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

Alex had walked the house several times.
 
Besides the general cold assault on his body, there was nothing else.
 
Jason watched him, but didn't approach.
 
Alex wasn't sure whether it was because Jason wanted to let him work, or if Donovan was whispering bad things in his ear.
 
Either way, Alex didn't care.

Dinner was ready.
 
Donna offered their guests a piece of lasagna, insisting there was plenty for everyone.
 
Only Alex and Amy declined.
 
He sat on the sofa and played with his phone as the dining room turned into a madhouse.
 
Loud conversation, laughter, family stories being told.
 
Keith tormented his sister by taking lasagna from her plate, to which she would smack his shoulder and yell.
 
It was a fun, refreshing sight.
 
Even Donovan looked like he was enjoying himself.
 
For a brief time, supernatural problems were all forgotten.

Alex wondered how long it would last.

He was in the middle of a text conversation with Cindy when there was a flash of movement to his left.
 
He looked up to see Amy standing above him, smiling.

"You mind if I sit down?"

Gesturing to the empty spot next to him, Alex scooted over to make room.
 
Amy sat next to him and crossed her legs.
 
He sent Cindy a quick message that he'd be back soon.
 
Cindy was in the middle of describing the latest low budget movie she was watching on the Syfy channel.

"Childhood sweetheart?" she asked.

"Uh…what?"

Amy reached across his lap and tapped the wedding ring on his finger, an action he wasn't comfortable with.
 
Ever so subtly, he tried to scoot away further.

"I guess you can say that," he said.
 
"We've known each other since we were five."

"Yeah.
 
I wouldn't think someone our age would marry so young, unless it was a childhood sweetheart kind of thing."

Alex just smiled, already uncomfortable with the conversation.

"Anyway, I just wanted to check on how married you were, if I had a chance or not."

He knew he was young, and there was plenty left to learn in what he hoped would be a long life, but Alex was never aware there were different degrees of being married.

"Well, yeah, umm…I'm pretty married."

Amy leaned away and straightened her hair.
 
She accepted the rejection with a smile.
 
She recrossed her legs, trying to draw attention to them, as if giving Alex a hint of what he was missing out on.

"Can't blame a girl for trying," she said.
 
She leaned close once again, but not to be intimate.
 
"Can you really talk to spirits?"

The shift of tone in the conversation was jarring, but Alex welcomed it.
 
It was much better than trying to avoid her flirtation.

"I can."

Amy couldn't contain her excitement.
 
"Wow, that is so amazing!
 
Don't worry, I won't tell Troy or Mr. Donovan.
 
Although, they wouldn't believe you anyway."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised."

Her smile faded.
 
"Troy told me you know about me."

Alex held up his hands.
 
"Hey, no judging here."

"Maybe you should be working with them instead of me."

He looked her over.
 
The bubbly personality, the bright smile were gone.
 
Her deception truly ate at her.

"Hey, if you help people, who cares how you do it?"

"Yeah, I help people," she said sarcastically.
 
"While Troy and Mr. Donovan are doing the real work, I'm misleading them.
 
Like smoke and mirrors."

"Trust me, doing the people part, it doesn't get any more real than that."
 
Something dawned on him as he watched her.
 
"Have you ever seen anything real?"

"You mean on one of our cases?"

Alex nodded.

"Not really," Amy said.
 
"On the first case I helped out with last year, there were some weird things.
 
Objects moving on their own, that kind of thing."
 
She glanced at the dining room table and leaned forward.
 
Everyone was still laughing and talking.
 
"I've never seen a real ghost."

He almost read her mind.
 
"And that's why you signed up?"

"They found me, actually.
 
But yeah, I want to see a ghost.
 
Don't get me wrong.
 
I love helping people.
 
But I want to know what's on that other side."

He couldn't stop the smile.
 
The things he could tell her.
 
There were plenty of odd things to see on
this
side.

The cold chill came without warning.
 
It felt like a gust of wind, moving with a mind of its own.
 
It came from the stairs and rolled over Alex and Amy on the couch.
 
The hairs on his arms and neck stood up.
 
Alex got the sense the chill was moving to the dining room.

"Maybe, just maybe, you'll get your chance," he whispered.

"Holy shit, Alex," Amy said.
 
"Are you okay?
 
You're freezing."

Without realizing it, Alex leaned over and huddled to himself, trying to keep warm.
 
He kept his eyes locked on the dining room as Amy rubbed his arms.
 
He wasn't sure if she was simply being compassionate or had reverted back to flirt mode.

The laugh that followed was low and eerie.
 
It blended in so well with the dinner conversation that Alex wasn't sure if it was real.

"Oh, God," Amy said.
 
Her hands went still on Alex's arms.
 
"What
is
that?"

She heard it as well, through her contact with Alex.
 
With a mere touch, he could grant someone a peek into the spirit world, even if it was something as simple and terrifying as a disembodied chuckle.
 
He'd learned to control the ability, and maybe should have kept Amy from hearing.
 
But having a witness and another set of eyes and ears wasn't a bad idea.

The laugh was female, but very rough, like it belonged to an elderly smoker.
 
It was unnatural, as it didn't pause to breathe.
 
It just laughed, and laughed.
 
The volume intensified, but everyone at the table continued to eat and talk.
 
Amy scooted closer to Alex and squeezed his arm.

"They don't hear it?"

"Nope."
 
Alex had seen many horrible things, but he wasn't so hardened that the voice didn't set him on edge.
 
"And let the fun begin."

"What do you—?"

The lone empty chair at the table twitched.
 
The conversation stopped as everyone turned and stared.
 
One more twitch, with a little more force.
 
Then the chair flew across the room.
 
It sailed behind the couch and crashed into the wall, knocking a picture down with it.

Everyone at the table stood up.
 
Keith ran from the dining room and got as close to Alex as he could.
 
Donna seemed hurt, but only for a moment.
 
Picture after picture fell from the walls, like they were dominoes.

"Troy, are you recording this?" Donovan asked.

"Oh, it's recording," he said, pointing to multiple cameras.
 
There was excitement in his voice.

"That's all it will do," Kim said, waving her hands around.
 
"It's not going to hurt us.
 
It just wants attention."

Donna raised her voice.
 
"Kimberly, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Mom, just listen to me!
 
It's not going to hurt—!"

Kim was proven wrong before she could even complete her sentence.
 
There was a loud slap, and Donna crumpled to the floor, holding her palm to the side of her cheek.
 
Jason shouted his wife's name, and tried to circle the table.
 
He only made it halfway when he flew across the room as well, like the chair.
 
His head struck the wall first, and he slumped to his side, unmoving.

The table violently bounced up and down.
 
Plates of food and glasses fell to the floor.
 
Over the chaos, Alex could still hear the laughing.

He stood up, and felt a tugging at his hand.
 
Keith looked up to him, panic in his eyes.

"Don't go," he said.

He reassured him with a smile and gestured to Amy.
 
"Just stick with my pal Amy here.
 
Stay right with her."

Amy returned the smile, but looked no more confident than Keith.

The scene was a mess.
 
Donovan cowered in the corner, while Troy was waving another camera around.
 
Kim cried openly as she squatted in the kitchen doorway.
 
The table continued to bounce, as if a hundred hands lifted and dropped it constantly.

Alex hated to admit it, but he never felt better.
 
He literally fed off fear, and there was no shortage of that in the Felder residence.
 
It nourished him, made him stronger.
 
He felt like he could run a marathon.

"You've got their attention," he called, placing a hand on the table.
 
"If you've got something to say, go ahead.
 
I can definitely hear you."

The activity stopped, as quickly as it started.
 
The laughing that only he could hear ceased.
 
The silence by itself was almost creepy, until Donovan kicked a plate trying to stand.

"Did…you get all that?" he asked.

Troy nodded vigorously, filming the plates and food on the floor.
 
"I did."

Alex shook his head.
 
Their priorities needed some work.

"What happened?" Amy said from the couch.

"It's still shy," Alex said.
 
"But we're getting there."

He checked on Kim first.
 
The girl was trembling, hugging her knees to herself.
 
Tears ran down her face, but otherwise she was fine.
 
Donna was slowly pulling herself into a sitting position.
 
The side of her face was red from the attack, and he thought he could see impressions of fingers start to form.

"I'm fine," Donna said.
 
Alex admired her bravery.
 
"Please, check on Jason."

Jason, despite having the wind knocked out of him, was on one knee.
 
He was coughing and gasping for breath.
 
He'd left a mark in the wall from where his head struck.
 
Alex grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet.
 
Jason immediately went to his wife and held her.

"Is everyone okay?" Amy asked, her voice shaking.
 
She still stood near the couch with an arm around Keith.

"Does it look like we're okay?" Kim shouted.

Alex led Jason and Donna to the couch.
 
He approached Kim and held out his hand.
 
She slapped it away and stomped across the room.

"I'm going to my room."

"Kim, don't," Donna said.
 
"Please.
 
We should all stay together—"

"I
said
, I'm going to my room."

She didn't even stop to look at her family.
 
Alex watched her walk up the stairs.
 
He thought about following, but decided against it, at least for the moment.

"I'm losing my family," Donna said, her expression full of sorrow.

The Felder family was a wreck.
 
Keith had pulled away from Amy and hugged his mother.
 
Jason sat perfectly still, staring straight ahead.
 
Donovan was scribbling notes onto a pad, while Troy moved about from camera to camera.

"I'd like to run this footage through the computer," Troy said.
 
"See if maybe we caught something."

Donovan waved at him.
 
"Not now.
 
Later."

"Are you okay?" Alex asked Jason.
 
"You took a nasty shot to the head there."

Jason rubbed his skull, and turned to look at the dent in the wall.

"Nothing a little drywall can't fix," he quipped.

Alex looked over Donna once again.
 
A visible hand print was on her face now, showing the physical signs that someone literally slapped her as hard as they could.

"I'm okay," she said.
 
"It just stings."

"No, we're not okay," Jason said.
 
His voice trembled.
 
"How long before the kids start getting hurt?
 
You're…you're right, Donna.
 
We should move."

Husband and wife stared at each other, and Alex could imagine the discussions they'd had.
 
Jason had grown up in the house.
 
He was probably the last person who wanted to leave.
 
As easy as it was for an outsider to say
just move
, Alex knew nothing could be more difficult.
 
Starting over was never easy.

"Can you help us?" Donna asked, desperation in her eyes.
 
"Please!
 
Is there anything you can do?"