreline where she spotted Kylie fighting against an invisible foe. The shock of seeing her sister as she was the day she died instead of as the teenager she remembered was immense. Anne knew immediately this wasn’t a dream. Something deep inside her recognized this was really happening.

“Kylie!” Her scream blended with a male voice who shouted Kylie’s name at the same time.

He was tall and his face was covered in stubble but that was all Anne could tell from her vantage point. Feeling desperate to reach Kylie, Anne jumped into the river. The shock of the cold water consumed her and a manacle grip locked down on her ankles dragging her under the surface. A zap of electricity surged through her body and she was seeing everything through Kylie’s eyes. Her memories and thoughts became Anne’s. The pain of living, dying and months of torment consumed her until she no longer attempted to fight the hands dragging her under.

“Wake up, Anne!”

Her eyes flew open to find Mark leaning over her. Her lungs were frozen and she was hyperventilating.

“Breathe.” He shook her shoulders. “Damn it. Anne, breathe!”

Her throat ached from strain and her lungs burned from lack of oxygen. When she didn’t begin breathing on her own Mark grabbed her underneath her armpits and pulled her into a sitting position. The shock of the sudden movement caused her to gasp and was enough to startle her lungs into working again.

The frightened look on Mark’s face was her undoing and she began weeping uncontrollably. He knelt on the bed next to her and held onto her hands. Every now and then, he would wipe the tears off her face but not once did he ever tell her to stop.

When her sobs finally subsided he asked, “What the hell happened?”

His brown eyes were filled with concern, giving her something else to focus on instead of thinking of almost dying. Her throat hurt when she spoke, “I was in a canoe and lost in the swamp. I heard Kylie scream. She was being pulled under the water. I almost got the canoe rowed to land but there wasn’t time so I jumped in after her. I saw it all, Mark. I couldn’t save her.” Her entire body trembled with a shudder.

Mark wiped at her tears again. “Shhh. It was only a dream.”

“No. You don’t understand. I saw everything. Kylie’s memories were my memories and her emotions were my emotions. It’s all my fault. I could have saved her. She wouldn’t have died if she’d hadn’t been all alone.”

Patting her arm, Mark looked almost panicked by her outburst. She wanted to growl. He wasn’t taking her seriously. Although she knew she wasn’t expressing herself well, she couldn’t help it. There was an overload of new information crowding her brain.

“Take a deep breath, Anne. It was only a dream.”

She did growl then. “Quit telling me it was only a dream and fucking listen to me!”

He drew his hand away at her outburst and sat back on his heels. “Okay. Explain it to me then.”

She opened her mouth several times but everything she thought to say sounded crazy even to her upon reflection. Finally, she settled on the one thing he might take seriously. “Kieran, the man I met at the club, he killed Kylie.”

Mark’s face went carefully blank and she knew immediately he didn’t believe her. “This has been a really stressful week for you and the mind has its own way of dealing with certain things. You’re still grieving.”

“This was not all in my head, Mark.”

Scrubbing his hand against his forehead, Mark made a noise of defeat but she didn’t believe for one second he was backing down. His next words proved how right she was to feel that way. “Look, I’ve been thinking. I’m not sure I’ve done the right thing by feeding into this supernatural idea. The police deal in facts. I can’t go after an innocent man because of a dream. Kylie’s killer confessed. Her case is closed and I have to wonder if maybe there is something wrong with her apartment. What if she has a gas leak? It could have been causing Kylie to hallucinate and us as well after having been exposed to it for a few hours. There wasn’t anything wrong with that place when I searched it the first time and nothing odd has happened to us since. This whole thing is getting out of hand.”

“Is that really what you think?” she asked causing Mark to groan.

“I don’t know, Anne. How about this? I’m going to sleep on the couch and give you some peace. If you promise me you will get at least a few more hours of sleep then we’ll go take one more look at Kylie’s apartment tomorrow. If anything crazy happens or I find a shred of evidence she ever had any interactions with Mr. Desdemona, then I will do everything I can to get Kylie’s case reopened.”

In that moment, Anne doubted herself. What if it had all been a dream and the strain was becoming too much? In the end she agreed. It took a while for Anne to fall back asleep. Her mind raced and her chest hurt. How could she know so many details of Kylie’s life now if it had only been a dream? There were people and places she shouldn’t know about.

The sour smell of swamp water assailed her senses as she stood on the same bank Kylie had disappeared from earlier. The light pouring from the open cabin door called to her and in an instant, she was there. A gorgeous woman around her age paced the floor, making wild gestures with her hands. Anne recognized Delphine from Kylie’s memories and she felt a rush of affection for the woman who had done her best to help her.

“He’ll be playing right into Kieran’s hands by walking into that place.”

Shooting a nervous glance around the room, Anne couldn’t see who Delphine was speaking to. Changing direction, Delphine moved toward her and Anne looked over her shoulder. There wasn’t anyone else there. Delphine reached out and clasped Anne’s arms. The shock of her cool touch, solid against her skin, caused her heart to skip a beat and she tried to pull away but Delphine held tight. Left with no other choice, she gave Delphine her full attention.

“You’re the leverage, Anne. You’re the trick Kieran has up his sleeve.”

“I don’t understand.”

Delphine’s look grew desperate. “He’ll use you to hurt her. Kieran knows Kylie will do anything to spare you her fate. He counts on it.”

Tears of frustration spilled over her lashes. “Tell me what to do,” Anne begged. “I don’t know how to help her.”

Delphine let go of her arms and pulled her into her embrace. Brushing the hair away from her face, she comforted Anne the way a mother would. “You have to be strong. Evil isn’t content with simply owning you. It wants to break you and leave you nothing. Don’t let him break you.”

Chapter Six

Liam had felt his father’s presence the moment he snatched hold of Kylie. “I let him kill me.” Those words rang in Liam’s ears as he willed himself from away from the swamp and into the alleyway behind the Collector’s club. The number of questions bouncing through his mind was making him crazy. It almost seemed ridiculous to him now that he’d not recognized his father’s handiwork sooner. From the moment Kylie came into his life, he’d intentionally stopped looking too closely at things. Seeing meant acknowledging she might go away.

Humans only saw the surface of the Collector’s club, but Liam’s dual nature allowed him to see behind its gothic façade. A pair of giant black-winged creatures with glowing red eyes entered the club. To the everyday person they looked as any young couple in their twenties would. Their tattoos, pierced noses and spiked hair made for an easy excuse as to why people made a wide berth around them. In truth, it was the mortal survival mechanism kicking in.

The Angel of Justice kept any humans seeking to live on the edge from entering the building. His muscular body was usually enough to keep the peace but occasionally he was forced to rain down his wrath. He took one look at Liam’s face and stepped aside without question, nodding as he passed.

The stench of stale blood and rotting flesh assailed Liam’s senses as soon as he entered the building. Harsh music caused the walls to vibrate and masked the sound of the hoard of demons feeding from their latest victims. Inside the club, humans would see a wild rave taking place. Unfortunately, Liam wasn’t as lucky. Every vile act was crystal clear to him no matter how he tried to avoid it. There was nowhere he could look in which his eyes didn’t land on something he would never be able to wash away. The soulless undead, demons mixed with even a few twisted humans, writhed against one another in packs. Those who weren’t engaged in some form of sexual act with one or more partner, stood at the edge openly pleasuring themselves while awaiting their turn. Blood flowed freely from willing victims as feeding and sex crossed all lines between them. A large male demon with empty yellow eyes boldly held Liam’s stare. A naked man knelt between the demon’s legs. His knees were covered in blood, semen plus whatever else had been spent upon the floor. The rapid bobbing of his head did little to block the sight of the demon’s shaft slipping in and out his mouth. No pleasure could be seen in the demon’s expression. It was the same everywhere he looked. There was nothing but hopelessness and desperation in this place.

Several heads turned in his direction as he passed through the crowd heading straight for the back. No one attempted to stop him and they wouldn’t if they valued their life. This was between him and his father.

* * * * *

“Septem! I know you’re here. If you want me then show yourself.” Anne swallowed down her fear along with the rising bile. She didn’t doubt for a moment it was insane to send out an invitation for hell to come to her.

After sneaking out of Mark’s and hiring a cab to drive her over to Kylie’s apartment she was now standing in the doorway of her sister’s bedroom. The room looked the same as it had the last time she had been there with Mark. The bed was still unmade where they had scrambled out of it.

With a desperate need to right a wrong, she stepped into the room. “What’s wrong Septem? Are you not used to having a woman throw herself at your feet?”