Pure Hell (Seventh Level Book 1) (3 page)

“That’s my sister, Anne,” she said over Liam’s shoulder. “Of course, if you ask her, she’ll swear she’s never heard of me because she thinks I’m crazy. I haven’t spoken to her since a year before I moved from Nashville to New Orleans. At least here, I’m not considered an oddity.” Kylie swallowed hard. “For all I know, I have nieces and nephews. Not that she’d let me near them.”

He set the frame down and moved to her closet. She hovered outside the door as he rifled through it.

“Lord, this place is a mess,” she muttered under her breath.

She hadn’t realized how bad it looked until someone else was staring at it. Piles of shoes were stacked haphazardly in the corner. More than half the clothes were off their hangers from where she changed her mind several times while trying on different outfits. Liam bent and picked up her favorite orange top. She shamelessly ogled his ass as he did so. She tried desperately not to picture the way it had clenched as he’d dried off with a towel after his shower but it was hard. Now it was encased in dark blue jeans hugging its perfect shape. When had it gotten so hot in her apartment she wondered as she fanned her face. Liam lifted the shirt to his face and inhaled deeply as if memorizing her scent.

“Um, did you just sniff my shirt?”

Liam’s mouth lifted in one corner and his eyes locked on the oak nightstand next to her bed.

“Oh my God,” she said, sounding horrified to her own ears.

He made a beeline for the table. On a burst of mortified speed, she reached it a half second after him. He tugged at the handle, opening the drawer an inch before she slammed it closed.

“Don’t open that!” she cried.

Liam froze with his fingers still wrapped around the knob. With a shrug, he jerked open the drawer exposing the inside. Dropping his chin to his chest, he stared down at the contents. Kylie threw herself down across the bed covering her face with her hands.

She could feel the flush of embarrassment crawling over her skin. She didn’t doubt for a minute she was beet red.

“Kill me now.”

The bed dipped next to Kylie as Liam sat down barely missing her legs. The warmth of his hip pressing against her thigh felt solid.

He chuckled as he began shuffling through the drawer. “Not such an innocent after all.”

“Oh, shut up,” she grumbled as she sat up and leaned over his shoulder. “I suppose you’ll want to check my Google search history next. Dear Lord.”

*

Kylie’s scent lingered on every item in her home and Liam couldn’t get enough. It smelled of coconut and woman. Both things he found delicious. Admittedly, he was a bit surprised by the naughtiness of her bedside table. Everything else about Kylie’s life seemed so innocent, but every new thing he came across made him realize she had possessed depths she hadn’t allowed anyone to see.

There was a small silver vibrator connected to a cord. It had a controller with several speed settings. He couldn’t identify a few sex toys such as a set of three black metallic things that came in different sizes. He wasn’t sure what they were used for but he could guess.

Underneath it all, the corner of a pink book with little red flowers caught his eye. Pushing everything to the side, he pulled it out. As soon as he flipped open the cover, he realized it was a journal. Her writing was bold and expressive with the large curly letters of a feminine hand, in the first half of the book. The closer he came to the end, the more the writing became scrawled and almost unintelligible. Several pages had been ripped out of the back of the book. He turned to the last entry and read the words aloud.

“Septem says I’ll die soon and it will be painful. I don’t doubt it’s true. I don’t think I can hold out against him much longer.”

Closing the book, Liam stared off into space while tapping the journal against his knee. “Septem,” he repeated.

A crash shot through the apartment. Liam scrambled to his feet while tossing the journal onto the bed. Following the direction of the sound, Liam drew his gun from the holster at his side as he twisted the knob on the door across the hall. Poking his head in quickly, his gaze darted around the room. Finding it empty, he stepped the rest of the way inside. He could only gawk at what he found. A twin-size bed covered in dolls stuck out from one wall. A wooden rocking chair sat to one side of the bed. A clown tall enough to come up to his hip sat staring out at him. Its painted glass face had red triangles around the blackened eyes and an eerie smile stretched its lips. A patchwork costume of bright purple and white covered its overstuffed body. Curled-toe shoes that were two-sizes too big pointed up toward the ceiling. As Liam moved farther into the room, the doll’s eyes seemed to follow his every move. This room was bigger than the one Kylie used as her own. It was almost as if she’d abandoned this one for the smaller of the two. One look at the walls explained why she would do such a thing. “Kylie Trace full of grace” was etched into the wall thousands of times over and over again until every bare inch was covered in the saying.

The closer he moved to inspect the damage, the more oppressive the air became. A strong sulfur odor filled the room. His chest constricted as he struggled to breathe, but he managed to make it to the edge of the mattress. The low lighting made it hard to see and he was forced to lean closer to the walls but he knew before looking, the etchings were every bit as deep as the ones in living room.

With his gaze locked on the wall, a small slit appeared in the wood followed immediately by another until it read, “Kylie is mine.”

A movement in the corner of his eye snagged his attention as the chair on the other side of the bed began to rock. He stared hard at it trying to decide what was missing when it finally clicked that the clown was gone. He examined the floor around the chair in search of the missing doll. The bedroom door squeaked as it began slowly closing catching his attention before slamming shut. Liam lunged for the handle half expecting it to refuse to budge but it easily turned beneath his fingers. He was in no mood to play games. His progress halted as he ran headlong into a figure standing on the other side.

The older lady squealed as his two hundred plus body slammed into hers, but he snagged her shoulders before she could hit the floor.

“Get your hands off me. That’s it. I’m calling the police.”

“Jesus Christ lady. You scared the shit out of me,” Liam admitted as the tiny gray-haired woman swatted his hands away.

“Scared you? You’re the thief here.”

Motioning toward his waist, he pointed out his badge. “No need to call anyone. I’m already here.”

*

Mrs. Turner drew herself up to her full five feet and patted her perfectly coiffed hair. “You’re not supposed to be in here until tomorrow morning so how was I to know?”

Kylie rolled her eyes. “Don’t bother asking how she knew that. She’s a nosy bitch.”

Liam shrugged as if he could feel Kylie plastered to his back and she slid her feet to the floor. She wasn’t a bit ashamed she’d immediately curled her body around his when Septem had appeared. He was every bit as scary now as he’d been when she was still alive. Of course, she was learning death had done little but make her invisible. With her no longer riding him like a monkey, Liam holstered his gun. “How exactly are you aware of our timeline, Mrs.…” He trailed off and Kylie huffed.

“I told you not to bother asking, sheesh! Nobody listens to me,” Kylie bitched then chuckled at her own words.

“Turner,” the older woman supplied as she gave her hair another pat and her eyes skittered away guiltily. “People tell me things,” she answered evasively.

“Un-huh. Nosy bitch,” Kylie said again trailing away. She kept half an ear on the conversation while checking for any sign Septem was still hanging around. She didn’t have any real desire to hear what Sonya had to say. It said a lot to Kylie’s mind that even in death, she preferred to be alone in an apartment with Septem than listening to Sonya Turner bitch about society. She’d been forced to listen to her drivel daily, usually as she was just coming in from work and was ready to pee her pants. Mrs. Turner loved to hear herself talk and it was always something spiteful.

“I’m not surprised that poor girl ended up dead. She had dinner plans with some strange man the other night.”

“HA!”

“I told her loose girls come to bad ends.”

“Double ha,” Kylie said because she could.

“Do you know anything about this man, such as his name or did you get a good look at him?” Liam asked and Kylie sidled closer. She found she was more interested than she first suspected. Sonya was a real piece of work but now Kylie wanted to know how far her snooping abilities actually went. She stood at Sonya’s back and watched Liam’s face as Sonya answered.

“No. I didn’t actually see him. Kylie merely mentioned as she was coming in from work she was in hurry because she was meeting her friend Keith—or something to that effect—for coffee.”

Liam lifted one eyebrow, managing to scoff at Sonya’s words without making a sound. Kylie was impressed with his calm. It wasn’t any wonder as to how he ended up a cop. He’d encountered a demon—of course he was probably already making excuses in his head as to what he really saw—but his hands weren’t even shaking.

“What makes you think he was some strange guy if she said he was a friend?”

“Yeah,” Kylie said close to Sonya’s ear taunting her and Sonya shifted nervously as if she could feel Kylie even if she couldn’t see her.

“Because Kylie only had one friend—that awful Cindy girl—and no man would have her.”

“Oh wow! You really are a little bitch,” Kylie said feeling more hurt than she should. She knew Mrs. Turner was a mean old lady but she never suspected how evil she could be.

Liam rocked back on his heels and his second eyebrow lifted to join the first. “Hmm,” he said sounding doubtful. “Mrs. Turner, from what I understand Kylie worked hard, was especially kind to an elderly bus driver and was an orphan. In other words, she didn’t mind doing her fair share. She had a good heart. Not to mention, she wouldn’t burden a spouse with in-laws. I have to wonder why you think no man would want her?”

Kylie danced on her toes and shook her fist in the air. No one ever stood up for her. She could smell sweet victory until Sonya’s next words.

“Because she was crazy,” Sonya said, crossing her arms while sniffing indignantly. Kylie’s shoulders fell. It was always the same. She was the crazy girl who talked to herself and saw things that weren’t there. Except they were there.

The twisting of the knife in Kylie’s back only lasted long enough for Liam’s nostrils to flare.

“Mrs. Turner, I’ve just discovered evidence which makes this apartment an official part of the crime scene and you’re standing in the center of it. I could arrest you right now for tampering with evidence.”

“I would never.”

“There is no telling how much evidence you’ve contaminated with your presence so unless you want the whole building speculating as to why you’re being led away from a murder victim’s apartment in handcuffs, then I suggest you return to your apartment and not come back.”

Tears filled Kylie’s eyes. “You’re amazing.” She pushed the words past her rapidly swelling throat wishing he could hear them. The look on Mrs. Turner’s face as she scrambled to leave was enough to make her heart turn over in her chest. It gave her the same satisfaction as watching her schoolyard bully getting beat up on the playground. It was a guilty form of pettiness, but oh so satisfying. She couldn’t help but follow Sonya to the door. She gave it an extra push closed behind her.

“Don’t let it hit you in the ass.”

Smiling, she turned to find Liam was no longer where she’d left him. A short search found him standing at the edge of her bed and staring down at her journal, looking lost. “What happened to you Miss Trace?”

She shook her head. “I wish I knew.”

* * * * *

The walls pulsed out a steady rhythm until Kylie half expected them to bleed. She made the happy discovery she could sleep after dozing off for ten minutes, but the room came alive disturbing her peace. At first, she’d tried sitting in a chair near Liam’s bed. Unfortunately, after twenty minutes of staring at the navy blue stripes of its upholstery, she could no longer ignore the constant pounding.

“Kylie.” The raspy whisper taunted her. Her name reverberated from every corner a thousand times before being replaced with the sound of scratching. It was almost as if hundreds of tiny rats clawed at the wood. She scrambled from the chair and into Liam’s bed.

“He can’t save you, Kylie.”

Liam’s even breathing halted at the sound of the voice but after rolling onto his back, he fell asleep again. The closer she inched to his side, the quieter the house became. Taking a chance, she pressed her ear to his chest and tucked her body beneath his arm. The room fell silent. The solid thump of Liam’s heart gave her something new to focus on. He was so strong and steady. If only she could have met him sooner. She didn’t know how much time passed as she enjoyed the feel of his body pressing against her, but after a while, calm settled over her and the fact that she held a naked male in her arms sank into her brain.

Kylie stared down the line of Liam’s sleeping form and a shot of excitement ran down her spine as she realized she could do anything she wanted. She could look until her heart was content. She could touch him. There was no one to tell her no. If only…she snagged the edge of the sheet and giggled in delight as it moved across his body sliding in her direction. The laughter died on her lips as his nude body was exposed. His cock was thick even at rest and the memory of his hand pulling at the skin had her reaching out to touch it before she could change her mind. She traced the line of the vein running its length with the tip of finger. The muscles in his chest twitched and his dick hardened before her eyes. Her gaze shifted to his face. She didn’t want him to wake up and ruin her fun. When he didn’t stir, she encircled his shaft with her fingers, enjoying the silkiness of skin over hardened steel. He was so large he would fill her completely and leave her sore in the morning. He moaned and his legs shifted restlessly against the sheets.