Demons LLC (Damned and Cursed Book 7) (29 page)

Taking each step carefully, he finally made it to the bottom.
 
Turning the corner, there was soft glow ahead of him.
 
He could make out a bed, sitting on the floor without a frame.
 
Zoey lay on her back with a Nook above her head, scrolling through pages of a book.

"Damn," Nate said.
 
"Is this a goth lair or something?"

Kylie scowled and stepped forward toward her friend.

"Oh, Zoey," she said sadly.

Zoey finally noticed her intruder and jolted upright on the bed.
 
She turned off the MP3 player nearby, bathing the basement in silence.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"I'm Alex.
 
I just wanted—"

"I said I didn't want to talk to anyone.
 
Get out."

"But I'm trying to find Kylie's murderer.
 
Don't you want to help me do that?"

She scoffed.
 
"You're not going to find whoever killed Kylie."

"Why do you say that?"

"It's been too long.
 
Don't you ever watch TV?
 
Once it goes past two days, the chances drop so low.
 
The cops don't have a clue.
 
They'll give up."

"Well, I won't."

Nate waved from a few feet away, not far from Zoey's bed.

"Hey.
 
I think there's a lamp over here."

He walked in Nate's direction and felt in the darkness.
 
His hand rolled over an end table, a hair brush, a shirt, and finally a lamp.
 
He turned it on, illuminating slightly the area Zoey had lived the past few weeks.

The basement was partially finished with carpet, but no walls or ceiling.
 
A door behind Zoey's bed led to a utility room, a washer and dryer.
 
The rest was hers.
 
There was the previously discovered bed and end table, but also a dresser with a small TV, a rack full of clothes, a laundry basket against the wall.
 
The dresser was lined with pictures of Zoey's life.
 
They showed a much different girl than the person laying on the bed before Alex.
 

The girl in the photos was smiling, laughing, goofing around.
 
Her cheeks were flush, full.
 
Kylie was in nearly half of them.
 
The two friends hugged and played.
 
In one picture, Zoey was shoving a piece of birthday cake into Kylie's face.
 
Another showed Zoey with an ex-boyfriend, with Kylie next to them.

Zoey sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
 
The motion almost looked unnatural.
 
Judging from the pictures, she'd lost a lot of weight since Kylie's death.
 
Before, she was trim, svelte, but now she seemed sickly.
 
She crossed her legs, and Alex wasn't sure if it was the lighting in the basement, or the massive weight loss, but her legs simply looked odd.
 
She wore shorts, and her knees were boney, her ankles like twigs.
 
When was the last time the girl had eaten?

Even with the lamp on, it was still dark.
 
Alex noticed black garbage bags duct-taped in place over the basement windows, blocking all light.
 
Zoey had retreated from everything after Kylie's death.
 
From her family, school, even from the day.

"Look, just ask your fucking questions, and get out," Zoey snapped, looking him up and down.
 
"What are you, anyway?
 
You don't look like a cop.
 
You don't look like much, to be honest."

Alex took in the grieving teenager.
 
She was Kylie's height, with a lighter shade of brown hair, and piercing blue eyes.
 
Her clothes, which at one time she carefully picked out, and hugged her figure, were loose on her frame and haphazardly thrown together.
 
Her skin was pale, with dark circles under her eyes.

"This isn't Zoey," Kylie said.
 
"She's never acted like this."

There was a pile of dirty clothes on the end of the bed.
 
Alex moved them aside, gingerly.
 
He took a seat, but kept his distance, hoping to make her feel more comfortable.

"What happened that night?" he asked, as gently as he could.

"Kylie died.
 
Next question."

"Take her hand," Kylie said.
 
"Let me talk to her."

He met Kylie's eyes and shook his head.
 
It wasn't his intention to reveal his powers to every person he came across.
 
Kylie's mother was an exception; there was no way around it.
 
But Zoey didn't need to know.

Alex wasn't sure, in her mental state, if Zoey could even handle seeing a ghost.

"Zoey, I know this is hard, but I'll need more than that.
 
When was the last time you saw her alive?"

Kylie took a deep breath.
 
The question was hard on her as well.
 
Nate stood close to her, and to his credit, was quiet.

"We went to a club," she said, her eyes tearing up.
 
"We studied together here for a while.
 
My bedroom used to be upstairs.
 
Then I talked her into going to a club with me.
 
You should have seen her.
 
I wore this mini-skirt, and she wore a pair of jeans and a purple kitten shirt.
 
I told her she'd never get a guy looking like that.
 
She didn't care.
 
That was Kylie."
 
She paused to catch her breath.
 
"She didn't want to go, because she was afraid we'd get in trouble.
 
But she…
trusted
me.
 
Kylie never went wild, she never cut loose.
 
I just wanted to show her a good time.
 
We were going to dance and party.
 
I was going to find her a guy.
 
We were going to have fun."
 
She leaned over and rested her head in her hands.
 
"Instead…she was killed."

Zoey cried.
 
Alex said nothing, simply giving her time and space.
 
Kylie knelt in front of her and cried as well, trying to hold her hands.
 
She looked at Alex.

"
Please
, let me talk to her."

Alex shook his head again.

"We got in a fight," Zoey continued.
 
"I was dancing with this guy Kylie didn't like.
 
I told her she was jealous.
 
She told me she was going home."
 
She hesitated.
 
"I never saw her again."

He glanced at Kylie, to study her expression.
 
He looked for any sign that Zoey's story triggered a memory.
 
Kylie was only angry and upset.

"Did she leave with anyone?" Alex asked.
 
"Did she walk home?"

"I don't know."
 
Zoey's hands trembled as she sat up.
 
"I let Kylie go.
 
I left my best friend alone, and now she's dead.
 
It's my fault!"

"Zoey, no, it isn't your fault."

"It is!"
 
She stood up and paced like a wild animal, walking through Kylie and Nate.
 
The two ghosts backed up.
 
She was almost invisible, bordering on the deep shadows in the basement.
 
"It was my idea to go out!
 
I was always trying to make her do things!
 
And she just wanted to look out for me!
 
It's my fault she's dead!"

Alex thought Zoey's legs broke as she collapsed in a heap.
 
He rushed to her, but stopped just short of touching her.
 
Kylie and Nate stood to the side, both of them in shock.
 
Zoey cried so hard she had difficulty breathing.
 

"Leave her alone," Kylie said.
 
"Let's just go.
 
This is too much."

He leaned close to Zoey.

"It's not your fault," he said again.
 
"And I'm going to get peace for Kylie."

Light spilled in at the bottom of the stairs as David opened the basement door.

"Zoey?
 
Is everything okay?"

She was already halfway to her feet when her father made it to the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm fine, Dad," she called.
 
"You can stay up there."

David's eyes bordered on despair.
 
He glanced at the bed and dresser, shaking his head.
 
He didn't approve of Zoey's new lair.

"Alex, if you don't mind," he said, gesturing to the stairs behind him.
 
"I'd like to take my daughter out for some breakfast."

"No!" Zoey said, backing away, almost panicking
 
"I told you!
 
I'm not hungry!"

"Zoey, Goddamnit, you've got to eat something!
 
I know you're upset!
 
But you're killing yourself!"

Alex slowly backed away, glancing at Kylie and Nate, and headed for the stairs.
 
Zoey and her father continued to shout, their voices bordering on screaming.
 
Alex left the house, remembering to pet Princess on the way out.

The silence was awkward and uncomfortable, but it didn't last long.
 
Kylie threw her hands in the air and let out a sigh of disgust as they neared the truck.

"I just wanted to talk to her, that's all."
 
She adjusted her glasses.
 
"Was that too much to ask?"

Alex opened the door and leaned on it while addressing Kylie across the hood.

"Let her grieve the way a person should," he said.
 
"She needs normal.
 
Let her be normal.
 
I'm not sure proving the existence of ghosts is the best thing for Zoey right now."

"Oh, what do you know about grieving?" Kylie asked, with surprising venom.
 
"With your beautiful wife, your sister, all your little friends?"

Frowning, he nearly released a retort, before he managed to clamp down.
 
Alex had his own moments of low over the years.
 
He could have told Kylie all the times he looked away from a mirror, unhappy with what he saw.
 
Sometimes, he saw a human with amazing powers.
 
Other times, he saw something that wasn't human at all.
 
He didn't belong with any group, even in the supernatural world.
 
The world was full of vampire and werewolves.
 
Despite their extreme rarity, there were other witches in the world as well.
 
Whatever Alex was, which he didn't even have a name for, he was the only one.

When he felt his lowest, he would spend time in the demon world, surrounded by evil creatures calling him
Master
.
 
There were times being with demons made him feel the most comfortable, like he belonged.

That thought terrified him.

He still had nightmares of his biological parents.
 
He would dream he was in the church with Mark and Sarah Fuller, watching his own birth, reliving the ceremony.
 
People with dark robes surrounded them, chanting and singing.
 
In the dream, however, no demons came to save him.
 
His father thrust a blade deep into his chest, and he would awaken in a feverish sweat.

Grieving, perhaps not.
 
But Alex had bad times.
 
Kylie didn't need to know that.
 
He held his tongue.

"Kylie," Nate said softly.
 
"Alex is right."

She shot daggers at him with her eyes.
 
"What?"

"Zoey is
really
hurting.
 
And she's young.
 
The last thing you want to do is throw a ghost in front of her.
 
Who knows what that will do to her?
 
But she'll be okay.
 
She's strong."

"Strong?"
 
She pointed back to the house.
 
"Did we see the same thing back there?
 
She's like a walking skeleton!
 
That's not the Zoey I know."
 
She shook her head.
 
"Maybe this whole thing was a bad idea.
 
What a waste of time."

"I'm here to help
you
," Alex said, his own anger growing.
 
"I'm going to find your murderer.
 
After that, then maybe I can do business with Zoey.
 
Unless you want to call the whole thing off."

Kylie said nothing.
 
Her lip twitched as she stared Alex down.
 
Eventually, she lowered her head, mumbling to herself as she slid inside the truck.

"Where to now?" Nate asked.

"Well, since Kylie can't remember where she died, or anything else to help us, we go to where they hopefully have some answers.
 
The police station."

It was a quiet drive across town.
 
Nate tried to ease the tension by cutting jokes and telling stories.
 
One was particularly interesting, about how his great grandmother came to visit him not long after his parents moved on past the spirit realm.
 
But Alex wasn't in the mood to give the tale his full attention.
 
Kylie barely spoke.
 
She kept her eyes low, guiding Alex with directions to the police station.